Vandals strike signs again

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002 | 11:03 a.m.

The signs still show the happy bride and groom urging you to protect marriage.

But vandals struck the Coalition for the Protection of Marriage's signs over the weekend, cutting out the message: "Vote Yes on 2."

Richard Ziser, coalition president, said he was developing photos Monday of four of the five A-frame signs that were vandalized over the weekend to file a police report today.

"This weekend was unbelievable," Ziser said. "Yard signs were being stolen out of people's yards and then the large signs, which cost a lot of money, were vandalized."

Question 2 is a ballot measure seeking to amend Nevada's constitution to recognize that marriage is only between a man and woman. State law already has that provision and makes gay marriage illegal, but Ziser and the coalition say a constitutional amendment will prevent gay couples married elsewhere from having their marriage recognized in Nevada.

When the initiative was first on the ballot in 2000, sign vandalism and stolen signs were prevalent on both sides. Since the measure seeks a constitutional amendment, it must pass for a second time this year to take effect.

"Maybe because it's the second and final vote, we're seeing more vandalism," Ziser said. "It's a sad commentary when the opponents of Question 2, who can't afford to put up their own signs, have to vandalize ours."

Liz Moore, chairwoman of the anti-Question 2 group Equal Rights Nevada, said she has urged members of her coalition not to vandalize the signs.

"Yard signs don't vote," Moore said. "People do."

But Ziser, who vows to hire guards to monitor the signs if vandalism continues, blames Moore's group explicitly.

"They call themselves Equal Rights Nevada, but they don't respect our property rights or our coalition members' rights," Ziser said.

Moore said she "completely resents the implication" that her coalition was involved in the vandalism, and said she was not even aware of the vandalism when contacted by the Sun.

"I will say that people in same-gendered relationships experience those signs as a psychological assault," Moore said. "We urge them to express that pain constructively by assisting in our efforts."

Ziser said he is also trying to keep his angry coalition members in check to prevent vigilantism.

On Friday night, he said, two women were spotted vandalizing a Yes on 2 sign across from the Suncoast on Rampart Boulevard by a passing motorist who supports Question 2.

The motorist stopped, apprehended the women and escorted them to Suncoast's security, who turned them over to Metro Police, Ziser said. Metro Police could not confirm Ziser's report Monday as none of the department's media relations personnel were in the office to look at the arrest logs.

Last weekend's vandalism was the second concerted effort this year. Right before the Sept. 3 primary some of the signs were plastered with stickers that said: "Mormon bigots" and others had swastikas drawn on them.

"We've gone into a new phase of this thing," Ziser said. "I'm telling people not to apprehend these vandals because they could be dangerous, especially if they have the knives they're using to cut the signs."