I can understand why opponents of R-71 — “opponents” being an especially confusing term, because a “yes” vote affirms current laws guaranteeing widespread rights to gay couples — want to make public the names of people who signed petitions that enabled opponents of gay marriage to put the issue to a statewide vote this November. They see the fight for gay civil rights as pitched in shades of black and white/wrong and right, and who can blame them? I sure don’t: A staunch backer of gay rights (including marriage) myself, I sincerely believe that America will look back one day on this period of gay oppression with a degree of embarrassment previously reserved for colored drinking fountains, Japanese internment, and race-based lynchings.However, while I think it’s fair to assume that most of the folks who signed their names to petitions that put R-71 are opponents of gay rights, I don’t think it’s fair to assume that all of them are. I’ve signed petitions — on far less hot-button issues, mind you — for the simple reason that I thought they should be resolved by a vote of the people, or because I myself was uncertain how I felt on an issue and wanted to be afforded the benefit of a full-throated public argument.While my temptation is to call them insane simply for not coming around on the issue of gay equality, I know plenty of otherwise sane people who are still on the fence in terms of granting gay couples the same rights as straight couples. I’m not sure why they feel this way, but I am sure that a continued push to make their identities known to all is likelier to antagonize them than to help them see the light. And for this reason, I think gay rights advocates would be best served at this point to end the current legal scrum and instead focus energy on educating the public and dealing the state’s anti-gay factions a potentially fatal blow come November.