Joe Amorosino’s stolen signature

By Laura Kiritsy, Bay Windows | January 19, 2006

Apparently, cruising KnowThyNeighbor.org’s database of anti-gay-marriage petition signers for people you know is becoming a pastime as popular as Googling exes and random junior high school classmates just for the hell of it. This past week alone brought tips that District 9 Boston City Councilor Jerry McDermott’s name was on the petition, along with Channel 7 Sports Director Joe Amorosino, the host of the weekly show Sports Xtra.

But unlike McDermott, who willingly signed the petition because he opposes equal marriage, Amorosino says he hasn’t put his signature on any petition in the past year. In fact, he has not lived at the Back Bay address listed alongside his name for two-and-a-half-years and is a registered voter in the city of Newton. As someone who does not support the initiative petition to put a same-sex marriage on the 2008 ballot, Amorosino is furious. Upon learning from a friend that his name was on the petition, Amorisono immediately filled out a fraud affidavit form at KnowThyNeighbor.org. The organization is forwarding the affidavits to state legislators, who are expected to debate and vote on the initiative petition later this year. Amorosino is one of hundreds who have logged complaints of fraud and forgery during the signature gathering campaign for the initiative, which is spearheaded by the organization VoteOnMarriage.org.

“First of all I didn’t sign anything,” he says. “Two, it’s not my opinion and three I am in the public eye and to have [an] opinion out there that’s not my opinion, it’s something I’m upset about. I’m willing to speak up in any way about the fraud that’s going on there, I’ll tell you that much.”

Find out how to contact us for more information.