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Loading ...California Cliffhanger, Florida, Arizona, Arkansas Voters OK Anti-Gay Ballot Measures
11.05.2008 12:31am EST
Updated November 5, 2008 -8:30 am EST
(Washington) An amendment to the California constitution to overturn the state Supreme Court ruling granting gay and lesbian couples the right to marry appeared headed for victory Wednesday morning, but opponents are yet not willing to concede defeat.
Results from more than 90 percent of precincts throughout California show the proposed amendment with a slim two percent lead – 52 to 48 percent.
While the initiative’s supporters were celebrating, opponents insisted it was premature to concede. Late absentee and provisional ballots meant as many as 3 million ballots were left to be counted after all precinct votes were tallied.
It is the first time such a vote has taken place in state where gay unions are legal.
A study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law indicated that by Election Day 2008, approximately18,000 same-sex couples had married in California.
Exit polls reported by CNN show that while a slim majority of white voters said they rejected the amendment, an equally slim majority of African American and Hispanic voters said they had voted for the amendment.
The battle for and against the measure, known as Proposition 8, cost more than $67 million, making it one of the most expensive ballot campaigns in history. Much of the money on both sides came from outside California.
The highly charged campaign resulted in a number of incidents throughout California.
Last week, a cyber attack brought down the “No on Prop 8″campaign Web site. The FBI and Secret Service are investigating.
In Fresno, police are investigating death threats against two local supporters of Proposition 8 – Mayor Alan Autry and Pastor Jim Franklin of the Cornerstone Church.
In Torrance, a man has been charged with a felony hate crime assault for allegedly using an anti-gay marriage “Yes on Prop. 8″ lawn sign to attack a gay man wearing a “No on 8″button.
In Bakersfield, a local leader of the campaign for the ballot measure was videotaped at a pro-gay marriage rally kicking and punching a protester. The protester, who had been heckling him, declined to press charges.
In Roseville, three young people were arrested on suspicion of stealing “Yes on 8″ signs from several front yards.
Florida
In Florida, the ballot measure amends the state constitution to limit marriage to opposite sex couples and ban civil unions.
The amendment also could be used to deny partner benefits to unmarried couples who live together.
The amendment says, “Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”
Constitutional amendments in Florida require a 60 percent majority. The marriage amendment won with 62 percent of the vote. Thirty-eight percent were opposed.
Florida already had a law restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples, but supporters of the amendment say the law could be overturned in court.
Arizona
In Arizona, where a simple majority is needed to amend the state constitution, 56 percent of voters approved limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.
It was the second time Arizona voters were asked to change the state’s constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
Voters rejected a similar state constitutional amendment in 2006. That measure would have also stopped the state from recognizing civil unions of same-sex couples.
Arizona law already prohibits same-sex marriages. Supporters say the amendment will “protect the sanctity of families” by preventing judges from overturning the 1996 state law.
Arkansas
Arkansas, which already has a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, now will limit adoptions and foster care of children to people who are legally married.
The ballot measure passed Tuesday by a wide margin – 57-43 percent.
The measure grew out of a state Supreme Court ruling last year that overturned a Child Welfare Agency Review Board policy that banned gay people from serving as foster parents.
In its unanimous ruling, the court said that “the driving force behind adoption of the regulations was not to promote the health, safety and welfare of foster children but rather based upon the board’s views of morality and its bias against homosexuals.”
The Arkansas Family Council – the same group that spearheaded Arkansas’ constitutional ban on same-sex marriage – collected enough signatures to place the adoption referendum before voters.
Connecticut
In Connecticut, a potential anti-gay measure was also on the ballot. Connecticut voters turned down a call for state constitutional convention.
Under the state constitution, the question automatically goes on the ballot only every 20 years.
Earlier this year, the state Supreme Court ruled that Connecticut’s civil unions law failed to provide equality. The first same-sex marriages in the state are slated to begin Nov. 12.
By chance, the automatic ballot question came up this year, raising fears that if voters agreed to a constitutional convention it would have been used to ban gay marriage.
The Family Institute of Connecticut had gone on record calling for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
Kwame Said: “Who cares about the ban, Obama won ya’ll.”….Well, uh, according to you, in the 1950s, it would have been ok to say: “who cares if they take away the civil rights of Black people a White man won the race for President, ya’ll.”
…Kwame, have you no shame?
I feel like I just got punched in the stomach & the wind knocked out of me. It doesn’t help that all the candidates except Kucinich felt they had to publicly state they were against gay marriage in order to get elected.
A very gloomy day in LGBT equality as 3 states have made LGBT hatred legal in banning any chance for same sex marriage in Florida, Arizona and adoptions to any LGBT couple as well as same sex marriage hanging till the votes are in in California.
For all those that support hatred/bigotry, may you know that you destroyed the true meaning of the words “Love and Family” for more people.
When are we going to say enough is enough and STAND TOGETHER as we are also Americans and tax payers…
Keep a smile on your face and love in your heart!
I would like to see every gay man and women call off of work on the same day across the nation. All of those people who have voted against equality would have to shut down or would lose a significant amount of income for that day.
Maybe if we promised to cheat on our same sex partners with opposite sex partners it would pass? I mean it’s what breeders do anyway and it seems important to protect that………
Who cares about the ban, Obama won ya’ll.
Kari asked:
On what legal grounds would Prop. 8 be challenged?
Well, for a start, isn’t there the ongoing question about whether it’s actually an amendment, or a constitutional change which requires a larger supermajority?
The courts wouldn’t consider that before it passed, but now they will have to.
There’s also the point that it conflicts with the equal protection clause, and the courts will have to decide what happens when the constitution contradicts itself.
I wouldn’t give up just yet. These are quite arguable points.
Just sad that it now has to go through the courts again and if succesful it will be seen as “activist judges” overruling the will of the people yet again.
Gay people of America!! Stop letting the majority decide the rights of a minority! You should be outraged and demanding this nonsense stop. Did people vote on the rights of blacks in the civil rights era?? Were any state constitutions amended to prevent blacks from marrying white people…no, it never would have been stood for. You guys need to get seriously pissed off and demand that this stop. You guys need another Stonewall.
Is anyone else tired of the rhetoric and the pointless dialogue? Are we ready to declare war yet or will we wait until we are being hauled off to internment camps?
Morgan:
On what legal grounds would Prop. 8 be challenged?
Would you try to claim it is unconstitutional? There’s one little problem with that strategy: it is now part of the state Constitution and therefore Constitutional *by definition*.
You really can’t mount a legal challenge to a Constitutional amendment after it’s been passed unless you can argue that the proper process for passing it wasn’t followed, which probably wasn’t the case.
It’s depressing to see the U.S.A. STILL grappling with this issue when my own little third world country of South Africa has gay marriage enshrined in its constitution. However, it took DECADES of struggle to be where we are today. You should not be disheartened by these (and history will show them to be) minor setbacks.
One day our children’s children will look back on this day and be shocked by the idea that a government was allowed to dictate who we are to love. Any other outcome is unthinkable when viewed against the backdrop of international trends. Victory is inevitable.
Just keep on campaigning within your country while the international LGBT community continues to support your gay-friendly companies abroad, and soon you will have Federal Gay Marriage.
Morgan: The error with you logic is that 8 is a constitutional amendment.
As part of the constitution, the best we can hope for from a court decision is that the state Supreme Court will rule that since marriage now discriminates against a protected group, IT is now unconstitutional.
While it would be poetic justice for the bigots; deny marriage for some, you destroy it for all, do you really think that these elected officials would REALLY go THAT far for US? America’s favorite punching bag?
Our best hope in California now is to get a Democrat into the Governor’s office so that when the state House and Senate pass a bill legalizing marriage-equality, we will finally have a Governor willing to sign it into law; either that or since Arnold opposed 8 he’d be now willing to sign the law (unlikely).
However even this would more than likely be for naught since the California Supreme Court would have to follow the state constitution which now says that Same-sex marriage is unconstitutional in California.
Our best hope now is for either a COUNTER-ammendment (unlikely) or some progression on a national level (more likely, yet still not probable).
Time to take prop 8 to court via lawsuit. The struggle is not over.
Gay people and their allies don’t have to take this injustice. Next move is go to court to challenge this piece of filth and next move IS TO ELECT MORE AND MORE AND MORE AND MORE OPENLY GAY CANDIDATES TO PUBLIC OFFICE THROUGHOUT AMERICA VIA VICTORY FUND AND OTHER MEANS
spend your dollars only at businesses you know to be gay-run or gay-friendly.
We don’t have to take this lying down.
Now is the time to get up, dust ourselves off and to keep chipping away at antigay laws by educating the public to the harms they cause and to start paving the way for another day when these injustices are overturned one after another.
We will not be silent, we will object, we will educate, we will elect our own to office, we will support our equality organizations and we will support the liberal news media.
We can still marry in Massachusetts and in Connecticut. We still have 2 states we can marry in and if another 3rd state chooses gay marriage for its citizenry, then we will defend that state tooth and nail if need be from challenge.
We have President Obama now. That will not bring back CA marriage but he will not support a US constitutional amndment same as he did not support Prop 8. He supports civil unions which are better than nothing even though civil unions are a failure and even though only marriage counts.
And Barney Frank said that if we got Obama and won enough Democrat congressional seats, there would be an attack on those antigay laws that Congress could have the power to overturn if there were enough allies in Congress.
One door does not close without another door being opened elsewhere on gay rights if we are diligent and do not give up demanding other of our gay rights like an end to don’t ask and don’t tell, and end to antigay family discrimination in immigration.
There is Canada with it national legal gay marriage law. Some gay married Californians may decide that they had enough and may move to Canada and renounce their American citizenship.
Meanwhile don’t give up the fight. Express your concern, your outrage through your elected California statehouse reps and keep up the pressure on them and to hell with Prop 8.
Keep fighting for your gay rights even if in a peacemeal fashion and let the Prop 8 proponents scream their fool heads off about the least little improvement in gay lives being a violation of Prop 8. AFter all Prop 8 is a gross violation of our civil rights.
Next when the Mormons show up on our doorsteps to convert us they have to the count of three to get off our doorsteps or we’ll declare them to be trespassing or we can give them an earful about how their Joseph Smith was a false prophet, a cheater, a con man, a womanizer, a polygamist, etc which is what I plan to do next time they come to my house.
As for Obama, we should keep the gay pressure on him, after all gay and progressive votes got him in and he owes us various things like places in his administarion for quaiified gay office seekers, he owes us respect, he owes us some effort to end antigay discrimination whereever possible.
I am sickened by all of this crap. What should have been a very joyful night celebrating the election of the first half black-half white president of the USA, has been spoiled by hateful people across this land.
This is NOT OVER.
Very sorry to hear this, everyone. This whole thing personally makes me sick and embarrassed that this kind of thing is even allowed to happen anymore. Think I’ll stick with Canada, thank you. Congrats on the Obama, Senate AND House victory though- that is at least something to celebrate
It simply discusses me that this discrimination against us is still continuing! Sure, we have Mr. Obama, but will he take a chance and defend our rights?