LOS ANGELES —
California voters have adopted a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex
marriage, overturning the state Supreme Court decision
that gave gay couples the right to wed just months
ago.
Exit polling showed California's black and Latino voters, who turned out in droves for Barack Obama,
also provided key support in favor of the state's same-sex marriage ban.
More than half of Latino voters supported Proposition 8, while whites were
split.
Religious groups led the tightly organized campaign for the measure, and
religious voters were decisive in getting it passed. Of the seven in 10 voters
who described themselves as Christian, two-thirds backed the initiative.
Married voters and voters with children strongly supported Proposition 8.
Unmarried voters were heavily opposed.San
Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said through a spokesman he would
file a legal challenge to a winning Proposition 8 in the California Supreme Court.
The first lesbian couple to be married in Los Angeles County after
the Supreme Court threw out California's previous gay marriage ban also
plans to announce a lawsuit against Proposition 8. Attorney Gloria
Allred says that lawsuit will argue the measure is unconstitutional."We pick ourselves up and trudge on," Kate Kendell, executive director of the
National Center for Lesbian Rights, said early Wednesday when it appeared the
measure was headed for passage. "There has been enormous movement in favor of
full equality in eight short years. That is the direction this is heading, and
if it's not today or it's not tomorrow, it will be soon."
With almost all precincts reporting, election returns showed the measure
winning with 52 percent. Some provisional and absentee ballots remained to be
tallied, but based on trends and the locations of the votes still outstanding,
the margin of support in favor of the initiative was secure.
"People believe in the institution of marriage," Frank
Schubert, co-manager of the Yes on 8 campaign said after declaring victory early
Wednesday. "It's one institution that crosses ethnic divides, that crosses
partisan divides. ... People have stood up because they care about marriage and they care a great deal."
Proposition 8 overturns the California Supreme Court decision that overturned
the 2000 ban and legalized same-sex marriage in the state
in mid-June. Since then, an estimated 18,000 gay and
lesbian couples, many of them from other states, have been married.
Similar bans had prevailed in 27 states before Tuesday's elections, but none
were in California's situation — with about 18,000 gay
couples married since a state Supreme Court ruling in May. The state attorney
general, Jerry Brown, has said those marriages will
remain valid, although legal challenges are possible.
The outcome of the same-sex marriage ban dominated the list of ballot initiatives faced by California voters, with proponents saying religious liberty and the building blocks of society were at stake. Opponents called Proposition 8 a civil rights battle, that tested the American ideals of equality and personal freedom.
Amendments to ban gay marriage were also approved in Arizona and Florida, and gay rights forces suffered a loss in Arkansas, where voters approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. Supporters made clear that gays and lesbians were their main target.
In the five months since the California Supreme Court tossed out an earlier ban on same-sex marriage ban approved by California voters eight years ago, about 18,000 couples have been married.
The unresolved race was the focus of interest not only in California, but across the nation. If still-straggling ballot results confirm Proposition 8 wins, it will be the first time voters anywhere had closed the door on gay marriage after it had become legal.
Spending
for and against the amendment has reached $74 million, making it the
most expensive social-issues campaign in U.S. history and the most
expensive campaign this year outside the race for the White House. A
large share of the contributions for the measure came from members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Christian
conservatives who sponsored the measure and gay rights groups working
to defeat it have said whichever side wins would score a majority
victory in the nation's culture wars, gaining momentum to influence the
pace at which other states sanction same-sex unions.
Although more than 61 percent of California voters approved of the marriage
law the Supreme Court threw out, leaders of the No on 8 campaign were
hopeful public attitudes about sexual orientation and civil rights had
changed substantially enough in eight years.
The optimism seemed justified when opinion polls in the summer and early fall showed Proposition 8 losing by a wide margin.
But
the Yes side countered, and election day exit polls had the race a
virtual tie. Parents, churchgoers and voters who never attended college
said they voted for the gay marriage ban, while college-educated and nonreligious voters opposed it.
Blacks strongly voted for the ban while whites leaned slightly toward opposing it. Latinos and Asians were split.
Felicia
Espinosa, a Proposition 8 supporter who had waved campaign signs on
street corners, said she was going to have a hard time getting up for
work in the morning but that staying up late to celebrate a victory was
worth it.
"Marriage is between a man and a woman and anything else is not natural," she said.
In
San Francisco, accountant Kerry Mahoney, 31, and her wife Mary Belton,
32, a preschool teacher, showed up for the No-on-8 event in their
wedding finery, having just tied the knot on Tuesday morning.
The held hands and enjoyed their newly married bliss, but said the day was "bittersweet."
"We
always knew we'd be together forever," Mahoney said. "We woke and up
and we knew we had to do this today. We just had this one window."