California Voters Ban Gay Marriage

California voters have adopted a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, The Associated Press reported Wednesday, joining voters in two other states who went to the polls Tuesday to overturn such unions.

With almost all precincts in California reporting, the A.P. said, elections returns showed that the same-sex marriage ban initiative known as Proposition 8 won 52 percent of the vote. Some provisional and absentee ballots remained to be counted, but based on trends and the locations of outstanding votes, the initiative’s margin of support was secure, according to the A.P.

Only three states this year had ballots that included bans on same-sex marriage, compared with 8 in 2006 and 11 in 2004.

The ban passed in all three states — the other two being Florida and Arizona — but its success in California, a trend-setter in so many arenas, was seen as major defeat for gay rights activists.

A total of $73 million was spent on the race there, a record for a ballot measure on a social issue, resulting in incessant television and radio commercials from both sides. Advocates of the ban played up their belief that without it, children could be taught about gay marriage in schools, while opponents likened approval to denying fundamental civil rights.

The measure came only months after California’s highest court ruled it constitutional, spurring thousands of gay couples to marry there.

(Via NYT)