Same-sex marriage bans winning on state ballots

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Wednesday, November 3, 2004 Posted: 0707 GMT (1507 HKT)

(CNN) -- Six months after gay and lesbian couples won the right to marry in Massachusetts, opponents of same-sex marriage struck back Tuesday, with voters in 11 states approving constitutional amendments codifying marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution.

Voters in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah all approved anti-same-sex marriage amendments by double-digit margins.

The closest race came in Oregon, where gay rights groups concentrated much of their effort and money and thought they had the best chance of winning. Opponents of the amendment raised about $2.8 million, enough to run TV and radio ads in the Beaver State and outspend pro-amendment forces, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Yet, in the end, the amendment passed by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent.

Both of the canidates were against sam-sex marriages so it looks as if this is no surprise. But it just seems that this is such a nominal issue in the wake of everything else that is going on in the world

I think that republican operatives in these states put the issue on the state ballot, hoping to galvanized voters while they were making their voting decisions in the voting booth.

For conservatives, this issue is a litmus test, and democrats have seriously unterestimated how powerfully it affects many undecideds. Putting this issue on the ballot, I believe, was an attempt to say, "Remember where Kerry and Bush stand on the issue." I think it has helped push Bush over the top in Ohio, particularly.