Truemors
As US Election results have started coming in and Democrat Senator Barack Obama has emerged as clear winner of the Presidency, The vote on the same sex marriage amendment, Proposition 8, in California has got voters' approval. Proposition 8, the measure to ban gay marriage in California, was leading with nearly 52 percent of the vote early Wednesday.
Both winner Obama and his Republican rival, John McCain have opposed same-sex marriage. Obama had also opposed the California amendment and endorses the concept of broader rights for same-sex couples.
Proposition 8 is perhaps the most fiercely discussed election issue in California, Florida and Arizona. Proposition 8 would amend the California Constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Exit poll data showed that Democrats and independents were tending to vote against Proposition 8, while Republicans were in favor of the measure.
After a heated, divisive campaign, fueled by a record $73 million of spending, California voters Tuesday were backing Prop. 8, which would change the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
With 11 percent of the vote counted, the measure held a 55 percent to 45 percent lead.
Six months after the California Supreme Court cleared the way for gay and lesbian couples to wed legally, the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who took advantage of the landmark decision now are wondering if they will be the last.
The campaign pitted those who argued that a same-sex marriage ban was nothing more than outdated discrimination against gays and lesbians, and conservatives and Christian groups who countered that the state and the courts have no right to change unilaterally a definition of marriage that has existed for centuries.
The flood of dollars that poured into California from every part of the country made Prop. 8 the most expensive social issue race the nation has ever seen. And behind every one of those checks was someone desperately worried about what the result of the election could mean to them and their state.
To San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and other opponents of Prop. 8, as well as to religious groups that backed the measure, the proposed ban on same-sex marriage was the second most important election in the country on Tuesday.
The Prop. 8 battle, born in San Francisco, came eight years after more than 61 percent of California voters came out in favor of Prop. 22, which banned same-sex marriage in the state. But supporters had little time to savor the victory.
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