From the New York Times:
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.
It wasn't only California:
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. …
The measure came only months after California's highest court ruled it constitutional, spurring thousands of gay couples to marry there.
The passage of Proposition 8 in California is indeed astounding. I am constantly surprised at the strength of the opposition to legal same-sex marriage in places otherwise trending liberal.
I would like to think that the opposition is rooted in irritation at the Courts. California was one of the states where the State Supreme Court tried to enact gay marriage by legislative fiat. The same thing happened in Massachusetts, and would have been overturned their if the state constitution had not allowed the legislature to block the popular will.
I am not opposed to gay marriage, but I am opposed to judicial usurpation of legislative powers. It is probably a good thing for democracy in California that the initiative passed.
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