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LITTLE ROCK - A resolution asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to uphold a voter-approved constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, which a circuit judge recently overturned, won support from state lawmakers Friday. The non-binding measure, approved by the panel that represents the full Legislature between sessions, also condemns Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza, who struck down the ban as unconstitutional last month. Piazza's ruling said the government can't give rights to a majority group without also extending them to a minority group, even if unpopular. Sen. Jason Rapert, R-Conway, who sponsored the measure, urged legislators to respect the wish of...

Two county clerks from downstate Illinois are asking a judge for permission to defend the state's gay marriage ban. Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan have said they won't defend the state against a lawsuit filed by 25 gay and lesbian couples because they too believe the ban is unconstitutional. But Effingham County Clerk Kerry Hirtzel and Tazewell County Clerk Christie Webb want to defend the law. The Thomas More Society filed a request late Friday on their behalf, seeking permission to intervene in the case.

Wednesday October 27, 2010 Alaska Senate Candidate Joe Miller Endorses Federal Same-Sex 'Marriage' Ban By Peter J. SmithFAIRBANKS, Alaska, October 27, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Alaska GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller stated recently that he would support a U.S. constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, although he would prefer the matter left to the states.Miller, a pro-life candidate running neck-and-neck with incumbent and write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski for U.S. Senator, told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that he would support a constitutional amendment, if that were seen as the solution to the challenge of legal...

The Yes on Proposition 8 campaign has announced victory in the measure to ban gay marriage. The proposition was passing by a 52 percent to 48 percent margin on Wednesday with 95 percent of precincts reporting. The No on Prop 8 campaign refused to concede Wednesday morning, saying there are millions of votes yet to be counted. The measure is the result of a May 15 state Supreme Court decision that struck down California's ban on same-sex marriage. Sacramento County started performing same-sex unions June 17. It’s unclear what would happen to same-sex marriages already performed in California if Proposition...

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. Six months after the California Supreme Court cleared the way for gay and lesbian couples to legally wed, the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who took advantage of the landmark decision now are wondering if they will be the last.

Florida voters approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage Tuesday, handing a victory to social conservatives who pumped millions into the ballot drive aimed at ensuring the courts cannot legalize same-sex unions in the Sunshine State After a fierce battle waged on TV airwaves, Amendment 2 was poised to comfortably clear the 60 percent threshold to become law, according to unofficial election results with most precincts reporting late Tuesday night. It defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Voters "don't want what happened in Massachusetts, California, Connecticut to happen here in Florida," said John Stemberger, who...

The gap between those who support and those who oppose same-sex marriage is closing, and a poll indicates that backing for a proposition to ban such marriages is lagging. Those were two of the main findings of a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California and released Wednesday. The wide-ranging poll found that 60 percent of those surveyed favor bringing home troops in Iraq, that President Bush's approval rating is 24 percent and that 63 percent of likely California voters favor universal health care. However, the biggest concern among Californians today is the economy, the poll found. The...

Measures on 5 state ballots likely to pass despite survey results - Proponents of measures to prohibit same-sex marriage say New Jersey's Supreme Court ruling that committed same-sex couples deserve the same rights as heterosexual couples will motivate voters to pass constitutional bans. But most of the measures on the Nov. 7 ballot in eight other states already have strong voter support. In fact, they may be even farther ahead than they appear, because polling on the issue has been consistently and inexplicably inaccurate. Same-sex marriage ban supporters and opponents agree that pre-election polls often undercount support for the measures....

In a year it is wrestling with an out-of-control budget, a war going badly, and one impasse on immigration and another on its own ethics, the Senate is taking time out to debate altering the U.S. Constitution by adding the Marriage Protection Amendment. The amendment is widely predicted to fall short of the needed votes to amend the Constitution for only the 23rd time in its 217-year history _ 13th if you omit the original 10, the Bill of Rights _ and well it should. At its gravest level, the amendment would make a significant incursion into federalism and state's...

CLEVELAND - Domestic violence charges cannot be filed against unmarried people because of Ohio's new constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, a judge ruled Wednesday. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart Friedman changed a felony domestic violence charge against Frederick Burk to a misdemeanor assault charge. Prosecutors immediately appealed. Judges and others across the country have been waiting for a ruling on how the gay marriage ban, among the nation's broadest, would affect Ohio's 25-year-old domestic violence law, which previously wasn't limited to married people. Burk, 42, is accused of slapping and pushing his live-in girlfriend during a January argument over...

A judge declared Friday that a law banning same-sex marriage violates the state constitution, a first-of-its-kind ruling in New York that would clear the way for gay couples to wed if it survives on appeal. Gay rights activists hailed the ruling as a historic victory that "delivers the state Constitution's promise of equality to all New Yorkers." "The court recognized that unless gay people can marry, they are not being treated equally under the law," said Susan Sommer, a Lambda Legal Defense Fund lawyer who presented the case for five couples who brought the lawsuit. "Same-sex couples need the protections...

Washington -- San Francisco did not vote for President Bush, but the pictures of wedded gay and lesbian couples streaming from its City Hall last February may have helped return him to the White House. Those pictures and a Massachusetts court decision to allow same-sex marriage proved to be, if not political poison for Democratic challenger John Kerry, not exactly a tonic, either. The lesbian and gay community awoke Wednesday morning to a bitter landscape: Bush, who supports a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, re-elected (with a fifth of the gay vote); four new Republican senators, including staunch social conservative...

NEW ORLEANS -- It's a groundbreaking court decision that legal experts say will affect everyone: Police officers in Louisiana no longer need a search or arrest warrant to conduct a brief search of your home or business. Leaders in law enforcement say it will keep officers safe, but others argue it's a privilege that could be abused.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday to ban gay marriage, the first such vote since the historic ruling in Massachusetts last year that legalized same-sex weddings there. Although the ban was widely expected to pass in conservative Missouri, experts said the campaign served as a key barometer for which strategies work as the gay marriage battle spreads to ballot boxes around the nation. At least nine other states, and perhaps as many as 12, will vote on similar amendments this year. The amendment had garnered 70 percent of the vote with 91 percent...

President Bush will speak about his support of a ban on gay marriage at 10:45 am EST per Fox News.