Posted on 08/03/2004 10:12:06 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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 of precincts reporting.
Missouri and 37 other states already have laws defining marriage as only between a man and a woman. But amendment supporters fear a court could toss aside the state law, and they believe the state would be on firmer legal ground if an outright ban is part of the Constitution.
"I'm very gratified and encouraged and thankful that the people of this state understand our current policy's a wise public policy and they want to see it protected from a legal challenge," said Vicky Hartzler, a spokeswoman for the Coalition to Protect Marriage in Missouri.
Opponents said the amendment was unnecessary and discriminatory, but knew they faced an uphill battle in Missouri.
"We're already reaching out to these other states, sharing with them what we learned, what worked, what didn't work, and we'll move on," said Doug Gray, campaign manager for the Constitution Defense League. "Ultimately we're right and they're simply wrong."
Supporters and opponents of the amendment have used grassroots campaigns, knocking on doors and making phone calls to tell people about the issue. The group fighting the amendment, the Constitution Defense League, raised more than $360,000, largely from national gay-rights groups, and ran a television ad in the final days before the vote.
The group favoring the amendment, the Coalition to Protect Marriage in Missouri, spread the word through churches and community events, raising just a few thousand dollars but saying public sentiment in Missouri was on their side.
Louisiana residents are to vote on a marriage amendment Sept. 18. Then Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah are to vote on the issue Nov. 2. Initiatives are pending in Michigan, North Dakota and Ohio.
Four states already have similar amendments.
I was hoping to save on trucking costs to the StLouis and Kansas City markets. Plus, I wouldn't want the creatures to get use to that fresh Ozark Mt air considering what kind of environment they will spend there final seconds in.
Whatever his stance would be, you know the Democrats are going to give him a pass. They already gave him a pass not too long ago for his pro-life stance. No matter who it is in the Democrat party, if they do something that offends, turns people off, or puts them in the minority on any given issue, the whole Democratic party will give their Democrat party member a pass. How they get elected in fly-over country is whole other ball of wax, but I can assure you, the one lone Senate Democrat from Montana (Max Baucus) is about as left as Kerry is on many issues, yet when he campaigns in Montana for re-election, he camouflages and masks himself to appear to be a Republican.
I believe Rush said today the last refuge of liberalism is the courts. They've never been able to persuade voters to embrace their agenda. All that stuff, they've had to get one judge or another or another to do it for them. They can't trust the people to vote for them and their philosophy if they were honest about it.
Although the ban was widely expected to pass in conservative Missouri
If Missouri is so conservative, how come the pubbles always consider it a "swing state"?
It would probably violate the zoning codes in any event. It would probably have to be somewhere in the Ozarks.
Sorry, but Ozarkians wouldn't understand the connotation..
They'd think the gerbils were snack food...
( Hamster Wings ? )
You seem to have a certain business sense (scent?). I will give you that. :)
About the same % as the whole country.
Too bad the people of Massachusetts didn't get their right to speak. They were simply ordered to obey. I feel sorry for the normal people stuck in Gomorrah.
hehehe.... they consider every one in flyover country to be the Great Unwashed. After all we're eevil just for not accepting their ideas on how our country ought to be run.
Not neccessarily. Blacks hate gays, and so either voted yes or didn't vote at all.But come Nov 2, they will be out in force to vote early, late and often.
No problem...
Just invest in about 1500 miles of plastic tubing -- far enough to reach Hollywood.
Grassroots has to constantly remind the voters about this. Their voice may be silenced via fascist litigation, like those poor people in Massachusetts.
Kerry stated his positions (both of them) in this recent interview with Peter Jennings.
In John Kerry's Own Words:
On Thursday, Senator John Kerry sat down for an interview with ABC News reporter Peter Jennings. Below is a portion of that interview.
Peter Jennings: "You told an Iowa newspaper recently that life begins at conception. What makes you think that?"
Sen. Kerry: "My personal belief about what happens in the fertilization process is a human being is first formed and created, and that's when life begins. Something begins to happen. There's a transformation. There's an evolution. (Evolution?? Is this guy an idiot or was he asleep in biology class?)
Within weeks, you look and see the development of it, but that's not a person yet, and it's certainly not what somebody, in my judgment, ought to have the government of the United States intervening in. Roe v. Wade has made it very clear what our standard is with respect to viability, what our standard is with respect to rights. I believe in the right to choose, not the government choosing, but an individual, and I defend that."
Jennings: "Could you explain again to me what do you mean when you say 'life begins at conception'?"
Kerry: "Well, that's what the Supreme Court has established is a test of viability as to whether or not you're permitted to terminate a pregnancy, and I support that. That is my test. And I, you know, you have all kinds of different evolutions of life, as we know, and very different beliefs about birth, the process of the development of a fetus. That's the standard that's been established in Roe v. Wade. And I adhere to that standard."
Jennings: "If you believe that life begins at conception, is even a first-trimester abortion not murder?"
Kerry: "No, because it's not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past. It's the beginning of life. Does life begin? Yes, it begins. Is it at the point where I would say that you apply those penalties? The answer is, no, and I believe in choice. I believe in the right to choose, and the government should not involve itself in that choice, beyond where it has in the context of Roe v. Wade."
John Kerry's Own Actions:
Kerry Has Voted At Least Six Times Against Banning Partial-Birth Abortion.
Kerry Has Voted At Least 25 Times In Favor Of Using Taxpayer Dollars To Pay For Abortions In United States.
Kerry Voted Against Unborn Victims of Violence Act - "Laci and Connor Peterson's Law"
Nonpartisan National Journal Scored Kerry's Votes Most Liberal In Senate For 2003. Kerry scored a Senate-high 97% liberal rating for 2003, beating out Sens. Barbara Boxer (91), Hillary Clinton (89), Ted Kennedy (88), and Tom Daschle (80). (National Journal Website, "How They Measured Up," http://nationaljournal.com, 2/27/04)
John Kerry says he believes that life begins at conception, yet does not have the conviction to protect life, and instead promotes abortion -- even up until the moment a child takes their first breath!
In John Kerry's Own Words:
On Thursday, Senator John Kerry sat down for an interview with ABC News reporter Peter Jennings. Below is a portion of that interview.
Peter Jennings: "You told an Iowa newspaper recently that life begins at conception. What makes you think that?"
Sen. Kerry: "My personal belief about what happens in the fertilization process is a human being is first formed and created, and that's when life begins. Something begins to happen. There's a transformation. There's an evolution. (Evolution?? Is this guy an idiot or was he asleep in biology class?)
Within weeks, you look and see the development of it, but that's not a person yet, and it's certainly not what somebody, in my judgment, ought to have the government of the United States intervening in. Roe v. Wade has made it very clear what our standard is with respect to viability, what our standard is with respect to rights. I believe in the right to choose, not the government choosing, but an individual, and I defend that."
Jennings: "Could you explain again to me what do you mean when you say 'life begins at conception'?"
Kerry: "Well, that's what the Supreme Court has established is a test of viability as to whether or not you're permitted to terminate a pregnancy, and I support that. That is my test. And I, you know, you have all kinds of different evolutions of life, as we know, and very different beliefs about birth, the process of the development of a fetus. That's the standard that's been established in Roe v. Wade. And I adhere to that standard."
Jennings: "If you believe that life begins at conception, is even a first-trimester abortion not murder?"
Kerry: "No, because it's not the form of life that takes personhood in the terms that we have judged it to be in the past. It's the beginning of life. Does life begin? Yes, it begins. Is it at the point where I would say that you apply those penalties? The answer is, no, and I believe in choice. I believe in the right to choose, and the government should not involve itself in that choice, beyond where it has in the context of Roe v. Wade."
John Kerry's Own Actions:
Kerry Has Voted At Least Six Times Against Banning Partial-Birth Abortion.
Kerry Has Voted At Least 25 Times In Favor Of Using Taxpayer Dollars To Pay For Abortions In United States.
Kerry Voted Against Unborn Victims of Violence Act - "Laci and Connor Peterson's Law"
Nonpartisan National Journal Scored Kerry's Votes Most Liberal In Senate For 2003. Kerry scored a Senate-high 97% liberal rating for 2003, beating out Sens. Barbara Boxer (91), Hillary Clinton (89), Ted Kennedy (88), and Tom Daschle (80). (National Journal Website, "How They Measured Up," http://nationaljournal.com, 2/27/04)
John Kerry says he believes that life begins at conception, yet does not have the conviction to protect life, and instead promotes abortion -- even up until the moment a child takes their first breath!
The BC'04 Campaign needs to really "push" the gay marriage issue and flush out John Kerry on it.
From DUmmies.com tonight....
I am so thankful our state legistlature kept this off our ballot
at least for now... (in KS)
I just wait for a Kerry Admin... a couple new Justices... and let the USSC fix this for us.
I'll let you know how that turns out.
Although the ban was widely expected to pass in conservative Missouri
If Missouri is so conservative, how come the pubbles always consider it a "swing state"?
St. Louis and Kansas City are liberalville not unlike any other major city in this nation. There are plenty of FDR dims and UNION members whose first religion is their political party, and many go to church every Sunday morn.
Somethings are impossible to explain about the voters in this state after all this state elected a "dead" man for Senate and the the acting governor Holden appointed the "dead" man's wife in his stead for that Senate seat.
He said *personally believed* marriage to be between a man and a woman, as I recall from a dim debate, but in typical fashion, never explained whether he also believed that marriage could be between a man and a man, and a woman and a woman, and never criticized the Mass. decision or any of its progeny.
John Kerry is about as against same sex marriage as I am against winning a lottery.
Putting abortion up for a vote is a good idea. People had no say on that issue, either. It was forced upon the American people. Fascist litigation gave us that one, too.
Amen to that and let me add Columbia, MO to the list.
The one thing that I have noticed is alot of the "union democrat guys" are getting PO'd about the democrat's stances on gun control.
Saw a "Sportsman for Carnahan" sticker once and it cracked me up...gave them the W sign.
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