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.
Way to go Missouri.
Can we put Missouri in to the Bush column rather than the leans Bush column now?
No.
Damn...and I just invested 50K on a gerbil ranch outside of St Louis.
Liberal arrogance. To them the folks in flyover country are dumb hicks who don't bow to their special brand of wisdom. And they wonder why they keep having their rear ends handed to them. Its statements like this that reveal how out of touch they are with mainstream American values.
Way to go, MO!
Bad news for Kerry. Yes I know his record but if this many people came out for traditional values they are energized to vote that way in Nov.
It would probably violate the zoning codes in any event. It would probably have to be somewhere in the Ozarks.
The Constitution Defense League is a coalition of statewide groups that incorporated in March of this year to defeat the Amendment. The coalition includes a number of organizations that work for equality before the law for all Missourians:
PROMO, Missouri's statewide advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender equality
The American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri
The Four Freedom's Democratic Club
Columbia/ Mid-MO LGBT Coalition
Our strategy is one of aggressive voter identification, education, mobilization, and fundraising throughout the state. We are also coordinating a massive volunteer recruitment and organization effort from our offices in St. Louis and Kansas City.
Let's hope they're this successful in November. ;-)
Kerry has never said where he stands on gay marriage. He also gives that ridiculous answer on abortion. NO one ever calls him on either of these issues. How can the looney Dems support him?
So do you think that people in Missouri don't understand that a vote for Kerry is a vote for "gay marriage"? The amendment Missouri voters voted on today only applies to Missouri. If Kerry is elected, he will appoint people like Laurence H. Tribe to the Supreme Court who will overrule the Missouri constituion on federal constitutional grounds probably emanating from the 14th amendment.
John F*ckin' knows coming out in support of gay marriage would be political suicide. He ain't going to do it now after 70% of the Show Me State's electorate gave a fat thumbs down to the idea.
That's because he's really for it, but he doesn't want to lose votes either way over this issue.
Correct. They don't follow the legal ins or outs. Kerry has said he opposes gay marriage. Plus, most folks are not single issue voters, believe it or not.
I like the liberal logic that says decisive US military action against Iraq infuriates the Islamic world. Somehow the image of the US condoning sodomy and licentious women do not infuriate the Islamic world and motivate the most devout Muslim to join Al Qaeda. Liberalism is a mental disease.
Exactly. He doesn't want to offend either swing voters or his party's gay lobby.
MO 'NO GO' HOMO BLO
Just wait until this is taken to court. Some judges bent on legislating from the bench will overturn it faster than you can say "real justice is dead."
LOLOL
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