Seven states ban same-sex marriages

Voters in seven states approved constitutional amendments Tuesday to ban same-sex marriage, with similar results expected in most, possibly all, of the four other states considering such measures.

The amendments won easy approval, as expected, in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Ohio.

Exit polls showed the ban winning by 3-to-1 in Georgia and 3-to-2 in Ohio, while the Kentucky amendment had 65 percent support with most votes counted.

The Ohio measure, considered the most broad of the 11 because it barred any legal status that "intends to approximate marriage," gathered equal support from men and women, blacks and whites.

Still to come were results from Montana, North Dakota, Oregon and Utah.

In Georgia, Ohio and Mississippi, gay rights activists suggested they might mount court challenges of the newly approved amendments. But supporters of the bans were jubilant.

"I've said all along that this crossed party lines, color lines and socioeconomic lines," said Sadie Fields of the Georgia Christian Coalition. "The people in this state realized that we're talking about the future of our country here."

Conservatives hoped the amendments would prevail in all 11 states, sending a signal that the American public disapproved of gay marriage.

National and local gay rights groups campaigned vigorously in Oregon, where polls showed a close race, to try to prevent a sweep, but the initial results were running against them.

None of the 11 states allow gay marriage now, though officials in Portland, Ore., married more than 3,000 same-sex couples last year before a judge halted the practice.

Supporters of the amendments contend the measures are needed as an extra guard against state court rulings like the one in Massachusetts a year ago that legalized same-sex marriage there.

The proposed amendments in Mississippi, Montana and Oregon referred only to marriage, specifying that it should be limited to unions of one man and one woman. The measures in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Utah called for a ban on civil unions as well.

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Election 2004

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