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Homosexuals seek to overturn marriage amendment
Associated Press - 11/6/2008 7:40:00
Associated Press LOS ANGELES - Homosexuals and their supporters in California are vowing to fight the passage of a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman.
Even as the last votes were being counted, the American Civil Liberties Union and other opponents of Proposition 8 filed a challenge with the state Supreme Court. They contended that it cannot be used to undermine one group's access to rights enjoyed by other citizens. (Read earlier story: "Major pro-family victory in California")
The city attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco also filed a request with the Supreme Court to invalidate the amendment's approval, arguing that it deprives homosexuals of constitutional rights.
This amendment became necessary after the California Supreme Court -- by a 4-to-3 decision last summer -- ruled that an earlier state referendum protecting traditional marriage was illegal.
Proposition 8, which appeared on Tuesday ballot and passed with 52 percent of the vote, overrides that court ruling by defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Thirty states now have adopted such measures, but the California vote marks the first time a state took away same-sex "marriage" after it had been legalized.
Exit polls on Tuesday revealed dramatic demographic gaps in the homosexual-marriage vote. While about six in 10 voters under 30 opposed the ban, about the same proportion of those 65 and older supported it. There were sharp racial discrepancies as well. Even as black voters overwhelmingly backed Barack Obama -- a homosexual-rights supporter -- in the presidential race, about seven in 10 of them voted against same-sex marriage, compared with about half of white voters.
Denise Fernandez, a 57-year-old black woman from Sacramento, said she voted for Obama and Proposition 8. "I believe a Christian is held accountable," she said.
Traditional marriage amendments also passed on Tuesday in Arizona and Florida, with 57 percent and 62 percent support, respectively, while Arkansas voters approved a measure aimed at homosexuals that bars unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents.
Massachusetts and Connecticut are now the only states to allow same-sex marriage.
