Same-sex ‘marriage’ on ballot in four states
November 6, 2012 (LifeSiteNews) – Voters in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington will weigh in on the same-sex “marriage” issue in today’s elections. Homosexual activists hope that President Obama’s recent endorsement of same-sex “marriage” will influence voters to support gay nuptials in a statewide vote, a victory they have yet to win.
Today’s outcomes may have national implications in the face of two looming Supreme Court battles over the issue. In the month ahead, the Court will hear challenges to both the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, a ballot measure that repealed California’s same-sex “marriage” law.
“If even in this environment we still lost all four [states], it would be a significant setback and we would have to re-evaluate the state by state strategy,” homosexual activist Richard Socarides told Politico. “If with all this money, and with the president’s backing, and with all the public support, we can’t even break even on these, then I think it’s going to hurt us in these court cases.”
“I think that whether [the Justices] say they’re going to or not, when they’re kind of thinking about where the country is on these things; they’re going to look to how these referendums are turning out. If [homosexuals] can win, in the back of the minds of the Supreme Court justices it’ll make it ... easier,” he predicted.
In Maine, a citizen-led ballot initiative, if passed, will allow homosexuals to marry in the state. Maine’s legislature had previously passed a law permitting same-sex “marriage,” but a citizen-backed referendum overturned the law in 2009 with 53% of the vote. Now, homosexual activists have put their own initiative on the ballot, seeking to reinstate gay unions. If it passes, it would be the first citizen-led ballot initiative of its kind to be approved by voters.
Six states and Washington, D.C. already allow same-sex “marriage” due to legislative action or court decision, but voters have so far rejected the novel institution in every state where it has been on the ballot.
In Maryland and Washington the question is whether voters will approve or repeal laws passed by their elected officials to allow same-sex “marriage.” Maryland’s referendum gained national attention last month when a Gallaudet University administrator was suspended after she signed a petition to allow voters to decide the issue.
In Minnesota, voters will decide whether to amend the state’s constitution to permanently ban same-sex unions. Minnesota law already prohibits homosexual marriage, but advocates of traditional marriage say that a constitutional amendment is needed to prevent legislative or judicial activism of the kind that has occurred in other states.
Desperate to win their first statewide victory with voters, homosexual activists have outspent supporters of traditional marriage in every state where the issue appears on the ballot.
“The reality is, they’re spending 11-to-one against us in some of these states,” National Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown told Politico. “That’s different because it makes it harder for us to get our message out.
“But if we’re able to win all four, I don’t think anyone can take seriously the claims of the other side that somehow we’re at some tipping point. Even if we lose one or two, given what we’re up against, that will still be a strong showing on our part because these are difficult states.”
Added Brown, “We’ve already won all of the states where we could just get signatures and get on the ballot … these are definitely not conservative states.”
