Congress urged to ban gay marriage

Conservatives buoyed by winning ballot measures

Elated by an 11-for-11 rejection of gay marriage in state elections, conservatives Wednesday urged Congress to follow suit by approving a federal constitutional amendment that would extend the prohibition nationwide.

The state victories “are a prelude to the real battle,” said Matt Daniels, whose Alliance for Marriage has pushed for congressional action. “Ultimately, only our Federal Marriage Amendment will protect marriage.”

Gay activists, though dejected by the overwhelming rebuff, vowed to keep fighting in the courts for marriage rights. Several lawsuits are pending, and more are planned.

Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force described the election results as “a right hook to the chin … but certainly not a knockout.” Said Oregon activist Roey Thorpe, “On the road to equality and freedom there are always setbacks.”

Oregon represented gay-rights groups’ best hope for victory, but an amendment banning same-sex marriage prevailed there with 57 percent of the votes, leaving some activists in tears. Similar bans won by larger margins in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio and Utah.

More than 20 million Americans voted on the measures, which triumphed overall by a 2-to-1 ratio. In the four Southern states, the amendments received at least three-quarters of the votes, including 86 percent in Mississippi; the closest outcome besides Oregon was in Michigan, where the ban got 59 percent.

Activists on both sides say the state amendments approved Tuesday — and similar measures adopted previously in six other states — guard against state court rulings like the one in Massachusetts. However, the newly approved bans could be overturned by a U.S. Supreme Court decision that cited the federal Constitution, which is why conservatives want an anti-gay amendment passed by Congress.

In Massachusetts, despite conservative efforts to unseat them, all incumbent legislators who supported equal treatment for same-sex couples won re-election. In Cincinnati, the nation’s only city with a ban on laws supporting gay rights, voters repealed that 1993 measure.

Idaho and North Carolina voters elected their first openly gay legislators, and an openly gay Hispanic woman, Lupe Valdez, was elected county sheriff in Dallas.