Same-sex marriage takes a hit

Spurred by the controversial court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and the sight of couples lined up for weddings on both coasts, voters in Missouri took out a legal insurance policy this week by passing a constitutional amendment outlawing the practice here.

In so doing, Missouri may be a harbinger of similar votes set to occur in at least nine states this fall. After all Missouri, as a demographic microcosm of the country, has a reputation as a political bellwether.

The vote Tuesday, with a lopsided 70 percent of state residents supporting the amendment, was the first of its kind since the Massachusetts ruling. In the months since that decision, opponents of same-sex marriage have pushed for constitutional amendments in states with receptive electorates, including Missouri, and for a tougher goal: to amend the US Constitution.

Both sides in this contentious debate agree on one key point: "that we have to convince the American middle to succeed," says Matt Coles, a leader of the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian and Gay Rights project.

For gay activists, who would have been shocked to win here despite a well-financed campaign against the amendment, it's another obstacle on a crowded national course on an emotional issue. "What we did wrong in Missouri was we just didn't have enough time to engage people," Mr. Coles says.

Missouri, like a majority of US states, already had a law barring homosexual marriage. Now it will have constitutional insurance against a court challenge to that provision: an amendment declaring marriage "to exist only between a man and a woman." The measure passed in every county except the city of St. Louis. Many out-state counties known for their conservative religious bent voted for it by margins of more than 8-to1.

At the Alliance for Marriage, Matt Daniels, president of the coalition pushing a federal marriage amendment, sees the Missouri vote as "a great bellwether of things to come but the ultimate battle is over the federal marriage amendment."

"Nonetheless, all of these state votes are important," he adds, "They help us to develop the momentum and the infrastructure at the state level to fight the ratification battle for the federal marriage amendment." It takes 38 states to ratify a constitutional amendment.

And the other state battles this fall will not necessarily parallel the Missouri pattern. The simplicity of Missouri's language helped get the motion out of the Missouri legislature quickly and made it easier to pass. The battle may be tougher for the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage, which refuses to separate the question of marriage from the issue of legal benefits for gay and lesbian couples.

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