Same-sex marriage takes a hit

"We don't see it as two different issues," explains Phil Burress, chairman of the coalition and president of Citizens for Community Values. "What good does it do to protect the name of marriage and let it be called something else? It's the duck test. If you give away the benefits of marriage and call it something else it's marriage," he adds.

Burress scoffs at the Missouri language, saying "If the legislature had done it in Ohio, it would probably say the same thing. We went the petition route, so we wrote it." He is waiting to find out if the state of Ohio will accept the signatures needed to put the amendment question on the November ballot.

This year the issue is inextricably entwined with presidential politics. Like Missouri and Ohio, most of the states facing amendment votes are battleground states where a highly emotional referendum could draw more voters in November. On a more pragmatic note, most are states where amendment proponents could expect to win without spending a lot of money or political capital. The list includes Montana, Oregon, Georgia, Mississippi, Utah, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Michigan. North Dakota may be added this week. Louisiana votes Sept. 18.

Missouri's vote "makes the grade of the uphill battle that much steeper," says Rea Carey, deputy executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce. That might explain the effort in the taskforce's post-vote press release to squeeze lemonade out of lemons by emphasizing the one-third of voters who rejected the amendment. They could point to other small victories: Allies included the editorial page of every major newspaper and numerous clergy.

Says Carey, "To many of us it seems quite transparent that these constitutional amendments, which is public gay bashing, are one of the last acceptable get-out-the vote strategies being put forth."

In Missouri, a twist in state law giving the governor the power to select the ballot for a referendum changed the timing when Gov. Bob Holden, a Democrat, pushed it onto the August primary ballot. Proponents argued that Holden was trying to keep turnout low; others say he wanted to take the issue off the table for November. Holden lost his bid for a second term.

Despite the focus on the current rash of state amendments, both sides agree on one other point: The real outcome will be decided further down the road.

Matt Daniels of the Alliance for Marriage sees it as "a dress rehearsal for the debate which has been forced on us by the courts."

Matt Coles of the ACLU is watching a younger generation that favors marriage between same-sex couple preparing to enter the voting pool. "The only election that's good for us is in about five years."

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