Predictions the 2008 vote would mark a shift to the left on social issues in the US appear unfounded as the rejection by voters of the Republican Party did not transfer into support of liberal initiatives on gay marriage.Voters in Florida and California split their tickets on Nov 4, backing left-leaning Democrat candidate Senator Barack Obama for president, but rejecting gay marriage in state ballot initiatives.
President-elect Barack Obama will enter the Oval Office in January with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, but the swing towards the Democratic Party did not translate into a move to the left on social issues in the US election. v Campaigns led by religious conservatives in California, Arizona, and Florida were successful in passing constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage, while Arkansas voters passed legislation forbidding same-sex couples or unmarried couples from adopting children or serving as foster parents.
Electioneering by Episcopal bishops in opposition to California’s Proposition 8 and Florida’s Proposition 2 (which called for ban on gay marriages) was blunted by strong lobbying by Evangelical, Mormon, and Roman Catholic Church leaders.
With 95 percent of state precincts reporting, Proposition 8 in California passed by a margin of 52 to 48 percent: 5,153,908 to 4,760,336. Senator Obama opposed Proposition 8 but won California 61 to 37 percent.
Exit polls in California showed that while White voters were evenly divided on Proposition 8, and showed a slight preference for McCain, Black and Hispanic voters backed Proposition 8 by a 3 to 1 margin, and overwhelmingly backed Obama.v California’s Episcopal Bishops called on voters to reject Proposition 8, stating that “justice demands that same-sex civil marriage continue in our state.”
In May the California Supreme Court overturned laws banning the state from performing or recognizing gay marriage. Supporters of traditional marriage responded by placing the issue on the Nov 4 ballot and appear to have successfully overturned the court’s ruling.
On Sept 10 the California Episcopal bishops said that since the court’s ruling “faithful gays and lesbians have entered into marriage as the principle way in which they show their love, devotion and life-long commitment to each other.” It would be unfair for this “right” now to be withdrawn from the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who had wed since the May court ruling.
Emotions ran high during the closing weeks of race, with supporters of Proposition 8 claiming the foundations of marriage and society were threatened by Proposition 8. Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary denounced the bishops’ stance as being in opposed to “Scripture, tradition and the practices and beliefs of most Christians worldwide — including most within their own Anglican Communion,” Dr. Mohler said.
The Episcopal bishops were “leading their own church to destruction, and encouraging in the larger society what the Bible condemns as sin. These are shepherds who are leading their own flocks right off a cliff,” he said.
However, Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno rejected this argument saying “the Christian values of monogamy, commitment, love, mutual respect and witness are enhanced for all by providing this [marriage] right to gay and straight alike.”
Opponents of Proposition 8 saw the issue as one of simple justice. The Rev. Susan Russell, president of the gay pressure group Integrity, told The Church of England Newspaper that “in the State of California there is strong Episcopal opposition to writing discrimination into our constitution — which is what will happen if Proposition 8 on the November ballot isn’t defeated.”
Supporters of Proposition 8 started well back in the polls, at one point lagging 17 points behind. However, a $74 million campaign—with ‘no’ supporters outspending ‘yes’ supporters, put the issue before the public.
In the closing days of the campaign, ‘no’ supporters appear to have overplayed their hand, with one add produced by a pressure group called 'Courage Campaign Issues Committee’ depicted Mormon missionaries invading the home of a lesbian couple, stealing their wedding bands and ripping up their marriage licence.
Florida voters, who gave Barack Obama a slim 51 to 49 win over John McCain, overwhelmingly endorsed Proposition 2, banning gay marriage, by a 62 to 38 margin with 99 percent of precincts reporting.
While Florida law already defined marriage as being between one man and one woman, supporters of Proposition 2 said a constitutional amendment defining marriage was needed so as to prevent same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions from being recognized in the state.
The Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, Bishop of Southeast Florida, on Oct 27 urged voters to reject Proposition 2 saying “that if we are to be faithful to our Lord's commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, we should not be enshrining in our state's constitution this discriminatory and potentially harmful language.”
Passage of Proposition 2 would “infringe upon our religious liberty by imposing a single religious definition of marriage on all Floridians, regardless of their beliefs; but because of its wording,” and would discriminate against common law marriages, he argued.
In 2006 Arizona voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as being between one man and one woman. However, on Tuesday, voters backed Proposition 102, a similar measure by a 56 to 44 margin.
With 95 percent of the vote counted, Arkansas voters adopted Initiative 1, which forbids gay couples from adopting children. The language of the measure prohibits unmarried same-sex and opposite-sex couples from adopting children or serving as foster parents.
As Arkansas forbids gay marriage, and does not recognize gay marriages performed in California or Massachusetts—the two states that along with Connecticut have permitted gay marriage by judicial fiat---it permanently bars same-sex couples from adopting children. The initiative passed by a 57 to 43 margin.
While decisively rejecting pro-gay initiatives, voters rejected two initiatives championed by the Roman Catholic Church. In Colorado, voters rejected by a 73 to 27 percent vote, a measure that would define a person to "include any human being from the moment of fertilization.”
The initiative would have modified sections of the Colorado Constitution that protect "natural and essential rights of persons” and was backed by anti-abortion activists.
While Senator Obama picked up Colorado from the Republican column, with 87 percent of the vote counted, a ban on affirmative action.
By a margin of less than 15,000 in almost 2 million votes cast, Colorado voters forbad the state government from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education, or public contracting.
South Dakota voters rejected an outright ban on abortion, by a 45 to 55 margin. The proposal would have forbad all abortions except in cases of rape or incest or where the mother's life or health is at risk. A similar measure that did not include exceptions for rape or the health of the mother lost on the ballot in 2006.
Religious conservatives lost two ballot initiatives on embryonic stem cell research and assisted suicide.
Michigan voters by a 53 to 47 percent margin agreed to amend the state constitution to permit human embryonic stem cell research with certain restrictions. The embryos must have been created for fertility treatment purposes; they must have been otherwise discarded; and they may not be used more than 14 days after cell division has begun.
In Washington State, Initiative 1000, allowing Doctor assisted suicide has an early lead in the polls. With 55 percent of the vote counted, voters approved a measure allowing those with less than six months to live to request a fatal dose of medicine from their physicians in order to end their lives. However, the patient, not the doctor, was empowered to administer the poisoned dose.
The measure appears set for approval, with early returns favoring Initiative1000 by 59 to 41 percent.
One local ordinance that attracted national attention on Tuesday was San Francisco’s Measure K, which would have decriminalized prostitution. By a voted of 58 to 42, the measure failed.
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(Source: RI)