Missouri marriage amendment wins handily

A state constitutional amendment to define marriage in Missouri as the union of a man and woman cruised to a lopsided victory last night.

With 51 percent of precincts reporting last night, the amendment had received 659,267 “yes” votes to 251,754 “no” votes — a margin of 72 percent to 28 percent.

“We’re very gratified, encouraged and thankful” for the vote, said Vicky Hartzler of the Coalition to Protect Marriage in Missouri. “Here in the heartland, we’ve sent a message to the rest of the nation that we value marriage, and we want it to be protected from legal challenges. It’s ‘we, the people,’ not ‘we, the courts.’”

The Family Research Council also hailed last night’s “win for traditional marriage in Missouri,” the nation’s first popular vote on homosexual “marriage” since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized the unions in that state in November.

“Citizens from all across the Show Me State have shown once again that when the people’s voice is not muted by unelected judges, they speak out soundly in support of marriage as it has always been traditionally defined,” said Tony Perkins, council president.

Pro-family groups scored two other victories yesterday, with activists in North Dakota and Ohio saying that they had collected enough signatures to put state constitutional amendments against homosexual “marriage” on their ballots.

The amendment had been leading in newspaper public-opinion polls, with from 56 percent to 62 percent support. But opponents of homosexual “marriage” were helped to an even bigger triumph by a heavy turnout, which was projected at more than 40 percent of registered voters — compared with 25 percent in the 2002 state primary.

Turnout was also boosted by a hotly contested Democratic gubernatorial battle between incumbent Gov. Bob Holden and state Auditor Claire McCaskill.

Opponents of the amendment, arguing that Missouri law already prohibits same-sex “marriage” in the state and disallows recognition of same-sex “marriages” from other states, recently had blitzed the state with ads asking voters not to support such a “mean-spirited” amendment.

“We’re already reaching out to these other states, sharing with them what we learned, what worked, what didn’t work, and we’ll move on,” said Doug Gray, campaign manager for the Constitution Defense League.

“Ultimately, we’re right and they’re simply wrong,” he said.

The Missouri amendment would change the state constitution to say, “To be valid and recognized in this state, a marriage shall exist only between a man and a woman.”

Yesterday’s amendment vote was viewed by both sides as a bellwether for as many as 12 other states that will vote on marriage amendments in this political season.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest homosexual rights group, sent more than $100,000 to the Constitution Defense League in Missouri.

“Missouri is the first one,” said Seth Kilbourn, national field director of the Human Rights Campaign. “It’s really important that the gay and lesbian community and our allies wage as strong a campaign as we can to send a strong message to the other campaigns that are going on out there.”

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