Updating the Issues - Marriage

California's court decided yesterday that Proposition 8, the measure which made same-sex marriage illegal in the state, was not constitutional. Similar ballot measures are set for North Carolina, Minnesota, and Washington for 2012. The history of those measures shows that there is a high likelihood that efforts to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman will be successful.

There are currently only 6 states that have legal same-sex marriage. Of those states, marriage was initially made legal through a court order in Massachusetts and Iowa with no action by the representatives. Connecticut and Vermont made same-sex marriage legal through legislation, but only after the courts initiated the action. New York and New Hampshire passed laws in those states through the legislature without court initiation. No state that has same-sex marriage enacted it through a popular vote.

From 1998 to 2008, 30 states voted on state wide ballot issues that would ban same-sex marriage in the state. The wording of these laws is typically asserting that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Some of those laws also made civil unions and domestic partnerships illegal. Of those 30 states, only Arizona failed to pass the ban. However, even in that state, that ban was passed two years later when an additional ban on civil unions was removed from the ballot.

Within these states, when a proposed ban contained only a ban on same-sex marriage, it passed with an average support of 66% of the population of that state. States that passed bans on same-sex marriage with additional bans on civil unions and domestic partnerships passed with an average of 71% of the support of the population.

Thus, whenever the people are allowed to decide the issue, they overwhelmingly agree to define marriage as one man and one woman. It is only when the courts act, or the state legislative bodies act, that same-sex marriage is made legal. At least three more states will have their say in 2012.

Year	State	Ban on Marriage	Ban on Civil Unions	Ban on Domestic Partnership	Yes Votes	No Votes	Final
1998	Alaska				68%	32%
1998	Hawaii				69%	31%
2000	Nebraska				70%	30%
2002	Nevada				67%	33%
2004	Arkansas				75%	25%
2004	Georgia				76%	24%
2004	Kentucky				75%	25%
2004	Louisiana				78%	22%
2004	Michigan				59%	41%
2004	Mississippi				86%	14%
2004	Missouri				71%	29%
2004	Montana				67%	33%
2004	North Dakota				73%	27%
2004	Ohio				62%	38%
2004	Oklahoma				76%	24%
2004	Oregon				57%	43%
2004	Utah				66%	34%
2005	Kansas				70%	30%
2005	Texas				76%	24%
2006	Alabama				81%	19%
2006	Arizona				48%	52%
2006	Colorado				56%	44%
2006	Idaho				63%	37%
2006	South Carolina				78%	22%
2006	South Dakota				52%	48%
2006	Tennessee				81%	19%
2006	Virginia				57%	43%
2006	Wisconsin				59%	41%
2008	Arizona				56%	41%
2008	California				52%	48%
2008	Florida				62%	38%
2012	North Carolina				TBD	TBD
2012	Minnesota				TBD	TBD