California's gay and lesbian citizens have lost the right to marry, after their state-wide ballot came out in favour of supporting the controversial Proposition 8 initiative by a slim majority. Meanwhile, there's more bad news for LGBT communities in other states of America. Similar bans on same-sex marriage were approved in Florida and Arizona, while Arkansas voters endorsed a measure to block same-sex couples from adopting children. Support for Proposition 8 in California means marriage will now be defined in the constitution as only possible between a man and a woman. The vote count continued well into the night last night, as America celebrated President-Elect Barack Obama's victory. With over 96% of the votes counted, 5,240,930 (52%) agreed with the proposition, while 4,806,595 (48%) disagreed. Most absentee and postal votes are yet to be counted. Same-sex marriage began in California in June, with over 18,000 gay and lesbian couples getting legally wed since then.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Thursday, 6th November 2008 - 9:32am