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Nov 6, 2008 9:51 am US/Pacific

Proposition 8-Same-Sex Marriage Ban

Total Reporting:99%

	Name	Votes	Pct.
	Yes	5,387,939	52%
	No	4,883,460	48%

LAST UPDATE: Nov-06-2008, 01:40 PM Pacific Standard Time

California DENIES Gay Marriage in Protested Historical Decision!

Protests, Lawsuits, Arrests Follow Prop. 8 Win

Election Results - Proposition 8
Exit Poll: Black, Religious Voters Backed Prop. 8

Eye On Blogs: Weddings Cease, Post Your Comments

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― Hundreds of people gathered Wednesday evening on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall to protest California voters' approval by a slim majority of a ban on same-sex marriage, overturning the state Supreme Court decision that gave gay couples the right to wed just months ago.

Meanwhile in West Hollywood, 7 people were arrested during a sprawling, hours-long protest that blocked streets in the area.

Police officer Jason Lee says marchers were mostly peaceful in the protest against Proposition 8 that began Wednesday in West Hollywood and continued into Thursday morning.

But four people were taken into custody at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland when they tried to cross a line of officers.

Television cameras showed one of the protesters jumping on top of a police car. He was quickly wrestled to the ground by police.

Sheriff's Sgt. Kristin Aloma says two people were arrested in West Hollywood for disturbing the peace, and another was arrested for public drunkenness.

She says one deputy had minor injuries when he was hit by a car as he prepared to close an intersection before protesters arrived.

In San Francisco, about 1,000 people held candles and carried signs that read "We all Deserve the Freedom to Marry" as part of the event, which was sponsored by groups opposed to Proposition 8. A similar protest was also held in Sacramento, along with the West Hollywood protest.

Proposition 8's passage in Tuesday's election represented a crushing political defeat for gay rights activists, who had hoped public opinion on the contentious issue had shifted enough to help them defeat it.

"I never would have thought in my lifetime that I'd see a constitution changed to take rights away," a frustrated San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said at a Wednesday news conference.

"My reaction is that I'm really sorry it came out the way it did," added U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who leant her voice to the campaign to defeat the measure. But she struck a note of optimism by adding,"I don't believe the final word has been said on Proposition 8."

With 100 percent of precincts in the state reporting on Wednesday afternoon, election returns showed Proposition 8 winning with 52.5 percent, compared to 47.5 percent against it. However, election officials said 2 million to 3 million provisional and absentee ballots remained to be tallied, and leaders of the No on 8 campaign said they were not ready to concede.

"Roughly 400,000 votes separate yes from no on Prop 8," committee
members said the statement, indicating that they believe there is still a chance to defeat the measure.

Based on trends and the locations of the votes still outstanding, an Associated Press analysis concluded that the margin of support in favor of the initiative appeared secure and they projected Prop. 8 as being approved.

"There's no question that Proposition 8 has passed," declared Frank Schubert, co-manager of the Yes on 8 campaign. "People believe in the institution of marriage. It's one institution that crosses ethnic divides, that crosses partisan divides."

Opponents of the gay marriage ban said Wednesday that legal challenges were already underway.

Seven same-sex couples and the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles and Santa Clara County filed suits in the high court seeking to invalidate Proposition 8.

Court spokeswoman Lynn Holton said the court "will act as quickly as possible" on the stay requests.

The suits claimed the measure would "subvert the fundamental principle of equal treatment." Civil liberties lawyers argued in one of the court filings that, "If given effect, Proposition 8 would work a dramatic, substantive change to our constitution's underlying principles, on a scale and scope never previously condoned by the court."

Legal analyst Melissa Griffin told CBS 5 that there was a substantial argument being made by the measure's opponents that the matter of same-sex marriage was too weighty to be decided by a ballot proposition.

In legal terms, it's called a "revision," said Griffin, a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. "This is a substantive change to the constitution and a change of that nature - a revision - has to be made with a constitutional convention" — which would require a vote of two-thirds of each house of the state Legislature before being submitted to voters, she summarized.

That argument had been made by opponents before Prop. 8 even went on the ballot, but a state Supreme Court justice rejected it at the time, ruling it a moot point because the people hadn't yet voted on the measure. There was no controversy, so nothing to decide, the court effectively said.

By changing the state constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman, Prop. 8 overturns the high court's decision that legalized same-sex marriage in the state in mid-June. Since then, an estimated 18,000 gay and lesbian couples, many of them from other states, were married.

The measure's passage represents a personal loss for couples who still hoped to wed, and casts a shadow of uncertainty on the legal unions of those who already have. Because the initiative holds that only marriage between a man and a woman is recognized in the state, legal experts have said it will have to be resolved in court whether existing gay marriages would be nullified.

Amid uncertainty over when the amendment takes effect, gay and lesbian couples continued seeking marriage licenses throughout the state Wednesday. They were successful in some jurisdictions and not others where county clerks wanted direction before sanctioning any more same-sex unions.

Jake Rowe, 27, and James Eslick, 29, were in the midst of getting married at Sacramento City Hall on Wednesday when someone from the clerk's office stopped the wedding. The two men had planned to get married next year because "We held in hope that 8 would not pass," Rowe said.

"I'm thoroughly surprised. I thought Californians had come to the point where they realized discrimination wasn't right," he said.

Kate Folmar, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Debra Bowen, said initiatives typically take effect the day after an election, although the results from Tuesday's races will not be certified until Dec. 13.

Couples who had optimistically made appointments to get hitched at San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday were asked to wait until the clerk's office received guidance from state officials, said county clerk Karen Hong Lee.

"I know what the Constitution says, but with the fact there are some votes still uncounted, we want to make absolutely sure as administrators we are doing our jobs properly," Hong said.

But in Los Angeles, couples still were able to wed - for now.

Grace Chavez, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County registrar's office, said weddings for gay couples were being performed in first floor chapel. She could not, however, say if there was any last-minute rush of couples trying to marry before the measure is enforced.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown has said he thinks the ban would not apply to couples who tied the knot between mid-June and election day. As for who managed to marry Wednesday, Dana Simas, a spokeswoman for Brown, said "that is an issue that we have not yet decided."

Despite intense disappointment, some newlyweds elected to look on the positive side, taking comfort that millions of Californians had voted to validate their relationships.

"I'm really OK," said Diana Correia, of Berkeley, who married her partner of 18 years, Cynthia Correia, on Sunday in front of the couple's two children and 80 relatives and friends. "I hope the marriage holds, but we are already married in our hearts, so nobody can take that away."

(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)