California's Proposition 8, Same-Sex Marriage Ban [Updated]

So far with 95 percent of precincts reporting, the ban is passing. This doesn't surprise me. Minorities who came out in droves to vote for Obama also often supported the ban. Blacks and hispanics have closer church ties in general than whites (hence Obama's shameless pandering to black evangelicals in the SC primary campaign using an anti-gay spokesperson).

Anyway, I understand the feeling. It doesn't necessarily mean people are bigots or religious fascists as much as they feel this is being forced on them and they're tired of it; they feel sometimes gays are too much in their faces. That isn't a nice thing to say, but the feelings are real (read many of the comments on the Chronicle's website regarding this). The attitude is this: "I don't care what they do as long as they don't shove it down my throat." It's similar to people's attitudes about religion.

This post from the Chronicle's comments sums it up:

Like it or not. Isnt that your battle cry? The people have spoken, yet again in California, so deal with it. But this amendment to the state constitution is no where near the end. You SP's will never stop with the gay agenda. You have equal protection in the state and you just want a title chang. If the gay movement (see Newsom) was more humble and not so in your face about it I think many Californians would have a different outlook about so called gay rights. Today is a great day for humanity. Like it or not Newsom.

As the comment illustrates, a LOT of people were pissed off with SF Mayor Gavin Newsom's speech about same-sex marriage:



That could have done the trick if the measure passes. Many, though, think the measure will be declared unconstitutional.

There are still many ballots to count, however, and it could ultimately fail:

Election officials estimated there could be as many as 2 million ballots left to count after election day, mainly from mail ballots that arrived Tuesday.

Supporters of the ban stayed cautiously optimistic.

"We're confident voters did go to the polls to vote 'yes' to protect traditional marriage," said Chip White, a spokesman for the Prop. 8 campaign.

Similar bans were passed in Arizona and Florida.

I have long felt this country wasn't really ready for same-sex marriage; it's probably a couple of decades away at least.

Update: With 96 percent of the vote counted, the measure has officially passed, 52 percent to 48 percent.

I think Gavin Newsom's future political aspirations have just gone down the toilet.