A year ago, California voters passed Proposition 8, a measure that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. On Tuesday, 53% of voters in the state of Maine repealed a law passed by their legislature that had legalized same-sex marriage.
To date, 31 states, including Arkansas, have conducted state-wide votes on same-sex marriage. Voters in every one of those 31 states have affirmed marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In fact, when the issue has gone to a state-wide vote gay activists have ultimately lost in 31 out of 31 states. Only when the courts or legislative bodies become involved has same-sex marriage been legalized. Same-sex marriage has been legalized in five states, and two more states and the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
In 2004 Arkansas voters passed a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The measure passed with 75% of the vote.
