Nine states vote to ban same-sex marriage
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Voters in nine states approved constitutional amendments Tuesday to ban same-sex marriage, in most cases by overwhelming margins. Opponents of the bans held out hope that Oregon, where results were not yet in, would buck the trend.
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SAN FRANCISCO - Laws limiting marriage to a man and a woman do not run afoul of California's constitution, Attorney General Bill Lockyer declared Friday in a long-awaited legal opinion that sought to avoid offending either side in the gay marriage debate.    In answering two lawsuits seeking to put California on par with Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legal, Lockyer said it was up to voters or the Legislature to decide whether to change "the common and traditional understanding" of matrimony that "pre-dates the founding of this state or nation."  "There is simply no deeply rooted tradition of same-sex marriage in California or in any other state," he said, while acknowledging that "committed and loving relationships between two individuals deserve recognition under California law."   The lawsuits claim California's marriage laws violate the state constitution's anti-discrimination provisions, an argument Lockyer rejected in the 37-page brief...
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NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana voters overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment Saturday banning same-sex marriages and civil unions, one of up to 12 such measures on the ballot around the country this year.    With 99 percent of precincts reporting, the amendment was winning approval with 78 percent of the vote, and support for it was evident statewide...
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Maryland's highest court ruled on Tuesday that marriage is between a man and a woman, overturning a lower court ruling and dashing the hopes of nine same-sex couples who wanted legal protection for long-term partners.
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Gay marriage in Massachusetts withstood a challenge on Thursday when lawmakers beat back a four-year effort by social conservatives to ban same-sex unions in the only U.S. state where they are legal.
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Gay rights groups plan to limit challenges to constitutional amendments banning gay marriage that 11 states passed last week.
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Still reeling from the passage last month of constitutional bans on same-sex marriage in 11 states, gay rights advocates moved on Wednesday to undo California&#39;s prohibition
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In a coast-to-coast rejection of gay marriage, voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments yesterday limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
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Massachusetts will remain the one and only state in the nation that allows gay marriage. The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to the 1-year-old decision by the state&#39;s highest court that legalized same-sex marriages.
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WASHINGTON - Gay marriage is emerging as a big enough issue in several states to influence races both for Congress and the presidency.    Ballot initiatives on banning same-sex marriages are expected to propel social conservatives to the polls in 11 states, including four presidential battlegrounds: Arkansas, Ohio, Michigan and Oregon...
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When it comes to statewide votes on gay marriage, the score so far is 20-0 in favor of keeping it a one-man, one-woman institution.
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WASHINGTON - The House emphatically rejected a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage Thursday, the latest in a string of conservative pet causes advanced by Republican leaders in the run-up to Election Day.    The vote was 227-186, 49 votes shy of the two-thirds needed for approval of an amendment that President Bush backed but the Senate had previously scuttled...
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Voters in eleven US states voted overwhelmingly to slap constitutional bans on gay marriage, one of the hottest issues in this year's presidential poll, early results showed.
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WASHINGTON - The Republican-controlled House emphatically defeated a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage Thursday, the latest in a string of conservative pet causes pushed to a vote by GOP leaders in the run-up to Election Day.    The vote was 227-186, far short of the two-thirds needed for approval on a measure that President Bush backed but the Senate had previously rejected...
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Gay rights activists received a rebuke from the Deep South to North Dakota as voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage in a clean sweep for proponents of traditional one-man, one-woman unions.
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BOSTON Aug. 19, 2004  A state judge upheld a 1913 law that prohibits out-of-state gay couples from marrying in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage between residents has been legal since May.
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BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana voters decided Saturday whether to approve a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, one of up to 12 such measures on the ballot around the country this year...