Printer-Friendly Version

Kansas Voters Say No to Same-Sex Marriage
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
April 6, 2005

(CNSNews.com) -- Kansas voters have overwhelmingly approved a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman -- and effectively outlawing same-sex civil unions.

The amendment passed with 70 percent support -- a margin of 170,000 votes -- according to preliminary returns. Tuesday's vote makes Kansas the eighteenth state to adopt a state marriage amendment.

Three more states -- Alabama, South Dakota and Tennessee -- will have marriage amendments on their 2006 ballots.

But the vote in Kansas is just a "prelude" to the real battle, said the Alliance for Marriage, a group that wants to amend the U.S. Constitution to protect marriage across the country.

The Alliance for Marriage says a decade of "activist lawsuits" has made a constitutional "fix" necessary. Although many states have laws defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, those laws do not always hold up in court.

That's why the Kansas House of Representatives, in February, approved an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

"Legislators in Kansas, where a Defense of Marriage Act is already on the books, saw a need to protect marriage against activist judges on the state level and, in a refreshing move, gave Kansas voters a chance to voice their support for traditional marriage," said Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, in a statement before the vote tally was known.

The Alliance for Marriage has drafted a Federal Marriage Amendment. President Bush has endorsed the amendment, but it failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate last year.

Supporters at the time said just bringing the matter to a vote -- and putting lawmakers' stand on the issue on the record -- was a victory in itself.

Copyright © 1998-2005 CNSNews.com - Cybercast News Service