Ed Vitagliano
AFA Journal news editor
January 2013 – While voters were casting ballots across the country for federal, state and local races, four bare-knuckle brawls over marriage were also being fought.
Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington state all saw ballot measures decided in favor of same sex marriage – the first time in American history that it happened in even one state, let alone four.
Every previous time the issue has been placed squarely before voters, natural marriage has been victorious. Prior to November 6, voters said no to same sex marriage in 32 out of 32 contests.
In May 2012, for example, voters in North Carolina approved a state constitutional ban on same sex marriage by a 61-39% margin.
Homosexual marriage was already legal in Washington, D.C., and six states (Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont), but each case was the result of either court rulings or legislative actions.
In the battles leading up to the November votes, supporters of same-sex marriage outspent supporters of natural marriage in every contest, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Here’s what happened in each November contest:
Maine This state has seen the battle over marriage rage back and forth. In 2009, Maine voters overturned a law that legalized gay marriage. Activists battled back and put another initiative back on the ballot to legalize it once again.
Result: The measure passed 53%-47%.
Maryland Earlier in 2012, the Maryland legislature passed a bill that made gay marriage legal and Gov. Martin O’Malley signed it into law. Natural marriage proponents, however, got enough signatures to place the issue before voters.
Opposition to Maryland’s gay marriage law had been stiffened by voices from the black church community.
According to the Chicago Tribune, however, that black opposition wavered in the months leading up to the vote following President Barack Obama’s decision to announce his support for gay marriage. Roughly half of all blacks in Maryland voted for the initiative.
Result: The measure passed 52%-48%.
Minnesota Voters in the Gopher State were the only ones in 2012 considering whether or not to place a ban on same sex marriage in the state’s constitution. A previously passed law already bans gay marriage, and that was unchanged by the November 6 outcome.
Result: The measure was defeated 52%-48%.
Washington In the northwest, the battle over marriage has raged for three years. In 2009, voters approved what the San Francisco Chronicle characterized as an “everything but marriage” law granting many rights to same sex couples.
That didn’t make gay activists happy, and earlier in 2012, the Washington legislature legalized same sex marriage and Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the measure into law.
The new law was put on hold until voters could have their say via referendum.
The fight over the ballot initiative turned quite nasty, with hundreds of signs in support of natural marriage being reported stolen, burned or defaced with pornography and spray paint.
Also of note were the major corporations that kicked in money to defeat natural marriage, including Amazon, Costco, Expedia, Google, Microsoft and Starbucks.
Result: The measure passed 52%-48%.
However, the battle at the polls may wind up simply being an expensive, noisy and emotional exercise in futility, since it appears inevitable that the federal judiciary will have the final say.
Federal judges have trumped California voters, who passed Proposition 8 four years ago and amended their state constitution to ban gay marriage; and invalidated the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress in 1996 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
Most experts believe that the issue of same sex marriage will finally be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, probably in the next year or two. 
