Updated: November 6, 2008
A majority of California voters are backing a ballot measure to once again ban gay marriage in the state.
Barack Obama, 47, is the first black (or biracial) man to win the US presidency. On the eve of the Nov 4 election, he said in an interview with MTV that although he does not support same-sex marriage, he opposed the proposition on the ballot in California. ''When you start playing around with constitutions just to prohibit somebody who cares about another person, it just seems to me that's not what America is about.'' He supports civil unions between same-sex couples ''that provide legal rights to same-sex couples (so) that they can visit each other in the hospital if they get sick, (so) they can transfer property to each other. If they've got benefits, they can make sure those benefits apply to their partners.''
Earlier in the year, the California Supreme Court issued a ruling making such marriages legal under the state's constitution. An estimated 18,000 same-sex couples have married under the new laws in the last several months.
If Prop 8 passes, it is unclear what would happen to the status of gay marriages performed in California. The state attorney general, Jerry Brown, has said in media reports that those marriages would remain valid. But gay rights activists said they fear lawsuits could be filed to dissolve them.
Only three state ballots included questions on same-sex marriage this year, compared with eight in 2006 and 11 in 2004. In Florida and Arizona, the majority of voters on Tuesday support amending the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.
In both states, laws already defined marriage as a heterosexual institution. Supporters say amending the state constitutions is to prevent court rulings allowing same-sex marriage like those in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled to allow same-sex marriage legal last month.
Observers say California's vote on the issue is expected to have a far greater impact on how same-sex marriage will be received elsewhere.