Marriage Amendment Recap

Arizona rejects anti-gay marriage amendment

By ERIC ERVINNOV. 8, 2006
Houston Voice
Arizona rejects anti-gay marriage amendment
Similar measures pass in seven other states


Results of Nov. 7 votes on gay marriage amendments
ArizonaYes: 48.6 percentNo: 51.4 percent
ColoradoYes: 56 percentNo: 44 percent
IdahoYes: 63 percentNo: 37 percent
South CarolinaYes: 78 percentNo: 22 percent
South DakotaYes: 52 percentNo: 48 percent
TennesseeYes: 81.3 percentNo: 18.7 percent
VirginiaYes: 57 percent No: 43 percent
WisconsinYes: 59 percentNo: 41 percent

Source: CNN.com and state offices of the Secretary of State.
Arizona voters narrowly defeated a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, becoming the first state in the country to reject such a measure.
Some 51.4 percent of those who voted rejected the measure and 48.6 supported it, with 2,208 of the state’s 2,209 precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the Arizona Secretary of State’s office on Wed.
Proposition 107 would have banned gay marriage and prohibited granting unmarried couples any legal status similar to marriage.
“I don’t think it’ll make a difference when all of the ballots are counted, we’ve won. I’m really proud to be in Arizona right now,” said Kyrsten Sinema, chair of Arizona Together and a Democratic state legislator.
Sinema estimated her organization spent about $1.5 million on the campaign to defeat the measure. The Human Rights Campaign, a national gay political group, contributed approximately $125,000 to Arizona Together, and “helped leverage an additional $70,000,” according to an HRC press release.
Joe Solmonese, HRC president, hailed the Arizona results, but added it takes time to achieve marriage equality for gay men and lesbians.
“In this modern day world, we get a little impatient about how long this awesome civil rights struggle will take,” he said. “This is the civil rights struggle of our time. This is a decade-long-or-more struggle.”
Solmonese said he believes Tuesday’s vote in Arizona shows gay activists are making strides in winning equality.
“Is this Arizona victory the next turning point in that very long march to equality? I think it might be,” he said.