GAY MARRIAGE BAN TO GO ON STATE'S BALLOT.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A proposal that would declare that only marriages between a man and a woman would be recognized as legal in California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). won a place Tuesday on the state's primary election ballot in 2000. The initiative by state Sen. W.J. ``Pete'' Knight, R-Palmdale, originally was written in response to a 1993 Hawaiian court ruling that held the state had no constitutional right to ban homosexual homosexual /ho·mo·sex·u·al/ (-sek´shoo-al) 1. pertaining to, characteristic of, or directed toward the same sex. 2. one who is sexually attracted to persons of the same sex. marriages because that would deny some citizens the rights provided to others. Since California recognizes any marriage that was valid where it took place, that could have had the effect of recognizing some gay marriages in California. But Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal recognition of gay marriage and allowed states to ignore same-sex unions A Same-sex union refers to an enduring relationship between two people of the same gender. Literary, historical, and archaeological evidence of such unions has been found for a number of diverse cultures as early as 2400 B.C. licensed elsewhere. Since then 29 states have banned homosexual marriage. Knight's petition drive collected 677,000 signatures, of which more than 482,000 were projected to be valid voter VOTER. One entitled to a vote; an elector. signatures based on a random sampling. At least 433,269 voter signatures were needed to qualify the measure for the March 7, 2000, primary. |
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