Source: St. Petersburg Times, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Miami CBS4
"It's really a remarkable victory -- we're thrilled," said lawyer John Stemberger, who ran the campaign Florida4Marriage, the right-wing group that promoted Amendment 2, a Florida ballot measure banning marriages and civil unions for for lesbian and gay couples.
With 99% of the vote counted Wednesday morning, Amendment 2 was favored by 62% of voters. It required a super-majority of 60% to pass.
The measure limits civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman, but also bans other legal unions and their "substantial equivalent," which could raise a question of whether public employers, like community colleges and cities, can continue offering health care benefits to domestic partners. It would be up to courts to decide, St. Petersburg Times reports.
Terry Echols told South Florida Sun Sentinel that he doesn't think there's anything special about what he wants. It's the right to get married, along with all the legal rights and privileges that come with marriage. Even if the person he marries is another man.
When Florida voters passed the constitutional ban on marriage equality on Tuesday, Echols lost any hope of getting what he wants.
"Why shouldn't we have the same rights? Why shouldn't we deserve the same rights? Why shouldn't we want the same rights?" said Echols, 45, of Oakland Park.
Those rights, he told the Sun Sentinel, include the ability to make medical decisions, tax breaks, and coverage in insurance policies.
The success of the amendment was a victory for social conservatives who pumped millions into the ballot drive aimed at ensuring the courts cannot legalize same-sex unions in the Sunshine State.
A low key victory party was held Tuesday evening at the Wayside Baptist Church in Kendall as supporters of Amendment 2 watched as the votes tallied in their favor.
"This is just to clarify what marriage is in our Constitution," said Pastor Brandon Park. "It doesn't change anything. It just prevents any judges from making a decision that goes against the will of the people of Florida."
As the amendment's opponents watched their chances of victory slip away many worried about the second half of the measure which states that "no other legal union that is treated as a marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized." Critics say the amendment will not only ban same sex marriages, but also civil unions and domestic partnerships of gay and straight couples, Miami's CBS4 reports.
"If you really understand what their agenda is, the next step is to really take away all the existing rights from gay and straight people who are not technically married," said CJ Arturo from Save Dade, a group that campaigned against the measure.
After casting his ballot Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Crist told reporters outside the polling place, "I voted for it. It's what I believe in."
Stemberger claimed that many Floridians voted both for the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, and the marriage equality ban. Obama opposed the amendment. But Stemberger said he believed they won strong support from African Americans and Hispanics, St. Petersburg Times reports.
"Obviously, having a robust African-American turnout was helpful," he said.
Those who fought Amendment 2, including the group Florida Red and Blue, conceded the race close to midnight, although some parts of South Florida counties had yet to fully report.
"We worked hard to educate voters about what could be the dangerous fallout from Amendment 2," said Jon Kislak, the group's chairman. "But it proved to be a complex and nuanced argument."
The opposition to Amendment 2 sought to portray the ban as overreaching, arguing the amendment's broad, vague wording could cast legal doubt on domestic partner benefits for unmarried, heterosexual couples.
"I thought the wording of the amendment was deceiving," said John Wright, 55, of Fort Lauderdale, who was having coffee with a Echols this morning at Java Boys in Wilton Manors.
"Even people that knew the issue were having difficulty trying to discern what yes and what no meant on the ballot," Wright told the Sun Sentinel.
The fight over the gay marriage ban was one of the priciest this election season in Florida, with supporters raising nearly $2-million, including in-kind contributions, which was spent on advertising, St. Petersburg Times reports.
Opponents raised $3.3-million. The fight even landed briefly in court, when opponents tried to force Florida4Marriage to disclose some of its "in-kind" donors, but the judge refused to force disclosure on an election eve.
Source: Constitutional ban on gay marriage likely to pass | St. Petersburg Times
South Florida gays disappointed by amendment's passage | South Florida Sun Sentinel
Supporters Cheer Amendment 2's Passage | CBS4