MISSOURI Voters push to ban gay marriage

Threats against homosexuals were made to one group's office.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Amid opponents' reports of death threats and harassment, Missourians overwhelmingly were saying yes Tuesday to a proposal amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
With nearly all precincts reporting, the amendment had garnered 71 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results for Tuesday's vote.
Support for the amendment was high in rural Missouri, but results from Kansas City and St. Louis were too incomplete to tell whether the amendment would win in the state's two largest cities as well.
With the adoption of the amendment, Missouri would become the first state in the nation to ban gay marriage by constitutional amendment since a Massachusetts court decision opened the door for same-sex marriage in that state.
"We're very gratified and encouraged by the overwhelming support for traditional marriage," said Vicky Hartzler, spokeswoman for the Coalition to Protect Marriage in Missouri.
"I think Missouri values have spoken," Hartzler said. "People understand we have a wise public policy in Missouri and want to protect traditional marriage from possible legal challenges. People don't want to see in Missouri what happened in Massachusetts."
Opponents' view
Opponents of the measure said they were holding out hope that late results might change the picture, but they conceded that the proposal appeared to be winning.
"Obviously, we would've liked to have defeated Amendment 2," said Doug Gray, campaign manager for the Constitution Defense League, which opposed the amendment. "Gays and lesbians didn't ask for this fight; it was brought to them."
Despite the apparent overwhelming support for the measure, Gray said opponents still felt they had accomplished something.
"We educated a lot of people around the state," he said. "It's an ongoing battle."
The group said Monday it had received death threats and that harassment of gays had intensified right before the election.
Threats made
A caller to the organization's St. Louis office purportedly said he was "coming to shoot you all," while another caller allegedly recommended gays "be rounded up ... and put in a fenced encampment, shackled and have acid put in [their] eyes."
The caller reportedly added, "I don't want you to die. I just want you to suffer."
Gray said the threats prompted the group to hire security at its Kansas City and St. Louis offices.
National gay rights organizations gave tens of thousands of dollars to the Constitution Defense League, hoping Amendment 2 would fail.
Advocates of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning gay marriage also were watching the vote in Missouri.
Although Missouri already has a law banning gay marriage, proponents of the amendment to the state constitution said it was necessary because of a Massachusetts court ruling that interpreted that state's constitution to allow same-sex marriage. Activist judges might make a similar ruling in Missouri, supporters argued.