Gay marriage ban in Ohio gets churchgoers' support

Men and women, blacks and whites backed the amendment equally.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- The successful push to put a gay marriage ban in Ohio's constitution began with fear over activist judges but is likely to wind up in the courts.
The measure passed easily Tuesday, with strong support from churchgoing Ohioans. Six of seven Ohioans attend church at least occasionally and supported the amendment, exit polls indicated. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, 3.2 million, or 62 percent, supported the measure, while 2 million, or 38 percent, opposed it.
The vote backed up the nation's toughest law banning gay marriage with an even broader state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as one man and one woman and prohibits state and local governments from granting legal status to unmarried couples of either sex. It takes effect in 30 days.
"We're certainly going to look at legal challenges," said Alan Melamed, who led the campaign opposing the amendment. Melamed said the amendment would undo constitutional protections of property rights by invalidating certain private contracts between unmarried couples.
Phil Burress, who headed the campaign to pass the amendment, hailed the victory and dismissed the concerns of those who campaigned against the measure.
"We believe the way they [opponents] explained it was not accurate," said Burress. "The people still wanted to define marriage between one man and one woman, and protect its benefits."
In other states
Ten other states passed amendments banning same-sex marriage Tuesday, but legal analysts said Ohio's was broader because of language barring any status that "intends to approximate marriage."
The only statewide issue on the ballot, it gathered equal support from men and women, blacks and white, according to voter interviews conducted for The Associated Press.
Two-thirds of Ohio married voters supported the amendment, while unmarried voters supported it by a slim majority. About three-quarters of those who attend church weekly voted for the amendment, while those who never attend church opposed it 2-to-1.
Although those who identified themselves as liberals were more likely to vote against the amendment, the coalition of supporters was stronger and cut across party lines. People who voted for Bush overwhelmingly approved the amendment, while Kerry supporters opposed it by a smaller margin. A majority of voters who identified themselves as independent approved the amendment.
Across barriers
The amendment won across all age, income and education levels -- but support was highest among the oldest voters and waned in the groups with the highest income and postgraduate education.
The poll of 1,389 Ohio voters was conducted for AP and television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, higher for subgroups.