OS ANGELES - Californians took a stand against same-sex marriage yesterday, voting overwhelmingly to recognize only those unions between one man and one woman.
Although the ballot initiative known as Prop 22 simply reaffirms existing state law, it was considered the most controversial proposition on the California ballot. Throughout the heated and sometimes ugly campaign, proponents insisted they wanted only to uphold the sanctity of marriage. Opponents called the campaign thinly veiled bigotry aimed at eroding gains already won by gays and lesbians.
With polls open until 8 p.m. in California, the No-on-22 campaign declined to concede defeat by midevening. But early returns showed the measure passing 69 to 31 percent, in line with voter opinion polls that never wavered over the months despite the millions of dollars spent on TV advertising by both sides.
''What's truly remarkable is that some 40 percent of the electorate said they wanted to change the law, that gay and lesbian marriages are acceptable to them,'' said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College. ''That's far more support for same-sex marriage than there is in the rest of the country.''
Same-sex marriage is already illegal in California, as well as the other 49 states. But supporters said they feared that gays and lesbians would win the right to marry somewhere in the United States, and that California would be forced to recognize those unions between two men or two women. Prop 22 was intended to close that legal loophole, supporters said.
Thirty other states have passed definition-of-marriage laws, two of them through ballot initiatives such as California's. But the West Coast battle was among the most contentious, pitting religious groups against one another and driving a wedge between the measure's sponsor, Republican state Senator William ''Pete'' Knight, and his own son, a Gulf War fighter pilot who is gay.
Prop 22, however, also led to some unexpected alliances, with a group of moderate Republicans saying they opposed it as unnecessary government intrusion into people's private lives. Still, with about 70 percent of Hispanic voters favoring the measure and strong support among religious conservatives, it passed easily despite California's relatively large gay and lesbian population.
''Despite the fact that Californians overwhelming support gay rights on a number of fronts, in the military, domestic partnerships, they've been telling us all year long that they're not comfortable with the idea of gay marriage at this point,'' said Mark Baldassare, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. ''Apparently nothing that the No campaign, or the Yes campaign for that matter, had to say had any impact on voters.''
While the Yes-on-22 campaign could not be reached for comment, the mood among its opponents was somber last evening. Tracey Conaty, a spokeswoman for the opposition, which spent upwards of $6 million to sway voters, stressed that the fight for equality for gays and lesbians did not end with yesterday's defeat.
''Through this campaign, we were able to throw the doors of the debate wide open,'' Conaty said. ''The debate's no longer about if our families should have full protection but how gay and lesbian families should be afforded those protections. ... We plan to make good on the fight for recognition.''
California voters also decided 19 other ballot questions - deciding whether to toughen juvenile justice laws, tighten campaign finance regulations and make Indian gambling legal.
On a day of voting dominated by presidential contests in 16 states, two other senators won renomination - Republican Mike DeWine of Ohio and Democrat Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, the Associated Press reported.
In California, Democratic incumbent Dianne Feinstein, who in 1994 held onto her seat by just a few percentage points in the nation's costliest Senate race ever, easily won her nomination.
In the race to fill the seat of Ohio GOP Representative John Kasich, the retiring House Budget chairman, voters nominated his endorsed successor - state Representative Patrick Tiberi - while Democrats chose Columbus City Councilwoman Maryellen O'Shaughnessy.
Also in Ohio, Mary Rose Oakar, who spent seven terms in Congress before the House bank scandal ended her career in 1992, made a political comeback. She won the Democratic nomination to a State House seat from a working-class district in Cleveland - and will have no Republican opposition in November.
