Ballot questions include wins on marriage, loss on stem cells

 

Washington, DC, Nov. 03 (CWNews.com) - Tuesday's US election was a not an unqualified success for cultural conservatives, because while 11 states passed referenda supporting the definition of marriage by wide margins, California voters approved a $6 billion initiative to fund embryonic stem cell research.

Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah all passed state constitutional amendments that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and did so by substantial margins. Even Oregon, where 3,000 same-sex couples were given marriage licenses by activist county officials back in March, backed the amendment by a margin of 56 to 44 percent.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a pro-family, pro-life non-profit educational group, said: "The people aren't waiting for the politicians to act to reign in activist judges who have no regard for the rule of law. The courts gave us abortion on demand in 1973, the American people stated today that they are not going to allow the courts to do the same by imposing same-sex 'marriage' on the people of this country." The results from Tuesday mean that almost a score of states have passed constitutional amendments protecting marriage.

However, California's passage of Proposition 71, a bill to allocate $3 billion in taxpayer funds and give it to the biotech industry for research involving embryonic stem cells and another $3 billion to finance a bond issue, was seen as a defeat for pro-lifers. Pro-abortion Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had heavily backed the proposition.

Perkins said of the referendum results: "California has voted to support embryonic stem cell research, jeopardizing both their moral and financial standing." He warned that the likely result will be the creation of cloned embryo farms.