Oct 31, 2008   | COMMENTS     

Barack Obama’s sweeping victory last night was cheered by gay rights advocates coast to coast, but celebrations were tempered by the passage of anti-gay ballot initiatives in a handful of states.

In tate>California, opponents of Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriage there and throw into doubt the status of about 18,000 gay unions, are still hoping to eke out a win. With 86 percent of precincts reporting, the ban led 51.8 percent to 48.2 percent at 6 a.m. EST.

Voters in tate>Arizona and tate>Florida approved constitutional bans on same-sex marriage. Activists were hopeful that the tate>Florida measure would lose, because it required approval by 60 percent of voters to be enacted. But with 95 percent of precincts reporting, the measure leads with 62 percent of the vote. Experts fear that the measure, which invalidates same-sex unions “treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent” could create legal chaos and jeopardize domestic partnerships, which some tate>Florida jurisdictions have enacted.

Meanwhile, tate>Arkansas voters approved a ban on unmarried, cohabiting adults from adopting or fostering children. With 90 percent of precincts reporting, the adoption ban held a comfortable lead of about 120,000 votes.

The only bright spot for gay rights advocates was in tate>Connecticut, where voters rejected a measure that would have called into session a constitutional convention, which could have been used by gay rights opponents to overturn that state’s legalization of same-sex marriage.

In other races of note, Jared Polis won his tate>Colorado race and becomes the third openly gay member of Congress. Linda Ketner, a lesbian running for the U.S. House in tate>South Carolina, lost her bid to unseat the Republican incumbent.

We will have updated coverage throughout the day of all election news, including the latest tallies from tate>California on Prop 8.