The Cincinnati Enquirer/AP |
NEWS
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Nov. 5, 1998 |
| Americans decided 235 statewide ballot measures, or thought they did. No sooner were the votes tallied than the warnings started coming Wednesday: Voters decisions on several major issues may have to wait, held up by legal action and other challenges.
Gay rightsAlaskans voted to put a gay marriage ban in their constitution. And Hawaiians told their legislature to draft a law against same-sex marriages, the latest response to a 1993 state Supreme Court ruling that Hawaii has no right to ban homosexual marriage, because that would deny some citizens the rights provided others. |
That ruling led to gay-marriage bans in at least 30 states and the Defense of Marriage Act enacted by Congress.
Voters in Fort Collins, Colo., defeated a measure to protect gays and lesbians from bias. The proposal was especially emotional there since the beating death of Matthew Shepard, a gay student from the University of Wyoming who died in a Fort Collins hospital.
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