In Arkansas, 57 percent of voters supported a measure to prohibit unmarried sexual partners from adopting children or from serving as foster parents. The measure specifies that the prohibition applies to opposite-sex as well as same-sex couples. Since same-sex partners cannot be legally married in the southern state, adoption will be permanently barred for same-sex couples.
But probably the most emblematic victory is the almost certain victory of Proposition 8, which would enshrine marriage as only between one man and one woman in the California constitution.
One early Wednesday, with 80% of the precincts counted, Yes on 8 was leading 52-48. The heated campaign fueled by a record $73 million of spending -most of it on the part of pro-homosexual marriage – began four and a half months ago, when the California Supreme Court declared homosexual marriage as legal. During that legal "window," some 14,000 homosexual couples have procured a marriage license.
Another significant aspect of the pro-marriage victory is that the Yes on 8 campaign prevailed despite being heavily outspent and trailing by 17 points early in the campaign. "We caused Californians to rethink this issue," Proposition 8 strategist Jeff Flint told the Los Angeles Times. "We made them realize that there are broader implications to society and particularly the children when you make that fundamental change that's at the core of how society is organized, which is marriage," he added.
Finally, Washington State seems poised to become the second state to legalize assisted suicide. On early Wednesday, about 58 percent of voters had approved Initiative 1000, which will allow terminally ill people who have been given six months or less to live to ask their doctor for a fatal dose of medicine, which they would self-administer.
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Supporters say the initiative would give sick people at the end of their lives the right to control what happens to their bodies. Opponents have argued that the initiative doesn’t honor the sanctity of life, and could result in pressure for vulnerable people to commit suicide instead of choosing medical care that could prolong their lives.
As a side note, measure K, which would have decriminalized prostitution in San Francisco (CA), require the city to stop enforcing prostitution laws and restricted resources to anti-prostitution programs, lost 58-42.