Standing Up For Equality: A Report on the Impact of Marriage-Related Votes on State Legislative Races
A Report by The Human Rights Campaign and The Equality Federation, January 2005
In February 2004, President Bush called for the passage of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to prohibit marriage for same-sex couples. Measures to similarly amend state constitutions were put on the November ballots in 11 states. The president’s appeal to his conservative base and the capacity of the ballot measures to motivate conservative voters created widespread speculation that "gay marriage" was one of the key moral issues driving voting behavior in 2004.
Since the election, political observers have provided compelling arguments to discredit the belief that the marriage issue contributed in any significant way to the outcome of the national elections. The purpose of this report is to look at this issue on the state level: Did their votes against measures to prohibit marriage for same-sex couples cost state legislators their jobs?
The data are compelling – state legislators of both parties who voted against these measures were overwhelmingly re-elected in nearly every corner of the country.
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