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Supporters Cheer Amendment 2's Passage

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Nov 5, 2008 11:41 pm US/Eastern

Supporters Cheer Amendment 2's Passage

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KENDALL (CBS4) ― A low key victory party was held Tuesday evening at the Wayside Baptist Church in Kendall as supporters of Amendment 2 watched as the votes tallied in their favor.

Even though South Florida has always been known as a gay friendly destination, many in the gay community were feeling a strain Wednesday.

Voters in Florida passed Amendment Two, 62 to 38 percent. It defines marriage as between one man and one woman in Florida's Constitution. It gained just 2% more of the votes than was needed for it to pass.

Wednesday in Wilton Manors that was the talk at the Java Boys Coffee Shop. Many are worried it could weaken domestic partnership laws. Those laws allow gay or straight couples various rights, like hospital visitation. "If he got sick or I got sick, I'd want him in the room with me," said Tim Breeden.

He and David Clift have only been dating two and a half months, but wonder if this could one day affect them.

Karen Carroll and Julie Slater own The Chic Optique eyeglass store. They've been a couple for 6 years. They find the new amendment disappointing.

"We just want everybody to be able to love and to be with the one they love," said Slater. "And to have the same right," chimed in Carroll.

Gay rights groups, like SAVE Dade, vow to try work to change attitudes in Florida.

"Ultimately, what we're going to try to do is change the climate and detoxify the atmosphere, "said CJ Ortuno from SAVE.

Ortuno says the group will also work to encourage South Florida cities to adopt or strengthen domestic partnerships.

"This is just to clarify what marriage is in our Constitution," said Pastor Brandon Park. "It doesn't change anything. It just prevents any judges from making a decision that goes against the will of the people of Florida."

Supporters, like Jerry Newcombe from Coral Ridge Ministries in Fort Lauderdale, say the vote proves Florida voters want marriage defined. "The majority of Florida voters said that marriage is to be defined in our state as between one man and one woman," he said. "No liberal activist judge can read into the words of the Florida constitution something that is not there."

As the amendment's opponents watched their chances of victory slip away many worried about the second half of the measure which states that "no other legal union that is treated as a marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized." Critics say the amendment will not only ban same sex marriages, but also civil unions and domestic partnerships of gay and straight couples.

"If you really understand what their agenda is, the next step is to really take away all the existing rights from gay and straight people who are not technically married," said Ortuno.

The only recourse left to opponents of the measure is to begin a petition drive for a constitutional amendment of their own to overturn Amendment 2. So far, there are no plans to do that.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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