Florida Amendment 2, Definition of Marriage Initiative (2008)
| Florida Amendment 2 | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic LGBTQ issues and Marriage and family |
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| Status |
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| Type Initiated constitutional amendment |
Origin |
Florida Amendment 2 was on the ballot as an initiated constitutional amendment in Florida on November 4, 2008. It was approved.
A “yes” vote supported establishing that marriage only be recognized as a union between one man and one woman. |
A “no” vote opposed establishing that marriage only be recognized as a union between one man and one woman. |
Election results
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Florida Amendment 2 |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
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4,890,883 | 61.92% | ||
| No | 3,008,026 | 38.08% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Amendment 2 was as follows:
| “ | This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized. | ” |
Full Text
The full text of this measure is available here.
Constitutional changes
The text of the amendment read:
|
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.[1] |
Support
Supporters
Supporters included:
- Florida4Marriage, sponsor[2]
- Florida Governor Crist[3]
- W. James Favorite, pastor of Beulah Baptist Institutional[4]
On September 30, 2008, a group of church leaders from around the country met outside the Miami-Dade County Courthouse to show their support of Amendment 2. In general, Florida's religious community was strongly in favor of the measure.[5]
Opposition
Opponents
Opponents included:
- Florida Red and Blue[6]
- The NAACP[4]
- Rabbi Bruce Diamond[7]
- The ACLU[8]
- Florida League of Women Voters [1]
- Fairness for All Families [2]
Lawsuits
Lawyers for the Florida Red and Blue amendment opposition group filed a lawsuit on October 28, 2008 to force the pro-amendment group to disclose its donors and take their TV ads off the air. The lawsuit sought:
- The identification of donors to two groups, the Florida Family Action and the Florida Family Policy Council. These groups were headed by John Stemberger and were linked to the political campaign committee, Florida4Marriage, that put the initiative on the ballot.
- Florida4Marriage did not itself pay for a burst of pro-amendment TV advertising; rather, F4M (which is required to disclose its donors) reported an in-kind donation from the Florida Family Action group. That group said it was not required to disclose its donors; the lawsuit challenged that contention.
Shortly after Florida Red and Blue announced the filing of the lawsuit, Stemberger issued a press release criticizing the group for avoiding the issue of gay marriage in its anti-Amendment 2 campaign and instead raising concerns about the proposal’s impact on domestic partnerships between both straight and gay couples, particularly seniors.[9]
Aftermath
Sixteenth Circuit Court
On July 17, 2014, Judge Luis Garcia of Florida's Sixteenth Circuit Court overturned Amendment 2 ruling that it effectively made same-sex couples second-class citizens. The ruling only applies to Monroe County, but Garcia said that marriage licenses could start being issued there on July 22, 2014.[10] However, due to an appeal filed just shortly after the ruling, a stay has been placed upon Garcia's ruling. This means that licenses will not be available to same-sex couples unless a higher court upholds his ruling.[11]
Eleventh Circuit Court
On July 25, 2014, Judge Sarah I. Zabel of the Florida 11th Circuit Court ruled similarly to overturn the ban in Miami-Dade County. Zabel immediately stayed the ruling until appeals are heard, and Attorney General of Florida Pam Bondi (R) filed an appeal on the same day.[12]
Seventeenth Circuit Court
On August 5, 2014, a third judge, Judge Dale Cohen of the Broward County Circuit Court, ruled the ban was unconstitutional, as well. Similar to the prior two rulings, this ruling only applies to Broward County, and Cohen placed an immediate stay on his ruling.[13]
Fifteenth Circuit Court
Also on August 5, 2014, a fourth judge, Judge Diana Lewis of the Palm Beach County Circuit Court, ruled against the ban in a probate case. This ruling applies only to this specific case which allowed a widower to be the personal representative of the deceased's estate.[14]
U.S. District Court
On August 21, 2014, Judge Robert Hinkle of the U.S. District Court of Northern Florida ruled the marriage ban unconstitutional, making him the first federal judge to rule on the issue in Florida. The judge claimed that the ban violated the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantees of equal protection and due process and also compared it to laws against interracial marriages. Judge Hinkle stayed his decision, meaning no same-sex marriage licenses could be given, and out of state same-sex marriages were not yet recognized. Attorney General of Florida Pam Bondi (R), who appealed the decisions by the previous four judges, challenged this order.[15][16]
Judge Hinkle's stay on his decision was designed to expire 91 days after the United States Supreme Court denied cert in other same-sex marriage cases, which occurred on October 6, 2014. Therefore, Hinkle's stay was set to expire on January 5, 2015. Both the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and Supreme Court refused to grant an additional stay on the decision.[17][18]
On January 1, 2015, Hinkle ruled that county clerks across the state must start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples by January 6, 2015.[19]
U.S. Supreme Court
- See also: Obergefell v. Hodges
On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution in the case Obergefell v. Hodges. This ruling overturned all voter-approved constitutional bans on same-sex marriage.[20]
Justice Anthony Kennedy authored the opinion and Justices Ruth Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito each authored a dissent.
The concluding paragraph of the court's majority opinion read:
| “ | No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.[21] | ” |
| —Opinion of the Court in Obergefell v. Hodges[22] | ||
Path to the ballot
The ballot measure was an initiated constitutional amendment. Proponents collected signatures to place the initiative on the ballot.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedsummary - ↑ Christian Newswire: "Marriage Leaders Blast Opponents for Deception and Scare Tactics," Dec. 13, 2007 (dead link)
- ↑ Washington Blade: "Florida Gov. announces support of amendment 2," August 6, 2008
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Florida Baptist Witness: "African-American pastors rally in support of marriage amendment," Sep 26, 2008
- ↑ Miami Herald: "Church leaders unite to back gay-marriage ban," Oct 1, 2008 (dead link)
- ↑ Christian Newswire: "Marriage Leaders Blast Opponents for Deception and Scare Tactics," Dec. 13, 2007 (dead link)
- ↑ News Press: "Florida marriage amendment intrudes in private matters," Nov. 19, 2007
- ↑ News-Press.com: "ACLU urges opposition to marriage amendment," March 23, 2008
- ↑ Palm Beach Post, "Amend 2 opponents file lawsuit as tensions over gay marriage flare," October 28, 2008
- ↑ Associated Press, "Judge Overturns Gay Marriage Ban In Florida Keys," July 17, 2014
- ↑ News Press, "Florida marriage equality activists cheer court ruling," July 18, 2014
- ↑ Associated Press, "Same-Sex Marriage Ban Struck Down for Miami Area," July 25, 2014
- ↑ West Hawaii Today, "3rd Florida judge rules gay marriage ban unconstitutional," August 5, 2014
- ↑ Florida Courier, "Another judge rules same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional," August 7, 2014
- ↑ New York Times, "Florida: Federal Judge Strikes Down Ban on Same-Sex Marriage," August 21, 2014
- ↑ USA Today, "U.S. judge strikes down Fla. ban on same-sex marriage," August 21, 2014
- ↑ United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, "Order - Motion to stay pending appeal denied," December 3, 2014
- ↑ Metro Weekly, "Supreme Court allows Florida same-sex marriages to proceed," December 19, 2014
- ↑ The Guardian, "Same-sex marriages to begin in Florida after new ruling from federal judge," January 2, 2015
- ↑ NPR, "Supreme Court Declares Same-Sex Marriage Legal In All 50 States," June 26, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Supreme Court of the United States, "Obergefell v. Hodges," June 26, 2015
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