On a night in which America elected its first minority president, California narrowly approved a ban on same-sex marriage, dashing the hopes of homosexuals who hoped the state would open the door for same-sex nuptials across the country.
The constitutional amendment - on the ballot as proposition 8 - approved 52% to 48%, overturns a May California supreme court ruling that found the state unconstitutionally discriminated against same-sex couples. The ban does not affect same-sex civil unions that grant all the privileges and rights of marriage.
Following the May supreme court decision, anti-gay activists pushed hard to the amendment's passage, noting that California often sets national trends on cultural and political matters. The ban most likely invalidates the estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages performed since then.
Voters in Arizona and Florida also approved a ban on gay marriage.
A number of other US states decided questions on a hot-button social and cultural issues last night.
Voters in Colorado and South Dakota defeated ballot measures aimed at restricting abortion, while Massachusetts and Michigan approved measures to slacken marijuana laws. In Washington state, voters approved a law allowing physician-assisted suicide, while in Arkansas voters opted to bar unmarried couples from adopting children, a measure aimed at gays.
In South Dakota, voters rejected a ballot proposition that would have outlawed abortion except in cases of rape, incest and serious health threat to the mother. Had it passed, the law would likely have provoked a constitutional challenge, setting up a fight in the US Supreme Court over a woman's right to choose abortion.
In 2006 South Dakotans rejected a stricter abortion ban that did not include the exceptions for rape and incest.
Colorado also had an abortion-related question on the ballot. Voters decided on a constitutional amendment that would define human life as beginning at conception. It did not mention abortion, but would force legislators and courts to confront which legal rights to extend to foetuses - and whether the amendment effectively bans abortion. Recent polling projected a wide defeat for the proposal.
Michigan became the 13th state to legalise marijuana for medical use, while Massachusetts decriminalised possession of one ounce or less of the substance, making the offence punishable with a citation and a $100 fine.
In Arkansas, voters approved a measure on the ballot to bar unmarried couples from adopting or taking in foster children. The referendum is intended as a constitutionally permissible way to prevent gays from adopting, supporters say.
