More recently the group has campaigned for the repeal of the California state gay marriage ban.
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Among the challenges Paul faces is explaining his opposition to a federal gay marriage ban to influential cultural conservatives in Iowa and South Carolina.
The second case could deliver a final ruling on an ongoing legal wrangle over a gay marriage ban in the state of California, a law known as Proposition 8.
But it was clear from the start of that argument in a packed courtroom that the justices, including some liberals who seemed open to gay marriage, had doubts about whether they should even be hearing the challenge to California's Proposition 8, the state's voter-approved gay marriage ban.
And in Minnesota, with 99% of the precincts counted, about 51% of the votes were against a gay-marriage ban in the state's constitution.
The numbers came to light during the trial in U.S. District Court here over the constitutionality of the gay-marriage ban established by voters in 2008.
Gay rights supporters also scored a smaller victory in Minnesota, where voters rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
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But California voters in November approved Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to ban gay marriage.
In May, a similar amendment in North Carolina to ban gay marriage in the state constitution passed with 61% voter support.
In New York conservatives were given sway over the party's platform, which called for changing the constitution to ban gay marriage.
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The Massachusetts legislature voted against a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, which is legal in the state because of a court ruling.
While in Congress, he supported a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and voted for a bill prohibiting gay couples in Washington from adopting.
He immediately sent Davis several e-mails, demanding that the church take a public stand opposing the ban on gay marriage.
Senate supporters of a constitutional ban on gay marriage said that they would still push the issue in the new Congress.
He's laid some of the groundwork for his case by speaking to black and Hispanic audiences and saying he opposes a federal ban on gay marriage.
Instead, they have pandered to their base by supporting a constitutional ban on gay marriage (Mr Bush), or railing against firms that outsource jobs (Mr Kerry).
The New York State Senate passed a bill ending the ban on gay marriage this evening, and New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed it into law.
California approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage , which will nullify a ruling handed down in May by the state Supreme Court that legalised gay weddings.
The California Supreme Court has overturned a ban on gay marriage, paving the way for California to become the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the California ban on gay marriage violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
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Nevertheless, some of Mr Bush's fellow Republicans in Congress propose having a ban on gay marriage written into the constitution, just to be sure, and Mr Bush is thinking of backing them.
Meanwhile, the Republican leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly is raising issues that are sure to galvanize the conservative vote in the 2012 Presidential race, such as a constitutional ban on gay marriage.
Mr Kerry had the tougher task, of evoking the language of faith (including reminding listeners he is a Catholic) while promising to defend abortion rights and opposing Mr Bush's proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage.
Advocates see such attacks in the context of a culture that has grown more accepting of gays in some ways - 12 states have now legalized gay marriage - but doesn't universally ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Was it because Mr. Santorum, who authored the federal ban on partial-birth abortion and opposes gay marriage, was too conservative on social issues?
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Had it stood, a ban on liquor - more than marriage between gay people - would have certainly destroyed the institution of marriage, or at the very least made weddings unbearable.
Opponents of gay and lesbian marriage are also pushing a federal constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage nationwide, though it failed to gain the needed two-thirds majority to pass when it came up for votes in both the House and Senate.
Supporters of Proposition 8 say the court should respect the verdict of California voters who approved the ban in 2008 and let the fast-changing politics of gay marriage evolve on their own, through ballot measures and legislative action, not judicial decrees.
The Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to strike down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of gay marriage, and in n a separate case asked the high court to overturn California's ban on same-sex marriage.
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