Florida Definition of Marriage, Amendment 2 (2008)

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The Florida Definition of Marriage Amendment, also known as Amendment 2 and The Marriage Protection Amendment, was an initiated constitutional amendment on the November 4, 2008 election ballot in Florida, where it was approved.

• The amendment added a new section to Article 1 of the Florida Constitution to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

• Amendment 2 was the 29th citizen-initiated measure to appear on a Florida statewide ballot.

Election results

Florida Amendment 2 (2008)
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		4,890,883	61.92%
No		3,008,026	38.08%

Election Results via: Florida Department of State Division of Elections

Text of measure

The ballot title read:

“

FLORIDA MARRIAGE PROTECTION AMENDMENT

”

The ballot summary read:

“

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.

”

The fiscal impact statement read:

“

The direct financial impact this amendment will have on state and local government revenues and expenditures cannot be determined, but is expected to be minor.

”

Constitutional changes

The text of the amendment read:

	ARTICLE I, NEW SECTION 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.

Support

Supporters

Supporters included:

• Florida4Marriage, sponsor
• Florida Governor Crist
• W. James Favorite, pastor of Beulah Baptist Institutional

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.

Arguments

Notable arguments made in support of the measure included:

• Supporters say the amendment would protect children by ensuring that only the form of marriage between a man and a woman would ever be celebrated in Florida.

• The Florida statute that already provides for a single form of marriage could be overturned by a court on constitutional grounds.

• Supporters say that if the amendment failed, school children could be indoctrinated in the gay lifestyle.

Opposition

Opponents

Opponents included:

• Florida Red and Blue
• The NAACP
• Rabbi Bruce Diamond
• The ACLU
• Florida League of Women Voters [1]
• Fairness for All Families [2]

Arguments

Notable arguments made in opposition to the measure included:

• The petition was acting as bait for the Presidential election in order to draw out conservative voters; there was already enough legislation in place currently.

• Health care and pension benefit plans which cover unmarried couples, even heterosexual older couples, living together and which were then legally valid may be adversely affected.

• Article I of the Florida Constitution, known as the Declaration of Rights, establishes rights, but this amendment would instead limit the right to marry.

• There were already other Florida Laws that expressly prohibit homosexual unions, so this amendments purpose is much larger than that and if passed will be used to restrict all relationships that are not a legal marriage under Florida's Statutes.

• Opponents said that elderly people in the state who, after being widowed, had subsequently chosen a domestic partnership in order to retain certain benefits, would be adversely impacted by the measure.

Campaign contributions

Amendment 2 was one of three ballot measures that appeared on November ballots around the country to ban same-sex marriage. Of these, the highest profile battle surrounded California Proposition 8. According to Stephen Gaskill, a spokesperson for Florida Red and Blue, the focus on the California measure complicated fundraising efforts for those fighting Florida Amendment 2.

Gaskill said, "Certainly if the California effort was not underway, it would be easier for Florida to raise money — that’s just a reality."

Polls

See also Polls, 2008 ballot measures.

Month of Poll	In Favor	Opposed	Undecided
September 2008	55 percent	41 percent	9 percent

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.

Media editorial positions

Florida's newspapers, according to one source, were united in their opposition to the amendment. The statement read "...every single daily newspaper in Florida has taken a position against Amendment 2."

Path to the ballot

The initiative was able to collect enough signatures in order to qualify for the 2008 general election. This was done by volunteer circulators gathering 92,000 signatures, roughly 7,000 a day, in order to ensure the qualification of the measure.

Other states

Voters in twenty-six other states have passed constitutional amendments prohibiting same-sex marriage. Two others states, Arizona (Proposition 102) and California (Proposition 8) also had proposed amendments on the November ballot.

Existing statutes in Florida

Two existing Florida statutes prohibit same-sex marriage:

• Florida Statute 741.212(1) defines marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman and provides that the term "spouse" applies only to a member of such union (FL. Stat. 741.212(1),(3)).
• Florida also adopted a Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1997 which was codified as Florida Statute 741.212.

Judicial language

The amendment as written included a clause prohibiting judges from overturning the law. This was a response to what happened in Massachusetts, where a judge overturned that state's law banning same-sex marriage.

See also

Suggest a link

• 2008 ballot measures
• Florida 2008 ballot measures
• List of Florida ballot measures
• Florida 2008 citizen initiatives.
• Florida ballot initiative news
• Procedures for qualifying an initiative in Florida
• Laws governing the initiative process in Florida
• Campaign finance requirements for Florida ballot measures

Articles

• Same-sex marriage measures raised over $100 million in 2008

External links

Basic information

• 2008 Florida constitutional amendments voter booklet
• Initiative information from Florida Secretary of State
• Marriage amendment ballot language PDF of the petition that was circulated
• Sample ballot (Monroe County)

Supporters/materials

• Yes on 2,
• Florida 4 Marriage

Opponents/materials

• Say No 2
• Vote No on 2
• Florida Red and Blue (Group opposing the initiative)
• Fairness For All Families, website of opponents

Additional reading

• Florida amendment awaits word on success
• $101.1 Million Raised Around Same-Sex Partnership Ballot Measures In 2008