Voters to decide in eight states to preserve traditional marriage

(AgapePress) - Marriage traditionalists and pro-family leaders are predicting Wednesday's ruling in New Jersey requiring equal rights for same-sex couples will energize Christian conservatives in eight states where, in less than a week, voters will decide whether to amend their state constitutions to preserve traditional marriage.

A constitutional marriage amendment is on the ballot in eight states on November 7 -- Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

The recent New Jersey Supreme Court high court ruled just days ago that homosexual couples are entitled to the same rights as married heterosexual couples and gave state lawmakers 180 days to rewrite marriage laws to include homosexual couples or else to create civil unions in the state.

Bryan Fischer, executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance, says this court decision "highlights the urgency" for voters in his state to pass that state's marriage initiative, thus "insulating marriage policy in Idaho from activist judges."

"Our opponents have been saying all along that we don't need a marriage amendment because we already have a state law dealing with this issue," says Fischer. "Well, as Massachusetts and now New Jersey make clear, just having a state law is not enough to keep tyrannical judges from tampering with marriage." Passage of Idaho's marriage amendment, he says, will make sure that "what happened ... in New Jersey never happens here."