Show-Me-the-Door State - In what was billed as "the nation's first popular vote on homosexual 'marriage' since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized the unions in that state in November," a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in Missouri passed 71-29 percent yesterday. I suppose I should be grateful that more than 400,000 people showed up at the polls on a random Tuesday in August to support their homo brothers and sisters.

Not that Missouri didn't already have a law banning same-sex marriage, but you know, mere laws aren't safe from "activist judges," so the bigot brigade had to go and put the ban in the state constitution. (Do you suppose miscegenation laws were ever so fiercely defended?) Looks like those judges won't be having their way with the good people of Missouri any time soon.

At least this version was not a super-DOMA ban on domestic partnerships like the FMA or Virginia's Affirmation of Marriage Act. Instead, it simply states "To be valid and recognized in this state, a marriage shall exist only between a man and a woman." This newest trend in state constitutional provisions is only just starting. As many as 12 states are set to vote this Fall on similar amendments. (The honor roll includes Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah.) Isn't it beautiful to see federalism in action?