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Article published: Nov 11,
2006 Charleston
municipalities reject marriage amendment
The city of
Charleston and the town of Folly Beach were two pockets where voters rejected
the constitutional ban on gay marriage.
"Charleston is a progressive
city, and I think that Charleston people are fair-minded people. And they know
discrimination when they see it," said Mark McKinney, a gay activist in
Charleston.
In the 21 Charleston precincts, a total of 3,561 voters
opposed the marriage amendment and 3,303 supported it. In the two Folly Beach
precincts, 528 residents opposed the amendment and 503 voters supported
it.
Charleston County overall approved the amendment with 65 percent of
the vote in favor of the wording that says South Carolina will recognize only
those marriages that are between a man and a woman. That was the lowest approval
percentage of any county.
Statewide, the amendment was approved by a more
than 3-to-1 majority.
"This is going to take decades to reverse,"
McKinney said. "Every family should be treated equally."
One of the
amendment's biggest proponents was former state Rep. John Graham Altman,
R-Charleston.
Altman said there is no constitutional right to be gay and
that the Bible condemns homosexuality.
He said the constitutional ban on
marriage for homosexuals is "much ado about nothing."
Gay couples can
enter into any contract in South Carolina except marriage.
"The people
have spoken," Altman said of the amendment vote. "The clearest expression of the
will of the people is to be found in what they put in our
constitution."
Other areas of the state where the vote was closer than
the state average included Richland County with 67 percent approval, Beaufort
County (70 percent), Horry County (74 percent) and Lee County (75
percent).
There were several other individual precincts statewide where
those voting against the amendment outnumbered those voting for
it.
Nationally, amendments banning gay marriage passed in seven of eight
states considering them. Arizona voters became the first to reject such an
amendment when that state's ballot measure was defeated Nov.
7.
