Same-sex marriage ban goes to voters in Montana

A proposal to amend the Montana constitution to ban gay marriage will appear on the fall ballot after supporters collected more than 46,000 signatures, officials announced Thursday. To qualify for the November 2 ballot, the measure needed a minimum of 41,020 signatures, the secretary of state's office said. State law already prohibits same-sex marriages, but the initiative would make the ban more difficult to overturn by embedding it in the constitution. Republican state Rep. Jeff Laszloffy proposed the amendment as president of the Montana Family Foundation. "It's too bad that we need to restate the obvious--that marriage is between a man and a woman--but if the obvious needs to be restated, I believe voters will do it by an overwhelming majority in November," he said. Karl Olson, executive director of PRIDE, a Helena-based gay rights organization, said that even if the measure passes, gay marriage will eventually become a reality. "History is on our side, and the constitution isn't going to contain discrimination for long," he said.