California voters overturned same-sex marriage rights in a vote that stands to affect how the issue plays out elsewhere in the nation.

Proposition 8, which would establish marriage as a union between a man and a woman, passed with 52.1% of the vote, against 47.9% opposed, with 94.6% of precincts reporting. The approval marks a stunning upset in a $70 million campaign that just weeks ago looked to be running in favor of preserving gay marriage rights.

The passage of Prop 8, as it is known, would be a major victory for religious conservatives seeking to ban gay marriage in other states, and a crippling setback for the gay rights movement nationwide.

Prop 8 Passes

Kurt Schade reacts to Prop 8's passage at a rally against the measure in San Francisco. Reuters

"This is a critical vote,'' said Carrie Gordon Earll, spokeswoman for Focus on the Family, a conservative group that supported the proposition.

The proposition seeks to reverse a ruling from the California Supreme Court, which earlier this year declared that banning same-sex marriage was discriminatory. The proposition would change the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.

Even amid a heated presidential election, the contest over Prop 8 emerged as one of the dominant political issues in the state this year, and was a big driver of voter turnout. Observers believe the losing side will suffer a serious blow in the national debate over gay-marriage rights. The winning side will have the momentum and also be able to claim a popular mandate as judges and voters across the country are poised to weigh the issue in other states.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts and Connecticut. But California's vote on the issue is expected to have a far greater impact on how same-sex marriage will be received elsewhere.

"No one can underestimate the impact of the largest state in the nation treating all of its citizens equally," said Lorri Jean, head of the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center and a leader of the campaign to protect gay marriage rights, speaking before the polls closed. On the other hand, she said, the losing side would be "seriously wounded."

Jeff Flint, the campaign manager for the effort to ban gay marriage, predicted that the result in California would show that both Democrats and Republicans support Prop 8. "I think the message will be very clear in a state that even Barack Obama looks to win by a large margin that the importance of marriage is still very strong,'' he said Tuesday, while voting was still under way.

Prop 8 supporters were relying Republican voters in rural areas, but also urban African-American voters like Christopher Miracle of Oakland, a 19-year student at nearby California State University Hayward. Mr. Miracle voted for Barack Obama, but voted to support Prop 8. "Look at the bible." he said. "It's not a man and a man."

The issue has become a rallying cry nationally for both causes, with tens of millions of dollars pouring into the campaign from outside of California.

The amount of money raised-- $38 million to support gay marriage and more than $32 million to ban it -- has fueled a fierce campaign marked by rallies, boycotts, celebrity endorsements and a constant rotation of television ads on both sides.

Supporters of Proposition 8, which would outlaw same-sex marriage throughout California, rally during at St. Frances X Cabrini Church on October 24, 2008. Getty Images

Many religious leaders implored their congregants to support Prop 8. Cash has poured in from church members. The global head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or the Mormon Church, issued a letter in June calling on followers to "do all you can" to back the measure, and Mormons have emerged as some of the biggest Prop 8 fundraisers.

Meanwhile, gay rights activists boycotted the businesses of Prop 8 donors, and trumpeted support from celebrities like Brad Pitt and Samuel L. Jackson.

As voters headed to the polls Tuesday, few appeared to be on the fence about how they would vote.

"Marriage is between a man and a woman," said 67-year-old Marie Barbagelata from Linden, a farming town about 100 miles inland from San Francisco. She voted in favor of Proposition 8, but added she's not opposed to same-sex civil unions.

A few miles away in Stockton, 41-year-old David Qualls said he plans to vote against Proposition 8, saying, "It doesn't affect my marriage."

Gay rights activists have cast their campaign to defeat Prop 8 as a civil rights battle, making comparisons to the fight for racial equality. Conservatives have said it is not a matter of equal rights, since gays and lesbians could still have domestic partnerships.

Prop 8 advocates have warned in ads that schools would be required to teach gay marriage to young children -- a position gay marriage advocates have dismissed as a scare tactic.

If Prop 8 passes, as early results seem to augur, it is unclear what would happen to the status of gay marriages performed in California in the last several months. Thousands of same-sex couples rushed to alter this summer to take advantage of the few months leading up to the vote when gay marriage's legal status was not in question.

The state attorney general, Jerry Brown, has said those marriages would remain valid. But gay rights activists said they fear lawsuits could be filed to dissolve them.

Ms. Jean, who married her partner of 17 years in September, when same-sex marriage was legal, said she would remind supporters that all civil rights struggles face setbacks. "We've got to pick ourselves up and go on. We'll be bloodied for sure but unbowed."

Mr. Flint, the manager of the Prop 8 campaign, said that he hoped Tuesday's outcome would end the debate in California with a decisive victory. But if the proposition were to lose narrowly, he said, "We would consider revisiting the issue."

Redistricting Proposition Gains Ground

A ballot proposition to overhaul California's redistricting practices looked likely to win approval from the majority of state voters, with 54.6% of votes cast in favor of the measure, with 12.6 percent of the vote reporting.

Proposition 11, also known as the Voters First Act, was designed to overhaul a California law that lets the state legislature determine the boundaries of political districts. That law has been the subject of increased criticism, as political organizations accuse legislators of mapping districts to their political advantage.

The proposition was opposed by many state legislators and backed by Gov. Schwarzenegger. Under the plan, redistricting will be decided by a 14-member independent committee. The next redistricting will occur in 2011, according to current state laws.

The ballot initiative received particular attention in the wake of a three-month-long battle between California's Democratic-led legislature and Republican Gov. Schwarzenegger over the $104.3 billion state budget. Many blamed the budget gridlock on entrenched incumbents who had little incentive to compromise with one another.

Polls indicated the measure was gaining support amongst voters. According to a poll earlier this month from the Public Policy Institute of California, 41% of Californians favor the proposition, with 34% against and 25% undecided. That compares with 38% in favor and 33% against in September.

Days before the election, supporters had expressed concern that a large number of voters polled were still undecided on the measure, indicating that they had not done a good enough job of explaining the Voters First Act and why it mattered. At the same time, the proposition was overshadowed by more contentious battles such as Proposition 8, which would ban gay marriage.

Voters on the ground also indicated that they didn't know much about Proposition 11 putting it low on their list of voting priorities.

Shannon Miller, a 24 year old assistant front desk manager at a San Francisco hotel, abstained from voting for Proposition 11, because she says she didn't know enough about it to make an educated choice and thought there were other more important issues to vote on.

"Redistricting. We need to do more immediate things," she said.

Separately, California has set many a social trend. Now voters in the Golden State may start setting trends in a new area: animal care. A ballot measure called Proposition 2, which would prohibit ranchers from keeping chickens, veal calves and breeding pigs in pens or cages that are too small for the animal to move, was approved with 60.9% of the vote cast in favor of the measure with 100% of the vote reported.

—Bobby White and the Associated Press contributed to this article

Write to Tamara Audi at, Justin Scheck at and Christopher Lawton at