Voters in 11 US states have approved constitutional amendments limiting marriage to heterosexual couples.
The amendments won, often by huge margins, in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah and Oregon - the one state where gay-rights activists hoped to prevail.
"This issue does not deeply divide America," said conservative activist Mr Gary Bauer. "The country overwhelmingly rejects same-sex marriage, and our hope is that both politicians and activist judges will read these results and take them to heart."
The Ohio measure, considered the broadest of the 11 because it barred any legal status that "intends to approximate marriage," gathered equal support from men and women, blacks and whites.
In Georgia, Ohio and Mississippi, gay-rights activists were considering court challenges of the newly approved amendments.
Conservatives had expected all along that the amendments would prevail in at least ten of the states, thus demonstrating widespread public disapproval of court rulings in favor of gay couples.
National and local gay-rights groups campaigned vigorously in Oregon, where polls had showed a close race, but they failed to prevent a sweep.
None of the 11 states allow gay marriage now, though officials in Portland, Oregon, married more than 3,000 same-sex couples last year before a judge halted the practice.
Supporters of the amendments contend the measures are needed as an extra guard against state court rulings like the one in Massachusetts a year ago that legalised same-sex marriage there.
AP