NORTH DAKOTA DOMA APPROVED FOR CIRCULATION: From the Associated Press

Supporters of a constitutional amendment that would bar same-sex marriages may begin gathering petition signatures to put the idea to a statewide vote, Secretary of State Al Jaeger said.

The amendment seeks to define marriage as the union of a man and woman, and prohibits any other domestic arrangement from being given the same legal status as marriage.

Its backers need to obtain petition signatures from at least 25,688 North Dakota voters to put the amendment on the statewide ballot. They have a year to complete the task. To put the question on the November general election ballot, the amendment's supporters must turn in the required number of signatures by Aug. 3.

The secretary of state must review proposed initiative petitions before they are approved for circulation. Jaeger was given the petition May 26.

The amendment would add these two sentences to Article 11 of the North Dakota Constitution: "Marriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman. No other domestic union, however denominated, may be recognized as a marriage, or given the same or substantially equivalent legal effect."

Massachusetts began licensing same-sex marriages last month, following a ruling by that state's highest appeals court. Vermont and California allow civil unions of homosexual couples, which give them many of the same rights as married heterosexual couples.

North Dakota already has a law, approved in 1997, which bars recognition of same-sex marriages performed outside the state.

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