Gay-Marriage Ban: Takei Astounded by California Vote, DeGeneres "Saddened Beyond Belief"

The vote to ban gay marriage in California disappointed Star Trek alum George Takei and many other who seized the chance to tie the knot earlier this year when the state's highest court ruled such nuptials were legal.
Takei — who made Brad Altman his husband in September —was quick to weigh in on unofficial results that showed voters on Tuesday approved the constitutional ban known as Proposition 8.

"It was astounding to think that the hard-won equality that made my recent marriage to Brad Altman [possible] would no longer be possible for others," Takei told UsMagazine.com.

Ellen DeGeneres, who in August exchanged vows with actress Portia de Rossi, at first declined to comment on the outcome of Proposition 8, noting that the margin of difference as of Wednesday morning was only a few hundred thousands votes and that possibly as many as 3 million absentee and provisional ballots had yet to be tallied. But by the afternoon, even the talk show queen was conceding defeat.

"[W]hen it was clear that Proposition 8 had passed in California, I can't explain the feeling I had. I was saddened beyond belief," she says in a statement. "Here we just had a giant step towards equality [with the election of Barack Obama as the nation's first African-American president], and then on the very next day, we took a giant step away.

"I believe one day a 'ban on gay marriage' will sound totally ridiculous," DeGeneres continued. " In the meantime, I will continue to speak out for equality for all of us."