Arizona and Florida passed bans on gay marriage, and it looks as though the ban also will pass in California.

“It indicates, as a country, that we still have a long way to go,” said Brent Bilodeau, director of MSU’S LBGT Resource Center.

But California’s ban on same-sex marriage does not fully exclude gay and lesbian couples of spousal rights — they are still granted limited rights through domestic partnerships.

The California same-sex marriage ban, known as Proposition 8, passed by about 400,000 votes. But the state still needs to count about 3 million absentee and provisional ballots, assistant James Madison College professor and gay politics expert Michael Craw said.

Twelve states, including Michigan, banned same-sex marriage in 2004.

Although America decisively favored the Democrats on Tuesday, Craw said the voter demographic actually favored the bans.

“Senator Obama’s election made it easier to pass these measures because of the increased African American voter turnout,” Craw said. “African American voters tend to be socially conservative; a lot of white voters opposed the ban.”

But Obama’s campaign stressed change, and Josh Mendelson, an advertising junior, said he hopes the democratic government majority will be able to reverse the bans.

“Right now, we’ve lost a battle, but we haven’t lost the war. We still have time to get it passed,” he said.

Bilodeau said same-sex marriage bans reinforce a negative message about gay couples.

“I am very disturbed by the message (the bans) send to LGBT people. It reinforces an idea that our relationships are not legitimate,” Bilodeau said.

Massachusetts is the only state with legalized same-sex marriage, although four other states grant civil unions.

The gay and lesbian community will have to increase education nationwide on how same-sex issues also affect the straight population, Craw said.

“One goal we have in society is to help promote strong families, strong relationships,” Craw said. “Measures like this can break up gay and lesbian families, and that has an effect on society as a whole.”

But the increasing legislation against gay and lesbian marriage will force the gay community to find new routes to equal benefits, Mendelson said.

“It’s going to force us to get stronger and more unified,” he said. “Eventually, if we are patient enough, it will come. It will force us to find another way to get it, because we will never give up.”