Washington, DC, May. 18, 2005 (CNA/CWNews.com) - One year after a Massachusetts court allowed same-sex marriages, Concerned Women for America (CWA) says the ruling has done nothing less than to mobilize Americans to defend marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

"It [same-sex marriage] has energized the pro-family movement because it has moved the debate beyond theory," Robert Knight, director of CWA's Culture and Family Institute, told the Los Angeles Times .

"And the realization has set in that this is about more than marriage," Knight said. "It will affect, eventually, every classroom in the country, as textbooks begin to portray two men as a marriage. And it will affect businesses as they are forced to subsidize homosexual relationships."

Fourteen state constitutional amendments resulted immediately, with several more on the ballot in 2006. The reaction has also fuelled the debate over judicial nominees in the US Senate, and it will influence the battle for Supreme Court appointments.

CWA reported that a brief analysis of recent election results shows that concern for marriage among Americans outweighs support for any other issue or candidate. The average voter approval margin for all 18 states that have voted on a constitutional marriage amendment is 70 percent. The state marriage amendments in all 18 states combined received 12 percent more support on average per state than George W. Bush did for president, and 30 percent more than Sen. John Kerry.