Americans vote on hot topics

SOME of America’s most divisive social issues — gay marriage, abortion and affirmative action — went before voters yesterday as 36 states passed judgment on ballot measures as well as candidates.

Of the 153 measures at stake, the most momentous was a proposed constitutional amendment in California that would limit marriage to heterosexual couples.

Similar measures have prevailed previously in 27 states, but none were in California’s situation — with thousands of gay couples already married in the aftermath of a state Supreme Court ruling in May.