Yoko's dance record shows that some people still love gay marriage in America

Gay marriage has been cast as one of the moral issues that divided America and helped to propel George Bush back to the White House. But it still has its supporters, going by the astonishing performance of a dance track released by 71-year-old Yoko Ono.

"Every Man Has A Man Who Loves Him" has rocketed to the top of the American dance chart. It is a new version of the song "Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him", released by John Lennon's widow almost 25 years ago.

"This is a victory not just for me but for all Americans who are against the administration's decision to ban gay marriage," Ono said.

President Bush has said he wants to change the US constitution to specify that marriage can only take place between a man and a woman.

Citizens in 11 US states voted to ban gay marriage earlier this week. Ono has also recorded a lesbian version of her song.

The issue proved particularly contentious during the election campaign, having been legalised in John Kerry's Massachusetts earlier in the year.

The backlash has ripped through America's moral divide and on Tuesday voters backed proposals in 11 states to amend their constitutions, joining seven others that earlier adopted measures to define marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution.

Defenders of traditional marriage say voters' resounding support for state measures limiting marriage to a union between a man and a woman proved that a federal marriage amendment was inevitable.

Yet advocates of gay and lesbian marriage are equally determined to further their cause. On Wednesday they vowed to move ahead with efforts to legalise same-sex marriage in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and very likely within the next year, California.

Robert Knight, director of the Culture and Family Institute of Concerned Women for America, countered that if this happens, "it will be seen as a bizarre exception to the national trend. America spoke loudly and clearly on Tuesday and said, this has gone too far, and it is time to turn back toward moral normalcy."

Mr Knight suggested "President Bush should send a bouquet of flowers" to the members of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court who wrote the decision legalising same-sex marriage there. "If they had not struck down [traditional] marriage in Massachusetts, this issue would not have generated such passion among evangelical Christians, who made the difference in this election."

San Francisco's mayor, Gavin Newsom, who allowed more than 4,000 gay marriages in his city early this year before the courts blocked the process, has also been blamed by some for President Bush's re-election.