The controversy over and eventual veto of an anti-gay bill in Arizona appear to have dealt a fatal blow to similar proposals in other states.

Arizona's bill, known as SB 1062, created a firestorm of controversy after lawmakers approved it late last week. Supporters claimed that the bill was needed to protect religious liberty. But in vetoing the bill, Governor Jan Brewer said that it does “not address a specific and present concern related to religious liberty” and that its broad language “could result in unintended and negative consequences.”

Opponents pointed out that the measure would allow individuals and businesses to discriminate against gay people.

Just hours before Brewer announced her veto, state lawmakers in Ohio said that they were tabling their bill.

“The intent of [our bill] was to ensure Ohioans' religious freedom by protecting their ability to freely worship and preventing any laws from burdening the free exercise of religion,” Ohio State Representatives Tim Derickson, a Repubican, and Bill Patmon, a Democrat, said in a joint statement. “However, with the controversy that is occurring in Arizona, we feel that it is the best interest of Ohioans that there be no further consideration of this legislation.”

In an email to supporters, Citizens for Community Values Action, the group which put Ohio's gay marriage ban on the 2004 ballot, criticized the move.

“We were quite disappointed that a bill that would have merely reiterated Ohioans' First Amendment rights – the freedom to practice one's sincerely held religious beliefs without threat of undue punishment by the state or other citizens – was needlessly withdrawn once 'deeply misleading' criticism (as law professors called it) surfaced from same-sex marriage lobby groups,” the group said, referring to a letter written by 11 professors calling on Brewer to sign SB 1062.

As America debated Arizona's bill, plans for similar bills also unraveled in Indiana, Georgia and Mississippi. Other states, including Kansas and Tennessee, began backtracking before SB 1062's passage.

Social conservatives in Oregon are pursuing a similarly worded ballot initiative.

(Related: Gay marriage foes in Oregon want right to discriminate against gays.)