Friends console one another after learning about the unofficial defeat on Question 1 at election night headquarters in Portland, Maine, early Wednesday morning, Nov. 4, 2009. Maine voters decided decide to rescind the Legislature's approval of same-sex marriage.(AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)
The stars seemed aligned for supporters of gay marriage. They had Maine's governor, legislative leaders and major newspapers on their side, plus a huge edge in campaign funding. So losing a landmark referendum was a devastating blow, for activists in Maine and nationwide.
In an election that had been billed for weeks as too close to call, Maine's often unpredictable voters repealed a state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed. Gay marriage has now lost in all 31 states in which it has been put to a popular vote — a trend that the gay-rights movement had believed it could end in Maine.
"Today's heartbreaking defeat unfortunately shows that lies and fear can still win at the ballot box," said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the vote. They prevailed in many of Maine's far-flung small towns and lost by a less-than-expected margin in the state's biggest city, Portland.
"The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation," declared Frank Schubert, chief organizer for the winning side.
Attention will now turn to other states, including California — where Schubert was an instrumental strategist a year ago in the successful campaign to overturn cost-ordered same-sex marriage.
Gay-rights activists have been planning to go back to the ballot in California, either in 2010 or 2012, in another attempt to legalize gay marriage. But the Maine result was not the victory they had been hoping for to fire up their troops.
Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage, a conservative group that steered substantial funds to fight gay marriage in both California and Maine, was elated by Tuesday's result, saying it shows that "that even in a New England state, if the voters have a chance to have their say, they're going to protect and defend the commonsense definition of marriage."
At issue in the referendum was a law passed by Maine's Legislature last spring that would have allowed gays to wed. The law was put on hold after conservatives launched a petition drive to repeal it.
Five other states have legalized gay marriage — starting with Massachusetts in 2004, and followed by Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Iowa — but all did so through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote. In contrast, constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have been approved in all 30 states where they have been on the ballot.
Brown said "out-of-touch legislators" are a principal reason same-sex marriage has taken hold in New England.
"What we're saying is give us a chance to take our message to the people and let the people decide," he said. He also suggested that the outcome in Maine will give pause to lawmakers in New York and New Jersey, where gay-marriage legislation is pending.
There are 25 comments
It took a long time to beat down the conservatives over equal rights for women and minorities. It will take some time for gay rights too. But it will happen. We are pretty close now. Twenty years ago you couldn't even consider bills like this.
Conservatives want to hold on to the past. But with the passing of time, each generation moves on. Conservatives of today reject conservatives of yesterday. And conservatives of tomorrow will reject those of today. They don't want to believe it. But ti's true.
Kudos to any and all trying to speak sense to our resident rightwingnut, much of a waste as I find it.
There's something about sense that just doesn't break through the mental walls of a bigot.
Main Entry: big·ot
Pronunciation: \ˈbi-gət\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, hypocrite, bigot
Date: 1660
: a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance
It's really rather elementary, as that's our bebe to a T.
Once again, why would anyone "choose" to be a member of a group that still faces hate and discrimination? People no more "choose" to be gay than you "choose" not to like certain types of food or music. You may not know why you like steak, or can define why you like country music instead of rap, but you just "know" that you like them. Is it genetic? I don't know, and neither does science at this point, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is. Irregardless, can't we just let gays have the same benefits and privileges that straight people do with marriage? What bebe is proposing is essentially the "separate but equal" doctrine used with blacks for education for many years. It was discrimination then, and this is discrimination now.
@19.Bebe
I'm still a little confused, Bebe. So... when you felt your sexual urges - you CHOSE to feel those urges?
See, when I felt the urge, it was towards men. My attraction was not a choice for me - it was, well, more of an urge - something I felt. There was never a point where I could choose. I was wondering when you made that choice - no one I know (gay or straight) has recalled a specific moment in time where they made the choice to be the way they are.
Oh sure, I can mask the way I feel and choose to suppress those feelings - just like I can choose to change the color of my hair. But I'm sure you know that if I change the color of my hair to blonde, under all the blonde is still my original brown hair. This is a choice to not be who I am and not the other way around.
When you have a single dad or a single mom raising their child on their own - your definition of a family excludes them from being a 'family' too... That's really too bad. I'm sure they would disagree.
I know things must work a little different in GA and I don't want to pass judgement, but really bebe, same-sex marriage will be a reality in our lifetimes. It's a simple fact. I'm going to be around to see it and so are my children. And when that time comes, I would change my screen name to something sounding a little less like a gay porn star.
As far as the word marriage - my word for a bunny is bunny - same as yours I'm sure. I assume that my word for tree is the same as yours too. There is no reason that my word for a union between two people gay or straight should be anything less than your word for it as well. It's just a word - like, say, pineapple - or perhaps purple - or bigot even.
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@16.Mark
I'l try to help you out here, Mark. Male/Female - me........Male/Male - you. I personally chose to like the opposite sex when I started feeling sexual urgings. Looked at boys....no desire. Looked at girls (pretty girls) instant attraction. As to the age, date, or time. Got nothing for you there. Again, about the family thing...a family consists of a father, mother, and children. Where is the mother?
Look, Mark, I'm not trying to run you down. What you do in your "family" is your business, not mine. I'm just saying don't hijack the term for heterosexual unions "marriage" for your homosexual union or partnership.
@14....Oh my god! but you are nasty. I can see by the prgress of your comments that your getting angry. You start out with the dismissive attitude of "go with the union thing" and wind up calling me "butch".......you have no idea how funny that is. As for your other comments, they are too stupid and obnoxious to be dignified with a reply. I'd have reported your rude behavior but then you wouldn't have the opportunity to apologize.
You say that being gay is a choice? How would you know that unless you were gay? I guess that means being straight is a choice.
@15.Bebe
Can you please take a moment to explain why you think my partnership and your marriage aren't the same? In what ways?
Can you honestly also answer another thing for me? Do you, personally, think you have a choice to lead a straight or gay life? Was there a time you sat down and made that choice to be straight or gay?
Can you also explain to me why you think that my partner, my three year old, and I aren't considered a family?
@7.Mark
I say to you it IS a lifestyle and choice. And just because you choose to define marriage incorrectly and in a way that legitimizes your lifestyle, doesn't make it so. Your partnership and my marriage are not the same. Nor are we. If you choose to have a lifestyle that isn't by definition "marriage" then come up with a word for it and define it however you like.
@5.eillah
I got news for ya, butch. Gay and family is an oxymoron. Impossible to be. And tell me, how does that gay parents and children thing work. Simple biology says that can't be.
#12
It was bad enough when you spammed it on the other 10 threads.
Don't make me keep scrolling it.
@6: By the title of your post: "stupidlibs" I hardly think your anyone to be speaking about "tolerance".
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Mark @3..."Why should a group of people (the voters in this case) get to decide the rights of another group of people in the first place?" Really, why should 53% which is so close to half be able to withhold rights from such a sizeable population. I agree, it is simply wrong to allow some people to stand in the way of the civil rights of others. I'd like to see that change. I read somewhere, briefly, that it's time to take this to the federal level.
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@4.Bebe - Interracial marriage was illegal in this country at one time in our history. It, at one time, was just as crazy to think that one black person could marry one white person as it is crazy to think that two men or two women can marry each other today.
Your right, Bebe, is to marry the person you LOVE. If you happen to love a woman that's fine - you have the right to marry her. I happen to LOVE the man that I have been with for 7 years. I don't have right to marry him - ergo - I don't have the same rights as you.
Marriage affords people RIGHTS under the law that are so insanely automatic it's not even funny. Marriage is rooted in the church. At one point in history, the church WAS the government. Now that we have that little separation of church and state - why shouldn't I be able to marry another man and automatically be able to have the 4000+ federal and state rights that come with that?
I am the same as you Bebe - I love and am loved. I pay my taxes and I work my ass off at being a productive member of the community and public. The fact that I'm looked down at as illegitimate (your words) is repugnant.
This isn't a 'lifestyle' or a 'choice' - it's who I am. I'm an American and I should be treated as such with equal rights and protections under the law.
Give it up, bebe. You're not going to make a dent here. "Gay marriage has now lost in all 31 states in which it has been put to a popular vote" kinda says it all, doesn't it? The people have spoken -- again. You're not going to find tolerance for that point of view on this site.
Sad, for the gay rights movement that gay marriage didn't pass here in Maine. As the govenor said: we will make it to the top of the mountain someday. It is inevitable that someday gay marriage will be the law of the land. I have no doubt about that.
Unfortunately, the "union or partnership thing" is not equality and until gay families have equal rights; federal as well as state, the fight will go on and we will push, push, push. I remember how things were for gays back in the 60's and they have come a long, long way from hiding in the closets. Those early activists had alot of guts to stand up to extreme and violent prejudice. It has been a long time coming but the fight will go on until gay marriage is accepted.
It is ridiculous and disingenuous to describe this fight as a battle over a "word". It is a battle for equal rights, plain and simple. In actuality, gay marriage does exist with parents and children going about their daily lives like everyone else. You know, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it is a duck; all that is needed is protection for these individuals and families under the law. That day draws closer with every moment and I hope I'm here for the celebration!
@3.Mark
Interracial marriage is between a "WOMAN" and a "MAN". How hard is it to understand that marriage is defined as a union between people of the opposite sex. And you and I have exactly the same rights. I, being a heterosexual man, don't have the right to marry another man and neither do you. On the other hand, you of homosexual persuasion have the same right to marry a female as I do. Find a term that matches parties of the same gender in patnership and adopt it. Call it whatever you want and go with that.
@Bebeholmes - "We people" deserve all the rights and protections under the law as everyone else. The fact that you don't think that I'm not legitimate is the problem. I suppose you also think that when blacks fought for interracial marriage rights, they should have called it a union or a partnership too... Separate is not equal in this country and if I don't get the same rights and protections as straight people, why should I pay the same taxes? And if marriage is so important and special, why don't we just abolish divorce and make it illegal? Why should a group of people (the voters in this case) get to decide the rights of another group of people in the first place? ALL Americans should be equal, regardless of views, sexual orientation, race, disability, etc. Period.
When will you people understand. You are not mainstream America and Americans in general won't tolerate you trying to legitimize your lifestyle on the backs of the term "marriage". As I've suggested before, go with the "union" or "partnership" thing and you will get a lot further with your cause. You need to stop pushing and society won't push back.
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