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Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
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Do IT this week: Layering
Failure is first time law enacted by legislature is defeated at the polls
By Glenn Adams and David Crary
Associated Press
Published on Wednesday, Nov 04, 2009
PORTLAND, MAINE: Maine voters have torpedoed a state law that would have allowed gay couples to marry.
With 84 percent of the precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the vote Tuesday.
The outcome amounts to a heartbreaking defeat for the gay-rights movement — particularly since it occurred in New England, the corner of the country most supportive of gay marriage.
At issue was a law passed by the Maine Legislature last spring that would have legalized same-sex marriage. The law was put on hold after conservatives launched a petition drive to repeal it in a referendum.
Gay marriage has now lost in every single state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine.
The failure marks the first time voters have torpedoed a gay-marriage law enacted by a legislature. When Californians rejected same-sex marriage, it was in response to a court ruling, not legislation.
Maine's secretary of state, Matthew Dunlap, said turnout seemed higher than expected for an off-year election, and voter interest appeared intense. Even before Tuesday, more than 100,000 people — out of about 1 million registered voters — had voted by absentee ballot or early voting.
Early returns showed a tight contest. With 70 out of 608 precincts reporting, the gay-marriage side had 53 percent of the votes Tuesday night.
Five other states have legalized gay marriage — Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut — 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.
''If we don't win, then Maine will have its place in infamy because no state has ever voted for homosexual marriage,'' said Chuck Schott of Portland.
Another Portland resident, Sarah Holman said she was ''very torn'' but decided — despite her conservative upbringing — to vote in favor of letting gays marry.
''They love and they have the right to love. And we can't tell somebody how to love,'' said Holman, 26.
In addition to reaching out to young people who flocked to the polls for President Barack Obama a year ago, gay-marriage defenders tried to appeal to Maine voters' spirit of fairness.
The other side based many of its campaign ads on claims — disputed by state officials — that the new law would mean ''homosexual marriage'' would be taught in public schools.
Both sides in Maine drew volunteers and contributions from out of state.
The campaign in defense of gay marriage, Protect Maine Equality raised $4 million, compared with $2.5 million for Stand for Marriage Maine.
PORTLAND, MAINE: Maine voters have torpedoed a state law that would have allowed gay couples to marry.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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ProChoice, OH
Posted 09:17 AM, 11/04/2009
This is awful! Gay couples have every right to be married & raise their families.
Danville, CA
Posted 09:30 AM, 11/04/2009
If you're for gay marriage, you're gonna be very lonely in NE Ohio. Ohio isn't that kind of place.
Posted 10:54 AM, 11/04/2009
No culture in all of human history has ever regarded homosexual unions as marriages. Thank God, who created us male and female as co-creators of new generations, the public (in Maine and throughout the USA), unlike muddled-headed legislators and jurists, continue that proud legacy of civilized culture rather than succumb to the voices of vulture culture.
