Gay marriage supporter Karen Weiss (l.) comforts Jennifer Hoopes as they watch election results at the No on 1/Protect Maine Equality rally in Portland, Maine, Tuesday night. The group is worked to prevent the repeal of Maine's gay marriage law, which was adopted last spring by Maine's legislature.
(Joel Page/REUTERS)Photos (1 of 1)
Maine vote a devastating blow to gay marriage
Maine voters on Tuesday voted down a law that would have legalized gay marriage in the state. It became the 31st state to reject gay marriage at the ballot box.
By Michael B. Farrell | Staff writer/ November 4, 2009 edition
In an election that was seen as a national litmus test on gay marriage, Maine voters overturned a state law that would have legalized same-sex marriage in the state.
In doing so, Maine joins the growing ranks of states – now 31 in all – that have rejected gay marriage at the ballot box. No state has ever voted to legalize gay marriage. Gay marriage was passed by the legislature or mandated by courts in the five states where it is legal: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa.
The Maine vote is a devastating defeat to the gay-rights movement, which poured millions of dollars and sent hundreds of volunteers to Maine. Their goal was to persuade Maine voters to uphold the law that Democratic Gov. John Baldacci signed in May.
The result will send a clear message to other state legislatures considering bills to legalize gay marriage, says Brian Brown, executive director of the New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage, which contributed $1.8 million to the Maine campaign against the state law.
The victory is especially important to same-sex marriage opponents nationally, he says, because Maine is considered a relatively liberal state in New England – where the gay-rights movement has already gained a strong foothold.
Gay marriage opponents jubilant
Yet on Wednesday morning, with 87 percent of precincts reporting, 53 percent of Maine voters decided to reject the state’s gay-marriage law, the Associated Press reports.
“The institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across this nation,” Frank Schubert told the supporters of the Stand for Marriage campaign, an anti-gay marriage group, at their victory celebration early Wednesday morning, according to the Portland Press-Herald.
Mr. Schubert, a California consultant, came to Maine to work on the campaign against gay marriage after helping overturn the same-sex marriage law in California at the polls last year.
Gay-rights advocates attempted to frame the issue in Maine as a question of equality for all families regardless of sexual orientation. Opponents argued the law would change how marriage was taught in schools.
The role of religion
It also became a religious issue. The Catholic Church was heavily involved in the veto effort at the polls, as were Christian groups from around the country. While research suggests Maine is one of the least religious states in the US, analysts say the religious argument held sway with voters.
The vote was confirmation that the voting public is still uneasy with expanding marriage laws to include gay and lesbian couples.
Many gay-rights groups have long opposed putting the same-sex marriage question – which they consider a civil rights issue – to a popular vote. In California, these groups are closely watching a challenge in federal court to Proposition 8, the voter-approved ballot initiative that banned gay marriage there. The plaintiffs in the case say the California ban is a violation of the Constitution’s equal protection clause. Many expect that case to eventually make its way to the US Supreme Court in ruling that could decide the issue of gay marriage for the country.
What happened in Washington State?
While Maine was a setback for the gay-rights movement, Washington State voted Tuesday to give gay and lesbian domestic partners all the same rights as married couples. While the measure there stopped short of legalizing same-sex marriage, many see it as important step for gay rights as it extends the state’s legal protections for same-sex couples.
The results in Maine may spur the gay-rights movement to turn away from battles at the state level and focus more on the courts or repealing the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which is also being challenged in court.
“We’re here for the long haul,” Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for Protect Maine Equality, told supporters of Maine’s gay marriage law, according to the Associated Press. “We’ll be here fighting. We’ll be working. We will regroup.”
See also:
At stake in Maine vote: a potential first for gay marriage
Gay rights advocates win a round on California’s Prop. 8
Gay marriage foe announces its next big target: Iowa
Obama ’supports repeal’ of same-sex marriage ban, lawyers say
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Comments
2. Thankful | 11.04.09
Congrats to Maine voters for upholding the sanctity of marriage! Hopefully this will help other states reject gay marriage as well.
3. Kevin | 11.04.09
53% to 47% every time its voted on it becomes closer and closer…its only a simple matter of time before it passes
4. Stephen Esperanz | 11.05.09
THANK YOU Tom Solomon.
I wouldn’t say “it’s only a matter of time” with a note of finality, like it doesn’t really matter. It’s just like saying, “it’s only a matter of time until the whole family structure of America completely breaks down, along with the values and morals it struggles to preserve.” That may or may not be extreme, but this is an issue we all need to keep addressing with care. It is well to test the balance and stability of society with every step we make–truly, the difficult part will be perceiving the long-term effects of these decisions.
5. Steve | 11.05.09
As a society we have come to a broad consensus that we are going to tolerate open homosexual relationships. But there is a a big difference between tolerating and celebrating. Gay marriage (as opposed to civil union) is about celebrating these relationships. I have a hard time seeing how that benefits society as a whole.
6. Tom | 11.14.09
Steve,
Society is beginning to accept homosexual relationships because there is nothing wrong with them. As a gay Christian, I believe the legitimation of my long-term relationship (via a formal celebratory and committal mechanism)can be achieved by still upholding my faith in loving others, treating them with respect, and growing stronger with another individual who happens to also be a man, just as heterosexual couples are expected to.
As to your benefits to society argument, I could suggest the benefits are the same ones that heterosexual marriages offer: namely a hypothetical stable family structure. Moreover, society would benefit by showing countless adolescents struggling with their sexuality that they are accepted, loved, valued by society, and that they can lead normal lifestyles just like their heterosexual counterparts are entitled to. I am grieved by the fact that depression and suicide amongst gay teens is three times higher than heterosexual teens. We as a people need to stop telling these kids that they are of no use to society, and embrace them for who they are.
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1. Tom Solomon | 11.04.09
The headline could have as easily read: “Maine upholds traditional marriage, (as it has been practiced for 3,000 years)”