Maine voters repeal gay marriage law

[last_texas_dem]

Source: Alliance Review/Associated Press

>>>>PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- 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.>>>>

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAY_MARRIAGE_...

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[XemaSab]

1. .

[Muttocracy]

2. :-( how was voter turnout? nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Pretty high, actually.

[Muttocracy]

5. >:-

[caseymoz]

63. This is horrible. My condolences to all the GLBT people here.

There is no bright side to this. I had a bad feeling about this one, though. I thought it would end badly for GLBT.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

I think there are very few states where marriage equality will be won in the next 30 years.

[last_texas_dem]

12. Sadly, it looks to have been pretty high for an off-year

The Bangor paper's election results page has it at 54%.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/electionresults.html

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Shame on my fellow Mainers who voted against civil rights.

[Sebastian Doyle]

6. Now can we dispense with the fiction of Olympia Snowe and that other dumb twit being on "our" side?

Maine Repukes are apparently just as sickening and hateful as any other Repukes. Fuck 'em. Drop a bomb on Kennebunkport.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Actually, Kennebunkport came out 61% on our side. But I know what you mean *hugs*.

[Sebastian Doyle]

9. I could have been more specific

But I really don't need any late night vists from Agent Mike's pals

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. LOL

[Libertas1776]

10. Hey now,

Kennebunk voted NO! with at least 60% so drop your bombs somewhere else. Maybe Aroostook

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. I think Lewiston & Augusta voted the wrong way. I would not be surprised if Auburn did too.

[MaineDem]

61. Auburn voted no

Unlike Lewiston.

[GreenPartyVoter]

68. That's good news. :^) They have a pretty strong Catholic presence as well, so I was a little worried

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Oh, FUCK.

That's awful.

I am sick to hear this.

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. It's Prop 8 all over again. The religious right had more money and played noxious TV ads. :^(

[FrenchieCat]

15. Same fucking state that elects 2 Republicans Senators election after election.....

and so, I'm not that surprised.

Quite Sad.

[dana_b]

16. damn

horrible news.

[Old and In the Way]

17. My town in Central Maine went almost 70/30 for Yes on 1

I figured it would lose here, but the lopsided results really surprised me.

I have to say, there were lots of Yes on 1 signs out, but I also thought the No on 1 did a great TV campaign...too bad we couldn't have led the way on a more progressive attitude on gay marriage...eventually, the tide will turn because this is a generational issue.

[Po_d Mainiac]

36. The numbers were bad in the whole district

But like u stated, not a surprise. This was also a stronghold for McSame/Phailin last year.

[HuckleB]

18. That sucks for all of the human race.

[dkf]

19. This requires a societal mindset change before legislation can be

approved apparently.

[customerserviceguy]

45. That would seem to be the case

when people's civil rights are being put up for a public vote in a secret ballot box election. We would have seen the same thing happen with rights for women and people of color if their rights had been hanging by the ballot box.

On the other hand, the results in Washington State are bucking that trend, I really think that it's going to take about another ten years before society will get to the place where they don't care about the word "marriage" being applied to same-sex relationships. At this point, clearly, there is enough irrational fear out there that the haters can still claim the label for opposite sex relationships only.

[Veruca Salt]

56. "We would have seen the same thing happen with rights for women and people of color if their rights

had been hanging by the ballot box."

+infinity.

NOW can we have our equivalent of Loving vs Virginia?

[customerserviceguy]

74. Interesting that you cite that case

While public sentiment against interracial marriage was strong in 1967 (the year Loving vs. Virginia was decided) as measured by Gallup polling of the day, for the most part, elected legislatures had done the right thing by eliminating their anti-miscegenation laws. Other places that had them officially on the books either did not enforce them, or did so in a very spotty manner.

Should the Supreme Court have a case in front of them on the issue of same-sex marriage, they would face a very different legal environment that faced the case you cite. They'd surely have to take note of the fact that about three-fourths of the states recently put anti-equality legislation on their books, whereas the interracial marriage laws dated from a century earlier, after the Civil War.

I fear that the decision reached, especially given the current foreseeable composition of the Court, would sear anti-equality into the laws of this land for at least another generation. When you reflect on the length of time between "separate but equal" in Plessey vs. Ferguson in 1896, and the striking down of that abomination in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, you'll see what I mean.

Clearly, with the vote in Washington State, which didn't even have statewide civil rights laws protecting LGBT folks until fairly recently, a gradualist approach may produce results. I note the transition from civil unions to full marriage within a decade in Vermont, and if a decade or so passed between the granting of civil unions (or domestic partnerships) and the introduction of legislation that calls such relationships "marriage", we would have a smoother path to equality.

[sakabatou]

20. Ugh...

[Vidar]

21. Damn!

[clear eye]

22. Sandbagged. n/t

[krispos42]

23. Stupid fucking off-year elections

Important shit being decided in fucking odd-numbered years with like 10% of the electorate turning out.


What fucking political genius decided "Hey, let's hold important elections in an off-year?" anyway? New Jersey governor, Virginia governor, and now this.


Fuck.

[Renew Deal]

26. The lesson is that there is no such thing as an "off year" election.

They all count.

[Golden Raisin]

28. And so much self-assured banter

on this site and elsewhere about how the Republicans are dead, in turmoil, finished, kaput. Bull. Obama's election may have been a blast of chemo but the country still has cancer. And as a New Yorker I'm sick that Bloomberg won (bought) a 3rd term.

[Freddie Stubbs]

42. Maine, like CA, is a very blue state. This thing passed with the support of some Democratic voters

[crim son]

47. That's because it's not st rictly a political issue, obviously.

Religion, our shitty educational system are as much to blame as anything else.

[Veruca Salt]

57. 100% correct

Heck, my own mother has told me, to my FACE, that she would vote down marriage equality in MA if given the chance.

Really, it's one of the reasons I've distanced myself from her as sad as it is to have to do. She doesn't want to get why I've done so, no matter how plainly I explain it to her.

[krispos42]

64. The Party is dying but the conservatives are still there

And anti-gay sentiment has been hammered and refined in them for decades. They don't need a centralized organization to operate effectively on this issue. It's reflexive. It's instinctive.

[marasinghe]

72. what you said. the stupidity of the mob is palpable & infectious.

another new yorker disgusted with bloomberg's purchase of gracie mansion and the northeast's latest wallow in the slough of bigotry.

[michreject]

33. I would guess the people who organized the petition

and collected the signatures.

[Freddie Stubbs]

41. CA votes made the same poor decision last year during a record turnout

[krispos42]

65. Well that was after a State Supreme Court ruling

That didn't have citizen input like the Maine legislation did.

But it's a good point. I was hoping the fact that it wasn't "judicial activism", and that it WAS in New England, would make a difference.

[FBaggins]

67. It DID make a difference

Just not enough.

We (understandably) pay attention to the W-L column, but some of these votes have been big blowouts while this was a close one. Yeah... we still lost, but I think the factors you mentioned DID help.

If the President of the United States had spent a little political capital on the issue it might well have won.

[Freddie Stubbs]

69. It should be clear by now that this is not an issue he wants to spend any political capital on

[FBaggins]

71. Yep. Which puts us in the same boat as conservatives with McCain

The more one might wish to "send a message" for what could reasonably be seen as a betrayal of the base... the more likely it would hurt the long-term ends of that very base.

On the other hand... if you can't take an almost filibuster-proof majority out for a spin now and then... what's the benefit of having it in the first place?

[FBaggins]

66. Forget NJ/VA

It's not an "off year" when the Gov is on the ballot. I agree that turnout is lower, but both states have the advantage of ensuring that local issues would control their political destiny instead of fighting the national candidates for airtime and having to talk about their issues rather than the state's.

But you make a good point as it relates to Maine.

The answer to "what genius decided" is probably "one who was scared to be on the ballot the same day gay marriage was".

[skyounkin]

24. Yes on 1 ran nothing but lies and hate

it's sickening...

I still can't believe we lost.

[MaineDem]

62. Exactly.

Time to pull tax-exempt status from churches. They were putting out the lies and hatred. And the bill specifically said churches were free to set their own rules.

[Renew Deal]

25. If peoples rights were always tied to popular opinion, this would be a pretty bad country to live in

You don't put rights up to a vote. It just doesn't make sense.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

27. More legal challenges to overturn the voters' will.

Same thing that happened in CA.
Gay marriage will eventually be legal all over the US due to the full faith and credit clause, the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th amendment.

Voters cannot stop it.

Analagous to the Loving v. Virginia ruling.

[Solly Mack]

29. Well, fuck

[Divine Discontent]

30. This just shows that given the opportunity to judge the rights of others, too many closed-minded

people will bite at the chance to feel powerful.

Thank God/spirits/the law whatever you wanna thank, that these knuckledraggers can't put other people's rights up for secret ballot vote!

Just imagine what Mississippi, South Carolina, and others would do if allowed.

[shadowknows69]

31. I'm so sorry Maine. I passed out before this was finished and it was yes when I went to bed.

I thought thid was going to be a victory.

[countmyvote4real]

32. Time to take it to the SCOTUS. n/t

[Hell Hath No Fury]

53. Yes, that is the only answer.

Civil rights are a federal matter, plain and simple.

[Veruca Salt]

58. YES.

[Sky Masterson]

34. :o(

This sucks!

[high density]

35. the fear campaign wins again

Yes on 1 had the most obnoxious ads, telling people that their children were going to be indoctrinated into some sort of gay lifestyle at school. It was sickening.

[Ian David]

37. Fucking ignorant bigots. n/t

[JerseygirlCT]

38. Fuck.

Bigots win again?

[TommyO]

39. Fuck Maine and those who think they can vote on other people's rights.

[high density]

44. Generalize much?

Jeeze. My voting district was 60/40 in support of gay marriage... should we be fucked too?

[TommyO]

46. Unfortunately, the innocent like you suffer for the bigotry of others

[Sinistrous]

40. Bloody Hell!

I had such hopes for this one.

But it is a tough fight when you are fighting bigotry, stupidity, ignorance, and orchestrated lies all at the same time.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

43. The religious wrong strikes again.

[lunatica]

48. It's heartbreaking

to see that people vote their hate.

[izquierdista]

49. Courts are the right place to protect the minority

Never count on the general population to do the right thing; there's too many hateful stupids among them. Hoping for the general voting population to extend civil rights to the sexual minority is like hoping for whites in the South to voluntarily take down the "colored" signs.

[mstinamotorcity]

50. To my LGBT partners

sorry for the loss in Maine. Maybe next time. When they do mid term elections the majority of voters are seniors,white males, and religious groups with agendas. When they stack the cards against you before you get started you are all ready set up for failure. Every state that has accepted gay marriage if it was repealed it was because of opposition groups that start targeting gay marriage as soon as voters passed it. Hopefully you will organize on the next passage for the blow back. Still waiting for one voice

[ThatsMyBarack]

51. In MAINE?!1!?!

NOOOO!!!!!!!!

[Odin2005]

52. This is why I'm against referendums.

They let bigots vote away your rights.

[ellie]

54. Assholes.

[primavera]

55. I so do not get this

What is it that fuels opponents of gay marriage to give a shit about an issue that has no impact whatsoever on them? What are they so terrified of? Are they really gullible enough to believe the Rush gibberish that hetero couples will suddenly split up and start screwing sheep if gay marriage is allowed? Can there really be that many people stupid enough to believe such patently absurd suppositions?

[endless october]

59. amazing that the equal protection clause can be repealed by consensus.

oh, wait. it can't. that's not legal.

if the state recognizes hetero marriages, it has no choice but to recognize gay ones as well. hopefully the court will eventually get its head out of its ass and read the fucking Constitution.

but the court rubber stamped the unconstitutional drug war and patriot act, so i'm not optimistic it will do the right thing here.

[Mari333]

60. this sucks so bad

but they will lose eventually...this is a civil rights issue and THEY MAY HAVE WON THIS BATTLE BUT THEY WILL LOSE THE WAR.
Gay marriage is going to be in every state someday and I know it. I remember the civil rights struggle of the 60s...dont let this get you down for long, this will change ...civil rights in the 60s was under great pressure and suffered numerous struggles..it will change..
god Im sure mad today tho

[krabigirl]

70. Fuck fundies.

[zanne]

73. These people will win because of hatred...

Hatred does so much damage to a society. What it does do for the electoral system though, is get people out to the polls. I'm sure that most of the people who voted "NO" were not at the polls to vote for their favorite candidates. They wanted to express their hatred of gay people. Amendments like this are not legal in every state; thank God. It's not legal in NH; the House would have to approve it first, and that would be just about impossible. In other words, the House would have to, in effect ,change the state constitution.

What is very worrisome to me is that hatred is motivating people more than compassion is. This year's elections had a very low turnout. I think that puts some of the blame on us, for not working hard enough at getting people energized and out to vote.