With about 87 percent of the precincts reporting, it appears that residents of Maine have exercised their people’s veto and shot down the same-sex marriage law passed by lawmakers and signed by the governor earlier this year.
The margin stands at 52.75 percent in favor of the repeal, and 47.25 percent against, with a gap of 27,729 votes. It doesn’t appear that the 13 percent of the precincts remaining to be counted could give those against the ballot measure enough to make up the difference.
In Washington, however, gays and their allies looking at a much brighter picture. In voting on whether to approve or reject the “everything but marriage” domestic partnership law passed there earlier this year, the votes for approval are leading, 51.1 percent to 48.9 percent.
The Secretary of State elections site notes that the totals were last updated at 12:27 a.m. PST – 2:27 CST, about 30 minutes ago – but the site does not say how many votes have yet to be counted.
In Houston, lesbian mayoral canidate Annise Parker secured a spot in the runoff by capturing about 30 percent of the vote in a four-way race. Her competitor in the runoff will be Gene Locke, who received about 25 percent of the vote.
And in more good news, voters in Kalamazoo, Mich., have approved an amendment to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance to include LGBT people.
4 Comments
Any chance this vote will be thrown out in court?
The LGBT Community has never won a popular vote for same-sex marriage. Same Sex marriage is “Banned” in 41 States. The States that have same-sex marriage did it legislatively or with the help of the Courts. We don’t have a single “victory” when the people get to vote. Plus, there is DOMA.
We lose to religion because they have an army and we don’t. The exit polls will show that the rallying call to stop same-sex marriage was made in the 1,500 churches across the State of Maine. They made it an important issue and they came out to vote in historic numbers.
While only 48% of Maine residents make religion “important,” we did not and do not have a way to inspire a response like the churches. While half the population of Maine is probably fair enough to put equality before religion, they didn’t come out like the religious crowd did.
We must figure out how to create our own army of people willing to respond to the call for equality. Until then, religion will continue to rally their troops and seal our fate.
Andrew, you left out the last half of the last sentence of your comment. Let me add it for you:
“and they will continue to use fear, manipulation and intimidation to do so.”
For the first time, I must acquiesce and admit that this defeat can be traced directly to the involvement of the Catholic Church. The time has come for us to strip politically active churches of their tax exempt status.