Maine Overturns Gay Marriage Law

November 4, 2009 9:37 a.m. EST

Augusta, ME (AHN) - Voters in the Pine Tree State overturned a newly-adopted law allowing same-sex couples to marry on Tuesday. The referendum, called Question 1, was a huge setback for the larger gay movement nationwide, and a test case for California, where LGBT advocates are working to repeal the Golden State's ban against gay marriages through the ballot as early as next year.

Question 1, which asked voters if they "want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages," passed by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent, according to a tally by the Bangor Daily News.

Maine became the fifth state to allow same-sex marriages after Gov. John Baldacci signed LD 1020 in May. In August, a coalition that supports traditional marriage, Stand for Marriage Maine, successfully petitioned for a referendum on the law, which they said would harm the education of children, religious liberty and free speech.

A similar move was undertaken by conservatives in California, where an initiative called Proposition 8 was passed during last year's election, overturning a state Supreme Court ruling issued only months earlier, which said gay couples had a constitutional right to be married.

Jesse Connolly, the campaign manager of Protect Maine Equality, said in a message to supporters, "Hundreds of thousands of Maine voters stood for equality, but in the end, it wasn't enough... We're in this for the long haul. For next week, and next month, and next year-- until all Maine families are treated equally. Because in the end, this has always been about love and family and that will always be something worth fighting for."

Stand for Marriage Maine similarly said its work was not yet complete.

"We have successfully preserved marriage in Maine, however the fight continues across our great nation, and will most likely return back to our state in the future," the group said in a statement. "There was a large national force behind No on 1, and I encourage everyone who is a fan of YES on 1 to stand behind NOM as this battle rages on across the country."

Both organizations were backed by national groups. The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) helping Maine conservatives raise $1.4 million in three weeks last month, while the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights group, and Equality California helping with phone banks and rally online support for Protect Maine Equality.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force had also contributed $75,000 to allies in Maine and devoted full-time organizers in the state. It called the referendum results a "heartbreaking defeat in Maine unfortunately shows that lies and fear can still win at the ballot box," but also said "the tide clearly is turning nationwide in favor of marriage equality."

With Maine having repealed its law, a total of five states now allow gay marriages, three of which adopted their statutes this year.

In addition, the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriages, Massachusetts, sued the federal government in July Marriage Act (DOMA), which provides the federal definition of marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman. The District of Columbia this year also began recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.