Tuesday night in Maine, supporters of a state law that would have legalised same-sex marriage lost, 53-47%.
PORTLAND, Maine - Voters on Tuesday repealed the state's same sex
marriage law after an emotionally charged campaign that drew large
numbers to the polls and focused national attention on Maine.
With 87 percent of precincts reporting, the campaign to overturn
Maine's same-sex marriage law won with 53 percent of the vote vs. 47
percent opposed to Question 1, according to unofficial results compiled
by the Bangor Daily News.
Gay-marriage opponents claimed victory shortly after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Less than a week before Maine voters decide whether to repeal the state's new same-sex marriage law, donations and volunteers are pouring in to sway what both sides call a nationally significant fight.
WASHINGTON - Tens of thousands of gay rights supporters marched Sunday from the White House to the Capitol, demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to allow gays to serve openly in the military and work to end discrimination against gays.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama vowed his unwavering support for the full gay rights agenda Saturday night, saying that he'll push Congress to repeal the ban on gays serving openly in the military.
He also said that he'll work to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as solely between a man and a woman, to guarantee that gay and lesbian couples get the same benefits as straight couples, and to ban anti-gay discrimination in the workplace.
Thirty years after gay rights activists staged their first national march in Washington - and coinciding with National Coming Out Day - activists return this weekend to demand federal action.
The October 11 event is a call for congress to act on gay and lesbian legislation, much of which were debated during the first 1979 march.
"We need congressional action," Cleve Jones, long-time gay activist and creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, said in a recent interview.
Maine is the latest battleground for same-sex
marriage, with voters deciding next month whether to approve a measure
overturning their state Legislature's decision in May to legalize such
marriages.
The campaign for the measure, known as Question 1, looks like a
rerun of last year's Proposition 8 in California, which struck down
same-sex marriage. TV ads for the measure are the work of the
Sacramento firm of Schubert Flint Public Affairs, which ran the
successful California campaign.
CommonDreams.org Editor's Note: This year, the Maine State Legislature and Governor Baldacci - with the rousing support of Maine residents - passed one of the most comprehensive Marriage Equality laws in the country. Opponents of equality have now forced a statewide vote to challenge the new law. The Vote No on #1 Campaign - which supports marriage equality - is fighting bravely against the misleading and hateful campaign lead by those who would deny equal rights to our gay, lesbian, and transgendered neighbors. The
Dear President Obama:
I am writing to respectfully urge you to bring the energetic moral
vision that you championed as a presidential candidate to the cause of
equality for gay and lesbian Americans.
