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Activists express shock, anger, after Maine marriage referendum passes by Peter Cassels
EDGE ContributorWednesday Nov 4, 2009LGBT activists around the country reacted with shock, dismay, hurt and anger after Maine voters narrowly approved a referendum that nullified the state’s law that granted marriage to gay and lesbian couples.
The state Legislature passed and Gov. John Baldacci signed the marriage bill into law last spring, but the Pine Tree State placed it on hold after opponents successfully mounted a campaign to get the Referendum 1 on the ballot.
Observers viewed the measure as a national barometer, especially after California voters approved Proposition 8 last November. The successful Maine referendum marks the first time voters in a state rejected marriage for same-sex couples after legislative approval.
"Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Maine voters stood for equality, but in the end, it wasn’t enough," Jesse Connolly, chair of the No on 1/Protect Maine Equality campaign, told supporters in an email statement. "I am proud of the thousands of Mainers who knocked on doors, made phone calls and talked to their family, friends and neighbors about the basic premise of treating all Maine families equally."
Connolly also said he feels the election results do not mean an end to the struggle for marriage rights for same-sex couples.
"We’re in this for the long haul. For next week, and next month, and next year--until all Maine families are treated equally," he continued. "Because in the end, this has always been about love and family and that will always be something worth fighting for."
The Boston-based Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the organization that successfully argued the landmark Goodridge case that made Massachusetts the first state to legalize marriage for gays and lesbians, played a key advisory role in the No on 1 campaign.
"Maine’s same-sex couples-and our allies and friends all over the country--are experiencing a world of hurt and pain," GLAD executive director Lee Swislow said in a statement. "Mainers have been denied full equality and full citizenship in their state. We have been told to remain outsiders. Gay and lesbian couples must explain this vote to their children. And at some point soon, we will all have to pick ourselves up and fight again."
National LGBT organizations also expressed disappointment.
"This heartbreaking defeat in Maine unfortunately shows that lies and fear can still win at the ballot box," Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said in a statement. "Yet despite this setback, the tide clearly is turning nationwide in favor of marriage equality. We are confident that Maine will again join the growing number of states that extend the essential security and legal protections of marriage to all loving, committed couples."
"Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Maine voters stood for equality, but in the end, it wasn’t enough." Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese expressed "profound sadness and anger" over the referendum’s passage.
"Although we lost our battle in Maine, we will not allow the lies and hate-the foundation on which our opponents built their campaign-to break our spirits," he said. "We are on the right side of history and we will continue this fight. I am angry. But more importantly, I am determined that with the anger I feel today from this outcome in Maine, we’ll rise ever stronger to demand equal treatment under the law and equal respect for our relationships in Maine, California, New Jersey, and every state of the union."
Rank-and-file activists also weighed in by posting comments on Facebook.
"It is a sad night in America," one said.
Another Facebook member said she felt like Sisyphus.
"The boulder I’m pushing up the hill is marriage equality," she wrote. "Just as I get to the top, it tumbles down again, and I have to start all over again. The hill is counting on me to give up, but I won’t, no matter how old or tired or hurt I become."
Some activists gleaned two lessons from the defeat-voters should not decide matters concerning civil rights and it’s time to press for federal laws to protect LGBT people.
"Civil rights should never be put to a popular vote," one Facebook user wrote.
Richard Socarides, an adviser on gay issues in the Clinton administration, told the Associated Press he feels the Maine loss should prompt gay-rights leaders to reconsider their state-by-state strategy on marriage and shift instead to lobbying for changes on the federal level that expand recognition of same-sex couples.
"It’s shameful that America lets majorities vote on the rights of minorities," Flik Huang, a straight woman who helped organize the National Equality March in Washington last month, said in a statement. "[LGBT] people have been spending precious time and money fighting for something the U.S. Constitution says they should already have, which is equal protection under the law. It’s time for the federal government to end the second-class status of LGBT Americans."
Peter Cassels is a recipient of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association’s Excellence in Journalism award. His e-mail address is pcassels@edgepublications.com.
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