Marriage Equality Stripped Away in Maine

Last night I kept running tabs on how the voting was going in Maine.  When the very first precinct reported, it looked good, after that…it was all down hill.  Loosing the battle in Maine is a tremendous and devastating loss for LGBT rights.

The fact that an out-of-state organization, the same organization that was instrumental in the passing of Prop 8 in California, know as NOM, is what swayed that vote is sickening.

The lies that have been told to fuel fears of voters shouldn’t be tolerated.  I simply don’t understand.  The fear factor which pushed this vote in both California and Maine was “the children”.  The Christian right was allow to run deceitful ads claiming that if marriage equality stood, then “gay marriage” would be taught in schools.  This is a blatant lie, and I’m mad as hell the ads were even allowed to be run. Lying publicly over rights is even worse than yelling “FIRE” in a theater, so why should it be allowed?  Again I ask why are blatant lies to the public, especially when it comes to rights, covered by the First Amendment?  Also, since when has marriage, of any kind been part of a school’s curriculum?

I can just see it now:

OK boys and girls, today we’re going to talk about when you grow up.  But not about whether you want to be a fireman, policeman or doctor, but who you’re going to marry.  Now some of you boys think that girls have cooties, and when you get older, and grow hair in areas you don’t have it now, you’ll still think girls have cooties, and you’ll only want to kiss other boys.  That means you’re “gay”.   Now, once you’re gay, you need to find another nice boy who thinks girls have cooties, go down to your local Catholic church and force them to marry you because they hate “gays”.  Then when they say they don’t want to marry you, you have to take them to court and sue them and the nice policemen will put them in jail for the rest of their life, because President Obama, and the democrats, passed a hate-crimes law, which means you can’t say anything bad about gay people or you too will go to jail until you die.

So there you have it…the new lesson on gay marriage…which won’t happen, because the good Christians have spent millions of dollars to make sure that gay people don’t have the right to marry, live anywhere they’re not wanted or work at a job, no matter how qualified you are, because you’re gay.

Below is an account of the election results in Maine as they came in last night.

As of 11:50 pm, with 70% percent of precincts reporting, and the gap holding at 52% of Maine voters in favor of maintaining discrimination against LGBT citizens, and only 48% of voters supporting equality, it looks as though, through the efforts of NOM, a Washington D.C. based Christian organization, who raised a large percentage of funds that supported their efforts  to maintain discrimination outside of the state of Maine,  LGBT citizens will be stripped of the right, passed by the state’s legislation, to marry.

One may think, that if we’re going to be archaic in granting rights by letting states decide, then there would be rules and regulations dictating that support or opposition for equality, must be held within the confines of that state.  But, the religious right, who has no concept of separation of church and state, has again succeeded in maintaining oppression.

Another very sad day in the history of LGBT rights and equality, as those from the religious right, have succeeded in preventing Mainers from becoming anything more than second-class citizens.

Previous results below-

At 11:25 pm, with 60 % of precincts reporting, marriage equality is sliding with 52% in favor of banning same-sex marriage and 48% in opposition of ending  marriage equality.

As of 10:57 pm, with 51% of precincts reporting, marriage equality is slipping away in Maine with 51% of voters in favor of repealing the law and 49% in favor of maintaining equality.

10:57 pm, with 38 % of precincts reporting, the voting on Question 1 in Maine is virtually tied at 50 % voting yes to repeal same-sex marriage and 50% voting to maintain marriage equality.

At 10:21 pm with 28 % of precincts reporting, votes in favor of retaining the marriage equality law in Maine are lagging behind, with 50 % of votes against same-sex marriage and 49 % voting in favor of same sex marriage.

At 9:53 pm with 18% of precincts reporting 52% are in favor of keeping marriage equality and 48% are in favor of repealing equality in Maine

In other election results, according to WKZO Radio in Kalamazoo, Michigan:

One Kalamazoo, the group backing Ordinance Number 1856, has already declared the ordinance has been approved, claiming in a press release that 65-percent of voters before absentee ballots approved the ordinance. This is the ordinance passed by the city’s council banning discrimination in housing and employment against LGBT people.

According to the current reporting from Bangor Daily News, as of 7:31 pm, the results on question 1 are as follows:

Those voting to reject same-sex marriage, 11.76% and those voting to retain stand at 88.24%. Of course these are unofficial results, but it’s looking good for marriage equality in Maine at the moment. Check back soon for more results.

However, now with 2% of precincts reporting, the vote is pretty much tied at 50 % in favor and 50% against!

As of 8:36 pm, with about 6% of precincts reporting, marriage equality is holding a slight lead of about 9 percentage points, but with so many precincts left to report, it’s difficult to tell.  Keep Checking back, we’ll keep you posted!

At 9:21 pm with 14 % of precincts reporting, the numbers are 52.5 % of vote in favor of retaining marriage equality and 47.5 % in favor of repealing the gay marriage law.