US voters block gay marriage law

4 Nov 2009, 6:07 pm   -   Source: AP/SBS
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Gay marriage supporters had hoped voters in Maine would back the controversial law

Gay marriage supporters had hoped voters in Maine would back the controversial law

Voters in the US state of Maine have torpedoed a state law that would have allowed gay couples to marry.

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Voters in the US state of Maine have blocked a law that would have allowed gay couples to marry.
 
The result is a major setback to gay rights activists who had hoped Maine would become the first in the country where voters directly approved gay marriage.

With 84 per cent of the precincts reporting, gay-marriage opponents had garnered 53 per cent of the vote in the closely-fought referendum.

The outcome from Tuesday's vote made Maine the third US state where voters repealed their local government's move granting same-sex couples the right to marry, following California and Hawaii.

It is a heartbreaking defeat for the gay rights movement - particularly since it occurred in a northeastern New England state, the corner of the country most supportive of gay marriage.

In Washington state, voters seemed on the verge of approving a referendum granting gays the right to civil unions, with early returns showing a razor-thin margin of 51 percent to 49 percent supporting the expanded status. 

Civil union rights for gays

The federal government and most states do not recognize gay marriage.

Gay marriage has not yet won a popular vote in any US state.

A minority of states - a total of five - that have moved to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples have done so through court rulings or votes in the state legislature. 

Those states include Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont. New Hampshire will allow gay marriage starting in January.

Five other states and the capital Washington grant domestic partnership or civil union rights to gay couples, and another three grant some statewide rights.

At issue on Tuesday was a law passed by the Maine Legislature last spring that would have legalised same-sex marriage.

Equality fight 'will go on'

The law was put on hold after conservatives launched a petition drive to repeal it in a referendum.

The Maine vote came a year after California passed a controversial constitutional amendment that banned gay marriage.

"Yesterday, hundreds of thousands of Maine voters stood for equality, but in the end, it wasn't enough," said Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for Protect Maine Equality, the leading group seeking to uphold the same-sex marriage law.

But she vowed the fight would go on.

"We're in this for the long haul. For next week, and next month, and next year -- until all Maine families are treated equally," Connolly said.

"Because in the end, this has always been about love and family and that will always be something worth fighting for."
 

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