16 days ago
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Supporters of same-sex marriage are vowing to continue the fight, after voters in Maine voted to repeal a law allowing such unions.
With 87 percent of precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes have 53 percent of the vote. The referendum had asked Maine voters whether they wanted to repeal a law allowing same-sex marriage that had passed the Legislature and was signed by Gov. John Baldacci.
For the gay rights movement it was a stinging defeat. Gay marriage has now lost in every state -- 31 in all -- in which it has been put to a popular vote.
Five states -- Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut -- have legalized gay marriage. But all did so through legislation or court rulings, not by popular vote.
The chief organizer for Stand for Marriage Maine, which lobbied for the repeal, says that "the institution of marriage has been preserved in Maine and across the nation."
The Associated Press
