Maine's Question 1

[Brittain33]

Maine is a joke state now


I'm surprised, if this can't pass in Maine... is there any hope for America?

For the gay, not in the short term, that's for sure.

We can't win in referenda, for certain. The next moves are New York, legislatively post-2010, and possibly NJ in the lame duck session although I don't know what happens there. Then in the middle range, legislatively in Illinois and a repeal in CA on the ballot in 2012 or 2016.

[Brittain33]

Maine is a joke state now.

I'm not getting the Maine bashing. I'm sure Mass. would have voted against gay marriage in 2006 if it had gone to the ballot as Romney and Finneran wanted. We don't win popularity contests. Minority rights rarely do. Meanwhile, No on 1 did an amazing job, and Maine's legislature and governor really led on this issue unlike any other state. I'm disappointed but not demoralized or surprised.

[Brittain33]

Honestly, I think Massachusetts would have narrowly supported gay marriage.  It's more than a few percentage points more liberal than Maine, after all.

Massachusetts would have an active anti-gay campaign in the race with at least some strong legislative support and local mayors. The organization wouldn't have been as lopsided. Romney would have stayed around to take a stand on it and we all saw how much integrity Kerry Healey had about bringing her campaign into the sewers.

[Brittain33]

Then, the biblical definition of marriage is restored in Maine.

A moral values voter defends the sanctity of traditional marriage:

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?p=6032

(nsfw)

[Brittain33]

The problem with you liberals is I hear someone say: I am for same sex marriage.

My response is: Okay, I'm not.

I say: I am against same sex marriage.

Your response is: OMG BIGOT OMG CAVEMAN HOW DARE YOU SO HEARTLESS BOO FRICKIN HOO@@@!

From what I've seen, you aren't getting any responses at all to your opinions. Except when you phrase them in a way a little different from "I am against same sex marriage."

[Brittain33]

Can you all take the religion pissing contest to general discussion? I for one have no interest in reading this crap here.

Amen.

[Brittain33]

Ah, thats it. To do an addendum, I think this was far more important than California because it should blow up the inevitability argument someone like Nate Silver peddles. Some young voters definitely voted heavily no, and the majority of young voters probably did narrowly, but the big divide was not age, but class.

I agree that class is a divide, but on what basis do you argue that it is more important than age? If young people are voting a majority in favor of same-sex marriage, it won't matter in the long run if 40% don't because they're view gays unfavorably as part of their world view. Class is one cleavage, but how does it make age not at least as important? Did old people vote differently?

40% in Lewiston is not enough to win, but were those 40% all Yuppies, and were they evenly distributed on the age spectrum?

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How did the gay rights referendum do in Lewiston in 1998 and 2000?