Partners Lisa Brackbill, left, and Lisa Pugh, right, both from Buckfield, Maine console one another along with Darlene Huntress, center, of Portland, after learning about the unofficial defeat on same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach)
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Maine voters repeal gay-marriage law
53 percent of the vote against gay marriage
Updated: Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009, 3:42 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 04 Nov 2009, 11:32 AM EST
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine voters have torpedoed a state law that would have allowed gay couples to marry.
With 84 percent of the precincts reporting, gay-marriage foes had 53 percent of the vote Tuesday. The outcome amounts to a heartbreaking defeat for the gay rights movement - particularly since it occurred in New England, the corner of the country most supportive of gay marriage.
At issue was a law passed by the Maine Legislature last spring that would have legalized same-sex marriage. The law was put on hold after conservatives launched a petition drive to repeal it in a referendum.
Gay marriage has now lost in every single state - 31 in all - in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine.
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