Tuesday Nov. 4, 2009 was a historic election day in Maine—it was up to residents to decide whether to put a halt to gay marriages in their state. The result: 52.8 percent of voters rejected the state law Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to wed. The repeal comes just six months after the measure legalizing gay-marriage was passed by the Maine legislature and signed by the Democratic Gov. John Baldacci.
Maine would have been the sixth state in the country to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry, but instead becomes the 31st state to oppose the unions in a popular vote.
Gay-rights activists had hoped Maine voters—who are known for their moderate, independent-minded views—would have been the first to endorse same-sex marriage in a statewide ballot. In the five New England states performing gay marriages—Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts—the practice took effect after legislation or court order. However, that did not turn out to be the case in Maine.
I have to ask, in a progressive time such as this—a time when our country was finally able to shut the door on the past and elect our first African-American president of the United States—why are we still so ignorant and unyielding when it come to gay rights?
I found an article entitled How Different Are Same-Sex Couples from Different-Sex Couples? http://www.psychologytoday.com/node/34516 that caught my attention. While I feel like this article offers a new, fresh perspective for those opposed to same-sex marriage (which is good), it bothers me that people need to be given a list of reasons of “why gay people are like the rest of us” to then think, and only then, that ‘they’ (homosexuals) should be granted the same rights as the rest of society. Seriously? Why can’t the simple fact that gay people are people too be reason enough to legalize same-sex marriage in this country?
Besides, who are we to place limits or restrictions on which persons someone is allowed to love and spend the rest of their life with. I mean we’re talking about marriage here—the public expression and life-long commitment to the one you love—it is something that should be considered a basic human right.
I just can’t seem wrap my mind around how our government can deny people the right marry.