It looks like the folks up in Maine want to be able to sit back, roll up a big doobie and smoke while they tell the homosexuals "You can't get married, nah nah nah na na na."
According to the Bangor Daily News Election Results page, 87% of the precincts have reported in and the current vote is at 52.75% of Mainers saying that they don't want to allow same-sex marriage compared to 47.25% who do want to support it. A difference of only 5.5% not a landslide, not a major victory but a very narrow margin.
The count is 266,324 voting YES to rescind the law and 238,595 a difference of only 27,729 votes, and there are still 65 precincts with almost 100,000 registered voters who haven't weighed in yet. But it looks as though "results are official."
What Maine was able to pass though was the Maine Medical Marijuana Act, Question 5, by an almost 60% favorable vote. Maine already had Medical Marijuana laws on the books thanks to a 1999 initiative that passed with a 61% vote, in 2002 it was amended by a State Bill that doubled the legal amount of pot that one could possess. Now they've passed a law similar to California's where dispensaries can be created to distribute marijuana.
So I guess the folks up in Maine like taking away people's rights to get married - but damn if they tell them they can't smoke pot!
Filed under: Marriage Equality
Tags: maine, prop, WBTD archives
As a Mainer I have to say that this article is misleading. Portland Maine has the highest per capita gay population in the country, and has been called the most gay-friendly city in the nation by many publications. What a lot of people from away aren't getting is that Maine really is divided between the southern part of the state - where Portland and Bangor, two of the state's most liberal pockets, reside - and the northern half of the state, which is almost entirely rural. Maine has always had a problem with high school graduates looking for a college education out of state, and I think that this was a big factor in the election. Maine trends toward the elderly and they came out in droves - no matter what cities like Portland did it didn't matter because nearly the entire northern half of the state voted Yes.
I fully predict that within a decade it will be legal in Maine. We're not a bunch of pot smoking homophobic rednecks by any means.
@Discocobra - Thanks so much for stopping by and adding your insight to this post. Friends and I were talking about this last night and came to the same realization that the large turnout of senior citizens really swayed the vote. It's amazing how a few million dollars in television ads will sway a community. BTW - I love your screenname!
I find it disappointing that the same people that allowed medical marijuana were not free thinking enough to allow same-sex marriage. It's too bad people are so polarized over homosexual rights, but I think they will come around - hopefully it won't take 10 years.
I've put a link to your article on my own blog hoping to draw some attention to the issue: medical-marijuana-law.com/content/?p=70
at least the gays in maine can smoke the pain away while waiting for that law to be passed