Why Maine rejected gay marriage

Will same-sex marriage always lose when voters—not courts—get to decide?

The people of Maine narrowly voted to repeal a law allowing gay marriage, making Maine the 31st state to reject same-sex marriage at the ballot box. (Five states have legalized gay unions through the courts or legislative action.) Gay-rights groups, smarting from their failure to defeat California's Prop 8 last year, were hoping to turn the tide in a New England state with a "live and let live" tradition. Why did Maine reject same-sex marriage?

The majority didn't want it, pure and simple: The issue of gay marriage "loses when the people decide," says Thomas Peters in National Review. "And it loses every time." Unlike in California, gay-rights groups can't blame it on the Mormons this time. Maine—like all the other states—simply supports traditional marriage.

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