AUGUSTA – From the re-election of President Barack Obama to wins in four states that voted on gay marriage, Tuesday was a big day for gay rights, national advocates said Wednesday.

The 2012 election will be remembered as the “most historic election of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality movement,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign.

“It truly was a milestone year and a mandate for equality,” Griffin said during a conference call with reporters.

Voters approved same-sex marriage proposals in Maine, Maryland and Washington, and defeated a proposed constitutional amendment in Minnesota that would have banned gay marriage.

Maine voters approved Question 1 by 53 percent to 47 percent, according to unofficial results.

Maryland and Washington voted 52 percent to 48 percent to uphold laws passed by their legislatures to allow gay marriage, and Minnesota voters rejected the proposed ban, also by 52 percent to 48 percent, news outlets reported Wednesday.

Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said the momentum dates back to 2008, when voters in California, Florida and Arizona adopted constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage.

That’s when heterosexual supporters began to push for equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians, Carey said.

“For many years, our community has been in a defensive posture,” she said. “Something changed in 2008 and we have seen an outpouring of support from volunteers, from people who are straight.”

The movement suffered a blow in 2009, when Mainers repealed a gay-marriage law that the Legislature had passed and Gov. John Baldacci had signed.

Shortly after that vote, advocates began working on the campaign to change enough minds to bring the issue back this year.

While Carey and Griffin claimed victory Wednesday, the National Organization for Marriage, the leading contributor to gay-marriage opposition in Maine and elsewhere, vowed to redouble its efforts to preserve the traditional definition of marriage.

“Obviously we are very disappointed in losing four tough election battles by narrow margins,” said the organization’s president, Brian Brown, in a prepared statement. “We knew long ago that we faced a difficult political landscape with the four marriage battles occurring in four of the deepest-blue states in America. Marriage is a true and just cause, and we will never abandon the field of battle just because we experienced a setback.”

Once the laws in Maine, Maryland and Washington take effect, same-sex marriage will be legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. Gay marriage is banned by the constitutions of 31 states.

Griffin said the Human Rights Campaign spent more than $20 million to support Obama’s re-election and help finance the same-sex marriage campaigns in the four states.

He highlighted Wisconsin voters’ election of Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay person ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

In addition to Obama, who lifted the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and publicly backed same-sex marriage, Griffin named other members of Congress who will be supportive of gay rights.

He named Maine’s Angus King, an independent, as one of a half-dozen senators-elect who support gay rights.

Griffin said the election of New Hampshire’s new governor, Maggie Hassan, ensures that the state’s 2010 gay marriage law will be safe from potential repeal.

The Human Rights Campaign identified Colorado and Minnesota as states with Democratic legislatures that may become the next battleground for gay-marriage legislation.

He said he hopes to avoid popular votes like the one in Maine.

“Putting one’s fundamental civil rights up to a vote of the people is not something we should have to do in this country,” he said. “It’s not the American way.”

As they look to the road ahead, gay activists say the movement has turned a corner.

“This is the dawn of a new day for marriage equality in America,” Carey said. “We still have a ways to go before all families can share in the celebration and responsibilities of marriage, but today we woke up much farther down that road than we were the day before. These wins at the ballot box are breathtaking, history-making milestones for our country.”

Staff Writer Susan Cover can be contacted at 621-5643 or at:

scover@mainetoday.com

 

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