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Last week during the off-year elections, there was quite a bit said about the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey. And much was also said about the congressional race in upstate New York. But I think one of the more significant victories last week was for traditional marriage.
The voters in Maine were able to vote against same-sex marriage by using a mechanism some have called a “people's veto.” The state legislature approved a bill that would legalize same-sex unions, and the governor quickly signed it in May. The bill would have gone in effect in late June, but opponents collected the required number of signatures within that period in order to get the referendum question on the ballot.
If the referendum failed, then Maine would be the sixth state to legalize gay marriage. The others are Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Iowa. All of these states did so through court actions or legislation, not by a popular vote.
In 30 other states, constitutional amendments have been passed that define marriage between one man and one woman. Maine is now the 31st state in which the popular vote has rejected gay marriage and upheld traditional marriage.
To put this in perspective, consider that just a year ago I published my book, A Biblical Point of View on Homosexuality. At the time, there were 27 states that had passed constitutional amendments defining marriage. The next time I revise the book, I will have to add these additional states that have voted in favor of traditional marriage.
These victories are significant especially when you evaluate the amount of money spent by gay activists to legalize same-sex marriage. In Maine, for example, the homosexual group spent nearly twice as much at the pro-family group.
If the Maine law was upheld, it could have energized efforts to pass same-sex marriage on the East Coast (New York and New Jersey) as well as on the West Coast (California). The pro-family victory may not have received much press, but it was a significant vote that we should continue to celebrate. I'm Kerby Anderson, and that's my point of view.
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