Gender & Sexuality Law Blog

Maine voters will see on their ballots next Tuesday a proposition to repeal legislation that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry.  The language on the ballot is:

Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?

The Research 2000/Daily Kos poll just released the following poll results:

As you may know, there will be one question on the ballot this November in Maine addressing the issue of same-sex unions. In part, it will read “Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry?” A “YES” vote takes away the right of same-sex couples to marry. A “NO” vote keeps the right of same-sex couples to marry. If the election were held today, would you vote YES or NO on this question?

And on the broader question of marriage rights more generally, this is what they found:

Regardless of how you might vote, do you favor or oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally?

Latest results: http://www.dailykos.com/statepoll/2009/10/28/ME/412

As seems true everywhere else, men and women favor or oppose extending marriage rights to same-sex couples is opposite proportions.  Of course, there’s much to be said about why women, overall, are more supportive of this issue.  Possible explanations are:

- since the institution of marriage is typically a less-good deal for women than for men, women are less invested in maintaining its traditional form;

- men suspect, consciously or unconsciously (and I might add rightly or wrongly), that the hetero-patriarchal dividend they get from marriage might lose value if same-sex couples are allowed to wed;

- women are just more enlightened human beings than are men.

We’ll all watch the returns on Tuesday night.   Since game 6 of the World Series will be played that night, maybe the fellas in Maine will be too distracted to get out and vote.

Whatever way it comes out, we are having a forum the day after the election, Wednesday, November 4th,  at 4:30 pm with a panel of experts to discuss Marriage Equality in Maine: Lessons Learned, Future Directions - Room 107, Greene Hall.  Panelists will be: Suzanne Goldberg, Director of the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law; Nate Persily, Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science; James Tierney, Director of the National State Attorneys General Program at Columbia Law School and former Maine Attorney General; and Jeffrey Lax, Professor of Political Science and co-author of Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness – a well-regarded study published this summer in the American Political Science Review.  The event will be webcast.  More information on that to follow.