Maine, You Make Me Sad

This year’s election wasn’t one of change. In fact, it was one of resistance. Of unbending rule.

It wasn’t a big election year with major races, but the country looked to the tiny state of Maine to see if it would set the tone for the national debate about same-sex marriages. Voters in that state, similar to California and Prop. 8, barely approved a referendum that would ban same-sex marriages after their own state’s high court ruled all its citizens deserved the right to marry.

It’s disappointing, for sure. People thought there might be a chance of squashing this because more efforts in grassroots campaigning and more money went into the LGBT camp. But in the end, the lesson learned is that you can’t fight ugliness with just a big hug. There needs to be more.

It’s sad to see that people who fight vigorously to not portray themselves as bigots, saying they care about the LGBT community, would then vote to take a right that legal minds have decided should be shared by all. We like you, but we don’t want you to be like us. That’s the message they’re sending.

So the fight continues. No one expected this to be easy. Stonewall wasn’t easy. Harvey Milk died for just the simplest of recognition. But this we know for sure, we will not change to populists’ demands that we act differently or be different. Our definition of love is universal.

Read an inspiring editorial in today’s Los Angeles Times.