Voters in Maine have voted to repeal a law allowing same-sex couples to marry in the state.
In May, governor John E. Baldacci signed into law An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom, which would have allowed same-sex couples to marry. Opponents asked voters to repeal the law via a referendum. On Tuesday, a majority of votes at the polls were in favor of repealing law.
Now that Maine’s voters decided to repeal the law, only five states allow same-sex couples to marry: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, and New Hampshire.
While federal law still only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman, the gay-marriage laws in those 5 states are significant for employers because of the host of benefits and tax breaks for married couples governed by state law.
Like Maine, California was a state that, for a short time, looked like it would allow same-sex couples to marry. In May 2008, the Supreme Court of California ruled that state laws limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples were unconstitutional, but voters approved a ballot measure in November 2008 that banned gay marriage once again.
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