I hereby repeal my obviously premature congratulations to the state of Maine, which I gave out all too naively this past May.
Now, instead, I’d like to say good luck to those Mainers who want a better, inclusive, love-supporting culture in which to exist for their and their children’s futures.
I feel sorry for everyone, even for those who voted in the spirit of exclusion and inequality. I really do think they don’t understand what they are missing. They see their decisions as a protection and defense, but all they are defending are walls that separate people, rather than unify. When they’re able to coexist in a mature manner with people who are unlike them, perhaps then Maine will be ready to be a better place, and a better people as a whole.
It’s not really Maine specifically, though, and I’m disturbed by all of the Twitterers and Facebookers and other online social groupers who are taking their disappointment and disgust out on Maine alone. This is really how the majority of the United States still feels on the subject.
There is still a lot of work to be done. And even if all of the U.S. acknowledged the rights of gay people to marry, there would still be problems with the culture’s general destructive nature towards LGBT people. After all, look at what’s occurring in Merry Olde England, where gay marriage is legal.
Changing the law is one thing. Changing a culture is another. Of course changing the law is the beginning of something. But it’s the first step on a long road to come.
Christopher Barzak 
I think you’re right that most of the country feels this way, and I think it speaks more of confusion than hatred.
I think people misunderstand what the law is FOR. They aren’t necessarily voting against gay marriage because they think it needs to be illegal, they’re voting against it because they think gay people shouldn’t get married. It’s sort of like legal mandating of saying prayers daily, which I think most people would agree is not a good law. The anti-gay crowd, for reasons I cannot fathom, has confused voters into believing that a religious viewpoint is enough of a reason for a law. Many people are just not thoughtful enough to understand the difference between personal morality and legal protections.
I don’t know the solution, but I don’t think we’ll get anywhere until we are able to convince everyone of the necessity in seperating church and state. I think we take this idea so much for granted that we can forget the reasons for it, or even what it means.