"I cried, even though I kind of knew it was slowly heading that way. It's sometimes tough to be optimistic with these votes because historically they've not been good. So, shed some tears and just went to work."
Kevin Bryant works as the coordinator for the Center's Safe Space program. He says the vote in Maine has made it difficult for him to hope for better results in the future."I am very upset about Prop One. I really have kind of lost all hope in this nation. It makes me very mad because I thought this nation was supposed to give people rights, not take them away. I understand that this democracy is supposed to be like, oh the majority rules, but also it's supposed to protect the rights and thoughts of minorities."
Lauren Olson is an MU sophomore. She says the campaign was organized well but people outside of Maine could have done more to defeat the measure."And maybe it's because there wasn't enough light shed on this particular election up in Maine. Maybe we're reacting after the fact when we should've been, even though we're here in Missouri, we could've always done more to get the story out about the ballot measure in Maine."
MU junior Sheldon Jackson says he thought the passage of Prop 1 was ridiculous."It's not about other people, it's about people loving each other and, you know, love is universal, not controlled by governments or other people. How can someone else say that two people can't have what two other people that love each other have?"
Maine is the 31st state to pass a measure outlawing same-sex marriage. The passage of Prop 1 comes just one year after the highly publicized Proposition 8 in California, which also outlawed same-sex marriage. © Copyright 2010, KBIA