Ricky Carter almost cried when he heard the news early Wednesday morning--his fight for equality just got tougher.
A blow was dealt to Carter, UF Pride Student Union's promotions director , and the LGBT community Tuesday when Maine voters approved a referendum that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
With 87 percent of precincts reporting, 53 percent of Maine voters approved the measure to repeal same-sex marriage in what would have been the sixth state to legalize such unions.
So far, supporters of same-sex marriage have lost every battle when put to the test at the ballot box.
"There's a lot of broken hearts and painfully affected people who did not expect that could ever happen," said Mark Sullivan, spokesman for the No on 1, Protect Maine Equality campaign.
Reactions to the latest same-sex marriage defeat resonated in the same way among many in Gainesville, more than 1,300 miles away.
"It sounds stupid, but I almost cried because we just have so few things going on for us," Carter said. "It was Prop 8 in California all over again."
Carter compared the struggles of the gay rights movement to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
"It's almost a replica, to me anyway, to African-American civil rights," he said. "Sometimes we forget where we were in the '60s."
Other Gainesville residents reacted differently to the news in Maine.
"I think it's a very traditional response," Bryan Griffin, chairman of UF College Republicans, said. "It doesn't surprise me."
Griffin elaborated, saying that although he does not favor a federal proclamation or ban on gay marriage, he was not surprised by the consistency of American voting habits when it comes to defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
"A Bible-believing Christian would never change their belief that marriage is ordained by God to be between a man and a woman and no other way," Steve Michaels, campus minister with Chi Alpha, said.
Michaels also expressed personal concern that despite the rejection of same-sex marriage in Maine Wednesday, such unions might eventually be legally recognized, a move that he said goes against God's Word.
A phone number listed for Citizens for Good Public Policy, the organization that spearheaded Gainesville's Charter Amendment 1 in March that sought to eliminate the words "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" from the city's equal protection clause, was disconnected.
Officials with the Florida Family Policy Council, the organization that supported Florida's Amendment 2, had no comment on Maine's repeal of same-sex marriage.
Because Florida adopted Amendment 2, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman in 2008, the results in Maine will have little or no legal consequences to Gainesville residents, according to Terry Fleming, co-president of the Pride Community Center of North Central Florida.
"We're deeply disappointed with the results in Maine," Fleming said. "It was a heartbreaking loss."
Fleming noted that although this may be a setback to the gay and lesbian community, he, like Carter, looked to past struggles for inspiration.
"It's like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice,'" Fleming said.
With Wednesday's repeal of same-sex marriage legislation in Maine, it leaves Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Iowa as the only states to legally recognize gay marriages.
"It's really, really sad and mind numbing to think how people are set in their ways," Carter said. "As much as I say I want to hate these people [who oppose same-sex marriage], I don't hate them. I just feel bad for them."
As Carter and Fleming looked to the future of the gay rights movement, both expressed optimism.
"As for overall gay marriage, it's going to happen," Carter said. "It's a setback now, it's a big setback. It's just unimaginable that it's not going to happen."
