CARNAL NATION

Last night's elections were a mixture of defeat and victory for LGBT issues across the country. The biggest disappointment of course, was the passage of Question 1 in Maine, which reversed legislation passed this May legalizing same-sex marriage. Unlike California, no same-sex marriages were performed in Maine after the law was originally passed. Although signed into law by Governor John Baldacci, the legislation never took effect because of petitions filed by anti-marriage equality conservatives. Question 1 was approved by 53% of the voters.

Although many feel like the results in Maine were a crushing defeat, LGBT communities saw victories in other parts of the country. The other prominent race was in the state of Washington, where voters passed Referendum 71, nicknamed the "Everything But Marriage" measure; Referendum 71 officially confirms the rights of domestic partners as being equivalent to those of spouses. Technically, the full results of the election are not in yet; Washington state is one of two states that allows voting by mail, and it will be at least a week before all ballots have been received; however, most observers are already calling the vote in favor of 71, especially because so many of the outstanding ballots are from areas that have polled heavily in favor of the measure.

And it must say something about the progress that LGBT communities have made in the last few decades of activism that lesbian and gay mayoral candidates were able to succeed in two of Dixie's most conservative states. LGBT activist Mark Kleinschmidt won the mayoral race for Chapel Hill, North Carolina by a small margin fo 49.49% to 46.53%, making him the third openly gay mayor in the state, after Mike Nelson (Carrboro) and Elic Senter (Frankinton). Some people in Raleigh reported hearing horrible screams emanating from the grave of Jesse Helms at about nine o'clock, when Kleinschmidt's opponent conceded. The mayoral race in Houston was not quite so conclusive, ending in a runoff. However, openly lesbian candidate Annise Parker, who received 30% of the vote (her chief opponent, Gene Locke, got 25%), is considered the favorite. Parker is more well-recognized, but also needs to stock her war chest. "I need to raise more than one million dollars in the next four weeks to compete with the projected spending of my opponent for the runoff," Parker said in an email today.

And while Maine may have taken a step back in protecting the rights of LGBT people, the town of Kalamazoo took a step forward yesterday by overwhelmingly approving an ordinance that banned housing and employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation. Jon Hoadley, the Campaign Manager of One Kalamazoo was extremely pleased with the 62-38 vote, which came after a long and acrimonious battle. "With a resounding 'yes,' today Kalamazoo stood for fairness and equality," he said. "Now Kalamazoo residents will not have to live in fear of being fired from their jobs, denied housing, or discriminated against in public accommodations, simply for being who they are."