Obama gets the blame from gay lobby for lack of engagement

Albuquerque News.Net
Wednesday 4th November, 2009

Gay rights leaders in the US have expressed anger at what they have called a lack of engagement by President Barack Obama for an gay-marriage setback in Maine.

Maine voters on Wednesday rejected a law that would have allowed gay couples to get married.

The gay activists said they had been frustrated by scare-mongering advertisements paid for by Conservative groups and by President Obama, who they say didn't speak out forcefully enough in defence of the Maine marriage law.

The existing law, was challenged and repealed in a vote of 53 percent to 47 percent.

Had the Maine law been upheld by voters, it would have become the sixth state to legalise gay marriage.

It is expected similar laws, which resulted from court decisions rather than popular vote, will also be challenged in Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Iowa.

Gay rights groups have said President Obama missed his opportunity to state his position to help defeat anti-gay forces who have thrown millions of dollars into their ad campaigns.

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