Maine's big win.It took seven years and three statewide votes, but a majority of Maine Maine, ship Maine, U.S. battleship destroyed (Feb. 15, 1898) in Havana harbor by an explosion that killed 260 men. The incident helped precipitate the Spanish-American War (Apr., 1898). Commanded by Capt. Charles Sigsbee, the ship had been sent (Jan. voters are now ready to extend at least some degree of equality to the state's gay and lesbian citizens. In a strong rebuke of a "people's veto veto [Lat.,=I forbid], power of one functionary (e.g., the president) of a government, or of one member of a group or coalition, to block the operation of laws or agreements passed or entered into by the other functionaries or members. In the U.S. ," 55% of voters on November 8 rejected Question 1, which would have repealed a law passed earlier this year protecting gays from discrimination. "They understood exactly what this law is about," said Betsy Smith, executive director of the gay rights group Equality Maine. "In the past and in this campaign our opponents' message has been based on lies and fear." Maine voters had previously repealed legislature-approved anti-discrimination laws Anti-discrimination law refers to the law on people's right to be treated equally. Most developed countries mandate that in employment, in consumer transactions and in political participation people may be dealt with on an equal basis regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, in 1998 and 2000, Smith said. During those campaigns antigay activists made so-called special rights the issue. "This time they decided 'special rights' might not be enough," she said, "and it was about marriage." Smith and her allies worked hard to convince voters across the state that when marriage equality was the issue, they should vote on marriage, but for the November 8 election the issue was discrimination. They also put forth stories of state residents who had suffered because they were not protected another strategy that may have brought out more "no" voters. Maine is now the 16th state to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. and the sixth to ban discrimination against transgender people The people on this list have been selected because their fame or notoriety is in some way due or connected to their transgender identity or behaviour. Each person in this list has hir own Wikipedia article, where each subject can be studied in much greater detail. . It was an important ballot-box victory among the cavalcade cav·al·cade n. 1. A procession of riders or horse-drawn carriages. 2. A ceremonial procession or display. 3. A succession or series: starred in a cavalcade of Broadway hits. of antigay measures various states have passed in the past year. "This was a do-or-die situation for us," Smith explained. "We needed a big win." |
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