The following is an excerpt from "Maine voters overturn legal same-sex marriage" by Joe Garofoli published in the San Francisco Chronicle. For the full article, follow the link at the end of the page. 

Voters in Maine repealed a state law legalizing same sex marriage, which backers of the measure said shows "voters don't want to change what you call marriage." Advocates of same-sex marriage refused to concede defeat early Wednesday after supporters declared victory. Nearly 53 percent of voters backed the referendum of a law the state legislature approved in May and the governor signed.

"Voters have a pretty good grasp about what they think marriage should be," said Jeff Flint, the Sacramento strategist for the Yes on 1 campaign. "It's not that they're discriminatory or bigoted. They just draw the line at what they think marriage should be." Mark Sullivan, a spokesman for No on 1/Protect Maine Equality, refused to concede, saying votes needed to be counted in all of Maine's counties. "We're going to continue operations until every vote is counted," Sullivan said. "We'll see what the final count is (later Wednesday) and take it from there." 

The vote in Maine comes a year after California voters rejected same-sex marriage by a nearly identical margin. Voters in almost three dozen states have rejected such marriages through constitutional amendments, while same-sex marriages are legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Iowa. 

"For the same-sex marriage movement to move ahead, it has to win a state like Maine," said Corey Cook, a political science professor at the University of San Francisco. "It's not a liberal bastion, but it is fairly progressive - sort of an impartial bellwether." 

Maine's law, passed in May, had been suspended.