Maine's vote on gay marriage draws national attention

For the first time, voters in the US could approve same-sex marriage. In other parts of the country – and in Washington – the push is on to legalize gay marriage.

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Also on Tuesday, voters in Washington State will decide on “Referendum 71,” which addresses the state’s new “everything but marriage” act providing benefits and rights for domestic partners to the same standard as married couples.

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In New York State, Governor David Paterson is preparing legislation to legalize same-sex marriage there.

Senator Arlen Specter, the Republican turned-Democrat from Pennsylvania facing a tough reelection fight, this week reversed his position and says it’s now time to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. “The Act is a relic of a more tradition-bound time and culture,” he wrote on Huffington Post.

Speaking to a gay rights group last week Senator Charles Schumer (D) of New York had this to say:

"Ten years ago, many thought that civil unions were about the best we could hope for. But the time for marriage has come," Schumer told the Empire State Pride Agenda dinner. "I call on all of my colleagues -- Democrat and Republican, in the Congress, in the state senate, in the state legislature, to support full marriage equality now.... Equality should know no bounds, and we must not rest until we have [gay] marriage in all 50 of these United States."

Religious leaders on both sides of the issue spoke out this week in the District of Columbia, where a proposed measure would legalize same-sex marriage.

President Obama says he’s for ending the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” as well as the US military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy banning open homosexuality in the ranks. But activists say he’s not doing enough to accelerate changes in federal policy.

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