Quote Originally Posted by Deborski View Post
Don't forget Washington State, Throbert. We passed marriage equality by a large margin here!
Ah, I thought the votes were still being counted for that measure -- I'd only heard confirmations for MD and ME. But the margins in all three states were relatively close, I think... in the "52% for, 48% against" range. (Which, apparently, was about the same as the margin by which Washington's "Domestic Partnership" referendum had passed a few years ago.)

Incidentally, the situations were somewhat different in all three states:


  • Washington already had (since 2009) very strong "domestic partnership" recognition for same-sex couples.
  • Maine also had same-sex "domestic partnerships," but AFAIK, the Maine version was rather more limited than Washington's. For instance, the Maine DP law didn't provide "widow(er)" pensions to same-sex partners of state police officers killed in the line of duty, but the Washington DP law did.
  • Maryland did not have any form of "domestic partnership" or "civil union" law, although it did recognize same-sex unions that had been performed in other states.


So, in practical terms, it's same-sex couples in MD who have gained the most, while the change in WA state is largely symbolic, and ME is in between.

And also legalized cannabis for recreational use!
Wow, I hadn't even heard about that one. Apparently Colorado did, too. But I would expect major resistance from the Federal gov't, which has historically been hostile even to "medically prescribed marijuana" laws passed by states. And the governor of Colorado reportedly commented, "Don't open the potato chips yet..."