2012 Maine Question 1
2012 voter referendum to legalize same-sex marriage
Maine Question 1 was a voter referendum on an initiated state statute that occurred on November 6, 2012. The referendum was held to determine whether or not to legalize same-sex marriage. The referendum passed with a 53-47% vote legalizing same-sex marriage in Maine.
The law took effect on December 29, 2012.
Background
In 2009, same-sex marriage legalization, "An Act To End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom", was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor John Baldacci. A 2009 people's veto referendum to reject the law passed 53 to 47 percent, invalidating the law before it took effect.
On June 30, 2011, EqualityMaine and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) announced plans to place a voter initiative in support of same-sex marriage on Maine's November 2012 ballot. Supporters delivered more than 105,000 petition signatures for the initiative to the Secretary of State's office on January 26, 2012, exceeding the minimum of 57,277 signatures requirement. The Secretary of State announced on February 23 that the office verified 85,216 signatures, qualifying the initiative for the November 2012 ballot.
Under Maine's constitution, a valid initiative must be sent to the voters unless enacted in the proposed form by the Legislature at the same session during which it was presented.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “2012 Maine Question 1” is 2012 voter referendum to legalize same-sex marriage. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Maine, Question and voter, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “2012 voter referendum to legalize same-sex marriage” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6736425. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2012, 2009 and 2011.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “2012 Maine Question 1” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.