Interview with Towleroad's Andy Towle

I sat down recently in Manhattan with Andy Towle, the man behind the award-winning gay blog Towleroad. It appears the site is the work of a humble workaholic.

Rex: You're the first thing I look at every morning.

Andy: Really?

Rex: Yeah. How did this start, Andy Towle?

Andy: It started with sort of a curiosity to pass on information to people and an interest in sharing information with people, which sort of grew out of my working at Genre magazine as an editor there.

Rex: How long has it been going on?

Andy: Almost six years now, but only in its current form for about 3 1/2 years, I guess, as a news source and with the intention of being news for people.

Rex: You post about 18 to 20 items a day. How many articles do you read before you choose those?

Andy: I don't know that I read all of the articles but I definitely scan and look over a few hundred articles every morning before I even begin writing anything. I scan headlines to see what's happening, and then the things that interest me I will usually linger on, and if I linger on certain topics or headlines or articles, then I'll know in my head that it's something that would interest me and might interest my readers, so I will continue on and sort of pursue that line of news.

Rex: How many hours a day do you work?

Andy: Generally from like 6:15 in the morning till 7, 8, 9 at night.

Rex: Is your boyfriend OK with that?

Andy: Not really. He'd like me to work probably about six hours less than that but, you know, it pays the rent and it's what I need to do to sort of keep the site going, so, you know, he understands.

Rex: How do we keep up with the flow of information? You and I have similar kinds of jobs. I feel overwhelmed regularly. Do you?

Andy: I feel overwhelmed right now because I'm not reading and I'm doing this interview instead, but, you know, it's how I regularly feel if I'm out or whatever. It's like there is always a constant barrage of news and things happening, so the struggle to keep on top of it is a constant challenge and I think anybody who's in news these days understands the same thing -- that it's just, you know, like a 24-hour thing and to stay on top of it, you just have to constantly keep reading.

Rex: I left to get on the subway in Queens four hours ago and we went to dinner three hours ago, so I've been offline four hours and you've been offline three hours. That's a long time for us, isn't it?

Andy: Yeah, I can probably say that right now in my news reader there's between like 600 and 800 articles that are waiting for me to sort of like scan to see what the headlines are, see if there is anything of interest. But, you know, it's sort of par for -- I've kind of gotten used to it, I guess.

Rex: How do you scan 800 headlines?

Andy: I don't know, I think it's sort of something that I've, you know, it's something that you learn to do after a while. You just learn to look for what you know will be of interest to people, and it's kind of a little bit like speed-reading, where you go through things and you can see instantly certain things, you can pick out things that you know are going to be of interest.

Rex: What do you think Towleroad's ultimate contribution is?

Andy: I think just sharing information with people. I think that's always been the goal of mine with the site. When I started it I felt like I would just share information with people, and share information that I found interesting to myself. Because if I did that, then I would not get burned out from it. ... So, I thought that I would probably want to do things on a variety of topics so it would continually be interesting personally to me.

Rex: You've sort of become a man of influence. How does that feel? Is that weird?

Andy: I don't know what kind of influence you mean. If it's an influence born out of, like, presenting people with things that they're interested in, I'm happy to fulfill that need. I don't know what role I have beyond that.

Rex: Well, if you're critical of something, say some gay leader or something, that kind of matters. What you think, if you write a snarky headline or a one-liner at the end of an item, that matters, doesn't it?

Andy: I think with the audience I have at this point, I do have a certain responsibility for things that I say and things that, you know, I say I believe in, and, I've tried to be, you know, fairly objective along the way since doing my site and stuff, but eventually, my opinion does work its way in, and so I understand there is a responsibility that comes with that and I try to be fair to people and fair to issues that are happening. That's all I can do.

Rex: I think you're not only interested in the gays, I think you like astronomy.

Andy: I do! I love it! I love space, I love nature, I love science, I love all those things. And that's all part of sort of, you know, the original mission I had with the site, which is to keep things on it that I find interesting so it remains interesting to me. And, actually, probably the most positive comments that I get on the site are when I put those kind of things up, because I think a lot of people have interests beyond things that are just solely gay and lesbian, you know? I think people have broader interests than that and I think that's one of the reasons that Towleroad has succeeded, because it's not just one topic, it's a lot of different things.

Rex: If you remove from the mix gay bloggers who don't blog primarily about gay issues -- in other words, if you take Andrew Sullivan out of the mix, Dan Savage, John Aravosis -- Perez Hilton really isn't a gay blog either -- do you think you're the most trafficked gay blog there is? Do you have data on that? Or who would be bigger?

Andy: I'm not sure. We are very widely read, so I'm not sure. I don't know specifics.

Rex: What do you see in the future for the blog? It clearly has evolved from a personal blog where you wanted to write to your friends about things you found interesting into one of the most important news sources for gay people on the Web. Any plans down the road for anything different or any modifications?

Andy: I hope to keep the site evolving and keep it interesting for me and for everybody who is reading it. I would love to be able to expand it. Personally, I think I'm a bit of a control freak and a little bit of a micromanager, as I think most people who are in charge of their own businesses are, and, you know, I give a lot of credit to my business partner, Michael Goff, who has helped me expand the site in a lot of ways and taken a different role on, more behind-the-scenes, but I hope that in the future that we can expand it. I have some writers writing for me who do some great weekly columns and I hope to keep expanding in that way and possibly adding some more people on a regular basis, so, you know, I think there's a lot of opportunities right now in media to open it up in a lot of ways -- the ways that traditional print media has taken on, like the local aspects of gay media and things like that, so we're exploring a lot of different things.

Rex: You already have a weekly music column, right?

Andy: And a film column. I used to have a tech column. I had Jon Barrett writing it -- he's now the editor of The Advocate -- and I actually wrote it one time by myself, so that was a cool part of the site that hopefully I'll get back one day. Things like that, I think, add a lot to the site. I also have a theater column that's written sort of seasonally by Kevin Sessums. Those are the sort of ways we're looking to expand the site and, hopefully, I'm looking to get somebody else writing on a regular basis as well.

Rex: This interview will go to a wide audience, so we need to clear up the single biggest question about Towleroad.

Andy: Oh-oh. OK.

Rex: It's not towel, it's toll, and it's a pun on toll, like a toll road.

Andy: Exactly. It seems like it's the hardest name to pronounce in the English language as far as I am concerned, because so many people say Towel Road or Towler Road or Tower Load -- Tower Load is a big one. We've purchased several domains because of the mispronunciations, but I never actually thought it would become what it is, so I started it with a very personal name, which is a play off my own name, and it grew into this so, um.

Rex: And now there's nothing you can do about it.

Andy: Yeah, there's not a lot I can do about it. I can't really change the name because you're sort of like tied into these domain names once you create them, so, you know, there you go! I guess, I mean, I've thought about putting a pronunciation key on the site and all that but, you know, it's a little bit of a mystery, I guess.

Rex: Thanks, Andy.

Assistance: Andrés Duque

San Diegans kick off Prop 8 repeal signature drive

Around 20 people gathered in San Diego's gay Hillcrest district tonight to launch the local arm of the grassroots campaign to repeal Proposition 8 in 2010. Community reporters and one TV station turned out to cover the event.

The local group's plans sound ambitious. They said the San Diego region of the campaign has committed to collect 150,000 of the 1.2 million voter signatures to be collected statewide. Although only 694,354 valid signatures are needed to put a Prop 8 repeal initiative on the ballot, many signatures would turn out not to be valid.

The San Diego activists said they need 1,500 local volunteers to collect 100 signatures each before the deadline 146 days from now. Overall, local volunteers would need to obtain an average of 1,027 signatures per day.

The statewide campaign says it will achieve its goal using a "state-of-the-art ... unique social-networking tool."

"SignForEquality.com will make history by using custom social-networking tools, as well as YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, to support an all-volunteer signature drive to repeal Prop 8," said Love Honor Cherish Executive Director John Henning. "People throughout California can now help us win marriage back by the simple act of signing and collecting signatures."

The Web site features a downloadable petition form and training videos for signature gatherers, and uses social-networking technology to help gatherers set goals, build teams and find signature-gathering events, Henning said.

California ballot-measure campaigns typically spend millions of dollars to employ paid signature-gatherers. "SignForEquality.com brings the campaign back to the people," Henning said. The signatures must be turned in to state officials by April 12.

The grassroots 2010 effort does not have support from large GLBT groups, many of which have said or suggested they want to wait until 2012 to attempt to undo Prop 8. The Courage Campaign had earlier supported a 2010 campaign but later complained of deficiencies in governing structure, expertise, research and funding.

Same-sex marriage was legal in California for 4 1/2 months in 2008 until voters passed Prop 8 amending the state constitution to overturn the state Supreme Court ruling that authorized gay nuptials.

The proposed amendment being circulated states: "To protect religious freedom, no court shall interpret this measure to require any priest, minister, pastor, rabbi, or other person authorized to perform marriages by any religious denomination, church, or other non-profit religious institution to perform any marriage in violation of his or her religious beliefs. The refusal to perform a marriage under this provision shall not be the basis for lawsuit or liability, and shall not affect the tax-exempt status of any religious denomination, church or other religious institution. To provide for fairness in the government's issuance of marriage licenses, Section 7.5 of Article I of the California Constitution is hereby amended to read ... Marriage is between only two persons and shall not be restricted on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender, sexual orientation, or religion."

RepealProp8.com -- SignForEquality.com

Maine voters wipe out gay marriage law

[Significantly updated 7 Nov 1:00 p.m.]
PORTLAND, Maine -- Gays lost marriage in Maine on Nov. 3. A "people's veto" at the ballot box wiped out the law passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor. It had not taken effect, pending the outcome of the vote.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, voters took marriage away from gays by a margin of 52.82 percent to 47.18 percent. The vote total was 299,808 to 267,785.

It was the 31st time same-sex marriage has lost at the ballot box in a U.S. state. It has never won.

"Tonight hundreds of thousands of Maine voters stood for equality but in the end, it wasn't enough," said NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality Campaign Manager Jesse Connolly (above). "I am proud of the thousands of Mainers who knocked on doors, made phone calls and talked to their family, friends and neighbors about the basic premise of treating all Maine families equally. And I'm proud of this campaign because the stories we told and the images we shared were of real Mainers -- parents who stood up for their children, and couples who simply wanted to marry the person they love."

"We're in this for the long haul," he said. "For next week and next month and next year -- until all Maine families are treated equally. Because in the end, this has always been about love and family and that will always be something worth fighting for."

The very well-run NO on 1 campaign studied and learned from the failed Proposition 8 campaign last year in California. No on 8 didn't use gay people in its television ads; NO on 1 did. No on 8 took too long to respond to the opposition's scary TV ads; NO on 1 responded immediately each time.

About the only thing NO on 1 could have tried that it didn't was to run alarmist, negative ads itself. Some observers thought NO on 1 should have tried that, but there was no loud or sustained effort to change the campaign's decision in that regard. The campaign believed that calling its opponents "bigots" would alienate some of Maine's libertarian-leaning voters who opposed vetoing same-sex marriage based on general political philosophy more than any strong pro-gay sentiment.

"We are fools to have spent all this money and time and not have defined the opponents," said Steve Hildebrand, who was Barack Obama's deputy national campaign director and advises Obama on gay issues.

"It's not enough to answer their charges," Hildebrand said Nov. 6. "We need to hit them back and not let up on it until voters don't buy their lies anymore. (The NO on 1 and No on 8 campaigns were) malpractice in my opinion."

NO on 1's TV ads stuck to a theme of equality for all Maine families.

The opposition repeated over and over that legalizing same-sex marriage would provoke Maine schools to inculcate children with homosexual propaganda. The anti-same-sex-marriage campaign also ran an ad arguing that Maine's domestic-partnership law, which does not bestow all state-level rights and obligations of marriage, provides same-sex couples with enough equality.

During the campaign, Connolly dismissed the opposition's messaging as unbelievable.

"These are the same old doomsday tactics that opponents of equality have been using not just in Maine, but in every state from California to Iowa to New York," he said in September. "They want to change the subject, to talk about anything else. But Question 1 is only about fairness and equality for Maine families. We believe Maine people will see through this cynical strategy."

Some apparently did. Gay marriage was a winner in the cities of Portland (74%), South Portland (64%) and Bangor (54%), and in places such as Kennebunkport (61%) and Bar Harbor (71%). It lost in the cities of Lewiston (41%) and Augusta (47%).

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force expressed deep disappointment over the outcome.

"This heartbreaking defeat in Maine unfortunately shows that lies and fear can still win at the ballot box," said Executive Director Rea Carey. "Yet despite this setback, the tide clearly is turning nationwide in favor of marriage equality. We are confident that Maine will again join the growing number of states that extend the essential security and legal protections of marriage to all loving, committed couples. All across the nation, same-sex couples and their families are sharing their stories and their lives with others in a conversation that is transforming our country. That doesn't end today. If anything, it inspires and compels us to press forward. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the thousands of volunteers and campaign workers who fought their hardest for equality in Maine, to the NO on 1 campaign and EqualityMaine for their enduring leadership, and to the voters who cast their ballots for fairness rather than fear-mongering."

Some 8,000 people volunteered on the NO on 1 campaign, its officials said.

Unlike in California, where voters amended the state constitution to re-ban same-sex marriage, Maine voters merely struck down a law that had been passed. A new same-sex marriage bill could be introduced in the Maine Legislature, passed, and signed into law by the governor, starting the process all over again.

Indeed, Maine's GLBT anti-discrimination law went that very route. It was passed twice only to be vetoed by voters. Then, the third time it passed, they upheld it.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont, and becomes legal in New Hampshire in January. In addition, New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., are thought to be on the verge of legalizing same-sex marriage.

Internationally, same-sex marriage is legal in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, South Africa and Sweden.
(Photos by Andrés Duque)

Maine election night live

Election night - NO on 1 campaign event - Holiday Inn - Portland, Maine

[1:32 a.m.] The NO on 1 campaign has not conceded, but looking at the precincts that have not been counted, it's difficult to see how the No side could make up the 28,000 votes that separate "Yes" and "No." That's it for now.

[1:26 a.m. Last update for now.] Gays: 47.25%. Anti-gays: 52.75%. 87% of precincts reporting.

[12:49 a.m.] Gay side carried Portland (73%) , South Portland (64%), Bangor (54%), Kennebunkport (61%), Bar Harbor (73%) and UMaine (81%). Anti-gay side carried Lewiston (60%) and Augusta (53%).

[12:26 a.m.] Campaign Director Jesse Connolly does not concede; says absentee/early-voting ballots have not been counted, and neither have towns and villages.

[10:20 p.m.] Gov. John Baldacci.

[10:08 p.m.] Gays: 50.62%. Anti-gays: 49.38%. 22% of precincts reporting. Bangor Daily News (best election-results site) very crashy. Too may antsy gays! NO on 1 Twitter results feed going strong.

[9:09 p.m.] Events are under way here. Off to take some pics.

[9:08 p.m.] They're saying we just won Kalamazoo. The bad guys were trying to undo a GLBT anti-discrimination law.

[8:45 p.m.] The fastest incoming results are on the NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality Twitter feed. The fastest organized/coordinated results are here.

[7:31 p.m.] Live from the NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality election-night event in downtown Portland, your friendly bloggers at work. The Internet is excruciatingly slow, so don't expect miracles...

[5:27 p.m.] Heading down to the NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality election-night event.

The days leading up to the Maine vote

[Update #18, Nov. 3, 1:52 p.m.] I'll be live-ish-blogging from the Maine NO on 1 election-night event. The polls close at 8.

[Update #17, Nov. 2, 2:38 a.m.]

Evening "Get Out The Vote" debriefing for NO on 1 volunteers who spent the day knocking on doors.

One of several such rooms around the state.

Alas, the gay side took a tumble in the latest polling (here), though it's still within the margin of error.

It's all gonna be about which side gets its voters to the polls.

And you can still help with that via phone if you live anywhere in the U.S. Click here.

Not that civil rights and equal treatment under the law ever should be put to a popular vote, but, for some reason, many states think that's cool.

The bottom-bottom line, of course, is that this really is not about marriage. If they thought they could get away with it, the folks who funded this "people's veto" campaign in Maine would take much more away from gays than just marriage. In Washington state on Tuesday, they'll try to take away domestic-partnership rights. In California, they're all freaked out that the Governator signed the Harvey Milk Day bill into law. It's not just that they don't want us to get married. If they could completely invisiblize us and take away all our rights, some of them would do it.

So, we have to keep fighting. If we lose in Maine on Tuesday, the Legislature will just pass the law again and the governor will sign it again. We're not talking about a constitutional amendment here, as was the case with Prop 8 in California. In reality, gays are going to be able to get married in all 50 states, perhaps even very soon if the Olson/Boies Prop 8 case succeeds at the U.S. Supreme Court. And if it doesn't, next up -- very, very soon -- are New Jersey and New York, which will be added to Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and, starting in January, New Hampshire. Where all this is headed could not be clearer. But until then, there will be days like this Tuesday when bigots might force a backward step in the inevitable, unstoppable march to equal treatment under the law for GLBT Americans.

[Update #16, Nov. 1, 1:48 a.m.] Will the gays win Maine on Tuesday? I haven't a clue, but here are the factors in play...

1. The polls are a tie. That may not be good for the gays because, it is thought, some people who are going to vote in a way that others consider bigoted may not tell pollsters the truth. 2. Opponents of same-sex marriage tend to feel more strongly about the issue than supporters do. Opponents, therefore, may feel more motivated to actually go vote. Not good for the gays. 3. However, the gay side's get-out-the-vote operation here in Maine is superior to the opponents' GOTV operation. This is very good for the gays. Regardless of how someone feels about same-sex marriage, it doesn't matter a drop if they don't go vote. The gay side may well get a higher percentage of its supporters to the polling place.

These vexing topics must be what No on 1 campaign spokesperson Karin Roland and I were discussing in the hallway tonight as Andrés Duque shot an endless series of pictures I didn't realize he was taking. Or maybe we were just making Halloween faces at each other. Note her horns.

Julia Rosen from the Courage Campaign also was sporting Halloween horns. As if lesbians aren't enough fun on a normal night.

Below, I ran in to fellow San Diegan Elaine Graybill in the No on 1/Protect Maine Equality headquarters. It's completely pointless to try to resist her hugs. And, really, why would one want to...

No on 1 is still looking for volunteers from anywhere in the U.S. for its "Call for Equality" program. Clickez-vous here.

[Update #15, Oct. 31, 12:45 p.m.] Less than three days to go. There's not a helluva lot more for me to say except that Halloween is frightening when the National Organization for Marriage's gathering storm is threatening to rain a people's veto down on you, wiping out your right to get married. Gays and their supporters have fanned out across the state today with thousands of clipboards. Their main goal is to make sure that all the people who support same-sex marriage actually get their butts to the polls Tuesday and vote. You can help ensure that as well, even now, from anywhere in the country. Click here, sign up, do a 20-minute training and you're off and running. There are trainings every day, including election-day morning.

Cool, it's Joe Sudbay from AMERICAblog. Turns out he's a Maine native.

Once again, Karin Roland, my handler from the NO on 1 campaign's communications team. As the days have passed, Karin has become more relaxed about my presence in the campaign office. But, of course, it remains true that reporters are not your friends. In the end, the goal is to get something as close to the truth as possible to the readers.

Dude is looking for facts not friends.

Karin Roland has not been the only bit of pleasantness in my daily life here. Also delightful: Julia Rosen from the Courage Campaign.

Also on the scene: Blabbeando blogger Andrés Duque.

[Update #14, Oct. 30, 1:09 p.m.] Maine doesn't have a lot of people (the same number live in the San Diego city limits) but this battle is hugely important as the first voter referendum on gay marriage since Prop 8. If the gays win here, they knock the wind out of the opposition's sails, they go on to win same-sex marriage in New York and New Jersey later this year, California votes again and Prop 8 dies, and that's the end of same-sex-marriage culture war. If, on the other hand, the opposition wins here in Maine, they prove that they can continue to take away gay people's marriage rights by blasting the airwaves with ads claiming that gay marriage melts kindergartners' brains -- and they prove, for the first time, that they can take away gay people's marriage rights even when the Legislature passed the gay marriage bill and the governor signed it into law. There were no "activist judges" involved here in Maine. So, what happens here Tuesday: It matters, no matter where you live in the U.S.

[Update #13, Oct. 30, 11:20 a.m. The Rachel.]

[Update #12, Oct. 29, 5:41 p.m.] There are 8,000 volunteers working on the campaign to stop the National Organization for Marriage from taking away gay and lesbian Mainers' right to marry. There are 4 days to go.

More volunteers still are needed for two of NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality's projects: Drive for Equality, and Call for Equality. As explained further down in this post, Call for Equality volunteers can work from anywhere in the U.S. There are training sessions for volunteers every day, including the morning of Nov. 3, election day.

Last night I was in the mood for a photo essay, capturing the scenes in various rooms of NO on 1's headquarters.

And down the street at one of No on 1's call centers.

I made Campaign Manager Jesse Connolly stand still for a new pic. He was wearing a different shirt than last time I made him stand still.

This poor woman seemingly has been assigned to be my handler. If I am in NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality's offices, she is at my side, making sure I don't ... well, we'll never know what I might do if left to my own devices, because Karin Roland is my constant companion. Truth be told, she's perfectly lovely. For some reason, Karin and I have become fixated on the sign below -- one of many that could have captured our attention -- in one of the offices. "What," it asks, "would Harvey do?" Of course, no one can say for sure, but I think he might have been impressed with the NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality operation. They are doing a very good job of doing what they decided to do. Of course, that leaves open the question of whether what they decided to do was the right mix of tactics. Let's hope.

[Update #10, Oct. 28, 1:12 p.m.] Free hotel rooms in Portland for NO on 1 volunteers.

[Update #9, Oct. 28, 2:39 a.m.] The NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality campaign headquarters.

NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality Campaign Manager Jesse Connolly.

Karin Roland of the NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality Online Communications Team. Karin needs you. See below.

Here's what Karin needs. This. Basically, Karin needs you to get trained fast, then make lots of phone calls to Maine from wherever you are. It won't cost you anything. The software calls you. Your phone number won't be revealed. Caller ID will show the NO on 1 office number.

"Call for Equality is critical to our plan to reach all the voters in Maine we need to reach," Roland told me in an interview. "We literally need to make hundreds of thousands of dials through that program -- and in order to do that, we know we need several hundred more people to sign up. You can sign up and get trained now, and start calling now, and then you'll be all set to call on election day."

"We're calling people who we believe support marriage equality," Roland said. "That is a no vote on Question 1. We are confirming that they support marriage equality -- and the vast majority of them do -- and we are urging them to vote early if they support marriage equality -- to vote no on 1 early. Voting early is the best thing that our supporters in Maine can do to help us right now because it lets us take them off our list for election day. We have to literally make over half a million calls in the last week of this campaign, but if you vote today, you just take one of those calls off of our list."

[Update #8, Oct. 28, 1:00 a.m.] Pictures from the car window.

[Update #7, Oct. 27, 2:12 p.m.] I have to give the anti-gay-marriage side here in Maine credit. They are brilliant. Looks like they've given up on the "Oh My God Gays Getting Married Will Eat Your Kindergartners" ads and come come up with something seriously more clever.

[Update #6, Oct. 27, 1:30 p.m.] I've arrived in Maine to observe the same-sex marriage battle -- and it looks like it's gonna be a nail-biting doozie. Meanwhile, last night at JFK airport in New York City was the single worst airport experience of my long, well-traveled life. Delta's computer system that loads passengers onto planes was dead as a doornail. Gate 23 is in fact a gate you go down that expands into about 10 other gates: 23A, 23B, etc. The clusterf--- at that single, tiny door that accesses Gate 23, the confusion and bewilderment of the gate agents, the distress and angst of the passengers, and the well-beyond-Third-World experience of actually getting us all onto planes would have made a stunning YouTube vid or an entire episode of some hybrid sitcom/horror series. Thankfully, I was stuck in line beside a lovely lady from Iceland and we had an extended conversation about Iceland's lesbian prime minister and the Maine marriage battle. The photo above was shot out the window from my desk (photo below). Yes, it's true, I'm a Mac and a PC.

[Update #5, Oct. 25, 8:00 p.m.] If you're itchin' to do something in these final few days to try to save same-sex marriage in Maine, the campaign tells me there are two options: This one. And this one. Polling shows it's a dead heat, and you know which way the polls messed up in California on Prop 8. Maine may not have a lot of people (about the same number as the city of San Diego) but this battle is hugely important as the first voter referendum on gay marriage since Prop 8. If the gays win this one, they take the wind out of the opposition's sails. If the opposition wins this one, they prove that they can take away gays' access to marriage and equality even when it came via the Legislature and the governor's signature rather than a court ruling.

[Update #4, Oct. 24, 9:00 p.m.] Philip goes viral @ age 86. 520,226 views. Video here. TowleRoad's Maine wrapup here. The latest from Phillip Minton here. The latest from AMERICAblog here. Boston Globe editorial: "Vote 'no' on ballot Question 1."

[Update #3, Oct. 24, 11:07 a.m.] The National Organization for Marriage has bankrolled more than 60 percent of the campaign for a voters' veto of Maine's same-sex marriage law. Mainers go to the polls Nov. 3. Story here.

[Update #2, Oct. 23, 8:10 p.m.] NO on 1 reports $4 million in donations. Press release here. Catholic donations to fight gay marriage top $550K. Story here. Voter turnout likely to determine fate of gay marriage law, and gay marriage proponents may be at a disadvantage. Story here.

[Update #1, Oct. 23, 7:07 p.m.] I'm heading to Maine on Monday evening to observe the final days of the campaign against Question 1, which aims to execute a "people's veto" of the law passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor that legalized same-sex marriage. The law has been suspended from taking effect pending the outcome of the Nov. 3 vote. Polling shows Mainers are exactly split on Question 1 -- 48 percent to 48 percent with 4 percent undecided.

Here's what the campaign told reporters today:

"Portland, Maine (Friday, October 23, 2009) -- The NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality Campaign will conduct a wide range of field outreach efforts this weekend as part of its Get Out the Vote program. Activities will include phone banks, leaflet drops, door-to-door canvassing and other on-the-ground activities involving teams from among the campaign's 8,000 volunteers."

I've asked Campaign Manager Jesse Connolly (shown above on The Rachel Maddow Show) to let me know what, if anything, gays around the country can do in the next 11 days. If he has time to reply, it will appear above this entry.

Same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont, and it becomes legal in New Hampshire in January. If Question 1 fails, it will become legal in Maine immediately. Same-sex marriage was legal for 4 1/2 months in California in 2008 until voters amended the state constitution to re-ban it. Gay couples also can marry in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, South Africa and Sweden.

Empire State Building this evening