COMMENTARY: The grand ballroom at the Holiday Inn by the Bay will forever be etched into my memory. It was here in Portland, Maine, that history tiptoed its way past the door and snuck down the street to celebrate victory two blocks away.
 
I arrived at the press table to cover a story close to my heart: Maine’s fight to be the first state in the nation to successfully defend same-sex marriage at the ballot box.
 
Yet I am not "one of them."
 
I arrived at the press table as one of those “straight allies” discussed so much. I am a straight, white, married mother of two young children. There’s hardly a minority bone in my body. I married my husband of six years in a Catholic ceremony — something impossible for a gay or lesbian couple to even dream of today. It felt like a bruise on my shield of activism as I began my night, but I was accepted with open arms by the pro-gay bloggers in the press.
 
The crowd was also full of people like myself. Parents with their children, couples of all ages, both gay and straight, single friends, and campaign staffers walking on air. This was the night we had all been waiting for.
 
“This campaign has been very well run,” beamed Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “Political people here in Maine have never seen anything like this. I think it’s going to go our way.”
 
That was the consensus of everyone I spoke to. We were headed for victory. Volunteers and campaign staff arrived energetically as the polls neared closing time. There were many shared hugs between friends, strangers, and bloggers meeting for the first time. Drinks were being poured and the band began to play. It was a place that held big promises and excited the hearts of those people who worked so long for this day. Even for a straight ally like myself.