The vote in Maine, on whether or not to repeal the same-sex marriage statute that was passed there last May, has ended with another disappointment for the GLBT community. Fifty-three percent of Mainers voted to repeal the statute.

It echoes the deep disappointment we felt last year when Proposition 8 brought an abrupt halt to the marriages in California and reminds us that, whenever this question gets put to voters, we can’t seem to catch a break.

Activists and commentators will no doubt profess surprise at the outcome. While polls ran in a dead heat, same-sex marriage supporters counted on Mainers’ independent streak, as well as the fact that they could outspend their opponents on advertising. But same-sex marriage opponents have one thing going for them supporters don’t: churches.

We’re not even talking about the absurd amounts of money various religious communities were able to put into this fight. Some Catholic churches, for example, were reportedly passing out separate collection baskets to fund the fight against same-sex marriage.

Our side has to work hard to muster up public support for the same-sex marriage cause. Supportive politicians, organizations and activists are always looking for different settings in which to spread the message of marriage equality. The unconvinced need to be reminded that they do probably know someone who’s gay and is impacted when marriage equality is denied.

Most of the people who are passionately against same-sex marriage are likely to be members of religious communities. If they are regular churchgoers, they essentially have a town hall meeting every Sunday where they discuss their concerns with fellow parishioners who, more than likely, feel the same way they do. There are of course numerous churches and synagogues committed to social equality and justice, but it seems like their voices are nearly always drowned out in these controversies.

In the end, if we want civil unions and, eventually, same-sex marriage, in this state, we have to keep doing what we’ve been doing: Tell anyone who will listen about the importance of same-sex equality.

But we have to recognize that our opponents have deeper, more-entrenched, grassroots networks in their own communities. It’s always a wonder when we can bring together disparate individuals and organizations to rally behind our causes, but forces on the right manage to get ahead when they are in lockstep with their families and friends.

At this point we also think it’s necessary for the community to further parse exactly why marriage is important, beyond our emotional reasons. Most supporters would rightly point to issues such as health insurance benefits, inheritance laws, tax equality and immigration laws, to name a few.

But the community probably needs to begin agitating for those causes more passionately if they are of such paramount importance to us. These issues are vital, but we cannot rightly proclaim that they are important only to married people. Same-sex marriage cannot be the only basket into which we place these eggs.

This isn’t to knock the work done by the activists who are constantly out there, folks from organizations and groups like Equality Illinois and Gay Liberation Network. But the attention of the GLBT community ebbs and flows; the fire that was in our belly after Prop 8 had petered out by this past summer.

We can’t let that fire die down anymore; our opponents’ fire doesn’t seem to dwindle. That was proven this week in Maine.