AUGUSTA – One of the most high-profile questions on Maine’s Nov. 7 ballot, gay rights, had one of the closest tallies. Now that the defeat of the proposal is official, the question is: What next?

Activists who supported the question are still sorting out how they lost. They said Tuesday it is too early to know whether they will go back to the Legislature in January with a new proposal.

Unofficial results were so close after the election that some gay rights supporters felt uneasy conceding.

“We got more votes than we ever got before,” David Garrity of the Maine Lesbian-Gay Political Alliance said Tuesday. “We certainly got a lot more votes than Bush got.”

Final, official results show Texas Gov. George W. Bush with 286,616 Maine votes, while yes votes on Question 6 totaled 314,012. Vice President Al Gore beat Bush with 319,951 votes, while the no votes on gay rights totaled 318,846.

Public-opinion surveys that consistently showed the gay rights supporters in the lead were one of the many reasons for the defeat, Garrity believes, because they obscured the urgency of the supporters’ appeal to voters.

“There was an assumption by many that we would win, so that affected fund raising,” he said.

Before deciding their next move, gay rights supporters plan to hold meetings around the state with their supporters to discuss their options.

The bill rejected by voters Nov. 7 would have amended the state Human Rights Act to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation. Similar bills had been rejected by the Legislature for two decades until 1997, when a measure was enacted and signed by Gov. Angus King.

But voters repealed it in 1998, and lawmakers responded by sending a new bill back to referendum.

King, who supported passage of this year’s ballot proposal, is unsure what may be the best option now, and when would be the best time to move forward with a new initiative, said spokesman Tony Sprague.

But before doing anything, King would like to see all of the supporters agree on a single approach, said Sprague.

While no option has been tossed out yet, Garrity sees little support for a referendum.

“I think there is a very strong feeling that the rights of a minority should not be subject to a vote,” he said. “I’m not sure we should support sending the next bill to referendum.”

The margin of 4,834 votes on gay rights was the second-smallest on the ballot. The only smaller margin, 3,623, was recorded on Question 4, a constitutional amendment on taxation of properties used in commercial fishing. The final tally was 301,931 yes, and 305,554 no.

Results of the other referendum contests were:

. Physician-assisted suicide: yes 315,031, no 332,280

. Clear-cutting: yes 181,643, no 459,239

. Video gambling: yes 253,920, no 387,872

. Voting – mentally ill: yes 250,729, no 379,964.

Official results were to be posted on the Secretary of State’s Web site.

On the Net:

Maine Secretary of State: http:///www.state.me.us/sos/cec/elec/prior1st.htm