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Loading ...Gay marriage foes reach signature goal in Maine
07.08.2009 6:00pm EDT
Mark Mutty from the Stand for Marriage Maine coalition said Wednesday it took four weeks to gather the more than 55,000 signatures necessary to put gay marriage to a vote.
The law allowing gay marriage was scheduled to take effect Sept. 12 but will be put on hold after the signatures are submitted and certified.
Six states allow gay marriage. Maine became the fifth to allow gay marriage in May, and New Hampshire followed suit.
Can someone – perhaps a legal mind – explain to me how in America a majority is allowed to vote to discriminate against a minority? “We the People” includes gays & lesbians if they are US citizens, not just straight white men.
I am a supporter of marriage equality for all – but it will not happen now in Maine. I did some research and found that there was a discrimination law passed in 1998 was vetoed by the people when it passed as law in Maine. The same thing will happen on marriage equality.
Three words
Go Save Maine.
If Maine loses this fight, then the rest of New England that gained marriage equality could be next on the list of targets for the antigay National Organization for Marriage etc. The antigay organizations from outside of Maine are putting a lot of effort into destroying marriage equality in Maine. They want badly to win in the largest New England state.
Please volunteer and help Equality Maine which fought hard to gain Maine Marriage Equality to keep Maine marriage equality.
Equality Maine has Thursday night phone banks to reach out to Maine folks each Thursday to get them on board to save Maine marriage equality. This is fight that Maine and the rest of New England cannot afford to lose.
So goes Maine, so could go the rest of the New England states one by one.
putting our civil rights up for a vote–hhhmmm,,ya think we could or should do this for all of Americas minorities, eh,,whaddya say ? think the blacks will stand for that ??
Yet another win for bigots everywhere! Praise Jesus!
I’ve come to realize that saying “this is not about gay marriage” is homophobic. Of course it’s about gay marriage. I don’t believe anybody really objects to two straight guys getting married, even though it’s not allowed. It’s the gays that the opponents of same-sex marriage want to stop. It’s about making our lives difficult.
As I have stated over and over…
This country is long overdue for a good riot.
this is not about gay marriage, it’s about marriage for same sex couples. Marriage isn’t being modified for same sex couples. It’s the same marriage rights and responsibilities. No different than a man and a woman.
Three words,, Romer vs Evans
It will be like other gay bills in Maine.
It passes, then gets vetoed by the people.
Gets passed again, then gets vetoed by the people.
Gets passed for a third time, stays by a bare majority.
I couldn’t agree more with the other readers who have commented on this article. We can’t repeat the same mistakes that were made in California. The gay community can’t be dismissive of the pro “traditional” marriage folks. That’s why we lost in California last year. I couldn’t stress more to be prepaired for a huge fight for marriage equality in Maine. If we win maine, and big (like 60% for marriage quility) will sent a huge single to the anti marriage equility folks out there. If we win in Maine, there is nothing the marriage equility people can’t do.
Equality Maine is working hard with the resources it has to try to stop this.
Stand for Marriage Maine I read is one of the organizations with deep pockets and Equality Maine is going to need all it can get to educate the public state-wide to VOTE NO to this bitter travesty against Maine couples.
Shame Maine same-sex couples can’t put Mark Muffy’s own marriage to a vote if he himself is married.
I hope that marriage equality proponents will put together a better campaign than the No on 8 people did.
Mark Mutty is also the Portland Catholic Church Public Affairs Director. Seems to me this in violation of church vs. state tax exemption rules. The Empowering Spirits Foundation recently filed a lawsuit against them over this very issue – http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/05/21/national/a123659D01.DTL
I hope this is not California all over again.
At least this time, no one’s marriage will be “up in the air”. Though that part went well for those involved, many California married couples were wondering whether or not they were still married. That must have been heart breaking.