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Loading ...Large crowds expected as Maine takes up gay marriage bill
04.21.2009 10:00am EDT
(Augusta, Maine) Public hearings begin Wednesday on legislation to allow same-sex marriage in Maine. So many people on both sides of the issue are expected that the hearings will be held at the Augusta Civic Center.
One bill would repeal Maine’s 12-year-old so-called Defense of Marriage law, which bars same-sex marriage, while a second bill would make marriage gender-neutral. Both were filed by Sen. Dennis S. Damon (D).The marriage bill states that churches would not be compelled to conduct same-sex weddings if it would be inconsistent with their doctrine.
The measure has more than 60 lawmakers as co-sponsors. Damon said the legislators represent both Democrats and Republicans and that they come from Maine’s smallest towns and largest cities.
Normally no more than 10 lawmakers are allowed to sign on as co-sponsors of a bill, but Damon said 50 others sought to have their names added.
A third bill, filed by Rep. Leslie Fossel (R) would create a domestic-partner registry while maintaining DOMA.
Advocates and opponents of same-sex marriage have crisscrossed the state in recent weeks, drumming up support for their prospective sides.
Maine’s tourism industry has said legalizing same-sex marriage in the state could save them from disaster as the state’s economy continues to turn sour.
Industry spokespeople pointed to a recent study by the Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of California Los Angeles, that found extending marriage to same-sex couples would boost Maine’s economy by $60 million over three years, which would generate increases in state and local government tax and fee revenues by almost $3.6 million.
The conservative Maine Marriage Alliance has said that if same-sex marriage appears to be on a track to legalization it would press for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
If the marriage bill passes the Legislature and is signed into law, it would leave only New Hampshire and Rhode Island as New England states without equal marriage.
Legislation equalizing marriage has passed the New Hampshire House and is currently before the Senate.
Last November, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the Boston-based LGBT rights group that brought the successful legal challenges leading to same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and Connecticut, launched the “Six by Twelve” campaign to legalize gay marriage throughout all six New England states by 2012.
Should Main ever go to the referendum stage on marriage equality, it is important to note that removal of equal rights and guaranteed inalienable rights can not be done by a simple”people” majority vote. It would be a fundamental revision of the constitution and this requires a legislative process which should deem the referendum “constitutionally defective. “Let the people vote” is a trojan horse that subverts the legislative and judicial processes of fair and balanced. Prop 8 is unconstitutional.
Urge Maine State Legislators NOW to pass marriage equality.
Maine Senate
http://www.maine.gov/legis/senate/senators/email/maillst.htm
Maine House
http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/e_mail.htm
http://www4.egov.nh.gov/governor/goveforms/comments.asp
Hmmm….. This could be an interesting battle. Maine sadly still practices the backward “people’s” referendum. The only New England state to do so I believe. I wish Equality maine all the best of luck in this endeavor. It shure would be a MAJOR victory for Marriage Equality!
My personal thanks and appreciation to the staff and volunteers at Equality Maine for the many hours they have given for this measure. Also thanks to all the legislators who have signed onto the bill.
To Gerry Fisher, words are extremely important, think of the words fag, homo, or any other derogatory slurs made against us.
It was stated that Vermont had the bill read Marriage Equality. If it had read same sex, or gay marriage there would have been a different outcome, words like same sex, or gay marriage, do not, I repeat, do not convey the importance of love, family, or Equality.
Your the one who needs to get with the program, this is an equality of civil rights issue, not a gay marriage issue, nor a same sex marriage issue, it’s an equality issue get it, EQUAL!
>Thanks for using the term “equal marriage” once, but you still used “same-sex marriage” seven times. My opinion has changed on this, and I now agree with some comments on previous articles criticizing 365gay about this. You can and should do better. This is about marriage equality, not a different kind of marriage, or a redefinition of marriage.
“You said the right thing, but not enough. Nothing other than what I deem to be the right thing should be uttered.”
It’s this kind of persnicketiness that makes all of us on the Left look loony.
Ease up, will ya? You’re like a Left Leaning “Church Lady.”
Thanks for using the term “equal marriage” once, but you still used “same-sex marriage” seven times. My opinion has changed on this, and I now agree with some comments on previous articles criticizing 365gay about this. You can and should do better. This is about marriage equality, not a different kind of marriage, or a redefinition of marriage.
I fully agree with Aiden Raccoon. Now here’s hoping that Maine does the right thing.
It is nice to see that the lawmakers are not only unafraid to touch the topic of marriage equality anymore as something toxic, but are jumping through hoops just to get their name added as a co-sponsor to the bill.