Tags : gay marriage maine, maine, stand for marriage maine
Gay Marriage Opponents In Maine Submit Petition Seeking November Referendum
Augusta, ME (AHN) – Opponents of Maine’s same-sex marriage law on Friday submitted a petition with 100,000 signatures calling for a referendum on the law. The petition, which has more than enough signatures for a question on the November ballot, was completed a day after advocates of marriage equality rallied in Portland with the signatures of 60,000 who they say have pledged to vote to keep Maine as the fifth state to allow gay marriages.
Stand for Marriage Maine, a coalition that supports traditional marriage, delivered the petition to Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap after weeks of gathering signatures. Only 55,087 signatures are needed to let voters decide in November whether the law signed by Maine Gov. John Baldacci in May should be vetoed.
A similar move was undertaken by conservatives in California, where an initiative called Proposition 8 was passed during last year’s November election, overturning a state Supreme Court ruling issued just five months prior that said gay couples had a constitutional right to be married.
The Maine Freedom to Marry campaign and the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights group, have been gathering grassroots support while gay marriage foes collected their signatures. They have been providing phone bank training and on Thursday launched a campaign, called “No on 1: Protect Maine Equality” and featuring at least 60,000 pledges.
There has been a growing movement to grant gay couples the same rights and privileges as different-sex couples despite stiff opposition from conservative groups such as the National Organization for Marriage, which warns that gay marriages have an adverse impact on children and people of faith.
Four of the six states which have legalized gay marriages did so in the last four months.
In April, the Iowa supreme court upheld a lower court decision ruling the state’s ban on gay marriages unconstitutional, and Vermont’s state House and Senate voted to override the veto of Gov. Jim Douglas of gay marriage legislation. New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed a same-sex marriage bill into law early June.
In addition, Massachusetts, the first state in the nation to legalize same-sex marriages, sued the federal government early this month over the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was passed in 1996 and provides the federal definition of marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman.
The Obama addition has repeatedly said it is working to follow through on a campaign pledge to repeal DOMA, and in June it extended federal benefits to same-sex partners of government employees.
The District of Columbia also began recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries on July 7. The District already has a 1992 law allowing unmarried couples to register as domestic partners, but this statute does not provide gays the same rights of civil marriage and only took effect in 2002 when Congress lifted a ban on using any public money on the district’s domestic partner registry.
Related posts:
- A Day Before Polls Open, Maine Voters Divided About Repealing Gay Marriage Law
- Pro-Gay Group Sues To Keep Referendum From Washington State Ballot
- Vermont Begins Issuing Marriage Licenses To Gay Couples
- Same-Sex Marriage Bill To Be Introduced In D.C.
- Obama administration draws ire by upholding the Defense of Marriage act
