All those boxes of signatures that Stand 4 Marriage Maine dropped off with the Maine Secretary of State to put same-sex marriage up to a vote in November? They worked.
Plenty more signatures than the necessary 55,087 were verified, which means come Nov. 3, Maine's voters will have a chance to nix gay marriage, which Gov. John Baldacci signed into law in May. It also means same-sex marriage, which was supposed to begin Sept. 12, is now stayed until after the vote.
So while Baldacci has no say in whether the law goes to voters, he's standing by his earlier pro-equality decision. "I fully support this legislation, and believe it guarantees that all Maine citizens are treated equally under our State’s civil marriage laws,” he said in a statement. “But I also have a Constitutional obligation to set the date for the election once the Secretary of State has certified that enough signatures have been submitted. I am confident that Maine voters will make the right decision on this important issue when they cast their ballots in the fall.”
And this, folks, is why there needs to be groups like these guys.
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· jarvisbearcub says: Great. »
I think it is rediculous that any law like that should ever go to the voters. To let voters take away civil rights from a group is not right at all. For one, gays only represent about 10% of the population, so we would need at least 41% of the straight vote to block this law. Also, the average voter is not smart enough to have the power to vote for an amendment. There are way too many close minded idiots out there to trust that they will make the right choice. Especially when you have the right wing idiots pushing their propaganda everywhere.
Contact Maine congressmen to get them involved in keeping marriage equality. We need their voices too. Ask them to release statements and endorse marriage equality in public forums.
http://www.maine.gov/legis/house/e_mail.htm
http://www.maine.gov/legis/sen.....aillst.htm
Here are other things you can do.
* Participate in phonebanks
* Make youtube videos in support of Maine's marriage equality
* Write emails to Maine newspapers
* Talk to your friends
* Donate to Equality Maine
http://www.protectmaineequality.org/index.cfm
The General Accounting Office has identified 1,138 federal benefits and rights to civil marriage, none of which gays and lesbians have. Logically, how is continuing to ban gay families from equal rights going to stop them from having children? They will have children whether or not they are covered by protections enjoyed by the heterosexual couples. All you do when you ban gays from these protections is make it unsafe for "these" children. Is that your desire? Is that what you hope to achieve? Hypocrites! If you really cared about children, you would care for all children. You make me sick! I don't think for an instant that, when the NOM-skulls are done attacking gays, they won't pick some other, "undesirable" to go after.
Great!!!
1equalityUSa you are wrong when you state gay families have children. Gay families adopt the children of heterosexuals, they do not have biological children.
The true cowards are the ones who label and demean others who do not hold the same views.
Jwalker666 is also misinformed. No civil rights are being taken away from anyone. That is pure hyperbole and factually baseless. This tactic of trying to link same sex marriage to civil rights is a failure. "Gays" are not born homosexual, even gay activists state so (Dean Hamer). Not a single case of the Mendelian model of inheritance has ever been passed in a family related to homosexuality.
Even blacks and Hispanics scoff at "gay" mariage being equivalent to civil rights,, and 70% or more of voting minorities in California voted to retain traditional marriage last November..
Simple biology folks. The fitness cost of homosexuality is 80% each generation. That means that 80% of homosexuals do not have a biological replacement during their lifetime. If homosexuality was natural or genetic, it would long ago have disappeared,. Speaking of innate or immutable, there are literally tens of thousands of former homosexuals in society, can anyone point me to a former Hispanic, White, or Asian? And what about bi-sexuals ? How is both ways sexually innate or immutable?
Race is immutable, innate, sexual preference is not.
ericka.valladolid wrote, "If homosexuality was natural or genetic, it would long ago have disappeared,."
http://rspb.royalsocietypublis.....7.full.pdf suggests otherwise.