Marriage Equality in Maine: The Way Life Should Be
May 14, 2009
On the fifth anniversary of marriage equality in Massachusetts our community should be filled with pride. When the Goodridge decision came down, conventional wisdom said that preserving the right of same-sex couples to marry was a lost cause. The state’s most powerful political leaders were against us, as was public opinion, and national religious right groups like Focus on the Family and Family Research Council were only too happy to pour money and resources into our state to campaign for a marriage amendment. The state’s Catholic bishops and Boston’s Black Ministerial Alliance fought to take away our right to marry, and even Sen. John Kerry seemed willing to throw us under the bus for the sake of winning the presidency.
Despite those odds, we came together as a community, with invaluable support from allies, and did the impossible. We fought in the courts and in the halls of Beacon Hill. We changed the minds of elected officials and of the public as a whole by coming out, telling our stories, and devoting our time and money to the fight for equality. For the time being our hard work has paid off, and our right to marry is secure.
But after we finish patting ourselves on the back, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and prepare for the next great fight for marriage equality. Maine’s legislature and governor have passed a marriage equality bill -- in fact, Gov. John Baldacci became the first governor to sign a marriage bill -- but our neighbors to the north are in for a fierce battle to ensure that same-sex couples in that state maintain their right to marry. It is all but certain that anti-gay activists will succeed in putting a referendum to repeal the marriage bill on the 2010 ballot through a process called the people’s veto. Anti-gay activists in Maine have a track record of using the people’s veto to set back advances in LGBT rights; on two successive occasions they used the referendum process to repeal a statewide gay rights law. It was only on the third attempt that LGBT activists in that state were able to win at the ballot box. This time around, anti-equality activists have 90 days to collect just 55,000 signatures, which will likely not be a problem. In Massachusetts in 2007, anti-gay activists collected 170,000 signatures for a marriage amendment in the same time frame. "We can anticipate that they will be successful in collecting those signatures," said Betsy Smith, the executive director of Equality Maine, the statewide organization leading the marriage effort.
Smith’s organization is ready for a fight. Judging from our conversation with her this week and the success Equality Maine has already had, it appears the organization is running a top-notch, grassroots campaign that puts LGBT families front and center -- the strategy that proved so critical in the fight to preserve marriage equality in the Bay State. On Election Day last November, 300 marriage equality activists fanned out at polling stations across the state with the goal of identifying 10,000 voters who supported marriage equality. "At the end of the night we identified 33,000 voters who signed postcards," said Smith.
These people know what they are doing. But they still need help. In order to continue identifying voters who support marriage equality -- the only way the campaign will be won -- the organization needs resources to double its field staff and open more field offices in the state. And while the campaign worked hard to put a local face on the issue of marriage equality, Smith could use some extra bodies. "We would welcome people coming up here for the campaign, we absolutely would." "This is a campaign that’s going to take people," said Smith. "Lots of people. And it’s going to take money to have those people here."
After the passage of Proposition 8 it’s tempting to see California as the most important front in the fight for marriage equality, and certainly regaining the right to marry there should be a top priority. But right now, here in New England, Maine deserves the bulk of our attention. The religious right is almost certain to make winning in Maine a top priority, given that ballot initiatives are becoming their last battleground as legislatures like those in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont pave the way for more states to take proactive stances on marriage equality. And we need not remind LGBT people that across the country, every anti-gay marriage amendment that has been put to voters has passed, with the exception of one in Arizona, although anti-gay activists prevailed in a second ballot campaign to pass an amendment in that state.
Here in Massachusetts groups like MassEquality and GLAD have taken a regional focus, pledging to make marriage equality a reality throughout New England. Our community as a whole should adopt a similar outlook. Many of us have roots in Maine, and many of us travel to Ogunquit, Bar Harbor, Acadia and other vacation spots in the state. On your next vacation, perhaps you can spare a day to help out with the campaign. Maybe you can skip that lobster dinner and make a donation at the group’s website, equalitymaine.org
New England is leading the way on marriage equality. The fight in Maine is winnable. Let’s not let our neighbors to the north down.
