EQME Plans 2012 Marriage Equality Ballot Measure

Well, well, well! The LGBT community will not only be playing defense of our civil rights in the 2012 election in Minnesota but will also be playing offense in Maine. 

Equality Maine has announced that they will be attempting to put this question before voters on the November 2012 ballot:

Do you favor a law allowing marriage licenses for same-sex couples that protects religious freedom by ensuring no religion or clergy be required to perform such a marriage in violation of their religious beliefs?

More interestingly, Equality Maine also released the information that marriage equality is a majority position in Maine, according to recent polls.

The Bangor Daily News reports:

“We’ve changed hearts and minds during ‘No on One,’ and since then, many more Mainers have changed their hearts and continue to change their minds,” said Smith in a Thursday release. “We have been going door to door, talking to them and hearing their journey toward support. In two separate polls, conducted over the last five months, 53 percent of Mainers surveyed said they support letting gay and lesbian couples marry here.”

[...]

Supporters must get 57,277 signatures to get the question on the November 2012 ballot.

Gay marriage supporters hope to build on momentum in Rhode Island and in New York, which earlier this month became the sixth state to allow gay marriage.

In 2009, Maine voters used a People's Veto to overturn a marriage equality bill by a vote of 53% to 47% on Question 1 that had been passed through the legislature and signed by Governor Baldacci at the time.

Question 1 Documentary Shows Homophobe Expressing Regret

There's a new documentary about the 2009 electoral fight to repeal a marriage equality bill in Maine called Question 1. You can watch the trailer above. One of the highlights is the admission, on camera, by one of the heads of the Yes on 1 campaign, Marc Mutty, admitting his side had engaged in hyperbole and expressing regret for the tactics used during the heated campaign.

WATCH:

One of the problems that I have: I know what we need to do and what we need to do is slam people over the head, not only with a two-by-four, but a two-by-four with nails sticking out of it. ... Unfortunately, I think it's a lousy approach, but it's the only thing we've got and it's the only way. That's the way campaigns work. And we use a lot of hyberbole, and I think that's always dangerous. You know, we say things like 'Teachers will be forced to (teach same-sex marriage)!' Well, that's not a completely accurate statement and we all know it isn't, you know? ... Let's look back at our ads and see what we say. And I think we use hyperbole to a point where, you know, it's like 'Gee-ee-eez!'

Hat/tip to Freedom To Marry.

Maryland Marriage Equality Bill Survives By 1 Vote

Tiffany Alston, a co-sponsor of the bill voted against marriage equality
after her amendment to create civil unions was defeated

Drama at today's Baltimore House Judiciary Committee vote on HB 175. The bill squeaked through to the House floor by a vote of 12-10 with wavering supporter Sam Arora voting yes while another fickle co-sponsor of the legislation, Del. Tiffany Alston, voted no. The measure was only saved from an 11-11 defeat by the House Judiciary Committee chair Joseph Valliaro,  Jr. voted in favor to send the measure to the whole body even though he does not support marriage equality!

Here's the vote tally on the legislation. People voting YES should be thanked by marriage equality supporters:

Joseph F. Vallario, Jr., Chair (410) 841-3488, (301) 858-3488 - YES
 Kathleen M. Dumais, Vice-Chair (410) 841-3052, (301) 858-3052  - YES

Tiffany T. Alston _ NOCurtis S. (Curt) Anderson _ YESSam Arora - YESJill P. Carter - YESLuke H. Clippinger _ YESJohn W. E. Cluster, Jr. _ NOFrank M. Conaway, Jr. - YESDon H. Dwyer, Jr. -NOMichael J. Hough - NOKevin Kelly - NOSusan C. Lee - YESSusan K. McComas - NOMichael A. McDermott - NOKeiffer J. Mitchell, Jr. - YESNeil C. Parrott - NOLuiz R. S. Simmons - YESMichael D. Smigiel, Sr. - NOKriselda Valderrama - YESGeraldine Valentino-Smith - NOJeffrey D. Waldstreicher  - YES

The bill now goes to the House floor where Democrats outnumber Republicans 98 to 43 but the Marriage Protection Act does not have 71 co-sponsors, and as we have seen, being a co-sponsor does not guarantee that you will actually vote YES on the legislation!

Even if the measure does become law, heterosexual supremacists like the National Organization for Marriage have vowed to collect signatures for a referendum on the measure in 2012. They'll need to collect 55,736 signatures by June 30 and 18,579 by May 31st. Thus would prevent HB 175/SB 116 from going into effect until after the vote, a similar situation to what happened in 2009 in Maine. Voters that November passed Question 1 by a vote of 52.8% to 42.2%