Maine to Vote Tuesday on Status of Law Permitting Same-Sex Marriage
November 02, 2009
By Karl Vick
Maine residents will decide on Tuesday whether to let stand a law permitting same-sex marriage, an effort that has failed in every state where it has been put before voters.
Public opinion surveys in Maine show a dead heat on Question 1, which would cancel the marriage statute that passed the legislature in May and was signed by Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat.
In the five other states where gay men and lesbians are allowed to marry, the laws were put in place by court rulings or legislatures. None has survived a referendum, but Baldacci expressed guarded optimism Sunday about the effort in Maine.
"I believe it's something in the water or the air in this state that recognizes individual rights and anti-discrimination attitudes," the governor said by phone from Augusta, the capital. "It's more of a libertarian-type state than it is Republican or Democrat. We have two Republican senators, two Democratic representatives, and there have been two independent governors."
The campaign against same-sex marriage in Maine draws heavily from the effort that a year ago overturned a California Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage. TV commercials produced by Schubert Flint Public Affairs, a Sacramento consulting firm, feature parents lamenting that their young children are being taught in school that marriage between two women or two men is normal.
Nearly identical ads were highly effective in California.
"I refer to it as sustainable advertising, where you have the same themes," said Scott Fish, communications director for Stand for Marriage Maine. "It's the same issue, and many of the concerns were the same."
Advocates of same-sex marriage responded to the ads with an opinion from state Attorney General Janet Mills stating that the law would have no effect on what is taught in schools.
Fish called the opinion irrelevant, because curriculum largely is decided by local school boards. "Neither does it say it won't be taught," he said.
Originally published by Karl Vick; The Washington Post.
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