Posted on 02/23/2012 11:12:50 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
AUGUSTA -- Gay marriage advocates turned in more than enough signatures to move ahead with a citizen initiative that would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in Maine, the secretary of state's office ruled Thursday.
More than 85,000 signatures were declared valid. The groups needed only 57,277 signatures for their bill to get to the Legislature.
The decision means lawmakers will now be presented with a citizen initiative to allow gay marriage in Maine. Currently, seven states and the District of Columbia allow gay marriages.
While lawmakers have the option of passing the bill as proposed, most likely it will be sent to voters in November.
Advocates, who lost at the ballot box in 2009 by a 53-47 percent vote, believe enough Mainers have changed their minds on the issue that they will win this time around.
"The story of the 2012 campaign is not going to be gay folk coming out and supporting this, it's going to be heterosexuals like myself coming out in support of gay marriage," said the Rev. Michael Gray of Old Orchard Beach United Methodist Church. "We're now realizing how important it is for us to speak up."
Brian Souchet, the director of the Office for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, said he fully expected the advocates would get the necessary signatures. But, he said they will have a harder time convincing the public it should pass.
"This is a group that's attempting to redefine marriage," he said. "We don't see how a majority of Maine voters are going to go for that."
The coalition working to pass a gay marriage law includes EqualityMaine, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, the Maine Women's Lobby, The Religious Coalition Against Discrimination and 15 other groups.
Betsy Smith, executive director of EqualityMaine, said she hopes the Legislature listens to the more than 100,000 people who signed their petition in support of a citizen initiative.
"Our hope is that they will abide by the wishes of the people, which is to vote in November," she said.
Bob Emrich, who is organizing a coalition of opponents that will include the Christian Civic League of Maine, Concerned Women for America and the National Organization for Marriage, said he's cautiously optimistic that voters haven't changed their minds on the issue.
"We're much better prepared than we were before," he said. "I don't know anyone other than EqualityMaine folks who think things have changed."
We were ALC or LCA (Lutherans) depending on where we lived. We moved around a lot. I attended UMC while married to my first wife, as she was Methodist. VERY Left-wing!
Same-sex marriage proponents collected more than 100,000[?] signatures to put gay marriage back on the Maine ballot ... [Source]
"[Feb]A federal appeals court upheld a Maine law that could reveal the donors who financed a $1.8 million movement that helped overturn the state's gay marriage law....The court rejected arguments from the National Organization for Marriage that being forced to disclose donors who backed the effort was a violation of First Amendment speech rights.....The court's decision means the National Organization for Marriage, which advocates that marriage be defined as being between a man and a woman, could have to reveal the names of people who gave more than $100 to its campaign efforts against same-sex marriage in Maine.... The Maine law says that groups that spend more than $5,000 "for the purpose of initiating or influencing" a referendum must disclose the names of their donors...... The decision by a panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston clears the way for the state to conduct an inquiry into whether the group was indeed raising money to influence the ballot initiative."[Source]
"Advocates said [in Jan] their polling and observations convince them voters are ready to approve gay marriage in a campaign that could cost $4 million to $5 million"
It may be Methodist but methinks there be madness in it.
[sorry, Shakespeare]
it’s going to be heterosexuals like myself coming out in support of gay marriage,” said the Rev. Michael Gray of Old Orchard Beach United Methodist Church. “We’re now realizing how important it is for us to speak up.”
How about you speak up for the Bible Mr Gray. You truly believe that God wants you to enable sin? You think that is your position as a Pastor?
What an evil, worthless church.
The opposition chuckles with sulphorus glee.
Bet you can't wait to see all those French boys in their Speedos parading up and down the beach this summer, 'Reverend'...
These 'churches' have nothing to do with G-d...they want two things; a platform to push their vile agenda, and the exemption from paying taxes.
If the forces of decadence, destroying America, are inexorable, the only alternative available to the ascendant may be to establish one sovereign nation for themselves and another for the decadent.
If the forces of decadence, destroying America, are inexorable, the only alternative available to the ascendant may be to establish one sovereign nation for themselves and another for the decadent.
Think Maine will vote it down like every other state that’s ever voted on it?
We voted on it 2 years ago - this is the second time around. Hopefully it will go down in flames again.
“Think Maine will vote it down like every other state that’s ever voted on it?”
Somebody ought remind him that the pulpit is where judgement begins. Any Preacher who misleads his congregation will be judged for every soul he has led away from the Truth.
I think that, like many contentious issues, the sodomite lobby has already reached the saturation point. People, instead of coming on board, are getting tired of the pushed perversion.
Homosexual/Leftist activists like to portray the homosexual "rights" movement as a linear progression, which is false propaganda. They stupidly extrapolate from earlier gains and eventually see EVERYONE accepting perversion as normal at some point down the road. If you doubt this, just listen to them: "In a few decades, your children will not believe that there was ever any controversy about same-sex marriage." "You're on the wrong side of history." "Some day soon, you'll be just like the bigots that lynched blacks." Etc.
The truth is the progression is that of a more sinusoidal, if not parabolic, nature. Look what happened after the Roe decision. The radical Feminazi Left was telling us that in a few decades, all controversy about abortion would subside and the pro-life movement would be dead. How wrong they were. In fact, the pro-life position is making inroads into the practice of the murder of the unborn. I never thought I'd see it, but I think the reversal of Roe is now possible in my lifetime.
And I think this reverse pendulum swing may be even more pronounced and immediate with the homosexual "rights" movement because it is so openly pernicious.
It really isn’t a matter of a legal basis for secession. In essence it is what the colonies did when they declared their independence from Great Britain. I tell my students that there were two great questions about the War Between the States, one moral, and one political. In order to avoid any accusations of racism or political bias, I immediately concede that on the moral question of slavery, the South was undeniably wrong. However on the political question of whether or not they had the right to secede and their vision of government as provided by the Founders, I get my classes to rethink what they have been taught before and take another look at the problem.
What it is going to take I think is a continued “train of abuses” as Jefferson so eloquently declared. My students are always appalled when I explain to them the tax rates that caused colonial Americans to rebel. When I explain to them real reason behind the Second and Tenth Amendments. The Declaration of Independence is the political scripture that states will need to look to, not some legal decision that had nothing to do with actual issues at hand. (Texas v. White). This is just my .02. I would love to hear from really well read and articulate Freepers on this, like NathanBedford.
It really isn’t a matter of a legal basis for secession. In essence it is what the colonies did when they declared their independence from Great Britain. I tell my students that there were two great questions about the War Between the States, one moral, and one political. In order to avoid any accusations of racism or political bias, I immediately concede that on the moral question of slavery, the South was undeniably wrong. However on the political question of whether or not they had the right to secede and their vision of government as provided by the Founders, I get my classes to rethink what they have been taught before and take another look at the problem.
What it is going to take I think is a continued “train of abuses” as Jefferson so eloquently declared. My students are always appalled when I explain to them the tax rates that caused colonial Americans to rebel. When I explain to them real reason behind the Second and Tenth Amendments. The Declaration of Independence is the political scripture that states will need to look to, not some legal decision that had nothing to do with actual issues at hand. (Texas v. White). This is just my .02. I would love to hear from really well read and articulate Freepers on this, like NathanBedford.
I hope you are right. The turn around concerning the general opinion on abortion is a very good point, something like that could happen with the homosexual agenda. I think Maine is going to be a very close one.
Freegards
It goes without saying that this prediction assumes no escalation in election/voter fraud.
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