The Maine Thing

Maine certainly is awash in campaigning over restoring marriage licensing, isn't it? Associated Press writer David Crary had an article recently.

Though five other states have legalized same-sex marriage, including four of Maine's New England neighbors, none has done it with the affirmation of a popular vote. Maine could be the first - a prospect which worries Schubert and his allies.

Again, most of those states did it by court imposition.

Supporters of same-sex marriage, in Maine and elsewhere, are cautiously hopeful of a landmark victory that they believe would have impact in other states, including California.

I fail to see why the California constitution should be altered because of something that happens in Maine.

[Continued after the jump.]

But they acknowledge that defeat - by an electorate known for its independence and moderation - would be crushing.

How would it be crushing? What would they lose, given the state's civil unions? The very next day, they'll be filing a lawsuit over the measure.

Among the lawmakers backing the marriage bill was Sen. Larry Bliss, an openly gay Democrat who moved many colleagues with personal stories of raising a family as half of a same-sex couple.

And how did they get that way? Not by getting together and making babies. They chose to bring children into a non-marital situation, where either a mother or a father would not be present. This is like a man divorcing his perfectly good wife to be with a married woman, and then complaining about how lonely he is without a wife, and that polygamous marriage licenses should be issued. They use constant appeals to emotion, and claim that any disagreement with them is akin to wishing them murdered.

But what is good for society? Where is the state's interest?

Initially, Bliss felt the bill was premature, but changed his mind when his longtime partner quit his job and needed to get on Bliss's health insurance.

"If he'd been my spouse, it would have been easy," Bliss said. "Instead the process was appallingly humiliating."

You see, it isn't about getting married, it is about what they can do with a marriage license to get things they want. There is a difference.

When the marriage bill was introduced, [Gov. John] Baldacci argued that gay couples could get needed legal rights through civil unions, but his views evolved.

"I was creating a second-class marriage for certain people, which wasn't right," he said. "I wasn't doing my duty to the constitution I swore to uphold."

It's different from marriage, regardless of whether or not it gets a marriage license. It lacks a bride or it lacks a groom – and that is entirely up to the participants. Nobody is forcing them into these relationships.

Beth Allen, 30, and Valerie Frye, 29, just moved into a wood cabin in the hamlet of Fletchers Landing, a three-hour drive northwest of Portland.

They've been a couple for three years, working for the same social service agency and sharing care of Allen's 5-year-old daughter Fiona.

Where is Fiona's father??? Deadbeat? Dead? Sperm donor? Estranged husband and father? One night stand? What does he have to say about this? Is he paying child support? Does he have visitation or any level of custody?

If there is any doubt that the marriage neutering advocates will use whatever means they can, including marriage-neutering laws, to get churches to perform their "marriages" just remember what has been happening with the Episcopalians. The latest on that is over at my namesake blog.