Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Maine = Marriage Equality

Maine became the 5th state in the union to legalize same-sex marriage after Gov. Baldacci changed his previous position:

“In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions,” Governor Baldacci said. “I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage.”

“Article I in the Maine Constitution states that ‘no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor be denied the equal protection of the laws, nor be denied the enjoyment of that person’s civil rights or be discriminated against.’”

“This new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that falls outside of its beliefs. It does not require the church to perform any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms the separation of Church and State,” Governor Baldacci said.

“It guarantees that Maine citizens will be treated equally under Maine’s civil marriage laws, and that is the responsibility of government.”
Well done. Let's hope New Hampshire's governor follows suit soon.

In other news, the District of Columbia voted to recognize same-sex marriages from the states. Since it is subject to Congress, Speaker Pelosi put out a statement saying they should stay out of the issue.

3 comments:

Nat-Wu said...

She's dead wrong. It's never the wrong time to reaffirm that every American does have equal rights, as we have said again and again in the past.

adam said...

I think what she's doing is discouraging anyone from wanting to put up DC's decision up to a Congressional vote.

Nat-Wu said...

Like they couldn't pass a non-binding resolution in favor of it symbolically?