There is a bill going through the Maine legislature right now that will allow homosexual couples in Maine to be allowed to marry, and be given full marriage benefits. The bill passed through the Senate with a vote of 21-14, and then moved to the House. The Maine state House then voted to pass the bill, with an amendment, with a vote of 89-57. Because an amendment was added, the bill must go back to the Senate, and if passed there, then to Governor Baldacci’s desk.
Up until recently, Governor Baldacci was an opponent of gay marriage. However, after a hearing, both proponents and opponents of the bill left messages with Governor Baldacci’s office. Governor Baldacci the apparently took all of these notes, and called each one back, individually. According to one blogger who received such a call, the conclusion that seemed to be reached, without Governor Baldacci actually explicitly saying this, was that if the bill were to reach his desk, it would be signed into law. Today, the bill went back to the Maine state Senate, was put to a vote and passed with 21-13, with one person not present. Governor Baldacci has signed the bill into law, making Maine the fifth state to allow gay marriage!
There are a number of different arguments against gay marriage, ranging from: “The bible says it’s a sin, so it is therefore wrong” to “There’s no reason for homosexuality to be natural, as it doesn’t produce offspring” to “It’s just weird” to “Allowing gay marriage to occur will send the wrong message to our children about what marriage and love means”. I don’t want to refute all of these arguments, it’s been done before, and that’s not what I want to say.
Gay marriage is, at it’s core, a matter of equality. Equal rights, equal protection by the state, and even equal ability to profess one’s love to another in a socially accepted way. There are gay and lesbian couples all over this country who have professed their love to one another, and who have made the commitment to each other in a “non-official” way (I say non-official here to mean not state-recognized, not to diminish the reality of their commitment). With respect to each other, these couples are “married”, they just can’t become recognized, or get the same tax, visitation, and adoption benefits as straight couples.
I’m sure similar things were said about the women’s suffrage movement: “The bible says it’s the job of the man to care for his wife, why would a woman need to vote?” or “It’s weird seeing women trying to go against the societal norm”. In case you hadn’t noticed, women are now allowed to vote (it’s still true that women don’t make as much as men in equivalent jobs, and there are some other things that need to happen for “true” equality with respect to women’s rights).
We’re all humans on this planet, and everyone has an equally valuable life. People all do equally valuable things, and all have equally valuable opinions. Furthermore, everyone is deserving of equal rights, be it property rights, marriage rights, ability to work, ability to adopt children, or even ability to say what one wants to say. We don’t censor people’s speech because “it’s weird”, and shellfish are sold for food almost everywhere, despite the bible explicitly forbidding it.
Everyone deserves an equal shot at their unalienable right, the pursuit of happiness. Everyone deserves an equal ability to purchase a home. Everyone deserves an equal ability to be with, commit to, and marry whoever it is they choose. I commend Maine on their very progressive stance on the issue, and I urge Minnesota to follow the lead of Maine, Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Equality isn’t about religion, isn’t about tradition, and isn’t about making people comfortable with everything that is happening around them. Equality is about making things fair, just, and, as redundant as this sounds, equal. As a nation we need to look towards a day when everyone, blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, men, women, homosexuals, transgendered people, anarchists, socialists, and name-your group-that-I’ve-left-out-here get treated as human beings and with the same level of respect, dignity, and political status as every other group.
NOTE: I had written this post without the knowledge that Maine had passed the bill. I then saw that the bill had been signed into law, and modified the post. If there are inconsistencies, please let me know! Go Maine!
