m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 1 签名已经收集够了，今天将宣布最后决定。
Marriage Equality Advocates Ready for Maine Referendum
By Andrew Harmon
Marriage equality advocates in Maine have collected the signatures necessary
to bring the issue back to the ballot in 2012 and may announce their
decision to do so Thursday, the Associated Press reports.
State lawmakers had passed a marriage bill signed into law by Gov. John
Baldacci in June of 2009, but voters narrowly overturned the law a few
months later.
Via AP:
EqualityMaine, Maine Civil Liberties Union and the Maine Women's Lobby will
announce Thursday whether they plan to deliver the petitions and carry
through with a referendum. National gay-rights leaders, for their part,
anticipate that a gay marriage campaign will be launched. | m******1
发帖数: 19713 | | m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 3 Op-ed: It’s Time to Win in Maine
The national campaign director at Freedom to Marry is opposed to voting on
the rights of any minority group. But when it comes to Maine, he explains
why he supports activists’ ballot initiative.
By Marc Solomon, op-ed contributor
JAY AND JOHN STRAUSS-WILLIAMS MARRIED IN NEW YORK 390x (GETTY) ADVOCATE.COM
As early as 1840, Maine was seen as an electoral bellwether for the country.
“As goes Maine, so goes the nation,” the adage went.
Today, just a short while ago, committed gay and lesbian couples in Maine,
as well as advocates both straight and gay, delivered more than 100,000
signed petitions to the Secretary of State in Augusta and announced they are
moving forward with a ballot measure to end the exclusion of same-sex
couples from marriage. The 100,000 represents a full 10% of the registered
voters in the state, double what’s required to advance a ballot initiative.
Freedom to Marry supports the effort 100%, and I will proudly serve as an
Executive Committee member of this ballot campaign. Taking it to the people
in Maine is the right thing to do.
That does not mean that we believe going to the ballot is always the right
strategy; in fact, we’re conservative about doing so.
In order to justify the expense and difficulty of going to the ballot, we at
Freedom to Marry want to see (and help develop) a strategic campaign plan
with a pathway to victory. This means doing the hard work over the course
of months (and ideally years) to build public support to a percentage in the
mid-50s among likely voters, creating a realistic and achievable
fundraising plan, and organizing a smart, tight and effective governance
structure for the campaign. Boldness on its own can be powerful, but a
combination of smarts and boldness is what wins campaigns.
Over the last two-plus years, the advocates on the ground in Maine — led by
Equality Maine and Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, with many
others including the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, the Maine
Women's Lobby and Engage Maine — have exercised that combination of
boldness and strategic judgment in preparing for today’s announcement, and
for the campaign ahead.
As we all know, in 2009, the Maine legislature approved a marriage bill and
the governor signed it into law. And as is often the case with equality
legislation in Maine, the antigay industry, their local Maine affiliates,
and the Catholic hierarchy all went for what’s called a “citizen’s veto”
and they prevailed at the ballot in November 2009.
Since then, Maine advocates have organized a grassroots campaign focused on
in-depth conversations with voters. They’ve done so with tens of thousands
of Mainers and have tracked carefully who has changed their minds and what
approaches are most effective. In television spots, they’ve focused on
speaking to the hearts of voters, talking about why marriage matters to same
-sex couples and their families, as well as on profiling people who have
changed their position on marriage after having gotten to know gay couples.
And we’ve worked collaboratively on effective responses to our opponents’
pernicious and, by their own admission, spurious fear tactics that gay
couples’ marriages will somehow harm children.
I’ve been especially impressed at the rigor with which the Maine effort has
gone about its work. They’ve tested and re-tested their approaches in the
field and in the media, working with independent entities like the Analyst
Institute to evaluate whether and how programs are working, and smartly
figuring out how to apply best practices from other states in Maine.
These efforts have paid off. While our side secured 47% support at the
ballot in 2009, support today stands at 54%.
This effort is bold. In 2010, as part of the Tea Party electoral tsunami,
the pro-equality majorities in the House and Senate in Maine were defeated,
and an antigay Tea Party governor was elected. Many would have looked at
this new governing reality and decided not to proceed, as a legislative
victory was no longer a possibility. However, the Maine advocates —
knowing they’d face a referendum whether they proceeded through the
legislature or not — decided to use the initiative process that’s so often
been used against us to take the question themselves directly to the people
.
As a matter of principle, I believe strongly that it is wrong to vote on the
fundamental rights of any minority group. Yet in Maine, all realistic
paths to enabling loving and committed same-sex couples to have the freedom
to marry run through the ballot. Securing and protecting anti-
discrimination laws for LGBT people took three referenda in Maine. So in
this instance, I feel that this path is the smart one.
What’s more, Maine — along with Minnesota and other states that face 2012
referenda — will offer a strategic roadmap to begin undoing antigay
constitutional amendments that were approved in most cases before we even
had a fighting chance.
During the past few months, I’ve had the chance to spend time with the
Maine “Table” — the group of organizations that has been working
tirelessly since the 2009 loss to prepare to win back the freedom to marry.
It’s an extraordinary group of smart, savvy, strategic and thoughtful
individuals who did rigorous due diligence in preparing and reviewing every
aspect of the campaign plan. They kicked the tires, scrutinized assumptions
, and asked every difficult question. And in the end, they concluded that
it would be wrong to not move forward, to not try to secure the freedom to
marry for Mainers.
They do not underestimate the challenges. For starters, we’ve never won at
the ballot. Winning is far from a sure thing — it never has been on this
cause, whether we were seeking to prevail in the legislature or at the
ballot. And secondly, there are many competing demands for funding and
attention this year. But they feel confident that these challenges can be
met and that we are ready to do so.
Freedom to Marry is proud to be a part of the Maine campaign, and together,
we will be working to put forward the best campaign our movement has ever
run, using everything we’ve collectively learned since 2009. We ourselves
are prepared to continue our investment in the effort, and to make the case
to donors that now is the time to win in Maine.
“As goes Maine, so goes the nation.” I invite you to join up and help
make it so. |
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