State
AUGUSTA, MAINE -- The Stand for Marriage Maine Coalition announced to today that petitions containing 100,373 signatures were submitted today in an effort to overturn Maine's "same sex marriage" law. The number of signatures turned in to the Maine Secretary of State's office is nearly twice the number required by law.
"Instead of adopting policies to nurture and promote marriage, the Legislature and the Governor chose to redefine it," said Bob Emrich, a leader in the Stand for Marriage Maine Coalition. "But," he added, "100,000 registered Maine voters have put their names on these petitions to say the Legislature and the Governor were wrong."
The Coalition noted that no previous People's Veto effort in Maine had ever collected over a hundred thousand signatures, and that most of these signatures were collected during one of the wettest Maine weather periods in recent history, with rain nearly every day. Stand for Marriage Maine chairman, Marc Mutty, said that with such an overwhelming number of signatures, there is no doubt the People's Veto will be before the voters this November.
"The people know how important marriage is to human society, and they want to make such an important decision for themselves rather than leave it to the politicians," said Mutty. "Legalizing homosexual marriage has profound consequences for Maine, and we have no doubt that the more Mainers think about these implications, the more they will vote to restore traditional marriage to our state."
At an event held in Augusta, where the signatures were turned in, Bob Emrich made the following statement:
"For generations, the legislative chambers behind me have been used to uphold and protect and preserve the traditions and values of Maine people. This used to be a place where bridges were built to bring together the various religious traditions and the secular concerns of citizens. Elected officials understood that duty and common sense required those long standing values and traditions to be respected and indeed honored.
"On April 30 of this year, I sat in the Senate Chamber listening to State Senators mocking and disparaging the deeply held faith of Maine people. It was heartbreaking to listen to the ease with which they dismissed thousands of years of human history as if it were irrelevant.
"I sat there with a copy of Maine law in my hands which reads:
The people of the State of Maine find that the union of one man and one woman joined in traditional monogamous marriage is of inestimable value to society; the State has a compelling interest to nurture and promote the unique institution of traditional monogamous marriage in the support of harmonious families and the physical and mental health of children; and that the State has the compelling interest in promoting the moral value inherent in traditional monogamous marriage.
"I listened carefully for someone to explain how those agreed upon findings were somehow no longer relevant. But it appears that the majority were too concerned about the immense pressure from lobbyists to care about reason and explanation.
"It was not, as some have claimed, a proud day for Maine. As the House and then the Governor followed the lead of those same lobbyists, Maine has come dangerously close to trading time honored tradition and social practice for the fad of a minority. National organizations who have failed in state after state to make their case for redefining marriage, brought the battle to Maine. The majority in the Senate and the House, with hearty agreement of Governor, did their bidding and chose to endorse a genderless marriage.
"Instead of adopting policies to nurture and promote marriage, as called for by Maine law, they chose to redefine it.
"But over one hundred thousand Mainers have already said no.
"They believe there is still a duty and benefit to nurture and promote the unique institution of traditional marriage. They believe that the State still has a compelling interest in support of harmonious families, physical and mental health of children, and the moral values inherent in traditional monogamous marriage.
"One hundred thousand registered Maine voters have put their names on these petitions to say the Legislature and the Governor were wrong.
"They believe in preserving, improving and promoting marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
"Those who, because of the shortness of time, did not have the opportunity to sign a petition will now have the opportunity to help protect marriage in November."
Mr. and Mrs. Kim and Brian Souchet also spoke in support of the People's Veto at the event.
"As a mother and wife, I am very aware of the importance of both a father and a mother in the development of children," said Mrs. Bouchet. "Marriage between one man and one woman is in the best interest of children. This new law has removed all references to gender as they relate to family."
"What are our legislators telling us?" she asked. "That a mother doesn't matter, or a father doesn't matter?"
"As a mother," she continued, "my two concerns are parental rights and the intentional denial of either a father or a mother to a child. We, as parents, face losing our parental rights in the teaching of moral issues to our children. If the People's Veto does not succeed, you can be assured that your children will be taught, as early as kindergarten, about relationships involving two men or two women, and you will have no say in the matter. This has already happened in Massachusetts, where a father was thrown into jail for insisting that he be able to opt out his children from being taught the homosexual lifestyle. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts and parents have lost their rights on what moral issues are taught to their children. We do not want this to happen in Maine.
The signature petitions arrived in boxes by truck near the Burton M. Cross Building, behind the State House, at about 10:15 in the morning, each box decorated in ribbon, and transferred to the Secretary of State's office. Maine's Secretary of State has up to thirty days to examine the petitions and certify the petition signatures. Only 55,087 certified signatures are required for the measure to be placed on the November 2009 ballot.
This will not come before the voters without opposition, however.
Jesse Connolly, campaign manager for NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality, a group that was organized for the purpose of opposing the People's Veto effort, was not surprised that sufficient signatures were gathered to place the measure on the ballot, but credited the success of this effort to paid political operatives from outside Maine.
"Today's filing comes as no surprise," he said in a prepared statement. Speaking of the effort to fight the overturning of Maine's gay marriage law, he said that his group began their effort even before the Legislature and Governor completed action on the Maine law back in May, with volunteers and field staff going door-to-door, and speaking to people at sports and public events. "Everywhere we go," he said, "Mainers understand what's at stake this November."
Connolly said that his group has collected more than 60,000 pledges to vote no on 1 in November, and contrasted his campaign as being local whereas, he claimed, the effort to overturn Maine's same-sex marriage law was not.
"Our campaign is a grassroots effort by Maine people, founded on traditional Maine values and committed to encouraging relatives, friends and coworkers to recognize that preserving marriage equality honors commitment, protects children, strengthens all Maine families and is the fair and right thing to do."
"By contrast," Connolly continued, "our opposition's signatures were collected largely by a Michigan company of paid political operatives at cost - so far - of nearly a quarter of a million dollars."
Interestingly, according to Maine law, petition circulators must be registered to vote in the State of Maine.
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