Maine to vote on gay marriage in Nov.

Maine has another chance to weigh in on the issue of same-sex marriage.

On July 1, one day before the deadline, nearly 100,000 signatures opposing the new law were submitted to Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, almost double what is needed for a people’s referendum. After certifying more than 60,000 signatures, Dunlap agreed Sept. 3 to add the referendum to the Nov. 3 ballot.

Gov. Baldacci signed the law May 6, an hour after the Maine Senate passed the bill. Sept. 12 would have been the first day same-sex couples in Maine could legally marry, according to Dunlap, but because of the people’s veto it has been indefinitely postponed.

Question No. 1 will read: “Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious institutions to refuse to perform these marriages?”

C.J. Bearce, the University of Maine campus organizer with League of Young Voters, an organization that encourages young people to engage in the democratic process, anticipated the law would be met with resistance.

“We hit the ground running with the assumption that they [opposition groups] would [resist],” Bearce said.

Bearce is one of three campus organizers for League of Young Voters in Maine. He started out volunteering and has since decided to dedicate more of his time to the organization.

“We’re trying to get a lot of local donations and raise money the grass roots way,” Bearce said.

Groups such as Equality Maine, a coalition partner with League of Young Voters, began campaigning around the same time the opposition first circulated petitions.

Equality Maine works closely with the Rainbow Resource Center — a resource center for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community at UMaine — and has received support from university clubs like Wilde Stein, Progressive Student Alliance and the Student Women’s Association.

UMaine College Republicans member Timothy Woodman plans to vote for overturning Maine’s gay marriage law this fall. He is in favor of No. 1 because “religious organizations will no longer be forced to perform same sex marriages,” he said.

“The College Republicans as a whole do not have a stance,” said College Republicans Vice President Joe Grace. “It doesn’t need to be made into a partisan issue.”

According to Mary Conroy, a volunteer coordinator and deputy communications director at Stand for Marriage Maine, the group that organized the people’s veto, it is supported financially by four national sources: the National Organization for Marriage, the Maine chapter of Focus on the Family, the Portland Roman Catholic Diocese and Family Resource. A full list of Stand for Marriage Maine supporters is available on its Web site: standformarriagemaine.com.

In July, with two months of campaigning behind them, Stand for Marriage Maine members had raised $350,000.