Married in Maine - At Last

Last night in Portland, Steven Bridges, left, and Michael Snell
became the first gay couple ever married in Maine.
Hooray for the ordinary middle-aged gay guys like me!  And millions of others.

The first same-sex couples to be married in Maine lined up at Portland City Hall tie the knot after midnight last evening, when the state's new voter-approved marriage law took effect.  Couples were serenaded inside the courthouse by a jazz trio playing "What a Difference a Day Makes," while outside they were greeted by a crowd singing "All You Need is Love."

Beautiful.  All good wishes to the happy couples.





Kudos to all the folks who worked hard to reverse the 2009 referendum that torpedoed Maine's marriage equality law. It's worth taking a look back at this video featuring 90-year-old Harlan Gardner and four generations of his family, which is one of several that helped enlighten and educate Maine voters this year, resulting in a 53-47 win for marriage at the ballot box in November:

More Good News: Historic Night of Gay Victories

Despite the elation of Obama's first victory, I remember the terrible, painful, hungover feeling of waking up on the morning after the 2008 election with the four godawful defeats for gay rights pounding in my mind, Prop 8 being the worst of them all.

But this morning, we have only cause to rejoice - champagne breakfast, anyone? These images from the Washington Blade tell the glad tidings:

Also, Washington state seems poised to approve a marriage referendum there, once all the votes are counted. What a difference four years makes.

You can google up the news stories for yourselves, can't you? Your Head Trucker is feeling pretty whipped now, after staying up all night to watch the election returns and discuss them at lenght with M.P. I'll post more after I get some sleep.

The funny thing is, I feared so many bad results, it's taking me a while to truly accept that it wasn't just a good night for us, it was fantastic. Like that hot, hairy fuck you never expected to hook up with, but oh buddy when you did . . . .

But just think how far we have come now, and how this election has ratified all the good changes in this country made during the last four years - and think too what a horrible aftermath we would be facing if the votes had gone the other way.


Update: Washington United has declared victory in the marriage referendum in that state, giving us four wins for four. Finally, my brothers, the tide has shifted. Matt Baume summarizes:




BREAKING: Ronald Reagan Finally Dead. John Aravosis reports:

I’m still digesting this in an effort to figure out what the heck happened. But something did happen last night. And it was much bigger than Democrats winning.

The left, progressives, won last night, across the board. And I’m not entirely sure why. Especially when you consider how much money the Republicans spent, from Sheldon Adelson to the Koch Brothers to Mr. “I was born in a socialist country.”

They all lost. The Tea Party lost. Conservatives lost. Tax cuts lost. Gay-bashing lost. Repealing Obamacare lost.

Ronald Reagan finally died last night. It’s been almost 25 years since Ronald Reagan left office. It’s been nearly ten years since he died. Enough already. He’s gone. It’s over. The voters are no longer falling for the knee-jerk Republican electoral panacea of tax cuts, intolerance, and war. That might have worked in the 1980s, but the 80s are over, the Soviets are gone, the gays are here to stay, and it’s time for the Republican party to enter the 21st century.

Related: Obamas Return to White House as Romneys Return to 1954.

Weeping, Wailing, and Gnashing of Teeth:  Rightwingers' heads are exploding all over America as reality intrudes upon their fantasy world.  A dazed and confused Pat Robertson wonders, "What Is Going On with the American People?"

But why does he act so surprised? Just last January, God Himself told Robertson who was going to win the election:



If you have the stomach for it, you can browse through more slobbering nutcase reax over at Right Wing Watch, where everybody agrees that Obama-loving, gay-married, Marxist-socialist America is now so fucking EVIL that God will just have to destroy us. Or something.

And finally . . .

For once, a moment of absolute clarity:

We're outnumbered.

Yup. And will be more and more so, from this time forward.

Suck it, Limbaugh.

Marriage in Maine: "It's about Family, not Politics"

A very touching PSA by Harlan Gardner and four generations of his family in support of Why Marriage Matters Maine:



Even though it's short, this little video blows your Head Trucker's mind:  to think of an entire family sitting down at one table to support the gays.  Unfuckingthinkable for me, way down here in Texas.

The Pine Tree State will go to the polls this November to vote on whether to allow marriage equality or not, which was voted down in a similar referendum there in 2009.

As Maine Goes

Here's the trailer for Question One, a documentary by Joe Fox on the 2009 referendum that repealed marriage equality in Maine; which is highly relevant now because our side has put the measure back on the ballot for a referendum this coming November.

(Note: "Yes" vote = "traditional marriage"; "No" vote = marriage equality.)


Question One - Trailer from Fly On The Wall Productions on Vimeo.

Excerpt from an extensive article about the 2009 referendum and the filming of both campaigns by Joe Fox in the Advocate:

“This referendum campaign isn’t about us hating gays,” Pastor Bob Emmerich would say over and over again as part of the campaign stump speech or in scores of television interviews and public debates. “It’s about defending marriage.”

But then when the cameras weren’t rolling – except ours — Emmerich, the co-chairman for the Yes campaign, would add: “The big question that’s behind all of this really has to be answered and asked by individuals: are we as a society ready to give complete approval to homosexuality? Are we prepared to say as a society that it’s normal or healthy or OK? I don’t like being forced into that question, but that’s what it comes down to.”

So, strip down all the political messaging and you end up with: “They’re not healthy. They’re not normal.”

I listened syllable by syllable to their words, punctuated by pauses and long silences and repetition until I realized what drove them and who they really were as people. I would catch campaign volunteer Linda Seavey stopping in mid-sentence, her eyes darting around frantically, unsure of where to go next. “If this issue, if this issue,” said Seavey, “does not go the way, the way that I want to it to…”

A pause.

“I just… I… I… I…”

A longer pause.

“Because people, people, people just don’t... they don’t…”

Seavey was now silent. For what seemed to be several minutes, she just stared out the window. “Stop there,” she finally concluded.

What was behind Seavey’s stops and starts? Her pauses, I surmised, disguised a feeling of being so overwhelmed by a world that in her view had gone mad. It left her at times unable to talk. Gays being allowed to marry? Seavey was fueled by outrage and a sense of injustice. Things were terribly wrong, and she was powerless to do anything about it.

It was Seavey who now felt like the outsider. And that realization turned out to be my “aha” moment. . . .

Note: Seavey is the church lady we see in the documentary planting "Yes" signs along the roadside.

Maryland Legislature Approves Equal Marriage

The state senate approved the measure 25-22 last night, the state house having already passed it by a vote of 72-67 last week.  Governor Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, has promised to sign the measure into law.

However, as with Washington state's passage and signing of a similar law earlier this month, the law will face a referendum by voters this coming November, and who knows how that will turn out.  Still, every little step forward is good news.  Now we only have about 42 other states to drag into the 21st century . . . if the Supreme Court doesn't beat us to it.

But somehow I have a feeling it just won't turn out that simple and easy.  Not in this decade, at least. 

Oh well, one day it will all come together.  At least we can see the first rays of dawn now, even if us old-timers don't live to walk in the sunshine.

In other news, Equality Maine has succeeded in collecting enough signatures to get a referendum on equal marriage on the November ballot this year.  My truckbuddies will recall that the Maine legislature and governor enacted marriage equality in 2009, but the law never went into effect, suffering a "people's veto" at the polls later that year.  Our side thinks with the changing attitudes in that state, they can turn that around now, and I hope they're right.

Click here for an updated map of same-sex union laws around the country.

Sullivan: We Will Win

Andrew Sullivan on "The Pain in Maine":

[T]his referendum was clearly a vote in which the desire to keep gay people invisible trumped the urge to treat them equally.

The truth about civil marriage - why it is the essential criterion for gay equality - is that it alone explodes this core marginalization and invisibility of gay people. It alone can reach those gay kids who need to know they have a future as a dignified human being with a family. It alone tells society that gay people are equal in their loves and in their hearts and in their families - not just useful in a society with a need for talented or able individuals whose private lives remain perforce sequestered from view.

This is why it remains the prize. And why our eyes must remain fixed upon it. In my view, the desperate nature of the current tactics against us, the blatant use of fear around children (which both worries parents and also stigmatizes gay people in one, deft swoop) are signs that what we are demanding truly, truly matters. . . .

Excerpt continues below the jump.

Success! But What about Maine?

I am out of my mind happy to report that your Head Trucker has his broadband connection back.  All praise to geekmeister Albert in tech support at AT&T who walked this old man through the setup of the new modem, plus about a million passwords, code numbers, and other necessary mumbo-jumbo.

And glancing over the election night returns, it appears we have cause to celebrate in most of the nation:  the Washington State referendum on domestic partnerships passed with 51.1% of the vote - just barely passed, but we'll take it; the gay and transgender non-discrimination ordinance in Kalamazoo, Mich., passed with 60-something percent.  Down here in Texas, openly lesbian Annise Parker got the most votes in the Houston mayoral race, which will go to a runoff.

Oh but then there's Maine:  as of 1:04 a.m. in Maine, the Bangor Daily News election site reports our side losing 52.75 to 47.25 percent, with 87 percent of counties reporting.  But apparently our guys and gals up there are refusing to concede, hoping to pull a miracle out of the yet-to-be counted absentee ballots and counties not yet tallied.

Doesn't look good, though:  about the same percentage as defeated marriage equality in California last year.  Still, as Andrew Sullivan says in a late-night post, he's heartbroken over the Maine results, but the fact that the vote is so very close is a huge encouragement when you consider what it would have been just 10 years ago - when no state offered even civil unions, much less marriage for their gay citizens.

We've come a long way, brother.  Whatever the final result in Maine, Onward! must be our motto until the last vestiges of discrimination and inequality are wiped out of the law books and into the dusty pages of history, as they were for all the other groups who had to fight for their civil rights.

We have to work for our liberty and justice.  Nobody's going to hand it to us - and as is all too clear by now, certainly not the President who promised to be our fierce advocate.  It's not him, boys - We are the ones we've been waiting for.  Remember?

But that's okay.  It makes us better people to suffer injustice and struggle for what is right, like so many others have done before us, showing us the way.  For the same reason it makes you a better person to pay your dues and earn your own living, instead of living off somebody else's toil.  And the victory, when it dawns all across this land, will be that much sweeter when we finally taste it. 

So let's get on with it.

Wockner on Maine

Veteran reporter Rex Wockner is on the scene as the Pine Tree State goes to the polls today, and offers these observations.

The bottom-bottom line, of course, is that this really is not about marriage. If they thought they could get away with it, the folks who funded this "people's veto" campaign in Maine would take much more away from gays than just marriage. In Washington state on Tuesday, they'll try to take away domestic-partnership rights. In California, they're all freaked out that the Governator signed the Harvey Milk Day bill into law. It's not just that they don't want us to get married. If they could completely invisiblize us and take away all our rights, some of them would do it.

So, we have to keep fighting. If we lose in Maine on Tuesday, the Legislature will just pass the law again and the governor will sign it again. We're not talking about a constitutional amendment here, as was the case with Prop 8 in California. In reality, gays are going to be able to get married in all 50 states, perhaps even very soon if the Olson/Boies Prop 8 case succeeds at the U.S. Supreme Court. And if it doesn't, next up -- very, very soon -- are New Jersey and New York, which will be added to Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and, starting in January, New Hampshire. Where all this is headed could not be clearer. But until then, there will be days like this Tuesday when bigots might force a backward step in the inevitable, unstoppable march to equal treatment under the law for GLBT Americans. The next generation will remember "Yes on 1" voters the way we remember people who believed black folks should drink from separate water fountains. I absolutely guarantee you that.

From the depths of Texas I can tell you there are still quite a few people around who would indeed vote to restore segregation right now, today, if given the opportunity.  And I grew up in the segregated South - it was not something that only happened in history books, kids:  it was real.  I was there. 

And you know what else, young fellers?  For a quarter of a century, every time I was with another man - and I've had two husbands, we won't talk about scratched starts just now - I was breaking the law:  technically a felon, until the Supreme Court ruled otherwise in 2003.  All my generation were love criminals, a stigma not easy to forget.  So I hope Rex is right about the future for gay rights, but I have to say it still seems like a far-away dream here in the land of cotton, where those laws are still on the books in Texas and other states, invalid and unenforceable as they may be.

The Maine Secretary of State says there's a surprisingly "heavy and very steady turnout" at the polls - but which side is getting more supporters to show up?  Wockner will be live-blogging the returns tonight starting about 8 p.m. EST, and you can hear him on the web at POTUS and OutQ.

Maine: Too Close for Comfort

Maine -- Question 1 -- "Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?"

The Positions: A 'Yes' vote overturns same-sex marriage, which the state legislature approved in May. A 'No' vote preserves same-sex marriage.

Nate Silver:

As in the other elections this cycle, recent polling shows somewhat contradictory results. A Research 2000 / Daily Kos poll shows Question 1 losing by one point. A Pan Atlantic SMS poll shows the initiative losing by 11 points. But a fresh PPP poll shows it passing by 4 points. The Research 2000 and Pan Atlantic polls showed slight movement toward the 'No' side from their previous surveys, while the PPP poll showed movement toward the 'Yes' side. . . .  The tight polling, certainly, should keep everybody on their toes, and gay marriage could quite easily be overturned. But I'd still put the Yes on 1 side as about a 5-to-2 underdog.

Andrew Sullivan:

However long it takes, how many battles we have to lose before we win the war, however hard it is to put your very integrity as a human being on the line for approval by strangers: this is worth doing. This is why we're here. This is what we're supposed to do.

In these United States, it shouldn't be a long, hard slog for the equal protection of the laws. But it is. Keep those fingers crossed, fellas.

Maine: Real Family Values

This vid has been making the rounds this week, I figure I might as well post it here in the Blue Truck too.  Paul Redicker testifies for marriage equality in Maine "like a papa bear protecting his cubs" - August 22, 2009:



Now that's true family values - not the false, hateful, poisonous kind the Christianists spout.

The vote in Maine on marriage equality comes up on Tuesday, and the polls show a tie, 48-48 percent.  I'd rather see Maine secede and join Canada than to see equal marriage fail another test at the ballot box, which would be a big blow to the progress of equality and civil rights.  Crossing my fingers . . . .

Equality: How You Can Help, Today

It's coming down to the wire now in Washington state, Maine, and Kalamazoo, Michigan.  The outcome of these contests will undoubtedly influence voters and legislators in future elections elsewhere.  Here's what you can do right now, today, wherever you live, to help preserve the equal protection of the laws for your fellow Americans - and ultimately, for yourself. 

Please do what you can.  Remember, marriage equality in California was stripped out of the law with a margin of only 52 to 48 percent.  So every vote counts.

World War II Vet for Equality in Maine

Recorded last April:  "What do you think I fought for on Omaha Beach?"



Honk to Joe.My.God.

Marriage Victory in Maine!

It's official: the Maine Senate passed the marriage equality bill this morning, and in a surprise move, previously uncommited Governor John Baldacci has signed it, less than an hour later.

Is he the coolest governor ever, or what? Thanks, John.

More details as I get them.
----------------------------

From Maine Government News:

AUGUSTA – Governor John E. Baldacci today signed into law LD 1020, An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom.

“I have followed closely the debate on this issue. I have listened to both sides, as they have presented their arguments during the public hearing and on the floor of the Maine Senate and the House of Representatives. I have read many of the notes and letters sent to my office, and I have weighed my decision carefully,” Governor Baldacci said. “I did not come to this decision lightly or in haste.”

“I appreciate the tone brought to this debate by both sides of the issue,” Governor Baldacci said. “This is an emotional issue that touches deeply many of our most important ideals and traditions. There are good, earnest and honest people on both sides of the question.”

“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.” [emphasis mine - Russ.]

“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.”

“Even as I sign this important legislation into law, I recognize that this may not be the final word,” Governor Baldacci said. “Just as the Maine Constitution demands that all people are treated equally under the law, it also guarantees that the ultimate political power in the State belongs to the people.”

“While the good and just people of Maine may determine this issue, my responsibility is to uphold the Constitution and do, as best as possible, what is right. I believe that signing this legislation is the right thing to do,” Governor Baldacci said.

From the Brunswick Times-Record:

This bill has moved quickly through the legislative process. The House of Representatives approved the measure Tuesday after hours of back-and-forth debate, with a final vote of 89-57 in favor of enactment. While the vote was mostly along party lines, there were 12 Democrats who voted against the measure and five Republicans who voted in favor.

The House's decision followed a 21-14 Senate vote in favor of the bill last Thursday. The Senate enacted the bill today by a vote of 21-13. . . .

The House echoed the Senate's desire to keep the decision in the State House by voting 85-62 against sending the question to a statewide referendum.

Opponents of same-sex marriage have vowed to overturn the bill with a citizen's veto, which requires the gathering of 55,087 signatures of Maine voters. The question would then be put to voters in a statewide referendum.

From Reuters:

Gay marriage has made big inroads in the United States this year. In a single week last month, Iowa and Vermont joined Massachusetts and Connecticut in allowing gay couples to legally wed. Legislation is also advancing in New Hampshire. . . . The law in the rugged state of 1.3 million people takes effect 90 days from when the legislative session ends, likely in June.

But if the bill's opponents gather 55,000 signatures, they can delay it pending a referendum, which would likely be held in the next election in November, said the governor's spokesman, David Farmer.

Text of the bill (which may not be the precise final draft signed today) from Equality Maine can be found here. A summary:

This bill repeals the provision that limits marriage to one man and one woman and replaces it with the authorization for marriage between any 2 persons that meet the other requirements of Maine law. It also specifies that a marriage between 2 people of the same sex in another state that is valid in that state is valid and must be recognized in this State.

This bill also clarifies that the authorization of marriage between 2 people of the same sex does not compel any religious institution to alter its doctrine, policy or teaching regarding marriage or to solemnize any marriage in conflict with that doctrine, policy or teaching. It also specifies that a person authorized to join persons in marriage and who fails or refuses to join persons in marriage is not subject to any fine or other penalty for such failure or refusal.

We're on a roll, guys. Now ten percent of the fifty states offer equal marriage.

Hmm. I just might live to see this nationwide after all. Even in dear old Texas.

Evil Queers Eliminating Marriage in Maine

. . . at least, that's the way some hardcore Christianist wingnuts see it. The Maine House of Representatives this morning passed a marriage equality bill by 89 to 58; the measure passed the state Senate last week by 21 to 14. Governor Balducci is uncommitted but might be leaning towards signing the bill into law, as noted last week. If he signs the bill, Maine would become the fifth state to allow gays to marry.

Sounds like another victory coming up, right? Well, don't pop your corks just yet, guys, it's not a done deal. According to Tips-Q:

If the governor signs the bill into law, opponents are expected to organize a campaign under Maine’s people’s veto law to force a repeal referendum. Polls have shown Mainers to be split on the question.

Maine voters are authorized in the Maine Constitution to use the process of veto referendum to challenge laws recently passed by the Maine State Legislature. In Maine, this process is known as the "People's Veto".

According to the laws governing the initiative & referendum process in Maine, the required number of valid signatures to put a People's Veto on the ballot is set at 10% of the number of votes cast for the office of Governor of Maine in the most recent gubernatorial election. Gubernatorial elections are held in Maine every four years; the most recent gubernatorial election was in 2006 when 550,870 total votes were cast for the office of governor.

Of the 27 veto referenda that have qualified for the ballot since the first qualified for the 1910 ballot, Maine voters have rejected 15 acts of the Maine legislature and upheld (or ratified) 12 statutes.

The Maine Family Policy Council, formerly the Christian Civic League, has posted this reaction to today's vote:

Maine's Legislature will eliminate civil marriage by the end of May. We have started a People's Veto. Please pray that God will intervene. He is our best hope. God has not forgotten about Maine. Even though things seem grim He may yet be gracious toward us. Senator Dennis Damon wants to eliminate Maine's Defense of Marriage Act. It was created by referendum in 1997. 60,000 Mainers signed petitions demanding that Marriage be protected. Now, 186 politicians in Augusta want to ignore the will of the people ... again. Maine people twice rejected "gay" rights in the past decade. Homosexuality is very sad, and sinful. Maine must not create a culture that winks at something so debilitating on so many levels. To present this "orientation" as benign to impressionable children is the height of arrogance, and surely qualifies as evil.

You got a problem with that, bub? Their head honcho of that outfit, Mike Heath, says "all we do is loving and true" - as you can see:

Problem is, this guy's head is stuck up his ass . . . oops, I mean, stuck in the 1950's. He and millions of others have not advanced in their thinking one little bit beyond the mindless, hysterical hatred of "homos" evidenced in the Boys Beware film I posted yesterday. Now that's what's truly sad and sinful: as Olbermann described Rep. Virginia Foxx last week, another case of being "criminally misinformed" - and so very, very self-righteous about it, too.

God loves me and my family, and hates you and your family: that's what it all boils down to.

So will Heath and his righteous hordes make Maine the new California by overturning marriage equality there? Stay tuned for the next installment in this North Woods saga, boys.

As Maine Goes, So Goes the Nation?

Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut, Massacusetts . . . New England, New Jersey, New York? I don't know if it's got anything to do with global warming, but seems like attitudes are thawing rapidly, day by day now. This just in from Boston EDGE:

This morning, April 30, the Maine Senate voted 20-15 in favor of LD 1020, a marriage equality bill. It now moves to the House of Representatives. The Senate defeated an amendment to the bill that proposed putting the question of marriage equality for same-sex couples before voters.

According to most polls, the Maine electorate is about evenly divided on the issue.

Maine currently provides same-sex couples with access to limited rights and benefits through a domestic partner registry. But, as did Vermont’s Legislature, which pioneered civil unions, this was considered a half-measure, which didn’t provide all of the rights and responsibilities of full marriage equality. Similarly, New Jersey, which has civil unions, is considering full marriage equality, which will probably come up sometimes this year. And neighboring Connecticut, faced with the same situation, became the third state (after Massachusetts and Iowa) to grant full marriage equality. . . .

When and if Maine grants marriage equality, the only two remaining states will be New Hampshire, where marriage equality made a giant step yesterday with passage in its legislature; and Rhode Island, where marriage equality is expected to be taken up by legislature sometime this year.

And it seems like Maine's Governor Balducci may be coming around to the side of equality, as witness his conversation with a constituent reported yesterday on Pam's House Blend.

And in New York, which since last year recognizes as valid marriages those of same-sex couples who get hitched out of state, Governor Paterson is pushing the legislature to pass an equal-marriage bill too.

In Massachusetts, which was the first state to allow same-sex marriages beginning just five years ago, the terrors of divine wrath and social destruction the Christianists warned would befall the Bay State have simply failed to appear, as this this excellent video makes clear:

So progress keeps on trucking, at least up there in the blue states. (I am like, so jealous.) One fine day, all this politicking and palaver will seem very dull and dry, a boring footnote in the history books to put some future generation of schoolkids to sleep. But right now, it's a very exciting period to be living through as legislative victories roll in, day by day.

And about damn time.