May 06 2009
Maine Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
With the stroke of Gov. Baldacci’s pen today, Maine joined the rising tide of states legalizing marriage for any two adults, regardless of the sex of each. According to a statement released by the Governor,
“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.”
“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.”
It will be interesting to watch the reaction to this decision. Maine joins Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa as the only states that currently allow same-sex marriages (though Vermont recently passed a law that will allow them as of September), but I’m fairly sure this is not the end of this debate. While I agree with Baldacci’s interpretation of Article I of the state Constitution, I am personally undecided on the issue; I have no doubt that there will be a call for a Constitutional amendment or referendum to ban same-sex marriages. I wonder if it will actually make it to a popular vote…
Update: some poor fact checking on my part lead me to misstate that Maine currently allows same-sex marriage as a result of this legislation. That is not quite correct. Like Vermont, this new law does not take effect until September, 90 days after the adjournment of this legistlative session.