Gay marriage stakes skyrocketing in New England

Many of our readers are aware of the battleground New England has become in the gay marriage debate.

Most recently we’ve reported about how New Hampshire and Maine have been the newest states to approve gay marriage through their legislatures.

A story that might have been missed elsewhere yesterday proved just how intense it is, and will become.

The old journalism adage of following the money to find the story became easy to locate when it was announced a public relations firm which helped raised drive the defeat of Proposition 8 in California is coming to Maine.

Perhaps as soon as November and almost certainly by June 2010, Maine voters will have the chance whether to uphold or turn down the state’s gay marriage law at the ballot box.

Bob Emrich, a pastor and founder of The Jeremiah Project, which is one of the petition drive leaders in the state, told Everyday Christian earlier this week the national spotlight is already starting to shine brightly in his state. And with good reason as Maine could, potentially, give gay marriage supporters the nod of the voters for the first time, a tantalizing political coup.

Now with a clear sign that the out-of-state cash is coming in – as it inevitably will for gay marriage supporters – deeper trenching of political battle lines will begin.

Add in questions about whether strongly Catholic Rhode Island will approve gay marriage after its governor’s term expires next year, and New England could soon have a new iconic status for its storied history.

Whether it gets it – or wants it – is a story which requires close observation.

 

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  1. boarderthom said:

    Compare and contrast; one of my high school english teachers drilled that into my head.
 Compare and contrast: Slave rights and gay rights; the contrasts are easy, the comparisons are profound. Slaves could not get legally married either. They could not create and sign contracts, and what is marriage mostly (legally speaking) but a huge contract with thousands of rights and responsibilities.
 Navanethem Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke there last year saying, “That just like apartheid laws that criminalized sexual relations between different races, laws against homosexuality are increasingly becoming recognized as anachronistic and inconsistent both with international law and with traditional values of dignity, inclusion, and respect for all.”
 Apartheid: A system of laws applied to one category of citizens in order to isolate them and keep them from having privileges and opportunities given to all others.
 Stop gay apartheid.

    June 19, 2009
    Reply
  2. mamaroneck said:

    It’s time. Kudos to New England (sans RI) and Iowa for supporting civil marriages. Cheers, Joe Mustich, Justice of the Peace, Washington, Connecticut, USA, For the marriage foes, I wish you would use your time, money and talent, for a more useful cause. Life is too short. Find love.

    June 22, 2009
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