Maine’s Legislature has opened a very public debate over marriage-equality this morning with public hearings kicking off on separate bills, one legalizing gay marriage and the other expanding domestic partnership rights.
AUGUSTA, Maine – Same-sex marriage supporters far outnumbered opponents as legislative hearing got under way about 9:30 a.m. today at the Augusta Civic Center. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people filled the floor and most of the side seats in the auditorium.
Members of the Judiciary Committee are hearing testimony on two bills – LD 1020 that would allow same-sex couples to marry and LD 1118 that would extend to people registered on the Domestic Partner Registry the same rights and benefits as those who are married but would stop short of creating civil unions.
Supporters of same-sex marriage, decked out in red, cheered and rose to their feet as Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, introduced LD 1020. Damon announced in January that he would sponsor a bill to repeal a law that defines marriage and between a man and a woman and allow any person in Maine to marry.
“It’s fair. It’s right. It’s time,” he said of same-sex marriage.
Damon, obviously, was speaking of the Maine marriage bill, but his admonition to his colleagues can also be read as a more general exhortation, as in: “Hey, New Jersey. Pass marriage-equality: It’s fair. It’s right. It’s time.”
Hank Kalet 