Strong Start For Gay Marriage Campaign In Maine

A campaign to legalize gay marriage in Maine with a citizen's initiative is off to a strong start, the AP reported.

In 2009, gay marriage foes narrowly (53%) repealed a law approved by lawmakers with a “people's veto” at the the ballot box.

Now, backers hope to make Maine the first state to legalize the institution through the same democratic process.

The state's largest gay rights group EqualityMaine gathered more than 5,000 signatures on Saturday, the first official day of petition-gathering. To qualify for the 2012 ballot, supporters need to collect the signatures of 57,277 registered voters.

-full report at  On Top Magazine 

Gay Marriage Supporters Launch New Campaign

Gay marriage supporters in Maine are launching a signature-gathering drive aimed at putting the issue to a statewide vote in the new year.

EqualityMaine says the effort launches Saturday in a number of communities including Portland, Kennebunk, Biddeford, York, Bangor, Ellsworth and Brunswick.

full report at - Portland News Story - WMTW Portland

Bill Nemitz: Marriage equality victory appears to add up in 2012

It's the obvious question now that same-sex marriage in Maine, defeated at the polls less than two years ago, appears headed for the 2012 ballot: What's changed?

Don't get me wrong. There always will be a significant number of Mainers who feel that marriage between anyone other than a man and a woman is a) a sin, b) a threat to civilization as we know it, c) a plot to turn classrooms into homosexual training camps or d) all of the above and then some.But as Bob Dylan observed all those years ago, the times they are a changin'.

The Portland Press Herald