Not all is lost with Prop 8 being upheld yesterday by the California State Supreme Court, because as of right now, the 18,000 marriages performed under the previous law will remain valid. Honestly, that is good news for those couples! What the Prop 8 decision will do is light a fire under those Californians who support equal marriage protection under the law. Even George Clooney agrees! If they don’t use this time to make their case, then they will most likely lose their chance to have a voice in the debate from here on out. Remember, 18,000 marriages are still valid, so there’s going to be a fight by the right wing religious nutcases to overturn these marriages, so the supporters have to come to the plate, NOW!
Here in Maine we have the religious right wanting to overturn our gay marriage law and it will be a fight. The way our gay marriage law is written is absolutely fabulous and I hope the people in California take note of it:
“An Act To End Discrimination in Civil Marriage And Affirm Religious Freedom”
Codification of Marriage according to Maine law:
Marriage is the legally recognized union of 2 people. Gender-specific terms relating to the marital relationship or familial relationships, including, but not limited to, “spouse,” “family,” “marriage,” “immediate family,” “dependent,” “next of kin,” “bride,” “groom,” “husband,” “wife,” “widow” and “widower,” must be construed to be gender-neutral for all purposes throughout the law, whether in the context of statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law or any other source of civil law.
Affirmation of Religious Freedom in connection with gay marriage in Maine:
This Part does not authorize any court or other state or local governmental body, entity, agency or commission to compel, prevent or interfere in any way with any religious institution’s religious doctrine, policy, teaching or solemnization of marriage within that particular religious faith’s tradition as guaranteed by the Maine Constitution, Article 1, Section 3 or the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. 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.
Basically, the law is Maine is stating that marriage is a union between two people and they can obtain a marriage license through the state legally to do so. However, if your church or religion does not agree with gay marriage, then your church or religion is not forced to adhere to the law. Love it. In other words, if you’re a gay Mainer and want to marry your lover, you can through a Justice of Peace or through a church that recognizes gay marriage as a valid marriage, but you cannot force your church to marry you if the church refuses to on their religious beliefs.
Sounds fair to me, but the right wing religious nutcakes in Maine don’t care. They want a battle. And they’re going to get it.
