Traditional marriage is the foundation of society and has served our state well for centuries. Maine’s existing marriage laws exist to strengthen society, encourage monogamous and loving marriages and to provide an environment to nurture the well being of children. Marriage matters, and so does your vote. Thirty other states have voted on this issue and every single one decided against legalizing same-sex marriage and instead upheld traditional marriage.

Maine’s long-standing statute defines marriage as being the union of one man and one woman joined in traditional monogamous marriage and an institution of inestimable value to society. Current law says that Maine has a compelling interest to nurture and promote the unique institution of traditional monogamous marriage in the support of harmonious families and the physical and mental health of children and that the State has the compelling interest in promoting the moral values inherent in traditional monogamous marriage.

All of this – the very basis for Maine having marriage laws at all – was thrown by the wayside by the Legislature and Governor when they passed LD 1020 – the same sex marriage law. In their zeal to legalize homosexual marriage, why did they eliminate the purpose of marriage, to strengthen society and provide a safe environment?

Voting Yes on Question 1 overturns this callous and dangerous action before it takes effect, restores traditional marriage, and reaffirms the important role marriage plays in our society.

Marriage Matters…Vote Yes on Question 1.

The Threat to Marriage

If Question 1 fails and LD 1020 is allowed to take effect, marriage will be redefined to be about any two consenting adults without regard to gender, the focus being only about what the adults want for themselves, and not what is best for society as a whole. The roles of husbands and wives would become irrelevant. The reliance on marriage as an important fabric of society will no longer matter and the marriage laws will not consider what is best for children.

LD 1020 actually repeals the statutory framework for supporting and enhancing marriage. It would result in monogamous marriage no longer being considered an important enough ideal to include in our marriage statutes. More troubling, the homosexual lobby has repealed the law that established the interests of children as being worthy of our state’s efforts to nurture and enhance.

If allowed to take effect, LD 1020 would throw to the trash heap Maine’s decades-old interest in traditional marriage and legalize homosexual, genderless marriage. A Yes vote on Question 1 repeals homosexual marriage in Maine, restores traditional marriage as the law, and maintains the rights and benefits of Maine same-sex couples who are covered by our domestic partners law.

Furthermore, there are other profound consequences when gay marriage is legalized beyond the trashing of the role of marriage in society.

A wealth of examples have been identified by legal scholars who have pointed out the conflicts that will arise between the rights of people who sincerely disagree with homosexual marriage, and the rights of homosexual couples to demand that the state enforce gay marriage whether people support it or not. These conflicts can result in people losing their jobs, professionals be stripped of their professional licenses or being fined by the state, and churches losing their tax exemptions. Most troubling is the impact on children, particularly as the public schools begin the process of indoctrinating them on the subject of homosexual marriage.

These consequences are not hypothetical – they have already occurred in states like Massachusetts where homosexual marriage has been legalized.

In Massachusetts, which legalized homosexual marriage, children in second grade are taught in public schools that “same-sex marriage” is the same as traditional marriage, that they can grow up to marry either a boy or a girl, that either option is the same. What’s more, parents cannot opt their children out of such “instruction.”

Marriage matters, and the consequences when homosexual marriage is legalized are real. Vote YES on Question 1 to protect and restore marriage.