It's Election Day.
Everyone in my family who is going to vote has done it already. We won't be going to the polls in person. In my case, I gave up my "vote on election day" heroism to show my support for the "Vote Early" effort mounted by the No on 1 campaign. The organizers understood that their supporters were young and did not have a voting history yet, that they had turned out for a Presidential election last year but might not be as likely to get to the polls within a certain window of time in this Off-Off Election Year.
I mailed my absentee ballot almost a month ago.
I marked the No on Question 1 carefully. There were other matters on the ballot, but this is the one driving my participation.
When Pure Luck and I decided to get married, we didn't have to ask anyone's permission. No one said, "You two have already failed at this marriage thing. Forget it!" But we had. No one said, "Hmm, a woman with three children and a man with none, that seems odd. Forget it!" But that's who we were. No one asked, "Are you sure you have proper judgment about who you are marrying this time?" Because it didn't work out so well the first time, for either of us, even though we married perfectly fine people in all other areas.
No one had the right to keep us from marrying the person we loved.
All we had to do was get the paperwork in order and find someone willing to officiate and sign the license.
There may be something to be said for making people work harder to have the rights we have. We can inherit each other's money and make medical decisions for one another. No one can keep us apart in the Emergency Room. No one can make us testify against each other.
But there is no justification for making it harder based on the anatomy of the people we love.
Churches have been part of this campaign, on both sides of the question. One side, those opposed to same-sex marriage, has focused on fear. The other side, the side I'm proud to be part of today, has focused on love. And so I ask people of faith in Maine, will you vote today based on fear, or on love?
If love is your answer, vote No on 1.
