Maine legalized same-sex marriage on Wednesday, joining three other states in New England, and four states in the nation. The Senate passed the marriage bill in a 21 to 13 majority vote, with one member abstaining. Governor Baldacci signed the bill soon after the vote, startling some members of the opposition, who are preparing paperwork to contest the law. 55,087 signatures, which is 10 percent of the population of Maine, are needed to get a veto of LD 1020 onto the Maine ballot, and there is a 90 day window to achieve this.
Governor Baldacci previously opposed same-sex marriage, favoring civil unions for same-sex couples instead. But after much consideration, and listening to debates from both sides, he began to view the issue one of equal protection under the law:
"This new law does not force any religion to recognize a marriage that
falls outside of its beliefs. It does not require the church to
perform any ceremony with which it disagrees. Instead, it reaffirms
the separation of Church and State...It guarantees that Maine citizens will be treated equally under
Maine’s civil marriage laws, and that is the responsibility of
government," Balducci announced in his statement on Wednesday.
Maine will begin issuing marriage licenses, joining Connecticut and Massachusetts. Vermont, after overriding the governor's veto, will begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses on September 1, 2009. Iowa legalized marriage equality on April 27, 2009. As of May 7, 2009, California, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and New York are making decisions on permitting same-sex marriage.
California legalized same-sex marriage last summer, but is waiting for a Supreme Court decision after Proposition 8 revoked the right to marriage equality. New Hampshire, like Maine, passed a same-sex marriage bill in the Senate on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 and awaits the governor's signature. New York's governor David Paterson introduced a same-sex marriage bill on April 16, 2009: the state currently recognizes same-sex marriages that were performed outside of New York. Rhode Island has introduced three bills to its legislature, both affirming and opposing same-sex marriage, since January 2009.
With the flurry of marriage equality bills and legislation, it seems New England will be the first region of the United States to legalize same-sex marriage. While these advances offer many important rights to long-term couples, including next-of-kin and property rights, national protections are still out of reach for same-sex couples in the United States. This means that filing joint tax returns, allowing a spouse to immigrate, social security, and widower's benefits for partners of public servants are not granted to same-sex partners, even those with valid state marriages.
GLAD, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, is currently challenging Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, which will challenge some restrictions on federal rights to married same-sex couples. The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) was presented to the United States House of Representatives and Senate, and is preparing for a vote. UAFA would change immigration law to recognize long-term partners of LGBT Americans.
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