To the editor:
I have friends and family members who are denied the ability to get married in this state and experience the protections of being legally married. Currently, if a married person is hospitalized and cannot make decisions on his or her own, the spouse has the legal right to make those decisions and decide what would be best for him or her. But for those Mainers, who are not able to legally marry, they have to worry about what happens if one of them is incapacitated and how their wishes are to be followed. Being a life partner to someone does not even matter in this situation. That just isn’t fair.
To make it a little more personal, try to imagine for a few minutes (humor me) that your daughter, son, or other relative, falls deeply in love with someone, they both want to commit themselves to each other and get married. Wouldn’t you want to celebrate their new life together, despite them being of the same sex? And wish for them the protection and rights that married couples now have?
With the ability to marry, same-sex couples would have equal protections and rights, with less worry about some of the things that married couples do not have to even think about. I know that I want all of my friends and family and all Mainers to be able to share the same rights that my husband and I do, rather than be second-class citizens.
Every couple in Maine should be able to have the same protections and rights. A same-sex relationship is not any different from any other relationship; relationships are about caring for and loving your partner. Let’s allow all Mainers the same relationship rights.
The bill “An Act to Prevent Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom” will soon be coming out to the Legislature, with a public hearing on April 24 in Augusta. If you would like to be involved to support this bill, contact EqualityMaine (www.equalitymaine.org or 761-3732).
Please contact your senators and representatives to let them know you want to keep Maine fair and that you support: “An Act to Prevent Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom.”
Caribou
