Civil rights for all Mainers

To the editor:
    Next week Mainers have an important decision to make. Question One asks, “Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?”  I have already voted “No” on Question One by absentee ballot, and I write to ask my fellow citizens of The County to do the same.
    While there are countless reasons to uphold Maine’s marriage equality law, I first want to address the three reasons most often put forth by those who seek to reject equal marriage rights.
    First, the “Yes on One” campaign has claimed that allowing same-sex couples to marry could potentially force churches or individuals to perform such ceremonies. However, language in the law specifically protects those individuals and institutions from ever having to perform a civil marriage that violates their religious beliefs.
    Second, those opposed to marriage equality claim that upholding the law will force our schools to teach same-sex marriage to Maine children. This is also simply not true. First, there is nothing in the Maine Learning Results that ever requires schools to teach marriage in their curriculums. As a former school board member, I can verify that it is our local voters, through local elected officials, who approve our schools’ curriculums. Additionally, the Maine Attorney General’s office has conducted a study that has concluded the new law will not compel our schools to teach same-sex marriage.
    The final reason that those opposed to equal marriage have put forth is simply that they find the concept to be gross or disgusting. However, repealing civil rights for an entire group of people cannot solely be based upon the idea that some find what they do to be bothersome. I personally find mayonnaise to be nauseating, but I would never move to take away and individual’s right to enjoy a dish of cool potato salad on a hot summer day.
    By voting “no”, we as Mainers will reaffirm our state’s 200-year philosophy of “live and let live.” We Mainers have the opportunity to make history. Thirty times the question of marriage equality has faced the voters of other states, and thirty times voters have rejected it. However, we have the chance to become the first state to end the pattern of intolerance. Maine’s official state motto is, “Dirigo,” which is translated to “I lead.” On November 3 we Mainers have the opportunity to lead our nation into a new era of equality.
    The issue at hand is “if” marriage equality will become law, but “when.” Public opinion is constantly growing in favor of equal marriage rights for all citizens. A generation down the road, I would like to be able to tell my children that I was there when we stood up as voters and affirmed the civil rights of all Maine citizens.
    Most important, though, are not the national or historical implications our votes will carry next week, but how they affect our fellow Mainers. Same sex couples are far from the boogie-men and women that they have been portrayed as by those opposed to marriage equality. On the contrary, they are our co-workers, friends, and family. They have families of their own. Where most of us never have to worry about red tape preventing us from contacting us in emergency situations, children and partners of those in same-sex relationships have been locked out of emergency rooms and other situations that those of us from opposite-sex families take for granted.
    The right for same sex couples to form a legally binding contract that recognizes their commitment to each other is something that will have absolutely no effect on the sanctity of currently existing marriages. Please join me in affirming Maine’s commitment to civil rights for all of our citizens. Vote “No” on Question 1.
Paul Suitter
Oakfield