The battle for marriage is on in Maine. The vote will go to the people on Nov. 3, 2009! Check out
Stand for Marriage Maine for more great info.
Op-Ed
by Pastor Bob Emrich
I don’t know anyone who looks across acres of clear-cut land and calls it
tree equality. That makes as much sense as looking at the extreme changes to
Maine’s marriage law approved recently by Gov. Baldacci and calling it
marriage equality.
Look at the facts and decide for yourself. Let’s start by comparing Maine’s
marriage law before and after the change.
The State of Maine held the historic definition of marriage in highest
regard throughout Maine law. Maine law told us why “traditional monogamous
marriage” was well worth State government protection and promotion. Maine
law said, “The union of one man and one woman joined in traditional
monogamous marriage is of inestimable value to society..;” The word
“inestimable” means too valuable to be measured or fully appreciated.
Maine’s marriage law said: “..the State 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;”
That part of the law is full of wonderful, important words. “Compelling”
means the State’s interest in historic marriage cannot be refuted. “Nurture”
means to cherish, to encourage the growth of. To “promote” means to support.
“Unique” means the only one of its kind. An “institution” is a
well-established and familiar custom.
That paragraph of Maine’s marriage law ends with, “...and that the State has
the compelling interest in promoting the moral values inherent in
traditional monogamous marriage.”
Finally, the whole purpose of Maine’s marriage law was, “To encourage the
traditional monogamous family unit as the basic building block of our
society, the foundation of harmonious and enriching family life;”
Maine legislators and the Governor took every bit of the marriage law I have
just outlined for you, clear-cut it, and threw it out as worthless garbage.
All that language and, more important, the meaning behind the words, is
gone.
It was cut first by a majority of the Maine Legislature who said societies
were wrong for thousands of years in valuing “traditional monogamous
marriage” as “the basic building block of society.” They came up with their
new definition of marriage, which Governor Baldacci signed it into law. It
starts with: “Marriage is the legally recognized union of 2 people.”
Baldacci’s new marriage law then redefines all of the historic terms we
associate with marriage: Widows aren’t just women. Neither are wives and
brides. Husbands, grooms, and widowers aren’t just men. In fact, the
Governor’s new marriage law says: “Gender-specific terms relating to the
marital relationship or familial relationships, including, but not limited
to, ‘spouse,’ ‘family,’ ‘marriage,’ ‘immediate family,’ ‘dependent,’ ‘next
of kin,’ ‘bride,’ ‘groom,’ ‘husband,’ ‘wife,’ ‘widow’ and ‘widower,’ must be
construed to be gender-neutral for all purposes throughout the law, whether
in the context of statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law
or any other source of civil law.”
There you have it. It is a belief among those of us supporting a Peoples
Veto of this law on the November 3, 2009 ballot that Mainers deserve a full
and honest debate about this radical law and its impact on society
short-term, mid-term, and long-term. The one public hearing on this law, in
Augusta, on a work day was a very bad call by the legislators involved.
Mainers must have the opportunity to decide if adopting a law redefining
historic marriage as gender-free, instead of Maine law saying “..the State
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,” is what they want for
themselves, their children and grandchildren.
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