WHAT'S NEXT
The Maine House of Representatives is expected to take up LD 1020, a bill allowing same-sex marriage, on Tuesday. If it passes in the House, the bill must go back to the Senate for a final vote. From there it would go to Gov. John Baldacci, who could sign it into law, veto it or let it become law without his signature.
AUGUSTA — A bill that would allow same-sex marriage in Maine passed its first hurdle Thursday, winning approval in the state Senate after an emotional debate.
The next step comes Tuesday, when the House of Representatives takes up the bill. Based on Thursday's vote, both gay-marriage supporters and opponents predict it will pass there and eventually be sent to Democratic Gov. John Baldacci, although it remains to be seen whether he would sign it.
The Maine Senate's 21-14 approval of LD 1020 is the latest action in the region on gay marriage. The New Hampshire Senate approved a gay-marriage bill Wednesday, following the lead of the House. And Vermont lawmakers recently overturned the governor's veto to legalize gay marriage.
Supporters, who have framed the issue as one of civil rights for gays and lesbians, praised the Maine Senate's action.
"The Senate did what the gay and lesbian families of Maine were counting on them to do," said Betsy Smith, executive director of Equality Maine, the state's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender political advocacy group.
Opponents said they were surprised at the Senate outcome. They believed they had the votes to kill the bill in its first true legislative test after being voted out of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee with strong support earlier this week.
"A lot of people switched votes at the eleventh hour," said Marc Mutty, public affairs director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland. "Until this morning, we really thought we had the votes."
Mutty chalked the switches up to politics and suggested that an "unprecedented" volume of phone calls, e-mails and other input persuaded senators to support the bill.
Mutty predicted the House also would pass the measure. He said opponents would now meet to discuss plans for a petition drive to ask voters to overturn it this fall.
"We had hoped to kill this right here and avoid prolonging this through referendum," he said.
Baldacci has not said whether he will support the bill if lawmakers pass it. The governor has previously said he is opposed to gay marriage, but he recently released a statement saying he would keep an open mind.
Last week, a public hearing on the bill drew almost 4,000 people to the Augusta Civic Center.
The Senate's vote Thursday fell largely along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the bill and most Republicans opposed. There were some exceptions, however: Sen. Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, voted against the bill, and Sens. Peter Mills, R-Cornville, and Christopher Rector, R-Thomaston, voted to approve.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, presented a challenge for senators on both sides of the issue. Some talked of losing sleep as the vote approached.
In the prayer opening the Senate session, Damon noted that as responsibility grows, tension grows. Days like Thursday are trying for lawmakers, he said, but they "also bring out the best."
Senators debated for about an hour before the vote, some quoting the Bible, others Shakespeare and Henry David Thoreau.
Sen. Lawrence Bliss, D-South Portland, told colleagues how he and his partner and their three children traveled to California last year, where the two men were married. Voters have since struck down the law allowing gay marriage there.
Bliss dismissed the three main arguments he's heard against gay marriage. Some say gay marriage weakens families, he said, but everyone should be working to strengthen all types of families – straight, single parent, gay, stepparent, grandparent, etc.
People have said homosexuality is unnatural, but researchers have found similarly sized populations of gay people in each society around the world, he said.
"Opposing gays based on nature is like opposing the wind or the sun," he said. "You can put up walls, but you'd be better off putting up...
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