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Craig and Alice Kramer of South China support the repeal of Maine’s same-sex marriage law. “My beliefs, I have to stand by. I believe what the Bible says, and I believe the Bible says it’s a man and a woman,” he said.

SOUTH CHINA — Craig and Alice Kramer know what it means to be married.

Long ago, they decided the word divorce would not be a part of their vocabulary. After 33 years, two children and a period of struggle, they are youthful retirees who hope to become snowbirds again and haul their camper to a warmer climate for the winter.

But this fall, they will devote a good chunk of their time working in support of Question 1, a ballot measure to repeal Maine's same-sex marriage law.

"It's really not us against them," Craig said as light streamed through one of the skylights of their timber frame home. "I don't have any problem with homosexual people, but my beliefs, I have to stand by. I believe what the Bible says, and I believe the Bible says it's a man and a woman."

Craig, 53, and Alice, 56, attend Calvary Temple in Waterville and are active in the Light of Life Ministries, a Christian organization with a bookstore in Augusta and multiple radio stations.

"Our stations reach almost the entire state of Maine," he said. "We get to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in music."

With their dog, Sasha, keeping an eye on the carpenters installing a new deck outside their home, the couple talked about what marriage has meant to them.

They met in the military. "She was a medic and I was a firefighter," he said. "We knew each other for a real short time. Three days and we were engaged."

They got married at an Air Force base in California and, after a short honeymoon, they got back to duty.

The Kramers said they went through a difficult time in their marriage after their son was seriously injured at an amusement park in California. But by remaining faithful to each other, they worked through their difficulties, he said.

"We stick together no matter what, through thick and thin," Alice said.

Both said they would not object if same-sex couples wanted additional legal protections. But they don't think it should be called marriage.

"I don't oppose them having a different designation," he said. "I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. They want to have a civil union, I could accept that if that's what they think they need to have."

Alice said their opposition to gay marriage isn't about hate. "I have many gay friends," she said. "I have no problem with that."

The couple moved from Arizona to Maine in 1992 and bought their home in South China a year later. Kramer was a firefighter and a dispatcher at the Togus Veterans Medical Center until he retired in 2006.

Although they haven't worked on past campaigns, Alice has been active in anti-abortion efforts and has participated in vigils outside family clinics. She has also volunteered as a rape crisis counselor and is working on a book that will feature her life experiences told in words and photography.

For this election, they plan to work the phones and make sure "Yes" voters get to the polls.

"The big thing is going to be getting the Christians out to vote," he said. "We're going to be trying to get people to register and get out to vote."

The Kramers said they are like many gay-marriage opponents who think that the Legislature and the governor should have put the question to a public vote.

A people's veto effort, backed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and the Maine Jeremiah Project, a Christian group, has made it possible for citizens to vote on the issue.

The groups gathered about 100,000 signatures to call for a public vote, far exceeding the required 55,087 for a people's veto.

The new law redefines marriage as the union of any two people regardless of gender. It spells out an exemption for religious institutions that don't want to perform same-sex marriages.

Polls show that it's going to be a close vote.

"Right now we've had the Legislature just decide that it was going to be the way they wanted it to be, and...