The answer to the question "What would Harry do?" appears to be "Vote no on 1."

I speak, of course, of the world's most famous boy wizard, Harry James Potter, who, it seems, learned more than just defense against the dark arts at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

How else can you explain an endorsement for same-sex marriage from the Harry Potter Alliance?

"The Harry Potter books speak to the concept that love is the strongest thing in the world," said Andrew Slack, executive director of the alliance.

Stronger than any magic, potions or other incantations. But strong enough to win a referendum?

The Harry Potter Alliance is a Massachusetts-based organization founded on the ideas that the lessons of Harry's world transcend fiction and should be put into action in this world.

Before your imagination runs loose with adults in bathrobes on broomsticks set loose in the Old Port, know that the alliance takes its work seriously. This weekend it's sponsoring Wrock (the "W" lets you know it's Wizard Rock) for Equality in Portland, with two concerts at the North Star Cafe and some good old-fashioned door-knocking to get out the vote in support of Maine's same-sex marriage law.

"In essence we are Dumbledore's army for the real world, taking the messages from the books and taking it into the real world," Slack said.

For the uninitiated, Dumbledore is the benevolent headmaster of Hogwart's, Harry's mentor and, according to author J.K. Rowling, a gay wizard.

Sexual orientations of wizards aside, Slack said there are many parallels to issues in our world in the Potter books, none greater than intolerance.

Instead of discrimination based on race, religion or sexuality, in the books it's whether someone's a giant, a centaur or a Muggle (non-magic person), Slack said.

Even Harry's upbringing, sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs in his Muggle relatives' home, "reminds us that no one should have to live in a closet for their identity," Slack said.

By banding together (as wizards are wont to do in times of massing evil), readers and fans can help the cause of equality, he said.

Protect Maine Equality, the group that supports the same-sex marriage law, has received support from the Maine Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization for Women, among others.

But do they match the weight of Potter fans? Mark Sullivan, communications director for Protect Maine Equality, said the group is happy for the help.

"If we can get a large fraction of those Harry Potter readers to support No on 1 it will be a boost to our efforts to win Maine equality for all people," he said.

Leslie Rounds, executive director of the Dyer Library in Saco, read all of the Potter books and said bias is very real in the world of wizards.

For instance, there's conflict between pure-blood magic families, half-bloods and the non-magic beings, she said.

It all comes together under Harry and his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, who must overcome prejudice and save the world from more direct threats of evil, Rounds said.

Rounds said it shouldn't be a surprise that readers took the message to heart, because it resonated with so many people.

"It's an interesting case with the Potter books. They have touched so many adult lives, as well as children's lives," she said. "It has crossed over more than any other book."

Saturday's events will include phone calls for No on 1 as part of a House Cup Competition, similar to those in the books. Participants will earn points for their houses through the phone bank system, Slack said.

If by now you're wondering whether this effort is a few words shy of a spell, Slack said what's important is the message of the books.

"We're not delusional. We don't actually walk around believing that these people are real," he said. "These are books that we love, are fans of,...