Frances and me in our matching No on One bracelets on election night

I know there’s a way to look at the bright side when it comes to the 2009 election in Maine. I haven’t yet found it. Yes, there’s a victory in Washington for same-sex couples, one that directly affects my family’s lives. And that’s not a small victory at all–let me not shortchange that win.

But Maine. Oh, Maine.

We’re not at all sorry we passed through to lend our support to the No on One campaign. We met amazing, dedicated people who stopped their lives to devote everything they had to ensuring equality for all Mainers–whether they lived in the state or not.

And I still don’t believe that’s how a majority of Mainers feel–it’s just the majority of voters in the 2009 election who feel that way. Who want to deny their neighbors the rights they have. Who believe them to be not worthy of the rights and protections they enjoy simply because of who they love. Who want to make the children of same-sex couples suffer. These are the children most directly affected by marriage equality, make no mistake about it.

Your kids, you Yes voters, may very well grow up to be just as straight and small-minded as you. Or they may not. Your vote has nothing to do with it. Straight, bigoted people have been raising flaming faggots, scary bulldykes, and homo-lovin’ commies under “traditional,” oppressive, discriminatory laws for centuries. Thank God in His heaven.

So what’s it like for LGBT Mainers now that Question One has passed?

Maine

• It’s not all bad news for same-sex couples who live in Maine. There is still a domestic partnership registry in Maine. According to HRC, “Registered couples can inherit a deceased partner’s property if he or she dies without a will, make funeral and burial arrangements, be named a guardian or conservator if their partner becomes incapacitated, be named a representative to administer a deceased partner’s estate and make organ and tissue donations. Same-sex partners are also explicitly protected in the state’s domestic violence laws.” As we know, Question 1 overturned the Act To End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom, which passed in May 2009 by both houses of the legislature and signed by the governor. It did not prohibit same-sex marriage by law, or add an amendment barring same-sex marriage to the Maine Constitution.
• “An adult who shares an emotional, physical, and financial relationship with the patient similar to that of a spouse” can make certain medical decisions on behalf of an incapacitated same-sex partner. There is also the domestic partner registry mentioned above, but it is not necessary in order to make medical decisions for a partner who can’t make them him- or herself. And the law also provides for adults to name a power of attorney for health care–in writing and signed by the individual and two witnesses. Adults may also name people they consider immediate family for the purpose of hospital visitation.
• Married and unmarried people may adopt in Maine, and in 2007 the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled on behalf of a lesbian couple that unmarried people may jointly adopt. There is no prohibition against the adoption of a partner’s children, but no court in Maine has heard a case to affirm this right.
• After sex reassignment surgery, a Maine birth certificate may be amended to reflect the individual’s true gender.
• Maine’s hate crimes laws protect people on the basis of sexual orientation, but not gender identity. Due to the passage of federal hate crimes laws, gender identity is protected on the federal level.
• Maine laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• There are no safe schools laws in Maine, though there is a Maine Legislative Youth Advisory Council that examines school safety, among other things. [via HRC]

Proposition 8 last year, Question 1 this year. Which state’s taxpaying families will have their rights ripped from them next year? Or will next year be the first one in which a state’s voters will uphold marriage equality? Better yet–will we see the end to these hate-mongering propositions and initiatives?

An initiative that prevented the majority from ever again taking rights from a minority group–now that would get my vote.

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