Anti-Gay Group in ME: “We Have the Signatures We Need”. (But How Legal Are They?)
The anti-gay group “Stand for Marriage”, which apparently only stands for heterosexual marriages, claims it now has the required number of signatures to put the rights of Maine’s same-sex couples on the ballot. Because unlike any other Americans LGBT people constantly are required to have their lives and rights put to the “will of the people”.
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“In just four weeks, we’ve gathered more than 55,000 signatures from Mainers who believe they, not the legislature and governor, should have the final say on the definition of marriage,” said Marc Mutty, Chairman of the coalition. “There has been an extraordinary outpouring of support from voters across the state. This response gives us momentum that will lift us over the first hurdle of putting the issue before the people and, ultimately, carry us to victory in November.”All signatures must be certified by the Secretary of State for validity. Once certified, the issue is cleared to appear on the November 2009 ballot.
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Aye, there’s the rub. The signatures are supposed to be valid. But there’s been (no surprise) concern about the signature-gathering tactics of the anti-gays. It appears they may have been unscrupulous, as others of their ilk have been in similar situations.
Gerard Caron walked into the Auburn Post Office and was met by a woman with a pair of clipboards.
“This petition is against gay marriage and this other petition is to support gay marriage,” she said, according to Caron.
The Poland man said he asked her why there would be a petition to support something that already happened, referring to the petition “in support of” gay marriage.
“She just kinda gave me a little grin and didn’t say anything,” he said.
Then he looked at the two petitions and discovered they were identical, both were supporting the repeal of the same-sex marriage law, Caron said.
Caron said he spoke to a friend who had a similar experience at the Lewiston Post Office.
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Of course the powers that be at Stand for Marriage respond with the usual three-pronged diversionary tactics.
1. We didn’t condone that behavior
2. We train our people to do just the opposite
3. Even if they really did do that then there’s bad behavior on both sides so you really can’t fault us.
Will the signatures all be considered valid by the Secretary of State? Only time will tell, but I fervently hope not. Civil rights are not something to be put the “the will of the people” in the first place, let alone under false pretenses.
