Same-sex marriage is a very important right which must belong to the LGBT community. Intolerant conservatives spew nonsense against the right but LGBT equality trumps and will always trump the intolerance which conservatives, including the Catholic Church of Maine spew. Whatever means the intolerant conservatives use, it's known that the use of religion to oppress the LGBT community is unjustified. Though the ballot is like a gamble, LGBT equality must reign.

The problem is the "ballot box" and the fact that people are so easily persuaded to vote their fears and prejudices, especially when those condoning it have enormous pockets and enormous influence. I was discussing this matter on the health care reform articles. Lobbyists and PAC groups get paid large sums of money to shout down or disparage a cause, and they get support from all those who want them to succeed. Why does it have to take millions of dollars, even billions, to fight this, just in order to guarantee equal rights. It's pathetic.

We allow in this country special interest groups to manipulate equality and justice. The special interests, along with conservative (dare I say 'fundamental') religious organizations, spend HUGE amounts of money to defeat basic human rights agendas. What is even worse is that these organizations, many of which are TAX EXEMPT should not be able to 'dabble' (I'm being kind; actually aggressively manipulate) politics at all, or play with people's lives. Their "tax exempt" status means that their organization MUST stay out of the legislative process; yet they continue to spew the lies and the hatred and fears about a group of people who should be afforded the exact same rights as any other group of people.This is unconstitutional, especially if we are to advocate 'justice and equality' for all.

Back to the ballot box. We should not have to vote for equal rights. Instead, it should be a law that sticks. We have laws against discrimination, yet no one seems to be following them. Saying two people cannot get married because of gender IS discrimination. Not allowing equal marriage status to particular individuals is not allowing them equal protection under the law. Defining "marriage" is nothing more than an attempt by many religious organizations to further discriminate against a group of individuals that they consider to be substandard and immoral. That's their thinking, not mine, NOR a MAJORITY of most Americans. Yet, they still become successful in changing the laws because of their "all-powerfulness".

Our government, Congress, needs to get a spine and NOT allow special interests to maipulate civil law, and it needs to say, once and for all "MARRIAGE EQUALITY - THIS IS FEDERAL LAW, AND CANNOT BE CHANGED".

HERE this just in from Maine today Sunday:

http://tinyurl.com/l5qz4p

So we may get them legally too.

This morning's "Kennebec Journal" reported in one large piece many of the latest stories we've talked about here on the Blend recently:Schubert Flint's involvement, SFMM's hypocrisy regarding out-of-state assistance (I would have liked MORE reporting on this, but eh! Whaddayagonnado...), and the large donations to No On 1 from EQCAand HRC.

It's a big 2 page spread entitled "Out-of-state donors help fuel debate on same-sex marriage" The piece ends with the following:

The money that Stand for Marriage Maine has received from national groups, particularly the National Organization for Marriage, was the subject of yet another critical e-mail - this one from a California group supporting same-sex marriage.

On Thursday, Californians Against Hate, based in San Diego, put out a media statement complaining that while Stand for Marriage Maine had received large sums of money from those groups, it wasn't apparent who had donated money to those groups in the first place.

"We certainly don't take much of it very seriously," Marc Mutty, chairman of Stand for Marriage Maine's executive committee, said, referring to the criticism by Californians Against Hate. "We are frustrated at the fact that it's yet one more distraction."

Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, sent a letter to the Maine Ethics Commission and the Attorney General's Office, raising allegations of money laundering.

Although I'm sure he is aware of this story, I've forwarded the article to Fred Karger for his reaction, btw.

It will be interesting to see what followup there is by Maine officials- here is what is being reported so far regarding that:

Jonathan Wayne, executive director of the commission, said his staff is interpreting the letter as a request for an investigation. They have forwarded the letter to the Stand for Marriage political action committee, he said. The staff needs to ask Karger for more specific information and charges, said Wayne.

Campaign finance laws for candidates are fairly clear, said Wayne. Any money earmarked for a candidate from one party through an intermediary must be identified back to the source, he said. The laws for PAC reporting aren't as clear, said Wayne.

Kate Simmons, spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office, said the office would aid the Ethics Commission in its work.

"We appreciate Wayne's responsibilities to the people of Maine, and we will cooperate with them to the extent we can," said Mutty. "We see all these accusations launched against us as very non-specific, just an attempt to further blur the issues."

The same Wickenheiser piece is being reported in the Maine Sunday Telegram and Portland Press Herald newspapers today as well, with the headline "Outside aid stirs furor in marriage campaign".

I like this type of complete media coverage very much. While not every Mainer is a Blender or even computer literate (go figure!), they ARE a very old-fashioned bunch and the Sunday newspaper is a staple of that. People read all of the "Letters To The Editor" and by Tuesday or so, letters will start being printed in reaction to this story.

The article is very complete in its information and should well serve the purpose of educating the  Maine voters as to current events they might not otherwise have been made aware.

Online reactions are already pouring in, but after reading those since the public hearing, I've gotten to dismissing the majority of them. Admittedly not a very professional approach, but honest- there isn't an exchanging of ideas and information so much as a rant of "set in stone" viewpoints.

So now we wait and see what Mainers think!