Portland Press Herald

- Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Mainers and others donate their spare time to work as campaign staffers.

By DENNIS HOEY and ANN KIM, Staff Writers
October 6, 2009

Jill Brady/Staff Photographer
Betsy French of Cape Elizabeth, left, and Noah Lupica of Portland practice a script during a training session Monday for volunteer callers who seek support for the No on 1 campaign. To their right are Grania Power and Madeleine Weatherhead, both of Portland.

PORTLAND  It's an unusual offer.

Come to Maine for a vacation, but instead of climbing mountains or kayaking the coast, you can spend your free time working for the group that's campaigning against the ballot proposal to overturn the state's new same-sex marriage law.

Volunteer vacation week for the No on 1/Protect Maine Equality campaign began Sunday.

Volunteers from around the state and the country are being asked to serve as full-time campaign staffers during October.

Volunteers can stay on as long as they like, and may be offered housing or travel assistance.

"Our lives are in the balance here. We need to make sure we get our supporters out to vote," said Darlene Huntress, a No on 1 official.

On Nov. 3, Maine voters will decide on the ballot question that seeks to repeal the same-sex marriage law adopted by the Legislature in May and signed into law by Gov. John Baldacci.

Monique Hoeflinger, No on 1's deputy campaign manager, said volunteers such as Brandon Brawner can write to their friends or families about how they supported an important cause, rather than about visiting a natural landmark such as Mount Katahdin or Acadia National Park.

"We have started getting quite a bit of interest from people living out of state, though the vast majority of our volunteers are from Maine," Hoeflinger said. "People are rearranging their lives so that they can volunteer."

Brawner, who is 29, flew into Maine on Saturday from his home in West Hollywood, Calif. The flight cost about $900, said Brawner, whose job involves distributing entertainment content to China.

His accommodations and meals are covered. He is being hosted by a local family.

After learning online what was happening in Maine, "I felt compelled to come here," he said.

Brawner will spend the next week staffing the campaign's phone bank, targeting supporters of same-sex marriage.

"It's going to take a lot of people and a lot of effort," he said of the campaign. "I am going to do anything and everything they need."

A call center was filled with more than 40 volunteers Sunday night.

Their mission: to encourage as many supporters as possible to vote Nov. 3.

Brawner said he also plans to meet with people face to face so he can share his views with them.

He said he is still upset over last year's passage of Proposition 8, which amended California's constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

Pam Perkins, a 50-year-old professional gardener from Hendersonville, N.C., expected to start volunteering after honeymooning in Maine.

She and her partner, Cathy Jackson, were joined in a civil union in Vermont nine years ago and returned to marry Sept. 1, the first day same-sex marriage was allowed in that state.

Perkins had to return home unexpectedly because her mother died. She didn't think she would make it back to Maine, but she was able to come under a program that brings volunteers to the state with donated frequent-flier miles.

"I'm going to be here for the duration until we win," she said.

Perkins will work with the volunteer recruitment crew, helping to sign up people for the effort and match them with the right tasks.

She hopes she will someday be able to use what she learns in her home state, which she said is behind on the issue.

Perkins said she's astounded by how much of a difference getting married has made.

The couple's grandchildren like to say how the grammies are married, and she has noticed a change in Jackson's co-workers.

"After we got married, they wanted to see the picture, they wanted to see the rings," she said. "It was like, before I was invisible, and then I wasn't."

Stand for Marriage Maine, the group that is working to overturn the same-sex marriage law, is trying to match the other side's grass-roots efforts, said Marc Mutty, the chairman.

Volunteers from outside of Maine are making phone calls from their homes, and efforts are being made to recruit people who are willing to hold house parties or come to Maine, he said.

Stand for Marriage Maine will benefit from having the referendum in an off-year election because the voters most likely to turn out will be more conservative, Mutty said.

"And that's our audience, to a large extent," he said, whereas "their job is to counter that with the less-likely voter. That's more of a challenge to them."

Chris Parker has been volunteering for the No on 1 campaign since June.

Though he didn't come from out of state, he is making the same type of sacrifices as Brawner, setting aside his work for a cause he supports.

Parker, 31, who operates a bed-and-breakfast in Portland, said he has had to hire more people to cover his work shifts.

Parker hopes a successful campaign will make life a little easier for young people in Maine who may be coming to terms with their sexual orientation. Parker, who is gay, said he struggled as a teenager.

"It's important that (legalization of same-sex marriage) happens," Parker said.

 "It's really a big deal to me. There are a lot of people here who are invested in this cause."

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at: dhoey@pressherald.com

Staff Writer Ann Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at: akim@pressherald.com