Brunswick Times Record

Question 1, which seeks to repeal Maine’s  same-sex marriage law that was enacted by the Legislature and signed by Gov. John Baldacci this spring, offers Maine voters a chance to live up to our state motto, “Dirigo”/I lead. By voting “No” on Question 1 next Tuesday, we will become the first state in the union to grant by popular vote the full and equal protection under the law for gay couples who wish to be married in a civil ceremony.

We hope the turnout is huge, and that a decisive majority of Mainers will vote “No” on this important social issue — which really boils down to acknowledging with loving-kindness in our hearts the freedom of everyone to marry the person they love, if not in church, then at least in a civil ceremony attended by family and friends. We have an opportunity to lead by example: To show the rest of our nation how the traditional Maine values of “live and let live,” fairness and equality might be applied to a social issue that here and elsewhere has been difficult to achieve consensus on.

We have been genuinely moved by the wisdom and eloquence and heartfelt testimonies of so many readers,  who took the time to write letters or commentaries for publication in this newspaper. We’ve done our best to publish a representative sampling of all the perspectives that were received.

In this final weekend before Tuesday’s historic vote, we’d like to share again some excerpts taken from reader submissions that have been published on these pages this past month. These are your neighbors, people who are struggling to live according to the light within their hearts in this divisive and difficult time. Their words have touched our hearts. We hope they’ll help readers — who might still be undecided how they’ll vote on Question 1 — realize that in voting “No” we will have affirmed “equality for all” as our state’s guiding principle.

“Loving and committed relationships strengthen all of our communities. Legal marriage recognizes committed relationships in a way that ‘domestic partnership’ and ‘civil union’ do not. We believe that every adult in Maine who wishes to marry the person he or she loves should be able to do so.”

“Mainers have traditionally stood for fairness. Voting ‘No on 1’ will uphold that tradition. A value of fairness compels us to extend the freedom to marry to all loving couples.”

“...We recognize that none of us, however passionately we feel, has a monopoly on God’s truth, and that we’re better together than we are splintered into little like-minded groups.”

“In Maine, lawful productive citizens could be denied the right to marry. This is just? This is impartial? This is fair?

No, it is not.

Let’s uphold justice and fairness in Maine.”

“Question 1 is not about gender. It is not about religion or politics. It is not even about education or family. It is, rather, about how we value one another as human beings, how we think about one another and the opportunities and rights we extend to one another. As Mainers, we have the chance to confirm that each of us deserves to live a life of caring, loving and sharing — the way have have learned it is in Maine.”

“We have no reason to fear our neighbors who happen to love persons of the same sex. We have every reason to encourage them to build strong loving families like those we cherish for ourselves.”

letters@timesrecord.com