Maine
Marriage Initiative Launches Website

The Maine Marriage Initiative has launched a website, complete with a glittering image of a bright-eyed young heterosexual couple and their son, the message below it reading, "Families should be strengthened ... not redefined."

The website was launched in response to a marriage equality bill introduced in the Maine legislature last month by Democratic senator Dennis S. Damon. The home page lists all of the state's legislators and urges visitors to contact them and voice their opinions to vote against the bill. The website also provides "facts" and "consequences" of the bill's passage.

Maine lawmakers passed a bill in 2004 to extend domestic partnerships to both gay and straight couples. The state is now part of a six-state strategy to win gay marriage for the entire New England region. Legislation to provide for gay marriage is being introduced this year in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island.

Massachusetts and Connecticut already allow full marriage equality.

Opponents to the bill include Republican Project, a grassroots group committed to returning the Republican Party "to its traditional core values and proven conservative governance policies."

The Maine Family Policy Council, which is backed by Focus on the Family, is organizing a Sunday rally to protest the gay marriage bill at the Augusta Civic Center. Tony Perkins, who heads the antigay Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., is expected to speak at the event, according to On Top Magazine. (Rhiza Dizon, Advocate.com)