Gay Dems to Party: Maine Needs $25K

The Stonewall Democrats, a large grassroots LGBT organization dedicated to protecting equality and civil rights, is asking the Democratic National Committee for $25,000 for a campaign to mobilize against Proposition 1.

The Prop. 1 campaign battle is heating up in Maine, with Stand for Marriage Maine leading an effort to repeal the state's legislatively passed marriage equality law -- which was signed by Gov. John Baldacci in May. The law, which was due to go into effect in September, will be halted pending results of the November election, with Stand for Marriage Maine having delivered more than 100,000 signatures to the secretary of state's office to qualify for the ballot. The organization has so far raised $343,000 in its efforts to ban same-sex marriage in the state.

"Today, the frontline in the battle to secure basic fairness and equal opportunity is in Maine," interim executive director of the Stonewall Democrats Kyle R. Bailey wrote in a letter addressed to the DNC, which was posted on Bilerico.com. "Success in Maine on this front is critical to push back those forces that seek to resist change we can believe in -- those same forces that are working to prevent health care reform, to prevent the expansion of workers' rights, to prevent us from holding reckless Wall Street executives accountable for their actions, and to prevent us from enacting meaningful immigration reform that lifts people up."

Last year, the DNC contributed the amount requested to California for its battle against Prop. 8.