Maine Marriage Equality Foes Say They Have the Needed Signatures to Overturn Same-Sex Marriage Law

In an effort lead by Maine’s Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, the anti Marriage-Equality organizers of a people’s veto campaign to repeal Maine’s new same-sex marriage law say they have collected enough signatures to get the measure on the November ballot.

Stand for Marriage Maine, a coalition which includes the Diocese of Portland and other church groups, said today it has collected more than the 55,087 signatures needed for a people’s veto question, according to a statement from the group.

But the Stand for Marriage Maine Coalition says it will continue collecting signatures to make sure that enough of them survive the validation process.

“We’re asking people to continue to gather signatures so we can get overage for duplication,” Mark Mutty, a paid lobbyist for the Catholic Church and chairman of Stand for Marriage Maine, said in a statement.

“Certainly there’s a certain percentage of these that are coming from the paid signature gatherers, but the bulk of them are coming from volunteers who are circulating petitions,” Mutty also said.

In May, Maine became the fifth state in the country to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. In Maine, non-emergency laws do not take effect until 90 days after the Legislature adjourns, and the new law wasn’t scheduled to take effect until mid-September.

Supporters of marriage equality in Maine are saying they’re not surprised that opponents have apparently collected enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot in November. But Jesse Connolly of Maine Freedom to Marry says the group will continue to focus on educating voters.

“A lot of the work that EqualityMaine and its other coalition partners did focused on volunteers talking to regular Maine voters and having them contacts their state legislators or the governor. I think we’re going to continue with that process. We’re going to explain what this law does and doesn’t do.”

Maine voters polled in April said they were almost evenly divided on the issue and both sides concur that they expect the issue to be on the ballot in November and anticipate a tough campaign.

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