How About a Trip to Maine?
Really awesome blog post linked here, written by Paul Hogarth about why he has decided to take a 10 day trip to Maine and volunteer to help with the No on 1 campaign. I’m thinking of going as well, but I will only be able to swing 1 week and closer to the end of the month if I can get away from work.
I’m thrilled people are going to Washington, but I think going to Maine or Washington is probably the single most important thing anyone who supports equality could do this Fall before election day. As issues and rights go, there are a number of priorities for me that come before same-sex marriage. Hate Crimes legislation, Inclusive ENDA and other non-discrimination coverage, ending DADT, and ending DOMA. But even with those as higher priorities to me, I still believe helping in Maine and Washington is extremely crucial, and here is why.
On one level the battle in these two states are about practical rights. Keeping the ability to marry in one state and have a domestic partnership in the other. but the battle is far bigger than that. If the Conservatives win either of these, I’m afraid we won’t see any progress on any LGBT issue at the state level anywhere across the country except where it is brought up to public vote. Because of the way the laws in each state came into being, it will have a huge cooling affect of legislator’s willingness to risk bringing new GLBTQ/LGBT legislation forward. And in addition to this impact, the far right and conservatives will be adequately reinforced so that they will be more aggressive and go after all sorts of queer laws all over the place.
Maine is critical. After the loss in California, another los in Maine will slow any movement on Marriage in a big way, but Washington is possibly even more important. If they can win in Maine, they wil continue with the claim that no one wants gay marriage. But if they win in Washington, they have a new tactic to use: “no one wants any type of same-sex recognition” will become their battle cry.
Washington DC politics are a mess right now with Health Care taking most of everyone’s attention, and the conservatives resistance to anything progressive is only going to grow unless we see some big progressive wins. And the way blue dog dems are acting, I’m not sure we are going to see any progressive wins. So the state level battles are a place where we have a greater likelihood of having some success that will pay off in the short term as well as impact the long term.
So, how about it- a trip to Maine? Check out what Paul has to say about it:
BeyondChron: San Francisco’s Alternative Online Daily News » Why I’m Going to Maine.
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