It's been two weeks since President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage. After a loss for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in North Carolina, his historic announcement was a welcome boost of positive energy to our campaign for same-sex marriage here in Maine. My father called me that day and equated our President's support of all marriages to his family values and commitment to fairness and equality for all Americans.
The ACLU is invested in winning same-sex marriage here in Maine because of our commitment to equal protection under the law, per the Fourteenth Amendment of our Constitution. This is a commitment we have in common with the NAACP. That's why I was thrilled to see the announcement that the NAACP passed a resolution in support of marriage equality this week.
The resolution reads: "The NAACP Constitution affirmatively states our objective to ensure the “political, education, social and economic equality” of all people. Therefore, the NAACP has opposed and will continue to oppose any national, state, local policy or legislative initiative that seeks to codify discrimination or hatred into the law or to remove the Constitutional rights of LGBT citizens. We support marriage equality consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Further, we strongly affirm the religious freedoms of all people as protected by the First Amendment."
With the support of President Obama and national groups like the NAACP, we're in good company as we work toward this November's election. I like to think that we're all in this together and the more organizations, faith communities and elected officials that join this movement, the more confident I feel that change is coming.
Locally, I've been working closely with the Mainers United for Marriage Coalition. The Coalition consists of over 60 organizations, faith groups and businesses that support marriage for same-sex couples in Maine. Every day, more groups join the coalition as we gain momentum. Are you part of a group that may be interested in joining? Send me an email at jbarkley@aclumaine.org and I'll gladly sign you up. It's going to take all of us working together to win marriage this fall.
