Today I listened as two people who have been together for decades described how their lives have changed since they got married in July. Mostly it's in the details: they save a few hundred dollars each month in health care costs. They no longer cart around a huge pile of paperwork everywhere they go to prove their relationship to each other. They call each other spouse, not partner.
But more importantly, there's this: their seventh grade daughter no longer has to wonder why her family is treated as somehow "less than" other families. And for that, said one of the women, "what a difference a year makes.”
It's true. A year ago today began with staff at the ACLU of Maine and countless other supporters of marriage equality across the state knocking on doors. It ended with one of the most joyful victory parties this state has ever seen. A year ago today, Maine voters spoke loud and clear with their ballots, proclaiming that in this state we don't treat people differently because of who they love. A year ago today, couples who had been together for decades learned that they could finally, legally, get married to each other.
That same night, voters in Washington and Maryland approved marriage equality too. And then the legislatures in Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island did. Marriage equality is winning in the courts, too, like it did this year in California and New Jersey. Now Illinois stands poised to become the 15th state where same-sex couples can get married, after the legislature voted yesterday to allow it. And just this week, Representative Mike Michaud of Maine said publicly that he is gay, and by all acounts the world kept turning.
Today, one year after Maine became the first state to win marriage equality at the ballot box, our state - and our country - is better because of it. Not one of the consequences predicted by opponents of the law have come true: no political agenda is being forced upon our children; people of faith are not being discriminated against; the sanctity of my own, heterosexual marriage remains in tact.
This does not mean the fight is over: there will be other battles that will require the same commitment and energy that Mainers poured into marriage equality. This year, for example, the legislature will consider a sweeping religious exemption bill that would undermine Maine's anti-discrimination laws by allowing people to circumvent the rules in the name of religious freedom. The ACLU of Maine is dedicated to upholding religious freedom, but this bill goes far beyond that. We will need your help to defeat this dangerous measure in Augusta.
But today, we celebrate: Happy first anniversary of the day that Maine made history. What a difference a year makes!
