Today, the Maine House of Representatives voted to pass LD 1020, a bill to end discrimination in civil marriage and affirm religious freedom. By a vote of 89-58, the House passed the bill, which will permit same-sex marriage, and keeps religious freedom for churches and other religious organizations.
The vote followed two hours of civil debate, with supporters framing this as both a civil rights and religious freedom issue, which those opposed tried using the same discredited arguments about marriage being about children, about their religious views being opposed to it, about the parts not being “perfectly complementary,” to quote one Maine legislator.
Maine is a pretty religious state, but I am very glad that people are starting to really see this as less a religious issue, and more a civil rights and freedom issue.
