Maine governor OK's gay marriage

Both states face more hurdles before couples may wed there. In Maine, where the law will not take effect for 90 days, conservative groups have pledged to bring the measure to a statewide vote. They are expected to collect 55,000 signatures in the next three months to challenge the law on the ballot in November.

In New Hampshire, Governor John Lynch, a Democrat, will have five days from when he receives the bill to veto it, sign it, or let it become law without his signature. If he does not block it, it would take effect in January 2010. Lynch has not signaled his intentions, but has opposed same-sex marriage in the past.

Around the country, polls show that a majority of Americans still oppose gay marriage. But the signing ceremony at the State House in Augusta yesterday capped weeks of rapid progress for proponents in New England, five years after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Vermont approved gay marriage last month, and Connecticut legalized it last fall after a court battle.

Nationally, supporters of same-sex marriage suffered a blow in November, when voters in California banned gay marriage. The state's Supreme Court is reviewing the constitutionality of that ban.

But recent steps in New England and elsewhere have added to a sense of momentum. Last month the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage. And in a striking sign of change at the federal level, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House, said this week that Congress will not challenge a decision by the District of Columbia to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, as allowed under the district's charter.

New Hampshire Representative James Splaine, the primary sponsor of the gay marriage bill approved in his state yesterday, said he is proud of the region's leadership on the issue.

"It's making it clear that New England is a place to continue respect for equality and diversity," said Splaine, who is gay.

In Maine, supporters said the bill's smooth passage through the Legislature followed years of outreach and education that introduced voters and legislators to gay families and explained the importance of marriage to gay couples and their children.

Baldacci, a Democrat who previously opposed same-sex marriage and supported civil unions, said his own views evolved over time.

"I did not come to this decision lightly or in haste," the governor said yesterday at the State House. "I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage."

Observers were surprised at the relative ease of the Maine bill's passage, in a state that has not always embraced equal rights for gays and lesbians. In 1998 and again in 2000, Maine legislators voted to expand the law to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, but both times voters narrowly struck down the measure in a statewide referendum. The last attempt to change the law, in 2005, succeeded.

The success of the 2005 campaign - as well as the swift recent progress of the gay marriage bill, which was introduced for the first time four months ago - followed a change in the strategy of equal rights proponents, said Amy Fried, a political science professor at the University of Maine in Orono.

"They showed real families, in real situations, so instead of a theoretical argument, it was about real people," she said.

The recent referendum battles in the state forced more gay people to identify themselves and talk about the issue, said Mary Bonauto, the civil rights project director for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the Boston-based group that campaigned for the change. The debate made more Mainers aware of their gay friends and relatives, a powerful tool in shifting public opinion, according to specialists.

"Once people know somebody who's out, they can't have the same stereotypes," Fried said.

Supporters also traced the sea change to Massachusetts, the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2004.

"Once there was marriage in Massachusetts, people could see what it looked like, and the truth emerged, that these families were not taking anything away from anyone else," Bonauto said. "Massachusetts obviously moved the conversation forward."

A Maine resident who married her partner in Massachusetts, Bonauto said the approval in Maine felt very personal.

"It's an amazing feeling to know your leaders are standing up for your family," she said.

Vermont and New Hampshire both enacted civil unions before legislators took up the gay marriage debate. In Vermont, the first state to legalize civil unions, in 2000, Governor Jim Douglas, a Republican, vetoed the same-sex marriage bill, but legislators overrode the veto with a two-thirds majority.

In New Hampshire, Governor Lynch issued a statement last week calling the debate over marriage an "intensely passionate and personal one" and saying that civil unions achieve the goal of equal rights for same-sex couples under New Hampshire law. He said changes to federal law would achieve more real progress than a change in New Hampshire statutes to recognize same-sex marriage.

Lynch declined to comment yesterday.

In New Hampshire, where civil unions have been legal since being approved in 2007, the new law would automatically convert those unions into marriages after one year. Couples would also be able to file paperwork to convert to marriages sooner.

Same-sex marriage supporters have not stepped up efforts to pass a law in Rhode Island because the current governor - Donald Carcieri, a Republican - has promised to veto it.

The Maine Family Policy Council will lead the fight to block the Maine law by placing it on the ballot for a statewide vote, the group's executive director, Mike Heath, said yesterday.

He said he believes that a large majority of Maine voters will reject gay marriage. But he acknowledged that public opinion is in flux.

"Things are always changing, and the question is, will it continue to change in this direction," Heath said. "I don't know, but I will work to try and influence it."