Stand for Marriage Maine (S4MM), the group behind the Yes on 1 campaign that would veto Maine's law allowing same-sex couples to marry, has a new TV ad out today:
The most obvious thing to note is that S4MM seems to have abandoned the theme of its other ads, that is that somehow allowing LD 1020 to become law will turn schools into incubators of homosexuality or something. Evidently it wasn't just the public polls that were showing the Yes campaign sinking like a anchor, but their internal polls as well.
So, the new line is, "We want to be tolerant of gays." Gone is the fear mongering, replaced with the more reasonable sounding support for civil unions or domestic partnerships for lesbians and gays. The ad even shows a screenshot from the Maine Department of Human Services website that describes the Domestic Partner Registry, which you can see in the embed.
The page cited can be found here. By clicking through the "Instructions and Information for the Domestic Partner Registry" button you'll find, as you would expect, all the info you'll want to know, including this interesting statement:
Yes, it seems that despite what the Yes on 1 campaign claims, the State of Maine makes it clear that a "registered domestic partnership is NOT the same as a marriage." Civil unions or domestic partnerships are NOT the same as marriage, and do not provide all the rights and protections (and obligations) that marriage does.
And it is best to re-emphasize that allowing same-sex couples to marry will not "dismantle traditional marriage," or "obliterate" it as Marc Mutty stated in a recent email.
My wife and I have been married for nine years now, and after this "people's" veto is defeated, we look forward to celebrating our tenth.
If you are married, what anniversary will you be celebrating after 3 November?
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