Question 1: a week later
I originally had planned to write a pair of long blog posts about my personal views about last week’s veto to overturn Maine’s gay marriage law and the effects its results had on me personally, but quite frankly, I’ve just been in a volatile and emotional state over the last couple of weeks and couldn’t bring myself to write the post. The combination of the election results with the passing of my grandfather has left me in a state in which I have trouble arguing a point rationally, so I’m going to put my analysis off for a bit.
My hesitance doesn’t mean that I’ve lost my passion for the issue. Have I lost respect for some of my friends’ views over the issue? Yes. Was I disappointed by the lack of real discussion about the issue? Quite a bit. Was I ashamed to see the intolerance and ignorance voiced by so many about the issue of marriage and homosexuality in general? Definitely. Was I saddened to see the Bible used as a justification for a lot of those feelings? Absolutely. And did it infuriate me to see political literature on the pews at my grandfather’s funeral? You better believe it.
There’s no doubt that Question 1 led me to be more emotional than I’d ever been before about a political topic. I find that strange, considering that I wouldn’t personally be (directly) affected by the law in any way. Fortunately, that passion was put to good use; it inspired me to start a new project that I’m currently working to establish. I hope to share with you shortly. I also hope that we can find other ways to put our passion about this topic and others to good and productive use.

Comments
Question 1 was a huge disappointment. It is the civil rights issue of our day, and, like most civil rights issues, it will ultimately be decided in the courts. Maine’s constitution is not that much different than Massachusetts’, and all it will take to get that ball rolling is probably one gay couple to be denied a marriage license.
The general public is not usually the best judge of what becoomes law.
Thanks for the comment, Lisa.
I’m torn about the effectiveness of public voting on law. While it has an obviously democratic feel to it, the general population often isn’t sufficiently informed about the issues. Of course, getting a large number of people to agree on anything is tricky; just look at the battles that happen among the 435 members of the House of Representatives!
[...] came the vote to defeat gay marriage in Maine last November. Now, with the choice of Paul LePage as Maine’s [...]