we need to talk

For those of you who live in Maine, it is time for us to talk. (For those of you who don't you can read on but are exempt from my soap boxing.)

We need to talk about Question 1 coming to a ballot near you in a few short weeks.

Hopefully you don't live under a rock and you know what I am talking about. Hello? Marriage Equality. Big, BIG deal.

I got a call today from an acquaintance (like we met when she and her partner were trying to get pregnant and they picked our brains and we have barely seen them since and their son is now a year and a half old.) She was asking me if I would volunteer on the phone bank next week to beg people I know or those I don't know (I get to pick) for money on the No on 1 campaign.

Oh, great. I'd been thinking about my level of inertia about this. I care. I care A LOT and yet I hadn't even figured out where to get my No on 1 bumper sticker. I had made some measly comments to people who might be swing voters. I was loser with a capital L in the gay activist department.

See, the great leaders of Maine (miraculously!) saw fit to pass a law allowing gay people full marriage rights last spring. Then the people who have made it their mission to take us down collected over 50,000 signatures (!) to put the question on the ballot for voters to decide whether or not to repeal the marriage equality law.

I have to tell you, it rocks my world that in the time since Ella was born we went from having no rights to having a domestic partnership registry (which basically gives your partner rights if you die), equal protection under the law from discrimination and, most recently and most importantly for our family, adoption rights. The fact that our beloved state has granted marriage rights blows me away. I hadn't even seen it coming.

And now it is at ENORMOUS risk to be taken away.

So I said yes, of course, to the phone bank. Which means, watch out... I may be calling you.

This is my plea... Vote no on 1 in November (naturally) but could you commit to talking to 10 (or 20!) of your friends who might be those swing voters and see if you can convince them? This is going to be a close call and every vote really does count. Please do it. Mindy and Charissa have an elaborate wedding planned for next June. They are counting on you too.

I got my bumper sticker and my yard sign today after she called.

This won't be the last you hear about this from me, just so you know.

If nothing else, if this upsets your earthy orbit, just remember what Dolly Pardon said, "Yes, I support gay marriage. Why shouldn't the gays suffer like the rest of us?"