Gay Marriage Opponents Gather 12K Signatures in Maine in 3 Weeks

The effort to put the issue of gay marriage before Maine voters is underway. When the Maine Legislature and Gov. John Baldacci approved gay marriage in May, opponents were required to gather petition signatures in order to force a “people’s ballot” to bring the issue before voters. By law, petitions need to be in the hands of the Secretary of State’s office 90 days after the adjournment of the legislative session, which was last Friday. That puts the deadline at Sept. 10. The only detraction for traditional marriage supporters is that the September deadline would not put the issue before voters until June 2010, during legislative primary elections. Ideally, opponents would like to get the issue before voters this November at the same time as other tax issues likely to draw a larger turnout. That would require petitions with 55,087 valid signatures of registered voters to be in the hands of the Secretary of State by Aug. 1. Full Story from Everyday Christian

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