A state senator flanked by LGBT rights leaders announced plans Tuesday to bring in legislation this session that would allow same-sex couples to marry.Sen. Dennis S. Damon (D) said the legislation would amend existing laws defining partners of a marriage to be “the legally recognized union of two people.”
He said the bill would eliminate discrimination in marriage licenses and would affirm that no religion would be forced to conduct a same-sex marriage.
The legislation, he said, also would recognize same-sex marriages from other states where they are legal.
Damon was joined at the new conference by leaders of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition, Equality Maine, the Maine Civil Liberties Union, and the Maine Women’s Lobby.
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders is the Boston-based group that won equal marriage rights in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
It said last fall that it intended to fight for gay marriage rights in the other four New England states and predicted success by 2012.
Same-sex marriage bills already have been announced in Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
The chances of success in Maine are unclear at this stage.
In November, the leader of Maine’s Roman Catholics told churchgoers across the state they have a moral duty to oppose moves to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.
Following Damon’s announcement, the conservative Maine Marriage Alliance said it would press for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
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