AUGUSTA, Maine — A marriage amendment is needed more than ever in the state of Maine, according to attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, as legislators added to their agenda Tuesday a bill that would redefine marriage as a union between two “people.” The bill would do away with the state’s time-honored definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and would recognize same-sex “marriages” from other states.
“State legislators should never attempt to impose a system that knowingly deprives a child of a mom and a dad,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Austin R. Nimocks. “This Trojan-horse-of-a-bill deceptively states that pastors would not be forced to perform same-sex ‘marriages’ if it passes, yet this legislation will essentially wipe out every other religious freedom.”
ADF, the Family Research Council, the Maine Marriage Alliance, the Maine Family Policy Council, the Maine chapter of Concerned Women for America, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland, and Maine House Minority Leader John Tardy (R-Newport) plan to oppose the bill, deceptively titled “An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom.”
Already, 30 states have passed amendments to their state constitutions to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and efforts are currently underway to secure such legislation in the remaining vulnerable states.
The activist groups EqualityMaine and the Coalition for the Freedom to Marry in Maine are actively promoting and supporting the legislation to redefine marriage. Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders publicly announced its goal to expand same-sex “marriage” rights to the remaining New England states by 2012.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and
like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live
out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of
strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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