To the Editor:
On Nov. 6 a majority of Mainers, including 52 percent of voters in Lincoln County, voted to allow the state of Maine to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples.
On behalf of the Lincoln County Coalition for Marriage Equality, which has been working since 2009 as one of EqualityMaine’s rural teams, I would like to thank everyone who voted “Yes” on Question 1. This historic vote will make a huge difference in the lives of many Maine couples and families.
Many people in our community worked very hard to bring about this election result. To all my fellow LCCME members, I offer my heartfelt thanks for your dedication, your support, and your great ideas. It has been a true pleasure to work with you over the past three years.
To the many volunteers who collected signatures in 2011 for the referendum effort and to the thousands who signed those petitions, I thank you for putting marriage equality on the ballot this year. To everyone who sat at a table at a fair or at a polling place and shared information about the campaign, and to all those who talked with their friends or neighbors about marriage for gay and lesbian couples, I thank you for helping us move public opinion.
To the many who walked with us in the Round Pond parade, who stood with signs and banners at our bridge vigils, who signed our newspaper ads, and who wrote letters to the editor, I thank you for publicly demonstrating your support.
Thank you also to everyone who wore a “Yes on 1” button, put a bumper sticker on a car, put up lawn signs, called voters at one of our phone banks, hosted a fundraiser, or donated money to the local group and the statewide campaign. Together we made history.
Abolitionist and Unitarian minister Theodore Parker wrote in the 1850s that the arc of the moral universe “is a long one…But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.” I am proud to have been a part of the effort to move the state of Maine a little further toward justice and fairness for all, and I am grateful for all who helped along the way.
Kate Pennington, Newcastle
