Maine Question 1, 2012
| Question 1: Citizen Initiative | |||||||||||||||||||
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| An Act to Allow Marriage Licenses for Same-Sex Couples and Protect Religious Freedom | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: Maine 2012 General Election Results - BDN Maine, Tabulation of Votes | |||||||||||||||||||
Yes
No
Maine Question 1 was a voter referendum on an initiated state statute that occurred November 6, 2012. The title of the citizen initiative is "An Act to Allow Marriage Licenses for Same-Sex Couples and Protect Religious Freedom". The question that appeared on the ballot was: "Do you want to allow the State of Maine to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples?"
The law took effect on December 29, 2012.
In 2009, same-sex marriage legalization, "An Act To End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom", was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor John Baldacci. A 2009 people's veto referendum to reject the law passed 53 to 47 percent, invalidating the law before it took effect.
On June 30, 2011, EqualityMaine and Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) announced plans to place a voter initiative in support of same-sex marriage on Maine's November 2012 ballot. Supporters delivered more than 105,000 petition signatures for the initiative to the Secretary of State's office on January 26, 2012, exceeding the minimum of 57,277 signatures requirement. The Secretary of State announced on February 23 that the office verified 85,216 signatures, qualifying the initiative for the November 2012 ballot.
Under Maine's constitution a valid initiative must be sent to the voters unless enacted in the proposed form by the Legislature at the same session during which it was presented. In March 2012, the Maine Legislature voted to indefinitely postpone the initiative without debate, effectively putting it on the November ballot.
On June 14, 2012, Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers, who opposed same-sex marriage, released the draft wording of the question as it would appear on the ballot, beginning a 30-day public comment period, at the end of which he had ten days to determine the wording of the question. He proposed the following wording:
Do you want to allow same-sex couples to marry?
The petitions that supporters circulated was as follows:
Do you favor a law allowing marriage licenses for same-sex couples, and that protects religious freedom by ensuring that no religion or clergy be required to perform such a marriage in violation of their religious beliefs?
Opponents of the initiative claimed that latter part of the circulated question is unnecessary, as the religious freedom to refuse to perform same-sex marriages is guaranteed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. They also criticized the wording for failing to mention redefining marriage. Supporters of the initiative said the Secretary of State's proposed wording "fails to address important parts of the initiative that will be on the ballot in November". Though they concede the First Amendment point made by the measure's opponents, they asked Summers, whose good faith they did not question, to restore the reference to protecting religious freedom because they claim opponents "distort the facts around what the approval of same-sex marriage will do, including the possibility that churches would lose their tax-exempt status by refusing to perform same-sex marriages."
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