Maine gears up for same-sex marriage

December 28, 2012 @ 10:23 am

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A handful of city and town halls are preparing for special hours when Maine's same-sex marriage takes effect.

Portland City Hall will open at midnight to provide licenses as soon as the law goes into effect. So will a neighboring town, Falmouth. Others including Bangor, Brunswick and Augusta will open later with special Saturday hours to issue marriage licenses.

Portland will have notaries for those who want marry immediately.

Voters approved gay marriage in November, making Maine and two other states the first to do so by popular vote. The law is already in effect in Washington state; Maryland's takes effect on Jan. 1.

Suzanne Blackburn and Joanie Kunian of Portland hope to get their license at midnight. They say their granddaughter wants them to get married on Valentine's Day.


(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (8)


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  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    I want to know why Legalize Love is discriminating against incest
    October 15, 2012 10:18 am
    I mean, if two people love each other, who are we to keep them apart?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @citizen....
    December 3, 2012 1:10 pm
    Come on - get real. Look at WHY it's illegal - I won't go into the religious arguements because religion isn't supposed to be the basis in determining laws (because not everyone is of the same religion or religious beleifs). I won't tell you if I support incest or not. My opinion has no bearing on your question. Here goes: 1) there is a chance (arguable as to the extent of this risk) of genetic issues/problems - look at European royalty over the last couple hundred years and thier problems for a guide to those possibilities. 2) incest cases often includes a lack of consent, or the lack of ability to an unduly influence consent. 3) Incest cases often involve under-age children who cannot legally give consent. ----- So if you really want Incest to be legal, go do the hard work that gays have done for soo very long to get gay marriage legalized. Don't expect the world to just suddenly decide that every possible permutation of marriage will suddenly be accepted because gay marriage is accepted. Find ways to solve these 'issues' that prevent people from accepting it, and you'd be a long ways down the road towards getting it legalize. ----- Although I doubt if you really want it - I'd bet dollars to donuts that it's just being raised as a red herring to turn on those who support gay marriage but won't support incestious marriage / polygamous marriage / bestial marriage / marrying Cars/Buildings/Rocks/etc. They've all been raised for that reason - to use to attack anyone who won't support these but will support gay marriage.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    What took them so long to make their asking of support from the Dear Leader public?
    October 15, 2012 11:14 am
    Hasn't the last few months been how voters will approve Homosexual unions as marriage? I thought this was in the bag. Just like the Dear Leaders re immaculation! Now these militant Homosexual groups are pleading to the Dear Leader to override the will of the American voters and recognize Homosexual unions as marriage and make it the law of the land.

    Kind of wasted efforts since, like Obama, will most likely lose in November.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • demo wrote...
    Oh, please!
    December 3, 2012 8:28 am
    Your predictions didn't come true for you, did they? President OBAMA for another great four years and marriage for all couples who truly love each other.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • maplefish wrote...
    What about those people
    October 15, 2012 12:46 pm
    In Ennumclaw that love their horses? Or the guy in Snohomish that is in love with his goat? Hmmmmm? Who are we to stop them? Why should we stop them from being married? I hope Obama has something to say about the redefinition of a word for 1% of the population...Who are we to define LOVE???
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • demo wrote...
    You, too?
    December 3, 2012 8:31 am
    Lets add priests to your list. You need to go back to school and retake science so you will be able to recognize the difference between a humans and farm animals.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    @maplefish
    December 3, 2012 1:13 pm
    Going with that old, tired, phony arguement again eh? As soon as horses, goats, cars, buildings, rocks, etc. can give legally binding consent, you'd have an arguement for getting these approved under the law - and you know this already. btw - you forgot incestious marriage, polygamous marriage and child brides (they all fit into the same category) and are raised constantly by people who wouldn't support any of these simply so that they can falsely yell about how gay marriage supporters are bigoted or hypocrites because they didn't solve all the world's possible permutations of marriage all in one fell swoop.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • imanegro wrote...
    FormerMarineTurd
    December 28, 2012 8:27 am
    Discrimination is discrimination. If you're going to put qualifications on NOT discriminating ("...can give legally binding consent...") then you're discriminating against something. Discriminating against homos has been the norm for a long time. If you want to move the line, fine, move the line. Just don't get your panties in a wad when someone else wants to move the line, too.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }