MAINE: Another Run At Marriage?

Buoyed by the result in New York, some activists in Maine say they are considering bringing same-sex marriage back to the ballot in 2012. In 2009 Maine's voters rescinded same-sex marriage mere months after it had been approved by the state legislature.

Since the defeat, gay rights advocates said they have been working behind the scenes to try to change public opinion and said same-sex marriage could come up for a vote again in 2012 in the form of a citizens' initiative. "We do have that option, and we'll decide once we get to the point where we've had enough conversations and we believe the majority of voters support us. And I will say that people are changing, people are moving, people are changing their minds on this issue," said Betsy Smith with Equality Maine.

If another ballot campaign is launched, activists must collect 57,000 petition signatures by this January.

Phillip Spooner, The Chorale

Last fall 86 year old WWII veteran Phillip Spooner delivered the below stirring speech against the ultimately successful campaign to repeal marriage equality in Maine. His inspiring speech was posted on this and many other blogs.

Today Jeremy Hooper at Good As You tips us to a choral version of Spooner's testimony.

Melissa Dunphy's new composition "What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?" was selected as the winning work for the 2010 Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Composition Competition. The Philadelphia-based composer's choral work sets excerpts of public testimony given by a WWII veteran before the Maine Senate in a hearing to discuss the Marriage Equality Bill. "What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach?" was performed on May 29, 2010, at Grace and Holy Trinity in Kansas City, MO and First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence, KS. This video is taken from initial footage of the recording session on May 30, 2010, at Blessed Sacrament Church in Kansas City, KS.