(Many thanks to one of our li’l community’s representatives from the fourth estate (Mike), here… ooo, I’m getting media vertigo… – promoted by odum)

Updated on Friday, May 8:

It appears that Maine’s same sex marriage law, signed by Governor Baldacci on May 6, will be challenged through a “people’s veto,” essentially a referendum on the bill.  

Accordng to the Maine Secretary of State’s Web site, any Maine voter can circulate a petition for a “people’s veto” by submitting a written application to the secretary of state with the names of five co-petitioners.

As required by law, the Maine Secretary of State has received notice and has provided an “approved petition form” to be circulated.

It appears likely that the petitioners will find enough signatures to get a statewide referendum.  The signature requirement is 10% of the number of votes cast for governor in 2006, or 55,087 signatures, to be exact.  If they can’t find 55,000 registered voters to sign their petition by the deadline in September, I would be surprised.

The next question, of course, is how much support is there to overturn the law?  My experience, living in Maine for many years, is that there may be a conservative, religious groundswell of support. Worse, it could bring in a lot of well-funded, out-of-state opposition. But things have changed in Maine, and I could be surprised.  

Fingers crossed.

http://www.google.com/hostedne…

http://lezgetreal.com/?p=12344

I didn’t comment on these, but they’re worth a read for the laughs, particularly the pro-polygamy page.

http://www.pro-polygamy.com/ar…

http://worldnetdaily.com/index…

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Te…

**Update** The New Hampshire House just passed H.B. 436, 178-167! Now goes to Governor John Lynch’s desk!!! – Christian

Gov. John Baldacci signed a same-sex marriage bill into law at about 12:30 today.  Maine will be the fifth state to recognize same-sex marriage, and apparently Gov. Baldacci is the first governor in the nation to sign a same-sex marriage bill into law that was not the result of litigation.  

This is from an MPBN story:

“I did not come to this decision lightly or in haste.”  Baldacci said his views on the issue have evolved over time.  “In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions,” he said. “I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage.”

http://www.mpbn.net/News/Maine…