The Lisbon Reporter

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Monday, April 23, 2012

Christian Civic League of Maine and NOM form Protect Marriage Maine to Defeat Ballot Initiative Redefining Marriage‏

Augusta, Maine – The Christian Civic League of Maine and the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today announced they have joined forces to form Protect Marriage Maine, and will lead the campaign against the proposed initiative redefining marriage in Maine. The initiative is expected to be on the November 2012 ballot.

“We are pleased to bring together these key organizations to begin the process of educating voters about Maine’s marriage laws, and urging them to defeat this initiative to redefine marriage,” said Bob Emrich, Chairman of Protect Marriage Maine. “This group was instrumental in defeating Question One in 2009 and we have every confidence we will do so again.” Emrich is the founder of the Maine Jeremiah Project (MJP) which played a major role in the 2009 repeal of Question One. The MJP is the pastors’ network of the Christian Civic League of Maine.

In 2009, Maine voters defeated Question One which would have redefined marriage to make it genderless for everyone, thus enabling same-sex “marriage.” Despite being told “no” by the voters, homosexual advocates have submitted signatures seeking to put the marriage redefinition initiative on the November ballot.

“We intend to organize a broad and deep campaign across the state of Maine,” said Carroll Conley, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine (CCL) and an executive committee member of Protect Marriage Maine. “The CCL was not a major player in the 2009 campaign, and we believe we can play a major role in the campaign this year. We look forward to doing so.”

Emrich said that Protect Marriage Maine would organize the entire community of faith, including Protestants, Catholics, orthodox Jews, Muslims and others, along with people with no faith traditions at all. “The truth about marriage is that it is profoundly in the public good and has served society well for thousands of years,” Emrich said. “Same-sex couples in Maine already enjoy full legal rights. We don’t have to redefine marriage simply because of the political demands of a small but powerful special interest group.”

The committee filed paperwork with the Campaign Finance Board on April 20^th creating Protect Marriage Maine. The campaign will be based in Augusta.

“Our campaign will be about the importance of marriage and the consequences to society if marriage is redefined,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage. “We reject attempts to make this campaign about the morality of homosexuality. The campaign is about marriage, and we look forward to educating voters about the importance of maintaining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”