[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 74 (Thursday, May 14, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H5639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1715
                       EMBRACE MARRIAGE EQUALITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Maine (Ms. Pingree) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PINGREE of Maine. Today I want to recognize some actions in my 
home State. Last week Maine became the fifth State in the country to 
embrace marriage equality.
  Same-sex couples live all over our State in loving, committed 
relationships, raising families and growing old together, yet they have 
not been afforded the rights and responsibilities that come with 
marriage. Last week our legislature took a major step towards 
correcting that injustice.
  In the week leading up to the vote, thousands of people filled the 
Augusta Civic Center to testify on the marriage equality bill. People 
came from all over our State, men and women, straight and gay, young 
and old, couples and single people. Many of them waited hours for their 
turn to speak. When they got to the microphone, the overwhelming 
majority said it was time for Maine to recognize same-sex marriage.
  Maine moved the country one step closer to federally recognizing and 
protecting the right for two people, regardless of their gender, to be 
married. Maine has always been an independent State with a forward-
looking legislative body and citizens with common sense.
  I stand here today to congratulate my home State on the passage of 
this landmark victory.
  The landmark victory didn't come easily or without long debate. Many 
personal journeys began and ended with this lengthy discussion.
  My daughter happens to be the Speaker of the House, and she shared 
her own personal story, which, with pride, I would like to share a few 
of her words which reflected our family's feelings. She said, when she 
got up to testify, ``This issue was brought home for me two summers ago 
when my husband and I were married. Our island pastor was on a trip 
abroad and unavailable to perform our wedding ceremony. My husband and 
I wanted to be married by someone we knew and trusted. We asked a good 
family friend to perform our wedding; we knew his tone, his presence, 
and his sense of humor would be perfect. He was honored to do it, and 
we immediately got to work planning the ceremony. Throughout the 
preparations for the wedding, he gave us honest and valuable advice 
about the joys and challenges of a lifetime of commitment to another 
person. He gave us some of the best advice either of us has ever 
received about marriage.
  ``As we drove away from our wedding rehearsal, all of us happy and 
relieved that everything seemed to be going well, my friend said to me, 
`I am honored to perform your wedding. It is going to be great. But it 
is important to understand that you and Jason have the right to do 
something very special, and it's a right that I don't have. The friend 
that married us is a gay man who has been living in a committed and 
loving relationship with the same man for more than 30 years.
  ``I was struck in that moment that a person whom I respected and 
trusted, a person as close to me as some of my dearest relatives, a 
person whose relationship was a model for trust, compassion, longevity, 
was legally denied a right and status that my husband and I were about 
to be granted. There is nothing fair about giving some committed 
couples in Maine the right to the legal responsibilities and privileges 
of marriage and denying it to others.''
  That was my daughter, Hannah, the Speaker of the House's story, and 
one that held great meaning to my family and to so many of us across 
Maine as we considered the plight of many of our friends in committed 
relationships who haven't been allowed the right to make it legal.
  When the deliberation ended at the public hearing and it was time to 
vote, many of Maine's State legislators found themselves in new 
territory. As Governor Baldacci made clear just after signing the 
marriage equity bill into law, he said, ``In the past, I opposed gay 
marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions. 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.''
  Madam Speaker, as we in this body consider the future of issues of 
equality, it is important that we all take a moment to reflect on the 
history that was made in Augusta, Maine, this month. Eighty-nine State 
representatives, 21 State senators, and one Governor put themselves on 
record supporting fairness and equality, and one more State voted to do 
the right thing.

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