This week the “Maine Thing” has become something of a main thing. By referendum, Maine voters narrowly overturned a piece of legislation that had already been signed into law by the state’s governor. The legislation extended equal marriage rights to same-sex couples, but was delayed pending the outcome of the people’s vote. No one should be naïve enough to think that this question is settled. The people of Maine are evenly split, meaning that the debate far from over. I do not live in Maine, and I cannot say that I know anyone who does. Nonetheless, I am left feeling uneasy about what has transpired there.
I am not a politician and I have never considered myself an activist. As a minister in the United Church of Christ, I am more likely to move within the realms of Word and Sacrament than with civil government and legislation. My pulpit is not of the bullying variety. I consider it a sacred desk, a place where I stand and proclaim with confidence the “law” of Christ which teaches us to love God and one another. When I meet my congregants at the communion table it is not with a political agenda. I am there in covenant with my own denomination and with the “church universal” to model the love of Christ. Beyond that, it is up to each individual to apply the Christian ethic to our own political ideals. This is quite simply how I operate.
Having said all of that, I must also say that my own political ideals are informed by the moral and spiritual imperatives of my faith. I believe that within the structures of our multi-cultural society there are moral obligations to practice things like mutual respect, justice, fairness, and equality. These are ideals shared to some degree by people of many faiths, and our uniquely American pluralism calls us to meet in agreement wherever and whenever we can.
The conviction to do so has seen us through the abolition of slavery and the cruelty of civil war. It has seen us extend voting rights to women and point out the evils of segregation. Civil rights have been extended to many, but sadly not to all. This is why the struggle continues, and why the “Maine Thing” will be repeated again and again until “liberty and justice for all” prevails. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered citizens remain segregated in our culture. It may not be at the water fountain, on a bus, or at a lunch counter. This time it is in city hall, in the hospital emergency room, in the policies of employers and health insurers, and in the innumerable other places that same-gender partners are denied access to the same rights the rest of society takes for granted.
To the voters of Maine, or those of California, or of any other state in the Union, my questions are simple. How can my commitment to another human being have any bearing upon yours? How can my love for my partner be of any concern to you one way or another? How can you say that your commitments are uniquely “sacred” when half of them end in divorce? Why would you presume to place my relationship in a separate and unequal category of “civil union” as if to say that I am incapable of pledging my love and fidelity or of establishing my home and family in a way that meets your standard?
I have at least a thousand questions like that, and I intend to ask them continually for as long as I need to. If that makes me an activist then I will gladly wear the label.
