Like many other young people who’ve made a conscious decision to live in Maine, Jill Barkley loves it here. The 26-year-old domestic violence educator and community organizer moved here from her home state of Michigan four years ago. Since then, she’s become an active part of the social and political scene in Portland, serving as a member of the steering committee for the local League of Young Voters, and organizer of the city’s annual Dyke March, held each June on the eve of the Gay Pride Festival. An out and proud lesbian who was recently honored with a Young Leader Award by Equality Maine, a local GLBT advocacy group, Barkley has found acceptance for her identity among her peers, as well as from her colleagues and employers at the York County nonprofit where she works.
Barkley’s experience isn’t so unusual. Many queer-identified Mainers – myself included – feel at ease being open about their identity here. In fact, Maine has one of the most progressive human rights laws in the country, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of “actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.” Signed into law three years ago by Gov. John Baldacci, the rule makes it a crime to bar Mainers from housing, employment or medical care because they are gay, lesbian or transgendered – or even if they are simply perceived to be, whether or not they actually are.
Though a people’s referendum, spearheaded by Michael Heath – Maine’s answer to Pat Robertson – and his Christian Civic League sought to overturn the law before it took effect, the effort failed, thanks, at least in part, to a well-coordinated education effort called “Maine Won’t Discriminate.” Barkley was living in Maine at the time, and was heavily involved in promoting “Maine Won’t Discriminate.” She remembers her excitement at seeing the referendum fail, and the new law take effect.
“That felt huge. We fought really hard for those protections, and coming off that victory felt great,” recalls Barkley.
But now, Barkley’s excitement has turned to exasperation as, for the fifth time in recent memory, Heath and company have begun circulating petitions in hopes of forcing a statewide referendum that seeks to overturn these hard-won protections for GLBT Mainers.
“We have been licking our wounds long enough. I'm not going to sit by doing nothing really meaningful and watch either the courts or the legislature further advance special rights for homosexuality,” wrote Heath in a recent letter to his followers posted on the Christian Civic League’s Web site.
“We must launch a referendum to stop Maine from endorsing the special legal right to sexual promiscuity.”
Barkley doesn’t mince words when it comes to her feelings about Heath and others who agree with him.
“It baffles me that these people call themselves Christians, and want to attack the love of two people. I feel it is so not Christian to challenge basic human rights, and to imply that those rights are somehow special treatment,” she says.
“What’s most disappointing about this is that we are again going to be put in the position of being reactive, rather than proactive. Instead of pushing for more rights, we have to fight, once again, to keep the ones we already have.”
In addition to overturning the discrimination act, the referendum is expected to seek to overturn a recent state court ruling that granted second-parent adoption rights to same-sex couples.
“That’s not right. All it does is make children more vulnerable,” says Barkley.
“(The religious right is) always talking about how important two-parent homes are. Well, guess what; there are plenty of same-sex couples who make up two-parent homes, and they want to compromise that.”
But, to Barkley, the proposed referendum is more than just an attack on legal protections for GLBT Mainers and their families. She sees it as nothing short of “an attack on the dignity and self-esteem of Mainers.”
“Just having this petition out there feels like a personal attack, knowing that there are people in my own community who don’t want me to be able to rent an apartment, keep my job or, someday, raise children,” she says.
In fact, Barkley says the petition makes her feel unsafe. Part of her job involves visiting local churches to provide domestic violence prevention resources. And while New England, especially, is home to many queer-positive Christian denominations and congregations, a significant number of local pastors and their followers support Heath’s position.
“Violent thoughts and words precede violent actions, and if these people wish me harm, I don’t feel comfortable entering their space,” Barkley says.
In a recent opinion piece, Jeff Inglis, editor of the Portland Phoenix, Maine’s highest circulation alternative newsweekly, called on his colleagues in the local press to “start calling Michael Heath what he is, and has always been: the venomous leader of a fringe hate group.”
“Despite being roundly defeated every time he has tried to deprive Mainers of human rights, he's trying again,” wrote Inglis.
“It's obvious that last time, the ‘Maine Won't Discriminate’ campaign seized on an excellent name for their effort - no matter how filled with intolerance, Heath clearly knew he couldn't become the ‘No, You're Wrong - Maine WILL Discriminate’ campaign. What slogan is he going to try this time? ‘Bring Back Bigotry’?”
And the alternative papers aren’t the only ones calling Heath to task. A recent editorial in the Bangor Daily News also criticized the latest push for a referendum, noting, “The most troubling part of the proposed referendum is the attempt to excise sexual orientation from the state human rights law. It’s hard to imagine what harm the league believes comes when gay people are given the same access to housing, education, credit and employment as everyone else.”
But what about the first amendment protections that guarantee Heath, and others like him, freedom of speech and freedom of religious expression? Is it fair to label the Christian Civic League a hate group, when members believe they are only being faithful to the dictates of scripture?
Barkley thinks so.
“I don’t want to dictate what they believe. I don’t want to dictate their right to speak freely. If they believe that homosexuality is a sin, and they want to preach that, I have nothing to say about it,” she says.
“But when they start trying to pass laws that make it legal to discriminate against me, it oversteps the bounds of freedom of religion or freedom of speech.”
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