Thank you for sharing your aspirations for Maine, Barbara.

I don't live in Maine because I might possibly be able to marry my soul mate of the last 17+ years, I live in Maine because it's a very special place, one of the few places in our country where you can live your life, mind you own business, put in an honest day's work, and nothing much gets in the way of that. People get together for their community's various events, suppers, fairs, tag sales, town meetings, and elections, and support each other when the occasional blizzard or crisis affects a neighbor (how many times have we put our pocket change in a jar at the register to help a neighbor in need?)

If I lose the ability to marry because fear and hostility win out in November, nothing changes about my life; it's still the place I know and love.

But if I gain the ability to marry because love and compassion take the day? Well, that would be pretty special, and would show me that Maine is even more amazing than I ever imagined.

Vote NO on 1, and make future generations of Mainers proud.

What else is there but love and compassion? Without it we are nothing.

To be great we must stand as a nation of one, with love and tolerance for all.

K & G - Married hetero couple for marriage equality and security for all families.

Voted "No" on question 1.

Nobody is teaching children anything about gays being worthless.

We are teaching our children to reject sin and immoral behaviour.

There is a big difference.

More lies and deception carried out by the "no" side.

Let's stop this nonsense, VOTE YES ON 1!!

No, Barbara, we should not want to teach our children in Maine that other children and their parents are somehow not as good. That would not be anything to be proud of. Hopefully in the very near future, there will be less and less young people and others who feel the need to hide part of who they are as you had to when you were in high school. Let's hope for the day when this will not be an issue and gay youth and others can just live their lives without others trying to impose their judgments on them (maybe as a way to try and assert some kind of false superiority ). Let's hope for the day when a same sex couple can marry if they so choose and have the benefits and protections that other committed married couples have for their families.

Voted NO on 1.

CHILDREN WILL LEARN ON THEIR OWN ,THE GREAT CIRCLE OF LIFE.

Please excuse me for not getting out my violin , what a sappy , ridiculous editorial.

.

VOTE YES ON 1. Stop the left wing radical gay agenda .

Please Vote No on ONE ~ Equality is not reserved for only the mean-spirited and the dogmatic. Not in America, not in Maine !

QUOTE from YES_ON_1, "Nobody is teaching children anything about gays being worthless. We are teaching our children to reject sin and immoral behavior. There is a big difference.”

Read the headline again, it says "worth less" not “worthless.” I don’t see how keeping people from having equal rights is valuing gays and lesbians the same. It’s taxing us more while giving us fewer state benefits. My husband and I are currently worth less in Maine, literally, having lower net worth than a straight couple with the same income. This is even more of a problem for gay couples who are raising children.

Condemning gays’ and lesbians' behavior as sinful or immoral while saying we are worthy, people deserving respect, is going to confuse kids. They are bound to have a low opinion of gays and lesbians, and this leads to bullying other kids in school. I think this is much more likely to confuse kids than a teacher saying some families are headed by two males, some by two females and some by a man and a woman.

Boo Hoo! We've become a nation of panty-waist wimps. We want so much to be accepted that we overlook out weaknesses and faults. We all need to grow up and face some cold hard facts. People are cruel. They take out their frustrations on others that they feel are inferior or below them. They pick on people for their obvious defects of faults. It's a fact of human life, and we all need to get past it or we'll spend our lives whining about insignificant crap.

When I was in school, I was teased for being cross-eyed. It really bothered me for a long time, and I used to cry about it at night. Then one day I was brushing my teeth and I looked in the mirror and discovered something......I WAS CROSS-EYED! I had ambliopia and my glasses didn't properly correct my problem, and when I looke at others one of my eyes drifted in. From that day on the teasing didn't bother me at all. When someone would call me cross-eyed, I'd simply look at them, cross the bad eye into my nose and look up with the good eye. It would freak people out, but the quit teasing me and thought my little trick was pretty cool.

What I'm trying to say is this; If people are teasing you about being fat or small or gay or whatever, if you are fat or small or gay, then accept it and get on with life. Feeling sorry for yourself and demanding special treatment will only bring more attention on you and make matters worse. If you can't accept yourself the way you are, or, in the case of your chosen lifestyle, then how in the world can you ever expect others to accept you?

Love, commitment and responsibility are not sins. Homosexuality is part of the human condition, part of creation -- NOT a lifestyle choice. Thank you for writing, Ms. Kobritz. "No" on 1.

EJParsons, you have got to be the most vile and inhumane poster on the BDN site. You're lack of empathy and compassion just goes to show what kind of person you are. Maine voters will see that too......I mean, c'mon.....one look at your posts and its downright atrocious.

You make me sick.

Vote NO on One.....because some of us do have hearts .......some of us do know how to love!

Someone hand me a tissue please...

1Jo 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Here's an even better story, and this one is true.

No Longer a Victim

by Donnie McClurkin

View a pdf of this testimony. Copies may be distributed free of charge.

A young boy’s mind should be on school and play, on trucks and toys and growing up to be whatever he wants for the moment. Pre-adolescence should be years of innocence, naiveté and blissful ignorance. When a child is thrust into adult situations that he is not mature enough to handle, that child will fall into a downward spiral of confusion that is not easily reversed.

At the age of eight, I was hurled into this spiral of confusion, violated by an instance of rape. Pandora’s box was opened into my pre-pubescent life, and I was introduced to adult sexuality, issues, and perversions beyond my ability to escape without damage. On June 6,1968, a tragedy struck my family while I was in the yard playing with my six siblings. Forgetting my responsibility of watching my 2-year-old brother, Thomas, I left him in the un-gated yard to cross the street to retrieve a ball. Unbeknownst to me, he was following me. Watching from the living room window, my mother screamed for me to get the baby. I turned around just in time to see my baby brother struck down by a speeding car—killed with my mother helplessly watching from the window. My mother got to him just in time to hear his last word: “Mommy.”

My mother was devastated by the tragic event in front of our home. My parents sent all of us children to be cared for by our Uncle Clarence. They had no way of knowing that he was a pedophile. That night I was sexually abused and raped by this uncle, causing me great hurt and confusion. I now see that this happened because he was a broken man, unhealed, with no one to help him.

A seed had been planted—a seed of homosexuality that I would struggle with for many years to come. I was not born with these sexual tendencies. It was not my chromosomes or DNA. These tendencies surfaced because I was thrust as an 8-year-old boy into my first sexual relationship with a broken man. Before I could ever know the purpose or pleasure of a woman, have my first date or even my first kiss – the wound was inflicted.

I received Jesus a year after the rape at the age of nine, but the struggle was just starting. I had feelings and thoughts that I knew were not right. I had compelling desires and attractions that developed seemingly beyond my control. These made it difficult to interact with my male friends or any males at all. I was raised also in a sea of women, adding to that difficulty. My taboo, secret homosexual desires made me shy and reclusive.

My two escapes were music and church. At church, I could escape the thoughts and feelings, and hear stories of how the power of God changed others’ lives. It was another world—my world, where I felt at peace, as if I belonged. I started playing the piano at age 11, and I was consumed with gospel music. I did not sing that well, but loved to sing all the same. I would listen for hours to Andrae Crouch and the Disciples and fantasize about singing in the group. Somehow, my perversions could not bother me there. Church was a safe haven that seemed to remove me from the grasp of the temptation—if only temporarily.

A Deceptive Underworld

At 13, I was sexually molested again. The seed of homosexual lust and desire planted by my uncle was fertilized and deeply rooted with his son’s sexual violation of me. I was told that I could not tell or he would do much worse. In fear, I remained silent for years.

Soon I discovered many others in my church wrestled with these problems and wanted to be free. They had also remained silent because the issue was taboo. Week after week, they sought deliverance from this desire. Like me, they had been thrust into this by someone who took advantage of them.

I wonder how it would have been if there were someone, - anyone - who I could have confided in before this seed took root. Instead of finding a mentor, I discovered vultures in the church -- predatory men who attempted to take advantage of a broken boy and his confusion. My security was invaded when other broken men, in need of healing, revealed their secret lifestyles and introduced me to a deceptive underworld in the church.

Singing on Sundays after a weekend rendezvous was commonplace. I saw other “Christians” in compromising places; yet faithfully, hypocritically and deceptively at their posts in church as though nothing was wrong. Brothers and sisters would look for help from these respected men and women, but found themselves victims of the broken leaders in a vicious cycle.

Despite this, my love for Christ continued to grow. God sent people to my rescue to aid in my deliverance. The women of the church ironically helped mold my masculinity, and became active in breaking this curse. Although these older mothers did not know exactly what I struggled with, the Holy Spirit revealed enough to them.

They would pray with me, talk with me, and a few of them—Sister Kitty Braizley in particular—would even teach me how to carry myself like a man. When I wanted to sing soprano, they would say, “Get some bass in your voice!” Or, “Men don’t sing soprano!” Sister Braizley even taught me how to walk. If I held my hand up in a feminine way, she would hit it and say. “Put your hands at your side. Men don’t hold their hands like that!” While these played a part in my healing, none of these things could have helped me without my desire and determination to be whole. Change requires an individual’s sincere desire in order for it to be real and complete.

A Time to Hate

The seed that was planted had to be first destroyed from the root and plucked up. I had to become tired of the torment and seek a genuine exit from the desire. I read in Ecclesiastes 3 that there is a time to love and a time to hate. That struck me as odd because I had never heard a sermon deal with why to, what to, who to and how to hate. I had to learn how to actually hate the thing that was abhorrent to God—even if it is in me.God started to deal with me through that Scripture and show me what He meant:

1. Why to hate. He hates the things that are purposed to destroy the ones He loves and are against His nature and design. He created me to be a whole man and to love one woman. Anything else is perversion of the male purpose.

2. What to hate. Whatever has been sent to confuse, delay and deny me of my purpose has to become my enemy.

3. Whom to hate. The church tends to misdirect their emotions toward what they deem “sin,” we condemn the person instead of the deed. We have damaged and lost so many with our pious and sanctimonious attitudes.

Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (KJV). Our battle is not with a person, but with the spirit that caused things to happen through the person. I do not hate the men who sexually abused me in my childhood, nor the predators who preyed on me in my weakness. I hate what caused these men to do this, what infected their minds and brought them to damage a child’s life.

4. How to hate. Develop a “dislike” for the things that have interrupted your happiness. See that wrong is wrong, no matter how you feel. The appetite that has been developed through years of abuse for things that are harmful must change. Regardless of how comfortable you have become in these situations. I began to pray daily, especially when the lust would stir up: “Lord, teach me how to hate what You hate.” I would constantly recite, “Every enemy of God is an enemy of mine.”

While my struggle continued, the more I immersed myself in the study of the Scriptures and used those verses during my temptation, I began to win the battle. Psalm 119:9-11 (NKJV) says: “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart, I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” By the Power of GodI found that when I knew the Scriptures and used them in the midst of my temptation, they gave me strength to overcome. I do not want it to sound so simple; there are many other things to be done to break the curse of homosexuality. The power of Scripture did help bring me to total deliverance. The seed was killed from its root, plucked up, and now there is a seed of righteousness that is incorruptible.

Luke 8:11 states that the “Word of God is a seed.” It is of the utmost importance that the seed of His Word be planted in your heart (mind) in order for you to maintain deliverance. When the seed is planted into a person’s heart, if used correctly it will stop the natural cycle of sin. The Word will multiply, grow, and bring forth fruit that will remain.

Some may resent some statements I have made about homosexuality. I can understand. Some have no desire to change from their lifestyle. However, there are countless people who are discontent in this lifestyle and want to be freed from it. They were thrust into homosexuality by neglect, abuse and molestation. They desperately want to live differently. For them, I write this without apology, knowing that I have been through this and have experienced God’s power to change my lifestyle. I believed that I was meant to be a whole man, made for one woman, and God brought it all about. I am delivered, and I know God can deliver others too.

--

BA - There was nothing vile or inhumane in what I wrote. It's reality. I'm sorry that reality makes you sick. Make sure you clean up after you puke.

EJParsons - your example of "if you are being teased about being __, if you are ___, then accept it and get on with life" - you left out a few things that kids get teased/bullied about. Intellectual deficits, physical disabilities, bi-racial, etc. So if a kid fits into these categories they should just accept it and get on with life. Nice way to tell the kids dong the teasing that it okay - no matter what behavior they choose to use - it doesn't matter if they are being "truthful" in their comments. So when someone (kid or adult) calls my child a "retard" or "cripple" or "baby talker" or my other child "slant eyes" or "half-breed" or "chocolate baby" well because they fit into the categories stated above, it's okay, it's "truthful" and they should just accept the derogatory terms being used to describe them. Sorry but I wasn't raised nor where my children raised to accept that kind of crap as "it's okay because it's true".

Voted NO on 1 - no law abiding citizen is worth less than another.

Jack

free2bee, do you think for a moment EJ was saying it was ok to bully??? It happens and no amount of laws is ever going to stop it. I think what EJ was implying is that we were all teased for one thing or another, show some backbone and quit your whining. The hypocrisy of it all is that you are the one here whining the most and and at the same time trying your best to legislate immorality.

Barbara, maybe you could be related to the Kobritz's' in Bangor...I don't know. I attended school with some of them, but their age would be nearly 67 (my age). However, leaving Bangor in 1964 to attend college in Boston, I came back to Bangor thereafter on occasion to visit my aging mother and for vacations only. In your article, it is very appropriate of you to write such a presentation, and put your name to it. In my opinion, public school systems ought not to "teach" anything about the gay population, Barbara, other than the fact that it SHOULD be incorporated into history, politial science or social science classes, that gays comprise as much of the working, productive and social population as any group that is accepted into these realms should be in this world we live in together.

No person should hide from gays or the fact one IS gay. You are Jewish, I'm Roman Catholic, my wife is Islamic...both you and I can accept gays into our circles and social partnerships; my wife never did nor will accept this community, based solely on her religious thought order. But...she does accept them as part of the world order. Jokes are rude pass-times some people like to present in public and show off their personal attitudes (as in this instance, towards gays). Not really acceptable manners, is it? No.

I feel in private family homes, the parents ought to discuss gay relationships and lifestyles, and completely leave it out of classroom major discussions and study curriculum, though. I'm not sending my child to attend school to learn about this. There are other subjects to be taught. But, as I said, the parents and others in the home should be well aware that gays comprise our daily interactions, and everyone straight should be aware of the facts some others are different in thought and different in perspective than some others and to accept it as it is. Thanks for the article, Barbara.

free2bee - It's sad that people choose to bully others, no matter what the reason. My point is that we have to get past our disabilities, weaknesses, choices, and whatever else we have in our lives that are causeing the teasing. If we can't accept ourselves, then we'll never amount to much of anything more than a whiner and blamer.

In another way......Life deals us a hand. Sometimes we add a card or two to the hand. Either way, we have to play the hand we have. If we fold, we lose.

That's right Santini/Cre8, keep that gay talk OUT of the classroom, can't have that.. It's important to keep them in their place isn't it, that is as far as you are concerned..

Who's going to teach children about sexuality... their friends? parents? no one? Should they be kept in the dark.. If I were a preteen, I'd want to know everything about everything so that I could be well armed in the world. I'd want to know that gays are just like me.. happy and free.. free to be who they are.. to have the same rights as others..to be respected. Is that so much to ask?

Santini: In an ideal world, all these topics would be discussed thoroughly and appropriately at home. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Anyway, young people today know that some of their classmates are gay. They (most of them) do not make a big deal out of it. This younger generation does not see people in quite the same way as many folks. There is less of this us vs. them mentality and that is a positive thing.

Of course, most people would agree that bullying, in schools and elsewhere, should not be accepted or approved of in any way. The more it can be minimized, the better for all.

Why should people who are left handed be allowed to get married? They aren't normal. Normal people are right handed. Left handed people can only get married if they use their right hand and marry another right handed person. It doesn't matter if using their right hand is uncomfortable and awkward to anyone. Being right handed is normal and using your left hand is a choice...just an attempt to be different and get attention. No one is born left handed. Their parents must have encouraged them to use their left hand instead of their right hand. People who use their left hand could have and do everything the rest of us can if they would just stop using their left hand. Why did their parents let them hang around with other people who are using their left hand? OMG, what if they teach how to be left handed in school? Then my kids will become left handed and think it's okay!

Now doesn't that sound utterly ridiculous? Why is it okay to some people to say this kind of thing about homosexuals? Just like some people are made left handed, some people are made homosexual. Everyone deserves equal rights under the law.

Vote NO on question 1

EJParsons - so I need to tell my disabled 9 year old - "Well son, you are mentally retarded, you do use crutches and sometimes a chair so you are a cripple and your speech is like that of a baby so when you get teased just pull yourself up by your boot straps, accept it because it is the truth and get over it. " Well my 16 year old, who is bi-racial has actually said "So, what's your point?" She has the intellectual ability to understand that those who are seen as different are targets and knows that those who bully use and abuse others to make themselves feel worth more. In the same sense those who do not 'fit' the names they are called are also affected:

What do you say the parents of these children?

Straight kids who have committed suicide as a direct result of anti-gay bullying:

Eric Mohat, age 17, Mentor, Ohio - 2007

Jaheem Herrera - age 11, Georgia, Apr. 2009

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover - age 11, Massachusetts, Apr. 2009

Ryan Halligan - age 13, Vermont, Oct. 2003

BTW - my post was in relation to children and how they react to being bullied by other children - not adults.

forHim - Is that what you tell your children - show some backbone and quit whining? Tell me please what it is that I'm whining "the most" about -treating others the way you wish to be treated - showing decency and respect for those who are different? Renouncing intimidation by words and actions?

Jack

God's love like a mighty ocean-times of struggle makes us strong aome would stop a cause in motion-BUT not by much and not for long. When the tyrants bring their dark ways,fear and hatred hush our song.

Through the tears we might hear God say:"It's not by much ,and not for long!

We can live in hope each new day,in God's love we all belong! we'll discover when the world strays'its not bymuch and not for long!!

" This is From Not by much and not for long by Paul Svenson

Voting no because that is what my GOD has told me is the right thing to do.

What is this need to link phediphiles and homosexuality? not all pedophiles are male, not all pedophiles abuse boys boys, most pedophiles id their sexuality as that of hetersexual. Like wise not all homosexuals where sexuly abused has children. Further more its not the sexual act in its self, it more about the power, the control pedophiles have over their victims. to degrade them, to make them feel worthless to make them feel 2nd class. That the thrill the want, the need most pedophile enjoy. Last time I researched this ... the Average pedophile is middle class, Middle aged hetersexual white male.

Voting NO on 1 as that is what my God has told me to do..

Dear yes on one Voters.. I pray to god that in the future you do not have a child, or sibling, or parant or other loved one who comes to you and says I am Gay. And should that Happen I pray to God that you accept them with love,understanding and with out judgement. I Pray that your eyes are opened and you look back and see what this vote is really about..and think about the message you sent by voting yes.

Love, honer, dignaty, RESPECT.

Voting No on 1 as thats what my God has told me is the right thing to do.

To all of those people who feel the need to " " from the Bible on this issue, Please note that I am an ordained minister. I know what the Bible say, and it is apparent that what you take from it and what I take from it are to very diffrent things. I beleive that god is love, honer, and respect. God is joy and happiness.. God is freedom, and Equality..

Religion I feel is not ment to rule or lives, mearly ment to guide us as we make our path through life. Lets face it the bible is thousands of years old, it has been written and re written many times it has been translated and made to suit mans desires and needs I am sure much has been changed, added or lost , as society has changed. it is mearly a guide for us to follow...it is not the absolute law.

Just because the the church, or preist, or minister tells you to vote this way or that, does not make it right. If your church,minister or preist told you to Jump off a bridge I am pretty sure 99% of you would not.

Voting No on 1 as that is what my God has told me is the right thing to do.

Reverend Mike

Why not? They certainly are worth less.

One peron wrote:

Nobody is teaching children anything about gays being worthless.

We are teaching our children to reject sin and immoral behaviour.

There is a big difference.

More lies and deception carried out by the "no" side.

Let's stop this nonsense, VOTE YES ON 1!!

I am glad to say that my parent raised two gay children in love. They taught their children about religious, giving back to the community, and most important that we need to treat other as we would want them to treat us.

You have to be TAUGHT TO HATE (South Pacific). When you teach your children about rejecting sin, do you take a minute and stress that they not bullly gay youth? Do you teach your children that they should not be afraid of all gay persons and there is no excuse for being part of a hate crime.

Lies maybe not., but how about some facts! Did you know that that: 90.2% of gay students or 9 out of 10 students hear gay used in a negative fom both teachers and classmates in a year. 44.1% (or 3 our of 10) of gay students have been physically harassed (pushed or shoved) in a school year. 22.1% of gay youth are serverl victimized, ie punched, kicked, injured with a weapon. (GLSEN)

Lets stop the nonsense! I agree let's make schools safe for all of our youth childern gay, straight, perceived as gay, and those who do not conform to gender . Being different should not be a reason for other to make slures, harass, bully or committ a hate crime. Support after school activities Gay and Straight Alliance and Bible Study.

I hope that every Mainer take a good look at their values and votes their conscience tommorow. And I hope that after the election Mainers take a moment to find ways to make all our children safe in school, end job discrimation, and have same sex parent who have choosen to marry and raise children in a loving and protective home.

Jo-Anne Fournier, raised in Lewwiston/Auburn ME

You don't have to teach a child that there's something "different" about the same sex being together, for God's sake my three year old daughter saw two guys together and asked why they were holding hands. If you teach your child to be disgusted by it, then they will be, but if they find it repulsive on their own, then what do you do? Deprogram them? My son's seventeen and has a gay uncle and you know what? If he could vote, he would vote YES as many of his classmates (per a conversation in school the other day) so don't hold your breath that the younger generation are more "open minded."

We don't need to redefine marriage for a very small amount of people who want special rights. Give an inch and take a mile, just like last time.

VOTE YES on ONE.

Reverend Mike - Which denomination ordained you?

Free2bee, I think all that EJ is saying is that encountering ignorance in others is a fact of life. Yeah, there are gonna be kids who make fun of your disabled child, and the point is theres nothing you, he, or the government can do about it.

There's nothing vile and inhumane about saying you're going to encounter people who hate you for no reason. Its a fact of life. The best you can do is prepare your kids for it.

Does it suck that people bully people about things they can't change? Yes. Does it still happen? Yes. Are you powerless to stop it? Yes.

Its unfortunate, but true.

free2bee - You should do whatever is necessary to protect your children from harm, bullying, or disrespect. But, you also have to teach them that people are cruel, and no matter how much you protect them, it is going to happen to them from time to time, unless you lock them up in a 100% controlled environment. People with disabilities can't help the way they are, but they can accept their disabilities and they can accept that some people are cruel. And you and other parents of disabled children should consider it your responsibility to teach them how to cope with the cruelty of others and how to accept and overcome their disabilities. As for being targets, we all have a target on our backs to someone out there. Just read some of these comments and you'll realize that.

I was in no way trying to be cruel in my comments. I was just being real. No offense meant.

'karenlite'...yes, keep gay education out of classrooms. To my opinion, Homosexual Education is NOT a subject that should be taught anywhere in formal educational theaters. It is bad enough to have it physically "taught" in churches, organizations, in public and private bathrooms and other places. Let this be. Would you be interested in undertaking a 6-month classroom course as a mandatory course in the chemical and physical properties of horse manure? Same thing to me.

Who will teach kids about sexuality? Read my comment...THE PARENTS, that's who...and we, as parents, who have the FIRST ORDER OF RESPONSIBILITY TO OUR CHILDREN, will not allow some unknown force or person (teacher) perform this responsibility for us. If you desire to know about homosexuality, there are plenty of options available, other than public and/or private school systems. As Cher just stated, unfortunately teaching your children about sexual relationships are not always the case...not a perfect world as we would like it to be, rather, some parents NEVER teach their kids about sex. Their prerogative. Bullying should be disciplined, as this act is another display of ignorance and being uneducated or performing for the peers. Everyone here on earth has a purpose in life, but when prejudices reign supreme, this is the over-the-top issue; not the fact that we should acknowledge "teaching" anything such as homosexuality in public educational forums ought to be the new-age school thing!

Reverend Mike, I also want to know who ordained you as a minister. You are barely literate. Your writing skills leave so much to be desired that I doubt either side would be thrilled with your support. You should refrain from voicing your opinion in a public forum until you have attained at least a 5th grade level of writing and spelling. Sorry, but it is true.