Gay marriage ruling spotlights Maine bill Legislation grants inheritance rights

PORTLAND – A Massachusetts supreme court ruling that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional will have little effect on Maine’s law that bars marriages of couples of the same sex.

That’s because Maine has had a Defense of Marriage Act since 1997 that bars marriages of couples of the same sex.

But the Massachusetts ruling may draw attention to Maine legislation that gives domestic partners inheritance rights.

The bill, called the Act To Promote the Financial Security of Maine’s Families and Children, is the only bill related to gay rights that the Legislature plans to take up this session. It was carried over from the first regular session, when it received minimal public attention.

Some legislators are urging their colleagues to examine the bill on its merits and not get caught up in the bigger battle over gay marriage.

Rep. Roderick Carr, R-Lincoln, who serves on the Judiciary Committee and is undecided on the bill, said the Massachusetts ruling would not affect how he votes.

“If I made my decision based on everything they did in Massachusetts,” he said, “I’d be really messed up.”

But Michael Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, sees a connection. He said the Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance, which is lobbying for the bill, is trying to achieve in incremental measures what the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Vermont Legislature have accomplished in one swoop.

He said the bill would effectively create civil unions for Maine’s lesbian and gay couples.

“Incremental steps is their strategy now,” he said. “We have been arguing that this is like civil unions, although under a different name and going slower.”

Betsy Smith, executive director of the Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance, said married couples enjoy about 1,200 benefits from the federal and state governments, and this legislation does not seek to give gay and lesbian couples all of those benefits.

“We are only talking about two,” she said, “and you can only take advantage of them when you die.”

The bill changes the state’s “next of kin” definition to give domestic partners the same rights as a spouse when dividing up the estate of someone who dies without a will.

It also gives domestic partners custody rights of the remains of the deceased.