NO ON QUESTION 1

“Do you want to reject the new law that would protect people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and credit based on their sexual orientation?”

With the rest of New England and nearly half the country’s population covered by similar laws, the doomsday warnings of what will happen in Maine if this law stands should have been vanquished by now. Instead, this small step toward equality again has become a major cultural fight and again Maine voters should stand up for equal treatment by rejecting this question.

The protections in the state’s human-rights law already are provided based on race, religion, age and disability among others. The protections are explicit. No one is guaranteed a job, an apartment, a seat at a restaurant or a loan. Instead, those things may not be denied solely because a person is black or Jewish or old or, under the legislation in question, gay.

Cities such as Bangor and Portland and businesses such as Bath Iron Works and Unum already have these protections for homosexuals. They report no false lawsuits as a result, no special rights demanded or conferred, none of the threatened moral degradation opponents claim will befall Maine under the law passed by Democrats and Republicans in the last Legislature. Legislators passed the bill after being persuaded

by the testimony of victims that discrimination is real and harmful in Maine. And whether there are only 30 instances a year of discrimination against gays in these protected areas or 300, every single instance is wrong and should be prohibited by the state.

These arguments are not new and, as the history of this legislation shows, not always enough for opponents of this protection. We suspect that both sides have stopped listening to the other, that opinions have hardened as the decades have passed and those who will vote on this issue Nov. 8 knew which way they would mark their ballots long before the latest round of debate began. If that is the case and you are contemplating a No vote, the only thing left to do is make certain you get to the polls because the Yes side certainly will.

The Yes side is better organized and better connected statewide. When polls show the outcome close, as some do this time, count on the Yes side to be better at getting its voters to show up and vote. Maine can keep debating this issue – the human-rights law declares as its policy “to keep continually in review of all practices infringing on the basic human right to a life with dignity …” – or it can answer it with a strong No on Election Day. We urge the latter, and that demands above all that voters who agree show up Nov. 8. No excuses.