Respect Maine
By Derek Viger
I stayed up until 12:30 Tuesday night hoping the results would flip. They didn’t. Question 1 passed and LD 1020, the same sex marriage law, was repealed. I woke up Wednesday morning feeling ill, overtired, and defeated. 47% of Maine felt the same way. I donned a black shirt and went about my day.
Later that afternoon a disturbing trend started appearing onTwitter. The previous day Maine and #VoteNoOn1 climbed into the top Twitter trending topics. Suddenly, everyone turned on us: Shame on Maine and Boycott Maine started to become popular topics on Twitter. I have to wonder, what the hell are these people thinking?
There are just so many things wrong with boycotting Maine over the outcome of Tuesday’s vote. Mainers seem to understand this. Mainers on both sides of the issue knew that we would have to get along no matter what happened. We’re all still neighbors, co-workers, and Mainers despite the great disappointment of nearly half of us. There is still work to be done for those who seek same sex marriage. We want to move forward on this issue. “Stay the course,” said Jesse Connolly in his response to No on 1 supporters yesterday. I honestly have to question if boycotting and “shaming” all of Maine is the course supporters should be taking. You should too.
47% of Maine voted no on Question 1. Shaming Maine or boycotting our products hurts all of us. You can’t just boycott lobsters that come from lobstermen who voted Yes. In fact, some of No on 1’s biggest support came from coastal counties. A boycott of lobster would be hurting those who supported the cause you champion. One proponent of the boycott called the movement an “intellectual fight“. What part of your intellect tells you that hurting those who agree with you in order to get more people to agree with you is a good idea?
While you consider destroying Maine’s livelihood, though I question how effective most boycotts are, consider this. Every dollar you take away from a Mainer could be a dollar that would support same sex marriage. Mainers donated an incredible amount of money to the No on 1 effort. People from all walks and all backgrounds contributed. Again, you can’t boycott some of us without boycotting all of us. That money you are taking away to “punish” us could in turn damage the cause. That money you’re withholding may be money a Mainer would donate to support same sex marriage in Maine or in another state. Do you really want to do that?
That brings me to my next point. What did you do? Did you donate money? Did you blog for equality? Did you donate your make calls? Did you knock on doors? Even if you didn’t live in Maine, there were options to do all of these things. I saw a number of supporters travel for equality. You could make calls from home whether you lived in Maine or not. What did you do to help? So many Mainers gave so much for the effort. If anyone has a right to be outraged they do. It is easy for people to sit in their easy chairs spew hate and Maine for rejecting “Prop 1″ (we don’t call them Propositions here, by the way). It is a complete disrespect to the hard fought battle so many gave to in Maine to shame and boycott us. I never expected to be kicked while we were down by the very community who should be supporting us still. Et tu, LGBT community From Away?
Many Mainers have stood against this disrespectful behavior from all sides of the issue. “Anyone who wants to #boycottmaine – take a step back & see how much work YOU’VE put towards the cause before judging us,” said @stfumaggie. “#BoycottMaine is NOT the answer, supporting our strong, creative, #LGBT-friendly economy IS!” said @timorousme. “Any attack on the Maine economy hurts everyone in the state regardless of how they voted or where they live,” said @JimFoss. These are just a sampling of Mainers who asked that we approach this outcome with reason and really think about what we are suggesting in these boycotts.
I ask all Mainers to stand together against these disrespectful attacks from out of state. Some of us are angry and there is nothing wrong with that. There is something wrong with trying to punish everyone for how some voted. Remember they were asked to vote. We don’t punish people for voting in this country when they disagree with us. We might as well appoint a dictator now if that is what you believe. I ask for a little sense in these times. Regroup and try again. Let’s keep moving forward in our efforts. Don’t let these senseless attacks push us backward.
And remember, we were all Mainers on November 3rd. We are all still Mainers today.
Enjoyed reading this post, albeit a little outdated by now on my behalf. I shared the same thoughts on November 4. From someone who volunteered and contributed so much money to the No on 1 campaign, it was disconcerting seeing all these anti-Maine Facebook groups spring up started by Mainers who didn't contribute a minute or a penny to the campaign. Personally, I feel that people who pin the blame on Maine or the No on 1 campaign for not succeeding with the vote have not right to do so, unless they did everything they possibly could to sway the vote- otherwise, they're just as much to blame as the Yes on 1 supporters were for Maine's loss.