Staff Writer 

Democratic Sen. Larry Bliss said he tried not to become “the gay legislator” in the first eight years he represented Cape Elizabeth, South Portland and a portion of Scarborough.

This year – his ninth in state government – he is either sponsoring or co-sponsoring 101 bills, including those proposing to wave admission to state beaches and parks for veterans and military personnel, establish programs to provide direct funding for municipal transportation and to provide equal pay for the legislature’s tribal representatives. 

And LD-1020, the bill recently approved by Gov. John Baldacci permitting same-sex marriage in Maine.

“It’s important, to me, that people see me as the same legislator I have been,” Bliss said. “The fact that this bill so clearly affects me doesn’t change this.”

Bliss said he first became involved with Equality Maine’s movement to legalize same-sex marriage when his partner – who married Bliss in California more than a year ago – decided to work from their Cottage Road residence. Bliss eventually was able to add his domestic partner to his health insurance plan but said the process was “intrusive, humiliating and unacceptable.” Bliss also said the state considers the increase in the policy as taxable income, something married heterosexual couples are exempt from.

“If we were a man and a woman, it would have taken 15 seconds,” he said. “That’s what brought me on board. It’s not only right for equality, but for fiscal reasons.”

 Although he originally was slated to sponsor the bill, Bliss said he decided “it was probably not the right thing to do” when he was appointed chairman of the State Senate Judiciary Committee, one of the first groups to discuss LD-1020. Eventually, the committee “overwhelmingly supported” the bill, every member for individual reasons, Bliss said. 

“I have an incredible Judiciary Committee. They are all insightful, thoughtful – every person,” he said. “Nobody [supported LD-1020] because they were voting for me.”

Bliss said he was surprised how fast the bill moved through the process – so quickly he and other supporters invited to witness its final approval couldn’t get to the State House in time.

“Baldacci, in the solitude of his office, had already signed it,” Bliss said. “The media were there, so we ended up just sort of standing around. It was very anticlimactic.” 

Maine will be the fifth state to legalize same-sex marriage and Bliss said he believes in the political phrase “As Maine goes, so goes the nation.” 

“Clearly we’re on the right side of the street here,” he said. “It won’t be long until a critical number of states get on board and the federal government will have to recognize this.”

Bob Emrich, spokesman for the Maine Marriage Alliance group and a Baptist pastor in Plymouth, couldn’t disagree more. 

“I don’t think anyone expected them to do it, people are angry,” he said of legalizing same-sex marriage. “We think that marriage is real specific, it’s too radical of a change for society. It isn’t about civil or gay rights at all.”

Emrich and other members of the Maine Marriage Alliance filed an application with the secretary of state last week that requests wording for a ballot question that would repeal the governor’s approval of LD-1020. That question could be on the November 2009 ballot if the group can collect more than 55,000 signatures by September, he said. 

“The whole thing’s got to go away,” Emrich said of LD-1020. “It says it’s an act to affirm religious freedom, which is very deceptive. It says a minister does not have to perform a wedding he does not want to, but we already have that freedom. All religious freedom is put in danger by this bill. For those of us who are religious, it’s never been about the ceremony. Let’s get it on the ballot and decide.”

Bliss said he expected the group will collect the necessary signatures and LD-1020 could ultimately be repealed unless groups like Equality Maine are able to raise awareness.

“We don’t need 21 votes in the Senate, we need 250,000 votes on the ballot,” he said. “Now what we need is education.”

Adding the same-sex marriage issue to the ballot is a hurdle Bliss has tackled before. Although he said it is not typical for committee chairmen to entertain amendments from other senators, he said he was receptive to Republican Fryeburg Sen. Dave Hastings’ concerns about sending the issue to voters.

Equality Maine Communications Director Liz Steadman said there hasn’t ever been a referendum on the possibility of legalizing same-sex marriage in Maine, although several citizen initiatives “that talked a lot about same-sex marriage” had been defeated since 2005.

“There was a lot of discussion that revolved around having a referendum and it was one thing Sen. Hastings really struggled with,” Bliss said. “I think the argument that ‘A majority should never vote on the rights of a minority’ was a very compelling one.”

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said his office is working on forming the ballot question that will be on the petition, a process he said he has to be careful to do correctly.

“Once you send [the ballot question] out, you can’t say ‘Oops, we made a mistake can you bring all those petitions you had all those people sign back,’” he said. “This is the one area where the secretary of state has complete, unrivaled discretion. I can send whatever question I want out, but the more discretion you have, the more careful you have to be.”

Dunlap said the question must be ready 10 business days after the May 7 application filed by Emrich.

Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.