Mainers United for Marriage launches

Today, Freedom to Marry joined the coalition of groups working to win the freedom to marry in Maine launched Mainers United for Marriage, the campaign to make Maine the first state to win marriage for same-sex couples through a ballot measure this November.
 
As part of today's launch, Mainers United for Marriage launched a new website and announced that Matt McTighe will serve as Campaign Manager. Our National Campaign Director Marc Solomon released this statement celebrating the launch of the campaign in Maine:
 
“Freedom to Marry is proud to be a leader in Mainers United for Marriage, the campaign to secure the freedom to marry for all of Maine’s loving and committed couples.  This campaign has been more than two years in the making, as volunteers and organizers have been making the case to Maine voters about why marriage matters to gay and lesbian couples, in the process growing public support to a solid majority of 54 percent. Under the banner of Mainers United for Marriage, families and organizations, volunteers and our own staff will now ramp up and use every resource we can muster to explain to Maine voters about why now is the time to end the exclusion of loving, committed same-sex couples and their families from the protections and support that only marriage provides.  
 
“On a personal note, I am thrilled that Matt McTighe will be managing this campaign.  I’ve worked closely with Matt since 2006, when he served as my political director at MassEquality.   Matt is smart, creative, quick on his feet, extraordinarily skilled in making the case for the freedom to marry, and relentlessly determined to win.  We at Freedom to Marry commit ourselves to working closely with Matt and the impressive team that he’s assembling in order to bring about a resounding victory in November.”   
 
Marriage advocates have been hard at work in Maine over the past several years, gathering more than 100,00 signatures and changing hearts and minds around the state. Recent polling shows that 54% of Mainers support marriage for same-sex couples, a significant increase from just two years ago. 

Winning marriage in Maine is one of Freedom to Marry’s priorities for 2012.  Freedom to Marry is providing strategic support, assistance in specific areas such as new media, and financial support through Freedom to Marry’s Win More States Fund, launched last Thursday to raise $3 million to win marriage in key battleground states this year.  
 
"Like" Mainers United for Marriage on Facebook and follow @MainersUnited on Twitter for the latest on the campaign to win marriage in Maine.