Maine House to take up gay marriage bill (Portland Press Herald 5/5/09)

[fight4my3sons]

Prospects for the bill appear favorable, but the final decision may rest with a referendum vote.

AUGUSTA — The Maine House will register its first votes today on a same-sex marriage bill, whose prospects appear good given heavy co-sponsorship by members and momentum from last week's Senate vote in favor of the measure.

The bill, which won a 21-14 vote of approval in the Senate on Thursday, has 64 co-sponsors, 55 of them representatives. Sponsorship is overwhelmingly Democratic, the majority party in both chambers. There are 95 Democrats in the 151-member House.

"With 50-plus co-sponsors, we feel cautiously optimistic it will be a very good vote," said Shenna Bellows of the Maine Civil Liberties Union, a leading supporter of the bill.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=254605&ac=PHnws