I living Massachusetts where we've had gay marriage for over 5 years and I’m going to explain why I think you in Maine who are opposed to gay marriage should vote "No" to make gay marriage legal, and for reasons that are much more consistent with American values and conservative principles than voting to make it illegal. It has to do with freedom, the ultimate American value and the bedrock conservative principle.
I live in Massachusetts, where for 5 years gay marriage has been legal. No one, absolutely no one, has been hurt by gay marriage. I’m going to repeat that because it is central to my argument. No one, absolutely no one, has been hurt by gay marriage in 5 years in Massachusetts. You are probably hearing all sorts of dire predictions about what will happen if gay marriage is legalized in Maine, but that is what has actually happened in the real world. Nothing.
I’m going to explain why I think you who are opposed to gay marriage should vote "No" to make gay marriage legal, and for reasons that are much more consistent with American values and conservative principles than voting to make it illegal. It has to do with freedom, the ultimate American value and the bedrock conservative principle.
It’s very simple. The most fundamental premise of American freedom is that we don’t make illegal that which harms no one. That’s why we have laws against murder, polluting, robbery, and fraud. They all cause harm to people. That’s why we don’t have laws limiting free speech, religious freedom, singing badly, and committing fashion disasters. Gay marriage causes harm to no one. It is, therefore, most consistent with the American principle of freedom that it be legal.
"But," you may say, "I consider homosexuality a sin." I disagree, but that’s irrelevant. You considering it a sin is also irrelevant as to whether or not gay marriage should be legal. We, as a society, do not make everything that even most people consider a sin illegal. In fact, of the Ten Commandments, only 3 - murder, stealing and bearing false witness - are ever illegal in America; and bearing false witness is only illegal under oath. Those 3 are illegal not because they are sins, but because they cause harm to others. Others of the Ten Commandments – not making graven images, honoring your father and mother, keeping the Sabbath, not coveting – may be useful principles for many, but few reasonable people would want to enact them into law.
"But," you may say, "My church believes gay marriage is wrong." I would argue that they have every right to be opposed but no right to try to force their belief on others. It is another basic tenet of freedom in America that we don't force our religious beliefs on others by dint of law. If we want to pass a law for or against something we have to have a good and compelling reason other than that it is a religious "belief." We have to demonstrate that it causes harm to others. If we believed in passing laws to correspond to our religious beliefs we'd have Orthodox Jews trying to force everyone to keep kosher and Buddhists trying to force everyone to meditate daily. We’ve had times in our history when religious beliefs have been injected into our laws. Our more enlightened society has long since abandoned those ideas.
"But," you may say, "Marriage has always been between a man and a woman." If there is anything that has marked human society it is change. Failure to change has much more often been a prescription for disaster than making changes. Just because something has always existed doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be changed. Slavery is also as old as civilization. In biblical times slavery was accepted as a normal part of the social structure. We don’t think that way now and recognize slavery as evil. No, I’m not saying marriage between a man and a woman is evil, but neither is marriage between two men or two women.
Freedom for individuals to live their lives as they see fit within the framework of an ordered society is the underpinning of what makes America great. There is nothing more essential to our way of life. That means to limit people’s freedoms you must have a very compelling reason. Just not liking something is not enough. You must demonstrate real and proximate harm. Forbidding gays to marry doesn’t come within miles of that standard. There is no reason in the world to vote "Yes" to forbid gay marriage. If you believe in the American principle of freedom, you’ll vote "No."