AUGUSTA – Maine Attorney General Janet Mills of Farmington made an unexpected appearance at the public hearing on a bill that would allow same-sex marriage to be recognized by the state.

Mills received a standing ovation for her remarks in support of the measure, sponsored by Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton.
“I speak as a Mainer, as someone who grew up in a Republican, traditional family in western Maine, who has walked the divide between moderate Republicans, Libertarian independents and liberal Democrats throughout my career,” said Mills, a former Democratic legislator, to members of the Judiciary Committee. 

“People in my community do not mind if two people of the same sex live together, share property together, raise a family together, and that is what we traditionally call marriage,” she said. “The people of my community do care that there is enough love to nourish a marriage, enough love to grow a family, enough love to sustain a community.”

Mills said passage of the bill would make her job of enforcing Maine’s civil rights laws much easier.

“This act will not require a church to perform a marriage ceremony against it’s beliefs, it will codify the state’s recognition of the civil entity that is marriage in our statutes,” she said.

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