Bob Emrich is the Pastor of Emmanuel Bible Baptist Church and serves on the executive committee of Protect Marriage Maine and is the chairman of the Christian Civic League. He writes in the Bangor Daily News:

"...The debate is not whether same-sex couples should be able to live as they wish or love whom they choose. But marriage is about far more than what adults want for themselves. It’s about what children need.

Marriage provides in large part a mechanism to provide for the next generation. It is society’s bond with children. It says to children that we as a community have recognized a structure, the institution of marriage, that is uniquely focused on connecting children to the people responsible for bringing them into the world — their parents. Indeed, marriage is our only institution that is focused on children in this way.

... The shortcomings of the institution of marriage (divorce, co-habitation, adultery, etc.) are no reason to abandon it. Rather, we should be strengthening marriage by devoting resources — in churches, in schools and in nonprofit agencies and departments of government — to creating a thriving marriage culture in our state and nation.

The Bangor Daily News joins with backers of same-sex to attempt to make marriage a political issue. It isn’t. Marriage wasn’t created by government; it was merely recognized by government. There is nothing political about marriage in the least. And in making it a political issue, the paper and gay marriage advocates (really, they are one and the same), seek to set up a straw-man confrontation with anyone who opposes redefining marriage."