HUMAN RIGHTS REFERENDUM

Vote 'no' on Tuesday against discrimination

Endorsing discrimination will say many terrible things about Maine.

©Copyright 1998 Guy Gannett Communications

Should Maine wake Wednesday morning to the news that it has rejected protecting the civil rights of its gay and lesbian citizens, what will that say about our state?

Surely it will tell homosexual men and women that this state lacks the will to protect them from unfair treatment in securing a job, a place to live or a loan. It will tell them that Maine does not want their business, their talents or their ideas. It will tell gay and lesbian citizens that they are not safe here, that if they choose to seek justice when attacked, they risk losing a livelihood, a home or an opportunity to borrow to get ahead.

Surely it will tell others who are different, whose race or religion is not that of the majority, that Maine is a place that does not value equal treatment under the law.

Surely it will tell those who would discriminate, those who would fire someone, or turn them out of their homes or deny them a loan, that such behavior is condoned here. It will encourage such people to continue to reduce their fellow human beings to ''gay'' or ''lesbian.'' It will allow those who would discriminate to say, ''We can't let the it.gays get a foot in the door, or the it.gays will foist their agenda on us.''

Surely it will tell employers, landlords, bankers and others that what goes on in people's private lives, in their most private moments, is an appropriate basis on which to make the most public judgments.

Surely it will tell the state's children that they need not accept those who are different, that it's appropriate to be unfair to them. Should any of those children grow up to be gay or lesbian, it will tell them that they are not welcome to stay here, and they should take their talents elsewhere.

Surely, most surely, it will tell God that we are once again not worthy of His love, that we do not live up to His word by loving and accepting our fellow human beings.

On Tuesday, Mainers will be asked to go to the polls to decide whether to retain Maine's law protecting the civil rights of its homosexual citizens. A ''no'' vote will retain the law, assuring equal rights to all. Please vote ''no'' on Tuesday. Doing so will surely benefit this beautiful state.