TNG reader Nathan Tabak takes a volunteer vacation to defend marriage equality in Maine. 

Oct. 17

After traveling from BWI to Portland yesterday, where I stayed with an incredibly nice, well-to-do middle-aged straight couple, I officially started my Volunteer Vacation.

Orientation began in the afternoon at the lively office of the No on 1 headquarters in Portland. My orientation group of about 30 people comprises a wide range of people from all over the country; in addition to a substantial California contingent, there are also volunteers from Chicago, Cleveland, and several Oregonians with “Portland to Portland” written on their nametags. One middle-aged volunteer choked up while describing his straight daughter’s eloquent defense of same-sex marriage. After an elderly volunteer from Rhode Island introduces himself and cites his commitment of time to the cause, his wife quips: “He’s also given generously, but he won’t know that until the Capitol One bill comes.”

We’re greeted by Maine Senate Majority Leader Phil Bartlett, a leading proponent of the marriage equality bill signed into law last May, who advises visitors to Maine: “Wear layers, and remember, whiskey cures everything.” He, along with several of the subsequent speakers, places a heavy emphasis on Maine’s marriage fight as part of a broader pro-SSM movement, pointing out that Maine’s marriage bill was defeated 33 times in the past. Phil energizes the crowd by describing the bill as the beginning of an “effort that’s going to sweep through the country.”

The volunteers get a primer to the cause from an affable, grey-haired woman named Darlene, who warns us to keep the focus on Maine (“Don’t talk about same-sex marriage in other states”), and gives us an extensive primer on the history of the SSM fight here. Following an extensive presentation on volunteer tactics (which I will refrain from laying out here), we’re served food prepared by a charming lesbian couple, who tell the group “When we win, you’re invited.”

I meet two of my housemates at the Portland HQ—a woman from San Diego, who served as a supervolunteer on the No on 8 campaign, and a college sophomore from Rhode Island who works on behalf of an environmental group. Both are absolutely brilliant, and have far more experience with this kind of activism than I do. On the ride to Bangor, much discussion ensues on LGBT politics and the upcoming gay marriage fights, which I am unfortunately unable to adequately summarize here.

A bit after 7, we arrive in our spectacularly beautiful housing at the Loon Hollow vacation homes outside Bangor. One of my housemates, a former lawyer who came all the way from Chicago to get involved in LGBT activism for the first time, is staying in the “Princess Room,” a perhaps overly cheery bedroom drowning in the color pink, teddy bears, and tiaras.

After narrowly surviving a harrowing ride to a grocery in heavy snow, we return home and prepare for the long day ahead of us.

Oct. 18

I wish I had an entry today. However, most of the stuff I’d like to write about would concern the internal workings of the No on 1 office, which isn’t really an appropriate topic for something that’s publicly viewable prior to the election; as we were reminded in the Portland meeting, the opposition is watching everything we say and write online. I will note that the day was long (over 12 hours between entering and leaving the office) and that I have nothing bad to say about the staff and my fellow volunteers. I left exhausted and still recovering from a migraine, but with a much better grasp of the fundamentals of data entry, volunteer recruitment phone calls, and most importantly, the sheer enormity of the work necessary to sustain a campaign like this.

Oct. 19

Spent the day doing multiple “in-person volunteer recruitment” (IPVR) shifts on the University of Maine campus in Orono, outside Bangor.  IPVR basically comes down to milling around a spot on campus and attempting to cajole students into volunteering for a variety of activities, including phone banks, joining IPVR groups to recruit other students, or signing up people for the campus’ upcoming Early Vote Day on Oct. 28, which will be our best chance to rack up as many votes against Question 1 as possible prior to the election.

Frustratingly, but unsurprisingly, I find out firsthand that support for our cause is much wider than it is deep. When asked, the majority of UMaine students oppose Question 1, and say they intend to vote against it; however, it’s tough to find students who are actually willing to commit to volunteer shifts, and many cite tests, sports, or a vague “crowded schedule” as rationales for turning down our attempts at recruitment. These include students who are quick to cite their own gay relatives as reasons for professing strong opposition to Question 1. The art of attempting to break through this reluctance by means of probing questions is known as the “hard ask,” and I have quite a ways to progress when it comes to developing that skill. Nonetheless, I manage to recruit a pretty decent number of volunteer shifts over the course of the day—especially considering that this is my first time doing IPVR. Keep building that pyramid!

Reading the online news tonight, I’m pleased to see that NPR has forced Stand for Marriage Maine to take its appalling “Gay Sex in Schools” ad off the air. On the other hand, the latest poll has Question 1 at 48-48, a much worse picture for other recent polls that showed it lagging behind. This should prevent complacency, at the very least…