On the ballot in Maine is Question 1: Do you want to allow the State of Maine to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples? Whenever we are discussing an issue of civil rights like this one, I find myself recasting the action with the drama of segregation in the small Louisiana town where I grew up, so that I find myself asking in this new civil rights moment who is Father Borders, who is the Police Chief, and who is Aunt Carmella. The first well educated people I knew as a child were the priests assigned to the catholic church. William Borders was one of those. Later he would become the archbishop of Baltimore. The police chief was my father, who read theology and went to mass almost every day. Father Borders wanted to get rid of the purple ropes that divided the colored section from the rest of the church. He must have figured he needed support to make that move work, so he enlisted my father's help (I would love to have a recording of that conversation) and they took the ropes out and burned them. It must have been a bit later in the nearby town of Grosse Tete where my great aunt Carmella was post mistress, that the church assigned a black priest to her parish. She stopped taking communion because it was offensive to her to be served communion by a black person. So there you have my paradigm. Sadly the catholic church is now the foe of civil rights, but the mainline protestant churches and synagogues are stepping up to the Father Borders role. Those political figures, including the president, who support marriage equality are doing ok as the police chief. I know that a lot of older people are like Aunt Carmella on this question. She eventually worked it out with herself, god, and the black priest. I'm hoping they get it worked out as well and preferably before election day. Otherwise, fifty years from now, their great nieces will be telling a tale from a long ago time about how Aunt Soandso refused to accept same-sex marriage. Can you spot the newest addition to the teapot shelf? Hint: it's very festive.