Maine House to take up gay marriage bill

[WillParkinson]

Maine House to take up gay marriage bill

(Augusta, Maine) Diane Sammer and her partner, Pam Dennis, were careful to sign papers giving Sammer power of attorney over Dennis’ affairs. Yet after Dennis died of a heart attack and her body was to be cremated, the undertaker refused to accept Sammer’s signature.

After some legal wrangling, Sammer signed a document to free the undertaker of any potential legal liability for taking away the remains of the woman with whom she had lived for 28 years.

“It was humiliating and just made an unbearable situation that much more so,” said Sammer, who’s from the coastal Maine town of Harpswell.

Sammer’s situation is one of many examples of how Maine law differentiates between straight and gay couples, said Jennifer Wriggins, a professor at the University of Maine School of Law.

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