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10/13/2009
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Staff photo by Andy Molloyfrom the Kennebec Journal
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Long ago, they decided the word divorce would not be a part of their vocabulary. After 33 years, two children and a period of struggle, they are youthful retirees who hope to someday become snowbirds again and haul their camper to a warmer climate for the winter.
But this fall, they will devote a good chunk of their time working in support of Question 1, a ballot measure that would repeal the state's same-sex marriage law.
"It's really not us against them," Craig said as light streamed through one of the skylights of their timber frame home. "I don't have any problem with homosexual people, but my beliefs I have to stand by. I believe what the Bible says, and I believe the Bible says it's a man and a woman."
Craig, 53, and Alice, 56, attend Calvary Temple in Waterville and are active in Light of Life Ministries, a nonprofit Christian organization with an Augusta book store and multiple radio stations.
"Our stations reach almost the entire state of Maine," he said. "We get to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in music."
With their dog, Sasha, keeping an eye on the carpenters installing a new deck outside their home, the couple talked about what marriage has meant to them.
They met in the military. "She was a medic and I was a firefighter," he said. "We knew each other for a real short time. Three days and we were engaged."
They got married at an Air Force Base in California and after a short honeymoon, they got back to duty.
The Kramers said they went through a difficult time in their marriage after their son was seriously injured at a California amusement park. But by remaining faithful to each other, they were able to work through their difficulties, he said.
"We stick together no matter what, through thick and thin," Alice said.
Both said they would not object if same-sex couples wanted to have additional legal protections. But they don't think it should be called marriage.
"I don't oppose them having a different designation," he said. "I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. They want to have a civil union, I could accept that if that's what they think they need to have."
Alice said she wanted to emphasize that their opposition to gay marriage isn't about hate. "I have many gay friends," she said. "I have no problem with that."
The couple moved from Arizona to Maine in 1992 and bought their current home in South China a year later. Kramer was a firefighter and dispatcher at Togus veterans medical center until his retirement in 2006.
Although they haven't worked on campaigns before, Alice has been active in anti-abortion efforts in the past and has participated in vigils outside family clinics. She's also volunteered as a rape crisis counselor and is working on a book that will feature her life experiences told in words and photography.
For this election, they plan to work the phones and make sure "Yes" voters get to the polls.
"The big thing is going to be getting the Christians out to vote," he said. "We're going to be trying to get people to register and get out to vote."
The Kramers said that they are like many many gay-marriage opponents who think that the Legislature and the governor should have put the question to a public vote.
But a successful people's veto effort, backed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland and the Christian group the Maine Jeremiah Project, has now made it possible for citizens to vote on the issue.
The groups gathered about 100,000 signatures to call for a public vote, far exceeding the required 55,087 necessary for a people's veto.
The new law redefines marriage as the union of any two people regardless of gender. It spells out an exemption for religious institutions that don't want to perform same-sex marriages.
Polls show it's going to be close vote.
"Right now we've had the Legislature just decide that it was going to be the way they wanted it to be and I don't think the people of Maine really had the chance to voice their opinion," Craig said.
And when they do, the Kramers are hoping a majority of the voters in the state will agree with them that the traditional definition of marriage should once again be on the books in Maine.
"I support marriage as it is now," he said. "We want to call it traditional marriage. I'll call it marriage the way it's supposed to be."
Susan Cover -- 620-7015
scover@centralmaine.com
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