Bangor Daily News:

In some ways, it was a typical summer wedding in Maine. Vows were exchanged, lips were locked and couples danced.

“I proclaim my committment out loud to you with pride and joy for all the world to see,” brides and brides, grooms and grooms and brides and grooms said to each other Saturday in West Market Square.

The ceremony, led by two Unitarian Universalist ministers, did not include the standard promises to love and honor. It also wasn’t legal.

That was the point organizers of Bangor’s annual Pride Festival and parade wanted to make — a majority of the couples who took part in the mock wedding ceremony can’t legally marry under Maine law because they are of the same sex.

If a referendum on the ballot in November is approved by voters, same-sex couples would be able to wed.