By Lucas Grindley on Advocate.com

Exact language for a ballot initiative in Maine come 2012 was approved today, ramping up a showdown with antigay organizations like the National Organization for Marriage, which is already funneling money into the state.

The text would legalize same-sex marriage while including religious exemptions, like the ones approved in New York by state lawmakers, according to the Bangor Daily News. Now supporters can get to work on gathering the 57,000 signatures needed to put the question on the ballot.

A vote on whether to ban same-sex marriage was passed in Maine in 2009, with 53% of the state supporting a ban. Organizers of a second vote are hoping public sentiment has changed in the ensuing years.

“We believe there’s strong support for marriage in Maine,” said Matt McTighe, director of public education for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, during a a news conference announcing their plans in late June. EqualityMaine is also in the fight.

NOM has already donated $32,000 to a political action committee that is ramping up to defend the marriage ban, reports the American Independent based on campaign disclosure documents filed last month.

Gay rights activists in Oregon are still considering whether to put marriage equality up for a vote in their state, which had voted for a ban in 2004. If either are successful, it would become the first time voters of any state had approved same-sex marriage at the ballot box.

Methodist Pastor Michael Gray was one of the original drivers of the petition, and he’s hopeful the milestone will come.

“As campaign volunteers fan out across the state to collect signatures from their fellow Mainers,” he told the Bangor Daily News, “I expect they will encounter thousands of willing signers who have changed their hearts and minds on marriage after getting to know their gay and lesbian neighbors, co-workers and community members — just as I have done.”

Tags: Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, LGBT rights in Maine, Matt McTighe, same sex marriage in Maine