LIVE: Gay marriage hearing 3:30 update

3:30 p.m.

The crowd is thinning out, but there are at least 25 opponents still waiting in line to testify. On the other side, an equal number of supporters are still scheduled to speak.

Supporters turn their backs when opponents say something offensive to them, as they just did when a woman from Bangor mentioned that gay marriage may lead to unions with animals.

The committee is scheduled to take a dinner break from 5:45 to 6:30 p.m., if there are still people left to testify.

8:25 a.m.

They opened the doors early at the Augusta Civic Center to let people filter in for the 9 a.m. hearing.

Outside, two TV trucks are set up and about 40 clergy who are supportive of gay marriage are lining either side of the one of the sidewalks. People are handing out bracelets and stickers and selling “marriage equality” t-shirts for $10.

Inside, there’s a table set up where opponents are handing out “Marriage, One Man, One Woman” buttons and t-shirts. A man who is preparing to testify against the bill consulted his bible as he filled out a comment sheet.

Although most of the supporters are wearing red, about 12 orange t-shirts stick out from our perch in the press area (which is where reporters normally set up to cover basketball games). The people in orange are students at the University of Maine at Orono who are here to support the gay marriage bill.

Over to my right, opponents, many of them wearing suits, are getting organized in the bleacher section.

And in the front of the room, where the legislators will sit, the committee table has four Kleenex boxes and small bowls of candy. I’m told House Speaker Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, will present testimony on behalf of House members who support the bill.