In Maine, after the state’s legislature legalized same-sex “marriage” earlier this year, opponents of the practice initiated a petition campaign that obtained double the 55,087 signatures required to bring the issue to a vote in this year’s off-year election. While same-sex “marriage” is legal in five states, when the issue has been put to a popular vote, it has failed to win approval. Thirty states have passed constitutional amendments upholding traditional marriage.
Testifying before the state’s legislature in August, Catholic Bishop Malone described same-sex “marriage” as “a dangerous sociological experiment that I believe will have negative consequences for society as a whole.” “Children will be taught in schools that same-sex ‘marriage’ and traditional marriage are simply different expressions of the same thing, and that the logical and consistent understanding that marriage and reproduction are intrinsically linked is no longer valid. These are profound changes that will reverberate throughout society with tragic consequences,” he continued.
Bishop Malone’s statement reflected the tough Christian realism that permeates Catholic moral and social doctrine. But his public stance also repeated the central theme of the California Yes on Prop 8 campaign. Indeed, when Marc Mutty, director of the Portland Diocese’s office of public affairs, took a leave of absence to head Stand for Marriage Maine, the political action committee leading the repeal effort, he hired Sacramento-based political consultants Schubert Flint Public Affairs, which had directed the Yes on Prop 8 campaign.
Stand for Marriage drew strong support from Maine evangelicals and established a tight collaboration with the New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage, which poured $1.8 million into the repeal effort.
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