The campaign to overturn Maine's same-sex marriage law won last night with heavy help from the Catholic Church. It's hard to understand why, in 2009, the State gets away with giving tax breaks to political organizations that call themselves Churches. But of course the real problem is the cowardly leaders who make it necessary or permissible to actually put people's civil rights on the ballot. It's a barbaric custom right out of a Shirley Jackson horror story, but good luck finding a 'leader' who will say so. From women's right to vote to the abolishment of state sanctioned racist segregation, all would have failed if they'd been put on the ballot. Putting people's civil rights on the ballot is a chillingly barbaric custom. This country should be better than that.
The Catholic Church was a leading supporter of the repeal campaign, even asking parishes to pass a second collection plate at Sunday mass to help the cause. The National Organization for Marriage also contributed heavily to the repeal campaign; it is under investigation by Maine’s ethics commission for possibly flouting state campaign finance laws by refusing to reveal its donors.
