Ron Paul's Iowa campaign director
Michael Heath once blamed the nation's financial crisis on gay
marriage.
Heath was pushed out of the Christian
conservative group Maine Family Policy Council, which he headed for
15 years, in 2009 for his aggressive anti-gay sentiments as the group
pushed for a “people's veto” on a gay marriage law approved by
Maine lawmakers. (Ultimately, the law was repealed. Gay
marriage activists are considering a return to the ballot box in
2012.)
“Homosexuality is very sad, and
sinful. Maine must not create a culture that winks at something so
debilitating on so many levels. To present this 'orientation' as
benign to impressionable children is the height of arrogance, and
surely qualifies as evil,” Heath wrote at the group's blog.
In a September 25, 2008 blog post
titled The Nation Will Right Itself If It Fixes Sex at his now
closed personal website (mikeheath.blogspot.com), Heath wrote that
the financial crisis is a symptom of America's sinful sexual culture,
including the acceptance of gay unions.
“Our crisis is a symptom, not the
cause,” said Heath. “I am not saying I know whether this
financial crisis is God's judgment or not. It is not for me to know
that definitively.”
But Heath went on to list policy
changes that would make God “crack a smile,” including: End
abortion rights and defund non-profit groups supporting it, amend
state constitutions to ban gay marriage and eliminate domestic
partnerships and civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, and end
discrimination against private religious schools and homeschools.
In accepting his resignation, the board
of the Maine Family Policy Council said Heath had become a “lightning
rod.”
Heath told Yahoo!
News this week that he's heading church outreach for the Paul
campaign in Iowa.
“That's the biggest part of what I'm
doing as state director,” Heath said. “Going to churches with a
message in support of Dr. Paul's campaign's that is very much
faith-based and is also rooted in his commitment to a
constitutionally defined limited federal government.”
At a Thanksgiving forum hosted by the
Family Leader, the state's leading socially conservative group, Paul
disagreed with GOP rivals Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain,
Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann on amending the U.S. Constitutional
to define marriage as a heterosexual union.
And in an
interview with the Des Moines Register's editorial board,
Paul said he believes the government should “butt out” of the
marriage business.
However, while Paul believes social
issues such as gay marriage should be left up to the states, he has
also said he is personally opposed to marriage equality.