A Christian conservative group is
pushing for a referendum in Maine that would repeal the state's
11-year-old law that prohibits discrimination based on sexual
orientation.
Equal Rights, not Special Rights is
helmed by Mike Heath, who as head of the Maine Family Policy Council
worked to repeal Maine's gay-inclusive marriage law. (Ultimately,
the law was repealed. But in 2012, Maine became the first state to
approve such a law at the ballot box.)
With Equal Rights, not Specials Rights,
Heath and his supporters are pushing for a referendum that would
remove “sexual orientation” as a protected class in the Maine
Human Rights Act.
The group told CBS affiliate WGME, that
they were tired of being forced to accept homosexuality.
“There is conduct that ought to be
punished,” Heath
told the outlet. “And Christianity teaches, has always taught
and still does teach, that sodomy is such a behavior.”
The group said that it wants to restore
America to its former greatness by excluding gay and lesbian couples
from marriage and outlawing gay sex.
Writing at his blog
in 2008, Heath blamed the nation's financial crisis on gay
unions, adding that prohibiting gay couples from being recognized in
law would make God “crack a smile.”