Michael Heath, the face of the anti-gay
group Maine Family Policy Council, has resigned, Portland's Fox
affiliate, Fox 23, reported.
The group was the first to call for a
“people's veto” on a gay marriage law approved by lawmakers in
the spring.
Heath has been with the socially
conservative group for 15 years, serving as executive director since
1994. He previously helped mount two offensives against pro-gay
legislation. The first effort was successful, but voters disagreed
in 2005 when he attempted to repeal a law that banned discrimination
against gay men and lesbians.
In announcing it would fight against
the gay marriage law, the group said: “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.”
In accepting his resignation, the board
said Heath had become a “lightning rod.”
Last year, Heath blamed the nation's
financial crisis on gay unions. Writing at his blog
(mikeheath.blogspot.com), he said amending state constitutions to ban
gay marriage, and eliminating domestic partnerships and civil unions
for gay and lesbian couples would make God “crack a smile.”
He also blamed a gloomy summer on gay
marriage, saying at his blog, the “moral climate in Maine has
caused the sun to hide its face in shame.”
“In May, our elected officials
overturned a law of nature, and in its place paid honor to evil and
unnatural practices. … How fitting that this eclipse of human
reason is mirrored by the disappearance of the sun,” he said.
While the Maine Family Policy Council
was the first to speak out against the gay marriage law, it saw its
influence quickly fade when the nation's most vociferous opponent of
gay marriage, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), moved in.
Heath says he's been marginalized in
the fight against gay marriage.