A bill that has Christian people ready to take out their pitchforks and head for Augusta is still bottled up in Committee.  The Labor Committee held a very poorly attended public hearing on the bill on February 28, 2007.  The hearing featured a carefully orchestrated 90 minutes of testimony presented by the most radical homosexual rights group in Maine.  "Equality Maine" openly admits that this bill is the next best thing to same sex marriage.  In their press release declaring support for the measure they write, "The ultimate, fairest, and simplest solution will be for same sex couples and their families to have ... marriage."  Nobody testified in opposition.

League Executive Director Michael Heath submitted written testimony on Wednesday, March 7, 2007.  The bill is not yet scheduled for a work session.  It is still in Committee.

Heath opened his written testimony acknowledging, "I did not attend the public hearing."  He continued.  "Given the majority party’s obvious disdain for the will of the people on matters related to sexual orientation I was of two minds about appearing at the hearing on Wednesday, February 28, 2007. I’m certain that nobody in the Legislature would interpret my failure to speak as support for this measure. It may, however, have been interpreted by some to be a lack of resolve."

Some people have suggested the bill deserves support because nobody is opposed.  Heath observed, "Additionally, I understand that some people may be using my absence as reason to support this bill. This is shameful. The bill is bad no matter what the League, or I, say about it. Legislators have a duty to make up their own minds according to their lights, just as I have a duty to accurately convey the mind of the League."

Heath wrote with emphasis, "I wish to reassure you regarding my views. If you interpreted by absence as lack of resolve, you are mistaken."

While only a few couples and individuals testified in support of the bill at the hearing, 68 people have used the League's Citizen Action Center to email decision makers on the bill.  They have sent a total of 1,049 emails to members of the Labor Committee, the Governor, groups that are supporting the bill, and their own House and Senate members.

Equality Maine has declared that this bill is their highest priority this session.  The Roman Catholic Diocese is supporting the bill as written, even though the definition of "domestic partnership" clearly includes "same sex couples."  The Chancery put out a statement in which they offered a "point of information."  They said that they do not support having the phrase "domestic partners" refer to "same sex couples."

The bill not only covers same sex couples, it forces businesses to honor intentionally fatherless (or motherless) parenting.  The bill states that employers MUST provide leave from work to an employee at the birth of the lesbian partner's child, and when children under the age of 16 are placed in the home of transgendered men.  The Maine Chamber of Commerce supports this bill.

Gary L. Morella, a research assistant at Penn State asks, "What kind of lunacy permeates the Maine Chancery to support a bill like this?"

Morella continues, "Where a clear voice is called for on the part of a Catholic witness to the Truth, Who is Christ, instead we get obfuscation playing right into the hands of the devil's disciples."

One supporter of the League sent a letter to 43 of her friends urging them to contact their Legislator on this bill.  She quoted League director Mike Heath, "The real reason for this bill is to create a successful court case in the future for homosexuality.  Same-sex marriage is the pot full of gold at the end of their rainbow.  This bill will continue to lay the foundation for equality of sexual practices if it becomes law."