In Maine, Catholics won't name source of $100,000 contribution to anti-gay campaign. What are they trying to hide?

Earlier this week, the forces trying to repeal Maine's new same-sex marriage report filed their first campaign reports. Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage were major donors.

There was also $100,000 contribution from the Diocese of Maine, which seemed like a lot of money coming from an entity that's been closing down parishes. The spokesman for the anti-marriage campaign, Marc Mutty, who is also the spokesman for the Diocese of Maine, couldn't or wouldn't give a definitive explanation of the donation. He gave a very mysterious and jargon-filled response -- the kind of response a press spokesperson gives when the person really doesn't want to answer the question. I have a hard time believing that the Diocese of Maine doesn't know the source of a $100,000 gift. Maine isn't a wealthy state -- and not a lot of people ever use the term "church dogma." Why can't Mutty just answer the question? What are they trying to hide:

In the face of recent firings at the Trinity Catholic School and the plans for closing two Catholic parishes in Lewiston, both due to declining revenue, the revelation that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland had spent $100,000 on efforts to repeal the recently passed same-sex marriage law took some Catholics by surprise.

"I saw that $100,000 figure in the paper and it was very demoralizing," said David Webbert, an Augusta lawyer, who for years attended Auburn's St. Philip's Church with his family and now occasionally attends in Winthrop.

But Marc Mutty, a leader of the group seeking to repeal the law who is on leave from his work at the diocese, said parishioners should know the donated funds were not taken from the collection plate.

"The money is dedicated revenues that were provided by a donor for causes such as these and money from the collection basket or any of those types of things would never be used," he said.

Mutty said he only had limited details regarding the origins of the donation.

"It's my understanding the money was left to the Portland diocese for defending church dogma or policy, that sort of thing. It wasn't specific to this particular issue. Our application to this issue was our choice, but it fell within the general parameters of the donor's request," he said.

That's a pretty weak response. Seriously, what are they trying to hide? And, the leaders of the Catholic church in Maine think it's more important to be anti-gay than to keep open churches? Maybe that's one reason parishes are closing.

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Tom Duane unleashed

From Andy Towle:

At around 3 am last night, New York State Senator Tom Duane, who is gay and HIV-positive, delivered a mesmerizing, emotional 21-minute speech on the Senate floor at the end of a marathon session in favor of a bill preventing people living with HIV or AIDS and receiving public assistance from having to pay more than 30 percent of their monthly income on rent.

The bill passed by a vote of 52 to 1. But not after Duane reminded people of the horrors of the early 80's:

"Visiting friends in hospitals. We'd go in. We'd go in one night, in the morning they'd be dead. I'd bring them food. My family, bring them food. My friends bring someone food. But whoever was in bed would be dead before they could eat it. We'd leave it - maybe the nurses would take it home. No! They wouldn't eat it! 'Cause it's contaminated. Contaminated! Wouldn't touch it. Wouldn't go into the room. Wearing masks. Gloves! Gowns! Someone gets sick in the afternoon. They'd be dead the next day. Dead! And that went on for months, and then years. Dead! Dead! You think if you got sick and your friends were dying that I would sit there and do nothing? No. But that's what happened. That's what happened. Every cold. Every virus. Every temperature. I thought I'd be dead, and so did so many people that I knew. Dead! You think you scare me? You think you can make be back off? Nothing scares me."

Hat tip, Pete Staley.

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Family thinks closeted sailor killed gay seaman

Dallas Voice:

The aunt of August Provost, a bisexual Navy seaman from Houston found murdered at Camp Pendleton last month, told Dallas Voice this week that the family has received information suggesting that her nephew’s killer is a gay sailor who somehow feared being outed by Provost.

Rose Roy, of Beaumont, the sister of Provost’s father, said in a phone interview Tuesday, July 14 that she’s “not at liberty” to identify the source who provided the information to the family. But Roy said the source told the family Provost had a heated argument with the suspect a week before his murder, and that the sailor now being held as a person of interest by the Navy has a history of mental illness.

“This guy went the extra mile to make sure that my nephew would never be able to speak about his [the killer’s] sexuality,” Roy said. “My nephew died for reasons other than what the military is saying.”

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