Pat LaMarche is one of Maine’s leading liberal voices. Michael Heath is one of its most conservative. However, these days the two are involved in similar projects. Each is heading a divisive and deceptive campaign regarding an already-settled issue which, if successful, would ultimately diminish the quality of life in their home state.
Earlier this month Heath announced plans to organize not only a repeal of the Maine’s gay rights law, but to encourage other legislation that would make it extremely unlikely that gay or lesbian citizens would ever have certain rights that the rest of us take for granted.
Mr. Heath is clearly skilled in semantics. His proposal to, “Legally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, prohibit unmarried couples from adopting children, and forbid the establishment of civil unions” sounds much less harsh than, “Eliminate any possibility that gays or lesbians can ever adopt children,” even thought the two statements mean exactly the same thing. The Christian Civic League’s executive director is savvy enough to realize that the words he’s carefully chosen are more likely to garner him the signatures he needs to initiate action on his proposals than stating his aims directly would be. The petitions Mr. Heath and his minions will be asking Mainers to sign will ask, “Do you want to protect traditional marriage and eliminate special rights in Maine?” If the wording were completely honest they’d read, “Are you in favor of withholding basic rights from Maine citizens based solely on their sexual orientation?”
Even given his skill at turning a phrase, it’s still difficult to understand what motivates Mr. Heath and his adherents, as nearly all other Christians still consider bigotry deplorable. Although by most accounts the number of instances of discrimination against gays and lesbians are few, that there are any such occurrences at all justifies the need for protection against such acts. It’s also mystifying as to why the folks in the Christian Civic League are so concerned with the possibility that civil unions might someday become legal in Maine. The shrill, fear-mongering rhetoric that Mr. Heath uses when it comes to preventing civil unions is reminiscent of arguments used years ago to try to discourage interracial marriages. A generation or two prior to that many Americans thought that interfaith marriages would lead to the ruination of society, yet today unions between people of different races and/or religions occur almost routinely and no one seems the worse for it.
It may be hard to determine exactly why Heath and the Christian Civic League continue to fight their losing battle against tolerance, but there is no mystery about the incentive for the people currently trying to put a casino in Oxford County. Their motivation is as pure as it is simple: greed. As was the case with past snake oil salespeople who tried to establish high stakes gambling in Maine, the current group are trumpeting that such an endeavor would provide thousands of jobs for Mainers, and warning of dire consequences if we don’t grab this marvelous opportunity while we have it. A recent press release currently running on the online website, The Casino City Times, states, “The Evergreen Mountain Four Season resort is not a risky proposition. The gamble is whether or not our kids will be able to find jobs here in Maine in the future. The gamble is whether the state will have another shortfall and have to balance its budget by raising taxes and cutting even more services for the poorest and weakest of our citizens. The gamble today is whether we can afford to stay in Maine if we miss this opportunity for genuine economic growth." It’s interesting that casino advocates use the term “gamble” in their propaganda, since they carefully avoid using that word when referring to themselves. They are proposing “gaming,” a necessary euphemism now that a significant majority of Maine voters have deduced that would-be casino operators are in fact hoping to prey upon the very “Poorest and Weakest of our citizens” they pretend to advocate for in their glossy brochures. Anyone wondering why casinos and the people who operate them are not something that responsible Mainers should want in our midst should read Without Reservation, a book by investigative reporter Jeff Benedict. It documents what went into the building of Foxwoods, now the world’s largest casino, in what had been an economically downtrodden section of southeastern Connecticut. It also sheds light on some facts that gambling advocates would rather you not know. For example, many of the jobs associated with building a casino are temporary, but after-effects which include gambling addiction, personal bankruptcies, drugs, prostitution, and other forms of crime tend to be permanent. Sharp-eyed readers of Benedict’s book will note that some of the key figures in the establishment of Foxwoods were the very same folks who tried, albeit spectacularly unsuccessfully, to get a high-stakes casino built in Sanford five years ago. Maine voters rebuffed that effort by a 2-1 margin, but the potential profits from such a parasitic operation are such that casino proponents are back with us again.
It’s disappointing to see Ms. LaMarche, who just four years ago ran for vice president on the Green Party ticket, now aligning herself with people interested in a very different kind of green. Who would have thought that she and Mr. Heath, who oppose one another on so many issues, would have so much in common?
Andy YoungReturn to main page
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