I laughed my butt off...

Anti-Gay Maine Group In Financial Crisis
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

March 17, 2006 - 12:01 am ET


(Augusta, Maine) A group that has spent years battling LGBT civil rights in Maine is out of money and says it will likely have to lay off staff.

The Christian Civic League of Maine is pleading with supporters for cash, but it appears after a series of high profile defeats the plea is falling on deaf ears.

The organization spent all of the money it had for the first quarter of 2006 on last year's effort to repeal the state's LGBT civil rights protections.

It was signed by Governor John Baldacci in March of 2005 (story).

The Christian League immediately began a repeal effort, gathering enough signatures to force the issue onto the ballot.

The league has forced referenda on similar bills three times in the past decade and gays have seen the protections erased at the polls each time until last November.

The group also mounted an ill-fated attempt to have the state constitution amended to ban same-sex marriage.

Money the League put away last year to meet its expenses for January and February were eaten up last fall.

"Our income for this year thus far, is far below our expenses," the group says in a message appealing for emergency funds on its Web site. "That is putting us at a severe disadvantage. If this does not turn around very soon, we will be forced to make some disastrous cuts in the services. We will also have to lay off or terminate some of our staff."

In addition to fighting LGBT rights in Maine the League, since its founding in the 1890s, has battled liquor sales, gambling and abortion.

©365Gay.com 2006