Mike Heath

As Iowa State Director for the Ron Paul presidential campaign Mike Heath claims to have visited close to three hundred houses of worship on Paul’s behalf, more evidence of Heath’s rabidly anti-gay background while a Religious Right activist in Maine is coming to light. Before Maine’s marriage equality law was repealed, Heath contended that the legalization of same-sex marriage led to bad weather because “our elected officials overturned a law of nature, and in its place paid honor to evil and unnatural practices,” and Warren Throckmorton, who first uncovered that Paul was boasting about an endorsement from a pastor who advocates for the death penalty for gays and lesbians, notes that Heath was also the Board Chairman of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, one of the most fringe and virulently anti-gay groups in the country.

In Maine, Heath urged the legislature to re-criminalize homosexuality, saying it would “be prudent to reinstate Maine’s anti-sodomy law,” and worked to overturn the state’s marriage equality law, declaring, “Homosexuality has absolutely nothing to do with marriage. Homosexuality is a sickness.”

In an interview with AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera last year, Heath said that homosexuality is not only “inconsistent with the Word of God but it’s inconsistent with biology and common sense,” and that “there is only one position on homosexuality and it’s the one that we take”:

He also alleged that homosexuality will “erode the strength of our nation”:

Heath even claimed that gay rights is “evil” and “nutty,” writing that the “‘gay’ ideology is going to go the way of the Berlin wall” and pledging, “I want Maine to be the place where the ‘gay’ wall starts to crumble.” Heath said that he intends to “take back” the rainbow flag from gay right advocates, saying: “God gave us the rainbow long before the sexual disorientation mob stole it. The rainbow reminds us of His mercy. He will never destroy the world again with a flood. Let's just the tell the loud mouth ‘gays’ that the Rainbow flag belongs to us now. It is a symbol of God's judgment that will fall on them if they persist in their sinful ways”:

Years ago we said the "gays" were going to go after the children. Everyone laughed thinking we were nuts.

In August the Maine Supreme Court perverted a nineteenth-century definition of adoption. They unanimously ruled that nineteenth century Mainers imagined homosexual adoption and allowed for it in their definition. Maine state government is now placing kids in "queer" homes through both the foster care and adoption systems.

There was never legislative approval for any of this, I don't believe. It was all created by unelected Judges and bureaucrats. The entire Middle School System in Maine is now moving toward the provision of prescription contraceptives to 11 year old girls without parental knowledge. Don't think that the King Middle School incident is the end of the story. No way. That is just the beginning. The only thing that will turn that around is a lawsuit that may be filed this Friday. The people of Portland, Christians especially, don't care enough to do ANYTHING. So, guess what. The political and cultural pressure is going to grow and grow. The tyranny of "gay" ideology has already silenced the church of Portland. It is only a matter of time before the cancer spreads throughout Maine.

You think John the Baptist is the only one in history to be silenced by a tyrant? It happens all the time. It isn't supposed to happen here. It is, however, already happening because Christians voluntarily silence themselves. Portland, our largest and most influential city, is leading the way. In the early nineties I compared Portland to Sodom. Little did I know.

While the front line of this war seems to be the schools the front line is actually the heart of every Christian in Maine. The front line is not the mind of the Christian. We already know the difference between right and wrong. The front line is our hearts. Do we care? Do we have the courage to do something about it?

Taxpayers are funding re-education groups called Civil Rights Teams in most of Maine's public schools. These communist-lite groups intimidate Christian faculty and students into silence about sexual immorality in the name of "civil rights." It is insane, and it is working. Evil is like that.

If we care more about our dogs and cats than our God-given obligation to raise our children and grandchildren up in the way they should go then God must be thinking about vocal chords for rocks.

You might conclude that I am not hopeful about Maine's future. Nothing could be further from the truth. This "gay" ideology is going to go the way of the Berlin wall. It is only a matter of time. It can't come soon enough for me. One person told me the backlash would come in five or ten years. As far as I'm concerned the backlash is going on right now. I'll never give in to these people, these evil ideas. Most Mainers feel the same way I do. They are going to speak. They are going to react. It is only a matter of time. Only a sad and pathetic minority embraces these nutty ideas about sex.

I want Maine to be the place where the "gay" wall starts to crumble. How about you? Lets take the word "gay" back from them. How about the rainbow? Lets take that back also.

The Maranacook Community School in Readfield has a rainbow flag hanging in their lobby. It was placed there by the school's noisy and pathetic "gay" rights student group. Rather than ask that a Christian flag be placed next to it, how about we just take the rainbow back. God gave us the rainbow long before the sexual disorientation mob stole it. The rainbow reminds us of His mercy. He will never destroy the world again with a flood. Let's just the tell the loud mouth "gays" that the Rainbow flag belongs to us now. It is a symbol of God's judgment that will fall on them if they persist in their sinful ways. Let's tell them that.

It was just last week that we reported that following the departure of Mike Heath from the Maine Family Policy Council, the organization had announced a new interim president and executive director who had as his mission undoing all of the embarrassment Heath had caused the organization with his ridiculous statements.

Well, that is going to be kind of hard if, as Jeremy notes, the organization keep writing things like this about how "Immorality is Worse than BP Oil Spill":

Those who viewed the environmental damage — Christians and non-believers alike — called the damage “apocalyptic.” Our culture is awash in a flood of impurity of another kind, and that is the loosening of the rules intended to conserve and perpetuate life.

The shining whiteness of the bridal gown, symbolizing purity and the power that purity conveys, has been stained — or smudged, if you will — by pornography, sex before marriage, marital infidelity, divorce, abortion and, now, so-called marriages between people of the same sex.

...

We here in Maine have been spared the effects of many recent natural or man-made calamities. But we should not allow our presumed immunity from disaster to divert our attention from the many moral problems that confront us. If these problems are not cured, they will prove worse than any catastrophic oil spill.

We count among these problems the indecent march in Farmington, the increasing number of so-called Gentlemen’s Clubs, the dangerous disrespect for women in the media and the incessant attacks on the natural family by government and advocates of same-sex marriage.

All these are violations of natural law, and as result, poison the life of society at its root. Much good can come of the oil spill in the Gulf, if the natural calamity reminds us to restore purity and innocence to America. Those in positions of authority, especially those who instruct the next generation, must work to preserve morality and right order in society.

They must stop justifying harmful and immoral actions by a specious appeal to freedom. If they do not, our continued existence as a nation will be imperiled, just as surely as the growing tide of oil imperils life in the Gulf.

Given that Mike Heath of the American Family Association of Maine has made a career out of attacking gays and claiming that marriage equality causes graffiti, vandalism, and crop failure, you'll have to forgive me if I don't buy the "can't we all just get along" vibe of this op-ed he published in the Portland Press Herald, especially considering that buried beneath his lament for our national "memory loss" is a not-so-subtle longing for the good ol' days when right-wing Christian values dominated and before gays got all uppity and started demanding equality: 

Memory loss has dire consequences for nations as well. Long gone is America's sense of unity and purpose. A society that inherited the maxim "In unity is strength" is now told that diversity is the preeminent goal of its civilization.

The words "union" and "united" once inspired men from Maine to fight on the battlefields of Gettysburg and Bull Run. Today the word "union" calls to mind something vastly different.

...

A loss of historical memory results in a confusion in values. An appeal to diversity manifests itself in the political realm as a proliferation of competing and contradictory ideas. Moral relativism undermines the values the West has held for centuries. Post-modernism takes an even more extreme position, and denies the possibility that any truth can exist at all.

Certain outcomes are predictable for such a divided and confused society. The inability to share a common frame of reference impairs communication among groups. Where communication fails, there is opposition.

And where there is opposition, citizens will impute the wrong motives to political opponents. Extreme skepticism in the realm of politics turns out to be a very poor substitute for Christianity, charity and shared national values.

...

The task that lies before us is to unite all our people -- be they left or right, Republican or Democrat -- on the basis of shared ethical values ... We can indeed have a civilization which promotes community over self-interest, respect for ethical values over unbridled greed, health over indulgence, beauty over chaos. The day will come when America is once again renowned for its houses of worship, its common values, its communal festivals, its respect for women and family!

Unity will be restored; and the spirit of lawlessness and rebellion will be forgotten -- a storm in the night, followed by a clear, bright morning.

It is well-said that a society that obeys God's laws comes to look like heaven. This, I predict, will be the future of America, and it is the goal toward which we must all strive.

It was just a few weeks ago that we were noting that Mike Heath, formerly of the Maine Family Policy Council, had suddenly reappeared on the scene as the head of the American Family Association's affiliate in Maine.

During the fight over marriage in Maine, Heath had repeatedly embarrassed the right-wing effort by claiming that gay marriage leads to things like graffiti, vandalism, and crop failure and eventually found himself cast aside by the movement entirely.  As a result, he resigned his position as the head of the Maine Family Policy Council, announcing that it was time for him to do something else with his life and declaring that he was going to get involved in the manufacture and distribution of solar cookers in Africa.

Then he disappeared for several month, only to reemerge in March, leading the state's AFA affiliate.

And now, via Pam's House Blend, we see that Heath has even bigger plans: 

Michael Heath, former executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, has registered with the state ethics commission as a gubernatorial candidate.

Heath, a resident of China, is listed as an unenrolled candidate, which means he has until June 1 to get at least 4,000 signatures to qualify for the November ballot.

Heath recently announced the formation of a group called the American Family Association of Maine. At the time, he said he was "re-entering public life to continue the fight against the gay-rights lobby."

Heath spent 15 years working for the Christian Civic League, and became its executive director in 1994. He twice led people's veto efforts to overturn gay-rights laws.

Heath was not a visible part of last year's fight over same-sex marriage, which ended with voters repealing a state law legalizing it. He announced his resignation in September from the civic league, which is now called the Maine Family Policy Council.

There are now 24 people running for governor. Of those, 12 are Democrats or Republicans who will compete in the June 8 primary for the right to represent their parties on the November ballot. For the other 12, June 1 is the deadline to determine who among them will qualify to compete in November.

• Pam's House Blend reports that Oklahoma's Sally Kern is trying to make it harder to get divorced in her state.
• Good As You covers Mike Heath's recent appearance on Wallbuilders Radio.
• Richard Pombo is back and TMP provides a look back at his ethical troubles.
• Steve Benen notes that Michele Bachmann's anti-Census crusade could potentially end up costing her her seat in Congress.
• Joe.My.God takes great pleasure in the fact that Glenn Beck is at war with the Birthers.
• Towleroad reports that marriage equality in Iowa is safe, at least for this year.
• Finally, Alvin McEwen exposes the latest nonsense from Cliff Kincaid, who claims that the outcry over Uganda's anti-gay bill is all part of a conspiracy to save Kevin Jennings.

• Mike Heath is having a midlife crisis and has decided to step away from his anti-gay activities in order to manufacture and distribute solar cookers in Africa.
• Some not particularly surprising revelations about the sort of person that Glenn Beck is.
• In other Beck news, he's sorry for saying that President Obama is a racist ... but Obama is a racist.
• The new anti-marriage ad in Maine bears a striking resemblance to the ones aired in California ... in fact, they are almost exactly the same.
• Speaking of which, Jeremy reveals that the "teacher" in the ad is not quite what she seems.
• Finally, Media Matters has uncovered shockingly deep connections between RedState.org and ACORN.

The other day, Jeremy at Good As You noticed that Religious Right groups organizing behind the anti-marriage equality effort in Maine were suddenly distancing themselves from Mike Heath of the Maine Family Policy Council.

I assumed these groups were trying to avoid being seen in public with Heath because of the rabidly anti-gay insanity he's been spreading recently.  But, as it turns out, these groups just trying to avoid being seen in public period:

The Stand for Marriage Rally is being organized by Focus on the Family, The Maine Jeremiah Project, Family Research Council and Stand for Marriage Maine, which includes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

Bishop Richard Malone is expected to address the crowd, along with religious leaders from Maryland and California.

James Dobson of Focus on the Family will provide a video message, [Rev. Bob Emrich] said.

The event is free, but tickets are required. Emrich said members of the media will not be allowed inside the event.

The most recent campaign finance reports from Main showed that of the money raised by the Religious Right groups fighting marriage equality in the state, the amount that came from actual residents of Maine constituted a mere .1%, whereas the amount donated by national Religious Right groups like the National Organization for Marriage and Focus on the Family made up the other 99.9%.

These groups sure do seem to be dumping a lot of time, money, and effort into this campaign while simultaneously trying to keep the people of Maine in the dark about it.