Maine gay marriage supporters working to strip churches of tax-exemption
Nov 13th, 2009 | By Julie Fite, Contributor | Category: Lead Story, National News
More than 80,000 people have joined an online movement seeking the revocation of tax-exempt status from churches that were involved in the repeal of Maine’s marriage equality law.
“It’s no secret that the Catholic Diocese led the ‘Yes on 1′ effort in Maine, among many other churches encouraging their congregations to vote ‘Yes,’ handing out signature forms and collection plates during service, and constantly asking for ‘sacrificial contributions’ from churchgoers,” Maine Marriage Equality charges.
Indeed, United We Stand posted a article about the Catholic Churches involvement in September 2009. (story)
Maine Marriage Equality is urging supporters and gay rights advocates to file an IRS complaint against churches that were a part of the effort in passing the ballot measure, Question One, which rejected the state’s same-sex marriage law. Equality Maine, another LGBTI civil rights organization has yet to officially comment on any of the issues, or post any news of the repeal on their website.
Maine Marriage Equality scanned a letter from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and posted it on their website. The IRS letter thanks a Maine citizen for reporting a church that entered a political debate and changed social policy.
Maine Marriage Alliance, an organization that was in favor of amending Maine’s constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage has an extensive list of churches and individuals that contributed to the “Yes on 1″ campaign.
The law was repealed last week when 53 percent of voters chose to repeal the law using Maine’s unique system of law called “the people’s veto.” (previous story) Maine citizens effectively vetoed legislation passed by both houses of Maine’s Legislature and signed into law by the Governor John Baldacci in May 2009. (previous story)
The situation is now similar to that of California, where gay marriage was legalized but the right was withdrawn in November 2008 by the state’s voters.
Gay marriage is legal in five states – Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Iowa – but this right has been granted by courts or legislature, rather than voter preference.
United We Stand (old version)
[...] Churches who participated in the “people’s veto” outlawing same-sex marriage in Maine only months after it was made legal are still under fire as Maine Marriage Equality continues their campaign to have their tax-exempt status revoked. (previous story) [...]
[...] Marriage between gay couples is legal in five states so far. Massachusetts and Connecticut were the first ones to pass legislation, while Iowa, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire all enacted similar measures this year. Maine, however, overturned its law in a November referendum. (previous story) [...]