A guidance counselor from Nokomis Regional High School in Newport faces a complaint from another school counselor because of his stand against same-sex marriage, as espoused in a recent television advertisement.

Don Mendell, of Palmyra, is the subject of the complaint, filed Oct. 19 with the state Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. According to documents of the complaint, it was sent Oct. 19 by a person only identified as "Ann" and seeks to have Mendell's license as a social worker revoked.

"While Mr. Mendell is entitled to his own personal opinion," the complaint states, "he does not have the right as a licensed social worker to make public comments that can endanger or promote discrimination."

Public disclosure of the complaint comes as voters are set on Tuesday to decide Question 1, a people's veto of the state's new law allowing same-sex marriage.

Stand for Marriage Maine, the group urging people to vote "yes" to repeal the new law, identified the person who filed the complaint as "a counselor from another school."

Typically, after a complaint is filed, the subject of the complaint has 30 days to respond and the complainant then has 10 days to file additional paperwork, according to Doug Dunbar, spokesman for the state professional-regulation department.

Mark Sullivan, spokesman for No on 1, said his group had no connection with any complaint.

"We certainly have absolutely nothing to do with this," he said.

Reached by telephone at Nokomis on Friday, Mendell confirmed that he had received the complaint but he declined to comment further, saying he was upset.

The Alliance Defense Fund announced Friday that its attorneys will represent Mendell. According to the group's Web site, they specialize in "legal defense and advocacy of religious freedom." The site states that the firm was launched in 1994 by leaders including Dr. James Dobson.

"No American should have his or her livelihood threatened for believing marriage is a union of one man and one woman," said Austin R. Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund. "This threat to Don, and his family and his livelihood, reveals that those who want to redefine marriage also want to punish and silence anyone who disagrees."

In arguing for removal of Mendell's license as a social worker, the complaint cites the TV commercial in which Mendell appeared.

First appearing in an advertisement last month for the "No on 1" campaign, Nokomis literacy coach Sherri Gould was included briefly to rebut claims that same-sex marriage would be taught in public schools if the law is not repealed. Gould is a former chairwoman of the English department at Nokomis, but it was only her designation as Maine's 2005 Teacher of the Year that identified her in the commercial.

"I've been teaching in Maine since 1983. We teach respect and Maine values. That will never change," she says.

In response, supporters of Question 1 aired another commercial that included Mendell, Nokomis's school social worker who serves as a guidance counselor. He refers to Gould, who he has known at the school for more than 20 years, as a "gay activist already pushing this type of agenda."

"Vote yes on Question 1 to prevent homosexual marriage from being pushed on Maine students," he says.

Mendell later told the Morning Sentinel that "people would know at least one experienced educator, counselor, thought at stake here was something that would have a profound effect on the raising of children." The issue for him is the "equal rights of children to have a mother and a father, if at all possible," he said, adding that his personal views would never be shared with students he counsels and that he would treat all students equally.

The complaint cites a code of ethics set by the National Association of Social Workers. Sections cited state that social workers "treat colleagues with respect and ... should avoid unwarranted negative criticism of colleagues in communications" and they "should not practice, condone, facilitate, or collaborate with any form of discrimination" on the basis of several factors, including "sexual orientation."

Mendell, the complaint alleges, "has a long history" of vocally opposing homosexual issues and groups at Nokomis, and the commercial made those views "more public," having "consequences for the students he works with in ways that he may not have intended, yet could be dire just the same."

The complaint goes on to cite anonymous student reactions to Mendell's appearance in the commercial, apparently overheard by "Ann." One student is quoted as saying, "I didn't know Mr. Mendell was racist against gays, did you?"

The complaint also cites an e-mail sent by a student "to another school social worker" that says, in part: "I sure hope some poor kid that loves and respects him hasn't been struggling with their own sexuality and thinking about coming out to him ... God only knows how that broadcast affected their decision. Some kid listening to some Vote Yes on 1 commercial that sees Mendell ... isn't going to think, 'Well, he still loves me and accepts me and my choices' ... they're going to think, 'Great, he hates me too.'"

In conclusion, the complaint says social workers need to offer support and a sense of safety to all students "regardless of our own views," and that Mendell's "decisions on this issue greatly undermine that responsibility."