Churches council backs bill protecting gays

Monday, April 4, 2005

I am the executive director of the Maine Council of Churches. Our membership includes seven Protestant denominations, including the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the Religious Society of Friends, Presbyterian Church USA, the Episcopal Diocese of Maine, and the Unitarian-Universalist Association; and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland.

I recently testified at the Maine Legislature in favor of LD 1196.

As in the past, the Maine Council of Churches supports the basic civil rights of all citizens. We recognize from testimony and conversations with gay and lesbian colleagues, friends and family that they do not have equal rights and protections with regard to housing, employment, credit, public accommodation and educational opportunity, and it is harmful to them and discriminatory to withhold these protections. These folks, after all, are our fellow citizens of Maine, equally children of God, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, our friends, our colleagues.

It is wrong to discriminate against someone because they are gay or lesbian or perceived to be such. It is wrong to have to worry about one's safety at one's job or one's apartment or when one is applying for a loan, simply because of one's sexual orientation. We need legislation that supports the equal rights of gay and lesbian people, and we support LD 1196 as a means of finally assuring that protection for Maine citizens regardless of their sexual orientation.

Tom Ewell

Executive director

Maine Council of Churches

Portland