A few weeks back, Jeremy noticed that Mike Heath of the Maine Family Policy Council had been unceremoniously dumped from the Religious Right's "Yes on 1" mobilization efforts in the state, presumably because of the rabidly anti-gay insanity he'd been spreading recently.
Now, via Pam, it looks like Heath took the slight personally and saw the writing on the wall and so has now announced that he is leaving the organization:
Mike Heath, the longtime leader of the Christian Civic League of Maine, announced today that he is moving on. Expressing appreciation for the League, Heath said that it has been a great honor to serve.
The Christian Civic League of Maine was formed in 1897.
Heath came to the League in 1989 on October 16th as the Administrative Assistant. On January 1, 1994 he was appointed Executive Director.
His first test came on the issue of casino gambling. When the dust settled he was credited by his adversaries with having stopped a casino from being built in Calais. Heath went on from there to tackle the most difficult and contentious social issue of our time, gay rights. In 1998 he was on the leadership team of the first successful People's Veto of gay rights. In 2001 he joined once again with Paul Madore and Paul Volle to lead a successful statewide campaign against homosexuality. Since the early 1990s Heath and the League have expressed serious concerns with the prospect of so-called same sex marriage. Everyone laughed back then. Maine will vote on the issue this November.
No stranger to controversy, Heath is often described as a "lightning rod."
The board accepted Heath's resignation yesterday during a meeting at the League headquarters building in Augusta. They expressed unanimous and strong support for the forty-eight year old leader. Heath pledged his full support to the League.
