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09/29/2009
Hey, where'd Tim go?
Yesterday, Stand For Marriage Maine posted a link to a recent Portland Press herald opinion piece, wherein local conservative Tim Rusell spoke of the supposed harm that marriage equality will pose to religious institutions. Here is the Google proof that the link existed:
But today, SFMM has abruptly pulled the link. We're very curious as to why.
Our theory: That SFMM recognizes that Mr. Russell, because of his undeniable ties to the very far-right, very homo-hostile Christian Civic League of Maine/Maine Family Policy Council poses a risk to their "mainstream" cause. And they have good reason to be wary. If you Google Mr. Russell's name along with words like "gay" or "marriage," the top result is typically not a link to S4MM or to Mr. Russell's original post, but rather to our commentary wherein we laid bare the ties between Tim Russell, CCL of Maine, and its outgoing leader, Mike Heath (as well as the connection to extremist groups like the Bay State's MassResistance). Did this site help to chill their feet?
Or is it even possible now that Mike "gays cause bad weather/graffiti/economic crises" Heath is out of CCL of Maine/MPFC's door, that Mr. Russell is in the running to head up that same organization? And since most Mainers know how very far-right and frequently out-of-line that particular organization can be, is it possible that S4MM wanted to go ahead and sever ties with Mr. Russell in the same way that they so obviously worked to break ties with Mike Heath in the months since their "yes on 1" campaign began? We wouldn't blame them for wanting to do so, since even in the post-Heath era, CLL of Maine is still using words like "final crisis" to talk about same-sex marriage. But if Mr. Russell is planning to up his ties with that outfit, we will certainly up our recognition of S4MM's ties to the same!!
The bottom line: There is definitely a reason why Maine's "official" Yes on 1 campaign quickly pulled the Russell link. They left up another one that they had posted, linking to a similar Kennebec Journal opinion piece, so it's not like they did a whole site cleanse. The Russell pulling was pointed. Our questions will be as well.
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