Richard Malone, the Roman Catholic bishop of Maine, took a less wacky approach in the April 23 Press Herald, saying his opposition to same-sex marriage "comes not more from theology but from the effect on society. It's more of an anthropological, philosophical thing than anything else."
Based on past musings of the bishop and his allies, it's possible to guess what sort of "anthropological, philosophical thing" marriage could become for those people who meet the qualifications to get hitched, which is to say nice, moral, straight people.
There'd be almost no divorce. Both the Catholic Church and Michael Heath of the Maine Family Policy Council (who's keeping a low profile in this fight because he continues to stress religious arguments against gay wedlock and because his abrasive style has rendered him the political equivalent of swine flu) are on record in favor of making the marriage contract all but unbreakable.
Birth control? Forget it.
Abortion? Are you kidding?
Sex? Only for procreation. Heath favors making "sodomy" and homosexuality crimes. Malone doesn't go that far. He just thinks being gay is a sin.
What's weird is that if these religious types got their way, marriage in Maine would require such strict government regulation that it really would become a secular institution.
How traditional.
Thanks to Mike Tipping and his blog (mainepolitics.net) for tipping me off to Rolde's testimony. You can e-mail me at aldiamon@herniahill.net. No marriage proposals, please. I'm non-polygamous.
