The "Pro-Family" Group that Would Prefer an Oil Spill Over Gay Marriage

Anyone else reminded right now of that Eddie Izzard bit, where he walks around and asks people whether they would prefer "cake or death?" As you might imagine, most people choose cake.

Same goes for the question of gay marriage over the BP oil spill. Given that the oil spill is now more than 70 days old, has altered the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystem in ways once thought unimaginable, and claimed the lives of more than a dozen people, it might seem like a no-brainer if folks had to choose (hypothetically) between gay marriage or an environmental disaster. Surely, gay marriage would win that match up.

Not so for a group of Maine Christians behind the group Maine Family Policy Council. They issued an opinion piece this week not only comparing the oil spill to what they called the "flood of impurity" known as gay marriage, but suggesting that the oil spill will come and go, but gay marriage could bring forth the apocalypse.

Now there's some family values for you. If given the choice between a catastrophic oil spill or two dudes or women falling in love with each other, this "family rights" group chooses the oil spill.

"Like the dirty oil that pours uncontrollably into the waters of the Gulf, this withering tide of immorality at times seems impossible to control," writes the Maine Family Policy Council. "No one has been successful in stopping the onslaught, since many parts of our society share a mistaken view of human freedom."

Specifically, the Maine Family Policy Council is talking about same-sex marriage, which almost came to fruition last year in Maine. The legislature approved a marriage equality bill. The governor signed the bill, too. But a statewide ballot measure stopped the law from taking effect, thanks to the work of the Maine Family Policy Council, the National Organization for Marriage, the institutional Catholic Church, Focus on the Family, and a host of other anti-gay religious groups. The vote was close, but at the end of Election Day 2009, Maine's gay and lesbian population saw their chances at marriage flushed down the proverbial toilet.

But Maine is still largely a gay-friendly state, and though same-sex marriage was defeated at the ballot box last year, it will eventually become state law. Poll numbers are on our side, and legislators who supported gay marriage have remained relatively unscathed in Maine (some have even used it as a centerpiece in their campaigns, to much success). All that combined only heightens the paranoia of groups like the Maine Family Policy Council. Which is why they're trying to use the severity of the oil spill to preach some homophobia.

"Much good can come of the oil spill in the Gulf, if the natural calamity reminds us to restore purity and innocence to America. Those in positions of authority, especially those who instruct the next generation, must work to preserve morality and right order in society," the Maine Family Policy Council concludes.

Call it a little opportunistic, not to mention one hell of a non-sequitur, trying to use the worst environmental disaster of our time as a means of bashing gay folks.

But hey, maybe we should all be a little grateful. After all, having been blamed for 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Haiti's earthquake, and Iceland's volcanic craziness, maybe it's a good sign that nobody has blamed queer folks for the oil spill. Yet. (Give Pat Robertson some time ... he's a lot slower on the draw these days.)

Meanwhile, and in all seriousness, the Maine Family Policy Council really shows their true colors by writing an article saying that gay marriage is worse than the spill. And much like the oil taking over the Gulf, their true colors are dark, smelly, murky and gross.

Photo credit: The U.S. Army