Does A.P. Know Why Gay Marriage Proponents Had Some Success in Maine this Year?
            On Nov. 8, 2005, traditionalists from Maine failed to overturn a gay-rights law passed by its legislature. They had won this battle twice before, so what went wrong this time? Was it a confusing, homosexual friendly message to pastors from an out-of state pro-family group that made the difference?
            Here's how A.P put it less than a month before the vote:
            "Pastors opposed to the state's gay rights law are being advised to tone down their condemnation of homosexuality and focus as much on love and support as on sin and scripture.
            "[Mike] Haley and Melissa Fryrear from Focus on the Family have urged a meeting of about 200 leaders from Maine's evangelical community to stop quoting Leviticus, which refers to gay sex as an 'abomination,' and to avoid sayings like, 'Love the sinner, hate the sin.'"
            Haley and Fryrear are both ex-gays who are very sensitive to criticism of homosexuals. Observers say that gullible pastors came out of that Maine meeting convinced they would win if they just said nice things about homosexuals. The ex-gays are part of a ministry that seeks to convert homosexuals to biblical morality. But that approach didn't appear to work when they were trying to turn out the pro-family vote to defeat gay rights laws. Hence the bad news from Maine.