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There is no denying that those who support ‘yes’ on Question 1 are a minority on the University of Maine campus. Professor Terrence Hughes is one of the few willing to speak of his views on the subject.
Question 1 asks; “Do you want to reject the new law that would protect people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and credit based on their sexual orientation?”
Students are familiar with Hughs because of his advocacy on a different issue. Hughes, a professor of geological science and earth studies, periodically displays anti-abortion placards near the entrance of Memorial Union.
Hughes said he has known Michael Heath of the Christian Civic League for a long time. The CCL spearheaded the referendum by gathering the 60,000 signatures required to challenge the new provision of the Maine Civil Rights Law. Heath visited UMaine in September for a debate with Maine Won’t Discriminate’s Ted O’Meara.
As for Hughes’ views on Question 1, he believes that legislators are listening to out-of-state influences.
“The voters have twice turned down this or a similar kind of law in a public referendum,” Hughes said. “The way I see it, the legislators are paying attention to out-of-state money that will finance their political campaign.”
Hughes thinks that the voters have tried to express themselves on this, and they’ve been ignored by state legislators.
“The question that comes to my mind is that, where do the state Legislature’s loyalties lie?” he said.
He mentioned how there’s a 10-1 imbalance of money coming into the state opposing Question 1. He said virtually all in-state money has been raised to support Question 1. He states this as proof that the legislators are pandering to out-of-state people.
“I don’t see it as a question about homosexuals as a group being discriminated against,” Hughes said. “You can bring up examples on both sides, but the media only make people aware of these incidents with homosexual victims.”
He said that homosexual rights should not be considered on the same level as rights based on race, religion or gender. He referred to it as “trying to make an apple into an orange.
“It obviously doesn’t fit into any civil-rights legislation,” Hughes said.
According to Hughes, the new law, if upheld with the defeat of Question 1, would award people who participate in sodomy the same protection as those who are handicapped. He pointed out that the protection of handicapped people is based on a helpless condition, while the protection of sodomy is centered on behavior. Responding to claims that homosexuality is genetic, Hughes said that premise needs to be demonstrated as fact before it is to be sanctioned.
Hughes stated that homosexuality takes decades off a human’s life. He mentioned how homosexuality should not be taught in sexual education classes and how he has noticed that homosexuals have an obsession with youth.
He criticized the media’s coverage of the Catholic priest sodomy scandals and how they were quick to jump on the Catholic Church.
“Is there another agenda here?” he asked, referring to the Boston Globe’s coverage of the incidents.
He continued to discuss how there are homosexual teachers in public schools much like there were gay Catholic priests, who are addicted to sodomy. Hughes believes that if Maine does not vote ‘yes’ on Question 1, it will have a snowball effect.
“If this law is overturned, all it will take is one activist judge to say that this new law requires homosexual marriages in Maine,” he said. “That’s all it takes is one activist judge. It happened in Massachusetts.”
Hughes said that those who object to homosexual activity are subject to prosecution under Maine Civil Rights Law. For example, he said that a landlord who makes a business decision to deny a gay couple from renting an apartment or a personal decision to deny them rental because of sodomy taking place within the apartment, he or she would be prosecuted.
He also believes Question 1, if defeated, may brand public opposition to sodomy as hate speech, which he said includes the Bible.
“I don’t hate homosexuals,” Hughes said. “I just want to save their lives.”
