From the Portland Press Herald, Portland, Maine
April 11, 1995


GAY RIGHTS SUPPORTERS AHEAD IN FUNDRAISING

So far, Maine Won't Discriminate has
raised $141,459 to Concerned Maine Families' $28,396.

"This is going to be a grass-roots campaign vs. Godzilla."

            - Carolyn Cosby, Concerned Maine Families


By STEVEN G. VEGH
Staff Writer

     Supporters of gay rights are raising $5 for every $1 raised by
supporters of a referendum to keep Maine's Human Rights Act from
including gays and lesbians*Campaign finance reports re- leased Monday
show that the group Maine Won't Discriminate has raised $141,459 since
Apr of last year. Of that sum, $79,252 was raised in the last three
months of this year. It includes the biggest contribution of the
campaign, $10,000 from a Washington advocacy group.

     Concerned Maine Families, which gathered petition signatures to
hold th referendum, has raised $28,396, of which $20,050 came in this
year.

   CMF Chairwoman Carolyn H.T. Cosby said she was not alarmed at the
fund-raising i*mbalance. "As we've said since the beginning, this is
going to be a grass-roots campaign vs. Godzilla," she said.

     The referendum asks voters whether the protection against
discrimination provided by the Human Rights Act should be limited to
groups and categories already named in the law: race, color, sex,
disabilities, religion, ancestry or national origin, and age. The
referendum does not mention sexual orientation.


     Monday was the deadline for submitting campaign finance reports for
the first quarter of this year. MWD filed a report. CMF did not, but
Cosby released the $28,396 figure on Monday and said the group's report
would be submitted within the state's 10-day late filing period.

     Amy Pritchard, MWD campaign manager, credited her organization's
funding success to an emphasis on fund raising and grassroots
organizing. More than 100 house parties have been held to raise money
and rally opposition to the referendum.

     Pritchard said that of the 979 contributions received by MWD in the
most recent three-month period, 937 were from Maine residents.

     Cosby said those figures help prove her point.

     "If those are Maine addresses and legitimate addresses, what you
have to say is, the homosexual community in this state is extremely
wealthy and ought not to ask burdened taxpayers to give them special
advantages," Cosby said.

     Asked if she thought Gov. Angus King and his wife, Mary J. Herman,
were gay, Cosby said no. King and Herman have given $1,000 to MWD.

     Rather, Cosby said some politicians will back gay advocates who
want minotity status for gays and lesbians. Such status would qualify
gay- and lesbian-owned businesses for public block grants, she said.

     "I'm sure that funding will find its way back to unscrupulous
politicians who will be funded to continue funding the wish list of the
gay community in this state," Cosby said.

     Despite its many Maine contributors, MWD's biggest was the Human
Rights Campaign Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based group that advocates for
gay and lesbian lights. The group contributed $10,000.

     Cosby has raised the out-of-state funding as a campaign issue, but
Pritchard defended such aid. "I don't think there's any problem in
taking outside help. We know they are; we will too," Pritchard said.

     "There are some funds from out of state, of course," Cosby said of
CMF's campaign. "I don't know what it amounts to. It's very minor." She
estimated the total at under $1,000.

     Maine Won't Discriminate's biggest recent expense Was $12,000 to
Lake Research of Washington, D.C., which ran a focus group. "We are
doing focus groups and polling as well to assess what people think,"
Pritchard said.

     "Most people don't know this (referendum question) is going to be
on the ballot," she said, adding that the wording of the question is
ambiguous. "We're trying to find out how to best explain it."

     Cosby said CMF has retained no one from out of state except Bruce
Fein, a Virginia attomey, who has advised CMF on the wording of the
referendum. Cosby said he willrepresent CMF if the referendum question
goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, as she expects.

     Meanwhile, the first big. public face-off by supporters and
opponents of the referendum is expected at a May 2 hearing on the
proposal. The hearing, held by the legislative Judiciary Committee, will
start at 2 p.m. in the August Civic Center.

     The hearing is part of the legislative routine for referendum
questions raised by petition.

[ A list of major contributors to MWD was included as a sidebar. Since
  CMF has not filed on time, they avoided such scrutiny. ]