Man Charged for
Threatening Lawmakers

A seventh-grade math teacher has been ordered to undergo a mental-health evaluation after threatening two Connecticut lawmakers for backing a religious oversight measure.

Timothy Kane, 26, was charged with second-degree harassment after he sent an e-mail on March 10 to state senator Andrew McDonald and state representative Mike Lawlor, who are both reportedly openly gay.

According to the Stamford Advocate, the e-mail read, "You better hope myself and other Catholics don't find out where you live, cause there's hell to pay for your attack on the church. F--- off. God hates gay sex."

Lawlor and McDonald each received scores of e-mails about the proposed legislation, many at the request of Bridgeport bishop William E. Lori.

"So many of you called and e-mailed state senator Andrew McDonald and state representative Michael Lawlor and the members of the judiciary committee that the phone system at the state capitol shut down and e-mail addresses of legislators were overwhelmed," he wrote in his blog last week. "With all my heart, I thank you."

The law, which was subsequently withdrawn, would mandate churchgoers to elect a board of laypersons to oversee church finances. The board could include priests, but they would have to be nonvoting members.

Kane teaches at Pulaski Middle School in New Britain, Conn. His father, Joseph Kane, is a former deacon at a local church