Professor in Antigay Maine Ad Sparks Controversy

A Boston College law professor who appeared in the first television advertisement against marriage equality in Maine raised eyebrows on campus because he did not obtain clearance from university officials before he made the appearance.

Scott Fitzgibbon, a marriage equality opponent, appeared in the ad for Stand for Marriage Maine in which he warned of "real consequences for Mainers" unless Question 1, the measure to overturn the new marriage equality law, is passed in November. He was identified as a Boston College law professor in the ad.

Boston College law school dean John Garvey released a letter last week in response to some campus members' outcry over the appearance, according to UWire. Gay rights supporters at the private Jesuit university had voiced their disappointment over the ad featuring Fitzgibbon.

"Professor Fitzgibbon, as a member of our faculty, is free to express his views ... we also have faculty members who hold a contrary view, which they too are free to express publicly," Garvey wrote. "As I think any of our faculty might have done, he stated his views without prior notice to or clearance from the law school."