Focus on the Family Gives 98K to Maine

Top antigay organization Focus on the Family has donated nearly $100,000 to the effort to ban marriage equality in Maine, according to recent campaign finance reports.

The Colorado Springs-based ministry's $98,500 donation was slight in comparison to its $450,000 to California's Proposition 8, but it may be a reflection on its financial problems, as it has had to lay off numerous employees over the past year.

Jenny Tyree, who works for political action committee Focus Action, says that marriage should be decided by voters and not politicians.

"Marriage is safest in the hands of the people," she told the Colorado Springs Gazette. "Politicians are swayed by a lot of things."

Legally, nonprofit organizations like Focus on the Family and religious organizations are allowed to donate as much as 15% of their annual budgets to lobbying. So far, the Roman Catholic diocese of Portland, Maine, has allotted $390,000 to Stand for Marriage Maine, the organization promoting the ballot measure to repeal the state's equal marriage law. The diocese is the largest donor to the effort.