There is an interesting political matter brewing in the state of Maine, which may have implications for the Pagan community at large. Rita Moran is the Chair of the Kennebec County Democratic Committee. She is also the owner of Apple Valley Books and a practising Pagan. Her website is listed below:

http://www.fairpoint.net/~applebooks/

I had been acquainted with her as a customer of Weisers, and she would visit the warehouse once in a while. I found her to be a decent and erudite person. She was a good wife to her husband, Harper, and a good mother to their daughter, Brangwyn. I have also seen her at some Pagan rituals, particularly ones held at Silver Cauldron in Saco, ME.

I wasn't aware of her political activity until I received notice about a website run by the Christian Civic League of Maine. On this website, they are "outing" her as a Pagan, and making it sound sinister that she teaches her religion to children. I don't believe Rita has been in the broom-closet, and a lot of people may be aware of her bookstore, particularly the people in the Democratic committee. Nevertheless, this article tries to make her look like a "wacko", and it carries the guilt by association that Democrats must be "wacko" to have such a chairperson running their committee. Check out the article with the link below.

http://www.cclmaine.org/artman/publish/Maine_3/ME_Dem_Moran_Pagan.shtml

What makes this website particularly odious is that when people have written remarks defending Rita, they have found their remarks edited in the comments section. What is worse is that even though e-mail addresses are not supposed to be printed, the webmaster has done Google searches on the people leaving comments, and pasted their web addresses along with the comments. So, any Pagan who runs his or her own business may get some nasty responses from people who sympathize with the Christian Civic League.

The result is that you can't argue or reason with such people. One person made the remark,"When you fight with a pig, you're just going to get dirty."

However, a better solution for the matter may be to support Rita rather than attack the CCL. Rita was deeply worried that donations to the Kennebec Democrats would fall off because of this "exposure." It would be a vote of confidence for her if donations to the Democrats were to pick up a bit. Even if small donations came through from people outside of Maine, it would send a signal of support to her and a sign that Pagans will not be intimidated by such "outing" tactics. I have already made a donation to the Kennebec Democrats, and if you are able to give a small amount, you can do so by following the link below:

http://www.actblue.com/page/kennebecdems

Rest assured it will be going to a good cause and sending a signal against a bad cause.