Now that the Catholic hierarchy and its allies have enough signatures to put marriage equality up for a vote this November, it's clear how this is going to play out.

Leading the pro-equality side will be the group Maine Freedom to Marry, which is headed by Mainer Jesse Connelly and staffed by Mainers who intend to have a civil debate, Mainer-to-Mainer.

Leading the anti-equality side are out-of staters, including James Dobson's Focus on the Family from Colorado, the PR firm of Schubert Flint from California (whose Proposition 8 campaign in that state was heavily funded by leaders of the Mormon Church based in Utah), and the National Organization for Marriage, which is headquartered in New Jersey.

Oh, and initiative petition signatures were gathered by National Petition Management Inc. of Michigan.

How nice to know that Marc Mutty and his anti-equality cronies are so unsure of their own persuasive ability that they have to recruit ideological mercenaries from away to invade our state and tell us what to think and how to vote – and provide the cash to do it. That's confidence!

So there you go. The side that wants to uphold the Legislature's fair and thoughtfully considered marriage bill will do the hard work at the grass-roots level, neighbor-to-neighbor, community-by-community, and probably get outspent in the process.

And the other side? They'll stick their thumb on the scale by swinging open the doors to carpetbaggers – experts at spreading propaganda – who don't give a damn about Maine or the people who live here.

They just want another trophy for their wall.

That makes me very angry, and I hope they lose badly.

Bill Harnsberger

Portland