Catholic Bishops in Michigan have spent over $238,000 – nearly a quarter of a million dollars – to fight a civil rights group’s goal of expanding protections for the state’s LGBTQ people via a proposed 2022 ballot initiative.

“Campaign finance reports filed on Monday show the Lansing-based Michigan Catholic Conference, which bills itself as ‘the official voice of the Catholic Church in Michigan on matters of public policy,’ has made $238,874.80 in direct and in-kind contributions to Citizens for Equality, Fairness and Justice, an organization formed in April that has actively opposed the LGBTQ initiative,” MiBiz’s Andy Balaskovitz reports. “The MCC made up nearly all of the committee’s $204,175 in direct contributions this funding cycle.”

The ballot initiative is supported by many major businesses. According to the group that initiated the ballot drive, Fair and Equal Michigan, business leaders including Jim Fitterling, Chief Executive Officer, Dow; Tim Cook, Chief Executive Officer, Apple; Andi Owen, President and Chief Executive Officer, Herman Miller; and Ron Bieber, President of the Michigan AFL-CIO, support the initiative.

“The Catholic Church’s opposition to LGBTQ equal rights is unfortunate, but it was not unexpected,” Fair and Equal Michigan spokesperson Josh Hovey told the Michigan Advance. “It is well known that they have been out of touch with the majority of voters in Michigan and across the country on this issue, and that we are thankful that campaign finance disclosure laws make their anti-equality position known to all.”

“At the end of the day,” Hovey added, “what opponents to our initiative are asking for is to continue being able to use religion as a license to discriminate.”

Currently, the ballot initiative is stalled. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers says Fair and Equal Michigan has not secured enough valid signatures to get the issue on the ballot. The group plans to appeal.

Image: Fair and Equal Michigan/Facebook

Jerry Falwell, Jr. is being sued by the school his father founded. Liberty University has filed a $10 million complaint against its former president.

“The new suit, which alleges breach of contract and fiduciary duty, claims that Mr. Falwell withheld scandalous and potentially damaging information from Liberty’s board of trustees, while negotiating a generous new contract for himself in 2019 under false pretenses. Mr. Falwell also failed to disclose and address ‘his personal impairment by alcohol,’ the suit alleges, according to The New York Times.

But according to Talking Points Memo, which published the entire complaint, the lawsuit is far more scandalous.

“The evangelical institution claims in the suit, filed in Lynchburg Circuit Court in Virginia, that Falwell concealed his relationship with Giancarlo Granda from the university.”

“Had Liberty’s Executive Committee known in 2018 and 2019 that Granda was attempting to extort Falwell Jr. and thus planning to damage Liberty, and had it known the full circumstances of Granda’s extortion of Falwell Jr., then the Executive Committee would have refrained from entering into the 2019 Employment Agreement,” the suit states.

“The actions of Falwell Jr. and Granda have injured Liberty’s enrollment, impacted its donor base, disrupted its faculty, enabled the 2019 Employment Agreement that proved detrimental to Liberty’s interests, and damaged Liberty’s reputation,” the suit reads.

The suit also adds that “Granda had plenty of information that could have been deeply  damaging to Falwell Jr. in the eyes of the evangelical community.”

Falwell, Jr.’s social media posts are infamous, and some are included in the lawsuit.

In August of 2020 before leaving Liberty, Falwell said his wife had had a “fatal attraction” extramarital relationship with the man identified as Giancarlo Granda.

“Becki had an inappropriate personal relationship with this person, something in which I was not involved – it was nonetheless very upsetting to learn about,” Falwell claimed.

But Granda responded by accusing Falwell of being involved in that relationship.

“Jerry enjoyed watching,” Granda alleged.

This is a breaking news and developing story.

Declaring that the Vatican “cannot bless sin,” the Roman Catholic Church on Monday launched an unprovoked attack on the marriages of same-sex couples and on LGBTQ people in general, issuing a very public response to a question no one except the Vatican’s had been asking.

“Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?” the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, asked, as the Catholic News Agency reports.

“Negative,” was the answer from the Congregation, also known as the Vatican’s “Holy Office.”

What followed was a nearly 1000-word explanation to a question no LGBTQ or other civil rights group had posed.

It includes the claim: “’God loves every person and the Church does the same,’” rejecting all unjust discrimination.”

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, also known as the “Holy Office,” is one of the oldest congregations and was founded to protect the Church from “heresy.” It is notable this is the vessel the Vatican chose to issued a doctrinal rebuke of same-sex marriage.

Late last year, saying gay peoplke have a “right to a family,” Pope Frances made headlines when he insisted governments should “legally” protect same-sex couples via civil unions. The Vatican quickly walked that statement back and insisted that LGBTQ people having a “right to a family” only meant acceptance by their own families – not a right to form families, and not a right to marriage.

UPDATE:
The Associated Press updates its reporting to note the statement attacking same-sex marriage was “approved by Pope Francis.”

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