©Copyright 1998 Guy Gannett Communications
Remember this when you roll out of bed Tuesday morning: If you're like most Mainers, it is not your support Michael Heath and his followers are counting on as they try to chase homosexuals out from under the state's equal-rights umbrella.

It's your apathy.

Like everyone else, Heath and his crusaders know that a strong majority of people in this state favor equal-rights protection for gays and lesbians. They know that if every registered voter in Maine took 15 minutes out of his or her day Tuesday to go to the polls, their misguided effort to repeal those equal rights would lose - and lose big.

And so they're hoping you don't care.

Yes, it will be cold outside. And yes, there's only one question on the ballot. And yes, equal rights for homosexuals may not affect you as directly as school funding or the condition of our roads or tax reform or any of the other issues that we consider ''important.''

But this election could not be more important - not just for homosexuals, but for us all. Try as Heath might to reduce this to a debate over who is and who isn't a sinner, it is much, much more than that.

It is a defining moment, a moral crossroads where everyone - even those who reach for an excuse because it's easier than reaching for a ballot - will play a role in sculpting Maine's image. It is a statement to the rest of the world about who we are - and who we want to be.

It is worth 15 minutes of your time.

And, as you pull the curtain behind you, it is worth asking yourself this question: Does Michael Heath speak for me?

He calls himself a Christian in one breath, yet in the next calls Portland the ''moral gutter'' and likens the Maine Legislature to a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah.

Is that Christian?

He tells his supporters that, yes, we should be allowed to discriminate against homosexuals because that's what God wants us to do. If Jesus were here today, he claims, there would be hell to pay for any ''modern, unrepentant American homosexual'' who dared apply for a job or rent a home.

Is that Christian?

He lambastes Gov. Angus King for promoting ''the lies of supporters of homosexuality,'' when all King has said in his television ads is that Maine doesn't stand for discrimination and he therefore will vote ''no'' on Tuesday.

Is that Christian?

He and his followers call their campaign ''Yes for Equal Rights,'' unable or unwilling to admit that their very name, just like their dire warnings about homosexuals poised to take over our schools, our day care centers and our Boy Scout troops, is a lie.

Is that Christian?

Most Mainers would say no - and many already have. In a half-page newspaper advertisement last Sunday, the Immanuel Baptist Church of Portland courageously stepped forward and said this is one congregation for whom Michael Heath does not speak.

''In the Gospels, Jesus never said a word about homosexuality,'' the church noted. ''. . .As followers of the God of Love, we seek to bring compassion and reconciliation to all people in this troubled world. That is why we are speaking out and urging you to vote no on February 10th.''

Now it's your turn.

The grocery store, the dry cleaner and the car wash can all wait. The voting booth can't.

Take the time. Show Michael Heath and his minority that Maine has heard enough about sin and condemnation. Show Maine's homosexuals that their 20-year struggle for fairness and equality has not been in vain.

Show them all that you care.