A resentful private email sent to the Human Rights Campaign has ended in the firing of a reporter in Maine.

Following the gay marriage defeat in Maine last November, Larry Grad, a reporter at The Morning Sentinel at Waterville, Maine, found a released statement sent to the paper from HRC claiming gay marriage opponents were using a hateful campaign to get their way.

Grad, who said he got no sleep the prior night, wrote back attacking the Human Rights Campaign and its claim.

“They said the Yes-on-1 people were haters. I’m a Christian. I take offense at that,” Grad said. “I e-mailed them back and said basically, ‘We’re not the ones doing the hating. You’re the ones doing the hating.’”

Unaware to Grad, the email was not anonymous. An HRC representative shortly contacted Grad’s editor about the email. A week later, Grad was fired.

The HRC representative who reported Grad said he never wanted him fired.

To read more about this story visit DownEast.com.

– Simon Husted