Topeka ? When Bruce Ney of Lawrence was told that the Knights of Columbus dropped $100,000 into the Kansas campaign to pass a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage, he said the largest lay organization in the Catholic Church now has one less member. “I’m a a member, and I’m Catholic. It’s disappointing,” said Ney, who is chairman of Kansans for Fairness, a group that is fighting against the amendment on the April 5 ballot.

The size of the donation has raised eyebrows in Kansas politics.

“It’s absolutely the largest that has been contributed for an issue campaign,” said Carol Williams, executive director of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission.

Williams said there had been larger donations from individuals that get passed through political action committees. And, she said, advocacy groups that don’t have to report their finances have spent more than $100,000 in campaigns.

But a six-figure contribution in Kansas politics is still noteworthy.

Pat Korten, a spokesman for the New Haven, Conn.-based Knights of Columbus, said the organization felt strongly about the amendment.

“It’s not the kind of thing where you want to hold back,” Korten said.

Kansas is the first state to receive money from the group for a marriage amendment election, Korten said.

He said the decision was made after consulting with officials from the Kansas City, Kan., archdiocese.

“That was what was felt was needed,” he said. The group has 35,000 dues-paying members in Kansas.

Gay marriage ban poses unintended consequences Same-sex marriage donations pour in (3-22-05) Donations: Amendment supporters Donations: Amendment opponents

Tom Rottinghaus of Axtell, the state deputy of the Knights of Columbus in Kansas, said he was surprised by the size of the donation from the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus.

“The bishops of Kansas would like to see the amendment pass massively. We’d like to see an 80 (percent) to 20 (percent) vote,” he said. “Our belief is that the act of marriage is between a man and a woman, as stated by God.”

But Christian churches and organizations are on both sides of the amendment.

Recently, clergy of 50 churches signed a letter in opposition to the amendment.

In Lawrence, the Oread Friends congregation (Quakers) said it opposed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and supported committed relationships whether they are homosexual or heterosexual.

“There is nothing in the Christian Scriptures that would speak against the kind of mutual loving relationships of two of the same gender,” said Harold Washington, clerk of the congregation’s meeting.

Washington said it didn’t surprise him that different churches have opposing viewpoints on the issue. “Throughout the history of the church there have been many profound divisions,” he said.