In March 2009 Lawlor and Sen. Andrew J. McDonald proposed a new state law proposing to regulate the management of Roman Catholic churches in Connecticut; free speech advocates, church leaders, and members of the Republican House opposition charged the bill violated the separation of church and state clause in the First Amendment. Bill Donahue, President of the Catholic League, an organization which fights anti-Catholic prejudice, called it a "brutal act of revenge by Lawlor and McDonald, two champions of gay marriage... designed to muzzle the voice of the Catholic Church". The Bill, by giving control over matters administrative and fiscal to a board of laity (in which the Bishop and Parish Priest would act only in an advisory capacity) and because it is specific only to the Roman Catholic Church is seen by many as anti-Catholic. The bill was tabled on March 10, 2009.