Tuesday, June 28, 2011

NOM astroturfed 'legal scholars' in New York

In a press conference held by the National Organization for Marriage and its allies days before the NY Senate voted for marriage equality, NOM head Maggie Gallagher brought up the so-called negative religious impacts of marriage equality by citing the work of "leading legal scholars."

Skip to 16:29 of the video where Gallagher makes these comments



Gallagher: It's not just pastors who are talking about it. My understanding is that there was a letter from a Stanford law professor who is an expert on religious liberty, a Harvard law school professor; Mary Ann Glendon, and one of the editors of a book called Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberties. The leading legal scholars are acknowledging . . . that the foundational idea that equality requires gay marriage . . . is going to impact people who disagree . . . "

According to Equality Matters, these scholars Gallagher spoke of are not objective, but have a very strong personal disregard to not only marriage equality but to the gay community in general. For example, take Mary Ann Glendon:


She has called marriage equality a "radical social experiment," warning that "children will have to be taught about homosexual sex" and fear mongering about the threat posed by "alternative family forms":


But, believe it or not, Gallagher's biggest deception at the press conference is a name she chose omit.

A man by the name of Robert George  was one of the so-called legal scholars who signed the letter and my guess is that Gallagher chose to omit his name for following reason (brought to you by Equality Matters):

George is the Chairman Emeritus of the board for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and has a long history of anti-gay activism. George has argued that marriage equality will pave the way for polygamy and claims same-sex marriage will lead to "disastrous effects" on children.


Allow me to break it down: in a high intense press conference, Gallagher nonchalantly snuck in a notion that "leading legal scholars" have an objective concern over the plight of religious liberties should marriage equality be passed in New York.

However, she omitted - and probably not by accident - the simple fact that these so-called "leading legal scholars" have negative views on marriage equality in general.

Also, Gallagher omitted - and again probably not by accident - that one of these  so-called "leading legal scholars" (Robert George) is on NOM's Board of Directors - the very same board on which she also serves.

Of course Gallagher pulled a big deception and as sure I am sitting here, count on her doing it again and again.

And frankly, neither Gallagher nor NOM really care about getting caught because very few have made an effort in calling them out on their questionable tactics.


Bookmark and Share

No comments:

Post a Comment