NOM's methods of 'defending marriage' are unchristian

Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage claims that his organization wants a respectful discussion as to the merits of being against marriage equality.

However based on the actions of NOM - and the organizations it is partnering with in New York and Minnesota - one can't help but to question the veracity of Brown's statement.

So far:

• NOM has put out a misleading commercial in New York touting a claim that the organization knows is discredited.

• The organization has also blanketed the state with flyers designed to imply that gays want to use marriage equality to corrupt the innocence of children.

• Brown himself, during a rally, made the erroneous claim that Massachusetts kindergartners are being taught that their parents are bigots if said parents favor opposite-sex marriage.

And these awful missives of inaccuracy and misdirection aren't confined solely to NOM. The organizations NOM is partnering with to fight marriage equality are also guilty of several dubious actions.

In Minnesota, the Minnesota Family Council spread inaccurate information via its site that gays engage in pedophilia, bestiality, and the consuming of urine and feces. It also cited the work of discredited physician Paul Cameron. Since this discovery became public, the Minnesota Family Council has scrubbed these references from its site, however, you can still view the information and save it from here.  To top it off, even though the items were removed, the head of the Minnesota Family Council, Tom Pritchard, actually defended the material:

Prichard defends the postings as getting “into the nature of homosexuality and homosexual behavior,” but says that won’t be the focus of his group’s efforts to pass the constitutional ban.
“The focus of this campaign is the nature and purpose of marriage — not a referendum of homosexuality per se, or its lifestyle activities and behaviors,” he says. “I would see that as a separate issue.”

And it gets more interesting in New York.

A group aiding NOM in that state, The Family Research Foundation, is encouraging supporters to write letters to the editor demonizing lgbts.  And the organization has the gall to provide prospective writers with several form letters, meaning that all they have to do is sign their name. You can view the letters here. One letter is below:

The letter implies that the lgbt orientation is as dangerous as cigarette smoking.  This theory was originally espoused by the discredited researcher Paul Cameron, the very man whose material the Minnesota Family Council scrubbed from its page.

Some folks may read this post and get frustrated.  They may say things like "whatever NOM and its allies are doing, it's working because they are winning" or "we are losing because we aren't fighting fire with fire."

But I disagree with both points. Sometimes exposing a lie to sunlight is the best thing you can do.  Whatever battles NOM have won are transitory at best and, when it's all said and done, will not be remembered when marriage equality becomes legal.

What will be remembered are the lies, the hypocrisy, the blatant inaccuracies committed in the name of God by NOM and its partners.

And hopefully those who follow our footsteps will take that behavior as a lesson of what not to do when claiming to work for morality.

Hat tip to Goodasyou.org

NOM spotlighting phony attack on same-sex families

On it's blog, the National Organization for Marriage is spotlighting a column which features an anecdote supposedly spotlighting the "dangers of gay marriage."

But like so many other things the organization pushes, this anecdote pushes several lies.

Raymond Belair also serves as general counsel to Family First of Eastchester and the Children First Foundation of Eastchester. He writes (and mentions our NY "Consequences" Ad in the second paragraph):

... A further baseless claim of the homosexual lobby is that SSM poses no threat to natural marriage or the nuclear family. But a history of such legalization in other states belies that claim. There is a television spot running in New York that makes a valid point regarding consequences "for kids." It is entirely predictable that after SSM is approved that elementary-school students could be subjected to re-education about homosexual marriage being "normative"; this has happened after SSM passed in Massachusetts. A parent there objected to his 6-year-old's required attendance at programs favorably depicting homosexual marriage. The school board rebuffed him, asserting authority to teach "civic values" in conformity with the Massachusetts SSM law, and that it was good for children to be taught things their parents would never approve of.

The first lie is about NOM's consequences ad, where the organization makes the already debunked claim:

Massachusetts schools teach second graders that boys can marry other boys.

Lawsuit filed over anti-gay TN law and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Lawsuit To Be Filed Over Non-Discrimination Bill Reversal - Excellent! It was a dumb move for Tennessee to approve this mess.

#NY26: NOM $6,000 poorer, congressional equality caucus one vote richer - NOM wastes $6,000. Music to my ears.


Transgender musician makes waves with voice, violin - An awesome story about a transgender woman who not only reaches for the stars but manages to grab a couple of them.

Obama Denounces 'DADT', Marriage Provisions in Defense Bill - Hopefully that junk won't get out of the Senate.

NOM playing the astroturf game against marriage equality in NC

On its blog, the National Organization for Marriage is gloating over the Minnesota vote while at the same time claiming that it is spurring North Carolina citizens to speak out for so-called "traditional marriage:"

Victory in Minnesota is encouraging North Carolinans to call for their right to vote for marriage, in the op-ed pages of the Winston-Salem Journal:

Marriage serves as the basis for social organization; it is not a consequence of it. Marriage signifies a particular relationship among the many unions that individuals freely enter; it's the one between a man and a woman that has two obvious goals: mutual support and procreation of children.

No other type of relationship, by definition, can fulfill both goals without the direct or indirect involvement of a third party. To Christians, marriage remains the cornerstone of society, not some government response to the most recent group of discontented Americans.

Rather than wait to see what the Beltway elite decide, North Carolina should pass its own protection of marriage amendment to settle the gay marriage issue once and for all.

Numerous polls over the years consistently show that the majority of people in North Carolina want marriage defined as being between a man and a woman.

Conveniently NOM does not reveal who wrote this piece. The author is Nathan Tabor, who is chairman of the Forsyth County Republican Party. And based on his past pieces,  it's safe to say that NOM's veiled description that Tabor was "inspired" to write his piece because of what happened in Minnesota is inaccurate.

In fact, it's safe to say that NOM's description is a downright lie.

Nathan Tabor is a conservative activist who has run for office several times in North Carolina. In addition, he  written several ugly anti-gay pieces over the years, including:

Charles Darwin disagrees with homosexuality - 2005

Another liberal fairy tale - 2006

In 2005, he started an ugly controversy when a piece he wrote, Homosexuals should pay more insurance, cited the work of the discredited Paul Cameron (who by the way, is cited by the Minnesota Family Council, NOM's partner against marriage equality in that state).

Last week, he was cited in an article about the marriage amendment in North Carolina saying the following:

"There is no separation of church and state. It's not in the Constitution. It's the liberal agenda to take God out of America."

For NOM to imply that Tabor was spurred to speak up against marriage equality because of the Minnesota vote (as if he was an ordinary citizen caught up in the moment) is totally untrue.

Most likely, Tabor and NOM are working in conjunction to get pieces in the North Carolina press to speak against marriage equality.

Tabor's piece reads like a speech from NOM leader Maggie Gallagher. He is even so tacky as to include NOM's main talking point in his column:

Gays and lesbians have a right to live as they choose . . . however they don't have the right to redefine marriage.

My question is when does the convenient column labeling North Carolina lgbts as intolerant bullies come? No doubt we will probably see more of this in North Carolina and Minnesota, i.e. this bizarre degree of astroturfing where those working with NOM write letters to the editors and columns using the organization's inaccurate talking points against marriage equality while NOM implies on its blog that they are "ordinary citizen spurred on to defend marriage."

It's a nasty game that NOM is playing. And unfortunately same-sex couples and their children may end up losing this game.