NOM photo scandal heating up

Brian Brown, NOM's president

The National Organization for Marriage has YET to comment on getting caught stealing photos from Obama rallies to misrepresent its number of supporters, but others are commenting.

Today, the Human Rights Campaign made a statement:

HRC to NOM: Fess Up About Stolen Photo

Anti-​LGBT organization manipulates crowd photo to create illusion of support

WASHINGTON – Today Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization – sent a letter to the so-​called National Organization for Marriage (NOM) calling out the group’s deceitful tactics in New Hampshire. NOM is using a photograph from an Obama campaign event in Ohio to mislead New Hampshire voters into believing they have more supporters than they actually do. The news was broken by Jeremy Hooper on his Good as You blog; Hooper is also a contributor to HRC’s NOM Exposed.

The photo debacle comes on the heels of news from the nonpartisan University of New Hampshire Survey Center who recently released a poll showing 62% of Granite Staters oppose repealing the popular same-​sex marriage law.

Read Solmonese’s letter to NOM President Brian Brown below:

Dear Mr. Brown:

Your organization has sunk to a new level of deception by manipulating photographs from an Obama campaign event in Ohio to trick Granite Staters into believing support for the National Organization for Marriage is much greater than it really is. And while I know that NOM has never been above misleading the public to further its cause, this new phoniness is an example of just how far you will go to make people believe your pursuit – the denial of equal treatment under the law — is supported by New Hampshire voters and Americans in general. 

There’s no mistaking the facts: 62 percent of Granite Staters oppose repealing marriage equality. In addition, polls reflect that a majority of Americans support marriage equality nationwide. And it’s no secret that support is growing as Americans from all walks of life come to the understanding that all that gay and lesbian families seek is to have our love and commitment recognized and legally protected. Yet NOM futilely and painstakingly attempts to convince otherwise. 

The fact that you had to “steal a crowd” from someone else’s event to create the illusion that people support your cause is evidence that you and your cohorts are truly scraping the bottom of the barrel.  Americans want the truth. And the truth is voters in New Hampshire want the legislature to leave the popular marriage law alone and focus on the economy and budget matters.

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese

Meanwhile Clarknt67, a blogger at Daily Kos, has come out with a list detailing the fact that photos aren't the only items NOM has pilfered:

Gosh for such God-fearing Christian people, those folks over at National Organization for Marriage sure seem to have a problem following the 8th Commandment.

They stole music from John Mellencamp music.

They stole video from a gay blogger.

They stole an image from Reuters earlier this week.

Seems they need to go back to Sunday School, before the Baby Jesus cries.

Let's refresh the Exodus 20:15 for them, shall we?

If NOM comments on this, I will be surprised. No doubt, they are hoping that this controversy will die out.

But it shouldn't. Not if we have anything to say about it.

'NOM condemned from all sides for photo stealing' and other Wednesday midday news briefs

The National Organization for Marriage is being condemned in many areas for using photos from Obama rallies to misrepresent its number of supporters. 

From Rachel Maddow:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

To a blog from from its ally in the Prop 8 trial (FamilyScholars.org, the "pro-family" blog for the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values):

NOM’s Unethical Swiping of Obama Rally Photos

Meanwhile NOM has yet to comment on being caught red-handed. A little tip, NOM. Ignoring the fact that you were caught in unscrupulous, underhanded, and totally immoral behavior won't make it go away.

And in other news:

Reports: Uganda Brings Back Anti-Homosexuality Bill - This ain't good at all. It's like a monster who keeps getting killed and returning in sequels.

Katherine Kersten: Opposing marriage equality is like opposing Jim Crow South - Sometimes when you let the opposition talk, their hyperbole makes our case for us.

Is Exodus Leader Raising Money for U.S. Hate Group? - I always knew someone was assisting crazy Linda Harvey.

NOM make sly attack on same-sex parenting

The National Organization for Marriage constantly tries to pass itself off as an organization created to solely protect the "so-called" special institution of marriage.

The mantra of "Don't mess with marriage" has been heard constantly in its talking points and when its spokespeople - Brian Brown and Maggie Gallagher - are interviewed concerning the organization's goals and such.

Gallagher herself has said that she thinks its unfortunate how sometimes people misinterpret the things she says as a condemnation of "gay parenting skills."

Don't believe Brown, Gallagher, or anyone from NOM when they come with that spin. It's not necessarily the things that Brown or Gallagher may say about same-sex families, but how they present the issue and allow their supporters to ruminate over it.

Case in point, a recent post on the group's blog featured a piece on a from the UK Daily Mail over two gay couples fighting over custody of two children.

It's an ugly situation but would NOM have given a damn about it if the couples involved where heterosexual? Of course not.

But here is the tricky part. NOM doesn't make a comment on the situation. The organization merely posted the article verbatim. It merely allowed its responders to comment - making sure of course to moderate comments. Here are just some:

Of course the players in this travesty, the so-called adults, have never given a moment's thought to the best interests of the children. They seem incapable of doing so, being children themselves. They are totally caught up in their own narcissistic desires. The judge is understandably frustrated.Children are not pets.

  . . . this begs the question, "What is a human?" It is rational animal whose existence requires the unity of male and female whose sexual powers are ordered toward such a union. When a heterosexual couples adopts a child, it tries to replicate, as close as possible, what has been lost: a mother and a father. Gays simply cannot do this. To pretend that they can do this is to lie to oneself. Mothers and fathers are not interchangeable. What's more, only if there is a natural family--that which by its orderliness produces the children that you want to adopt--can you even mimic it. But as you move further away from a memory of the natural family, and it because more difficult to morally plagiarize from it, you are literally without guidance on what to do. Hence, we have this case in the UK. People playing with counterfeit money for so long they forget how the real thing feels like. And who gets harmed? Those who were supposed to receive a different inheritance.
SOME true marriages harm kids. ALL same-sex "marriages" harm kids.

This shows the evil of homosexuality. Part of the evil is their utter disdain for children.

NOM will probably say that posting this UK article is not the same as generalizing about same-sex couples, but the comments of its responders speak for themselves. The organization gave them red meat and like rabid wolves, they chewed on it like it was their last meal.