Lesbian couple humiliated at the Florida DMV

The religious right would have us to jump through hoops just to get simple validation of our relationships. As this story proves, those hoops don't mean a thing:

'This just in - Satan did not create gays' and other Thursday midday news briefs

House GOP Continues To Misuse Research Of Pro-Gay Rights Psychologist To Argue That Gay Is A Choice - Apparently Republicans are learning from folks in the religious right. Who cares if a researcher complains. Distort the research anyway.

Senate passes ‘license to bully’ legislation - You smell the religious right's smelly hand in this travesty, you would be right. Ain't that so, Gary Glenn?

BREAKING: Bishops’ “Marriage Guy” Retracts Statement That Homosexuality Comes From Satan - Well that's a relief, I guess.

Minnesota For Marriage solicits votes with tantalizing gift card offer - Now I've heard of everything!

NOM hires controversial attorney to fight disclosure laws

Cleta Mitchell

The following just came in from the Minnesota Independent:

The National Organization for Marriage has tapped tea party attorney Cleta Mitchell as the organization’s Minnesota lobbyist during the state’s contentious 2012 battle over a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Mitchell’s expertise is in campaign finance law and Minnesota for Marriage—of which NOM is a member—has already announced plans to challenge Minnesota’s finance law surrounding ballot initiatives.

Mitchell registered as a lobbyist with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board last Wednesday, according to board records. She’s the only lobbyist that NOM has currently registered in Minnesota, although NOM President Brian Brown was registered for a month earlier this year.

Mitchell is a rising star in conservative politics, mainly for her efforts in opposing campaign finance laws and helping candidates and groups exploit loopholes in existing laws. She’s represented a slew of tea party candidates including Sharron Angle in Nevada, Christine O’Donnell in Delaware, Joe Miller in Alaska, Sen. Jim DeMint in South Carolina, Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, Marco Rubio in Florida and Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire.

However, even with all of that expertise, Mitchell is repeating the same claptrap which NOM unsuccessfully repeated in California and Washington State:

Mitchell was the author of a letter to the campaign finance board in protest of the state’s disclosure guidelines. In it, she reiterated the complaints offered by NOM, claiming that members of the LGBT community will attack donors if they’re publicly disclosed.

“The board’s sudden attempt to change the law in order to subject the source(s) of NOM funds used to support the Marriage Referendum puts a bullseye squarely on the forehead of every NOM donor, supporter and member if disclosed and any alleged ‘informational interest’ is purely artificial,” wrote Mitchell. “In sum, this newly concocted disclosure and regulatory scheme is unlawful, is not constitutionally sound, threatens NOM members, donors and supporters with personal injury and harm and the Board should cease immediately its efforts to rewrite Minnesota law to achieve this unlawful purpose.”

NOM continues to lose court cases because the organization has yet to show proof of these threats. And no matter how well-connected Mitchell is, she can't make the proof appear out of thin air.

Speaking of which, Mitchell's appearance is yet another reason for NOM's finances to be disclosed. High-powered attorneys never come cheap.

Also, according to a webpage of an NRA (National Rifle Assocation ) watchdog group, Mitchell's past actions will ensure that she fits in well with NOM:

Mitchell led opposition to a decision by the American Conservative Union (ACU) to allow GOProud, a gay conservative group, to participate in the 2011 CPAC conference. GOProud Board Chairman Chris Barron called Mitchell a “nasty bigot” in response to her efforts to shut out his organization.

Mitchell served as an “attack attorney” for many Tea Party Congressional candidates during the 2010 elections, including Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell and Joe Miller. She has suggested that the Democratic Party’s “tricks” include widespread engagement in voter fraud. Mitchell famously wrote a fundraising letter on behalf of Angle where she accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of attempting to steal the election. Mitchell also accused the Democratic party of stealing the 2002 South Dakota senate election, where Senator Tim Johnson was victorious over Senator John Thune. Both Angle and Miller have been involved in high-profile controversies surrounding guns and the Second Amendment.

In 2009, Mitchell spearheaded an initiative to overturn the legalization of gay marriage in the District of Columbia.

Mitchell served as the attorney for the American Issues Project, a group that ran a television ad falsely accusing President Barack Obama of having a close personal relationship with former-Weather Underground member Bill Ayers in the months prior to the 2008 presidential election. Because AIP’s tax-exempt status makes it illegal for the organization to have a mission that is primarily political, the legality of the ad was questioned by elections experts. Laura MacCleery, Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, called the ad a “clear abuse of federal election law.” Fox News declined to air the spot.

In May 2005, Mitchell served as the Master of Ceremonies at an ACU event honoring U.S. Representative Tom Delay (R-TX), who was embroiled in ethics investigations (and has since been convicted of money laundering). After telling those in attendance that she and other conservatives “love” DeLay, Mitchell claimed he was under investigation only because he is “effective.” She also declared, “The tribute is a statement to him: You're not alone. We'll stand by you. And it's to say to people in this town: If you pick a fight with him, you've got us to contend with.”