Yesterday I posted that Equality Matters caught the National Organization for Marriage putting a post on its blog which used the work of the discredited researcher Paul "gays stuff gerbils up their rectums" Cameron.
Equality Matters also pointed out that this sort of thing is the standard for NOM. On its blog and on the blog of its affiliated group - The Ruth Institute, NOM posts links to pieces either showcasing anti-gay propaganda or junk science designed to demonize the gay community, especially in terms of our interaction with children.
Apparently attention to this fact must have really bugged NOM because today, former chairwoman Maggie Gallagher posted a piece on the group's blog which basically said that just because NOM puts something on its blog doesn't mean that its endorsing the work:
Some in the gay blogosphere are trying to assert that NOM--or me--endorses the view of every blogger/article NOM links to, by the act of linking to it.
This would lead to the absurd conclusion that NOM endorses the editorial positions of the New York Times, because NOM links to them--or The Advocate for that matter, as we often link to stories in the gay press.
If you want to know what NOM's message is, there are abundant videos and press stories (including our own press releases) with me, or Brian Brown, or other NOM personnel actually speaking. Fair enough to criticize us for what we actually believe and say.
The standard "a link constitutes an endorsement" would cut off the free flow of ideas at the knees.
I would like to say personally that nothing in any argument I've ever made on gay marriage, rests on the idea that same-sex couples harm their own children at any higher rates than any other family form. (If there is data that shows this, I've never seen it.)
Excuse me? Apparently Gallagher must think that we are stupid. Passing along information about the gay community which you know to be inaccurate and incredibly stigmatizing is not the "free-flow of ideas."
It's lying. You can't explain it away and you certainly can't sugarcoat it.
And when you put it front and center on your blog, you are in fact endorsing it because you want people to see it. And you want people to link to the piece in question.
Maybe I shouldn't be so abrupt with Gallagher. She was always a poor spokesperson. Remember this part of her piece:
If you want to know what NOM's message is, there are abundant videos and press stories (including our own press releases) with me, or Brian Brown, or other NOM personnel actually speaking. Fair enough to criticize us for what we actually believe and say.
Okay, how about when Brian Brown told the following lie at a New York rally early this year:
" . . . kids as young as kindergarten are taught in Massachusetts that their parents are bigots because they believe marriage is the union of a man and a woman."
Or how about the time earlier in 2010 when Gallagher cited a study about abused children to make the case against marriage equality even though no same-sex couple took part in the study.
Or how about when NOM blanket states with flyers designed to imply that gays want to use marriage equality to corrupt the innocence of children. Flyers like so:
Or how about now when NOM is teaming up, even as I speak, with the Minnesota Family Council, a group which spreads inaccurate information via its site that gays engage in pedophilia, bestiality, and the consuming of urine and feces.
Of course Maggie Gallagher doesn't attack same-sex couples. She simply leaves those nasty actions to the groups NOM aligns itself with and then plays stupid when these groups are caught in the act.
If that's not bad enough, Jeremy Hooper from Goodasyou.org points out several other things:
For starters, we could talk about the times you, Maggie, called homosexuality an "unfortunate thing" and "at a minimum, a sexual dysfunction much as impotence or infertility," suggested gays "can always control their behavior," called on a sitting President to give more research dollars to "ex-gay" research, or talked about the "several kinds of sins" that both gays and their supports commit every time they support marriage equality. Then we can go from there.
You see this is why so many lgbtqs cannot stand Gallagher or NOM. It's bad enough that they are trying to take away our rights. It's bad enough that they demonize us, our children, and our families on a daily basis.
But absolute final straw is when NOM - and Gallagher - have the audacity to lie to us that they mean us no harm when we see their weapons for our destruction plainly behind their backs. And they aren't even trying to hide them.
The lgbtq community knows the difference between a kiss in the lips and a kick in the chops and Gallagher's piss poor explanations to the contrary are fooling no one.
