It's time for the 'we need to protect marriage' con to die

Here we go again.

The North Carolina Legislature has passed a bill to allow its citizens to vote on a state constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

The majority of folks in NC are against this amendment but that is considered a minor detail by the organizations and people pushing it.

They are always quick to point out that other states which have polled against state constitutional amendments against gay marriage passed them when voters had the chance to register their opinions via the ballot box.

Of course the truth is not that simple. The untold narrative usually goes like this:

People in the targeted states are so generally worried about more pressing issues that they allow their legislatures to be the first salvo in what can be called an invasion, i.e. laying the groundwork by passing  a bill, thereby forcing constituents to vote on the matter.

Then an organization – usually the National Organization for Marriage – is the second part of the invasion via its virtually unlimited funds supplied by secret donors (which the group has fought tooth and nail not to reveal), that pays for the inundation of robocalls, mailers, and commercials spinning a multitude of lies about gays harming children or gays persecuting Christians, or gays causing all sorts of mayhem in general if the amendment is not passed.

At the same time, the organization stroke the egos of area pastors and public leaders. The organization, combined with these pastors and public leaders, gain votes by:

• picking a needless war with the gay community over the definition of “civil rights,”

• spooking people into thinking that God will literally send the Angel of Death to smite them if they don’t vote for the amendment,

• and scaring people into thinking that gays are going to knock down their front doors and cart them off to jail or convert their children if they don’t vote for the amendment.

The organization – again usually NOM – wins the vote and while it brays about how “the community stood up to protect marriage,” the community in actuality deals with strife, hard feelings, broken families, and generally not understanding why their votes to “protect marriage” hasn’t put food on their tables,  more money in their paychecks, or made their lives better.

It’s like some religious version of that Simpsons episode about the monorail. But instead of a faulty monorail, people are being sold a faulty premise that the biggest harm to their marriages are their gay and lesbian neighbors and if they make it difficult for these folks to marry, then somehow the real things that harm marriages – i.e. lack of communication or poverty (a subject none of these "we need to protect marriage" groups seem to ever address) will suddenly disappear.

It's time for this "we need to protect marriage" con to die. And it will. It could happen in North Carolina or Minnesota. Both states are facing anti-marriage equality votes next year. Or it could happen before then. But rest assured, it will happen.

As our economic crisis looms and Republicans go tete-a-tete with the President, people are starting to get hip to these distracting  amendment pushes which exploit their religious beliefs while doing nothing to solve the problems they have gaining employment, feeding their families, or paying their mortgages.

They say that a lie travels around the world before the truth has time to put on its shoes. What they always forget to mention is that when truth does put on its shoes, it usually makes up for lost time.

In the case of these phony “protect marriage” votes, I have a feeling that truth is just about to slap on its sneakers.

Ten years ago, gays were blamed for 9/11 and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Happy 10th Anniversary Of Being Blamed For 9/11 - Ten years ago, the late Jerry Falwell blamed gays for 9/11. Ugly anniversary.

She shares my name, not my support. Does she get to share my enthusiasm? - Unbelievable. NY Rep who voted against marriage equality in the state trying to take credit for its passage.

Anti-Gay Marriage Forces Converge On NY-9 - And speaking of New York, there is a special election today to replace Anthony Wiener in Congress. It looks like the Republican may win. NOM and the Family Research Council have been spinning a false narrative - and spending a lot of money - to claim that the Democrat's vote for marriage equality in the state legislature is leading to his possible loss. Of course this is a lie, as the article points out.

Bill To Repeal DOMA Attracts Record Number Of Co-Sponsors - Great news!

Sad State of Affairs in Africa - Things don't look good for us in the Mother Land.

Oregon GOP Removes Anti-Gay Language From Party Platform - Good news out of Oregon.

Racists and homophobes use the same lying tactics

Those on the right claim that opposition to marriage equality and opposition to interracial marriage is like "comparing apples to oranges."

If that's the case, then why do folks who oppose both use the same tactics?

Many who oppose marriage equality, like Bob Vander Plaats of the Iowa Family Leader, say that their opposition is because of the supposed "health risks" of homosexuality:



Just like racists (The Nationalist Coalition) who made the following video claim that interracial dating is wrong because supposedly African-Americans are a high risk group for sexually transmitted diseases.



Apples and oranges my foot. Strip away all of the lies and cherry-picked science and what you are left with are lies and fear tactics manipulated to exploit people's ignorance.

There is no difference.

Religious right group helped to craft NC anti-gay legislation

Some people - specifically in the gay community - underestimate the religious right. They fail to see how much power these groups have in spite of the wild words coming out of the mouths of their representatives. If you want a clue to the power of these groups, the following tidbit should give you an indication. The North Carolina legislature is presently debating an anti-marriage equality amendment. If it pass the legislature, it will be voted on in Nov. 2012. There has been a lot said about this amendment, which has just passed the House and now moves on to the Senate. But here is something you should remember:

Majority Leader Paul Stam (R) said the “public won’t get to speak because they will get to speak at the ballot box.” The proposed ballot initiative has been rescheduled to a May vote because Speaker Thom Tillis (R) wanted to remove the argument that the amendment was politically motivated by being on the November ballot.

During the Rules Committee debate, Stam acknowledged that he worked with lawyer Austin Nimocks in developing the language of the amendment. Nimocks works for the Alliance Defense Fund, an anti-gay Christian group, and he recently testified before Congress in defense of the Defense of Marriage Act.

According to Think Progress, the Allied Defense Fund has been known to spread falsehoods about marriage equality, including how it supposedly harms children and will lead to religious persecution.

But that doesn't matter, does it? All that matters is that the Alliance Defense Fund was able to work with NC legislators on this awful amendment in spite of its propensity to lie.

That's why it's necessary that the gay community work to expose the lies of religious right groups every chance we get. We need to make this exposures public and not assume that the public won't care. Sunlight is always the best disinfectant.

We need to start making the argument about them rather than us. The question should never be is the gay community deserving of equality. The question should be why are these supposed Christian groups engaging in lies and deception to keep that equality from becoming a reality.

Related post:

It's not enough to call them bigots

Gays in the military will cause Jesus's return? and other Monday midday news briefs

Retired Gen. Jerry Boykin: The DADT Repeal Will Cause The Rapture! - Forget war and famine. THIS will be the thing to bring Jesus back to Earth - gays in the military. But this statement confuses me. I thought folks like Boykin WANT Jesus to come back. If that's the case then shouldn't they support gays in the military?

NAACP Joins Maryland Marriage Fight - In Maryland as well as North Carolina, the NAACP is attacking the divide and conquer strategy of the anti-gay industry.

Minnesota Priest Advocates Ex-Gay Therapy, Compares Homosexuality To Adultery, Crime, And Addiction - Meanwhile, the homophobes try to carry on in Minnesota.

Anti-gay marriage amendment campaign hires communications director - I wonder how many "gays want marriage to corrupt children" commercials and flyers will he okay?

Wikileaks: Ugandan First Lady “Ultimately Behind” Anti-Homosexuality Bill - The sick source behind the possible genocide of the Ugandan gay community.

NC NAACP strongly rebuke the gay vs. black divide and conquer game

William Barber

Time after time, we have seen the forces against marriage equality play the black and gay communities against one another. The divide and conquer game has brought them a lot of success. With this in mind, they are now trying it in North Carolina as they attempt to push an anti-gay marriage amendment through that state's legislature.

However, the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP simply is not being silent. In fact, the organization is very vocal in its stance against the amendment.

NC NAACP President Rev. William Barber wrote an open letter to North Carolinians last week in which he not only strongly rebukes the potential amendment but the hypocrisy of the parties involved in pushing it. Part of this letter is as follows:

Our research shows that today shadowy money with connections to ultraconservative think-tanks and millionaires are financing a cynical move to trick some North Carolina voters in next year’s election by trying to place a state constitutional amendment onthe issue of “Same Sex Marriage” on the presidential election ballot. The Family Research Council has reportedly paid for radio ads, targeting both African American and White legislators who have large African American constituencies. The millionaires who fund these election tricks could care less about who marries whom. But they invest their money in issues that will affect who votes for whom. They tried to cut back on early voting and to make everyone wait in line at the DMV to get a picture ID before they can vote. Now they want to forever write discrimination into the N.C. Constitution as a means of affecting the presidential vote. The millionaires’ purpose is simple: They want to distract voters’ attention from our pressing economic problems to a personal issue of conscience–a matter best dealt with in our houses of worship and our consciences. This is a matter of conscience, not constitutions.

. . . The issue of same sex marriage is a matter of conscience — a matter of religious or moral perspective. It should be worked out within one’s conscience, within one’s faith, and within one’s own heart and faith community. The North Carolina legislature is not the modern day Council of Nicaea — and we should not want it to be. Public policy, not personal morality, is what we ought to address in the legislature. How should the government address the public policy challenges of abject poverty, unemployment, poor education, economic justice, caring for those without health care, and equal protection under law? 

These are the questions that the legislature should be addressing. We should not allow my tax dollars, and my beloved state of North Carolina, to put their beliefs into our state’s most important document, to dictate to the consciences of other people here. This is a matter of conscience, not constitutions

A vote on the same sex marriage amendment has nothing to do with your personal opinion on same sex marriage but everything to do with whether or not you belief discrimination should be codified and legalized constitutionally.

We need to stop for a minute and remember the history of amending the U. S. Constitution. Our nation had to fight a long and bloody civil war that our Constitution, on paper at least, began to expand its protections to all persons. The 13^th Amendment abolished slavery; the 14^th Amendment guaranteed all persons equal protection under the law, the 15^th Amendment provided voting rights regardless of race or previous condition of servitude, the 19^th guaranteed voting rights for [White] women, the 23^rd provided voting rights in presidential elections for residents of the District of Columbia, the 24^th eliminated discriminatory poll taxes in federal elections, and the 26^th provided voting rights for younger Americans. None of the other amendments ever restricted the rights of any persons, except the two that established, then repealed, prohibition. Similarly, the North Carolina Constitution has always expanded and extended the equal rights of all persons that is in the First Section quoted above. When we look at the history of our U.S. and N.C. Constitutions, there has never been an amendment to narrow their protections, but always to expand their protections to all persons, and to remedy past injustices.

The real insult to the Civil Rights Movement is that same regressive ultra conservative tea party type folks suing to overturn the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which many historians consider the most important achievement of the Civil Rights Movement, re-segregate and rob our public schools of valuable resources, block workers’ rights to organize, force us all to get photo ID’s to exercise our right to vote, cut back on the time to vote, and repeal the Racial Justice law, now somehow think the sons and daughters of the Civil Rights Movement can’t see through their Trojan Horse trick.

The ultra-conservative sponsors push their anti-gay amendment with one hand, and their restrictions on our voting rights with the other. They would write discrimination into our Constitution with one hand, but violate it by withholding enough funds for children to get a sound basic education.

It's not enough to call them bigots

 A repost from last year

We know that religious right groups peddle distortions designed to demonize the lgbt community.

However we really should do more than simply declare them bigots.  Members of the right tend to embrace that definition, using it to play the martyr and lie about about how they are being unfairly attacked for simply speaking about their "personally held Christian beliefs."

The lgbt community needs to follow the advice of high school math teachers and "show our work" in proving what needs to be known about these so-called pro-family groups, i.e. that they lie intentionally to create a phony picture of the lgbt community. So I have compiled a pattern of religious right deception which can be broken down to six techniques:

1. Using nonrepresentative or out-of-date studies to make generalizations, or distorting legitimate studies to give misleading conclusions

Example 1 - Religious right talking point: According to the book Homosexualities: A Study of Diversity Among Men and Women, 43 percent of white male homosexuals had sex with 500 or more partners, with 28 percent having 1,000 or more sexual partners. Therefore gays have no concept of mongamy and certainly can't be trusted to raise children.

Truth - Homosexualities was a book written in 1978 that only looked a certain portion of the lgbt population (gay men in the city of San Francisco). It also did not look at same-sex households. In addition, the authors of Homosexualities (Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg) said that their book should not be used to generalize about all gays in general:

“. . . given the variety of circumstances which discourage homosexuals from participating in research studies, it is unlikely that any investigator will ever be in a position to say that this or that is true of a given percentage of all homosexuals.”

Example 2 - Religious right talking point: Same sex marriage and gay adoption are bad ideas because research shows that the best places to raise children are in homes with a mother and a father.

The truth - The research only looked at heterosexual two-parent households as opposed to single parent heterosexual households. Same-sex households were never included.

Reasons why NOM should be named as a hate group

While the National Organization for Marriage was called out by the Southern Poverty Law Center for attacking the gay community with lies and propaganda, the organization was not declared a hate group by SPLC. However, based upon the following reasons, I think SPLC needs to take closer look at NOM and declare the organization to be an anti-gay hate group:

May 10, 2011 - NOM exploiting children to stop gay marriage in New York - NOM puts out a commercial in New York repeating the variation of the "kindergartners are being taught about gay marriage" lie which was exposed by Politifact in February.

May 14, 2011 - Politifact gives NOM 'Pants on Fire' rating for lying - Politifact catches NOM lying yet again. This time it is about marriage equality in Rhode Island.

May 15, 2011 - Brian Brown reveals NOM's anti-gay game of divide and conquer - At a march against marriage equality in New York, NOM president Brian Brown repeats the lie that  " . . . 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."

May 16, 2011 - NOM - Homosexuals wants to destroy children's innocence through gay marriage - NOM sends out a flyer claiming that gay marriage will destroy the "innocence" of children.

An inaccurate flyer put out by NOM

May 22, 2011 - MN's chief anti-equality lobby: 'Accepting homosexuals as normal victimizes homosexuals themselves' - It is discovered that NOM's partner to stop marriage equality in Minnesota - the Minnesota Family Council - has material on its webpage falsely accusing the gay community of pedophilia, bestiality, and the consuming of urine and feces.  This material is removed from the webpage, but MFC's president, Tom Prichard, still defends the lies. NOM makes no comment about the controversy and is presently still partnered with the group.

June 28, 2011 - NOM astroturfed 'legal scholars' in New York - During its unsuccessful attempt to stop marriage equality in New York, NOM tried to make it seem that objective legal scholars were claiming that marriage equality in the state will negatively impact those who disagree with it. But NOM omits the fact that these scholars are not objective. They are all against marriage equality. And one of the scholars in question, Robert George, is presently the Chairman Emeritus of NOM.

And if those reasons aren't enough, Equality Matters has a huge breakdown of NOM's exploits which go way beyond simply "expressing Christian faith" or "defending traditional marriage." The following are just a few:

NOM’s Ruth Institute: “It Gets Better” Project “Aggressively Promotes Deviant Sex”

NOM: Homosexuality Will “Hurt You Badly,” “End Your Life Prematurely” 

NOM President Claims Marriage Equality Will “Normalize Pedophilia”

NOM Links Homosexuality To Pedophilia (Again)

NOM Newsletter: Gays Are Engaged In “Jihad,” Want To “Take Away Your Rights”

NOM’s Idea Of “Excellent” Analysis: Calling Homosexuality An “Addictive,” “Learned” Behavior 

NOM Promotes Column Claiming That Normalizing Homosexuality Is “Sexual Anarchy”

And then there are the following past incidents which I have referred to on several occasions.

Know Your LGBT History - The Hotel New Hampshire

Don't even try to ask me what The Hotel New Hampshire (1984) is about. It's a monstrosity of a movie which I am guessing isn't the highlight for the careers of Rob Lowe, Jodie Foster, Matthew Modine, or Paul McCrane.

From Wikipedia:

In the 1950s, Win Berry (Beau Bridges) and his wife (Lisa Banes) have five children, John (Rob Lowe), Franny (Jodie Foster), Frank (Paul McCrane), Lilly (Jennifer Dundas), and Egg (Seth Green). The Berrys decide to open a hotel near the prep school that John, Franny, and Frank attend; they call it the Hotel New Hampshire.

It was originally a John Irving novel which should have stayed as such. I hated it.

But at least it does have a decent portrayal of a gay man (Paul McCrane).And where else can you see a gay bashing, revenge for the gay bashing, nudity, and family acceptance all combined in one scene?

Not for the easily offended:

Mud F***er




The Hotel New Hampshire

— MOVIECLIPS.com

Past Know Your LGBT Posts: 

Refuting anti-gay lies in North Carolina and other Friday midday news briefs

Standing Ovation For North Carolina's James Forrester After Saying Gay People Are 'Unhealthy' - Unbelievable hot mess. And with all due respect, the article merely reported what this man said and offered no refutations. Allow me to. His lie is from either two sources - 1. is the discredited research of Paul Cameron. 2. A 1997 Canadian study. In 2001, the researchers of the study came out complaining as to how the religious right was cherry picking their work to make the phony claim that gay men have a short lifespan. It's not enough to publicized what homophobes say. When we know that they are lying, we need to say this.

Related posts:

Why we should care about Paul Cameron

How religious right groups distort good science in the name of God

In other news . . .

Anti-Gay Tennessee Group Whines About Inclusive Insurance Agency - Poor babies.

Kern Doubles Down On Claim That Homosexuality Is "More Dangerous" Than Terrorist Attacks - But yet when we called Kern out for saying such mess, we were somehow "persecuting" her.
  
Something Rotten In The State Of NOM… - NOM rewrites Hamlet?

Top 20 Things That Owe Their Existence to Queers - Let's end the news briefs with a very good history lesson.

NOM is now attacking same-sex families

According to Equality Matters, the Ruth Institute - a group affiliated with the National Organization for Marriage, is pushing nonsense which attacks same-sex families:

On September 7, the Ruth Institute published excerpts from a column written by David van Gend, a spokesman for the Family Council of Queensland in Australia. Van Gend has previously encouraged gay people to “escape the suffering of same-sex attraction” through so-called ex-gay therapy. Yeah, it’s going to be one of those columns.

In his piece, Van Gend makes clear that it’s not just marriage equality he’s opposed to – it’s any law that allows same-sex couples to raise children:

Obviously there are tragic situations where a child cannot have both a mum and a dad, such as the death or desertion of a parent, but that is not a situation we would ever wish upon a child, and that is not a situation that any government should inflict upon a child.

Yet legalising same-sex marriage will inflict that deprivation on a child. That is why it is wrong, and that is why all laws are wrong that permit single people or same-sex couples to obtain a child by IVF, surrogacy, or adoption. [emphasis added]

Van Gend’s full column is also bursting at the seams with anti-gay misinformation, including:

• Asserting that marriage equality will lead to polygamy
• Citing MassResistance – a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-gay hate group – to support the (thoroughly debunked) claim that kids are being forced to learn about homosexuality in school
• Promoting the (also thoroughly debunked) myth that the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) distributed copies of “The Little Black Book” to high school students

Opposing same-sex parenting, repeating long-disproved anti-gay talking points, and partnering with known hate groups – all in a day’s work at NOM.

They just can't help themselves, can they?  Time to add more reasons to my Why NOM is bigoted list.

Related post:

Eleven examples of NOM's bigotry 

Slur spewing pastor taking center stage in North Carolina

Donald Fozard

Those against marriage equality in North Carolina pushing the race card extremely hard.

Yesterday, the National Organization for Marriage pushed a portion of an Associated Press article which focused on a group of black pastors who supported the upcoming anti-marriage equality amendment.

Today, NOM pushed the below video on its blog claiming the following:

An ABC news video on the North Carolina debate. The black church is taking a leading role, to Democrats dismay.

But when one looks at the video, one sees that the claim is false:




Now Focus on the Family has done the same thing, i.e. pushing the idea that the black church is going to "save" North Carolina from "the gays.":



Focus on the Family’s audio and the video featured by NOM have two things in common. Both omit the fact that the state NAACP has been very vocal in opposition to the amendment. And both feature a pastor named Donald Q. Fozard of the Mount Zion Christian Church. He is the man who is speaking in the FOF audio and the man calling another a “liar” in the video.

From the way Fozard has made himself available to NOM and FOF, one gets the idea that he is trying to be the southern Ruben Diaz.

However, one could say that Fozard is a bit more like Fred Phelps. This is him in 2004:

From this past Sunday's sermon, one would think the Rev. Donald Q. Fozard Sr. likes saying the word faggot. The pastor of Durham's Mount Zion Christian Church hollers the word's last syllable as if he were exorcising a demon, or as if he were a movie star who understands that notoriety rises when you do something incendiary.

"Faggots across the nation, heading churches. Homos on the pianos. Faggots in the choir. What kind of spirit is leading that church?" he asked his 150 worshippers.

. . . Fozard continued with his own spectacular show. "And now? Men with men, women with women? Let me remind you of Sodom and Gomorrah. That sin will bring fire from heaven. I tell the homosexual man: repent, turn and get a woman. I tell the woman who wants to get married: get yourself a man."

(If Fozard stresses the last syllable of "faggot," he sounds out each vowel and consonant of "homosexual".) "The Reverend Al Sharpton says it doesn't matter who you sleep with?" he said. "I'll tell you one thing: the Reverend ain't no Reverend. All of them are running around saying it doesn't matter who you sleep with! They want that little 1 percent of faggots that go to vote."

I assure you that this is no joke. Thanks to NOM and those who are trying to stop marriage equality in NC, a slur speaking awful excuse for a reverend has now taken center stage.

This mean unfortunately that yet again the religious right - particularly NOM - is exploiting the black community. And yet again the black church is allowing itself to be used as a tool against its own people.

But most specifically what will a young African-American lgbtq think after seeing this?

That seems to be the one thing which no one thinks about – not the gay community in its justified anger, not the black church in its self-righteous pose, not the black pastors who spew such vitriol in pursuit of attention and monetary gain (because if you don’t think money has changed hands when black pastors come out against gay equality, you are fooling yourself), and certainly not the organizations like NOM or FOF instigating this mess.

For every "faggot" or "liar" that comes out of Fozard's mouth, I see a young lgbtq of color pushed deeper into the closet, sneaking out at night, and engaging in unsafe behaviors because he or she feels that they are going to hell anyway so why bother being careful.

Or even worse, moping in their rooms making unnecessary prayers to God about changing their sexual orientation instead of looking at it as a gift from Him - which it is.

You wanna know why HIV and AIDS is affecting the black community at a high rate? Listen to pastors like Fozard, who seem to be so concerned with the spotlight that they are pushing our children to their doom with their hateful  rhetoric.

Well as long as you get camera time and a chance to primp in front of your congregation, who gives a care?

Right, Mr. Fozard?

 Hat tip to Pam's House Blend and Good As You.

What the heck is a 'Gay Zombie' and other Thursday midday news briefs

Maryland Governor O’Malley: Marriage Equality Is About Protecting Children - Truer words were never spoken.

Gay Zombies Want Brains Of Children - And there are people who actually believe this hot mess. I wonder if George Romero will be making a movie about it.

NOM EXPOSED: FEC Filing: NOM gives nearly 50k to defeat David Weprin - Pretty soon, NOM's gravy train will come to a halt and we are going to know who is funding it.

Medical schools not teaching gay health issues - This is not good. It does add to the problem of the gay community not getting adequate health care.

Maryland Del. Burns pressures churches, blacks to oppose marriage-equality bill - Check the brotha's palms for grease.

NOM's 2009 victory in Maine comes back to haunt the organization - It's kinda rare for me to refer to a morning post in the news briefs, but I enjoyed writing this so much that I want other folks to read it. Mark my words on this one, folks.

NOM's 2009 victory in Maine comes back to haunt the organization

 The National Organization for Marriage loses another round in court against Maine's disclosure laws. Meanwhile, a soon-to-be released documentary threatens to expose the questionable tactics of those the organization employed to defeat Maine's marriage equality law.

Don't be fooled by the National Organization for Marriage's public bravado and supposed unstoppable appearance.

Behind the facade,the organization seems to be ever so slowly but surely heading towards a precipice and the thing nudging it along the way is the state of Maine.

NOM was successful in its ballot initiative to overturn Maine's law allowing marriage equality in 2009. But it was a messy win which is turning out to be a pyrrhic victory (a win which ends up biting the victor in the ass) for the organization.

NOM continues to fight against the state's public discloure laws, losing at every turn. The latest loss for NOM came yesterday:

A federal appeals court is denying a request for a new hearing in a public-disclosure case stemming from Maine's 2009 same-sex marriage campaign.

The appeal came after a 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston a month ago rejected the National Organization for Marriage's challenge to Maine's political action committee laws, and upheld Maine's law requiring disclosure of independent expenditures in candidate elections.

In a decision Wednesday, the court denied NOM's request for a rehearing.

NOM was the primary donor in 2009 to Stand for Marriage Maine, a political action committee that helped repeal Maine's same-sex marriage law.

According to the website NOM Exposed:

NOM provided more than $1.8 million of the $3 million spent by opponents of marriage equality to pass Question 1 – but it illegally failed to disclose where the money came from. Public disclosure laws create transparency by informing voters who is behind a campaign effort. Maine’s law does this by requiring that any funds raised to support or oppose a ballot question be made public.

 . . . Based on an initial complaint filed by Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate, the Maine  Ethics Commission launched a formal investigation into NOM’s fundraising tactics in late 2009. NOM has refused to cooperate with the state inquiry each step of the way, stonewalling requests to turn over documents to the Ethics Commission. The Commission’s executive director defended the inquiry in February 2010: “NOM donated almost $2 million in support of the referendum. The Commission needs to understand how NOM solicited the funds in order to determine whether campaign finance reporting was required.” In June 2010, the Ethics Commission unanimously denied NOM’s latest request to dismiss the state investigation into the organization’s finances.

NOM has also attempted unsuccessfully to halt the state investigation in court, suing to prevent release of its Maine campaign donors and, in a far-reaching effort, to dismantle Maine’s campaign disclosure laws. A federal district judge and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit have soundly rejected NOM’s attempts to evade the ethics investigation and ordered NOM to produce records to the state.

And if questions about its flouting of Maine's disclosure laws isn't bad enough, there is a soon-to-be released documentary which will shed light on NOM's questionable tactics. Filmmakers Joe Fox and James Nubile convinced both sides of the Maine marriage equality fight to give them "fly on the wall" access during the campaign.

What they filmed is the basis of Question One: the Battle for Same-Sex Marriage in America. As we all know, NOM and its supporters won that fight. But it's Marc Mutty, the head of the campaign against Maine's marriage equality law, who has become the documentary's lightning rod

In the documentary, Mutty voiced extreme displeasure with how his group was attempting to sway people to vote against marriage equality. According to the Iowa Independent:

The film begins with Mutty describing his role in the campaign as that of the “chief cook and bottle washer,” but in the campaign’s final weeks, it’s Frank Schubert, president of California-based Schubert Flint Public Affairs -– the same publicity firm used to defeat same-sex marriage in California in 2008 –- who is calling all the shots, telling reporters he’s the chairman of SMM, making himself marketable for a future anti-same-sex marriage campaign.


At one point in the film, Mutty admits to being upset over two ads pushed by Schubert Flint, which Mutty admits “when I saw it, I cringed,” because of their insistence that civil marriage in Maine will lead to teachers instructing first-graders about gay sex. The longer version of the ad, which Mutty opted not to use, discussed sex toys. In the car, a visibly frustrated Mutty tells Schubert in clipped tones that his staff signed off on the ad. He then slams his cell phone shut and mutters, “So Frank wins the day again.”

The documentary also reveals that Mutty was forced to run the campaign:

On screen, Mutty says he never wanted to run the ‘Yes on 1′ campaign, but that his boss, Bishop Richard Malone, wanted the diocese to handle it, and Mutty felt as though he had no choice. In the early days of the campaign, he jokes around with his small staff in their Yarmouth, Maine, headquarters and appears to take his position — one he describes as being “impossible” — in stride. But by the campaign’s end, Mutty often appears agitated, saying things like: “This has been a mother-f***ing son of a bitch.”

And according to a piece written by Peter Montgomery of  Religious Dispatches, the documentary reveals that Mutty may have been simply a figurehead but not really calling the shots in the campaign:

The documentary exposes several myths promoted by the opponents of marriage equality in Maine, including that it was a Maine-based campaign when California-based Schubert-Flint was clearly calling the shots; and that it wasn’t about homosexuality, when religious objections to homosexuality were clearly a driver for many of the activists and leaders. At one campaign rally, for example, a speaker portrays the campaign as a spiritual battle against the devil himself.

One press conference orchestrated by Schubert-Flint used teenagers as props, including one who claimed that at her public school she was made to feel like a second-class citizen for being straight. It seemed like a ludicrous assertion, so I asked filmmaker Joe Fox who told me that those teens were brought out to read their scripted statements, then declared off limits for follow-up questions.

Question 1 is scheduled to have a limited release in the fall and a national release in January. One wonders how NOM will handle damage control then while continuing to fight the disclosure laws not only in Maine but in also several other states.

As far as I'm concerned, these troubles couldn't have happened to a nicer group of folks.

NC homophobes pulling religious, racial, and anatomy cards against marriage equality

The battle for or against marriage equality (whichever you prefer) in North Carolina is heating up as the following video shows. Folks who are pushing the anti-marriage equality amendment are pulling out all of the stops, i.e. the religious argument, the racial argument, and even the anatomy argument:




I'm not going to say a word about that lock and key thing. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you haven't seen the video.

And in the midst of this is a little deception from the National Organization for Marriage. NOM pulled the following portion from a larger Associated Press article on the issue:

Several black ministers who spoke at a later news conference said it's contrary to the Christian faith and the Bible for same-sex couples to marry. They called on the Legislature to let the public vote on adding the prohibition to the constitution to protect the institution of marriage. The Rev .Johnny Hunter of Cliffdale Community Church in Fayetteville said gay rights activists have offended black people by equating the efforts to support gay marriage with civil rights activities in the 1960s to remove racism from the law books.

"Blacks know what real discrimination is all about," said Hunter, referring to slavery and Jim Crow-era laws that preventing blacks from voting. "They're disrespecting ... the foot soldiers of the civil rights movement.

The comment itself is ignorant and offensive in that Mr. Hunter and those ministers have taken it upon themselves to speak for the black community, including gays and lesbians of color who would be hurt by the amendment. The comments are even more offensive in the context that NOM is pushing them, i.e. making it seem that the black community as a whole in NC does support marriage equality.

But the state NAACP does not support the amendment. The following is the portion of the article which NOM omitted:

 . . . the Rev. William Barber, president of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the sponsors of the amendment bill, who are overwhelmingly Republican, are actually trying to take civil rights backward with the amendment.
"No matter our color or faith traditions, those who stand for love and justice are not about to fall for this amendment trick," Barber said in a statement released by the state NAACP.

Finally to add to the mix comes the anti-gay hate group, the Family Research Council:

The Family Research Council has released a series of radio ads in North Carolina, calling for the state legislature to place a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality for gays and lesbians on the ballot this November. North Carolina already prohibits same-sex marriage by statute, but the FRC says it’s not enough, warning, “Our laws defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman could be overturned.” Organizers of the marriage amendment have called marriage equality an evil plot concocted by Satan and said an amendment is needed to “put a big letter of shame on the behavior.” According to findings from Public Policy Polling published today, while 61% of state voters oppose legalizing same-sex marriage, just 30% support the constitutional amendment.

Great. How long will it be before NOM comes out with their "gay marriage is a way to harm children" flyers or FRC's Peter Sprigg pushes his distorted studies.

And I thought the folks in Minnesota were going to have issues dealing with NOM's mess.

Apparently the good folks in NC are going to have the same issues with NOM and FRC.

Pray for 'em.


Related posts:

16 reasons why the Family Research Council is a hate group


From one black man to the black community - stop the homophobic madness!

NOM's people can't stop comparing gays to pedophiles and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Does Minnesota For Marriage liken gays to pedophiles and/or Hitler? Because their pal Brad Brandon does - NOM's people can't stop comparing gays to pedophiles Part 1.


NOM Promotes Column Claiming That Normalizing Homosexuality Is “Sexual Anarchy” - NOM's people can't stop comparing gays to pedophiles Part 2.

Focus on the Family Doubles Down On Their Fight Against Anti-Bullying Programs - Focus on the Family is having money problems. With crap like this, I see why.

Appeals Court Unanimously Overturns Arizona Effort To Deny Health Benefits To Domestic Partners - BOOM!

Obama Administration Finalizes LGBT-Friendly Hospital Policy - Good for them!

NC: The Truth About the Discriminatory, Job-Killing, Harmful, Family-Unfriendly, Divisive, Anti-LGBT Marriage Amendment - North Carolinians are putting up one hell of a fight over a unnecessary amendment.

NOM loses badly at Minnesota State Fair

If a poll at the Minnesota State Fair is a preview of things to come, then the National Organization for Marriage has a lot of work to do in its effort to completely ban marriage equality in the state.

Even after a controversy which saw the NOM backed group, Minnesotans for Marriage (as long as it excludes THE GAYS) get a booth in the fair while the organization fighting NOM's effort not able to retain a booth, NOM received some interestingly bad news.

According to the Minnesota Independent:

The Minnesota House of Representatives conducted its annual poll of legislative issues at the Minnesota State Fair this year, and among the questions was how fair-goers would vote on an amendment to the state constitution limiting marriage to one man and one woman and barring same-sex marriage for future generations. Poll respondents rejected the amendment with 29.8 percent voting “yes” and 66.5 percent voting “no.”

According to the House, the poll “is an informal, unscientific survey of issues discussed in prior legislative sessions.”

Both sides of the debate over the amendment rallied their troops to the fair to vote in the poll. Minnesota for Marriage, which supports a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and Minnesotans United for All Families, which opposes the amendment, sent email alerts to activists during the fair urging them to take the poll.

The poll had by far the highest turnout ever: 12,549 people took the poll compared to 9,926 last year.

Of course NOM hasn't said a word about this on its blog. If the organization ever gets around to addressing this slap in its face, expect to hear platitudes about how "30 states voted to oppose gay marriage," or how "the only vote that really matters is at the ballot box."

But don't be fooled. No doubt the folks at Minnesotans for Marriage (as long it excludes The GAYS) will be plotting their next move in response to this poll.

According to NOM Exposed, they have already call in the churches. How long will it be before they start pulling the "if gays get married, children will have to learn about homosexual relationships (i.e. gay sex)" card, even though this claim has been continuously proven to be a lie.

Make no mistake about it. For the folks in Minnesota, this is going to be a long year.

Related posts:

NOM exploiting children to stop gay marriage in New York

NOM's Minnesota game plan involves money, churches, and martyrs

Maggie Gallagher's hypocritical whine about corruption

NOM loses attempt to hide its funders in Minnesota

The Five White Characters in every Tyler Perry movie

Today marks my blog's fifth anniversary. That's five years of talking about and exposing the religious right. I've made some headway in accomplishing my goals. But I am not even halfway there in terms of the things I am trying to get done with this blog. Still, I am immensely proud of the stuff I have churned out and the progress I have made in helping to educate folks about religious right lies.

However, in honor of this blog's fifth anniversary, I am not going to talk about the religious right. I want to do something more relevant in terms of what I feel people need right now.

I want to make people laugh. I just feel that every now and then, folks need to laugh. It clears up the clutter in your heart. So enjoy!:

The 5 White Characters in Every Tyler Perry Movie -- powered by Cracked.com

Rap artist urges those in the closet to come out

In an interview with website VLADTV.com, The Game says he believes there are a number of big-name rap stars who are homosexual and he feels they should be out and proud about their sexuality.

“I think there are several rappers that are in the closet and gay. They are the only type of gay people that I have a problem with,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with gay people. Gay people are everywhere and rightfully so, it’s a free country.

“Game has no problem with gay people, Game has a problem with people who are pretending not to be gay. The number one issue with that is that you can be fooling somebody and you could give them AIDS and they can die. So that in the closet s**t is real scary.

“We got to get into the seriousness of it. If you’re gay just say you’re gay, so be cool and be proud.”

Asked if he thought he had recorded with any secretly gay rappers, Game said: “Possibly, yeah. And not being just full-out gay, just pretending he loves girls and lives the rap lifestyle, but really he’s a man fan.

“There’s a lot of man fans out there in hip-hop. I see how you n****s be looking at n****s you’re around too. They be looking at n****s crazy.”

Now some folks may get offended by the comment he made about being in the closet and catching AIDS. He does seem to be saying that being gay is the same as having AIDS.

However, I beg to differ. I think he is saying that if you are closeted, you are more likely not to be as careful in regards to sexually transmitted diseases. Just like you are more likely not to be honest with your physician about your sexual history.

And there are studies which bear this out.

I sincerely hope that the comments by rap artist The Game causes a much needed discussion about the need for not just gay rappers but African-American members of the gay community to come out whenever they can. I also hope that this discussion actually includes African-Americans lgbtqs for a change instead of us being conveniently omitted by African-American media voices.

Whenever there is a discussion regarding gay issues in the African-American community, African-American media voices - i.e. Roland Martin, Tavis Smiley - seem to go out of their way to exclude us lgbtqs of color while talking about us like dog dirt.

I have a hard time thinking this is accidental or that they can't find lgbtqs of color to interview.

But that is a subject for a future post.

Hat tip to Eurweb.

Religious right group having serious money problems and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Financial Troubles For Anti-Gay Focus On The Family Persist - Liars always end up getting bitten in the ass. Focus on the Family is the same group which houses Tom Minnery - the same bozo who Sen. Al Franken embarrassed at a Congressional hearing this year .

Tammy Baldwin Announces Senate Run In Wisconsin - This is BIG. If Baldwin wins, she would be the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate in history.

Perkins Assails ABC For Having Chaz Bono In 'Dancing With The Stars'- Chaz Bono will appear on Dancing with the Stars and the religious right lose their collective little minds.

Religious Groups Push for Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill Revival - This ain't good AT ALL.

Gay, Straight Couples Becoming More Monogamous - Here is a study the religious right won't talk about.