10/12/2012
MD Marriage Alliance reports $838k haul ($650k of which came from NOM & Knights of Columbus)
-- $400,000 from Catholic-led National Org. For Marriage
-- $250,000 from Catholic Knights of Columbus
-- An additional $151,000 from the Maryland Marriage Alliance, the in-state group that campaign head Derek McCoy runs
It's reporting time in Maryland, kids:
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10/12/2012
Video: Fair and reasonable Bill Moyers vs. NOM's unfair and unreasonable Iowa antics
A calm voice takes on NOM's freedom-damning bout of judicial whacktivism:
Oh sure, Moyers and his company make some good points. But, but, but—Where's the bus? And the extreme former Senator who has compared gay people's love to man-on-dog? And the out-of-state Governor who has no business meddling? And the secretive donors? And the stated desire to "drive a wedge between blacks and gays"? And the contrived talking points? And the exhalation of discrimination of discrimination as an American value?
[::sigh::] Can we please restore the premium I'm told we once placed on rationality?
Video: Vander Plaats denies our legislative success; apparently unfamiliar with NY, MD, WA, NH…
Listen to this ridiculous accusation that Bob Vander Plaats os now making in order to justify his freedom-threatening attempts to politicize the Iowa courts. Clip is cued up correctly:
So let me first remind you that Bob's current "NO Wiggins" campaign is heavily masterminded by the same exact forces (NOM and Schubert, largely) who are fighting in all four of the states where we are on the ballot. And that being so, let me next remind you (and Bob) that of the four states where we are on the ballot this year, in three of them (MD, WA, and ME in '09) we PASSED CLEAN BILLS in support of marriage equality and then THE STATE GOVERNORS SIGNED said bills! Then let me go one step further and remind everyone that we also passed marriage bills in NY, VT, NH, and D.C., as well as twice passed a bill in California (which the now-supportive Gov. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, vetoed).
I mean, Bob is right in the sense that we cannot "advance an agenda," as that isn't our real intent. But we sure as hell can pass a marriage bill, just as we've managed to pass one or two things on the federal level that Bob Vander Plaats surely vander-plots against. And ya know what? We're going to keep doing it no matter how many judges' careers this self-appointed authoritarian smears on the basis of one decision, how many independent judiciaries he politicizes with out-of-state money, or how much division he and Schubert-led buddies cultivate during election years.
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Video: 'It's National Coming Out Day, Charlie Brown'
Audio: Maine's Carroll Conley likens gays' marriages, families to schools that promote suicide
I wasn't sure which part of Carroll Conley's hour-long interview, from WMPG's "Watchdog Nation," I was going to snip for this post. At several points he equates homosexuality with things like lying and adultery, denies church/state separation, and makes his personal biblical case for civil discrimination. From my perspective, there are several pull quotes.
But as someone who both knows lots of LGBT-headed families and who is going about the process of starting my own, the Protect Marriage Maine head's usage of the flawed, far-right-shaped Regnerus study to liken LGBT-headed families to a school that fosters suicide really struck me in a deep, emotional way:
(*first voice is Eric Poulin, who hosts another show on the station)
FULL Interview [MCCS]
How dare he take a study that didn't even really study LGBT families that were brought in an brought up as a family unit and use it to compare our families to institutions that foster self-harm?! To me, this speaks right to the character and viewpoints that so sadly permeate the "protect marriage" movement. This movement's movers and shakes are so eager to "win" this conversation that they see no reason to shy away from denigrating comparisons like this one. This tells me that this is the kind of internal conversation they are having all of the time. I mean, seriously—if he goes on public airwaves and makes uch an offensive equation, can you imagine what they are saying about us behind the closed doors of the Protect Marriage Maine offices?!?
NOM EXPOSED: NOM announces site we already announced; notes GOP ticket’s embrace of civil unfairness
NOM has officially "announced" the MarriageElection.com website that we actually announced here on NOM Exposed a full four days ago. But hey, whatever—stolen thunder still deserves a chance to make some noise, I guess.
KEEP READING: NOM announces site we already announced; notes GOP ticket’s embrace of civil unfairness [NOM Exposed]
Video: Hoping stock video will mask discriminatory intent—Washington edition
These ads have gotten so boring, predictable, stock video–filled, and false "victim"–laden that I really don't have much to say about this new one from Washington. But here it is:
Interesting that they have to note the top five donors. Note that the top two, NOM and the Knights of Columbus, are Catholic organizations that have thus far given a whopping $900,000 to the cause!
Video: NOM reminds nation of President's move to history's right side
There is a really funny (read: clumsy; see also: obtuse) new strategy bubbling up within the National Organization For Marriage. Basically they are acting as if they've "found out" President Obama. For some reason they seem to think that if they can "prove" that the trained constitutional scholar was more supportive of marriage equality than his politics allowed him to be (something many of us, on both sides, always assumed), then that somehow helps them make their case for increased civil discrimination against certain kinds of Americans.
We saw a tinge of this earlier in the week, with NOMmers acting like they had some big James O'Keefe–like exposé on their hands simply because they had stumbled on video of Washington state's Governor saying that President Obama—who, let's remind, was always against DOMA, state marriage bans, etc.—had applauded her own personal journey months before he had announced his. In truth, it was a big "so what?" video. So what if the always-somewhat-supportive President noted that Gov. Gregoire was on history's right side? So what if he told her she did a good job, something he's told other state leaders who championed marriage? So what, even, if he confided his own shift a few months before he was ready to announce full support? It's not like he's hiding anything—we all know the President supports full, equal, decent treatment of LGBT people. Why a search for clues about something he fully admits?!
That out of the way, let's now look at another "so what?" NOM production:
You "know the real Obama," NOM? OH PLEASE! You all vowed to "sideswipe" this President only months after he took office (in the same memos where NOM vowed to drive a wedge between blacks and gays)! So what—so the frick what?!—if you all wish he would go back to his initially stated position?! Your organization loathes this President and his fair-minded policies! Why should he care what the nation's largest house of discrimination thinks about his evolution?!
