Maggie Gallagher On The HRC

"To anyone who has been at the forefront of the marriage fight, there is little new in the extraordinary effort to punish a whole law firm because HRC doesn't like its client. Gay marriage advocates have again and again used class networks of power to attack individuals, livelihoods and whole business enterprises to make support for marriage so expensive that they can effectively silence opposition to their views. But this time it happened in full public view.

"In a truly Orwellian statement, HRC President Joe Solmonese praised King and Spalding's decision to abandon a client under fire as an example of putting 'principle above politics.' Oh Joe, oh Joe. It's important for all of us to remember that life for ordinary gay people can still be difficult, even as a powerhouse gay movement flexes its cultural, financial and behind-the-scenes political power to repress the rights of others to organize, speak, donate and now hire a lawyer to defend marriage. One thing is clear: This is not a movement that needs extraordinary intervention by the courts to protect its rights." - NOM chairman Maggie Gallagher, writing for Yahoo News.

Tweet Of The Day - NOM

NOM has picked up on Sen. Ruben Diaz' claim of receiving death threats over a comment left on a Village Voice blog post. Because an anonymous internet comment is SO much worse than 20,000 screaming evangelicals waving signs that we will all burn in an eternal lake of fire.

NOM Celebrates: We're Causing Same-Sex Marriage Activists To Lose Their Jobs

In a post about recent personnel changes at marriage equality groups around the nation, NOM is sarcastically "apologizing" for "driving up the unemployment rate."

It started with Geoff Kors, Executive Director of Equality California in California, who could never recover from his monumental defeat in the Proposition 8 campaign in California, of which NOM was one of the chief supporters and leading organizations to qualify the initiative. Kors stepped down in March of this year. Next up was the Executive Director of Equality Maryland, Morgan Meneses-Sheets, who was fired two weeks ago after failing to pass a gay marriage bill through the Maryland Legislature. It was supposed to be a “given” that gay marriage would pass in Maryland this year. A given, that is, until NOM got involved.

Shortly after Meneses-Sheets was fired, Equality Maryland's Development Director Matthew Thorn resigned in protest over the firing. Most recently, Kathy Kushnir, the Executive Director of Marriage Equality of Rhode Island (MERI) --the leading group advocating for gay marriage in that state-- resigned after failing to even get the gay marriage bill out of Committee in another state that was, we were told, a slam dunk for them this year. All the while, as our opponents keep talking about the march of history, tout biased polls, and tell themselves that their victory is inevitable…secretly, the Executive Directors of other states' “marriage equality” organizations are updating their resumes.

Many of us have recently noticed an increasingly nasty tone from NOM, who (compared to some anti-gay groups) had previously kept their vitriol at a relatively low boil. They are still burning, terribly, over the Marinelli defection.

Maggie Gallagher's Pissed At The HRC

"Is everyone entitled to a lawyer? Not in HRC's eyes. HRC is openly attempting to hurt an entire law firm, because one of its lawyers took on a client HRC does not like: the House's defense of the Defense of Marriage Act. This kind of thing has been done behind the scenes many times--the use of class power behind the scenes to punish those who disagree with HRC on marriage. (I just spoke to the wife of a litigator in San Francisco who lost his job--was denied a partnership--because he donated to Prop 8.) But this is even worse, and very public: the attempt to punish an entire business enterprise because a lawyer defends what is in HRC's eyes an unpopular client. Will the legal culture permit HRC to tell it who can hire a lawyer? We'll see." - Maggie Gallagher, writing for NOM's blog.

View the HRC's campaign against King & Spalding.

NOM Defector Louis Marinelli: Brian Brown Told Me To Make The Gays Look Crazy

In his latest blog post, NOM defector Louis Marinelli reveals how Brian Brown told him to make sure that his photos made gay counter-protesters look "crazy." According to Marinelli, that tactic backfired.

What you don’t know is that in an e-mail I received from Brian Brown, he essentially instructed me to specifically take ‘crazy’ photos of gays and lesbians. His short and to the point e-mail dated July 19, 2010 wrote: "I need crazy pictures of our opponents." What is particularly necessary to point out is that his call for ‘crazy photos’ of NOM’s opponents was in response to an e-mail I sent to him six minutes earlier that simply wrote: “Here is a picture of our supporters before the protesters arrived.” The photo I took showing the size and location of our supporters wasn’t enough. Mr. Brown was dedicated to painting the LGBT community and their supporters as crazy. They used that word themselves in public on their blog! To this day, I still don’t condone the actions that some of the counter-protesters took to stand against us. They were wrong when I opposed marriage equality and still believe so today. From that point forward my job was, among other things, to take those ‘crazy’ photos that would be used as propaganda against the LGBT community. At least until the propaganda backfired, anyway. Many people who would have otherwise came out to support us, let us know that they were scared of what the counter-protesters might do and decided to stay home the day we were coming to town.

You may recall that at the protest shown in the above photo, NOM claimed that the man with the two elderly dogs brought them to intimidate attendees.

Maggie Praises GOP's DOMA Team

"Paul Clement is one of the ablest litigators in the country, whose seven years acting as solicitor general is the longest period of continuous service since the 19th century. The solicitor general's job is arguing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and Clement has argued more than 50 such cases. As a friend of mine, himself an able litigator, put it: "He's the best. Boehner could not have made a better choice." And so, thanks to Boehner, Obama's plan to sabotage DOMA's defense has backfired. For the first time since Obama became president, we will have a legal eagle in the courtroom defending DOMA who actually wants to win the case." - Maggie Gallagher, writing for Real Clear Politics.

NOM To Sue Over Ladyfingers?

When Carrie "Ladyfingers" Prejean was busted for homemade porn videos in which she explored her tingly no-no parts, NOM burned rubber in distancing themselves from their former hero. However Michael Musto today reports an interesting development.

Well, outside Sister Act last night, a guy approached me and said, "Hi, Michael, I'm Keith Lewis from the Miss California USA pageant." "Oh, you're the one who ripped the crown off Carrie," I noted, grinning. "Congrats!" "Well, now we're being sued by NOM," he informed me, meaning the National Organization for Marriage group that Carrie had been a spokesperson for. The suit has something to do with NOM accusing the pageant of releasing damaging (i.e. true) info about Carrie, as opposed to the press having dug it up by itself. "Huh?" I screeched. "NOM is suing you? But NOM fired Carrie too!" "Well" said Lewis, "nowadays people can do just about anything."

RELATED: More than 18 months later, "Carrie Prejean sex tape" is still among the top search terms that bring folks to JMG.

Release The Prop 8 Tapes!

The American Foundation for Equal Rights requests your signature on an open letter demanding the release of the Prop 8 trail videotapes, something NOM has been fighting for years. What are they so afraid of? I think you know.

NOM To Marinelli: We'll Sue!

"I’ve received a message or two from Brian [Brown], who basically has – he’s trying to intimidate me to stop talking. He’s saying that if I don’t remove the posts I’ve posted on my site and I don’t stop telling the truth about who they are he may pursue legal action. I considered it an intimidation tactic. On two occasions he wrote me a message saying if I don’t comply with his wish that I remove certain posts from the site…that he would have no option but to pass it on to his attorneys and pursue legal action." - NOM defector Louis Marinelli, speaking to Michelangelo Signorile. Hit the link for an audio file.

Louis Marinelli For New York Marriage

NOM Issues Alert On NY Marriage

Today NOM issues an alert that New York legislators will be voting on same-sex marriage upon their return from a two week break.

That gives us two weeks to contact legislators in defense of marriage! Please join us today by sending an email to your state senator and assemblyman. Two years ago, your phone calls and emails helped block same–sex marriage in New York, as even the New York Times acknowledged that key legislators voting against the same–sex marriage bill did so because of “overwhelming opposition to same–sex marriage among their constituents.” The same thing happened in New Jersey, and earlier this year, in Maryland and Rhode Island. The message is clear. When the people stand up, same–sex marriage advocates have to back down. Despite carefully crafted PR campaigns, gay marriage advocates simply cannot muster the votes when legislators start hearing from their constituents.

No formal announcement of a pending vote has yet been made by legislators or Gov. Cuomo. Same-sex marriage would pass easily and for the fourth time in the state Assembly. The state Senate is another story.

RELATED: NOM's former Facebook page, which had 290,000 followers, was wiped out last week by defector Louis Marinelli.

Lawrence O'Donnell On NOM's Defector

SF Chronicle Editorial: Judge Walker Is Gay, Prop 8 Overturn Must Be Vacated

The San Francisco Chronicle has posted an editorial in which failed 2010 California attorney general candidate John Eastman calls for vacating Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling to overturn Prop 8. Because Walker's recent official coming out as a gay man in a long-term relationship shows that he personally benefited from his own ruling.

Walker's admission requires that his decision in the case be vacated. He is either a direct beneficiary of his ruling in the case, or a person with a close-enough personal interest in the case that his impartiality might reasonably have been questioned if the required disclosures had been made. In Liljeberg vs. Health Services Acquisition Corp., the U.S. Supreme Court held that vacatur is required even when the disqualifying relationship only became known to the parties 10 months after the judgment entered in the case had been upheld on appeal. Where an objective observer would have questioned the judge's impartiality, recusal is required, and the appropriate remedy is to vacate the judgment because of the risk of injustice to the parties and of undermining the public's confidence in the judicial process.

Nowhere in Eastman's piece does he mention that NOM supported his campaign for attorney general. The Chronicle fails to note that pesky detail as well.

NOM's Jennifer Morse: Same-Sex Marriage Will Outlaw Preaching Christianity

Dr. Jennifer Morse of NOM's Ruth Institute, whom was last heard from when she said that evil gays "stole the rainbow," is now telling audiences that same-sex marriage will bring about the outlawing of preaching Christianity.

First among her qualms—and no doubt foremost for her audience, considering the college’s unapologetic Christian Evangelical orientation—is the conflict same sex marriage has with Biblical teaching. “Scriptures are full of marriage,” Morse said. “Marriage is all throughout the Bible.” She said that a redefinition of marriage would mean that Christians “will lose the ability to evangelize…we will lose the ability to preach the Bible.” Morse stressed that redefining marriage undermined what she called the “essential public purpose of marriage.” She noted that, in a legal sense, attaching children to their parents was the primary reason for marriage to even exist. “If it weren’t for that purpose, I don’t think we would need marriage at all,” she said. “Procreation is key to marriage.”

And the audience no doubt nodded along, believing her.

Signorile Interviews NOM Defector

This morning SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile posted an interview with NOM defector Louis Marinelli. Hit the link and listen to Marinelli's explanation for his dramatic change of heart.

NOM Lies About Defector Louis Marinelli: He Was Just A Volunteer Bus Driver

NOM took note of the defection of Louis Marinelli yesterday by dismissing him as nothing more than a volunteer bus driver. In fact, as Jeremy Hooper has well documented, Marinelli was the administrator of their very popular Facebook page and the creator of last year's national NOM hate tour.

Tweet Of The Day II - Louis Marinelli

Damage Control For NOM

Good As You notes that NOM has ditched the 219,000 followers on the Facebook page moderated by defector Louis Marinelli and started a brand new page. Snork! Back to zero, NOMbies.

NOM Claims Victory In Rhode Island

NOM is proclaiming victory in the Rhode Island marriage equality battle.

The Rhode Island newsblog GoLocalProv is reporting this morning: "GAY MARRIAGE CAN'T PASS RI HOUSE"!!!! Even Edith Ajello, a prominent Providence progressive, admits the bill is currently at least six to eight votes short of the 38 votes needed to pass the Rhode Island House. And the RI House was supposed to be the easy part. A lot of House members are scratching their heads, wondering why they should be pushed to vote on a bill causing such a public outcry—when it's clear, they say, that the bill is dead on arrival in the Senate. "Why we're going to take on a contentious issue when we know it's dormant in the other side of the building—higher minds would have to answer that question," Democrat Jon Brien said. "The Senate's not going to pass," said Robert Flaherty, D-Warwick. "It's just an exercise in futility." Don't stop now, in other words—another tremendous victory is within our grasp!

Rhode Island Marriage Equality says it's not over yet and promises the bill will pass sometime this year.

BREAKING: Major Defection At NOM, Top Organizer Now Supports Gay Marriage

Jeremy Hooper has a big scoop over at Good As You today, where he exclusively reports that a top organizer at NOM has announced that he now supports marriage equality. Louis Marinelli, known to some of us the virulently nasty moderator of NOM's Facebook page and the organizer of last year's laughably unattended national bus tour, tells Hooper all about his dramatic change of heart. An excerpt:

As a supporter of civil marriage equality, any statements I’ve made in the past about not recognizing homosexual relationships for one reason or another, of course it goes without saying that I no longer stand by these comments and I apologize for the insensitivity. Same-sex couples, whether they are married, in civil unions or domestic partnerships, ought to be recognized for what they are. I consider myself agnostic and while homosexual acts may very well be “immoral” in the eyes of Christian morality, I can no longer stand by any comments I’ve made in the past about the immorality of homosexuality.

There are a variety of different sets and sources of morals and no one has the right to impose their set on the rest of society. Once I wrote that homosexuals are deceitful people who care only about themselves or something to that effect. Honestly, aren’t we all? It was wrong for me to exclude everyone else from that description. We all lie and when it comes down to it, we will do what is best for ourselves. So throwing in a little levity, I stand by the comment but want to apologize for limiting its scope to the gay community.

Go and read the complete interview at Good As You, where Marinelli also denounces Paul Cameron and Peter LaBarbara. And now we wait to see if Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown will have anything to say about this.......

UPDATE: The Human Rights Campaign reacts via press release:

“This defection is a good example of what is, and will continue to be consistent in the fight for equality,” said Kevin Nix, NOM Project Director for the Human Rights Campaign. “Once people actually meet LGBT people, they are more likely to support equality.” Marinelli did harm to the LGBT community. He was the strategist behind NOM’s multi-state 2010 Summer Bus Tour and a key digital strategist for the organization, writing things like, “Those who wish to promote homosexual behavior are encouraging people to shorten their life spans.” “Even NOM’s own people are having trouble with the organization’s unusual mission: to stop committed gay and lesbian couples from getting married,” Nix added. “We know such defections among more Americans, including NOM’s most strident supporters will continue over time.”