Monday, December 05, 2011

North Carolina expose on anti-gay group NOM should be required reading for us all

Okay while this isn't as glamorous as a Lady Gaga song or as shocking as Neil Patrick Harris (or NPH for those who want to perpetrate like they know him)'s slur against the transgender community, an expose published today by the North Carolina gay publication QNotes on the National Organization for Marriage  and its campaign against marriage equality in the state is very important and very vital for us all to read.

Enough of the "we already know this" chatter.  The fact of the matter is that many of us don't know the things we should know about NOM and a lot of us who do aren't taking the time to educate our friends and families, or making a loud enough stink about it,  or supporting the publications which bring this information out (full disclosure - I contributed to this expose):

In past campaigns, NOM has been caught pushing obvious misinformation, lies and spin.
This year, the group came under fire for misrepresenting supposed “legal scholars” opposed to marriage equality. Each of the several scholars cited by the organization were extremely biased and one, Robert George, is a former NOM board chairman.

NOM has also regularly exploited children in their political quests.

Also this year, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Politifact knocked the group for their repeated claims that legalization of same-sex marriage in New York would lead to kindergarteners learning about same-sex relationships.
The group has also attempted to link homosexuality to pedophilia — not once, but twice. The NOM-affiliated Ruth Institute has also claimed that homosexuality is a “learned” and “addictive” behavior.

In August, NOM accused gay activists of engaging in “jihad” to take away anti-gay Christians’ rights.
One of NOM’s first campaigns featured a billboard comparing a marriage equality supporter to Judas and Benedict Arnold. The group reincarnated the theme this year for mailers targeting pro-gay legislators in New York.

Equality Matters has provided a more in-depth run-down of NOM’s efforts in New York.

And here is where I am quoted:

South Carolina blogger and anti-gay watchdog Alvin McEwen told qnotes that he expects a strong NOM presence in the lead-up to the May 8, 2012, vote on the amendment.

How NOM goes about instituting their campaign strategy is a question still left unanswered. McEwen said the group’s past rhetoric and actions provide some clues.

“Look for them to push that nonsense about how ‘the best research says that children belong in a home with a mother and father,’” McEwen said. “Also, I expect them to push the lie about the Catholic Charities ‘being forced’ to give up helping to place adoptive children. The thing about NOM and other religious right groups is that they are big on ambushing people with anecdotes and horror stories about situations that allegedly happen because of marriage equality and the like. The big thing is to remember that they never tell the entire story.”
NOM’s campaigns often take a three-pronged approach, McEwen said.

“My guess is that NOM is going to target three angles — ‘gay marriage will harm children,’ ‘gay marriage will destroy religious liberty’ and ‘gays are trying to piggyback off of the Civil Rights Movement.’”
The entire expose is here.

Sometimes our community takes things for granted. In order to defeat NOM, we must expose the organization's lies every chance we get, as well as support the publications which do the same thing.



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