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crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
The National Organization for Marriage's lying flyer about the repercussions of allowing gay marriage in New York put a perspective on this entire so-called cultural battle for me.
And it's a point that the lgbt community needs to emphasize.
When they – be they NOM, the Family Research Council, etc – cannot stand against lgbt equality by logic, they manipulate the fears about children being harmed.
It's a highly effective scare tactic. And an old one. Check out snippets of this 1986 comic which was endorsed by the Concerned Women for America and former Congressman William E. Dannemeyer:
Now take another gander at NOM's flyer:
While NOM's flyer isn't as crude or blatant as the Hafer cartoon, the implications are the same – “the homosexuals are after the children of America.”
It's sad in a way that after over 20 years, the architects of hatred and homophobia haven't changed their fear mongering, isn't it?
But it's also typical. We've seen this story before on so many occasions, so the lgbt community should know the ending.
Eventually we win.
Just something to keep in mind just in case some of us choose to immerse ourselves in the seductive pool of discouragement and self-pity.
No matter how much money NOM has. No matter how lies the organization tell. No matter how many legislators allow their egos to be stoked by this group, the fact of matter is that there is nothing pure or moral about NOM.
When push comes to shove, NOM exploits the fears about gays and children to stop lgbt equality in the same manner that racists exploited fears about black men raping white women in the sad effort to stop integration.
I guess that does make them bigots, huh?
Maggie Gallagher would be so disappointed.
Related Post:
NOM knows that it lied in the New York ad and does not care – Unfortunately NOM's attempt to demonize lgbts in regards to children goes way beyond images. Here the organization does not address the false claims of its New York ad, but instead attempts to exploit an article from a pro-lgbt blog to shift the argument.
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“But homosexuals committed between 1/3 and 1/2 of all RECORDED child molestations”You didn’t scan the full page. You cut off this:
Ummm.Boys CAN grow up to marry boys in Massachusetts. Second graders are supposed to be kept in the dark about this?
The California thing was a parent-sponsored trip for a specific class to go to their own teacher’s wedding, with complete freedom of opting out.
And gay people really did contribute to history. Really. Again, we’re supposed to be edited out?
As for same-sex sex education, for now, I’ll settle for getting rid of abstinence-only programs and teaching everyone about preventing pregnancy and disease. Before puberty, if possible.
But. . . but . . . but . . . I do support “one man/one woman” marriage!
I just don’t oppose making marriage laws gender neutral, so that marriage and legal family formation is not limited solely to heterosexual unions.
Unfortunately, NOM tries to make it seem that allowing a diversity of legal family constellations will somehow degrade the quality of what that former Miss California calls “opposite marriage.”
That dog don’t hunt.
There are places where marriage is already allowed – and straight people are not getting divorced any more, or any less.
NOM’s leaders hate children and want them to be “carefully taught” to hate and disrespect people who are different.
They particularly hate children who are themselves different. By their drive to limit education about different family constellations that children actually have, they create an environment of fear, hatred and disrespect that is a breeding ground for bullies.
They want children in single parent, and same-sex-parent families, and children being raised by grandparents, other family members or foster families, to feel like they are inferior to those “with both a mommy and a daddy” at home.
NOM is one organization, one of many organizations (many of them with “Family” in their names), that wants to poison young minds!
I am damned happy that children in Massachusetts may be exposed to books like King and King, Heather Has Two Mommies and that lovely book about the penguins, And Tango Makes Three.
NOM wants little boys who dream about marrying handsome princes, and little girls who dream of marrying beautiful princesses, to become so confused that they think they are trans – which makes it more difficult to help the kids who actually are trans. Of course, NOM would want to have all the real trans kids forced to adhere to the strict gender roles that match up with their genitalia rather than with their brains. (There are not so many of us, after all, so it’s easier to bully us than just about anyone else.)
You know what? I am also proud of the parents of the students of that California teacher, who surprised her and her wife on their wedding, by bringing their children on a “field trip” to the wedding. NOM lies and degrades that experience, tryiing to turn it into a Michael Bailey sex demonstration for the class.
As to “same sex sex education?” That, like any other sex education, has to be age appropriate. But NOM considers information about the relationships people have to each other, like “mother” or “uncle” should not be taught to children, if there is any hint that the “relationship” is not heterosexual.
The NOM Nuts go below the belt with their tactics – they aim squarely at fear of the unknown, and the hatred of people who are different, to fuel their hate machine.
Their lies should be obvious to any sane people.
And Maggie, whio is well paid for her efforts, gets to gorge on lobster and shrimp at the finest restaurants, on the money that is funneled to her by other hate groups. What a life!
Bottom Line?Their lies work. Whether you’re selling cars of detergent or discrimination, if you’ve hit on an advertising campaign that works, you stick with that campaign.
Yeah, NOM and their cohorts are odious. But the people who work there are doing what they’re paid to do. And they’re doing it all very well.
So instead of spending so much time going after them and the lies they tell, how about putting more time and effort to better messaging that persuades people to support equality?
they work because they put us on the defensiveThrowing out positive messages without bringing attention to the lies on the other side is futile. Attention needs to be paid to how nom’s lies exploits fears.
TypicalSome obnoxious Pollyana to come to lecture folks what to do and think. People are simply expressing their disdain and contempt for these guys. Nobody is going after NOM.
A scathing article about NOMs Mrs. Raman Srivistav is here: http://www.politicususa.com/en…
A self-defeating article.
According to their definitions, we are.We want kids to grow up in such a way that they are free to be who they are.
IF you assume that sexual orientation and/or gender identity don’t exist or are malleable (or should be suppressed if non-conforming) then any attempt to “let kids be themselves” is exactly what they are afraid of.
Come on, give ‘em a breakHow are they expected to win if they can’t lie? It would be like them fighting with both hands tied behind their back.
Om’s Hysteria Meteralmost broke while reading your recommended piece, “Hate’s Hideous Hooker Maggie Gallagher,” and the comments. Bonus points for racism: Her husband’s a “Hindu man”!(no other context, just He’s a Hindu LOL) Some attempt to tie her words to the slave-owning states of the Confederacy!!! Oh, and her husband is probably gay and, by golly, there’s “speculation” that Maggie is a self-hating lesbo, too!!!111!!
The author waits until the comment section to get his digs in about her weight.
I was going to reference my Misogyny Meter, but, really, this guy just strives to touch all the bases.
Jaques Roux(Alan Rickman) on religion and priests….
Bryan Fisher, NOM and Maggie, are still doing thishence the relevance of the video.