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crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
On its blog, the National Organization for Marriage is gloating over the Minnesota vote while at the same time claiming that it is spurring North Carolina citizens to speak out for so-called “traditional marriage:”
Victory in Minnesota is encouraging North Carolinans to call for their right to vote for marriage, in the op-ed pages of the Winston-Salem Journal:
Marriage serves as the basis for social organization; it is not a consequence of it. Marriage signifies a particular relationship among the many unions that individuals freely enter; it's the one between a man and a woman that has two obvious goals: mutual support and procreation of children.No other type of relationship, by definition, can fulfill both goals without the direct or indirect involvement of a third party. To Christians, marriage remains the cornerstone of society, not some government response to the most recent group of discontented Americans.Rather than wait to see what the Beltway elite decide, North Carolina should pass its own protection of marriage amendment to settle the gay marriage issue once and for all.Numerous polls over the years consistently show that the majority of people in North Carolina want marriage defined as being between a man and a woman.
Conveniently NOM does not reveal who wrote this piece. The author is Nathan Tabor, who is chairman of the Forsyth County Republican Party. And based on his past pieces, it's safe to say that NOM's veiled description that Tabor was “inspired” to write his piece because of what happened in Minnesota is inaccurate.
In fact, it's safe to say that NOM's description is a downright lie.
Nathan Tabor is a conservative activist who has run for office several times in North Carolina. In addition, he written several ugly anti-gay pieces over the years, including:
Charles Darwin disagrees with homosexuality – 2005
Another liberal fairy tale – 2006
In 2005, he started an ugly controversy when a piece he wrote, Homosexuals should pay more insurance, cited the work of the discredited Paul Cameron (who by the way, is cited by the Minnesota Family Council, NOM's partner against marriage equality in that state).
Last week, he was cited in an article about the marriage amendment in North Carolina saying the following:
“There is no separation of church and state. It's not in the Constitution. It's the liberal agenda to take God out of America.”
For NOM to imply that Tabor was spurred to speak up against marriage equality because of the Minnesota vote (as if he was an ordinary citizen caught up in the moment) is totally untrue.
Most likely, Tabor and NOM are working in conjunction to get pieces in the North Carolina press to speak against marriage equality.
Tabor's piece reads like a speech from NOM leader Maggie Gallagher. He is even so tacky as to include NOM's main talking point in his column:
Gays and lesbians have a right to live as they choose . . . however they don't have the right to redefine marriage.
My question is when does the convenient column labeling North Carolina lgbts as intolerant bullies come? No doubt we will probably see more of this in North Carolina and Minnesota, i.e. this bizarre degree of astroturfing where those working with NOM write letters to the editors and columns using the organization's inaccurate talking points against marriage equality while NOM implies on its blog that they are “ordinary citizen spurred on to defend marriage.”
It's a nasty game that NOM is playing. And unfortunately same-sex couples and their children may end up losing this game.
4 Comments
NOMSadly, the hate group, NOM, is winning and yes, it most certainly is playing a very nasty game. I suspect the Koch brothers are the principal funders of this and many other hate groups opposed to marriage equality and gays in general. Marriage equality in my own state of New York looks as though its doomed to failure once again as a result of Gallagher’s involvement. Democrat Rev. Senator Ruben Diaz was one of her beneficiaries and the rally he held on May 15 calling for a ban on SSM in our state. I believe we may have 28 voting ‘yes’ (we need 32) and I don’t see how we’re going to get 4 republicans crossing the line to make it happen. I hope I’m proved wrong, but my gut feeling says no.
Where are the ads…Why don’t we have ads running 24/7 exposing NOM as a Hate group with Gallagher’s face and bigot written all over it. Put them on the defensive. Have her continually have to explain why she is “NOT” a bigot and hate monger instead of us having to always defend they things she says.
I wouldn’t say that they are winningI think they are holding on but their grip is slipping. The thing to do is not get discouraged and above all, don’t give up. Those who play dirty always manage to do themselves in.
Why indeedI think issues like funding, competing needs, apathy, the nature of social change, and trying to take the “high road” (mostly funding though) all work to make an ad campaign difficult to pull off. I think it’s a great idea and it could easily work – but who pays for it?
I’m running into this with a project I’m trying to get completed to combat the nasty old “bathroom meme”. Even if you get talent (models/actors/etc.) to donate their time, you still have to pay the crew. Getting the message out is costly – getting the message out where people actually see/read/interact with it costs more.
The reality we need to face as a movement is that we are not able or willing to support our existing political, social, service, or media outlets. Our clinics are closing, our book stores haven’t made it, our advocacy groups are merging and cutting staffs.
I think we are, generally, doing a good job keeping them on the defensive. Even the heavy-hitters are feeling it. Admittedly they are using that as a fundraising talking point, but how often lately are we hearing about Maggs and Bri Bri (Bam Bam and The Peter) complaining about being called “haters” and “bigots”. It’s working and it’s sticking like the truth ultimately does.