NOM Freaks Out About Slavery Comparison Two Days After Making It Themselves

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) continued its campaign of self-victimization on Tuesday, lamenting the “downright rude” Minnesota legislators who had the audacity to oppose a proposed state constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage:

Minnesotans are nice people. That's why it was especially disheartening to witness the nasty jabs that legislators opposed to the Marriage Amendment hurled at the bill's supporters once it became clear that the Senate was indeed going to pass the bill (as it turned out, in a bi-partisan vote) on to the House.

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Sen Harrington: I'm not comfortable using Leviticus to legislate since it also says slavery is OK.

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So, to review, in the combined opinion of the Senators mentioned above, people who believe Minnesotans should be able to vote on the definition of marriage are…slavery-sympathetic.

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Will the House debate be a better example of Minnesota Nice? Stay tuned.

NOM’s objection seems a little misplaced. Viewed in context, it appears that Minnesota State Sen. Harrington (DFL-67) was making an argument about why biblical texts shouldn’t be used to guide government policy. He wasn’t equating his opponents position on same-sex marriage with actually endorsing slavery:

SEN. HARRINGTON: If we are in keeping with this idea that we’re going to blur the line and bring them together, I would ask that if we’re going to use the Bible and Leviticus specifically to legislate, what other biblical laws should we in fact be invoking. One that comes personally to mind is Leviticus 25:44-46. Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you.

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SEN. HARRINGTON: I’m not comfortable with using Leviticus as the basis for my law. If we’re going to use one definition out of Leviticus I’m not sure that at some point someone might not decide not to use another definition, and that would definitely have an effect on me.

NOM’s outrage over Harrington’s statement are particularly noteworthy given comments that Brian Brown, president of NOM, made just two days earlier.

During NOM’s May 15 rally to defend “traditional” marriage in New York, Brown gave a speech not once but twice comparing the fight against same-sex marriage to the fight to abolish slavery:

BROWN: Do not accept the lie that redefining marriage will not affect you. It will. It changes what is taught in the schools. Kids as young as kindergarten in Massachusetts are taught that their parents are bigots because they believe marriage is the union of a man and a woman. They have shut down Christian adoption agencies in Massachusetts, in Washington, DC, because Christians could not adopt children to same-sex couples. This is a question of civil rights, it’s a question of our civil rights. Remember where we come from. People of faith stood up against the great evils of the Coliseum in Rome when people were being put to death. People of faith stood up against slavery under William Wilberforce and abolished slavery in England. Hispanics, African-Americans, whites, everyone came together to stop the evils of slavery in the United States and stood together in the Civil Rights movement. I ask you today, stand up for your civil rights, stand up for marriage, pray for our civil rights leaders. [emphasis added]

Unlike Sen. Harrington, Brown actually is attempting to compare the freedoms denied to African-Americans slaves to the freedoms that religious Americans would supposedly lose if gay and lesbian couples were allowed to marry.

“Downright rude” is a gross understatement, to say the least.

Previously:

NOM: Marriage Equality Is “An Excuse To Poison Young Minds”

NOM: Gay Marriage Is A Waste Of Time (Unless You’re Trying To Stop It)

As Expected, NOM Already Playing The “Race Card” In New York