NOM Devotes 20% Of Blog To Non-Marriage Issues In May
June 02, 2011 12:35 pm ET by Carlos Maza
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) loves to describe itself as a group that’s solely concerned with marriage, made up of people who love and respect gays and lesbians but want to preserve the “traditional” definition of marriage. As NOM’s chairwoman Maggie Gallagher has said:
I’m very proud of the message that NOM has carried consistently and with great love and courage: which is that marriage matters because children need a mom and dad; Our battle is not with an orientation but a political movement that seeks to use the law to embed a new moral idea: there is no difference between same-sex and opposite sex couples and you’re a hater, bigot and quasi-racist if you disagree. [emphasis added]
In reality, NOM is a run of the mill anti-gay hate group, intent on spreading fear and misinformation to prevent LGBT equality.
This May, Equality Matters decided to examine just how far away from its only-marriage message NOM has strayed.
The results might (not at all) surprise you.
Roughly 20 percent of the entries on NOM’s blog in the month of May were unrelated to the organization’s stated goal of “protecting marriage.” Instead, these posts dealt with a number of more traditional anti-gay topics.
Check out a breakdown of NOM’s May posts below:
Opposing Civil Unions
NOM’s opposition to marriage equality is just part of the organization’s broader opposition to any legal recognition of same-sex couples. Using the argument that civil unions create a “backdoor” into same-sex marriage, the group has aggressively opposed efforts to provide same-sex couples with even fraction of the rights and protections currently afforded to heterosexual couples.
May 4: Press Release: NOM-RI Critiques New Civil Union Legislation in Rhode Island
May 5: Gay Rights Groups Seek to Exclude Religious Adoption Agencies
May 12: ADF, NOM, and GLAD All Agree - Civil Union Legislation is a Bad Deal for Rhode Island
May 12: Breaking News from AP: Civil Unions Bill Flops in Rhode Island
May 12: Rhode Island Hispanics Deliver 2,000+ Signatures Against CU Bill
May 13: IL Religious Adoption Agencies Push for Right to Help Kids
May 16: Ted Olson Comes Out Against Civil Unions for New York
May 17: Gay Activists Stage "Kiss In" During Mass after Brazil High Court OKs Civil Unions
May 19: Rhode Island House Committee Approves Civil Unions Bill Nobody Likes
May 27: Breaking News: Catholic Charities of Rockford Ceases Adoptions, Foster Care
Opposing Pro-LGBT Curricula
In recent weeks, NOM has become increasingly involved in the fight against anti-bullying efforts that attempt to teach kids to respect and appreciate their LGBT peers. These lessons have nothing to do with marriage, but NOM opposes them anyways. In May, NOM pushed polls opposing Harvey Milk Day, fear-mongered about a “gender diversity” lesson in California, and freaked out about a Queerty post that supported teaching students about “queer sexuality.”
May 3: New Poll: 65%-22% Americans Reject Teaching Gay Subjects in Grade School
May 16: Queerty: Can We Admit That We Do Want To Indoctrinate Kids?
May 16: Queerty's Wrong About One Thing
May 16: Should Public Schools Teach About Gay Marriage? (Includes Video)
May 17: Prominent Gay Blogger: Not educating kids about SSM "makes them ignorant, hateful little morons."
May 19: Poll: Should California Public Schools Celebrate Harvey Milk's Birthday?
May 19: What's Next After SSM? BC Parents Face School Policies Condemning "Heterosexist" Ideas
May 24: School Teaching Kindergartners That There Are More Than Two Genders
May 27: CA Elementary School Students Get Lessons in Gender
May 27: Education Author: Some Fish Change Sex, Humans Don't
Opposing Same-Sex Parenting
NOM relies heavily on the myth that same-sex parents aren’t fit to raise children in order to promote their agenda against marriage equality. NOM’s chairwoman Maggie Gallagher advanced this assertion under oath during a House hearing on the Defense Of Marriage Act, so it’s not surprise that NOM’s blog is following in lock-step.
May 12: New Book: Psychologist Writes of Daughters' Father Hunger
May 17: Sociologist Brad Wilcox: The “Elite Wisdom” on Moms & Dads is Dead Wrong
May 19: Dr. Jenet Erickson on Why Having a Mother Really Matters
May 26: Canadian Sociologist on Why Mothers Matter
May 27: Gender Confusion over at Slate
Opposing Non-Discrimination Efforts
NOM is also in the business of opposing non-discrimination laws that protect LGBT Americans. The group routinely downplays the existence of oppression of the LGBT community and supports clearly discriminatory laws and policies on the grounds of religious liberty. This past month, NOM focused on protecting religious adoption agencies that choose to discriminate against (non-married) same-sex parents. The organization also criticized an ABC show for exposing the impact that NOM’s talking points can have on LGBT families.
May 5: Australian Gay Groups Seek to Narrow Religious Liberty Protections for Schools, Ministries
May 17: UK High Court Rules Against Last Catholic Adoption Agency
May 24: After Pushing Out Christians, England Faces Foster Shortage
Exaggerating LGBT Political Clout
NOM depicts pro-LGBT rights groups as omnipotent “bullies” that use force and intimidation to coerce innocent and helpless Americans into supporting same-sex marriage. This message is essential in order to distract people away from NOM’s own tactics.
May 9: People Wonder, How Does 2% Exercise So Much Influence?
May 16: Tim Gill's Tactics, Coming to a Campaign Near You?
May 16: Gay Leaders Try Bullying Orbitz to Drop FoxNews
May 16: Poor Jim Wallis!
General Anti-LGBT
A few of NOM’s posts were harder to place into a specific category but clearly demonstrated a general resentment towards the LGBT community. One post pushed a poll finding the percentage of people in Europe who found homosexuality to be “immoral.” Another post defended Chick-fil-A, a company that has donated over $1 million to anti-gay groups. Still others attempted to downplay the size of the LGBT community while not-so-subtly hinting that homosexuality isn’t innate.
May 16: Surveying European Attitudes on SSM and Sexual Morality
May 24: Afghans Take Back the Rainbow
May 27: Gallup: In U.S., Young Adults, Women (Overestimate) Gay Population at 30%
May 28: Canadian Parents Raising "Genderless" Child
May 30: Gallup Poll: Proportion of Americans Who Believe People are "Born Gay" Flatlined in 2001
May 31: The New Definition of "Hate": Does Chick-Fil-A's Actions Qualify?
Promoting Republican/Conservative Causes
When it isn’t playing the anti-gay game, NOM makes sure to cement itself in conservative Republican circles, highlighting GOP presidential candidates it approves of, egging on anti-gay politicians, and, of course, bashing the supposedly Soros-funded media.
May 4: Who will Ovide Lamontagne Endorse for President?
May 16: George Soros' Ties to Over 30 Major News Organizations
May 16: Newt Gingrich's Daughter on His First Divorce
May 16: The Donald Says Not This Time
May 23: Truce Candidate Gov. Mitch Daniels Announces He's Not Running
May 24: Huntsman's Debut in NH
May 26: Maggie's Column: Can Jon Hunstman Step Into Mitch Daniels' Shoes?
May 27: NY 26: The Candidate Failed to Use Social Issues
May 31: George Soros-Funded Media Reaches 330 Million People Per Month
May 31: In Which I Attend a Dinner Honoring Al Cardenas, the New Head of the ACU
All of this in just one month.
In case you’re curious, June isn’t looking much better.
It’s long past time for NOM to drop its “we’re only concerned with marriage” act. It’s a right-wing, conservative, anti-LGBT group, just like the Family Research Council and the American Family Association.
It’s time we started treating it as such.
Previously:
NOM’s Faux Outrage Over ABC’s “What Would You Do?” Segment
As Expected, Anti-Gay Groups Preparing Propaganda Blitz In Minnesota
NOM Comes Clean: We Don’t Want Kids Learning About Gay People
