NOM Uses Irish Presidential Candidate To Promote ‘Gays Are Pedophiles’ Myth
October 12, 2011 4:26 pm ET by Carlos Maza
Over the past few months, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has been following the campaign of openly gay Irish presidential candidate David Norris.
Norris, who is currently the front-runner, temporarily dropped out of the race after it was revealed that, in 1997, he had sought out leniency “for a former partner convicted of the statutory rape of a 15-year-old boy in Israel” (the age of consent in Israel is 16). The controversy was magnified by the resurfacing of a 2002 interview in which Norris defended pederasty in ancient Greece, though Norris later said his statements were misconstrued by his opponents.
In three separate blog posts this year, NOM has hyped Norris’ pedophilia scandal:
[NOM Blog, 6/10/11]
[NOM Blog, 8/3/11]
[NOM Blog, 10/8/11]
None of NOM’s blog posts includes the word “marriage,” discusses same-sex marriage, or even mentions what kind of impact an openly gay president might have on the LGBT community in Ireland. NOM’s posts barely include any original text at all. Rather, the posts focus solely on Norris’ ties to the pedophilia scandal. The most recent of the posts is even tagged under NOM’s relatively new “pedophilia” category.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what NOM’s trying to do. By highlighting Norris’ pedophilia comments, NOM is trying to validate the anti-gay smear that gay men are more likely to engage in pedophilia than straight men. Comments on the blog posts show the message hasn’t been lost on NOM’s audience:
[NOM Blog, 6/10/11]
[NOM Blog, 8/3/11]
[NOM Blog, 10/8/11]
NOM has become more aggressive about promoting the homosexuality-pedophilia myth in the past several months. In August, NOM president Brian Brown wrote that marriage equality would “normalize pedophilia.” A few days later, NOM quoted Joe Carter, editor of the First Things blog, criticizing the Supreme Court’s decision to decriminalize homosexuality for causing “the normalization [of] polygamy and pedophilia.” And in September, NOM’s Ruth Institute promoted a column that suggested homosexuality and pedophilia were similarly perverse mental disorders.
In continuously bringing up David Norris’ pedophilia scandal, it seems that NOM has discovered a convenient way to reinforce its anti-gay smear without having to say very much at all.
Previously:
NOM’s “Treasure[d]” Relationship With The Family Research Council
NOM Still Promoting Bogus Link Between Pedophilia And Homosexuality
