The folks over at the National Organization for Marriage have the odd idea that they are relevant in some way today.
They've launched a new attack ad, titled "Dump Trump," directed at GOP front-runner Donald Trump that basically says the Trumpster doesn't hate on gays enough.
In an email (that includes at least NINE requests for donations), NOM president Brian Brown writes:
As the ad makes clear, when Donald Trump quit on the fight for marriage, he quit on South Carolina and over 50 million voters across the nation who cast ballots defining marriage as one man and one woman. The ad urges South Carolinians to “Dump Trump.”
Keep in mind that the marriage amendment passed in South Carolina with 78% of the overall vote. However, it likely got upwards of 90% of the vote among Republicans who will be voting for president on February 20th. Clearly, the ad could cause some serious damage to the Trump campaign and thus help propel forward other pro-marriage candidates like Sen. Ted Cruz.
Virulently anti-gay Brian Brown, president of the ironically named National Organization for Marriage, is super-mad y'all.
Brown is upset (and begging for money) because Jim Obergefell will be sitting with the First Lady at tonight's State of the Union address.
As you probably know, Obergefell was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit that led to the historic marriage equality decision by SCOTUS last summer.
Via press release:
“It’s an outrage that President Obama is honoring the extermination of true marriage in our nation’s laws as a result of an anti-constitutional, illegitimate ruling of the US Supreme Court,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s president.
“President Obama is trying to honor something that is completely dishonorable because it strips from the law the truth of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and substitutes a fiction from the left that marriage can be anything you want it to be.”
I wasn't aware that heterosexual marriage is now "exterminated?"
Of course, what he's really mad about is his six-figure annual salary is about to go bye-bye.
After a five year legal battle, and paying a record $50,000 fine, the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage has finally handed over it's donor list as ordered by the courts to the Maine Ethics Commission.
In 2009, the organization funneled over $2 million to the anti-gay Stand for Marriage Maine political action committee, which supported a referendum to overturn a same-sex marriage law passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Baldacci.
A later referendum in 2012 reinstated marriage equality.
NOM has tried to by-pass state campaign finance laws regarding the 2009 campaign, and has refused to file their donor list.
Until now. Having run out of options to avoid the inevitable, NOM has given up.
The donor list includes a mix of in- and out-of-state donors who gave NOM between $50,000 and $750,000 in individual donations. The largest donor was Sean Fieler of New York City, who is the president of Chiaroscuro Foundation and gave a total of $1.25 million.
The only donor listed from Maine was Richard Kurtz of Cape Elizabeth, who gave $50,000. There are only six names on the list, plus about $5,300 of “unitemized contributions.”
That's quite the "national" organization, huh? Only SIX donors.
And only one from Maine.
Gee, Brian Brown, I can't imagine why there were all those calls of "out of state interference."
The virulently anti-gay National Organization for Marriage has lost yet again in it's efforts to hide their donor list from their campaign against marriage equality in Maine.
Maine’s ethics commission fined the National Organization for Marriage $50,250 last year for violating the state’s campaign finance laws and ordered it to file a campaign finance report that would reveal who supported the 2009 referendum that struck down Maine’s gay marriage law.
The group sought to delay filing of the report, pending the outcome of its appeal in court of the commission’s decision.
But the Maine Supreme Court denied that request Tuesday, saying it’s unlikely that NOM will be successful in its appeal.
Brian Brown, president of the group, said he believes NOM is being unfairly targeted because of its views on marriage.
The anti-same-sex marriage group, National Organization for Marriage, is now officially dying "the ugly death."
The head of the group - Bryan Brown - sends out this money beg today via email, trying desperately to hang on to his six figure salary for a job that is now woefully obsolete.
You see, Brown and his bigoted cronies have "other elements of our plan to go forward," he just won't tell you what they are.
"If you believe that our next President of the United States must be a champion for true marriage, then we ask you to donate today so that we can make this a reality in the future.
"There are other elements of our plan to go forward, and I will discuss these in future communications.
"For now, rest assured that NOM is in this fight for the long haul, and we trust you will be there with us. This is a dark day, but we are not defeated.
"Indeed, we have been reenergized and are more determined than ever to reverse this injustice and restore God's institution of marriage to its proper place in American law and culture. Our opponents are now counting on you to give up, and so is a majority of the US Supreme Court.
"Remember it was Justice Ginsburg who violated judicial ethics to comment publicly that the American people will easily accept this illegitimate decision. Please act today to prove her wrong!
"Your contribution of $25, $50, $100, $500 or $1,000 or more will be an investment in the next phase of this struggle and allow us to begin to fight back and ultimately reverse this terrible decision."
Folks have reached out asking if the haters can reverse the Supreme Court's historic ruling.
Basically, that would need the haters to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
THAT would require either a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Congress OR a two-thirds vote by a national convention of states (that would be 34 today) OR by a total of three-fourths (38) of the individual state legislatures ratifying said amendment.
• The ironically named National Organization for Marriage asks all GOP presidential candidates to sign a pledge to promising to support a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
• After Indiana's "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" debacle only 32% of voters support his re-election.
The National Organization for Marriage's hate march was held today in Washington, D.C., and as expected it was a sad, embarrassing failure for the virulently anti-gay group.
I'm not inclined to go into much detail about the event as it's pretty much what you would imagine: just a few dozen haters cheering each other on pretending the rights of LGBTs to marry somehow infringes on their lives. Which, of course, they does not.
But I will share just this one clip from the hate speech that went on.
Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver stood before the crowd to say he would have “no choice” but to disobey such a “lawless” decision.
“As much as I’m an attorney and I respect the rule of law, I also respect the higher law. And when an earthly law collides with the higher law, we have no choice to obey the higher law.”
“Marriage is the union of a man and a woman,” he added. “As a policy matter, any other union says that God’s design is flawed. As a policy matter, any other union says that boys don’t need fathers and girls don’t need mothers.”
The "boys need fathers" and "girls need mothers" line is supposed to argue that marriage HAS to be between a man and a woman because "children."
What Staver and the rest of his ilk never address is that if marriage is about children, why do they only attack same-sex marriage? They never argue that infertile couples shouldn't marry. Or that seniors who marry past child-bearing years shouldn't adopt.
It's only the gays.
The good news is this: Today was most probably the last Hate March NOM will ever hold as the Supreme Court will most probably rule on the issue of same-sex marriage by the end of June.
It's fascinating to read this email from Brian Brown of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, where he begs for money to keep funding his losing fight against same-sex marriage.
It's honestly like he's become an out of touch idiot. From today's email:
"Support for same-sex marriage has dropped over the past year by six percentage points, while opposition has increased. In fact, more voters are opposed to same-sex 'marriage' (44%) than are in favor of it (42%).
"This dramatic change in public opinion comes as activist judges throughout the country have been working overtime to redefine marriage in direct opposition to the decision of over fifty million voters.
"While the media seems utterly baffled by these findings — unable to process them and therefore report on them — we are not surprised in the least.
"Please make plans for joining us for the March for Marriage this year as we make the case for marriage. Three days after the justices of the Supreme Court see the outpouring of support for marriage, they will hear oral argument in the case that could shape the legal definition of marriage in America for years to come.
"In the mean time, please consider making a generous donation to support our efforts to organize and promote this critical event. We have a great deal of work to do and nobody to turn to for help except for loyal supporters like you."
As the rest of the world knows - support for marriage equality has seen a sharp increase over the past few years. That is a fact.
A recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll (not some fly-by-night outfit) showed support rising to 59% for same-sex marriage. A fact Brian Brown simply chooses to ignore.
Brian Brown, of the anti-gay hate group National Organization for Marriage, posts on his group's NOM Blog today about the "Top Headlines of 2014" in which he seems to conclude that his anti-marriage equality movement is somehow thriving:
We live in a time when those who wish to redefine marriage and their sycophants in the media miss no opportunity to tell us that the battle is essentially over, that history is on their side and that the views of the citizens have changed. This is a future that these activists hope for, but it is decidedly not the future they will encounter. The reason we know this is because whenever they put their version of the future to the test, it is rejected by the American people.
I am encouraged by the victories and the bright moments of the past twelve months as we head into 2015, because they remind me that the cause of marriage is still very much alive, and we have good reason to hope for even more successes in the new year!
With that reminder then, please accept my wishes for a happy and blessed new year for you and your family, and my thanks for continuing to work with NOM to defend marriage and family in 2015!
I'll remind readers that the pro-same-sex marriage folks won almost 50 legal battles in 2014 while Brian Brown and his ilk saw perhaps 2 wins in their column.
The ironically named National Organization for Marriage - which actually campaigns against marriage rights - is woefully in debt and barely staying in business according to 2013 tax records:
The main findings: NOM's donors have vanished, with 2013 fundraising barely half what it was in 2012. Meanwhile, NOM's debt has ballooned to from $2 million in 2012 to $2.5 million in 2013. Of the $5.1 million that NOM raised last year, more than half came from just two donors. That's down from three major donors in 2012.
NOM hasn't had a major "win" against same-sex marriage since 2012 when North Carolina passed it's statewide ban - which is now already struck down.
And just today NOM's request to reverse Oregon's marriage ruling via en banc rehearing in the 9th Circuit Court was denied.
Another day, another loss for NOM and Brian Brown. See the one page ruling below:
Brian Brown over at the ironically named National Organization for Marriage might need to worry about feeding his kids soon if NOM's funding continues to dry up as it has in the past year.
According to analysis of the organization’s 2013 tax filings done by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), NOM raised $5.1 million in 2013, dropping by over 50% since 2012. Just 2 donors accounted for more than half of the organization’s funding – further evidence that everyday Americans have little interest in furthering NOM’s extremist agenda. In addition, the NOM Education Fund also dropped by nearly $3.5 million in funding -- a drop of almost 70% since the previous year. NOM ended the year more than $2.5 million in debt.
“NOM should start figuring out that people aren’t willing to give their hard-earned money to an extremist agenda that's going nowhere,” said Fred Sainz, HRC Vice President of Communications. “If I were Brian Brown, I’d be worried that my two or three mega-donors are soon going to come to terms with the fact that they’d largely be better off flushing money down the toilet. Americans certainly aren’t buying what NOM is selling, and it’s only a matter of time before the trickle of money keeping the lights on at NOM HQ dries up.”
It's important to note from that quote - "Just 2 donors accounted for more than half of the organization’s funding." Which means that most Americans are not part of NOM's hate campaign.
And there's more bad news for NOM:
• The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices voted unanimously to impose record civil penalties against NOM totaling $50,250 due to non-disclosure violations
• "Strong Opposition" to marriage equality has dropped to a low of 28%
The virulently anti-gay is dumping money into North Carolina's Senate race, but in doing so NOM is literally LYING by rewriting history and how the government works.
It's important to note that although NOM would like you think differently, Sen. Kay Hagen did not "handpick" the judge who ruled in favor of marriage equality bringing the freedom to marry to the state.
As a matter of fact, Judge Coburn was UNANIMOUSLY confirmed by the Senate. And that includes the vote from Hagen's fellow NC Senator Richard Burr (R).
Oh - and senators don't "handpick" any judge. Judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
But NOM hopes their ilk doesn't know how history or the government works.
Some voters in San Diego this weekend received robocalls from the president of anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown, urging them to NOT vote for Republican Carl DeMaio and instead vote for the Democratic candidate Scott Peters. Not because Brown supports Peters - in the call he says Peters is "wrong on the issues but at least we can defeat him in two years. If DeMaio is elected, he may hold office and do damage for decades! Please vote against Carl DeMaio on November 4th."
Brown opposes DeMaio basically because "gay."
I'm no fan of DeMaio myself, but interesting that Brown is willing to turn on Republicans if they happen to be gay.
But remember, he says NOM doesn't get involved in political races...
Several months back, the ironically named National Organization for Marriage lost a lawsuit filed against the government, having alleged that the NOM's donor info had been illegally leaked to the HRC by the federal government.
The government did award NOM $50,000 for the "unintentional disclosure" but it was approximately 23% of what they asked for at the time - which was over $217K.
After losing, NOM asked the court to award the haters money to the tune of $700K for "attorney's fees."
Today, the Federal District Court in Virginia told NOM "tough titty." No money for you.
For the reasons stated above, in strictly construing the fee-award statute in favor of the Government, the Court will deny NOM’s Motion in its entirety.
Accordingly, the Court need not address the reasonableness of NOM’s $691,025.05 fee request.
National Organization for Marriage's Brian Brown sent this missive out yesterday begging for money to continue the more and more ill-fated hate campaign against equal rights for gays and lesbians to marry.
"This is not democracy: it is judicial tyranny. We need to act—now!
Please take a moment immediately to contact Congress and demand support for an amendment to the Constitution of the United States that will preserve and protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman!
Legislative efforts to amend our Constitution to protect marriage are already underway. In the House, this initiative is being led by Representative Tim Huelskamp of Kansas. In the Senate, it is being spearheaded by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
Marriage Supporter, I'll say it plainly: marriage is on the ropes, and our principles of government are taking a beating as well. That's why I need you to ACT NOW and DEMAND action from Congress to put a halt to the legal chaos that has been thrust upon us by the radical same-sex ‘marriage' movement."
Note the urgency in his tone as his cushy paycheck promoting second-class rights for gays is quickly slipping away.
Brian Brown, the president of the shadowy anti-LGBT group National Organization for Marriage, is being put on notice for his anti-LGBT advocacy worldwide.
From California to France, Brown has traveled the world spreading messages of homophobia and transphobia.
Now it's just getting embarrassing for the ironically named National Organization for Marriage.
After getting a big NO from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals after trying to insert themselves in Oregon's marriage equality decision, NOM is now asking the 9th for an "en banc" reviews of it's request.
Despite a string of legal defeats, the National Organization for Marriage is continuing its battle against the May 19 federal court decision overturning Oregon's ban on same-sex marriage.
Two weeks after a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the group's attempt to intervene in the case, the National Organization for Marriage on Wednesday asked the full Ninth Circuit Court to reconsider the decision.
The group -- which has waged a legal battle against same-sex marriages throughout the country -- had earlier lost several attempts to insert itself in the Oregon case.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by NOM to halt same-sex marriages in Oregon, which began after U.S. District Judge Michael McShane ruled that the ban unconstitutionally discriminated against gay and lesbian couples.
My guess is NOM needs SOMETHING to put in their email money begs to justify why anyone should send them a dime.
Hot on the heels of the Louisiana ruling today against same-sex marriage (the first since June of 2013), NOM president Brian Brown claimed the "house of cards" that is the marriage equality movement is "collapsing:"
"Here we see the house of cards collapsing that supported the myth that redefining marriage is inevitable," said Brian S. Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage. "This decision by Judge Feldman in Louisiana is a great win for the cause of marriage, coming as it does on the heels of other pro-marriage court victories, that puts the lie to the claim that it is inevitable the US Supreme Court will redefine marriage. To the contrary, we believe they will leave this issue with the states."
"Judge Feldman has authored a powerful opinion that points the US Supreme Court in the direction of upholding state marriage laws and constitutional amendments," Brown said. "He finds what should be obvious to everyone, that states have a legitimate concern in 'linking marriage to children with intact families.' It is perfectly appropriate for voters to determine if they wish to decide for themselves whether they wish to redefine this age-old institution that has served society so well. Overwhelmingly, voters have rejected redefining marriage, and we expect the US Supreme Court to do so as well."
Regarding a "house of cards," it should be noted that Judge Feldman's ruling is the first against same-sex marriage by a federal judge since the Windsor decision by SCOTUS in June of 2013.
