NOM's Brian Brown: Florida Should Ignore Gay Marriage Ruling

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), has called on Florida officials to ignore a federal judge's ruling striking down the state's ban on gay marriage.

On Tuesday, gay couples throughout Florida began exchanging vows as it became the 36th state where gay couples can marry.

Brown called the ruling – whose implementation the Supreme Court refused to stop – “illegitimate.” and called on officials to turn away gay couples wishing to marry.

“It is simply illegitimate for the opinion of a federal district judge to trump the decision of millions of Floridians and attempt to redefine marriage in violation of Federal law,” Brown said in a blog post. “Federal judges are acting as if the US Supreme Court has ordered same-sex marriage to be imposed, but in reality the Court has ruled that states have the right to define marriage. We demand that the US Supreme Court act immediately to review the pending marriage case before them and swiftly reaffirm that states have the right to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The US Supreme Court has never ruled that traditional marriage is unconstitutional. In fact, they have specifically ruled that states have the right to define marriage.”

“It is a travesty of justice that states are allowing federal judges to single-handedly decide the laws of marriage. Florida officials should not go along with this illegitimate decree and should demand that state and local officials continue to enforce the marriage amendment that was overwhelmingly adopted by Florida voters in 2008,” he added.

NOM IS NEAR DEATH: HRC REPORTS LACK OF FUNDING AND SUPPORT CRIPPLING THE ORGANIZATION

The Human Rights Campaign issued a press release today that contained results from a study they conducted on the National Organization for Marriage's funding and found the organization is rapidly losing support. HRC examined NOM's tax filings from 2013 and found that the organization's funding for the year dropped a whopping 50 percent from 2012, raising only $5.1 million in funds this year. Only two donors account for donating half of those funds alone, which indicates NOM's support base merely consists of a very few wealthy people and a minuscule amount of the general public.

The NOM Education Fund also dropped nearly $3.5 million in funding; a drop of almost 70 percent since the previous year. NOM ended the year more than $2.5 million in debt. Fred Sainz, the HRC Vice President of Communications, urges NOM to give up the ghost already.

Said Sainz:

“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.”

NOM fought to keep their 2013 990s secret however, HRC made an in-person request for the public financial documents on Monday morning and again Tuesday – in both instances, NOM didn't produce the documents. Federal law requires organizations to publicly release their 990s the same day an in-person request is made. HRC filed a complaint with the IRS in order to force NOM to abide by the law. 

Within the last year NOM suffered crippling blows to its core purpose and mission with the number of states allowing gay marriage jumping from 15 to 33 states, with 62 percent of the nation's population living in states that allow same-sex marriage. Both Democratic and Republican appointed judges are striking down marriage bans and the Supreme Court of the United States judges decreed that federal court rulings granting marriage rights to same-sex couples to become the law of the land in 11 states in the last two years: California, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Indiana, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Recent poll results show that NOM’s radical and exclusionary brand of anti-LGBT rhetoric is falling on deaf ears. An HRC survey of 1,200 registered voters conducted June 6-10 this year by Republican pollster Alex Lundry of TargetPoint Consulting, found that the number of Americans strongly opposed to national marriage equality dropped to 28 percent. Of the people polled, only three percent would challenge the Supreme Court of the United States judges if they struck down marriage bans across the country.

NOM President Brian Brown, realizing his organization is becoming obsolete in the states, took his rhetoric to Russia to support a bill – now law – banning the adoption of Russian children by same-sex couples or parents living in countries where marriage equality is legal. Although Brown would experience success in Russia, NOM's death knell is ringing loud and clear here in the states, but the organization continues to shuffle on like an undead zombie; aimless and spouting incoherent nonsense.

Brian Brown Vs Evan Wolfson

Last weekend Freedom To Marry head Evan Wolfson faced down hate group leader Brian Brown in an hour-long call-in show on C-SPAN. After you wade through Brown's opening bloviation, you'll get to a great statement by Wolfson.

UPDATE: OMG, the caller at 12:45.

UPDATE II: The caller at 29:30 is wonderful.

UPDATE III: At 43:00 Wolfson nails Brown on being at that anti-gay Kremlin conference.

Wolfson: "Mr. Brown was in Russia, people can go and look it up, for something called the World Conference [Congress] Of Families, that endorsed a resolution calling on other countries to adopt the same kind of vicious, brutal, sweeping anti-gay law that Putin's Russia just enacted that has launched a wave of thuggery and beatings in the street and discrimination against gay people in that country that is now seeking to export that kind of attack. That's not about marriage. That's about beating up and in some cases killing and licensing thuggery. Mr. Brown was part of that conference and that's part of the work he is doing."

Brown: "That's absolutely wrong."

Wolfson: "People can look it up. "

Brown: "His facts are absolutely wrong. All people can look up are Evan Wolfson's and Human Rights Campaign's absolute lies and slurs."

BOOM. That's EXACTLY what EVERY activist who debates Brian Brown should being saying. Huge props to Evan Wolfson

Brian Brown: I'm Proud To Be A Hater

"I readily and proudly plead guilty to the 'crime' of not supporting [the HRC's] desire to redefine marriage. I have had the nerve to express that view not only here in America, but when invited to speak in other countries. Hence, in the distorted world of the campaign, I am an extremist and 'export hate.' I am proud to have played some small role in this emerging global movement. One of the few things the Human Rights Campaign correctly notes is that I have spoken to conferences around the world. However, these speeches focused not on 'hate' or 'division' but on the importance of individuals of different faiths, nationalities, cultures and political creeds uniting together in a shared defense of the truth of marriage and family. Working together with men and women dedicated to protecting the family is not the definition of hate, but love." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, who last month appeared at a Kremlin conference which concluded with a call for more nations to criminalize homosexuality.

Anti-Gay Groups Launch 'Unprecedented' Campaign Against Pro-LGBT Republican Candidates

Anti-gay activist groups The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), Family Research Council Action and CitizenLink are launching “an unprecedented campaign” against three Republican candidates because of their support for marriage equality and abortion, reports Buzzfeed.

Family Research Council Action is the legislative arm of rabidly homophobic listed hate group Family Research Council.

Last month, NOM cofounder Robert George said that he couldn't think of any "logical stopping place" between gay-affirming Christians and pedophile-affirming or serial killer-affirming Christians.

The three ultra-conservative groups “will mount a concerted effort to urge voters to refuse to cast ballots” for Republican House candidates Carl DeMaio [top left] in California, Richard Tisei [middle] in Massachusetts and Republican Senate candidate Monica Wehby [right] in Oregon. DeMaio and Tisei are the only out LGBT Republican federal candidates from the to appear on the ballot this fall.

A letter - claiming to speak on behalf of all Americans and possibly suggesting a gay recruitment drive - sent to Republican congressional and campaign leaders yesterday reads in part:

Brian Brown: SCOTUS Will Totally Rule Against Gay Marriage Because Louisiana

"Oh, you didn’t hear much about the Louisiana decision? No surprise. Here’s what happened. U.S. District Court Judge Martin Feldman, following extensive briefing and argument, ruled that the U.S. Constitution does not prohibit the state of Louisiana from defining marriage solely as one man and one woman, nor refusing to recognize so-called same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. He found that the state had several valid reasons for having adopted this position, which was approved by 78 percent of its voters. One reason, Feldman wrote, was to encourage children to be raised by their mother and father in an intact family. Another was to ensure that any change in such a foundational issue as marriage should only be considered via the democratic process and not be judicially imposed. [snip] We’re probably 10 months away from the Supreme Court issuing a definitive ruling on whether defining marriage in state law solely as the union of one man and one woman violates the Constitution. When that ruling comes, many people will once again be shocked that the 'inevitable' didn’t happen because they hadn't heard much about Feldman and his prescient ruling in Louisiana." 

- Hate group leader Brian Brown, writing for US News & World Report.

Top Anti-Marriage Group: Our Boycott Has Stopped Starbucks' International Expansion

Brian Brown, the president of the National Organization For Marriage, is stunningly claiming that "Dump Starbucks," NOM's flaccid boycott of international coffee colossus Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), has actually stopped their global expansion. Brown offers not one shred of proof, not even the names of the "many" countries he claims have refused to let the $15 billion Seattle-based java giant open stores, in an interview on a Catholic radio program.

Here's the audio, captured and published by Good As You's Jeremy Hooper.

“The media will say the boycotts have minimal or no effect," Brown says. "The reality is that companies like Starbucks are trying to expand around the world, and as Americans stand up and say, 'this is wrong,' and they highlight that companies like Starbucks are supporting same-sex marriage, it forces the mask to come off.

“Starbucks to this day claims that they do not take positions on political issues, and because of the Dump Starbucks boycott, for example, many countries have looked at Starbucks and individuals that would be allowing Starbucks into the country have said, 'no no no no,' because Starbucks does endorse the redefinition of marriage.

“For global companies, it has an effect, both in America and abroad.

“Most importantly, though, how can we view it as moral to be giving our dollars to a company that directly is attacking our faith? ...You have to take a stand at some point.”

Even though Brown offered absolutely no facts whatsoever to back up his spurious claims, here are a few that refute them.

In the past five years, Starbucks' share price has more than quadrupled, from $19.03 to a close yesterday of $77.87. 

Starbucks, as of June, has 23,305 stores in 65 countries,including in Middle East countries (see chart, right) where NOM tried to get its "Dump Starbucks" boycott to take off -- it never did.

NOM Will Never Go Away, Says NOM

NOM's Brian Brown  (Source:AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

The leader of the National Organization for Marriage, a group hell bent on banning marriage equality in the U.S., said in an interview with the Guardian this week that his group will never go away -- even if the Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage.

"We're not going away," Brian Brown, president of the NOM, told the U.K. newspaper. "We've been hearing about our demise for the last 15 years. It hasn't happened, and it's not going to happen, even if the [US supreme] court is to do the unthinkable in an attempt to redefine marriage and the law."

His comments come as the sixth U.S. circuit court of appeals in Cincinnati hears oral arguments covering six gay marriage rulings in Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

NOM, and groups like NOM (like the Family Research Council), are facing with a changing America as new polls show more Americans are in favor of marriage equality.

The Supreme Court has not taken a case about gay marriage since it struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8 in June 2013. It is likely, however, that the high court will hear a case out of Utah or Virginia. The Guardian notes the earliest the Supreme Court would make a decision is 2015.

Though attitudes are undergoing a sea change, Brown isn't buying it, saying the research is faulty and the media is spinning facts.

"I'm sure, probably, there's been some increase in support for that agenda since 2008," Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at Family Research Council, told the Guardian. "If the question is worded as a question of civil rights, constitutional rights, equality and so forth, those are broad principles Americans tend to sympathize with and so, framing it in that way is going to inevitably lead to higher polling numbers in support of that position."

Springg added: "We do not accept the theory that same-sex marriage is inevitable or that defeat in the Supreme Court is inevitable. If that were to occur, we would respond to it at that time. I can say with certainty that we would continue to promote marriage between one man and one woman as the family form of greatest benefit to children."

Outside NOM’s Gala, GetEQUAL Wishes Brian Brown A Happy ‘Retirement’

After enduring many recent “traditional” marriage losses, after getting slapped down in federal court and losing to the IRS, after repeatedly being accused of “money laundering” and being found guilty unanimously of state campaign finance laws, and after an embarrassingly dismal turnout at the March for Marriage, is it time for Brian Brown to retire?

GetEQUAL seems to think so. Hours after the March for Marriage ended, GetEQUAL’s grassroots activists stood outside NOM’s gala last night and asked attendees to sign a “Happy Retirement” card for the National Organization For Marriage president.

And they, of course, filmed it.

Is Brown actually retiring? Not as far as we’re aware, but just how many losses can one leader have before a corporation says it’s time to go?

Key Figures from NOM Plot Next Anti-Gay Move in Secret Meeting

Key figures from NOM have been plotting their next move in secret in Princeton, NJ, calling themselves The Princeton Group.

Writes Jeremy Hooper at NOM Exposed:

On Friday, June 13, I celebrated my fifth wedding anniversay with the man to whom I have been partnered for eleven years. A few days later, my husband and I celebrated our first Father's (or Fathers') Day. It was a great weekend to honor our strong bond, loving family, and overall peace. 

Little did we know that just about fifty miles away from our NYC home, over in Princeton, NJ, Maggie Gallagher (NOM cofounder and past president), Robert George (NOM cofounder and chairman emeritus), Brian Brown (current NOM president), John Eastman (NOM's current board chair), and a number of other individuals who were responsible for creating NOM back then (like founding board members Luis Tellez and Chuck Stetson, for instance) and are responsible for maintaining NOM now (like Sean Fieler, a key funder, and Diego Von Stauffenberg, NOM's current development director) were holding a secret, invite-only meeting focused on "developing and deploying an action plan to protect marriage and preserve religious liberties." It certainly seems like some sort of secret, shadowy version of NOM (Super NOM?) is going on behind the scenes.

Also involved (as host of the secret meeting)? San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

Same-sex marriage opponents rally at U.S. Capitol

Many of the estimated 2,000 people that attended a National Organization for Marriage rally held signs that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The sponsor of a proposed U.S. constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman on Thursday conceded opponents of gay nuptials are losing ground.

“We are falling behind in the struggle,” said Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp during the National Organization for Marriage’s March for Marriage that took place on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. “Those who seek to destroy marriage by redefining it to mean anything — and thus mean nothing, are hard at work.”

Many of the estimated 2,000 people from across the country held NOM signs that defined marriage as between a man and a woman. Others carried posters reading “each child deserves a father and a mother” in Spanish.

“When we hear time and time again from some in the media that the fight to protect marriage is over, we are here today to say no,” said NOM President Brian Brown. “We are here to say that no matter the circumstances, no matter how difficult it may be, we will stand in and out of season for the truth of marriage.”

San Francisco Roman Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, New York state Sen. Ruben Díaz, Sr., Leanna Baumer of the Family Research Council and Bishop Harry Jackson of Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Md., are among those who spoke during the rally.

Brian Brown Says He and Other Anti-Gay Bigots ‘Won’t Go Away’ If Marriage Equality Goes Nationwide

In an interview with ABC News, National Organization for Marriage president Brian Brown shared what outcome he wants like to see in the inevitable Supreme Court ruiling over same-sex marriage – as well as what his plan of action will be should the Court find a constitutional right to marriage equality.

Brown, in a telephone interview, said his best-case scenario hinged on a future ruling by the Supreme Court upholding the right of states to set their own marriage laws, rather than imposing same-sex marriage nationwide. Such a ruling would strengthen the position of the 31 states that currently ban gay marriage and might encourage grass-roots efforts in some of the other states to reimpose bans, Brown said.

"We'd put this back in the hands of the democratic process," Brown said. "We would have the people deciding for themselves."

If the Supreme Court ruled the other way, legalizing gay marriage nationwide, "We won't go away," Brown said.

He envisioned a resistance campaign comparable to that waged by the anti-abortion movement since the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision established a nationwide right to abortion.

"In the next year or so, we'll either have a massive victory at the Supreme Court, or we'll need to fight for 10, 20 years to undo the damage that the court has done," Brown said.

With that last point, I think our side might be thinking the same thing...

Consider yourself Reminded - Hijack away!!!!

"The second annual March for Marriage is less than a week away and we are on the clock to get as many marriage supporters to Washington, D.C. as possible. On June 19th, thousands of Americans from all across the country will rally in and take to the streets of our nation's capital with the simple and beautiful message: marriage between one man and one woman is unique and critical for our society because children deserve the love and care of both a mother and a father. In order to show the nation the success of your efforts, NOM has set up a special email address that you can use to send pictures and video of the Rally and March as they happen. The email address is: pics@marriagemarch.org. Feel free to take pictures of the day's events, or even video, and send them to this email address so we can post them on the March for Marriage website. Together we'll demonstrate that across the nation the American people stand for marriage as one man and one woman." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, via email.

Next Thursday would be great time to hijack NOM's #MarriageMarch and #March4Marriage hashtags on Twitter with several thousand gay pride and gay wedding photos.

NOM: Send Us Your Hate March Photos

"The second annual March for Marriage is less than a week away and we are on the clock to get as many marriage supporters to Washington, D.C. as possible. On June 19th, thousands of Americans from all across the country will rally in and take to the streets of our nation's capital with the simple and beautiful message: marriage between one man and one woman is unique and critical for our society because children deserve the love and care of both a mother and a father. In order to show the nation the success of your efforts, NOM has set up a special email address that you can use to send pictures and video of the Rally and March as they happen. The email address is: pics@marriagemarch.org. Feel free to take pictures of the day's events, or even video, and send them to this email address so we can post them on the March for Marriage website. Together we'll demonstrate that across the nation the American people stand for marriage as one man and one woman." - Hate group leader Brian Brown, via email.

Next Thursday would be great time to hijack NOM's #MarriageMarch hashtag on Twitter with several thousand gay pride and gay wedding photos. I'll remind you.

NOM: It’s Our Lawyer’s Fault So We’re Not Guilty, Not Paying Penalty, And We’re Suing HRC

The  National Organization For Marriage was dealt a heavy legal blow today in Maine, having been found guilty of violating state ethics laws relating to campaign finance. The anti-gay marriage group was fined a whopping $50, 250 — the largest fine of its kind ever in state history — and ordered to reveal its donors.

 Maine’s same-sex marriage law even before it went into effect, depriving countless same-sex couples of the right to marry.

As Rights Equal Rights founder Fred Karger, who filed the lawsuit, pointed out, NOM hid the names of its donors in violation of state law. Karger called it “money laundering.” He also provided the image, above, which shows NOM fueled Maine’s 2009 anti-gay marriage initiative with oodles of cash, including donations from several unnamed donors who contributed $50,000 each, one who contributed $400,000, and even one — donor #11 — who contributed $2,475,000. All those donors today are still unknown to the people of Maine, in violation of Maine state law.

Karger states that NOM chairman John Eastman said he would not pay the $50,250 fine, nor would he release the names of their donors, despite a ruling by the Maine Ethics Committee.NOM, however, is refusing to admit defeat.

Today, NOM released a statement that all but blamed their lawyers for their actions, and yet made clear they were not altering course.

“NOM vigorously denies that it violated any disclosure laws during the 2009 campaign opposing same-sex marriage. We worked with legal counsel to understand the law, and we followed that advice,” the statement reads.

In other words, if we were wrong it was our lawyer’s fault.

Stating that they “intend to appeal this decision in court,” NOM also cried that they “appear to be a victim of selective prosecution since major groups on the other side of this same campaign engaged in the same approach we did.”

Or, if we were wrong so was everyone else — which is never sound legal strategy.

Meanwhile, the Kennebec Journal reports that “Chris Plante, NOM’s regional director, told the Portland Press Herald last week that the group will ‘do whatever it takes to defend this and protect our donors’ anonymity.’”

The Journal also reported on today’s hearing, indicating that there were “occasionally heated exchanges,” during which NOM chairman John Eastman and NOM president Brian Brown “said NOM had been singled out by the commission.”

They argued that the Human Rights Campaign, a gay activist group, operated in the same manner during the 2009 referendum and the 2012 ballot initiative that legalized same-sex marriage in Maine. 

Eastman said NOM would file an ethics complaint against the Human Rights Campaign for its activities in the referendum battles.

Yes, NOM is now going to invest time and money suing the Human Rights Campaign, because.

NOM's Brian Brown Says Group is Thinking About Intervening in Pennsylvania Gay Marriage Case

Brian Brown cries in the gallery in July '11 as NY legislature passes marriage equality.

Following Governor Tom Corbett's decision yesterday to let stand the ruling striking down the state's ban on gay marriage, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is considering intervening in the case, says NOM President Brian Brown in a new blog post.

NOM recently tried to intervene in the Oregon case, but was denied.

Writes NOM:

Brown said that the National Organization for Marriage is itself evaluating whether it could intervene in this case on behalf of its Pennsylvania members. It is also looking into what other options might exist to work with people or groups in the state who have standing to mount the strong defense of marriage called for in this case.

Brown said the case is winnable, pointing for support to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to issue a stay in a decision overturning Utah's marriage amendment, as well as to the recent Affirmative Action ruling in Michigan. In the Michigan case, the Supreme Court indicated that social policy decisions, even divisive ones, can be reasonably adjudicated by the people of a state.

"The fact is that if Governor Corbett stood by the principles he claims, he'd have chosen to defend marriage to the very end," Brown added. "The Supreme Court has indicated that they believe marriage should be left to the states and it is within states' rights to decide the matter. The Court very recently indicated as well a favorable view of the democratic role of the popular referendum process. In short, the challenge that the Governor is running away from today is one he most certainly could have won. So someone must step in and work to win."

NOM Questions Gay Judge’s Ethics, Now Claims Standing In Oregon Marriage Case

Less than 48 hours before a federal judge is scheduled to hear two cases attempting to overturn Oregon’s ban on same-sex marriage, NOM, the National Organization For Marriage has said it will file a motion claiming standing. Currently, the attorney general and governor of Oregon are not defending the law in court, believing as many do, that it is unconstitutional. No other entity has come forward to defend the ban.

“As a membership organization, we speak on behalf of our members, including a County Clerk in the state, several professionals in the wedding industry, and voters, Brian Brown, NOM’s president said in a statement just now. “All of these individuals have a particularized interest in the outcome of the litigation, yet their interests are not being represented. We are working to protect the interests of our members who support true marriage against a collusive lawsuit that has the state joining with the plaintiffs against the interests of our members, and the state’s voters.”

John Eastman (image), NOM’s Chairman, would defend the anti-gay marriage law in court if the judge agrees.

Of course, Eastman had to take a swipe at McShane.The judge happens to be U.S. District Judge Michael McShane, “one of just nine openly gay members of the federal judiciary,” OregonLive, quoting HRC, reports.

NOM'S BRIAN BROWN IS FURIOUS THAT A CITY COUNCILMAN TOLD BIGOTS TO STAY OUT OF NYC

Commenting on Chick-fil-A's recent announcements that it is planning a big expansion nationwide including a move into NYC, City Councilman Daniel Dromm had some tough remarks for the anti-gay chicken chain:

“We don’t need bigots coming to New York City,” Councilman Daniel Dromm (right), who is openly gay, told HuffPost. “They are not welcome here unless they can embrace all of New York’s diverse community, including the LGBT community.” ... “We don’t need bigoted people even keeping their opinions to themselves,” he said. “They need to wake up and see reality.”

Dromm's remarks set NOM President Brian Brown on the warpath:

Brian Brown, NOM's President responded to the comments with condemnation. "These remarks are outrageous and intolerant, and sadly seem to be part of a trend developing in the public debate surrounding this issue," Brown said. "When Dan Cathy's pro-marriage views were first reported in 2012, we saw mayors and city councils saying similar things—it was a disgraceful circus then, and it is now."

But Brown said that Dromm's remarks go even further than previous attempts to punish Chick-fil-A for its CEO's personal views.

"What Dromm has effectively said here is that anyone who believes in marriage as the union of a man and a woman is unwelcome in New York City," Brown noted. "His remarks, coming amidst a climate of such unseemly attacks on pro-marriage people as we saw with the Mozilla controversy last week, simply reinforce a growing manifestation of hostility and intimidation in the public square toward folks with traditional values. Christians and others are now, it seems, going to be considered guilty of 'thought-crimes' and threatened with all manner of reprisals simply for holding their beliefs."

Brown wants the City Council to condemn Dromm's remarks and issue a formal apology to bigot New Yorkers.

"Mr. Dromm has alienated and insulted millions of New Yorkers and made them feel like they don't belong in their own home city. The Council should correct this and extend an apology immediately and undo the hurt and wrong that's been done."

NOM Attacks Republican Candidate for 'Holding the Hand of His Gay Lover' in Pride Parade

Some unusually bald-faced hate from NOM reacting to California Congressional candidate Carl DeMaio's campaign ad, which we reported on earlier this week.

Via the NOM blog: 

It's a beautiful summer day in southern California. Throngs of people line streets as paraders march by. They include transvestite brides (men in wedding gowns) who strut their stuff. Nearby a float with bare-chested, heavily muscled men in tight underwear that leaves nothing to the imagination hold hands and dance on a rolling stage as rainbow flags fly behind them. Not far away women kiss other women and tattooed men embrace, pulling their half-naked bodies tight to each other. A confused-looking child watches this scene unfold as she holds a 'we celebrate diversity' sign, not exactly the type of plaything we'd expect innocent youngster to cling to.

In their midst the candidate walks down the street holding the hand of his gay lover. He waves at the crowd and smiles approvingly. These are his people, and he is at home.

Who is he? He's Carl DeMaio. A homosexual activist who calls himself a Republican. And he wants to be a Member of Congress.

Do you want a person like Carl DeMaio in Washington serving as a role model, voting on issues affecting hard-working American families? If not, please help Kirk Jorgensen stop him.

Carl DeMaio claims to be 'one of us' but his vision of America is very different from ours. He comes from an environment where sexual morality is a thing of the past, where children are indoctrinated into questioning their own sexuality, where gender is considered fluid but sexual orientation is fixed, and where a candidate who supports abortion, gay 'marriage,' gun control and medical marijuana can call himself a conservative — and a "reformer."

Writes Jeremy Hooper:

NOM is an anti-gay group. It always has been an anti-gay group, NOM messengers just used to be better about hiding it behind a "protect marriage" veneer. Those days are long gone. Check out this new horror story that reads like something from Anita Bryant's '70s era imagination...

..."Holding the hand of his gay lover"? What next, NOM, are you going to reveal the scandal of this openly gay candidate attending brunch? Buying groceries with his "lover" in tow? Watching Modern Family and seemingly laughing with rather than at the gay couple? Seriously, I can barely stand the anticipation. What other juicy details are you going to unveil to the world, you discriminatory and divisive group, you?

HRC Blasts Brian Brown, Scott Lively, and Paul Cameron Over Anti-Gay Deeds in Russia