The misnamed National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is having a summer bus tour to promote their anti-equality sentiments. So far the counter-protestors supporting marriage equality have mostly matched or outnumbered the NOM-mers at nearly every stop, as reported by the on-the-ground bloggers of the Courage Campaign's Prop8trialtracker site. In fact, it's a fizzle for Brian Brown--so much so, that he has tried to stop anyone taking video of the campaign.
The marriage equality opponents like NOM have a real problem with transparency, as I've written about previously. Let's review just a few examples:
- Attempts to hide donors from campaign finance laws in Maine, despite repeated findings against them
- Scoldings in Iowa, for hiding campaign finance and donor info
- Efforts to hide the names of petition signers in Washington, to the point of a Supreme Court Case, Doe v. Reed (which they lost)
- Successful effort to ban cameras from the Prop8 federal case, to hide the testimony, claiming witness intimidation. This has led me to suspect that they actually want to lose, which allows them to up their rhertoric and their fundraising, as they expect a big success at SCOTUS.
Routinely, they try to hide, claiming victimhood against purported threats. Yet there is no credible evidence that those threats are real.
But given the hopelessly incompetent mainstream media, this meme of victimhood is gaining traction.
And meanwhile, Brian Brown claims kinship to Martin Luther King as an oppressed minority--as he hides the cameras.
As Rick Jacobs wrote,
Because Brian is reading this, let me be clear. We in the equality movement fully support NOM’s right to protest. We welcome their participation in the dialogue, and here on the Tracker. We respect their right to marry, divorce, bear children out of wedlock, worship as they choose, serve in the military and send their own camera teams to cover our rallies. We also support the Constitution—especially the 1st, 5th, 10th, and 14th Amendments—at issue on this tour, with DOMA, and the institutionalized limits on the rights of millions of Americans in more than 30 states.....
Censorship is not freedom Mr. Brown. It is tyranny. And as you work to shield the truth just miles from the United States Naval Academy, it is worth reminding you that millions of Americans—including gay Americans—have fought to defend freedom from tyranny.
We all have to counter the lies. Do it peacefully, do it smart (I've been very impressed at the various and creative responses to the NOM campaign of hate!) and challenge, challenge, challenge this lie that they are in any danger from any of us. Mark Hefflinger’s in-depth analysis tells us
The fact that this evidence of "systematic intimidation" has sprung up in a completely unrelated case before the high court shows an urgent need for these false, exaggerated and hearsay allegations to be called out for the feigned victimizations that they are.
And if NOM is coming anywhere near you, go all out for equality.