03/27/2012

Washington– The Human Rights Campaign exclusively obtained copies of the National Organization for Marriage’s confidential strategy documents yesterday. As part of a continuing investigation by the state of Maine, this court-ordered disclosure shows NOM fighting a losing battle with strategy and tactics that are racially and ethnically divisive, filled with false political calculations, and out of touch with the majority of fair-minded Americans. Based on an initial complaint filed by Fred Karger of Californians Against Hate, the Maine Ethics Commission launched a formal investigation into NOM’s fundraising tactics in late 2009.

“With the veil lifted, Americans everywhere can now see the ugly politics that the National Organization for Marriage traffics in every day. While loving gay and lesbian couples seek to make lifelong commitments, NOM plays racial politics, tries to hide donors and makes up lies about people of faith.  The contrast could not be any starker,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese.  “The reason that Americans are steadily moving in the direction of marriage equality is because they identify with the loving and committed couples who want to enter into the institution, not NOM’s underhanded tactics of lies and manipulation.”

The key themes that emerge from the documents are:

• Racial Politics
  • NOM’s admitted key goal is to “drive a wedge between gays and blacks.”
  • NOM aims to manipulate Hispanic communities by “making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity” and “to make opposition to gay marriage an identity marker, a badge of youth rebellion to conformist assimilation to the bad side of ‘Anglo’ culture.”
• Facing a Losing Battle
  • They were 0 for 3 in their 2010 priority: “Roll back gay marriage in New Hampshire, Iowa, and D.C.”  Marriage equality remains on the books in all three with the New Hampshire Republican legislature just last week rejecting a move to repeal their law.
• Huge Coffers Fund Phony “Research”
  • NOM outlined a plan to spend $100,000 on a “study of what schools are teaching in gay marriage/civil union regimes.”
  • $150,000 is earmarked for videotaping stories of those supposedly harmed by marriage equality called “The Face of the Victims” project.
  • $60,000 in salary earmarked for an “outreach coordinator to identify children of gay parents willing to speak on camera.”
  • $50,000 earmarked for “Expert Witness Project” that couldn’t cultivate a single credible witness to stand up in the Prop 8 trial for example.
• Painting Themselves as Victims
  • NOM pushes the false notion that Americans are under attack: “Gay marriage is the tip of the spear, the weapon that will be and is being used to marginalize and repress Christianity and the Church.”
  • Embracing marriage equality supposedly “affects economic performance, expands the regulatory and taxing powers of government, and threatens the family businesses that generate economic growth and prosperity.”
  • Despite every court to hear the issue finding no evidence of any harassment or intimidation, NOM continues to claim “gay marriage advocates have focused relentlessly on harassing and intimidating local donors.”
• Ignoring Campaign Finance Rules
  • NOM brags that “one key advantage we now have is the capacity to protect the identity of our donors.”
  • Worried about disclosure laws, NOM encourages donors to give to a slush fund for use around the country saying, “It is critical that we have a reserve fund to give to these efforts to ensure victory and protect donor identity.”
• Small Movement with a Big Voice
  • Recognizing that they are a fringe movement, they brag about having wide media exposure writing: “there is an opportunity for a small countercultural community to have a disproportionate cultural impact.”
• It’s Not Just About Marriage
  • NOM can no longer claim that they’re only focused on marriage.  Their “American Principles Project” seeks to “Expose Obama as a social radical” by “develop[ing] side issues” like “pornography” and veering off into issues around the Guantanamo Prison and opposing administration appointments.
  • As part of their “cultural strategies” they suggest “raising the negatives on homosexuality.”
  • Their state affiliate in Rhode Island “hopes to introduce divorce reform legislation in an effort to strengthen Rhode Island’s marriage and families.”
• Taking their Movement Internationally
  • “The movement for gay marriage is global.  The counterrevolution protecting marriage needs to have a similar international reach.”

The original documents are available at: http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/breaking-previously-confidential-documents-shed-light-on-nom-strategy.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.