NOM Plots Revenge/Big GOP Money Backs Equality

The so-called National Organization for Marriage has pledged $2 million to defeat the Republican New York state senators who voted for marriage equality.  Here's a quote:

"Last night we were sold out by the Republican Party in New York. Shortly before 10:30 last night, the New York Senate voted 33 to 29 in favor of same-sex marriage. Four Republicans – Jim Alesi, Roy McDonald, Steve Saland, and Mark Grisanti provided the margin of passage.
But this fight is far from over. In response to last night's vote, I have doubled our pledge to New York, committing at least $2 million dollars to make sure that New York Republicans understand that voting for gay marriage has consequences."

If I were Senators Alesi, McDonald, Saland, or Grisanti, I wouldn't loose much sleep over Mr. Brown's tough guy stance.  NOM wasn't just innefective in the New York marriage battle, it wasn't even a factor.  What do they spend all their money on?  It's certainly not effective advocacy.  Remember when Brian bragged that he would make sure marriage equality was repealed in New Hampshire when the Republicans won super-majorities there?  If they made an effort, it was DOA.  NOM failed to defeat marriage equality in DC.  NOM failed to prevent civil unions in Illinois and Delaware.  NOM failed to repeal the Washington state domestic partnership bill even though it was on the ballot and they fought it as a marriage battle.  Are their self-styled "victories" anything more than claiming credit for the efforts of others?  Brian is begging for money on his NOM site right now.  Who would continue to throw good money after bad?   

The New York marriage victory marked the first time a GOP-controlled legislative body voted for marriage equality, or any other gay rights issue, for that matter.  The Senate leadership didn't have to send it down for a vote, but they did and enough Republicans voted in favor to put the bill over the top.  Further, today's New York Times reported that, major Republican donors bankrolled this effort and vowed to protect the Republicans who voted for equality.  If I were a Republican elected official, I would much rather have deep-pocket Wall Street tycoons on my side than Bryan Brown and Maggie Gallagher.  NOM is toast.     

"Fundamental Shift"

Democrat Kathy Hochul has beaten Republican Jane Corwin in the special Congressional election in heavily Republican NY-26.  The seat was vacated by Republican Rep. Chris Lee, the "Craigslist Congressman" who resigned quickly after his shirtless ad surfaced.   A couple of months ago, Hochul was far behind in polling, as would be expected for a Democrat in this district, but that was before the Paul Ryan budget proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher system.  Corwin endorsed it and Hochul was strongly opposed.  Now, we see the result.  Jonathan Chait at The New Republic says that, while the race is almost certainly an outlier, the political landscape has "fundamentally shifted in the last six months."  He continues:

"Americans are just as likely as before to think things are going badly, but rather than direct all their anger at Democrats, they now have Republicans driving the agenda with a high-profile budget with wildly unpopular priorities. We haven’t returned to a 2006 or 2008 landscape, where the public held Republicans responsible for everything, but the pendulum has swung back."

Read more here.

And one other thing, Kathy Hochul supports marriage equality.  Corwin does not and Maggie Gallagher's National Organization for Marriage supported her.  I don't think marriage was a big issue in this campaign, but you can bet if Corwin had won, NOM would be taking credit for her victory and exploiting it as an example of how America doesn't want to redefine marriage, or whatever tortured phrase they're using now. 

Rep. Nadler at the DOMA Hearings

Yesterday, the GOP-controlled house held hearings on "defending marriage."  It featured the usual blather from professional blabbermouths like Maggie Gallagher.  However, it also featured an intelligent and moving speech from Rep. Nadler (D-NY).  You need to give it a listen:

Quote of the Day

"The Lutheran minister, wiser in the ways of men and women, suggests that this young man is going to get pretty lonely looking for another woman able to give him all this young woman does--and who doesn't mind his playing around on the side. The possibility of taming one's sexual desire for the sake of another, or of a vow, is not in the Savage moral imagination. Libido will have out, and honesty about that is the best policy. He brings, in other words, the best of gay sexual ethics and experience to a straight audience, with potentially disastrous results."


--NOM's Maggie Gallagher, criticizing Dan Savage for dispensing the radical advice that a man should be honest with his girlfriend about his desire to stray.  Of course, the noble straight man is always able to tame his sexual desire, unlike the savage gays.  The title of the post is "Dan Savage Educates Your Children?" thus bringing up the pernicious stereotype of sex-obsessed homosexuals preying on innocent children.   

Notice that, after she characterizes Savage's opinion as the inability to "tame our "libidos," (which isn't at all what he said), she calls it "gay sexual ethics" as if we were all slaves to our libidos, thus bringing up the ugly stereotype of the homosexual sex addict. 
Keep in mind that Maggie insists that she and NOM are not anti-gay, just pro-marriage.  Also, keep in mind that Maggie bore a child out of wedlock.  I guess she's an expert on inability to "tame her libido." 

Have Gay Rights Become a Wedge Issue for Republicans?

For years, the GOP has exploited fear and ignorance of gay people and used it as a wedge issue to get out the vote.  This tactic reached it's zenith in 2004, but it never went away (see De Mint, Senator).  Now that public opinion has swung to our side and large majorities of Americans support legal recognition of our relationships, there are signs that the Republicans are trying to back away from their anti-gay past.  I don't mean to imply that the GOP will become gay-friendly anytime soon, but some are recognizing that anti-gay rhetoric has a shelf life that's about to expire.  Witness, for example, the 8 Republican Senators who voted for Don't Ask/Don't Tell repeal. 

The latest manifestation of this phenomenon is gay GOP group GOProud's participation in the upcoming CPAC conference as an official sponsor.  This is their second year sponsoring the confab and it's causing a riff in the conservative movement.  A number of conservative groups, including SPLC certified hate group The Family Research Counsel, and the National Organization for Marriage, have drawn a "line in the sand" over GOProud and refuse to participate as long as those dirty fags this organization which does not share their conservative principles of family and faith are allowed to participate. Jonathan Rauch of the Independent Gay Forum has written an interesting piece on this growing rift on the right:

"Here’s the problem: conservatives’ hostility to homosexuality isolates them politically from the rest of the public, and the anti-gay consensus is fracturing even on the right (44 percent of Republicans say homosexuality should be accepted by society).


Translation: an issue which once divided and dispirited the Democratic coalition while uniting and energizing conservatives now cuts the other way. It’s a wedge issue against the right. Not just temporarily, either."

Read the rest here.

It's interesting that Maggie Gallagher's NOM has chosen to join this boycott.  She endlessly claims that NOM is not anti-gay, just pro-marriage.  Yet GOProud doesn't support marriage equality. They are gay Republicans who do not take a position on marriage other than the belief that it's a state issue.  Once again, NOM has revealed itself as purely anti-gay and not pro anything.