For a period spanning almost three years, the
Maine Ethics Commission (along with its Attorney General's office) had been
battling NOM concerning its disclosure of finances and donors. Ironically, the
fatal memo points out how NOM valiantly tried to suppress such disclosure. In
the end, NOM battled disclosure - through three civil courts - and lost. The
Supreme Court recently refused to hear its appeal. The memo is a result of that
decision in its disclosures. What NOM considered a victory in Maine, ultimately
wound up biting it in the posterior.
The Ruth Institute ("Making
Marriage Cool")
Has NOM ever been truly powerful? The money it
has discharged certainly denotes some moneyed interests. Its involvement in
Prop 8 and various anti- marriage equality measures was a fact, but underneath
all the bluster, there were failed campaigns and empty venues. It's own tangled
web of "institutes" and think tanks compounds the perception that NOM
is indeed built on sand: its own "Ruth Institute" has apparently only
one primary member, a certain Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse who speaks at college
campuses concerning traditional marriage. Prof. Morse is a former teacher of
economics. Who the "Ruth" of Ruth Institute is is anybody's guess.
Prof. Morse is also affiliated with the Acton Institute for the Study of
Religion and Liberty, a supposed think tank promoting the marriage of economics
and religion. Both the Ruth and Acton Institutes share a common goal: dragging
the concept of marriage back to the good 'ole 14th century.*
Well, They've Got Kirk Cameron and Anita Bryant
...
Here's the
bottom line: Hollywood with its cultural biases is far bigger than we could
hope to be. We recognize this. But we also recognize the opportunity -- the
disproportionate potential impact of proactively seeking to gather and connect
a community of artist, athletes, writers, beauty queens and other glamorous
noncognitive elites across national boundaries
Going after the "Hollywood elite" has been a
tradition of Christian Right activists ever since movies came into existence as
a cultural religion. NOM's failure in getting any real celebrities and cultural
icons to back them up have always made them defensive and feeling weak.
NOM's
End
After
the divulged strategies of NOM, whither will it fly? Who will support it? Who
will denounce it? More importantly: who will remain silent on the issue
altogether? Will today's posts and tweets will be a dizzying array of
post-mortems? Or will they be a chorus of "they never represented
us!" Whatever the shouting match, it will be an entertaining end to a
house of hate built on sand.
NOTE: View NOM's 2009 video below and compare it with the disclosed strategies of the memo. The contempt for gays came through even then.
*One of the Ruth Institute's basic tenets: Lifelong spousal cooperation as a solution to women's aspirations for career and family. Apparently "spousal cooperation" is a metaphor for indentured servitude.
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