“Gay marriage advocates…approached and threatened children. This has no place in a civilized society.”
Brian Brown, President of NOM
WASHINGTON, DC - After pro-gay marriage advocates stormed the podium at their recent Providence, Rhode Island rally, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is calling on leaders of the gay marriage movement in Rhode Island to repudiate tactics of harassment at public rallies.
“We are calling on the leaders of Marriage Equality Rhode Island and Queer Action to repudiate the words and actions of followers who stormed the podium, who attempted to prevent NOM speakers from being heard, and most importantly those gay marriage advocates who approached and threatened children. This has no place in a civilized society. We understand that this is a difficult issue and that followers in a crowd can do things that leaders do not approve. We are asking Rhode Island gay marriage leaders to draw a line in the sand and say ‘this was wrong, we’re sorry, it won’t happen again.’
NOM is particularly concerned about incivility and threats directed at children and parents of children who attended.
“You’d better watch that kid or we’re going to kidnap him,” one man said. The incident was captured by NOM's videographer and is posted here: http://www.marriagetour2010.com/2010/07/alert-breaking-news-video-protestors-storming-the-podium-threatening-young-children-police-standing-by-doing-nothing
A woman identified by NBC news as a leader of Queer Action, Susan Heroux, later justified the tactics of the protestors. Heroux told a reporter from The Boston Edge that gay marriage counter protestors at NOM’s Providence rally did nothing wrong.
"People expressed themselves in a respectful manner," Heroux told The Boston Edge.
“When I first met Susan Heroux, she introduced herself to me as the Board Chair of Marriage Equality Rhode Island,” added Maggie Gallagher, Chariman of NOM, “And she is still featured prominently on their website under their ‘friends and neighbors’ gallery. We pledge to continue NOM’s own commitment to respect the rights of gay marriage supporters to speak, organize and rally for their views. We are calling on all people of good will but especially leaders for gay marriage in Rhode Island to make it publicly clear to their followers that harassment and threats, especially to children and mothers of young children, are unacceptable behavior.”
To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, or Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of NOM, please contact Mary Beth Hutchins (x105), mhutchins@crcpublicrelations.com, at 703-683-5004.
9 Comments
It is tragic that these misguided LGBT advocates are so blinded by their own self-righteousness.
The success of the women's movement and the civil rights movement created a momentum to address every kind of unfair and harmful discrimination. These movements addressed unequal treatment not based on the behavior of individuals, but on their racial or gender characteristics. However, though different treatment based on such characteristics is unjustifiable, different treatment based on behavior is often justifiable and it could be argued is the basis of civilization. So in order for LGBT people to claim unfair discrimination, many argue that their behavior is inseparable from who they are, i.e., they do not choose to be attracted to members of their own sex, so the discrimination is not against chosen behavior, but against what kind of people they are (note that some, particularly lesbians, argue that it is a choice and one they are proud of). Of course that goes against everything we know about human development, human adaptability, and human evolution, but it has become a political argument, not a scientific argument, and with the force of the women's movement behind it the LGBT movement to radically alter societal values and society itself with this argument has had unbelievable success.
Consistent with Lord Acton's famous dictum -- Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely -- when men have held power over women in the past they have often abused it as the powerful often abuse the weak. And as technology has made men's physical strength irrelevant and has evened the playing field between men and women, women have been empowered, become more educated, and become more independent and less vulnerable to abuse by men. With these developments, it was virtually inevitable that many women would feel relief and joy in asserting their power with respect to men and to want to create women's groups to help women become even less vulnerable and more powerful. Some even go so far as to want to punish all men, requiring the men of today to pay for the abuses of men of the past, even if they themselves have not abused anyone or benefited from such abuse (individuals inherit from both parents, so if X -- a female -- has a father who benefited from abusing others, X gets the benefit from that, not some unrelated male).
The bitterness and even hatred towards men may not be healthy, but society can survive that as the anger will burn out over time … Unless that hatred turns into something permanent, something that regenerates itself. The lesbian movement is such a self-regenerating movement, with most lesbians determined to convert as many other females as possible, and to continue rewriting society's rules to make it more lesbian-friendly so that a runaway positive feedback loop is created. Some have even convinced themselves that a man-free world is not only possible but is inevitable and will be some sort of utopia. Sooner or later enough men will recognize the patterns here and will resist with "any means necessary" to prevent the lesbian fantasy from becoming a reality. All of human society will convulse so violently that everything will be at risk.
There is no guarantee that our civilization or even our species will survive this century, as a multitude of challenges and dangers lie ahead. And one danger that we as a society seem to be willing to add to that long list, for no good reason other than the selfishness and childishness of some and the short-sightedness and cowardice of others, is that of escalating the war between the sexes to a catastrophic degree.
Hello NOM,
Marriage Equality of RI was not involved with the protest and only Queer Action of RI was involved as was Queer Rising NYC. I think you need to fix this because that's defamation.
Wow John. I am not sure if you know or have ever talked seriously with any lesbians, but you are fairly misinformed. Being a lesbian has nothing to do with hating men. It has to do with who someone falls in love with. Just like as a straight man you do not hate men just because you fall in love with women, lesbians do not hate men just because they fall in love with women. Fighting for gay marriage is not a battle of the sexes. It is a battle for equal civil rights, and access to the same privileges of society as everyone else enjoys. Employment privileges, property rights, health care, etc. There are both men and women who are fighting for this. It is not about hate, but about equal access.
I have never heard of a lesbian who wants a "man free world" or even expresses hatred toward men. Like you, they simply don't want to date or marry a man. Because that is not who they happen to fall in love with. I would strongly urge you to talk to a lesbian and ask for her opinions. I think you would find her much less hateful than you are imagining. I am a lesbian and I love my brothers, father, male friends and coworkers. The world would be a much worse place without them. I simply do not want to marry them, because I do not fall in love with them, just like you don't want to marry a male.
The actions of those in Rhode Island are regrettable and unforgivable. Harassment is not acceptable. I am saddened that this has happened. But, unfortunate behavior of individuals involved in a cause must be separated from what the cause itself is about. Fighting for same sex marriage is about equality, equal civil rights and an end to discrimination. Hopefully in future people on both sides of the issue with remember that and act respectfully.
We have nothing against men, they can live as they want to, even be fathers if they can find someone to mate with. Women are the natural care takers in a family. Now that we have almost achieve salary parity in the work force, we don't nee the income security that men used to provide. Men are needed biologically for procreative purposes and serve no meaningful familial purpose that women cannot better provide.
Your misandry is duly noted Kathleen. Thank you.
Caroline, if you want to fight a battle for "equal civil rights" there are better places to start. Kathleen here has already demonstrated that men are NOT equal to women -- a point that has been consistenly overlooked for far too long now: when it comes to "family", to reproductive rights, men and women are NOT equal.
So any talk about same-sex marriages being "equal" to opposite sex marriages is the same sort of "separate, yet equal" bias excuse I thought we had overcome in the sixties with regards to race. Gender bias is no different.
If you want to make SSM "equal" to opposite sex marriage, you need to start by making men and women equal to each other. Until then, separate ain't equal. Your bias/preference is no excuse.
Kathleen, why do you say that about men? How do you think that boys fare in an environment where an attitude like yours (that men are unnecessary) is the prevailing one? Dads help to provide for a family and show kids of both genders what it is to respect their wife and partner. Do you realize how many women who don't have husbands live in poverty? What do you propose all of these "unnecessary" men do with themselves since we women have evolved beyond wanting them?
My question is, why is your organization not driving through the country trying to ban divorce? Divorce is a much bigger threat to "straight" marriage than gay marriage is. Two gay people who want to marry do not threaten breeder relationships in any way.
As a member of Queer Action RI, we will not apologize, never will and if you come back to RI, we will do it all over again...and louder! Keep your HATE out of our State!