Michelle Bauman at Catholic News Agency interviews Maggie about NOM's newest project:

The National Organization for Marriage announced Sept. 23 that it is launching the Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance, a new project to defend the freedom to express one’s belief that marriage should be the union of a man and woman without fear of harassment or punishment.

“My sense is that there are too many of us who believe that marriage is the union of husband and wife to stigmatize or marginalize if we come together,” said Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of National Organization for Marriage.

Gallagher told CNA Sept. 26 that the alliance was created in response to “increased reports, both public and private, of people whose livelihoods are being threatened because they disagree with gay marriage.”

“Gay marriage advocates are seeking to create an America in which decent, loving, law-abiding Americans are afraid to stand up for the idea that marriage is the union of husband and wife, for fear of reprisals ranging from insults and invectives like 'hater' and 'bigot,' to practical consequences like the loss of a job,” she said.

The alliance is not a legal project, Gallagher explained, but rather an attempt to increase awareness and support for those who have faced unjust harassment because of their views on marriage.

Gallagher said that the alliance aims “to get the word out about what is actually happening, because this is not being well-covered.”

The alliance is also designed “to create a community where other people to whom this is happening will feel safe in coming forward and will feel that somebody cares about what’s happening to them.”