NOM BLOG

Monthly Archives: November 2010

How Radical a Leftist is Judge Reinhardt?

Bill Duncan points out that Judge Reinhardt is as radical a leftwing judge as you can find on the federal bench--one of the reasons the 9th Circuit gets overruled so often by the SC: He has ruled that assisted suicide is a constitutional right, invalidated California's term limit law, permitted schools to ban student speech opposing gay rights, and tried to rule the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. He has already ruled DOMA unconstitutional. He's so radical Bill thinks a decision written by him might actually help us at the SC level. Read more.

Legal Expert: Judge Reinhardt Must Recuse Himself

Ed Whelan says that Judge Reinhardt must recuse himself from the case--not for showing overwhelming liberal bias, but because his wife consulted with the plaintiffs on whether or not they should bring the case. Details here.

Judge Reinhardt: "Liberal Badboy of the Federal Judiciary"

Way back in 1997, before gay marriage was even an issue, the Weekly Standard reviewed Judge Reinhardt's career and called him "the liberal badboy of the federal judiciary," "one of the most overturned judges in history" as well as "The Judge the Supreme Court Loves to Overturn"

STEPHEN REINHARDT is the liberal badboy of the federal judiciary. He is ideological, outlandish, and never dull. The 66-year-old judge, appointed by Jimmy Carter in 1980 to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, is well known to the Supreme Court, which has a habit of overturning his opinions.

In fact, Reinhardt is one of the most overturned judges in history. In this term alone, the high court has reversed seven opinions that Reinhardt has either written or been party to. These haven't been narrow reversals, either--all seven of them have been unanimous."

WARNING – “NOM World” Impersonating NOM on Facebook/Twitter

Last week, a new group calling themselves “NOM World” began impersonating NOM on Twitter (be4marriage) and Facebook. They have mimicked the NOM logo (except with black and blue rings), have begun using the NOM twitter hashtag (#no4m) and claim: “We are working to get NOM’s message out to the world!”

Please understand that this group is not related to NOM, and is only attempting to confuse and mislead NOM’s followers and potential followers on Facebook and Twitter. They are openly in favor of same-sex marriage and accuse NOM of being a hate group.

It has come to our attention that NOM World has been sending misleading Twitter invitations to NOM followers. If you are contacted by this group, simply click the “Report for spam” button on the side of the page at Twitter or Facebook.

The fake “NOM World” logo is below. And if you have received spam communications from this group, or if you have doubts about the authenticity of any NOM communications, please leave a comment on this post.

Breaking News: Madeleine Sophie Brown!

---I just wanted to share this email from our fearless leader Brian Brown.

He and his wonderful wife Sue were blessed with a baby girl this morning!

Maggie (Gallagher)

Chairman

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brian Brown <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 8:22 AM
Subject: Madeleine Sophie Brown
To: Brian Brown <[email protected]>

All,

Sue just gave birth to Madeleine Sophie Brown. She's a big girl at 9 pounds, 6 ounces, with red chubby cheeks and dark hair.

We're at the birth center and ecstatic. Now the balance of power is all in the ladies' court.

Thanks so much for all of the prayers and support!

God bless,

Brian

Breaking News: Three Judge Panel Named for Prop 8 Case

We've just received word that the three judges on the 9th Circuit who will be considering Perry v. Schwarzenegger are: Judge Stephen Reinhardt, Judge Michael Hawkins and Judge Randy Smith.

Ed Whelan, the distinguished legal scholar writing over at Bench Memos, says this panel is bad news.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving.

It's one of the things I love about America. We're the country that invented Thanksgiving.

Before America was even a nation or had a constitution, the people who would go on to found our great land understood the need for a holiday, a holy day, to express our gratitude to our Creator for all the good things we’ve been given.

I'm grateful today to be the son of such magnificent forefathers, to have as my birthright a land where freedom is expected, where rights are understood to be our gift from God not government, and where since our nation’s founding, faith has flourished in this freedom.

Out of ordered liberty, came a land of abundance like no man had ever seen before in human history.

And I'm determined in this time of special challenges to faith to pass on that gift, this precious inheritance to my children—to all our children and grandchildren—intact.

This Thanksgiving my wife Sue and I have a special blessing: a new baby. New life, a new start, a fresh reason for gratitude, and also a fresh reason to fight for what is right—our right to vote for marriage.

I never forget that those we must steadfastly and courageously oppose in this great fight for marriage are not our enemies—even though they are wrong, they are our friends, neighbors, sometimes family members, and fellow citizens.

In protecting marriage as the union of husband and wife, we are working for the common good of all. As President Lincoln put it so eloquently: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in."

I'm so grateful to you for all that you've made possible.

The National Organization for Marriage has experienced phenomenal growth, and amazing victories over the last three years since our own founding. I thank God for these victories and for the freedom to fight which our forefathers gave to you and me. And I want specially to thank you on this special day of Thanksgiving for making these victories possible.

Happy Thanksgiving and God bless you.
 
-- Brian

NOM Calls Southern Poverty Law Center’s New “Hate” Designation an “Absurd Distraction”

WASHINGTON - The Southern Poverty Law Center (SLPC) today included NOM among “18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their Propaganda.”

Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, reacts:

“This is an absurd distraction emanating from a once-great organization’s real mission---with all the actual hate groups out there, how can Southern Poverty Law Center stoop so low?” said Brown.  

While the current report stops short of labeling NOM a “hate group” at this time, many other social conservative groups are so-designated.  In a confusing move, the SLPC report lists 18 groups as “anti-gay” and suggests that  at least 13 will be designated hate groups this spring.

“This report is not an attack on NOM but on the majority of Americans who believe that to make a marriage you need a husband and wife," said Brown.  "It is also further proof of what NOM has been saying: today’s gay marriage movement is no longer about tolerance, live or let live—it’s about driving out dissenting voices from the public square.  Gay marriage now serves as the tip of the spear to a new campaign to demonize and generate hatred against those who adhere to traditional views of sex and marriage.”

“I’m very proud of the message that NOM has carried consistently and with great love and courage: which is that marriage matters because children need a mom and dad; Our battle is not with an orientation but a political movement that seeks to use the law to embed a new moral idea: there is no difference between same-sex and opposite sex couples and you’re a hater, bigot and quasi-racist if you disagree.   It’s very sad to see the deterioration of a once-great civil rights organization to this level,” said Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the Board of NOM.  “They undercut their own credibility far more than NOM’s --which is doubly sad because we need great civil rights organizations now more than ever, just as we need more voices trying to rise above the hate to create a climate where we can argue, dispute and disagree as fellow citizens, not as enemies.”

“Regular readers of NOM’s work know how we characterize gay people: those who support our vision of marriage, we welcome to join our work. For gay marriage advocates (the majority of whom are not gay) we say: we think you are wrong, and we will fight for our right to vote for marriage in the public square,” added Brown.

From the SLPC report on the blog:

18 Anti-Gay Groups and Their PropagandaEven as some well-known anti-gay groups like Focus on the Family moderate their views, a hard core of smaller groups, most of them religiously motivated, have continued to pump out demonizing propaganda aimed at homosexuals and other sexual minorities. These groups’ influence reaches far beyond what their size would suggest, because the “facts” they disseminate about homosexuality are often amplified by certain politicians, other groups and even news organizations. Of the 18 groups profiled below, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) will be listing 13 next year as hate groups (eight were previously listed), reflecting further research into their views; those are each marked with an asterisk. Generally, the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, or Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the Board, contact Elizabeth Ray (x.130) or Mary Beth Hutchins (x.105) at 703-683-5004.

Hope and SSM

"If they can persuade us there is no hope, then they will have created the conditions under which there is no hope."  Maggie Gallagher talks to the Australian Conservative.

Black Parents Protest Forced Viewing by Schoolchildren of LGBT Film They Say Demeans Black Families

Pacific Justice Institute is taking the lead:

A heated controversy in this Bay Area city over mandatory pro-gay curricula for all students has taken an unexpected twist that is leaving gay activists and the ACLU scrambling to explain why a film shown to elementary students portrays African-American families in a negative light.

At a school board meeting last week, the school board for the Vallejo City Unified School District heard from dozens of parents who were outraged that children as young as kindergarten were being subjected to pro-LGBT films and instruction, with no notice or opportunity to opt out. The parents who packed the board meeting, along with the board, viewed the film "That's a Family" which was mandatory viewing for kindergarten and elementary grades.

More from PJI here.

Let Rhode Island Vote!

The overwhelming majority of Rhode Islanders say they believe the people should have the right to vote on marriage.  Chris Plante, NOM's Rhode Island director, makes the case on the FRC blog.

Maggie Gallagher Heads Up New Center at Ave Maria Law

The National Catholic Register interviews NOM's Chairman Maggie Gallagher on her new center at Ave Maria Law School:

"To abandon the political fight will be viewed as a moral abdication as well. The only reason abortion is still a live moral issue is that people acted like they really believed it’s wrong to kill babies, which means you fight politically, as in other ways.

To concede “gay marriage” is to concede that the idea that children need a mom and a dad and that marriage is oriented towards this end is no longer a publicly defensible idea. Defending it privately won’t get easier, but it will get harder.

Truth is truth. If marriage is the union of a husband and wife, because children need a mother and father, we can’t abandon non-Catholic children. We have an obligation in justice, as well as love, to fight against an unjust civil order that redefines marriage and its purposes."

Read more.

NOM-Rhode Island Demands Governor-elect Chafee Listen To Voters

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 23, 2010
 
 
For more information contact:
Christopher Plante, Executive Director
[email protected]
(401) 954-7173

National Organization for Marriage - Rhode Island Demands Governor-elect Chafee Listen To Voters

“Listen to the voice of over 80% of Rhode Islanders who want the right to vote on marriage.”
– Christopher Plante, executive director, NOM-RI

(Providence, RI) - The National Organization for Marriage – Rhode Island (NOM-RI) demanded today that Governor-elect Chafee’s promise to act quickly on invoking same-sex marriage in the state be put to an end.  With polling data showing the majority of voters in Rhode Island opposing same-sex marriage, and the overwhelming majority wanting the issue to be put to them for a vote, the Governor-elect is promising to act against the will of the people, and refusing to give them a right to vote on the matter.

“The National Organization for Marriage- Rhode Island is disappointed that Governor-elect Chafee, elected with only 36% of the vote, and fewer popular votes than Cool Moose Party Candidate for Lt. Governor Bob Healey, refuses to listen to the voice of over 80% of Rhode Islanders who want the right to vote on marriage,” said Christopher Plante, executive director of NOM-RI.  “It is clear that Governor-elect Chafee intends to put fringe issues and radical politics over saving Rhode Islanders jobs and securing a prosperous future for our State.  NOM – Rhode Island will work with Rhode Islanders to demand their right to vote on marriage, and demand that the Governor-elect sticks to the business of getting Rhode Island back on the right economic track.  We are confident that the majority of Assembly-women and men know there are more important things to deal with and we will support their efforts to push for a referendum.”

A letter sent to Mr. Plante from the Governor-elect’s office states, “The Governor-elect feels that the issues [of same-sex marriage] should be addressed as soon as possible by the General Assembly, and does not believe that the question should be decided by a ballot referendum.”

For more information or to schedule an interview with Christopher Plante, executive director of NOM-Rhode Island, contact Elizabeth Ray (x.130) or Mary Beth Hutchins (x.105) at 703-683-5004 or via e-mail at [email protected] or [email protected]
###

"We are With the Lord of History"

Cardinal Biffi's new essay in a book "The Inconvenient Memoirs" points out the ways in which an "aggressive ideology" is shattering the once-Christian west and increasingly silencing the voice of Christians.  But to those who argue for the inevitability of the victory of this new ideology, he says, fear not, "We are with the Lord of History."

Story here.

Equality California's Donations Drop by More than Half

After an unsuccessful effort to block Prop 8 in 2008, Equality California's donations dropped from $14 million to $6 million in 2009, necessitating the closing of some offices.  In a recent interview, the head of Equality California downplayed the cuts, explaining that  an "anonymous donor contributed $6.5 million in 2008 that the Let California Ring public education campaign, which is hosted by the institute, used primarily for ad buys around the state, including multi-lingual advertisements, about marriage equality. In 2009, the same donor contributed $500,000 to fund field work. That donor didn't give money this year, according to Kors."
 
We are waiting to see whether  the Human Rights Campaign will set up a website to expose Equality California's secret, anonyous large donors attempting to use c3 money to influence elections.  (Not really).
 
Read more.