In a blog post last week, the National Organization for Marriage hinted at its future plans, and it’s kind of tragic in a “they really have no idea how close the end is, do they” sort of way. Their goals include lobbying for bills that would allow businesses to opt out of nondiscrimination laws; pushing for a federal constitutional marriage ban; and pressuring presidential candidates to oppose marriage equality.
Of these plans, the threat to undermine nondiscrimination laws (as recently happened in Indiana) is the most credible. Those “turn-away-the-gays” bills have been popping up for years and we’re likely to see more after the Supreme Court rules.
Passing a constitutional amendment, on the other hand, is flat-out impossible at this point, like so many of NOM’s goals. Support for a constitutional amendment was too low for the idea to gain any traction a decade ago, and there is zero chance of drumming up any serious interest now. Maybe they could have passed a constitutional ban in the mid-’90s, if they hadn’t opted for DOMA instead. But they didn’t. Oh well! You snooze you lose, losers.
And NOM might be able to pressure presidential candidates in 2016. They were able to get the Republican candidates to sign an anti-gay pledge four years ago. But they don’t have the political clout they once did, and NOM may not even exist by the time the presidential candidates are all announced.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Considering that NOM’s funding’s dried up, their supporters are evaporating, and they’re millions of dollars in debt, NOM may not even be worth worrying about a year from now.
IcarusD
If they couldn’t get a Constitutional Amendment through Congress in 2004 with the GOP controlling both the House and the Senate, and the weight of the US President advocating for it, and state legislatures tripping over themselves to pass their own same sex marriage bans, they sure as hell won’t get it now. But they need some sort of excuse to get people to still send them money. I suspect a fourth thing they’ll try is to export their hate overseas. Can’t succeed nationally? Go international!
1EqualityUSA
Why push for getting rid of non-discrimination efforts, that’s pure animus. They’re trying to preserve their exclusive marriage status, so why take it further and fight non-marriage equality issues? NOMsters. Thanks again, to Princeton’s Robert P. George for your hate fest that keeps on giving.
jwtraveler
Amazing what some people think is important. Imagine what could happen if the Republicans concerned themselves with eliminating poverty, disease, hunger, injustice, environmental destruction, war, etc., you know…REAL problems.
Cam
Imagine if the hundreds of millions the Mormon and Catholic Church spent funding NOM had been used instead to fund after school programs, educational initiatives, and other things along those lines.
Not only would the money have been well spent, but perhaps both churches wouldn’t be losing so many members if they did outreach to their younger demographic like that. Instead, they wasted hundreds of millions, didn’t get anything for it, and are now seen as bigoted by the younger generation who are fleeing their membership.