Brian Brown, Maggie Gallagher and the rest of the creeps at the National Organization for Marriage just can’t take no for an answer. After their efforts to repeal New Hampshire’s marriage-equality law failed, they’ve started campaigning to make a “powerful impact” on the next election cycle.
Except they’ve gone undercover and got NOM lobbyist Mike Dennehy to start a nebulous front group called Families Across New Hampshire (FANH).
“They can try to re-invent themselves by claiming a new, friendlier-sounding name, but their mission is still the same—to tear apart loving New Hampshire families,” said Sean Owen, chair of New Hampshire Republicans for Freedom and Equality, an across-the-aisle campaign to ensure same-sex couples in NH kept the right to marry.
Dennehy, a former senior advisor to John McCain, expects his new PAC will spend $150,000 to push a “pro-family” agenda in the ballot box and through public-service announcements.
How about we take this to the next level?
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How come these pro-family groups always just fixate on LGBT people and abortion? How about education, healthcare, product safety, economics and other issues that actually, y’know, impact families?
“Too often, the politicians in Concord focus exclusively on the budget to measure the relative health” of the state, Dennehy told the Union Leader. “They forget that the vibrancy of the family is the true measure of our strength.”
So we should dump things like the consumer-confidence index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average in favor of looking at divorce rates?
Insisting FANH will have “no affiliation” with NOM, Dennehy also claims his group won’t just be a GOP clusterfuck, saying “we will support pro-family Democrats as well.” But a look at FANH’s board reveals it includes former Republican mayor Tony Giunta, New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women prez Verity Swayne, former New Hampshire Republican Party executive director Jen Wrobleski, and Christine Peters, president of the Souhegan Valley Republican Women and past president of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women.
Oh yeah, that’s bipartisan alright.
MJ
Good point Dan. I’m still wondering how Gay marriage and abortion are the most destructive to families when we have more destructive issues going on in the country alone. these people need to stay of Gay peoples lives and keep their pro-life garbage to themselves
1equalityUSA
It very convenient to tie two very different issues together. GLBT equality is a different issue than abortion, yet NOM-skulls blend it together as though they are one in the same.
B
No. 2 · 1equalityUSA wrote, “It very convenient to tie two very different issues together. GLBT equality is a different issue than abortion, yet NOM-skulls blend it together as though they are one in the same.”
Who are they marketing to (i.e., who are they trying to get to fund them)? It’s probably fundamentalist Christians whose hot-button issues are same-sex marriage and abortion. No wonder NOM is trying to tie them together. It’s like Willie Sutton’s alleged (and subsequently denied) reason for robbing banks – “That’s where the money is.”
Cam
Interesting that in spite of the fact that multiple newspapers have labeled NOM a Mormon front group, and the LDS church continues to funnel millions of dollars to NOM, Queerty will still not mention this in posts about NOM, yet will run an entire about one Orthodox rabbi saying something anti-gay even though the Jewish church in America approves of gay marriage.
Funny that in the last few weeks there have been multiple articles on here about one member of the Israeli Parliament making one anti-gay comment, a rabbi with no following saying something anti gay, and yet, the Mormon church, the single largest donor to nationwide anti-gay activities in this nation is mostly given a free pass on this site since Gay Cities bought it.
Justin
I’m from NH and with a board like that, i’m guessing FANH will implode somehow and be exposed for the fake it is. NH has done me proud so far. There are a few wacko’s here but traditionally, hate groups such as NOM and their ilk don’t tend to gain too much traction.
B
No. 4 · Cam wrote, “Interesting that in spite of the fact that multiple newspapers have labeled NOM a Mormon front group, and the LDS church continues to funnel millions of dollars to NOM, Queerty will still not mention this in posts about NOM, yet will run an entire about one Orthodox rabbi saying something anti-gay even though the Jewish church in America approves of gay marriage.”
To point out the problem with this argument, I’ll tell a Jewish joke: a Jew gets stranded on a desert island and builds two temples. When he’s rescued and asked why he built two, he points to one and says, “that’s the synagogue I refuse to go into.”
I told this joke to some Israeli citizens and they laughed – apparently it is a well known Israeli joke. The serious answer of course is that there are a number of forms of Judaism with differing beliefs and practitioners of one form of Judaism may strongly disagree with some of the practices and beliefs of another. As they say, if you have 3 Israelis in a room, you have 4 opinions and 5 political parties.
I might add that, to the extent that they are questioning their beliefs and trying to make them better, such disagreements are healthy and worth emulating.
Scott
Aw yes, the glossy perfect Mother/Father Couple with the perfect Son picture will dramatically sway opinions. I’m from the East Coast, and sadly, despite the freedom to marry, New England is still homophobic in many areas and something like this could sway opinion.
Cam
@B:
B, your comment isn’t relevant becuase of the following. Both Conservative and Reform Judaism not only ordain gay rabbis, but approve of gay marriage officially and perform ceremonies. This covers around 95% of Jews in the U.S. Israel allows foreign gays to seek asylum there if they are fleeing anti-gay countries, allows foreign bgay marriages, gay adoptions and allows gays in the military.
The Mormon church has an official anti-gay policy, and helped form NOM, has funneled millions to them, has asked it’s followers to go out and support anti-gay ballot initiatives. Even Mitt Romney has donated to NOM. Multiple newspapers call NOM a Mormon front group yet Queerty won’t even mention that.
So what I see are a bunch of posts on here about a religion that officially supports gays, and nothing about a religion that is the largest organized force in the country against gay rights and the largest contributor to anti-gay initiatives being given basically a free pass since Gay Cities bought this site.
We know that the Mormon Church tried to bribe the old Queerty Owner to stop reporting on them and he refused.
Be Real.
This is an easy bubble to burst.
They claim they’re “advocating for the nuclear family.” During a debate, ask them if that means:
1) A law banning divorce;
2) A law mandating that a “nuclear family” (e.g. spouses and at least one child) be a condition of getting a marriage license.
When they answer “no” to both questions, simply state “oh, so you’re not about the nuclear family, you’re about hating on the gays. Isn’t your position a bit fraudulent then?”
Be Real.
And NOM isn’t only a Mormon group — it also has strong ties (and massive financial support) from the hard-right elements of the Catholic Church, including the so-called “Knights of Columbus.”
Read the NOM campaign disclosure documents. Very illuminating. It’s a group funded primarily by two way-out-of-mainstream religious groups and a few millionaires who agree with them.
jaded
“Jewish church?” Really? Repeat after me. Synagogue. Temple.
Christians have churches.
Danny
The focus on abortion and homosexuality goes back to the rightwing roots – the Nazi party made it part of their agenda to link the topics as part of their master race breeding program. That program never went away – just like the Nazis and KKK is the USA never went away, they just became the tea party. Study the genocidal history of the Nazis and you discover their agenda is exactly followed by the anti-gay groups in the USA.
1equalityUSA
Cam, Are you saying that “Gay Cities” has sympathetic ties with the Mormon Church? Interesting notion. The Mormons would be crafty enough to buy out gay sites like Queerty and shift the anti-Mormon message away faster than acne cream. Gay Cities….I wonder who owns this outfit. Whooooconspiracy.