Don’t say HRC doesn’t do anything for you: The Human Rights Campaign’s NOM Exposed project has turned up some juicy dirt on the National Organization for Marriage, including a previously sealed, confidential document that reveals the hate group’s plan to defeat marriage equality by pitting African-Americans and other minorities against the LGBT community.
Written in 2009, NOM’s National Strategy For Winning The Marriage Battle spells out the group’s plan to attack same-sex marriage initiatives in New Hampshire, Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut and DC. Their strategies, most of which have thankfully failed, include gathering celebrity endorsements (Kirk Cameron hasn’t exactly galvanized the nation) and viral videos depicting the innocent “victims” of gay marriage.
But what really sticks in our craw is how NOM plotted to divide and conquer by pitting blacks against gays in their own spin on the Republican Party’s old Southern Strategy. And they had the temerity to put it down on paper!
The strategic goal… is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks—two key Democratic constituencies. Find, equip, energize and connect African American spokespeople for marriage, develop a media campaign around their objections to gay marriage as a civil right; provoke the gay marriage base into responding by denouncing these spokesmen and women as bigots.”
There was also a lovely attempt to alienate Hispanics and gays:
How about we take this to the next level?
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“The Latino vote in America is a key swing vote, and will be so even more so in the future, both because of demographic growth and inherent uncertainty: Will the process of assimilation to the dominant Anglo culture lead Hispanics to abandon traditional family values? We must interrupt this process of assimilation by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity —a symbol of resistance to inappropriate assimilation.”
It’s hard to say how successful this campaign was, as Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire don’t exactly have huge black and Latino populations. But NOM was able to throw its weight into a successful effort to get Iowa Supreme Court justices David Baker, Michael Streit and Marsha Ternus—whose unanimous ruling brought gay marriage to the state—unseated.
Says HRC President Joe Solmonese:
“Nothing beats hearing from the horse’s mouth exactly how callous and extremist this group really is… Such brutal honesty is a game changer, and this time NOM can’t spin and twist its way out of creating an imagined rift between LGBT people and African-Americans or Hispanics.”
We shudder to think what other nefarious plans Brian Brown, et al, are brewing that we don’t know about.
Source: HRC via Good As You
Belize
I honestly don’t believe that NOM is this stupid.
Are they seriously considering the possibility that there are no LGBTs within the African Americans and the Hispanics? Further more, even if this is truly their plan and even if it does end up “working,” that rift cannot last for long considering the fact that all these minority groups will still end up being united by their common hatred of the mind-numbing, senseless bigotry as well as the offensive nature of the extremist right who actually have the gull to believe that they are God’s chosen people.
They can’t win. There’s is the greater disease. We didn’t choose to be gay. They chose to sustain their stupidity.
RLS
The sad thing is that this would’ve worked perfectly. I can see the racially tinged comment sections on gay messageboards now.
Auntie Mame
@RLS: You thought homos were somehow immune to racism?
Cam
Please also remember that NOM is basically a front group for the Mormon Church. Most of it’s leaders are members of prominent Mormon families or have ties deep in the church.
This is why they have ignored multiple court orders to turn over their donor lists.
http://mormongate.com/
tjr101
Didn’t GOP fronted runner Willard Romney sign the NOM pledge last year? It goes to show how unfit he is for president. Willard Romney endorses this hate strategy by NOM and a lot of his millions goes to the Mormon church which fund the divide and conquer strategy of NOM.
rf
These documents were required by NOM to be posted to the court and made pubic by yesterday 5pm Maine time. HRC didn’t do anything other than call the court with a credit card and have the docs emailed to them. Which is exactly what a few other people did and they actually started showing up in the GoodAsYou comments hours before they hit NOM Exposed. Not that its a competition, but I wouldn’t suggest this an HRC scoop worthy of congratulating them over. Many people were watching this and salivating because the strategy documents were listed in the exhibits of the case.
If you want to do a follow up–there is now controversy over the fact that some pages are missing in this document and in the deposition testimony and it remains to be seen whether its clerical error, court order, or NOM outright and knowingly didn’t upload some pages.
Red Assault
@RLS: Mostly from the NOM operatives still on payroll.
Most of the gay community has no animus with the black and Hispanic communities. We know that although opposition to our equality may be higher in the black community, that alone hasn’t been enough to tip the scale and our movement would never have been where it is without many black and Hispanic leaders.
Many of us were a bit baffled when stories came out right after prop 8 about “exit polls” that blamed the black community for its passing, mostly to take attention away from the Mormons and covert groups like NOM.
We see through it.
Codswallop
It’s a 2-pronged attack. They’re not just trying to promote homophobia in the black and Hispanic communities, but promote racism and resentment in the gay community against blacks and Hispanics.
1equalityUSA
NOM uses communities to promote hate.
Joetx
@Codswallop: Very true.
Unfortunately, based on some of the comments you read on gay sites, including Queerty, there’s a receptive audience for racism in the gay community. Definitely not everyone, but as the thought goes, there are bad people in every group.
Phantom
NOM people can be really f@cking idiots, but I highly doubt that they are really this f@cking dumb. They are saying like they are trying to start “Charles Manson’s race war” only in sexual orientation war version. It might be possible with neo-nazi skinhead group, but I doubt it with NOM idiots.
LittIe,Kiwi
this is no surprise to those of us with brains.
the sad gay racists who troll this site, and others, are however going to continue to ignore this. why? because if they dont’ joint their piece of shit families in “hating non-whites” then their piece of shit families will direct anti-gay bigotry toward THEM.
fact.
the whole plan was to turn LGBT people against the black communities – and every single gay racist does NOM’s work for them.
Kirk Grisham
The point is, it is Anti-Black and racist ideologies in the mainstream White LGBT community that have historically prevented any sort of engagement around LGBT issues with organizations like HRC. I see that as a bigger problem. Both NOM & HRC are filled with bigots. HRC producing this story is actually a very keen way to rewrite their history and ignore their role in the passing of Prop 8, and the history of the Marriage Equality movement. It forgives-while simultaneously reifies- their very own racism. That racism which results in their lack of engagement with communities of color.
nugoyxi
Legalizing homosexual marriages does not affect heterosexual marriages in any way, shape, or form.
NOM still disgusts me. Not only promoting homophobia, but trying to promote racism.
Christopher Banks
It is nasty to see political strategising laid bare like this. It has always been about driving wedges between “target audiences” in order to leverage a vote. Such people are blind to questions of ethics and morals.
1equalityUSA
“wedge” issue.
1. To split or force apart with or as if with a wedge.
2. To fix in place or tighten with a wedge.
3. To crowd or squeeze into a limited space.
v.intr.
To become lodged or jammed.
JayKay
As if we need NOM to turn black people against gays…
LittIe,Kiwi
oh poor sad JayKay, it’s actually the other way around – NOM is hoping this will turn gays against blacks. which in your case is useless since you’re anti-black. i feel bad for you. i know you need to hate blacks in order to stop your dad from hating you for being gay, but it’s really pathetic.
hating black people won’t change the fact that your father wishes he’d paid your mother for that abortion she wanted.
and coming on here every day to vent your fury won’t make your life better, nor make him love you. you’ve failed, buddy.
jason
I don’t see what the problem is with NOM’s tactics. If the division is there, it’s there. Gays like to pretend that blacks are these wonderful, civil right-loving people when, in fact, it’s not the case. On an individual basis, blacks can be accepting but, on a cultural level, they are quite intolerant people.
Stop pretending that all is well in the garden when it isn’t. The people I truly feel sorry for are black gay people who have to put up with the ignorance and bigotry of their own race.
JayKay
@LittIe,Kiwi:
LOL.
1equalityUSA
Robert P. George of Princeton was the brains behind the hate group NOM. House Speaker Boehner promotes the man that promotes hate. Republicans need to learn a harsh lesson about bigotry.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) issued the following release announcing his appointment of Dr. Robert P. George to the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom:
“Dr. George is a respected and leading voice for religious freedom, and I’m pleased that he will bring his passion for this issue and legal expertise to the commission. No person should live in fear of persecution for worshipping as they see fit or be forced by government mandate to disavow or compromise their faith. He will be a great resource in the House’s effort to defend this fundamental human right.
“This commission has a unique opportunity to call attention to efforts that threaten religious liberty around the globe, and I was pleased that Congress reauthorized it last year. Lastly, I appreciate the leadership of Rep. Frank Wolf, the founder of the commission, who has been a leader in Congress to ensure that religious freedom is protected in the U.S. and is appropriately addressed in our foreign policy.”
Prof. Robert George served as NOM’s founding Chairman of the Board. All of us at NOM commend Prof. George on his latest distinction!
Joetx
Sleazebags like JayKay & jason prove my case.
Perhaps they’re NOM plants on Queerty?
Danny
On a positive note, you now know who the top human rights violators are in the USA – and knowing was half the battle to dealing with them.
Curtis
@LittIe,Kiwi: issues
B
No. 19 · 1equalityUSA wrote, “Robert P. George of Princeton was the brains behind the hate group NOM.” …. he was previously the chairman; now he’s he chairman emeritus, which may mean he has next to zero involvement with NOM but they want to mention him to make NOM seem more credible.
By trying to put one minority against another and getting caught at it, they may have really shot themselves in the foot. I’m sure that tactic has been used before to the detriment of many minorities, including Blacks and Hispanics, and these groups probably will not like it if they find out they were being manipulated in that way – particularly if they were on the receiving end of that tactic on other occasions
1equalityUSA
Smell the formaldehyde NOM-skulls, you’re going extinct. Sure, as with any hate group, you may be able to scrape up unenlightened ‘phobes, but the tide has turned against you and you’re now washing out to Sea, where even the bottom-feeders will spit your brand of hatred out onto the ocean’s floor, along with all of the other detritus excreta. Robert P. George, you may have multiple degrees, but you used your knowledge to sow bitterness and ranker. Congratulations on your little, social experiment. The hallowed halls of some Catholic behemoth will surely have your portrait displayed proudly. I know that I’ll never forget you. Princeton will be known for harboring a hateful professor. You and Brown and Gallagher all belong in history books.