Why the GOP May Lose Everything

All of these Republicans need to be forced into retirement.

I try to not get overly optimistic, but the 2020 elections have the possibility of  dealing the Republican Party and Donald Trump a horrific defeat and loss of control of both houses of Congress and the White House.  If it comes to pass, it will be most deserved and a repudiation of an agenda that has benefited the very wealthy and in the final analysis little or nothing to the vast majority of Americans. Indeed, the entire GOP game plan has been to use racism and religious extremism to dupe working class and middle class Americans to vote against their own best interests. The gambit worked in 2016, but signs indicate that 2020 may prove to be a different ball game, especially with the coronavirus pandemics underscoring the need for the very programs and policies the GOP wants to destroy. A column in the Washington Post looks at the rapidly changing outlook for the GOP come December.  If the economy continues to suffer and there is a second wave of the virus, things could get even worse for Republicans - and deservedly so.  Here are excerpts:

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) says that when he first announced he would run for the U.S. Senate, he “didn’t know what Montana and the country was going to look like in the short period thereafter.” With the covid-19 crisis, all his time has been taken up by being a governor, not a candidate. So far, that has only helped him in his campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Steve Daines.

In Maine, House Speaker Sara Gideon, a Democrat seeking to end the long career of Republican Sen. Susan Collins, says the pandemic has “laid bare the inequities that already existed” and underscored the need for a “vision of what it means to work together and for each other instead of trying to sow divisiveness.” This brings home Gideon’s case against Collins’s willingness to ally with President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), two of the most divisive figures in American politics.

Colorado’s former governor John Hickenlooper, a Democrat with a good chance of ousting incumbent Republican Sen. Cory Gardner, expresses a sense of gravity about this campaign that he never felt in his races for mayor of Denver or governor.

And Democrat Cal Cunningham, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who is facing incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), says that many North Carolinians today feel “an urgency that did not exist prior to March of this year” about “health coverage . . . about jobs, the economy.”

Issues that were once “percolating for many” are now “personal for everyone.”

If Bullock, Gideon, Hickenlooper and Cunningham all win, Democrats will likely take over the U.S. Senate and end McConnell’s days as majority leader.

And they are not the only challengers with a decent shot at Republican seats. In Arizona, Democrat Mark Kelly has been running ahead of Republican Sen. Martha McSally, and Republicans face vulnerabilities in Iowa, Georgia, possibly Kansas and perhaps even in South Carolina. McConnell, though favored, faces a spirited opponent in Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot. Only one Democratic incumbent, Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, is an underdog. Having disastrously bungled the pandemic, Trump is not only falling well behind former vice president Joe Biden in the polls; he could also be creating a tidal wave that would give Democrats unified control of the federal government’s elected branches.

Hickenlooper and Gideon are running in states Trump lost in 2016, and the president’s increasing vulnerability in Arizona and North Carolina could open the way for Kelly and Cunningham.

My conversations with four of the top Senate challengers suggested that the coronavirus crisis has reinforced core arguments that helped the Democrats win the House in 2018, particularly around access to health care, while also increasing the saliency of inequality — in both economic and health outcomes — as a mainstream concern.

At the same time, Trump’s brutal belligerence has turned Democratic candidates into missionaries of concord. This allows them to be implicitly critical of the president and reach out to his one-time supporters at the same time.

If the GOP does lose everything, it will be because the Trumpian circus-plus-horror-show is entirely off-key for an electorate that has so much to be serious about.

GOP Candidate Attacks Parkland Teen Emma Gonzalez

GOP igot Leslie Gibson

Sadly, nowadays if one hears foul and disgusting (not to mention often totally untrue) attacks on minorities, LGBT individuals or non-Christians, it is a safe bet that the individual or individuals launching the attacks are either (i) a Christofascist, or (ii) a Republican.  Demonstrating the veracity of such assumption is Leslie Gibson, a Republican candidate for the Maine House of Representatives, who has attacked Emma Gonzalez, one of the student activists from the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018.  Gibson attacked Gonzales and called her a "skinhead lesbian."  As an "out" bisexual, a Hispanic, and an opponent to unrestricted gun ownership, Gonzales is a trifecta of those hated by today's Republican Party.  NBC News looks at Gibson's rank bigotry.  Here are excerpts:

A Republican candidate for the Maine House of Representatives has used Twitter to attack two students who survived a mass shooting at a Florida high school, calling one of them, who is openly bisexual, a "skinhead lesbian" and the other a "bald-faced liar." Gibson is the only declared candidate for the 57th District . . . Pat Fogg, a Democratic organizer in the town of Greene, Maine, said, "That sort of stupidity really turns people off." Fogg added that she hopes someone will jump into the race to challenge Gibson.

Gibson has since deactivated his Twitter account, but multiple news outlets have taken screen shots of his offending remarks.

Meanwhile, furor over Gibson's comments has erupted on social media, with some, like Fogg, calling for another candidate to join the race just to oppose him.  Gonzalez has not yet responded to Gibson's remarks.

And yes, the everyday bigotry of Republicans is being noticed internationally.  The London Daily Mail reports om Gibson's foul 

Maine Christofascists Want to Re-criminalize Homosexuality

As the acceptance of LGBT individuals continues to grow nationwide, the Christofascists who for centuries were allowed to force their ignorance and hate based beliefs on all of society are displaying more and more extremism against anything and anyone who challenges their fantasy world belief system.  As always, LGBT citizens are the favored targets for these members of the Christian Taliban - even in relative liberal states.  A case in point is Maine where a religious extremists have launched a new group that wants to roll back LGBT protections and make homosexuality a crime.   Hopefully, these lunatics will be treated with the derision and scorn that they deserve.  Hate and ignorance wrapped in the cloak of religion deserve absolutely no respect.  WGME-13 looks at the batshitery:

Mike Heath and other former heads of the Christian Civic League of Maine have formed a new group, "Equal Rights, not Special Rights."

They say they're tired of being forced to accept the homosexual lifestyle.

Paul Madore and this small group of people say they want to restore America to its former greatness by repealing same sex marriage laws and making homosexuality a crime.

"There is conduct that ought to be punished," Heath said. "And Christianity teaches, has always taught and still does teach, that sodomy is such a behavior."

In fact, they're against any public displays of affection by members of the LGBT community.

"These are two military men, at least one, and there's an open expression of homosexuality and sexual expression that is totally out of line for a country as great as the United States of America," Madore said.

But the first battleground for the group "Equal Rights, not Special Rights" is to push for a citizen's initiative to remove the phrase "sexual orientation" from the Maine Human Rights Act, even though Maine voters passed the measure 11 years ago.

"If it's removed, what does it do?" Heath said. "It very simply moves something, a behavior that belongs in the closet back into the closet."

Matt Moonen of Equality Maine called the referendum this group is pushing a waste of time.  "They think they can force people to accept their world view," Moonen said. "That's just not what America is, not what the State of Maine is. And it's not going to work."

Heath is a perennial anti-LGBT bigot and not surprisingly his efforts are affiliated with hate groups such as American Family Association and Focus on the Family which want a Christian theocracy in America.   Thankfully, the world view of these hate merchants is dying and it will be increasingly difficult for them to make a living preying on the ignorance and bigotry of others. 

MAINE: NOM Finally Hands Over Donors List and Only SIX Names Are On It

I and many others have long speculated that one reason why the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") has fought tooth and claw and blatantly violated campaign finance disclosure laws was because did not want it disclosed that rather than being a "broad grass roots movement" it was really a front for a small group of anti-gay extremists.  These suspicions have now been now confirmed in Maine where NOM has been forced to disclose the names of the donors who contributed over $2 million to back NOM's anti-gay campaign.  ONLY SIX donors contributed the money expended. Worse yet for NOM, the vast majority of the money tracks back to a single individual. That's right, SIX donors. And, oh yes, the Knights of Columbus was one of the six donors and spent $140,000 better spent on true charitable works to deprive LGBT individuals their civil legal rights.  It is LONG past time that the K of C lost its tax-exempt status.  Here are highlights from the Bangor Daily News:

The National Organization for Marriage has filed details of its financial activities related to a 2009 effort to repeal Maine’s same-sex marriage law after a more than five-year legal battle over Maine’s campaign finance laws. 

Brian Brown, president and co-founded of the National Organization for Marriage, said by phone Monday that being forced to disclose donors was a “gross injustice” to his organization.

The National Organization for Marriage funneled more than $2 million to a political action committee called Stand for Marriage Maine, which represented about 64 percent of the PAC’s spending on the referendum that repealed a same-sex marriage law enacted by the Legislature and Gov. John Baldacci. Same-sex marriage became law in Maine after voters endorsed it through another referendum in 2012.

The National Organization for Marriage, which has been arguing that Maine’s campaign finance law should not apply to the disclosure of national-level donors, already has paid a record fine to the state of more than $50,000 in the matter. Wayne said Monday the filing appears on initial inspection to satisfy Maine’s campaign finance reporting requirements.

The donor list includes one Mainer and four out-of-state donors who gave the National Organization for Marriage between $50,000 and $750,000 in individual donations.
— Richard Kurtz of Cape Elizabeth, $50,000 on Aug. 5, 2009.
— John Templeton of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, $300,000 on Oct.1, 2009.
— Terrence Caster of San Diego, California, $300,000 on Oct. 9, 2009.
— Knights of Columbus of New Haven, Connecticut, $140,000 on Sept. 4, 2009.
— Sam Fieler of New York City, $750,000 on July 15, 2009, and $500,000 on Oct. 13, 2009.
— There were an additional $5,279 in smaller contributions that were not itemized on the report.

Like everything else that comes out of NOM - and the mouths of Brian Brown and Maggie Gallagher - the claims that NOM is a broad based "grassroots" organization is a lie and utter bullshit.  NOM is a front group for a handful of anti-gay bigots and anti-gay religious organizations like the Mormon Church, K of C, and U.S. Catholic bishops.  When the godly folk's lips are moving, the safest assumption is that they are lying - you will rarely be proved wrong.

Maine Supreme Court: NOM Must Reveal Donors

NOM president Brian Brown

The National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") has gone to great lengths in the form of lawsuits in its attempt to hide the identities of donors to its 2009 Maine referendum campaign to reverse that state’s marriage equality law which raised $2 million.  NOM has claimed continued anonymity is crucial to protect its donors from "harassment or economic reprisals by supporters of gay marriage" and also claimed that the organization’s fund-raising efforts would suffer if donor identities have to be revealed.  Many, however, suspect that NOM's real fear may be that revealing donor identities will reveal that NOM has only a handful of big donors and is not a "grass roots" organization as constantly claimed.  Moreover, the names of some of these donors could cause major repercussions to organizations like the Catholic Church and its front organizations. Now, the Maine Supreme Court has ordered that the donor names need to be revealed.  Here are details from the Portland Press Herald: 

The National Organization for Marriage has lost another round in its attempt to hide the identities of donors to a successful 2009 referendum campaign to reverse Maine’s marriage equality law.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday refused NOM’s request for a stay, which would enable the organization to delay complying with a state ethics board ruling that it must file a report identifying the sources of the $2 million it gave to the referendum drive.

NOM has mounted a relentless legal battle to conceal the names of its donors, saying that they could be subjected to harassment or economic reprisals by supporters of gay marriage, and that the organization’s fund-raising efforts would suffer.

The Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices last year imposed a $50,250 fine on NOM, the nation’s largest organization opposed to gay marriage, because it failed to register as a ballot question committee or file campaign activity and donor disclosure reports.

In April, the Maine Superior Court upheld the ethics commission decision to fine NOM and its requirement that the group list its donors. . . . has not filed a campaign finance report containing the names of the donors to the 2009 campaign.

Wayne said the ruling by the state’s highest court means that NOM should file a campaign finance report. Additionally, he said, the court also indicated in its ruling that the organization wouldn’t likely win its appeal.

[T]he ruling stated “The circumstances underlying the Commission’s decision occurred almost six years ago, and the decision has successfully withstood federal and state court challenges during that time. NOM now asks us to decide many of the same issues and has failed to sufficiently show that it has a likelihood of succeeding on the merits. Accordingly, we deny NOM’s motion for a stay pending appeal.” The ethics investigation cited bank statements and campaign literature to show that the organization used its nonprofit status to draw donations earmarked for the Maine referendum – a violation of Maine election law.

Former President George H.W. Bush Witnesses Same-Sex Wedding

The freepers and Christofascists will be shrieking and unleashing sheets of flying spittle as they learn that former President George H.W. Bush acted as a witnesses at a same-sex wedding in Maine recently.  Maggie Gallagher, Bryan Fischer, Matt Barber, Tony Perkins and similar hate merchants will be literally beside themselves.  We'll give updates of the spittle flecked reactions as they go online.  The Washington Post looks at the senior Bush's attendance at the wedding.  Here are excerpts:

Another prominent Republican has come out in support of same-sex marriage — or at least, in support of one particular same-sex marriage.

Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara served as an official witnesses Saturday at the Maine wedding of Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen, co-owners of a Kennebunk general store. Thorgalsen posted a photo on Facebook of the 41st commander-in-chief signing a set of documents for them at an outdoor celebration: “Getting our marriage license witnessed!”

No big statement from the ex-prez’s office. His rep Jim McGrath confirmed his and wife Barbara’s presence at the Kennebunkport wedding: “They were private citizens attending a private ceremony for two friends.”

In an e-mail from their honeymoon in London, Clement told us they’ve known the former first couple for years and were thrilled they accepted the wedding invitation. Thinking about “how monumental this time is in our lives” and “how blessed we are to be in their lives,” they decided to ask them “to really personalize it for us” as witnesses.

“This is such a wonderful time for change in our legal system,” she added. “Who would be best to help us acknowledge the importance of our wedding as our friends and as the former leader of the free world. When they agreed to do so we just felt that it was the next acknowledgment of being ‘real and normal.’” Clement, 60, said she and Thorgalsen, 55, have been together for 12 years, during which she helped raise her new wife’s now-adult daughters.

Kudos to George and Barbara Bush.

Who Has Been Secretly Funding the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM")?

NOM's Hate Merchant Brian Brown

After fighting tooth and claw to hide the identities of its donors for over four years the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM") may be about to finally being forced to disclose the names of its mega donors.  There's lots of speculation about what names will come out.  Perhaps the most informed conjecture comes from Fred Karger who helped launch investigations of NOM.  His thoughts can be found in a piece at The New Civil Rights Movement.  Here are highlights:

All evidence points to the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) created NOM in 2007 to qualify and pass California’s Proposition 8 the following year. The Mormon Church conspired with the Catholic Church in California, but the Mormons got busted. The LDS Church raised $30 million of the $40 million it took to pass Prop 8. Between 2008 and 2009 the Mormon Church was also investigated, prosecuted, fined and found guilty on 13 counts of election fraud by the California Fair Political Practices Commission for all it did to pass Prop 8 and didn’t report. By the time Maine rolled around a year later, it appears that the Mormon Church had retreated and tried to fly under the radar.

But did the LDS Church or one of its wealthy members write out the $1 million check to NOM expecting that it would never be discovered? What about the Catholic Church? It was the face of the campaign to repeal Maine’s gay marriage law that year, but Catholic dioceses from around the country gave openly to pass Maine’s Question 1. Its political arm, the Knights of Columbus gave $50,000.  So it’s unlikely that the Catholics wouldn’t launder additional money to NOM, and then go through nearly four years of legal battles to keep it secret.

Maybe the big checks came from California’s Howard Ahmanson who gave $1,395,000 to pass Prop 8 or Philadelphia billionaire John Templeton, Jr. who gave $1,100,000 to pass Prop 8. These two men don’t seem to mind being publically identified opposing marriage equality, but lots of these mega-donors backed away from supporting NOM, because it was under investigation.

Jonathan Wayne, executive director of The Maine Commission on Governmental and Election Practices has indicated that its nearly four-year investigation of NOM should be wrapped up by September of this year. That’s just about four years from the day I went to testify before the Commission, filed my sworn complaint and asked them to investigate NOM for alleged campaign money laundering. It was an exciting day when the Commission voted to investigate NOM. After the vote and before his press conference Brian Brown excused himself from the proceedings and went to make one phone call. I would sure love to know exactly whom he called.

Brown’s emails often said, “Give your money directly to NOM and your names will be kept secret.” Then Brown denied that, in his sworn affidavit which he had “notarized” in Virginia before flying up to testify in front of the Ethics Committee.

Wonder if there is any law against filing a false and misleading affidavit when testifying before the Maine Commission on Governmental and Election Practices?

Tawdry whores have more integrity and honesty than the "godly Christians" at NOM, many of who like Brian Brown have lined their pockets with lots and lots of money while peddling hate and bigotry.

Tough Times for the GOP Bigots

While there is still much work to be done and there is an extreme need to be watchful lest the GOP manage to use gerrymandering and manipulation of the Electoral College to subvert majority rule in elections, there are nonetheless encouraging signs that the hate merchants of the GOP and its Tea Party and Christofascist auxiliary organizations are slowly but steadily losing the larger culture war.  If nothing else, more and more of the most hate filled bigots - the mainstay of the GOP - are literally dying off.  A piece in the Daily Kos helps to remind us that longer term things will get better (a message one needs to hear from time to time living here in backwards Virginia).  It also has some data that may help explain why the Boy Scouts may be about to change their anti-gay policies: their membership is plummeting.  Here are some column highlights:

Eight months ago, Vice President Joe Biden set in motion a great national evolution when speaking to CBS, he said,

I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.

It wasn't long before President Barack Obama declared his own "evolution" and embraced equality, setting of celebrations among freedom-loving liberals and, yes, celebrations among bigots convinced this would be the death knell of the Obama presidency. As one online conservative gloated at the time:

If there is a day to finger for Barack Obama losing the Presidency in 2012, it will be Sunday, May 6, 2012.

On that day, Joe Biden* went on national television and proclaimed himself in favor of gay marriage. It started a media spiral for the President. Two days after Biden spoke, North Carolina voters voted by overwhelming margins to leave marriage alone. The next day, Barack Obama went on national television to devolve back to the position he held prior to running for President [...]

*Okay, in fairness, we could arguably say August 23, 2008, was the day Obama lost his re-election. That’s the day he chose Biden to be veep and we all knew it was only a matter of time...

Delicious, isn't it? Things have only looked worse for the haters since mid 2012.

Conservatives didn't just lose their first marriage equality ballot initiative in November of 2012, but got swept in four of them, including Maine which had as recently as 2009 voted the other way. In fact, Maine is quite instructive in the dizzying pace of social change. In the 2009 initiative, marriage equality lost 53-47. In the 2012 edition, it won ... 53-47, a 12-point shift in just three years.  The speed of social change continues unabated.

Meanwhile, another culture warrior organization is on the verge (at least partially) of throwing in the towel.  .  .  .  .   Membership in the Scouts has dropped from 4 million members in 1986, to 3.4 million in 1998 to 2.65 million last year. There is an entire generation of fathers (me included) who spent time in the Scouts but would never consider it for their boys.

Don't worry, though. The Scouts will continue to ban atheists! And Alabama haters should be safe. But that's not enough for Tony Perkins, who is seeing his entire hate-built world view crumbling around him. Very, very delicious!

Young people continue to embrace equality while older haters die off. Hopes that Latinos were "socially conservative" and could help stem the tide were dashed this past November, when exit polls showed them even more socially liberal than the American population at large. People (including me) forgot that on top of everything else, Latinos are young. The median age of native-born Latinos is EIGHTEEN. In our society, youth equals tolerance.

After years of using anti-gay ballot initiatives to drive up their base participation, it is now Republicans who are afraid of those mean Democrats using "divisive social issues" for political gain. Gay marriage is on the cusp of becoming a reality in several more states, from Illinois to Minnesota, from Hawaii to New Jersey.

But it's not just the Blue states. How about one of the Reddest of all?

A bill allowing gay couples to enter into domestic partnerships got the support of a Wyoming House of Representatives committee Monday for the first time in the state's history.

The House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee voted 7-2 to recommend approval of House Bill 168 and send it to the full House.
The decision to advance the domestic partnership legislation came moments after the same committee voted 5-4 to reject a bill to legalize gay marriage in the state.

Literally a decade ago, Howard Dean's support for civil unions in Vermont was considered so crazy that it would doom any general election presidential chances. This week, it passed easily in Wyoming, and only after gay freakin' marriage lost by a single vote in committee. IN WYOMING! 

One can only imagine the hysteria behind closed doors at Christofascist groups like Family Research Council and NOM where the days of huge salaries (Brian Brown at NOM made $500,000 in 2011) based on peddling hatred may be doomed in the long run.  Just imagine if these bigots have to get real jobs.  Delicious indeed.

Gay Marriages Commence in Maine

After successfully reversing that state's ban on same sex marriage and handing the Christofascists the first of what would turn out to be four straight losses on election day, same sex marriages commenced in Maine in the early hours this morning.  I am over joyed for LGBT citizens in Maine who have achieved equality under the civil marriage laws.  At the same time, I am left to wonder if and when Virginia - which is currently under a GOP controlled General Assembly that basically enacts whatever extremist legislation The Family Foundation demands - will similarly arrive in the 21st century.  In a future post I plan on summarizing the batshitery that the Virginia GOP will be promoting in the upcoming legislative session.  But, to get back to the happy scene in Maine, the Bangor Daily News has coverage of the first early morning weddings.  Here are highlights:

PORTLAND, Maine — The first gay couple to be married in the state of Maine took their vows in a short ceremony in the Portland city clerk’s office at approximately 12:25 a.m.

“We finally feel equal and happy to live in Maine,” said Steven Bridges, who married Michael Snell less than a half-hour after same sex marriages became legal in the state.

By 2 a.m. Saturday, the line had emptied out after a total of 15 gay and lesbian couples had acquired marriage licenses in Portland, with six of those couples exchanging vows on the spot. Another couple was married on the city hall’s front steps and then went back inside to return their license.

The hand-holding grooms sported purple carnation corsages, matching T-shirts printed with the phrase “love is love,” and grins so big they hardly seemed to fit on their faces.

Snell and Bridges, both of Portland, have been together for nine years and had a commitment ceremony six years ago, but late Friday night they were more than ready to make their love legal. The couple was the first in line to be married beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday in one of the state’s first legal same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Katie Snell, 27, of Lexington, Mass., Snell’s daughter, said that the couple weren’t the only delighted members of the family.  “It’s been a long time coming,” she said of the imminent nuptials. “I’m absolutely ecstatic. I’m so happy for this. I couldn’t be happier.”

Portland was one of the state’s municipalities that opened offices early so that eager couples could go ahead and tie the knot. In addition to having a clerk at hand to provide marriage licenses, the city made a notary public available to make wedding vows official. Maine no longer has a waiting period before couples can get married.

Steven Jones and Jamous Lizotte, both of Portland, wore tuxedos and arranged laurel wreaths on their heads while waiting for midnight, when they could get married.  “After nine years of being together, we decided to go all the way,” Lizotte, formerly of St. Agatha, said. When he learned that the first day that same-sex marriage would be legal fell on his 35th birthday, it seemed like a sign.  “It’s a finale,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”

Not that despite the dire predictions of the Christofascists, the world did not end and civilization did not collapse.  Also note the way the couples mentioned finally feeling equal.  The bans on same sex marriage have nothing to do with "protecting marriage."  No, their sole goal is to keep LGBT citizens inferior and to punish them for refusing to subscribe to the Christofascists' hate and fear based version of Christianity.  There will be no true freedom of religion in America until the Christofascists are defeated politically in ever state in the nation and driven into much deserved political irrelevance.  They are a cancer that needs to be removed from the political realm entirely.

Are GOP Voters Rejecting the Party's Anti-Gay Stance?

An article in the Washington Post looks at data from the November 6, 2012, for the four states that saw same anti-gay marriage measures defeated in each instance.  What is so interesting is that even in precincts that Romney carried by large margins, the anti-gay effort lost.  In short, significant numbers of Republicans ignored the Christofascist drafted GOP party platform (hate group leader Tony Perkins was a principal drafter) and instead voted for marriage equality.  The GOP's anti-gay positions have already cost the party the vast majority of voters under 30.  Now, the evidence suggest that anti-gay initiatives may no longer be working as envisioned by the Christofascists even with many in the over 30 age brackets.  Poll after poll shows that only in the over 65 age group does an anti-gay agenda resonate and guess what?  That anti-gay demographic is literally dying off with each passing elections cycle and being replaced by non-religious extremists.  Will the GOP get the message that the party's institutionalized homophobia may increasingly be a liability?  I'm not going to hold my breath.  Here are some article excerpts:

After years of defeats, same-sex-marriage advocates scored a remarkable 4-0 sweep of state ballot contests on Nov. 6. One major reason: This year, significant numbers of Republicans voted their way. That should give pause to a GOP establishment that has alienated many younger voters and independents with its stance on the issue and now faces the prospect of dissent among its core constituents as well.

The evidence comes straight from a close study of the election returns in Maryland, Maine and Minnesota. (Washington state, with its unique system of mail voting, has been slower to report its results in detail. I’ve based my analysis on the other three states that had same-sex-marriage contests.)

The Maryland ballot referendum, Question 6, essentially asked voters to confirm or reject a new law allowing same-sex marriage. In 11 of the 18 counties that Mitt Romney carried, Question 6 fared better than President Obama, a sign that GOP voters had crossed over in support. While the phenomenon could be seen everywhere from farm towns to blue-collar inner suburbs, the biggest swings tended to come in affluent bedroom communities. At one precinct in Hunt Valley, north of Baltimore, with 2,116 votes cast, there was a 28 percentage-point swing, leading to a landslide for Romney and the ballot question: Obama drew a paltry 37 percent, but Question 6 carried the precinct with a whopping 65 percent.

In Minnesota, where voters were asked to ban same-sex marriage through a state constitutional amendment, precinct returns show that suburban Republicans broke from their party in droves to defeat the ban. According to the Pioneer Press of St. Paul, 47 towns around the Twin Cities area voted for Romney while opposing the measure, known as Amendment One. Exurban Scott County, the state’s fastest growing, narrowly turned down Amendment One, even as it gave Romney a comfortable 56.5 percent of its vote.

[W]ithin commuting distance of the Twin Cities, the defections from the Republican line were deep and unmistakable. Romney won easily in such lakeside Hennepin County towns as Orono, Deephaven and Shorewood. Conventional wisdom would have them voting for the marriage ban as well — but they rejected Amendment One by 60 percent or more.

Maine voters were asked to legalize same-sex marriage through a referendum that lost narrowly in 2009. This time it won, with 53 percent of the vote. Again, Republicans helped secure the victory.

The Bangor suburb of Hampden voted both for Romney and for freedom to marry. The other four towns, all Portland suburbs — Cumberland, Falmouth, Yarmouth and Cape Elizabeth — went for Obama by votes ranging from 53 to 63 percent, and then in each case registered a further 10- to 13-point swing toward same-sex marriage.

So where next for the Republican Party on this issue?  .  .  .  .  one plausible path would be a GOP call for leaving the issue to the states, with New York going one way, for instance, and Texas another. That would probably capture a consensus among a broad range of active Republicans, fit reasonably well with the party’s other ideological stands and still distinguish its position from the Democratic Party’s support for same-sex marriage in its 2012 platform.  The GOP has left itself little room to maneuver.

Although many national polls now show support for marriage equality, the national Republican platform continues to endorse the same deeply out-of-touch proposal.  If and when the party’s leadership changes its mind, a whole lot of suburban Republicans will be murmuring under their breath, “About time.”

Frankly, the quickest way for the GOP to regain popularity with younger voters and independents is to kick the Christofascists to the curb where they belong.  Unfortunately, this will not be an easy task since the embrace of the Christofascists by the GOP has caused so many one time Republicans to flee the party and comfortably become independents or even Democrats.

Marriage Equality Wins Across the Board

Candidly, I never believed that it would happen, but last night marriage equality prevailed in every state where it was on the ballot: Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington State.  And it prevailed despite huge amounts of money thrown against LGBT rights by the National Organization for Marriage, the Catholic Church hierarchy, and the Knights of Columbus, and their active dissemination of utter lies and falsehoods denigrating LGBT citizens.  One can only suspect that this morning, Brian Brown, Maggie Gallagher, Tony Perkins and the morally bankrupt Catholic bishops are acting not only like someone peed in their Cheerios but defecated in them as well.  NOM can no longer crow that no popular vote has ever affirmed same sex marriage - yesterday it happened four times.  The message to the GOP if anyone who is still a Republican is sentiment is that the bad old days of win by gay bashing, race baiting and Bible thumping are ending.  Here are highlights from the Star Tribune on what was perhaps the biggest surprise of last night:

The proposed marriage amendment to the Minnesota Constitution fell short of passage early Wednesday morning, according to the Associated Press.

With 98 percent of precincts reporting, the amendment had the support of only 48 percent of voters. Support for the ballot measure trailed the combined "no" votes and blank ballots by more than 100,000 votes, an amount that seem insurmountable with so few votes left to be counted.

"You dug down and fought for love, with love," Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak told hundreds of amendment opponents gathered at the RiverCentre in St. Paul late Tuesday night. "You understood compassion. This wound up being one of the most inspirational things that's ever happened in Minnesota. Minnesota is going to be the state that's going to show the country exactly what Minnesota values are all about."

"We're for equality," Dayton said. "We understand the Constitution of the United States, we understand the founding premise where all men and women are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights and those certainly include the right to marry the person you love."

As for Maryland, Virginia's neighbor just across the Potomac, the Baltimore Sun has coverage.  Here are highlights:

Marylanders made history Tuesday as they voted to make same-sex marriage legal — a question that had been defeated each of the 32 times it had been on the ballot in other states.

"To Maryland's children – please know that you and your families matter to the people of our state," Gov. Martin O'Malley, who pushed for the law, said early Wednesday in a statement declaring victory. "Whether your parents happen to be gay or straight, Democratic, Republican or Independent, your families are equal before the eyes of the law."

The Free State joins six others and the District of Columbia, which have allowed same-sex marriage. Local courts can begin issuing marriage licenses to gay couples in January.

One can only wonder whether the Republican Party of Virginia will get the message from these four states and Romney's defeat that either the GOP leaves its 11th Century thinking behind or it faces a slow but unalterable death.  Allowing The Family Foundation's Victoria Cobb to rule the Virginia GOP like some dominatrix is going to be more of  a losing proposition with each passing year.

Bangor Daily News Endorses Marriage Equality

Lost at times in the noise of the presidential race is the ballot question in four states on whether or not same sex couples will at last be confirmed in the same civil marriage rights enjoyed by their heterosexual counterparts without a second thought.  Despite the massive anti-gay spending by the Roman Catholic Church and its surrogates, the National Organization for Marriage and the Knights of Columbus, and the associated dissemination of lies and untruths, some polls show marriage equality perhaps pulling off a winning vote.  Also encouraging is the fact that in a number of these four states, leading newspapers are endorsing marriage equality and removing religion from the civil marriage laws.  One, the Bangor Daily News says the issue comes down to one of basic fairness.  Here are highlights from the paper's editorial:

Permitting gay couples to marry will uphold equal treatment required by the U.S. Constitution, promote family values and protect religious beliefs. The ballot initiative is a matter of fairness and, in the end, care for one another.

It’s a matter of equality. Partners raising their children together should both be able to make medical decisions concerning their children’s welfare. Partners should be able to benefit from the others’ pension. But, most of all, gay couples should have the affirmation that their home state respects their belief in marriage and their commitment to each other.

Maine cannot discriminate against gays and lesbians on matters of housing, employment, public accommodation, credit or education. It should not, then, be able to discriminate when it comes to the right of marriage. Some people may understandably oppose gay marriage for religious reasons, but — while the church has played a long and important role in marriage — they should remember that marriage licenses are issued by the state.

In his state of the union address in 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower spoke of ending discrimination against minorities. His words apply today:

“Our civil and social rights form a central part of the heritage we are striving to defend on all fronts and with all our strength. I believe with all my heart that our vigilant guarding of these rights is a sacred obligation binding upon every citizen. To be true to one’s own freedom is, in essence, to honor and respect the freedom of all others.”

Some argue that gay couples should be granted only civil unions. How, though, under the 14th Amendment, is separate ever equal? What is currently missing is the public recognition of the private love, of which the most accurate representation is marriage. People want to build supportive families. This is a good thing.

Voting yes on Question 1 represents commitment to human rights and respect of religious beliefs. History is shining a spotlight on Maine, as potentially the first state to legalize same-sex marriage by a referendum vote driven by proponents. We hope voters affirm Maine as a place where people value the rights of all their neighbors equally.

Kudos to the Bangor Daily News.  Sadly, the truth is that the Catholic Church and the Christofascists hold nothing but contempt for the equal rights of other citizens.  They care only about their own rights and, in my view, have open contempt for the religious freedom promised by the U.S. Constitution to ALL citizens, gay or straight, black or white, Christian or non-Christian.  Their selfishness is breathtaking.   Ironically, Eisenhower's granddaughter has left the GOP in part because the party no longer upholds the principles enunciated by Dwight Eisenhower.

Civil Marriage Rights Wrongly on the Ballot

Next week voters in four states - Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington State - will decide whether or not LGBT citizens in those states merit equality under the civil laws.  That's right, under the civil laws, not the dogmas of various anti-gay religious denominations.  The civil rights of a minority group should never be on the ballot for a majority to dispense or withhold as it may frivolously choose based on ignorance, bigotry and/or antiquated religious belief.  Yet that's where we are in the supposed land of liberty and religious freedom.  And leading the charge in support of inequality and the subversion of the U.S. Constitution are the Roman Catholic Church - and institution lead by men many of whom ought to be behind bars for obstruction of justice - and knuckle dragging Christianists who would rather cling to ancient texts written by nomadic herders.  They are little more than a less violent version of the Taliban - the Christian Taliban, if you will.  The New York Times looks at the ballot initiatives in these states and urges support for the principals of the Constitution and passage of marriage equality.  Here are editorial highlights:

The freedom to marry is a fundamental right that should not have to be won or defended at the ballot box. In fact, ballot initiatives are a bad way to write or rewrite laws of any kind. Unfortunately, that is the reality of American politics, which is why same-sex marriage measures on the Nov. 6 ballot in Maine, Washington, Maryland and Minnesota could turn out to be pivotal in the struggle for marriage equality. 

Although recent polls of likely Maine voters are encouraging, the outcome is still far from certain. Historically, polls on such ballot tests have been misleading, and anti-marriage forces are waging a loud propaganda campaign. They are running television commercials suggesting that marriage-equality opponents would be unfairly “fired, sued, fined and punished” if the referendum passes, and that it is possible to treat gay and lesbian couples fairly while still excluding them from the right to marry. It would help if the state’s two supposedly moderate Republican senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, who is retiring, would stand up against forces of intolerance within their party by publicly supporting the referendum.

In Washington State, voters will be deciding whether to let stand the authorization of same-sex marriage handily approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the state’s Democratic governor, Christine Gregoire, in February. As in Maine, opponents of marriage equality are trying to make the fallacious argument that marriage equality would somehow harm heterosexual couples. 

The state’s Roman Catholic leaders have played a vocal role in trying to turn out a big “no” vote by Catholic parishioners. But major corporate players in the Seattle area, including Microsoft, Amazon and Starbucks, are supporting the measure. That is an encouraging development for the future of the issue nationwide.

If the law is approved by voters, the victory will owe much to the vigorous campaigning of Mr. O’Malley, the momentum created by President Obama’s endorsement of marriage equality and efforts, including by the N.A.A.C.P., to bolster support among blacks, who make up nearly 30 percent of Maryland’s residents. 

The issue before Minnesota voters is whether to double-down on the state’s existing law outlawing same-sex marriage by enshrining the antigay ban in the State Constitution. With polls showing a tight contest, it is hard to believe that a majority of Minnesotans would opt to place their state so sharply on the wrong side of fairness.

Sadly, fairness has nothing to do with the motivations of the opponents of same sex marriage.  Their religious traditions are now best known for ignorance, fear and hatred of others as they seek to inflict their religious beliefs on all.  The good news is that younger Americans are leaving these religious traditions in droves.  If there is such a thing as justice, one can only hope that some day the rights of Christians will be put on the ballot as they become a smaller element in the larger society.  These people need to be treated as they have treated others.  It is far past time that religion and religious denominations cease receive undeserved privileges and deference under America's laws.

 

Maine Anti-Gay Marriage Supporter Arrested in Prostitution Scandal

Once again we are seeing a shining example of the hypocrisy of some of the members of the conservative Christian crowd who oppose gay civil rights as they claim to be motivated solely by a desire to "protect the sanctity of marriage."  In this case the hypocrite is Donald Fortin, age 59, of 83 Skillings Woods Road, Turner, Maine, who has been charged with Engaging a Prostitute following an ongoing police department investigation of a prostitution ring out of a Kennebunk Zumba studio.  Fortin is the owner and president of Fortin Construction which on its website describes the company as a "Christian family owned company."   Moreover, he is a contributor to anti-gay  Protect Maine Marriage and family values GOP state senator Garrett Mason.  Maine's Majority has released the following Press Release:

Portland, ME - A review of campaign finance filings has found that the name of one of the men charged in the ongoing Kennebunk prostitution scandal matches that of a large contributor to the effort to defeat the state's same-sex marriage ballot measure and a maxed-out donor to Garrett Mason (R-Lisbon Falls), a Christian conservative and staunch opponent of marriage equality.

According to state records, on October 15, 2012, Donald Fortin of Turner personally donated $1,000 to Protect Maine Marriage and $350 to Mason through his business, Fortin Construction.[1] On June 21, Fortin also made a personal contribution to Mason in the amount of $350.

On October 25, the Kennebunk Police charged Donald Fortin of 83 Skillings Wood Road in Turner with Engaging a Prostitute. The same address is also found on the corporate filings of Diamond Developments of Maine, LLC (owned by a Donald Fortin) as well as a campaign contribution report by a Cynthia Fortin, who also gave $350 to Mason's campaign on October 15.

“We feel that the public deserves to know about this kind of hypocrisy," said Maine's Majority director Chris Korzen. "If Donald Fortin the campaign donor is indeed the same Donald Fortin in the Kennebunk Police press release, he cannot get away with actively promoting a conservative political agenda while engaging in behavior that is so blatantly at odds with his stated values. Furthermore, Protect Maine Marriage and Garret Mason must do the right thing and return these contributions.”

 Obviously, Fortin doesn't place much sanctity of his own marriage.  Whenever I see a business mentioning religion on its website, I usually take that as a good warning to hold on to your wallet.  Nonetheless, I feel sorry for his sons pictured on the company website who are no doubt embarrassed by their father's behavior and hypocrisy.

Obama Endorses Marriage Equality — Three Times

As a number of LGBT blogs and media outlets are reporting, today Barack Obama underscored that only one of the presidential contenders deserves the support of LGBT voters - or at least those among us who are subconsciously self-loathing and/or more worried about lower taxes than their own self-respect and dignity as equal citizens.   Today Obama endorse passage of marriage equality in the states of Washington State, Maine and Maryland where initiatives are on the ballot on November 6th.  In contrast, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and the GOP party platform make it abundantly clear that they  want LGBT Americans to have no equal rights with heterosexual citizens -indeed, they would have us relegated to one step above criminals (in fact, some in the GOP want to re-criminalize homosexuality).  Here are highlights from The Advocate on today's developments:

President Obama on Thursday officially endorsed all three state ballot measures with the potential to affirm marriage equality this November. In three separate yet similar statements, press secretaries for the commander in chief indicated the president's support for Washington's Referendum 74, Maine's Question 1, and Maryland's Question 6. 
 
At a campaign event in June, Obama personally endorsed marriage equality in the northeastern state [of Maryland].  "We're moving forward to a country where we treat everybody fairly and everybody equally, with dignity and respect," the president said in his speech, according to The Baltimore Sun. "And here in Maryland, thanks to the leadership of committed citizens and Governor O'Malley, you have a chance to reaffirm that principle in the voting booth in November. It's the right thing to do."

Back in April, Obama released a statement opposing the Minnesota marriage amendment, which would change the state's constitution to bar same-sex couples from legally marrying. Minnesota already has a state law banning same-sex marriage, but the proposed amendment would enshrine that discrimination in the state's constitution, making it more difficult to challenge in court.

That's leadership and political courage.  Meanwhile, Romney is ducking reporters who want to know his opinion on the refusal of would be Senator Mourdock to apologize for or withdraw his statement that pregnancies arising through rape are "God's plan" and should not be terminated by abortion.

Gay Marriage: At Long Last, Dignity

One of the constant goals of the less than godly Christians who oppose gay rights is not only to dehumanize LGBT individuals but to depict us as a diseased scourge and threat to decency and society.  This agenda, as I have noted before, sharply parallels the Nazi campaign against Europe's Jews nearly 80 years ago.  Don't believe me?  Take a look at the Nazi propaganda campaign against those of Jewish descent in 1930's Germany and substitute the word "gay" for Jew" and you will be stunned.   It will quickly convince you of where the Christianists and professional Christian crowd got their game plan against gays.  And one of the things that most cuts against this foul game plan is the spread of gay marriage.  Why? Because civil marriage represents a recognition of our humanity and the dignity of our loves and relationships.  It is anathema to the agenda of the Christofascists.  A column in the New York Times looks at how same sex marriage affords dignity - dignity that the "godly Christians" would deprive LGBT citizens from securing.  Here are column excerpts:

If you live for 80 years, Chuck Bennett told me, you see things you never imagined. Crazy, fantastical stuff.  . . . . And on Nov. 6, if the polls are right and his hope is fulfilled, the people of Maine may pass a referendum for same-sex marriage, which no state has adopted by popular vote before. 

“That’s equally amazing to me,” he said. Ten minutes later, he circled back to say it again. “I would like to reiterate how amazing it is.” 

Bennett was born in 1932 and grew up in Brooklyn without anything but slurs and clinical terms to describe his attraction to other men. In the late 1950s, he was forced out of the Navy for being gay.

He never found a long-term romantic partner, thwarted in part by a disapproving society with no obvious role models for him, and he bought his dream house on the ocean here 15 years ago with two close friends, because he didn’t want to grow old alone and didn’t expect to meet anyone special, not so late in the game.

“You know that old saying, Born 50 years too soon?” he asked me. “I think I do feel something of that.” 

Maine is one of four states with same-sex marriage on the ballot on Election Day, a crucial moment for advocates and opponents alike. . . . . . Advocates are most optimistic about Maine, and I traveled here last weekend for a sense of what victory would mean to someone who’d known and braved a much different world. I found my way to Bennett, a courteous man with a soulful gaze and a precise way of speaking that reflects his long career in academia, first as a college English professor, then as a dean. 

He recalled that during his teenage years, his only assurances that there were other people like him were newspaper stories about men arrested on Fire Island for “obscene” or “depraved” behavior. 

For Bennett, the marriage focus of the Maine referendum is almost beside the real point, which is validation.  “I see it as something of profound significance,” he said. “Whether anyone winds up getting married in Maine, I don’t care. I care that they can get married.” That right means that gay people are equal to straight people. It recognizes their dignity. His dignity. 

“I’m inclined to look back not in anger, as John Osborne once said, but with some degree of sadness,” he said. “Everyone could have been happier. Everyone could have been more fulfilled if they hadn’t been burdened with this prejudice.”  

It is precisely this validation and dignity that the Christianists seek to keep from LGBT Americans.  Nothing makes them more content and fell more self-satisfied that inflicting inequality and unhappiness on others.  To me, such a mindset represents a pervasive sickness.  There is nothing truly Christ like about it.  Indeed, Christ - if he truly existed - would likely be horrified to see what the "godly Christians" have done to his name.

Bruce Springsteen Backs Gay Marriage

I'd be willing to bet that there will be spittle flying in Chrisofascist and professional Christian circles when they realize that Bruce Springsteen - hardly an example of the "effete liberal" that folks like Tony Perkins and Pat Robertson like to malign - is endorsing marriage equality for same sex couples.  USA Today looks at the Boss's efforts to aid the cause of marriage equality in states where the forces of hate and bigotry are seeking to inflict their toxic religious beliefs on all citizens.  Here are highlights:

An Internet-based campaign aimed at passing same-sex marriage initiatives in four states is getting a little help today from Bruce Springsteen. 

The rocker's picture and a quote in support of marriage equality is featured in new content by The Four 2012, a social media campaign aimed at young people who live on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The goal is to pass ballot measures in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington that are on the November ballot.

"The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is -- a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law," Springsteen says on The Four 2012's "image macro."

Supreme Court Rejects NOM's Appeal of Order to Disclose Its Donors

While word is still out as to whether or not the U.S. Supreme Court will hear appeals of lower court DOMA rulings and Prop. 8, the Court did slapped the National Organization for Marriage by refusing its appeal from a lower court ruling that ordered NOM to disclose its donors as required under Maine's campaign disclosure law.  It will be interesting to see whether the gay haters at NOM will risk contempt of court rulings or finally disclose the sources of its seemingly unlimited amounts of money.  Obviously, it would be most sweet if it turned out that NOM was little more than a front for the Roam Catholic Church and/or the Mormon Church.  It would certainly help fuel calls for the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of denominations seeking to secretly funnel money to interfere with the civil laws.   Lest we forget, the image above shows what NOM supporters in Indiana think of LGBT marriage equality.  Here are highlights from the Boston Globe on the development:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from a national anti-gay marriage group that tried to thwart Maine’s campaign disclosure law requiring it to release its donor list, but it’s unlikely the list will be made public soon.

The high court turned aside an appeal from the National Organization for Marriage, a Washington, D.C.-based group that donated $1.9 million to a political action committee that helped repeal Maine’s same-sex marriage law in 2009.

Maine’s campaign disclosure law requires groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 to influence elections to register and disclose donors. NOM contends that releasing the donor list would stymie free speech and subject donors to harassment, but the lower court refused to throw out the law.

Following Monday’s decision, NOM Chairman John Eastman said his group will review Maine’s requests to disclose certain donors in the 2009 campaign. The state, he said, appears to have narrowed the type of information it’s seeking.

Since NOM doesn’t accept donations that are earmarked for designated campaigns, there could be zero people on the list of donors who gave specifically for Maine’s 2009 campaign, Eastman said. NOM will review its materials to see if it sent out solicitations that were Maine-specific, he said.

‘‘We'll now be looking at the narrow subset of donors that meet the new definition — the subset of those that donated for the purpose of advocating for or opposing a ballot initiative in Maine,’’ Eastman said.

Maine Assistant Attorney General Phyllis Gardiner said Eastman is possibly misinterpreting the state’s argument before the Supreme Court.  ‘‘The commission has not narrowed or changed its interpretation of what the statute requires during this litigation,’’ she said.

While the federal lawsuit has played out, NOM is using state courts to challenge the commission’s use of subpoenas in the case. A superior court justice upheld the subpoenas in state court over the summer, but NOM has appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court.

NOM's Plan to Divide Blacks and Gays May Be About to Bite It in the Ass

I've noted before how NOM had some secret documents released in the Maine litigation challenging NOM's failure to comply with Maine campaign finance disclosure laws.  One document addressed to NOM board of directions concern the plan to use gay marriage as a wedge issue to divide black voters.  LGBT rights activists jumped on the release quickly and now it appears that more and more in the black community are wising up to NOM's duplicitous ways.  Karma can be a real bitch!  Here are highlights from a piece in the Associated Baptist News that focuses on Amos Brown who pretty much rips NOM and white evangelicals a new one:

African-American Baptist leaders are working together to counter attempts by outsiders to use gay marriage as a wedge issue to divide black voters, a Baptist minister and NAACP leader said in a radio interview Aug. 11.

Amos Brown, pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco and president of the city’s local NAACP branch, said on Welton Gaddy’s State of Belief radio show that heads of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc.; National Baptist Convention of America; Progressive National Baptist Convention and Lott Carey Foreign Missionary Convention are all telling their constituencies: “We as black Baptists are not single-issue persons, and we see more important things than getting stuck on this matter of whether or not there should be same-sex marriages.”

Brown said black church leaders “are working to enlighten the people” about a confidential 2008-2009 memo from the National Organization for Marriage recently made public as evidence in a lawsuit in Maine.

The memo to NOM’s board of directors described a project designed to “drive a wedge between gays and blacks -- two key Democratic constituencies.” The strategy was to “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….”

“We contend that this is a racist ploy,” Brown said. “It is divisive, but it was birthed, it was created by, white evangelicals who have shown themselves to be duplicitous and contradictory in their stances.”

Brown charged the strategy was behind the formation of a national campaign in May calling on African-Americans to withdraw their support from President Obama because of his stance in favor of gay marriage.

“I was a part of that movement,” Brown said. “Dr. King taught me at Morehouse, and I know pretty much who was in the vanguard of the movement. Reverend William Owens was no leader in the Civil Rights Movement, and yet this organization, the National Organization for Marriage, has anointed him through misrepresenting who he is for political gain to divide the black community.”

“All of this is happening at the behest of white evangelical fundamentalists who have brought in such persons as Harry Jackson there in Maryland, Tony Evans down in Dallas, Texas, and others who don’t understand how they are being used, how they are being duped to make sure that Mr. Barack Obama is a one-term president,” Brown said. “This is sinister, it’s evil and it is wrong.”

 This effort combined with the NAACP's endorsement of same sex marriage as a civil right isn't playing out as NOM's sleazy strategists planned.  Personally, I am thrilled that at least some black pastors are waking up to the reality that they are being cynically used by white evangelicals and white Christianists.

Black Pastors For Sale - NOM Pays Bishop Harry Jackson for Being Anti-Gay

I frequently bemoan the fact that far too many black pastors act as water carriers for "family values" organizations that have strong white supremacist leanings such as The Family Foundation here in Virginia - or in the case of FRC's Tony Perkins, actual past involvement with white supremacy groups.  At times I have attributed this trained circus dog like behavior to ignorance and a lack of knowledge of history and just whose water these black pastors are carry.  But now we know there's another reason for this slavish obedience to their white masters: money.  And in the case of so-called Bishop Harry Jackson, we now know that he was paid at least $20,000 by the National Organization for Marriage ("NOM").  The documentation confirming payments to Jackson was part of additional releases in the Maine lawsuit where NOM is under investigation for campaign disclosure law violations.  Jackson gives new meaning to the terms whore and prostitute.  One can only wonder if his dwindling followers know that Jackson has been bought lock stock and barrel by those who seek to divide the LGBT community from the black community as one of their cynical anti-gay agenda.  Here are excerpts from Mother Jones:

As Maryland has become ground zero in the culture war, [Bishop Harry] Jackson is on the front lines. In February, the state legalized same-sex marriage. Now a ballot initiative to overturn that law awaits voters in November, and activists led by the National Organization for Marriage believe they can prevail by appealing to African Americans, particularly socially conservative churchgoers. Some of the biggest mega-churches in the country are in Maryland, notes Derek McCoy, an associate pastor at Jackson's church and the director of the Maryland Marriage Alliance, an umbrella group bankrolled in part by NOM. "The difference is they're African American."

NOM believes that stirring up anti-gay-marriage fervor among black voters has helped it win referendums in other states by pitting two groups of loyal Democrats against each other. As internal documents released during Maine's investigation into the group's finances asserted, "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."

Jackson is exactly the kind of African American spokesperson the NOM memo envisions. "There's been a hijacking of the civil rights movement by the radical gay movement," he said on CNN after backing California's Proposition 8 in 2008. "You can't equate your sin with my skin." He has received $20,000 from NOM's education fund and has rallied support for same-sex marriage bans in Florida and Washington, DC, where he joined Councilmember Marion Barry to oppose a marriage equality bill in 2009.

Details on the funding for Jackson's personal organization, the High Impact Leadership Coalition, are also murky. The group, which shares an address with Jackson's church, spent $40,700 trying to defeat marriage equality in DC. It describes itself as a nonprofit and solicits tax-deductible donations on its website. However, it is not listed in current IRS or charity databases, and its trade name registered with the state of Maryland lapsed in 2011. HILC's name was originally registered by an organization headed by Jackson's wife that lost its tax-exempt status after failing to file federal tax forms. (Mother Jones sought comment from Jackson but received no response.)

NOM and its allies may be overestimating the power of their wedge strategy. "It's wrong and disingenuous to pit blacks against gays, which is what the media has done," says Baltimore Delegate Jill Carter, who supports same-sex marriage rights. "I'm not wedded to my religion over civil rights and the Constitution."

 Reverend Delman Coates, who testified in support of marriage rights in the Maryland Legislature, explains that .   .   .   .   .  "There's a difference between the 'black church tradition,' and a church of blacks," Coates says. Pastors like Jackson "are often selected by interests outside of our community, and funded and promoted in ways that represent interests that are not in keeping with the historic tradition of freedom and equality. That's the black church tradition."