(h/t Heather)
David Shuster exposed the distortions being used by NOM's Brian S. Brown over the issue of gay marriage. Groups like NOM will cut and paste any statement to make themselves appear right. It's a sad state of affairs, but that's what we've come to expect from people like Brown. In this case they use people who support gay marriage and twist their words to suit their own goals.
Shuster: Brian, your ad refers to legal scholars and says same sex marriage will lead to damaging wide spread legal conflicts for small businesses and religious organizations. That's only half of the sentence of their conclusion, isn't it?
Brown: Well, that's the focus Doug Laycock, Robin...people on both sides of the debate agree...
Shuster: Let's talk about Doug Laycock because he supports same sex marriage and the fact is that in their conclusion they say without 'religious accommodation' it will create legal conflicts. You didn't put that "religious accommodation' or in your ad or press release, you simply took the last half of your sentence simply say "Oh, this is going to lead all sorts of problems, it's like saying your car is going to break down unless you fill it with gas and you leave out 'unless you fill it with gas," why did you do that?
Shuster then picks him apart the rest of the way. NOM joined up with Miss California to campaign against 'teh gays' that they say will destroy the institution of marriage. They's gone straight to Miss California to campaign against gay marriage.
Carrie Prejean told NBC's "Today" show Thursday that she'll be working with the National Organization for Marriage to "protect traditional marriages."The 21-year-old says that marriage is "something that is very dear to my heart" and she's in Washington to help save it.
I'm amused by the idea that marriage is "very dear to [her] heart" (like orphaned puppies or her Grandma Mima) and that "traditional marriage" needs saving, not from divorce, or abuse, or philandering, but from queers seeking just a sliver of equality.
Go, Miss California, fight the good fight in the name of bigotry and intolerance! I'm sure you'll make your home state proud.
Miss Texas has found her calling now and will become a new Anita Bryant speaking out against gays. That's pretty sad. I'm sorry you lost the contest, but we are defined on how we respond to the challenges that confront us and you've made a pretty sad choice. Good luck hanging with the religious zealots.
The NOM ad then flashes the quotes "will create widespread and unnecessary legal conflicts" and "effects would be ... devestating" on the screen, but doesn't say where they came from.
In the press release on its website, NOM instead links to these two letters [PDFs] addressed to Christopher Donovan, Speaker of the House in Connecticut, showing where the quotes came from. The only problem is that the authors weren't warning of the "devastating" effects of gay marriage - they were urging the state legislature to pass an exemption for religious organizations when it enacted its marriage equality law:...read on
