National Organization for Marriage

From RationalWiki
(Redirected from NOM)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
"NOM" redirects here. Were you looking for cheezburger?
Onion rings! NOM NOM NOM.
Gay free zone
Homophobia
Icon homophobia.svg
Fighting the gay agenda
Judge not
That ye be not judged

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is an American political action group that opposes same-sex marriage. What will they do in a post Obergefell vs. Hodges world? Oh.[1]

It's Gonna Start Raining Men...RUN![edit]

NOM is perhaps best known for its "Gathering Storm" ad, released in 2009, which features a bunch of people greenscreened in front of dark storm clouds. They make it sound like Hurricane Homo has reached category 5 and is about to make landfall:[2]

"There's a storm gathering."
"The clouds are dark and the winds are strong."
"And I am afraid."

The irony meter breaks at the end when NOM affiliate Damon Owens appears to tell us his multi-ethnic "rainbow coalition" offers a ray of hope.[2] Everyone else in the ad is an actor, and none of them seem very passionate about NOM's cause, if the leaked casting videos are anything to go by.[3][4]

Also of note[edit]

Ender's Game author Orson Scott Card was on the board of directors for NOM from 2009 to 2013. He quietly stepped down, possibly to avoid issues with the pending release of the film of the same name.[5]

People[edit]

Key figures in NOM include Brian S. Brown, who is also involved with the World Congress of Families, and Maggie Gallagher, also of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy.[6][7]

Further Irony[edit]

NOM has had some trouble with its abbreviations, particularly "2M4M" and "PNP". The former means "two men seeking another man (for a threesome)"; The latter stands for "party and play", referring to drugs and sex.[8][9]

Wait, it's legal now?[edit]

By 2015, all US states had legalised same-sex marriage.[10] But even before then, NOM had pivoted to more generally hating on LGBT people, mocking trans and gay people, and supporting homophobic comments by people such as Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty.[11] However it also found itself $2 million in debt; a fine of $50,250 for violating Maine electoral law did not help, and it teetered on the brink of collapse for a few years.[11][12] Its annual March for Marriage in Washington DC fell from thousands of attendees c. 2009 to 30-50 people in 2017.[13]

It continued to persecute trans people, submitting a 2016 amicus curiae brief in the long-running legal dispute between trans student Gavin Grimm and his school board.[14][15][16] In 2017, they were told off by the clerk of the Supreme Court for deliberately misgendering Grimm.[17]

Fortunately, the NOM finally seems to have died, with its website in October 2022 still calling for senators to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2020, and its blog offline.[18]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Blue, Miranda, "Brian Brown Tells Moscow Conference: Americans Reject ‘New And False Vision Of The Family’", Right Wing Watch (13 January 2015, 5:40 pm).
  2. 2.0 2.1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp76ly2_NoI
  3. http://vimeo.com/4093265
  4. http://vimeo.com/4093390
  5. Think Progress - Orson Scott Card Apparently Quit The Board Of The National Organization For Marriage
  6. National Organization for Marriage, SourceWatch, accessed Oct 11, 2022
  7. Maggie Gallagher, SourceWatch, accessed Oct 11, 2022
  8. Talking Points Memo - Anti-Gay Rights Group Calls its Marriage Campaign '2M4M'
  9. In reality, PNP means Plug and Pray Plug and PlayWikipedia and makes the installation of computer devices much less of a hassle
  10. See the Wikipedia article on Same-sex marriage in the United States.
  11. 11.0 11.1 National Organization for Marriage Abandons Core Mission, Promotes Anti-LGBT Hate, Human Rights Campaign, January 29, 2014
  12. The National Organization for Marriage May Be Collapsing Before Our Eyes, The Advocate, Feb 24, 2017
  13. Anti-gay ‘March For Marriage’ draws an embarrassingly tiny crowd, Attitude, June 21, 2017
  14. Grimm v Gloucester County School Board, ACLU, Oct 6, 2021
  15. National Organization for Marriage and Center for Constitutional Jurispridence amici curiae brief in Grimm v Gloucester County School Board, ACLU, undated
  16. Gloucester County School Board v. G.G., Scotus Blog, 2017
  17. Supreme Court Reprimands Anti Trans Groups For Misgendering Gavin Grimm, Metro Weekly, Feb 27, 2017
  18. Homepage, National Organisation for Marriage, accessed Oct 11, 2022