In a clear sign of its growing desperation to place positive spin on its failing anti-gay bus tour, National Organization for Marriage is now throwing every possible smear at equality supporters while attempting to paint themselves in a coat of victimhood.
In his latest email screed, NOM President Brian Brown had this to say about "gay marriage radicals":
They've come to our peaceful marriage rallies in city after city to harass and intimidate us. We've seen men harass a nursing mother, refusing her request to feed her children in private and instead stare at her and block her ability to watch our rally from a safe distance. We've seen protesters draped in the rainbow flag storm the stage and scream, red-faced into the microphone to prevent our speakers from talking. We've seen them bait a five year old child, asking her if she's being raised by her mother to be a bigot. We've even heard a gay marriage supporter threaten to kidnap a child in attendance at a rally.
Reading that, one almost forgets that it's NOM and its supporters that are continuing to unleash an increasingly violent stream of anti-gay rhetoric. The "solution to gay marriage" sign calling for the murder of gay and lesbian couples is but one example.
Despite Brian's best attempt at placing a Harry Potter-like invisibility cloak over NOM's homophobia, the traditional media is not falling for NOM's song and dance.
From Chicago Tribune's Steve Chapman:
So why would NOM hold a rally where it is sure of being badly outnumbered by motivated and well-organized critics? Maybe because that's what it wanted. The Summer for Marriage Tour could have been called the Come Shout Us Down Tour.
The endeavor has managed to make opponents of gay marriage look like a brave, embattled minority, even though they constitute 53 percent of the public and have gotten their way in all but a few states. At today's rally, NOM supporters just number two or three dozen.
NOM's typical ploy is to conjure up phony claims of harassment and infringement and complain when anyone speaks the truth about its record and agenda. In its increasingly cynical attempts to provoke responses from equality supporters, NOM's "One Man, One Woman" tour has devolved from a media gimmick to a display of prejudice and incitement to violence.
With this week's display, NOM's mask has slipped, revealing what lies beneath their diversions, protestations, and veneer. NOM is funneling millions of dollars into political campaigns aimed at stripping away basic protections from gay people and their families while attempting to portray themselves as a being in the tradition of the black Civil Rights Movement.
The real victims of NOM are committed, loving gay couples across the country who are denied the freedom to marry and the critical safety net that marriage brings.