Prop 8 Trial Tracker

(A warm welcome to my friend and colleague Michael Crawford with Freedom to Marry, a partner in NOMTourTracker.com. This is vitally important pushback. – Adam)

By Michael Crawford, New Media Director, Freedom to Marry

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 protestors 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, protests, 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.

(We’re in St. Cloud, MN today, about 90 minutes northwest of yesterday’s tour stop in St. Paul, where despite the largest pro-NOM turnout of the tour, hundreds of pro-equality supporters outnumbered them and carried the day with a peaceful, positive message. Courage staffers Arisha Michelle Hatch, Anthony Ash and Phyllis Lozano are on the ground covering today’s events. We’ll be adding updates to this post, including pictures and video, throughout the day so keep refreshing to stay up to date. Don’t forget to check out this morning’s video and analysis from the stop in St. Paul, as well as photos and a summary on what happened there -Adam)

By Arisha Michelle Hatch

Today, 73 NOM supporters gathered on a lawn in front of Granite City Church. Despite being on private property, staff from the church permitted us to stand on the lawn and record the proceedings.

A handful of equality counter-protestors are standing about 250 feet away from the church on the sidewalk holding handmade signs, such as the ones below:

A larger crowd of pro-equality activists are rallying and marching on a different side of town. NOMTourTracker.com has a reporter there who will be sending in photo and video footage as it comes. Stay tuned…

UPDATE BY ADAM (11:10 AM PST): Phyllis just radioed in from the other side of town, where a hand-count of 89 equality supporters held a separate rally to show their support for the freedom to marry.

Phyllis told me a community organizer, Justin Michael, spoke to the crowd largely composed of students from St. Cloud State University, the second largest in the state (the rally is being held in Barden Park, next to the University). There’s a lesson here: St. Cloud is part of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s district, a virulent opponent of equality (and many other progressive issues). But this goes to show again that even in the reddest bastions of homophobia, we can find the future in younger supporters of equality like the students from St. Cloud State. We cannot write off areas of the country that may seem more conservative by their representation or character.

Phyllis said Justin told her they chose to rally in Barden Park, several miles away from Granite City Church, because they didn’t agree with the views of the pastor there and refused to rally on their turf. After rallying, they planed to march nearby before returning to the park to demonstrate their support to the rest of the city.

We’ll have video with Justin and folks from the rally as it comes in.

UPDATE BY ARISHA (1:35 PM PST):

The NOM rally in St. Cloud today was all about talking points; more specifically, how to respond when equality activists ask confusing questions to NOM supporters.

On the other side of town, 89 equality activists assembled, held a rally and then marched down the streets of St. Cloud waving rainbow flags. They didn’t go near the church.

Back at the NOM rally, Chuck Darryl, Communications Director for the Minnesota Family Council (who was also at the St. Paul rally), led the attendees through a series of common questions that equality activists may confront them with; interestingly enough, all of the questions he referenced were questions that we NOM Tour Trackers have been asking NOM supporters for the last few weeks.

“What do you say when activists compare [gay marriage] to the African American civil rights movement?” asked Darryl.

You could hear a pin drop.

“That’s a hard question to answer, right? [. . . because] it creates a false analogy. [. . .] Inter-racial marriage did nothing to redefine [the institution of] marriage.”

“What do you say when people ask you how [same-sex marriage] will affect your marriage?”

More silence.

Next, Darryl cited a recent “San Francisco study” – a study that in the last few days has become a common talking point for NOM – which claims to have studied the “sexual patterns of 566 gay male couples from the Bay Area.” The study, conducted by the Center for Research on Gender & Sexuality at San Francisco State University (Darryl, by the way, couldn’t name the author of the study and was not prepared to discuss its statistical validity) concludes that “[m]any Bay Area boyfriends negotiate open relationships that allow sex with outsiders.” The study of gay couples also reported that 47 percent reported open relationships, 45 percent were monogamous and the remaining 8 percent disagreed about what they were.

Because of NOM’s “renewed” focus to staying on message, I decided to go straight to the source – I wanted to confront Chuck Darryl himself to see how this Communications Director might hold up to my questioning.

I asked Darryl several questions, including many of the questions that he posed to the silent NOM audience. Clearly, staying on message is easier when people aren’t around to ask follow-up questions, but I digress.

I didn’t pull out any tricks. I asked him all of the questions that he expected me to (and a few more). I asked him how allowing same-sex couples to marry might affect heterosexual marriages. I asked him if he knew who conducted the study about gay men that he was citing. I asked him why the article was relevant. I asked him if that study had been peer reviewed. (“It’s science,” he answered.) I asked him if he was a sociologist or a statistician – whether he could speak to the validity of the research (“Are you,” he asked).

I asked him if perhaps the study had polled a different subset of the community – if it had polled 600 lesbian couples or 600 of the now 18,000 married California same-sex couples – whether he thought the results would be different. I asked him if polling in allegedly monogamous heterosexual relationships would reveal similar infidelity numbers, eliciting my favorite response of the day:

“Marriage domesticates [heterosexual] men,” he stated emphatically.

I asked him if allowing the access of gays, lesbians and bisexuals to the institution of marriage may have that same domesticating effect – whether it’s possible that being told your whole life that you will never be able to marry the person you’re attracted to may manifest itself in a way that is antithetical to monogamous relationships.

He didn’t see (check that, he wouldn’t admit) the connection.

(Anthony’s working hard to get the video uploaded now, but let’s just say that I’ve seen better spin before. I’m curious to know how you think Darryl handled my questions.)

In other news, I learned a new term today, courtesy of Bob Battle: “homophobe-phobes”, meaning, people who are afraid of people who are afraid of gay people.

That’s one phobia I’ll fess up to, anyone else with me?

UPDATE BY ADAM (2:56 PST):

Here’s an interview by Phyllis with Justin Michael, an organizer of the pro-equality rally near St. Cloud State University, describing why they chose to hold a celebration, rather than a protest, and to hold it in a separate location:

And video footage of the march he describes. It’s really great how it’s so positive and that it brings out people to spread their message peacefully:

UPDATE BY ADAM (5:21 PST): Arisha’s discussion with Chuck Darryl- actually, it’s one of a one-sided discussion because Darryl couldn’t muster a response to many of her points- is below. It’s just amazing.

How do you think Darryl did?

By Arisha Michelle Hatch

Today, NOM Tour Tracker is coming to you from the Twin Cities. Our team is on the ground in St. Paul, MN, the 11th stop on the NOM tour. And for once, NOM did a decent job of getting its supporters out.

In the largest NOM turnout to date, I hand-counted 163 NOM supporters before I stopped to file this blog post. And Brian Brown’s just giddy about  it.

“They told us, you can’t protect [traditional] marriage in California,” he said, laughing.  “We passed it [...] They said Maine is a [liberal] state, we beat them worse.”

Despite this, NOM supporters were still outnumbered by supporters of equality. A hand-count total of 217 equality supporters showed up to outnumber NOM supporters. The largest contingent of equality supporters stood behind the NOM rally before marching up the steps and inside the State House for a rally. 33 equality supporters have stayed behind, silently holding signs and rainbow flags. Brian acknowledged the local equality organizations’ commitment to have a “peaceful and respectful” counter-protest.

I videotaped one NOM supporter approach the young children of a lesbian counter-protestor with a magic trick.  He held up a red and blue card.

“Which card is longer?”

The guardian of the children intervened.

“Don’t talk to my children.”

The man demonstrated the card trick for me.  On the back are a copy of the Ten Commandments.

We’ll post that video later today. Below is a photo of the anti-equality rally:

UPDATE BY ADAM (10:51 PST): More photos are coming in. Here’s one of the rally inside the Minnesota State Capitol rotunda (which I recently learned has the 2nd-largest self-supporting marble dome in the world… you can guess the largest in the comments):

Equality supporters outside:

Here’s a photo of equality supporters remaining outside the NOM bus:

UPDATE BY ADAM (11:32 PST): Minnesota Public Radio reports that NOM is airing TV ads targeting candidates in the Minnesota gubernatorial race:

The question of whether to legalize same-sex marriage has come up in the governor’s race. The National Organization for Marriage began airing TV ads targeting the gubernatorial candidates in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage, including Democrats Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza and Independent Tom Horner.

Same-sex marriage came up again as an issue on Tuesday after campaign finance reports showed Target Corp. gave money to an organization backing Republican Tom Emmer for governor. Emmer has opposed efforts to give same-sex couples equal rights, including letting them marry.

Target, which has supported the GLBT community, responded to complaints over the donation, saying its support of the community is ‘unwavering.’

Same-sex marriage isn’t likely to be on the minds of many primary voters, but once the slate of candidates is decided Aug. 10, it’s possible voters could hear more about it.

Advocates in favor of same-sex marriage believe it could become legal in Minnesota if voters elect a DFL governor and if the DFL Party is able to keep its majority in the state Legislature.

Meanwhile, a group of same-sex couples has filed a lawsuit to try to get the court’s to overturn Minnesota’s law against same-sex marriage. That effort could take several years to run its course.

This is why turning out to counter NOM’s message is so important. While NOM’s ads are on TV in Minnesota, real people are on the ground showing the strength of their support for the freedom to marry for same-sex couples.

UPDATE BY ADAM (11:41 PST): Elsewhere, the Minnesota Star-Tribune reports on Brian Brown’s comments (h/t to Lesbians Love Boies in the comments for the link):

NOM President Brian Brown praised Minnesota’s gay marriage advocates for avoiding a confrontation. “We need to have civil debate. This is an emotional issue,” Brown said. “In other cities, we have not seen this kind of civility.”

Brown said he wants to see Minnesota join the states that have passed a constitutional marriage protecting traditional marriage. “We want Minnesota to be number 32,” he said.

Editorial note: Minor typo in the Star-Tribune piece which I believe should read “constitutional amendment“

Two notes. First is that Brian is incorrect that 31 states have passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Last fall, Maine voted to repeal a law which was enacted by the duly elected legislators and governor of the state, which is different than a constitutional amendment. Second, while many states have enacted such bans, other states like Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire, enacted equality through the legislative process, while other jurisdictions like California, New York and the District of Columbia voted to legalize the freedom to marry in one or more houses of the legislature.  The point is that people like Brown always complain about judicial activism and demand that legislators vote, and when the duly elected legislators of the state go against them, they complain about that and demand a people’s vote. One day, they will run out of that excuse, too.

UPDATE BY ARISHA (3:08 PST): OutFront Minnesota held a short press conference and rally inside the rotunda of the Capitol building.  Speakers, including several OutFront organizers, an out lesbian minister, and a straight father, addressed the crowd.  Inside, 184 equality activists gathered.

“The National Organization for Marriage has launched a nation-wide campaign attacking the notion of fairness and equality for same-sex couples,” Monica Meyer, Interim Executive Director of OutFront Minnesota said in a statement.  “This backward-looking effort is increasingly out of step with the realities on the ground and the opinions of many Minnesotans. Supporters of marriage equality will be inside the Capitol, where we are at other times of the year, standing for equality and inclusion.”

“How do I explain to my grandchildren that when they cross a state line that this is grandma’s wife, but when [we] cross back over the state line, it’s like we’re invisible?” the minister asked the audience.

“I’m here today because I have a son and I don’t know if my son will be gay or straight, but whatever he chooses I want him to have the same rights as all as his friends do,” said the straight father.

An OutFront Minnesota organizer led a familiar and moving chant (one that we often to do with Courage Campaign members, and my personal favorite organizing chant of all time):

“It is our duty to fight.  It is our duty to win.  We must love each other and protect each other.  We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

At the conclusion of the equality event, activists went back outside, lined the NOM rally in a semi-circle and turned their backs to the speakers in a silent counter-protest.

Outside, Brian Brown was giddy and despite his insistence otherwise, even his speakers are becoming more fringe.

“America is becoming a nation of bastards,” one NOM speaker stated from the podium to applause from the crowd.  “You can dress a pig in a tuxedo, but it’s still a pig,” he continued.

We also met with Father Michael Becker, a Catholic priest whose main argument against homosexuality was centered around the practice of anal and oral sex.  According to Father Becker, anal and oral sex lack dignity because they abuse their partners as instrumentalities of pleasure for non-procreative potential.

He said it, not me.

We’ll upload this video and others, including Brown’s response to whether he endorsed lynching homosexuals (as suggested by a NOM supporter in Indianapolis).

UPDATE BY ADAM (3:47 PST): I’ve got to share a few videos with you, the first being possibly the most moving and powerful one, from an OutFront Minnesota organizer. Watch her lead the crowd in a chant and her speech about why we fight:

And second, you can find our old friend Louis (hi, Louis!) being asked about, you guessed it, why he made his blog private, as many of you reported in the comments yesterday. His response:

In the extended entry, you can find an interview with Monica Meyer, the interim executive director of OutFront Minnesota whom Arisha quotes above. Click on (more…):

(more…)

By Adam Bink

Today, despite the largest turnout of the tour, NOM was yet again outnumbered by pro-equality  supporters today in St. Paul, Minnesota. Amid this news and other problems NOM has encountered overall on the tour, NOM is radioing in- or should we say, phoning in- for help.

We learned today that NOM, in advance of their planned stop in Des Moines this upcoming Sunday, is running robocalls in Iowa asking for matching funds to a $2 million “challenge grant” they have received, according to the Newton Independent. The funds will be used to “oust state lawmakers and judges who do not oppose same-sex marriages.” We at NOMTourTracker.com have heard tell of the same calls being run in Wisconsin, as well, but no confirmation yet.

No doubt NOM chose, at least in part, these states to run calls in because it currently has some of the highest visibility among potential supporters in those places at this time. And no doubt NOM is using the tour and its publicity to help raise money for this challenge grant. Given the big dose of #FAIL that NOM has swallowed in stop after stop, it remains to be seen how effective that will be.

Folks in the comments, if you have received robocalls, or reports of them from family/friends/colleagues who have, please send details to NOMtour@couragecampaign.org (NOMtour AT couragecampaign DOT org). Audio files or transcriptions are particularly helpful.

by Adam Bink

Fresh off a massive #FAIL in Indianapolis where pro-equality supporters more than tripled the number from NOM’s side, and where one of their supporters was caught with a sign claiming the solution to “gay marriage” was two nooses, we’re in Madison, WI today.

Arisha just radioed in- fifteen minutes before the NOM rally, the police already  started to surround the place with yellow caution tape.

Which can mean only one thing: Brian Brown and his anti-equality followers are back on tour.

But you know what excites me even more?

This:

That’s a hand-counted crowd of 466 pro-equality supporters, my friends. Four hundred and sixty-six. Easily the biggest crowd yet!

NOM’s side? Arisha counts 54.

Below, some excellent signs from the tour. We’ll have more details as this develops…

UPDATE BY ADAM (12:17 PST) : I just got off the phone with Anthony, our videographer on hand. He told me the pro-equality marchers came down from the University of Wisconsin-Madison to the State Capitol and took over the entire street- something you can see in the photo below:

Sidewalk to sidewalk, the street was full of nearly what we counted as 466 pro-equality supporters. Amazing.

Anthony also confirmed that Brian Brown is indeed back on tour- and up to his old tricks. Where before Brian and NOM attempted to keep our NOM Tour Trackers from covering the event in Annapolis, this time they had the local authorities wall off their supporters in the statehouse courtyard with yellow tape- and refused to let equality supporters inside. It brings separate but unequal a whole new meaning. Anthony and Arisha did manage to get inside, though.

Anthony is uploading video of this soon. The question we at NOMTourTracker.com have to ask is, what are Brian and NOM afraid of that they need to wall off an entire section of the courtyard?

UPDATE BY ARISHA (12:22 PST): Poor Brian. Just as he and his supporters decided to re-join the tour, NOM was met with its largest equality counter-demonstration to date.  466  equality activists marched down the streets of Madison and up the steps of the State House to greet a decent-sized crowd of NOM supporters – relative to their other tour stops – that at one point reached 54 people.

Nonetheless, the massive upstaging of NOM couldn’t go by without a little spin from NOM’s speakers.

“Thank you all for coming,”  Julliane Appling , a representative from Wisconsin Family Action began.   “[We hoped our turnout would be larger], but our people actually have jobs.”

Maggie and Brian both cheered.

“I ran up the steps in front of the [equality] marchers,” Brandy, a Wisconsin equality activist said.  “As I watched the sea of rainbows ascend the steps, I was in tears.  This is my town – my community – and today, I am proud.”

“They had months to prepare for their rally, we organized our [counter-protest] in one week,” chimed in another equality activist, also in tears, a as a chant of “We are the majority” began in the background.

She stopped talking to me to join in with the chant and disappeared into the crowd before I could get her name.

“In many of the places we’ve gone to, people have attempted to silence us,” said Brown, acknowledging the sizable equality protest.  “In Rhode Island, protestors attempted to shout us down, to storm the stage.”

Oh Brian….Rhode Island was soooo two weeks ago. But now that you’re talking First Amendment rights, let’s talk a bit about our cameraman that you had the Maryland police threaten to arrest in Annapolis the last time you were on tour.

Stay tuned.  We’re working to upload Brian’s answer to our First Amendment query, along with a funny video you’ll love.

UPDATE BY ADAM (1:42 PM PST): Okay, our first video is in, courtesy of commenter “New”:

Wow. Just wow. The throng of supporters lining the streets- from families to individuals with handmade signs to the gigantic rainbow flag (at about the 3:25 minute mark- you gotta see it) is breathtaking and, as folks in the comments have noted, brings something salty and wet to the eyes. Heartening, to say the least!

UPDATE BY ADAM (2:56 PST): We’ve got some videos for you from NOM Tour Tracker videographer, Anthony, and they’re amazing. The first is below showing the “yellow tape” I discussed above. The local authorities actually separated off a perimeter between equality supporters and NOM supporters. Again, what are they so afraid of?

The second is Anthony’s coverage standing from the Statehouse looking down at the throng of equality supporters marching up the street. It’s a bit of a different perspective than the video from the comments I posted above.

The third is our old friend, Brian Brown, who returned to the tour, being asked about a videographer being removed from the tour. As Arisha wrote above, Brian shouldn’t talk after attempting to have our videographer removed. Watch her call him out on it:

Also, his frame “I believe we are part of the new civil rights movement” is laughable. Civil rights is about extending rights to those who are oppressed, and Brian supports amendments that restrict them. We all know it, and we’re going to continue to demonstrate it along with countless families and couples on tour.

More pics in the extended entry: (more…)

By Adam Bink

Last week, NOM Tour Tracker reported that the Courage Campaign Institute’s videographer, Jethro Rothe-Kushel, was threatened with arrest by the Maryland Capitol Police at the NOM rally in Annapolis. You can see the video that Jethro shot of the incident, along with footage of Arisha Michelle Hatch confronting the officer here:

Jethro wrote at NOMTourTracker.com, a project launched by both Courage and Freedom to Marry:

After some secretive communications on his mobile device, and a conversation between Mr. Brown and a police officer, he finally began his rally at about 25 minutes after the hour. Like clockwork, just thirty seconds after the rally finally began, I was approached by the same officer, as you can see in the video.

I then tried to shoot from about 100 yards away at the foot of the square over the heads of a handful of his staffers who he instructed to stay close to the stage. Brown started talking about the aftermath of Prop 8 in California, but just I was about to capture some solid footage of the event, the officer again approached me and quarantined me to a corner across the street. This time he was stronger and came with a threat:

“Don’t make me lock you up!”

As we wrote at the time, Jethro had the right to videotape in a public place. This week, we were proven right, as the Maryland Capitol Police Chief apologized to NOM Tour Tracker for the way in which this situation was handled. His statement to NOM Tour Tracker:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the situation that occurred on July 21 at Lawyer’s Mall in Annapolis. I have thoroughly investigated this incident and have concluded that the situation should have been handled differently.

I regret the way this was conducted and take full responsibility for any inconvenience or embarrassment this may have caused. We are already in the process of instituting corrective training measures to address issues of this nature in the future.

We are also in the process of modifying our website to include the rules and regulations on the utilization of Lawyer’s Mall for both those who apply and are approved for permits, for those who are observing, and for any counter-demonstrators.

Once again I greatly appreciate you bringing this issue to my attention. If I can be of any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Phil Palmere
Chief of Police
Department of General Services, Maryland Capitol Police

Additionally, Courage Campaign founder Rick Jacobs spoke with Chief Palmere, accepted his apology, and conveyed his appreciation for he and his team for protecting our communities and our freedoms. We at NOM Tour Tracker appreciate Chief Palmere’s sincerity and his service.

Courage Campaign’s press release on this, including a statement from Rick, is in the extended entry. (more…)