African-American leaders are speaking
out against the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM) race
strategy to defeat gay marriage.
Gay rights advocate the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC) on Monday posted four of NOM's internal
strategic memos from 2009, which were unsealed in the course of NOM's
ongoing legal challenge to Maine's campaign reporting laws.
The memos
have caused an uproar for stating the “strategic goal of this
project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks – two key
democratic constituencies.”
Julian Bond, chairman emeritus of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP),
criticized the group.
“It confirmed a suspicion that some
evil hand was behind this,” Bond told The
Hill.
Referring to last year's failed attempt
to legalize gay marriage in Maryland, which Bond said was largely due
to opposition from black religious leaders and politicians, he said:
“I would not be surprised to find this group and its filthy hand in
crafting this situation.”
(The law was approved during this
year's legislative session; however opponents are looking to repeal
it through a referendum.)
NAACP President and CEO Benjamin
Jealous called the attempt to create a wedge as “artificial.”
“This memo only reveals the limits of
a cynical agenda,” Jealous said in a statement. “The truth is
that no group, no matter how well-funded, can drive an artificial
wedge between our communities. People of color understand what it is
like to be the target of discrimination. No public relations
strategy will make us forget that.”
Sharon Lettman-Hicks, executive
director and CEO of the National Black Justice Coalition, had harsher
words for the group, calling NOM a “hate group.”
“These documents expose NOM for what
it really is – a hate group determined to use African American
faith leaders as pawns to push their damaging agenda and as
mouthpieces to amplify that hatred,” Lettman-Hicks
said in a statement. “NOM is fighting a losing battle. With
these memos made public, the black faith community must refuse to be
exploited and refuse to deny their fellow brothers and sisters equal
protections under the law.”
NOM President Brian Brown told The
Hill that it has a diverse group of supporters.
“This was an organization memo with
many authors. Perhaps it was inarticulate in the way it laid it
out,” he said. “Great for them that they're highlighting a 2009
memo that actually depicts the reality that Democrats are trying to
hijack the civil rights movement.”