Thomas Peters, cultural director for
the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), has dismissed Election
Day wins for supporters of gay marriage.
On November 6, NOM, the nation's most
vociferous opponent of marriage equality, suffered setbacks in five
campaigns which it had backed. In three states – Maine, Maryland,
and Washington state – voters legalized the institution, while
Minnesotans rejected an effort to ban it. In Iowa, NOM lost a
campaign to oust state Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins, who was
targeted by conservatives angry over the high court's unanimous 2009
ruling which brought gay marriage to the Midwest.
(Related: Effort
to oust Iowa Judge David Wiggins over gay marriage fails.)
Appearing on PBS Newshour,
Peters refused to cede any ground.
When asked by anchor Ray Suarez, “Was
Election Day a turning point?” Peters responded: “No, not at all.
I think these were tactical wins. Going into these four state
fights we had no illusions. These are deep blue states, we were
vastly outraised by our opponents. And even despite all those
political forces against us, we still managed to have very close
margins in the final tally. What I'm hearing this week is that it's
not a big shift. We are encouraged to double down, to renew our
efforts.”
Lee Swislow of the group Gay &
Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), noted that Maine voters had
repealed a marriage equality law just 3 years earlier.
“I think Maine was as blue then as it
is now,” Swislow said. “So what we're seeing is people are
changing on this issue.” (The video is embedded on this page.
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