Conservative megadonor Sean Fieler gave
$1.25 million in 2009 to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM)
to help repeal a gay marriage law approved by Maine lawmakers.
NOM contributed $2 million to the $3
million campaign run by Stand for Marriage Maine to uproot the
marriage law.
On Monday, NOM complied with an order
to release its donor list, ending years of litigation.
(Related: NOM
reveals donors who helped repeal Maine's gay marriage law.)
According to Right
Wing Watch, Fieler, president of Equinox Partners and the Kuroto
Fund, is quietly influencing social conservative causes.
“His Chiaroscuro Foundation dispenses
millions of dollars each year to anti-gay and anti-abortion groups,”
the site wrote. “Fieler is also the chairman of the board of the
American Principles Project, a group founded by former NOM chairman
Robert George and employing former NOM president Maggie Gallagher
that seeks to move Republicans to the right on social issues.”
The Chiaroscuro Foundation also helped
fund the research of Mark Regnerus, an associate professor of
sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and lead author of a
widely criticized 2012 study which concluded that children are
negatively affected by having gay parents.
(Related: Judge
in Michigan gay marriage case declares Mark Regnerus' testimony
“unbelievable.”)