A new National Organization for
Marriage (NOM) anti-gay marriage ad which features the brouhaha
between Miss California Carrie Prejean and celebrity blogger Perez
Hilton offers a host of half-truths to promulgate its anti-gay
marriage position.
Celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton,
who is gay, attacked Prejean for answering during the Miss USA
contest that she believed marriage “should be between a man and a
woman.” In a video posted at his blog, PerezHilton.com, he called
her a “dumb bitch.” And added that he would have snatched the
pageant crown from her head if she would have won. He later
apologized, asking Prejean out for “coffee and talk.”
The ad, ironically titled No
Offense, also features an altercation on MSNBC's Hardball
between Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese and NOM
President Maggie Gallagher. Solmonese is quoted in the ad saying,
“It's no longer palatable in this county or OK to be an outright
bigot.”
The NOM ad then suggests, “They
attack if you oppose gay marriage because they don't want to debate
the consequences.” And claims those consequences would be “legal
conflicts for individuals, small businesses and religious
organizations.”
The ad points fingers at gay marriage
advocates, calling them dishonest, but the real knaves are the folks
at NOM.
Those legal scholars prominently
featured in the ad – the ones that give weight to the notion that
gay marriage would create “legal conflicts” – do not say gay
marriage will lead to legal anarchy. Instead they argue in testimony
submitted to lawmakers in Connecticut that legal gay marriage needs
to include strong First Amendment protections, including protections
for religious dissenters.
In fact, Douglas Laycock, the
University of Michigan Law School professor whose letter is quoted in
the ad, also writes in the same correspondence: “I support same-sex
marriage.”
To spin the testimony of supporters
into gay marriage objection is at best only half truthful and at
worst an outright deception. No offense.