Maggie Gallagher has stepped down as
president of the nation's largest and most influential anti-gay
marriage group, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).
Gallagher made the announcement on the
group's website Friday, “I have some very good news to announce for
you today: NOM has a new president.”
“Today, the board of NOM announced
that we are promoting Brian Brown, who you all know as NOM's capable
and charismatic executive director, to the position of president of
NOM.”
Having made hundreds of media
appearances since NOM's founding in 2007, Gallagher has become the
public face of opposition to gay marriage. She also serves as the
president of the socially conservative Institute for Marriage and
Public Policy, a group dedicated to “strengthening marriage as a
social institution,” and has authored five books.
Prior to her 1993 marriage to Raman
Srivastav, Gallagher was an unwed mother.
NOM routinely wields influence in
states debating the legalization of gay marriage and supports
candidates who oppose the institution. The group first came to
national attention in 2008 when it backed Proposition 8, California's
voter-approved gay marriage ban.
Gallagher will remain on the executive
committee of NOM's board and work on cultural and strategic projects.
In her forthcoming book Debating Same-Sex Marriage, she'll
argue her opposition to gay marriage against Wayne State University
Professor John Corvino, a nationally recognized speaker on the issue.
Brown headed the Family Institute of
Connecticut before joining NOM.