LGBT POV

What’s that adage about spin – say it long enough, hard enough, loud enough and eventually it will take on the cloak of truth? Well, the latest missive from National Organization Executive Director Brian Brown reads more like a fairy tale – showing that this Emperor has no clothes.

Brown’s email to supporters was in response a San Francisco Chronicle column published Sunday ostensibly “outing” Judge Vaughn Walker – who was not in the closet. But Brown’s email is full of so many oft-repeated lies, I decided to respond to his allegations about Judge Walker, point by point – using the transcript from the federal Prop 8 trial over which Walker is presiding. Please click inside to read my smack-down.

The federal challenge to Prop 8 happening now in the US District Court in San Francisco is not just a legal expose of the ongoing discrimination against same sex couples – it is also revealing just how deep is the divide in American thinking and perception.

In his latest fundraising letter issued Friday afternoon, National Organization for Marriage Executive Director Brian Brown summed up the legal strategy of the Olson/Boies team as putting Christianity on trial.

Please click inside to read his spin and my back-spin.

This email was sent out Friday morning to the National Organization for Marriage’s email list. Notice how Brian Brown compares NOM to the Human Rights Campaign. Beyond the gloating, it’s a fundraising letter to start work on stopping marriage in New York and New Jersey: “The National Organization for Marriage has again, because of your support and work, played a key role in changing the course of history on marriage. As the largest contributor to the Yes on 1 effort in Maine, NOM spent almost all that it had (literally!), a total of $1.8 million dollars, because we knew the singular importance of a victory in Maine.” Click inside to read Brian’s pitch.

Californians Against Hate founder Fred Karger testified before the Maine Ethics Commission Thursday morning alleging that the National Organization for Marriage has been laundering money in their campaign to stop a marriage equality law from taking effect in that state. Here is his first-person account of today’s startling event. This is also a corrected update to my early post Maine Ethics Commission to Investigate NOM for Money Laundering. Please note the importance of the freelance journalist who testified. Oh – and Fred says the investigation will start immediately.