The National Organization for Marriage Discrimination has uploaded a new video to its YouTube channel in which the organization makes a number of astonishingly malicious and demonstrably false claims about LGBT people and marriage equality.
Chief among them is the likening of marriage equality with incest, pedophilia, and drug use. Speaking with a British accent over slick graphics, the narrator claims that the government has three ways of dealing with the “behavior” of its citizens: promoting it, permitting it, or prohibiting it. As an example, she notes that the state promotes police work, permits most occupations, but prohibits drug dealing because it “harms society.” “In the same way,” she continues, “our government promotes ‘natural marriage,’ permits most relationships, but prohibits incest and pedophilia.” The narrator goes on to claim, ““Natural marriage’ perpetuates and stabilizes society. Everyone benefits from that, even those who don’t get married. . . Same-sex marriage offers no benefit for society as a whole. In fact, it hurts us.”
Jeremy Hooper, longtime NOM-watcher and blogger extraordinaire, calls the group’s latest video “one of the most callous things I’ve ever seen NOM endorse.” Watch it below:
A couple observations:
- The video characterizes marriage not as a commitment, a particular kind of relationship, or even a choice, but rather, a “behavior.” Given the infinite variety found in marriages across the world and across the millenia, just what exactly does NOM define as “marriage behavior?” Or are they just using “behavior” to refer to the sexual acts that are presumably enjoyed within marriage?
- Just in case there’s any doubt which political party NOM has hitched its wagon to, the group adopts right-wing fiscal talking points, claiming that hetero-only marriage “reduces government spending and deficits.”
- As usual, NOM loves to make claims without citing sources. For example, the narrator says, “We know statistically that ‘natural marriage’ creates the best possible environment for children.” Leaving aside the fact that homosexuality is every bit as natural as heterosexuality, I’d like to know what “statistics” NOM is referring to here. Perhaps they’re talking about the widely-discredited Regnerus study that, instead of comparing functional same-sex marriages with functional opposite-sex ones, defines “anyone whose biological or adopted mother or father had a same-sex relationship that the respondent knew about by age 18″ as having been raised by lesbian moms or gay dads — even when those relationships were fleeting and/or adulterous? Sorry, no dice. Try again.
- At the 3:45 mark, the narrator claims that “same-sex marriage and ‘natural marriage’ are different behaviors with different outcomes…” The words are conveniently accompanied by two handy graphs — the one underneath “same-sex marriage” features a jagged line pointing ominously downwards, and the one underneath “‘natural marriage’” soaring blissfully upwards. The graphs, however, aren’t labeled, so it’s completely unclear what outcomes these graphs purport to illustrate.
- Finally, NOM president Brian Brown has publicly pleaded for a “civil debate” about marriage equality. Note to Brian: if you and your organization want to have a “civil debate,” you’re going to have to stop lying about LGBT people and our community, correct the record on the many falsehoods you’ve spread, cite your sources from this point forward, and commit to a debate firmly rooted in reality and grounded exclusively in sound science. Unless and until the lies stop, the “civil debate” you claim to seek just won’t happen.
NOM can see the writing on the wall; they’re desperate! This video is pure junk ! Shame on NOM !!
Interesting: NOM has now cancelled all comments for this video; telling, eh ?
Someone once spoke of the banality of evil. This video, with it’s calming, careful tones, and it’s outrageous lies is the distillation of hate. It manages to be both utterly bland and utterly evil.
NOM should be listed as a hate group for what it says at the 1:48 mark, that same-sex couples offer no benefit to society.
It is impossible to say this unless one believes that gay people are sub-human, they are not part of society, and their lives have no value, since they clearly derive benefit from marriage. This is disgusting effort to dehumanize an entire group of people — and the fact an English woman on Xanax is reading the script does not change what NOM just did.
We should make a video showing that fundie marriage harms society and neighborhoods with funies have inferior property values, crappy economies, lower education, higher divorce rates, and less education. Then since we can show these people have no value (I’m kidding of course) we can ban their useless marriages that bring down entire states!
The depth of NOM’s hatred is remarkable.
My partner and I met Zach Wahls earlier this year in SF. He is one of the most mature intelligent and sensitive 21 year olds I have ever met. He is the product of a same sex marriage. There is not one bone of hatred in his body. It’s too bad Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown didn’t grow up in a family like his.. They would have been much kinder human beings.
Thank you for this. I cried when I saw this f*****g trash. And then they had the gall to say that WE need to be more “tolerant.” Excuse me, but WE are the ones being KILLED. I just keep holding on to the idea that these are the dying gasps of a desperate generation. Otherwise, it breaks my heart again and again. And my family, my friends, support this nonsense. What their old dusty book (that most of them never even open!!!!) says is more important to them than my health and safety. It makes me feel like a non person. f**k, I’m depressed when I see things like this. Thank you so much for dogging these crazies and keeping the rest of us informed of what they’re doing. These are the “arguments” I have to answer to across the dinner table sometimes.
I can’t get over the absurdity of the first examples about gov’t only doing three things. My God these people are dumb. First graders have a wider knowledge of governments purpose than that. I guess this explains why they think without gay marriage, their kids will never know that gay people exist in the world. Promotes police, allows other occupations? Really? It’s this simple. My God. So dumb.
@Leila, they are a dying breed, and if they weren’t they wouldn’t have to take everything out on gay people. Straight people are the majority and they won’t stand for it, so they think they can bully minorities, but they are only backfiring.
[...] Source: http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2012/10/30688/ [...]
We don’t care if you “straight” heteros think gays are anything other than normal. It’s you haters who keep the gay factories adding to our numbers. Thanks only for building up our base.
Wow – Becker contradicts himself bigtime in this quote –
“As usual, NOM loves to make claims without citing sources. For example, the narrator says, “We know statistically that ‘natural marriage’ creates the best possible environment for children.” Leaving aside the fact that homosexuality is every bit as natural as heterosexuality, I’d like to know what “statistics” NOM is referring to here.”
Where did he draw the conclusion and dream up the “fact” that homosexuality is every bit as natural as heterosexuality”? WHERE ARE YOUR SOURCES FOR THIS CLAIM? Only 2-3% of the population claim to be homosexual, and a significant percentage of those admitted to being confused about it.
Mike gayness exists in virtually every animal species for which science has looked at it in. Here is some proof for you:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Biological+Exuberance%3a+Animal+Homosexuality+and+Natural+Diversity.-a053877996
Anti-gays like to dishonestly claim only 2 to 3 percent of the population is gay but that overlooks the fact that many, perhaps most gays will not admit their orientation to a researcher. Taking this into account there are studies that show 10% or more of the population has same sex attractions:
“In 2003, Pathela’s team performed telephone interviews with nearly 4,200 New York City men. They conducted the interviews in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian; a translation service helped with interviews in Greek, Korean, Yiddish, Polish, and Haitian Creole.
In nearly every study of sexual behaviour, the percentage of men who report sex with men is higher than the percentage of men who report being gay.
– Nearly one in 10 men who say they’re straight have sex only with other men, a New York City survey finds.
And 70% of those straight-identified men having sex with men are married.
In fact, 10% of all married men in this survey report same-sex behaviour during the past year.”
http://www.webmd.com/sex/news/20060918/many-straight-men-have-gay-sex
A CDC survey showed 2.3% of the population said they were homosexual and 1.8% said they were bisexual. But 3.9% said they think of their sexuality as “something else” and 1.8% refused to answer. Its a safe bet that given the stigma associated with being gay and the word “homosexual” that virtually all of the 3.9% who said “something else” (gay, likely rather than “homosexual”) and all of the 1.8% who refused to answer were same gay as well, particularly given that the New York survey showed up to 10% of gay men lie about their orientation. That makes for 9.8% who said their sexuality was something other than heterosexual, again, very close to the Kinsey 10% figure.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/ad/361-370/ad362.htm
A Canadian study of teenagers showed that 14% have some degree of same sex attraction:
“Online interviews were conducted in October 2005 by Ipsos Reid with 1,171 Canadian teenagers aged 14 to 17. As well, 1,139 mothers of teenagers were interviewed, but these weren’t the mothers of the teens who were surveyed. The results are considered accurate to within 2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
In addition, the study found 86 per cent of girls said they were attracted to boys only, while 87 per cent of boys said they were attracted to girls only.”
http://www.saskatoon.ctv.ca/servlet/an/plocal/CTVNews/20080121/teen_sex_080121/20080121/?hub=TorontoNewHome