READ: Maggie Gallagher's Last Syndicated Column

BY NEAL BROVERMAN

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The founder of the antigay National Organization for Marriage, Maggie Gallagher, wrote her last syndicated advice column on Wednesday and announced she was giving up optimism. Gallager’s column has run in various publications for 17 years, where she espoused her conservative, and often antigay, beliefs. Gallagher has long been the face of the anti-marriage equality movement, appearing on talk shows and news programs.

In her final column, Gallagher admits much of her work has proved fruitless.

“On every key measure, marriage is weaker,” she writes. “The consequences are more obviously unsustainable, yet culturally powerful voices are less willing to engage, and the power of porn and Hollywood to create our norms for family life is more triumphant than ever.”

Gallagher believes men must lead all households, which must consist of a husband, a wife, and children.

“Without a powerful ideal of masculinity that points men toward marriage and fatherhood, more and more young men are deciding the hard work of becoming marriageable is not worth it: Porn, beer, video games with the guys, freedom and fleeting sexual encounters are good enough.

The most urgent overlooked need is the deep need of boys for masculine ideals. If civilization refuses to provide any, porn and video-game makers will step in to fill the gap. Why should young men work hard to become protectors and defenders of women and children when American culture — and women — tells them they are not needed in either role?”

Gallagher seems to believe marriage is not pleasant — for straights or gays — but must be endured:

“Men and women are different. A society that pretends otherwise is not going to raise boys to be loving, reliable family men. Marriage is about settling for less but raising up an ideal much bigger and more important even than the most urgent whispered promises of romantic love.”

Gallagher closes her column by saying she’s giving up on optimism, but remaining hopeful that her life’s mission is taken up by others. Read the column here.

Maggie Gallagher’s New Job: Playing Mother Theresa To Poor Oppressed Homophobes | gayagenda.com

Marriage ADA’s goal is an America where people on all sides of the gay marriage debate feel free to participate peacefully in the democratic process without fear of threats, harassment, or retaliation. I know that Frank is not the only one, because I’m getting e-mails from others who’ve faced similar threats. The goal of too many gay marriage advocates is to isolate, intimidate, and silence Americans who believe that marriage is the union of husband and wife, because children need their mom and dad. Marriage ADA is a response to these tactics of branding civil, thoughtful participation in democracy as hatred and bigotry.

Former National Organization of Marriage chair and out-of-wedlock mother Maggie Gallagher discussing her new role as the head of Marriage Anti-Defamation Association, in the National Review.

Source: Joe.My.God

BREAKING NEWS!! Maggie Gallagher Out at NOM; Replacement No Better | advocate.com

By Lucas Grindley

JOHN EASTMAN MAGGIE GALLAGHER X390 (FAIR) | ADVOCATE.COM
John Eastman, Maggie Gallagher

Maggie Gallagher is out as the top leader at the antigay National Organization for Marriage, the group announced today. But don’t expect much to change.

She is being replaced by John Eastman, a former dean of Chapman University Law School in Calfornia, who gained notoriety as a vocal backer of Proposition 8. He actually criticized supporters of Prop. 8 for being too conciliatory in their argument that “marriage” is a special title that should be reserved for straight couples.

“If [gay couples] deserve the rights, why not call it marriage?” he toldTheOrange County Register in 2009. “When it’s argued that there are simply different names for the same relationship, public opinion will say, ‘Why should you have different names?’”

Instead, Eastman argues that straight people are superior to gays because they can procreate, and so marriage is just for people who can procreate.

“You can have separate laws for different situations,” he said. “Marriage is for procreation and promotion of the family.” But he was the target of an uproar for seeming to undermine all adoptive parents. “There is a biological connection to the institution of marriage. The people who have the greatest natural instinct to care for children are the natural parents,” he claimed.

Eastman refused to back away from his insistence that two biological parents are better than single parents, stepparents, and even adoptive parents, claiming that studies “pretty conclusively” show that kids are at more risk in those situations.

“That does not mean, of course, that there are not wonderfully loving examples of single parent or stepparent child rearing, or conversely bad examples of married biological parent child rearing,” he said in a follow-up comment to the newspaper, explaining that even biological parents aren’t perfect. “Lower risk does not mean no risk, or absolute risk on the other side.”

With Eastman stepping in, Gallagher said she will remain on the board but will focus more on writing an antigay book.

“My original intention in co-founding the National Organization for Marriage was to launch a politically sophisticated national activist organization to fight for the views of millions of Americans who believe that marriage is and should remain the union of husband and wife,” she said in a statement. “I think it’s fair to say that NOM has been launched, and is now far more successful than even I dreamed (and I dreamed big!).”

Most recently under Gallagher’s leadership, NOM convinced all three major Republican presidential candidates to sign on to her pledge to ban same-sex marriage at the federal level — plus a few other oddball promises, including one to investigate NOM’s opponents for harassment.

But the group is fresh off a major failure in New York, where lawmakers approved same-sex marriage despite NOM’s threats to campaign against any Republican who supported the measure. It became in June the most populous state in the nation to offer marriage equality.

NOM'S Maggie Gallagher: Obama Has Declared 'Gay is Like Black'

The National Organization for Marriage’s spokesperson Maggie Gallagher continues to offend as she justifies her bigoted political beliefs.

Shortly after news that President Obama has ordered the Department of Justice to consider the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, Gallagher called in to FOX News to denounce the act that moves our nation a whole lot closer to equality.

There’s been quite a lot of foot-in-mouth syndrome going around in the news this week (UB readers know who I’m talking about!), and Gallagher joins the club in a big way telling FOX and the world:

“We’re going to be seeing a lot more of this by President Obama now that he faces a republican dominated Congress. He not only is refusing to defend the law, he has unilaterally declared that gay is like black.”

Click the link above to watch the video.

Md. marriage hearing underway

At least 140 witnesses were registered to testify Tuesday at a Maryland Senate hearing on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state.

Maggie Gallagher, head of the National Organization for Marriage, testified in opposition, along with dozens of others.

Testimony is expected to last until at least 9 p.m. Tuesday. A majority of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee members support the bill, so its passage to the full Senate is not considered in doubt.

The Blade will have full coverage of today’s hearing tonight and Wednesday and as developments warrant.

Maggie Gallagher’s Testimony Convinces A Senator To Vote FOR Marriage Equality

Maryland – The Senate Judicial Proceedings committee heard 7 hours of testimony last night on whether or not to legalize gay marriage, including from NOM’s Maggie Gallagher.

Now one Senator, who was previously a foe, has said her testimony convinced him to support marriage equality.

[…]

Bigotry Watch: NOM goes after Prop 8 judges

On Wednesday, December 1, coincidentally both World AIDS Day and the fifty-fifth anniversary of freedom fighter Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her seat on an Alabama bus, Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization for Marriage (NOM) demanded that one of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals judges for next week’s upcoming Prop 8 trial give up his seat on the court.

That’s right, after NOM’s successful assault on the Iowa Supreme Court judges who found Iowa’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional (NOM actually helped get them voted out of office,) Maggie Gallagher’s mysteriously-funded anti-gay anti-marriage equality organization is trying to get one of three federal judges appointed to hear the case – Judge Stephen Reinhardt  –  kicked off the Proposition 8 trial.

NOM’s reasoning? Judge Reinhardt’s wife is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California.

“Judge Reinhardt’s wife, Ramona Ripston, has been involved in this case on numerous accounts, and what we’ve learned from Ed Whelan’s highly informative Bench Memo yesterday, posted on National Review Online (and updated here) is that there is no way Judge Reinhardt can rightfully remain a member of this hearing without making a mockery of the federal judiciary,” said Brian Brown, president of NOM. “We are demanding that Judge Reinhardt to step down immediately and call Californians to write an official complaint to the Ninth Circuit demanding that Judge Reinhardt be disqualified.”

(Of course, we can all agree that Brian Brown’s primary concern in life is the federal judiciary not be made a mockery.)

Indeed, there are many ways to look at this situation. Is a federal judge capable of being objective, regardless of his wife’s (or, hypothetically, his husband’s) involvement in the case? Is there the possibility of the perception of a lack of impartiality? Can we judge a judge based on his or her spouse’s actions, political affiliations, or even sexual orientation?

NOM claims that “there are other circumstances that clearly call his impartiality into question,” and that “Ripston, Reinhardt’s wife, contributed money to the NO on Proposition 8 campaign. It is not known if these funds were joint or separate funds. Ripston publicly cheered the decision by the District Court to declare Proposition 8 unconstitutional. In a media statement, she said, ‘We rejoice at today’s decision but there’s a long road ahead toward establishing true marriage equality for same-sex couples.’”

If this is true, why haven’t Maggie Gallagher, Brian Brown, and the rest of the NOM clan called into question the impartiality of another one of the three judges on the panel who will be hearing next week’s Prop 8 case, Norman Randy Smith?

Many believe Judge Smith is a Mormon, and the Mormon Church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) was one of the largest contributors to the “Yes On 8″ Prop 8 campaign to ban same-sex marriage in California. Judge Smith, who attended Brigham Young University and received both his undergraduate and post-graduate degrees from that Mormon university, was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush to the Ninth Circuit.

Is that not a problem for the National Organization for Marriage too?

If not, why is religion – and participation in religion-based activities, like donating to a political campaign  - not a disqualifier for the National Organization for Marriage? And why is sexual orientation? NOM heavily protested Judge Vaughn Walker, the judge on the Prop 8 federal trial, who found Prop 8 unconstitutional. Judge Walker, as it turns out, reportedly is gay.

At the time, Gallagher called Walker’s decision which found Prop 8 to be unconstitutional, a “sin,” and “a slur against the American people.”

Given NOM’s “logic,” once Prop 8 (or the Defense of Marriage Act, or Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,) gets to the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Clarence Thomas must automatically recuse himself.

After all, Virginia Thomas, Judge Thomas’ wife (who recently made headlines by demanding an apology from her husband’s sexual-harassment accuser, Anita Hill,) is a board member of the anti-gay Heritage Foundation, and founded and was the president of the Tea Party group, Liberty Central. (Mrs. Thomas was recently forced to step down from the group, presumably due to the impropriety of having a sitting Supreme Court Justice’s wife making extremist headlines.)

As a result of Virginia Thomas’ stepping down from Liberty Central, the Tea Party group will now merge with the Patrick Henry Center. Adele M. Stan in Alternet writes, “Also on the Patrick Henry advisory board are two anti-gay activists: Beverly LaHaye, founder of the Concerned Women for America, and Alan Sears, head of the Alliance Defense Fund. Rounding out the advisory board is Howard Phillips, founder of the Constitution Party, which seeks to replace secular law with biblical law. Phillips is one of the founders of the religious right, and a close associate of John Birch Society President John McManus.”

Given the ideological incestuousness of the anti-gay right, is there any possibility that Justice Clarence Thomas — a known anti-gay jurist in his own right — could judge LGBT-related cases without at least the appearance of being partial?

For what it’s worth, I don’t know if Judge Reinhardt should recuse himself, or if Judge Norman Randy Smith should recuse himself, or even, as I’m not a lawyer, if Justice Clarence Thomas should when “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the Defense of Marriage Act, or other LGBT-related cases come before him. But I do know that if Maggie Gallagher and NOM are to have any credibility with Americans and our sense of fairness, she must demand Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recuse himself from any LGBT-related cases.

If there’s one thing you can count on with Maggie Gallagher, it’s that she’s rarely able to see what’s around the corner. In this game of judicial chess, which Gallagher has been all-too-keen on starting, it’s clear the end result is the that forces of equality will have taken down NOM’s queen, and are poised to capture the king. Thanks, in part, to Maggie.

Gallagher Isn't Killing Gay Teens

MAGGIE GALLAGHER X390 (NOM PUBLCITY FAIR USE) | ADVOCATE.COM

National Organization for Marriage president Maggie Gallagher says she and other anti–marriage equality activists are not responsible for the recently reported suicides among LGBT teens.

“Do I have blood on my hands?” she asks as she kicks off her guest column in the New York Post.

Gallagher calls the deaths “terrible” and “tragic” and says each teen is a “child of God.” But she also says that, according to marriage equality supporters, “either we all agree that gay marriage is good or gay children will die.”

Speaking to the statistic that “LGBT teens are four times as likely as other students to attempt suicide,” Gallagher says the “it’s homophobia pulling the trigger” narrative isn’t quite accurate.

She writes, “Gay students are also more than twice as likely to report having had sexual intercourse before age 13 — that is, to be sexually abused as children. They are three times as likely to report being the victims of dating violence, and nearly four times as likely to report forced sexual contact. A majority of LGBT teens in Massachusetts reported using illegal drugs in the last month. (Perhaps most oddly, gay teens are also three times as likely as non-gay teens to report either becoming pregnant or getting someone else pregnant.)”

Read the full column here.

Maggie Gallagher, Stop the Bullying!

Just this past month 5 more gay or gay-perceived teens committed suicide in this country.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), run by Maggie Gallagher and her sidekick, Brian Brown, has spent tens of millions of dollars in the past three years to bully and bash lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people and anyone who dares to support their full equality. Everything NOM does only furthers hate and homophobia.

Yesterday Maggie finally weighed in on the suicide of Tyler Clementi, one of the most recent of five young men who took their own lives last month. She had the gall to say, “Nothing in the press accounts suggest the kids who did this were motivated by homophobia.”

Big hearted Maggie and the wealthy mystery backers of NOM say they care deeply about children.

Then stop the vicious attacks. Stop the bullying. Let all people live their lives honestly and openly.

NOM’s Real LGBT Agenda

On April 10, 2010, at a NOM program in New Orleans run by Brian Brown, the only other speaker was Thomas Messner, a NOM consultant and Visiting Richard and Helen DeVos Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

Messner was the first to speak the truth about NOM’s real agenda when he said:

“Gay marriage legitimizes homosexuality.”

That is exactly what NOM wants to prevent, period. Its purpose is to make LGBTQ people feel inferior and inflame homophobia under the guise of stopping gay marriage. We must not let them succeed; too many lives are at stake.

Gallagher, Wolfson debate gay marriage

Thursday, October 7, 2010

An outspoken advocate for gay marriage and a lobbyist against it, both former Yale Political Union members, brought their clashing views back to Yale for debate Wednesday night.

Evan Wolfson ’78, founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry, and Maggie Gallagher ’82, former president of the National Organization for Marriage, joined about 250 students and guests in Sudler Hall for a YPU debate titled “Resolved: Same-Sex Couples Should be Allowed to Marry.” After they spoke, students and guests in the audience gave philosophical arguments about the institution of marriage and shared personal anecdotes.

“[Wolfson and Gallagher] have worked against each other in the political sphere for years now,” YPU Speaker Adam Stempel ’11 said prior to the debate. “It will be interesting to see them on stage.”

In her speech, Gallagher made the distinction between “adult relationships,” which she said can be hetero- or homosexual, and marriage, which she said must be heterosexual because children need a mother and a father. She said she thinks heterosexual marriages are a crucial pillar of society.

No matter how many kinds of sexual relationships exist, she said, the definition of marriage should be kept separate.

“Homosexual people don’t make children because somebody looks kind of cute on Saturday night,” Gallagher said.

She said she does not think it should not matter to the children of gay couples whether their parents are married, or in a civil union.

Gallagher said her position is not denying equal rights, because everyone has the right to marry, so long as that marriage is heterosexual. Her argument was met by a mix of hisses and applause from the crowd.

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“It is not discrimination to treat different things differently,” Gallagher said.

But Wolfson argued that denying gay couples the right to marry is discrimination, and that marriage is not fundamentally about procreation but about loving commitment. He added that several scientific studies have shown that the children of gay parents can lead happy, healthy and well-adjusted lives.

“When women began practicing law, there was no new word for lawyer, or change in what a lawyer was,” he said, likening the ongoing campaign for gay marriage to the women’s suffrage movement. “When they were allowed to vote, there was not change in the definition of voters.”

The speakers did not discuss the morality of homosexuality itself. Gallagher said she was making no moral distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex unions.

Both guest speakers presented their positions in 15-minute speeches, then addressed each other in five-minute rebuttals. Then Stempel opened the floor for questions and speeches from students and guests, which spanned both extremes of the political spectrum.

Ken Cornet, a justice of the peace in Washington, Conn. who spoke at the debate, said marriage is about more than the social advantages the government grants.

“Should my vows be ‘Does this penis take this vagina for a bundle of rights? Tax advantages?’” Cornet asked.

Cornet said he has issued marriage licenses to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples, and thinks same-sex commitments are compatible with the universal vows to love, honor and cherish a partner for life.

Al Riccio, a guest speaker from Southern Connecticut State University who identifies as male and transgender, said the work of the National Organization for Marriage has contributed to high suicide rates among LGBTQ teens. Children who are victims of homophobia are now a public health disaster, he said.

“If you’re concerned about children,” Riccio said to Gallagher, “it’s clear you’re only concerned about the straight ones.”

Mitchell Conery ’14, who said he has a transgender, bisexual father, said unconventional marriages damage children, who respond by trying to prove their heterosexuality and gender identity.

This event was the first YPU debate with two guest speakers in over five years, Stempel said.

At Yale, Wolfson was a speaker of the YPU and a member of the Liberal Party, and Gallagher was the chairman of the Party of the Right.

After the event, the political right held a reception in the common room of Timothy Dwight College, and the left headed to Yorkside Pizza.

When the debate ended after 10 p.m., the count among those who remained was 49 for gay marriage, 16 opposed and 7 abstaining.

NOM: An Old Dog Doing Old Tricks

NOM: An Old Dog Doing Old Tricks

For some reason I’m not shocked by this, but am amazed that any legislative, or judicial branch would even allow this to waste tax payer dollars.

However, NOM (you know, the anti-gay marriage group) is scurrying around trying to get their last efforts at fear tactics in place as November’s elections draw near and that includes running TV ads during the Rhode Island gubernatorial campaign to support the ant-gay marriage Republican candidate, John Robitaille.

But, NOM is also insisting that just because they endorse a candidate (as they are listed on Robitaille’s website) doesn’t mean they are PAC, so therefore they shouldn’t have to comply with state campaign finance laws, so they have filed suit against the state of Rhode Island in federal court.

In the lawsuit filed last week, NOM claimed they shouldn’t have to report their expenditures or comply with spending limits or bans that are required for political action committees because they don’t consider themselves a Political Action Committee and even if they were, the rules established for PACs are a burden and interfere with the freedom of speech.

Now being that NOM has been involved in endorsing and financially supporting many anti-gay candidates across the country, and considering the millions they’ve spent on ballot initiatives to maintain legalized discrimination, I’m not sure if they’re aware of the definition of a PAC, but I suppose they figure since they’re fighting to protect the sanctity of marriage and the country from the ruins that same-sex marriage causes, they should be exempt.

I could only hope at this point they lose their lawsuit and it cost them an arm and a leg in the process.

Beck Exposed for Anti-Gay Political Rally

Beck Exposed for Anti-Gay Political Rally

Glenn Beck, one of the highest paid political mouthpieces of the right wing tried to say that gay marriage wasn’t a threat to America.  He also tried to say that his recent rally held in the same place and on the same date as the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech was about getting the country to turn back to God and had nothing to do with politics.  Well, it really shouldn’t come as any shock, but guess what, Beck is a big fat liar…again!

According to a report on Media Matters, it looks as though Maggie Gallagher, the anti-gay leader of NOM (a Mormon front group) has joined Beck’s Klan and is so very proud that she’s been invited to do so.

As posted:

Gallagher, who has led efforts to oppose same-sex marriage, told me that while she is not a minister she was glad to join up after Beck’s Aug. 28 rally when the call went out for members.

Asked about her involvement in the Regiment, she responded in an e-mail:

When pastors appeared on stage at a rally to express support for the role of faith in American public life, and for the goodness of core American principles–and invited me as the head of the major organization fighting to protect marriage–to join them, I said ‘yes.’  It was a proud moment for me.

Members of the Black Robe Regiment, which Beck has claimed is apolitical, have told Media Matters the group is seeking to boost voter involvement by urging members of their home churches to cast ballots.

So what about urging church members to cast ballots isn’t political? What exactly is it about getting the ring leader against LGBT rights and equality to join your klan isn’t political?

It just goes to show, Beck’s little rally was a prime example of how the right wing pushes their agenda from underneath a masked that’s painted as patriotic and how this was a blatant attempt to keep the wall of separation of church and state knocked down and lie about their intentions.

I suppose the funniest part about it, I’m sure many of those in attendance were to ignorant to the fact they were actually attending a Mormon political rally aimed at promoting a Mormon political agenda. No wonder so many from other nations think Americans are stupid. Many are!

So while Beck, Gallagher and their klan work on promoting the thought of ‘taking back America’ from those who aren’t white and follow their ‘Christian’ beliefs, we need to continue to counter by working to ‘Give Back America”. Join the cause now by joining our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter!