John Aravosis's blog announced today that the Human Rights Campaign is reporting that the National Organization for Marriage is SO afraid that their referendum to overturn marriage equality in New Hampshire will fail that they are prepared to accept civil unions as a replacement for marriage. HRC notes it's a reversal of a position NOM took in Connecticut seven years ago. This is remarkable news on the surface, and follow me below the great orange Wienerbrot to process it.
The HRC news release is here. It points to a press release NOM sent out March 12, that reads, in part:
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today urged the New Hampshire legislature to pass HB 437, compromise legislation to restore civil unions for same-sex couples, and repeal same-sex marriage while protecting couples who have already been "married."
Okay, so we have "married" as a dismissive term here. The fact is that this is an absolutely unsolicited and unforced
compromise for NOM. I can't help but think that we're winning here, but thankfully
Jeremy Hooper has the material to talk me down from there, and as HE notes:
THERE! IS! NO! COMPROMISING! WITH! NOM! They want to take away every last right afforded to New Hampshire's same-sex couples. When they are done with ripping away the currently legal marriages, they will next go for civil unions. That is the evidence that's so clear.
So let's tell NOM that their compromise doesn't fool us for one second and work VERY hard to defeat this, if it ever sees the light of day.