Think Progress has a great article up highlighting the most recent act of hypocrisy by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). It's really pretty nauseating, but not at all surprising. It is, however, worth exposing.
You may have read about Pennsylvania's Montgomery County openly defying state law (Pennsylvania does not have a constitutional amendment barring marriage equality, just what has been referred to as a mini-DOMA) and offering to grant same-sex couples marriage licenses. Register of Wills Bruce Hanes made the decision to disobey state law because he felt the law to be woefully unconstitutional (the same reason Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is not defending the law against a lawsuit by the ACLU):
When I took the oath of office 19 months ago, I swore to uphold the U.S. and the Pennsylvania Constitutions. Article 1 Section 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, aptly entitled “Inherent rights of mankind,” says “all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent and indefeasible rights, among which is “pursuing their own happiness.”
Article 1, Section 26 of the Constitution says, “Neither the Commonwealth nor any political subdivision thereof shall deny to any person the enjoyment of any civil right, nor discriminate against any person in the exercise of any civil right.”
Five gay and lesbian couples took county officials up on their offer yesterday, and one of the couples--Alicia Terrizzi and Loreen Bloodgood of Pottstown, who have been together 17 years--
married in a park, becoming the first same-sex couple to wed in the state's history. Pretty big freaking deal.
Governor Corbett's office has condemned the civil disobedience going on in Montgomery County, but so far, the state has not taken any action to stop it. Meanwhile, Marcus Saitschenko, one of the gay recipients of Montgomery County's marriage licenses, sums up what the day means for him and other gay and lesbian residents of the county:
Today I feel like a full citizen.
Of course, not everybody is in a celebratory mood. Predictably, Brian Brown of NOM is just ever so pissed that a lesbian couple was able to have a happy wedding day like any opposite-sex couple in Pennsylvania. Lawlessness! Anarchy! Horrors!
This illegal action by Montgomery County officials is an insult to voters, legislators and the rule of law. We demand that state judges put an immediate end to this lawlessness. In addition, we call on the Pennsylvania Legislature to act immediately to pass a proposed marriage amendment preserving marriage as it has always existed throughout the state’s history as one man and one woman.
These county officials are brazenly flaunting the law; substituting their personal views for those of the people as expressed through their elected representatives in state government Their actions go beyond marriage and implicates the integrity of the rule of law. This cannot be allowed to stand. We will explore every opportunity to hold these officials responsible for intentionally violating the law, including paths leading to their removal from office. In the meantime, we call on the state Legislature to put an amendment on the ballot preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Such a proposed constitutional amendment will give voters the ability to decide this issue for themselves, rather than allow state officials to impose their own views with no say so from the people.
Based on Brown's ranting, you'd think Pennsylvania is some kind of (Fabulous) Wild West now. If you haven't been paying attention, you might also think that Brown, a law-abiding citizen himself, is simply ever-so-concerned about lawbreaking disrupting the foundation on which our society of laws is built. Until you look back to what Brown and his organization were saying just two years ago.
In July of 2011, Brown rode the waaambulance over and over again for New York clerks--state employees who are, of course, expected to follow state law and give marriage licenses to same-sex couples--who did not want to follow the law. He called them "the first victims" on "the front-lines of the marriage debate." Said Brown, probably through crocodile tears:
They invested years in jobs where they never expected to have to help solemnize gay unions. Welcome to the world gay-marriage advocates are trying to create.
Here's a screenshot,
courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement, of NOM's blog from two years ago, which was just gushing over these martyred clerks:
Oh, and who could forget this gem?
Spare us your whining about "lawlessness" and "brazenly flaunting the law," Brian. You only care about the law when it's on your side. Well you'd better get an army of bigoted clerks, because those laws are going to come crashing down, and probably sooner rather than later.
But by all means, go ahead and keep putting chewing gum in the dam.
H/T to Steveningen for highlighting another way in which NOM is full of hypocrites:
And of course let's not forget (7+ / 0-)
that NOM has repeatedly refused to release their donor list even after being ordered by federal and state courts to do so. Their appeal has already lost at the federal level, yet they remain steadfast in breaking the law by refusing to comply. Spare me the hypocritical crocodile tears.