Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage
To say that the National Organization for Marriage had a low-down, dirty rotten year is a seriously gross understatement. At nearly every turn, their demented efforts to throw up roadblocks against marriage equality have been soundly thwacked. Yet that hasn't stopped their president, Brian Brown,
from insisting that 2014 was a swell year for them and they are positioned very well for 2015.
It is always good at the end of a year to take a look back and reflect on some of the highlights. There has been a lot of movement in the battle over the definition of marriage this past year, and it seems like every one of the 52 weeks of 2014 brought another development—some good, some bad.
Indeed, it did seem like every one of the 52 weeks of 2014 brought another development. However, for NOM, it was mostly bad. Very bad. Ignoring all that bad, Brian Brown recapped NOM's five most read stories of 2014 in a truly pathetic effort to look like winners to their rapidly dwindling base of supporters.
The top 5 news stories that their readers found most noteworthy ranged from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upholding bans on marriage equality in four whole states to all those poor bakers who are being forced to bake rainbow cakes for those icky homo weddings. Most laughably, NOM penned a piece that claimed with a straight face that they were, in fact, largely responsible for the wave election this past November. The gall is, well, galling.
In truth, NOM became more irrelevant with each passing day of 2014. From the The U.S. Supreme Court rejecting NOM's attempt to halt marriage equality in Oregon to NOM losing an appeal to intervene at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, judges laughed in their face at the ridiculousness and clear animus of their arguments.
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Adding to their humiliating string of defeats, a federal judge in Virginia dismissed NOM's claim for punitive damages against the Internal Revenue Service for their inadvertent disclosure of donor information. The IRS awarded NOM a $50,000 settlement, however that wasn't enough to please them. Spending $640,000 of donated money, NOM sued the IRS and lost. They unconvincingly tried to claim that they were either the victim of gross negligence or even a martyr at the hands of a mass conspiracy theory against them. They wear that hairshirt so very well.
With every embarrassing loss, NOM's fundraising attempts grew increasingly and more outlandishly optimistic. In beg after beg, they assure their donors that they are on the cusp of turning back their losses and reinstating marriage bans in every state that saw them struck down. Brown ends his New Year's Eve recap of 2014 with his most delusional justification for his existence to date.
We live in a time when those who wish to redefine marriage and their sycophants in the media miss no opportunity to tell us that the battle is essentially over, that history is on their side and that the views of the citizens have changed. This is a future that these activists hope for, but it is decidedly not the future they will encounter. The reason we know this is because whenever they put their version of the future to the test, it is rejected by the American people.
I am encouraged by the victories and the bright moments of the past twelve months as we head into 2015, because they remind me that the cause of marriage is still very much alive, and we have good reason to hope for even more successes in the new year!
With that reminder then, please accept my wishes for a happy and blessed new year for you and your family, and my thanks for continuing to work with NOM to defend marriage and family in 2015!
That load of stinking dung reads to me like someone who realizes his cash cow is in desperate danger of mooing its last moo. Fighting against people's rights has made Brian Brown and others at the National Organization for Marriage
very wealthy people with very little to show their donors for it. I believe it is safe to say that the people who buy NOM's hogwash are not very bright people, but even they must be starting to question why they are giving this outfit their money. NOM's secretive group of wealthy donors, who I assume are not complete idiots, must be wondering the very same thing.
Whatever 2015 brings to the marriage equality front, NOM will have very little to do with it. The fight has moved past them and is now in grown-up hands. They will spend the coming year sitting in a dark corner, lip-bibbling platitudes about themselves to a largely empty room.