The nation's most vocal opponent of gay
marriage has opened an office in the nation's Capitol to fight for
DOMA.
The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) has been vociferous in its opposition to gay marriage victories
this spring in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire.
The group says it will use its D.C.
office to “stop any attempt to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act
(DOMA) that may come through the courts or lobbying in Congress.”
DOMA is the 1996 law that defines
marriage as a heterosexual union for federal agencies and allows
states to ignore legal gay marriages performed elsewhere. The law
bars legally married gay couples from accessing federal benefits such
as Social Security.
There are currently four lawsuits
challenging DOMA in the federal courts. It is highly likely one of
the suits will reach the Supreme Court, where a win could possibly
open gay marriage for the entire country, but a loss would set the
movement back decades.
President Obama has said he supports
efforts to repeal the anti-gay law, but his administration's
continued defense of the law has angered gay rights groups.
“When the battle was to get a
marriage amendment on the ballot in California, NOM was there to
help. When Tim Gill and his friends decided to push gay marriage
bills through [the] legislatures [of] blue states in the northeast,
NOM lead the fight, helping to stop gay marriage in New York, working
to overturn gay marriage in Maine, and helping win substantive
religious liberty protections in Vermont and Connecticut,” Brian
Brown, NOM’s executive director, said in a statement. “Now gay
marriage advocates are pushing Obama for the penultimate prize:
repealing the federal Defense of Marriage Act, the only national law
that protects marriage. We felt NOM needed to be here in D.C. to make
the voice of the majority heard.”
In New York, the Maggie Gallagher-led
group has threatened to boot out Republican senators who vote in
favor of a gay marriage bill waiting for Senate approval to become
law. NOM announced last month it will use funds raised through its
New York PAC to back primary challengers of GOP senators who do not
support their anti-gay marriage position, and will reward Democrats
who do.
In Maine, NOM has partnered with the
Catholic Diocese of Portland to create the Stand for Marriage Maine
coalition. The new group is organizing a “people's veto” to
repeal gay marriage in the state.
NOM also played a pivotal role in
passing Proposition 8, the anti-gay measure that yanked back the
right to marry from gay and lesbian couples in California. A
California gay rights group, Californians
Against Hate, has alleged NOM is a political front group for the
Mormon Church, whose members, under appeal from church leaders,
donated enormous financial and organizing resources towards passage
of Proposition 8.
Recently, the group invited Maggie
Gallagher to take a lie detector test on the question of who's
funding NOM.
“Maggie, you claim that the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) did not help
establish, or give any money to your National Organization for
Marriage (NOM), or to any of your other organizations, or even you
personally,” the group says in a statement. “Let's find out once
and for all, Maggie.”
When asked for comment, Californians
Against Hate Founder Fred Karger said he was convinced the group was
backed by the Mormon Church.
“I am continually amazed at how a two
person organization like NOM can spend over $6 million to fight
marriage equality in 6 states and now in Washington D.C.,” Karger
told On Top Magazine in an email. “It leads me to believe
that the Salt Lake City-based Mormon Church is funding and running
the show. They must be using NOM as their front group in all these
battles like they have done in the past.”