Thursday, October 16, 2014

NOM denied HUGE reimbursement of legal fees, is exposed for anti-gay work in Russia

If I had as bad of a season as NOM & Brian Brown, I would cry too.

The National Organization for Marriage is having what has to be called an awful season.

In addition to the multitude of states who now allow marriage equality, the organization just suffered an huge monetary defeat.

From the blog The Slowly Boiled Frog (by way of Goodasyou):

United States Circuit Court Judge James Cacheris has denied reimbursement of legal fees to National Organization for Marriage for their lawsuit against the IRS. NOM claimed that they spent over $690,000 in legal expenses. Much of that went to NOM's chairman, John Eastman. That presupposes that the sums were actually disbursed and NOM has been known to fib from time to time and Eastman is a pathological liar.

Check out Goodasyou for the juicier bit of the transcripts.  And The Slowly Boiled Frog points out how this decision is especially embarrassing for NOM. The organization has initially won a $50,000 settlement in the case from the IRS.

Now while I know folks are tempted to dance in the spray of NOM's monetary humiliation, I would ask that they hold off for a brief second because this next item is practically a cherry on top of a sundae.

From Right Wing Watch:



Joe Jervis points us to a debate on C-SPAN this weekend between the National Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown and Freedom to Marry’s Evan Wolfson, where things got a little contentious when Wolfson confronted Brown about his anti-gay activism in Russia. 

Right Wing Watch goes into more detail regarding what Brown evaded in the debate.

And if you are interested in finding out what exactly Brown calls "lies and slurs, check out The Export of Hate, a rather accurate view by the Human Rights Campaign of anti-gay leaders who have traveled throughout the world spreading anti-gay lies and propaganda (the part about Brown begins on pg. 17).

All in all, it's been a really crappy two weeks for NOM and it's been my pleasure in helping to bring it to you.

'Happy #SpiritDay!' & other Thursday midday news briefs

Going purple for GLAAD's #SpiritDay - Happy Spirit Day! Since I don't own anything purple, I'm wearing a deep blue shirt and "perpetrating." What exactly is Spirit Day? Check out the link or the video below: 




 In other news:

 Houston’s Pastor Subpoenas: A Meme Made for Fox News - After a myriad of false alarms, it looks like the religious right may actually have a case where anti-gay pastors are being unfairly attacked.  

No, The City Of Houston Isn't Bullying Anti-Gay Pastors - This Is Basic Lawyering - This the other side to the same issue. BOTH articles make excellent points. I will leave it up to the readers to make up their mind on this situation. 

Editor's note: The following two stories have just come out about the Houston situation and demonstrates how the anti-gay right just overreached and sabotage a situation in which they actually had a legitmate complaint.  If you gave the anti-gay right five minutes, they would have you rooting for Goliath and not David:

Why Houston’s Pastor Subpoenas Have Nothing To Do With Religious Liberty 

 Is Houston’s Lesbian Mayor Really Out to Get Conservative Preachers? 


 State employees must actually perform duties state pays them to perform; shocking, I know - You mean if you are paid tax dollars to perform a duty, you must actually perform said duty? Why that's "persecution" and ranks up there with forcing people to pay for the cable they order.  

High School Cancels Popular Play Over Allusion To Same-Sex Relationship - Oh come on guys!