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04/20/2010
Because it's her homo-hostile precedency that matters
A few people have written to ask why I, Jeremy, haven't written about Maggie Gallagher stepping down as president of the National Organization For Marriage so that Brian Brown can take that top seat. So here's the simple answer: Because this succession is surely ceremonial and little more.
Maggie isn't going anywhere. If opposing same-sex marriage is her bread and butter, then NOM is her toaster. It is and will always be her organization, one for which she will continue to speak in public, with which she will fundraise in private, and that she will use to strategize against us in any state where our basic human rights come into contention. That isn't going to change because she has taken on a new title.
Plus, Brian Brown has been handling a lyin's share of the anti-equality work for some time now. All of the e-blasts pretty much come from him. He has testified in front on several civil bodies on behalf of the faith-based (Catholic, primarily) organization. He's been the subject of remarkably short-sighted WaPo pieces. Honestly, before yesterday, I couldn't have even told you what his title was. All I knew was that he is one of NOM's major voices. As long as he's speaking against us, the only titles that matters are "WRONG," "UNFAIR," "DISCRIMINATORY," and "UNFAIR USER OF PERSONAL FAITH CONVICTION TO OPPOSE A CIVIL CONCEPT."
The thing with me? I could not care less about titles, on either side of this so-called "culture war." I'm genuinely not impressed. Because this thing is not a corporation: It's a conversation about humanity and the decent treatment thereof, one that we are all equally qualified to enter and comment on by virtue of nothing more than our existences. As long as anyone from NOM, spanning all the way from PR person Mary Beth Hutchins to conservative top dog Robert George, is taking exception with LGBT people's basic, easy, peaceful folding into the batter of society, then this cake will be half-baked. As long as ANY of them are fighting against us, this needless game will be on.
And don't be fooled: Maggie Gallagher is still the most prominent face of this nation's anti-equality movement, regardless of whatever her business cards may say on this particular day, week, or year.
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*SEE ALSO: Fight Back Pac's cheeky take on the news: Maggie's Reinvention Tour
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