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03/21/2013
Far-right itching to turn Doug Mainwaring's solo act into an orchestra
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about how the National Organization For Marriage is attempting to portray one human being, Tea Party leader Doug Mainwaring, as if he is an entire coalition. Ya see, Mr. Mainwaring identifies as a gay man opposed to marriage equality, so groups like NOM are itching to make him seem like the face of a movement rather than as the face of Doug Mainwaring. They do this by writing all kinds of posts and thing about Mr. Mainwaring but keeping it vague about it being the same guy over and over again.
Today we see Family Research Council getting in on the fame. Peter "export/criminalize the gays" Sprigg wrote a blog post linking to Mainwaring's own post against his own people. And true to form, FRC and its writer makes it sound as if Mr. Mainwaring is just one of millions. Here's the intro:
[FRC Blog]
Sprigg goes on to say that he met "one such person" when he testified (unsuccessfully) against equality in Maryland. The obvious implication is that just one of the countless examples Sprigg could have found. Because again, they want Mainwaring to seem like one general in a larger army.
The truth: Mr. Mainwaring is a far-right, Tea Party conservative who reaches out to people like Jennifer Roback Morse…
…even though she quite literally wants him to stop being actively gay (by her own admission). This is not a representative of an average gay person. Most gay people do not lead Tea Party chapters. Most gay people do not reach out to groups like NOM and figures like Roback Morse, who tell us we are to only have "chaste friendships." Most gay people do not travel to states that they don't even live in just so they can testify against the marriage equality bill. Most gay people do not appear on panels right next to Maggie Gallagher. Most gay people do not sign up to speak at national marches that are designed solely to foster civil discrimination for same-sex couples. These are peculiar choices that even very conservative LGBT people would not make (GOProud, for instance, would not speak at a NOM march). These oddly-tuned choices are examples of "the Doug Mainwaring lifestyle," not the lives of any sizable assemblage of LGBT people.
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