NOM's Roback Morse: My verbatim audio was 'mischaracterized'; Clementi family should meet me

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03/06/2013

by Jeremy Hooper

Responding to her controversial remarks about the late Tyler Clementi, the National Organization For Marriage and its top surrogate, Jennifer Roback Morse, continue the familiar pattern of not taking responsibility for anything:

San Diego, CA — Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, President of the Ruth Institute issued the following statement today: "The media and activists groups are mischaracterizing my remarks, in which I urged students to befriend gay students, and also urged them all to adhere to the traditional standards of sexual morality. I believe that engaging in uncommitted sex hurts people of both genders and all sexual orientations. I would be happy to meet with Tyler Clementi's mom and dad to try to move forward and go beyond the highly charged rhetoric that doesn't help anyone. I don't think the Clementis know me or what I believe or think or said. Reaching out across lines of moral difference in a spirit of love is my mission. In the meantime, I would invite anyone to come to the Ruth Institute website and listen to the entire podcast for themselves." [NOM]

Riiiiiiiiiiight, Jen. And I assume all of this was "mischaracterized" too:

Facts
-- Teaches that gays are to remain celibate; has admitted that this is what she wants churches to teach; says gay people are to only have "chaste friendships"
-- Says that “the parallels” between Nazi Germany and contemporary America “are really quite chilling” and what happened in Nazi Germany “is happening to us.” (0:18-0:35)
-- Claims that if marriage equality becomes legal, “Fathers will be marginalized. They will be considered non-essential.”
-- Despite polls that prove otherwise, says Catholics don’t really “accept the category of gayness.” (0:38-0:45)
-- Says being gay is a “completely shameless activity.” (0:20-0:27)
-- Has called marriage equality for same-sex couples "a hostile takeover of the whole civil society" (9:35-9:44)
-- Claims "everybody who reads Genesis -- everybody, Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Mormon -- everybody who reads Genesis supported Prop 8" (1:35-1:52)
-- Says the gay rights movement is "anti-human" and that "the job that religion does in most people's lives, they are filling it up with Earth worship" (1:47-2:14)
-- Has referred to same-sex marriage advocates as "enemies of the human body"
-- Has made clumsy historical comparisons, positioning children of gay couples as victims of a "gross injustice": "When slavery was abolished, all slaves became free men and women. When women obtained the right to vote, the discrimination ended with the very next election. But for children of same sex marriage, the situation will be different. When we come to our senses 30 years from now and realize that we have perpetrated a grotesque injustice, not a single child born fatherless or motherless within a same sex marriage will get his missing parent back. Only prevention will protect children’s rights. The thin disguise of marriage equality will not mislead anyone, nor will it atone for the wrong this day done"
-- Said that prior to Prop 8, she was the "typical, clueless Anglo-Catholic Californian thinking that Mexicans were all busboys or gardeners or whatever" (2nd clip, :57-1:08)
-- Refers to gays as both people who "suffer from same-sex attraction" and "struggle with same-sex attraction" (51:14-51:20)
-- Asks of marriage equality advocates: "Is there anything the advocates of same sex marriage are not willing to do, any value they are unwilling to destry [sic], in order to get their way?"
-- Says marriage equality advocates are "at war with Mother Nature."
-- Voices belief that homosexuality is "intrinsically disordered behavior"; advises gays to be celibate; compares homosexuality to "shacking up"
-- Said of marriage equality: "There's really isn't any future in sodomy"
-- Made a Thanksgiving video with little purpose beyond attacking gay resident advisors on college campus
-- Used a photo of priests saluting Nazis to suggest that future Christians who are supportive of/ quiet about marriage equality (which she calls "a pagan ideology) will feel a similar shame
-- Her organization says gays are "deeply wounded spiritually"; prays for "conversion"
-- Says people who purchase sperm should be in jail: "You know, buying sperm on Craigslist should be abolished. Buying sperm at all should be abolished. And furthermore, these people should be in jail, I’m afraid. I mean, you know, honestly, I just can’t even imagine where people think this is going to lead. You know, because the child is no longer a gift from God and a fruit of human love participating in God’s love. The child is now a product, manufactured by adults, and therefore the child cannot be fully the equal of its parent."
-- Said it's a "breach of faith" for orphanages to place kids with gay parents
-- Suggested there was more to the Tyler Clementi tragedy than the media was reporting, prompting fierce condemnation from Tyler's family

Jennifer Roback Morse [GLAAD CAP]