A few weeks back, I posted that the anti-gay group the National Organization for Marriage funneled funds into the Iowa special senate election. They were hoping to decrease the democratic majority by backing Republican candidate Cindy Golding. Click here to read that post.
I’m pleased to report that the Iowa voters were too smart for their shenanigans! Democratic candidate Liz Mathis won the election by “a healthy 55% of the vote” as reported by ThinkProgress.
In response, NOM pouts by blaming the woman who they once supported by calling Golding “a weak candidate.”
Instead of blaming the woman, I think NOM needs to take a good, hard look at itself. Gay marriage wasn’t even an issue in Iowa until NOM made it one. Their interference and their hate campaigns turned Iowa voters away from Golding. Had NOM kept its trap shut and not interfered with the election, Golding might have had more of a fighting chance.
Still, I’m not complaining. I enjoy watching someone (like NOM) drown in its own hateful bile.
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has spent approximately $15,000 in the Iowa state election to help stop same sex marriages, as reported by ThinkProgress. NOM’s goal is to oust Democrat Liz Mathis by channeling funds into Republican Cindy Golding’s campaign. If they can “eliminat[e] the Democratic majority in the Iowa Senate, the state will have the support necessary to ban same-sex marriage in Iowa’s constitution.”
Thousands of homosexual couples have been married in Iowa since same sex marriage was made legal in 2009, and the state hasn’t suffered drought, famine, or pestilence. In fact, no heterosexual marriages or families have been threatened by Adam and Steve saying “I Do.”
“This is a pivotal election contest in our battle to allowing the people of Iowa the opportunity to vote to restore marriage. A proposed constitutional amendment on defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman enjoys broad-based, bi-partisan legislative and voter support, but is being prevented from coming to the floor of the Senate by Majority Leader Mike Gronstal. If Ms. Golding is successful in her election, we are hopeful that Senators will finally have the opportunity to vote on the marriage amendment, and we expect it to pass handily.
I find it frightening that this group channels funds into state elections in order to advance their national agendas. They are willing to utilize all their resources to make sure that loving couples are denied basic civil rights simply because they don’t agree. Is this really any different than the KKK rousing support and funds to make sure civil rights were continually denied for African American citizens?
I think not.
Civil Rights should be guaranteed for every American, no matter their age, race, religion, or sexual orientation. This isn’t a country where we can pick and choose who gets what freedom, yet this seems to be the type of country NOM is fighting for.
Some of you who may have heard about the town clerks in New York whose jobs are threatened or who have resigned because they refused to sign gay marriage licenses. Gay marriage is now legal in NY, and part of their jobs is to sign marriage licenses for citizens in their county. Since these clerks refused, they are facing/have faced losing their jobs.
Naturally, NOM (National Organization for Marriage) jumped all over this faster than a rat on a Cheetoh!
They produced the following videos to help spread the panic that religious freedom is being threatened. Below you will find the video featuring Rose Marie Belforti. If you can keep from bringing up your latest meal, have a look.
What I find interesting about her commentary is that she claims she had no prior knowledge of gay marriage being made legal in her state. It took receiving a marriage certificate from two people of the same gender to clue her in. That is utterly preposterous. She works in a government office, where they receive updates on new laws, since, well, it’s their job to know these things. To claim ignorance is ridiculous, especially when the topic was all over the media–newspapers, television, and the Internet. These laws weren’t made in secret as she seems to allude.
Additionally, she (and the other clerks who NOM gobbled up for their campaign of terror, Laura Fotusky and Ruth Sheldon, whose videos can also be found via Towleroad) now believes that doing her job threatens her religious freedom.
If she feels that strongly in her religious beliefs, then she can resign.
Shirking your assigned (or elected) duties based on religion isn’t a defense nor does it get you out of performing duties you promised to uphold when you took the job (or were elected).
What about if a doctor refused to treat a gay man who was ill because homosexuality went against his Christian beliefs? Would he be allowed to get away with it? What if a teacher didn’t want to educate African-Americans because she was a white supremacist? That teacher has a right to her beliefs, but does that mean she is not required by her job to educate all students?
If Belforti, Fotusky, or Sheldon are no longer capable of fulfilling their job duties as town clerks, then they need to find jobs where they can perform the expected tasks and remain true to their religious convictions.
Their religious freedoms don’t negate someone else’s civil rights, and no one gets to pick and choose what laws we follow.
These women aren’t victims. They placed their jobs in peril by refusing to sign the marriage certificates. Now, they have to suffer the consequences, as any other employee would.
