Oh, but it was a failure. Even though NOM is wont to crop and Photoshop crowd pictures to give an illusion of success, and even though they claim "thousands" of participants attended, the truth is much more grim for them. News from on the ground was that a sizable chunk of the small crowd--likely closer to 500 than thousands, or even one thousand--were Spanish speaking tourists, there at the rally because they were given a free excursion to Washington DC, to see the sights.
The handwriting has been on the wall for a while that NOM is in decline. Their Twitter and Facebook pages have more gay supporters than NOM supporters. Their money begging emails and blog posts are becoming more and more desperate. And the rally is evidence that those appeals are falling on deaf ears. As the marriage equality movement continues to expand, and given the likelihood that nationwide same-sex marriage legality is on the horizon, how long can NOM stay in the game? How long can their leaders, notably Brian Brown, continue to draw enormous salaries? And how long can they continue to get name politicians to speak for them, even if they are punchlines like Rick
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| I've seen more people at a small, shopping center carnival. Image from DailyKos |
[Excerpt]
NOM's Rally Crashed, Burned, Flopped, Failed, Fizzled, Disintegrated And Imploded All At Once
I will admit that before NOM's March for Straight Marriage yesterday, I was a little worried that it could do harm to our cause. I was worried that it might begin to roll back public opinion, possibly leading to a reluctance among judges to invalidate marriage discrimination laws. But the rally has not only invalidated my worries, it's actually made me more confident of winning than ever before. . .
Read more at: DailyKos
[Excerpt]
Inside NOM's Second Failed "March For Marriage"
On June 19, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) held its second March for Marriage - an event that proved to be largely a repeat of last year's march, with dismal attendance, bussed-in supporters, and examples of anti-gay animus on display. An estimated 2,000 attendees convened at the U.S. Capitol for a rally culminating in a march to the U.S. Supreme Court. As he did for last year's event, anti-equality State Sen. Ruben Diaz (D-NY) bussed in a large group of mostly Spanish-speaking evangelicals from the New York area, after promising rally-goers an expense-free trip to Washington to "visit the monuments." Equality Matters approached several attendees to ask about their reasons for attending the rally and their means of getting there, only to be told that they spoke little English. . .
Read more at: Media Matters
2000 people still beats most liberal rallies. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteWell 2000 would be exceedingly generous for this crowd, but consider:
ReplyDeleteEven the smallest city's gay pride parade is larger. This was a national event. Last time there was a gay national event, they numbered in the hundreds of thousands. And I seem to remember some anti-war protests that were much, much larger. There's no way to shine this one up, it was a colossal failure for NOM.