A strategist for Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization For Marriage (NOM), who has previously made a career out of anti-gay hatred and homophobic statements, has defected from NOM, coming out in support of full civil marriage equality. “I now support full marriage equality,” says Louis Marinelli, a strategist involved in developing NOM’s grassroot campaigns and online messaging. NOM is perhaps the nation’s best-known anti-marriage equality organization. Gallagher did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an exclusive and extensive interview with Jeremy Hooper, founder and editor of Good As You, “Exposure to NOM could lead to unintended side effects,” Marinelli delivers well-considered reasoning for his change of heart, and while he isn’t supporting the LGBT community in full, he sees same-sex civil marriage as simply a matter of civil rights and himself as “a supporter of civil marriage equality.” Marinelli says, “I agree that what the gay community are fighting for are their civil rights.”
Marinelli’s path to a well-considered, thoughtful, introspective rational mode of thinking began last summer during NOM’s Summer of Marriage tour. Hooper notes, “the 2010 summer tour always seemed at least partially designed by Louis, considering how we first learned of the idea not from NOM, but rather from Louis himself, who tweeted … months before NOM ever announced any sort of official endeavor,” and adds, the “Summer Marriage tour opened his eyes!”
Hooper links to tweets — now no longer available — “Tweets that claimed “Homosexuality and gay marriage are wrong and harmful to society,” and that emphatically stated “there shouldn’t be any recognition of homosexual relationships because that is saying that homosexuality is OK.”
Once Marinelli looked into the work of Peter LaBarbera, Marinelli says he realized LaBarbera “is just a hateful man,” and adds, “the issues Peter takes on, even if they were true, are not in themselves valid reasons for denying same-sex couples access to civil marriage.”
On his own site, Marinelli writes, “if there is an issue of disbelief surrounding my newfound support for civil marriage equality, it is disbelief from those who surround me. If there is an issue of shame, it is a result of acknowledging the number of people I have targeted, hurt and oppressed. And if there is an issue of embarrassment, its roots lie in the face-to-face encounters I have had and expect to have with those with whom I once toiled over this very contentious issue.”
Kevin Nix, the Human Rights Campaign’s NOM Project Director immediately issued a statement, saying, “This defection is a good example of what is and will continue to be consistent in the fight for equality,” adding, “Once people actually meet LGBT people, they are more likely to support equality.â€
“Even NOM’s own people are having trouble with the organization’s unusual mission: to stop committed gay and lesbian couples from getting married,†Nix added. “We know such defections among more Americans, including NOM’s most strident supporters will continue over time.â€
Nix’s statement adds, “Despite its public portrayal of “tolerance‖ and despite dubious claims by Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown that they have “gay friends and family‖ NOM is an extremist organization that opposes not only marriage equality but civil unions.”
For his part, Hooper has been an unyielding advocate for the LGBT community, and is often uncovering troubling situations for the anti-gay community of social and religious conservatives.