Here’s What ‘10,000 People’  At NOM’s Anti-Gay Hate March Really Looks Like

The National Organization For Marriage is claiming that 10,000 people attended their anti-gay hate march in Washington, D.C. yesterday.

By every account, including news reporters on the ground who attended the march, the resounding number of attendees was repeatedly place at about 2000. But NOM is claiming victory in their fight against love.

“With gay marriage continuing to gain momentum and acceptance in the nation’s culture,” Emily Scheie and Rikki Elizabeth Stinnette at World Magazine write, “Joe Grabowski, director of communications for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), said standing for the biblical definition of marriage ‘can feel like a very lonely position.’ NOM organized the march to bring people together. Last year, roughly 7,000 attended. This year, organizers estimated as many as 10,000 joined the procession.”

Apparently, “roughly” means “far less than,” and “estimated” just means “are lying if they claim.”

LOOK: How Many People Showed Up For NOM’s ‘March For Marriage’ Hate Rally? Guess Who Didn’t.

Meanwhile, Mark A. Kellner at the Deseret News, which is wholly-owned by the Mormon Church, reports that 5000 people were in attendance. In a subsequent email conversation with The New Civil Rights Movement, he acknowledged it “is entirely possible that 5,000 is too high a number,” but said he agreed on a “several thousands” estimation that is over 2000.

UPDATE: Friday evening after a lengthy email conversation with The New Civil Rights Movement and several posts from critics and activists on social media, Kellner and the Deseret News changed their reporting to read “several thousand people present.”

NOM co-founder Robert P. George sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Desert News.

NOM also claimed last year that 10,000 people attended. Again, reports said otherwise.

Media Matters even anticipated this extreme break from reality, noting that NOM will be “grossly overestimating attendance.”

Look no further than last year’s march. Even as the Supreme Court took up challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8, NOM struggled to muster enthusiasm for the event. While NOM’s Thomas Peters declared that 15,000 people had turned out for the march and NOM president Brian Brown estimated there were “more than 10,000” attendees, the Washington Blade estimated a turnout of only 2,000.

This article has been edited and updated to include the email conversation with the Deseret News.

 

Image by Courage Campaign via Twitter 

Hat tip: Joe Jervis