QUIT WHILE YOU’RE BEHIND…. The National Organization for Marriage became something of a national laughingstock recently with the release of its “Gathering Storm” ad, which has already launched a thousand parodies. The New York Times’ Frank Rich took the ad slightly more seriously in his column last week, explaining, “It is justice, not a storm, that is gathering. Only those who have spread the poisons of bigotry and fear have any reason to be afraid.”
In a letter to the editor, Maggie Gallagher, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, responds. (via tristero)
I believe that marriage matters because children need a mother and a father, and I have spent the last five years warning that opposition to gay marriage will be treated as bigotry. Now Frank Rich describes the National Organization for Marriage’s “Gathering Storm” ad as “The Bigots’ Last Hurrah” (column, April 19).
I am not the only one Mr. Rich is calling a bigot. In a March CBS News poll, only a third of Americans said they supported gay marriage.
I am proud of the “Gathering Storm” ad precisely because it lets the American people know the truth: Gay marriage has consequences. Name-calling will not change that.
I don’t want to alarm anyone, but it appears opponents of marriage equality haven’t come up with very good arguments.
Gallagher believes children “need a mother and a father.” That’s a dubious claim in its own right — plenty of happy and healthy children are raised by single parents or parents of the same gender — but more importantly, what does it have to do with gay marriage? This seems like an argument against banning gay adoption — which is also ridiculous — or perhaps the case for banning divorce among couples with children.
But more to the point, Gallagher apparently believes “Gathering Storm” proves that there are negative “consequences” for allowing consenting adults to get married. I’ve seen the ad; Gallagher is deeply confused.
