The Irish people's brilliant affirmation of marriage equality yesterday has naturally caused some gnashing of teeth among the ever-fewer Catholics who are devoted to their idea of "traditional marriage."
Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage fancies himself the leader of that crew of old Catholics in the States, and had urged his followers to support the Irish opponents of the marriage equality referendum.
From a May 1 email, emphases in the original:
Increasingly the battle to preserve marriage is becoming a global one. ... If they (Irish equality opponents) can manage to pull off a victory, it will be a tremendous boost to the cause of marriage worldwide. Please do what you can to bring awareness to their efforts.
Brown also found encouragement in the several recent rejections of marriage equality in Northern Ireland (the most conservative part of the UK, and the only one that still discriminates).
His post-vote email grasps for silver linings and whines about Ireland being less blindly obedient to its bishops than before.
Most people, in Ireland and here, would see that as progress beyond the near-medieval status of the church in Ireland for most of the 20th century.
The latest email in full, with some commentary, below.
The email:
We want to thank David Quinn and The Iona Institute for fighting the good fight running the No campaign against tremendous odds in Ireland.
We are disappointed but not surprised with the apparent passage of a referendum in Ireland providing for the redefinition of marriage in that country. This is a reflection on the increasingly secularized nature of Ireland, together with the utter abandonment of principle by every political party in the nation, all of whom endorsed the referendum. This, combined with intense harassment of any group or individual who spoke out in opposition to the referendum, made it difficult for opponents.
Despite this, millions of Irish citizens stood to vote to uphold the truth of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Even with this decision in Ireland, the idea of same-sex marriage has been widely rejected by the community of nations around the world, where only 18 nations recognize same-sex 'marriage', almost all of them in the west, which represents less than 10% of the nations in the world.
If there is any relevance to the Irish vote for people here in the United States, it is that the US Supreme Court should take note that the people of Ireland at least had the opportunity to vote. This is what we demand of our justices — respect the right of people to define marriage in the law for themselves. If that occurs, we are confident that the American people will continue to support marriage in the law as it exists in reality — the union of one man and one woman in order to provide the ideal environment for any children born of their union.
Never heard of the Iona Institute, but
Irish gay rights campaigners have. It is evidently connected to the ultra-conservative Opus Dei, and prominent American Opus Dei member Tom Monaghan, Domino's Pizza founder and major funder of right-wing Catholic causes.
Only Catholic conservatives would find an increasingly secular Irish Republic worrisome. Everyone else would see that as progress, especially if they know anything about Ireland in the de Valera era, when the church controlled public education, divorce and contraception were outlawed, and Ireland was an economic backwater.
If every political party in Ireland supported marriage equality, that must be because they believed their supporters generally did also. I assume Irish politicians can count.
Of course, Brown tosses in the "intense harassment" canard, which he has tried to use to defy campaign finance disclosure laws in the US. Politics is a contact sport, and vigorous criticism of opponents, including calling them "bigots" in this instance, is well within the lines. Whining about that has helped Brown raise money before, so it's second nature for him to mention it here.
Brown's counting nations opposed to marriage equality is risible. Recognition of gay rights, marriage and otherwise, is mostly a First World phenomenon, and a relatively recent one. It generally requires some serious level of democracy and secularization -- Brown may be proud that nations that don't meet that standard, like China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc., are on his side. But that's kinda unAmerican.
Finally, Brown pines for a Supreme Court decision that would allow voters to determine what the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, in this regard, means in their individual states. He has three conservative Catholic Supreme Court justices who will agree with him, and two who might.
And that would be his motherlode -- raising millions more from his conservative Catholic list for state referenda, and maintaining his $500K-plus annual skim of that.
Brown probably hopes that even if the Supremes do the right thing, he can continue his grift for decades, as several similar anti-abortion grifters have done.
But there is a key difference -- anti-abortion groups maintain that they are all about saving babies, which has a visceral "life" appeal to some conservatives that has sustained them for more than 40 years.
"Traditional marriage" is not about "life" but about disapproval of gay people in general, and letting them marry in particular.
For most social conservatives, murdering babies is way worse than Adam and Steve marrying.
Then there are the facts on the ground -- in the 36 states that allow gay people to marry, the sky has not fallen.
Brown's interest in the Irish vote is probably a career move, because the only way he will be able to raise enough money to maintain his millionaire lifestyle is by scaring old Catholic conservatives on his list about the sky-is-falling implications of marriage equality in Russia, India, Nigeria, etc.
That's why the above email is pathetic.