DOMA Repeal To Advance In Senate

Responding to pressure from the Courage Campaign, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) has agreed to become the tenth and final vote needed to advance the bill to repeal DOMA out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. While the repeal effort has a reasonable chance of success in the Senate, it is, of course, doomed in the GOP-dominated House.

Legal Teams Arriving At Ninth Circuit Court

At this writing, the legal teams from both sides and the original Perry V Schwarzenegger plaintiffs are fielding quite the media circus outside the Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco. Adam Bink is live-blogging the proceedings over at the Courage Campaign's site and you can follow the latest action on Twitter at the hashtag #Prop8.

HRC & Courage Campaign To Carly Fiorina: Reject The Extremists At NOM

NOM has spent over $220K supporting Carly Fiorina. HRC and the Courage Campaign want Fiorina to reject their support as religious extremism.

HRC & Courage Campaign To File Joint IRS Complaint Against NOM's Ruth Institute

The Human Rights Campaign and the Courage Campaign announced today that they intend to file an IRS complaint against the Ruth Institute, which is an arm of the National Organization for Marriage. The complaint demands that the IRS "revoke the Ruth Institute’s tax-exempt status and seek an injunction to prevent future violations by either the Ruth Institute or the NOM Education Fund." View the complaint here (PDF). Via press release:

The complaint makes clear the Ruth Institute “has repeatedly and flagrantly violated the political campaign activity prohibition of section 501(c) (3) by intervening and participating in multiple candidate campaigns. In the past year Ruth Institute resources have illegally been used to advocate for a U.S. Senate candidate as well as local and statewide judicial candidates.” HRC and the Courage Campaign cite the repeated involvement of the Ruth Institute in Carly Fiorina’s Senate race and in judicial elections in California and Iowa as clear violations of federal law. “The evidence that the Ruth Institute and the NOM Education Fund repeatedly stepped over the line into illegal activity is indisputable,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Even fringe groups like NOM, its associates, and its affiliate groups must abide by federal law. Is the Ruth Institute nothing more than a front and funnel for NOM's political activities? We trust the IRS can unveil the truth."

“Time and again, NOM has shown itself as a radical extremist group bent on attacking families and undermining election laws,” said Courage Campaign Chairman and Founder Rick Jacobs. “By openly flouting IRS regulations governing charities, NOM is effectively forcing taxpayers to subsidize its political activities. This is not just the height of arrogance, it’s against the law.” Pursuant to the federal tax code, as a charitable organization, the Ruth Institute may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates. Violation of this prohibition can result in stiff penalties against the organization and its officials as well as potential revocation of its tax exempt status by IRS.

CALIFORNIA: Courage Campaign Staffer Attack By NOM Bus Tour Supporter

The Courage Campaign reports that the man pictured above attacked their cameraman during a stop on NOM's bus tour in California.

The man, who claimed to be the owner of the property, angrily told Anthony that this was private property, and quickly struck Anthony in the arm, knocking the camera to the ground. Our tour camera has been damaged, and we’re not sure that footage can be recovered. (Update: Anthony is shaken up, but fine. Thanks to all of you for inquiring.) The Santa Ana police were quick to respond. They quickly stopped the Vota Tus Valores Bus from making a quick getaway, and a complaint has been filed with the police for battery. More to come on the legal proceedings as it comes in.

NOM's latest hate tour has been even more unattended than the last one with little to no advance publicity for its stops. Many are wondering what the actual purpose of the entire tour may be.

Quote Of The Day - Brian Brown

"I looked at the website. Gee, they've discovered that NOM is a coalition of people of diverse religious views who believe gay marriage will hurt marriage as a social institution. They didn't need a whole website to ‘expose’ that; I could have told them. We're flattered. HRC is a $40 million organization whose heavy-handed attacks on NOM only prove that we are the key national organization fighting for marriage as one man and one woman. We've grown from a $500,000 to a $10 million organization in just three years because so many Americans recognize that we are a key player in the fight for marriage." - NOM head Brian Brown, responding to the NOM Exposed website.

LAUNCHED: HRC & Courage Campaign Collaborate On "NOM Exposed" Site

The Human Rights Campaign and the Courage Campaign today launched NOM Exposed, a site devoted to unmasking the players, major backers, and strategies of the National Organization for Marriage. Via press release:

As the National Organization for Marriage, or NOM, embarks on a fall election campaign to defeat candidates who support full marriage equality, the Human Rights Campaign, in collaboration with the Courage Campaign, unveiled "NOM Exposed," a live, interactive website which reveals NOM's deep anti-gay affiliations, its long connections to the Mormon and Catholic churches and its quest to keep voters in the dark about its financing.

At the same time, HRC announced the formation of the NOM Project to follow the ongoing political work and propaganda of NOM as it attempts to influence elections and legislative campaigns across the country. The project will be led by Kevin Nix, a longtime LGBT advocate and political and media consultant. A former communications director at both Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and the Family Equality Council, Nix also worked at Media Matters in the 2004 presidential cycle.

"NOM and its leaders project a message of tolerance yet NOM Exposed shows that behind the well-trained talking points is an anti-gay animus and moneyed connections that it is loath to reveal," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "This website is not static. Working with the Courage Campaign, we will be watching the campaign trail and documenting NOM's political buys and bedfellows. We will connect the dots for voters."

NOM Exposed is one of the most extensive takedowns of the enemies of the LGBT movement that I've seen on the web yet, and I've only just begun to dig in. Take note of the site's "Rogue's Gallery" and start from there. This is fantastic.

Brian Brown Vs. Rick Jacobs

Things got very heated when NOM's Brian Brown finally met the Courage Campaign's Rick Jacobs at the final stop on NOM's Hate Tour in DC. WATCH THIS.

Red-Caped Catholic Nutters Support NOM At Hate Rally In Pennsylvania

At the second-to-last stop on NOM's Hate Tour, the red-caped nutjobs from the Catholic American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property showed up to spew their usual bile. Listen as their baby-faced rep connects same-sex marriage to bestiality and declares that single-parent families are not actual families at all.

NOM Tour Tracker Interviews Brian Brown

Adam Bink writes on NOM Tour Tracker:

Notice that Brown refuses to answer virtually all the questions on the grounds that he doesn’t accept the nature of the questions because he if answers it in the hypothetical, it somehow means he accepts the right of same-sex couples to wed. Translation: If Brown affirms what Blankenhorn affirms, it would box him into the corner of accepting that the freedom to marry would benefit same-sex couples, their children, and society.

Photo Of The Day - NOM Fail Wisconsin

Hundreds of happy and proud LGBT folks jammed NOM's Hate Tour stop in Madison, Wisconsin today. On the bigots side, a meager 54, according to a head count by the Courage Campaign's NOM Tour Tracker. Lots more photos at the link, with more to come.

Maryland Cop To Courage Campaign: "Don't Make Me Lock You Up"

As we learned yesterday, NOM had the Courage Campaign's cameraman thrown out of the rally in Maryland, but not before its laughable attendance was recorded.

Stars Reenact Prop 8 Trial Testimony

The Courage Campaign has launched Equality On Trial, in which stars reenact the testimony given by the plaintiffs in California's Prop 8 trial. Below are reenactments from Marisa Tomei, Cheyenne Jackson, Michael Urie, Patricia Clarkson, Alan Cumming, and Ellen Greene. The Courage Campaign invites you to download trial scripts and upload your own reenactments to the Equality On Trial site.