EXCLUSIVE: Unrver At NOM's Anti-Gay Stunt Conference | Media Matters for Ameri

Contents:

• THIS ALLEGEDLY 'GAY' K-POP GROUP IS THRIVG WH RECENT SOLO TRACK 'ADRENALINE'
• EXCLUSIVE: UNRVER AT NOM'S ANTI-GAY STUNT CONFERENCE
• NATNAL ORGANIZATN FOR MARRIAGE CONTU TO SPREAD LI ABOUT GAYS
• NOM: GAY RIGHTS ADVOT DPERATE TO GA GROUND
• NOM: GAY COUPL AREN’T MONOGAMO BEE THEY CAN’T HAVE CHILDREN
• NOM'S LATT GAY-MARRIAGE WORRY: THEIR RIGHT TO DENY RIGHTS MIGHT BE DENIED
• NOM SEEKS 'GLAMORO' BUT 'NONGNIVE' CELEBRI TO PROMOTE ITS ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AGENDA

THIS ALLEGEDLY 'GAY' K-POP GROUP IS THRIVG WH RECENT SOLO TRACK 'ADRENALINE'

When asked what this impli for Om Nom’s sexualy, Voov rponds: “Well, at the time Om Nom was gog to be homosexual, but many members of our staff cid agast that.

Acrdg to NOM, the nference is meant to prepare llege stunts to fend “natural marriage” on their mp by troducg them to a number of proment anti-gay speakers and activists. Beg a 24-year-old gay blogger who has spent the better part of the past two years trackg NOM's anti-gay extremism, I wasn't expectg much when I applied to ITAF's “Emergg Lears” program mid-June.

EXCLUSIVE: UNRVER AT NOM'S ANTI-GAY STUNT CONFERENCE

I'd spent most of the month publishg blog post after blog post about ITAF's anti-gay “suggted readg” list, s roster of extreme anti-gay speakers, and s ti to a megachurch lked to the “ex-gay” movement.

NATNAL ORGANIZATN FOR MARRIAGE CONTU TO SPREAD LI ABOUT GAYS

If I attend, I ran the risk of beg exposed - all alone - as an unrver “homosexualist” a room full of the very people I'd been wrg about for months.

NOM: GAY RIGHTS ADVOT DPERATE TO GA GROUND

I also wasn't keen on the ia of havg to pretend to be straight ont of dozens of strangers for four days, as I didn't expect I'd be able to attend a NOM nference as an openly gay man whout raisg a few eyebrows. Sce s foundg 2007, NOM has loudly proclaimed that s "battle is not wh an orientatn"; that, spe opposg gay marriage, the anizatn isn't motivated by animosy towards gay and lbian people.

NOM: GAY COUPL AREN’T MONOGAMO BEE THEY CAN’T HAVE CHILDREN

This distctn - “we're not anti-gay, jt anti-gay marriage” - has allowed NOM to differentiate self om anizatns that have been labeled "hate groups" for peddlg known falsehoods about LGBT people.

So on Thursday, July 26, armed wh ltle more than my mera phone, a notepad, and a hastily-ncted backstory, I board a flight to San Diego to attend what would end up beg one of the most disturbg and overtly homophobic experienc of my life.

On the drive to the church, I listened to NOM's Morse celebrate the announcement of San Francis's new archbishop, Salvatore Cordileone - often referred to as the “godfather” of Proposn 8, the California ballot iative that banned gay marriage. She lled same-sex relatnships "herently unstable, " suggtg that gay partners eventually get bored of each other as a rult of havg the same genr.

NOM'S LATT GAY-MARRIAGE WORRY: THEIR RIGHT TO DENY RIGHTS MIGHT BE DENIED

She rpond by assertg that the majory of same-sex upl are “dysfunctnal” and “erratic, ” cg a wily discreded gay parentg study nducted by UT At associate profsor Mark Regnes:. After lunch, NOM's Cultural Director Thomas Peters gave a lecture on how to e social media s like Facebook and Twter to lobby agast marriage equaly, repeatedly toutg his work  fendg fast food giant Chick-fil-A, which at the time of this nference was jt begng to receive wav of nservative support for s ti to anti-gay groups.

He enuraged his dience to vis pro-LGBT news outlets to “know what your opponents are thkg, ” jokg about the number of ads for “gay hookup s” and “pet groomg” he se while browsg LGBT webs:.

PETERS: When you're on a gay webse, and aga you have to be reful bee thgs n get pretty crazy pretty quickly, you see much more of the worldview that's surroundg their advocy of this issue.

NOM SEEKS 'GLAMORO' BUT 'NONGNIVE' CELEBRI TO PROMOTE ITS ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AGENDA

When you see, for stance, an article about how awful, how horrible Profsor Regnes is wh his exploatn and stereotypg of gay people, and then on the si is ad after sponsored ad for gay hookup s, for pet groomg, and for, I mean, lerally - this is sort of like the worldview of the people who are fightg very serly.

One stunt asked whether was appropriate to e the term “gay marriage” when discsg the issue onle, sce the phrase self impli that marriage is a possibily for same-sex upl. Rememberg Peters' history of support for so-lled “ex-gay” therapy, I jumped at the opportuny to ask him a follow-up qutn - whether was even appropriate to refer to gay people as “gay” at all:. I was jt wonrg, sort of, even as an earlier pot, is the term “gay, ” as opposed to g thgs like “same-sex attracted” or “homosexual” or whatever other phrase, givg too much ground?