News (USA)

Tax filings reveal funding for anti-LGBT NOM has dropped by over 50%

Tax filings reveal funding for anti-LGBT NOM has dropped by over 50%
Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage.
Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage.

WASHINGTON — The rapid advancement of marriage equality from 19 states to 35 in a matter of weeks has not translated into financial success for an organization whose self-proclaimed sole purpose is to “protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it.”

The Human Rights Campaign reports that in a time when virtually every nightly newscast, political debate, even television series delves into discussions about marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, the beleaguered National Organization for Marriage (NOM) can’t seem to raise enough money to cover its expenses.

According to analysis of the organization’s 2013 tax filings by the HRC, the NOM raised $5.1 million in 2013, dropping by over 50% since 2012. Just 2 donors accounted for more than half of the organization’s funding – further evidence that everyday Americans have little interest in furthering NOM’s extremist agenda.

In addition, the NOM Education Fund also dropped by nearly $3.5 million in funding — a drop of almost 70% since the previous year. NOM ended the year more than $2.5 million in debt.

“NOM should start figuring out that people aren’t willing to give their hard-earned money to an extremist agenda that’s going nowhere,” said Fred Sainz, HRC Vice President of Communications. “If I were Brian Brown, I’d be worried that my two or three mega-donors are soon going to come to terms with the fact that they’d largely be better off flushing money down the toilet. Americans certainly aren’t buying what NOM is selling, and it’s only a matter of time before the trickle of money keeping the lights on at NOM HQ dries up.”

NOM made their 2013 990s available last week after repeatedly refusing to make them public following their November 17 deadline – a direct violation of federal law.

The HRC reports that the NOM has also been deviating from its core mission of “protecting marriage” and now advocates against any and all measure of legal or societal equality for LGBT people.

NOM President Brian Brown recently traveled to Russia to support a bill – now law – banning the adoption of Russian children by same-sex couples or parents living in countries where marriage equality is legal; and he even sent out a transphobic e-mail lashing out against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, in which he referred to transgender Americans by saying “if a man feels like being a woman, he is; but if he later decides he’s a man again, he’s that.”

In June, the NOM hosted a march on the U.S. Supreme Court and a rally that featured remarks speakers who have compared homosexuality with bestiality, same-sex marriages with “Frankenstein creatures,” and LGBT advocates with Nazis.

In 2012, NOM ended the year in the red with roughly a $2 million dollar deficit. Just three donors accounted for roughly two thirds of the organization’s funding.

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