The National Organization for Marriage reacted Wednesday to its stunning loss in four states where marriage equality initiatives were on the ballot.
“We are not defeated in our fight for traditional marriage,” reads the headline on NOM’s blog. “Americans remain strongly in favor of marriage as the union of one man and one woman,” wrote a Brian Brown, NOM president.
“Obviously we are very disappointed in losing four tough election battles by narrow margins. We knew long ago that we faced a difficult political landscape with the four marriage battles occurring in four of the deepest-blue states in America. As our opponents built a huge financial advantage, the odds became even steeper. We ran strong campaigns and nearly prevailed in a very difficult environment, significantly out-performing the GOP ticket in every state.
Despite the fact that NOM was able to contribute a record amount to the campaigns (over $5.5 million), we were still heavily outspent, by a margin of at least four-to-one. We were fighting the entirety of the political establishment in most of the states, including sitting governors in three of the states who campaigned heavily for gay marriage. Our opponents and some in the media will attempt to portray the election results as a changing point in how Americans view gay marriage, but that is not the case. Americans remain strongly in favor of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The election results reflect the political and funding advantages our opponents enjoyed in these very liberal states.
Though we are disappointed over these losses, we remain faithful to our mission and committed to the cause of preserving marriage as God designed it. Marriage is a true and just cause, and we will never abandon the field of battle just because we experienced a setback. There is much work to do, and we begin that process now.”
With the defeat of the proposed Minnesota constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, coupled with the voter approval of same-sex marriage ballot initiatives in Washington State, Maine, and Maryland, LGBT advocacy groups are looking forward to improving the chances of pushing equality forward on other front during the next four years, including repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and a renewed push by the Obama administration to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
