Tag: Human Rights Campaign

Phyllis Gardiner, an attorney for the Maine ethics commission who works in Maine’s attorney general’s office, told TAI that the Maine ethics commission’s long-stalled investigation into NOM is scheduled to get back into gear next month. What that investigation reveals is likely to shed even more light on NOM’s involvement in the anti-gay-marriage campaign and why the group has tried so vigorously to conceal its donors.

The Human Rights Campaign’s watchdog project NOM Exposed, which tracks the spending and lobbying activities of the National Organization for Marriage, recently revised its strategy. According to a leader on the project, HRC believes NOM’s focus in 2012 will be centered on the national stage to ensure that same-sex marriage remains a primary issue in the presidential race; thus NOM Exposed will be closely following NOM’s federal election activities.

Under pressure from gay rights groups, Atlanta-based international law firm King & Spaulding announced it was pulling out of a deal struck with Republican leaders to defend the Defense of Marriage Act on behalf of the House of Representatives. Paul Clement, the high-powered attorney who spearheaded the arrangement for the firm, has resigned and announced he will now take up the case as a member of conservative-politics-associated firm Bancroft PLLC.

Speaker of the House John Boehner has contracted high-profile conservative attorney Paul Clement to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) on behalf of House of Representatives. Boehner has agreed to pay Clement initially up to $500,000 to defend the law, although analysts say that figure is sure to rise. Colorado Springs Christian right organization Focus on the Family celebrated the arrangement, touting Clement's resume as one of the nation's top attorneys.

A prominent national gay rights organization on Tuesday blasted Colorado state Sen. Scott Renfroe for comparing homosexuality to murder when he spoke Monday against a bill that would extend health benefits to same-sex domestic partners of state employees.

A full page New York Times ad has sparked a war of words between gay groups and their allies and conservative religious leaders. The ad, sponsored by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, asserts that gays and lesbians have engaged in a pattern of mob violence against Mormons after the passage of Proposition 8 in California; gays meanwhile have pushed back, asserting that the church is not the victim.

Bob Vitaletti has made volunteering as a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community representative for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign a second full-time job. A volunteer since March of 2007, he expects to be paid in civil rights.