PRINCETON: Students picket same-sex marriage opponents

PRINCETON — Waving umbrellas and posters, around 30 Princeton students danced and cheered in front of the National Organization for Marriage’s (NOM) Nassau Street offices Wednesday to voice disapproval of the group’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

NOM, which was founded in 2007 by Princeton politics professor Robert George and Maggie Gallagher of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, is a nonprofit organization that serves as a resource for organized opposition to same-sex marriage around the country, according to its Web site. The group is based in Princeton, across the street from the university.

”The fact that NOM exists so close to campus and that it was founded by a Princeton professor, yet that there hasn’t been much discussion about the issue, gives the impression that Princeton is ambivalent,” said Emily Sung, a sophomore who helped organize the protest. “That’s what we’re combating. We want to end the silence.”

Many protestors showed up in rain gear, referencing NOM’s “Gathering Storm” commercial, which features actors standing in front of a foreboding background of storm clouds. The commercial, part of NOM’s $1.5 million “Religious Liberty Ad Campaign,” warns of a coming “storm” in the fight over same-sex marriage.
See PRINCETON: Students picket same-sex marriage opponents
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Miss California will do anti-marriage ad

NOM, famous for their anti-gay “Gathering Storm” ad, will feature Carrie Prejean in a high-priced ad.

Brian Normoyle: Gathering Storm: Miss California Trying to Redefine Traditional Breasts for the Rest of Us

For many thousands of years, across every culture and continent, women have known traditional or “natural” breasts to be those that God — or nature — gave them. To think otherwise flies in the face of millennia of human history and spiritual doctrine. Prejean’s Bible repeatedly reminds us we are made in God’s perfect image while warning us against exchanging the “natural” use of our bodies for those deemed “unnatural.” And, while one could argue the rights to privacy and personal freedom are inherent in our nation’s founding democratic principles and that every American has a right to his/her own life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, organizations like NOM — for whom she’s now a spokesperson — Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council repeatedly admonish us that life in America would be better if theology and biblical doctrine were the primary determinant of civil law and personal liberties.

While someone else was footing the bill, Prejean made the choice to defy her God’s perfect design and creation of her and to rebel against the intended and “natural” purpose of her mammaries: namely, the nursing of babies rather than the visual attraction sufficient enough to win a vanity contest. Moreover, if her teeth aren’t capped, I’m betting they were braced; and I’d also put money down on the fact that Prejean has, at some point, performed other “unnatural” acts with her organs like chewing gum, wearing eye-glasses, enjoying a Diet Coke or two or even… um… er, well, you get the idea.

So, Carrie, you may find full civil equality for all Americans to be “unnatural” and not “Biblically correct,” but, frankly, neither are your Jugs for Jesus and your Caps for Christ. “No Offense.” See Brian Normoyle: Gathering Storm: Miss California Trying to Redefine Traditional Breasts for the Rest of Us

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Miss California: The anti-gay-marriage martyr extends her 15 minutes

Last night, Miss California Carrie Prejean called into Fox News’ On the Record, hosted by Greta Van Susteren, to talk about her latest venture. You may have heard the news yesterday that Prejean is appearing in an ad for the National Organization for Marriage, the same group that created the much-mocked “Gathering Storm” spot earlier in April. Prejean’s claim to fame is her Q&A session with blogger Perez Hilton during the Miss USA pageant. Hilton asked her whether states should legalize gay marriage, and Prejean responded in the negative, saying she herself believes in “opposite marriage.” As my colleague Jennifer Armstrong pointed out, it was a brief soaring moment of journalistic clarity for Hilton. (Whereupon he immediately crashed back to earth by calling Prejean a “dumb b—-” on his video blog. Was the air too thin up on the high road, Perez?)

Prejean became an instant martyr to the anti-gay-marriage cause, claiming that she lost the Miss USA crown because of her views. Now, I’m all for freedom of speech (even for pageant contestants) and Miss Prejean should be able to announce any opinion on marriage, gay or “opposite,” that she wants. But after rereading the transcript of Prejean’s interview with Van Susteren again, I have to say: If you’re going to make her into an anti-gay-marriage Joan of Arc, shouldn’t she be better informed? When asked about her thoughts on civil unions or gay adoption or general rights for gay couples, it was obvious Prejean didn’t have any, even saying at one point “I will get back to you on that one.” The most she could offer beyond the “promoting marriage” boilerplate was “I think that people that are homosexual should have some rights, you know, hospital rights, and things like that.” (Gee, thanks.)

See videos & more of Miss California: The anti-gay-marriage martyr extends her 15 minutes Entertainment Weekly

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WATCH: Alicia Silverstone, Lance Bass Star In “Gathering Gay Storm” Spoof

The “gathering storm” ad made by the National Organization for Marriage, which preaches against same-sex unions, has spawned many parodies in its short life. As Stephen Colbert said before introducing his version of it, “It is like watching the 700 Club and the Weather Channel at the same time.”

Our own Lizz Winstead offered her version that shows the ridiculous leaps the ad makes in conflating the restriction of personal rights with granting marriage rights to homosexuals.

Now Funny or Die is getting in on the fun with a star-studded version that boasts Alicia Silverstone, Lance Bass, George Takei, and Sarah Chalke. The ad offers an answer to the gay marriage issue: a giant gay-repellent umbrella that will shield god-fearing Americans from the storm.

See WATCH: Alicia Silverstone, Lance Bass Star In “Gathering Gay Storm” Spoof

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How the Rising Gay Marriage Issue Affects Cal Gov Race

The cultural war over gay marriage has suddenly re-emerged nationally, setting the stage for volatile political developments in California when the Prop. 8 decision comes down between now and June.

Last Friday’s decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found unconstitutional a state ban on same-sex marriage was followed within days by enactment of a pro-gay marriage law in Vermont and passage of another in the District of Columbia. All this could push the issue directly before Congress, as similar measures move ahead in New York and other states.

The flurry of activity triggered an all-hands-alert among religious foes of gay marriage, led by an outfit called the National Organization for Marriage, which rushed to air in California and other key states a dubious TV spot that uses paid actors to mouth lines of supposedly real people whose purported lives are about to be allegedly disrupted by “The Gathering Storm.” (And for a good spoof of the ad, try this.)

Foes of Prop. 8 meanwhile are sniffing defeat in court and planning mass demonstrations if the California Supremes uphold the initiative ban on gay marriage passed last November. The court has until June 3 to issue its ruling.

All of which complicates the lives of the candidates for governor. After months of mouthing platitudes about the green economy, as all-recession-all-the-time stories blanketed the news cycle, wannabes now face the unpleasant prospect of getting whipsawed between two highly motivated enemy camps: ardent progressive and gay activists demanding civil rights for all versus impassioned conservative evangelicals and other churched groups, fiercely intent on protecting their most sacred values from doom.

Read how the issue affects the governor’s race at www.calbuzz.com