Donating Behind Closed Doors

Apparently in 2008, Mitt Romney’s political action committee gave $10,000 to the National Organization for Marriage, you know, that group that fought against Proposition 8 in California. I’m not one to misquote, so I went directly to their website. According to the website “The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it. Founded in 2007 in response to the growing need for an organized opposition to same-sex marriage in state legislatures, NOM serves as a national resource for marriage-related initiatives at the state and local level. “


In a nutshell, NOM’s main purpose is to protect marriage by stopping same-sex couples from getting married, because we all know that same-sex marriage will ruin our country. My favorite line is “to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it.” Clearly these folks haven’t looked at the marriage statistics in America recently because if they had then they would know that the faith communities have failed to sustain marriage. Lots of people get divorced now, even Catholics. It’s horrible really and I’m actually not being facetious. Marriage doesn’t have the meaning that it should. Short of abuse or some other extenuating circumstances, I truly believe that marriage should be forever. The key word there is should. I know that marriage no longer means forever. Nowadays people say “I do,” but they might as well have their fingers crossed behind their backs, because some leave at the first sign of trouble without exhausting all other possibilities.

But enough about marriage, I want to focus on NOM. I understand NOM’s outrage because the names of donors were illegally revealed, but I don’t like the idea that the donors had the right to have their identity protected in the first place. You shouldn’t donate money to an organization that you don’t believe in and by that, I mean, you shouldn’t donate money to an organization that you aren’t willing to claim in public. Part of NOM’s problem with the leaked information is that some of the donors may endure intimidation because people know their names. If that is truly part of NOM’s concern then their donors need to grow a pair. If they don’t support gay marriage, that’s fine, that’s their right, but don’t be ashamed of it or afraid of what I might think. I am in favor of gay marriage and I don’t care who knows that. I have lots of family members who are anti-gay marriage, but that doesn’t mean that I have to play along. Bottom line if you’re donating $5000 or more to an organization like NOM then you shouldn’t be able to do that behind closed doors. Stand up and be counted along with your money. I’m not saying that there has to be an announcement or anything, but there shouldn’t be outrage if your name appears on something associated with the organization. And yes I extend that to donors of organizations on both sides of the debate.

Status: Still trying to figure out why gay marriage isn’t legal in all 50 states.