From The Ruth Institute

NOM spun off the Ruth Institute a couple of years ago. (Via Good As You)

MICHIGAN: Marriage Lawsuit "Expert Witness" Says Gays Are Going To Hell

Testimony in Michigan's marriage equality finished yesterday, but not before one "expert witness" told the court that gays are going to hell.

"Is it accurate that you believe the consequence of engaging in homosexual acts is a separation from God and eternal damnation?” Mogill asked the state’s expert, then added, “in other words, they’re going to hell?” “Without repentance, yes,” answered the expert, Canadian economist Douglas Allen, the last witness to testify on behalf of the state in a trial that could make Michigan the 18th state to legalize gay marriage. A spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, who is defending the voters’ decision in 2004 to define marriage as being between one man and one woman, said Allen’s religious beliefs do not taint his testimony. “The trial ended on Dr. Allen’s comment that the science on this remains unsettled,” said Joy Yearout. “He was very clear that his personal beliefs have no impact on his research or the data it produces.”

I wrote about Allen last November.

Another familiar name on Michigan's list of defense witnesses is Professor Douglas Allen, of Canada's Simon Fraser University. Allen sits on the board of directors of NOM's hate-satellite, the Ruth Institute. Allen is a supporter of Mark Regnerus and claims to have analyzed a 2000 census and come to the conclusion that "children being raised by same-sex couples are 35% less likely to make normal progress through school."

Last month the SPLC added the Ruth Institute to its list of hate groups. Closing arguments in the Michigan case will take place today. The judge is not expected to rule immediately.

From The Geniuses At The Ruth Institute

Yes, Ruth Institute. You ARE bigorts.

Freep This Ruth Institute Poll

Last month NOM spun off the Ruth Institute into a stand-alone hate group. Today's poll is here. (Tipped by JMG reader Myles)

MICHIGAN: State Calls Mark Regnerus As Witness In Marriage Equality Lawsuit

Last month a Michigan judge set February 25th as the trial date for the above-titled lawsuit to overturn the state's ban on same-sex marriage. According to a filing released yesterday, the state is calling discredited researcher Mark Regnerus as an "expert witness" on their behalf.  As tipster Str8 Grandmother put it in an email, those documents from UCF can't come quickly enough.

Also on Michigan's expert witness list is Professor Joseph Price from Utah's Brigham Young University.  Earlier this year Price and four other (presumably Mormon) members of the Brigham Young social sciences faculty filed an anti-gay SCOTUS brief against the overturn of DOMA.  Their brief denounced the APA's position that gay people make fine parents. From the brief: "Boys who do not regularly experience the love, discipline, and modeling of a good father are more likely to engage in what is called 'compensatory masculinity' where they reject and denigrate all that is feminine and instead seek to prove their masculinity by engaging in domineering and violent behavior." In other words, lesbian parents produce violent boys.

Another familiar name on Michigan's list of defense witnesses is Professor Douglas Allen, of Canada's Simon Fraser University. Allen sits on the board of directors of NOM's hate-satellite, the Ruth Institute. Allen is a supporter of Mark Regnerus and claims to have analyzed a 2000 census and come to the conclusion that "children being raised by same-sex couples are 35% less likely to make normal progress through school."

The final name on Michigan's list of so-called experts is Louisiana State University's Professor Loren Marks, whose study on gay parenting was published in the same July 2012 issue of Social Science Research as the Regnerus study. And like the Regnerus study, the work by Marks has been denounced as a "lowbrow meta-analysis of studies" that was "inappropriate for a journal that publishes original quantitative research."

RELATED: For those unaware, NOM's Ruth Institute says the foul and repulsive things that the relatively moderate NOM is afraid to say. In particular, the Ruth Institute's Jennifer Roback Morse, who has testified before many state legislatures, routinely denounces LGBT people in the most disgusting manner.  Some of her greatest hits: Morse says that gay people themselves know they are an abomination. Morse says that gay people want to outlaw Christianity.  Morse says that people who "choose" to be gay will go to hell. Morse mocks the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi.

NOM Hawks Anti-Gay Tattoos

(Via Good As You)

NOM Warns: There Are GAYS In Dorms

(Via Good As You)

NOM: The Catholic Church Demands That Homosexuals Remain Celibate

"One group of people that I particularly want to call your attention to is the group of people who experience same-sex attraction as a permanent part of their personalities. Some of those people choose to describe themselves as 'gay' and identify with that attraction, but what I want to say is that that is a decision, to identify with the attraction. In effect, it’s a very momentous decision, but I am sure in a room this size there are people who know people who are struggling with same-sex attraction.

"What the Catholic Church teaches is very simple, that they can be saved, but they have to live a life of chastity — and that God does want them to be saved. In fact, their same-sex attraction can be their personal path to holiness. That can be the thing that gets them to Heaven: dealing with that, dealing with it in a good, and decent, and wholesome way." - Jennifer Roback Morse, head of the Vatican front group NOM's Ruth Institute.  (Via Zack Ford at Think Progress)

NOM's Jennifer Morse: Same-Sex Marriage Will Outlaw Preaching Christianity

Dr. Jennifer Morse of NOM's Ruth Institute, whom was last heard from when she said that evil gays "stole the rainbow," is now telling audiences that same-sex marriage will bring about the outlawing of preaching Christianity.

First among her qualms—and no doubt foremost for her audience, considering the college’s unapologetic Christian Evangelical orientation—is the conflict same sex marriage has with Biblical teaching. “Scriptures are full of marriage,” Morse said. “Marriage is all throughout the Bible.” She said that a redefinition of marriage would mean that Christians “will lose the ability to evangelize…we will lose the ability to preach the Bible.” Morse stressed that redefining marriage undermined what she called the “essential public purpose of marriage.” She noted that, in a legal sense, attaching children to their parents was the primary reason for marriage to even exist. “If it weren’t for that purpose, I don’t think we would need marriage at all,” she said. “Procreation is key to marriage.”

And the audience no doubt nodded along, believing her.

PhoboQuotable - Jennifer Norse

"Don’t try to tell me 'nothing so terrible has happened in Massachusetts.' Redefining marriage redefines the way in which generations relate to one another. It is ludicrous to believe that we would feel the full impact of such a change in a few years. It will take at least a generation, a full thirty years or more, before the full effects of redefining marriage work themselves out throughout the social system.

"The only argument you have is so-called 'equality.' You have taken a venerable American concept and twisted it out of recognition. Equality used to mean limiting the power of the state to make irrelevant distinctions among citizens. In your hands, equality has become a battering ram for smashing every aspect of social life that has any hint of sexual differentiation. No more mothers and fathers, only Parent 1 and Parent 2." - Ruth Institute bigot Jennifer Norse, testifying for NOM at Wednesday's hearings in Rhode Island.

Maggie Gets Around

Yesterday Maryland, today Rhode Island. Dr. Jennifer Morse is the Ruth Institute hag with the Divine hair-do from yesterday's "four threats to marriage" clip.

NOM's Four Threats To Marriage

Contraception, divorce, cohabitation, and same-sex unions are the four threats to marriage, according to NOM's Ruth Institute which will hold a Tennessee conference on that terrifying quartet later this month.

(Via - Good As You)

Chick-Fil-A Has Deep Anti-Gay Affiliations

Yesterday Chick-Fil-A finally addressed the news that it was sponsoring an anti-gay marriage seminar hosted by the Pennsylvania Family Institute.

"To our Facebook community: First and foremost, thanks for your patience as we made sure we gathered the facts in regards to recent postings. We have determined that one of our independent Restaurant Operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars," said the restaurant. "As our fans, you know we do our best to serve our local communities, and one of the ways we do that is by providing food to schools, colleges, civic groups, businesses, places of worship, not-for-profit groups, etc. At his discretion, the local Operator agreed to simply provide a limited amount of food. Our Chick-fil-A Operators and their employees try very hard every day to go the extra mile in serving ALL of our customers with honor, dignity and respect."

That seems to be a reasonable response, right? Oh, but hang on. Good As You's dogged Jeremy Hooper has uncovered extensive ties between Chick-Fil-A's charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, and virtually all of the major organizations fighting marriage equality, including NOM's Ruth Institute, which famously demanded that gays return the "Christian rainbow." So much for "honor, dignity and respect." Chick-Fil-A's press release is nothing by lying bullshittery. Hit the link for the evidence.

NOM Wants The Rainbow Back

"Proposition 8 was passed by a great grassroots coalition that included people from all across the religious traditions, and also people of every race and color. We are the real rainbow coalition. The gay lobby does not own the rainbow. We can't simply let that go by. Families put rainbows in their children's nurseries. Little Christian preschools will have rainbows...Noah's Ark and all the animals. Those are great Christian symbols, great Jewish symbols." - Jennifer Norse, of the NOM-affiliated Ruth Institute, who says queers have no right to use the rainbow, which is proof of "God's covenant with man."

HRC & Courage Campaign To File Joint IRS Complaint Against NOM's Ruth Institute

The Human Rights Campaign and the Courage Campaign announced today that they intend to file an IRS complaint against the Ruth Institute, which is an arm of the National Organization for Marriage. The complaint demands that the IRS "revoke the Ruth Institute’s tax-exempt status and seek an injunction to prevent future violations by either the Ruth Institute or the NOM Education Fund." View the complaint here (PDF). Via press release:

The complaint makes clear the Ruth Institute “has repeatedly and flagrantly violated the political campaign activity prohibition of section 501(c) (3) by intervening and participating in multiple candidate campaigns. In the past year Ruth Institute resources have illegally been used to advocate for a U.S. Senate candidate as well as local and statewide judicial candidates.” HRC and the Courage Campaign cite the repeated involvement of the Ruth Institute in Carly Fiorina’s Senate race and in judicial elections in California and Iowa as clear violations of federal law. “The evidence that the Ruth Institute and the NOM Education Fund repeatedly stepped over the line into illegal activity is indisputable,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Even fringe groups like NOM, its associates, and its affiliate groups must abide by federal law. Is the Ruth Institute nothing more than a front and funnel for NOM's political activities? We trust the IRS can unveil the truth."

“Time and again, NOM has shown itself as a radical extremist group bent on attacking families and undermining election laws,” said Courage Campaign Chairman and Founder Rick Jacobs. “By openly flouting IRS regulations governing charities, NOM is effectively forcing taxpayers to subsidize its political activities. This is not just the height of arrogance, it’s against the law.” Pursuant to the federal tax code, as a charitable organization, the Ruth Institute may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates. Violation of this prohibition can result in stiff penalties against the organization and its officials as well as potential revocation of its tax exempt status by IRS.

Same-Sex Marriage Home Party Kit!!!

Over at Good As You, Jeremy has uncovered the NOM-affiliated Ruth Institute's "Same Sex Marriage Home Party Kit." For a mere $100 you get bumper stickers, wrist bands, CDs, and the four hour DVD course on why Jeebus himself endorses opposite marriage.

Make a difference in your community with your own friends and neighbors! Purchase the "Same Sex Marriage Affects Everyone Home Party Kit." It contains all the tools you need to become an effective advocate for the institution of marriage.