Anti-gay-marriage and anti-LGBT rights groups will continue their efforts

Staff Report

Even though marriage equality is now the law of the land, opponents of same-sex marriage aren’t giving up. They will continue to pursue anti-LGBT causes, continue to hammer at same-sex marriage, and seek to get so called “religious protection” laws passed that will allow individuals to discriminate against LGBT people. Here are a few of the more prominent anti-gay organizations, and what they are planning.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The ADF is a conservative Christian nonprofit with the stated goal of “defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.” It opposes same-sex marriage, and adoption by same-sex couples. The ADF has been active in the fight against marriage, often serving as the private counsel to states fighting challenges to their gay marriage ban.

ADF plans to continue to fight for traditional marriage with a three-pronged but the core of all their rhetoric is opposition to same-sex relationships and marriage equality.

Liberty Counsel. Liberty Counsel is a non-profit public interest law firm and ministry that provides free legal assistance in defense of "Christian religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family." The organization is currently most active in defending County Clerks who refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

National Organization for Marriage (NOM). NOM was formed in 2007 to campaign for California Prop 8, which banned gay marriage in the state in 2008. It then expanded its efforts to fight efforts to overturn state bans on same-sex marriage, with little success. After bans were overturned, they continued to try to insert themselves into court cases appealing marriage decisions, again with little success, again with little success.

NOM’s new campaign is a campaign to “restore marriage.” The plan has five points: 1) Elect a pro-marriage President in 2016; 2) Hold the GOP accountable “to the American people;” 3) Get Congress and state legislatures to pass “First Amendment Defense Acts” to prevent the government from “discriminating against people or institutions that believe” that same-sex marriage is wrong; 4) Build a grassroots movement that is pro-marriage; and 5) Support actions to amend the Constitution to repeal the SCOTUS marriage equality decision.

In addition to these, anti-gay organizations like the Family Research Council, the Traditional Values Coalition, and the American Family Association, all considered anti-LGBT hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center, will continue their fight against the full spectrum of legal protections for LGBT citizens. With only 19 states offering protection against anti-gay discrimination, these groups will continue their efforts to make LGBT people second-class citizens.

The Gayly – August 6, 2015 @ 12:20pm.