National Organization for Marriage Faces IRS Probe

Looking Into Questions About NOM’s New York PAC

WASHINGTON, DC – Right on the heels of last week’s vote on gay marriage in the New York State Senate, Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization for Marriage could well be facing its 3^rd investigation into its 2 year old operation.

In an IRS letter recently received by Ben Katzenberg on behalf of Californians Against Hate (letter below or CLICK HERE), Sunita Lough, Director, EO Examinations said, “Thank you for the information you submitted regarding the National Organization for Marriage PAC New York. The Internal Revenue Service has an ongoing examination program to ensure that exempt organizations comply with the applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code…. Internal Revenue Code section 6103 protects the privacy of tax returns and tax return information of all taxpayers. Therefore, we cannot disclose the status of any investigation.”

NOM is already the subject of investigations in California and Maine. Both complaints were filed by Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate. The California investigation (Case #08/735) is in its 2^nd year. That investigation covers the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) and NOM for not reporting in-kind expenditures on behalf of the Yes on Prop 8 campaign.

The Maine investigation began when that state’s Ethics Commission voted on October 1, 2009 to investigate NOM for not filing as a PAC in the recent election there to ban same-sex marriage. NOM should have filed as a PAC when it raised $5,000. It raised well over $1.8 million, and still refused to file as required under Maine elevation law.

“In Maine they refused to release the names of their donors, even after Federal Judge D. Brock Hornby and Maine State Attorney General Janet Mills ordered them to,” said Karger. This type of blatant disregard for the law is inconceivable. NOM is not above the law.”

“Soon Maggie Gallagher and her sidekick, Brian Brown (NOM executive director) are going to get caught.”

“NOM has spent nearly $20 million around the country in the past 2 years in at least 11 states, but apparently does not believe in following either state or federal laws.”

“Additionally, no one has yet to see any federal reporting by NOM of its National Organization for Marriage Educational Fund. This is their 501(c)3 charitable organization. There is no telling how many more millions of dollars they have raised and spent through this entity. It was formed in 2008, and their filings should have been available to the public well before now. We have requested this information from the IRS and have not received it as of today.”

“NOM’s 501(c)4 finally released its required 990 tax filings for 2007 and 2008 over one year late, and only after repeated requests were filed with the IRS by our organization and several other media outlets.”

“The Congress of the Untied States should launch an official investigation of the National Organization for Marriage at once,” concluded Karger.

NOM is believed to be a front group for the Mormon Church. See our web site www.Mormongate.com for details.

HELP US FIGHT BACK.

www.FiveforFred.com

Quote of the Day, via JMG

The Definition Of Assholism

"Two adults who are consenting and who are like-minded and within their mental capacities should be allowed to be with each other. I think it's an outrage."

- Anti-marriage equality NY Sen. Hiram Monserrate, clearly oblivious to the meaning of irony, complaining that a court order prevents him from seeing the woman whose face he slashed with a broken glass.

From JMG: Pro-Gay Christians Launch The Affirmation Declaration

In response to the anti-gay Manhattan Declaration, a document calling for the disobedience of LGBT rights laws and co-signed by hundreds of religious leaders, comes The Affirmation Declaration, which calls for pro-LGBT people of faith to sign on as supporters of civil equality. An excerpt from the just-posted document:

We assert that the pain brought upon our GLBTI brethren in the name of God is not an expression of love. It is not love to bring shame and self-loathing upon people. It is not love to tell parents not to accept their gay children because their affirmation will supposedly make their children not want to change. It certainly is not love to teach the damnable heresy that GLBTI people cannot be saved or go to Heaven until they have been delivered from their natural orientation.

We also call attention to the horrible spiritual effect that antigay theology has had on the secular world. We are deeply troubled by the number of people who have been made to despise Christianity because of the oppressive and tyrannical acts of our Christian brethren. However well intentioned they may believe themselves to be, they continue to short-circuit the gospel of Jesus Christ by imposing their religious beliefs upon the general population. Whether homosexuality is sinful or not, opposing same-sex marriage is not only counterproductive to evangelistic ministry, but it is diametrically opposed to the concept of religious freedom—something that the proponents of the Manhattan Declaration claim to cherish. It appears that what they, instead, champion is their freedom to impose their religious beliefs on others. We reject this hypocritical opposition to same-sex marriage, and stand for true religious liberty in the United States of America and the world.

These ever present sins against the GLBTI community are not faithful expressions of God’s love, as is so often claimed. The attestation to the contrary expressed in the Manhattan Declaration only demonstrates the blind religious fervor that so many of our brethren are lost in. Like the Pharisees of old, they continue to believe that such cruelties actually serve the God who is love. But, this is not the type of love that Scripture defines for us.

Read the entire document. If you are a person of faith, consider signing on.

Courtesy of JMG

Christmahanakwanzolstice greetings from JMG:

To My Democratic Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

To My Republican and Independent Friends:
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2010.

Jump here to read the oroginal and comments at JMG

Corvino: Whom should we call a bigot?

By John Corvino, columnist, 365gay.com
12.04.2009 11:52am EST

“We all know what bigotry is,” a friend said to me recently. But do we?

I mean, most of us have experienced it, and we can point to clear historical examples. But can we define it, articulating what those examples all have in common? Or is it more like Justice Potter Stewart’s grasp of pornography: “I know it when I see it”?

jump here to read the article

From JMG: Full-Page Ad Against "Ex-Gay" Preacher Donnie McClurkin Runs In NYC

The Black Gay Men's Network today published a full-page ad in the NYC daily newspaper Metro in reaction to attacks on the LGBT community by black clergy and in response to "ex-gay" preacher Donnie McClurkin's recent outrageous and hateful rantings, which were posted to YouTube. It reads in part:

Pastor Donnie McClurkin -We love you brother and in ways the traditional church cannot because we understand your pain. You are not a man who loves men because of being molested as a child. That grave and despicable tragedy broke your spirit and damaged your mind; however it did not have the capacity to change your DNA. There is so much love in our community for you. We want to see you healed and whole. Whenever you are ready, come home and we'll love you until it doesn't hurt anymore. That's how we do!

Read the entire ad at the above link.

(Tipped by JMG reader Jeff)

thanks to JMG

An example as to why JMG is so great....

"Heavage"

A silly story in the Wall Street Journal announces that baring one's chest hair with a plunging neckline, a phenomenon mostly associated with the gold-chain laden disco era, is apparently back. The paper calls the fad "heavage." SRSLY.

Vik Mohindra, a 27-year-old graduate student from Toronto, confesses that his guy friends sometimes tease him about his heavage. "I would not recommend it to someone who isn't confident with their body and overall sense of style," says Mr. Mohindra, who says he works out three to four days a week and has a "defined" chest. Male cleavage, particularly on the silver screen, has long played a prominent role in popular culture. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. had his chest on display throughout the 1920s in films like 1924's "The Thief of Bagdad" and "The Iron Mask" in 1929. A dashing Errol Flynn showed man cleavage in the 1930s, most memorably in 1938's "The Adventures of Robin Hood." These actors made skin-flashing practically de rigueur for certain swashbuckling roles. The aesthetic continued well into the 1950s and the 1960s, says menswear historian Robert Bryan, author of the new book "American Fashion Menswear." Among those celebrated for their heavage were Marlon Brando (in the 1951 film version of "A Streetcar Named Desire") and Sean Connery as James Bond in the 1960s. The last time man cleavage was so prevalent in the U.S. was in the 1970s -- "the golden age of male chest hair," says Mr. Bryan. Epitomized by John Travolta in 1977's "Saturday Night Fever," the convention back then was to skip enough shirt buttons to show off a thick forest of hair, perhaps topped with a gold medallion as a sign of virility.

When gay men want to show off their chest, they just take their shirt off. Unless I'm missing out on some big gay heavage scene.

Lifted from JMG

You may recall Ted Cox, the straight, formerly Mormon, reporter who went undercover at an "ex-gay" conversion therapy retreats in two states. Cox was unable to tell his story because his publisher feared legal reprisals if Cox were to break the confidentiality agreement the "ex-gays" made him sign. This week Cox has broken the agreement in an interview with Alternet.

Read the rest of the article at JMG

Wow! Thanks so Much Supporters!

Current Country Totals
From 1 Jun 2009 to 2 Dec 2009

United States (US)	1,187
Canada (CA)	65
United Kingdom (GB)	62
Brazil (BR)	53
Netherlands (NL)	28
Australia (AU)	27
New Zealand (NZ)	24
France (FR)	15
Israel (IL)	10
Germany (DE)	9
Belgium (BE)	8
Switzerland (CH)	8
India (IN)	5
Spain (ES)	5
Singapore (SG)	5
Saudi Arabia (SA)	5
Austria (AT)	4
Japan (JP)	4
Taiwan (TW)	4
Morocco (MA)	3
Portugal (PT)	3
Sweden (SE)	3
Italy (IT)	2
Afghanistan (AF)	2
Russian Federation (RU)	2
Korea, Republic of (KR)	2
Indonesia (ID)	2
Puerto Rico (PR)	2
Poland (PL)	2
Mexico (MX)	2
Czech Republic (CZ)	2
Hong Kong (HK)	2
Denmark (DK)	1
Luxembourg (LU)	1
Europe (EU)	1
Ukraine (UA)	1
Egypt (EG)	1
Nigeria (NG)	1
Venezuela (VE)	1
Trinidad and Tobago (TT)	1
Colombia (CO)	1
Malaysia (MY)	1
Argentina (AR)	1
Peru (PE)	1
Barbados (BB)	1
El Salvador (SV)	1
Cyprus (CY)	1
Turkey (TR)	1
Jamaica (JM)	1
Philippines (PH)	1
Thailand (TH)	1
Senegal (SN)	1
Greece (GR)	1

NYS Senator Diane Savino speaks on the Marriage Equality bill