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This came in via email. Â
A Courage Campaign staffer was just assaulted by a man associated with the National Organization for Marriage’s bus tour across California — a statewide tour launched in support of Carly Fiorina.
Anthony Ash, a Courage field staffer, was assaulted when he tried to film the latest stop on NOM’s “Vota Tus Valores/Vote Your Values” tour across California. Anthony’s arm was struck by a man attempting to obstruct the filming and Anthony’s video camera was knocked to the ground. Anthony is OK, but the camera is now permanently damaged, as is the footage taken on it.
The Santa Ana police were quick to respond, stopping NOM’s bus from making a quick getaway. Our lawyers have filed a complaint with the police for battery and are now considering what other action may be taken.
Last week, we sent Anthony, along with staffers Arisha Hatch and Phyllis Lozano, on the road to follow NOM so that we could track and expose the reality behind their poorly-attended tour as part of our “NOM Exposed” web site launched with the Human Rights Campaign. This coverage follows up on the comprehensive NOM Tour Tracker work we did over the summer in collaboration with Freedom to Marry.
On their summer tour, NOM demanded that the Maryland Capitol Police remove our videographer from an event — and then threatened him with arrest. The police apologized to Courage for this incident, but NOM still has not sent an apology.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/StopNOMbullying
Last week, the attention of our nation was captivated by the suicide of the fifth and sixth gay teens in the past month alone. The rationale that drove them to such a tragic end was bullying, plain and simple.
This is a different kind of bullying, but NOM’s intent is the same: To make people feel like they are second-class human beings, inferior to those who bully.
Brian Brown and NOM don’t like that LGBT and allied supporters of equality are standing up and exposing him and his organization. That’s why NOM tried to have us evicted in Annapolis in July and why NOM’s “Vote Your Values” tour leaders have tried to intimidate us from documenting their anti-equality tour now. It’s all emblematic of the same problem: to make people feel like they are second-class citizens.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/StopNOMbullying
Thank you for your support for Anthony and for Courage.
Rick Jacobs
Chair, Courage Campaign
Although Courage Campaign is a worthy cause, this attempt at making a fundraiser out of a serious incident means that I will not be contributing a dime to this
I was thinking the very same thing even as I was reading the ‘article’, and then I thought to myself, if your going to do this, what difference between you and those other people that you say you stand apart from.
The reality is that you have lost sight, you have lost focus, you have become like them. At any cost … when you become like the people you stand up to … and eventually fight, when you make use of their tactics and become one of them … you might as well cross the line and join them …
When you do not even bother to mention anything about the children, their ages, both 13, both the victims of bullying and both victims families were aware of it but seemed powerless to stop it. But from the loss of this these two families, the very recent lost, the Courage Campaign has shown the strength and nonchalance to carry and think of the bigger picture as they look to the future of all the other children that will live to fight another day. Kudos Courage Campaign, you demonstrate the incredible leadership skills of a Sun Tzu, a Niccolò Machiavelli, Julius Caesar, and let us not forget my favorite, Lorenzino de’ Medici whom your actions were more in keeping with … so … well done.
Now if your plan was to alienate people, good honest people by demonstrating extreme reprehensible acts or deeds then congratulations … you succeeded. Whoever thought of that idea, tell that person to take a vacation and get them out of the office for a week, that idea would have made a Republican blush, using two dead children to raise money, what were you people thinking, get your head out of your collective butts and send out an apology email for that one. And apologize to the parents of those boys, and do it now …
And no, you probably haven’t even thought of that one, having your heads lodged where they are still … the only time you see daylight is if you collectively COUGH.
Orlando