Carlos Maza, a gay researcher and blogger for Equality Matters, went undercover to attend the National Organization for Marriage’s weekend-long conference for college students and young adults called “It Takes A Family To Raise A Village,” according to an exclusive report on MediaMatters.org. Despite blogging about NOM for the past two years from a critical perspective, Maza did not raise suspicions when he applied for the conference, and once he received an email welcoming him to attend, he decided he had to go and see what it was like first-hand. He reports that the event was “one of the most disturbing and overtly homophobic experiences” of his life.
Carlos Maza’s printed materials from NOM’s college and young adult conference.
While most members of the LGBT community are unsurprised to hear anti-gay rhetoric from NOM, the organization itself frequently refers to itself as anti-gay-marriage, not anti-gay. In light of this misinformation and misrepresentation, Maza’s report, which includes an itinerary, detailed observations about the panels and the people, and audio clips, is extremely important and revealing.
Think Progress has compiled a comprehensive list of all the anti-gay sentiments Maza heard at the conference, including but not limited to: same-sex relationships are “dysfunctional and erratic,” the Church “doesn’t believe in gay and lesbian people,” lesbian relationships are not stable because “they get on the same menstrual cycle,” and kids of same-sex couples are “more likely to face sexual abuse.” If you feel angry now, rest assured, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
I urge you to go read Carlos Maza’s full report, because though the experience was emotionally taxing and is upsetting to read, it’s critical that we know what and who we’re up against as we move forward in the fight for marriage equality.
Photo: Media Matters
