It's no secret that the National Organization For Marriage is having a really tough time obtaining anything that even kind of looks like a win when it comes to the organization's supposed single issue: stopping marriage for same-sex couples. So you know what they say about desperate times and how such days neccesitate desperate measures.
For NOM president Brian Brown, the latest desperate attempt involves him pretending that marriage equality for same-sex couples is both a catalyst and a prerequisite for whether or not trans-identified Americans earn nondiscrimination protections. Here's Brian on Catholic radio:
SOURCE: The Drew Mariani Show [8/26/14]
In an earlier NOM era, the president would have sidestepped this question. The organization used to care about seeming like it was something other than a run-of-the-mill anti-LGBT group. NOM used to place much value in honing in like a laser beam on just the issue of marriage in hopes that they could build a broader coalition that might shy away from a group like the American Family Association but could get behind a supposedly less targeted and less animus-driven enterprise.
Nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Brian pre-planned this line of question with host Drew Mariani (a NOM friend and frequent interviewer). The new NOM strategy is all about attracting new anti-LGBT activists by attaching the limited issue of civil marriage equality to all kinds of unrelated things. Since transgender equality is more in the news than ever, Brian is more than happy to hitch his wagon there. We all saw NOM involve itself in last year's failed effort to dismantle transgender rights for schoolchildren, and now this. Brian probably thinks that there are people out there who see right through his well-worn fear-talk on marriage but might be persuadable if he starts focusing on the human being seeking to pee to peace.
And perhaps he'll get a few on his side. From my seat, however, I see it as much more likely that NOM's obvious (and growing) desperation will alienate far more than their new shotgun approach to the marriage fight could ever hope to recruit.