NOM’s Efforts to Hide Its Donors Hit Another Snag

By support
Feb 22, 2011 at 04:24 pm

The so-called "National Organization for Marriage" spent $1.9 million dollars to help repeal the state's marriage law in a 2009 referendum. Now a federal judge says the group has to say where all that money came from.

After being ordered to reveal its donors' name by the state ethics commission, NOM filed a federal lawsuit saying that the state's campaign disclosure laws were unconstitutional, so it could keep its donor names a secret. In a summary judgment, the court found no problem with the law. NOM has lost similar cases in New York, Minnesota, and Rhode Island.

Unfortunately, the ruling does not return the freedom to marry for the many gay couples in Maine who lost it in the ballot initiative. But at least it will help shine a light on where NOM's funding is coming from. Today, a majority of Maine residents support the freedom to marry for gay couples.

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