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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | October 26, 2011

HRC to NOM: Fess Up About Stolen Photo

Anti-LGBT organization manipulates crowd photo to create illusion of support

WASHINGTON – Today Joe Solmonese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization – sent a letter to the so-called National Organization for Marriage (NOM) calling out the group’s deceitful tactics in New Hampshire.  NOM is using a photograph from an Obama campaign event in Ohio to mislead New Hampshire voters into believing they have more supporters than they actually do.  The news was broken by Jeremy Hooper on his Good as You blog; Hooper is also a contributor to HRC’s NOM Exposed.  

The photo debacle comes on the heels of news from the nonpartisan University of New Hampshire Survey Center who recently released a poll showing 62% of Granite Staters oppose repealing the popular same-sex marriage law.

Read Solmonese’s letter to NOM President Brian Brown below:

Dear Mr. Brown:

Your organization has sunk to a new level of deception by manipulating photographs from an Obama campaign event in Ohio to trick Granite Staters into believing support for the National Organization for Marriage is much greater than it really is.  And while I know that NOM has never been above misleading the public to further its cause, this new phoniness is an example of just how far you will go to make people believe your pursuit – the denial of equal treatment under the law -- is supported by New Hampshire voters and Americans in general. 

There’s no mistaking the facts: 62 percent of Granite Staters oppose repealing marriage equality. In addition, polls reflect that a majority of Americans support marriage equality nationwide.  And it’s no secret that support is growing as Americans from all walks of life come to the understanding that all that gay and lesbian families seek is to have our love and commitment recognized and legally protected.  Yet NOM futilely and painstakingly attempts to convince otherwise.  

The fact that you had to “steal a crowd” from someone else’s event to create the illusion that people support your cause is evidence that you and your cohorts are truly scraping the bottom of the barrel. 
Americans want the truth.  And the truth is voters in New Hampshire want the legislature to leave the popular marriage law alone and focus on the economy and budget matters.

Sincerely,
Joe Solmonese

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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