How do you say, “Front Group?” I went again to the NOM National Office at 2029 K Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 to see their 2009 Tax Returns. Notice the UPS delivery slip on the doorknob. Neighbors said they never see anyone there, yet they are leading the fight against gay marriage in 14 states.

I recently visited their new National Office in Washington, DC twice during regular office hours to view the returns. No one was there. They must make them available to anyone during regular business hours. We also have checked online repeatedly for their 2009 returns, and again, nothing. What is NOM trying to hide? Why do they not file their tax returns every year?

Déjà Vu


I went through the identical exercise in 2009 when I attempted to view NOM’s 2007 and 2008 990’s, but they never filed those either. We visited their then National Office in Princeton, NJ many times and no one was ever there either.

One set of 990’s was 5 months late. The other set was 17 months late, when finally, the night before NOM President Brian Brown was to testify in front of the Maine Ethics Commission last year, all of their delinquent tax returns magically appeared on the NOM web site.

It was too late to stave off a State of Maine investigation of NOM, because in spite of threatening to sue the State of Maine (which NOM eventually did), the Maine Ethics Commission voted to investigate the National Organization for Marriage for election “Money Laundering.”

NOM is not above the law. They need to file their Income Tax Returns like everyone else and every other organization. We are entitled to see just how much money they raised and spent in 2009. Whom are they trying to protect?

NOM President Brian Brown getting questioned by reporters right after Maine Ethics Commission voted to investigate his organization for alleged money laundering.

NOM has sued 14 states to invalidate those state’s campaign finance laws. 12 of those lawsuits were in 2010 alone. NOM hopes to invalidate those state’s election laws, so when they spend their millions in those 14 states, it would not have to be reported.

NOM goes into these states and attacks anyone and everyone viciously that dares to support marriage equality in this country, and they do it without obeying election laws. They even subpoenaed me last year as soon as I filed the complaint against them in Maine. They are relentless.

Congressional Investigation of NOM — Now a “Hate Group”

We have tried repeatedly to get the Congress to investigate the National Organization for Marriage. There are numerous active complaints filed against NOM with the IRS. We need to get to the bottom of this highly questionable organization, now officially designated a “Hate Group,” by the prestigious Southern Poverty Law Center. CLICK HERE

Where’s Doug Manchester? He’s Not on Bust the Blacklist!

NOM now has a new web site up to defend its multi-millionaire and billionaire contributors. Their most famous donor of all is missing, hotel owner Doug Manchester. Manchester’s own people have admitted that they are losing $1 million per month from the boycott that Californians Against Hate (now Rights Equal Rights) launched on July 17, 2008, because of Doug Manchester’s $125,000 early donation to qualify and pass California’s Proposition 8. Here’s NOM’s new site, Bust the Blacklist: CLICK HERE

Manchester’s close friend, fellow San Diegan Terry Caster, who gave $693,000 to qualify and pass Proposition 8, is on NOM’s list. Guess the last thing Doug Manchester wants is any more publicity. He got a lousy return on his $125,000 contribution to take away marriage equality in California – at least $30 million in lost business to the Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel alone!

Switzerland Throws Out Mormon Missionaries
All 13 Mormon Members of Congress Fight Back

What Would a President Romney Do?

Washington, DC – The story just leaked out that all 13 Mormon members of the United States Congress sent a strong letter to the Swiss Ambassador to the United States. The 13 letter signers were protesting the Swiss Government’s banning of Mormon Missionaries from that county. This was reported yesterday in The Salt Lake Tribune: CLICK HERE

The one page letter signed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and four other United States Senators and eight House members was sent to Swiss Ambassador Urs Ziswiler and said, “We earnestly petition the Swiss Government to reconsider its decision and work with us and the LDS Church to find a solution which would permit LDS Missionaries to continue to perform their missionary service in Switzerland as they have done since 1850.”

Copy of Congressional Letter to Swiss Ambassador: CLICK HERE

Swiss Ambassador Ziswiler’s letter back to the 13 members of Congress — Thanks, but no thanks… CLICK HERE

U.S. Ambassador & Mormon Church Leader(s)
Meet With Swiss Government Officials

In his letter, the Swiss Ambassador refers to one recent meeting to discuss the situation between high ranking Swiss Government officials and the United States Ambassador to Switzerland Don Beyer, and at least one top Mormon Church leader, a Mr. E. Weidman.

How much other lobbying, regarding their Missionaries, has Senate Leader Harry Reid and the other 12 Mormon members of the U.S Congress done before with foreign government leaders?

What Would President Mitt Romney Do?

It begs the question, if Mitt Romney was elected President of the United States, would he take orders from the Mormon Church President like these 13 members of Congress have just done?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) requires “obedience” to the Church over family and country, period.

These five rogue Senators and eight House Members are attempting to conduct U.S. foreign policy on behalf of their faith.

Their letter to the Swiss Government states:

“It would be a great tragedy for our two nations if the long-standing missionary program of the LDS Church in Switzerland were terminated,” the members wrote. “Switzerland can have no more enthusiastic, lifetime ambassadors in the United States than these young people when they return home.”

Words like “our two nations” and “lifetime ambassadors” sure sound like diplomat-speak to me.

Mormon Church Prosecuted and Investigated in California

As a political watchdog, I’ve spent the last 2 ½ years researching the political practices of the Mormon Church. I filed a complaint against the Mormon Church with the California Fair Political Practices Commission two years ago that led to its prosecution, an 18 month investigation, a guilty finding and a fine; all for election law violations during the Mormon Church’s direct involvement in California’s Proposition 8 campaign in 2008.

Did Senate Leader Harry Reid Organize this Foreign Lobbying Campaign?

The group that signed was led by United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Reid was joined by both United States Senators from Utah, Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Robert Bennett (R-UT), Senator Michael Crapo (R-ID) and Senator Tom Udall (D-NM).

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (left), Mormon Church President Thomas S. Monson (center), meet with President Obama in the Oval Office July 20, 2009.

There were eight House Members who also signed the letter to the Swiss Government, Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Wally Herger (R-CA), Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), Mike Simpson (R-ID), Dean Heller (R-NV) and all three House members from Utah: Rob Bishop (R-UT), Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Jim Matheson (D-UT).

State Department Investigation Called For

Because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) was in direct contact with officials of a foreign government, and even used a United States Ambassador on its behalf, I hereby request the United States Department of State conduct a full investigation of all lobbying activities and all other actions taken by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and members of Congress with the Government of Switzerland and all other counties that the Mormon Church is in direct contact with.

cc: The Honorable Hillary Clinton,
Secretary of State
The Honorable John Kerry,
Chairman, U.S Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
The Honorable Howard Berman,
Chairman, U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs
The Honorable Barbara Boxer,
Chair, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics
The Honorable Zoe Lofgren,
Chair, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Standards of Official Conduct

Just this past month 5 more gay or gay-perceived teens
committed suicide in this country.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), run by Maggie Gallagher and her sidekick Brian Brown, has spent tens of millions of dollars in the past three years to bully and bash lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people and anyone who dares to support their full equality. Everything NOM does only furthers hate and homophobia.

Yesterday Maggie finally weighed in on the suicide of Tyler Clementi, one of the most recent of the five young men who took their own lives in the last month. She had the gall to say, “Nothing in the press accounts suggest the kids who did this were motivated by homophobia.”

Big hearted Maggie and the wealthy mystery backers of NOM say they care deeply about children. Then stop the vicious attacks. Stop the bullying. Let all people live their lives honestly and openly.

NOM’s Real LGBT Agenda

On April 10, 2010, at a NOM program in New Orleans run by Brian Brown, the only other speaker was Thomas Messner, a NOM consultant and Visiting Richard and Helen DeVos Fellow at The Heritage Foundation.

Messner (above) was the first to speak the truth about NOM’s real agenda when he said:

“Gay marriage legitimizes homosexuality.”

That is exactly what NOM wants to prevent, period. Its purpose is to make LGBTQ people feel inferior and inflame homophobia under the guise of stopping gay marriage. We must not let them succeed; too many lives are at stake.

The 5 Most Recent Victims

Billy Lucas, 15 years old, died September 9, 2010.

Billy had been harassed at his Indiana school for many years. The day before his suicide, there was an alleged incident where he was bullied again at lunch, and was told him to go hang himself. He hanged himself in his barn next to his beloved horses the very next day.

Seth Walsh, 13 years old, died September 19, 2010.

After repeated bullying from other students in his Tehachapi, California hometown, Seth hanged himself from a tree in his backyard. After nine days in a coma, he died on Sept 19th. Police said after questioning the students who may have been involved, many broke down in tears, never expecting such an outcome.

Tyler Clementi, 18 years old, died September 22, 2010.

Tyler was a gifted musician and freshman at Rutgers University. He killed himself after his roommate secretly recorded him with another male student, and then the video was broadcast online. His last words, posted on his Facebook account 10 minutes before his death, were chilling, “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.”

Asher Brown, 13 years old, died September 23, 2010.

Asher shot himself to death after excessive anti-gay bullying apparently isolated him from classmates in his Houston school. Frustrated by the continued harassment and lack of support at school, he took his life the following day.

Raymond Chase, 19 years old, died September 29, 2010.

Raymond was an openly gay sophomore at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. He hanged himself in his dorm room after repeated bullying.

Help Stop NOM

Go to the wonderful new web site set up by the HRC and Courage Campaign, http://nomexposed.org and take action today. NOM must be stopped before one more child is hurt.

Thank you!

Fred Karger
Founder
www.RightsEqualRights.com

Help us fight back.

Please send a contribution to Rights Equal Rights today!

The banner ad ran online at the New Hampshire Union-Leader, the Boston Globe and the Salt Lake Tribune websites

SAN DIEGO, CA – Californians Against Hate will be asking Mitt Romney “to urge the Mormon Church to stop its nasty campaign to ban gay marriage,” in ads running throughout San Diego next week.

Another appeal will be made to Romney at a demonstration on Monday, March 22, 2010 at 5:30 pm at his book signing at the Deseret Bookstore. Californians Against Hate is organizing the friendly demonstration to welcome the former Massachusetts governor to San Diego.

WHAT: Demonstration at Mitt Romney’s Book Signing

WHEN: Monday, March 22nd at 5:30 pm

WHERE: Deseret Bookstore (Mormon Church Owned)
La Jolla Village Sq. Shopping Center
8657 Villa La Jolla Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037
(S. E. Corner of Nobel Dr. and Villa La Jolla Dr.)
Exit 28 off I-5 south — Exit 28A off I-5 north

858-535-1404

The Deseret Bookstore, where Monday’s book signing is being held, is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church). Deseret Books is in the shadow of the San Diego Mormon Temple, which is located just across the 5 Freeway (Deseret Bookstore is on the west side of the Freeway).

The online banner ad (copy above) will begin running in four (4) San Diego publications beginning Monday, March 22, 2010. The ads will link to the full ad copy on the new web site, Rights Equal Rights home page.

Ads Will Run In:

• San Diego Union-Tribune
• La Jolla Light
• GLT (Gay and Lesbian Times)
• San Diego Gay and Lesbian News

Californians Against Hate began the Call Mitt Romney ad campaign in January 2010.  It ran the banner ad in the New Hampshire Union-Leader, The Boston Globe and The Salt Lake City Tribune.  Washington, DC based, Politico was the first to report on this groundbreaking ad campaign, “Gay Group Targets Romney,” directed at presumptive 2012 Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The ad asks Mormon Church leaders to take a vow of political neutrality on gay marriage.

Rights Equal Rights

SAN DIEGO DEMONSTRATION

Monday, March 22nd – 5:30 pm

Ask Mitt Anything

Ask Mitt Romney to help stop the Mormon Church’s nasty campaign against gay marriage!

As a national political leader and influential member of the Mormon Church, Mitt Romney could persuade Church leaders to end their 15 years of active involvement, and massive financial support to oppose equal rights for Gay and Lesbian Americans.

The Mormon Church and its members have spent tens of millions of dollars in 31 states to ban gay marriage and hurt so many people.

Mormon Church Leaders should take a vow of political neutrality on gay rights, similar to their stated practice in partisan elections.

WHAT: Demonstration at Mitt Romney’s Book Signing

WHEN: Monday, March 22nd at 5:30 pm

WHERE: Deseret Bookstore (Mormon Church Owned)
La Jolla Village Sq. Shopping Center
8657 Villa La Jolla Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037
(S. E. Corner of Nobel Dr. and Villa La Jolla Dr.)
Exit 28 off I-5 south — Exit 28A off I-5 north

858-535-1404

BRING SIGNS!

Utah Congressman Chaffetz Leads Effort to Dump Recently Enacted Gay Marriage Law in Washington, DC

Salt Lake City, UT — Mormon freshman Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), ranking Republican on the Congressional subcommittee that oversees Washington, DC, is now trying to undue the District’s new law that allows same-sex marriage in our nation’s capitol. Congress has 30 days to overturn that law.

The president of the National Organization for Marriage, which was created by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) two years ago to fight gay marriage throughout the country, announced last week that they would go to the ballot and to the courts to overturn marriage equality in Washington, DC. Well, she left out a third avenue, going to the Congress to veto the new law. Maggie Gallagher, NOM’s President said that they would defeat it, and here they go again.

NOM is very effective. They were responsible for Proposition 8 qualifying for the California ballot last year which ended same-sex marriage there. They were successful in overturning Maine’s gay marriage law last month, having contributed 64% of all money raised ($1.9 million of the $3 million) in that state. Now they have set their sights on our most recent victory in Washington, DC.

“We have been tracking NOM from day one, and while effective, they do all this secretly and utilizing highly questionable practices,” said Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate. “Maggie and executive director Brian Brown are single handidly fighting same-sex marriage in 11 sates, and now Washington, DC, all by themselves — truly amazing.”

“That is why we have called for investigations in California and Maine into their fund-raising, which is shrouded in mystery. In Maine they refused to disclose the names of thier contributors even after being ordered to do so by Federal Judge D. Brock Hornby and Maine attorney General Janet T. Mills.

Both California and Maine are investigating NOM right now, and the California investigation has included the Mormon Church. It has been ongoing for the past 13 months (FPPC Case # 08/735).”

“Now we need a Congressional investigation of the National Organization for Marriage as they come charging into out nation’s capitol to attempt to undo marriage equality there. They must no longer go unchecked,” demanded Karger.

Read the story about Rep. Chaffetz from the Mormon Church owned Salt Lake City Deseret News:

Chaffetz, family differ on gay marriage

By Lee Davidson

Published: Monday, Dec. 21, 2009 11:32 p.m. MST
SALT LAKE CITY — Gay rights groups are flabbergasted that Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, is leading a charge to block gay marriage in the District of Columbia, since his family has some interesting gay and liberal ties.

After all, his father, John Chaffetz, wrote a complimentary book about a gay couple that competed in the “Amazing Race” reality TV show. And liberal, former Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis (whose wife, Kitty, was once married to Chaffetz’s father) has been helping the young Chaffetz to pass legislation.

So gay groups are questioning in widespread Internet posts why Chaffetz, with such ties, could do such a thing. They wish aloud that he would listen to his more liberal relations, and stop his pledges to try to overturn a D.C. ordinance signed by its mayor last week to allow gay marriage.

Chaffetz told the Deseret News on Monday that such groups should not hold their breath for that.

“I see my position more as a support of traditional marriage than it is an attack on gay marriage. I think I have a core moral belief in traditional marriage, and I’m willing to stand up and stand tall for traditional marriage,” he said.

Although Chaffetz is a freshman, he is the ranking Republican on the House subcommittee that oversees District of Columbia operations. So he said it is part of that job to announce GOP opposition to the new ordinance, and vow to fight it since federal law gives Congress 30 days to overturn any ordinance passed by the D.C. Council.

“It has led to a whole series of very aggressive personal attacks, but go ahead, I don’t care. It doesn’t phase me much,” Chaffetz said. Many of the attacks draw attention to how his father wrote the book “Gay Reality” about the gay couple of Bill Bartek and Joe Baldassare who gained attention as reality show contestants. And attacks point out Chaffetz’s ties to Dukakis.

But Chaffetz explains, “I am the only member of my family who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am a convert.” He joined the church two months after he graduated from Brigham Young University, where he had been recruited as a football placekicker.

Because of that church background, Chaffetz said he is more conservative than many in his extended family, although he said it does include both Republicans and Democrats.

“My younger brother Alex is about as conservative as it gets, other than maybe Attila the Hun,” he joked. “My older half-brother (John Dukakis — who changed his last name from Chaffetz to match that of his famous stepfather, Michael Dukakis) is about as liberal as it gets.”

That doesn’t mean that Chaffetz hasn’t sought out the opinion of his half-brother, a former actor who had roles in such films as “Jaws 2″ and in such TV series as “Family Ties” and “Taxi.”

“I showed my brother John a draft of a campaign piece we prepared. And he said, ‘I disagree with everything you say here.’ And I thought, ‘We have success. We must be on to something,’” Chaffetz said.

In contrast, Chaffetz said his father is a “very conservative person,” his book about the gay couple notwithstanding. “I’ve talked to him about some things, but not about this (gay marriage).”

While Chaffetz is not biologically related to Michael Dukakis, Chaffetz said they became well acquainted and spent time together because John Dukakis would spend the school year with Dukakis and John’s mother, Kitty, and the summers with his father and his half-brothers, Jason and Alex, and their mother.

Rep. Chaffetz even headed the Dukakis campaign at BYU in 1988, before his conversions to be a Republican and a Mormon. He said he and Dukakis still keep in close contact, and the former Massachusetts governor has helped him make some Democratic contacts needed to do such things as pass House legislation to ban use of “whole-body imaging” machines at airports.

“One of the interesting phenomena is that Michael Dukakis has been very helpful in opening a lot of doors that wouldn’t have been opened otherwise. Some very liberal Democrats have given me the time of day that wouldn’t normally have done so, particularly some of the people from Massachusetts,” Chaffetz said.

“He (Dukakis) is a passionate believer in good public service, and considers party secondary. He wants to do some things that I could never support, but I respect him,” Chaffetz said. “I talked to him the day before yesterday. We keep in contact.”

But, again, Chaffetz said he believes strongly in defending traditional marriage, and no one should expect differently even if he has some liberal friends and family. “I’m my own guy on this one,” he said.

Still, the Utah Log Cabin Republicans on Monday called for him to change, issuing a statement that it wants him to “get back to tending the issues we sent him to Washington to represent, and stop trying to force others to adhere to his misguided interpretation of what makes a real marriage.”

Metropolitan News-Enterprise:

State Bar Moves Its 2011 Annual Meeting to Long Beach

By SHERRI M. OKAMOTO, Staff Writer

The State Bar of California has reported that it is moving its 2011 Annual Meeting from San Diego to a location in Long Beach.

“This action is being taken on the basis of the bar’s business and convention needs and to make the convention as successful as possible,” a spokesperson for the State Bar said Thursday.

The State Bar was originally scheduled to return to the 1,625-room waterfront Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego where the convention was held this year, but the spokesperson said “there was no availability at facilities throughout the state for a September or October date, which are the preferred months for our meeting because more people are able to come after summer vacations.”

2009 Boycott

Several individual attorneys and legal organizations had objected to the 2009 venue, which was the target of a boycott organized by Californians Against Hate, a non-profit organization devoted to drawing attention to the major donors to the Yes on 8 campaign, and UNITE HERE, the hotel workers’ union.

The hotel is owned by the Manchester Financial Group LLC, whose chairman contributed $125,000 towards overturning the rights of same-sex couples to marry, and is operated under lease by the Global Hyatt Corporation.

About 30 protesters with signs chanted slogans and circled the drive of the hotel as the 82nd annual State Bar conference kicked off this past September, followed by a larger protest involving the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers of Los Angeles, the Beverly Hills Bar Association, the Bar Association of San Francisco, Barristers Club, California Employment Lawyers Association, National Lawyer’s Guild and Santa Clara County Bar Association.

LACBA Action

The Los Angeles County Bar Association also declined to host an exhibit at the hotel or participate in any activity at the Hyatt, instead setting up a booth at the nearby Hilton San Diego Bayfront where the Conference of Delegates of California Bar Associations convened.

Various organizations, including the American Association of Law Schools and the American Association for Justice—formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America—also relocated events that had been scheduled to be held at the Hyatt over the past year.

The State Bar, which had contracted with the hotel to host its 2009 and 2011 annual meetings before the divisive Proposition 8 campaign began, acknowledged strong opposition to the venue from members of the legal community but took the position that it could not breach its contractual commitments because the cost of doing so, if borne by the members, could violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits public entities from using mandatory dues money for political actions.

Contract Renegotiation

A spokesperson from the State Bar said that the organization is renegotiating its contract with the Hyatt to return to the hotel in 2014 and insisted that the 2011 move had nothing to do with the controversy.

“It was all about what’s best for the convention,” which was obtaining a date in September for the event, she explained.

“As a result of the current economy and the bottoming out of the convention market, we were able to obtain September dates in Long Beach,” the spokesperson said, adding that the exact date and location have not yet been determined since the State Bar is in negotiations with multiple facilities.

The 2010 conference is scheduled to take place Sept. 23-26 in Monterey.

Californians Against Hate Opens San Diego Office

Californians Against Hate Opens
San Diego Office

SAN DIEGO, CA – Fred Karger cut the ribbon earlier this week, or rather the caution tape, to officially open their first real office in the 301 University Building. The 301 Building is very unique. It houses a dozen different LGBTQ organizations in San Diego for very low cost in the old No on Prop 8 headquarters.

“We are excited to have an official office, and we’re thrilled to be in the 301 Building” stated Californians Against Hate founder, Fred Karger. “There are lots of new young activists working out of here, and it’s a wonderful place to be. Lots of future leaders all under one roof. It’s very encouraging to see, and we’re glad to be a part of.”

“Having an office in San Diego will enable us do more on our two remaining boycotts, Doug Manchester’s Hotels and Terry Caster’s A-1 Self Storage Company. Manchester gave $125,000 of very early money to qualify and pass Proposition 8, and Caster gave a whopping $693,000. We have led successful boycotts of both companies for over a year. Now we can ramp them up and utilize more volunteers in San Diego,” concluded Karger.

If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by. If you would like to volunteer, let us know: info@californiansagainsthate.com

Thank you!

Manchester Hotels Bleeding $1 Million
per Month = $16 Million

Recent estimates have determined that Manchester’s two remaining hotels are losing a combined total of well over $1 million per month. This loss is a direct result of the 16 month old boycott started by Californians Against Hate and Unite Here, Local 30. The downtown Manchester Grand Hyatt and the new resort property, the Grand del Mar are “bleeding money in canceled and lost bookings.” Sales at the properties are reportedly way down.

Swedish model, modeling a Boycott Manchester Hotels T-shirt at Stockholm Gay Pride Festival Last Summer. Over 1 million people turned out for the 5 day celebration. This is part of the Manchester Hotels Global Boycott.

Last April, hotel officials admitted to having lost $7 million in the first 9 months of the boycott, and the longer it goes on the worse it gets.

Five for Fred Gets off to Great Start

A BIG thank you goes out to so many people who pulled out their MasterCards, Visas and American Express cards and donated to Fred’s Legal Defense Fund, Five for Fred

It’s actually very easy to help Fred. You just need to go to the www.fiveforfred.com web site and click on the bright red DONATE button in the upper right part of your screen. It directs you to the ever so easy to fill out donation sheet. It only takes 42 seconds to make a difference. If you haven’t donated to help defray Fred’s mounting legal bills, please do it right now: Five for Fred

Contributions of $5.00 (the price of a latte + tip) and up have come in from generous donors in 25 states – from Arizona to Wyoming. It has been incredible, and is really helping to make a dent in the bills. Please help if you can.

Thank you one and all!!!!

I am starting a legal defense fund

Please Get out Your MasterCard – I Need Your Help!

www.FiveforFred.com

It’s been three months since I was subpoenaed by the National Organization for Marriage and Protect Marriage, the official Yes on 8 campaign committee that raised $40 million last year.  They served me with a subpoena on Labor Day weekend as part of their federal law suit to end disclosure of all campaign contributions in California.

In one fell swoop, these rabid opponents of LGBT civil rights want to forever hide the identity of all their donors, and stop me from my pursuit of truth and transparency. They want to continue to raise millions and millions of dollars to ban same-sex marriage while keeping their donors’ names secret.

They want to silence me by dragging me through our costly legal system. They are clearly doing this to harass me and hurt me.  They don’t like the fact that two states, California and Maine, are investigating the National Organization for Marriage due to the complaints that I filed.

www.FiveforFred.com

I have retained a highly regarded California law firm, Stevens, O’Connell and Jacobs to represent me.  I am very fortunate to get such excellent attorneys to go up against the well funded and powerful lawyers on the other side, James Bopp and the Alliance Defense Fund.

I will not be intimidated, but I cannot fight these huge national organizations and their lawyers myself.  I need your help.

www.FiveforFred.com

I am truly a citizen activist.  It is just my laptop and me. I am more committed than ever to gathering and publishing information that is essential to a full and fair debate over Proposition 8 and the forces behind it. But those forces are trying to silence me by making my First Amendment rights too costly to exercise I cannot cover all of the legal bills that will be necessary to fight these mega organizations with unlimited resources.

Some friends and I have set up Five for Fred to help cover my legal expenses in dealing with the subpoena and matters related to it.

I have received a huge outpouring of support these past two months.  Many of you have asked what you could do to help me.

So I am asking you to contribute a minimum of $5.00.  If enough people donate the price of a latte (with tip), it will be a HUGE help.

Please ask your friends and family members to support Five for Fred, too.  Post a link on your Facebook page, tweet, forward to your friends and please send whatever you can to help right now.

www.FiveforFred.com

My hometown City Council of Laguna Beach recently presented me with a Proclamation from the city supporting me, a copy of which is below.  And Cindy Frazier, the editor of the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot wrote a beautiful and moving front page column detailing my plight, From Canyon to Cove: NOM Calls out Karger.

I am incredibly appreciative of the support I have received, and truly, it has helped me get through this tough time.

Please take a moment to donate to Five for Fred, and remember to forward this request to your friends, family and co-workers.

I am more motivated than ever before. I will continue to fight for our rights, and to draw attention to those organizations, religions, corporations and individuals whose goal is to stop us from attaining full civil rights.

Thank you very much for your help!

Best personal regards,

Fred Karger
Founder
Californians Against Hate
Five for Fred

City of Laguna Beach Proclamation Recognizing Fred Karger

Click to enlarge

Manhattan Declaration —
Who Are They Kidding?

MANHATTAN, New York — NOM head, Maggie Gallagher, as she puts it, “likes fairy tales.”  This sure sounds like a fairy tale to me, a very scary one.

Once upon a time there were 152 – how should I say it – extremists, all meeting in Manhattan (crazy place for this group to meet).  These 152 zealots drafted, approved and signed their Declaration of War on full civil rights for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans last week.  They threw in some other societal beefs, just to try and mask the overriding issue, their fervent opposition to same-sex marriage.

One major leader of their movement is missing from the 152 names.

There are NO MORMONS on the list, and several of us read it very carefully.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) has been leading the anti-gay marriage movement in this country for the past 14 years.  They have spent tens of millions of dollars in practically every state ($30 million in California alone last year) to fight equality and to pass constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.

So where are the Mormon representatives on this illustrious list?  Are they truly backing off their longstanding opposition to gay civil rights?

To their credit, Michael Otterson, a high ranking Mormon Church official recently testified in support of the Salt Lake City ordinance that would no longer allow discrimination in employment and housing against LGBT people in Utah’s largest city.  While a small step, it has been broadcast around the world.  That’s because the Church, through its Public Affairs Department, got the word out – big time.

Let’s hope the Mormon leadership is truly softening its position on this issue.  It has been a huge PR nightmare for the Church, and one that divides so many Mormon families.  Maybe they will redirect all that time, talent and money to other causes, real problems.

There are plenty of Catholics on this list, however, and some very prominent ones. Two Cardinals and lots of Bishops.  Catholics appear to be the new Mormons in the fight against same-sex marriage.

The Catholic Church has become much more visible as the Mormons have backed off.  Maine Bishop Richard J. Malone and his sidekick, Marc Mutty ran and heavily funded the recent campaign in Maine to take away same-sex marriage in that state. The Roman Catholic Dioceses of Portland (ME) even set up a Political Action Committee (PAC), and gave and raised $553,000 to pass Question #1.  That’s a lot of money, especially when they recently closed 5 churches in Maine.

Now, last week in Washington D.C., the Catholic Church there threatened to stop feeding the homeless if the City Council passes a same-sex marriage bill. Yes, the Catholic Church will stop feeding the hungry!

Here’s what the New York Times editorial said about that yesterday.

National Organization for Marriage (NOM) Chairman Robert P. George authored their new manifesto, along with former Watergate felon Chuck Colson.  They hired a PR firm to publicize the Manhattan Declaration, the Mark DeMoss PR Group in Atlanta.  Their web site identifies them as “the first and largest PR firm exclusively representing faith-based leaders, organizations and causes.” The DeMoss Group promotes itself on www.ManhattanDeclaration.org web site almost as much as its client. Take a look:

The DeMoss PR Group even has a bible covering an American Flag on their web site’s home page:

DeMoss PR Group website

And please read this great story on the Manhattan Declaration by Carlos Santoscoy, Editor of On Top Magazine: Click here

Religious Leaders Unite Against Gay Marriage, Rights

One-hundred and fifty-two evangelical, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders have signed a declaration saying they oppose laws that would compel them to recognize gay unions or marriages, among other social issues.

“We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on Earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence,” says the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience.

The manifesto was unveiled Friday at the National Press Club. The document outlines the group’s three most pressing issues, two of which deal with gay rights: abortion, marriage and religious liberties.

“We argue that there is a hierarchy of issues,” Chuck Colson, a prominent evangelical who founded Prison Fellowship and co-authored the document, told the New York Times. “A lot of younger evangelicals say they’re all alike. We’re hoping to educate them that these are the three most important issues.”

Among the signatories are Rev. Donald W. Wuerl, the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. and Bishop Harry R. Jackson, Jr.

Wuerl and Jackson are the chief opponents of a gay marriage law expected to be approved by the D.C. City Council on December 1. Wuerl has threatened to pull the plug on D.C. social programs, including serving the homeless and providing health care for the poor, unless the law includes language that allows individuals and private business owners to refuse to provide goods and services related to the nuptials of gay couples.

Jackson founded the Christian-backed group Stand4MarriageDC.com after city leaders approved a gay marriage-recognition law in the spring. His group is currently fighting for the right to put a gay marriage question on the ballot.

The document says, “We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other antilife act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent.”

The document’s language also takes aim at other gay rights laws, including a recently approved law that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of federally recognized hate crimes and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that would ban workplace discrimination against gay men, lesbians and transgender people.

Social conservatives have argued that such measures would have a chilling effect on religious liberties.

Signers to the document include prominent opponents of gay rights, including Frank Schubert, who headed the campaign to reverse gay marriage in California, Alan Sears, president and general counsel of the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, David Welch, the Houston-area pastor leading the charge against mayoral candidate Annise Parker because she is openly lesbian, James Dobson, founder of the anti-gay group Focus on the Family, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and a leading opponent of gay rights.

A surprising omission is the Rev. Rick Warren, the evangelical minister whose prayer at the inauguration of President Obama drew heated protest because of his support for Proposition 8, California’s gay marriage ban.

Maine’s Election Ethics Commission “Eager” to Continue Investigation into the National Organization for Marriage’s Role in Referendum Campaign against Marriage Equality

Augusta, Maine, November 19, 2009 — Californians Against Hate was pleased to learn this morning, at a hearing in Augusta, Maine, that Jonathan Wayne, Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, is “eager” to proceed with the commission’s investigation into the role played by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) in the state’s election held November 3, 2009.

The investigation is the result of allegations of election irregularities leveled by Californians Against Hate founder Fred Karger. The Washington D.C.-based NOM contributed $1.6 million to eliminate marriage equality in Maine — an amount well in excess of the allowable $5,000 “for the purpose of initiating [or] promoting” the people’s veto referendum on same-sex marriage in Maine.

The scope of the investigation, to be conducted by the commission’s staff and Maine’s Attorney General Janet Mills, will include:

• What fundraising methods did NOM employ to solicit the money that it has contributed to Stand for Mariage Maine PAC?
• What was NOM’s purpose in soliciting or receiving these funds?
• What did NOM communicate to the individuals and organizations it solicited?
• Did NOM receive any contributions within the categories set forth in §1056-B(2-A)? If so, how much was received in these categories?
• Of the fundraising methods that are presently known (e.g., e-mail solicitations, newsletter), how much did NOM receive in response to these solicitations?

The inquiry may also extend to investigating whether NOM made any expenditures to initiate or to promote the referendum other than by contribution to Stand for Marriage Maine PAC.

Reacting to the commission’s decision, Californians Against Hate Founder Fred Karger, who attended the hearing in Augusta today, said, “I am extremely pleased that the State of Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections Practices has decided to pursue its investigation with such vigor into potential improprieties on the part of the National Organization for Marriage during the recent campaign in Maine.” In addition, Karger offered his help with the investigation as someone who has been tracking NOM for the past 17 months.

###

Californians Against Hate is the new political watchdog for the LGBT community, and closely monitors all who oppose our civil rights. Individuals and organizations who give millions of dollars to deny LGBT full equality will be held accountable.