The anti-equality organization National Organization for Marriage chose the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision to launch a new marketing campaign based on an ampersand.
Wait, what?
NOM’s new campaign is seemingly intended as a cheeky rejoinder to the Human Rights Campaign’s very successful branding of the group and the broader equality movement with its logo – a yellow equal sign on a blue background.
NOM is urging activists to replace their Facebook and Twitter profile photos with a similarly colored logo featuring an ampersand, as shorthand for the idea of marriage being defined as “one man & one woman.” From NOM’s Tuesday afternoon email from NOM President Brian Brown:
Dear Friend—Three years ago, the US Supreme Court issued one of the most illegitimate, anti-constitutional decisions in history, imposing same-sex 'marriage' on the nation by a single vote in a 5-4 ruling. Today we are taking a symbolic action to continue our opposition to this illegitimate decision by launching the campaign.
Should that be read “the and campaign” or “the ampersand campaign” or something else? Something tells me this isn’t going to catch on the way the equality symbol has.
However awkward this particular project, it is another reminder that, three years after the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision, the Religious Right is adamantly committed to reversing what it believes is an illegitimate decision. It hopes to reverse the Court’s recognition of legal equality for same-sex couples through additional Trump nominations to the Supreme Court or, if necessary, through a generations-long campaign to chip away at the effectiveness of the ruling by seeking state laws or court rulings allowing governments to treat legally married same-sex couples differently than other married couples.
Something to keep in mind the next time you see a Religious Right spokesperson lecturing LGBT people to adopt a “live and let live” attitude toward business owners who insist that religious liberty protects their ability to refuse service to same-sex couples. Or maybe that should be “live & let live.”
