Rutgers sociology professor Arlene Stein reminds us that while many middle-class gay and lesbian couples in New Jersey may be celebrating the spread of marriage equality just across the Hudson (or entering into civil unions in the Garden State), lower-income community members are far less interested about joining the institution:

Several years ago, Mayor Cory Booker appointed a commission to deal with the concerns of Newark’s gay/lesbian communities. And a local group is collecting the stories of gay Newarkers in preparation for a conference at Rutgers in November. But the right to marry is not high on their list of priorities. As of last month, eight times as many Maplewood couples had obtained civil unions as those in Newark — though the population of Newark is 12 times larger.

The comparison of Maplewood and Newark raises questions about whether same-sex marriage is a one-size-fits-all solution. For those who wish to publicly affirm their relationships, and establish legal and economic bonds — like middle-class families in Maplewood — marriage is a no-brainer.

But those in the lowest ranks of the workforce, the bulk of Newark’s population, are less likely to have jobs with benefits and are more likely to be coupled with people who don’t either. And since they’re also less likely to own property, they’re unlikely to be very concerned with questions of inheritance. Gays and lesbians in Newark are also more likely to be embedded in family networks, less likely to move away from their families of origin in order to act on their homosexuality, and consequently they are less likely to construct identities in which sexuality is primary — and they have less incentive to marry.

Indeed, as its first priority, Booker’s LGBT Commission seeks to bring “an end to harassment, bullying, discrimination, economic and health care disparities, whether in the workplace, public, educational and/or healthcare setting and promote education, social and institutional sensitivity.” The right to marry is nowhere to be found.

The Family Research Council has released two new videos today encouraging the overturn of California’s FAIR Education Act. This recently passed law requires California schools include the contributions of LGBT people to history and culture, just as they are for other aspects of diversity. In the first video, FRC president Tony Perkins suggests that children will be “indoctrinated” to endorse same-sex behavior. The second video trots out the loathsome stories of the Wirthlins and the Parkers. These couples became the cause célèbre of the religious right when they objected to their kids reading books portraying same-sex couples, like King & King. David Parker was even arrested for trespassing at his children’s school, protesting that he couldn’t opt his son out of learning about same-sex families. Watch the videos:

Consider what FRC is objecting to: the very acknowledgment of same-sex families. There isn’t concern about teaching children that adults have romantic relationships (or that they might even kiss!). They just don’t want children to know that those two adults can be the same sex. Don’t forget that plenty of children come from same-sex families! These families are part of the school community! If FRC had its way, they would be completely erased and go unacknowledged. Parents like the Wirthlins and Parkers throw pity parties for themselves because they don’t want their kids to ever hear any message that contradicts their own condemnation of the LGBT community.

These videos — and the Stop SB48 signature campaign they promote — are part of FRC’s pro-bullying campaign, which includes attacks on GLSEN and the “It Gets Better” project. This “family” group would prefer that young people have no access to any affirmative messages about LGBT people or the very sexual orientation or gender identity they may eventually identify with.

This morning, the Center for American Progress released a 130-page report revealing that more than $42 million from seven foundations over the past decade have helped fan the flames of anti-Muslim hate in America. These foundations rely on social conservative groups to echo their message, and some have spent years channeling dollars to anti-gay groups responsible for injecting homophobia into the nation’s politics and culture.

The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, for instance, donated more than $5 million to spreading Muslim hysteria and spent untold millions developing arguments that are spouted off by today’s anti-gay conservative organizations. The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the Eagle Forum, and the Institute for American Values and the Ethics and Public Policy Center have all benefited from Bradley dollars, channeling the money towards opposing marriage equality laws, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, greater employment protections for LGBT people, and other human rights initiatives.

In fact, Bradley’s “philanthropy” is at least partly responsible for developing many of today’s anti-gay arguments and the hysteria surrounding the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s:

In 1983…the Free Congress Foundation [a Bradley benefactor] began looking for “researchers” to fund and create literature to back up the wild accusations which were creating hysteria and expanding their power base with the outbreak and spread of AIDS (this before HIV was even discovered). Such “researchers” as Paul Cameron were lauded and drove to create “ex-gay” organizations and propaganda….Paul Cameron was later kicked out of the American Medical Association in 1983 for fraudulent “research” on homosexuality in which his wild claims, based on inaccurate re-working of legitimate studies by other researchers, where undertaken in the association with and were funded, published and disseminated with FCF backing.

Also in 1983 Free Congress Foundation’s “Senior Contributing Scholar,” Father Enrique Rueda a far-right radical Catholic priest, wrote “The Homosexual Network.” under the sponsorship and direction of Weyrich and the Free Congress Foundation This work by Rueda, is the first claim and publication of “The Gay Rights Platform” in which he actively works to instill fear in the reader through anti-gay opinions and manipulation of the truth and citing numerous uncorroborated sources and claims. To get a tenor of what he writes he opinions, “once you understand the agenda of the homosexual movement, you will probably perceive it as a terrible threat–to ourselves, our children, our communities, our country.”

The funding helps explain why some single-issue conservative groups also spout an Islamophobic message. Just yesterday, NOM’s Brian Brown sent out a fundraising plea accusing LGBT-activists of issuing a “fatwa” and waging “Jihad.”

Read the full report here.

NOM's Brian Brown at a Rally last summer in New Hampshire.

The National Organization for Marriage ceaselessly paints itself and its supporters as victims — alleging that advocates for marriage equality are trampling on their “religious freedom,” “silencing” them, and somehow “marginalizing” them. NOM president Brian Brown escalated this self-victimizing in an email/blog post yesterday by being more honest about the group’s Christian motivations and demonizing LGBT advocates with a healthy dose of Islamophobia. The teacher from Florida who was temporarily suspended for anti-gay comments he made on Facebook served as the figurehead for Brown’s near-declaration of holy war against same-sex couples:

Good news! The fatwa against Jerry Buell—a Florida schoolteacher who was suspended by a public school for posting on his Facebook page that he was repulsed by gay marriage in New York—has just failed! [...] Jerry won a battle, but the jihad continues. [...]

You and I have always fought together under the banner of truth. Together, truth and love will prevail, as Maggie says. Not Truth without the love of God and our neighbor in our hearts. Nor a Love which is afraid to speak truth for fear of being labeled a bigot or a hater by those who wield scorn and hatred as a weapon to suppress the truth and those who speak it. They win by making us afraid to speak and to act for marriage in the public square. They can only win if they can get us to accept and internalize the second-class status they propose for us. To accept our own marginalization, to be quiet, to stand down and keep our heads down. To live in fear, instead of acting, with courage, out of hope.
They do not know us. They do not know the One whom we know.

While Brown may fear-monger about Muslims to target the LGBT community, the LGBT movement does not issue fatwas; the Iranian theocracy does that, and they regularly execute homosexuals. NOM is proving everyday that theirs is not a campaign merely opposing marriage equality, but a concerted effort to demonize LGBT people, and now apparently Muslims as well.

Bob Vander Plaats’ Iowa Family Policy Center accepted at least $2.2 million in government funding between 2006 and 2010 as it fought efforts to undermine the state’s same-sex marriage law, the Associated Press is reporting. The group successfully unseated three Iowa Supreme Court justices who overturned a law prohibiting marriage equality:

The documents reviewed by The Associated Press show the $2.2 million received by the Iowa Family Policy Center between 2006 and 2010 helped hundreds of Iowans get marriage education and counseling.

But the money also paid for part of the salaries of five employees, its rent, phones and other expenses while opposing legalized same-sex marriage in Iowa. Federal employees at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approved the costs, and the center’s top official said they were careful to comply with all guidelines.

The report follows an earlier AP investigation from May, which had concluded that the group — which now operates under the FAMiLY LEADER name — “received more than half of its funding from federal grants over a five-year period,” benefiting from “President George Bush’s faith-based initiative, which made it easier for social and religious organizations involved in community work to win federal funding.” “Records show the policy center was awarded a five-year grant worth $550,000 per year from the Health and Human Services Department in 2006 to promote healthy marriages. The money went to a program it operates called Marriage Matters, which claims to have saved hundreds of marriages through its mentoring and counseling programs,” the AP found in May.

The group’s reliance on federal funds contradicts Vander Plaats carefully tailored image as a fiscal conservative and undermines vow 13 of the now infamous marriage fidelity pledge. The document, which was signed by Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, says any Republican presidential candidate must demonstrate a “Commitment to downsizing government and the enormous burden upon American families of the USA’s $14.3 trillion public debt, its $77 trillion in unfunded liabilities, its $1.5 trillion federal deficit, and its $3.5 trillion federal budget.”