Foe of N.Y. marriage equality probed

The Journal News
June 22, 2009
A national organization headed by an Ossining woman that has pledged to spend more than $1 million to defeat a marriage equality bill in New York is defending itself in California against allegations that it was organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to defeat similar bills nationwide. The National Organization for Marriage said last week that it would spend $500,000 to help mount primary challenges against Republican state senators in New York who vote for the freedom to marry bill proposed by Gov. David Paterson. The California Fair Political Practices Commission is investigating complaints that NOM operates as a front for the Mormon church and that the church failed to report millions of dollars in nonmonetary contributions to the campaign. Critics in that state say the church began the effort by recruiting Maggie Gallagher of Ossining - who has forged a career writing about marriage for conservative think tanks - to establish NOM. [Link]