Maggie Gallagher’s NOM Strategist Defects, Comes Out For Marriage Equality

A strategist for Maggie Gallagher’s National Organization For Marriage (NOM), who has previously made a career out of anti-gay hatred and homophobic statements, has defected from NOM, coming out in support of full civil marriage equality. “I now support full marriage equality,” says Louis Marinelli, a strategist involved in developing NOM’s grassroot campaigns and online messaging. NOM is perhaps the nation’s best-known anti-marriage equality organization. Gallagher did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an exclusive and extensive interview with Jeremy Hooper, founder and editor of Good As You, “Exposure to NOM could lead to unintended side effects,” Marinelli delivers well-considered reasoning for his change of heart, and while he isn’t supporting the LGBT community in full, he sees same-sex civil marriage as simply a matter of civil rights and himself as “a supporter of civil marriage equality.” Marinelli says, ”I agree that what the gay community are fighting for are their civil rights.”