WASHINGTON – In response to efforts by Equality Michigan and other gay rights groups to target Crystal Dixon’s job because she disagrees that the gay rights and the civil rights argument are equivalent, the National Organization for Marriage issued the following statements:

“The gay movement’s tactics smell more and more like Joe McCarthy than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). “Hounding people and going after their livelihoods, because they express a view held by numerous mainstream Christians is mean, intolerant, and unacceptable to most Americans. We call on Joe Solomonese, Evan Wolfson and other mainstream gay marriage groups to call off their dogs, renounce these tactics of intimidation and religious bigotry, and restore the face of their movement into something more resembling tolerance and fair play for all Americans.”

“Since Proposition 8 in California, hundreds of Americans of various faith traditions have faced threats to their livelihoods, their person, or their property solely because they exercised core civil rights to speak, to organize, or to donate on behalf of the idea that marriage is the union of husband and wife,” said Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the Board of NOM. “Lately we are seeing that a disproportionate share of the victims of this kind of raw hatred are African-American Christians. God bless the black Church for its courage, we are once again in your debt.”

“The gay rights movement is going to have to decide: are they about tolerance and “live and let live”--or do they want to dominate and deprive Americans who disagree with them of their rights? We cannot change what is happening to the face of your movement, only you can,” added Gallagher.

Background

In 2008, Ms. Dixon was wrongly fired from her position as a Vice President of Human Resources at the University of Toledo after publishing a letter to the editor objecting to the idea that gay rights are comparable to the African-American’s civil rights experience.

After she was recently hired as the Director of Human Resources of Jackson County, in eastern Michigan, Equality Michigan, among other LGBT groups, have called for her to be fired and have offered a form letter for the public to send to Dixon’s new superiors that states in part:

“I urge you to rescind Crystal Dixon’s job offer and find a replacement for her in a candidate that has the best interests of all of the city and county’s residents at heart."

To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, or Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the Board, please contact Mary Beth Hutchins, [email protected], at 703-683-5004 ext. 105 or Elizabeth Ray, [email protected], at 703-683-5004 ext. 130.