NOM official reverses gay marriage stance, leaves group

NOM was founded in 2007 by activist Maggie Gallagher and University politics professor Robert George, the chairman emeritus of the organization. With offices in Princeton and Washington, D.C., the nonprofit organization lobbies for heterosexual marriage and opposes permitting same-sex couples to marry, to obtain civil unions or to adopt children.

NOM has previously sparked both campus and national controversy for its 2009 “Gathering Storm” television advertisement campaign as well as its support for California’s Proposition 8 — NOM was its largest monetary supporter — and the $600,000 it spent last year in an effort to unseat three federal judges in Iowa who had voted to overturn a state law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

“Having spent the last five years putting all of my political will, interest and energy into fighting against the spread of same-sex marriage as if it were a contagious disease, I must admit that it is hard for me to put the following text into words let alone utter them with my own voice,” Marinelli wrote in the blog post. “Whether it is an issue of disbelief, shame or embarrassment, the one thing that is for sure is that I have come to this point after several months of an internal conflict with myself.”

Marinelli could not be reached for comment. George said that he could not comment as he did not know Marinelli.

A self-described conservative Republican, Marinelli was responsible for promoting NOM’s cause through the Internet and social networking sites such as Facebook. He also helped organize the group’s 23-city 2010 “Summer for Marriage Tour,” though it failed to draw large audiences.

Though Marinelli has written that he still has reservations about homosexuality, calling it a “public health concern” in an email to gay rights website “Good As You,” he said he did not view these concerns to be adequate reasons for disqualifying LGBT citizens from the right to civil marriages. In other statements made online, Marinelli retracted his previous homophobic comments.

Since his announcement, Marinelli has also begun to publicly criticize his former employer. In one recent blog post, he said that the group’s influence has been exaggerated and overestimated.

NOM consists of a “small group of devoutly religious Catholics,” Marinelli said, and its office staff is “small and largely incompetent.”

He also questioned NOM’s financial sources, explaining, “I shared the suspicion many did when gaps of hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations were suddenly closed in the final hours running up to the deadline. I can’t explain these fundraising miracles, only NOM’s inner circle could.”

In response to Marinelli’s announcement and subsequent media coverage, NOM president Brian Brown issued a statement saying that Marinelli’s role had been a minor one.

“Marinelli worked in a volunteer capacity as a bus driver during our summer marriage tour,” the statement said. “Around this time, NOM began to pay him as a part-time consultant for helping us expand our Internet reach. He has since chosen a different focus. We wish him well.”

Brown could not be reached for further comment. NOM did not respond to a request for comment.