Louis Marinelli, a former strategist for the grassroots and online campaigning activity of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), has changed teams. The once ardent opponent of same-sex marriage equality claims to have undergone a “transition” in favor of civil marriage between LGBT couples.
In an interview with Good As You journalist Jeremy Hooper, who broke the story of Marinelli’s defection earlier today, the former same-sex marriage opponent said,“the lesbian and gay people whom I made a profession out of opposing became real people for me almost instantly. For the first time I had empathy for them and remember asking myself what I was doing.”
In the past, Marinelli was successful in creating obstacles for proponents of gay marriage and harming the LGBT community at large, organizing anti-marriage equality campaigns and writing statements like, “Those who wish to promote homosexual behavior are encouraging people to shorten their life spans.”
Kevin Nix, NOM Project Director for the Human Rights Campaign, explained, “this defection is a good example of what is and will continue to be consistent in the fight for equality,” and noted that “once people actually meet LGBT people, they are more likely to support equality.”
