NOM defector Louis Marinelli, who last year planned and drove the bus on NOM's anti-gay 'Summer for Marriage' tour, is planning another bus tour this summer, this time for marriage equality.
As you may recall, Marinelli defected from the anti-gay organization several months ago after announcing that pro-equality activists he met on the NOM tour changed his mind about marriage.
Marinelli has posted a page detailing the tour and requesting contributions to fund it.
He writes:
Last year, I helped organize the 2010 Summer for Marriage Tour with the National Organization for Marriage. Over the course of 30 days, we traveled more than 10,000 miles to spread a discriminatory message I once believed in to oppose same-sex marriage.
Ironically, it was that very summer tour that led me to change my mind and come to support marriage equality. This new tour will serve as a testimony to that change and will seek to spread two messages.
Firstly, that marriage equality is not an ideological issue. Too many see support for gay rights as strictly a liberal issue. That's a mistake. Supporting the constitutional rights of all citizens is a conservative issue, too.
Secondly, the tour will seek to demonstrate to conservative legislators across the country that more and more people are coming to support marriage equality. Eventually, that truth will start reflecting changes among conservatives, too. If I, an opinionated conservative can change my mind, it won't be long before many other conservatives do, too. Not to mention independents.
More of Marinelli's plans are posted at the summer tour site.
