Louis Marinelli, the defector from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) who planned and served as the bus driver on NOM's hateful "Summer for Marriage Tour", has launched a new group, the National Organization for Marriage Equality (NOME) and according to his site, plans to visit 17 states on a tour this summer.
This summer we plan to travel the country from California to Maine to talk about my change of heart on the issue of marriage equality and talk with conservatives and republicans about why they should support the freedom to marry.
This tour, which is modeled in part after the Summer for Marriage Tour I helped organize last summer for the National Organization for Marriage to oppose same-sex marriage, aims to revisit many of the places NOM visited last year to spread its discriminatory and bigoted message against gay and lesbian citizens.
I am personally responsible for that tour. It was my idea and I proposed it to Brian Brown, NOM's President, who agreed to endorse and sponsor the project. As a result, I feel compelled to revisit the cities of last year's marriage tour to meet the thousands of people who came out to meet discrimination and bigotry head on in the streets of their hometowns.
Because it was these counter-protesters that led to my change of heart in support of same-sex marriage and my subsequent resignation from the National Organization for Marriage, this tour will serve as a testament to that change and I look forward to seeing many of the same faces and families I saw last year so that this year I can stand with them, not against them.
