The Promise Of Pie

Maggie Gallagher, front woman for the front group of religious institutions that make up the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) came to Capitol Hill on Friday to testify in Support of the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the Federal Government from recognizing same-sex marriage.

For her tireless work, spreading bigotry from the shores of California to the coast of Maine, Get Equal presented Ms. Gallagher with the First Annual "Anita Bryant Unparalleled Bigotry" Award.

Along with the title, came a promise of pie.

News on Maggie's work defending bigotry and exclusion after the fold.

The House held hearings on DOMA on Friday. Think Progress compiled some clips above, in their post, 'Defending Marriage' Hearing Attacks Obama While Reinforcing Stigma And Parenting Falsehoods. Republicans spent a lot of time accusing the Obama administration of throwing LGBT cases on DOMA and DADT, by "pretending" to defend these cases when they are actually "working to undermine them."

Mrs. Srivastav Ms. Gallagher's old friend and defected NOM strategist Louis Marinelli, asked this tireless defender of the "sanctity of marriage" a very good question on Twitter:

Mrs. Srivastav Ms. Gallagher for her part continued to insist the only reason for marriage was raising children. (Which should beg the question of why the children of LGBT Americans should be denied the opportunity to be raised in martial home?) She squared off with a fierce advocate of LGBT rights, Representative Jerry Nadler of New York. Nadler just introduced again the Uniting American Families Act into the US Senate. Ms. Gallagher would like to see the US Government continue its policy of deporting the legally wed spouses of LGBT citizens.

A heated exchange occurs between Maggie Gallagher and Rep. Jerry Nadler at 3:00, when Ms. Gallagher tries to argue that a policy of exclusion does not send a message of exclusion:

MG: I don't think you need to have a message of stigmatization and exclusion to protect an ideal which is important to the whole society.

JN: That's the whole point of DOMA to stigmatize and to exclude.

MG: Well, that is your opinion, with all due respect, it is not my opinion, nor what was express---

[They talk over each other. Nadler is clearly irate. Nadler interrupts.]

JN: How does excluding these people from marriage help protect marriage?

MG: The way that I think the majority of Americans who disagree with you understand it is these are not marriages--

JN: I didn't ask that question, I asked you how does excluding these people from marriage help protect heterosexual marriage?

MG: Because including same union as marriages denies at a public level that marriage is about in an important way, bringing together mothers and fathers for children. [Emphasis reflects Gallagher's verbal emphasis.]

Also on Capitol Hill were representatives of GetEqual, who confronted Mrs. Srivastav Ms. Gallagher on her way into the hearings.

They presented Maggie with the First Annual "Anita Bryant Unparalleled Bigotry" Award.

From Get Equal's Press Release:

Competition for the prize was fierce, with Ms. Gallagher out-bigoting such notable figures as Senator John McCain, Michelle Bachmann, Pastor Rick Warren, and Sarah Palin.

"In presenting this award to Ms. Gallagher, we are recognizing the bigotry that she has pioneered over the past few years - malice that has put her ahead of the pack in the world of professional bigots who draw a paycheck each day from the hatred they stir up among the 'radical right' wing of the American public," said Robin McGehee, director of GetEQUAL. "At a time when Americans overwhelmingly support marriage equality it takes a very special person like Ms. Gallagher to stand up and fight for discriminations and bigotry. It's gratifying to be able to draw attention to the unrelenting hatred that Ms. Gallagher and others at the National Organization for Marriage have been contributing to American life."

Along with the award came the promise of pie.

The group will, at a later date, present Ms. Gallagher with a cream pie. They say:

GetEQUAL will deliver the pie prize during a future public appearance by Ms. Gallagher, to ensure that she is able to celebrate the award publicly, in front of an audience. The exact moment of delivery is unknown at this time.

This not only harkens back to the 1977 Anita Bryant incident but--and I was unaware of this--apparently there's a long, proud history of pieing as an act of political defiance. From environmental activists Earth First comes this lesson in Pieing 101:

The first recorded pieing happened in the 17th Century, when the Spanish politician, Gaspar de Guzman Conde de Olivares, took one in the face from a Portugese nationalist screaming, "Give Portugal back to the people!"

Other notable pieings have included Michigan Senator Carl Levin, Fred Phelps, Bill Gates. the Prime Minister of Canada, Jean Chr?tien. In 2005, Newsweek columnist Gersh Kuntzman wrote that pieing "deserves to be one of the most celebrated traditions in our so-called culture."

What do you think?

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Updated to clarify: GetEqual did not specify the delivery method they will be employing to present Ms. Gallagher with her pie. It may well arrive by messenger in a neat little box, with a pretty pink bow.