Anti-gay 'March For Marriage' draws an embarrassingly tiny crowd

The annual ‘March For Marriage’ in Washington D.C. used to be a calendar event for homophobes across the US, but this year’s event fell flat – with attendance predicted to be less than 50.

The march, organised by the anti-gay hate group The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), was held on Sunday (June 17). The number of attendees has dwindled since the 2015 Supreme Court decision on the Obergefell v. Hodges case that made equal marriage the law of the land across the US.

Twitter user Beth Ethier documented the sparsely-attended event through a series of pictures, which show a hilariously small crowd of anti-gay protesters.

The few people who did turn up to the event held up red, white, and blue banners. One man brought along a ‘Honk for Traditional Marriage’ sign. No large groups or organisations were present at the march, which had been the case in previous years.

Brian Brown used to draw 1000s to protest marriage equality.This year they’d be dwarfed by rush hour car on red line pic.twitter.com/Fj3dboOf9N

— Beth Ethier (@missdeutsch) June 17, 2017

Brian Brown addressing a crowd of around 30 people at this year’s anti-gay March for Marriage #equality pic.twitter.com/mKEMY5TcK2

— Beth Ethier (@missdeutsch) June 17, 2017

Brian Brown surveying the thin turnout for his anti-gay March for Marriage, which a few years ago drew 2-3,000 to DC pic.twitter.com/PXUfmrf9Qn

— Beth Ethier (@missdeutsch) June 17, 2017

Right Wing Watch

reports that NOM’s president Brian Brown blamed permit problems for the complete lack of interest in the hateful event. He told the few people who did turn up not to be discouraged by the low turnout, affirming that they are the ones in the right. Sure …

“We are on the side of truth,” he said. “We are on the side of true human rights, we are on the side of true civil rights. And in every fight for civil rights, it took a creative minority who were willing to stand up and speak truth to power no matter what the cost. And you know what? There may not be thousands of us here today. It doesn’t matter.

“There were only a few that stood with William Wilberforce when he stood up and said ‘no’ to the slave trade in England. He was mocked, he was derided, he was laughed at. We remember him as a hero now, because ultimately his life’s work was successful, but it wasn’t successful in his own lifetime.”

“Every year, we’re going to be here whether there’s thousands or hundreds or tens,” he continued.

Brown is still holding out hope that the Supreme Court decision will be overturned, with a little help from the man upstairs of course.“I firmly believe that with God’s grace, we are going to correct this illegitimate court decision,” he said.

However, it could just be that equal marriage is a settled issue, and that people no longer want to deprive same-sex couples of their basic rights. Or maybe Brown and his small, very small collection of followers are right and the vast majority of us are wrong …

Anti-gay ‘March For Marriage’ draws an embarrassingly tiny crowd

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