Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organisation, filed a formal complaint with the IRS against the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) for violating federal law by refusing to disclose their 2014 Form 990s. Following their November 16 deadline, NOM is required by law to provide a copy of the organisation’s Form 990s for the previous fiscal year on the same day any in-person request is made. For the third year in a row, HRC has made such a request at NOM offices and the organisation has failed to comply, prompting HRC to file a complaint with the IRS in order to compel the disclosure of the documents.
“NOM has repeatedly violated federal laws that require them to disclose how much money they’ve raised. So the question is, what are they hiding? What don’t they want the public to see?” said Olivia Alair Dalton, HRC’s Senior Vice President of Communications. “Brian Brown and his repulsive organisation has vowed to continue fighting against LGBT equality both in the United States and around the world. The American people deserve to see these documents for themselves.”
According to analysis of the organisation’s 2013 tax filings done by HRC, NOM raised $5.1 million in 2013, dropping by over 50% since 2012. Just 2 donors accounted for more than half of the organisation’s funding – further evidence that everyday Americans have little interest in furthering NOM’s extremist agenda. In addition, the NOM Education Fund also showed a decrease of nearly $3.5 million in funding — a drop of almost 70% since the previous year. NOM ended the year more than $2.5 million in debt.
Last year, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices voted unanimously to impose record civil penalties against NOM totalling $50,250. The Commission also directed NOM to file disclosure reports after a four-year investigation exposed “a significant violation of law” by the national anti-LGBT organisation. The penalties were the largest ever imposed for a campaign finance violation in Maine history.
Brian Brown – the group’s president and co-founder – has traveled the world trying to incite fear and anger globally against LGBT people. In April, Brown told BuzzFeed News that his anti-LGBT organisation is definitely focused “on uniting people of different faiths and different backgrounds internationally” for his mission.
