Several blogs have picked up the HRC suggestion that there's method in the bigots' madness. This from the Joe.My.God site:

According to the Human Rights Campaign's VP Fred Sainz, the real reason for NOM's national Hate Tour is to draw out harassing counter-protesters so that those incidents can be using in court to thwart donor disclosure laws. Because SEE, we really DO get attacked by violent homofascists! Via press release from the HRC:

"The bus tour is a total sham, plain and simple," said Fred Sainz, HRC's vice president of communications. "NOM's highly-touted bus tour is less about so-called 'traditional marriage' and more about creating an elaborate and cynical stunt. NOM rolled out a summer of nationwide events in order to draw lawful protesters, all so that NOM and its allies can pepper ongoing lawsuits challenging public disclosure laws with made-up stories of harassment. This unprecedented victimization crusade is the lowest denominator of political activism, and it won't fly."

In events in seven states, NOM has routinely played to crowds reportedly as small as two dozen people including NOM staff members. The organization's public statements on the bus tour have barely mentioned the content of the programs or the substance of its anti-LGBT message, instead focusing attention on much larger counter-protests that NOM has attacked as intimidation and harassment. NOM issued a press release last Friday saying that LGBT supporters have "approached and threatened children," engaged in "bullying tactics" and committed acts of harassment. However, NOM's uncorroborated claims belie legitimate local media reports demonstrating that pro-equality supporters, which have vastly outnumbered NOM's faithful, have been civil. NOM has yet to document any illegal activity or actual harassment, despite the presence of law enforcement at all the events.

NOM's efforts to trump up false claims of harassment are part of a radical nationwide plan to evade long-established public disclosure laws and to hide their political activities from legitimate scrutiny and accountability. In doing so, NOM has falsely alleged that their donors have been harassed and intimidated across the country to justify why it shouldn't have to play by the same rules as everyone else. These tactics have prompted a state ethics investigation in Maine and recent court defeats across the country.

I was there in Indianapolis, listening to their speakers -- one of whom would talk about how lgbt people are a perverted minority and how the majority of Americans stand with NOM against our perversion, and the next talking about how poor Christians who stand up against our perversions are a marginalized minority whose 1st amendment rights are threatened. It's clear that they're trying to provoke responses that can support the latter claim, and that they really don't want their own rallies to be all that large. Still, when their supporters are walking around with posters quoting Leviticus and urging that lgbt people should be lynched, it would be nice to hear another Christian voice, and not just from the lgbt community.

These guys called me this week asking for our support. I politely declined. After reading this I shouldn't have been so polite.
Tricia Templeton

Here's a link to one of the posters from their Indianapolis rally.
http://www.bilerico.com/2010/07/nom_bus_rolls_into_indianapolis.php We sinners were definitely feeling the love.