31 Facts About Maggie Gallagher

Maggie Gallagher wrote a syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate from 1995 to 2013 and has written several books.

Maggie Gallagher founded the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, a small, socially conservative think tank.

Maggie Gallagher is a co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage, an advocacy group which opposes same-sex marriage and other legal recognition of same-sex partnerships; she has served as president and as chairman of the board of NOM.

Maggie Gallagher was born on September 14,1960, to William Walter Gallagher Sr.

Maggie Gallagher is originally from Lake Oswego, Oregon, where she attended Lakeridge High School.

Maggie Gallagher's parents were initially active in their local Catholic parish, but her mother left the Catholic Church when Gallagher was eight years of age.

Shortly before she was due to graduate, Maggie Gallagher became pregnant after a relationship with a fellow party member.

Maggie Gallagher gave birth to a son out of wedlock.

Maggie Gallagher initially planned to put the baby up for adoption, but then changed her mind.

Maggie Gallagher attended the premiere reading of 8, Dustin Lance Black's play about the trial surrounding California's Proposition 8, where a depiction of her was performed by Jayne Houdyshell.

Maggie Gallagher expressed the opinion that most people would find the work "kind of dull".

Maggie Gallagher later worked at the City Journal, a public policy magazine and website.

Maggie Gallagher joined the Institute for American Values in 1996.

Maggie Gallagher was President of NOM from its founding until 2010, and she remained on the organization's board until August 2011.

In 2011, Maggie Gallagher founded the Culture War Victory Fund and served as the fund's director.

Maggie Gallagher is a signatory of the Manhattan Declaration, a November 2009 ecumenical statement calling on Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians not to comply with rules and laws permitting abortion, same-sex marriage and other matters against their religious consciences.

Maggie Gallagher believes that most people who support legal abortion do so reluctantly because they think it is a necessary evil.

Maggie Gallagher is opposed to the legalization of assisted suicide such as the Death with Dignity Act or voluntary euthanasia.

Maggie Gallagher believes that state-approved suicide diminishes the value of life, especially for the elderly, sick, or vulnerable.

Maggie Gallagher is a strong opponent of the legal recognition of same-sex unions and has written books toward that end.

Maggie Gallagher holds that one of the purposes of marriage is always procreation and rearing children exclusively by heterosexual parents, and argues that same-sex unions diminish the value of heterosexual marriages.

In October 2006, Maggie Gallagher suggested that gay rights groups stop promoting same-sex marriage and start vigorously advocating for civil unions.

Maggie Gallagher has stated that she will not attend a same-sex wedding if she is ever invited to one.

Maggie Gallagher believes that teaching abstinence should be the sole curriculum.

Maggie Gallagher has stated that "[s]exual orientation is almost certainly unchosen", but that the decision to act on that desire and to incorporate it into one's identity is a choice that bears moral reflection.

Maggie Gallagher believes that "sexual desire is not its own justification" for acceptance or legal recognition of same-sex relationships.

Maggie Gallagher denied having ever supported ex-gay therapy and claimed that Kim was "making stuff up".

Kim subsequently quoted from a 2001 column written by Gallagher praising Robert Spitzer for his research on the possibilities of ex-gay therapy and calling on then-President George W Bush to support federal funding for research into ex-gay therapy.

In 2013, after blogging her support for Chuck Limandri's representation of JONAH, Maggie Gallagher made the following comments regarding conversion therapy:.

When Dan Quayle criticized the fictional television character Murphy Brown for being an unwed mother, Maggie Gallagher wrote an op-ed for The New York Times, "An Unwed Mother for Quayle", in his defense.

Maggie Gallagher testified before Congress in favor of "healthy marriage" programs but never disclosed the payments.