From Canyon To Cove:

Fred Karger’s battle with the National Organization for Marriage has heated up considerably.

The anti same-sex marriage organization, which purports to be a 501(c) (4) “social welfare organization” for tax purposes but is actually a high-powered political organization — more on that later — has demanded that Karger appear for a deposition with all of the correspondence and financial records for his group, Californians Against Hate, from January to date.

NOM is suing the state of California and many state officials over public disclosure laws, and NOM apparently thinks Karger’s e-mails, faxes, correspondence, financial records and all information pertaining to Californians Against Hate will prove that adhering to state law opened up its donors to retaliation, because Karger launched several successful boycotts of donors’ businesses.

Now NOM on its website “calls out” Karger by name: “NOM to Fred Karger: NOM will not be intimidated by politically motivated harassment.” So this is obviously a punitive retaliatory action designed to “intimidate” Karger through legal means. Back at’cha.

Karger is fighting back, hiring an attorney to represent him in the subpoena issue, and asking supporters for “Five for Fred” — $5 donations to help defray legal costs.

Karger started out years ago campaigning to keep the Boom Boom Room gay bar open in Laguna Beach, but he didn’t hesitate to take on Proposition 8, and now he’s fighting for same sex marriage rights across the country, wherever the battle goes.

NOM has also been fighting to keep its petition-signers’ names anonymous and to otherwise obscure the real origins of its well-heeled national fight to turn the clock back on gay rights.

Poor little NOM! The Princeton-based group raised nearly $3 million in 2008 — the year it helped campaign for Proposition 8, which took away marriage rights for same sex couples in our state. Now they are part of an anti-rights movement targeting Maine, New Hampshire, Iowa and their home state of New Jersey.

In Maine, where NOM and other groups — including the Roman Catholic Church — are going after the state’s recent same sex marriage rights law, Karger’s complaint to the state Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices about money laundering has generated an investigation of NOM.