The Projo sets the scene for today’s day of competing gay marriage debates, which will include a press conference from the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), which opposes same-sex marriages; a rally led by supporters of legalizing them; and then a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

NOM’s event has names attached, which caught my eye:

Speakers will include Maggie Gallagher, the chairwoman of the National Organization for Marriage, Christopher Plante, the executive director of the local NOM chapter, Austin Nimocks, who is identified as the “Senior Counsel Alliance Defense Fund,” Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, president and founder of the Ruth Institute, which is described as a project of NOM, state Sen. Harold Metts and state Rep. Raymond Hull.

Gallagher’s name may be familiar because she was involved in a mini-scandal during the Bush administration when it was revealed the federal government had paid her tens of thousands of dollars to promote its programs in her syndicated column. She’s a prominent voice on the right side of the gay marriage debate.

The Alliance Defense Fund is also a powerful group in conservative circles. It was founded in 1994 as a Christian counterweight to the ACLU by a group that included Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. Its attorneys have been involved in a number of cases over gay rights, including last year’s challenge to the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8.