The National Coalition for Men (NCFM), formerly the National Coalition of Free Men, is a non-profit educational and civil rights organization which aims to address the ways sex discrimination affects men and boys. The organization has sponsored conferences, adult education, demonstrations and lawsuits. NCFM is the United States' oldest generalist men's rights organization. It professes to being politically neutral, neither conservative nor liberal.[3]
 | |
| Founded | 1977 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Tom Williamson, Naomi Penner |
| Type | 501(c)(3) |
| Focus | Men's rights, Fathers' rights, Masculism[1] |
| Location |
|
Key people | Harry Crouch, President; Marc Angelucci, Vice-President (Deceased); Al Rava, Secretary; Deborah Watkins, Treasurer[2] |
| Website | NCFM.org |
Foundation
editFree Men, Inc. was founded in Columbia, Maryland in January 1977. The name "Free Men" was used as an imperative (as in Free Men from unfair divorce laws[4]). By-laws were formally adopted in July. The four founding members were: Richard Haddad, Dennis Gilbert, Allan Scheib and Allen Foreman. Richard Haddad authored the "Free Men Philosophy" which included 26 items from which he felt men should be freed. These represented options. The first newsletter was named "Options".
This early chapter concentrated on forming "support groups" for men as counterparts to "consciousness raising groups" tailored to women.
Initial national interest resulted from appearances by author Herb Goldberg, author of The Hazards of Being Male. By 1980, the Free Men. Inc. organization in Columbia had begun to disintegrate. Nevertheless, undaunted by local circumstance in Columbia, others in different parts of the country began forming groups associated with the Maryland organization. Two new groups formed chapters in Boston, Massachusetts (Headed by Frederic Hayward, founder of Men's Rights, Inc. A strong supporter was Robert A. Sides who went on to represent NCFM on national television and radio talk shows) and Nassau County, New York. The strongest of the two was in Nassau County. As a result, it received all of Free Men, Inc.'s records as it became clear that the Maryland group was going to fold.
History
editThe Nassau County Chapter was formed in early 1980. In February 1981 the Nassau County, New York chapter began its own newsletter called Transitions. By October 1981 the chapter had been responsible for inspiring and forming other groups in Suffolk County, New York and New Milford, Connecticut.[citation needed]
On Saturday, October 24, 1981 the Nassau County chapter produced its first conference. It was funded by Adelphi University and was called "Freeing Men From The Macho Mold: Options For Men In The 1980s." The conference was followed up the next day by Free Men's first convention, which was attended by representatives from various groups. Transitions became the national newsletter.[citation needed]
Out of the convention was born the "Coalition." Tom Williamson and Naomi Penner organized the convention, organized the national body and are credited with founding the "Coalition." Tom Williamson was elected president and Naomi Penner was elected vice president.[citation needed]
Incorporation proceedings were begun and the coalition became official in December 1981. The incorporation was amended in 1982 to further clarify objectives. The original intent was for the governing body to be called, "Free Men." However, after the organization was informed that someone else in New York owned that name the organization considered such words as "Union" and "Association" before settling on "Coalition." The governing body was formally incorporated as "The Coalition of Free Men, Inc."[citation needed]
As of 2006, the National Coalition of Free Men had five chapters from California to New York. In the spring of 2008, the organization changed its name to the National Coalition for Men.[5]
NCFM championed the case of William Hetherington until his parole in 2009.[6]
The NCFM supported a Republican version of the Violence Against Women Act in 2012. The organization argued that the bill written by Senate Democrats excluded heterosexual men and would empower "false accusers at the expense of true victims",[7][8][9] and encouraged women present in the country without legal documents to make false accusations of abuse in order to stay in the country.[10] The liberal Center for American Progress has criticized the NCFM for its stance on the issue,[11] as did the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The NCFM has engaged in controversial behavior such as publicly outing alleged sexual assault victims whose cases were dismissed due to lack of evidence and labelling these women as "false accusers".[12]
In July 2020, NCFM's vice president and main attorney in several lawsuits, Marc Angelucci, was murdered at his home.[13]
Achievements
editIn 2005 the NCFM filed a lawsuit against the state of California for funding domestic violence shelters for women only.[14] In 2008 the Court of Appeal ruled in their favor and held that the exclusion of male victims violates men's rights to equal protection and "carries with it the baggage of sexual stereotypes", because "men experience significant levels of domestic violence as victims" [15]
The NCFM filed a lawsuit, National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System, that challenges the legality of requiring only males to register for the military draft.[16][17] The lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Selective Service System in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on April 4, 2013.[18] In 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of the case and remanded the case back to the district court.[19] The case was later moved to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas in the 5th Circuit.[20] On February 22, 2019 Judge Gray H. Miller issued a declaratory judgement that the male-only registration requirement is unconstitutional.[21][22] In 2021, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court on behalf of the National Coalition of Men.[23] In June of that year, the Supreme Court denied the writ, with Justice Sotomayor citing "the Court's longstanding deference to Congress on matters of national defense and military affairs," especially while Congress was in the process of assessing the need for male-only drafts.[24]
Criticism
editThe Southern Poverty Law Center has criticized the group as doing more to blame women and lobby against laws that supposedly protect women from discrimination and violence, than to advance equal treatment of men. SPLC accuses NCM of cherry-picking statistics and creating false equivalences in the oppression of men and women.[10]
References
edit- ^ "Issues". National Coalition For Men (NCFM).
- ^ "Contact Us". National Coalition For Men (NCFM).
- ^ "History of the Coalition of Free Men". National Coalition For Men (NCFM).
- ^ "Philosophy". National Coalition For Men (NCFM). Retrieved January 15, 2012.
- ^ Williamson, Tom & Crouch, Harry (June 2008). "The History of our Name and Change" (PDF). Transitions. 28 (3): 1. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
- ^ Noe, Denise (December 29, 2007). "Tentative thoughts on the William J. Hetherington spousal rape case". Mens News Daily. Archived from the original on May 14, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
- ^ Portero, Ashley (May 16, 2012). "Men's Rights Group Backs GOP Violence Against Women Act To Protect 'True Victims' — Heterosexual Men". International Business Times. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
- ^ North, Anna (May 16, 2012). "Violence Against Women Act Gives "Men's Rights" Its Moment". BuzzFeed. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
- ^ Rosenthal, Andrew (May 17, 2012). "There's a National Coalition for Men". The New York Times. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
- ^ a b "Male Supremacy". Southern Poverty Law Center.
- ^ Volsky, Igor (May 16, 2012). "Misogynistic 'Men's Rights' Group Endorses GOP Version Of Violence Against Women Act". ThinkProgress. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
- ^ Scheinman, Ted (November 12, 2014). "Silencing Women: Inside the National Coalition for Men". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
- ^ Moghe, Sonia & Murphy, Paul P. (July 22, 2020). "Friend of slain California attorney says suspect in attack on judge's family had a grudge against him". CNN. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
- ^ "NCFM Vice President responds to criticism about MRA's and the AVfM conference in Detroit". National Coalition For Men (NCFM). July 23, 2014.
- ^ "WOODS v. HORTON. Court of Appeal, Third District, California". FindLaw. October 14, 2008. Retrieved October 7, 2019.
- ^ "NCFM Sues Selective Service For Requiring Only Men To Register For The Draft". National Coalition For Men (NCFM). April 25, 2013.
- ^ "NCFM's Opposition to the Federal Government's Motion to Dismiss NCFM's lawsuit against the Selective Service System". National Coalition For Men (NCFM). July 8, 2013.
- ^ "National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service System (4:16-cv-03362) Document #1: COMPLAINT". CourtListener. April 4, 2013.
- ^ National Coalition for Men v. Selective Service (2016) 19 February 2016. U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Cir.
- ^ "United States Courts Opinions. United States District Court Southern District of Texas. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING 57 MOTION for Leave to File First Amended Complaint, DENYING MOTION for leave to transfer venue" (PDF). U.S. Government Publishing Office. August 16, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
- ^ "United States Courts Opinions. United States District Court Southern District of Texas. MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER" (PDF). February 22, 2019.
- ^ Korte, Gregory (February 24, 2019). "With women in combat roles, a federal court rules the male-only draft unconstitutional". USA Today. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
- ^ Kelly, Alexandra (February 19, 2021). "Supreme Court asked to declare the all-male military draft unconstitutional". The Hill. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
- ^ NATIONAL COALITION FOR MEN, ET AL. v. SELECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM, ET AL, 593 U.S. (U.S. June 7, 2021) ("The Court's longstanding deference to Congress on matters of national defense and military affairs").