Working to deny good, taxpaying LGBT citizens their right to civil marriage is a lucrative business for Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage.

According to activist Fred Karger, founder of Rights Equal Rights, tax returns for the NOM reveal that Brown earned more than $500,000 in 2011.

In a press release, Karger describes his latest attempt to obtain NOM’s tax returns (which he provides a link to here).

“They tried their best to avoid me, were rude and evasive, but what else is new? … What are they trying to hide?” he asks.

“One thing is crystal clear; NOM president Brian Brown and former president Maggie Gallagher are definitely getting rich off the NOM donors – very rich. Maybe they don’t want us to know that NOM President Brian Brown made over $500,000 dollars in 2011. He was paid $230,000 by NOM’s political operation where he claimed to work a minimum of 40 hours per week, and another whopping $230,000 from NOM’s Educational Fund where he claimed to work another 40 hours per week. Add $47,000 in benefits and you have the “Half Million Dollar Man.”

Karger, 62, who is openly gay, is a retired political consultant turned LGBT activist and watchdog, who sought the 2012 Republican nomination for President.

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Though his advocacy group, Rights Equal Rights (formerly Californians Against Hate), Karger has worked to investigate the Mormon Church and the NOM campaigns against same-sex marriage.

Meanwhile, the NOM saw a steep decline in the amount of money it raised in 2011 – dropping to $6.2 million from the $9.1 million it raised the previous year.