Our President Brian Brown in The Washington Times:

In “NOM’s Racial Politics Leave A Bitter Taste” (Web, Wednesday) writer R. Clarke Cooper urges Republicans and conservatives to refuse to associate with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the largest and most effective single-issue organization standing for marriage, on the grounds that NOM is engaging in racial division by recruiting black and Hispanic representatives. This is false.

NOM did not create the divide between blacks and homosexual-marriage advocates, and standing for marriage is not standing for division or discrimination. Nor is it patronizing for media leaders to treat the heroic stand of the black church against homosexual marriage as a product of hateful politics. Reaching out to blacks and Hispanics who share our view is something conservatives do and should do more of. NOM will continue to reach out to these communities.

The current round of media attacks on NOM for a single line in a 3-year-old document reflects the basic tactic of the political left: Use government to push a new moral norm, and when Americans with more traditional values object, attack them mercilessly, then blame conservatives (especially Christian conservatives) for being “divisive.” Their end game? Silencing the voices of millions of Americans.

NOM will proudly continue to stand up for marriage as the union of husband and wife, and we will reach across lines of race, creed, color and party to do so.

BRIAN BROWN

President

National Organization for Marriage

Washington