Dear Marriage Supporter,

The first presidential debate is over, but the contest continues.

President Obama has openly embraced gay marriage—and it affects your state.

That's because (as the LGBT media outlet Keen News Service reports), there are headed to the Supreme Court "a record eight gay-related cases seeking review, all involving same-sex marriage."

We don't know yet whether the Supreme Court will take these cases, but we do know this: if this president gets a second term, the Supreme Court will be re-made in a way that will virtually ensure that gay marriage will be inserted into our beloved Constitution!

We also know that these cases headed for the Supreme Court would be without a defender in the Department of Justice in Obama's second term (as in his first).

So, we ultimately know that your vote matters more than it ever has.

We are restricted by complicated state laws from reporting to you on all the states that have gay marriage battles, but I am happy at least to share with you this exciting news out of Minnesota.

In Minnesota, marriage amendment supporters released their first two television ads, telling voters that a "yes" vote means the future of marriage is, and should remain, in their hands.

Here's some video on the ads from the local news:

Please take a moment to view the ads themselves, too:

Watch these ads. Listen to the message. And then, if you choose, you can help get the message out by donating to Stand for Marriage America.

Which brings me to the best news I have to tell you this week:

If you donate right now, every contribution you give to NOM will be tripled—that's right, NOM will receive two additional dollars (through a generous matching grant) for every $1 you give today!

This match goes for every donation between now and the November election—up to one million dollars—which means, with your help, we have the chance to raise THREE MILLION DOLLARS to protect marriage before the election!

Marriage can win across the board if we take advantage of this game-changing opportunity—we just need ordinary, faith-filled Americans like you to stand up right now and provide the funds we need to get our message out.

The ads above get the truth about marriage out: Marriage was not made by government, but by God, for the creation and care of the next generation.

But our opponents plan to use government to remake society and impose their own values on the next generation.

So when a new study demonstrates that stable gay couples are very rare, HRC responds by claiming that reporting the truth is the equivalent of insulting gay people.

You probably won't read about this new study by Charles Lau in your local newspaper—it was published in the October issue of the venerable Journal of Marriage and Family. Looking at nationally representative data in Great Britain, Lau's study finds that married unions of husband and wife are five to seven times more stable than same-sex couples' unions. Even merely cohabitating opposite-sex couples are twice as likely to stay together as same-sex couples.

But what was HRC's response? It's "an insult" to speak the truth.

Nevertheless, more and more Americans are recognizing that NOW is the time to speak the truth—or instead be forced forever to hold our peace.

I want to personally thank NFL great Matt Birk for speaking up on behalf of marriage.

Matt is a six-time Pro-Bowl Center from Minnesota, who plays now for the Baltimore Ravens (how great is God to call out a hero for two states voting on gay marriage this November?!).

Matt is a gracious man, married father of six, who grew up in St. Paul, and he wants everyone to know that he respects people who hold different views—but also that he's called to give his own views, especially after a teammate came out for gay marriage:

I took a stance like other guys have done before me. [...] In doing so, it's really not my aim not my goal to engage in any debates with any one person or persons. Obviously, we all have opinions. They have their opinions. It just so happens that we disagree on what marriage is in the public forum. It's certainly a very inflammatory, very hot topic, because it's important. I understand that. Out of respect to my teammates and my team and the organization, this isn't going to turn into a circus. It probably won't be the last time that I publicly take a stance on it. I'm just asking you guys out of respect for everybody that my focus and our focus here is on football and on winning football games.

I let Brendon know that I respect him because I've known Brendon for a while and I played with his brother [Obafemi Ayanbadejo]. And I like Brendon and I respect him a lot. I told him on Friday that I was going to have a piece coming out. I wanted to let him know so he wouldn't be blindsided by it. I haven't had a chance to talk to him today.

You can see Matt speaking here:

Let me close today with the voices of ordinary Americans who, like Matt, have been called to speak up in this debate.

Connie Rossini of New Ulm, MN writes to the editor of the New Ulm Journal:

The proponents of same-sex "marriage" would have us believe that marriage is all about how two adults feel for each other. It's not. It's about the well-being of children. Throughout history, there have been many types of relationships—sexual or notmdash;among adults, but few have been called marriage. Marriage has always had an exclusive role in society. It ties mothers and fathers to their biological children and gives the children their best chance to thrive.

In Maryland, schoolteacher Eric Lee writes to the Baltimore Sun with a unique analogy, pointing to why it is wrong, plain and simple, to redefine marriage:

Now, imagine if I went into my favorite vegetarian restaurant tomorrow and found out that there was a movement under way to start selling hamburgers there, while still calling the restaurant vegetarian. I go up to the manager and protest: "Hamburgers are not a vegetarian food — they're meat! How can you serve this in a vegetarian restaurant?" He replies: "I am redefining what it means to be a vegetarian." To which I would respond, emphatically: "But being a vegetarian is something special, something different from being someone who eats meat. It's been this way ever since the term vegetarian was invented! If you want to serve hamburgers, then you can do it, but you're not a vegetarian restaurant anymore."

Lee goes on to say, "What I and other traditional marriage supporters are standing for is the uniqueness and goodness that by nature manifest themselves only in a marriage between a man and a woman."

And finally, in Maryland, the Gazette reports on a new group of African Americans who have founded a group dedicated to explaining why marriage—not gay marriage—is the first "civil right":

"God's word states that marriage is between one man and one woman," said Alethia Williams, [Jump the Broom for Marriage's] campaign manager. "That's what our organization is about."

Jump the Broom for Marriage takes its name from a traditional African-American wedding ritual that dates back to slavery, and its website defines the act as "the first civil right." In the upcoming vote on the law, the black vote will make the difference, Williams said.

Standing for marriage requires courage, no doubt; but the gifts that come from standing for marriage are extraordinary.

People of every race, creed, and color coming out in solidarity to speak truth to power. That's the marriage movement you've helped create in supporting NOM!

I'm profoundly grateful to you, and to God!

One of the great voices for marriage has been Bishop Salvatore Cordileone. I met him in 2007, when Prop 8 was just a gleam in a group of San Diego citizens' eyes. It was one of the great honors of my life to get to know him, and to help him defend marriage.

Yesterday, he was installed as the Archbishop of San Francisco. He will find many admirers, but still no doubt face a hostile local government with an uncertain commitment (at best) to freedom of speech or the free expression of religion.

Pray for the new Archbishop. Pray for everyone on the front lines of the marriage debate.

And, if you can spare some of your treasure, please support us today, as we have just a month to get our message out.

We've proved again and again that when Americans hear the truth, they respond and stand for marriage. And, with your help, we'll prove it again in unprecedented ways this November!

Thank you for all you've made possible.