Ryan MacPherson, founding president of the Hausvater Project, a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization that says its mission is to "equip Christian men and women for distinctive and complementary vocations in family, church, and society, by fostering research and education in light of Holy Scripture as proclaimed by the Lutheran Confessions" writes in to Minnesota Public Radio:

One out of four Minnesotans affiliates with a Lutheran church. A casual reading of the daily news may give the misleading perception that Lutherans, as a group, promote same-sex coupling and oppose the Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment. But that generalization is not only hasty; it is false. Lutherans long have treasured the unique union of one man and one woman known as marriage, and many Minnesota Lutherans are prepared to uphold that heritage by voting for the Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment this November.

.. Within the ELCA, the marriage debate represents merely the latest chapter in a long story of departure from biblical teaching. For over a decade, WordAlone Ministries has been guiding troubled ELCA congregations through the process of trying to restore the church body to historic Lutheran theology or, insofar as that has failed, exiting and affiliating with other Lutherans who hold to the sanctity of natural marriage. Meanwhile, Allan Carlson, an ELCA layman, serves as president of the Howard Center and international secretary of the World Congress of Families. Both in America and abroad, he has worked to defend the causes of husbands, wives and their children in accord with the natural law of the family.

Other Lutheran supporters of natural marriage include the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), which cosponsored an amicus brief for the U.S. Court of Appeals in support of California Proposition 8. The LCMS brief objected to Judge Vaughn Walker's reckless mischaracterization of Lutherans as "bigots." Another Lutheran organization, the Hausvater Project (of which I am the founding president), submitted a brief demonstrating that the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts had insidiously curtailed parental rights.

Most Lutherans supportive of natural marriage are less vocal than the handful of activists calling for a radical redefinition of the time-tested institution upon which every human society has been founded. Lutherans usually are a modest and quiet bunch. I ought to know: My wife and I had a potluck for our Lutheran wedding reception.

But even modest and quiet people vote, and I foresee a good number of Lutherans joining me in checking "Yes" for a constitutional protection of natural marriage.

It's up to our side to be vocal too!