FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 22, 2013

Contact: Elizabeth Ray or Jen Campbell (703-683-5004)

"Instead of spending millions of dollars on bogus claims featuring purloined logo designs, our coalition is reaching out to the millions of Americans who have already voted to protect marriage as the sacred union of husband and wife." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — Brian Brown, after the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) was forced to remove images and a quotation from first lady Laura Bush after she demanded they do so, reacted to the news by saying: “The HRC's television ad falsely implies that former First Lady Laura Bush supports their radical agenda, and she was right to demand that they remove it. This is just the latest example of how same-sex marriage advocates misstate and misappropriate the truth. They can't even come up with an original logo design for their new ad campaign. Instead, they have misappropriated a logo I personally designed for NOM half a decade ago to represent the unique status of marriage as the union of one man and one woman."

The HRC together with others in a coalition called “Respect for Marriage" is airing a television ad featuring Republicans expressing support for gays and lesbians, implying that they all want the law changed to redefine marriage. Mrs. Bush was featured in the ad. Immediately upon becoming aware of the ad, she demanded that it be pulled and that she be removed from the advertisement.

The NOM logo is made up of a conjoined blue and red ring. The HRC-led "Coalition for Marriage" logo also contains a conjoined blue and red ring. Brown said that the attempt to mimic NOM's logo is designed to trade on NOM's positive image among Republican leaders and the GOP rank-and-file in an attempt to fool Republican voters into thinking that there is a groundswell among Republicans for redefining marriage, when the opposite is true: “The HRC knows that NOM is viewed positively by Republican leaders and voters, so they're trying to capitalize on our image and trick voters into thinking that there is a growing contingent of republicans who want to redefine marriage. In fact, Republican voters are solidly pro-marriage and repeatedly have defeated those few GOP legislators who have opposed the party position on marriage. In fact, as the Associated Press recently reported, three of the four Republican Senators in New York who voted to redefine marriage wound up ending their political career over that vote. Republican leaders and voters are solidly pro-marriage. It's laughable for the HRC to attempt to pretend otherwise."

Brown concluded: “There is only one coalition that truly respects marriage, and that is the NOM-led coalition that is working to preserve it, not the gay marriage groups like HRC who wish to redefine marriage. To show our commitment to true marriage, NOM is leading the March for Marriage (http://marriagemarch.org/) on March 26th. We expect thousands of people to join us to march from the National Mall to the US Supreme Court on the day of oral arguments in the Proposition 8 case. Our broad coalition reflects the diversity of the pro-marriage movement. Instead of spending millions of dollars on bogus claims featuring purloined logo designs, our coalition is reaching out to the millions of Americans who have already voted to protect marriage as the sacred union of husband and wife. These Americans know the difference between a fake group and one that legitimately respects marriage."

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To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), [email protected], or Jen Campbell (x145), [email protected], at 703-683-5004.

Paid for by The National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown, president. 2029 K Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. New § 68A.405(1)(f) & (h).