Dear Marriage Supporter,

I just finished writing this email and now I'm off to proudly attend the Tea Party Patriots' "Audit the IRS" rally on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.

I will be standing with my fellow Americans from across the country calling on Congress to investigate this scandal and provide answers that we, the people, demand and deserve.

And NOM will be there sharing our story, which National Review recently called "a watershed." They noted that we are "an already-established nonprofit singled out for a damaging attack." And they conclude: "The scandal of a politicized IRS may be even worse than we thought."

And, as I recently said on Sean Hannity's television show, "if they can do this to us [steal and publicize NOM's confidential tax documents for political advantage]... they can do this to anyone."

Supporter, we need to seize the moment and capitalize on this opportunity!

Will you please consider stepping up to financially invest in preserving our freedom to assemble and speak out in defense of marriage without fear of retaliation and government abuse by making a generous contribution of $20, $35, $50, $100 or whatever you can afford today?

The greatest threat to the preservation of marriage and the re-establishment of a true marriage culture in America today is the inactivity of its supporters in the face of efforts to silence us!

Please stand with me today as I rally with thousands of ordinary Americans just like you by making a generous contribution to fund our lawsuit against the IRS.

This IS a watershed moment... thank you in advance for joining me in standing up for marriage.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

What is our relationship with our own bodies? Father's Day is an occasion for meditating on the important reality of our bodies, what they tell us about who we are and how we should live our life.

I write this not because, as the father of 8, I need some outside force to speak to me but because we live in a time and a place where the obvious is often obscured.

Consideration for Father's Day

Witness the New York Times blog piece by Florida International University professor Laurie Shrage, seeking to recruit men to the ideology of "choice."

"If a man accidentally conceives a child with a woman, his choices are surprisingly few," this women's and gender studies woman professor intones. Shrage goes on to say:

"In consenting to sex, neither a man nor a woman gives consent to become a parent, just as in consenting to any activity, one does not consent to yield to all the accidental outcomes that might flow from that activity."

In other words, in choosing to engage in the act which creates new life — neither men nor women should be held accountable to that new life.

I understand the impulse. I understand it and I reject it, as a man.

We cannot pretend that what is not true, is true.

This is true: The sexual act creates new life.

Not always, not every time, but often enough that we who choose to be responsible human beings need to acknowledge that reality, to love our children more than our lusts.

And to know that doing so is the heart of being a good man or woman, and a happy man or woman.

The IRS Scandals Continue to Reverberate

Here I am on Sean Hannity:

"If they can do this to us, they can do it to anyone!" I say, and it's true.

It's also true that a culture of harassment, intimidation and threats has emerged among gay marriage advocates that is poisoning our democracy.

Harassment, Intimidation and Threats in New York

The latest example is NYC mayoral candidate Erick Salgado, who received death threats after NOM endorsed his candidacy.

"[The emails] said that I'm a rat and I deserve to die," Mr. Salgado told Politicker after the forum. "It was because that day I got the official endorsement, the NOM, they mentioned that [in the email]."

"It makes me nervous, because of my children, I get nervous," he said.

As Politicker notes, Mr. Salgado is the only Democrat in the race opposed to same-sex marriage. He is attempting to build a coalition of conservative Latinos and Orthodox Jews and has the backing of a prominent Russian-American media mogul in south Brooklyn.

Consequences in Great Britain

Meanwhile, in Great Britain the consequences of gay marriage become ever clearer. Parents of a 3 year old boy came forward to say state-sponsored child care workers told their son he could marry a boy or a girl.

The letter said: "Many of your commentators have speculated as to what the wider implications of allowing same-sex marriages will be on society."

"I was given a stark illustration of this at the weekend."

"In response to my three-year-old son's question as to what marriage was, I told him that it was when a man and woman loved each other very much and wanted to spend their lives together."

"My son then told me that 'boys' could get married, too. As he doesn't read the newspapers, I was keen to understand how he had formed this view."

"Apparently, his carer at nursery, a homosexual, told the entire class that he had great news: when they grew up, they could get married to a girl, or a boy."

"Surely, my son is too young to have this discussion? If I were to complain, however, I would be labeled a bigot."

Peggy Noonan on the IRS

Let me close by thanking Peggy Noonan, the former Reagan speechwriter, for her columns calling attention to the IRS scandal and what it means.

"The most compelling evidence that the IRS targeted conservatives is what happened to the National Organization for Marriage. Its chairman, John Eastman, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee and the tale he told was different from the now-familiar stories of harassment and abuse," she wrote.

Someone in the IRS gave legally protected information to our — and your! — political enemies!

The IRS is stonewalling. But we will not give in or give up.

We will fight for your right to participate in the democratic process on an equal basis.

And we will fight the tyranny that says government can punish you if you believe in traditional marriage.

Bless you and thank you for your support. It is precious to me.

If God has given you the means, please consider prayerfully giving again.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

"Welcome to Washington."

That's how Rep. Paul Ryan begins his statements in last week's hearing about the ongoing IRS Scandal.

His comments followed Rep. McDermott's, who incredibly claimed that marriage supporters shouldn't be allowed to participate in the public square because (unlike the Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry and Planned Parenthood, I suppose) we were "highly political" and "entrenched in some of the most controversial political issues in the country."

Thankfully, Rep. Ryan cut through the political gamesmanship and got to the heart of the issue: the IRS is claiming the power to determine which ideologies are in the public interest!

What's more — NOM's story, presented by our Chairman, John Eastman, has become, in the words of Gov. Mike Huckabee on his radio show recently, "the smoking gun" in the IRS scandal.

Please take a moment to listen to Rep. Ryan's questions and comments during last week's incredible hearing:

It's always disappointing to see some representatives like McDermott attempt to make marriage partisan when it is not. We proudly collaborate with many democrats who support marriage. In fact, during the same hearing Rep. Rangel (D-NY) proposed working together with Eastman to help make sure the mess at the IRS is cleaned up.

And make no mistake — Dr. Eastman's testimony about NOM's story is our best chance yet to get to the bottom of what happened inside the IRS — and to find out who may have known about it outside the IRS and was an accomplice to the crime.

Please watch this brief video of Rep. Paul Ryan's questions to NOM's Chairman, Dr. John Eastman, and listen to the incredibly powerful responses he gives.

And then, please consider making a generous contribution to support our work to defend marriage and the rights of ordinary Americans like you to speak and organize freely and participate in the political life of our great nation.

For marriage and freedom.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The epic events of the last week for marriage unfolded at breakneck speed: a huge victory for marriage, an attack on you and your rights that was truly "scurrilous" — But first the courage of one man who stood up for truth and justice in the halls of Congress.

Standing Up For All Our Rights

NOM's Chairman of the Board John Eastman went viral — and it's the result of his amazing courage and eloquence in standing up to some Democrats in Congress who argued traditional marriage supporters have no right to the same tax-exempt status that gay rights groups have.

When, shamefully, Rep. Earl Blumenauer said that NOM should be stripped of our nonprofit status because we oppose gay marriage, it was John Eastman who put him in his place.

"Scurrilous" is the word he used to describe these Democrats who do not respect your First Amendment rights, or the rights of millions of American to participate equally in the American public square.

"Representative Blumenauer, it's your kind of statement that have empowered IRS agents to make determinations about which organizations qualify for the public good and which do not."

The crowd burst into applause as Blumenauer, bow-tie in place looked sheepish.

"The notion that defending traditional marriage doesn't qualify as a defense of the public good is beyond preposterous," Eastman said, as some in the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

John Eastman was the man of the hour.

"The man at the center of the storm, who put up quite a storm today...John Eastman chairman of the National Organization for Marriage. John, you were on fire!" an admiring Neil Cavuto exclaimed on FOX Business.

"What they did to us is expose our tax returns to our political enemies... it's a felony to have done that and we can't get the Department of Justice to investigate or prosecute the people who committed that felony," said Prof. Eastman.

"What does that tell you?" Cavuto asked.

And here is where the seriousness of what we face in our beloved nation came shining through:

"We've got people in government and their allies outside of government that are willing to commit felonies to shut down their political opposition on major contested issues of the day," Eastman said.

"If you were impressed with Paul Ryan's retort to Jim McDermott today in the House hearing on the IRS scandal, get your seatbelts in place for John Eastman's ferocious, angry rebuttal to two other Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee," said Hot Air.

Sean Hannity called his testimony "stunning." "And it got that stunning applause, a standing ovation from some," Hannity added.

Again Eastman nailed the heart of this outrage: "Major policy disputes in this country are now resolved by intimidation and fear to try and shut down the opposition rather than to reason with people about what the best course for our policy judgments are."

Because you helped John Eastman and NOM stand up for your rights, the message is getting out everywhere:

You can read his opening statement here. Here's just a partial list of the media who covered John Eastman—and the felonies committed by someone in the IRS against traditional marriage supporters like you and me:

http://www.nomblog.com/35438

While watching Rep. Blumenauer and his colleagues say the IRS was right for targeting NOM — I wanted to ask him: "Rep. Blumenauer, we get money honestly, from free citizens who want to donate to a cause they and we believe in. When are you going to stand up and denounce the $431,360 in taxpayer "stimulus" money that funded a study in Nancy Pelosi's district of the emotional distress and sex life of 48 gay male fathers?" Almost a half million in your money, allegedly to stimulate the economy and produced not a single job? Because the academics who performed it are already employed at San Francisco State University (at taxpayer expense!).

Somebody in the IRS — we don't know how far up it goes — committed a felony releasing protected and private taxpayer information — and the Department of Justice does nothing. The IRS stonewalls. And Rep. Blumenauer says it's your fault for opposing gay marriage.

Unbelievable!

We will not stand down. We will not surrender marriage. We will not cave and surrender your rights — and the rights of millions of other decent, loving, law-abiding freeborn American citizens of every race and creed and color to participate in the public square on an equal basis and defend marriage and other things which are good and worth defending.

And together, we will win.

A Deep Blue Miracle

Less than a week ago, an unbelievable miracle occurred, deep in the blue state of Illinois, where Democrats have a supermajority in the legislature, where President Obama campaigned for redefining marriage, where GOP turncoat Sen. Mark Kirk tried to pressure GOP State Representatives, where Rahm Emmanuel threatened and Governor Pat Quinn tried to bribe — the people of the state stood up to power and rejected same-sex marriage.

As the legislature came to a close, no vote was scheduled — because bill sponsor Greg Harris and the Speaker of the House agreed only to schedule a vote if gay marriage had enough votes to prevail.

Instead "a broad grassroots coalition of Illinois families of faith of all creeds and colors took on all the Illinois political bosses from Washington to the Governor's Mansion to Chicago's City Hall who tried to pay back the [gay] community for their political support," said Paul Caprio, our friend and spokesman for the Coalition to Protect Children & Marriage.

"Same-Sex Marriage Hits Red Light in Blue Illinois," BigGovernment.com blazoned (and lots of other news outlets picked up).

Thank you for making this victory possible.

Breitbart noted the key role NOM played in winning this unbelievable victory (of course we are thankful for every person and organization that worked so hard and came together to achieve this victory!):

". . .While pastors held breakfasts, the National Organization for Marriage gave financial support and provided expert testimony in Springfield with Dr. Jennifer Robach Morse on the troubling side of same-sex marriage. Cardinal Francis George wrote and spoke with conviction against the proposal, as did Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield. Churches rallied and, in spite of the odds, to the surprise of Chicago media and the much better resourced gay gobby, pro-traditional family forces stopped the vote."

The party bosses underestimated the resolve of black pastors, in particular, to whom I personally want to express profound gratitutde for their courageous stand for Biblical values. I learned so much and am so honored to stand with such fine Christian leaders.

In the end, it came down to enormous pressure on twenty black Democratic legislators "I think after President Obama came out as a supporter of [gay] marriage there was a belief that it would be a no-brainer," Representative Christian Mitchell said. "But I don't think folks properly understood the influence and role of the church as it relates to African-American politics."

The Poll You Won't See on the Nightly News

Let me end with another bit of good news. You probably heard, because any message that supports gay marriage gets trumpeted everywhere, of a Pew poll finding that some marriage supporters are getting discouraged and view gay marriage as "inevitable."

Let me tell you, nothing is inevitable to free born men and women except that one day we will all be held accountable by our Creator for whether and how we stood up for His vision of good on this earth.

More Americans than the media wants you to think understand this fact.

A new poll released by the very liberal HuffPo/YouGov finds that a plurality of Americans oppose the Supreme Court overturning DOMA, with just 41 percent saying federal law should redefine marriage, while 45 percent want the Court to uphold the federal law defining marriage as one man, one woman. The same poll found that flat-out, more Americans oppose gay marriage than support in this poll (45 percent to 43 percent).

Twenty-four percent of Democrats polled said the federal government should not redefine, while independents split 42 percent to 44 percent (in favor of protecting marriage). And the vast majority of Republicans said the federal government should not redefine marriage and keep defining it they way it has (73 percent to 19 percent). This is encouraging news that should be shared far and wide.

And keep praying for all those on the frontlines of the fight for marriage and for those standing up against these disturbing abuses of power.

I never forget that, under God, and with His blessing, it is thanks to you that this fight continues, that these victories are possible. It is thanks to the sacrifices of time and treasure you've made to build the National Organization of Marriage, supporter, the last message the Supreme Court will receive before it hands down critical decisions in the fight to protect marriage is that America believes in preserving marriage!

We will not surrender. We will not stand down. We will fight for God's truth about marriage, and for the right of every law-abiding freeborn American citizen to participate equally in our beloved country's democratic process.

Until next week, and the next good fight, I remain.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The audience at a congressional hearing isn't supposed to give applause, but they did when they heard what our Chairman John Eastman had to say.

Let me explain why his testimony has gained the admiration of tea party and conservative activists and the renewed attention of politicians and the media across the country.

Yesterday Eastman was invited by Congress to testify about the illegal disclosure of NOM's confidential tax documents, along with five other heads of conservative organizations that were targeted by the IRS.

What made Eastman's testimony different — and explosive — was the fact that NOM's case is far more egregious, because our private donors were exposed to intimidation and harassment when President Obama's political allies were given our confidential information.

Can you pause right now and donate to support NOM's mission, helping us expose the illegal and outrageous attacks made against us and against private citizens like you?

See how Eastman responded to the "scurrilous" attacks made against NOM, conservatives and marriage supporters by some of the members on the committee — completely shutting them down and leaving them speechless:

Here's the line of Eastman's that everyone is quoting, when he responds to an attack by Rep. Earl Blumenaur claiming marriage supporters shouldn't be allowed to participate in the public square:

"Representative Blumenauer, it's your kind of statements that have empowered IRS agents to make determinations about which organizations qualify for the public good and which do not. The notion that defending traditional marriage doesn't qualify as a defense of the public good is beyond preposterous."

Wow!

Of course it's always disappointing to see some representatives like Bluemenauer attempt to make marriage partisan when it is not. We proudly collaborate with many democrats who support marriage. In fact, during the same hearing Rep. Rangel (D-NY) proposed working together with Eastman to help make sure the mess at the IRS is cleaned up.

But back to Eastman's testimony: I'm sure now you can understand why applause erupted inside the hearing room as Eastman delivered his bold reprimand, and why his comments have received so much attention and support in the aftermath.

Neil Cavuto of Fox Business called Eastman "the man in the center of the storm who put up quite a storm" and told Eastman he was "on fire" during his testimony. NOM's story (and Eastman's explosive testimony) is now going viral across the internet.

Facebook and Twitter lit up yesterday with praise for Eastman and thanksgiving for his passionate articulation of why what the IRS did is unacceptable and how liberal politicians have emboldened bureaucrats to harass and abuse those they perceive to be their political opponents.

Please chip in right away with your generous donation of $35, $50 or $100 to join our effort to see that justice is done and that an even playing field is reestablished for marriage supporters and all Americans.

Eastman's testimony is our best chance yet to get to the bottom of what happened inside the IRS — and to find out who may have known about it outside the IRS and was an accomplice to the crime.

One of the facts that Eastman shared during his testimony is how much NOM has been forced to spend to defend and shield its donors in the aftermath of the IRS's illegal disclosure of our tax documents — hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Please contribute to NOM right away to help us recoup these losses and help us pursue a just remedy — including seeking financial damages — for what has happened. Your gift of $35, $100 or $500 will help us expose the truth and stand up for the constitutional rights of all Americans to participate in democracy without fear of harassment or retribution.

Thank you for being generous.

Together, we will find answers and see that justice is done.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

"Welcome to Washington."

That's how Rep. Paul Ryan begins his statements in last week's hearing about the ongoing IRS Scandal.

His comments followed Rep. McDermott's, who incredibly claimed that marriage supporters shouldn't be allowed to participate in the public square because (unlike the Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry and Planned Parenthood, I suppose) we were "highly political" and "entrenched in some of the most controversial political issues in the country."

Thankfully, Rep. Ryan cut through the political gamesmanship and got to the heart of the issue: the IRS is claiming the power to determine which ideologies are in the public interest!

What's more — NOM's story, presented by our Chairman, John Eastman, has become, in the words of Gov. Mike Huckabee on his radio show recently, "the smoking gun" in the IRS scandal.

Please take a moment to listen to Rep. Ryan's questions and comments during last week's incredible hearing:

It's always disappointing to see some representatives like McDermott attempt to make marriage partisan when it is not. We proudly collaborate with many democrats who support marriage. In fact, during the same hearing Rep. Rangel (D-NY) proposed working together with Eastman to help make sure the mess at the IRS is cleaned up.

And make no mistake — Dr. Eastman's testimony about NOM's story is our best chance yet to get to the bottom of what happened inside the IRS — and to find out who may have known about it outside the IRS and was an accomplice to the crime.

Please watch this brief video of Rep. Paul Ryan's questions to NOM's Chairman, Dr. John Eastman, and listen to the incredibly powerful responses he gives.

And then, please consider making a generous contribution to support our work to defend marriage and the rights of ordinary Americans like you to speak and organize freely and participate in the political life of our great nation.

For marriage and freedom.

You can sign up for NOM's email newsletter at www.nationformarriage.org.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

"Welcome to Washington."

That's how Rep. Paul Ryan begins his statements in last week's hearing about the ongoing IRS Scandal.

His comments followed Rep. McDermott's, who incredibly claimed that marriage supporters shouldn't be allowed to participate in the public square because (unlike the Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry and Planned Parenthood, I suppose) we were "highly political" and "entrenched in some of the most controversial political issues in the country."

Thankfully, Rep. Ryan cut through the political gamesmanship and got to the heart of the issue: the IRS is claiming the power to determine which ideologies are in the public interest!

What's more — NOM's story, presented by our Chairman, John Eastman, has become, in the words of Gov. Mike Huckabee on his radio show recently, "the smoking gun" in the IRS scandal.

Please take a moment to listen to Rep. Ryan's questions and comments during last week's incredible hearing:

It's always disappointing to see some representatives like McDermott attempt to make marriage partisan when it is not. We proudly collaborate with many democrats who support marriage. In fact, during the same hearing Rep. Rangel (D-NY) proposed working together with Eastman to help make sure the mess at the IRS is cleaned up.

And make no mistake — Dr. Eastman's testimony about NOM's story is our best chance yet to get to the bottom of what happened inside the IRS — and to find out who may have known about it outside the IRS and was an accomplice to the crime.

Please watch this brief video of Rep. Paul Ryan's questions to NOM's Chairman, Dr. John Eastman, and listen to the incredibly powerful responses he gives.

And then, please consider making a generous contribution to support our work to defend marriage and the rights of ordinary Americans like you to speak and organize freely and participate in the political life of our great nation.

For marriage and freedom.

You can sign up for NOM's email newsletter at www.nationformarriage.org.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The audience at a congressional hearing isn't supposed to give applause, but they did when they heard what the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM's) Chairman, John Eastman, had to say.

Last week, Dr. Eastman was invited by Congress to testify about the illegal disclosure of NOM's confidential tax documents, along with five other heads of conservative organizations that were targeted by the IRS.

What made Eastman's testimony different — and explosive — was the fact that NOM's case is far more egregious... because our private donors were exposed to intimidation and harassment when President Obama's political allies were given our confidential information.

Can you take a moment right now to watch his testimony below and then make a generous contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more to support the National Organization for Marriage, helping us expose the illegal and outrageous attacks made against us and against ordinary, private citizens just like you?

Dr. Eastman's fiery testimony generated thunderous applause inside the hearing room. And it has prompted NOM's story to go viral across the internet!

Facebook and Twitter lit up with praise for Eastman and thanksgiving for his passionate articulation of why what the IRS did is unacceptable and how liberal politicians have emboldened bureaucrats to harass and abuse those they perceive to be their political opponents.

Dr. Eastman's testimony about NOM's story is our best chance yet to get to the bottom of what happened inside the IRS — and to find out who may have known about it outside the IRS and was an accomplice to the crime.

Please watch this video and then consider making a generous contribution to NOM right away.

One of the facts that Eastman shared during his testimony is how much NOM has been forced to spend to defend and shield its donors in the aftermath of the IRS's illegal disclosure of our tax documents — hundreds of thousands of dollars. Please help us recoup these losses and help us pursue a just remedy — including seeking financial damages — for what has happened. Your gift will help us expose the truth and stand up for the constitutional rights of all Americans to participate in democracy without fear of harassment or retribution.

Thank you for being generous. Together, we will find answers and see that justice is done.

You can sign up for NOM's email newsletter at www.nationformarriage.org.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The audience at a congressional hearing isn't supposed to give applause, but they did when they heard what the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM's) Chairman, John Eastman, had to say.

Last week, Dr. Eastman was invited by Congress to testify about the illegal disclosure of NOM's confidential tax documents, along with five other heads of conservative organizations that were targeted by the IRS.

What made Eastman's testimony different — and explosive — was the fact that NOM's case is far more egregious... because our private donors were exposed to intimidation and harassment when President Obama's political allies were given our confidential information.

Please take a moment right now to watch his testimony (below) and then make a generous contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more to support the National Organization for Marriage, and help us fight back against the illegal and outrageous attacks made against us and against ordinary, private citizens just like you!

Dr. Eastman's fiery testimony generated thunderous applause inside the hearing room. And it has prompted NOM's story to go viral across the internet!

Facebook and Twitter lit up with praise for Eastman and thanksgiving for his passionate articulation of why what the IRS did is unacceptable and how liberal politicians have emboldened bureaucrats to harass and abuse those they perceive to be their political opponents.

Dr. Eastman's testimony about NOM's story is our best chance yet to get to the bottom of what happened inside the IRS — and to find out who may have known about it outside the IRS and was an accomplice to the crime.

Please watch this video and then consider making a generous contribution to NOM right away.

One of the facts that Eastman shared during his testimony is how much NOM has been forced to spend to defend and shield its donors in the aftermath of the IRS's illegal disclosure of our tax documents — hundreds of thousands of dollars. Please help us recoup these losses and help us pursue a just remedy — including seeking financial damages — for what has happened. Your gift will help us expose the truth and stand up for the constitutional rights of all Americans to participate in democracy without fear of harassment or retribution.

Thank you for being generous. Together, we will find answers and see that justice is done.

You can sign up for NOM's email newsletter at www.nationformarriage.org.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The audience at a congressional hearing isn't supposed to give applause, but they did when they heard what the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM's) Chairman, John Eastman, had to say.

Last week, Dr. Eastman was invited by Congress to testify about the illegal disclosure of NOM's confidential tax documents, along with five other heads of conservative organizations that were targeted by the IRS.

What made Eastman's testimony different — and explosive — was the fact that NOM's case is far more egregious... because our private donors were exposed to intimidation and harassment when President Obama's political allies were given our confidential information.

Can you take a moment right now to watch his testimony below and then make a generous contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more to support the National Organization for Marriage, helping us expose the illegal and outrageous attacks made against us and against ordinary, private citizens just like you?

Dr. Eastman's fiery testimony generated thunderous applause inside the hearing room. And it has prompted NOM's story to go viral across the internet!

Facebook and Twitter lit up with praise for Eastman and thanksgiving for his passionate articulation of why what the IRS did is unacceptable and how liberal politicians have emboldened bureaucrats to harass and abuse those they perceive to be their political opponents.

Dr. Eastman's testimony about NOM's story is our best chance yet to get to the bottom of what happened inside the IRS — and to find out who may have known about it outside the IRS and was an accomplice to the crime.

Please watch this video and then consider making a generous contribution to NOM right away.

One of the facts that Eastman shared during his testimony is how much NOM has been forced to spend to defend and shield its donors in the aftermath of the IRS's illegal disclosure of our tax documents — hundreds of thousands of dollars. Please help us recoup these losses and help us pursue a just remedy — including seeking financial damages — for what has happened. Your gift will help us expose the truth and stand up for the constitutional rights of all Americans to participate in democracy without fear of harassment or retribution.

Thank you for being generous. Together, we will find answers and see that justice is done.

You can sign up for NOM's email newsletter at www.nationformarriage.org.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The audience at a congressional hearing isn't supposed to give applause, but they did when they heard what the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM's) Chairman, John Eastman, had to say.

Last week, Dr. Eastman was invited by Congress to testify about the illegal disclosure of NOM's confidential tax documents, along with five other heads of conservative organizations that were targeted by the IRS.

What made Eastman's testimony different — and explosive — was the fact that NOM's case is far more egregious... because our private donors were exposed to intimidation and harassment when President Obama's political allies were given our confidential information.

Can you take a moment right now to watch his testimony below and then make a generous contribution of $25, $50, $100 or more to support the National Organization for Marriage, helping us expose the illegal and outrageous attacks made against us and against ordinary, private citizens just like you?

Dr. Eastman's fiery testimony generated thunderous applause inside the hearing room. And it has prompted NOM's story to go viral across the internet!

Facebook and Twitter lit up with praise for Eastman and thanksgiving for his passionate articulation of why what the IRS did is unacceptable and how liberal politicians have emboldened bureaucrats to harass and abuse those they perceive to be their political opponents.

Dr. Eastman's testimony about NOM's story is our best chance yet to get to the bottom of what happened inside the IRS — and to find out who may have known about it outside the IRS and was an accomplice to the crime.

Please watch this video and then consider making a generous contribution to NOM right away.

One of the facts that Eastman shared during his testimony is how much NOM has been forced to spend to defend and shield its donors in the aftermath of the IRS's illegal disclosure of our tax documents — hundreds of thousands of dollars. Please help us recoup these losses and help us pursue a just remedy — including seeking financial damages — for what has happened. Your gift will help us expose the truth and stand up for the constitutional rights of all Americans to participate in democracy without fear of harassment or retribution.

Thank you for being generous. Together, we will find answers and see that justice is done.

You can sign up for NOM's email newsletter at www.nationformarriage.org.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The myth of gay marriage inevitability died last night in Illinois!

Even in this deep blue state...

... where liberals hold a super-majority in both chambers of the state legislature ...

... with the personal lobbying of President Barack Obama ...

... with the pork-barrel bribery of Governor Pat Quinn ...

... and with the bare-knuckled arm-twisting of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ...

... gay marriage was defeated! In fact, it was left on the cutting-room floor, failing to even come up for a floor vote for lack of support.

So much for inevitability!

A new coalition of African American pastors, stalwart Catholics and evangelicals, and other people of faith, along with lawyers, activists and child advocates joined with countless thousands of other individuals and groups, and together we achieved the impossible, defeating the deep-pockets of gay marriage activists and their sycophantic media boosters.

Because of your efforts, the last message the Supreme Court will receive before it hands down critical decisions in the fight to protect marriage is that America believes in preserving marriage! Even in this deep-blue state, home to what Newsweek magazine dubbed as the "first gay president," the people have stood up for the truth of marriage, and let their lawmakers know in no-uncertain terms that they want marriage to remain as the union of one man and one woman.

Make no mistake about it, this was the most hotly-contested legislative battle in the nation. NOM put everything we had into this fight. So did plenty of others in our remarkable coalition. Together, we won a stunning victory!

Please celebrate this excellent news by making a generous gift to NOM right away. These added funds will help us take maximum advantage of this victory. Can you donate $35, $50, $100, $500 or even $1,000 today? Let's show our opponents how much fight we have in us!

Supporter, we've heard the whispering among some of our allies, dispirited after some tough losses last November, and legislative defeats earlier in the year. It's only natural to get depressed and feel that we're fighting against long odds. But what Illinois teaches us is that you will never be disappointed in standing up for the truth!

In the end, truth will always win. The idea that two men, or two women, can marry each other is a lie, because marriage is intrinsically the union of a man and a woman. And it is intrinsically about how that unique relationship of marriage benefits children.

What Illinois teaches us — powerfully and in no uncertain terms — is that supporting marriage is a winning cause. It teaches us to never give up, and to go on offense, fighting to preserve what God created and what government merely recognizes.

Today NOM is announcing the formation of a "Win More States" fund. Contributions to this fund will be devoted to fighting the good fight for the truth of marriage in key battleground states. We will use this fund to supplement the grassroots activism and public education we already conduct to make sure that we give everything we have to preserving marriage whenever it is under attack. There are many states in play that could use our help right now — Ohio, Oregon, New Jersey, Nevada, Indiana, etc. — and the Win More States Fund will be the vehicle to allow us to devote even more resources to the cause.

Please capitalize on this new momentum by making a generous gift to the Win More States Fund today. Your outpouring of support to the tune of $35, $75, $150, $750, $1,500 or more will cement this new energy in the pro-marriage movement!

Already emails and messages are pouring in — people are excited that we have won an incredible victory for marriage in this deep blue state. America is the land of underdogs and comeback stories — let's repeat that for marriage today!

Please show that you are never giving up on marriage by donating to the cause whatever you can. Everyone can be part of shaping a future that honors the unique contributions of moms and dads, everyone can stand up for the rights of children. Please support our efforts to ensure our marriage laws reflect the reality of marriage and give children what they deserve — a mother and father, united in marital love!

Thank you for standing up for marriage when the odds seemed stacked against us. God bless all of us engaged in this most important fight of our lives.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

24 hours and the fate of marriage will be decided in Illinois.

The fact that the fight for marriage is coming down to the wire in this deep blue state controlled by Democrats, even with Pres. Obama pushing for its passage, is a testament first, to the good people of Illinois, of every race, creed and color who have worked hard to stand up for God's vision of marriage against relentless political and media pressure.

What kind of political pressure? One of the legislators in Springfield told the The African American Clergy Coalition (NOM has been working closely with them) that Gov. Quinn is offering holdout Representatives earmarks for their district such as "bridges and expressway extensions" if return for their yes vote on gay marriage.

Gay marriage is so "inevitable", in other words, the governor of this deep blue state has been forced to stoop to bribery and favor-peddling to pass it over the will of the people!

If you live in Illinois, now is the time to speak or forever lose your peace. Please call your legislator or forward this alert to your friends and family in Illinois. Have them tell him or her "just say no!" to same-sex marriage and the shady back-room deals that accompany redefining marriage against the will of the people.

Rays of Hope

In the darkness, shimmers of light emerge. Michael Bradley, a young Notre Dame philosophy graduate student, pushes back against the powerful governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick, when the later argues that gay marriage is a civil right like interracial marriage:

"Patrick first offers an argument that eludes this central question while simultaneously doing something rather insidious: employing the rhetoric of, and therefore inviting comparison to, the black civil rights movement in order to dress the same-sex marriage debate as just the next civil rights cause in marriage's sullied history. Such a move is predictable, old, tired and just a poor argument to make.

In ruling the prohibition of interracial marriages unconstitutional in 1967, the Supreme Court simply acknowledged that a man and woman of different ethnic backgrounds had all along been able to, in reality, form the sort of relationship that marriage is. That is, a white man and a black woman (for example) were just as able as a white man and a white woman to form the union of marriage, the essential characteristics and norms of which have been expressed in what was, until very recently, the universally-recognized understanding (if not articulation) of marriage: a comprehensive union of two sexually complementary persons. Loving v. Virginia simply established that race was not a salient feature of marriage. Loving didn't entail any redefinition or change to the understanding of marriage at all; it represented the gradual shedding of pure racism in America."

Right now in all states some marriages are "banned" for policy reasons: first-cousin marriages in some states, for example, sibling marriages in all 50 states. These bans are bans — not disagreement about the nature of marriage. Incestuous unions are bad for the common good and children and so they are outlawed.

But as the brave young scholar points out:

"This is not the case with same-sex marriage. Proponents of conjugal marriage have been arguing all along not that people with homosexual inclinations should not be allowed to get married — for such discrimination would be akin to the blatant racism that permeated the marriage culture prior to Loving — but rather that two men or two women, regardless of whether and/or how their sexual inclinations come into the picture, simply cannot form the sort of relationship that marriage is.

The logic that equates federal bans on interracial marriages and same-sex marriages is unsound because it is completely question-begging. It would be similar — and similarly ridiculous — if same-sex marriage advocates argued that since the state doesn't prohibit Italians from marrying the Irish (if this were the case, I would not have been born) or a man over six feet tall from marrying a woman under six feet tall (again, my parents would have been out of luck), a man can't be prohibited from marrying a man. Such an appeal proves absolutely nothing and simply arrives back at the same point: What are the essential characteristics of marriage?" Bradley asks.

Love, commitment, permanence, exclusivity, faithfulness between a man and woman who vow to be there for one another, and for their children.

That's the heart of what marriage is, what we fight for, and what government cannot change.

In the dark days of late spring, the light of truth spoken with vigor and with love continues to shine. Many young people are cowed or embarrassed to speak truth to power, but among the next generation, heroes are also arising.

Sandy Glass of Naperville, Illinois witnessed such unexpected courage during her recent trip to Paris last Sunday. She and her husband travel to France a great deal, so when they ran into massive street demonstrations, amounting to hundreds of thousands of people protesting, they assumed it was must be a left-wing labor protest about one thing or another.

Suddenly they realized that this was a massive protest against gay marriage, against the commodification of children. A protest for the natural family. "It brought tears to our eyes," Glass said, when they followed the noise and saw the pro-family signs. "Oh, we're not the only 'crazy' ones," she said, explaining that it is "sometimes very difficult to be on the right in America."

Here is what the right side looks like in France:

The media and the elites want you to feel alone and isolated and powerless and silenced. That's why I'm so proud of what you and I have built together — the most important megaphone for marriage in America. That's why I went to France as well to share what we have learned with organizers there, building (as the gay-marriage have) a transnational movement for marriage.

The Wrong Worldview

My old dinner host Dan Savage is out with a new book in which he explains how hard it was to sit with me and civilly discuss our differences.

The gap between our worldviews is once again on display. Like Savage, I do not believe divorce is a good answer to the problem of adultery. Unlike Savage, I do not believe endorsing adultery is the solution to the problem of divorce.

Nor do I believe that the answer to the problem of "minors having easy access to pornography on the Internet" is "to educate your child to be a…critical and thoughtful viewer of porn, and to think about what they may be viewing."

Meanwhile The Atlantic is at last acknowledging that gay marriage will likely change marriage.

The most telling interview is with the Episcopalian Dean of the National Cathedral who says he is hoping the ancient Anglican wedding liturgy, and the ideas it represents, will be replaced by a new wedding ceremony and ideal, patterned on same-sex blessing ceremonies: "The new service does not ground marriage in a doctrine of creation and procreation,' [Gary] Hall says. "It grounds marriage in a kind of free coming-together of two people to live out their lives."

The Atlantic continues: "In the next couple of years, Hall expects, the General Convention will adopt a new service for all Episcopal weddings. He is hopeful that the current same-sex service will serve as its basis."

This is the worldview we are fighting, the new morality gay marriage is a vehicle for imposing.

It is the reason we cannot listen to the voices of despair — a spiritual temptation — but must instead resolve to stand shoulder to shoulder together, across the boundaries of race and religion, in loving defense of a truth that is eternal, that cannot be changed, that must be passed down to future generations: marriage as the sacred union of a man and a woman, who give their child that inestimable treasure: a loving mom and dad.

Thank you for giving me and all of us here at NOM the chance to be your voice for your values — for true and good and beautiful values.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We have only 3 days to defeat gay-marriage activists in Illinois, where the General Assembly adjourns this Friday.

Our opponents have been fighting for months in this deep blue state to pass a bill redefining marriage — but our side has been fighting even harder to stop them. NOM has dedicated over one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars to this critical fight.

Please help NOM continue to support those who are fighting on the front lines of this good fight with your donation of $35, $50 or $100 right away.

This is our last opportunity to score a legislative victory for marriage before the Supreme Court hands down their rulings on marriage next month.

Our sources on the ground tell us the vote could be as soon as tomorrow or the day after (Thursday). Gay-marriage activists are claiming they have the votes, but we know they don't yet!

That's why we need everyone, and I do mean everyone, to pitch in...and also to help spread the word: please use this link to contact your state legislators if you live in Illinois or forward this to all of your friends and family:

Tell them all to VOTE NO on SB10. Vote NO on Gay Marriage.

If you can call your state legislator, that is the best option!

We need to get the word out far and wide that Illinois hangs in the balance, and so does marriage — across America.

Already gay-marriage advocates in other states are preparing campaigns to REPEAL existing State Constitutional protections for marriage. With your help NOM will be there to help those states preserve marriage...

In addition to fighting to protect marriage in Illinois, NOM is already planning for the next stage of the marriage debate, ensuring that no matter what the Supreme Court decides, marriage is upheld and strengthened in our culture.

Please help NOM prepare for the next critical stage of the marriage fight as we await the decisions of the Supreme Court by donating whatever you can spare to our critical efforts.

And please continue to pray and act on behalf of marriage in Illinois.

Only 3 days — marriage is worth defending!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Truth matters. Especially when bullies and bureaucrats conspired to hide it.

Standing Up to IRS Bullies

NOM's decision to stand up to abuse and fight back by suing the IRS is generating a mountain of positive responses with major media outlets. By our rough count, NOM's case has been mentioned over 85 times this past week!

A special shout-out to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a major GOP presidential hopeful, for speaking out about this abuse of power in front of the cameras at a morning press conference:

Fox News took notice on numerous occasions — including this one:

Here's NOM's own fighting law professor and Chairman John Eastman on Neil Cavuto:

But of all the coverage the one that lays bare new and important details is this radio interview between Mike Huckabee and John Eastman:

Mike Huckabee: "...this is pretty explosive. It's one thing to say an application got bureaucratic red tape that's inexcusable and unforgivable but what you're saying is that the information that by law is confidential on your tax return was handed over to the co-chairman of the Obama for reelection campaign?"

Prof. Eastman: "That's right so let me walk very precisely through the steps and the evidence. In March of 2012, a copy of our confidential tax return was posted on the website of the Human Rights Campaign which is the leading pro gay-marriage organization in the country. . . there's portions of our tax return that are as private and confidential as your private 1040 tax returns and it was that portion, that schedule B that lists all of our major donors and their addresses that was given to the Human Rights Campaign and they posted it on their website for the explicit purpose of then targeting our donors and harassing them, intimidating them, trying to chill them away from engaging in the political fights that we engage in."

"We know that it came from the IRS because the copy HRC posted on its website contained some redacted information our computer geniuses were able to remove. Those were codes showing the copy came from the IRS not us. [That means whoever leaked and/or posted it was aware they needed to cover up this information proving a felony had been committed]."

Huckabee: "I mean you literally do have at that point a smoking gun, don't you?"

Eastman: "Yes we do, it's a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison to release private IRS information. It became a felony in 1976 because of concerns about the way Nixon had abused IRS private data for political purposes."

NOM's smoking gun is particularly hot because it blasts open the current IRS narrative that just a few guys in Cincinnati did the wrong thing while trying to be efficient, as Gov. Huckabee astutely notices:

"You know this is really stunning and especially in light of hearing the testimony of Steven Miller before Congress this morning. I'm not sure John if you had an opportunity to hear it but his whole defense was that there were some mistakes made but there was no partisanship and that they were just trying to be very efficient and that's why all this happened, in their attempt to be incredibly efficient. This is not efficiency, what they're after with the National Organization for Marriage. They take information, they feloniously give it away to an organization that hates you and then expect us to believe that that's all in the name of efficiency?"

But as John Eastman says, that's not even the whole story. The evidence of systemic Orwellian corruption gets worse:

"When we discovered the smoking gun that this felony leak came from within the IRS in April of 2012, we filed complaints and requests for information with both the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration [they authored the report that came out this week] and with the Department of Justice.

We know the IRS conducted the investigation because they asked us for a lot of information, mostly trying to demonstrate that the leak came from someone inside our organization. When that turned out not to be true, somehow the investigation just kind of drifted off. We heard no more from the IRS.

The next step was to file a series of Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] requests trying to determine the name of the individual who leaked this information. We are legally entitled to this information, if the IRS knows it. We wanted the information because while we cannot decide to criminally prosecute anyone, there are also civil liabilities amounting to $1000 for each instances of illegal disclosure, plus attorney's fees."

As John Eastman told Huckabee: "I got to tell you the responses out of the government have just been bizarre."

"In response to our first request, the IRS said, "Well, any info we have is under the jurisdiction of the inspector general's office so ask them." So we did and we got the response "you already made this request and we don't respond to multiple requests for information. You have your answer."

So we then asked for, as we're legally allowed to do, the status of the investigation, whether it was conclusive or inconclusive and whether there was anybody identified as committing this crime who is once their appeals have run we're allowed to have that information.

The answer from your government about this threat to your rights was just incredible:

"The inspector general's office took the position that the very statute that makes it a felony to disclose a taxpayer's tax returns protects the individual who committed that felony because he is himself a taxpayer and the subject of an IRS investigation. Unbelievable," Prof. Eastman concluded.

I have to thank Gov. Huckabee for doing the single best coverage of what is really at stake here. He knows how government works, when an issue is serious, and when you need subpoena power to uncover the truth.

Mostly he understands how important it is not to back down but to stand up and fight back:

Huckabee: "And I want to commend you for just not taking it lying down, maybe even making some noise and not acting on it. I think this has got to work its way through the courts because there's going to be discovery, depositions, judges, a much different kind of atmosphere than there will ever be in a congressional hearing and this is where this belongs so let me say I know this is not going to be pleasant or inexpensive but I think it's critical on behalf of every organization that you guys follow through this lawsuit and I commend you for it."

And then he asked his listeners, as we ask you, to support us with the donations we need to fight the IRS:

"Well I will definitely remind our listeners, www.nationformarriage.org is the website and it is going to be a long slog of a process and I know that they're going to need help because they need to raise money for the cause not to have to fight the IRS in court which is one of the things that big government does it forces people to use up their resources to hire attorneys and accountants to fight the government rather than be protected by the government. Our thanks to John Eastman . . . we've got to get to the bottom of this."

And I promise you we will!

Illinois Update

In Illinois it is down to the wire; the session ends May 31. We've spent $125,000 in Illinois helping amplify the voices of thousands of Illinois people and pastors (especially the brave African-American clergy who have stood up the Chicago political bosses and shouted: "Stop!").

I hope they learn the lesson from Minnesota about the deceptions too many gay marriage advocates think are justified in pursuit of their agenda.

Bait, Switch and Lie: Doreen's Story

Our Thomas Peters went on Minnesota NPR alongside gay marriage honcho Evan Wolfson (he's the big recipient of GOP pro-SSM money at this point). He pointed out that voters in Minnesota were lied to; they were told the amendment wasn't necessary; if they voted "no" nothing would change. So the host asked the very next caller, a woman named Doreen how she would respond to that:

Doreen said: "If I had known that [voting "no" on the Amendment] would open the door to same-sex marriage I would definitely not have voted the way I voted. I would have voted YES, should be in the Constitution ... ya know, I was lied to. Plain and simple. I was told nothing would change. And now everything is changing. It's just not right."

You can hear the interview with our able Thomas Peters and Doreen's response here:

Speaking of able, NOM's founding Chairman of the Board, Prof. Robby George appears on a new PBS special on the Constitution (you can watch it here

He appears discussing the Prop 8 and DOMA legal cases at 14:40 to 16:45 — just after a gushing interview with the lesbian couple in the Perry case and a historical review of the invalidation of laws prohibiting interracial marriages.

NOM's other former Chairman of the Board, Maggie Gallagher is up on National Review patiently answering the question we've answered over and over again: "How does same-sex marriage affect marriage's relationship to procreation, given infertile couples may marry? "

Dear [Name Redacted}:

I have made this argument repeatedly. I understand you either disagree with it or can't hear it.

Childless and older couples are part of the natural lifecycle of marriage. Their presence in the mix doesn't imply anything about the relationship between marriage and procreation. They've always been there.

I went around saying for years "marriage matters because children need a mom and a dad" nobody ever said: that's not true because infertile couples can marry. Never, not once. Sexual union of male and female who are co-parents in itself points to affirms, and regulates an ideal.

Whereas two men, if married, clearly, clearly state that either the ideal for a child is not a mom and a dad or that marriage has nothing important or integral to do with that ideal. When anyone says children need a mom and dad now, the response is a powerful rejection from gay marriage advocates: that's a discriminatory idea that has been disproved by science. The logic of marriage equality has a real cultural force.

I think that is playing out in the rapid abandonment of the idea that marriage is related to children among the young. I can't prove it because cultural logic while a powerful force is hard to translate into social science evidence.

I can provide evidence but not proof.

If we cared seriously about marriage's role in regulating childbearing, we would not be disrupting this norm on behalf of the maybe one-half of one percent of the population (and that is generous) who wants to enter this institution. It cannot remain the same institution, as many gay marriage scholars have acknowledged, any more than a boy's school can admit girls and remain a boy's school.

Marriage equality is going to be used primarily to enforce the new moral norm: no differences between straight and gay can matter. Or as Think Progress put it recently "At a basic level, it's logically impossible to say that heterosexuality is better — or should be the norm — compared to homosexuality without simultaneously stating that homosexuality is worse — or abnormal. Either all people are equal in society or they are not; she cannot have her straights-only wedding cake and eat it stigma-free."

And over in Great Britain Patricia Morgan points to the data that explodes the argument Cameron's Tories are making that gay marriage is somehow a conservative idea that will strengthen marriage as a social institution.

It hasn't happened in Scandinavia, Spain, Massachussetts, or anywhere else that has adopted gay marriage. In Holland she points out the number of first babies born to unwed couples has doubled to 40 percent since gay marriage was adopted.

It is as absurd as the oft-repeated argument that gay marriage will somehow improve a state's economy or that a marriage amendment will hurt jobs.

Here's the thing they don't believe that you and I do: truth matters.

If we speak with love, conviction and courage, on behalf of the timeless truths that government has no right to redefine—in the end we will win.

Thank you again for standing up for God's truth about marriage and our Founding Father's vision for what American politics should be.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

For months and months, NOM has been fighting hard to protect marriage in Illinois.

That's why, with less than ten days left to go in the legislative session, gay activists are still scrambling to twist arms and strike backroom deals in Springfield.

Your emergency gift of $35, $75 or $150 could make the difference by helping stop gay marriage in Illinois — the last state that will debate marriage before the Supreme Court hands down its ruling later next month.

Yes, even in this deep blue state where Democrats hold a supermajority and the governor is pushing for gay marriage, we've managed to stop them in their tracks — at least, so far.

Scoring a victory...will force politicians and the media to take notice. Please take action and contact your lawmaker urging them to vote NO on gay marriage.

NOM has joined forces with the African American Clergy Coalition and other allies on the ground, investing upwards of $125,000 to support a variety of activities including calling the constituents of wavering Representatives, alerting the citizens of Illinois to the threat to marriage in their state, and helping them take action to protect marriage.

We are achieving results, but we have so much more to do.

Supporter, it's make-or-break time in the Land of Lincoln!

Please make an emergency donation to NOM's efforts to protect marriage. $35, $75, $150 — whatever you can spare. Every gift matters — your gift matters!

And if you haven't already contacted your friends and family in Illinois and urged them to email and call their state representative in Springfield, please do so right away — before you close this email. Please forward this to everyone in your contact list you know cares about the defense of marriage.

Thank you — now is the time for action!

The ongoing IRS scandal continues to expose the egregious government abuse of power toward groups opposing the liberal ideologue-machine currently occupying the White House.

I'm proud to say that NOM has taken the lead in the effort to hold the government accountable for this horrific escalation in the abuse of power, which is corrupting democracy and undermining the basic human right to participate in public life.

In fact, following the scandal that broke last week, we are the first group in the country to officially announce a lawsuit against the IRS!

Thank you, as always, for standing with us in defense of marriage!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The road to tyranny is paved with incidents like this.

Private Citizen Harassed for Her Political Writings

For Prof. Anne Hendershott, the phone call to her home from the IRS came out of the blue in May 2010:

"The IRS calls my house and says ... 'I just wanted to let you know that we're going to be auditing your business' and I said 'My businesses?' and he said, 'You know the expenses you take off for writing."

Prof. Hendershott is a sociologist and a fierce Catholic critic of what she calls "fake" Catholic, Soros-funded groups supporting pro-abortion Pres. Obama and Obamacare's mandates on Catholic groups.

Prof. Hendershott made very little money publishing a few pieces a year for places ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the Catholic Advocate.

But the IRS demanded she come to New Haven, Connecticut without her husband, met with her, and grilled her about every check she had deposited, demanding to know irrelevant questions like what kind of groups the money came from, etc.

The chilling effect of any abuse of the IRS' power, terrifying to millions of ordinary American taxpayers, is very real. The tactic worked:

"I haven't written for them since the audit, because I was so scared," she said.

This is what tyranny feels like.

NOM's Smoking Gun in IRS-Gate

The National Organization for Marriage has been a prime target of IRS abuse; I began with Prof. Hendershott's story to tell you the enormous consequences to liberty and democracy that will happen if we do not stand up and fight back.

This week we learned we are not alone: what happened to marriage supporters is one part of a larger pattern of abuse of government power to undermine democracy in America.

The latest news: the IRS systematically abuses its power to help one party win an election.

But what the IRS tried to do to you and to every marriage supporter in America through this attack on NOM is a key, and horrific, escalation in the abuse of government power, corrupting democracy and undermining the basic human right to participate in the public square:

In USA Today NOM's Chairman Prof. John Eastman asks the key question: "How did tax returns of a group opposed to gay marriage get leaked to political opponents?

Our case was particularly egregious because the IRS leak of confidential information fed directly into an ongoing political battle. For months before March 2012, the pro-gay marriage HRC had been demanding that my group, NOM, publicly identify its major donors, something that NOM and many other non-profits refuse to do. The reason is simple. In the past, gay marriage advocates have used such information to launch campaigns of intimidation against traditional marriage supporters.

Just as gay marriage proponents were demanding the information, the IRS appears to have illegally given them exactly what they were looking for.

For the IRS to leak any organization's tax return to its political opponents is an outrageous breach of ethics and, if proven, constitutes a felony.. .. But the situation here is even more egregious because the head of the HRC was at the time serving as a national co-chair of President Obama's re-election campaign.

The release of NOM's legally protected tax forms was a conscious act to reward a prominent Obama supporter while punishing an opponent.

When we went to the IRS to complain, we were promised a full investigation. And yet last year the IRS told us the case was "concluded" with no further information given. But then, in response to our latest of three Freedom of Information Act requests, the IRS replied that it could not disclose any information relating to a criminal investigation.
"It's just Orwellian," as Prof. Eastman told The Washington Times.

The story that the IRS leaked confidential info to NOM's political opponents and that Pres. Obama's co-chair then made use of the information, made the top of the Drudge Report, Politico, The Hill, FoxNews, Breitbart.com, and many, many other top news outlets.

Rush Limbaugh also took notice:

I don't quite know how to characterize it. This is Soviet-style banana republic stuff; it's a combo of Soviet-style statism, thuggism, and banana republic. The law doesn't matter — all that matters is advancing the cause and defeating the enemies of the cause, no matter what you have to do. . . . Law says you can't share information, we'll find a way to do it.

Listen to the full Rush segment here.

IRS agents acted like the law doesn't matter. Decency doesn't matter. Diversity doesn't matter. The rights of your fellow citizens, friends, neighbors and family to participate in democracy—even if they disagree with you—doesn't matter. All that matters is getting to your enemies and shutting them down any way.

A piece published this week in the prestigious The Atlantic, coauthored by David Montez of GLAAD (a major gay advocacy organization), openly laid out their goals for America, their vision of America: a place where your views never get heard: "But even today, anti-LGBT activists, who continue to wrongfully state that gay people are unfit to be parents, have a platform in the media to spread their lies. We have a long way to go before groups like the National Organization for Marriage are no longer routinely invited to provide 'balance' on national cable news programs."

(Note how they transform the idea that children ideally need a mom and dad, to the idea that gay people are "unfit" — not what we say of course — but the truth is not relevant to a determined, aggressive campaign designed to silence your opponents and treat them as bigots.)

I want to thank those Democrats in particular, some of whom may even support gay marriage, for standing up for basic decency against the abuse of government power. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, ranking Democrat of the House Oversight Committee, is one such politician who, in talking to the press about the unfolding IRS scandals, called the news "one of the most alarming things that I have ever seen."

"I think laws were probably broken, but at the least there have been some improper actions on the part of the IRS," he said.

At the very least!

How We Fight Back Against Tyranny

Pres. Obama has promised he will get to the bottom of these IRS abuses, but the proof lies in the pudding and at this point we aren't going to sit back and trust, we are going to demand action to protect your right to participate in democracy on an equal basis.

Again, we are not going to take this lying down. WE are not going to lose our democracy—and your rights—without a fight!

First, this week NOM called for Congressional hearings (and launched a brand new online petition where you can join this call.) The IRS not only harassed conservative groups, it went so far as to release confidential and sensitive information to their liberal opponents in a presidential election year.

As I told The Washington Times "Only the unique powers of Congress to subpoena, question and investigate will help us expose the truth about how the pro-gay Human Rights Campaign (HRC) came into possession of a nonpublic tax document that NOM had to file with the IRS."

Second, this week, I announced NOM is filing a lawsuit against the IRS over the illegal theft of NOM's confidential tax return from 2008 and its subsequent leak to the Human Rights Campaign, one of our principal political opponents:

Not only has the IRS retaliated against conservative, small-government and tea party groups as they apply for recognition of tax exemption AND lied about it, but it has criminally released our confidential tax return including the identity of dozens of major donors to a political enemy.

In addition to being our principal combatant in the war on traditional marriage, the HRC's president at the time was serving as a Co-Chair of President Obama's reelection campaign. This is a chilling set of circumstances that should ring alarm bells across the nation.

NOM has retained ActRight Legal Foundation to file the lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia. We encourage any other individuals or nonprofits who experienced similar IRS abuses to contact ActRight Legal Foundation.

"The very core of our ordered society has been shaken by this political roughing-up of nonprofits by the IRS" says NOM's Chairman, Dr. John C. Eastman. "As a constitutional law scholar I can tell you that no nonprofit should ever have to experience this kind of retaliation."

Today the news broke that the IRS demanded in writing, that a prolife group promise not to picket Planned Parenthood, in order to receive tax-exempt status.

This is serious my friends, our democracy is at risk. Unless we stand shoulder-to-shoulder and fight back, the campaign to silence traditional points of view will move on to the next phase—silencing the people who hold these views and pushing them out of the public eye completely, into the shadows.

If you know of a tax exempt organization that has been attacked or harassed by the IRS, please ask them to contact us or ActRight Legal Foundation. Please pray for all those on the front lines fighting for marriage, for democracy, and for what is right.

If you can, consider giving a major gift to NOM as our legal and other expenses mount. $100 each month if you are able; or a one-time gift of $500 or $1,000 if God has blessed you and your family in this great country of ours.

Let me close with two reminders: tomorrow, Friday May 17th at 12PM there will be nationwide rallies to support the Boy Scouts' rights. Find out more from John Stemberger at www.OnMyHonor.net.

Also, if you live near San Diego or can make plans to travel there, please consider attending and supporting the Ruth Institute's first ever Gala and Live Auction on June 2nd—you won't want to miss it!

Thank you again for your courage and your decency. Together we will stand for God's truth about marriage and save our great country.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Of all the scandals plaguing the Obama administration this week, the revelation that the Internal Revenue Service targeted Tea Party and conservative groups for harassment during the last Presidential election is perhaps the most shocking.

But it pales in comparison to what we have been attempting to expose for over a year: that the IRS is also guilty of leaking our confidential tax return to our opponents at the Human Rights Campaign!

Now that the eyes of the nation are fixed on this exploding IRS scandal, this is our opportunity to expose the truth!

That's why I'm asking you to make an immediate gift of $35, $50 or $100 to help us call on Congress to investigate the IRS.

Only the unique powers of Congress to subpoena, question and investigate will help us expose the truth about how HRC's Joe Solmonese, a national co-chair of the campaign to reelect President Obama, came to possess the confidential documents NOM submitted only to the IRS to comply fully with the law.

This is the smoking gun that proves the IRS not only harassed conservative groups, it went so far as to release confidential and sensitive information to their liberal opponents in a Presidential election year! What's very clear is that the IRS still has more to hide and Americans deserve to know the full truth.

Your immediate donation of $50, $100 or $250 will help NOM expose the truth by making sure Congress takes immediate steps to hold those who are guilty accountable!

Already we've had huge success calling attention to this critical story. The front page of the Drudge Report, the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and many more top news outlets are covering our story today.

But I need your help to ensure Congress launches an investigation into what the IRS did to NOM and how it came to be that an Obama campaign co-chair gained possession our private and confidential tax returns.

Please be generous and help us expose the truth with your most generous
contribution today of $100, $200 or even $500 if you have the means.

Thank you — we will never stop fighting to expose the truth and fight for the truth of marriage.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Name-calling is wrong. Don't stereotype and make unfair generalizations. It's bad to single people out for mockery and stigmatization.

These are all values that Hollywood liberals claim to hold.

Unless, that is, you support marriage. Then, apparently, all bets are off.

You're not going to believe what I'm about to tell you, but if you already know of the incredible hypocrisy in Hollywood please make a donation right now to help NOM counteract their hateful and destructive propaganda aimed at defenders of marriage like us.

Thanks to a generous donor, your gift today will be matched dollar-for-dollar, DOUBLING the impact it will have in the fight to defend marriage.

This week a NOM supporter sent me a mock Public Service Announcement video narrated by George Takei (of the original Star Trek television series) and featuring two gay actors, Jesse Tyler Ferguson of ABC's Modern Family and Brad Goreski, who has a new show on Bravo. The video was produced to promote an organization which gives money to gay marriage initiatives.

Here's how Takei's narration begins as he describes an actor, "Dale," who represents a "typical" supporter of traditional marriage:

There is one person living on this street whose orientation threatens to destroy society... What you can't tell about Dale is that he's sick. He opposes marriage equality. Dale looks normal, but he gives off clues of his prejudice with buzzwords like "pro-family", "traditional marriage" or...

I'm not able to finish this quotation because it includes an offensive reference to oral sex.

The video goes on to say that "Dale would let any two idiots marry, unless those two idiots are gay." In the video, Dale is seen shouting at and arguing with his wife, and Takei points out he's been divorced twice. Takei says his current wife is unhappy being married to Dale and shows Dale having a drinking problem.

The video keeps up in this vein for a couple more minutes before concluding:

The most important thing to remember when dealing with people who don't support marriage equality is to be kind. They're most likely hiding their own homosexuality [Editor's Note: Dale pinches a man's butt as this line is delivered] ... besides these people don't know they're being a**holes.

In other words, Dale is a sick, bigoted, ignorant, drunken, hypocritical, fill-in-the-blank.

But you see, the producers of this video want your friends, family and the rest of society to believe that you are Dale.

This video is unbridled hatred and bigotry towards people like you and me who believe in marriage. Some gay marriage activists clearly believe their own propaganda that gay marriage is inevitable, and now they are no longer attempting to hide their loathing and hatred of good people like you and me who simply believe marriage is the unique and special union of husband and wife.

If you are outraged as I am over this video please help counteract its desired effect by taking a stand for marriage by donating $35, $50, $100 or $500 to NOM today to support our efforts to protect marriage and good people like you who believe in marriage.

This video is already making the rounds and has been promoted by the popular website BuzzFeed. And the three actors involved aren't nobodies—one is a well-known actor on an ABC primetime sitcom, the second has his own show on Bravo, and the third appeared in the original Star Trek series.

We can't afford to let this kind of overt prejudice and bigotry against good people who believe in marriage become mainstream!

Please give your most generous gift today to support NOM's essential mission to protect marriage in law and society and to stand up for the dignity and rights of the good people who believe in marriage as it has always been defined.

Thank you and God bless you in this good fight.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

This has been another big week in the fight to defend marriage, so I'll get right to it!

Movement For, and Against, Marriage

In France, young people are gathering regularly to sing and pray for marriage. In Nantes, they gather at the foot of the Cross of Charette, where a famous French hero was executed in 1796.

In Great Britain, David Cameron's push for gay marriage has left his Conservative party in electoral tatters, as local elections this week proved. (From the Iron Lady to the Rubber Man in just two decades!)

Here in the United States, Delaware and Minnesota both redefined marriage, making a mockery in the latter state of the voters who were told there was no need to pass a marriage amendment because there was no threat to marriage.

Hard losses, yes, but the fight goes on—and not just in Illinois and the vast majority of other states that still protect marriage.

Bishop Thomas Tobin of Rhode Island has just published a letter to faithful Rhode Island Catholics, inviting them (and I think all of us) "to a moment of prayer and reflection as we respond to this new challenge of the post-Christian era into which, clearly, we have now entered":

"First, like many others, I am profoundly disappointed that Rhode Island has approved legislation that seeks to legitimize "same-sex marriage." The Catholic Church has fought very hard to oppose this immoral and unnecessary proposition, and we are most grateful to all those who have courageously joined us in this effort. When all is said and done, however, we know that God will be the final judge of our actions."

He asks God's blessing on our brothers and sisters who have same-sex attraction, "that they will enjoy much health, happiness and peace."

But, Bishop Tobin says, "Our respect and pastoral care, however, does not mean that we are free to endorse or ignore immoral or destructive behavior, whenever or however it occurs. Indeed, as St. Paul urges us, we are required to ‘speak the truth in love.'" (Eph 4:15)."

Speak the truth, but speak it in love.

You and I know how hard that can be and yet how necessary. We cannot simply stand bye and do nothing when the government is taking over the very meaning of marriage.

The Government-Sponsored Tyranny of Gay Marriage

British professor John Milbank suggests that in his country this drive for state control over the meaning of marriage and parenthood was the very point:

"There was no demand for "gay marriage" and this has nothing to do with gay rights. Instead, it is a strategic move in the modern state's drive to assume direct control over the reproduction of the population, bypassing our interpersonal encounters. This is not about natural justice, but the desire on the part of biopolitical tyranny to destroy marriage and the family as the most fundamental mediating social institution.

Heterosexual exchange and reproduction has always been the very "grammar" of social relating as such. The abandonment of this grammar would thus imply a society no longer primarily constituted by extended kinship, but rather by state control and merely monetary exchange and reproduction."

A biopolitical tyranny where marriage and parenthood are up for legal grabs. The replacement of the idea of the natural family with a set of legal fictions.

This is not the America I want for my children or yours.

This is certainly a time of great challenge, as Bishop Tobin told his flock, but he also points out an opportunity "to be steadfast and courageous, and to renew our commitment to Christ and His Church. As our Lord Jesus Christ told us, "In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world." (Jn 16:33)

The fight for marriage brings together an amazing coalition of people of diverse faiths, different races, and backgrounds; I cherish working with and for each one of you. We will never quit, because marriage is a fight for something fundamental, a truth that will not change, however much government attempts to make it so.

Also, some exciting news to conclude with: The USCCB has issued a church bulletin insert for Catholic churches across the country which calls the Supreme Court case the Roe v. Wade for marriage, depending on the outcome. You can read and download it here.

Only seven weeks until the Supreme Court decides on your right to vote for marriage. Keep up the good fight!

Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for marriage.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

You and I know that fundamentally, same-sex "marriage" is a lie... because we know that by definition marriage is the union of one man and one woman.

But that definition is coming under attack from all quarters, by people who want to redefine marriage while simultaneously promising that nothing will change.

And that's the biggest lie of all.

Please help NOM expose these pernicious lies and stand up for the truth about marriage by making a generous donation of $35, $50, $100, $500 or even $1,000 today!

Remember, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous supporter!

It is a terrible lie that the push to redefine marriage is simply about couples who just want to love each other, receive civil protections and leave everyone else alone.

More and more evidence is coming to light in recent days exposing this lie.

Last week, none other than the President of the United States exposed this lie with his words, when he said in a press conference that "one of the extraordinary measures of progress that we've seen in this country has been the recognition that the LGBT community deserves full equality, not just partial equality, not just tolerance but a recognition that they're wholly a part of the American family."

Read that again: "not just tolerance, but a recognition…"

What a perfect way to sum up what happens when marriage is redefined.

People of faith and all people who believe marriage is between a man and a woman suddenly find themselves in the cross-hairs of a legal system that now treats their common sense belief as something shameful and contrary to the law of the land.

Business owners are told that they have to change their beliefs or or expose their businesses to fines or closure. Christian social service organizations — many of whom have provided incredibly valuable services to society for decades — are suddenly told they must change their doctrines or close their doors. And parents are told that they don't even have a right to approve or be notified about what the school system is teaching their children!

Supporter, you and I MUST put a stop to this!

Please join NOM's efforts to expose these lies and promote the beautiful truth about God's great design for marriage by making a generous contribution of $35, $50, $100, $500 or even $1,000 right away!

Our generous supporter matching your gift will ensure that your contribution will have TWICE the impact!

It's also a lie that marriage as we know it will be unaffected by redefining its nature and purpose. The fact is that ending marriage as we know it is a stated objective of the people pushing this agenda!

A year ago, journalist and same-sex marriage activist Marsha Gessen openly admitted, that "(F)ighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there — because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie."

NYU professor and expert witness in many legal cases pertaining to same-sex marriage, Professor Judith Stacey, recently asked in a debate "why should there be marriage at all?" She went on to ask, "what should limit it to two, and why should it be monogamous?" And she answers, "nothing, in my view, gives the state that particular interest."

Even The Economist and Slate Magazine are now brazenly advocating for polygamy!

Same-sex marriage isn't about simply letting two individuals live however they choose... it's about fundamentally altering the institution of marriage, the foundation of society, and thereby reshaping society itself.

Supporter, this radical agenda must be exposed. It must be stopped. And I need your help to do it.

Won't you please step up and make a donation today to help NOM educate people all across the country about the importance of marriage and the drastic effects of redefining it?

Dear Marriage Supporter,

On Wednesday, the Delaware Senate executive committee cleared consideration of House Bill 75 to be voted upon on the Senate floor as early as next week.

This bill would redefine marriage in Delaware in a radical way: it would re-create parenting as a genderless institution, and deny kids their fundamental right to both a mom and a dad.

Click here to send an URGENT message to your state senator urging him or her to REJECT House Bill 75 and to say "NO" to redefining marriage in the First State.

Supporter, I need your help if we are going to preserve and uphold marriage in Delaware!

Take action today to tell the Senate to vote against this radical legislation which would spell disaster for people and communities of faith in Delaware, and for the future of all Delaware families!

We need to stop this radical legislation in the Senate because the State Constitution does not give citizens recourse to overrule legislators through a ballot initiative down the line; and Governor Markell has thrown all of his support behind this bill.

I need you to do two things for me right away:

1. Send your state senator a strong, clear message that marriage should NOT be redefined in Delaware.

2. Forward this email to your friends and family all across the First State. For your convenience, you can use the buttons below:

We MUST get the word out far and wide. House Bill 75 will have devastating effects for families, children and people of faith. I'm counting on you to take action right away and to get at least three or four of your family and friends to do the same.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

"Why do you fight so hard?" a gay activist asked me.

They expected us to fold up our tent and go home by now. But instead, thanks to your help, NOM is fighting hard for marriage in difficult territory: Illinois, Delaware, and Minnesota—where one very rich billionaire announced he's putting more money into a coalition to get Republicans to vote for gay marriage.

(Great Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron tried that; remaking the Tories the pro-gay marriage party. He's paying for it by losing local elections, even as I write this, with a new poll showing gay marriage is a big part of the reason.)

They certainly aren't giving up in France. Despite the government's best efforts to tamp down resistance, opposition to gay marriage keeps growing in an amazing grassroots, creative way.

Here's the teaser video for the next big rally in Paris planned in May. Watch it for a lift, so many young people standing up for marriage.

So Why Do We Fight?

As to why we fight these tough blue state battles for marriage, this is a good opportunity for me to answer that question. Why do I fight so hard? Because fighting for the truth about marriage is right. It's real, and it is good.

And because I'm constantly reminded of how grave the loss will be if we permit ourselves to stand down, to meekly acquiesce in the face of this abuse of government power.

Their True Intentions

Two gay marriage advocates, both well-credentialed professional women, came forward to say what you and I know in our hearts: the gay marriage movement is based on lies.

The really Big Lie is that government can change reality: two men are not the same as a husband and wife. No government decree can make it so.

The smaller, endlessly repeated lie is that gay marriage will have no consequences.

Two women who advocate for gay marriage have come forward to at last admit what we know: the gay marriage movement doesn't tell the truth about its own intentions.

I told you about Masha Gessen a few weeks ago, the New York Times blogger Obama appointed to run Radio Liberty in Russia.

It's a no-brainer that (homosexual activists) should have the right to marry, but I also think equally that it's a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist. … (F)ighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there — because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie.

An audio of her speech surfaced recently and I wanted to give you the chance to hear it from the source:

Judith Stacey is also not an outlier. She's a well-known sociologist at NYU, who is much sought-after as an expert witness in same-sex marriage and parenting litigation because she has long argued that children don't need mothers or fathers.

The Heritage Foundation's Ryan Anderson went into the lioness' den, debating Prof. Stacey, and she was very frank about her own views.

Gay marriage is just the beginning for her: there's no reason to think fatherlessness is any big deal, no reason to reserve marriage to only two people, no reason marriage should be monogamous, and no reason it should be a sexual union at all!

Fighting Back In Minnesota

In Minnesota, while the billionaires fund Republican betrayal, many DFLers (as the Democratic party is called in Minnesota) are facing surprisingly powerful objections from their own constituents.

In Brainerd, MN, one such fence-sitter, Rep. John Ward was planning on quietly meeting with 5 or 6 of his constituents who oppose gay marriage. But the venue had to be changed to St. Andrews church when news of the meeting had spread by Facebook and it looked like 65 people wanted to show up. The actual turnout? According to the Brainerd Dispatch, 170 people turned up to make their views known—good, ordinary men and women taking time out from farm and family to stand up for marriage:

"We are moving away from family values," meeting organizer Donna Larson of Merrifield said, noting that about 58 percent of the voters in House District 10A voted yes to change the Minnesota Constitution so it would ban gay marriage. "God has truly blessed me and I stand for one man and one woman (in marriage)."

God bless you Donna, I'm so proud to stand with you and millions of other like you across this great land. This is why we fight. We fight together to make sure what God has created is not redefined by government, without the consent of the people.

If you haven't done so already, you can participate in the fight right now by going to sign our Citizen's Marriage Petition to the Supreme Court. And if you have signed it, please forward it to family and friends to sign.

Stay strong, keep fighting the good fight, and thank you once again for helping us make sure the voices of people like Donna get heard!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

As you know, advocates of same-sex marriage often make false promises to the public in order to achieve a political victory. (The latest is the admission by a prominent gay marriage advocate, Judith Stacey, that the entire movement is a lie.)

This is what they did in Minnesota, telling voters during the recent campaign on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment that the amendment wasn't needed because state law already defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Once they achieved a narrow political victory on the proposed Marriage Amendment, they immediately launched a legislative effort to redefine marriage.

We need your urgent help to defeat this effort.

Right now marriage is hanging by a thread in Minnesota. Legislative committees are bringing forward bills to redefine marriage (HF 1054/SF 952) and a fierce lobbying effort is underway at the state Capitol in St. Paul.

Click here to send a strong and clear message to your leaders in St. Paul that marriage is not of the State's making, and not the State's to un-make!

Back in October of last year, Kathleen Blatz—a former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court—penned an editorial in the Pioneer Press arguing against the Minnesota marriage amendment on the grounds that, "a no vote preserves the status-quo."

Well, if voting "no" on the amendment was about preserving the status quo—defining marriage as one man and one woman—then it is profoundly wrong for the Legislature to pass legislation now to redefine marriage in Minnesota.

Click here to send an urgent message to St. Paul today to preserve the status quo and leave marriage in Minnesota as it is currently defined in law, as the union of one man and one woman.

Please make it clear to legislators that voters in Minnesota did not vote FOR same-sex marriage. They narrowly voted against putting the definition of marriage in the state constitution, in large part because they wanted to leave the status quo in place. We cannot let same-sex marriage advocates get away with hijacking the vote of Minnesotans to redefine our core institution of society.

Stand with me today for the rights of the voters of Minnesota, the rights of children to benefit from the love of both a mom and a dad, and the rights of future generations to experience the same institution of marriage that has fostered society's well-being for countless ages!

Stand for marriage, Minnesota!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Last week, the Rhode Island state legislature voted to redefine marriage. And the Delaware legislature has a similar vote pending in their state Senate.

This isn't good news...and the media loves to trumpet it far and wide.

But I'm writing to you today, not to discourage, but to remind you that we are standing on the verge of a tremendous victory for marriage in America! And how we respond in this moment may shape marriage for decades to come.

In the next eight weeks — and perhaps even sooner — the Supreme Court will issue its rulings in the Prop 8 and DOMA cases... and we are poised to win our greatest victory for marriage ever!

Click here to make an immediate donation to NOM to help us give marriage the defense it both needs and deserves at this critical juncture!

Thanks to a generous benefactor, every dollar you give will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $500,000.

There has never been a better time to give—your gift of $50 will instantly become $100; $100 will become $200; and $500 will become an incredible $1,000 in defense of marriage!

Same-sex marriage activists brought these cases to the Supreme Court for a single purpose: to redefine marriage for the entire country!

Typically, the Supreme Court doesn't quickly revisit fundamental legal issues once they have ruled on them. That is why NOM is doing everything we can to demonstrate—right now, while the Supreme Court is deliberating on these cases—that the American people stand for marriage!

We organized a coalition of over 40 groups and led over ten thousand supporters in a March for Marriage to the Supreme Court. We have issued a Citizen's Marriage Petition to the Supreme Court and are actively engaged in fighting off efforts to redefine marriage in Delaware, Illinois and Minnesota. Already this year, we have helped to successfully derail efforts to redefine marriage in Wyoming and Hawaii.

The Prop 8 legal defense team has done a tremendous job arguing the case, and I am optimistic that the fight to defend marriage will receive an incredible boost when the Supreme Court rules in just a few short weeks.

The truth is that there is nothing inevitable about the future of marriage. It's an issue that is very much up for grabs, and its future will depend on how hard people work to win the battle.

Please click here right away to make your most generous donation—which will be instantly matched dollar-for-dollar—to support all the critical work that the National Organization for Marriage is undertaking to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it.

A victory before the Supreme Court will allow us to engage this issue over the long term by working with churches, young people, ethnic groups and others to show the importance of preserving marriage for society, for future generations and, especially, for children.

Are you prepared for the hard work that lies ahead?

Dear Marriage Supporter,

You must act TODAY to preserve and uphold marriage in Delaware!

Click here to send an urgent message to your State Senator and the members of the Senate Executive Committee urging them to REJECT House Bill 75 and to say "NO" to redefining marriage in the First State.

This week, the Senate Executive Committee is considering House Bill 75 (HB 75), which would impose genderless "marriage" on the citizens of Delaware!

Governor Markell has said that same-sex marriage in Delaware is "inevitable," but you and I know that the people of Delaware are resilient and strong.

The time we have left in which to act is rapidly slipping away. We need to stop this radical legislation in the Senate right now—the State Constitution does not give citizens recourse to overrule legislators through a ballot initiative down the line.

THE TIME TO ACT IS TODAY!

Click here to send a strong and clear message to your leaders in Dover that marriage is not of the State's making, and not the State's to un-make!

Marriage is good for children, good for men and women, and good for society as a whole. And everywhere marriage has been redefined, the consequences for ordinary citizens, and men and women of faith, have been disastrous.

There's every reason to believe that the consequences in Delaware of marriage redefinition would be even worse: the inappropriately named "Civil Marriage Equality and Religious Freedom Act of 2013" (HB 75) does nothing to protect people's conscience and religious freedom.

There are no protections offered to individuals of faith and faith-based business owners from legal repercussions for opting out of assisting in same-sex 'weddings'—to say nothing of the fact that people who believe in marriage between one man and one woman would now be stigmatized in law as backward-thinking and haters, the equivalent of bigots or racists.

We cannot allow this radical legislation to determine the future of marriage in Delaware. We need to preserve and protect marriage for our children's and grandchildren's generations.

Tell the Senate today: marriage deserves to be defended—not redefined!

Thank you for your quick attention to this crucial matter.

PS: Click the buttons below to forward this action item on to your pro-marriage family members and friends, or to post to Facebook and Twitter. EVERYONE needs to take action right away so that the Senate knows without a doubt that the people of the First State stand for marriage!

Please take a few minutes out of your day to contact your Senator, and then find at least two or three friends who can similarly take action! The future of marriage in Delaware is at stake—let's give it the best defense possible!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The news this week is tough. I'm not going to sugar coat it.

In Rhode Island, all five Republican state senators joined the Democrats in the state senate to pass a same-sex marriage bill. It now goes back to the House which had previously passed a gay marriage bill and the governor has promised to sign it.

The Rhode Island bill does not create a new category of marriage for same-sex couples. Rather, it completely redefines marriage for all people in Rhode Island.

Some religious liberty protections were added for churches. But as Scott Spear, a NOM Rhode Island Advisory Board member, told the press, "It won't be long before gay 'marriage' activists start pressing hard their new found rights on the faithful in Rhode Island. In Vermont, Christian innkeepers were sued. It was Christian florists in Washington state. Elsewhere photographers, bakers, event venue operators, notary publics, justices of the peace and town clerks have all been targeted for punishment if they do not agree to go along with gay 'marriage' in violation of their deeply-held beliefs."

Targeting The Children

All true. But the people I'm most concerned about are the children in Rhode Island, who for the first time will be educated by this new law to believe that the rights of adults to marry any person they love trump a child's right to a loving mom and dad.

Sometimes that education will be direct: In Red Hook, New York, parents last week were outraged to find that 13 and 14 year old girls were asked in their public school to pretend to be lesbian couples and ask each other for kisses in a school anti-bullying assembly. When parents objected, their school told them basically to stuff it!

Same-sex marriage is not just an attempt to help ordinary gay people live their private lives as they choose—it is part of a push for an aggressive new public norm that affects us all.

Continuing The State Fights

For the politicians who refused to let the people of Rhode Island vote on marriage, this is not over!

In Delaware, another blue state, a gay marriage bill passed the house, as expected, although by an unexpectedly tight margin. The fight now goes to the senate to hold the line for marriage.

If you have a moment, please click here to use NOM's Advocacy Center to send messages to your elected officials, letting them know that you support marriage:

We intend to make sure that every Rhode Islander knows how their policymakers voted on this critical issue. We will hold the politicians accountable for their votes.

Republicans, especially, will have to answer for abandoning marriage—a core position of the GOP platform. In New York, when the dust cleared, 3 out of the 4 Republican state senators who betrayed their constituents and voted for gay marriage were no longer in office.

And we should also point out that there were some heroic marriage champions who stood up from the Democratic side of the aisle. In particular, I'd like to thank Senator Harold M. Metts, D-Providence/Slater, who testified:

I am puzzled as to why those who seek tolerance and now acceptance are so intolerant of others' religious beliefs and rights.

I was not intimidated over the years by being called a religious bigot, or some of the phone calls I received this week... the last time I checked, this is America and we are all entitled to our opinions.

Many from my community take exception to the attempts of the gay rights activists to hitch their wagon to the civil rights movement as it pertains to African Americans. I can change my sexual preference tonight if I want to, but I can't change my color.

What people do in the privacy of their bedrooms can never compare to what African Americans went through in slavery... Our people were treated like animals, they were exploited... raped. Families were split up... There [were] lynchings. There [were] castrations. And I could go on and on. Again, for many form my community, there is no grounds for the comparison.

International Organization for Marriage

Meanwhile, despite massive ongoing grassroots protests from the French people, the French parliament voted to redefine marriage. As I told the press "Even though the same-sex marriage policy being foisted on an unwilling public is profoundly unwise and anti-family, no citizen should ever express their disapproval through violent means. We condemn in the strongest possible terms violence by anyone on either side of this debate."

NOM will continue to work with our friends in France to defend marriage.

Specifically, NOM is working with the Collectif Famille Mariage (CFM), a charter member of the International Organization for Marriage (IOM). CFM—along with a wide coalition of pro-marriage organizations—is imploring France's Constitutional Council to carefully study and limit the scope of this law, which has been rushed through the Senate and the National Assembly.

In Brussels, Belgium at a panel discussion about free speech, Archbishop Andre Leonard was abruptly assaulted by four protestors who said his "homophobia" was the reason. They squirted him with water bottles shaped like the Virgin Mary, according to the Global Post.

The story notes: "[T]he archbishop himself remained composed and apparently at prayer throughout."

The picture above shows Archbishop Leonard picking up and kissing one of the bottles following the disruption.

So Much For Tolerance

Our friends at FRC released video footage of domestic terrorist Floyd Corkins' FBI interview, where he acknowledges that he used the Southern Poverty Law Center's "anti-gay hate list" to target his intended victims.

SPLC still has the target list up, as I write this, despite its use to target decent, loving, law-abiding Americans who work in mainstream organizations.

Still Not "Inevitable"

Meanwhile in Illinois, gay marriage advocates are still scrambling to find the last few votes to ram a gay marriage bill through that blue state legislature.

Opposition from downstate Illinois Democrats is one reason. But the biggest obstacle? As a NBC Chicago columnist puts it, "The toughest votes? Black lawmakers who are under pressure from the African-American Clergy Coalition to vote no. . . .a black legislator trying to move up to alderman, county board, state senate or Congress would be denied a Sunday appearance at a conservative black church. That's a valuable endorsement in the black community, so that may be enough to make a politician hesitate before pressing 'yes.'"

And in Minnesota, polls are showing the public is rather shocked to find a gay marriage bill being pushed through the state legislature... apparently they believed the ads opponents to the state marriage amendment ran suggesting a constitutional amendment was not necessary!

A Star Tribune poll in February found just 38 percent of Minnesotans support the gay marriage bill. And as our friends at Minnesota for Marriage pointed out, the further one moves away from Minneapolis, the more the support drops.

While 57 percent of people in Hennepin and Ramsey counties support same-sex marriage, only 19 percent of those in what they call "outstate" Minnesota do.

Greater Minnesota is "very, very much opposed to the metro area's attempt to force gay marriage on the rest of the state," Autumn Leva of Minnesotans for Marriage told the press.

I promise you one thing: we here at NOM will never stop fighting for marriage, working with good people of all races, creeds and colors in every state of these wonderful United States.

In the tough times the sunshine patriots run. But you can count on us standing up to the forces seeking to undermine marriage everywhere across this great land! And now as part of a new international movement for marriage!

Together we are making a difference!

One final request for this week: I'd like to ask for your prayers for Pastor Jim Garlow of San Diego's Skyline Church whose beloved wife Carol passed away this week after battling cancer bravely for many years.

In lieu of flowers the family has asked that donations be made to the Carol Garlow Memorial Fund which supports a transitional home to help troubled adults become godly men and women.

Jim is a friend of mine and a hero of mine for standing up for marriage in the great Prop 8 battle. Carol was a great woman, a loving and much loved, wife, mother, Christian prayer warrior, and benefactor to her congregation and community. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

Jim, old friend, my heart goes out to you. May God comfort you and your family in this season of loss.

Thank you for standing for marriage. And thank you for your prayers for me and my family and for all those on the front lines of this great and noble fight for God's first institution.

What He has created, we will not abandon.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We've got work to do.

You and I know the critical role marriage has always played in a prosperous and healthy society... the critical role that a mother and a father in a permanent, exclusive marriage play in the life of their children.

And you and I know that when the definition of marriage is changed, there are countless examples of people being punished for not abandoning their deeply-held beliefs that marriage is and can only be the union of a man and a woman: wedding professionals have been fined; small businesses have been sued; church groups have lost their tax exemptions; and religious-based charities have closed down.

Supporter, marriage needs you right now!

Please make an emergency donation of $35, $50, $100 or even $500 to NOM right away to help us stop this aggressive push being made by same-sex marriage activists!

Remember, we have a generous donor who has agreed to match every donation coming in to NOM up to $500,000 ... but that is only effective if you make a donation today.

Yesterday, legislators in Rhode Island voted a same-sex marriage bill out of committee. We narrowly failed to pass (by a single vote!) legislation allowing the people to decide the marriage issue for Rhode Island. This despite polling that found 78% of Rhode Islanders want the right to vote on the definition of marriage. The full state Senate will now vote on the bill as early as today.

In addition, the state House in Delaware narrowly passed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in their state. That bill will likewise go to the state Senate soon.

I want to assure you: NOM is NOT giving up this fight! And I'm asking you to renew your commitment as well.

Click here to make an urgent donation to NOM right away, and join us in the fight to defend marriage wherever it is threatened!

Our matching gift campaign means your donation will DOUBLE, giving it TWICE the impact in defending marriage!

Your donation to NOM will be put to immediate use. These fights are not over—we will not abandon the fight in Rhode Island, Delaware or anywhere marriage has been redefined.

NOM will rally the grassroots base of marriage supporters throughout the country to stand up and defend marriage. We will hold politicians accountable for their decision to abandon their constituents and impose a radical redefinition of marriage on their citizens.

Many politicians voting to redefine marriage will face primaries and re-election campaigns in the coming months and year... and with your help, NOM will be there to remind them—as we reminded five New York State Senators last November—that flipping on marriage will mean looking for a new job!

Please click here right away to make an emergency contribution to help NOM fight back against the intransigent assault on marriage, family, children and our sacred values!

God bless you for having the courage to stand up for marriage!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

In 2011, before same-sex marriage was legalized in New York, promises were made that the bill would not impact anyone but same-sex couples who simply desired to be 'married.' We knew that was false then... and New York parents are beginning to learn the truth now.

Christian News is reporting that in Red Hook, New York, 13 and 14 year old girls were encouraged to mimic lesbian behavior and to "ask one another for a kiss" at a school "anti-bullying" presentation. Two girls were brought on stage and asked to act like lesbians out on a date. The boys were told to carry a condom with them at all times.

Parents weren't given any notice of this school event. And, confronted by angry parents, "the principal and the district superintendant are defending the workshops, and are advising that they will schedule more."

My friend, this is what's at stake: our right to raise our children with our values, free from indoctrination into alternative "lifestyles" under the guise of "anti-bullying," "tolerance" and "gender identity."

Please click here right away to make a secure, confidential donation of $35, $50, $100, $500 or even $1000 or more to help NOM defend marriage and traditional family values all across the country!

And right now every donation you give will be matched by a generous supporter—so your donation today will have TWICE the impact!

You and I know that same-sex marriage isn't a "live and let live" proposition... it's a direct attack on the values and religious liberties of people with a traditional understanding of marriage.

Politicians never forthrightly tell citizens that their daughters could be encouraged at school to kiss another girl or that their sons should always carry a condom. They don't tell you that second graders can be taught about same-sex "marriage" in class, or that the existence of gay "marriage" would be used by a lesbian sex-ed teacher in Massachusetts to instruct her students in the details of having lesbian sex. And they don't tell you about all the people who are sued or punished for refusing to go along with a gay "marriage" regime and who hold firm for traditional marriage.

It's an agenda pushed by a set of people who truly believe that anyone who stands up for the simple truth that marriage is between a man and a woman because children have a right to both a mother and a father is a bigot and must be treated as such under the law. And as such, the law must be brought to bear to "correct" our hateful thinking and ensure that this "hatred" is not passed along to our children.

And yet, whenever bills to legalize same-sex marriage are proposed, activists and their political allies fall all over themselves to reassure the public that traditional values and religious liberties will be respected and that there will be no consequences for people of faith.

They're doing so again, right now in Rhode Island and Delaware—both of which have same-sex marriage legislation pending—making the same exact promises about values, religious liberty and education that have been broken time and again in other states.

For the sake of our children, we cannot let them get away with this!

Please donate right away to support NOM's efforts to fight against this assault against our religious liberties and our children.

It is critical that we demonstrate the American people's support of marriage as the union of one man and one woman at precisely the time when the Supreme Court is deliberating the most important cases of our generation!

If same-sex "marriage" is passed in Rhode Island and Delaware, people of faith and their children will be in the crosshairs. In addition, it will provide a boost to efforts in other states to redefine marriage and feed the false narrative that marriage redefinition is inevitable.

Supporter, redefining marriage is NOT inevitable. NOM has defeated countless bills seeking to redefine marriage in the past... and with your help, we will continue to do so at this most critically important juncture!

Because wherever marriage has been redefined, people of faith have suffered and children are targeted.

Please click here right away to make a generous donation to support NOM's efforts around the country to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it.

Remember—thanks to a generous supporter, every donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar. But that powerful support can only be activated if you make a donation today!

We MUST stand up and fight to defend marriage. Please join us.

Thank you.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The gay marriage bill introduced last week in the Delaware legislature is being voted on TOMORROW!

Please take action right away! Click here to contact your legislators TODAY and tell them to respect the historic and common sense understanding of marriage as the union of one man and one woman by voting NO on House Bill 75!

The Delaware state Constitution does NOT offer citizens the right to overrule legislators through a voter initiative or constitutional amendment referendum. With nearly 2-1 Democratic majorities in both houses of the legislature and Governor Markell putting intense political pressure on Democratic members, we need your help right away to stop this bill from passing!

Supporter, with your help, we CAN stop same-sex marriage from coming to Delaware!

Please take a few minutes to make your voice heard today.

Your message will be immediately sent to your state Senator and Representative, urging them to stand up and protect marriage and religious liberty.

As you know, we've heard that same-sex marriage bills were "inevitable" and "sure things" before. And—when the citizens who respect and value marriage stand up—we've been able to stop them!

The incredibly misnamed "Civil Marriage Equality and Religious Freedom Act of 2013" is anything but... under this proposed legislation the only religious "protection" offered is to exempt clergy from being forced to perform same-sex weddings. No individual conscience protections are offered for people who don't recognize same-sex "marriages." No protections for business owners from being sued.

As if we need any more reminders why this is such a crucial issue and a critical moment for our State, news from up north gives us the latest terrible example of what happens where marriage is redefined. Christian News reports:

A recent anti-bullying presentation at a middle school in New York that focused on homosexuality and gender identity has angered parents after their daughters have come home to tell them they were forced to ask another girl for a kiss.

[...]

During the workshop for girls, the 13 and 14-year-olds were told to ask one another for a kiss. They were also taught words such as "pansexual" and "genderqueer."

Parents were not given any advance notice about this instruction, nor afforded the opportunity to opt their kids out of it. This is what's at stake: our right to raise our children with our values!

Everywhere that same-sex "marriage" has been made the law of the land, we have immediately seen Christians and other people of faith put in the crosshairs. Don't let that happen in Delaware!

Please take action right away!

Thank you.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

It's happening NOW—Senate Bill 38, which would redefine marriage in Rhode Island, may be voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee today or tomorrow, and swiftly move to a vote before the full chamber!

This vote is by no means a "done deal." It will be close, but there's still a chance of keeping this bill from moving out of committee—that's why it's so important that you act right away!

Here are three ways you can help now:

1. Send an urgent email message to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, your State Senator, and the Senate leadership—letting them know that the citizens of the Ocean State will not stand idly by while marriage is redefined against our will and without our input!

   

2. Take some time to place a personal phone call to these Senators' offices, urging them to VOTE NO ON SENATE BILL 38 both in Committee and on the Senate Floor.

   District	Legislator	Telephone
   22	Sen. Stephen R. Archambault	(401) 276-2599
   18	Sen. William J. Conley, Jr.	(401) 438-1924
   35	Sen. Dawson Tucker Hodgson	(401) 203-3256
   5	Sen. Paul V. Jabour	(401) 751-3300
   26	Sen. Frank S. Lombardi	(401) 270-1379
   31	Sen. Erin P. Lynch	(401) 739-8500
   29	Sen. Michael J. McCaffrey	(401) 739-7576
   6	Sen. Harold M. Metts	(401) 272-0112
   15	Sen. Donna M. Nesselbush	(401) 728-3244
   33	Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis	(401) 397-2720
   38	Sen. Dennis L. Algiere	401-222-2708
   4	Sen. Dominick J. Ruggerio	401-222-3310
   13	Senate President Teresa Pavia-Weed	401-222-6655
   1	Sen. Mary-Ellen Goodwin	401-272-3102

3. Make plans to be at the Statehouse in Providence tomorrow—Tuesday, April 23—at 3:00PM, when the Senate Judiciary Committee meets to consider this issue again. Show them by your presence that Rhode Island stands for marriage!

We must act now to let our legislators know that marriage is not of the State's making and not theirs to unmake by radical redefinition!

As if we need any more reminders why this is such a crucial issue and a critical moment for our State, news from across the sound today gives us the latest terrible example of what happens where marriage is redefined. Christian News reports:

A recent anti-bullying presentation at a middle school in New York that focused on homosexuality and gender identity has angered parents after their daughters have come home to tell them they were forced to ask another girl for a kiss.

[...]

During the workshop for girls, the 13 and 14-year-olds were told to ask one another for a kiss. They were also taught words such as "pansexual" and "genderqueer."

Parents were not given any advance notice about this instruction, nor afforded the opportunity to opt their kids out of it. This is what's at stake: our right to raise our children with our values!

Thank you for your urgent help in this crucial, make-or-break hour!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Just about 75 days until the Supreme Court rules on the fate of marriage for a generation. Now is the time for you to act!

If you've signed the petition to the Supreme Court, thank you.

Can you ask 3 friends today to sign the petition as well?

If you haven't yet signed—go right now, and make your voice heard!

More "Inevitable" State Battles...

Deep in blue states, gay marriage advocates are pushing hard to get another victory, to feed their narrative of "inevitability" in the weeks before the Supreme Court decides the fate of marriage for a generation.

Right now the battle for marriage is engaged in Rhode Island, Illinois, and Delaware. Gay marriage advocates expected these battles in deep blue states to be slam-dunks.

But thanks to the generous donations of thousands of Americans who give to NOM's general treasury and trust us to be at the forefront of the most important fights for marriage—the good people in these states are not fighting alone.

The "slam dunk" in Illinois, which was supposed to showcase turncoat Republicans' embrace of gay marriage, is turning into a big problem, as black pastors in Chicago have made it clear they expect their elected representatives to represent them, not the DNC or George Soros, or the mainstream media.

In Rhode Island, what ought to be another "slam dunk" is turning into a real dog fight. NOM's Chris Plante is helping lead the fight.

We expect more battles to emerge across the country, especially after the Supreme Court ruling re-ignites the fight!

New Matching Gift Campaign

And thankfully an amazingly generous donor has stepped forward to help you make a difference for marriage:

Between now and the Supreme Court ruling, this donor has agreed to match every donation—dollar-for-dollar!—that you or a friend make for marriage.

That's right—your gift of $33 becomes $66 in the fight for marriage;

A gift of $100 will become $200; $500 becomes $1,000;

And, if God has blessed you with the means, $5,000 becomes $10,000!

And all of it, every precious penny you worked so hard to earn and save, will be carefully stewarded, gratefully treasured and put to the best possible use in fighting for marriage.

Time, treasure, talent, that's what the Lord asks of all of us. If you cannot be with the good people fighting for marriage, on the steps of the Supreme Court and beyond, you can help NOM amplify their voices, to make your own voice for marriage heard in the halls of power across this great and blessed country of ours!

The Intolerance of the "Tolerant"

Let me share with you the story of what people on the front lines face at this point. And what great people are at the forefront of that fight.

My friend Peter Wolfgang of the amazing Connecticut Family Institute received death threats for opposing homosexual marriage. This week the man who sent those threats was sentenced to five year probation by a federal judge.

Assistant Federal Defender Gary D. Weinberger said he "was touched" by the letter sent to the judge by Lawrence Taffner, who is operations director for the Connecticut Family Institute which spoke of the need to temper justice with mercy and prayers.

My friend, the one whose life and family was threatened, said he agreed with "every word."

"I do forgive [the man who made the death threats]" Peter said. But he also asked us all to be aware of a "a growing campaign of intimidation with respect to those of us who advocate traditional values, in an effort to silence us. And we will not be silenced."

Wolfgang said he learned of [the man's] intention to plead guilty to mailing the threats on the same day last August that Floyd Lee Corkins II was charged in the non-fatal shooting of a security guard at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.

(If you'd like to donate to the Connecticut Family Institute you can do so by clicking here.)

Peter is right this is not an isolated case. Most gay people, I like to remind myself and you, are law-abiding people, our neighbors and fellow citizens whom we can respect even while we profoundly disagree with them on marriage. But what may be an organized minority are issuing increasingly ugly complaints and threats against their fellow citizens who stand up for marriage. Their goal? To silence dissent.

Just a few days ago we received a letter from a 17 year old, who posted a petition supporting marriage on Facebook. What happened next has been the experience of too many good people:

I got a slew of nasty and threatening comments. I was called many things and one even implied that I believed in slavery since I did not support gay marriage. But the one that took the cake was when one of them said that 'I hope a gay guy rapes you so you understand that they can't do anything to you, except rape you. There is nothing wrong with gay marriage, it doesn't hurt anyone but butt hurt civil war jerk offs.' I simple wanted to tell my story in hopes that others learn that they are not alone in this.

What kind of advocate hopes a 17 year boy is raped?

We cannot let the ugly threats of a tiny minority prevent us from standing up for what is true and good and right about marriage.

What's Coming Next?

What's next if we don't stand?

This week the polygamists and the polyamorists came out of the closet to stake their claim to undefining marriage.

The Economist bold headline said it all "Gay Marriage: And Now On to Polygamy!"

The writer finally admitted what so many gay marriage advocates deny and suppress—changing the definition of marriage is a big deal:

Obviously the legalization of same-sex marriage represents a major change in the institution and in the meaning of the word, much as the meaning of phrases like 'all men are created equal' changed significantly when they began to be understood to include, say, women. For people who have a strongly gendered understanding of their own marriage, this is a paradigm shift. The government is now saying it understands marriage as a long-term legal commitment between two people who are assumed to have a sexually attached relationship to each other. Gender is irrelevant; marriage is simply a paired relationship. It's a big deal when social institutions change this way, and if conservative heterosexuals feel their marriages are affected, they're right, even when the way they phrase their complaints is wrong.

"But 'why only two?' isn't a ridiculous question," The Economist acknowledges. "Why shouldn't it be legal for more than two consenting adults to marry each other?" they ask, describing an unwillingness to consider recognizing polygamy as mere "cultural prejudice."

(As one young supporter of marriage asked me "Is it still a slippery slope if your opponents start calling for it?")

That same week, Slate weighed in with an essay headlined "Legalize Polygamy!" She actually writes, "marriage is plastic."

Marriage is plastic, in their view. Marriage is just a word for government politicians to take over and define and redefine and undefine in response to aggressive claims of folks who don't want to marry, and they want the government's help in forcing all of us to view their relationships as marriage.

Just like heterosexual marriage is no better or worse than homosexual marriage, marriage between two consenting adults is not inherently more or less 'correct' than marriage among three (or four, or six) consenting adults. Though polygamists are a minority—a tiny minority, in fact—freedom has no value unless it extends to even the smallest and most marginalized groups among us. So let's fight for marriage equality until it extends to every same-sex couple in the United States—and then let's keep fighting. We're not done yet.

The Illinois Family Institute published a transcript from a radio interview with lesbian journalist Masha Gessen:

It's a no-brainer that (homosexual activists) should have the right to marry, but I also think equally that it's a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist. ... [F]ighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there — because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change, and that is a lie.

Two gay marriage advocates in one week admitting gay marriage will change marriage—wow the truth will come out, won't it?

She goes on to say:

I don't like taking part in creating fictions about my life. That's sort of not what I had in mind when I came out thirty years ago. I have three kids who have five parents, more or less, and I don't see why they shouldn't have five parents legally... I met my new partner, and she had just had a baby, and that baby's biological father is my brother, and my daughter's biological father is a man who lives in Russia, and my adopted son also considers him his father. So the five parents break down into two groups of three... And really, I would like to live in a legal system that is capable of reflecting that reality, and I don't think that's compatible with the institution of marriage.

You may not have heard of Ms. Gessen, but she is not some outlier. She was appointed by the Obama administration in 2012 to head up Radio Liberty's Russian service and she blogs at the New York Times Latitude blog.

The Economist admits gay marriage fundamentally changes marriage. A New York Times blogger says she's tired of lying about what gay marriage means for marriage; what the future she is trying to build holds.

Superlawyers Stumped

Truth is breaking out all over!

Ed Whelan points out that the renewed interest in the consequences of "marriage equality" for polygamous marriage was actually spurred in part by the oral arguments before the Supreme Court.

When Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Ted Olson:

Mr. Olson, the bottom line that you're being asked — and — and it is one that I'm interested in the answer: If you say that marriage is a fundamental right, what State restrictions could ever exist? Meaning, what State restrictions with respect to the number of people, with respect to — that could get married — the incest laws, the mother and child, assuming that they are the age — I can — I can accept that the State has probably an overbearing interest on — on protecting a child until they're of age to marry, but what's left?

Alleged superlawyer Olson's response is lame to say the least: "If a State prohibits polygamy, it's prohibiting conduct. If it prohibits gay and lesbian citizens from getting married, it is prohibiting their exercise of a right based upon their status." Marrying one man is status, marrying two women is conduct.

What's left?

Youth On The March For Marriage

Enjoy this photo of one of our youngest next gen leaders in Minnesota, protesting the gay marriage bill which as the Minnesota Family Council points out "quite literally would remove the terms 'husband,' 'wife,' 'bride,' and 'groom' from our state's policies, and also redefine 'mother' and 'father' as gender-neutral terms."

Talk about speaking truth to power!

Part of the good news I see emerging is a new generation of young leaders for marriage.

Here in America the Baptist Press reports on the brave young Americans who refuse to be silenced. "They exist: Millennials opposed to gay marriage" as the headline says, and the Baptist Press story notes that it was NOM's March for Marriage that brought a number of these young leaders out of the closet.

"Called to speak at the March 26 marriage rally in Washington, D.C., Alison Howard ran to the stage's microphone in an adrenaline-fueled burst. The 24-year-old graduate of Liberty University said she wanted to 'talk to the grown-ups" supporting traditional marriage at the event on the National Mall.

"Do not give up on us young people," said the communications director for Concerned Women for America. "The media will tell you that I don't exist. Well, I'll be the unicorn. I do exist, and I believe in the marriage between a man and a woman."

It would be easy to dismiss Howard's plea as a voice crying in the wilderness. A recent Pew survey found that 70 percent of those in the millennial generation (ages 18 to 33) favor same-sex marriage. But the same poll shows that 65 percent of young evangelicals oppose same-sex marriage. And a number of them, like Howard, are willing to face scorn by taking very public stands against the redefinition of society's most basic institution.

Many of them did not grow up expecting to stand on the front lines of the marriage debate. "Everyone I know who is working on this issue would rather be doing something else," said Ryan Anderson, 31, who co-authored the book What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense. "But we feel like we have an obligation to be doing this."

The Baptist Press reported on several other next gen leaders who Marched for Marriage with us.

Hours before Anderson's televised showdown, Owen Strachan had positioned himself for his own marriage clash. The 31-year-old father of two had flown into Washington the day before the rally from Louisville, KY, where he is a professor of Christian theology and church history at Boyce College. He maneuvered his way to the second row of marchers headed past the U.S. Capitol toward the Supreme Court. Hispanics, Asians and African Americans strode alongside him.

'This reflects the diversity of the body of Christ,' he thought.

When they turned onto the street that runs past the court, they ran into a blockade of gay marriage supporters trying to halt the march. The counter-protestors refused to move. A man in fishnet stockings, devil horns, and a rainbow-colored tutu danced and taunted the marchers. In the midst of the chaos, Strachan and the others offered a unified response: They knelt where they stood and prayed aloud.

Some truths will not be suppressed! Some truths are too important to let die. And in the end I believe—I know—truth spoken in love will prevail.

Expect The Unexpected

A tiny sign of the times took place lack week at Princeton University, where a friend of NOM wrote to tell us that the distinguished debating society Whig-Clio sponsored a student debate on gay marriage. The vote at Princeton on marriage? 43 in favor—41 against. Among America's best and brightest, new concerns for what gay marriage will mean for marriage—for them, their children and their children's children, are brewing.

One thing I know from my 6 years at the forefront of this fight, thanks to your help and support for the National Organization for Marriage:

Expect the unexpected!

More Young People "Causing Problems"

In France spontaneous peaceful demonstrations by young people protesting their government's determination to ignore the voice of the people is causing headaches across the country:

"Since last Friday, public demonstrations against same-sex "marriage" and adoption in France have been escalating, not only in Paris but also in remote provincial towns and even abroad among French expatriates," reports Lifesite News. "The Senate's approval of the gay marriage bill (known as the 'loi Taubira,' after the Justice Minister that proposed the text to the legislature) has sparked off a wave of anger, and groups of determined young people all over the country have decided to make their presence felt."

For the government, this is becoming a major headache:

There is no centralized organization behind the rallies to look to for information about the next action, no unified group to follow, no 'youths' who are 'well known by the police,' as is the case when ethnic riots burst out in Paris. The demonstrators are law-abiding citizens who have no wish to steal, vandalize or hurt the law enforcement officers. They are massively answering calls to join spur-of-the-moment demonstrations via their cell phones and social media. They are in the streets to stop a law that they believe would badly hurt the common good, and they are prepared to give their time, efforts and even a few hours in custody to put a stop to the redefinition of marriage.

(If you want to follow these underreported events in France you can see photos and videos by "Salon Beige" a newsblog here.)

These young people are making sure government officials' support for gay marriage is not forgotten.

Each time a member of government visits a provincial town dozens of young and less young people bearing flags of the 'Manif pour tous' are on the spot to greet the official party; several visits have been cancelled. The Interior minister Manuel Valls' visit to a concert on Sunday evening in Paris was protected by 30 police vans and several people who joined the protests were arrested. Passers-by who had no idea of what was going on were also arrested in the melee. A growing number of police and 'gendarmes' are voicing their irritation about orders coming from the government to repress the movement with exceptional severity.

Violence did break out but not from the pro-marriage protestors.

In the small hours of Saturday, a leading member of the 'Manif pour tous,' Samuel Lafont, was knifed several times in the center of Paris after pro-gay 'marriage' activists had called for violence against him on Twitter. While his alleged aggressors are apparently not linked to the pro-gay movement in any way – they are Brazilians who were arrested on Sunday afternoon – outrageous remarks from the pro-gay 'marriage' lobby hoping he would die triggered a new series of demonstrations in the center of Paris on Sunday.

Courage, gaiety, light-heartedness and youth: these are the marks of a gallant French resistance that is vexing the powers that be, baffling the police and surprising the world. Something has changed deeply in France since nearly 40 years ago when the legalization of abortion was met with much less opposition and amidst near silence from the Catholic Church. Now many bishops are speaking out — and the communications revolution has given new power to ordinary citizens.

Change is coming, something new is stirring. The truth will win out.

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart for all or your support, your prayers, your notes of encouragement, your willingness to take action (like signing the petition) through the years.

You are such a blessing to me, to NOM, to this great country of ours.

It is an honor to serve with you in this great and noble fight for marriage.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Delaware is one of same-sex marriage activists' top targets in 2013 — and it's up to us to stop them.

Why?

Like many of the states along the northern Atlantic seaboard, the Delaware Constitution does not give citizens the right to overrule legislators through a voter initiative or constitutional amendment referendum.

Couple that with a sympathetic governor and nearly 2-1 Democratic majorities in both houses of the legislature, and gay marriage activists have already placed Delaware in the crosshairs for 2013.

Governor Markell even went so far as to claim that same-sex marriage is "inevitable" in Delaware.

But he's forgetting one thing . . .

The people of Delaware have a powerful voice.

If we all stand together, legislators will have no choice but to listen. But it's going to take every one of us . . . sending letters, making phone calls, contacting friends and family.

This is a critical fight, and our opponents are already off and running. A bill to redefine marriage in Delaware was introduced just last week and has already been fast-tracked through a House committee hearing and vote.

So much for civil unions being a compromise.

Just two years ago, gay marriage advocates pushed through a civil unions bill, claiming it would be a compromise that respected the definition of marriage and the rights of religious believers, while at the same time guaranteeing protections for same-sex couples.

And once again, civil unions are being exposed as nothing more than a Trojan Horse.

Please click here to send a letter to your state senator and representative today.

Then use the social networking buttons below to forward this email to at least 5 friends or share it through Facebook and Twitter.

The need is urgent and time is short. I'm counting on you to join me in taking action right now.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

I've written to you recently to share the incredible successes of our March for Marriage.

And today I'm asking you to make a financial investment to defend marriage with your most generous contribution of $35, $50, $100, or even $1,000 or more to help NOM build upon the momentum of the March for Marriage.

Please remember that every dollar you contribute right now will be matched dollar-for-dollar by one of our most generous supporters! So your contribution will have DOUBLE the impact in defending marriage!

The United States Supreme Court is deliberating two historic cases relating to marriage. It's no exaggeration to say that the Supreme Court's decision in the next few months will alter the future course of our society... for better, or for worse.

And although I could not be more confident in the superb work being done by the legal team defending marriage in both the Prop 8 and DOMA cases, I also understand the critical role that ordinary citizens like you and me play in helping defend marriage at this crucial juncture.

One of the greatest threats to marriage today is the silence of its supporters!

The Justices of the Supreme Court (as well as politicians at all levels) MUST understand that the vast majority of the American people believe in marriage and want their voices (and their votes!) respected.

And that's why NOM is launching a Citizen's Marriage Petition to the Supreme Court... gathering thousands of signatures from citizens all across the country to clearly and visibly demonstrate the powerful support for one-man, one-woman marriage.

We need to spread our message — explaining what marriage is and why it's essential to a healthy society — not only to those who agree with us... but also to those who are perhaps wavering in their support because they don't truly understand what's at stake.

Supporter, you support our cause and have defended marriage in your state and at the national level. But today, I'm asking you to take the next step: please financially invest in the fight to defend marriage and the future of our society right away!

The success and momentum generated by our March for Marriage inspired a heroic marriage supporter to pledge to match every donation, dollar-for-dollar, up to $500,000 to help NOM continue providing marriage with the best defense possible.

With this incredible opportunity and your help today, NOM will march on in defense of marriage... and we will be able to reestablish a marriage culture in our country... where children will have the best possible chance of being raised in a stable, loving environment by their own father and mother!

Thank you for all you do to assist NOM and to defend marriage!

Dear Marriage Supporter ,

I wanted to write today to thank you for everything you have done to make this fight to save marriage possible!

And I wanted to ask you to once again renew your support of NOM by making a donation of $35, $50, $100, $500 or more to help us continue launching major initiatives that will provide marriage with the best defense possible!

I ask because we have another incredible opportunity before us to capitalize on the momentum generated by the March—a generous supporter has pledged to match every donation made to NOM in the coming weeks dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000!

The momentum and publicity we generated from the March for Marriage has been extraordinary. You can see one of the first instances of the Media coverage by watching my interview on Meet the Press (click here).

But although they couldn't completely avoid covering the issue, most of the mainstream media did everything in their power to avoid mentioning the March for Marriage. BUT they could not avoid showing pictures of our marchers in their coverage... there were just too many of us!

As you know, over 10,000 people gathered on the mall in front of the Washington Monument. Well over 60 buses drove in from as far away as Chicago, with 2,000 people busing in from NYC representing the Latino and African American communities of the Bronx and metro NY. One family came in all the way from Utah! It was truly a sight to see thousands chanting "One Man, One Woman" and then "Un Hombre, Un Mujer".

We marched up Constitution Ave to the Supreme Court, sending a clear signal to the Supreme Court Justices that the American people believe marriage is between one man and one woman, and every child deserves a mom and a dad.

We mobilized more than 40 co-sponsor organizations, who stood shoulder to shoulder with us, defending marriage. And we gathered many inspiring speakers, who reminded the Court, the country and the media that America stands for marriage!

An especially moving moment for marchers was watching a video of 11 year old Grace Evans testifying in front of the MN state legislature asking... "Which Parent Do I Not Need?" But every speaker was impressive, and you can now see them all online.

Supporter, the March for Marriage was a home run in every sense!

Everyone left energized and committed to stand-up and defend marriage no matter what.

Please consider making your most generous contribution today to help NOM continue launching game-changing initiatives like our historic March for Marriage!

Now is the time—an incredible opportunity to capitalize on the incredible momentum of the March. With our generous supporter's matching gift, every dollar you contribute will be DOUBLED! And you and I will continue to be able to give marriage the defense it both needs and deserves.

Thank you again for standing up for marriage and for supporting NOM's work in defending this critical cause.

You and every defender of marriage are in my prayers—always.

God bless you!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

You and I have been through thick and thin in this fight for marriage. We know how important truth is to this fight, and how so many of our opponents recoil from the very idea of truth.

There is no better example than the news this week that Washington's Attorney General Bob Ferguson is using taxpayer funding to bring a lawsuit against a small Washington state florist named Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers and Gifts. Stutzman's crime? Refusing to sell flowers for a gay wedding.

For this 'thought crime' against gay marriage, her whole livelihood is now put at the stake.

It was only a few months ago, before the November elections, when gay marriage advocates were sanctimoniously getting on television and reassuring voters that our claims of the religious persecution that comes hand in hand with redefining marriage were unfounded. Made up. Untrue.

They knew at the time they were not telling the truth. Because now, just a few months later, the ACLU and a State Attorney General are the ones at the forefront of making sure that Christians who disagree with gay marriage pay a price for acting on their convictions.

Failure to tell the truth—call it a lie—arises from the fundamental lie: same-sex unions are not marriages because they cannot ever, under any circumstances, do the fundamental, key, and irreplaceable work that marriages do: bringing together under one home, in one family, the two great halves of humanity, male and female—to create homes in which children are known and loved by their own mother and father.

Not every marriage succeeds in creating the full range of goods that marriage aims at. But when marriages succeed in doing so, it's because they combine elements and circumstances that no same-sex couple can.

Suppressing the truth is what same-sex marriage advocates have to do to "win" the debate (temporarily, anyway).

How Truth is Suppressed

That's why, when a distinguished social scientist does an ordinary act like publishing his research in a major peer-reviewed journal—all pandemonium must break loose to discredit him. Not just disagree with him. Not just contextualize or re-contextualize his data—that would be normal scientific debate. But to smear him as a non-scientist and to ignore his work.

That's the crucible University of Texas Prof. Mark Regnerus has been going through and still is going through.

C-FAM's Austin Ruse recently pointed this out in his piece on Regnerus: "Science Study Still Spooking Gay Advocates."

Ruse points to Dr. Susan Yoshihara, research director of C-FAM, who used the Regnerus study before the legislature in Rhode Island. So-called "fact-checkers" claimed her testimony was false:

Politifact, a self-styled watchdog of political truth, branded Yoshihara's claim as false. Yoshihara, however, says the Politifact piece itself backed up her claim when they quoted a "prudent scholar" who said the issue is not settled in the scientific literature, which was Yoshihara's claim in the first place.

Ruse also cites the recent claim by former New York Times executive editor Bill Keller, who said that "The study was pretty well demolished by peers."

But for me the worst was a claim in the LA Times that the Supreme Court was just silly to entertain the idea children do best with a mom and dad. Justice Scalia had made the assertion that "there's considerable disagreement" about whether "raising a child in a single-sex family is harmful or not," an assertion no doubt based in part on Regnerus's research.

"Those comments startled child development experts as well as advocates of gay marriage, because there is considerable research showing children of gay parents do not have more problems than others," the LA Times went on to report with a straight face…. '"There is a fundamental, scholarly consensus that children raised by same-sex couples do just fine,' said Stanford sociologist Michael J. Rosenfeld."

Yet I know of—and I'm no sociologist—at least 5 studies published in peer-reviewed journals whose results contest the "no difference claim": Mark Regnerus (2012), Loren Marks (2102), Douglas Allen (2012), Daniel Potter (2012), and Theresa Sirota (2009).

Listen, social science is not a "hard science," and I don't need to know from merely scientific evidence what I know in my heart from my own experience and the experience of so many children raised in fragmented families: children long for and need their mother and their father. But simply as a statement about the scientific literature, the claim there is now a "consensus" is untrue. The claim can be made only by ignoring the reputable scientists whose works disagree with that claim.

Truth matters to us, but it's not clear it matters to gay marriage advocates.

If you doubt me, listen to the voice of the extraordinary British writer Brendan O'Neill—a one-time Marxist, a man of the Left, who has spoken out repeatedly against the use of elite power to shut down the debate over same-sex marriage across the pond:

I have been doing or writing about political stuff for 20 years, since I was 18 years old, during which time I have got behind some pretty unpopular campaigns and kicked against some stifling consensuses. But I have never encountered an issue like gay marriage, an issue in which the space for dissent has shrunk so rapidly, and in which the consensus is not only stifling but choking. This is the only issue for which he has been not only booed but threatened with death.

"Is it a good thing, evidence that we had a heated debate on a new civil right and the civil rights side won?" O'Neill asks. And then he answers his own question:

I don't think so. I don't think we can even call this a 'consensus', since that would imply the voluntaristic coming together of different elements in concord. It's better described as conformism, the slow but sure sacrifice of critical thinking and dissenting opinion under pressure to accept that which has been defined as a good by the upper echelons of society: gay marriage. Indeed, the gay-marriage campaign provides a case study in conformism, a searing insight into how soft authoritarianism and peer pressure are applied in the modern age to sideline and eventually do away with any view considered overly judgmental, outdated, discriminatory, 'phobic', or otherwise beyond the pale.

"Gay marriage," he writes, "brilliantly shows how political narratives are forged these days, and how people are made to accept them."

Narrative is the relevant word here. Not hard truths uncovered, but stories created to whose allegiance people are held by threats, by bribes, and by conformist pressures.

The editor of First Things, Rusty Reno, has a similar set of concerns for what all this means for our democratic society. "If government can reshape marriage, it can reshape everything," his article explains:

Tyranny isn't just a situation in which the government is telling you what to do at every moment. It's also a society in which government says that, if necessary, it can. In this respect gay marriage reflects a dramatic enlargement of government. If legislatures and courts can redefine marriage, what can't it intervene to reshape and re-purpose?

The tyranny of the conformists, backed by government's coercive power, were on display in Washington State when the ACLU decided independently to sue the same florist the Attorney General is pursuing.

But first they sent this poor woman a letter:

Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed's lawyers, working with the legal powerhouse at the ACLU of Washington, sent a letter today to Arlene's Flowers owner Baronelle Stutzman saying she has two options: (1) She can vow to never again discriminate in her services for gay people, write an apology letter to be published in the Tri-City Herald, and contribute $5,000 to a local LGBT youth center, or (2) she can get sued for violating the Washington State Civil Rights Act.

Conform to our falsehood. Pretend you believe things you do not. Or face the consequences.
George Orwell, call your office.

But here's the good news in all this: It's going to get bad, we already know this. But in the end truth has a power that no narrative, no story can compete with.

Our job is to remain firmly fixed on the truth about marriage, to speak up for it with love in in our heart, and with the courage to never bow before the false gods, the untruths, the made-up stories offered to us in place of reality.

I am so honored to be fighting shoulder to shoulder with you for God's truth about marriage.
Thank you for making this enormous megaphone possible.

I treasure your friendship, your prayers, your words of encouragements, your sacrifices of time and treasure on behalf of this great cause.

Bless you!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Third grade classrooms having pretend same-sex weddings… textbooks featuring pictures of cross-dressing carpenters… children being taught that there are "six genders."

"If same-sex marriage is passed in your state, your children—your grandchildren—will be exposed to the same kind of instruction."

That's what educator and marriage supporter Phil Lees says in our latest Marriage ADA interview.

He worked for years in the public education system in Ontario, Canada, and saw first-hand—only one year after same-sex marriage was legalized in 2005—18 school boards in Ontario instituting school curricula that affirmed and promoted LGBT "values," including same-sex marriage.

Click here to watch Phil's incredible first-hand report of what he witnessed as a public school educator in Canada.

Phil's story needs to be spread far and wide. In every place where NOM has fought the legalization of same-sex marriage here in the United States, our opponents have falsely promised that it will not affect the innocence of children.

But in every place marriage has been redefined, we have seen a powerful movement begin to use the schools to teach children about same-sex unions, intentionally confusing them about the unique and complimentary role of mothers and fathers.

Supporter, as this educator points out, one of the problems is that people of faith sometimes withdraw from the system and cede control to activists bent on promoting values that we know to be harmful to children and to society.

We cannot let this happen to our kids in America!

Together, we can create a better future for our kids.

You and I know that when people of faith stand up and fight to protect marriage, becoming more actively involved in the education of our children, we can fight back against the threats posed by those who would promote same-sex marriage and other harmful "values" in our schools.

Please watch this new video right away and then forward this email to family and friends to help us reach as many people as possible with this urgent and critically important message.

PS: If you haven't done so yet, please take a moment to join the thousands of Americans who have signed the Marriage Petition to the Justices of the Supreme Court: www.MarriagePledge.com. And share it with your friends!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Yesterday I asked if you had given up… and today, I want to share with you the inspiring story of a young couple I met that is most definitely not giving up the fight to protect marriage!

Let me introduce Melissa, David, Emily and Ella Hunsaker.

They baked and sold 289 loaves of bread (!) to fund their travel all the way from Utah to participate in NOM's March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. along with their two young girls.

Why did they put in so much work to travel across the country?

As David told the BYU student newspaper, the Student Review:

"It is the future of America. I want my children to grow up in a society that values and understands that men and women have unique things to bring to the table. Children deserve both a father and mother. It's about what the children deserve."

I couldn't put it better myself, David! Thank you so much for you and your family's beautiful witness on behalf of marriage!

Part of the reason we organize the March for Marriage was to share OUR stories, stories of sacrifice, love and courage, even in the face of our aggressive and well-organized opposition that constantly attempts to malign us and impugn our motives.

We Americans who believe marriage is about bringing together men and women for the sake of the children are not a minority. We are not motivated by hatred. We are motivate by LOVE —that's why our tools are not angry signs, they are loaves of bread!

Won't you please make a generous donation today of $35, $50, $100, $500 or more to support NOM's efforts to defend the rights and religious freedoms of ordinary Americans like the Hunsakers to stand up and profess their common sense, political, historical and religious views on marriage?

Remember—thanks to a generous supporter, we have secured a NEW $500,000 matching gift! So every dollar you donate will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000!

David recently wrote on his blog:

The March for Marriage was a huge success. Mostly we felt privileged to meet so many wonderful people defending marriage from all over the country and to make our voices heard. It may not have been well represented in the media, but we saw first-hand the thousands of people who still actively support traditional marriage and the way it impacts children and society.

Please stand with me, the Hunsakers and the thousands and millions of everyday Americans who support marriage by making a generous contribution to NOM today.

Special Thanks to Melissa, David, Emily and Ella... God bless you all! History is on your side!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Have you given up fighting the most urgent battle facing our great nation—the fight to protect and preserve the institution of marriage?

Of course you haven't… and neither have I!

Click here to re-engage in the fight to defend marriage and help NOM continue the momentum generated by our recent, historic March for Marriage!

I am incredibly happy and proud to announce that the March was so successful and made such a tremendous impact that an incredibly generous donor has initiated a NEW $500,000 matching gift campaign!

That's right—between now and the day the Supreme Court issues its decision in the Prop 8 and DOMA cases, every dollar you contribute to NOM will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000!

Despite what the media, cultural elites and a small, well-funded band of radical same-sex marriage activists would have you believe, same-sex marriage is NOT inevitable!

After last November's elections, many supporters of marriage were understandably dispirited. That was one of the reasons NOM decided to organize this March.

On March 26th—the day the Court was hearing oral arguments in California's Proposition 8 case—we gathered thousands of marriage supporters from every race, creed and walk of life to provide the most powerful visual demonstration to date of America's support for marriage.

And we're not done yet! In fact… we haven't even gotten started!

In the days and weeks to come, NOM will be again leading the way by rallying supporters of traditional marriage just like you to sign our Citizen's Petition to the Supreme Court, forming a "Virtual March for Marriage" as the Supreme Court considers the legal arguments of the Proposition 8 and Defense of Marriage Act cases.

Will you please send in a donation right away to help NOM continue and build upon the momentum of our March for Marriage while the Supreme Court is deliberating on the two most important cases of our generation?

Thank you!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Here are the faces of the people the mainstream media want to persuade you do not exist:

Cliff Kincaid, Director of the Accuracy in Media Center for Investigative Journalism, accurately notes how dishonestly our movement has been covered by the mainstream media:

Significant news came out of last Tuesday's March for Marriage demonstration in Washington, D.C. But it didn't make "news" in the major media.

As one who covered the event, it was significant that there were so many members of minority groups. This was not a mostly white crowd. In addition to the presence of black, Hispanic and Asian supporters of traditional marriage, there were some notable Democrats, such as New York State Senator Ruben Díaz, and he let people know he was several minorities in one.

[...] J.C. Derrick [of WORLD magazine] has a good analysis of how the major media, led by The Washington Post, virtually ignored the March for Marriage. But unless you actually see what happened on the ground, as the thousands of traditional marriage supporters held their demonstration, you would miss the true significance of how dishonest the media's coverage of this issue has become.

It took a major British newspaper to notice and cover the extraordinary outpouring from people of all races, creeds and colors to defend marriage: "[T]he ideological confrontation on Tuesday was genuine. Both sides of the debate were out in force, with Christian opponents easily outnumbering advocates for gay marriage" [emphasis added].

(Most of our opponents on the other side were respectful and decent as we marched past them in front of the Supreme Court. But the U.K. Daily Mail did note at least one punch thrown by one over-zealous demonstrator from the other side, as well as the man dressed in a pink fishnet devil costume, dancing with a less colorful fellow protestor, holding a sign that said, "I bet Hell is fabulous!" I pray that he never finds out—and I truly mean that!)

Confronting That Biased Media Head-on

If you didn't catch it, here I am on Easter Sunday's Meet the Press:

"The truth is the truth," I said.

The truth is marriage is based upon the distinction between men and women, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers. . . . apart from all this inevitability talk, 31 states have voted to say that is the truth, they've embedded it in their state constitutions, only 4 have voted against it. There's a myth that somehow this is inevitable, look, North Carolina passed its constitutional amendment 8 months ago by 61%.

The truth about marriage is something the trendy media doesn't usually cover fairly. Witness marriage hero Doug Mainwaring, a brave gay man who is being denounced by The Daily Kos as a hatemonger at a "hate rally" for standing up for marriage! You can see video of Doug's remarkable testimony here:

Please pray for Doug and for all those who face this unjust discrimination in the media and culture simply for speaking out on behalf of marriage.

The Emerging "Next Gen" Leaders For Marriage

And speaking of those who speak out on behalf of marriage: here's what I really want to do this week. Thanks to the March and the coverage, I can introduce you this week to some extraordinary people the MSM never want you to meet, so you can see for yourself: the able, intelligent, and extraordinary Next Gen leaders for marriage that are now emerging in this fight:

Meet the young heroes facing down the Goliath forces opposing us!

You know of course our own able and extraordinary Thomas Peters, NOM's communication director.

He went on MSNBC and fought and held his own in the lion's den (with God's help I take it!):

... [C]urrently gay marriage activists are claiming that they are politically powerless and that's why we have to strike down laws defending marriage like the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8. Whereas what the Chief Justice is saying is that actually gays and lesbians are very politically powerful—the President supports them, the Democratic party platform supports them—and so the idea that we need to strike down laws protecting marriage is absurd.

[...] What we need to uphold is that people have the ultimate right to decide marriage laws. The states, the democratic process is working, and we hope the Supreme Court will acknowledge the votes of over 45 million Americans who have voted to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

But Thomas is no longer alone!

Meet Gia Coluccio, a beautiful and brilliant young staffer at the American Principles Project, explaining why she chose to March for Marriage:

A version of her speech was published in The Blaze:

I marched for marriage and I spoke for marriage because I wanted to speak for millions of other young people around the country who believe that marriage should be defined by the law as a union between one man and one woman. Young people like me may have been quiet in the past, but we are here, and we are not giving up on marriage.

Ryan Anderson is one of the co-authors (alongside Professor Robby George and Sherif Gergis) of the brilliant new book What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense.

You may have seen the amazing denigration he endured on CNN last week at the hands of Piers Morgan and Suze Orman, who called this Phi Beta Kappa Princeton grad (who is a PhD candidate at Notre Dame) ignorant(!) and "uneducated"(!!!) about marriage.

Set up, excluded from an equal place on the stage, under great and condescending provocation, Ryan remained himself: gracious and intelligent and calm under fire, the very model of a young Christian gentleman, as well as a fiercely competent public intellectual.

Undaunted, this week Ryan took on a whole panel of young libertarians—including S. E. Cupp (who recently and without much explanation switched her views and now favors gay marriage)—to explain to these confused young people why DOMA and Prop 8 are defensible: because marriage is not just a plaything of government, something legislators or judges get to dream up new meaning for. Marriage has a history, a purpose, and deep roots in human nature as well as in God's law.

Here again see this Next Gen leader for marriage at work:

Many things happened at the March for Marriage but one of the things I want to make sure you know about is an announcement by Eric Teetsel—the able young Next Gen leader who heads up the Manhattan Declaration project.

Eric's big announcement: Along with Chris Marlink, Andrew Walker, and Prof. Owen Strachen, Eric is launching a new initiative—Marriage Generation—to be the voice for marriage as a lifelong, life-giving union to next generation Christians and others of good will.

The initiative's webpage describes its identity this way:

We are millennials who understand that marriage is a lasting promise between one woman and one man. It is the unique human relationship where bodily, emotional and spiritual differences converge to form something new, often leading to the creation of life itself.

Let me give the last word this week to Gia Coluccio. The 22-year-old reminds us:

My generation has a choice—we can either recognize the truth of the importance of our classic understanding of marriage or we can deny it. We can either protect marriage and fight for it, or we can hand it away to people who want to redefine it—to undefine it, to separate it from its deep roots in human nature. But when we see hard evidence that traditional marriage is better for children and better for society than a new definition of marriage, why would we do anything other than protect and defend marriage?

Why indeed?

Thank you for all you have done to make this March and this movement possible. Keep up your prayers, your letters, your suggestions; keep up your keenness and your kindness and above all your spirits!

Some things are more important than politics. Some ideas are deeper and richer than the narrow postmodern mind can comprehend. Some things are worth defending.

I will never stop thanking God for the honor of being your voice for His values!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

This week, we started something BIG… but we're only getting started!

Click here right away to sign NOM's Marriage Petition to the Supreme Court!

On Tuesday, thousands of people rallied in Washington DC, marching in front of the Supreme Court in support of the true definition of marriage: the exclusive and faithful union of one man and one woman!

NOM brought together a coalition of over 40 groups in support of this effort and it has already made a tremendous impact! We met our opponents on the street in front of the Supreme Court, but thanks to the brave individuals who came out in support of marriage on Tuesday, the UK Daily Mail was able to report that we "easily outnumber[ed] advocates for gay marriage."

See for yourself what an incredible gathering this was by clicking here:

Of course, it took an international newspaper to report these facts.

But you can see the truth for yourself here:

And even on the day of the March, new supporters came on board to voice support for our efforts: right up to the Vatican itself! In a statement from Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the diversity of ethnicities and faith backgrounds that made up our March was both highlighted and applauded!

This is just one more sign of the incredible momentum the movement to defend marriage is generating world-wide!

Supporter, we will NOT be silenced! I'm proud that NOM can represent your voice and your values despite the efforts of a small, vocal and elite minority to silence us.

We must continue fighting for marriage. Tuesday was not a end in itself… it was just the beginning!

Please continue standing for marriage as we gather as many signatures as we can to present to the Supreme Court in advance of their rulings in the Prop 8 and DOMA cases.

Click here to sign our petition to the Supreme Court today!

May God bless you this Holy Week!

SPECIAL NOTE: If you are attending the March, please make sure you have looked over the map of the march route and the schedule!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

There are only a few hours remaining to double your donation in defense of marriage and the faith communities that sustain it!

We're only $25,000 short of our $500,000 goal — will you help us close the gap now?

This is your absolute last chance to contribute and have your contribution doubled:

www.marriagepledge.com

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We march tomorrow! I look forward to being able to stand with you in this historic demonstration. Thank you so much for your dedication to marriage.

Please be sure to double-check www.marriagemarch.org for a copy of our map and schedule to bring along with you tomorrow to DC.

As you may know, just yesterday approximately 1.4 million French citizens marched in Paris to demonstrate their support for marriage as the union of one man and one woman — the SECOND time this year that more than one million people have gathered to stand for marriage in Paris!

What you may not know, is that NOM's marriage march video was shown to the crowds there, and that one of our speakers — Professor Robert Oscar Lopez — was on hand to tell the French marriage heroes about our own upcoming March. Here's what one of the attendees in Paris, a French-American woman, emailed us last night to say:

This pro-marriage movement is growing slowly but surely with people involved, from various ways of life, political backgrounds and associations. The special TGV train reserved for the event, from the cities of Toulon and Marseille, was sold out (1200 seats). Many large families were able to go thanks to donations made by families living much nearer to the capital.

We stood massed along the avenue de la Grande Armée, as well as several other adjacent avenues for nearly three hours....

I was in tears to see the witnessing of one of my American compatriots, the last speaker [Prof. Lopez] who announced the upcoming Marriage March in Washington on March 26th, and the short announcement film for the march was seen by over a million French! The applause and cheering was astounding!

I hope this makes you as excited for tomorrow as it makes me. And it might help to watch our March video again, too:

I can't wait until tomorrow to be a part of this growing international movement to defend marriage. And I can't wait for you to join us!

See you at the March!

SPECIAL NOTE: If you are attending the March, please make sure you have looked over the map of the march route and the schedule!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We're only one day away from our historic March for Marriage.

And that means we only have 12 hours left to raise the remaining $40,000 toward our $500,000 matching gift goal.

We're so close to reaching our goal!

If you donate immediately, your contribution will automatically DOUBLE, maximizing the impact of your gift for the defense of marriage.

Will you please click here to make an urgent donation of $50, $100, $500, or $1,000 or more knowing that every dollar you give for marriage will be doubled to fund the March and the defense of marriage all across the country?

Can I count on your help in this critical hour?

Dear Marriage Supporter,

In just two short days, the day after tomorrow, I will have the honor of leading a march of thousands in our nation's capitol to the United States Supreme Court.

Please make an emergency donation right away to help us reach our $500,000 matching gift goal.

Remember, if you donate today, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar, DOUBLING its impact in the fight to defend marriage!

The upcoming March for Marriage is not an ending, it's a beginning!

NOM will be continuing to fight in the months ahead to make sure politicians, judges and the cultural elites around the country know that the American people believe in marriage as the union of one man and one woman because children have a right to a mother and a father.

This is our winning message that is gaining traction as more voices proclaim its truth!

America is a one part of the global marriage movement. The movement to defend marriage is growing — not only here in the United States where NOM has brought together the broadest coalition of partner organizations ever to participate in this historic march in defense of marriage — but world-wide.

Consider — already this year:

• in France, just over a month ago, I had the honor of participating in a march that saw over a million people pour into the Paris streets to protest their government's unilateral redefinition of marriage — and today, the French were back out in the streets with even greater numbers, still marching for marriage;

• in Puerto Rico, shortly after, almost 200,000 people (on an island with less than 4 million people) showed up to demonstrate their support for true marriage;

• in England, over 600,000 British citizens have signed a petition in support of one man, one woman marriage; and

• in Australia, a judge recently threw out a legal challenge to the country's definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Perhaps one of the most striking examples came from Argentina in 2010, when Pope Francis, then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, helped turn out hundreds of thousands for a march for marriage and spoke powerfully in defense of marriage against the government's attempt to redefine marriage.

This is a nascent, growing, global movement to protect the sanctity of marriage — which is the only social institution that connects parents and children.

Marriage Supporter, will you stand with this ever expanding coalition of marriage supporters of all faiths, traditions, countries, cultures and backgrounds by making a gift of $35, $50, $100 or $500 or more to NOM today?

Marriage is under attack. But so many good people like you are standing up to defend it. And more are joining us every day! Please stand with NOM once again by supporting our work to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it.

We are at the beginning of a new chapter in the movement to protect marriage. Thank you.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

There are only three days left until NOM, our 40+ coalition partners and thousands of marchers descend on the capitol!

And that means there are only three days left for us to realize the entirety of the $500,000 matching gift pledged by a heroic defender of marriage.

As one of NOM's supporters, you have taken action whenever marriage has been threatened and been a part of our regular victories over the "impossible" and "inevitable" same-sex marriage movement. With your help, we have won tremendous victories for marriage in recent years in California, North Carolina, and many other states.

That's why Thursday, USA Today called NOM the "tip of the spear" of the "diverse coalition" of groups dedicated to preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman. That's why yesterday's New York Times profiled us as fighting with "zeal and strategy."

But now I need to ask you to invest financially in this fight. If everyone reading this email were to give $10, we would easily meet our goal.

Battles are heating up in deep blue states like Illinois, Minnesota and Rhode Island right as the Supreme Court is preparing to hear two landmark cases.

Will you help us by making an immediate donation to help NOM ramp up our efforts to defend marriage in the days leading up to the pending, historic Supreme Court cases next week?

And if you donate right away, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar, DOUBLING the impact and effectiveness of your contribution.

We are only $90,000 short of our goal as of this morning. We have three days to raise that amount and realize the full $500,000 matching gift pledge.

Will you stand with us once again by making a donation right away?

More than ever, marriage needs dedicated champions in the days to come... champions who will stand courageously and faithfully in its defense. Please join me and prove that you are a champion for marriage.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

There's an upset brewing in Springfield. Even the media is taking notice.

Here's the headline from the Chicago Tribune: "Speaker Madigan says gay marriage bill 12 votes shy in the Illinois House."

How things change when voters stand up for what they believe.

Less than three months ago, same-sex marriage supporters were claiming passage was a question of "when, not if." Today, thanks to your efforts, and those of thousands of your fellow Illinoisans, same-sex marriage is on the ropes, with supporters stuck at 48 votes out of the 60 needed for passage in the Illinois House. The stories of sacrifices that people have made to stand for marriage are overwhelming.

But this is a dangerous moment . . . gay marriage activists are desperate, and willing to do just about anything to sway the votes they need. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and even President Obama himself, are calling in favors in an effort to push the bill through.
The House is back in session until Friday before taking a two-week recess. These next few week are critical as legislators return to their districts.

Please keep the momentum up with a message to your state representative today. Remind them that their constituents are watching, and that we expect them to stand firmly against same-sex marriage.

Click here to give them the backing they need to stand strong against the back-room, closed-door, old-school political special interest machine!

In addition, I NEED you to forward this email to your family and friends in Illinois, and encourage THEM to take action as well. If it's easier for you, use the buttons below to share this message on Facebook and Twitter. Or pick up the phone and call them so they can take action right away.

Finally, I urge you to take some time during the upcoming recess to make a phone call or even request a personal meeting with your state representative. There's nothing like personal contact when it comes to communicating the importance of marriage for connecting children to a mom and a dad.

Victory is on the horizon, but only with your help today!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

In a few days, on March 26th, NOM along with over 40 pro-family partners will March for Marriage in our nation's capital.

We are running out of time.

We still have many, many churches that want to organize buses for their congregants to attend the March, but do not have the money to fund them.

Will you give now to help change history? Many generous donors have contributed to the March. But if everyone who receives this email would give something, anything — even $5 or $10 — we would easily have the resources to shape history together.

Won't you please make an immediate, secure, confidential and tax-deductible donation to support this historic undertaking?

We also remain in need of volunteers at the March. Please e-mail marriagemarch@nationformarriage.org if you are interested in volunteering.

But above all else, please forward this email to everyone you know who supports traditional marriage!

You can also use the buttons below to do so:

God bless you!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

This is our time... our time to make the political establishment, the media elites and the small, well-orchestrated band of activists pushing their radical same-sex marriage agenda on the country step back and take notice.

This is our time... our time to send the message more loudly and more clearly than ever before — that the American people will stand up and defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman because they know that children have a right to a mother and a father.

This is our time... our time to bring the most comprehensive and broadest coalition of marriage supporters to the table — Protestants, Mormons, Jews, Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims and those of no religious tradition — Christian advocacy organizations, the Catholic Church, African-American pastors, women’s groups, Latino advocacy organizations, news groups and educational institutions — all coming together for one single purpose:

To preserve marriage as the union
of one man and one woman!

Be a part of this powerful, growing grassroots coalition today by making a generous, confidential, tax-deductible donation of $50, $100, $500, $1,000 or more to support this historic March for Marriage.

Every donation you make will be instantly DOUBLED thanks to our matching gift campaign which expires in less than a week!

I have one more special request today. We are looking for several dozen additional volunteers to help out the day of the March. If you would be willing to help make this historic event a resounding success by spending a couple of hours passing out literature, staffing a table, or directing traffic, please send an email to marriagemarch@nationformarriage.org and we will send you all the details.

This is our time to stand together in defense of marriage.

Stand with us today. Support the March for Marriage!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Knowing what you know today, what would you do if you could roll back the clock to before the infamous Roe v Wade decision was issued by the Supreme Court?

Would you show up in front of the Supreme Court and make your voice heard?

Well, today it's 1973 for marriage.

And that's why the National Organization for Marriage has brought together the broadest, most extensive coalition of organizations ever (including Catholics Called 2 Witness, CatholicVote.com, The Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, Focus on the Family and CitizenLink, the Coalition of African American Pastors and many, many more) to make a resounding statement on March 26th by marching for marriage in front of the United States Supreme Court on the day they will be hearing a case that has the potential to become the Roe v Wade for marriage.

And YOU can be a part of it. Even though the March for Marriage is just a few days away, there's still time to sign up — just click here to be a part of this historic march!

Please consider coming to march for marriage next Tuesday and be a part of history. And even if you can't make it, please forward this message to family and friends who may be able to attend (you can use the buttons below).

Together, we can make March 26th a historic day for marriage, showing the world — and our government leaders nationwide —that the American people believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman because children have a right to both a mom and a dad.

Your help is crucial to the success of this important endeavor. This is our time to March for Marriage, to stand up for the rights of future generations to share in this beautiful and time-honored institution and not to have foisted on them a radically reshaped version of it. We need to stand up now — the stakes are just too high to sit on the sidelines.

With all of us doing our part, we will prevail — for marriage, for family, for God and country.

I hope to see you on the 26th!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We have one week left before the March for Marriage on March 26th. One week to bring together thousands to stand proud and tall for the truth that it takes a man and a woman to make a marriage. One week to make sure that the Supreme Court and Justice Kennedy in particular understand the diversity of our coalition. One week to change history...

But I've got to be honest with you. We are struggling to make sure that everyone has a chance to make history...

Please click here right away to make a confidential, tax-deductible donation of $35, $50, $100, $500 or more to make the March for Marriage an unequivocal success!

We've received many more bus requests from around the country than we can afford. Though Citizen Link, the Thomas More Law Center and the Manhattan Declaration have come to our aid in recent days by financially supporting our efforts to subsidize buses, we still have an enormous financial need to help struggling churches send their congregants to the March from out of town.

I need you to not only give your most generous gift, but also forward this message and urge your friends and family to do the same (you can use the buttons below to pass along this message).

We have an incredibly generous matching pledge of $500,000 up until the March... but we're falling short of the mark. We cannot afford to waste this opportunity! As of today, we have only raised around $300,000 toward our $500,000 goal. Now is the time to take action! Please click here to make your most generous gift in support of the Match for Marriage and help us take advantage of this incredible matching gift opportunity!

Will you help change history in this last week with both your prayer and action... and by giving whatever you can today?

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Why is the National Organization for Marriage organizing a march for Marriage in just over a week?

I'll answer that question by asking you to click here and watch Senator Jim DeMint, President-elect of the Heritage Foundation, talk about the importance of marriage and our upcoming march.

Marriage is at a crossroads in American history. The Supreme Court is hearing two cases next week that could fundamentally alter the legal definition of marriage for our country.

Please help us show the leaders of our nation that the American people stand for marriage — watch this video today.

Also, I hope you will please consider making a generous donation today of $35, $50, $100, $500 or more to help us bring more people to the march.

And, thanks to the matching gift pledge of a very generous donor, every dollar you give to support the march will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

We have an enormous need to help out struggling churches organize buses for their congregations to attend the march... many of them from predominantly African-American and Latino communities. They want the chance to exercise their fundamental civic right to participate in the democratic process. Will you help them do that with a generous gift today?

Just because someone is not blessed with the means doesn't mean they shouldn't have a voice just like everyone else.

Marriage is at a critical juncture and it needs heroic citizens to stand up and defend it. Please help us today. Click here to watch Senator DeMint speak up for marriage and please consider making a generous, tax-deductible donation today.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Here I am on C-Span's prestigious Washington Journal, talking about the March 26 March for Marriage, taking our case to the very steps of the Supreme Court!

On the 26th, as we are marching outside the Court, demanding justice for marriage and for democracy, inside the Justices of our highest court will hear jousting from lawyers on both sides.

Myriad Defenses for Marriage at the Court

Ryan Anderson over at the Heritage Foundation has done a good job highlighting and providing links to the more than 50 amicus briefs for marriage now before the Court.

A sampling from Ryan's roundup:

Former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese argues that same-sex and opposite-sex relationships are not similarly situated:

Given the near-universal view, across different societies and different times, that a principal, if not the principal, purpose of marriage is the channeling of the unique procreative abilities of opposite-sex relationships into a societally beneficial institution, it is clear that same-sex and opposite-sex couples are not similarly situated with respect to that fundamental purpose.

A group of international jurists and academics points out that "same-sex marriage is not required by international human rights norms."

The Attorneys General for 20 states filed a joint brief defending the rational basis of their states' marriage laws.

A group of historians and other professors explain: "While the procedures and incidents of marriage have varied over time and across cultures, its primary form and legal meaning have remained remarkably constant. ... Marriage as an opposite-sex institution is a universal phenomenon."

A team of social science professors (including Mark Regnerus, the researcher behind the now-famous New Family Structures Study) present the compelling scientific data on family structure and child wellbeing.

Indeed, the only studies that were based on large, random, representative samples tended to reveal ... significant differences in the outcomes of children raised by parents in a same-sex relationship and those raised by a married biological mother and father. What is clear is that much more study must be done on these questions. But there is no dispute that a biological mother and father provide, on average, an effective and proven environment for raising children. And it is reasonable to conclude that a mother and father function as a complementary parenting unit and that each tends to contribute something unique and beneficial to child development.

Two other briefs were filed by gay or same-sex attracted Americans, asking the Court to uphold Prop 8, while The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty argues that when courts create rights to same-sex marriage they create new hazards for religious liberty.

Our own brief from the National Organization for Marriage in the Proposition 8 case was filed by our Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance (and we filed a separate brief in the DOMA case as well!). The Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance brief urges the court not to contribute to a climate of intimidation by falsely and wrongly labeling good people irrational, bigots, or worse:

Despite the chilling effect of political reprisals and other acts of hostility, many people in this country continue to demonstrate great civic courage in endeavoring to preserve marriage as a vital social institution that promotes the public interest in strengthening the unique relationship between mothers, fathers, and children. This perseverance, often in the face of great hostility, testifies to their good will and honest belief that society benefits from strengthening marriage rather than redefining it in a way that would divorce it from its roots in human biology and the needs of children. Those views are worthy of reflection and the people who hold them are worthy of respect.

.... [T]he Court should reject any argument made in this case that support for marriage as one man and one woman is irrational, bigoted, or worse.

Redefining Marriage 12 Votes Short in Illinois

In Illinois, they expected gay marriage to pass this week. Instead, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan had to go the press and confess the bill is "12 votes short of passage," which the Chicago Tribune described as "a signal that same-sex marriage could face a tough road to approval this spring."

This is nothing short of miraculous, given Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanual's deep connections to the White House. But Black pastors in Chicago are speaking up for God's word and demanding that politicians who represent them respect their voices and values.

One pastor spoke at a news conference of a new coalition of Black Illinois pastors.

His words (starting around the 5:00 mark) were ringing:

As a coalition, we say enough is enough. We say marriage is between a man and a woman and we also say it is that it is not the government's responsibility, it is not the state's responsibility and it is not the mayor's responsibility to try and redefine what marriage really is....

We want to make sure we send a message to our elected officials, that as a collective community, if you want to shove this legislation down our throats as your constituents, then we will not allow you to speak in our churches, you will not be invited to our churches [...] when you are running for office, because we as a community are incensed that you would allow the dollars from special interests groups to sway your opinion and go against the very core of our families.

Notably, he responded squarely to a criticism people often make: "People always say the problems in the African American community is their families... their husbands and fathers are not there."

In answer, he said: "Then help us first get our first work right. Help us first with all your resources and the billions being spent in order to promote the same-sex marriage agenda and use it to help us correct our communities. Take that money and help us to correct our social ill. But don't take money from those trying to categorically undo the Bible and then shove it down our throats as a civil rights violation, because it is not."

The conclusion is ringing:

So we want for our elected officials going from the top of this nation all the way down to our local legislative bodies to realize that we do have a backbone, we do have a voice, we do have an opinion and we do have a God. We will serve that God until the day we die, we will preserve the sanctity of marriage and we will also preserve the truths of His word until the day that we die."

God bless him and his fellow men of the cloth for their courage. These are strong Democrats standing up to the Chicago machine politics, on behalf of God's truth about marriage.

Another Example of What the Reality of Marriage Redefinition Looks Like

The voices of some young dissenters are beginning to creep into the public debate; sometimes you have to read them sideways.

Janis Hetherington was one of the first British lesbian mothers to be artificially inseminated. You can read her story and see her photo here.

According to The Independent, "[Janis' story] is a story of courage, custody battles—and refusal to conform."

But real life is messier than that. After giving birth to a boy named Nick, Ms. Hetherington lost her partner to an early death, and then decided to battle her partner's family for custody of Lisa, her partner's daughter from a previous relationship.

The reporter is not very interested in how that felt for the children, but she does note that Lisa is not speaking to Janis or to the other woman (named Barbara) who helped raise her from the age of 5 or 6.

Nick, Janis's son, is writing a movie based on his mom's life which started out when she was 15 with a lesbian relationship with a 25 year old woman (what we would now call pedophilia); included time spent in a brothel; until finally Janis 'reincarnated' herself to the point that the reporter (not me) says, "she resembles a country gent about to go hunting."

Nick says about his life with his mom and her partner from the age of 2: "It doesn't matter what sort of environment you grow up in, straight, bi- or transgender, but that family has to be strong and if it's not strong it will be sh*** and, certainly growing up, ours was not strong."

Despite those early hurdles, Nick says they are now close. "I now have that unity [with my mother] and my sister has found that unity with her own family."

Not every family is perfect. Even children blessed with a married mom and dad experience hardship and heartache. Forgiveness is the heart of family life. But oh what a tangled web we weave when we pretend the ideal does not exist or is not important!

Some New Pro-Marriage Voices on the Scene

Here is an 11-year-old(!), Gracie Evans, testifying before the Minnesota state legislature against same sex marriage. She had a question for the legislators: "I want to ask you this question: which parent do I not need: my Mom or my Dad?" [emphasis added].

She asks the question twice and looks around the room in vain for an answer. Out of the mouths of babes, my friends, out of the mouths of babes!

For those of us who are Catholic, and for many others as well, this week was exciting for another reason. For the first time in modern history a non-European will sit in St. Peter's chair as bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church.

Many of you are writing to ask me if the new Pope had expressed any views on marriage. The answer is yes: as Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he said this about treating same-sex unions as marriages on June 22, 2010:

I write this letter to each one of you in the four Monasteries of Buenos Aires.... The identity of the family, and its survival, are in jeopardy here: father, mother, and children. The life of so many children who will be discriminated beforehand due to the lack of human maturity that God willed them to have with a father and a mother is in jeopardy. A clear rejection of the law of God, engraved in our hearts, is in jeopardy.

He ends by urging those in the monasteries, "Let us recall what God himself told his people in a time of great anguish: 'this war is not yours, but God's', that [these words] may succour, defend, and accompany us in this war...."

What can I say to that but, Amen!

God bless you and thank you. The fights thicken, and it is your courage, your prayers, and your contributions in a hundred thousand ways that keep me going.

Friends —

As you have no doubt heard, the Catholic Church has a new Pope! Pope Francis (formerly Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina) is a humble man and a dedicated servant to the poor. He is also an outspoken advocate for God’s design for marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

But don't take my word for it. Read what Pope Francis said when a bill to redefine marriage was proposed in Argentina:

"Let's not be naive, we're not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God."

He has also said:

"At stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother and children. At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God's law engraved in our hearts."

I believe Pope Francis will follow in the steps of Pope Benedict XVI and provide a consistent and strong voice in support of marriage and children. Our prayers go out to him as he leads the world's over 1 billion Catholics in the weeks, months, and years ahead.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Last week, the AP wrote an article (not picked up by most major news outlets, of course) about Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's speech at the dedication of a federal courthouse library in Sacramento, CA being named in his honor.

In it, he said that major policies in a democracy should not depend "on what nine unelected people from a narrow legal background have to say."

I cannot emphasize enough how incredibly good this news is!

Proposition 8 and DOMA will be up for review in cases at the Supreme Court in just a couple of weeks. And NOM, along with our coalition of partners, will be there with marriage supporters from all across the country — marching outside the courthouse to reinforce the idea that the American people have something to say about marriage... that marriage is between one man and one woman because children have a right to a mother and a father!

But we need your help to give proper voice to the grassroots body of citizens and voters who agree with you and me on this issue. Please click here to make a donation of $35, $50, $100 or even $500 right away to help NOM organize the grassroots and turn them out to March for Marriage!

And, thanks to our generous donor, every dollar you give will be matched dollar-for-dollar!

Our most pressing need is to provide the logistical support that so many financially struggling churches desperately need to enable their congregations — many of them predominantly African-American and Latino — the chance to exercise their fundamental right to participate in the democratic process.

• For a gift of $20, you and I can help enable one out-of-town marriage supporter to attend the March.

• For $40, we can subsidize two additional marchers.

• And for $100, we can bring 5 marchers to Washington who otherwise couldn't afford to come!

In the past two weeks we have been overwhelmed with requests from volunteers hoping to organize and activate their local communities to attend the March.

But they need our help!

So, please, consider making an urgent, tax-deductible donation today to help bring marriage supporters who deserve a chance to attend the March whatever their financial situation.

Just because someone is not blessed with the means doesn't mean they shouldn't have a voice just like everyone else.

Marriage is at a pivotal time. You and I need to put everything we have into defending it. We cannot afford to look back and wonder whether or not we did everything possible to ensure the most fundamental institution of society received the best defense possible... the defense it deserves.

Help us make sure everyone marriage supporter who wants to show up is able to do so.

Thank you.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Greetings from the state of Minnesota, where good people marched for marriage!

Hundreds of good people of every race, creed and color showed up to make it clear: Marriage is the union of husband and wife, not to be redefined by politicians.

I spoke on your behalf and on behalf of God's vision of marriage. WCCO-4 in Saint Paul, MN reported my speech this way:

"Proponents of same-sex marriage want us to believe that this is inevitable, this is going to come no matter what we do, so we might as well pack up and go back to our homes and stop fighting. We will never stop fighting for the truth," said Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage.

Senate Minority Leader David Hann (R-Eden Prairie,) also spoke up for marriage on Thursday: "We believe that marriage is not something that legislatures created or government created. We believe that marriage is something that God created and reflects an order that God created and it is the thing that unites children with their parents."

You'll recall that opponents of the 2012 Minnesota Marriage Amendment had promised voters the amendment was unnecessary—that you could vote "no" and nothing would change in the law on marriage. That proved about as true as promises in so many other states that civil unions and gay marriage bills would not compromise religious liberty.

Well, there is hope that Minnesotans are beginning to see through the other side's duplicity: a StarTribune poll released this week found Minnesotans oppose gay marriage 53 percent to 38 percent.

March for Marriage Update: Momentum Continues to Grow!

The March for Marriage in our nation's capital takes place on March 26—if you plan to attend, you can RSVP on Facebook by clicking here.

I was excited by the news recently reported by EWTN: "Leaders within the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are encouraging their brother bishops to support the upcoming March for Marriage."

"We are grateful for this opportunity to express support for the Marriage for March and to encourage participation in this event," said Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades and Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone in a letter to their fellow bishops.

"The march will be a significant opportunity to promote and defend marriage and the good of our nation, to pray for our Supreme Court justices, and to stand in solidarity with people of good will," their letter went on to say.

NOM Leaders Remind Us What We're Fighting For

We will be on the steps of the Supreme Court as the Justices take up oral arguments on the case that could ban Prop 8 and bring gay marriage to every state in the union, including yours. I hope that you can join us and stand alongside us as we demand justice for children and respect for our Constitutional right to speak, to donate, to organize, and yes to vote for marriage as the union of husband and wife.

NOM's Chairman of the Board, the distinguished law professor and litigator John Eastman, recently took our case to the media, smacking down the legal arguments for gay marriage in U.S. News and World Report. There is no civil right to same-sex marriage, he points out, because "the Supreme Court's recognition of marriage as a fundamental right has always been grounded on what makes marriage a unique relationship." He explains:

In Loving v. Virginia (1967), the Court defined marriage as a "fundamental" right because it is one of the "'basic civil rights of man,' fundamental to our very existence and survival," a point which is only true because the institution is rooted in the biological complementarity of the sexes, the formal recognition of the unique union through which children are produced. [...] [The 14th Amendment's equal protection clause] requires that individuals who are similarly situated must be treated similarly. It should be obvious, but as long as procreation is an important part of why society lends its weight to the institution of marriage, same sex and opposite sex relationships are simply not similarly situated with respect to that important aspect of marriage.

Here's the bottom line, according to Professor Eastman: "Laws that foster the one relationship because of its unique ability to further the public good serve legitimate, even compelling governmental interests, and should be upheld."

Also recently, NOM's Communications Director, the dynamic young Thomas Peters, was on CNN, arguing the Supreme Court must respect our rights and the rights of 7 million Californians who voted for Prop 8. I really enjoyed watching him smack down the absurd meme that gay marriage is somehow important for economic growth (some people will say anything!):

Another member of NOM's family, Christopher Plante (NOM's Northeastern Regional Coordinator), was recently featured as a 'Rhode Island Power Player' in the local press, described as a person having a "large impact" on the state. As Chris told the media, "We've been told time and time again that same-sex marriage was inevitable and time and time again that has proven false. Of particular importance to us is working closely with our grassroots supporters, having them call, email, and visit their Senators, because it's the people who will ultimately hold these elected officials accountable."

They also asked him what his advice would be for the next Christopher Plante: "Have a thick skin and good sense of humor!"

Heightened Points of Interest in the SCOTUS Marriage Cases

President Obama, who has written movingly of his own longing for his absent father's love as a boy, is now in Court sadly arguing there's no evidence children need either a mother or a father.

Obama's Justice Department filed a brief "rebutting" the arguments made by supporters of Prop 8 that the ideal for a child is a mom and dad. "The [California] Voter Guide arguably offered a distinct but related child-rearing justification for Proposition 8: 'the best situation for a child is to be raised by a married mother and father,'" said the administration's brief, submitted to the court by Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr.

"As an initial matter, no sound basis exists for concluding that same-sex couples who have committed to marriage are anything other than fully capable of responsible parenting and child-rearing," the Obama administration told the court. "To the contrary,... children raised by gay and lesbian parents are as likely to be well adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents."

There are a lot of objections you and I could make to irresponsible statements like these. But I like the response raised by a reporter who covered this story very well for CNSnews, Terence Jeffrey:

So far in the history of the human race, no child has ever been born without a biological father and mother. Now, in the Supreme Court of the United States, the Executive Branch of the federal government is arguing that, regardless of the biological facts of parenthood, states have no legitimate and defensible interest in ensuring that children conceived by a mother and a father are in fact raised by mothers and fathers.

In other SCOTUS news, Justice Anthony Kennedy—the swing vote who will likely determine whether our rights to fight for marriage in a democratic fashion will be respected and upheld, or whether our beloved Constitution will be misused as a weapon to strike down the definition of marriage in all 50 states and make gay marriage a part of our Constitution—had some interesting things to say recently.

Now, Kennedy has proved very sympathetic to various gay rights arguments and many people fear he will find a right to gay marriage in our Constitution. Of course, we won't know for sure until he actually issues a decision.

But for us, there was some hopeful news this week, when Justice Kennedy returned to Sacramento on the occasion of the opening of a federal courthouse library named for him. According to the Associated Press:

Justice Anthony Kennedy says he is concerned that the U.S. Supreme Court is increasingly the venue for deciding politically charged issues such as gay marriage, health care and immigration.

The 76-year-old associate justice said Wednesday that major policies in a democracy should not depend 'on what nine unelected people from a narrow legal background have to say.'

I couldn't have said it better myself!

Ted Olsen and David Boies must be shaking in their boots as they read those words.

Do not believe the falsehood that gay marriage is inevitable. Join us on March 26 and speak truth to power; stand up for God's vision of marriage.

Speaking of which — here are some brave military chaplains doing just that — standing up for marriage and speaking truth to power. If you haven't seen it yet, please check out our brand-new MarriageADA video released yesterday about the perilous threat to our military chaplains posed by efforts to redefine marriage. And please send these brave men a note of support for standing up and lending their voice to bring attention to this important cause!

I look forward to standing with you myself in our nation's capital later this month! With your help and God's help, we will not only stand for marriage—we will march!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

As you know, President Obama is doing everything in his power to undermine the Defense of Marriage Act by pushing an aggressive, pro-gay marriage agenda in the military.

It should therefore come as no surprise that the individuals most directly and severely affected by the President's actions are heroic military chaplains.

Click here to watch a powerful new Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance video where military chaplains speak out about how they are coming under fire from their own Commander in Chief.

Again we clearly see how redefining marriage puts the First Amendment rights of pro-marriage individuals and institutions in jeopardy.

Supporter, with the United States Supreme Court about to hear two historic cases this month—cases that could determine the very future of marriage in America—it is critical that we get the word out about how far-reaching and damaging the consequences are when marriage is undermined and redefined.

Be sure to watch this incredible new video right now about the threats facing our military chaplains, and share it with your family and friends. This message must be spread far and wide.

And please, if you are able, make a donation today of $35, $50, $100, or even $500 to help the National Organization for Marriage bring to light the real-life consequences of redefining marriage for everyday, faithful Americans like you and me.

Please also don't forget to share this video so that more Americans can see what the stakes are for marriage at this critical time in our nation's history. Use the buttons below to promote this video through Facebook, Twitter, or by emailing it to your friends:

Thank you so much for standing up for marriage and helping us get the word out about the threats we face.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Great news: The preparations for the March for Marriage are going incredibly well!

In fact, the requests we've received from spiritual leaders has been overwhelming. We have received requests from churches for 100 buses that we don't have the funds to assist. That's thousands — many of them from Latino and African-American communities — who want to attend the march but are having trouble pulling together the necessary funds.

That's why I'm making this emergency appeal on behalf of these excited pro-marriage people who want to attend the March.

Please click here to make a confidential, tax-deductible donation right away to help us subsidize 100 buses to bring marchers to Washington DC so they can make their voices heard in front of the Supreme Court and on the National Mall!

Each full bus will bring over 50 people and require a subsidy of around $1,000. That means:

Your gift today of $20 will bring another marcher to Washington DC from out of town.

Your gift of $40 will bring 2 additional marriage supporters to the march.

Your gift of $100 will bring 5 additional marriage supporters to the march.

And a gift of $500 will cover half the costs of an entire bus!

I know that some of you reading this email can give a lot more than that. Please realize that for every $1,000 you donate today, you will be responsible for bringing an entire bus full of marriage supporters and activists to the march at the Supreme Court on March 26th so they can make their voices heard loud and clear at the exact time the most important court case of our generation is under consideration.

Just because someone is not blessed with the means doesn't mean they shouldn't have a voice just like everyone else.

So please make a generous, tax-deductible donation today to help make the March for Marriage an unequivocal success!

We need to send the strongest message possible to the political, academic and media elites of our great nation: marriage is between one man and one woman because children deserve a mother and a father!

At this moment, marriage needs courageous and self-sacrificing heroes to stand up and defend it. Please give as generously as possible to help NOM give eager and willing marriage supporters in America like you the chance to make their voices heard so their values can be respected. Thank you.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Desperate! That's what the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, is right now.

Why else would he send out an email to his Chicago machine commanding them to lobby their representatives in favor of same-sex marriage?

Because as of today, he knows they don't have the votes to pass the bill!

Rahm Emanuel is firing up the Democratic Party forces, trying to strong-arm same-sex marriage through the legislature the old Chicago way.

But this time, things are different!

Please click here right away to send an email message to your state representative urging him or her to cast a vote to protect marriage and kids by voting AGAINST Senate Bill 10!

Supporter, as I mentioned last week, the Democratic Party is fraying over the issue of gay marriage. Many of the politicians who represent African-American and Latino constituents are resisting the political pressure brought to bear by the leaders of their party.

Click here to give them the backing they need to stand strong against the back-room, closed-door, old-school political special interest machine!

In addition, I NEED you to forward this email to your family and friends in Illinois, and encourage THEM to take action as well. If it's easier for you, use the buttons below to share this message on Facebook and Twitter. Or pick up the phone and call them so they can take action right away.

If you have an additional two minutes to invest in defending marriage, look up your Representative's phone number by clicking here, and call their office to let them know that the people of Illinois — and you personally — want their representatives to defend marriage — the only institution that connects children to parents and vice versa.

It's going to take thousands of Illinoisans working together to protect marriage in Illinois. Help spread the word today!

You have made tremendous progress so far! Same-sex marriage was supposed to be a done deal in January… yet here we are in March with a very real chance of preventing this so-called "inevitable" same-sex marriage bill.

Please take action today! I know I can count on you to help. Thank you!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

With the month of March now upon us, preparations for the historic March for Marriage are kicking into high gear. [If you haven't signed up for updates about the March, be sure to do so today!]

This is an opportunity we simply can't miss, a chance to show like never before that the American people stand for marriage — stand for the rights of children to experience the love of both a mother and a father — stand for the rights of voters not to have marriage redefined against their will by out of control legislatures and activist judges.

But to make the most of this unique and critical moment in the history of marriage, we need your help right away!

Here's what you can do today to help make the March a historic success:

• Organize a group to the March by planning a bus to Washington, D.C....

  • Create a Facebook "event" page that you and your local friends can share and invite people to join — this is a great way to begin getting people committed to joining a bus!

  • See if a local church or pro-family organization can help defray the cost of the trip, and contact the March for Marriage bus coordination team for help planning by sending an email to marriagemarch@nationformarriage.org.

• Mobilize and engage your local community in support of the Marriage March...

  • Post the Marriage March flier — available in English and Spanish — on a local community bulletin board and pass it out to your family and friends or at your place of worship.

  • Download more great resources from www.MarriageMarch.org and send your friends to the page to find out more about the March and how they can participate.

• Socialize our positive pro-family message by spreading this exciting news...

  • Post this message to Facebook, share it on Twitter, or forward it via email to your contacts.

  • Read the March for Marriage talking points so you know how to share this message in a positive and upbeat way in conversation with friends and co-workers.

The march is only a few short weeks away. Stay tuned for continuing updates at www.MarriageMarch.org. Together, we can make March 26 a historic day for marriage, showing the world — and our government leaders nationwide —that the American people believe children deserve both a mom and a dad.

Your help is crucial to the success of this important endeavor. This is our time to March for Marriage, to stand up for the rights of future generations to share in this beautiful and time-honored institution and not to have foisted on them a radically reshaped version of it. We need to stand up now — the stakes are just too high to sit on the sidelines.

With all of us doing our part, we will prevail — for marriage, for family, for God and country. Thank you for your faithful support!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We're off to an incredible start, raising almost $100,000 online so far!

But we've got a long way to go before we reach our $500,000 goal.

Click here right now to financially invest in the future by making a donation of $35, $50, $100 or even $500 to help us reach our goal of raising $500,000 to defend marriage wherever it is threatened.

If you haven't ever made a donation to NOM, please consider giving today... the impact of your donation will be DOUBLED by our generous matching donor, who will match your gift dollar-for-dollar!

This is a critical time for marriage as the Supreme Court will be considering two historic cases in just a few weeks.

I don't know if you heard, but the pro-gay marriage group "Freedom To Marry" recently pledged $2 million toward state efforts to impose gay marriage.

They are beginning with an initial investment of $800,000 toward states that have current efforts pushing same-sex marriage, including Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey and Rhode Island trying to perpetuate the false sense of "inevitability" they have pushed so hard to create right before the Supreme Court hears the Prop 8 and DOMA cases.

It would be disastrous if a well-funded push by the same-sex marriage activists got bills passed at exactly the time the most important legal case of our generation was under consideration by the Supreme Court!

You and I can stop them! We have before... and we can again!

So please make an immediate donation to support NOM's work to defend marriage wherever it is threatened all across the country.

Our upcoming March for Marriage in our nation's capitol on March 26th is just part of our larger efforts to ensure gay marriage advocates can no longer ignore the central, core issue: What Is Marriage?

We need to reframe the issue — for far too long we've been letting our opponents get away with shallow rhetoric reducing marriage to nothing more than issues of "equality" and "civil rights." Marriage is so much more than that! It is, for starters, the only institution we have that ties children to their biological mother and father!

We need to educate the public on the consequences of redefining marriage — same-sex marriage would disrupt virtually every sphere of American life, from business to religion to education and so much more.

We need to hold our elected officials accountable — even the AP was recently forced to admit that "GOP lawmakers who backed [same-sex marriage] faced consequences, including loss of their seats." The opportunities are there to broaden the base of public officials' support for marriage... and with your help, we can capitalize on them!

And we need to level the playing field in terms of funding — in last November's elections, we were outspent in four state ballot initiatives by over $20 million. We just can't spot the same-sex marriage lobby that kind of advantage and still expect to win, especially in deep blue states.

So will you step up right now and make an immediate donation of $35, $50, $100, or even $500 or more to save marriage and prevent a second Roe v. Wade moment for our great nation?

Remember, your contribution to defend marriage will be instantly matched, dollar-for-dollar, up to $500,000! NOM will receive an additional dollar for every dollar you contribute... and this goes for every donation made before March 26th!

Thank you so much for being such a stalwart defender of marriage and for standing with NOM as it gives voice to the millions of Americans just like you and me who believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

You spoke and the Republican party listened.

When Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady announced that he was abandoning the GOP platform and endorsing same-sex marriage, NOM and others immediately called for his resignation.

This week the news broke that seven Illinois GOP committee members have successfully called a special meeting on March 7 to oust Chairman Brady.

Please thank these seven men and women who have taken a stand for principle and values and encourage the remaining committee members to do the same!

Brady is already feeling the heat. Just a couple days ago he was forced to cancel a major fundraiser that was expected to bring in $250,000 and he has admitted that the controversy over his betrayal has hurt Illinois GOP operations.

Across the country, gay marriage advocates are falsely claiming that the Republican party supports gay marriage. Why are they doing so? Because they've learned they can only score victories when they divide us. They know that if they don't crack the GOP's united defense of marriage, gay marriage will never make it out of the deep blue states where it currently has a tenuous foothold.

Even in Illinois, a Democrat-run state, gay marriage only makes progress when Republicans abandon principle and go along with far-left policy.

That's why it's so important we send a message by ousting Chairman Pat Brady, because it will teach a lesson to every Republican who flirts with abandoning marriage: we, your voting constituents, will not stand for abandoning principle!

Pat Brady claimed that he chose to come out in support of gay marriage to attract young voters. But the latest polling shows only 37% of young Republicans say they support gay marriage, and how many more young conservatives probably support true marriage but are intimidated by their liberal college environment and peer pressure into hiding their pro-marriage views?

That's why we need politicians who will courageously stand for principle and stand up for what is right — not abandon principle at the first sign of trouble or confusion!

That's why I'm asking you to take this action today by supporting those calling for Brady's removal. We need to send a message to politicians and the next generation: we will remain vigilant in the fight to protect marriage!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Before I get into this week's news, I want to share with your our brand new website for the upcoming March for Marriage, scheduled for March 26 in Washington, DC. Please check out the new site today, and share this link with your pro-marriage friends and families. On the site, you'll find information about how the attend the March, and also get to see some of the great speakers we've already got lined up for the rally!

Money Sometimes Doesn't Just Talk — It Lies

With the cash of GOP mega-millionaires like Ken Mehlman and Paul Singer, a carefully crafted campaign to get Republicans to abandon marriage has been nurtured and launched.

Last week HRC tried to enlist Laura Bush in its campaign to prove Republicans support for overturning the views and the votes of millions of California voters.

This week the New York Times is singing about a small group of "prominent" Republicans like Jon Huntsman who signed a brief asking the Supreme Court to override the voters of California and impose gay marriage on all 50 states.

These pro-gay marriage Republicans mostly share one important characteristic: they are no longer in office, nor seeking office. (All of former Gov. Jon Huntsman's millions could not get him better than a third place finish in New Hampshire, remember.)

After helping to falsely manufacture Laura Bush's support for court-ordered gay marriage, the New York Times has now had to apologize for an even more embarrassing blooper: falsely reporting that Federal Marriage Amendment sponsor Marilyn Musgrave, the former Colorado Congresswoman, signed the brief urging the Court to overturn Prop 8. FOX31 in Denver reported the error:

[New York Times reporter] Stolberg told FOX31 that Musgrave's name was actually on the brief she was shown for the story.

"I got my information from those collecting the signatures," she told FOX31 Denver.

Stolberg told FOX31 that she called Musgrave to personally apologize for the error.

Well, we're calling out HRC and the New York Times and others for trying to push this figment of a groundswell of GOP support for gay marriage. As I pointed out in a NOM press release earlier this week, "If Republicans actually supported gay marriage — an absurd claim — the Human Rights Campaign would not have to spend millions of dollars claiming they do and the New York Times would not have to falsely claim the support of stalwart pro-marriage Republican figures such as Marilyn Musgrave."

After conducting an independent analysis of gay marriage votes in 8 states, the Associated Press concluded the obvious: "Gay Marriage Support Has Risks for GOP Lawmakers."

The piece points out, "Of the 47 Republican legislators nationwide who voted yes starting in 2009, only 21 are in office today."

The story continues:

In New York, only one of four Republican senators who supported gay marriage is still in the Legislature. One lost a primary, one retired and one lost the general election after narrowly winning a bitter primary. A New Hampshire Republican representative lost a primary after her 2009 vote for gay marriage, and in Maryland the former Senate Republican leader relinquished his leadership post when he started working with Democrats on a gay marriage bill that passed last year.

We are facing tough, close votes in blue states across America. Republicans are being groomed and encouraged by the media to ignore the wishes of their own constituents; to join the crowd denouncing our traditional understanding of marriage as hatred, the moral equivalence of racism.

So, we have announced once again our intention to stand by those who stand by their own voters, and to hold to the fire the feet of those who run away from their own constituents' voices and values — regardless of party. As I said on Monday. "Marriage is not a partisan issue, and NOM does not hesitate to oppose weak Republicans and support strong Democrats."

Media of course is treating our pledge like a crime or a threat. It's not a threat: it's a promise.

We are telling elected officials: we will stand by your voters and our shared values for marriage — against the media, against Hollywood, against the mega-billionaires. If you didn't come out for gay marriage before the last election, you have no business betraying voters' trust now and expecting no-one to notice.

Dispelling the Myths of the Pundits

Still the GOP's recent electoral losses are being blamed on the lack of support for gay marriage.

Take for example the interview given to the Associated Press by Cheryl Pflug, a Washington state Republican who voted for gay marriage and is no longer in office:

Pflug argued that the party's rigid stance on the issue is costing it votes from young people, suburban women and other demographics.

"I think a lot of conservative elected Republicans are going to go down with the ship on this one," Pflug said. "I think the Republican Party is at a crossroads."

Well, I can't blame Ms. Pflug for parroting the punditry. Yet, consider how wrong that consultant's alleged wisdom is: It's pretty intellectually absurd, given that the most popular governor in America right now is New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie, who actually vetoed a gay marriage bill. 74 percent of blue-state New Jerseyans approve of him!

Whatever explains the GOP's problems and its failure to connect with voters in the last election cycle, blaming their lack of support for gay marriage is not just wrong — it's stupid.

The conventional wisdom — "run away from all social issues" — lost badly in the last election cycle; but that doesn't seem to stop political elites from prescribing more of the same medicine that didn't work.

If you doubt me, just look across the pond: the Tories' embrace of gay marriage is earning the party no credit from liberal voters, but is tearing the base of the party apart. According to the Christian Institute's Mike Judge:

Party activists are leaving in their droves. Membership has plummeted by more than half since [Cameron] became leader, and over 70 percent of remaining members believe the issue of gay marriage is tearing the party apart…. Ultimately, [Tory PM David Cameron] is hoping that his disco-dad moves are a vote-winner. It's not working, according to polling which shows gay marriage could cost him 1.1 million votes and up to 30 parliamentary seats [emphases added].

Voters can respect political leaders who stand by their principles, even if they disagree. Chucking core principles for political expedience only persuades voters that you have no integrity.

Our Fight Continues

I promise you one thing: we at NOM will never stop fighting for your rights, to be the national voice for your values to the high and mighty — in the media and in the halls of power.

Decent, loving, law-abiding men and women of integrity are everywhere coming together to speak God's truth about marriage — even where it requires courage.

Let me leave with this feel-good story you might have missed. A young husband and wife team who run a bakery "Sweet Cakes" in Oregon:

Now notice: this young couple isn't refusing to serve gay customers. They aren't trying to deny delicious cupcakes to gay people. They simply cannot, in good conscience, facilitate a homosexual wedding, which they see as a wrong, a violation of God's will for marriage.

The lesbian couple has filed a discrimination complaint and gay rights groups are protesting on the sidewalk in front of "Sweet Cakes" in Gresham.

But a funny thing happened on the way to this mean-spirited attempt by gay rights activists to take away this young couple's entire livelihood, to damage the small business they built together: the community came together to buy cupcakes to support freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience! It's a Chick-fil-A moment all over again.

Amazing things can happen when we come together in love and trust to God's providence.

We've seen that again and again in this fight for marriage, haven't we?

Bless you for all your help — your prayer, your words of encouragement, your sacrifices of time and treasure.

We are not going to win every battle. But we are going to make it clear that we will not surrender and lay down God's own vision of marriage.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The marriage debate is heating up once again in Minnesota.

After months of posturing and behind-the-scenes lobbying, the latest battle for marriage in Minnesota began in earnest this week as same-sex marriage advocates formally launched legislation to redefine marriage in Minnesota. The proposed legislation sets the stage for a divisive debate that will challenge the loyalties of rural DFL members forced to choose between the pressure of party bosses and the beliefs of their constituents.

Take a Stand for Marriage!

Now is the moment to make sure our legislators get the message loud and clear: Marriage means a husband and a wife — giving children the love of the mother and father who made them. Several legislators are already — formally or informally — polling their constituents.

Here's what you can do:

1. Join me in St. Paul next Thursday, March 7th. Next Thursday, from 2-5pm, Minnesotans from across the state will be gathering at the State Capitol in St. Paul for a Marriage Lobby Day and Rally. Call ahead to set up an appointment with your state senator and representative, and then join us for the rally on the Capitol steps starting at 2:30pm.

2. Make sure your legislators hear from you today with a quick email, or to have even more impact, pick up the phone and give them a call.

• Use this link to send your legislators an email. In 5 minutes or less, you can customize your message and send it to both your state senator and representative.

• Click here to look up phone numbers for your senator and representative.

3. Share this email with at least 5 friends right now. We all know someone who believes in marriage but hasn't yet realized how easily they can get involved and make a difference. Forward this email or use the buttons below to share on Facebook or Twitter today!

   

The outcome is far from clear in Minnesota. At this point, our opponents do not have the votes to redefine marriage, but the outcome will come down to district by district — especially rural districts — throughout the state as you and your friends and neighbors make your voices heard.

Thank you for taking action today! I hope to see you in St. Paul next Thursday afternoon!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

I have exciting news — Eighteen Republicans in the Iowa Senate have introduced a measure to allow the people of Iowa to vote on Marriage!

Please send a quick email to Republicans thanking them for respecting the right of Iowans to have a say about the definition of marriage — an institution so fundamental to our society and which protects children by giving them the mother and father they deserve!

And please also email Democrats and ask them to stand with us for principle and values and NOT with the party bosses who have refused for years to allow this resolution to come to the floor for an up or down vote.

It's critical that your voice is heard in Des Moines. Gay marriage was imposed on Iowa in 2009 by judicial fiat by the Iowa Supreme Court. In 2010, Iowans won a historic victory when they unseated three of the responsible judges in a statewide retention vote.

But for the past four years Democrats have refused to even consider a measure allowing a free and fair vote of the people on marriage to reach the floor for an up-or-down vote!

That's why I'm so excited to see Republicans in Des Moines not giving up. Please honor their commitment to marriage by sending a positive message of support and encouragement to them — and encouraging more Republicans to support this resolution.

And don't forget — Democrats need to hear from you as well. The media is always trying to claim that Republicans are split on the issue of marriage (not true) but the media also hides the fact that many, many Democrats stand with us on the critical issue of marriage — these politicians need to hear from you today!

Thank you for taking time out of your day to do this important action.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Big news from Springfield this week — but it's NOT the story you may have heard from the mainstream media...

Rahm Emanuel's Democratic Party machine, the machine that has ruled Illinois state politics for years, is fraying over the issue of gay marriage.

As of today, they don't have the votes to pass same-sex marriage, and even Democrats are starting to speak out against efforts to redefine marriage.

Senate Bill 10, the same-sex marriage bill that passed the Senate earlier this month, was heard in House Committee this week. After a lengthy hearing, State Rep. Eddie Lee Jackson, a Democrat from East St. Louis, broke with party bosses, joining the committee's 4 Republicans in voting against efforts to redefine marriage. Despite Democrats' 7-4 majority on the committee, only the vote of Chicago Democrat Rep. Luis Arroyo — who also opposes same-sex marriage but agreed to send the bill to the full House — assured the 6 votes need for passage out of committee.

This is the big news: Two of the seven Democrats on the House Executive Committee have publicly broken with the party machine over the issue of same-sex marriage. The courage of these two leaders — and especially Rep. Eddie Lee — will likely provide support for additional Democrats to stand up and do the right thing.

Let's remind every member of the Illinois House that their constituents support marriage. It only takes a couple of minutes — even if you've already sent a message, please send another today. Our opponents realize that the outcome is very much in doubt and they're ramping up the pressure, especially on Democratic legislators.

Your representatives need to hear from you today.

1. Click here to look up the phone number for your state representative.

2. Use this link to send a short email message to your state representative urging him or her to vote to defend religious liberty and defend marriage, our only civil institution that connects children with parents. Marriage and faith matter!

3. Finally, forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. It's going to take thousands of citizens from the Land of Lincoln just like you working together to preserve marriage in Illinois. Help spread the word today!

   

We have the chance to win an amazing victory for marriage this year — but only with your help. I hope I can count on you to take action today!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

It's coming down to crunch time for marriage in Illinois, and it's critical that you and I act NOW.

I'll keep this short, so as not to take much of your time, but please take 5 minutes to read this message and then contact your state representative right away.

*     *     *     *     *

1. Attend Today's Hearing in Springfield

   After passing the Senate earlier this month, a same-sex marriage bill — under the Orwellian title of "Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act" — will be heard in the House Executive Committee today.

   If you can make it to Springfield, your presence will make a powerful statement, regardless of whether you choose to testify before the committee. NOM's own Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, head of the Ruth Institute, will be testifying. Please come early to meet Dr. Morse, and bring friends! Legislators need to know how much their constituents care about protecting marriage.

   Illinois House Executive Committee
   Room 114 Capitol Building
   Date: Tuesday, February 26
   Time: 3:00PM
   Click Here for a Map

2. Send an Email to Representative Rita Mayfield

   Representative Rita Mayfield, a Democrat from Waukegan, has announced that she will be tallying emails received for and against same-sex marriage, and she will take that information seriously into account as she weighs her vote.

   Please take a moment right now to send Rep. Mayfield a short messaging asking her to OPPOSE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. Her email address is mayfieldr@ilga.gov.

3. Email your own Representative

   Use this link to send a short email message to your state representative urging him or her to vote to defend religious liberty and defend marriage, our only civil institution that connects children with parents. Marriage and faith matter!

Please take 5 minutes to rally around the defense of marriage! And please forward this message to anyone else you know in the Land of Lincoln who can help defend this beautiful, God-given institution.

Together we can keep up the momentum and save marriage in Illinois!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Colorado state senator Pat Steadman, author of the senate version of the civil unions bill, has a message for those who disagree with his views of tolerance and equality because they support marriage:

"[G]et thee to a nunnery, and live there. Go live a monastic life, away from modern society, away from people you can't see as equals to yourself'. . . . Go some place and be as judgmental as you like, go inside your church, establish separate water fountains if you like. But don't tell me that your free exercise of religion requires the state of Colorado to establish separate water fountains."

With Colorado's civil unions bill now headed to the Senate, we have one last chance to stop this dangerous measure.

Consider this:

1. In 2003, California adopted a civil unions law. Two years later, a California state court judge ruled California's marriage law unconstitutional. By 2008, the state Supreme Court echoed that ruling, finding that civil unions undercut any possible justification for laws recognizing marriage only between a husband and wife.

2. In 2005 Connecticut adopted a civil unions law. Three years later the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that because of civil unions, Connecticut's marriage laws were now unconstitutional.

3. In New Jersey, a civil unions law was used to deny tax exempt status to religious organizations that refused to allow use of their property for civil union ceremonies.

And the list goes on . . .

Wherever civil unions are adopted, there is immediate pressure to throw out the "discriminatory" civil unions bill in favor of same-sex marriage. Civil unions aren't a compromise . . . they're a Trojan horse that immediately attacks both marriage and religious liberty.

To make matters even worse, for Senator Steadman religious liberty isn't simply a regrettable casualty in the march for same-sex marriage . . . attacking religious liberty is part of the point!

Gay marriage strategists know that people of faith — people like you and me — are one of the biggest obstacles to a state-imposed same-sex marriage regime. And many of them would like nothing better than to muzzle, isolate, and ultimately silence religious believers — using intimidation and ostracism to closet Biblical views about marriage.

We must draw a line in the sand. I know you understand the stakes. Please take action today. Together we can protect marriage in Colorado, but only if you take action right now.

TAKE ACTION

Please help keep up the pressure with a phone call or email to your state representative today.

1. Click here to look up the phone number for your state representative.

2. Use this link to send a short email message to your state representative urging him or her to vote to defend religious liberty and defend marriage, our only civil institution that connects children with parents. Marriage and faith matter!

3. Finally, forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. It's going to take thousands of Coloradans like you working together to preserve marriage in Illinois. Help spread the word today!

   

Together we can keep up the pressure and save marriage in Colorado! Now is the moment — please join us!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

A special thanks to the Illinois Family Institute, the Catholic Conference of Illinois, and the thousands of you who braved the cold in Springfield this week, standing with friends and neighbors from across the state for the Defend Marriage Lobby Day. Estimates suggest between 3,000 and 5,000 Illinoisans traveled to Springfield to be part of the event, making a powerful statement to wavering lawmakers.

That's exactly the type of commitment and dedication that it's going to take to stop same-sex marriage in Illinois this year.

And we can't let up now.

Yesterday's rally sent a strong message to lawmakers, many of whom are under intense pressure to ignore the wishes of their constituents and to toe the line with the Democratic Party leadership's attempt to redefine marriage. The bill has already passed the Senate and is supported by Governor Quinn.

With a vote in the House possible as early as next week, it is critical that we stop it here, where we are strongest!

TAKE ACTION!

Your state representative needs to hear from you right away — please call them and then email them immediately:

1. Click here to look up the phone number for your state representative.

2. Use this link to send a short email message to your state representative urging him or her to vote to defend religious liberty and defend marriage, our only civil institution that connects children with parents. Marriage and faith matter!

3. Finally, forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. It's going to take thousands of Illinoisans like you working together to preserve marriage in Illinois. Help spread the word today!

   

Together we can keep up the momentum and save marriage in Illinois! Now is the moment – please join us!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

In just a few weeks, the Supreme Court will consider whether or not to impose gay marriage on the entire country. That's right — marriage in all 50 states hangs in the balance!

Nine Justices will soon rule on whether or not our core civil right to vote for God's vision of marriage will be upheld — and, in California, restored.

On March 26, the nine Justices meet to consider oral arguments in the Prop 8 case, as well as the Federal DOMA law. The bottom line issue for the Court is: do the voters of California (or nationwide) have the right to define marriage as the union of husband and wife? Or, will we be stripped of that right, and this time-tested, cross-cultural, common-sense and — yes, also Biblical — vision of marriage be redefined as just rank and ugly discrimination?

No Surprise: HRC Playing Dirty Tricks

This week, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) launched a multi-million dollar push, taking out full-page print media ads and buying up television time, trying to persuade Republicans (and the Republican-appointed Justices on the Court) that gay marriage is the new bi-partisan normal, featuring some Republican figures supposedly supporting same-sex marriage, including Laura Bush.

Her spokeswoman, however, just announced that Laura Bush "did not approve of her inclusion in this advertisement nor is she associated with the group that made the ad in any way. When [Mrs. Bush] became aware of the advertisement last night, we requested that the group remove her from it."

So, if you look up HRC's ads online now, you'll notice that the former First Lady's image has been removed. But they are still using another image you'll recognize: NOM's logo! — well, sort of — they have created a logo to look like NOM's well-recognized conjoined blue and red rings.

Because I designed NOM's logo personally, I find this to be an insulting mockery, as well as very ironic: you see, I created this image to reflect the difference between men and women symbolically. The red ring represents men and the blue represents, women. The intertwining of the rings is meant to show that marriage is the unique union of both a woman and a man coming together in committed love.

As for what it means for HRC, though, I can't imagine. Maybe, as with the former First Lady's views on marriage, HRC simply didn't bother looking into the background and meaning of an image before appropriating it as part of their latest misinformation campaign.

Isn't it amazing how images and and beauty often reveal the truth of things better than we can represent with our words alone?

Colorado Senator To Marriage Supporters: "Get Out Of Society"

Meanwhile in Colorado, Sen. Pat Steadman has done us a favor: he's ripped off the mask of tolerance and revealed the profound hatred for traditional religious believers that motivates too many in the gay marriage movement.

Watch this video. Hear in his voice how much tolerance you and your kids and grandkids can expect, if we fall silent and let gay marriage advocates reign unopposed:

"You can have all the free exercise there that you want. Exercise it as you see fit. But, don't let your free exercise run my life. Don't claim religion as a reason the law should discriminate," Steadman says.

His rant goes on: "So, what to say to those who claim that religion requires them to discriminate? I'll tell you what I'd say: ‘Get thee to a nunnery!' And live there then. Go live a monastic life away from modern society, away from people you can't see as equals to yourself."

Marriage Is On The March!

Steadman's rant is chilling to watch, but I'm happy this week to announce good news: Marriage supporters are not taking this lying down. Marriage is on the march!

More and more people and organizations are recognizing: now is the time to speak or be forever forced to hold your peace!

My profound gratitude goes towards the new members of the March for Marriage coalition: Family Research Council; Human Life International; the 500,000 strong Manhattan Declaration; CatholicVote; the American Principles Project; ActRight; Concerned Women for America; C-FAM; as well as The Ruth Institute and NOM-Rhode Island.

Just last week in Puerto Rico, ordinary citizens came together to stand together and strong for marriage:

Next month, it's our time to march, in our nation's capital.

No one has ever organized a national march for marriage before in this country.

The first March for Life was founded by Nellie Gray and held on January 22, 1974, on the steps of the Capitol, after the Supreme Court overturned the law protecting unborn life, stripped voters of their rights to pass such laws, and unilaterally imposed abortion on all 50 states.

Nellie Grey began small, with an estimated 20,000 supporters in attendance — but the March for Life has grown to hundreds of thousands of people each year, for every year that it is necessary to stand for life.

We are especially grateful to Human Life International for recognizing that pro-marriage is prolife. A government whose courts trample on the rights of citizens to stand up for the institution of marriage and the family is trampling on our most sacred rights.

This year, you have a chance to be part of history — because we are not waiting for the Supreme Court to trample on marriage or our rights to vote for marriage before taking action!

Now is our time to make history happen!

The March For Marriage

On March 26th, the March for Marriage day will begin at 8:30am, when you and I will gather on the National Mall, together with thousands of other decent, loving, law-abiding citizens who care about marriage.

At 9:30am, together we will link arms and march to the Supreme Court before returning to the National Mall for our program.

From 11:00am — 1:00pm, the March for Marriage Rally will be held at our gathering space on the Mall.

Confirmed speakers so far (besides me!) include: Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Bishop George McKinney of the Church of God in Christ, Jennifer Roback Morse, Rev. Bill Owens Sr. — but more great pro-marriage voices will be coming on board. It will be a great program!

We are constantly updating the exciting turns of this new March for Marriage. The best way you can follow these updates as they unfold is on our March Facebook page!

Talking Points	Flier	Map and Schedule

Please consider downloading and sharing this route map and updated schedule of events for the day; our talking points which you can share with fellow marchers, as well as with state and local pro-family organizations; and our our one-page flier explaining the urgency of the March for Marriage and highlighting our cosponsors, which you can download, print out, and share with friends, family, your pastor or other clergy, and other congregants and parishioners.

Also, If you'd like to learn more about the march, become a leader or a group of fellow pro-marriage citizens to come to D.C. for the day's events, or volunteer to help out in any way you can, please contact our March team right away at: marriagemarch@nationformarriage.org.

I can't wait to hear from you!

The Marriage Pledge

Finally, I am pleased to announce that, through a generous pro-marriage donor, we have a $500K matching challenge to help prepare for the March for Marriage and our various other efforts to protect marriage.

If you cannot be at the March for Marriage this March 26th — or if you can, you want to do even more for marriage — you can help by financing a fellow-marcher in the March for Marriage (along with NOM's other work):

$10 today could make a difference for the rest of U.S. history! Through the magic of matching, your $10 will become $20 for marriage. If God has blessed you and in your prayers you've become persuaded that He wants you to do more at this crucial moment in history, $100 becomes $200, and $500 becomes $1000 for marriage!

That's not really my final request, of course. Because there is one crucial thing you can do right now, regardless of your means: you can pray for me, personally, and for my family. You can pray for Tony Perkins and other leaders of the marriage movement. You can pray that God will un-harden the hearts of the Supreme Court this March 26th and 27th as they listen to the argument on marriage.

You can pray for all the brave people — black, white, Asian and Hispanic, young and old, male and female — coming to D.C. this March to change history and March for Marriage!

And please, please pray for Prof. Robert Lopez, who just travelled to the Minnesota legislature to testify to his own experience of what it was like to grow up fatherless, after his father left and his mother partnered with another lesbian.

He loved both his mothers: "I considered my mother's partner a true mother to me. She was kind and forgiving to me. . . .there's a tension because one of the parents is the biological parent and the other is the legal parent, it's confusing for the child, and it's not a small confusion, it's actually very difficult. . . . . I'm grateful for what I got from being raised in such a colorful home. But I could not be true to myself. . . if I did anything to encourage other children to be placed in such homes. . . our house was full of unclosed scars. I had no father and this crushed my soul."

You can watch his testimony here.

Bless you for all the amazing things you've made possible. Together, let's pray that this country, under God, will have a new birth in freedom, a re-dedication to the American principles that made this the greatest and most God-blessed country on this earth.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

What would you do to "change the game" in the fight to protect marriage?

NOM has decided to take the lead by doing something that has never been done before… we're organizing a March for Marriage on March 26 — the day Supreme Court of the United States will be hearing oral arguments in the Proposition 8 case… a case that has the disastrous potential to become the Roe v. Wade of marriage for our generation.

But organizing a major event like this is a big organizational undertaking. That's why I need you to stand with us by making an immediate donation of $35, $50, $100, or even $1,000 or more as we try to make history!

I have some great news! Recognizing the importance of this March for Marriage, one of our best supporters, a heroic defender of marriage, has agreed to commit up to $500,000 — HALF A MILLION DOLLARS — for a challenge, matching grant to NOM… so your contribution to defend marriage will be instantly matched, dollar-for-dollar, up to $500,000! NOM will receive an additional dollar for every dollar you contribute! And this goes for every donation made before March 26, 2013!

Organizing this March is a tremendous undertaking that has the potential to incredibly impact the future of marriage in America. We know that the pro same-sex marriage activists will be organizing a counter-protest, attempting to make their propaganda heard.

We cannot let them shout us down! We cannot let their lies that America supports gay marriage go unchallenged.

We KNOW that the American people are behind us because our exit polling on Election Day last year showed that 60% of voters believe in defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Marriage Supporter, you stay informed and take action when we call upon you. But I have to ask you to consider investing financially in the fight to defend marriage right away. It's extremely important that you NOT WAIT to make a donation.

So much has to go into organizing this march to celebrate and defend this sacred institution guarding a child's right to a mother and a father.

Please stand with us once again by clicking here to make a generous donation of $35, $50, $100, $1,000 or more to help save marriage and prevent a second Roe v. Wade moment for our great nation! And remember, every dollar you give now will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to a total of $500,000.

These next six weeks are critical. Already people are asking what they can do to help us out, and we need the resources to respond rapidly and fully to capitalize on their enthusiasm. No one who wants to stand up for marriage should be left behind because we don't have adequate funds to incorporate them into the fight.

Don't let the other side's "inevitability" myth go unanswered! Let's show the world that the American people stand for marriage by turning everyone possible out for this March.

Please act now before it's too late! Marriage can carry the day 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.

As always, these difficult times carry within them a tremendous opportunity to defend marriage… for our children, and our children's children. Please make a donation today and ensure that every dollar you contribute is DOUBLED! This is a golden opportunity to maximize the effect of your pro-marriage contribution.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We want you to know about a positive campaign to help marriages. This week leading up to Valentine's Day is National Marriage Week USA (Feb. 7-14), which focuses solely on reducing divorce, promoting marriage over cohabitation, and promoting marriage prior to childbearing — for better outcomes of raising children, and to reduce poverty.

In just its fourth year, there are 1,000 marriage classes, conferences and events being mobilized across the country, with huge potential for growth each year. You may find an event near you or post (for free) any marriage education activity that you are hosting at any time of year at http://www.nationalmarriageweekusa.org/find-events-in-your-area.

Local stories include creative ideas, such as a group in Kankakee County, Illinois, which is setting up a booth in a shopping mall from February 7 to14, offering free marriage counseling services. A team in the Chicago area is mobilizing hundreds of Date Night events. A Louisiana group is seeking its state's top 10 longest married couples to be publicized as was last year's honoree couple, who were married for 81 years! A Sweetheart Dinner and Dance in Ohio will offer a renewal of vows ceremony. Marriage tips and more stories are also at www.NationalMarriageWeekUSA.org.

It has been long proven that children fare best at every level if they can grow up with both their father and mother. Since more than 40 percent of U.S. babies today are born out of wedlock (which is the greatest predictor of poverty for women and children), and we have an alarming drop in marriage rates — nearly 80% of all adults were married in 1970, only 52% today — the need is greater than ever for a positive effort to promote a vibrant marriage culture in America.

The Brookings Institution says that if the U.S. had the marriage rate today that it had in 1970, there would be a 25 percent drop in poverty. The Heritage Foundation says that marriage drops the probability of a child living in poverty by 82 percent.

National Marriage Week USA encourages citizens, organizations, and houses of worship to launch marriage education classes and events, to list them on the National Calendar at www.NationalMarriageWeekUSA.org, and encourages individuals to find an event near them to help their own marriage, or help others.

There is a Tool Kit with easy-to-use ideas for curricula, videos, links to the latest research, talking points, and media tools to help leaders or churches build a local marriage week campaign at www.NationalMarriageWeekUSA.org.

Please consider joining this helpful and hopeful national effort for a positive campaign to help marriages, reduce poverty, and to reach out and help others! To learn more during this year's event week, and to be kept informed leading into next year's efforts, please LIKE this project on Facebook or Register at www.NationalMarriageWeekUSA.org.

Thank you for your interest in the March for Marriage!

The National Organization for Marriage is excited to be collaborating a growing list of coalition partners (including groups you may recognize such as The Ruth Institute, The Manhattan Declaration and CatholicVote.org) to ensure that this event is a great success.

We will be in regular communication with you over the upcoming weeks to provide you with the most up-to-date resources and information.

To get started, we would like to enlist your support to help us spread the word about the March and to expand our list of grassroots activists and supporters willing to stand up for marriage and the faith communities that support strong, healthy marriages.

Here are the three things that you can do today to help us prepare for this historic event:

1. Download this flyer and print out some copies to hand out at your church, bible study group, book club, workplace or campus. Bulletin boards are a great place to start!

2. If you're interested in volunteering to organize a group to come to the March, please contact our volunteer coordinator via email or call 202-457-8060 ext. 102 for more information.

3. Forward this email along to your pro-marriage family members and friends, and share it on Facebook and Twitter to help get the word out.

You and marriage supporters just like you will be the key to our success, and we can't thank you enough for your willingness to stand up on behalf of marriage, the rights of voters to protect it, and the well-being of kids, since they deserve the love of both a mom and dad!

And if you haven't already joined our March for Marriage Facebook community (1,400 strong!), please visit the page today and add it to both your news feed and interest lists so that you won't miss upcoming announcements about the March and how you can help. We're actively monitoring the page to ensure it remains a safe and positive place to discuss the March.

With your help, we will send a powerful message on March 26 to our leaders in Washington and across the country that the American people support marriage and believe it is worth protecting and strengthening for the next generation.

I look forward to seeing you in March!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The propaganda from same-sex marriage activists — and their allies in the media — is relentless.

They want you to believe that you are alone, isolated, and that your neighbors and co-workers all support same-sex marriage. They want you to believe that last November's marriage amendment vote means the people of Minnesota support same-sex marriage.

It is time to retire that argument.

A new SurveyUSA poll out this week makes it official: Just 42% of Minnesotans support same-sex marriage. And fifty-four percent say we should leave marriage as it is — the union of a husband and wife.

You and I knew that already . . . but do your state legislators?

Gay marriage advocates are making a strong push to redefine marriage this year. In fact they have hired more than a half-dozen lobbyists to pressure legislators.

We need to make sure legislators know what their constituents really think about marriage.

Here's what I need you to do:

1. Contact your state senator and representative today! Use this link to send an email to your elected officials, or better still, click here to look up their phone numbers and make a personal phone call to let your senator and representative know: Don't redefine marriage, our only civil institution that connects children with parents. Marriage matters!

2. Plan to attend the Minnesota for Marriage Lobby Day and Rally which will be held March 7th at the State Capitol from 2pm-5pm (rally starts at 2:30pm).

3. Finally, please forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. It's going to take thousands of Minnesotans like you working together to preserve marriage in Minnesota. Help spread the word today!

   

I know I can count on you to help. Thank you for keeping up the momentum!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

It could have been me or my staff. That crossed my mind when I learned the deeply disturbing breaking news:

The Family Research Council shooter told the FBI he used the Southern Poverty Law Center's "hate group" designation on their website to ID and target his victims for a would-be mass murder rampage.

According to the Associated Press, the shooter "also planned to target other organizations that oppose gay marriage if he wasn't stopped. [...] In his pants pocket, police found a handwritten list of groups that also oppose gay marriage."

The brave security guard, Leo Johnson, a real hero, jumped the gunman after being shot, and saved the lives of countless decent, loving law-abiding Americans... but to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Leo's a hater in a hate group.

The SPLC, once a respected civil rights organization that targeted racist skinhead hate groups bent on dehumanizing their fellow Americans, has decided that it can use the same tactics against mainstream Christian conservative organizations.

So far, according to the Associated Press, the SPLC has refused to comment on what it now knows about the damage its hate list caused.

An innocent man was shot because a killer openly and admittedly used the SPLC's list to pick out and target his victims — and SPLC has no comment?

No comment on the chilling revelation that this disturbed man, inspired by the SPLC's hate group list, walked into FRC with 50 rounds of ammo and Chick-fil-A sandwiches that he intended to smear on the mouth of each of his victims!

SPLC and the Media Must be Held Accountable

Now, you know that NOM has not (yet) been designated a "hate group" by the SPLC, despite vast reporting to the contrary. But let me tell you that today that doesn't matter: today, we are standing with Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council demanding justice from the media and accountability from the Southern Poverty Law Center for their reckless disregard of truth and decency.

I know the SPLC will say it does not support using its hate group list for political assassination. But that's not good enough. The reason this disturbed shooter could use this list in this way is that the groups SPLC is targeting are not quasi-violent extremists wandering around in the woods with guns — but mainstream Americans with known offices in convenient locations, working democratically to support their views.

Let me make something clear here: I do not blame gay people for this shooting. Most homosexual people are law-abiding fellow citizens, equally appalled by violence.

I do blame the Southern Poverty Law Center for taking organizations of other decent, law-abiding fellow-citizens, and lumping them in with neo-Nazis, labeling them "hate groups," as part of a deliberate strategy to marginalize, stigmatize, and repress the speech and democratic rights of conservative Christians.

And I blame the media — for refusing to admit that SPLC's reckless rhetoric damages the moral credibility of the SPLC, and for continuing to take the organization's "hate group" designation seriously. Where there should be editorials denouncing this illegitimate tactic, instead we get articles that blindly repeat the "hate group" mantra.

That's why, yesterday, I called on the media to act responsibly:

For far too long, media outlets and reporters have allowed activist groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center to label opponents of same-sex ‘marriage' as ‘hate groups' and regularly describe organizations that hold traditional Judeo-Christian views of sexual morality as ‘anti-gay.' But words have consequences, and we know that allowing such inflammatory terms to be used in media reports describing those who object to redefining marriage can lead to harassment and even violence against members of those organizations.

We know of people who have had their jobs threatened or their families reviled by anonymous bloggers simply for posting words in opposition to gay marriage. The attempt to turn good people who support marriage as the union of husband and wife into pariahs, the target of hatred and harassment must end today!

We will not stop standing up for marriage, or working tirelessly to protect your rights to participate freely in our democratic process. An America where people have to be afraid to say what Genesis teaches — that marriage is the union of a man and woman ordained by God and oriented towards the next generation¬ — is not recognizably the America we cherish and love.

We will not give up until we see justice done: not just in the court of law, but in the court of public opinion.

Tony Perkins deserves great credit for standing bravely against this onslaught. I will stand with him, for God's truth, against all the lies and the hatred and the intimidation that they can send our way.

You Spoke, and the Boy Scouts of America Heard You!

Another piece of breaking news: The Board of the Boy Scouts of America has decided to delay its decision on whether to admit openly homosexual scoutmasters and scouts until May. Thanks to each of you who responded to our call to let the Board know that you do not want them to let money interests trump values.

The Human Rights Campaign's corporate network is now being deployed not to help gay people in the workplace, but to insist that this Judeo-Christian-based youth organization embrace homosexuality or else face financial punishment.

That's the world we live in: the world we must not take into our hearts, or respond to with hatred, but in which we must bravely, nobly, fiercely, and intelligently fight for what is right and true and good.

We may not win every battle, but we know Who wins in the end, don't we?

NOM's Peters on Crosstalk: Marriage is a "Life Saving Message" for the Next Generation

Let me end by giving you a glimpse of a next generation leader you ought to know and love: NOM's own Thomas Peters.

Here he is, the voice a new next generation of leaders who will not be silenced or intimidated, whose voice must and will be heard:

I'm so grateful to you for making NOM's work possible.

Stay strong, pray for Tony and all the staff at FRC — and pray that the hard hearts at SPLC and in the media will be melted.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Gay marriage activists in Illinois are at it again...but we have a response ready!

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton wants the Illinois Senate to vote on redefining marriage on Valentine's Day. Even if the bill were to pass the Senate (which is not at all a done deal) it still must pass the Illinois House where we are even stronger.

Our opponents think they can find the votes to pass it...but not on our watch!

Join the Preserve Marriage Lobby Day in Springfield on Wednesday, February 20th (details below).

This time around our opponents have included phony religious liberty protections in an effort to trick legislators into supporting the bill (SB10). Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Joe LaRue set the record straight in Springfield when he testified:

"This law does not protect religious freedom as it claims. Rather, it promotes religious intolerance, bigotry and discrimination."

Remember, the last time gay marriage activists promised that people of faith would be protected, Catholic and Lutheran foster care agencies were forced to shut down across the state.

We've seen politicians make false promises before and we won't be fooled again.

With your help, we can preserve marriage and protect people of faith in Illinois, if you take these three steps right away:

1. Contact your state senator and representative today! Use this link to send an email to your elected officials, or better still, click here to look up their phone numbers and make a personal phone call to let your senator and representative know: don't threaten religious liberty and don't redefine marriage, our only civil institution that connects children with parents. Marriage and faith matter!

2. Show up for the Preserve Marriage Lobby Day on February 20th at 10:30AM at the State Capital rotunda. Go to the table sponsored by the Illinois Family Institute off the rotunda where you can pick up more information and take part.

3. Finally, forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. It's going to take thousands of Illinoisans like you working together to preserve marriage in Illinois. Help spread the word today!

I know I can count on you to help. Thank you for keeping up the momentum!

Important action needed! See below for ways to make your voice heard!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

For over a century, the Boy Scouts of America have stood for honor and traditional Judeo-Christian values, and taught millions of young people leadership and life skills by faithfully applying those values in their own lives. It's not surprising that advocates of alternative "values," such as gay and lesbian activists, would challenge these traditional family values. Indeed, homosexual activists argue that the Boy Scouts should change their values and allow openly homosexual men to serve as scoutmasters with the responsibility of mentoring impressionable youth.

But thirteen years ago, in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, the Supreme Court of the United states upheld the right of the Boy Scouts to make their own decisions about membership, despite a New Jersey law that would have required them to accept an openly homosexual Scoutmaster.

The Scouts won that fight, but only because they were able to demonstrate to the Supreme Court that they had a consistent national policy against having homosexual scoutmasters.

Today, in the face of relentless demands by homosexual activists, facing potential loss of corporate donations from companies themselves pressured by the powerful gay lobby, and even facing internal pressure from corporate CEOs on their Board, the Scouts are considering a proposal to abandon their longstanding national policy, and instead leaving the decision of allowing homosexual scout leaders to each individual council.

As we know from the marriage battle, capitulation is not a strategy for preserving our cherished values. When homosexual activists demanded "rights" and "benefits" many well-meaning policymakers responded with "civil unions" and "domestic partnerships," believing that this "compromise" would preserve marriage while providing tangible benefits for same-sex couples. Though many in the gay community lobbied for these changes, once enacted they quickly adopted a strategy of condemning them as "second class" and used them to successfully file lawsuits redefining marriage.

Even though their supporters have relentlessly pressured the Boy Scouts to admit openly homosexual men as scoutmasters with the responsibility of mentoring America's youth, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) now says the "compromise" the Boy Scouts are considering does not go nearly far enough.

They will settle for nothing short of capitulation – homosexuality-affirming troops in every locale across America, tolerating no exceptions, period. Any parent or young man who holds a traditional Judeo-Christian view of sexual morality will be attacked as bigoted and accused of discriminatory conduct. You can imagine the lawsuits that will follow.

The BSA Board of Directors will be voting very soon on this new policy proposal — perhaps as early as Monday — and they are seeking public input into their decision. We need to make it clear that compromising honorable values is no path to organizational victory.

Gay marriage advocates are pulling out all the stops on this one, and it is imperative that the Scouts hear from you today!

There are many ways to make your voice heard, but right now phone calls are the most important.

Please call the Scouts National Headquarters at 972-580-2000 or 972-580-2330.

The phone lines are flooded right now, so please keep trying if you have trouble getting through. When they answer the phone, simply tell them that you are AGAINST the proposed policy change.

In addition, we are reaching out directly to the members of the BSA Board of Directors who will be making this decision next week. Below is a partial list of board members — please call as many as you can and politely urge them to maintain their current policy with respect to homosexual scoutmasters, and not to sacrifice their longstanding moral beliefs in favor of political correctness or activist pressure.

This is a long list of phone numbers, but even a few phone calls could make a big difference! Please take a few minutes to make as many calls as you are able.

Finally, once you've made as many phone calls as you can, please help spread the word by email and social media.

• Use this link to send an email to the Scouts using your own brief letter or the pre-drafted sample letter that we have provided.
• Leave a comment on the Scouts' Facebook page
• Tweet your support for the existing policy (@boyscouts)
• Forward this email to family and friends!

If the Boy Scouts repudiate their national policy and leave the issue up to each individual council, it is quite likely that any individual council which adheres to the old policy will find themselves facing a new lawsuit claiming they are violating their state's nondiscrimination laws. It will only be a matter of time before homosexuality will be embraced in scouting — voluntarily or by court decree — as the "new normal."

Don't let it happen.

Contact the national office today, and as many individual members of the national board as you can.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We urgently need your help to stop same-sex marriage in Hawaii.

Twenty years ago, an out-of-control judge first tried to force same-sex marriage on Hawaii, launching our nation's ongoing debate about marriage. But thanks to a dedicated band of pro-family heroes, his ruling was not the final word!

It's a story we've seen play out time and time again in state after state...activist judges and politicians influenced by same-sex marriage lobbyist money try to force same-sex marriage on the people — only to run into a grassroots revolt from voters who know that marriage means a husband and wife joined together for the benefit of not only their own children, but all of society.

Today the need is perhaps even greater. Fresh off electoral victories in November, gay marriage activists are pressing hard to pass a same-sex marriage bill in Hawaii this year — even though Hawaii's civil unions law went into effect just a year ago.

It is critical that we step up today. Polling has shown that the people of Hawaii don't want same-sex marriage. But the pressure on politicians — from out-of-state activists and lobbyists flown in by the Human Rights Campaign all the way to President Obama himself — is growing intense.

Your legislators need to hear from hundreds or even thousands of their constituents right away!

That's why I am asking you to do two things immediately:

1. Contact your state senator and representative today! Use this link to send an email to your elected officials.

Or — better still — click here to look up their phone numbers and make a personal phone call to tell your senator and representative: Oppose Senate Bill 1369!

Please take action right now. It only takes a minute to send your lawmakers a message, and it is vitally important that they hear your voice right away.

2. Forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. It's going to take thousands of Hawaiians working together to protect marriage and freedom in the Aloha State. Help spread the word today!

   

I know that I can count on you to stand up for marriage today!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

They expected you and me to fold after the election — you know that, right?

But let me promise you something: when the going gets tough, NOM gets going!

NOM is on the march for marriage!

The Supreme Court is holding oral arguments on March 26-27. The future of marriage hangs in the balance.

With DOMA, the Supreme Court will decide whether or not Congress has the power to define marriage for the federal government, or whether a minority of states can force all U.S. taxpayers to treat gay unions as marriages.

With the Prop 8 case, the judges are being asked to decide whether the people of this great nation have the right to define marriage as one man and one woman — or whether our right to vote is going to be stripped away, the guarantees of democracy made meaningless, gay marriage inserted into our Constitution and a distorted view of marriage imposed on this great nation.

Now is the time to step up to fight for marriage!

Earlier this week, we announced a rally we're planning in our nation's capital on March 26th, 2013: www.MarriageMarch.org.

And already you've responded!

On the March for Marriage page on Facebook, pro-marriage supporters around the country are sharing their plans to attend.

One person said: "Marriage March is on a TUESDAY. How PRO-marriage are you? Are you willing to rearrange your schedule to attend this event? Would you choose to drive or fly? Would you spend the night or pop in, pop out? I attended Glenn Beck's 'Restore Honor' Rally a few years ago, my first time to ever visit our nation's capital. It was an experience I'll never forget. Married 36 years in July, perhaps we'll take an early anniversary trip to DC!"

A second said: "Lord willing count [us] in. We can definitely do that."

A third: "Looking at the calendar here and going to re-arrange to BE THERE!!"

A fourth: "This is Holy Week, still Lent. I don't like to travel, but I'm willing to do this as part of my Lenten Sacrifice, if I can find others to go with me. I'll start looking right away."

A fifth: "COUNT ME IN!"

Count me in, too!

MarriageADA Defending Marriage in Law & Society

NOM's Marriage Anti-Defamation League filed a brief asking the Supreme Court to uphold the rights of you and me to work to defend what we hold dear in the democratic arena our forefathers gave us. I'll send along that brief for you to read as soon as it's posted on the SCOTUS's website.

Also this week, MADA released a video from Canada, explaining why we fight so hard and refuse to give up: our own rights are at stake, as this Canadian father, Dr. Steve Tourloukis, found out.

The biggest of the big lies in the marriage debate is that this will not affect you, your children, or your grandchildren! MADA will continue to expose that lie — with your help! Please share this important video with your family and friends.

Marriage Fights Continue Around The Nation

NOM is on the march, including deep in the bluest of blue states, to be your voice for our shared values.

We have tough fights going on right now, and once again we are not backing down, we are not giving up!

In Rhode Island, the battle shifts to the Senate, where the fate of marriage sits on a knife's edge. Even the Providence Journal ran the headline, "Senate Appears Divided on Same-Sex Marriage Bill." Eleven senators have co-signed a bill to redefine marriage, while eleven others have signed a resolution to send the question to the people.

Click here to fight back in Rhode Island.

In Illinois, just three weeks ago, your phone calls and emails shook the political world, blocking what many considered an "inevitable" bill from passing same-sex marriage in the lame duck session.

It was a tremendous victory, but our work is far from over...

When the newly elected legislature took office on January 10th, Democrats increased their majorities in both houses, and immediately introduced a new same-sex marriage bill.

Click here to fight back in Illinois!

In Indiana, gay marriage lobbyists and their allies in the media are once again ramping up their campaigns of disinformation by attempting to persuade House and Senate leadership to postpone a vote for a state marriage amendment.

The amendment stands a very good chance of passing if brought to a vote, but legislators like Senate President Pro Tem David Long (R-Fort Wayne) aren't being clear about whether they will bring the issue up for a vote.

Click here to let your Indiana legislators know: you want the right to vote for marriage!

And in Wyoming, you already helped win an amazing victory for marriage!

THANK YOU to our supporters in Wyoming who took action last week and thereby helped defeat a bill to redefine marriage by a close 5-4 vote in committee.

The media has been attempting to divert attention away from this victory for marriage supporters and instead focus on a domestic partnership bill in the Wyoming House.

But guess what? This morning we learned they failed. The House voted 35-24 against the domestic partnership bill.

NOM is on the march for marriage!

Finally, a France update: As you know, the French people turned out in a massive rally of protest just two weeks ago. The police's early estimates were 340,000 — but the photos clearly show the actual turnout was closer to a million.

Meanwhile the pro-gay marriage forces in France held their own rally on Sunday. The police said just 125,000 turned out. Just one-third the size, even by the police's account, of the huge pro-marriage rallies, as Agence France Presse honestly reported (and American media just ignored):

"Police estimated that about 125,000 people had turned out for Sunday's rally, while organisers put the figure at 400,000. The turnout was higher than at previous marches but still lower than the number of people who protested against same-sex marriage on January 13."

Something is stirring in the hearts of brave men and women all over the world.

Thank you for being a part of a great movement for the rights of children, for common sense, and for the courage to stand against the winds of fashion.

I'm so proud to know you and to stand with you for God's truth about marriage.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Gay marriage activists have introduced a new civil unions bill in Colorado, one that includes no protections for faith-based adoption agencies whatsoever!

Moments ago, the bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party line vote, fast-tracking the measure for consideration by the full Senate.

"If this law passes, there is going to be a great persecution of the faithful," said Msgr. Thomas Fryar of the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver. "We cannot allow that."

We completely agree, and so do the people of Colorado, who voted in 2006 to reject same-sex domestic partnerships by six points and voted to affirm marriage between one man and one woman by a margin of 55% to 44%!

Now gay marriage activists are attempting to undermine the clear will of Colorado voters and threaten religious freedom. This civil unions bill is nearly identical to the sort of bill that courts in California and Connecticut used to demonstrate that the state no longer had any justification for marriage — concluding that civil unions were an unconstitutional and discriminatory "separate but equal" status which these activist judges used as an excuse to redefine marriage!

Your legislators need to hear from you right away — click here to oppose S.B. 11!

This bill is a huge threat to religious freedom and pro-marriage individuals like you.

If anyone should have a say on marriage, it should be the people of Colorado who have already so clearly spoken out on this issue when given the chance to vote on it — marriage should not be decided by activist judges or legislators that can be bribed and bullied by powerful interest groups funded by gay millionaires and billionaires.

Marriage belongs to the people because when marriage is redefined it affects everyone.

Just last summer a Christian bakery owner in Lakewood, CO was subjected to thousands of emails and threats from gay marriage activists after they refused to provide a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The owner said at the time: "We would close down that bakery before we closed our beliefs".

And last week over 200 marriage supporters like you rallied at the state capital against this civil unions bill pointing out that this new legislation includes no legal protections for child placement agencies like Catholic Charities and other groups that only place children with married couples, i.e., with a mom AND dad, where kids do best!

Your legislators need to hear from you right away so they know you oppose S.B. 11!

I need you to do two things immediately:

1. Contact your state senator and representative today! Use this link to send an email to your elected officials, or better still, click here to look up their phone numbers and make a personal phone call to let your senator and representative know: Oppose S.B. 11!Please take action right now. It only takes a minute to send your lawmakers a message, and it is vitally important that they hear your voice today.
2. Forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. It's going to take thousands of Coloradans working together to protect marriage and freedom in Colorado. Help spread the word today!

   

I know I can count on your help. Thank you!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Last week, I sent you a note about NOM's newly redesigned website, www.Prop8Case.com.

Today I want to share with you a video reminding us how important it is that we remain active and engaged to demonstrate America's support for marriage leading up to the Supreme Court's consideration of this pivotal case. This new Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance video interview shows what the consequences of losing this battle could be.

Dr. Steve Tourloukis was forced to sue the government of Canada for his right as a parent to determine how to best educate his own children!

Click here to watch this incredible new video today!

We have seen, time and time again, that wherever marriage is redefined, the rights of religious individuals and institutions are put in jeopardy by government fiat. There is no middle ground — either our rights are respected, or they are threatened and eradicated.

When marriage is redefined, people like you and me who believe that it takes a man and a woman to make a marriage are treated under the law as the functional equivalent of racists and bigots.

Marriage Supporter, these are the stakes of the battle that has now made its way to the Supreme Court.

Please watch this video right now and seriously consider making a confidential, tax-deductible donation of $25, $50, $100 or even $500 to the NOM Education Fund today, so that together we can fight back against the dangerous imposition of the radical same-sex marriage agenda.

We can win this fight, but only if we have the means to give marriage the defense it both needs and deserves.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Three weeks ago, your phone calls and emails shook the Illinois political world, blocking what many considered an "inevitable" bill to pass same-sex marriage in the lame duck session.

Gay marriage supporters had counted on the lame duck session to persuade outgoing lawmakers to take a "tough vote" for same-sex marriage. But they ran into Illinois voters along the way.

It was a tremendous victory, but our work is far from done...

When the newly elected legislature took office on January 10th, Democrats increased their majorities in both houses, and immediately introduced a new same-sex marriage bill. Senate President John Cullerton has told the press that he expects to bring the bill to a vote early in the session, perhaps as early as the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the pressure from powerful elites keeps mounting, as Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, to GOP Chairman Pat Brady, and even President Obama himself continue pressing lawmakers to approve the measure that would redefine marriage and jeopardize the rights of religious believers across the state.

We have to keep the pressure up!

I need you to do three things immediately:

1. Contact your state senator and representative today! Use this link to send an email to your elected officials, or better still, click here to look up their phone numbers and make a personal phone call to let your senator and representative know: Don't redefine our only civil institution that connects children with parents — marriage matters!

   Please take action right now. It only takes a minute to send your lawmakers a message, and it is vitally important that they hear your voice today.

2. Tell the Illinois Republican Party it's time for a new chairman! Republicans throughout the state are outraged that party chairman Pat Brady would openly reject the Republican Party platform, and the values of tens of thousands of Illinois Republicans, on an issue as important as marriage. Use this link to send a message to the state GOP, urging Pat Brady to resign as the leader of Illinois Republicans.

3. Finally, forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. It's going to take thousands of Illinoisans working together to protect marriage in Illinois.Help spread the word today!

   

I know I can count on you to help. Thank you!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The Indiana Marriage Amendment was passed on a bi-partisan basis by the legislature in 2011, and needs to be approved just one more time before being referred to voters in 2014.

But our legislators in Indiana need some extra encouragement, so I need you to stand up today and tell them that the people of Indiana have a right to vote on marriage because we care about protecting it for future generations!

Around the country, we have seen same-sex marriage activists trying to engage elitist judges and legislators to circumvent the will of the people and the democratic process and derail attempts to allow popular votes on marriage.

And in Indiana, gay marriage lobbyists and their allies in the media are once again ramping up their campaigns of disinformation by attempting to persuade House and Senate leadership to postpone a vote on the measure.

The amendment stands a very good chance of passing if brought to a vote, but legislators like Senate President Pro Tem David Long (R-Fort Wayne) aren’t being forthright about whether they will bring the issue up for a vote.

Marriage supporter, we need to hold our representatives accountable!

I need you to do three things right away — each of which will only take a few minutes:

1. Click here to send an email to your state legislators, urging them to support the Indiana Marriage Amendment. A copy of your letter will also be sent to Senate President David Long and House Speaker Brian Bosma.
2. Phone the following key legislators and tell them to support the Marriage Amendment:

David Long (R)	Senate President Pro Tem:	317-232-9400
Brian Bosma (R)	Speaker of the House:	317-232-9677
Brandt Hershman (R)	Senate Majority Leader:	317-232-9840
William Friend (R)	House Majority Leader:	800-382-9841

 

You can also click here to find your local legislators and give them a call, too.

3. Forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. (We need a groundswell of public support to make sure legislators know their constituents stand firmly on the side of marriage!)

   

Marriage is the beautiful and sacred union of a man and a woman, bringing together the two halves of humanity for the benefit of children and all of society. . . and it must be protected!

It is critically important that our legislators hear from us and that they know that Hoosiers have the right to vote on a marriage amendment! Make sure that our leaders in Indianapolis understand this by taking a few moments to make your voice heard right away!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Not long ago, I sent you an email hinting that NOM was getting ready to launch some major initiatives. Well, after participating in the March for Life last Friday, I am excited to announce that NOM is putting together a March for Marriage!

It will take place in Washington DC on March 26th — the day the Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments in the Proposition 8 case. You can go to www.MarriageMarch.org and sign up for information and alerts today!

I'll be sending you more information in the days and weeks to come… but this is a pivotal moment in the marriage movement — an opportunity to show grassroots support from throughout the nation for marriage just as Proposition 8, the potential Roe v. Wade of marriage, is being considered!

Please help NOM make this march a success by making a donation of $25, $50, $100 or even $500 today to help us reach and turn out citizens just like you and me, who believe in and are willing to stand for the commonsense truth that marriage is between one man and one woman.

When I wrote you about some of NOM's plans, I was boarding a plane to go to France to spend a week in Paris, offering whatever support and advice I could to the organizers of their recent marriage rally. I had the privilege of being in that town and witness ONE MILLION people gather to tell their government: "Children have a Right to A Mother and Father; Don't Redefine Marriage!"

And, I have to say, it was incredible!

I want to share with you a little bit of my experience in France: please click here to watch a brief video showing highlights of the rally.

I was proud to march with pro-marriage brothers and sisters of every background — Catholics, Christians, Muslims and Jews; even some gay individuals who are against gay marriage! — all marching for a single, united purpose: to defend the commonsense truth that marriage is a unique union of a man and a woman, because children need their mother and father.

Marriage supporter, please consider making a donation today to help NOM bring together a vast coalition of marriage supporters in America at precisely the moment when the Supreme Court is debating this historic case!

2013 is going to be a critical year for the future of marriage in America. Please stand with us today — take a moment to click the above link and watch this incredible, heartening new video; and then please consider making a generous donation to support NOM's work today.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Representative Cathy Connolly (D-Laramie) is sponsoring House Bill 169, which would redefine marriage as a civil contract between "two natural persons," rather than between a man and a woman, as the state law now reads.

And, to make matters worse, three Republican State Representatives have jumped on board. Reps. Keith Gingery and Ruth Ann Petroff of Jackson are behind the bill; and Rep. Sue Wallis (R-Recluse) is one of the bill’s co-sponsors.

With the Supreme Court hearing cases on same-sex marriage in just a few short weeks, any action in favor of same-sex marriage would send a bad signal to the entire nation. Today, you and the pro-marriage citizens of Wyoming can send a message loud and clear to the political powers in Cheyenne: DON'T MESS WITH MARRIAGE!

I need your help to stop same-sex marriage from coming to Wyoming. In fact, I need you to specifically do three things — none of which will take much time at all, and can make a huge difference.

First, click here to contact these three Republican legislators, as well as your own state legislators and urge them to oppose House Bill 169 or any other proposed legislation that would redefine marriage in Wyoming.

Second, please call these three Republicans and urge them to oppose this legislation and take a stand to defend marriage.

And third — and this is just as important — I need you to forward this message to as many people as possible throughout the state. As we have seen in so many places, just a handful of citizens courageously standing up to defend marriage can make a tremendous impact. But we need your help to get the word out.

Marriage is too important a matter to be left to the whims of heavily lobbied politicians and the special interest groups padding their pockets. Please be a part of the millions of faithful American throughout the country who believe in and stand up for marriage as God ordained it.

We need to act, and act as one, to send this important message to our elected officials in Cheyenne in time to make an impact. Tell them that the eyes of the state are watching, and that we will not stand idly by while the most basic institution in society — the marriage of one man and one woman — is threatened by a radical agenda.

Stand for marriage, Wyoming!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

On Monday, President Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States.

An inauguration is always an historic occasion, a moment when the American people come together to celebrate the democracy we share.

It was on the day that we as a nation gather to celebrate Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that President Obama decided to divide the country and to demean the views of millions of fellow Americans, by trying to make support for gay marriage part of the national creed:

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

"Our journey is not complete," Obama went on, "until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law — [applause] — for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."

Even many of his strongest supporters on the Mall (and I do understand why so many African-Americans in particular celebrate and support this president, even as they disagree with his views on marriage), admitted they disagree with the president:

Over at HuffPo, Irene Monroe — who describes herself as "a nationally renowned African-American lesbian activist, scholar and public theologian" — admitted many Black Americans found the President's rhetoric divisive: her piece is called "Obama Linking Selma to Stonewall Divides the Black Community."

Monroe writes that she personally "felt affirmed" and "applauded the president's courageous pronouncement."

"However," she continued, "some African Americans felt ‘dissed' by the president's speech. The linkage of their civil rights struggle with that of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) Americans did nothing to quell their dislike of the comparison. For them, the fact that it was spoken by this president made it sting more."

This President has apparently concluded that gay marriage is the civil rights battle of our time and has prioritized it in spite of the views of many other members of his coalition.

Our Strongest Case Yet

This week, two brilliant lawyers filed briefs to the Supreme Court in the two marriage cases presently on the docket: Paul Clement filed for the House of Representatives on the constitutionality of DOMA, and Ted Olson's chief nemesis Chuck Cooper filed his brief in defense of the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8.

As you read the briefs and applaud, save a little applause for House majority leader John Boehner. He has his critics, but you have to give him credit for pursuing this case all the way to the Supreme Court in spite of media and RINO pressure to give up.

Even 60 Minutes legal analyst Andrew Cohen had to admit in the Atlantic, "At Supreme Court, Gay Marriage Foes Make Their Strongest Case Yet."

These brilliant legal minds make a particularly strong case against President Obama's divisive claim that support for our traditional understanding of marriage is like support for racism.

You can read both the DOMA brief and the Prop 8 brief at Prop8Case.com which we've re-launched to keep track of this most important legal fight. Check in frequently for important updates!

In Paul Clement's DOMA brief, the impressive case against President Obama's framing begins on page 49.

"Gays and Lesbians are far from politically powerless," the brief points out. (You and I, who are in the midst of these political battles, know that all too well.)

Indeed, the brief continues, "the decision of the President and Attorney General to stop defending and start attacking DOMA itself demonstrates the remarkable political clout of the same-sex marriage movement. As the Chief Judge of the Second Circuit remarked to the Department's representative at oral argument, ‘your presence here is like an argument against your argument.'"

"Characterizing such a group as politically powerless would be wholly inconsistent with this Court's admonition that a class should not be regarded as suspect when the group has some ability to attract the attention of the lawmakers," Clement argues.

Then, on page 56, Clement takes on the Selma analogy directly... and demolishes it. Yes, I would agree, people with same-sex attraction have suffered harms and exclusions. But the comparison between California today and Selma reveals either an impoverished moral imagination or an intellectual insincerity.

I particularly love how Clement uses their own witnesses against them:

Finally, each of the recognized suspect and quasi-suspect classes — racial minorities, aliens, women, and those born out of wedlock — have suffered discrimination for longer than history has been recorded. In contrast, as this Court noted in Lawrence, "there is no longstanding history in this country of laws directed at homosexual conduct as a distinct matter... Indeed, "the concept of the homosexual as a distinct category of person did not emerge until the late 19th century." Id. As Ms. Windsor's own expert, Dr. George Chauncey, has written, although "antigay discrimination is popularly thought to have ancient roots, in fact it is a unique and relatively short-lived product of the twentieth century."

But more importantly, "unlike racial minorities and women, homosexuals as a class have never been politically disenfranchised — the kind of pervasive official discrimination that most clearly supports suspect class treatment by the courts."

In sum, the traditional factors this Court has assessed in determining whether to recognize a new quasi-suspect or suspect class are absent when it comes to gays and lesbians. Perhaps most critically, gays and lesbians have substantial political power, and that power is growing. Victories at the ballot box that would have been unthinkable a decade ago have become routine. To be sure, those victories have not been uniform and have come first in "blue" states rather than "red" ones, but that is the nature of the political process. There is absolutely no reason to think that gays and lesbians are shut out of the political process to a degree that would justify judicial intervention on an issue as divisive and fast-moving as same-sex marriage. As Judge Straub observed, the definition of marriage is "an issue for the American people and their elected representatives to settle through the democratic process."

The Democratic process "require[s] participants on both sides to persuade those who disagree, rather than labeling them irrational or bigoted." By contrast, courts "can intervene in this robust debate only to cut it short" [emphasis added].

Equality... For Our Children

San Francisco Archbishop Cordileone, the "godfather of Prop 8" and head of the USCCB's Defense of Marriage subcommittee, issued this pointed and poignant statement in response to Pres. Obama's remarks:

"I honor the president's concern for the equal dignity of every human being, including those who experience same-sex attraction, who, like everyone else, must be protected against any and all violence and hatred," wrote Archbishop Cordileone in an email to the National Catholic Register.

(Yes, it's good to be reminded our fellow citizens who are gay still sometimes experience awful and unjust attacks that we must all unite to oppose).

But, as the Archbishop continued:

[T]he marriage debate is not about equality under the law, but, rather, the very meaning of marriage. Marriage is the only institution that unites children with their mothers and fathers... Protecting this understanding of marriage is not discrimination, nor is it some kind of pronouncement on how adults live out their intimate relationships; it is standing for the common good.

Then he went on to say something I don't hear very often: our love of equality should demand that we support marriage, which represents "the equal right of all children to grow up knowing and being loved by their mother and father."

Same-Sex Marriage Is Not A Civil Right

In an interview I gave to NBC News recently, I told them point blank: "Same-sex marriage is not a civil right. To try and compare in any way the attempt to redefine marriage with the Civil Rights movement is simply false. I think that the president's forgetting about the most important group affected by this and their civil rights, and that's children having the civil right to have both a mom and a dad."

The fight continues. Let us continue to stand together in defense of timeless truths, truths we know from both Nature and Nature's God. Justice for children is the great cause for which we strive.

As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we celebrate said, "The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."

Thank you for all that you have done for me, in particular and for this great cause. I'm so proud to stand together with you in this fight.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

In a tremendous victory for NOM and our allies in the movement to preserve marriage, last December the United States Supreme Court granted the request of the proponents of California's Proposition 8 and agreed to review the decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals striking down California's marriage amendment. NOM was the biggest contributor to getting Proposition 8 on the ballot, and has directly contributed over $400,000 to its legal defense. The Court's justices will hear oral arguments in the case on March 26.

Today, the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade — the Supreme Court decision that changed our nation so profoundly — reminds us of how truly important it is to stay engaged in and informed about this current, critical case, which has the potential to impact the future of our nation just as profoundly as that fateful 1973 decision — for better, or for worse!

Therefore, to help you follow this case with the most up-to-date news and commentary, NOM is re-launching a completely revamped and improved www.Prop8Case.com!

This site chronicles the history of the Prop 8 case; features blog posts and twitter feeds with the most up-to-date news about the legal proceedings; and gives you the opportunity to subscribe for updates and stay informed.

Supporter, this case represents an incredible opportunity to win an enormous, historic victory for marriage. From the start of litigation over 4 years ago, NOM has been working tirelessly with the incredible legal team representing ProtectMarriage.com to defend Prop 8 and to assure that marriage and the rights of voters in California and throughout our nation receive the best defense possible.

All of our efforts come down to March 26th, when the justices hear oral arguments, and then the period until the end of June when the justices are writing their decision.

We won't let up until we win.

Please take a moment to check out the new website and stay informed about what may be the Roe v. Wade of marriage. And please stand with us throughout this case with your prayers and support, so that the legacy of the 2013 Supreme Court does not follow the same path as its predecessor from 1973.

Lastly, please help us spread the word. The more eyes on the court, the better!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Today is a historic day by any measure.

NOM joins the nation in extending our best wishes and prayers to President Barack Obama as he takes the oath of office for a second term as President of these United States of America. We hope and pray that President Obama is able in his second term to bring America together, to heal the divisions that exist in our nation, and to put our country on a firmer path to recovery and well-being for American families. We pray as well for the president's family and thank them for accepting the sacrifices that public service imposes on men and women who pursue it.

Today is also the day that we celebrate the birth of one of our great national leaders, Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King is rightly known as one of the greatest civil rights leaders in our nation's history, a cause he paid for with his life.

It is fitting that President Obama today takes the oath of office on two bibles — one belonging to Abraham Lincoln, and the other to Dr. King.

But as I reflect on the America we live in today and the society we are building for my eight children, I can't help but be concerned. Too many of our people live in poverty. They are impoverished not only by unemployment and the throes of a struggling economy, but by cultural forces that rob people of their inherent, God-given dignity, and entice them through false prophets and by false promises, often peddled in the guise of providing pleasure but that ultimately bring nothing but sadness and even despair.

Last November during the same election that sent President Obama to a second term, three states allowed marriage to be redefined with the president's misguided encouragement. If this is the path we're on, and it's not a good one. The President bears considerable responsibility for this as a result of his abandonment of the eternal truth of the uniqueness of the marriage relationship.

Yet as I watch the pageantry of a presidential inauguration I am reminded of the vast power and potential of our country to be a tremendous force for good.

How do we help America get on a better path, one that uplifts families, that inspires future generations to greatness?

Very simply, I think we need to call our nation to good — to pursue law and policies that promote social good and are based on moral truths.

I think one key is in the words of Dr. King, set forth so articulately in the spring of 1963 while sitting in jail in Birmingham, Alabama. King's Letter From Birmingham Jail called the nation to understand that there are just laws, and unjust ones. Dr. King said, "A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law."

Dr. King went on note that segregation laws were plainly unjust: "All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority."

Marriage is the very type of relationship that Dr. King would no doubt have recognized as just, rooted as it is in the moral law, observed over thousands of years as an eternal law, in perfect harmony with the law of God. It is a profoundly just institution that brings men and women together and provides children with the best opportunity to be raised by a mother and a father.

So many of our laws and policies today are out of harmony with natural law and nature's God. The killing of the preborn innocent in the name of privacy; the euthanizing of the infirm in the name of compassion; the destruction of embryonic humans in the name of advancement; the protection of pornography purveyors and the merchants of violence in Hollywood and the video game industry in the name of free speech; and the restructuring of instutions like marriage to provide emotional satisfaction to politically powerful adults, even as they strip from the law the right of children to a mother and father.

No, indeed, we as a nation are not on a good path.

But it is not too late to change direction and to choose a better path. If we are willing to keep Dr. King's admonition in mind to pursue policies that are just, that are in harmony with eternal, natural and moral law, then we can reclaim America and restore our future.

NOM is committed to working with all policymakers, legislators, judges and officials — President Obama included — to support policies that strengthen marriage and thereby uplift American families, protect children and advance the common good. That is our commitment to the nation, and that is our promise to you.

On this historic day, may God continue to richly bless this country, her elected and appointed officials, and the men and women who serve under her flag.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Over a million people protesting in the streets of Paris for marriage. In Great Britain, a million leaflets opposing gay marriage are being distributed in swing districts.

Here I am in Paris, giving you a front-row seat to see what happened:

Here at home, a thousand people thronged the steps of Rhode Island's capitol building, led by black and Hispanic pastors:

As the fight for marriage gears up again in Minnesota, Rhode Island, Illinois, Washington D.C., and elsewhere, I will go to the battle with French words ringing in my ears.

Frigide Barjot, the organizer of the Paris rally for marriage, gave the speech of a lifetime.

"You, President of the Republic," Barjot proclaimed, "cannot remain unmoved before the growing uneasiness of the French people who now are finding out what is really behind the so-called "marriage for all."

She went on:

The 'marriage for all' is a juridical denial of the most elementary reality of humanity, constituted as it is "man and woman", the only union naturally capable of siring new life.

You, President of the Republic — Will you be the one to float a travesty — that a human being can be born of two men or of two women? "Marriage for all" inscribes fundamental discrimination into our law among children, an inequality between children who will be born of a mother and a father, and children who will be born of two fathers, and children who will be born of two mothers.

You, President of the Republic — Will you be the one to abolish the basic equality of birth among children?

She makes a magnificent point we pro-marriage fighters in the United States have not paid enough attention to: marriage as equality between men and women.

Marriage embodies the equal dignity of men and women in the creation and care of the next generation. Marriage expresses children's equal right to the love and care of both their mother and father.

We cannot, and will not, surrender to the winds of fashion something so true, so good, and so beautiful. We will continue to stand united in this fight, both here and abroad — because unity is what marriage is all about.

This is the point that NOM's Chairman of the Board, Prof. John Eastman, made in a recent press interview regarding the National Cathedral's sad decision to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in its hallowed halls. Same-sex marriage is not a value that unites us, as its advocates claim: instead, it is deeply divisive, as the Episcopal Church is finding out all too painfully right now:

And so we, the defenders of marriage, continue to stand in unity, as Americans and with all marriage supporters worldwide!

Pray for the people of France and Great Britain who are fighting back against the elites.

And pray for all of us standing on the front lines for marriage.

The fight continues!

Dear Marriage Ally,

I write to you from France, where a pro-marriage rebellion is underway!

Francois Hollande, the ultra liberal President of France, swept into power last May, promising among many other things a swift legalizing of same-sex marriage and adoption.

But the people of France did not want this to be.

You see, the French people know in their bones that every child deserves a mother and father. And so they took to the streets – hundreds of thousands of them!

I am proud to be a part of this historic moment in France. See for yourself:

The pro-marriage movement in France is passionate, diverse, uncompromising and inspired. They are also calm, rational and persistent.

This was the biggest pro-marriage demonstration to date. Conservative estimates number the crowds in the hundreds of thousands.

They held signs that read "Une papa, une maman pour TOUS les enfants! — which means "A dad, a mom for ALL children." Some children held signs that read "Made in papa + maman": "Made in mom and dad."

I have been so excited to be part of this new international solidarity movement in defense of marriage, children and family.

I will certainly be reflecting more on this experience on my flight home. And I would ask you to join me in thinking about more creative ways we can proclaim our pro-marriage views with passion and conviction...and in the public square where our fellow Americans can see our fervor and resolution.

I can't wait to come back to the country I love.

But I am inspired to see that those of us in America who hold the institution of marriage sacred truly have so many friends overseas and around the world.

A new day is dawning for marriage.

As I said when I ended a speech last night before a group of French leaders in the fight to protect marriage: Vive le Marriage -- Vive la France!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

A massive rebellion against gay marriage is brewing in France. I'm here now, and I'll report to you first hand from the rally planned for Sunday.

To read the news accounts in the U.S., you would think gay marriage is inevitable here. Like everywhere.

That's what they always say, right? Recognize that argument for what it is: a tactic to make you feel helpless and impotent and therefore submissive. To get you to give up and just submit to whatever they have planned.

There are only two things we know for sure about the future: it hasn't happened yet. And for those of us who are people of faith—we know that God is in charge.

But to be here is to recognize something extraordinary is happening, something totally unpredicted when French President Francois Hollande set out to pass gay marriage: a massive popular rebellion.

The Sights To Be Seen

I just witnessed something I never expected to happen: a Communist party member (yes!?) here in France who is going to vote "no" on gay marriage. (Stay tuned for more!)

I witnessed something I expected but still never hoped to see: government officials threatening Catholics schools if they try to teach against gay marriage.

The new elected ruler of France has no plans to marry his current partner. After all, he never married, in thirty years, the mother of his four children, with whom he split up recently. His current partner is legally married to another man.

Perhaps you can't expect a man with those views and values to understand that marriage is, for so many, a sacred value (even for many without explicit religious belief); to understand that marriage is society's way of expressing not just a personal relationship but an intergenerational compact: the need to bring together male and female so that children can know the love of their mother and father.

But these truths, written on the human heart by Nature and Nature's God, are not so easily obliterated from the face of this Earth.

The Voices To Be Heard

The New York Times likes to portray this as a purely religious debate; France, though secular, is still Catholic, the New York Times headline brays.

I wish.

The truth is more complicated and interesting. Yes, Christian and Catholic leaders have taken strong stands opposing the legal deconstruction of marriage. Yes, Muslims leaders—a fairly large minority in France—are raising their voices. Yes, the Chief Rabbi of France has written eloquently (as Pope Benedict himself noticed) about the moral issues raised by gay marriage in France and elsewhere.

But some of the most fascinating and powerful critiques of gay marriage are coming from French gay men.

The French website is homovox.com. We first noticed them from unofficial translation published by a Professor Robert Oscar Lopez at the American Thinker.

We are now in the process of bringing translations of these videos to you. Keep checking the NOM blog!

Here, for example, is Jean Pier: a 49-year-old self-described homosexual filmmaker, explaining why he opposes gay marriage in France:

I am a documentary author for TV and I'm homosexual.

I have to wonder, "who's this law for?" I say to myself, "Is it made for homosexuals?" I live in Provence and I work in Paris. I know very few homosexuals who wish to marry beyond the PACS (civil unions) they already have. In fact, the number of people in PACS unions in France, couples of the same sex, is minimal. Therefore, who's this law for? If it's for the 5,000 people who live in the district of Le Marrais, then it's just a militant act. But behind it all, it must be a question of the child.

I've had this business of freedom and equality. Then I pose this question: What of the freedom and equality of the child? The child won't have its equality vis-a-vis its friends in school. Its peers may have divorced and blended families, but they have, at least, a father and mother.

He concludes, "Finally, when I look at this proposed law, I conclude that it's a law for gays, but not for homosexuals. I do not want to support it."

Here is the voice of another gay man sticking up for French marriage, Phillipe Arino.

Phillipe has some interesting insights on gay marriage and how it relates to issues of 'equality': "There are bad/wrong equalities. We call that conformism, uniformity. A lack of recognition to the realities of people. The gay activists who treat equality as sacred do not differentiate between equal rights and the equality of identity. Equality of the law, and equality of self-respect or dignity."

Meanwhile, Stateside

In Illinois, where gay marriage advocates tried and failed to quickly shove through a gay marriage bill in the lame duck session, a rebellion of another kind is brewing: against GOP turncoat Pat Brady, head of the Illinois Republican party, who unilaterally gave cover to liberal Democrats by endorsing gay marriage and accusing his own party of bigotry and discrimination!

NOM took the leadership on holding him accountable for his betrayal, calling for his resignation, and promising a quarter of a million dollar against any Republican who votes for gay marriage.

Brady is doubling down now with ever more hateful rhetoric directed against his voters:

"If people want to throw me out because I took a stand on an issue of discrimination [as] the chairman of the Republican Party, the party founded by Abraham Lincoln, then that's — that's up to them and they're free to do it," Brady said. "But I'm not backing down."

Thanks to your support of NOM, we're keeping up the pressure — and Brady's betrayal is not passing unnoticed.

WBEZ reports, "Facing Rebellion, state Chair rejects calls to resign over gay marriage support":

State GOP Chairman Pat Brady faces growing calls for his resignation… Conservative groups and activists pounced on Brady shortly after he released a statement last week offering his "full support" of a bill before the General Assembly that would legalize same-sex marriage. But now the public demands for his ouster are coming from party leaders themselves.

"Pat Brady is a total disgrace," said Bobbie Peterson, a Republican state central committeewoman from Beecher, Ill.

"He's a pretty face for TV. He can speak well. Period," Peterson said. "But what's coming out of his mouth is not what the Illinois Republican party is about."

Four committeemen told the news organization they have asked Brady to resign, representing nearly half of the votes needed to boot him out.

State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, who sits on the Republican State Central Committee, criticized Brady for dividing the party just when it was trying to focus on resolving the state's serious fiscal issues: "His role as chairman should be to concentrate on uniting the party, and not dividing the party," Syverson said.

A party official that decides he hates the party's most loyal supporters, and is willing to stand with those who drive Christian charities out of the public square and excludes Christian views from public respect… such a public official won't be long with his party.

America's Church?

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., more evidence of that exclusion of Christians looms. Washington National Cathedral is a private church and they are free to do gay marriages if they want. But as this historic cathedral in our nation's Capital repudiates historic Christianity, the full reach and impact of gay marriage is becoming increasingly clear.

President Obama accepted the withdrawal of Pastor Louie Giglio from Obama's inauguration ceremonies, after the gay lobby insisted he either repudiate a sermon he preached in the 1990s or withdraw.

They called on him to repudiate, according to leftist Think Progress, particularly this statement in the sermon: homosexuality "is sin in the eyes of God, and it is sin in the word of God."

Now, I know many good people who oppose gay marriage who do not believe this. (I doubt Phillipe Arino does!) If you oppose gay marriage for nonreligious reasons—welcome to our coalition! Whether you are homosexual or straight, you are not alone!

Of course, we must never forget the basic dignity of all human beings, including gay people, even as we fight against wrongs such as same-sex marriage.

Nonetheless, Pastor Giglio's view is the standard view of sexual morality in orthodox Christianity (and Judaism, and Hinduism, and Islam, and Buddhism) for thousands of years.

His withdrawal under political pressure demonstrates the New World Order at the White House: traditional Christianity must be excluded; the wrath of gay advocates is more important than national unity or the principle of tolerance and inclusiveness.

The White House announcement was made quietly. The mainstream news is not going to let you know this stuff.

But—thanks to your help and all you've done—we're able to get the word out!

And thank you as well for another, tremendous victory—also totally unreported by the news media!

The Center for Military Readiness reports Congress took steps on significant new religious liberty protections for military chaplains. (President Obama also opposed these new protections incidentally, saying they were not necessary. And we know this fight isn't over—not by a long shot.)

Still, we've won a victory for now. We let you know about these proposed protections, and you stepped up to the plate—in a big way! After we asked you, on Dec. 6, to write to Congress and insist on religious liberty protection for chaplains in the National Defense Authorization Act, you sent than 12,500 letters as a response to this call! And guess what? Congress noticed!

Power to the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth! Not if you and I have anything to say about it—and this proves once again that we do!

The hour is late. The battles are tough—you and I both know this.

Now is the time for the tough to stand tall and proud and fearless for the good of marriage.

I am personally so grateful to you for the fellowship we share.

Please pray for the Center for Military Readiness, which took great leadership in this victory, for the Family Research Council—and for all those at the front lines of this marriage fight.

United we stand with justice on our side, for the deepest and most important truths about human nature.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Your legislators need to hear from you today in support of the Indiana Marriage Amendment.

Click here to take action now.

The amendment was passed by the legislature in 2011, and needs just one more legislative approval before going to voters in 2014.

But gay marriage activists and their allies in the media are playing up opposition to the amendment — trying to persuade House and Senate leadership to postpone a vote on the measure. Most recently, a group of liberal clergy — representing groups such as the United Church of Christ, LifeJourney Church (a Metropolitan Community Church whose website indicates it was founded by "18 devout gay Christians"), and The Church Within, among others — gained airtime with a public letter urging the legislature to reject the marriage amendment.

With substantial Republican majorities in both houses, the amendment stands a good chance of passage if brought to a vote, but recent reports indicate that Senate President Pro Tem David Long (R-Fort Wayne) is hedging on whether he will allow the amendment to be voted on in the Senate.

I need you to do two things right now:

1. Click here to send an email to your state legislators urging them to support the Indiana Marriage Amendment. A copy of your letter will also be sent to Senate President David Long and House Speaker Brian Bosma.

2. Forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. We need a groundswell of public support to make sure legislators know their constituents stand firmly on the side of marriage.

We're on the cusp of a major victory in Indiana, and need your help to make the amendment a reality. Please take action today!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Pat Brady, Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, recently betrayed conservative voters and Republicans by publically advocating for the passage of same-sex marriage legislation in Illinois.

Brady, in remarks to the press, claimed that same-sex marriage was "a key Republican value" — despite the strong pro-marriage wording of the most recent Republican National Committee Platform and the fact that every major GOP candidate for president this past political cycle was in favor of protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

Should someone so opposed to "key Republican values" be representing his party in a state so frequently targeted by liberals who want to redefine marriage, including President Obama himself? Don't we want someone leading the GOP in Illinois who will advocate for the conservative and commonsense principles and values that unite us?

Kelly Hayes, a Republican committee member in Illinois, put it best when she voiced her dismay at Brady's advocacy for same-sex marriage:

I am particularly provoked that our party chairman would take time on the first business day of our New Year NOT to make calls on behalf of pension reform and spending cuts, NOT to make calls on behalf of our besieged 2nd Amendment, NOT to make calls on behalf of anything in the 2012 Illinois Republican Platform at all. Instead, he calls Republican legislators to ask them to redefine marriage, a traitorous assault on one of our party platform's most important social tenets as well as current Illinois and federal law.

Pat Brady needs to step down now. Sadly, he has embarrassed himself and the Illinois Republican Party.

It truly is "a traitorous assault!"

Brady has betrayed us, betrayed his party, misrepresented "key Republican values," and insulted conservative voters in Illinois and across America who deserve leaders who refuse to sell out on such a fundamental and crucial issue like the defense of marriage, children and family.

The future of marriage in Illinois demands that Brady be replaced immediately with a brave pro-marriage individual who will fight back against the out-of-state liberal activists now attempting to impose gay marriage on the Land of Lincoln without the will or consent of the we the people.

Tell the Illinois GOP today that Pat Brady must go, and that it is time for the party to reinforce real "key Republican values" — marriage and family, the well-being of children, the rule of law, and the rights of voters like you and me.

We already know the consequences of same-sex marriage becoming law in Illinois will be disastrous. We saw last year, when civil unions were passed in Illinois, that it immediately impacted religious liberties, despite the promises of the bill's sponsors that it would do no such thing.

In fact, within months of civil unions being passed, Lutheran and Catholic adoption and foster care agencies in Illinois were forced to shut! And we know that same-sex marriage poses even more risks to people of faith than the damage civil unions have already caused.

Let us ensure the same thing does not happen again (or worse!), and make sure that we have strong pro-marriage leaders in Illinois speaking up for the rights of voters, for the good of children, the protection of our families and for the values we all hold dear.

Take action right away!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

This year is going to be BIG!

We've been working over the holiday break to formulate our national strategy for 2013.

We're putting the finishing touches on our plans right now, and I'm excited about sharing some major new initiatives with you in the coming weeks...so be on the look out for those emails!

By the time you read this, I'll be on a plane to help with one of these major initiatives—you'll be hearing about that in a few short days.

But in the mean time, would you please consider making a donation to NOM of $25, $50, $100, $500 or more to help us fund the launch of these game-changing, outside-of-the-box initiatives?

Already this year we've scored a major victory by defeating a same-sex marriage bill during the Illinois legislature lame duck session—a push that was once again heralded as "inevitable" by same-sex marriage advocates and the media...a bill that had political pressure brought to bear by Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama!

Make no mistake: we still have a long way to go to stop same-sex marriage from coming to IL, but what a way to start the year!

Please make a donation right away to NOM to help us launch these major new 2013 initiatives.

I look forward to sharing this exciting news with you in the days and weeks to come.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

"Not Enough Votes!"

Too. Close. To. Call.

That's what the liberal Chicago Defender just called the vote—"Too close to call."

Not. Enough. Votes. That's what a spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton told The Associated Press late Thursday: "There aren't currently enough votes to pass it on the floor."

What a difference 48 hours makes!

Not 'Inevitable' After All

Listen, we always knew this January would be full of tough, tough battles, with gay marriage advocates pushing gay marriage legislation deep in one-party blue states, like Illinois.

Just a few weeks ago, after the November elections, Equality Illinois was promising to "ride this momentum [for gay marriage] to its inevitable victory in Illinois."

But a funny thing happened on the way to "inevitability"—YOU!

You—and thousands of other decent, loving, law-abiding Americans—spoke up for God's truth about marriage! And yesterday the Illinois Senate adjourned without a vote on the gay marriage bill. The state senate was expected to meet on Friday to vote for gay marriage; but instead, they've unexpectedly cancelled Friday's session and adjourned for the weekend.

"The fate of a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage has been called into question," the Windy City Media group reports. "Repeated foibles have raised serious question about whether the vote can pass by January 9."

The AP reports: "Expectations were high that Cullerton's Democrats would approve a gay marriage bill. A committee OK'd the measure Thursday, but backers are uncertain when they'll call it for a floor vote after the proposal hit several unexpected snags."

Heather Steans, the sponsor of the gay marriage bill, told the gay publication The Chicago Phoenix late Thursday that she plans to move the bill on Tuesday... if she can "account for the 30 'yes' votes necessary to pass the bill."

"Right now, we are missing some of our 'yes' votes as I think some of you know," Steans told the Pheonix. "So I think we are likely to be back down here again. Things are very fluid down here as you know."

'Very fluid'... let me translate: she doesn't yet have the votes.

We've Been Here Before

This is no time to give up on your phone calls and emails.

A poll of Illinois voters by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling late last year found only a minority of Illinois voters support gay marriage (47 percent). A poll in September by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, which offered voters the option of civil unions, found just 43.6 percent of Illinois residents approve of gay marriage, with 31.8 percent preferring the current law of civil unions and 20.2 percent saying there should be no legal recognition of such unions.

But despite ongoing public opposition, Pat Brady—chairman of the Illinois Republican Party—on Wednesday threw his "full support" behind the gay marriage bill, calling it "the best conservative principles."

He also claimed religious freedom would be protected.

Right, we heard those promises about Illinois' civil unions bill!

The civil unions bill (passed just 18 months ago) also had the Orwellian title, "The Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act." Equality Illinois promised that the bill would protect religious liberty. In fact, they promised that "[the] act would... not impact faith-based adoption agencies or adoption procedures" [emphasis added].

The bill's sponsor, State Senator David Koehler (D-Peoria), also promised on the floor that the bill would not affect Christian adoption agencies. But before the ink was dry, homosexual activists were charging Catholic Charities, Evangelical Child and Family Services and other Christian adoption agencies with "discrimination"—and they succeeded in shutting down these caring Christian services for abused and abandoned children.

Here's the eyewitness testimony of three families who adopted children through Evangelical Children and Family Services, one of the adoption agencies driven from the public square because they honor traditional Christian views on marriage and family:

Is this what Pat Brady considers a 'conservative value'?

Like you, I was appalled.

So on Thursday NOM, with your help, threw down the gauntlet: We called for turncoat Pat Brady's resignation. We pledged $250,000 to help Illinois voters who care about marriage "retire" any Republican who votes for gay marriage.

Pat Brady's move is not just wrong; it's stupid.

David Cameron tried it in Great Britain: by pushing gay marriage, he's instigated what one newspaper called the "biggest rebellion" against his so-called Conservative party in a generation.

Four Republicans in the New York state senate also tried it and cast their votes for gay marriage.

The whole political establishment showered these turncoats with cash and lionized their "courage" for betraying the values of the people who put them in office. But with your help, NOM made sure at election time voters knew about this betrayal of their constituents' core values, and in the end the voters had the last word.

Even the New York Times eventually had to concede, "As four Republican state senators, one by one, agreed to break with their party and cast a politically risky vote to legalize same-sex marriage last year, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and gay-rights advocates vowed to do everything in their power to protect them against political retribution. But when the Legislature returns to Albany next month, only one of those four senators will be among those sworn into office."

Coalition Continues To Build In Illinois

Gay marriage was supposed to be a done deal in the Land of Lincoln. But then you and thousands of Illinoisans swung into action. Thank you!

Of course, NOM is only one part of a broad coalition that continues to grow. We are so grateful to the Illinois Family Institute, among many others.

After NOM took the lead, more Illinois conservative voices are standing up to Pat Brady's betrayal, conservative leaders in Illinois have begun speaking up against Pat Brady's betrayal of the Illinois Replublicans.

McLean County GOP chairman John Parrot is quoted by the Illinois Review stating his strong opinion on this matter: "You can put me on the record that I want Pat Brady to step down due to his actions of supporting Gay Marriage, which is against the Illinois Republican Party Platform."

Karen Hayes, another platform committee member, said it more strongly still: "Pat Brady needs to step down now. Sadly, he has embarrassed himself and the Illinois Republican Party."

Republican Party figures in the state are planning a press conference on the steps of the capitol to fight back against Brady's mischaracterization of gay marriage as a "conservative value."

Meanwhile, the voices of more than 1,700 faith communities from all different religious traditions—from Missouri-Synod Lutherans to Mormons to Muslims—swelled into a chorus in a recent joint statement, urging: don't do this; don't redefine marriage. Marriage, these religious leaders wrote, "is the natural order embracing the complementary physical, emotional and spiritual design of men and women."

Cardinal George and the other Illinois Catholic bishops sent a powerful letter to priests urging them to urge their flock to call legislators: "Civil laws that establish 'same-sex marriage' create a legal fiction," George and the bishops contended. "The state has no power to create something that nature itself tells us is impossible."

Meanwhile, late in the week, NBC Chicago's blog was reminiscing about the so-called "first same-sex wedding in Illinois" which took place on Dec. 12, 1995, in the small town of Lanford, which lies between Rockford and Elgin:

Leon Carp, the co-owner of a diner called the Lanford Lunchbox, married his boyfriend Scott at the Lanford Women's Club, in a ceremony that featured Judy Garland impersonators, male strippers, Michelangelo's David wearing a pink feather boa, and a red heart reading GAY LOVE, GAY POWER.

It was a Hollywood fiction, an episode of the comedy show Roseanne. Hollywood came back to Illinois this week, full circle, when the star of TV's Modern Family, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, appeared to lobby legislators. He sported a special custom bow tie that he is selling to raise money for gay marriage—not a feather boa, but the message that Hollywood supports gay marriage was unmistakably clear.

Hollywood will not have the last word, though, I promise you.

Finally, I owe a word of thanks to Bishop Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, who sent his own letter to be read in parishes this Sunday. He writes powerfully:

Our state's elected lawmakers will soon consider a bill called "The Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act." A more fraudulent title for this dangerous measure could not be imagined. The proposed law is, in truth, a grave assault on both religious liberty and marriage. [...]

[N]either two men nor two women can possibly form a marriage. Our law would be lying if it said that they could. The basic structure of marriage as the exclusive and lasting relationship of a man and a woman, committed to a life which is fulfilled by having children, is given to us in human nature, and thus by nature's God. [...]

This so-called "religious freedom" bill would not stop the state from obligating the Knights of Columbus to make their halls available for same-sex "weddings". It would not stop the state from requiring Catholic grade schools to hire teachers who are legally "married" to someone of the same sex. Nor would it protect me, the Bishop of Springfield, if I refused to employ someone in a same-sex "marriage." [...]

Why should we expect it to be otherwise? After all, we would be people who, according to the thinking behind the bill, hold onto an "unfair" view of marriage. The state would have equated our view with bigotry—which it uses the law to marginalize in every way short of criminal punishment."

He ends by calling all people of good will, but especially the faithful Catholics under his care, to "defeat this perilous proposal."

Amen!

Nature and nature's God both teach us that marriage is the union of husband and wife for a reason.

Listen: these are hard tough, fights; I am not going to lie to you. Nothing is certain—except this: we will be there standing as your voice for your values; they knock us down, we get back up, and we will continue to fight for what is right and true and good about marriage.

And, with your help, we are making a huge difference!

Thank you, and God bless you!

Until next week, stay strong.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We've just received word that Illinois Democrats have canceled plans to vote on same-sex marriage this week, unable to secure enough support to guarantee passage. Publicly, they're saying that it's just because some of their supporters are out of town, but we are hearing that your pressure is part of the reason legislators don't want to vote on this issue.

There's a long way to go, but suddenly same-sex marriage in Illinois isn't as inevitable as everyone said.

*   *   *   *   *

Meanwhile, there's plenty of work still to be done, and I need your help right now to keep the pressure on.

You may have already seen the headlines: "Illinois GOP Chair Backs Same-Sex Marriage."

Yesterday, Pat Brady, head of the Illinois Republican Party, endorsed the same-sex marriage legislation pending in Springfield, in prominent opposition to the state and national Republican party platforms. Republican activists and pro-family voters from every corner of Illinois are outraged and calling on Pat Brady to resign as leader of the party.

Marriage and family are central, not just to the Republican Party platform, but to the votes and values of Republicans across the nation. NOM joins with voices from across the state in demanding that Pat Brady step down or be removed as leader of the party.

We are calling on all GOP donors to immediately stop funding to the Illinois GOP, and to let the party know that you will be withholding any future donations as long as Pat Brady is head of the party.

Instead, I would urge you to take those dollars that you would normally give to the Republican Party, and give them to NOM, or to one of the wonderful pro-family groups in Illinois fighting to defend marriage.

In addition to calling on Pat Brady to resign, NOM today pledged to form a brand new PAC, funded with $250,000 to defeat any Republican lawmakers who vote for same-sex marriage. Any Republican in Illinois who betrays the cause of marriage will be casting a career-ending vote and will be held accountable to their constituents.

We will spend whatever it takes — hundreds of thousands of dollars if necessary — to remove them from office, just as we did three of the four turncoat Republican state Senators in New York who were responsible for gay 'marriage' passing there. We will not hesitate to support pro-family Democrats to replace them, as our record in New York proves.

Please take a moment right now to call the Illinois Republican Party and demand the resignation of Pat Brady. Call them at (217) 525-0011. Let them know it is simply unacceptable to have a party chairman who so openly flauts values central to the party and its platform.

Also, if you live in Illinois, please make a phone call to your state senator and representative. We have won a major battle today, but the war continues on, as gay marriage activists work to organize support for a vote very soon.

Please click here to look up phone numbers for your legislators.

And use this link to send them an email!

Finally — and this is crucial, especially for those of you outside of Illinois — please keep forwarding this information to your friends and family who live in Illinois. We need every voice engaged in this fight.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

As the legislature returns to Springfield, powerful elites—from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to President Obama himself—are pressing lawmakers to approve a measure that would redefine marriage and jeopardize the rights of religious believers across the state.

While most citizens in the Land of Lincoln have been celebrating the Christmas and New Year holidays, gay marriage activists have been busy contacting legislators and lobbying in support of SSM.

The bill is now scheduled for a Senate committee vote as early as this evening.

Have you contacted your state senator and representative yet?

If you haven't, then please use this link to send your state lawmakers a message today. It only takes a minute, and it is vitally important that they hear from you right away!

Even better would be a phone call, if you have the time to spare. Letting your voice be heard by your elected legislators is the best way to ensure that they get the marriage loud and clear: the people of Illinois do not want marriage redefined!

So, even if you have already sent your email message (thank you!), please take a moment to make two short phone calls today as well.

The Democratic leadership in Springfield is trying to railroad this bill through during the lame duck session. Our best chance to stop this measure is to get the word out, prompting a massive groundswell of opposition from every corner of the state.

So please call your legislators right now, and then help us spread the word, using the buttons below to post this email to Facebook and Twitter, and forward it to all of your friends and family across the state. Together, we can resist this radical legislative action and all of the disastrous consequences it would entail—but only if we act right away!

I know I can count on you to help. Thank you!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Today is the last day to take advantage of our $500,000 matching challenge.

Please make a year-end donation IMMEDIATELY to help us reach our goal and enter the New Year with the resources we need to counter the assault on marriage that is being organized RIGHT NOW by same-sex marriage radicals.

Remember, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a generous supporter, doubling the impact of your gift!

We have a plan. Several states are being targeted by our opponents for advancing same-sex marriage legislation . . . and NOM will be making sure that the voters in those states know what their legislators are doing, and that those legislators know how their constituents feel.

But we need funds to counter the other side's onslaught of deception and lies.

In November, we were outspent by almost $23 million in the four states where marriage was on the ballot. We CANNOT allow ourselves to be overwhelmed again by such a drastic financial disparity.

Your immediate contribution will help us mobilize defenders of marriage at the grassroots level to send a message to legislators around the country: your constituents are watching, and they will remember how you vote on same-sex marriage come election time!

We have a ways to go to reach our goal of raising $500,000 for marriage, so please make a donation right away.

Follow this link to make an urgent donation of $50, $100, $500 or more—and every dollar you give for marriage will be doubled to fund our grassroots campaign.

Can I count on your help in this critical hour?

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Same-sex marriage advocates in Delaware are very publicly planning a push for a new law to redefine marriage when the Legislature reconvenes for its new session in just over a week. Governor Markell claims that the passage of same-sex marriage in The First State is "inevitable."

But you and I both know that that's a lie!

The inevitability of SSM isn't a fact—it's an argument same-sex marriage advocates use over and over in an attempt to get the American people to give up the fight for what we know is true about marriage:

Marriage is a good for both individuals and society.

Marriage unites men and women, and protects children.

This is the truth. And we need the law to uphold that truth, not undermine it.

Please click here to send a message to your state lawmakers today. Let them know the people of Delaware are watching, and will hold them accountable for their vote on the marriage issue when election time rolls around.

The consequences of these politicians' votes will impact Delawareans from all walks of life, but people of faith will bear the brunt of it.

Activists know the American people—even those who support same-sex marriage—don't want to force religious groups to go against their beliefs. And yet, everywhere same-sex marriage becomes law, it is religious believers who become the law's first targets.

Across the country, Catholic Charities is being forced to abandon adoption and foster care services as a result of same-sex marriage being enacted in various states.

Reception halls, inns, and bed-and-breakfasts face lawsuits for declining to host same-sex wedding ceremonies or receptions.

And schools across the country are facing increasing pressures to teach elementary students about "Prince & Prince," or "Heather's Two Mommies."

Send your lawmakers a message: Don't Mess with Marriage!

Please use this link to email your state senator and representative today, urging them to reject same-sex marriage in the upcoming legislative session.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Success or failure may well hinge on the outpouring of opposition to this bill that politicians receive over the next couple of weeks. After you take action, PLEASE IMMEDIATELY FORWARD this email to all your friends and family in Delaware, or use the social networking buttons below to post to Facebook or Twitter.

Thank you.