The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Cooper-Harris and her partner, charging that the Department of Veterans Affairs discriminated against them by denying these benefits but granting them to spouses in heterosexual marriages. It also charges the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional because it bans federal agencies from recognizing such same-sex marriages, denying these couples benefits available to couples in heterosexual marriages.

More than that, he didn't even mention his ongoing efforts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

Gay marriage activists want to tell us that gay marriage is popular, and that DOMA is unpopular.

What does the President know that gay marriage activists don't want to admit?

There are plenty of factors that any voter needs to sort out in deciding whom to support for president. For me, one very important factor is which candidate is most likely to nominate excellent Supreme Court justices and lower-court judges and to work tenaciously to get them confirmed. On this score, the candidate in whom I have by far the greatest confidence is Rick Santorum.

I know Rick not only from his work as a senator but from his four-plus years as a colleague of mine at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. (Rick disaffiliated from EPPC just before he launched his presidential campaign.) Rick is deeply committed to the battle against liberal judicial activism, and I’d be delighted to have him making judicial nominations.

The case of a federal employee whose lesbian partner was denied spousal benefits under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was heard in a federal court today — and in an unprecedented twist, the U.S. Department of Justice was fighting against the law of the land

... “Taxpayers should take special note of this case,” said CitizenLink Judicial Analyst Bruce Hausknecht. “After the administration and the DOJ abandoned the defense of DOMA in all pending cases, and the House of Representatives hired Paul Clement to defend the law, the DOJ then filed a brief in this case arguing against Clement’s position — effectively putting the force of the federal government and the tax dollars that fund it — on opposite sides in the same case. What an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars!

“What’s worse, the administration and DOJ took the position that DOMA was unconstitutional after several federal courts had already held it constitutional. That undermines any possibility that the administration and DOJ were operating in good faith by declaring they didn’t feel they could defend the constitutionality of DOMA.”

A provision added to the Senate defense authorization bill would give military chaplains the right to opt out of performing same sex “marriages.”

The amendment was introduced last month by Republican Senator Roger Wicker and approved by a unanimous voice vote.

“Protections for military chaplains should be guaranteed in any policy changes being implemented,” Wicker said, alluding to widespread fears that the conscience rights of military chaplains would be trampled in the wake of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal.

A September memorandum from the Pentagon authorizing military chaplains to officiate at same-sex “weddings” despite the fact that federal law prohibits recognition of same-sex “marriages” had further heightened such fears.

Please help us overcome a looming shortfall!

Increasingly virulent and frequent attacks from the same-sex marriage lobby have depleted our emergency funds, and we need your help!

As 2011 draws to a close, everyone at the National Organization for Marriage is excited about the election year ahead, which we believe will be full of huge victories for traditional marriage.

But unless we raise additional funds quickly, we will be faced with hard decisions about where to begin scaling back our efforts for next year. NOM does not have the resources to accomplish everything we need to do...and with the many new and critical marriage battles upcoming in 2012, this is the exact wrong time for us to have to scale back.

Friend, will you make one emergency year-end gift of $25, $50, $100 or even $1,000 if you can afford it, to NOM right now to help us eliminate our budget shortfall before the end of the year?

Simply click here and make the most generous gift you can right now.

We're in a position to overcome our financial shortcomings because a generous donor has stepped up with a pledge to match every gift between now and the end of the year up to $1 million. Your gift of $50 instantly becomes $100. A gift of $500 is worth $1000 to help protect marriage in 2012!

My staff and I just took a hard look at some recent projections about what the same-sex marriage lobby is planning to spend between now and Election Day, 2012.

And it is clear their entire strategy is to flood America's airwaves, mailboxes, and email in-boxes with vicious attack ads against anyone who stands in their way.

Their goal is gay marriage in all 50 states, and they will do whatever it takes—and spend whatever amount—to make that happen.

We have a plan to fight them at every turn, but without a significant year-end infusion of support, we may have no choice but to scale back our election year programs.

What should I do?

• Should I abandon a state like Maryland, New Jersey or Rhode Island, where marriage is under fire?

• Should I scale back our efforts to repeal same-sex marriage in a state like Iowa, New Hampshire or New York?

• Should I stop our Washington-based lobbying efforts to protect the Defense of Marriage Act (there is new legislation to repeal DOMA) and just hope for the best?

• Should I scale back our plans for the presidential election, letting President Obama off the hook for the lies he will tell on the campaign trail?

Obviously, I don't want to do any of that!

So please—right now—make the most generous year-end gift you can afford to NOM of $25, $50, $100, $500 or more so we can close our budget shortfall.

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

P.S.I know we've asked a lot of you this year, and believe me, your generous help for NOM is greatly appreciated. We've done SO MANY good things together to protect marriage—society's most vital and enduring institution for good—from being destroyed.

But heading into the all-important 2012 election year, NOM is facing difficult decisions, and I am counting on your urgent help.

So please, double the impact of your gift by making one secure online donation $25, $50, $100, $500 or more to the National Organization for Marriage today.

Thank you and God bless you!

A Republican U.S. House member known for holding the most pro-LGBT views in her caucus has endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in his bid for president.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), who also serves as chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, announced her support for Romney in a statement on Tuesday that also criticized President Obama.

... In September, she became the first Republican to co-sponsor legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act...

... In a statement, Romney thanked Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers for supporting his campaign.

“I am proud to be working with Ileana, Mario, and Lincoln,” Romney said. “They’re conservative leaders who will help me articulate my vision to make America more prosperous at home and respected throughout the world.”

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Ever since the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, an all-out war over marriage has broken out in Washington.

The Human Rights Campaign — the deep-pocketed anti-marriage lobbying group that is determined to force same-sex marriage on every state in the nation — delivered thousands of anti-DOMA petitions to the Senate, and are urging their same-sex marriage activists to call their elected officials in droves.

Thanks to our generous supporters like you, NOM has taken the fight right back to our opponents, but now is no time to quit.

That's why I am asking you to please take two immediate actions:

First, if you haven't already, contact the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak with your Senator. Demand that your Senators vote against repealing DOMA (Senate Bill 598). Tell them you are paying attention, and you expect them to protect marriage. Then, you can email them here:

Second, make one urgent, generous gift to NOM using our secure credit card donation form.

Both actions are important, because the anti-marriage crusaders are using a slick, well-funded lobbying and publicity campaign to repeal DOMA, which is the only federal statute protecting states against radical lawsuits challenging marriage.

Your generous donations and your grassroots energy are our only way of fighting back!

This is the first time in history that a Senate Committee has passed anti-DOMA legislation. And if they succeed in sending this bill to President Obama's desk, he will sign it.

If that happens, it will be the absolute destruction of marriage in America...in your state, in my state, in all 50 states!

Your two U.S. Senators can put a stop to this madness, so make sure they hear from you, TODAY.

And please make one urgent financial gift to help NOM lead this fight in Washington.

Thank you in advance.

Keep fighting the good fight!

Sincerely,

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

The two hot topics of abortion and same-sex marriage became even hotter when Luntz, as well as representatives from Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage, questioned the candidates whether the issues were a matter for the states or whether AbrahamLincolnwas right in claiming, "States do not have the right to do wrong."

... Paul, however, pressed for constitutional limits on federal power, arguing, "States definitely have the right to be wrong," and that he would be "very cautious about nationalizing things."

... Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, at one point asked the candidates point blank if they would support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

"No," Paul answered succinctly.

Leading traditional marriage proponents told CBN News that condemnation is pouring down on their heads.

"It's becoming increasingly clear that the gay rights movement, the gay marriage movement, really does believe you're like a racist if you think marriage is the union of husband and wife," explained Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage. "They want to rip Genesis out of our Bibles."

... DOMA supporters say there's a reason governments have continuously favored and promoted traditional marriage.

"Marriage really matters in itself," Gallagher said. "It's the way we teach the next generation that we need to bring together male and female so that children have a mom and dad."

...Gallagher warned society is playing with fire when it condemns those who insist on one man, one woman marriage.

"And to have the government step in and redefine that view as a form of bigotry has immense consequences for every single human being living in a culture," she said.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

We just launched a critical fundraising drive to SAVE the Defense of Marriage Act.

Because legislation that will destroy marriage as we know it is now on the move!

Please make one URGENT and GENEROUS gift to the National Organization for Marriage right away!

Remember, we are still in the midst of our million dollar matching campaign, so every dollar you donate will be matched and have twice the impact!

Just a few days ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act to the full Senate.

Marriage Supporter, this is the first time in history that federal legislation to redefine marriage has been passed out of committee.

Why is this happening now? Two reasons:

First, the anti-marriage politicians in Washington believe that YOU aren’t paying attention. They think you’re too involved in your plans for the Holidays to care about what they are doing.

Second, the deep-pocketed lobbyists with the Human Rights Campaign are making an unprecedented, well-funded push to shove this legislation onto President Obama’s desk, where he will sign it into law.

They have launched a brand new national video campaign with anti-marriage celebrities and politicians all demanding homosexual marriage "rights."

We must have your support. Please stand with us and fight back to protect DOMA!

Fight back with us by making your most generous contribution of $50, $100 or even $500 to NOM right now – every penny we receive in the next few days will be spent spreading our pro-marriage message and responding to the lies and smears coming from the anti-marriage radicals.

Marriage Supporter, it is vital that we stop this anti-marriage legislation dead in its tracks before Congress goes in to recess for the holidays.

NOM is your voice in Washington, and the ONLY national grassroots group in America solely dedicated to fighting and winning for marriage.

Together, we can prevent this. But you and I must act now to STOP Congress from repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and forcing gay marriage on the entire nation.

So please do your part to make this "Save DOMA" fundraising drive a success. Make one urgent, generous gift to NOM of $50 or more right now.

Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

PS: Marriage Supporter, the Human Rights Campaign takes in more than $30,000,000 per year, and they receive free help from their celebrity friends and the news media.

We at the National Organization for Marriage rely on you and caring individuals just like you all over America. And we are dedicating ourselves to an emergency effort to protect the Defense of Marriage Act. PLEASE HELP!

Your urgent gift of $50 or more right now is important. Thank you and God bless you!

Here's would-be presidents Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich responding to a question from our own Brian Brown on DOMA:

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Senate liberals have sunk to a new low.

We can't let them get away with it.

Reports out of Washington are now indicating that – just a week after forcing a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) through the Judiciary Committee on a party line vote – Senator Diane Feinstein, Senate Judiciary Chair Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Majority Leader Harry Reid may now attach the DOMA repeal bill to the 2012 Defense Authorization bill, a bill that must be passed in order to fund our servicemen and women through the next year.

Please take a moment to send a message to your Senators right now, urging them to block this underhanded strategy to redefine marriage.

Senator Feinstein admits she doesn't have the votes to repeal DOMA on an up-or-down vote. So she's trying to attach it to a piece of "must-pass" legislation, forcing Senators to choose between voting against marriage and voting against our military and national defense. It's no wonder the American people are fed up with Congress.

Please, even if you've already sent a message, take action today. The Defense Authorization bill could come up for a vote at any time, and it's critical that we stop the DOMA repeal bill in its tracks. Urge your Senator to filibuster any effort to use the Defense Authorization to force same-sex marriage on the American people.

Here's what I'm asking you to do:

1. Send an email. Click here to send a message to your Senators, urging them to block any attempt at using the Defense Authorization bill to repeal DOMA.

2. Make a phone call. Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Senators by name (or click here to look them up). The Defense Authorization bill could come up very soon, and your phone calls are critical.

3. Tell your friends. Forward this email to family members, or use the links below to post to Facebook or Twitter. Together, we can send a powerful message to Washington!

   

Same-sex marriage advocates are making a powerful push to repeal DOMA in the Senate this year. We must stop them.

Please stand with us today.

Sincerely,

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

The number of interested parties in the same-sex marriage benefits dispute involving a deceased Cozen O'Connor partner continues to grow as a congressional committee seeks to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.

The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives asked a federal judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to grant it intervenor status solely to defend Section 3 of DOMA against challenges that it violates the equal protection or substantive due process components of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

... David and Joan Farley, the parents of deceased partner Sarah Ellyn Farley, are fighting with Farley's wife, Jennifer Tobits, about who should get the $41,000 or so left from Farley's profit-sharing plan. The parents argue the ERISA-qualified plan implicates federal law, meaning DOMA would not allow the term "spouse" in the plan to be considered a person of the same sex. Tobits argues that because ERISA doesn't define the term "spouse," the parties need only look to the plan itself and don't have to reach whether DOMA applies.

But in case DOMA's constitutionality is addressed, Tobits had put the DOJ and the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office on notice that she would challenge the validity of the laws. So far, Pennsylvania has not responded or sought intervenor status.

“This bill will pass. Marriage equality will pass. The question is not if but when and we should just go forward and do it,” Schumer said at the Capitol Thursday, where a group of Democratic senators reacted to the Respect for Marriage Act passing the Senate Judiciary Committee.

He then referenced King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” likening the fight against racial discrimination to the effort to repeal DOMA. [Daily Caller]

Senator Schumer said:

"I remembered Martin Luther King's 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail'. The leading so-called moderate business leaders of Birmingham came to Dr. King and said 'wait, just be patient' and his letter said 'Why We Can't Wait' and a line it it says 'to most of us, wait means never'. We can't wait. And just as people had all these reasons we shouldn't have racial equality, economic reasons, social reasons, some even cited religious reasons, we see the same thing happening today. They come up with all these reasons, but they know they're wrong in their hearts. We know we're on the side of history and we know that this will happen. And we just hope it's sooner not later."