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Category Archives: Marriage Update

Gay Marriage Radicals Reach New Low

By now, you've heard all about the incredible display of intolerance from supporters of gay marriage.

They've come to our peaceful marriage rallies in city after city to harass and intimidate us. We've seen men harass a nursing mother, refusing her request to feed her children in private and instead stare at her and block her ability to watch our rally from a safe distance. We've seen protestors draped in the rainbow flag storm the stage and scream, red-faced into the microphone to prevent our speakers from talking. We've seen them bait a five year old child, asking her if she's being raised by her mother to be a bigot. We've even heard a gay marriage supporter threaten to kidnap a child in attendance at a rally.

I thought I had heard and seen it all, but the radicals reached a new low yesterday in Madison, Wisconsin. NOM and its supporters gathered peacefully in Madison to pray for marriage and to stand in support of marriage remaining a sacred union between men and women.

We were honored to have Bishop Robert Morlino of the Diocese of Madison address the crowd. Bishop Morlino spoke of the need to love one another even as we disagree on the issue of same-sex marriage. Yet when he led the crowd in the Lord's Prayer, the gay marriage radicals screamed and booed him.

This is the face of intolerance. Isn't it something when people who so loudly demand tolerance from everybody else, show such intolerance for those who simply wish to pray to God for the preservation of His sacred institution?

The NOM Summer for Marriage Tour started out as a simple exercise to bring together supporters of marriage across the country to rally in support of an institution that we hold dear, something that has served society well since before there even was a society. And we've done that with hundreds of supporters across the country joining our tour, and tens of thousands joining our bus tour online.

But something else has happened along the way -- the people of America are seeing for the first time with their own eyes how radical our opponents truly are. These people who scream at our supporters, mock priests, taunt children and boo the Lord's Prayer are the very same people who, with a straight face, promise that they would never force their values on us if America would only legalize gay marriage.

Their lies have been laid bare for the world to see. And the world is watching it backfire on them. Last week alone, over 1.3 million people read about the gay radicals on Facebook. Millions more watched news reports and read about their antics in various news publications. Today in St. Paul, we had one of our largest rallies to date, with between 200 and 250 supporters coming out to stand for marriage. And rather than the protests dampening turnout, I've lost count how many people have come up to me to say that they came to the rally because they saw the videos of the protestors and are more determined than ever to stand up for marriage.

To say that the display of anger and intolerance has been a public relations disaster for the gay marriage movement is the understatement of the century. That's why two gay marriage groups yesterday attempted embarrassing efforts at spin control to try to deflect the public's attention away from what is happening at the marriage rallies.

Yesterday, the Human Rights Campaign issued a statement claiming the Summer for Marriage tour was an elaborate stunt designed to draw lawful protestors who are wrongly being portrayed by made-up stories of as harassment. Their problem, of course, is the video evidence that we have of screaming gay marriage radicals storming the podium and harassing nursing mothers and booing a Catholic Bishop leading a group in the Lord's Prayer.

Marriage Tour 2010 Marriage Tour 2010 Marriage Tour 2010

Do these look like "made up stories of harassment" to you? Unfortunately for the Human Rights Campaign, these are the faces of what the future will look like for anyone who opposes same-sex marriage. Groups like HRC and their supporters will use the full force of the law -- lawsuits, legislation, regulations and even public intimidation and harassment -- to force their vision and values on the American people. This is becoming more and more clear to America with every passing tour stop.

The group "Freedom to Marry"issued their own statement yesterday, but they apparently forgot to coordinate their message of the day with HRC. Instead of accusing us of "made up stories of harassment" this group showed a repulsive picture of someone whose sign featured a noose, implying that homosexuals should be put to death. They went on to "demand" that NOM repudiate thisœ"incitement to violence."€ We'd treat this call seriously if it weren't such a contrived stunt.

First of all, NOM has already repudiated this display of intolerance -- and did so on the spot (not through a press release). We demanded this individual to take down his sign, because it was inconsistent with NOM's aims, methods, and message: We come together in love to support marriage as one man and one woman.

Second, at every rally we make it clear that our fight is not with gay Americans, it is with a bad idea. The Lord teaches us that we are to love all His children. We approach the issue of marriage from the perspective of love. You can watch video of NOM's Chair, Maggie Gallagher, making this point here.

Our opponents are becoming more and more desperate as they watch their carefully scripted narrative of same-sex marriage crumble before the eyes of the American people.

We need your help to continue our successful Summer for Marriage tour and to continue to publicize this issue. If the tour is coming to a city near you, please come to show your support. We need all our supporters to rally around the cause, especially in these trying times. Visit www.marriagetour2010.com for all the latest tour information.

We also need your financial help to continue the tour. This is a costly and difficult tour to organize and implement. We have to feed, house and transport staff and volunteers in nearly two-dozen cities -- not to mention the cost of preparing, securing and keeping the bus and support vehicles on the road for the month-long tour. Please make a special contribution today to enable us to bear all the expenses of this historic tour.

There's no doubt that God is working a wondrous thing with the Summer for Marriage tour. We are changing hearts and minds across America. People are rallying to our side. Please keep us in your prayers, and remember us with a financial gift as well.

May God bless you and your family.
-Brian

New Poll: Black Californians oppose gay marriage 2-1

The black church, both here and in Africa, has proved particularly resistant to the idea of redefining marriage. Or, as Bishop Robert Battle told the Marriage Tour rally in St. Paul today: “The African American church is firm on the biblical truth that marriage is one man and one woman.”
 
A new poll from Public Policy Polling shows that in California, 60 percent of African-Americans oppose gay marriage, while just 28 percent support it.  Leaders of the black church, like Bishop McKinney of the Church of God in Christ  in San Diego and others, are a big part of the reason why.

Quick Recap on Madison Wisconsin: Brian is Back!

With Brian Brown at the helm, the crowd of pro-marriage supporters who gathered on the steps of the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin felt immediately at ease.

“We respond to intolerance and to incivility with love,” he told the pro-marriage crowd. Bishop Morlino who spoke echoed that message. He called for two Our Fathers, one for all the good folks in Wisconsin who know that marriage is a man and a woman, and one for those who disagree with us, that they will come to know the truth. He emphasized that there is no place in our movement for hatred of gay people, who have the right to be protected from unjust discrimination.

In a rare joint appearance, Maggie Gallagher told the crowd that our mission doesn’t end with winning this fight against gay marriage. Far more important is what we are for: building a civilization of love in which each year more and more children are born to and protected by their own mom and dad united by a loving marriage.

The intrepid Julaine Appling of the Wisconsin Family Institute—who fought the good fight for the Wisconsin marriage amendment that was approved by 59 percent of the people of Wisconsin in 2006, pointed out that the way the world works in Madison (with moral zealots shouting down their opponents) was not the whole world. “Marriage is under attack,” she said, “And the Wisconsin Family Institute is going to keep up the fight.”

Pastor Ron Dobie of Christ the King Community Church echoed Maggie’s sentiment: In protecting marriage we need to build marriages ourselves that shine like a beacon of light to the world. Both believers and non-believers get married, and all those marriages matter, he reminded us, but those of us who believe in Christ have a special obligation to show—through our own families’ lives—that love can be real, that marriage can incarnate love. For this good, we will fight.

State Senator Glenn Grothman provocatively told the crowd the reason the protestors try to shout us down is they know, deep in their hearsts, we are speaking the truth in love.

A number of people came up after the rally, telling us that the Madison cops (God bless ‘em), in their zeal to keep the counter-protestors out, were preventing them from joining NOM’s rally.

“Do not be afraid” was the theme, in the end truth and love will prevail.

Brian Brown interview with ABC Affiliate in Providence

Brian Brown tells ABC Channel 6 in Providence: “We need to make sure that the voters understand what’s at stake, and vote for candidates that support protecting marriage.”

Watch here.

Angry Pro-SSM Protestors Storm Podium in Providence

Most of the media ignored what actually happened, but this NBC video captures the truth.

Police stood by as protestors stormed the podium, surrounded Brian Brown and tried to prevent him from speaking. Only Brian's grace under fire, and the law-abiding, prayerful, and peaceful crowd prevented this from turning even more ugly.

Augusta Rally a Huge Success – Thank You!

Many, many thanks to all of you who came out (even with the threat of thunderstorms!) to stand for marriage as we kicked off our Summer for Marriage RV Tour yesterday in Augusta! Marriage Tour: Augusta Rally Marriage Tour: Augusta Rally

It was wonderful to meet so many of you, and your energy and enthusiasm made for the perfect start to our 33-day, 23-city tour that will take us from the Northeast to the upper Midwest, then down to Florida before finishing in our nation’s capital on August 15th.

Take a minute to check out our tour coverage at www.marriagetour2010.com, including photos and videos from yesterday, ongoing tour coverage, and much more! Even the press is starting to pay attention, and we’ll have the media coverage posted as well.

We are simply thrilled that so many of you came out yesterday, and for those who didn’t make it, you missed a good time as we took a public stand for marriage, made new friends, and left inspired with messages from Rev. Emrich, Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, and Charla Bansley.

If you’re able, in addition to standing publicly at the state house yesterday (or for those who couldn’t), please consider standing with us financially during this summer tour. Over the next five weeks, we will be meeting with thousands of new marriage supporters all across the eastern U.S. Your gift of $25, $50, or even $100 would be a great help as we take the message of marriage directly to the American people, meeting new activists, supporters and friends all along the way. Click here to make your donation today!

We can win this battle for the future of marriage in our nation. And with God’s help, we will!

Maggie: "Obama Sabotages The Defense of Marriage Act"

From Maggie Gallagher's nationally syndicated column:
 
"President Obama's Justice Department colluded with gay marriage advocates to make sure the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act was overturned by the courts.
That's not just my view -- it's pretty close to the searing conclusion drawn by professor Richard Epstein in a piece for Forbes:
'This controversial case might well go up on appeal. But if so, it looks almost like collusive litigation, unless some true defender of DOMA is allowed, as an intervener, to defend the statute on the merits.'"

Read more.

Union-Leader welcomes NOM to Manchester with more Lynch Coverage

Governor Lynch’s address to Tim Gill’s Political OutGiving conference this spring is creating quite a stir in New Hampshire – just in time for the Summer for Marriage Tour coming to Manchester.

Lynch lauded by national gay rights advocates
Manchester Union-Leader, July 13, 2010
Staff Report

CONCORD —Gov. John Lynch’s support for a same-sex marriage law in New Hampshire earned him a featured position at a recent private meeting of national leaders and donors in the gay community.

The Washington Blade has reported that Lynch was among four governors and several other elected officials who attended “a closed-door conference of wealthy LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) political donors” in mid-May in Chicago. The conference was known as “Political OutGiving,” described by the Blade as “a highly confidential event for a network of more than 200 big-stakes LGBT contributors to political campaigns.”

. . .
The conservative National Organization for Marriage earlier this year spent about $200,000 on television ads claiming that “Lynch lied” on several issues, including samesex marriage, by signing the bill into law after saying in a 2006 gubernatorial debate that “I do not support gay marriage.”

Lynch said in April he was “disgusted” with the ad and accused the out-of-state group of “meddling.” The “LynchLeads” site and a related television ad were created in response.

NOM to be in Manchester

NOM will be in Manchester on Thursday as part of a “Summer for Marriage: One Man-One Woman Tour” rally at City Hall Plaza, presumably to continue to criticize Lynch.

According to a media advisory, “The tour covers many of the key battleground states in the ongoing fight to protect and preserve marriage as one man and one woman.”

The New Hampshire-based self-described “pro-family” Cornerstone Action, the political arm of Cornerstone Policy Research, e-mailed supporters yesterday criticizing Lynch’s attendance at the gay leaders meeting and asking for donations to “keep the liberals away.”

It also asks supporters to call Lynch’s office “and tell him how hypocritical it is for him to denounce the involvement of NOM in New Hampshire one month, only to fly out to Chicago one month later to meet with the nation’s wealthiest gay donors!”

The Cornerstone group also filed a right-to-know request with the governor’s office asking for “all correspondence, invitations and travel records between Lynch and his staff related to his meeting in Chicago with Tim Gill.”

Group executive director Kevin Smith said Lynch “has officially sold out to the radical gay lobby” by attending the meeting “presumably to beg for money for his fledgling campaign.” . . .

Spain: Why So Few Gay Marriages?

A new study by a Spanish gay rights group reports that about 10,000 gay marriages have taken place since Spain legalized gay marriage in 2007.

Spain has about 30 million people in 2008 over the age of 15. If 3 percent of the population is homosexual, that would be about 900,000 gay and lesbian adults. So 20,000 gay people have chosen to marry so far -- about 2 percent of gay adults.  Why so few?

David Boies Doesn't Have a Clue

Salon asks David Boies to describe the arguments for marriage as the union of husband and wife.  Boies is clueless.

These are the guys who keep lauding each other as brilliant?

Summer for Marriage Tour 2010!

In a few days, NOM will be launching our Summer for Marriage Tour 2010, taking the message for marriage directly to the American people and building support for marriage all across the eastern half of the United States.

Over 33 days, we’ll travel more than 6000 miles, holding rallies in 23 cities from Maine to Minnesota to Atlanta and Tampa before heading back to Washington, DC for the tour finale on August 15th.

Many of the states we’ll be visiting are key battlegrounds in this critical debate, as we work to organize grassroots support for marriage as the union of a husband and wife at both the state federal levels, building support for state marriage amendments and opposing the repeal of DOMA.

Please visit www.marriagetour2010.com for the latest tour information, including the bus schedule, a chance to register for email alerts from the tour, and video footage of each tour stop.

We need your help to make this summer’s tour a success! Please click here to make your online contribution today. $60 would cover a penny per mile! $115 would be $5 toward the costs of each rally. Whatever you can give will go far as we work together to organize support for marriage all across the nation!

Then tell your friends and come out to see us when we come to your hometown this summer!

WaPo Reporter Who Called Marriage Supporters Bigots Resigns

David Weigel has resigned after numerous emails surfaced disparaging conservatives.  Weigel was hired as a conservative to cover the "conservative beat" for WaPo. A few weeks ago, he blogged that he has sympathy for everyone he covers except for those who oppose gay marriage, whom he called "bigots."  Now it appears his sympathies for conservatives are more generally limited. Weigel Resigns:  http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0610/Weigel_resigns.html

Background: More Leaked Weigel Emails: http://www.politico.com/blogs/onmedia/

Letter From Brian

Dear Friend of Marriage,

Black Democrats to the rescue of marriage!

Saturday I had the honor of attending the D.C. State Democratic Convention with Bishop Harry Jackson.

African-Americans for marriage turned out in force, shocking the D.C. establishment!

I wish you could have been there. Strong marriage supporters, unafraid of the media or anything else, chanting "Let us vote! Let us vote!" If the mainstream media were what it should be, this would be the picture in every living room in America: Politicians blocking the door to the voting booth against citizens of D.C. in order to impose gay marriage on an unwilling populace.

The political establishment was shocked when all these newfound activists almost knocked off Harry Thomas in the straw poll the DC Dems conducted. His opponent, Delano Hunter, is a strong marriage supporter, eager to knock off a politician who ignored the will of his constituents and voted for gay marriage.

Exciting times!

They keep telling us "the culture has changed, gay marriage is the future." When they stop blocking the path to the voting booth, when they accept the legitimacy of elections like the one which passed Prop 8, then maybe they would have something believable to say about that. Let the people vote!

It's going to be a hard fight through the courts to vindicate the people's right to vote in D.C., but we are fighting for their rights and the rights of all Americans. Just as in Prop 8 last week, NOM's Chairman Maggie Gallagher was there, and NOM's Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund is helping fight for our constitutional rights.

If you believe in the right to vote, can you help us defend the Constitution from these ongoing attacks? We need to raise $8,479 in the next 48 hours for NOM's Legal Defense Fund, which supports not only Prop 8's able lawyers and the legal campaign to win back the right to vote in D.C., but also litigation designed to protect voters and donors from campaigns of harassment and intimidation. I am looking for 150 people willing to donate $57 each. Will you step forward to be one of NOM's 150 for the Legal Defense of Marriage?

Not everyone has money to give, we understand. (With six kids, believe me, I understand!) So here's something else you can do for marriage this week. Republican leaders have put up a website, America Speaks Out. But it's being slammed by liberals trying to create the impression that Republicans support gay marriage. We asked for your help on this before, but the website had glitches. Here's the good news: They've been fixed. Go here, login and vote "Thumbs Up" to protect marriage between a man and a woman.

Thank you!

How many times have you heard that you and I are like racists because we know that to make a marriage you need a husband and wife? Gay-rights advocates say this over and over--most recently, former judicial conservative Ted Olson stood before Judge Vaughn Walker and repeated this point ad nauseam. They don't just say we are racists; they try to get courts to rule as if marriage were akin to racism, founded only in bigotry. They use this argument in D.C., San Francisco and all across this country as their principle justification to taking away our right to vote for marriage.

Good news. Heritage Foundation's Tom Messner just published a devastating critique of "the race analogy" in National Review Online. It’s posted here. Check it out.

His sensible conclusion?

"Defending marriage is not similar to defending racism. Loving didn't fundamentally redefine the natural understanding of marriage. Rather, the 1967 decision rescued marriage from an extreme ideology that sought to hijack marriage for purposes unrelated to marriage itself. Today, the courts faced with Perry and similar litigation should do the same."

In other words, it is gay-rights advocates who (like the racists of old with their bans on interracial marriage) are trying to hijack marriage for ideological purposes that have nothing to do with marriage's core mission.

Of course their motivations are "progressive" rather than racist and that makes a difference, but it doesn't change the fact that gay marriage is an illegitimate attempt to "take over" a natural institution and reality and use it for new ideological purposes.

As Chuck Cooper pointed out in the final arguments in San Francisco last week, race was never part of the natural definition of marriage. Interracial marriage had to be "banned" because people understood that these were marriages; the bans were designed to keep two races separate so one race could oppress the other. That's what the 14th Amendment was designed to prevent, not the common-sense understanding of marriage.

Thanks Tom for speaking out for the truth, common sense, and sound and intelligent understanding!

And thank you, my friends and fellow comrades in this great battle for God's truth about marriage, for all that you make possible.

We've got big plans for this summer: to fight back against out of control judges, and to defend the votes of millions of Americans from out-of-control judges and an out-of-touch political elite. I can't tell you more right now but stay tuned, it’s going to be exciting.

Let me end on a small grace note. We do so much here at NOM that I can only tell you a part of it. But one young college student recently wrote to thank us, in this case Maggie.

"I recently wrote a college paper on marriage as public policy, and I could not have done it without the extensive work you have done on the subject. I've read your newspaper columns before, but until I started researching this topic I was unaware of the exhaustive treatment you had given the matter. I am now more fully prepared to discuss and defend traditional marriage with any who wish to confront the issue. Your writings on the matter are at the same time intellectually challenging and emotionally compelling. Thank you for making so much information available. I hope anyone who wavers finds your work and is strengthened by it as I was."

The next generation. That's what it's all about, isn't it?

You are the reason we can do so much. God bless you and strengthen you and your family, this day and always.

Semper fi!

Faithfully,

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage
2029 K Street, NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC  20006
[email protected]

NY Assemblyman Opposes No-Fault Divorce

The statement of Michael Benjamin, D-Bronx:

Assembly Member Benjamin - Statement Against No-Fault Divorce

I am opposed to no-fault divorce because it would harm most women in divorce proceedings. According to the National Marriage Project at Rutger’s University, a woman’s standard of living drops by an average of 27% and a man’s increases by 10% following a divorce.

In addition to the economic disadvantages imposed by this bill, I am also against no-fault divorce because it would define marriage as something temporary and trivial. Under the provisions of the law, marriage would essentially be defined as a contract that could be broken at any time, for any reason.

Due to the economic disadvantage that women face, combined with my unwillingness to break down the blessed institution of marriage, I can not in good conscience vote for no-fault divorce.

Maggie: How Does Biology Matter?

Do our bodies matter or is everything socially constructed?  This interview with a donor conceived young woman shows an incredibly sophisticated, nuanced exploration of how fatherhood--yes biological fatherhood, and motherhood, matter.

She was donor conceived, her older sister was adopted, and her younger brother, a product of her mom's second marriage, was born to and raised by his natural mother and father.

A social experiment all in one family that gives this young woman some incredible insights.  

http://ia360700.us.archive.org/13/items/MyDaddysNameIsDonor/20100619sveta.mp3