That headline links to this story on Brietbart.com:

One of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign co-chairmen used a leaked document from the IRS to attack GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney during the 2012 election, according to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).

NOM, a pro-traditional marriage organization, claims the IRS leaked their 2008 confidential financial documents to the rival Human Rights Campaign. Those NOM documents were published on the Huffington Post on March 30, 2012. At that time, Joe Solmonese, a left-wing activist and Huffington Post contributor, was the president of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Solmonese was also a 2012 Obama campaign co-chairman.

... “Not only has Romney signed NOM’s radical marriage pledge, now we know he’s one of the donors that NOM has been so desperate to keep secret all these years,” Solmonese added.

Solmonese resigned his position at HRC the next day and took up a position as an Obama campaign co-chair.

The National Organization for Marriage hopes revelations about the IRS unfairly targeting conservative groups can revitalize an investigation into who leaked its donor information last year.

“This is what happens in the Soviet Union,” NOM President Brian Brown told POLITICO on Monday. “This is not what happens in the United States of America.”

In April 2012, the Huffington Post and the Human Rights Campaign posted documents showing GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney donated $10,000 to NOM in 2008. The anti-gay marriage group immediately cried foul and called for the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration — the same investigators who are set to release a report on the IRS targeting later this week — to investigate, accusing IRS employees of leaking the documents.

... Brown said the group wants a congressional hearing to look into the document release, since the group’s attempts to use the Freedom of Information Act to stay updated on the case have been unsuccessful.

“Without a congressional hearing and Congress’ subpoena power, where are we?” Brown asked. “All we’re getting is what [the IRS] wants to say.”

"We expect the Supreme Court to exonerate the votes of over 7 million Californians to protect marriage. The President is clearly fulfilling a campaign promise to wealthy gay marriage donors. There is no right to redefine marriage in our Constitution.”

His statement was picked up by the Associated Press, the Drudge Report, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, ABC News, Foxnews.com, NPR, and dozens of other media outlets.

Peters will be on CNN tomorrow morning at 8:15AM to add more comments.

We continue to urge all supporters of marriage at this critical time to make plans now to come to Washington, D.C. for the March for Marriage on March 26, the day the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the Proposition 8 case.

The Republican leaders of the House of Representatives urged the Supreme Court on Friday to cast aside the Obama administration’s appeal on the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, though that already has been granted review, and to then take on the dispute in the GOP chiefs’ own case in defense of the law.

In a brief answering jurisdictional questions raised by the Court when it took on the DOMA dispute, the House’s Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) argued that it has a right under the Constitution’s Article III to be in court in DOMA cases.  It noted that the administration has stopped defending the law and instead is attacking it.

The new filing also contended that the New York woman who was at the center of the case the Court is reviewing does not have a right to appeal.  Both the administration and Ms. Windsor won in lower courts, getting everything that they wanted out of the controversy, and thus have given up their right to pursue the case in the Supreme Court.

“Without the House’s participation,” the document said, “it is hard to see how there is any case or controversy here at all.  Both Ms. Windsor and the executive agree that DOMA is unconstitutional and that Ms. Windsor was entitled to a refund [for an estate tax she paid].  And the lower courts granted them all the relief they requested.  Only the House’s intervention provides the adverseness that Article III demands.”

The Obama administration on Friday urged the Supreme Court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.

By forcing a federal definition of “spouse” and “marriage,” the administration argued in a brief, DOMA “violates the fundamental constitutional guarantee of equal protection. The law denies to tens of thousands of same-sex couples who are legally married under state law an array of important federal benefits that are available to legally married opposite-sex couples.”

The Obama administration has been urging courts to strike down DOMA for two years. Friday was the deadline to file briefs in the challenge to the 1996 law, scheduled to be heard March 27. (Politico)

Documents uncovered from a Freedom of Information Act request show the Obama administration's Department of Justice enjoys a close relationship with the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an organization that brands principled opposition to homosexuality “hate.”

The SPLC has built an elaborate fundraising empire by branding mainstream Christian ministries – including the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, and Concerned Women for America – as “hate groups” for opposing homosexuality.

The legal watchdog Judicial Watch filed the request to see what effect SPLC's designation of “hate groups” had on the government. The two-dozen pages of e-mails it received reveal views of DOJ employees that border on adulation.

The department invited co-founder Morris Dees to appear as the featured speaker at a July 31, 2012, “Diversity Training Event.” The Assistant Attorney General's office “wants to take Morris out to lunch” before his simulcast remarks, entitled “With Justice for All,” one e-mail stated.

A “training blurb” stated that the event “qualifies for mandatory annual diversity training.”

“I will pick you [Morris Dees] up at the airport July 30,” DOJ employee Barry Kowalski wrote Dees in an e-mail. “Would you go out to dinner with my wife and me and our two teenage daughters that first night? The girls need some inspiration from a master of inspiration,” he gushed.

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

Washington, D.C. — Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), released the following statement in regards to President Obama’s immigration proposal:

"This is yet another example of the President playing politics rather than enforcing our nation’s laws and offering a true, workable solution. First, his Administration threw in the towel and refused to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Then, he came out of the closet on gay marriage. Now, he is apparently proposing a direct violation of DOMA, currying added favor with gay activists, many of whom have lavished contributions on his reelection campaign. Our nation has a lot of serious issues to resolve concerning immigration policy, but providing a safe haven for gays and lesbians from foreign countries in violation of American law is not one of them. Responsible immigration reform includes protecting America’s borders, providing access to needed workers, keeping terrorists out of our country and determining what to do with the millions of people already here illegally. This proposal from President Obama concerning homosexual immigration is not serious immigration reform."

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To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), eray@crcpublicrelations.com, or Jen Campbell (x145), jcampbell@crcpublicrelations.com, at 703-683-5004.

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

"... Marriage as it has been defined throughout history - as the union of one man and one woman - is a great cause of unity for any culture, including our own. We know all too well what happens to society when marriage breaks down and government interferes with the rights of men and women to come together and form healthy, lifelong marriages.  The President's obsession with redefining marriage has prevented him in his first term from doing anything of substance to support and advance the institution of marriage for the vast majority of Americans. That is where his emphasis should be. 

Americans remain united in support of the commonsense definition of marriage. A poll taken after the most recent elections showed that 60% of Americans agree that marriage is between one man and one woman. Twenty percent of Americans in that same poll said marriage was one of their top three issues. The vast majority of states define marriage as the union of husband and wife and the vast majority of Americans who have been given a chance to vote on the question have supported that definition as well.

... We eagerly await the Supreme Court's decision on the question of whether Americans have a right to protect marriage in law.

In the meantime, Americans should unite in support of the commonsense definition of marriage. The longer our leaders insist on throwing their words and weight behind the movement to redefine marriage the more they will continue to divide our beloved nation."

"...DOMA proponents see the president’s decision to roll in a provision for bi-national same-sex couples as misguided.

“If the president is putting immigration as his highest priority, why would he muddy the waters with a proposal that violates current federal law?” says John Eastman, president of the National Organization for Marriage. “I guarantee there’ll be a fight if he’s trying to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. I think it demonstrates he’s not serious about immigration reform.”

Am immigration reform blueprint released by the “Gang of Eight,” as the group of Republican and Democratic senators have come to be known, detailed major shifts on immigration but did not refer to measures for same-sex couples."

"...Being created equal doesn’t entail or require redefining marriage. Every marriage policy draws lines, leaving out some types of relationships. But equality forbids arbitrary line-drawing. Determining which lines are arbitrary requires us to answer two questions:

1)      What is marriage?

Following the inauguration of President Barack Obama, The Daily Caller asked attendees of the ceremony if they were surprised that the president mentioned gay rights in his address.

Even individuals who told TheDC that they oppose gay marriage said they still support President Obama, who “evolved” on the issue and announced his support of the practice last year.

National Organization for Marriage Criticizes President's Decision to Divide Nation Over Marriage on Inauguration Day

“Gay and lesbian people already enjoy full equal rights under the law."

– Brian Brown, NOM president –

Washington, D.C. — Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), criticized President Obama’s decision to use his Inauguration Day address to further divide the nation on the question of what is marriage. The President chose to make a veiled reference to redefine marriage when he said "our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law."

"Gay and lesbian people are already treated equally under the law," Brian Brown responded. "They have the same civil rights as anyone else; they have the right to live as they wish and love whom they choose. What they don’t have is the right to redefine marriage for all of society. In fact, six federal courts have rejected the idea that there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court in a summary decision in 1972. Furthermore, the vast majority of states have codified the commonsense view held for thousands of years that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. The President is profoundly wrong to imply that those who have acted to protect marriage have denied anyone's rights by doing so."

Brown continued: "A presidential inauguration should be a time for the nation to come together; instead President Obama chose to voice his support for a radical agenda advanced by some of his biggest campaign contributors to redefine marriage for everyone. Marriage brings our nation together. The concept of gay ‘marriage’ would have been totally alien to our founding fathers, and the protection and advancement of marriage between one man and one woman will immeasurably serve the common good of this country and further strengthen our Union. Today the President should have thrown his support behind this beautiful vision of men and women coming together in love to raise the next generation. Nonetheless, we pro-marriage Americans pledge to defend the institution which the President has chosen to undermine once again."

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To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), eray@crcpublicrelations.com, or Jen Campbell (x145), jcampbell@crcpublicrelations.com, at 703-683-5004.

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

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.

President Barack Obama is urging the Illinois General Assembly to legalize gay marriage in his home state as lawmakers are poised to take up the measure as early as this week in Springfield.

... The lead sponsors of the "Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act," state Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago) and state Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), intend to put the measure up for a vote during the upcoming January lame-duck session.

The toughest challenge for gay marriage backers will be winning passage in the Illinois House. Prospects for approval in the Illinois Senate--where Obama once served--are brighter.

The practical impact of Obama urging his home state to legalize gay marriage is to prod--and give political cover to--reluctant Democrats from conservative suburban and Downstate districts. -- The Chicago Sun-Times

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, congratulated President Barack Obama, November 7, the day after his re-election as President of the United States.

Cardinal Dolan promised the prayers of the bishops saying that "The Catholic Bishops of the United States offer our prayers that God will give you strength and wisdom to meet the difficult challenges that face America."

He added that "In particular, we pray that you will exercise your office to pursue the common good, especially in care of the most vulnerable among us, including the unborn, the poor, and the immigrant. We will continue to stand in defense of life, marriage, and our first, most cherished liberty, religious freedom. We pray, too, that you will help restore a sense of civility to the public order, so our public conversations may be imbued with respect and charity toward everyone."

"...A Star Tribune poll released Sunday shows a dead heat, with Obama at 47 percent and Romney at 44 percent. This shocker elated state Republicans, who have been frustrated for decades. (Democrats have won Minnesota since 1972.) To capitalize on the momentum, the Romney campaign recently spent a small sum on television ads.

Democrats are nervous. For months, their electoral calculus has categorized Minnesota as reliably blue. This week, the Washington Post and ABC News reclassified it from “safely” Democrat to “lean Obama.” To stanch the bleeding, Democrats are spending more, and sending in former president Bill Clinton, who will stump near the Twin Cities.

Obama adviser Jim Messina is pushing back; he told reporters on Monday that the idea Romney could win Minnesota is “wishful thinking.” But Republicans’ rising expectations are grounded in more than poll numbers. As Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey reports, there are “two key referendums on the ballot,” and they are dominating the debate and stoking participation.

One measure would amend the state constitution to require photo identification for voting, and the other would constitutionally define marriage as between a man and a woman. Outside groups on both sides have poured in money. These referendums, more than Republican Kurt Bills’s underfunded challenge to Senator Amy Klobuchar, have Republicans enthused."

"With polls showing the presidential race to be dead even, Mitt Romney would do well to remind voters in key swing states of his position on social issues like marriage, life and religious liberty. They could tip the scale in this election.

The Karl Rove wing of the GOP and the Republican elite have succeeded in keeping social issues off the table in this general election, deeming them to be “divisive.” They’ve understandably focused their campaign on the Obama record, especially as it relates to the economy. But Obama also has a record on social issues, and that record puts him at odds with a large majority of voters in key swing states. Unfortunately, voters in those states haven’t heard much about the Obama record on marriage, life and religious liberty, and Romney himself hasn’t done much to make these issues a central part of his messaging. This is a key strategic mistake that he should remedy while he still has the chance.

Let’s look at the issue of preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This issue has been on the ballot in 32 states – coast to coast, in red states and blue. It has won in all 32 states. Some of these are the very swing states that will decide the election this November. Florida passed their marriage amendment by 62 percent of the vote. North Carolina passed it with 61 percent support just this past May. Virginia passed theirs by 57 percent. And the critical state of Ohio? They passed their amendment by 62 percent of the vote. Iowa hasn’t had a chance to vote on a marriage amendment yet, but with about 55 percent of the vote they did throw three sitting Supreme Court justices off the court last election for redefining marriage there. Recent polls suggest they’re about to boot another one of the gay marriage justices..."

Since the 2008 presidential campaign, when then-Sen. Barack Obama told the Rev. Rick Warren that he supported traditional marriage defined as the union of “one man and one woman,” the president’s position on this topic has “evolved,” and now, of course, has reversed.

Indeed, Mr. Obama not only has strayed quite a distance from his original position, he has done everything he can to undermine traditional marriage. What’s more, he has sat by idly while activist judges have decided how marriage should be defined. This is bad for marriage and bad for America.

The president’s refusal to defend marriage at the federal level has been an abdication of his constitutional responsibility to execute and enforce the law. He has signaled clearly that if re-elected in November, he will continue this abuse of power to redefine marriage.

The people of Maryland, Minnesota, Washington and Maine have the opportunity to affirm core traditional American values by voting to support traditional marriage on Election Day, Nov. 6. Voters in those states can join the 31 other states that have voted “yes” to preserving marriage through a state constitutional amendment, honoring marriage between a man and a woman now and for future generations.

"Every time a state has voted on marriage over the past four years the citizens have ignored the President and voted their pro-marriage beliefs … and this November will be no different."—Brian Brown, President of NOM—

Washington, D.C.—Reacting to the news that President Obama has endorsed Referendum 74 in Washington State, Question 1 in Maine and Question 6 in Maryland, all of which would redefine marriage if approved, Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) said:

"President Obama has opposed every effort to protect marriage since he came into office, and yet every time a state has voted on marriage over the past four years citizens have ignored the President and voted their pro-marriage beliefs, including most recently in North Carolina, where a plurality of Democrats ignored the President's opposition and contributed to the 61% of voters who supported the Marriage Protection Amendment earlier this year."

"Time and time again we have seen that people's personal conviction that marriage is the union of husband and wife is too strong to be swayed by what the President says on this issue," Brown continued.

"President Obama's choice to support efforts to redefine marriage will prove to be a motivation for pro-marriage voters in these states and across the country to mobilize in the final days before the election to support marriage and support candidates at the local and national level who share their pro-marriage view. Voters in thirty-two states have voted to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman, often by a wide margin, especially in swing states considered critical to the election of the next President. Mitt Romney has been a stalwart advocate of marriage and has signed NOM's five-point Marriage Pledge. The contrast between the two Presidential candidates on the issue of marriage could not be clearer," Brown added.

"The momentum is clearly behind our efforts to protect marriage in the four states voting on November 6th . Pro-marriage activists have always won the closing argument and this November will be no different, despite President Obama's choice to inject himself into the important decisions these four states are about to make," concluded Brown.

President Obama has previously stated his opposition to the Minnesota Protection Amendment.

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To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Jen Campbell (x145), jcampbell@crcpublicrelations.com , or Elizabeth Ray (x130), eray@crcpublicrelations.com , at 703-683-5004.

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

"...Marriage is a sacred institution that is recognized in every culture around the globe. Marriage between one man and one woman was established by God for procreation. This union creates a family, and it is necessary for the healthy development of children, who need both a mom and a dad in the home.

The black American community already is plagued with problems related to children growing up in single-parent households. For example, a boy who lacks a father in the home is more likely to engage in delinquent and criminal behavior unless he has a positive male role model to help shape him. The homosexual agenda, which attempts to redefine family and marriage, will erode the very foundation of our society. It will place our youth on a dangerous trajectory toward a bleak future in which mothers and fathers don’t matter, values don’t matter and children are placed at risk.

Evidence shows that the lack of intact families in our society leads to social, psychological and emotional problems for children. Why would Mr. Obama want to make homosexual “marriage” equal to traditional marriage when children already face a multitude of issues? The president and others want to legitimize and normalize homosexual “marriage” and shove it down the throats of those who disagree because he is the leader and he said so."

Unhappy with President Barack Obama‘s support of same-sex marriage, a group of African-American faith leaders have announced a campaign aimed at stripping 25 percent of the black vote that went to Obama in 2008 (95 percent).

The newly formed nonprofit group, God Said, will begin targeting voters in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Florida with television and radio advertising, as well as a grassroots campaign to encourage people to consider the gospel when they enter the voting booth.

“The black community is among the most religious in America and we are offended that President Obama has announced his support of same-sex marriage, that the NAACP has blindly supported the secular views of the Democratic Party, and that their national platform plainly supports same-sex marriage,” said Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani ofRagingElephants.org, and a God Said founder, in a statement. “I am confident that this message will be well received and acted upon on Election Day.”

The group currently has 22 advisory board members and plans to spend an estimated $1 million on the campaign, a spokesperson told TheDC, adding that its message has support among other faith leaders and congregants, including the Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP), which has vociferously protested against Obama’s same-sex marriage stance. Some of the CAAP members are on the God Said board. -- The Daily Caller

At the same time and for weeks leading up to his public comments the president's administration continued to claim that his position on marriage had not changed.

I wonder what other politicians bent on redefining marriage have had secret support from the President.

I haven't seen other news outlets talking about this but hopefully this will generate some conversation:

Update -- Katrina Trinko of National Review blogs about this video admission here.

Update 2 -- Chris Geidner at BuzzFeed writes about this revelation as well.

Here, for instance, is what they found Mitt Romney's actions on marriage to be while Governor of Massachusetts:

-- November 2003: The same day that Massachusetts' highest court issued its first-in-the-nation decision that would legalize gay marriage, Romney endorses a proposed state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man, one woman.

-- March 2004: Announces his desire to ask the court to prevent its ruling from going into effect until after citizens can vote on a state constitutional marriage amendment. Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly, though, declines to make such a request to the court. (The court had "stayed" its ruling for 180 days, meaning it did not take effect until May 2004.)

-- April 2004: Files an emergency bill with the state legislature that would give him the power to ask the state's high court to delay its ruling until after citizens can vote on a constitutional marriage amendment. (The bill fails.)

-- April 2004: Announces that because of an obscure 1913 law, out-of-state gay couples won't be able to marry when the court's ruling takes effect in May 2004. Romney's interpretation goes further than the interpretation of the attorney general, who had limited the application of the law to only the 38 states that had explicitly defined marriage in the traditional sense. Romney said couples from any state that doesn't recognize gay marriage are ineligible.

-- May 2004: Announces he will veto any bill that allows out-of-state couples to marry in Massachusetts.

-- June 2004: Appears before a U.S. Senate committee, urging passage of a federal constitutional marriage amendment defining marriage as between one man, one woman. Such an amendment would overturn the gay marriage ruling in his state.

-- November 2006: Speaks before 7,000 people at a rally in Boston supporting a state constitutional marriage amendment.

-- November 2006: Sues state legislators to try and force them to vote on a state marriage amendment. Citizens had gathered 170,000 signatures to place the amendment before the body, and the constitution requires a vote. (The court sided with Romney. The legislature subsequently passed the amendment in January 2007, although it failed to pass it again during the next session, as required. The state constitution requires the amendment to pass twice before being placed on the ballot.)

-- December 2006: Threatens to withhold a pay raise from state legislators if they fail to vote on a marriage amendment.

In it, he calls for black Christians to abandon the democratic party for, among other things, its support of same-sex marriage and using the cloak of the civil rights movement to promote it:

"Anyone who dares equate the so-called gay rights movement to the history of black Americans is exploiting the black community. They say opposition to same-sex marriage is the same as opposition to interracial marriage. That is an insult to human intelligence. It is a lie. No Christian should support this, yet the Democrat party has now declared same-sex marriage as part of its platform. And black Christians remain in that party? The civil rights establishment has embraced the lies and frayed the black community and God almighty for 30 pieces of silver from the Democrat party."

"My question for the [Presidential] debate: 'Mr. President, your office runs a fatherhood initiative yet you also support [same-sex marriage]. Do dads matter or not?'"

"We just won in North Carolina by 61% -- 61% to support a strong marriage amendment. Just looking at it politically this is a state President Obama needs to win and being on the wrong side of 6-in-10 voters right when you're going to have your Democratic National Convention there and the Democrats are going to put an endorsement of same-sex marriage in their plank? This is a very bad idea and I think what you're going to see ... you're going to lose these key swing states. You're going to lost Ohio, you're going to lose North Carolina."

White House press secretary Jay Carney today refused to say whether President Obama would want the Supreme Court to take a case that could lead to same-sex couples across the country being able to marry.

The administration has not taken a position on whether the court should review a lower court decision striking down California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriages, and the White House was not willing to take a position on that issue today.

Asked if the administration wants the court to take the Proposition 8 case, Carney said, "I will ask you to direct it to the Justice Department. I'm not going to make policy toward Supreme Court cases from here."

... neither the president nor his administration have taken any specific actions supporting litigation aimed at court rulings declaring that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. -- BuzzFeed

"...will President Obama's flip-flop on the issue impact how the country views gay marriage and impact the Marriage Amendment campaign in Minnesota? ... the evidence says no. President Obama has opposed every marriage amendment in recent years including Prop 8 in California and most recently the marriage amendment in North Carolina yet voters have passed them all. In fact surveys right before the vote in North Carolina this past may showed that a plurality of Democrats supported the marriage amendment, including two-to-one support among African Americans and majority of Independents and an overwhelming majority of Republicans."

Mitt Romney has cleared the 50% mark again in the battleground state of North Carolina despite the presence of the Democratic National Convention there little over a week ago.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely North Carolina Voters shows Romney with 51% support to President Obama’s 45%. One percent (1%) likes some other candidate in the race, and three percent (3%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Of Mitt Romney he says: "Not only [is he] a defender of marriage, he offers an example of marriage at its best."

Retired National Football League star Burgess Owens, a Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders, has urged African-Americans not to vote for Barack Obama simply on the basis of race.

Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty

In his newly published e-book, “It’s All About Team: Exposing the Black Talented Tenth,” Owens recounts how he grew up as a liberal Democrat and supported Jimmy Carter.

...“We are going to have to have black ministers stand up once again,” he said. “Unfortunately, I have been a little disappointed that we have issues out there like traditional marriage, abortion, school education, and we have so much silence from the black community, from black preachers, because they understand first hand the impact of all that. We can no longer support those who are against the faith.”

... “There is still a desire, by most within the black community, to recapture for their children the ideals of a traditional family where moms and dads commit to each other and to their children through the lifelong bonds of marriage,” Owens concludes. “We can be the kind of example as the black middle class was for decades to give encouragement to others who follow.”

"...to use the civil rights as a cover for such a cause is a hijacking of the movement, and we who were a part of that movement reject it. We who marched with Rev. King did not march one inch or one mile to promote same-sex marriage, and the NAACP has abandoned its historical responsibility to protect the civil rights movement.

In the same way, by embracing gay marriage, President Obama, our beloved son, has begun to lead the country down an immoral path.

As black pastors who must always adhere to the teachings of the Bible and our own consciences, we cannot approve of same-sex marriage and its normalcy in law or society, nor lead our congregations down that path.

Those in the gay community are rightly to be protected from violence and harassment, and to be able to vote, to hold jobs and enjoy the general rights of citizens. But no one, including Barack Obama, has a moral or civil right to redefine marriage."

"...[Obama] wants everyone in this country, everyone to have the same opportunity [to live the American dream] no matter who we are or where we're from or what we look like or who we love."

"...and if proud Americans can be who they are, and boldly stand at the altar with who they love, then surely surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American dream."

...The “Campaign for American Values” has launched a pro-Mitt Romney television campaign with an ad warning viewers that ”Obama trying to force gay marriage on this country.”

In the commercial, which is entitled “New Morning,” a couple wakes up to coffee and the threat of legalized same sex marriage as they peruse the morning paper.

“Obama is trying to force gay marriage on this country. That’s not the change I voted for. Marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s not the change I voted for,” one of them says,

“That’s not the change I voted for either,” the other agrees.

... Opponents of President Obama may see encouraging signs they can gain votes in North Carolina by emphasizing President’s support for gay marriage. In 2008, President Obama won the Tarheel State by a slim 28,000 vote margin, becoming the first Democrat to win North Carolina since 1976. However, back in May, the day before President Obama decided to express his support for gay marriage, 61 percent of North Carolina voters backed an amendment to their state constitution banning gay marriage and civil unions. Since then, Mr. Romney has managed to claw out a thin lead in the North Carolina polls.

A major coalition of black pastors is thanking the Republican Party for its vigorous support of traditional marriage in its party platform.

"We thank the GOP for ensuring that at least one party is willing to stand up for the common sense, biblical understanding of marriage," Rev William Owens, head of the Coalition of African-American Pastors, said.

Owens' son William said believers failed to stand up when prayer was stripped from public schools and abortion was legalized.

He said Christians must not be passive now about same-sex marriage being legalized.

"We celebrate marriage. We stand to really hurt the heart of God if we take that position. We're more accountable to God than we are to man," Owens said.

Both men said that if the Democratic Party is going to put power and resources behind gay marriage, groups like theirs must rise to defend traditional marriage.

The Republican Union Pac launched a series of grassroots campaigns aimed at convincing conservative Democrat, Catholic voters to vote Republican in the November elections this fall.  Republican Union Pac’s million dollar expenditure is tailored to appeal to disenfranchised Democrats in economically-challenged, heavily Catholic neighborhoods within mid-sized to large cities in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Dozens of billboards have been erected in these areas by Republican Union Pac with the message “Obama Supports Gay Marriage & Abortion.  Do You?  Vote Republican.”

James J. Brazil, one of Republican Union Pac's founders who is himself a Catholic Democrat said, "Catholic Democrats crossed over to support Ronald Reagan in 1980 against Jimmy Carter and Republican Union will be successful in making a similar case for Catholics to vote Republican this November.”

...Republican Union Pac Spokesman Bo Harmon said, "Republican Union intends to follow up this initial outreach with a targeted boots on the ground effort going person to person, neighborhood to neighborhood.  This personal outreach to voters who have been abandoned by the out of touch policies of the current Democratic leadership will be what determines our success."

The national Democratic Party’s platform committee endorsed gay marriage Saturday for the first time and called for the repeal of a federal law that recognizes marriage as between a man and a woman.

The committee, meeting in downtown Detroit, let stand the work of a separate group that drafted the platform two weeks ago in Minneapolis. The platform is a broad statement of the party’s priorities on the economy, social issues and national defense and next goes to the national convention in North Carolina in September.

Scott Dibble, a committee member and a state senator from Minnesota, said support for gay marriage can attract new voters.

“Young people are looking for a political home right now. This has become a defining moral question of our time,” said Dibble, who is gay.

The platform says Democrats support “marriage equality” and the “movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples.” -- AP

Its part of an effort to encourage pro-life and pro-marriage Americans to support Republican candidates this fall.

Bloomberg reports:

"Republican Union PAC has spent $950,000 on billboards, it said in an FEC filing yesterday. The billboards are going up in five key states — Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia — and will encourage political independents and conservative Democrats to consider voting Republican, Harmon said."

Democrats are asking supporters to "stand with" President Obama and the Democratic Party in solidarity on gay marriage — even though the White House and Mr. Obama's campaign repeatedly have declined to say whether the president supports efforts to write a gay-marriage plank in the party's platform.

...Mr. Obama earlier this year reversed himself and said he now embraces gay marriage, but the White House last week as well as the campaign declined to say whether the president supports adding the plank or whether doing so would hurt Democratic candidates in swing states.

Americans remain just as divided on gay marriage as they were before President Obama’s announcement in early May he now publicly supported it.

The Pew Research Center poll shows views of gay marriage remain basically unchanged since April, right before Obama announced his support for gay marriage — a reversal from his past public opposition. Support has gone from 47 percent to 48 percent since April, while opposition ticked up from 43 percent to 44 percent. Neither is even close to statistically significant.

And despite the Democrats’ move to add gay marriage to their party platform at the upcoming Democratic National Convention, many in the party remain opposed to such a move.

... For now, though, it remains a very divisive issue and a potentially contentious one at the Democratic National Convention — if, that is, the one-third of Democrats who oppose gay marriage elects to take a stand. Fully 14 percent of Democrats say they are “strongly opposed” to gay marriage, which suggests there is a significant group that could raise a ruckus.

"...Under this coercive secular state, Christian values are no longer American values. Obama's former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has made this view official by threatening to ban Christian businesses like Chick-fil-A that appear out of step with "Chicago values."

If Obama wins a second term, Americans will be expected to conform not only to Chicago-style politics but also to "Chicago values." Opponents of gay marriage will be treated as enemies of the state. Obama's military already tells chaplains and privates who dissent from Obama's agenda to "get out.""

The Democratic Party’s decision to adopt a platform embracing same-sex “marriage” “may end up sinking” the party, and hand Mitt Romney the issue he needs to energize Republican voters in the fall, according to one of his former rivals.

Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee told AFR Talk’s “Today’s Issues” yesterday the Democrats’ formal support for marriage redefinition “will be the best thing that’s ever happened to the Republican Party, especially in the South and the Midwest.”

“If there was any vestige of the Democrat Party in some of these areas, this may end up sinking the ship,” he told the hosts.

...Huckabee, who championed that constituency in 2008, agrees. “Once a major political party and a president of the United States has now openly declared war on Biblical marriage and the traditional concept of one man, one woman for life, they no longer are going to support that,” he said.

A host of other pro-life, pro-family leaders agree the Democrats may have gone too far for middle America.

In one of the most important years ever in the battle for gay rights, it would be remiss to overlook the electoral effects of the issue on the 2012 presidential race.

... a fast-food restaurant, Chick-fil-A, has become the latest cultural flashpoint in the battle after its president opposed, on biblical grounds, gay marriage earlier this month.

... For their parts, both Obama and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney have remained silent on the Chick-fil-A fracas, but Romney’s allies and surrogates have fought back hard.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who’s said to be a front-runner for the vice-presidential nomination, unloaded over the weekend on the prospect of the restaurant being frozen out of expansion into Boston and Chicago.

... Clearly, some Republicans see political gain in using the chain as a symbol for upholding conservative values like traditional marriage.

But could the battle over gay marriage help Romney in November?

There’s a strain of working-class whites who live in the heartland and are known, affectionately, as “Reagan Democrats.” These voters tend to be more fiscally liberal but socially conservative, and theoretically, the battle over gay rights could push them into Romney’s camp.

"...Let me tell you something.  I am being bombarded with e-mail from my website account, the Rush 24/7 member e-mail, with stories just like the one you're telling from all over this country about how crowded the Chick-fil-As are, about how long the lines are.  Get this, Jay, I just got an e-mail from a guy who said where he lives, that on the sign at the neighboring Wendy's, it says, "Today go to Chick-fil-A."  I don't know where this is, but I'll bet it's not the only example of it.  A local Wendy's is telling it's customers, "Today, we think you should go to Chick-fil-A," or something like that.  You know, it's happening all over, and it's political.

... I'll tell you what's gonna happen on November 6th, Obama's gonna get Chick-fil-A'd himself.  He's gonna get Chick-fil-A'd, and, folks, pictures continue to come in, and I'm asking myself, where are the news media satellite trucks today?  Where are all the man-on-the-street news reports of this?  I wonder if your local news will cover this tonight at 5 and 11, amidst all the murders and blood and everything else they cover, government corruption.  Wait, they don't talk about -- never mind.  But I'm just wondering, I mean, this is a major, major event. "

Update -- here is the full audio:

“I want to thank someone who put so much work into this event, Terry Bean," President Obama said as the crowd began to cheer. "Give Terry a big round of applause.”

Terry Bean is, according to the New York Post, a "gay-porn kingpin."

"ONE of the 'bundlers' who has raised $50,000 to $100,000 for the Barack Obama presidential campaign is Terrence Bean, who once controlled the biggest producer of gay porn in America," thePost reported in 2008, during the president's first run the office. "Bean, the first gay on Sen. Obama's National Finance Committee, is the sole trustee of the Charles M. Holmes Foundation, which owned Falcon Studios, Jock Studios and Mustang Studios, the producers of about $10 million worth of all-male pornography a year."

"We will rally supporters of traditional marriage to make sure they realize that the outcome of the presidential election may determine the future of marriage in our country"—Brian Brown, NOM president—

Washington, D.C.—Today, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) stated that the reported decision of the Democratic National Committee platform committee to include a redefinition of marriage in their national platform will make marriage a defining issue in the 2012 elections, especially in the presidential election. NOM pledged to rally supporters of marriage to make sure they know that reelecting President Obama could result in the end of marriage in America.

"The Democratic party has been captured by extremists from both coasts like Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi who are determined to redefine marriage in our nation," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "It's ironic that they hope to kill off the institution of marriage at their convention in Charlotte, because North Carolina like 31 other states, just voted overwhelmingly in favor of preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The marriage amendment passed with 61% of the vote in North Carolina and enjoyed a plurality of support among Democrats and an overwhelming support of African Americans. We will rally supporters of traditional marriage to make sure they realize that the outcome of the presidential election may determine the future of marriage in our country."

The definition of marriage has been on the ballot in 32 states and every state has voted to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This includes deep blue states like California, Maine, Oregon and Wisconsin. A survey last year by the Alliance Defending Freedom found that 61% of Americans believe that marriage should be only the union of one man and one woman.

"The DNC is leading Democrats off the cliff. Voters in virtually every one of the presidential swing states have voted for marriage as the union of one man and one woman," said Brown. "If the DNC gets its way the marriage amendments adopted in Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Colorado, Nevada and elsewhere will be overturned. That makes the definition of marriage a key issue in these swing states, and we fully intend to make sure that people realize that the outcome of the election is a proxy for the survival of traditional marriage in our nation."

###

To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), eray@crcpublicrelations.com, or Jen Campbell (x145), jcampbell@crcpublicrelations.com, at 703-683-5004.

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

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives, told PGN this week that she expects marriage equality to be a plank of the party’s platform, which will be finalized at the Democratic National Convention Sept. 3-6 in Charlotte, N.C. PGN interviewed Wasserman Schultz, particularly about what LGBTs can expect from Democrats in the short and long term. -- Philadelphia Gay News

The evidence suggests that at least a plurality of Democrats in North Carolina voted for their Marriage Protection Amendment this May.

AP Photo/Peter Kramer

"...Mrs. Pitt has at least one high-profile supporter on her daughter-in-law's side of the family: Jolie's dad Jon Voight!

“Good for her,” Voight told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column, adding that he agrees with the points-of-view expressed by Jane.

A rep for Brad Pitt, an avid supporter of President Obama, did not respond for further comment. Jane Pitt declined further comment when we attempted to reach her.

Brad’s brother Doug also defended his mother earlier this week during an appearance on the "Today Show."

“I think moms and dads and kids agree to disagree all over the world. So why would our family be any different? There can be healthy discussion when people disagree with you,” he said. “The bad thing is when it turns to venom and negativity, and we don’t have that in our family. It’s open discussion. We can learn from each other and, if anything, it solidifies your point. Or maybe you learn something.”

Pastors include:

Rev. William Owens, Founder and President, Coalition of African-American Pastors

Pastor Jerry G. Martin, Light of the World Christian Fellowship

John McCrutcheon, Pastor of Joint Heirs Fellowship Church

Bishop Harry Jackson, High Impact Leadership Coalition

Rev. Charles Johnson, Houston Ministers Against Crime

Pastor Ericka McCutcheon, Joint Heirs Fellowship Church

"...Recent polls indicate that the African-American community in the nation is divided in respect to same-sex marriage. A Pew Center Poll recently found that 63% of African-Americans reject gay marriage and only 37% are in favor. 

This is not the first time that Rev. Williams Owens and the Coalition of African-American pastors have criticized President Barack Obama in response to same-sex marriage. In May, Rev. Owens issued a statement condemning the President for comparing the gay rights movement to the African-American civil rights movement.

In his statement, at that time, Rev. Owens said: “The hijacking of the civil rights movement by homosexuals, bisexuals and gender confused people is unacceptable. There is no legitimate comparison between skin color and sexual behavior.”

I believe that many elected officials will lose constituents and some will lose their seats because of their position in favor of same-sex marriage and the Democratic Party is in danger of losing the majority in the United States Senate and even the President’s re-election could be problematic and all of this because of same-sex marriage."

An organization of black clergy members traveled to the NAACP's annual convention in Houston to protest the civil rights group's recent decision to endorse same-sex marriage.

The Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP), headed by Rev. William Owens of Memphis, Tenn., said that the NAACP had abandoned its core mission by supporting same-sex marriage.

"This is supposed to be an organization for black people who were beaten, who were mistreated and who were enslaved," Owens told The Huffington Post. "You're advocating for something that's not normal, that's not natural. It's still out of line, it's against moral law."

"Gay marriage is leading us down a bad path," Owens added. "Our young people are already hurt. They're already damaged."

Owens said that the NAACP should focus on issues like unemployment and education, and added that CAAP's online petition in support of "traditional marriage" had garnered at least 5,000 signatures since the group held an initial press conference about its effort last week. He said that he doubted the civil rights group's membership would have backed the resolution.

"If they have taken an issue where they asked members, they would have lost," Owens said. "They had to do it under cloak of darkness."

All the single ladies ... seem to really like President Obama.

A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Obama has a 2-to-1 advantage over Mitt Romney among single women in the 2012 presidential race. In fact, the survey underscores the so-called "marriage gap" between the two opponents -- in general, single voters favor Obama while married voters favor the Republican candidate.

According to the poll, married voters back Romney 51-38 percent. Single voters, though, back Obama 54-34 percent. The gap is much wider among single women -- 60 percent for Obama, 31 percent for Romney

"A study by the Brookings Institution has shown that for those that graduate from high school, who get a full-time job, and wait until 21 before they marry and then have their first child, the probability of becoming poor is two percent. And if those factors are absent, the probability of being poor is 76%. Here at the NAACP you understand the good and lasting difference that family makes.

[...]Any policy that lifts up and honors the family is going to be good for the country and that must be our goal. As President I will promote strong families and I will defend traditional marriage." [applause.]

A large coalition of African-American pastors, snubbed by President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder in their demand for a meeting to discuss same-sex marriage, are calling on blacks to boycott the president and sign a petition demanding that the administration withdraw support for gay marriage.

“By embracing gay marriage, President Obama is leading the country down an immoral path,” said Rev. William Owens, president of the 1,300-member Coalition of African-American Pastors. “Some things are bigger than the next election.”

... His group also started a petition to encourage Obama to change his mind. It’s called 100000signatures4marriage.com.

... “We were once proud of President Obama, but our pride has turned to shame,” said Owens.

Numerous other news sites are picking up on this story, including OneNewsNow, USNews & World Report, and the Kansas City Star, which includes this interesting tidbit:

"...Obama rejects the suggestion of specific programs aimed at African-Americans, and the contrast with his recently announced support of same-sex marriage and his executive order halting the deportation of hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants strikes some African-Americans as taking them for granted."He can have the gay pride celebration in the White House, he can have Lady Gaga in the White House, and he's in the White House today because of the civil rights movement and the price that was paid for civil rights," said the Rev. William Owens, the president of the Coalition of African-American Pastors, a group that opposes Obama's gay marriage stance. "He has met with the Latinos; he meets with everything except for the people who put him where he is."

These questions will surface again this week, as Obama skips the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People annual convention in Houston."

All this news and coverage prompted Crystal Wright (the "Conservative Black Chick") to write in the Washington Post:

With nothing left in his arsenal and desperate to save his job, Obama has resorted to pandering to black voters, whom he largely  has ignored during his presidency Obama is losing ground with black voters among the 95 percent of blacks who voted for him in 2008. Outraged over Obama’s support of gay marriage, the Coalition of African American Pastors said they would not support him in 2012. A new poll found Romney would get 20 percent of the black vote in North Carolina if the election was held today.

Meanwhile, Edward Klein, the former editor in chief of the New York Times Magazine writes:

"...Many socially conservative church-going blacks are deeply upset with Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage. Recently, the president refused to meet with a group representing the 1,300-member Coalition of African-American Pastors to discuss the group’s opposition to same-sex marriage. “By embracing gay marriage, President Obama is leading the country down an immoral path,” said the Reverend William Owens, president of the coalition.

... It is Romney, the lily-white presumptive Republican nominee, who is traveling to Houston to make a major speech to this important black audience, while the country’s first African-American president is skipping this year’s NAACP confab in order to avoid having to confront some uncomfortable questions about the worsening state of black America under his administration."

Fascinating. Check these pages for more updates on this story as they arrive.

Jane Pitt, the mother of actor Brad Pitt, was the target of hateful and misogynistic tweets from pro-abortion liberals after the Springfield News-Leader published her letter supporting Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Twitchy reported Friday.

Gawker painted her as a "loon," but liberals on Twitter went overboard.

... "Once again, the Left’s revolting intolerance of conservative free speech is on display for all the world to see. Let’s hope Jane Pitt answers with even louder, bolder speech," Twitchy added.

...A post at Buzzfeed noted that in 2008, Brad Pitt donated $100,000 to fight California's Proposition 8. While he may differ with his mother's point of view, he still thinks highly of her.

"She's very, very loving — very open, genuine, and it's hilarious because she always gets painted in the tabloids as a she-devil. There's not an ounce of malice in her. She wants everyone to be happy," the actor said of his mother in January.

Read Jane Pitt's letter here.

Ben Knotts of the Examiner asks that question:

A current poll from Real Clear Politics has the presumed GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, consistently leading PresidentObama in the fall election, since May 15th, 2012.

Prior to May 15th, polls showed President Obama continually leading his GOP opponent in North Carolina., but since that day, Mitt Romney - the former Governor of Massachusetts - has not failed to carry the support of the state.

What caused the shift in numbers? The issue of same-sex marriage provides a reasonable explanation.

On May 8th, North Carolina voters banned same-sex marriage by amending their state constitution to only recognize marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

On May 9th, President Obama endorses same-sex marriage - putting himself at odds with North Carolina voters on the controversial issue.

On May 12th, Governor Romney addressed social-conservatives at Liberty University declaring that marriage is only between one man and one woman - putting himself in agreement with North Carolina voters on the issue.

By May 15th, Obama's lead has shifted to Romney, and Romney has held the lead consistently ever since.

I have given much thought to Richard Stoecker’s letter (“Vote for Mormon against beliefs,” June 15). I am also a Christian and differ with the Mormon religion.

But I think any Christian should spend much time in prayer before refusing to vote for a family man with high morals, business experience, who is against abortion, and shares Christian conviction concerning homosexuality just because he is a Mormon.

Any Christian who does not vote or writes in a name is casting a vote for Romney’s opponent, Barack Hussein Obama — a man who sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for years, did not hold a public ceremony to mark the National Day of Prayer, and is a liberal who supports the killing of unborn babies and same-sex marriage.

I hope all Christians give their vote prayerful consideration because voting is a sacred privilege and a serious responsibility.

President Obama is facing sharp criticism tonight form a group that was among his biggest supporters. A coalition of African-American pastors is upset with the President's support for gay marriage. This group of pastors held a news conference at Opryland to voice its disapproval with the President's position. Several pastors say they believe the the President is leading the country down a dangerous path.

"His pronouncement is in fact a direct attack on the God of the Bible and the Christian faith," says Quinn Chapel AME's Luke Robinson.

"We were once proud of you, but our pride has turned to shame that you, the man holding the most powerful position in the world, would stoop to leading the country down an immoral path," says the Coalition of African-American Pastors' Bill Owens.

The group is now calling on black pastors across the country to withhold support from President Obama in the November election.

Terence Jeffrey of CNSNews asks the same question of President Obama:

"...So, what does Obama's "marriage equality" mean for bisexuals?

According to Merriam-Webster, homosexual means "characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward another of the same sex." Bisexual means "characterized by a tendency to direct sexual desire toward both sexes."

Obama, we now know, believes homosexual men have a "right" to marry other men, and homosexual women have a "right" to marry other women. So, who does he believe bisexuals have a "right" to marry?

In Obama's world, does a bisexual man have a "right" to enter into a bigamous union with one other man and one woman? Or can the state force him to limit his marriage to the union of just two people?

And if that is the case, how would Obama, within his philosophy of government, justify prohibiting a bisexual from forming a tripartite marriage?"

So what gives? What does marriage equality for bisexuals look like?

President Barack Obama's support of gay marriage has not translated into more backing from Michigan voters overall, a new poll shows, and four in 10 self-described independents say they are less likely to vote for him because of it.

"The fact that only 17 percent of polled independent voters were supportive of the President's stance on gay marriage - and that 41 percent indicated they were less likely to vote for him as a result - may be some cause for concern with this crucial group," said Jeff Lambert, president and managing partner of public relations firm Lambert, Edwards & Associates. -- MLive

"...Moderate Democrats aren't the only ones refusing to put on the party hats and sing "Kumbaya." North Carolina is riling Obama's left flank, too. And national media outlets are noticing. In a piece on the DNC "going awry," Bloomberg News reported:

"Voters just approved a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which conflicts with Obama's view on the issue. Convention fundraising has been slow, and labor unions tapped to fill the financial gap are angry the convention will be in a city — Charlotte — with no unionized hotels and in a state where compulsory union membership or the payment of dues is prohibited as an employment condition." -- CNS News

President Barack Obama’s endorsement of gay marriage did little to shift the nation’s views on the subject, with a new poll finding that the public remains evenly split on the issue.

...The poll found that 42 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage, 40 percent support it and 15 percent are neutral. Last August, the country was similarly divided over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to be legally married in their state, with 45 percent opposing, 42 percent favoring and 10 percent neutral.

... posing a potential problem for the president, his announcement also fired up the right — against him. More Republicans and conservatives said they strongly disapproved of his handling of the issue now than before; 53 percent of Republicans said that, compared with 45 percent in August, and 52 percent of conservatives say as much now, up from 43 percent back then.

The issue could compel them to turn out in droves to vote against Obama.

The Advocate (a gay news source):

Mitt Romney received his first endorsement from a group representing gay Americans when GOProud voted to support the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Tuesday night, saying that the businessman and former Massachusetts governor brings “the experience and expertise to turn this economy around.”

In a statement, the group for gay conservatives and their allies announced it had “enthusiastically,” but not unanimously, decided to back Romney despite his support for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would limit marriage to the union of one man and one woman.

“GOProud is prepared to commit significant resources to help make Mitt Romney the next President of the United States,” said Lisa De Pasquale, interim GOProud board chair and former CPAC director. The group plans to have a large presence at the Republican National Convention this September in Tampa, where it will hold the annual Homocon event.

A day after electing their first African-American president in a historic move that strives to erase its legacy of racism, Southern Baptists passed a resolution opposing the idea that same-sex marriage is a civil rights issue.

Thousands of delegates at the denomination's annual meeting in New Orleans on Wednesday were nearly unanimous in their support for the resolution that affirms their belief that marriage is "the exclusive union of one man and one woman" and that "all sexual behavior outside of marriage is sinful."

The nation's largest Protestant denomination is attempting to broaden its appeal beyond its traditional white Southern base. At the same time, leaders said they feel it is important to take a public stand on their opposition to same-sex marriage.

The resolution acknowledges that gays and lesbians sometimes experience "unique struggles" but declares that they lack the "distinguishing features of classes entitled to special protections."

"It is regrettable that homosexual rights activists and those who are promoting the recognition of `same-sex marriage' have misappropriated the rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement," the resolution states.

Another resolution passed on Wednesday is intended to protect religious liberty. It includes a call for the U.S. Justice Department to cease efforts to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act and for the Obama administration to ensure that military personnel and chaplains can freely express their religious convictions about homosexuality.

Reverend Fred Luter, Jr., the first African American president of Southern Baptist Convention, talks about the momentous election and gives his opinion on gay rights, same sex marriage on Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien.

When asked if his agenda will include inclusiveness of gay Americans, Rev. Luter says, “No, I’m a man of the book. I believe in the word of God. I believe in the bible. God has specifically spoken about marriage. Marriage is between a man and a woman. That’s biblical. No president whether it’s a president in the White House, no governor, no mayor, no one can change that. God has already established marriage between a one man and one woman. So I would stand for that because that’s what the word of God says and that’s what I believe in.”

When CNN Anchor Soledad O’Brien asks if this view puts him in opposition to President Obama, Luter answers, “On this particular subject, yes. I support my president. He is my president. I pray for him and Michelle and his daughters on a daily basis. But on this issue, the President and I have two different opinions, for sure.”

Update -- here is video:

A day after electing their first African-American president, Southern Baptists were considering a resolution Wednesday opposing the idea that gay rights are the same as civil rights.

The resolution up for a vote at the denomination's annual meeting in New Orleans affirms Southern Baptists' beliefs that marriage is "the exclusive union of one man and one woman" and that "all sexual behavior outside of marriage is sinful."

It acknowledges that gays and lesbians sometimes experience "unique struggles" but declares that they lack the "distinguishing features of classes entitled to special protections."

"It is regrettable that homosexual rights activists and those who are promoting the recognition of 'same-sex marriage' have misappropriated the rhetoric of the Civil Rights Movement," the resolution states.

Another resolution to be considered Wednesday is intended to protect religious liberty. It includes a call for the U.S. Justice Department to cease efforts to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act and for the Obama administration to ensure that military personnel and chaplains can freely express their religious convictions about homosexuality.

Last month, when President Obama finally endorsed gay marriage after years of equivocation, he emphasized that he still thinks states should be free to address the issue as they see fit. Since many voters strongly oppose gay marriage, it is clear why Obama advocates a federalist approach to the question. But it is not clear that he logically can.

... Obama does not argue that DOMA violates the 10th Amendment by impermissibly intruding on a power that the Constitution reserves to the states. Instead he says the law violates the guarantee of equal protection implicit in the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause.

... In fact, [DOJ's] Holder and Obama implicitly have staked out a stronger position against state bans on gay marriage than the 9th Circuit did. Under the heightened scrutiny favored by Obama, the government must show that a legal distinction based on sexual orientation is "substantially related to an important government objective."

... many other states' gay marriage bans could be vulnerable under the heightened scrutiny that Obama applied to DOMA.

Obama may wish to avoid the implications of his constitutional logic until after the presidential election. But if the Supreme Court agrees to hear the California case this fall and asks the solicitor general to weigh in, that may not be possible.

Sen. Jim DeMint, Tony Perkins, Bishop Harry Jackson and Pastors Speak in Support of Marriage Between One Man and One Woman:

President Obama never uttered the words gay, same-sex or marriage, but during the loudest crescendo of applause Tuesday in a fundraising swing through Maryland, everyone seemed to know just what he meant.

“We’re moving forward to a country where we treat everybody fairly and everybody equally, with dignity and respect,” Obama told about 600 supporters near the end of a rally in Baltimore. “Here in Maryland … you have a chance to reaffirm that principle in the voting booth in November. It’s the right thing to do.”

... The president’s careful word choices on Maryland’s emotional election-year ballot issues did not bother supporters.

“We are grateful the president highlighted the marriage referendum,” Josh Levin, campaign manager for Marylanders for Marriage Equalitysaid in a statement. “Voters identify with his journey on the issue and are rethinking their own position on same-sex marriage.”

Obama’s 30-minute address repeatedly circled around to the economy. -- The Washington Post

Christians leaders aren’t backing down on their pleas for the Obama administration to further expand religious exemptions surrounding the controversial contraceptive mandate.

The ongoing debate about religious freedom has been raging since the mandate was first announced in January, causing a massive rift between Obama and a plethora of religious leaders and congregants. In a June 11 letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, 149 faith leaders made their views on the matter known.

The letter, which can be read in full here, was assembled by Stanley Carlson-Thies who helped setup George W. Bush’s faith-based office. While numerous protestants were included in the pool of individuals signing on, no Catholic bishops joined in. As stated, the Catholic Church is pursuing its own lawsuits to help rectify the wrongs it sees inherent in the mandate. The National Catholic Register has more about the signatories.

The decision by the National Board of the NAACP to endorse same sex marriage has caused several local officers as well as members of the National Board to resign.

The board approved the resolution on May 21—on the heels of President Obama’s endorsement of same sex marriage—despite the fact that the issue wasn’t even on the NAACP’s formal agenda.

“Clearly it’s an evolving conversation,” said Chairwoman Roslyn Brock. It may not have been on a formal agenda, but she believed that it was certainly a relevant issue of civil rights. “Some may never be able to come to terms with the resolution, and that’s fine,” she added.

The NAACP decided to support same sex marriage on the grounds that marriage equality is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.

Head of the Indiana NAACP Barbara Bolling said that the resolution created debate right away in her state. It even forced one of her branch’s presidents to quit. “It’s an emotional thing, it really is,” Bolling said.

A minister who led the NAACP chapter in Schenectady, N.Y. also resigned, as did National Board member Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr., who has always been the organization’s most prominent and outspoken member when it came to opposing same sex marriage.

President Barack Obama is rapidly losing support among African-American voters in North Carolina, a new poll out today from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling shows.

The poll finds that Mitt Romney would get 20 percent of the African-American vote if the election were held today, compared with 76 percent for Obama. Overall, Romney has a 48 percent to 46 percent lead on Obama in the crucial swing state.

Obama received 95 percent of the support from African-Americans in North Carolina in the 2008 election, compared with just 5 percent for Republican nominee John McCain.

In PPP's May poll, Obama received 87 percent of the African-American vote to Romney's 11 percent.

All of Obama's numbers with African-Americans are sliding. His approval rating is down from 86 percent to 77 percent. Romney's favorability, meanwhile, has doubled from 9 percent to 18 percent.

Jim Williams, a polling analyst at PPP, said it could be "statistical noise" that comes with a small sample (only about 200 African-Americans were surveyed). But he said it was not something the agency has "ever seen before."

"Seventy-something percent is obviously low," Williams told Business Insider. "It's not something we've ever seen before. It's definitely something we're going to monitor."

Williams added the obvious: If the results keep turning up like this, it would be "very bad news for him."

Yes, that's a glimpse of NOM co-founder Maggie Gallagher up on the stage with the pastors!

The debate over gay marriage in the African American community continues to rage one month after President Barack Obama endorsed same-sex marriage. Weeks after the NAACP, an African-American civil rights organization, passed a resolution also backing gay marriage as a civil right, the Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr., a member of the organization’s national board, has resigned.

... “I want to thank the NAACP for the privilege to humbly serve in such an organization and thank all those I had the privilege to work with in the states of Iowa, Nebraska and throughout the country,” Ratliff said in a statement announcing his decision to exit his leadership role in the nation’s oldest civil rights group.

In addition to his work with the group, Ratliff is also the pastor of Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church in Des Moines, Iowa. The Quad City Times expands upon the minister’s past history defending traditional marriage and railing against same-sex nuptials...

Gay marriage opponents predict President Barack Obama's public endorsement of same-sex marriage will hurt his re-election chances and pledge to push the issue in key swing states. Officials at the National Organization for Marriage, a political group that helps fund state-based campaigns against gay marriage, had already denounced the president's position and said Tuesday they are confident their efforts will help ensure a victory for Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

"I believe that this will lead to President Obama being a one-term president," said NOM president Brian Brown, during a call with reporters. "If you look at key swing states—Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Iowa—those are all states where you had overwhelming majorities vote to protect marriage, and I think that we are going to focus on making very clear that this is a key distinction obviously."

Ohio, Florida and most recently, North Carolina have all passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. While it's legal in Iowa via a court ruling, NOM counts votes to recall justices who supported its legalization as a sign from voters that they oppose it.

Brown pushed back against recent polling that shows Americans' views shifting rapidly in favor of same-sex marriage, claiming they often used 'biased' polling questions. He also pointed to the fact that despite any polling, each of the states that have had popular votes on same-sex marriage have seen voters come out against it. Gay marriage is legal in six states, either through court rulings or by legislation.

Leaders of the National Organization for Marriage, one of the main groups that backed Proposition 8 in California to ban same-sex marriage, promised Tuesday to make such marriages an issue in seven swing states critical to the outcome of this year's presidential election.

Gay and lesbian marriages have been prohibited in 38 states by ballot initiative or by legislatures, including North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Nevada and Colorado. In Iowa, same-sex marriage is legal as a result of a state Supreme Court ruling. Those seven states are considered swing states in the November election.

National Organization for Marriage Political Director Frank Schubert accused President Obama of "orchestrating the demise" of traditional marriage.

The Coalition of African American Pastors has demanded a meeting with President Obama to try to change his mind on his personal embrace of same-sex marriage.

The pastors fired off a letter this week to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. asking him to set up the meeting with the president, and painted their quest as a civil rights cause.

"I can promise you personally, as an organizer of the civil rights movement in Nashville, I did not march one inch, one foot, one yard for same-sex marriage," said Rev. William "Bill" Owens Sr., founder of the coalition and organizer of the letter.

While saying they are proud of Mr. Obama's success and calling him the "fulfillment of our dreams for our sons," Mr. Owens and the 19 other religious leaders who signed his letter said the president's evolution to embrace same-sex marriage "has broken our hearts by using his power and position to endorse as a civil right something that is simply wrong."

Five months ahead of the presidential election, the Democratic Party is already losing seats to Republicans, as a growing number of elected officials are changing parties over issues like the right to life, the definition of marriage, and the Obama administration’s mandate that religious institutions cover abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans.

Wednesday afternoon, seven local office-holders from three Mississippi counties announced they had voted with their feet.

Each official had different reasons, but Leake County Sheriff Greg Waggoner “specifically said when [Obama] came out in favor of gay ‘marriage,’ that was the last straw,” Brett Kittredge, communications director of the Mississippi Republican Party, told LifeSiteNews.com.

“I’m a Christian, and my first allegiance is to Jesus Christ,” Sheriff Waggoner said. “God established marriage, and He established it between a man and a woman. Those are my beliefs. The Republican Party reflects my beliefs.”

... In April, Rick Murphrey, the mayor of Kings Mountain in North Carolina and a lifelong Democrat, changed party registration to the GOP based in part on the state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex “marriage.” Governor Bev Perdue, a Democrat, opposed Amendment One. Murphrey said that “is one of the things” he and his wife “evaluated in our decision.”

“We believe in the marriage of one man and one woman,” Murphrey said. “That is something we believe in strongly.”

They love President Barack Obama. But when it comes to his support for same-sex marriage, some of the nation’s leading African-American clergy are divided, sometimes passionately.

... But most of the ministers, pastors and theological scholars expressed firm positions on marrying same-sex couples.

"I love all homosexual brothers and sisters, but my discipline says I can’t marry them," said Bishop John Adams, an African Methodist Episcopal minister and former conference chairman. "Same-sex marriages are not being approved by the Christian community because it is a contradiction of creation. . . . The species continues by the procreation of male and female."

Michael Eric Dyson, a Georgetown University sociology professor, scolded African-American clergy members who rail against gay marriage and homosexuals yet take donations from them and allow them to be church ushers and to sing in or direct church choirs.

"Some of the most homophobic preachers there are probably gay themselves," Dyson told the group. "I’m not saying you must be secretly gay. My point is that the gay self has been so constructed and demonized that even the gay person, as a rite of passage, hate(s) the gay self . . . in order to gain legitimacy in black church circles."

"...In seeking to redefine the legal definition of marriage to include same sex unions, President Obama and other proponents of "gay marriage" are in effect imposing their views and lifestyle on the larger populace. Once legal, the state's coercive power will punish those who refuse to embrace gay marriages. For example, public officials - regardless of their views on the rightness or wrongness of homosexual acts - will be obliged to officiate at same sex "weddings", and public schools will be required to teach their acceptability to children whether parents concur or not. Even First Amendment freedoms will not be protected from assault.

Marriage has been primarily about the raising of children (who seem to be hardwired to be best raised by a father and a mother who are married to each other). Society has a legitimate interest in favoring such traditional marriages as a way of investing in the future of society by providing for the human flourishing of upcoming generations.

Same sex "marriage" - if allowed to prevail in law - will result in the devaluation of all marriages with terrible consequences to society. That marriage is a life long union between a man and a woman is certainly part of Catholic teaching - in fact, in our teaching, this union is seen as a covenant and is a sacrament. However, marriage as a union between a man and a woman for the sake of family is not a product of religious sectarianism. Nor is marriage a creation of the state. It is founded in nature itself.

Marriage understood as a union between one man and one woman as an institution precedes church and state - if not a creation of Church or state, neither has any authority to change the nature of marriage.

The common good demands that the understanding of marriage as a union between one man and one woman not be lost."

A "new rainbow coalition" made up of influential Christian pastors and leaders gathered on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon to declare support for the traditional definition of marriage and the Defense of Marriage Act in response to President Obama's recent announcement that he supports same-sex marriage and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's support of repealing DOMA.

...The press event at the "Senate Swamp" was held after "The Defense of Marriage Summit: the Impact of Presidential Decisions on Social Institutions" this week, which produced the Stand for Marriage document. All the pastors and Christian leaders at the summit signed the document that states, "Marriage is intended for one man and one woman in a life-long covenant. One of the essential purposes of marriage is to carry on the human race through childbearing, another purpose of marriage is to illustrate the relationship between Christ and the Bridegroom and the Church as the Bride."

The president of the Iowa and Nebraska conference of NAACP branches says he's struggling with the group's national board resolution to support same-sex "marriage."

Rev. Keith Ratliff Sr. told The Des Moines Register that the group's endorsement one week ago has made him uncertain about his future membership and leadership in the group. He said he's "praying over the matter."

Ratliff is one of 64 members of the national board of directors for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Ratliff, of Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church in Des Moines, has long opposed same-sex marriage. He told the newspaper, "Marriage equality, for me, is between a man and a woman, period. There is no other definition for me."

The defection of a prominent Pennsylvania Democrat to the Republican Party is raising some eyebrows.

Jo Ann Nardelli, a state committeewoman and founding president of the Blair County Federation of Democratic Women, has switched her political affiliation to the GOP, citing her Catholic faith and President Obama’s embrace of gay marriage as reasons.

During a press conference last week, Nardelli cited President Obama’s recent announcement in support of gay marriage as a central reason for her defection, endorsed Mitt Romney for president and changed her party registration to Republican, The Altoona Mirror reported.

“As the Democratic Party has taken the stand for same-sex marriage, then I must make a stand on my faith that marriage is between a man and a woman. God’s principles for life never change. His guidelines, given in Scripture, produce fruitful lives when you follow them,” Nardelli, a pro-life Democrat for more than 40 years, said at the Blair County Courthouse.

According to Politics PA, Nardelli continued to point to her Catholic faith as a major motivator in her letter of resignation to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.

Nardelli also conducted an interview on Monday with the National Catholic Register.

The Daily Caller attended a meeting Wednesday morning held by the Congressional Black Caucus and the Conference of National Black Churches.

At the event, TheDC asked attendees if they thought it was fair to compare the fight to legalize same sex marriage with the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.

Sign the pledge here: www.100000signatures4marriage.com/Marriage-Pledge.html

"...On his Tuesday evening program [last week], Glenn Beck broke down the issue of same-sex marriage as it relates to the 2012 election, explaining why the president’s newfound stance on the issue may not even help him gain crucial swing states. [...] Looking back, swing states in 2008 including Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Florida and North Carolina, all opposed gay marriage by as much as 30 percentage points each.

... What’s more, Beck noted that in every state where same-sex marriage amendments have been listen on the ballot, voters have stricken down the measure each time. Often, African Americans and Hispanics are among the demographics that hold the least-favorable views on same-sex marriage. “The president’s pandering for donations might not be the home-run he thinks it is,” Beck noted. Ironically, Democratic pollster Jay Campbell noted that Romney’s stance on same-sex marriage may have even helped him solidify support with the Republican base, particularly 62 percent of Evangelicals.

Once a bright spot for President Barack Obama, North Carolina is now more like a political migraine less than four months before Democrats open the party's national convention in Charlotte.

... When Democrats announced the choice in February 2011, they said selecting the Southern city signaled Obama's intent to fight hard for the conservative-leaning state like he did in 2008. They also highlighted the economic transformation in the state and in Charlotte - from tobacco, textiles and furniture-making to research, energy and banking. Party leaders noted the state's strong political leadership and expressed hope that a Perdue re-election bid would get a boost from the attention that would be lavished on the convention.

Now traditional Democratic Party groups are threatening huge protests in part because they're deeply uncomfortable that the convention is being held in one of the least union-friendly states. And thousands of Democrats across the country are calling for the convention to be relocated because of the gay-marriage vote.

... There's also the fired-up Republican base that turned out Tuesday to approve the constitutional ban on gay marriage. The vote prompted more than 28,000 people to sign an online petition - by the New York-based Gay Marriage USA - to move the convention from Charlotte. Twitter also was flooded with similar sentiment from angry supporters of same-sex marriage. Obama stated his support for gay marriage a day after the vote.

Democrats want to include gay marriage in the platform to be adopted at the convention. That could create controversy at a gathering that's intended to promote party unity by drawing attention to a divisive social issue when the economy remains the most pressing concern.