...will other gay marriage activists renounce their mantra that "civil rights should never be voted on by the people"?
They've been saying that, oh, in every state where NOM has been working to allow the people to vote to decide the issue.
Or was that argument of theirs just a canard?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 26, 2012
Contact: Elizabeth Ray or Anath Hartmann at (703-683-5004)
"What part of ‘no' don't gay marriage advocates understand?"—Brian Brown, NOM President
Augusta—The National Organization for Marriage (NOM), America's leading pro-marriage group, today pledged an all-out battle in Maine to defeat a proposed amendment imposing same-sex marriage in the sate. Voters previously rejected gay marriage in 2009.
"NOM intends to vigorously fight this attempt by same-sex marriage advocates to impose gay marriage in Maine," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "Maine voters rejected gay marriage barely more than two years ago. What part of ‘no' don't gay marriage advocates understand?"
In 2009, voters passed Question One, a "People's Veto" overturning legislation that attempted to legalize gay marriage. NOM spent nearly $2 million on the Question One campaign.
"The people of Maine are not in favor of redefining marriage, as we showed in 2009," Brown said. "Gay advocates are fooling themselves when they say things have changed. Voters still understand that marriage is about more than the desires of adults. They still understand that children need both a mother and father. They understand that same-sex marriage has real consequences for people of faith, small businesses, churches and religious organizations. And they understand that marriage is too important a social institution to be kicked to the curb to satisfy the political demands of a small but powerful and vocal special interest group. We are completely confident that Mainers will oppose this attempt, just as they rejected gay marriage in 2009."
To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray, eray@crcpublicrelations.com, (x130) or Anath Hartmann, ahartmann@crcpublicrelations.com, (x105) at 703-683-5004.
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The Kennebec Journal reports:
Proponents of a citizens' initiative to allow same-sex marriage in Maine said today the language for the legislation they drafted was recently approved by the Secretary of State.
This allows supporters to begin printing petitions and gathering signatures to reach their goal of placing the issue before Mainers on the November 2012 ballot. They need at least 57,277 signatures from registered Maine voters and will have until January to turn in their petitions to Secretary of State Charlie Summers.
Voters in Maine overturned same-sex marriage 53%-47% in 2009.
A self-identified gay republican activist in Maine wrote in the Portland Herald Press last week that this new attempt to pass same-sex marriage was bound for defeat.
NOM President Maggie Gallagher recently told the Associated Press we're optimistic that the people of Maine will vote to preserve the common sense definition of marriage if asked to vote on it again.
A self-identified gay republican activist warns in the Portland Press Herald that gay marriage will go down again if it is put to the people of Maine in 2012 (he would prefer that government "get out of the marriage business altogether"):
If they follow through on their plan to put same-sex marriage on the November 2012 ballot, EqualityMaine and their left-wing followers will be ensuring that Maine will be a red state in the 2012 election cycle.
I say this because by putting this lightning-rod issue on the ballot, they will be bringing all of the socially conservative voters out of the woodwork to vote against it.
... the liberal progressive establishment is showing how clueless they are about the Maine electorate with this move [to put marriage on the ballot].
They think that putting this on the ballot in a high-turnout year is the tonic to cure the ill of getting around the groundswell these ballot questions generate. The problem is that they are going to hit their target yet again, yet miss the goal. In 2009, they planned for a victory with 265,000 votes. They got 267,000 votes. Their problem was that the opposition got 300,000 votes.
NOM Chairman Maggie Gallagher in the Associated Press on the possibility of a 2012 marriage vote in Maine:
The National Organization for Marriage, which opposes gay marriage, isn't saying how much money would be needed to get out its message. But Maggie Gallagher, NOM's chairman and co-founder, said raising money for Maine wouldn't be a problem. The organization plans to raise $20 million this year in U.S.
"We've won 31 out of 31 times when this has been taken to the state. We'd be optimistic about winning again if they want to put Maine through another campaign," Gallagher said.
Maine voters in 2009 overturned a bill passed by the Legislature that would have legalized the practice. Thirty other states have passed amendments banning gay marriage.
Last month, gay marriage advocates announced that they'd be gathering signatures necessary to put the measure to a state vote again in Maine.
Marc Mutty, chairman of the successful Stand for Marriage Maine campaign, responds to a new movie trailer and resulting commentary that, he says, "served to mischaracterize my positions on same-sex marriage and on the Question 1 campaign". An excerpt:
First and foremost, let me say directly that I fully support the definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman...
Second, this campaign was a long, painful process, made all the more difficult by the fact that the campaign staff and I were harassed and threatened repeatedly, to the point that I was concerned for the safety of my staff and our families.
Our computers were hacked, our campaign office was vandalized, death threats were made and our family members were shunned and verbally attacked.
Why? Simply because we worked on a campaign that presented a view, a majority view I might add, that marriage is between one man and one woman.
It was with this in mind that I said I would never do such a campaign again, knowing the toll it would take on my personal health, and on the well-being of my staff given the degree of antagonism that our position generated from some gay activists and their supporters.
... But in the end, to me, and to the majority of voters here and in 30 other states nationwide, the true definition of marriage is worth defending in law, despite the personal attacks and political invective that its supporters faced.
There's so much election news. Consider the Maine governor's race, where Paul LePage won the GOP nomination. Pro-gay marriage forces have vowed to pass another gay marriage bill in 2011, despite the historic rejection of gay marriage by Maine voters last November. If Paul LePage wins the governor's seat he has promised to veto any such effort to circumvent the will of the voters. LePage is a really interesting guy, not your typical profile. He is one of 18 kids--"-when you come from a family of 18 kids you have to be pro-life -- otherwise, you might have been 'the one,'" he told Maine Public Broadcasting.
His father was an abusive disciplinarian, so he ran away at home at age 11 and lived homeless on the streets for a few years, before eventually graduating from high school, working to put himself through college, eventually earning a master's degree in business administration. He serves as general manager of Marden's Salvage and Surplus and the mayor of Waterville.
He is both a fiscal and a social conservative--and something else as well:
"I'm putting myself out there because I believe I am the candidate, not only on the Republican side, but the Democratic side and the Independent side, that both have a life history that understands the stigma that goes with being homeless, poor and on the streets, and I understand what it does to the human body, the human psyche," Lepage says.
Dear Friends of Marriage,
The National Organization for Marriage has again, because of your support and work, played a key role in changing the course of history on marriage. As the largest contributor to the Yes on 1 effort in Maine, NOM spent almost all that it had (literally!), a total of $1.8 million dollars, because we knew the singular importance of a victory in Maine. Read More
WE DID IT!By a 53-47 margin, voters in Maine won a decisive and historic victory for marriage by passing Question 1! Read More
Dear Friends of Marriage,
With key votes taking place today in Maine and upstate New York, please do everything you possibly can to help get out the vote. If you know people who live in these areas, please call them and make sure they get to the polls. Your efforts and phone calls could make the difference in these extremely close races. Read More
Dear Friends of Marriage,
Everyone keeps asking me about Maine.
Here's the great news: StandforMarriageMaine.com (the Yes on One folks) have a new campaign ad so effective that National Public Radio doesn't want you to see it!
It's an ad featuring an NPR news interview from 2004 with a pro-gay marriage Massachusetts public school teacher. In the interview, the teacher describes in great (and warning: occasionally graphic) detail how her teaching changed once gay marriage became the law. "Give me a break" she says, "it's legal now." Read More
Friends,
Let me be direct: Unless we act now, marriage will be redefined in Maine. Never before have voters had the chance to directly overturn the legislative enactment of same-sex marriage in any state in the country. If we lose marriage in Maine, we risk losing marriage everywhere. Read More
NOM launched its Northeast Action Plan today with a series of radio ads airing in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The ads open with a child asking questions about same-sex marriage: "If my Dad married a man, who would be my Mom?" Listeners then hear an urgent marriage alert, asking them to contact their legislators in opposition to same-sex marriage legislation pending in the three states.
We need your help! Please make a generous donation today to help us keep these ads on the air!
Click here to listen to the radio ad.
Click a button below to send a message to your state legislators!
