Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you — now is the time for action!

Washington, D.C. — The following statement may be attributable to Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage:

"We condemn in the strongest possible way the murder of a gay man in New York by a killer who apparently hurled anti-gay insults at him moments before the killing. This senseless act cannot be condoned in America or anywhere, and we urge that the perpetrator be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Our heart goes out to the family of the victim, and we hold them in our prayers. While this killing appears to have no connection to the current debate about redefining marriage, there is no room for violence toward any American — whether they support traditional marriage or not. No person should be subjected to violence because they are gay or lesbian or because they believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. There is no place for violence, period."

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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).

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

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

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

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

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called a meeting with prominent New York gay elected officials and activists amid concern over whether a provision sought by same-sex couples will be included in the immigration reform bill, POLITICO has learned.

The meeting became heated at times, as many attendees made clear to Schumer how critical it is that the overhaul allow allows U.S. citizens to seek green cards for their foreign-born partners.

Schumer is in a tough spot over the proposed amendment, which key Republicans involved in the reform talks have said would be a deal killer. While some officials who took part in the meeting voiced support for Schumer afterward, others said they would consider it a strike on his record if the provision is left out, noting that he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and was the last of New York’s major elected officials to voice support for gay marriage.

“Sen. Schumer called the meeting because he is in trouble with a key constituency,” said Rachel Tiven of the group Immigration Equality. She attended the gathering and has been vocal in her criticism of Schumer on the issue. (Politico)

WASHINGTON—The National Organization for Marriage intends to sue the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) next week amid allegations that the government tax-collecting agency leaked confidential donor information to a key political rival.

The accusation is one of many coming to light this week against the IRS, which has admitted to targeting conservative groups for audits and denying others tax-exempt status. But John Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), told me Friday that his organization’s lawsuit has been in the works since 2012.

“We asked for an investigation a year ago,” he said.

On March 30, 2012, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which advocates for the legalization of gay marriage, released confidential NOM donor lists and addresses on its website. HRC attempted to conceal the source of the information, but Eastman said computer technicians were able to see redacted portions of the PDF document, proving it had originated from the IRS.

Eastman said NOM has not determined how much it will seek in damages, but he underscored the significance of the illegal disclosure. “One of the charges for impeachment drawn up against President [Richard] Nixon was the abuse of the IRS for political purposes,” he said.

The entertainment industry centered on Hollywood has helped reshape Americans’ views on sexuality, family and marriage.

But this change results from Hollywood’s powerful homosexual culture, whose ideological leaders tolerate no dissent — even from other homosexuals — and who have filled a vacuum in the industry left by the absence of faithful Christians.

... More than 5,000 members of the rich and famous attended the Los Angeles GLAAD Media Awards in April, which honored President Bill Clinton with the Advocate for Change Award. Clinton has apologized for signing into federal law the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which now faces a constitutional challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court.

However, GLAAD has made known that not all homosexuals in Hollywood are welcome, especially when they step out of line with GLAAD’s agenda. Bret Easton Ellis, screenwriter and author of the book American Psycho, took to Twitter to claim that GLAAD had banned him from the awards ceremony over controversial tweets criticizing what he called the “politically correct gay agenda.”

GLAAD's vice president of communications, Rich Ferraro, told the Hollywood Reporter that GLAAD did not want Ellis and his tweets overshadowing an event “advocating for equality in the Boy Scouts, marriage and across the country.”

Dear Marriage Supporter,

The road to tyranny is paved with incidents like this.

Private Citizen Harassed for Her Political Writings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is what tyranny feels like.

NOM's Smoking Gun in IRS-Gate

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rush Limbaugh also took notice:

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

Listen to the full Rush segment here.

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

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

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

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

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

At the very least!

How We Fight Back Against Tyranny

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...“Last May, Senator Hatch — the top Republican on the Finance Committee — sent a letter to the IRS inquiring about reports that someone at the IRS had leaked confidential donor information from NOM to an advocacy group whose political goals were in direct conflict with its own.

“NOM has since released documents suggesting that this information came from one source — from within the IRS itself. All this took place, by the way, in the middle of a national political campaign.

“Significantly, one of the NOM donors whose name was leaked was none other than Mitt Romney. What a coincidence. And what about the group it was leaked to?

“Well, it was headed by a guy who was named a co-chair of the Obama campaign, and who published the confidential donor information on the website of the organization he ran – an organization opposed to the goals of NOM.

“So here’s another situation that, at the very least, clearly merits investigation. There are allegations here that someone at the IRS committed a very serious crime that had the effect of chilling the speech of a political organization that happened to be on the wrong side of the current Administration.

“Yet, a year later, Senator Hatch has yet to hear anything back from the IRS. And, according to the folks at NOM, neither have they."

You can read his entire set of remarks here.

"...For the IRS to leak any organization's tax return to its political opponents is an outrageous breach of ethics and, if proven, constitutes a felony. Every organization — liberal and conservative — should shudder at the idea of the IRS playing politics with its confidential tax return information. But the situation here is even more egregious because the head of the HRC was at the time serving as a national co-chair of President Obama's re-election campaign.

The release of NOM's confidential tax return to the Human Rights Campaign is the canary in the coal mine of IRS corruption. Contrary to assertions that the targeting of Tea Party groups was an error in judgment by low-level IRS bureaucrats, the release of NOM's confidential data to a group headed by an Obama campaign co-chair suggests the possibility of complicity at the highest levels of politics and government. This wasn't a low-level error in judgment; it was a conscious act to reward a prominent Obama supporter while punishing an opponent.

That's the reason the IRS has not been very interested in getting to the bottom of what happened. Federal investigators have interviewed NOM officials about the matter, but our efforts to find out what has become of the investigation have been stonewalled at every turn."

 

 

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Politico:

"...In April 2012, the Huffington Post and the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, posted IRS documents indicating GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney had given $10,000 to the anti-gay marriage group. While the same inspector general who uncovered the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups was investigating the case, NOM has been frustrated with the pace of the investigation."

The Hill:

"...For over a year, NOM has argued that the IRS directly leaked confidential tax information, which included a list of private donors. With the IRS back under harsh scrutiny after it apologized for targeting Tea Party groups, NOM is taking legal action, and inviting other conservative causes to do so as well."

FoxNews:

"...Accusations of improper IRS behavior surfaced again in 2012 when a prominent anti-gay marriage group accused the agency of leaking private tax files that listed then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney's group as a contributor. The National Organization for Marriage documents were later published by a group whose president was tied to the Obama re-election campaign.

NOM claimed that someone from the IRS fed the liberal Human Rights Campaign documents listing its 2008 contributors. On that list was a $10,000 donation from Romney’s political action committee. The Human Rights Campaign then published the documents online, saying it had uncovered one of the group’s “top secret donors,” and accused Romney of attacking lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality."

Breitbart.com:

"...The National Organization for Marriage, a conservative organization whose confidential records were leaked by the IRS to its left-wing critics, announced on Tuesday it will sue the tax agency for damages. NOM’s 2008 tax return was, according to a press release the group sent out on Tuesday, taken by the IRS and subsequently leaked to its primary political opponent the Human Rights Campaign."

HotAir.com:

"...Matt Lewis reported on the leak at the time, which culminated in HuffPo trying to make political hay of a Romney-affiliated donation to NOM. In 2012, NOM requested an investigation by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the same office that authored the draft report on the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups, which is to be released this week. They were interviewed, but never heard anything of an investigation’s process: “Nothing has come of the investigation if there is indeed one, and the agency has refused to answer any questions about the status of its examination,” NOM said in a press release."

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.

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

Washington, D.C. — The National Organization for Marriage today announced they will file a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service seeking damages over the illegal theft of the organization's confidential tax return from 2008 and its subsequent leak to the Human Rights Campaign, NOM's principal political opponent.

"Not only has the IRS retaliated against conservative, small-government and tea party groups as they apply for recognition of tax exemption AND lied about it, but it has criminally released our confidential tax return including the identity of dozens of major donors to a political enemy," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "In addition to being our principal combatant in the war on traditional marriage, the HRC's president at the time was serving as a Co-Chair of President Obama's reelection campaign. This is a chilling set of circumstances that should ring alarm bells across the nation."

NOM has retained ActRight Legal Foundation to file the lawsuit in federal district court in the District of Columbia. Separately, the conservative public interest law firm will also file a lawsuit on behalf of another nonprofit, which was subjected to inappropriate political activity in the review of their nonprofit application.

"The very core of our ordered society has been shaken by this political roughing-up of nonprofits by the IRS" says NOM's Chairman, Dr. John C. Eastman. "As a constitutional law scholar I can tell you that no nonprofit should ever have to experience this kind of retaliation. I am pleased to announce that the excellent attorneys at ActRight Legal Foundation have identified a strong legal strategy that should ultimately hold the IRS accountable and result in lasting change inside of the IRS."

NOM expects that ActRight Legal Foundation will file the lawsuit later this month.

Any nonprofit who has experienced this IRS retaliation and illegal activity is encouraged to contact ActRight Legal Foundation because you may have a legal remedy.

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To schedule an interview with Dr. John C. Eastman, chairman of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), eray@crcpublicrelations.com, or Jen Campbell (x145), jcampbell@crcpublicrelations.com, at tel: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).

"...The National Organization for Marriage, a prominent group that holds the opinion Obama used to agree with, has a long-standing complaint about confidential tax information somehow finding its way into the hands of the Human Rights Campaign, a group that supports Obama’s new position… and is headed by the co-chair of the Obama 2012 campaign.  NOM renewed its calls for justice when the IRS scandal exploded."

• In March 2012, the Puffington Host published a confidential form that the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage, had filed with the IRS. The website obtained the document from the Human Rights Campaign, a pro-same-sex-marriage outfit. In a press release issued today, NOM says its analysis of the images "has determined that the documents came directly from the Internal Revenue Service."

A little over a year ago, I reported that, ”It is likely that someone at the Internal Revenue Service illegally leaked confidential donor information showing a contribution from Mitt Romney’s political action committee to the National Organization for Marriage, says the group.”

Now — on the heels of news the IRS’s apology for having targeted conservative groups — NOM is renewing their demand that the Internal Revenue Service reveal the identity of the people responsible.

“There is little question that one or more employees at the IRS stole our confidential tax return and leaked it to our political enemies, in violation of federal law,” said NOM’s president Brian Brow, in a prepared statement. “The only questions are who did it, and whether there was any knowledge or coordination between people in the White House, the Obama reelection campaign and the Human Rights Campaign. We and the American people deserve answers.”

"Make no mistake, this vote will bring the demise of the DFL majority and end the careers of wayward Republicans in the Legislature once voters have their say." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — The National Organization for Marriage today condemned the Minnesota Legislature for redefining marriage and predicted that the vote will lead to the DFL losing their majority in the 2014 election.

"Just six months ago advocates of redefining marriage said that there was no need for the marriage amendment because Minnesota already had a traditional marriage law on the books. Now, they’ve changed that law and imposed genderless marriage,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s president. “Make no mistake, this vote will bring the demise of the DFL majority and end the
careers of wayward Republicans in the Legislature once voters have their say."

In November 2012, the state narrowly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Opponents of the amendment argued, among other things, that it was not needed since the state already defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Because of their financial advantages (outspending supporters of the amendment by nearly $7 million) they won a narrow victory.

"The people of Minnesota did not vote for gay marriage in 2012,” said Brown. “They voted to maintain traditional marriage by maintaining the status quo. Our opponents bought a victory by claiming that marriage was not under threat of redefinition, but in fact they always intended to redefine it at the soonest possible moment. Legislators who voted to redefine marriage were foolish to do so. They cast a terrible vote that damages society, tells children they don’t deserve a mother and a father, and brands supporters of traditional marriage as bigots. We predict that this vote will be career ending for many legislators in Minnesota."

NOM was the largest funder of the marriage amendment campaign in 2012.

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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 Jennifer Campbell 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).

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.”

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

These are all values that Hollywood liberals claim to hold.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you and God bless you in this good fight.

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

"There is little question that one or more employees at the IRS stole our confidential tax return and leaked it to our political enemies, in violation of federal law." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today renewed its demand that the Internal Revenue Service reveal the identity of the employee or employees responsible for stealing the organization's confidential Form 990 tax return and leaking it to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). At the time of the theft, the HRC had long-sought to know the identity of NOM's major donors and its chief executive was a co-chair of President Obama's reelection campaign. The Form 990 that was leaked to the HRC contained the identity of numerous major donors to the organization.

"There is little question that one or more employees at the IRS stole our confidential tax return and leaked it to our political enemies, in violation of federal law," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "The only questions are who did it, and whether there was any knowledge or coordination between people in the White House, the Obama reelection campaign and the Human Rights Campaign. We and the American people deserve answers."

In March 2012 the Human Rights Campaign and the Huffington Post published NOM's Form 990 Schedule B from 2008 containing the identity of dozens of donors. The HRC claimed the tax return was provided by a ‘whistleblower.' For months previous to the publication, the HRC had been demanding that NOM publicly release this confidential information even though federal law protects the identity of contributors to nonprofit groups. The publication of NOM's tax return occurred just a few months after Joseph Solmonese, then president of the HRC, was appointed a national co-chair of the Obama reelection campaign. An analysis of the published documents shows that they could only have originated with the IRS.

"We've seen in recent days an admission that the IRS intentionally targeted conservative groups for harassment and scrutiny," Brown said, "but what NOM has experienced suggests that problems at the IRS are potentially far more serious than even these latest revelations reveal."

Following publication of NOM's confidential tax return and a complaint to the IRS, investigators with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) interviewed NOM officials about the theft. Nothing has come of the investigation if there is indeed one, and the agency has refused to answer any questions about the status of its examination.

Brown concluded, "No group should ever be subjected to the IRS leaking its confidential tax return to its political enemies. But when the recipient of the stolen information is a group headed by a co-chair of the President's reelection campaign, serious concerns arise. We have no way of knowing if people within the White House, the Obama reelection campaign or the HRC had any role in the crime, but we call on the Congress to investigate. So far, we've heard nothing from the federal government even though they've had all the facts for over a year."

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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 Jennifer Campbell 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).

Background: On March 30, 2012, the Huffington Post published NOM's confidential 2008 tax return filed with the IRS, which it said came from the Human Rights Campaign. The HRC has said on its own site the documents came from a "whistleblower." However, NOM has determined that the documents came directly from the Internal Revenue Service.

The document above is as it appeared when published by the Huffington Post. However, that document was modified in a failed attempt to obscure its source. There is a label visibly obscuring a portion of each page, and it was determined that information on the top of each page was also obscured in the version posted on the Huffington Post.

After software removed the layers obscuring the document, it is shown that the document came from the Internal Revenue Service. The top of each page says, ""THIS IS A COPY OF A LIVE RETURN FROM SMIPS. OFFICIAL USE ONLY." On each page of the return is stamped a document ID of "100560209." Only the IRS would have the Form 990 with "Official Use" information.

To view Letters to the IRS, HRC and Huffington Post with attachments, click here.

This is in response to the April 22 letter to The Sun by Chris Irwin in which she charges the National Organization for Marriage and the Rev. Raymond Suriani with “bullying.” I ask “who’s bullying whom?”

It is Ms. Irwin’s baseless complaint to the IRS against the Rev. Suriani that constitutes bullying.

She contacted the IRS alleging that the Rev. Suriani engaged in political lobbying when he reminded his parishioners of church teaching on homosexuality and marriage, and encouraged them to exercise their right as American citizens by contacting their senator, whose duty is to represent them and their views at the Statehouse.

This harassment leveled against the Rev. Suriani is a typical intimidation tactic designed to silence all those who disagree with the gay agenda, and it is just the tip of the iceberg. In Sweden and Canada, ministers were jailed for quoting from the Bible and preaching against homosexual behavior once marriage was redefined there.

The redefinition of marriage impacts personal lives well beyond same-sex couples. One’s choice of a partner does not concern me, but when they come to our legislatures and courts and force the rest of us to recognize and accept their relationship as identical to that of a man and a woman, it affects everyone.

You can download a PDF of the bulletin insert here.

Here are some of the messages it promotes:

Be a witness for the truth of marriage in word and action. Take advantage of opportunities to speak about marriage’s unique meaning in conversation with friends, family, neighbors or co-workers. Share the truth in love.

Everyone has inviolable dignity and deserves love and respect. There are many ways to protect the basic human rights of all, but redefining marriage serves no one’s rights, least of all those of children.

What is marriage? Marriage is the permanent and exclusive union of one man and one woman, for the good of the spouses and for the procreation and education of children. One man, one woman—for life. (See Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, no. 48).

The difference is the difference. Men and women matter. They are equal but different. Sexual difference is essential to marriage.

Mothers and fathers matter. They aren’t interchangeable. Every child has a basic, natural right to come from and be raised in the loving marital union of his or her own father and mother.

Protecting marriage matters to everyone. It’s Catholic social teaching 101: pro-woman, pro-man, pro-child. Redefining marriage in the law says many false things: women – mothers – are dispensable; men – fathers – are dispensable; what adults want trumps what a child deserves and has a basic right to. (Marriage Unique for a Reason blog)

The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax-exempt status, a top IRS official said Friday.

Organizations were singled out because they included the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups.

In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said.

"That was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. That's not how we go about selecting cases for further review," Lerner said at a conference sponsored by the American Bar Association.

...Many conservative groups complained during the election that they were being harassed by the IRS. They accused the agency of frustrating their attempts to become tax exempt by sending them lengthy, intrusive questionnaires.

The forms, which the groups made available at the time, sought information about group members' political activities, including details of their postings on social networking websites and about family members. (AP)

"...opponents of gay marriage say Delaware lawmakers will face consequences for supporting the measure, which cleared the Senate on a 12-9 vote and was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jack Markell barely half an hour later.

“I think there will be some people that will be replaced,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, a conservative group opposed to same-sex marriage.

Brown said he thinks both Cloutier and Rep. Michael Ramone of Newark, the only other Republican lawmaker to vote for gay marriage, will be defeated if they seek re-election.

“Either in a primary or in a general election, we don’t really care,” Brown said, adding that plenty of Democrats oppose gay marriage.

“The reality is that these were very close votes, even with a supermajority of Democrats in Delaware,” he noted. “They needed 11, they got 12.”

While gay marriage is now the law of Delaware, Brown said his group would work to overturn it.

“It may take a long time ... but we’ll continue to fight and continue to support candidates who support traditional marriage,” he said."

"...[Sen.] Portman’s open wavering [on ENDA] suggests that, one year after President Barack Obama announced his own election-year conversion to supporting gay marriage, the political momentum is neither as intense nor as one-directional as it might appear. Of the 166 sponsors of ENDA in the House, for example, only three are Republicans: Florida’s Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Pennsylvania’s Charlie Dent and New York’s Richard Hanna."

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

Movement For, and Against, Marriage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speak the truth, but speak it in love.

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

The Government-Sponsored Tyranny of Gay Marriage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Minnesota voters should be outraged that they were sold a bill of goods by gay marriage activists last November." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — Only six months after gay marriage activists promised Minnesotans that there was no threat to marriage in Minnesota, today's passage of a bill to redefine marriage reveals that proponents of last November's failed Marriage Protection Amendment were telling the truth all along.

"Minnesota voters should be outraged that they were sold a bill of goods by gay marriage activists last November," Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, commented. "Our opponents filled the airwaves and spent millions claiming marriage was under no threat in Minnesota. And yet they lost no time in pushing for the redefinition of marriage as soon as our marriage protection amendment failed, despite new polling that shows a majority of Minnesotans oppose redefining marriage. We have long argued there is a very grave threat to marriage and today we witnessed our predictions sadly confirmed."

Brown continued: "The recent actions in Minnesota should serve as a wakeup call to other states that have not yet passed Marriage Protection Amendments: if you do not protect marriage proactively in your constitution, the powerful and wealthy gay marriage lobby will target your state for their next campaign to change your laws."

Brown added: "The new legislation in Minnesota will expose pro-marriage Minnesotans to additional legal action and harassment, as we have seen happen time and time again in other states that have redefined marriage."

Brown concluded: "The National Organization for Marriage commends all of the individuals and groups in Minnesota who have worked so hard for so long to protect marriage. This fight is not over. Minnesota will someday, once again, reflect the truth about marriage in its laws, of that we are confident."

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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).

"...Opponents remain hopeful that their last-minute push can persuade a crucial few legislators to reject the change, pressing their belief that the DFL-controlled Legislature is going against the wishes of a majority of Minnesotans. They have spent months trying to convince lawmakers that marriage is a sacred union between one man and one woman ordained by God, not any state or even federal law.

“Traditional marriage supporters around the state are extremely upset that the DFL leadership, with same-sex marriage proponents, seem intent on forcing same-sex marriage on Minnesotans who don't want it,” said Autumn Leva, a spokeswoman for Minnesota for Marriage, which is trying to defeat the measure. “They feel betrayed by their legislators.”

In the closing days, same-sex opponents have pounded House Speaker Paul Thissen’s office with calls, at the rate of one a minute. The Minneapolis Democrat said he would not bring up the measure for a vote unless he was certain it would pass.

The debate (which will be livestreamed here) stands to be the most divisive, dramatic and unpredictable at the Capitol this year. Advocates from both sides are expected to jam the Capitol in coming days to let their opinion be known and make sure legislators know they are watching." (Star Tribune)

Have you made your voice heard?

In a widely expected move, embattled Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady resigned on Tuesday. Brady said he wanted to spend more time with his family as his wife fights cancer, but social conservatives have been calling for Brady's head for months. They're angry over his support for a gay marriage bill floated in the state legislature this year — the latest in a series of similar measures taken up across the country.

...No matter how Brady's departure is spun, the takeaway is that the Illinois GOP is doubling down on its opposition to gay marriage. Though "it's pretty clear that support for marriage equality is what forced [Brady] out of office," says Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway. After he came out for the marriage bill, 50 conservatives called for his resignation at a meeting in April.

"Gay marriage activists continually try to push the lie that redefining marriage is an economic stimulus, but this report shows the opposite is true — redefining marriage hurts the economy." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — Earlier this week, Minnesota Management and Budget predicted that redefining marriage would cost the state over $675,000 a year. This would not be offset by same-sex couples paying for marriage licenses and related expenses. The same report noted that the number of same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses would also dramatically drop off after the first year.

Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage (http://www.nationformarriage.org/), reacting to this report said: "On top of the incredible social damage caused by redefining marriage, gay marriage will place a significant economic burden on struggling states. Gay marriage activists continually try to push the lie that redefining marriage is an economic stimulus, but this report shows the opposite is true — redefining marriage hurts the economy."

Previous estimates of the number of same-sex couples who will seek marriage licenses have been exaggerated, and the positive economic impact of redefining marriage has been hugely overstated by agenda-driven think tanks such as the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Meanwhile, most of the top 10 states for business have marriage protection amendments (such as North Carolina) while most of the worst top 10 states for business have redefined marriage (such as New York) or are seeking to do so.

Brown continued: "Common sense tells us that strong economies are built on strong families, and marriage protects families and our future by giving children the mother and father they deserve and with whom they do best in life. Lawmakers in Minnesota ought to protect marriage, not redefine it."

Brown concluded: "For the good of children, of spouses, and for the benefit of Minnesota taxpayers, lawmakers should not vote to redefine marriage."

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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).

"Lawmakers in Delaware chose to abandon and discard society's most important institution and put their pro-marriage constituents on a collision course with the law." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — The National Organization for Marriage today condemned passage of same-sex ‘marriage' in the Delaware state Senate Tuesday and pledged to make sure that voters know if their lawmakers voted to redefine marriage. The Delaware Senate passed the bill by a vote of 12-9. Two weeks ago the House passed it 23-18. Even in this deep blue state, the final vote was close.

"Lawmakers in Delaware chose to abandon and discard society's most important institution and put their pro-marriage constituents on a collision course with the law." said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "The Senators and Representatives who voted for this bill have endangered people of faith who believe marriage is the union of one man and one woman. In Delaware, as in other states that have redefined marriage, it will not be long before these good men and women feel the repercussions of this new law."

This legislation does not create a new category of marriage for same-sex couples. Rather, it completely redefines marriage for all people in Delaware. While it purports to include so-called religious liberty protections, it contains no protections for many faith-based organizations, small businesses and individuals who are frequently targeted for legal punishment over their refusal to countenance genderless marriage.

In Vermont, it was Christian innkeepers. It was Christian florists in Washington State. Elsewhere photographers, bakers, event venue operators, notary publics, justices of the peace and town clerks have all been targeted for punishment if they do not agree to go along with gay ‘marriage' in violation of their deeply held beliefs.

And the biggest losers in the redefinition of marriage will be children.

"For the first time, the state of Delaware is saying to its children they do not deserve both a mother and a father, and are backing a law that is designed to intentionally deprive some kids of either a mom or a dad," Brown said. "It's bad enough when families break down through divorce or death, but it's unconscionable when a state encourages this through policies that deprive children of the love of both a mother and a father. This is a very sad day for Delaware."

"This is not the end of the debate. We intend to make sure that every citizen in Delaware knows how their policymakers voted on this critical issue. We will hold the politicians accountable for their votes. Republicans like Catherine Cloutier, especially, will have to answer for abandoning marriage — a core position of the GOP platform — and many may face primary challengers, as they should."

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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).

"Rep. Denny McNamara, R-Hastings, whose district saw 53 percent of voters reject the constitutional amendment, hasn't changed his mind: He'll vote "no" on Thursday.

"Marriage is marriage," McNamara, who supports civil unions for same-sex couples, said Tuesday. "I've thought about it over and over, and ultimately I'm confident with my decision." (Pioneer Press)

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

And that's the biggest lie of all.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco decried same-sex marriage as a “serious injustice” after Rhode Island became the tenth state to legalize the practice.

“The meaning of marriage cannot be redefined, because its meaning lies in our very nature,” said the prelate, who serves as chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage. “Therefore, regardless of what law is enacted, marriage remains the union of one man and one woman – by the very design of nature, it cannot be otherwise.”

“We cannot claim to have a just society if we do not look out for the most vulnerable among us: children,” he added. “That means preserving in the law the principle that every child deserves a mother and father united in marriage.”

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

"This is yet another powerful example that the GOP grassroots is firmly pro-marriage" — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — Reacting to news today that Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady has resigned after immense pressure was put against him in the wake of his abandonment of the GOP platform on marriage, Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, said: "This is yet another powerful example that the GOP grassroots is firmly pro-marriage."

Pat Brady told CNN today "… obviously I had lost the support of the state Central Committee because of my position on gay marriage." Brown continued: "Brady fell into the lie that Republicans do not care about marriage and won't take vigorous action against those in their party who abandon marriage. Brady has quickly learned his lesson. Other Republicans who are tempted to abandon the party platform on marriage should take note or they will also risk their political careers."

Brown concluded: "The pro-marriage GOP grassroots in Illinois and around the country ought to be commended for this victory. Their persistence and commitment to conservative principles — including the critical institution of marriage — is what led to this victory. May this inspire other GOP activists across the country to continue fighting to protect marriage and preserve winning conservative principles."

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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).

The Minnesota House will hold a final floor vote on whether to legalize same-sex marriage Thursday.

...The Senate is expected to take up the measure soon after. DFL Gov. Mark Dayton is a supporter of same-sex marriage and said he will sign the proposal into law.

The vote will come after months of intense lobbying at the Capitol by both sides of the issue. (Star Tribune)

We know that a majority of Minnesotans do not support redefining marriage. If you have not yet contacted your Representative please do so now.

Doug Kern, deputy chair of the Crow Wing County Republican Party, said Monday he is starting a recall petition against Rep. Joe Radinovich, DFL-Crosby, in the wake of the lawmaker’s announcement that he will support gay marriage legislation.

Kern said he started the effort because of Radinovich’s stand on the issue despite last fall’s vote totals on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Even though the measure was defeated statewide, House District 10B voters favored the proposed constitutional amendment, garnering 62.5 percent of the vote.

“He’s supposed to represent the people,” Kern said.

Kern said the vote to legalize gay marriage would threaten religious freedom. He said while legislation has language to protect pastors it doesn’t protect Sunday school teachers and Bible study leaders. (Brainer Dispatch)

Please continue to contact him and other Minnesota lawmakers.

Same-sex marriage opponents warned Minnesotans that religious liberty will not be protected if the Legislators legalize gay marriage this year.

“In New York, we were promised that the religious freedom amendment to our same-sex marriage legislation would do the job,” said the Rev. Jason McGuire, president of New Yorker’s Family Research Foundation. “Our legislators bought the lie and today every New Yorker is living the lie.”

Minnesota for Marriage brought several town officials from New York, where same-sex marriage is legal, who argue they had to resign rather than be forced to process marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples even though it was against their religious beliefs. The group says the religious protections in the Minnesota proposal are completely inadequate, leaving business owners and religious groups wide open to lawsuits if they fail to embrace same-sex marriage.

Minnesota for Marriage held the news conference as legislators are weighing a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage this year. Dozens of supporters stuffed into the small conference room, many holding signs that read: “Don’t erase moms and dads from MN public policy.” (Star Tribune)

Please continue to contact your lawmakers.

He was warned that if he did not take urgent action to protect traditional Tory values, members of his own party would desert him for Nigel Farage.

Sir Gerald Howarth, a former defence minister, said his constituents were "fed up to the back teeth" because the Government failed to deliver on promises.

He challenged Mr Cameron to adopt a plan which includes scrapping the gay marriage Bill, freezing the overseas aid budget, opting out of the European Convention on Human Rights, cutting immigration and holding a prompt EU referendum, The Times reported.

... Peter Bone, the Wellingborough MP, said Mr Cameron should halt the gay marriage Bill, currently going through Parliament, and cut overseas aid. "Those are things that Conservatives want and that's what Ukip voters want."

A former rural Iowa court official pleaded guilty Monday to forgery for filing false documents to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple from central Florida, in the first case of its kind in Iowa.

... The resolution drew criticism from Joab Penney of Williston, Fla., who says Van Nice's actions duped him out of $150 and gave him an unending legal headache. Penney said he was outraged when court officials advised him Monday he should hire an attorney to petition to void his marriage license - which he said should have never been issued in the first place.

...The Florida men discovered the fraud months later, when Penney contacted an attorney to seek a divorce. The attorney was suspicious because the men had never been to Iowa and Van Nice mailed the application materials from her home, not the courthouse. The attorney contacted authorities asking for an investigation.Penney said he now wants to marry a woman in Florida, but officials there say that he's legally married to Parker and needs to obtain a divorce first.

...Penney said he has been frustrated by the lack of answers from officials in Iowa and the legal limbo he's in.

"I want to get married here to a woman, and I can't," he said. "It's a major headache. I've changed my lifestyle because of all of this. It has offended me that much."

Same-sex marriage will never be widely accepted in America for a simple reason: It’s based on a lie. But don’t take my word on this; leading LGBT scholars and activists say as much.

Take Masha Gessen, acclaimed author and former Russian director of Radio Liberty. “Fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we are going to do with marriage when we get there — because we lie that the institution of marriage is not going to change,” Gessen said last year.

Last month, I was part of a debate at the NYU School of Law at which Judith Stacey, a sociology professor at the university, declared: “Children certainly do not need both a mother and a father.”

...Same-sex marriage rejects the anthropological truth that men and women are different and complementary, the biological fact that reproduction depends on a man and a woman and the social reality that children need both a mother and a father.

In the end, the truth about marriage will win out. (New York Daily News)

Family First New Zealand has received notification that government's Charities Commission intends to deregister the charity. Why? Family First has a traditional view of marriage being one man and one woman. The commission's investigation began just after NZ’s gay marriage debate started last year.

The decision means that the organisation will no longer be exempt from income tax and, more importantly for a non-profit, donations to it will no longer be tax-deductible.

“This is a highly politicised decision which is grim evidence that groups that think differently to the prevailing politically correct view will be targeted in an attempt to shut them up,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ. (MercatorNet)

Please contact your Representatives in Illinois and continue to help spreading the word!

"Besides advocating a flawed marriage policy, the so-called "marriage equality act" contains a shocking lack of religious liberty protections, potentially ghettoizing people of faith unless they compromise and remain silent in the public square." —Christopher Plante, Regional Director for NOM-RI—

Providence, RI — The National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island today condemned the redefinition of marriage signed into law by Governor Lincoln Chafee. Criticizing the new law as short-sighted and potentially dangerous to people of faith, NOM Rhode Island reiterated its commitment to protecting marriage and the faith communities that support it.

"Redefining marriage into a genderless institution to satisfy the demands of a small but politically powerful group is short-sighted policy that fails to take into account the rights and needs of the generations to come," said Christopher Plante, regional director of NOM Rhode Island. "Children deserve to know and be cared for by a mom and dad. This law will intentionally deny children one or the other. The full impact may not be seen next week or next year, but our children will be the ones who pay the price for this decision."

"When marriage is redefined into a genderless institution, it presents a range of legal conflicts for people of faith and the small businesses and charitable organizations they operate to serve the public," Plante said. "Without robust legal protections to allow these faithful people and groups to maintain fidelity in the public square to their religious beliefs, we’re likely to see a raft of lawsuits and governmental action such as license revocations, fines and denial of governmental contracts to these faith-based groups and individuals."

In other states that have recently redefined marriage such as New York, Maine, Vermont and Washington, people of faith have faced consequences for refusing to accommodate genderless marriage in violation of their deeply-held faith. A Christian couple in Vermont was sued for not hosting a same-sex ceremony in their inn, and was forced to pay a fine and agree to no longer accommodate any weddings in their facility. Recently the Washington State Attorney General has taken legal action against a Christian florist for declining to utilize her artistic talents in celebration of a same-sex wedding, which she opposes on religious grounds. The florist has also been sued by a lesbian couple and the ACLU. Notary Publics in Maine have been warned that they must surrender their certifications if they refuse to solemnize a same-sex marriage even if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. Town Clerks in New York faced similar threats.

###

To schedule an interview with Christopher Plante, Regional Director of the National Organization for Marriage, contact him at 401-228-7602 or cplante@nationformarriage.org

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pointing to the fight in Illinois, Brian said that the notion "that somehow same-sex marriage is inevitable is just a myth. If you're having this strong a fight in a place where you have super-majority Democratic representation, that tells you that there's still strong opposition to redefining marriage in this country."

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

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

So Why Do We Fight?

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

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

Their True Intentions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fighting Back In Minnesota

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

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

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

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

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

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

The ComRes poll, commissioned by the Coalition for Marriage, reveals that one in four of those who voted Conservative in 2010 say the policy is putting them off voting for the Party again.

Asked, “Does the Coalition Government’s plans to legalise same sex marriage make you more or less likely to vote for each of these parties in next week’s local elections?” 26 per cent of Conservative 2010 voters say less likely.

Fewer than one in ten (nine per cent) say they are more likely to vote Tory again because of gay marriage.

And 22 per cent of those polled said they were planning to vote for UKIP, which opposes gay marriage.

Read more here.

"Besides advocating a flawed policy, HB 5015 and SB 38 contain a shocking lack of religious liberty protections, potentially ghettoizing people of faith unless they compromise and remain silent in the public square." — Christopher Plante, Regional Director for the National Organization for Marriage

Providence, RI — The National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island today urged the Rhode Island House to defeat HB 5015 and SB 38 redefining marriage, citing their flawed understanding of marriage and absence of any real religious liberties protections.

"Redefining marriage into a genderless institution to satisfy the demands of a small but politically powerful group is bad enough, but besides advocating a flawed policy HB 5015 and SB 38 contain a shocking lack of religious liberty protections," said Christopher Plante, executive director of NOM Rhode Island. "If anything, experience since the civil union bill was passed shows that the need for robust religious liberty protections has only increased; yet HB 5015 and SB 38 fail to address the serious consequences that will befall people of faith and the organizations they operate to serve the public."

The only true remedy to the coming conflict between religious liberties and sexual liberties in Rhode Island is to not redefine marriage in the first place. Barring that, HB 5015 and SB 38 ought to contain real and enforceable protections for people of faith from having to violate their consciences.

"We urge the Rhode Island House to reject HB 5015 and SB 38 because redefining marriage into a genderless institution that intentionally denies children the love of both a mother and a father is a fundamentally flawed policy," Plante said. "However, at a bare minimum, the legislation should be amended to provide all the provisions of the Corvese amendment to our civil union law and to ensure that individuals, small businesses and religious-based charitable and educational groups are not targeted by government or others with lawsuits, fines, denials of contracts and other forms of punishment for refusing to accept this radical redefinition of marriage."

In other states that have recently redefined marriage such as New York, Maine, Vermont and Washington, people of faith have faced consequences for refusing to accommodate genderless marriage in violation of their deeply-held faith. A Christian couple in Vermont was sued for not hosting a same-sex ceremony in their inn, and was forced to pay a fine and agree to no longer accommodate any weddings in their facility. Recently the Washington State Attorney General has taken legal action against a Christian florist for declining to utilize her artistic talents in celebration of a same-sex wedding, which she opposes on religious grounds. The florist has also been sued by a lesbian couple and the ACLU. Notary Publics in Maine have been warned that they must surrender their certifications if they refuse to solemnize a same-sex marriage even if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. Town Clerks in New York faced similar threats.

"When marriage is redefined into a genderless institution, it presents a range of legal conflicts for people of faith and the small businesses and charitable organizations they operate to serve the public," Plante said. "Without robust legal protections to allow these faithful people and groups to maintain fidelity in the public square to their religious beliefs, we’re likely to see a raft of lawsuits and governmental action such as license revocations, fines and denial of governmental contracts to these faith-based groups and individuals. If the House of Representatives pass HB 5015 or SB 38 without substantial religious liberty protections, it will be putting their constituents with deeply held faith beliefs about marriage directly in the cross-hairs for punishment by political groups and ambitious politicians."

###

To schedule an interview with Christopher Plante, Regional Director of the National Organization for Marriage, contact him at 401-228-7602 or cplante@nationformarriage.org

The most serious threat to bipartisan immigration reform doesn't involve border security or guest workers or even the path to citizenship.

It’s about gay rights.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), an outspoken defender of traditional marriage, warned that " if that issue is injected into this bill, the bill will fail and the coalition that helped put it together will fall apart."

Faith groups that have been involved in crafting the legislation are also worried about the negative impacts of this cavalier move which, if viewed unvarnished, is nothing but another attempt to surreptitiously undermine the Defense of Marriage Act:

"We strongly would oppose the provision and it could could force us to reconsider our support for the bill," said Kevin Appleby, director of the Catholic Bishops’ Office of Migration Policy and Public Affairs. "It immediately makes the bill a partisan bill and the bipartisan effort could begin to unravel."

And Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, issued a statement against the proposed amendment saying, in part: "We hope that President Obama and Democrats in Congress are not willing to sacrifice the legalization of millions of undocumented immigrants for the sake of appeasing the gay lobby."

In addition to this great show of support, a petition being run by the Coalition for Marriage has already gleaned over half a million signatures!

Stacey asks about marriage: "What should limit it to two, and why should it be monogamous? Nothing, in my view."

This is a video everyone must see!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

We need your urgent help to defeat this effort.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stand for marriage, Minnesota!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Are you prepared for the hard work that lies ahead?

Local governments and school districts that offer marriage benefits to same-sex partners are violating the state constitution, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott stated in an opinion Monday.

[...] In a six-page opinion, Abbott found that the constitution “prohibits political subdivisions from creating a legal status of domestic partnership and recognizing that status by offering public benefits based upon it.” He said city governments and school districts constitute political subdivisions.

Abbot weighed in on the matter at the request of state Senator Dan Patrick of Houston, who "argued that Texas amended its constitution in 2005 to define marriage as between one man and one woman, while prohibiting government entities from recognizing anything similar to marriage."

Patrick is concerned that Texas law states "cities, counties and school districts cannot subvert the will of Texans" but that this is precisely what is happening in those municipalities and school districts which offer same-sex partner benefits.

You can read the full story here.

The agency's announcement reads in part:

Our aim is to unleash the potential of hundreds of millions of people globally who are LGBT to have the freedom and dignity to contribute fully to their families, communities and nations.

While many of the initiative's goals are unquestionably laudable - stopping real human rights violations and abuses - one must wonder, based on the Obama administration's domestic policies, whether marriage redefinition will be an essential part of "unleash[ing] the potential" of LGBT folks worldwide.

It seems very likely that such will be the case, but only time will tell.

What's more harmful to kids—being awkwardly micromanaged by adults, or being warped by lifetimes of gender normativity?

What is Lindy talking about? Well, news is buzzing this week about Sweden's "gender-neutral" policies after the country officially added its "gender-neutral" pronoun, Hen, to the country's national encyclopedia.  HuffPo explains that bit:

The word is a gender-neutral pronoun that can be applied to objects and people who don't wish to specifically identify as male or female, and it is now an official third pronoun in Swedish.

But Sweden's obsession with gender-neutrality doesn't stop at just semantics. It is exercised even in terms of classroom policies, and at the lowest level. That's what Lindy West is talking about when she asks "what's more harmful to kids?"

Well, read this excerpt from a Slate article, and you decide for yourself what seems more harmful!

[I]n the effort to free Swedish children from so-called normative behavior, gender-neutral proponents are also subjecting them to a whole set of new rules and new norms as certain forms of play become taboo, language becomes regulated, and children's interactions and attitudes are closely observed by teachers. One Swedish school got rid of its toy cars because boys "gender-coded" them and ascribed the cars higher status than other toys. Another preschool removed "free playtime" from its schedule because, as a pedagogue at the school put it, when children play freely "stereotypical gender patterns are born and cemented. In free play there is hierarchy, exclusion, and the seed to bullying." And so every detail of children's interactions gets micromanaged by concerned adults, who end up problematizing minute aspects of children's lives, from how they form friendships to what games they play and what songs they sing.

Lindy West seems to think that this "problematizing minute aspects of children's lives" is preferable to them "being warped by lifetimes of gender normativity"; but it seems to us that when "free playtime" is removed from a school schedule in order to prevent boys from being boys and girls from being girls, it is just another example of the selfish preferences of adults being allowed to supersede the rights of children. And unfortunately, that remains one of the hallmarks of the marriage redefinition movement.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

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

THE TIME TO ACT IS TODAY!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you for your quick attention to this crucial matter.

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

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

We've reported to you before on lesbian journalist Masha Gessen's outrageous comments at a recent writers' forum in Sydney. The remarks continue to gain exposure by the mainstream media, which is good news for getting the word out about the underlying agenda which accompanies much of the lobbying in favor of marriage redefinition.

Hear Gessen's frank (but honest) statement of a viewpoint more common than most people think among those who purport to favor same-sex marriage:

The Blaze:

Gessen shared her views on the subject and very specifically stated;

• “Gay marriage is a lie.”
• “Fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we’re going to do with marriage when we get there.”
• “It’s a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist.” (This statement is met with very loud applause.)

Unionists voted down a motion at Stormont's Assembly which called on the power-sharing ministerial Executive to legislate.

[...] DUP Finance Minister Sammy Wilson defended his party's veto and said colleagues would use it again to defeat "reckless" legislation.

Congrats to the brave DUP for standing up for families and the rights of children.

The letter shows a two paragraph essay written by a fourth-grader in favor of marriage redefinition. The letter begins:

Why gay people should be able to get married is you can’t stop two adult’s from getting married because there grown and it doesn’t matter if it creeps you out just get over it.

Now, of course, we’re not interested in arguing with a fourth-grader. But what does interest us is the assessment given to the letter by Salon.com journalist Katie McDonough. She called it the “world’s most perfect argument in support of marriage equality”!

McDonough highlights especially the child’s advice that those who stand for marriage between one man and one woman, that they should “just get over it.”

Proof again that the activists pushing same-sex marriage aren’t interested in reasoned debate and argument: just silencing the other side. A tactic fitting maybe for a schoolyard, but not the public square.

The Senate of Columbia voted down a bill to create homosexual "marriage" yesterday by an overwhelming majority of 51-17, with 32 senators either not present or abstaining.

The defeat of the bill means that it will not pass to the lower Chamber of Deputies, and is effectively dead.

With the failure of this bill to pass the Senate, the article explains, now a civil union-type institution will take effect on July 20 in accordance with a court ruling. The unions will be called “solemn contractual bond[s]” and “will not include the right to adopt children.”

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

Targeting The Children

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

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

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

Continuing The State Fights

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

International Organization for Marriage

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

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

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

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

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

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

So Much For Tolerance

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

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

Still Not "Inevitable"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Together we are making a difference!

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

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

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

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

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

What He has created, we will not abandon.

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

"The Senate has abandoned society's most important institution and put their constituents on a collision course with the law." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Providence, RI — The National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island today decried passage of same-sex 'marriage' in the state Senate and pledged to make sure that voters know how all state Senators voted on redefining the institution of marriage. The RI Senate passed SB 38 [Sub A] by a vote of 26-12.

"The Senate has abandoned society's most important institution and put their constituents on a collision course with the law," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "Lawmakers have allowed themselves to be fooled into thinking they have protected people of faith when in fact they have put those who believe in true marriage in the crosshairs of the law and gay 'marriage' activists. It won't be long before the repercussions begin to be felt."

SB 38 does not create a new category of marriage for same-sex couples. Rather, it completely redefines marriage for all people in Rhode Island. While it purports to include so-called religious liberty protections for churches and certain religious groups, it contains no protections for other faith-based organizations and no protections for small businesses and individuals who are frequently targeted for legal punishment over their refusal to countenance genderless marriage.

"Citizens in other states that have redefined marriage have heard the same shallow promises from elected officials that nobody will be negatively impacted by redefining our most important social institution," said Scott Spear, an Advisory Board Member for NOM Rhode Island. "It won't be long before gay 'marriage' activists start pressing hard their new found rights on the faithful in Rhode Island. In Vermont, Christian innkeepers were sued. It was Christian florists in Washington state. Elsewhere photographers, bakers, event venue operators, notary publics, justices of the peace and town clerks have all been targeted for punishment if they do not agree to go along with gay 'marriage' in violation of their deeply-held beliefs."

Brown said that the biggest losers in the redefinition of marriage will be children.

"For the first time, the state of Rhode Island is saying to its children they do not deserve both a mother and a father, and are backing a law that is designed to intentionally deprive some kids of either a mom or a dad," Brown said. "It's bad enough when families break down through divorce or death, but it's unconscionable when a state encourages this through policies that deprive children of the love of both a mother and a father. This is a very sad day for Rhode Island."

NOM pledged to educate Rhode Islanders on the votes of their Senators and Representatives and to hold them accountable for redefining marriage. "This isn't the end of the debate. We intend to make sure that every Rhode Islander knows how their policymakers voted on this critical issue. We will hold the politicians accountable for their votes. Republicans, especially, will have to answer for abandoning marriage — a core position of the GOP platform — and many may face Republican challengers, as they should."

The legislation now goes back to the House, which previously passed it. Governor Chafee had pledged to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.

###

To schedule an interview with Scott Spear, Advisory Board member of NOM Rhode Island or 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,

We've got work to do.

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

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

Supporter, marriage needs you right now!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Marriage is intrinsically the union of one man and woman; attempting to redefine it will strip the institution of its meaning, harm children and open people of faith to real consequences." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today urged the Delaware Senate to defeat legislation that would redefine marriage. The House narrowly passed HB 75 yesterday, sending the measure to the Senate.

"The passage of HB 75 by the Delaware House was expected, though the vote was closer than many anticipated. It's now up to the upper chamber to exercise restraint and preserve the institution of marriage," said Brian Brown NOM's president. "Marriage is intrinsically the union of one man and woman; attempting to redefine it will strip the institution of its meaning, harm children and open people of faith to real consequences."

The Delaware legislation makes marriage genderless so that people of the same sex can be 'married' under the law. As such HB 75 shifts the purpose of marriage away from bringing men and women together to provide mothers and fathers for children, and instead changes the institution into state recognition of romantic relationships.

"The only reason that Delaware or any other state has any business being involved in licensing marriages is the interest of children," Brown said. "The state has a profound interest in children, both to encourage couples to have children so that society can be propagated, and to ensure that those children have the best opportunity to be raised by a mother and a father. So-called same-sex 'marriage' severs the interests of children from our marriage laws, and says that marriage exists to provide emotional satisfaction to adults. That is a very bad step for America's first state to take."

NOM said that while the legislation purports to protect people of faith from lawsuits for refusing to recognize same-sex unions as marriages, the bill fails to include meaningful religious liberty protections.

"This bill redefines marriage for everyone in Delaware," Brown said. "Every marriage will now be genderless. That means that anyone who cannot accept this radical and flawed change to marriage is going to be subjected to punishment. HB 75 contains no meaningful protections for people who have deeply held beliefs that marriage is and can only be the union of one man and one woman. We can expect religious groups and nonprofits along with small businesses and individuals to face consequences. These have included government fines, lawsuits, denials of contracts and government services, and stripping nonprofits of their tax exemption, among other consequences. Religious charities have been forced to abandon their service mission because they can no longer maintain fidelity to their beliefs while accepting genderless marriage. State Senators need to realize that these are the consequences they are imposing on its citizens, especially people of faith, if they vote to redefine marriage. We urge them to preserve marriage and reject redefining this most important institution."

###

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).

The four protesters leapt out of their seats at a debate on blasphemy and freedom of expression held at the Brussels' Free University (ULB) campus Tuesday evening, baring their breasts and squirting water at Archbishop Andre Leonard as they accused him of homophobia.

The story notes:

[T]he archbishop himself remained composed and apparently at prayer throughout.

The women used water bottles made for blessed holy water, shaped like Catholic statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The picture to the left shows Archbishop Leonard picking up and kissing one of the bottles following the disruption.

David Boies, the attorney arguing in the Supreme Court against the California anti-gay marriage amendment Proposition 8, will be NYU's commencement speaker at the Yankee Stadium ceremony on May 22, the university announced Tuesday morning.

An NYU School of Law alumni, Boies will be honored along with New Yorker Edith Windsor, whose challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act is also being heard by the nation's highest court.

Boies will receive an honorary doctorate, and Windsor an unspecified award.

The sex of a human being is marked in the voice, the hair, the shape of the face, the thickness of the bones, the contours of the torso, the quality of the skin, everywhere. A friend of the same sex is an image of myself, an alter ego. He echoes my voice.

But the spouse is no alter ego. The spouse complements my voice. The man to the woman and the woman to the man are suggestions on earth of the totaliter aliter, the wholly other.

Be sure to read the rest of this evocative essay!

In the face of the continued national push to legalize same-sex marriage, individuals who believe in the longstanding social institution comprising only of one man and one woman are urged to join a recently launched campaign to support traditional marriage.

The new campaign, "God's Marriage Bow," was created by the Salt & Light Council, who is backing a new movement. They want supporters of traditional marriage to wear white bows in symbolic reference to the unity and purity of traditional marriage.

"The white color stands in contrast to the rainbow colors that advocate same-sex marriage," Dran Reese, President of the Salt & Light Council, said in a statement.

... The campaign began on March 26 to coincide with the first day of Supreme Court oral arguments concerning the future of marriage in America.

Washington, D.C.—The following statement may be attributed to Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage:

"It appears that France's socialist government is on the verge of succeeding in their ill-conceived quest to redefine marriage, despite massive grassroots opposition from the citizenry. We urge all French citizens to contact lawmakers to express their strong opposition to this policy. We also call on all citizens to conduct themselves honorably and peacefully. Even though the same-sex marriage policy being foisted on an unwilling public is profoundly unwise and anti-family, no citizen should ever express their disapproval through violent means. We condemn in the strongest possible terms violence by anyone on either side of this debate.

If the government of France does succeed with this vote to redefine marriage, it will not be the end of the debate. It will be time to hold the government accountable and to act to restore marriage to its rightful place as a good and honorable institution that brings husbands and wives together to provide children with both a mother and a father. NOM will continue to work with our friends in France to defend marriage as our most important social institution.

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

###

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).

"Rhode Island voters deserve the right to vote on marriage just as voters in 35 other states have been able to do." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Providence, RI — The National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island today urged state Senators to reject legislation redefining marriage and instead allow voters to determine the definition of marriage in Rhode Island. The Senate Judiciary Committee today passed two bills redefining marriage (SB 38, HB 5015) but narrowly failed to pass legislation allowing voters to determine the issue (SB 708).

"Marriage has served Rhode Island well since statehood and policymakers should not act unilaterally to redefine this foundational institution of society," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "Rhode Island voters deserve the right to vote on marriage just as voters in 35 other states have been able to do. We urge Senators not to redefine marriage and instead let the people vote."

The Senate Judiciary Committee defeated SB 708 on a 5-6 vote while passing SB 38 and HB 5015 redefining marriage. A recent statewide public opinion survey found that 78% of Rhode Island voters want the right to vote on the definition of marriage in the state.

"Now is the time for Rhode Island citizens to contact state Senators to tell them to let the people vote on marriage," said Scott T. Spear, a member of NOM Rhode Island's Advisory Board. "Rarely do nearly 80% of Rhode Islanders agree on a political issue, but that is the size of the overwhelming majority of voters who want the right to vote on marriage. The issue before state Senators is who gets to decide. We call on them to let the people vote."

NOM asked Rhode Island Senators not to undefine marriage and rip it from its historic roots to child-rearing, warning that when this has happened elsewhere, religious groups, small businesses and individuals have suffered.

"Marriage is intrinsically the union of a man and a woman and has been for thousands of years" Brown said. "When the definition of marriage has been changed elsewhere, we have seen countless examples of people being punished if they do not abandon their deeply-held beliefs that marriage is and can only be the union of a man and a woman. Wedding professionals have been fined, small businesses have been sued, church groups have lost their tax exemptions and religious-based charities have closed down, unable to compromise their beliefs about the true nature of marriage. Rhode Island risks these types of consequences if Senators vote to impose same-sex 'marriage.' The so-called religious liberty protections in SB 38 and HB 5015 are grossly inadequate and provide no protections at all for individuals or small businesses. These misguided bills should be defeated."

###

To schedule an interview with Scott T. Spear, Advisory Board member of NOM Rhode Island or 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).

The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan will force a lower court to address whether a New York state election law that requires some political advocacy groups to disclose financial donors and other sensitive information curbs speech.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court, in a 2-1 decision, reinstated a lawsuit by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) against officials from the New York State Board of Elections. The Washington-based nonprofit organization had sought a declaratory judgment in 2010 that a state election law defining "political committee" violated the First Amendment.

Find out more about this lawsuit here.

But the  Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party-sponsored initiative has very little support in rural areas, where that party might need it most. Minnesota Daily reports:

A Star Tribune poll in February found 38 percent of Minnesotans support the measure.

Autumn Leva, spokeswoman for Minnesota for Marriage, said those percentages decrease further away from the metro area.

The Star Tribune poll found 57 percent of people in Hennepin and Ramsey counties support same-sex marriage while only 19 percent said the same in outstate Minnesota.

Greater Minnesota is “very, very much opposed to the metro area’s attempt to force gay marriage on the rest of the state,” she said.

Read the rest here.

Despite Gov. Brian Sandoval's belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman, the Senate Judiciary Committee is poised Thursday to approve a constitutional amendment on gay marriage.

Committee Chairman Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, says there are enough votes for Senate Joint Resolution 13 to clear both the committee and the full Senate. Some Republicans are supporting the measure, he said.

Perhaps the most telling fact comes at the very end of the article:

The resolution has the support also of the wedding chapel industry who argued it would draw gay couples to Nevada from other states to get married.

Go figure!

Portman's job approval rating among voters slips to 40 - 31 percent, fueled mainly by a dip in Republican support, since he came out in favor of gay marriage, according to a Quinnipiac University poll....

This compares to Sen. Portman's 44 - 24 percent approval rating in a February 28 survey by the independent Quinnipiac University. Republican approval drops from 63 - 8 percent to 57 - 21 percent, 41 percent of Republicans saying they think less favorably of Portman because of his support of same-sex marriage.

We’re still told time and again that Republican politicians should “evolve” on this issue to court voters. But the numbers continue to suggest otherwise.

Well, imagine this promotion running in your grandparents’ Wall Street Journal as hopeful GI’s returned from World War II, and you tell me what you think:

NüVo Condoms to sponsor FIRST gay wedding ever at NYC PrideFest on June 30, 2013

NüVo Condoms is seeking a gay couple who is interested in getting hitched with an all expenses paid wedding at this years NYC PrideFest on June 30,2013. Are you a gay couple that has been looking to tie the knot? Wait no longer -- NüVo Condoms wants you to take the plunge! In honor of the 2nd year anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage in New York, NüVo will be sponsoring the FIRST WEDDING ever at NYC PrideFest for one lucky couple.

[…]

When speaking about the wedding at NYC Pridefest, BennyBwoy, spokesperson for NüVo Condoms stated, “We are excited about this event, we continue to create awareness for our brand, and more importantly the critical need for greater safe sex practices. This wedding is just another vehicle to get the word out about safe sex.”

The institution of marriage as “just another vehicle” to promote and advertise the use of condoms? Somehow I don’t think our ancestors would have seen it that way.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you.

[T]here may soon come a day when the SPLC’s donation-generating machine, powered by Dees’s mastery of the use of “hate” to coax dollars from the highly educated and the highly gullible, finally breaks down.

Read the entire piece for the evidence that spells out this likelihood.

This week, Wesley Smith of the Weekly Standard reported that California would be considering AB 460, a bill that would mandate group insurance coverage for so-called gay and lesbian "infertility." What in the world does that bizarre phrase mean? It doesn't mean situations in which two members of a lesbian couple are both infertile and incapable of conception using some third party's sperm. It doesn't mean situations in which two gay men are both infertile and incapable of impregnating a surrogate mother. It means situations in which gay or lesbian couples can't make a baby by having sex with each other.

In other words, every single gay and lesbian couple on the planet.

The way the law works, gay and lesbian couples would simply have to testify that they have been having sex for a year without producing a child to be considered "infertile," which is idiotic, since baby-making requires necessary components missing in homosexual activity. But nature is irrelevant here. Even though both men and women were, to borrow Lady Gaga's phrase, "born this way," political correctness trumps nature.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[...]

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

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

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

Please take action right away!

Thank you.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

Here are three ways you can help now:

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

   

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

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

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

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

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

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

[...]

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

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

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

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

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

Parent Mandy Coon told reporters that her daughter was very uncomfortable with the exercise. “She told me, ‘Mom, we all get teased and picked on enough; now I’m going to be called a lesbian because I had to ask another girl if I could kiss her,’” she lamented. “They also picked two girls to stand in front of the class and pretend they were lesbians on a date.”

Coon stated that she was especially irate over the matter because parents were given no warning about the presentations, nor an opportunity to opt out. She is also dismayed that college students were granted the right to come into the classroom and encourage her daughter to be sexually active.  -Christian News Network

The Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Tuesday, April 23, on three pieces of legislation related to same-sex marriage in Rhode Island. The three pieces of legislation the committee is scheduled to consider are:

•(2013-S0038) , sponsored by Senator Donna M. Nesselbush (D – Dist. 15, Pawtucket), to permit same sex marriage in the state and deem those who had entered into civil unions as married;

• (2013-S0708), sponsored by Senator Frank A. Ciccone, III (D – Dist. 7, Providence, North Providence), proposing a constitutional change to permit same sex marriage if the constitutional amendment is ratified by the voters; and

• (2013-H5015A), sponsored by Representative Arthur Handy (D – Dist. 18, Cranston), the House version of Senator Nesselbush’s bill.

To all marriage defenders in Rhode Island, we urgently need your help. Take two minutes to contact your representative by phone and email before tomorrow's vote. (The Committee will meet at 3 pm in Room 313 of the State House.) The more calls and emails, the better, so please share this with friends and family ASAP.

"As the Rhode Island Senate prepares to take action on legislation that would seek to legitimize 'same-sex marriage,' I once again urge members of the Senate to stand strong in resisting this immoral and unnecessary proposition and to defend marriage and family as traditionally defined. We should be very clear about this: it is only with grave risk to our spiritual well-being and the common good of our society that we dare to redefine what God himself has created. My prayer is that the senators will have all the wisdom and courage they need to do the right thing in this moment of decision."

We need the people of Rhode Island to TAKE ACTION today!

Call and email your state senators and urge them to protect marriage for the next generation.

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

Washington, D.C. — The following statement may be attributed to Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, on the death of Carol Garlow, wife of Pastor Jim Garlow:

"All of us at the National Organization for Marriage send our love and condolences to Pastor Jim Garlow and his family upon the death of his loving wife, Carol. Carol Garlow was a dedicated servant of our Lord, a loving wife, mother and leader of His flock. She has been a major force for good throughout her life, helping bring people to salvation through her work, and helping to teach people about eternal truths such as the sanctity of human life and the nature of marriage. Jim and Carol modeled the true nature of marriage as the union of husband and wife for over 42 years, inspiring countless citizens with their love, fidelity and commitment. Our hearts and prayers go out to Jim and his family during this difficult time. We are confident that Carol is now enjoying her eternal reward with our Lord in heaven."

###

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).

Two of the more interesting (where “interesting” is a euphemism for “horrifying”) aspects of the debate over gay “marriage” are inexorably intertwined: the decision by the movement’s backers to pretend that there is no strong connection between marriage and children (this is overwhelmingly done by those who do not have children) and a separate but related track to “get government out of marriage,” which is treated as some sort of tactical decision to, er, divorce government from its ability to decide who may marry and when.

The former is overwhelmingly done by libertarians who have taken the curious position that the failure by the state to expand a right is the same as the affirmative denial of that right, and by liberals who do not understand what rights actually are. The latter is a position taken by libertarians who believe the state’s role in marriage reaching back centuries is part of the nanny state, and conservatives who either legitimately want to preserve marriage from the barbarians or who like sounding good to their more left-wing friends.

Yet it is in the confluence of these two fantasies that the lie of both is exposed. I think it is helpful, as we embark on destroying yet another social institution and just assuming something else will pop up in its place, to understand what we are doing and what its likeliest consequences are.

These consequences, of course, somehow involve children.

At last New Zealand's leading newspaper has acknowledged that support for gay marriage has declined ever since a bill to legalise it was introduced six months ago. TheNZ Herald's front page headline today reads, "Gay marriage shock" and the summary beneath it: "Religious sacremongering blamed for surprise increase in Kiwi's opposition to law change". Of course there had to be a sinister reason for Kiwis coming to their senses.

The fact remains that barely half the country supports same-sex marriage legislation which is already two-thirds of its way through Parliament. Asked in a Herald-DigiPoll "Which of the following best fits your view about marriage law? -- It should remain only between a man and a woman. OR It should be changed to allow it to be between same sex couples." -- 48 percent chose the first option and 49.6 percent the second. That's a rise of 7.5 percentage points against gay marriage from a poll last June and a decline of 4 points for it. Those who opted for "Don't know" or refused to answer declined from 6 per cent to 2.4 percent. The uncertain are making up their minds. (MercatorNet)

Anderson puts it very well, and quite simply: "Law affects culture. Culture affects beliefs. Beliefs affect actions."

According to the study by Ipsos MediaCT:

18 percent of Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 said that television has directly contributed to their increasing support for same-sex “marriage.”

That’s nearly double the number (10 percent) who reported television had increased their opposition to marriage redefinition.

“Based on this data, I think we can conclude that TV has, at least in part, moved the needle of public opinion to see same-sex marriage in a positive way,” Ben Spergel, Senior Vice President and Head of TV Insights at Ipsos MediaCT said in a statement.

Hollywood money and Hollywood values have undoubtedly had more than a fair share of influence in this debate as it's unfolded. But this is important (and encouraging!) for us to remember when we're told that there's a groundswell of popular support for redefining marriage. Just because something's "pop culture" doesn't mean it's really popular.

Put all this together and it’s evident that there’s no real urgent need for same-sex marriage to be instituted, no great demand for it, and no sea change of conservative support. In fact, the degree of popular support has been fabricated, woven from thin strands of sophistry and fragile threads of emotion. [...]

I am confident that the naked overreach of the media and progressive activists on this issue will invite a voter backlash that will either meet or exceed the same-sex marriage movement’s achievements, leading to a thorough rethinking of Roe v. Wade, no-fault divorce, and our debilitating, anti-family, anti-father welfare state.

Read his whole piece to see what gives him this confidence. It should give us confidence, too.

Dear Marriage Supporter,

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

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

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

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

More "Inevitable" State Battles...

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Matching Gift Campaign

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Intolerance of the "Tolerant"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What's Coming Next?

What's next if we don't stand?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She goes on to say:

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

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

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

Superlawyers Stumped

Truth is breaking out all over!

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

When Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Ted Olson:

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

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

What's left?

Youth On The March For Marriage

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

Talk about speaking truth to power!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Expect The Unexpected

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

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

Expect the unexpected!

More Young People "Causing Problems"

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

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

For the government, this is becoming a major headache:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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