Dear Marriage Supporter,

By now you've probably heard about the incredibly squalid performance of President Obama's anti-bullying advisor, Dan Savage.

If not, go watch this video here:

Invited to address the issue of bullying before a captive audience of other people's children, Dan Savage chose instead to belittle these high-schoolers' faith, to repeatedly curse at the Bible, and, when a group of rather brave students quietly walked out, to curse directly at them.

He has refused to apologize for any of it, except for directly cursing at the teens who left.

As a father of seven, watching it makes my blood boil.

Let me lay down a public challenge to Dan Savage right here and now: You want to savage the Bible? Christian morality? Traditional marriage? Pope Benedict? I'm here, you name the time and the place and let's see what a big man you are in a debate with someone who can talk back. It's easy to make high-school girls cry by picking on them. Let's pick on someone our own size!

Here's Dan Savage following up on that performance with an incredibly filthy and obscene attack on the Pope from the Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel at Elmhurst College in Illinois. Warning: It's sexually-explicit and disgusting language. Please do not play it where children can hear.

I'm here, any time, any place you name, Dan Savage. You will find out out how venal and ridiculous your views of these things are if you dare to accept a challenge.

But our greater challenge is to Pres. Obama and the White House, which is continuing to host and promote Dan Savage's anti-bullying campaign It Gets Better.

Pres. Obama needs to disassociate our nation's White House from a man who behaves in this fashion.

Savage himself told the Seattle Times there was nothing unusual about his speech. It's at the heart of how he defines "anti-bullying":

"Savage said the speech is one he has repeatedly given in promoting 'It Gets Better,' his hugely successful project to help gay, lesbian and transgender youths cope with bullying. The project has at least 40,000 videos—testimonials meant to offer encouragement—including one by President Obama, and an accompanying book that debuted on The New York Times best-seller list."

Dan Savage actually told the Seattle Times, "It wasn't like I sneaked up on a Bible study class and commandeered the podium. ...I'm like the Devil. You have to invite me in."

So far Dan Savage has been invited in and warmly welcomed to the White House, on the White House website, as well as MTV. It's unseemly to say the least.

Thanks to the thousands of you who have already responded to our call to Pres. Obama: Drop Dan Savage!

And I really need you to send the petition request to all your friends and relatives. Let them see the man Pres. Obama is standing by, at this point.

Let them see what real unabashed and unashamed hatred looks and sounds like.

If you haven’t yet signed our petition, go here and please do so.

For all our children's sake, and for the sake of civilized discourse in this beloved and God-blessed land.

On Tuesday, we will wake up and find out whether the people of North Carolina have voted for the Marriage Amendment.

Those who oppose the amendment have chosen to raise millions to spread blatant falsehoods to North Carolina voters.

The campaign to dehumanize supporters of our marriage tradition has been stepped up as well, with reports that as many of half of all pro-marriage signs have been vandalized.

Yes, a pro-marriage amendment teenager stole a neighbor's sign and videotaped himself shooting it and posted in on YouTube. This teen was properly visited by the police to make sure he meant no harm to any person and they also properly cited him for destruction of property. Let me reiterate NOM's persistent call to mutual respect and civility in the midst of these important moral questions that we believe ought to be decided by the people as a whole.

No gay person, or gay-marriage advocate, should be afraid in our great democracy to stand up, speak, organize, or donate for the things they believe in. Violence, threats of violence, and name-calling have no place in our democracy.

Will Joe Solmonese or Evan Wolfson or any other major gay-rights leaders stand up and say the same? Will they tell their people: Respect the rights of "anti-gay marriage" citizens, even as we fight for what we think is right?

I hope so. I'm waiting to see.

I was there in California during the Prop 8 campaign when so many people faced harassment and threats just for standing up for marriage. So when the NC campaign released a report that an elderly woman was physically attacked for having signs that said "Yes on the marriage amendment," I was shocked but not surprised.

This story has not received media attention. But we posted the police report on the NOM blog.

According to the police report, this elderly lady went to a home looking for her sister. She told police that a man who lived there told her they needed to "talk about this marriage amendment." She said she didn't want to speak about it, but as she tried to back out, this man stuck his head in the window and would not let her leave. Her glasses got knocked off somehow. When she tried to retrieve them, he started banging the car door against her four or five times, cussing at her very angrily because she supported the marriage amendment. The police officer noted what looked like bruises on her back and that she was very upset and crying.

She told police she had "never experienced anything like this."

I'm so sorry this happened to her. But of course she is not alone. You and I know that apparently even in North Carolina it now takes courage to stand up for marriage.

The students at TFP Student Action have just released their own video about what it's like to be a young man holding signs on the street saying positive things: "One man, one woman = marriage."

The hatred generated against these young people is profoundly antithetical to the basic principles of fair play and democracy. But too many gay-marriage leaders are determined to create an equation in which opposition to gay marriage = hatred. They have convinced themselves of this, among many other untruths, and they are convincing others to act on it.

They think it's a strategy for victory, clearly. But it amounts to an attempt to write out of civilized society at least half or more of the American people. And it's going to fail.

Meanwhile a dramatic story is unfolding in North Carolina, where voters will go to the polls on May 8 to decide the future of marriage in that state.

As pro-gay-marriage advocates began to blanket the state with ads claiming that the marriage amendment will strip single women of domestic-violence protection, I began to get a little worried.

But the NC campaign fought back with the truth.

"I am concerned about the false and misleading claims that are being made by opponents of the Marriage Protection Amendment," said Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger, Jr., Vice President of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys. "Citizens should have no concern that the marriage amendment will impact domestic violence prosecution, because it will not."

And so were so many others who have fought for marriage in North Carolina.

So after showing some initial slippage, the polling now shows gay-marriage advocates heading for a massive defeat at the polls.

The latest SurveyUSA today poll shows the Marriage Amendment ahead by 20 points!

The most amazing thing about the support for marriage is its breadth. SurveyUSA reports that the measure passes 57 percent to 37 percent, "with majority support among men and women, black and white, rich and poor, and in all parts of the state. Opposition is most strong among Democrats and independents, but rises to a majority only among the relatively small number of voters who identify themselves as liberals."

Read that again closely. Majorities of blacks and whites, rich and poor, men and women, and Republicans and Democrats oppose gay marriage.

This is not surprising to you and me; we know the truth, which is rooted in Truth itself.

Don't stop fighting now, in North Carolina—or anywhere else! Victory is within our reach!

Thanks to all of you who have written to express your support and concern about the massive illegal attacks on NOM, most recently through the release of federally-protected IRS tax returns.

We believe that both the IRS and other legal authorities are responding appropriately with a serious investigation and we want to respect the legal process as it moves forward.

Please pray for the safety of all the voters in North Carolina, both those who favor and those who oppose marriage.

But please remember especially in your prayers this week the one elderly lady who says she was viciously attacked for standing up for God's vision of marriage, and for all the teens in Dan Savage's audience.

With charity towards all, with malice towards none, we will fight for the right, as God gives us the power to see what's right.

God bless you and may God bless America.

When you watch same-sex 'marriage' activists destroy your signs, desecrate the Bible, blaspheme, and burn your literature, it becomes clear that the homosexual agenda is not really about tolerance. It's about the formation of a strange dictatorship – a dictatorship of pseudo-tolerance and make-believe equality..." -TFP director John Ritchie

The video speaks for itself:

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Same-sex marriage advocates claim they are just asking for their rights and want to be left alone...that there are no consequences to redefining marriage.

But tell that to the 14-year-old girl who is getting death threats because she dared to stand up and tell the Maryland legislature to vote no on same-sex marriage.

And if you think it's bad now—just wait until after the bill is signed into law.

This marriage supporter, this is what NOM stands up to and fights against every day.

HELP FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE TYRANNY OF "TOLERANCE"
BY MAKING A DONATION TO NOM TODAY!

14-year-old Sarah Crank testified before the Maryland Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on January 31st. She urged the committee to give her "the best birthday present ever," by "vot[ing] no on gay marriage." She continued:

"I really feel bad for the kids who have two parents of the same gender. Even though some kids think it's fine, they have no idea what kind of wonderful experiences they miss out on. I don't want more kids to get confused about what's right and okay. I really don't want to grow up in a world where marriage isn't such a special thing anymore."

CLICK HERE to listen to Sarah's complete 60-second testimony.

She is brief, polite, and totally non-threatening. Just a happy, smart young girl.

But it obviously struck a chord because within minutes after her testimony was posted online, the comments quickly turned vicious and ugly.

As documented by TFP Student Action responses to her testimony included:

"And now everyone knows her name, so hopefully she will feel what its [sic] like to be harassed and bullied..."

"My god I hate people like this. Most (not all) Americans are [expletive] retards. If I ever see this girl, I will kill her. That's a promise."

"Her parents should be exterminated."

"The [sic] is why abortion must stay legal—to prevent little bigots like this from being Born..."

"Kill this child and his [sic] parent, for my 11 birthday would be a wonderful gift, thanks."

"Her belief is hurting other people. I will attack her as much as I please."

"Parents like hers should be sterilized..."

"I'm gonna kill 'er!"

Can you imagine the outrage if such comments were directed at one of the children of same-sex couples testifying FOR the same-sex marriage bill? It would be all over the national news.

And yet this young girl and her family, heroically standing for what they know is right, are harassed, bullied and even threatened with their lives.

And no gay marriage group has said a word to denounce the threats.

Marriage Supporter, the fact is, radical same-sex marriage advocates are not about live-and-let-live.

AND IF WE DON'T TAKE ACTION RIGHT NOW TO STOP THIS, IT WILL BE A NEW AMERICA WE LIVE IN...one in which same-sex marriage becomes law and anyone who disagrees will be bullied into silence; people of faith will be muzzled.

It's not too late—but we must fight back now.

Click here to make your secure online donation right away. Some of you can give $1000, some $100, and some $25. Whatever the amount you can give, it is critical that you stand with us now and fight back against the radical forces that would see you silenced, threatened and harassed for simply believing that marriage is between a man and a woman. Just like they are trying to do to Sarah.

Thank you.

A 14-year-old homeschooler who testified before the Maryland state senate against a bill redefining marriage has been the subject of cyberbullying, vicious name-calling, and death threats.
...After audio of her uncharacteristically mature testimony was posted on YouTube, the story went viral on homosexual activist websites—and death threats quickly followed.

TFP Student Action, a Roman Catholic organization dedicated to traditional morality, recorded several of the most offensive threats in a press release. A commenter on the YouTube video wrote, “If I ever see this girl, I will kill her. That’s a promise.”

Other YouTube comments ranged from, “Her parents should be exterminated,” to, “Kill this child and his [sic] parent, for my 11 birthday would be a wonderful gift, thanks.”

A comment posted on LGBTNation.com said, ““And now everyone knows her name, so hopefully she will feel what its like to be harassed and bullied…”

Since TFP issued its press release, the comments have not moderated. Supporters of same-sex “marriage” continue to wish violence, sexual assault, or censorship upon the girl. -- LifeSiteNews

One pastor says: "Never in human history has marriage been defined as two men. Never in human history has marriage been defined as two women. Who has the right to redefine it? [Crowd shouts: "No One!"] This is reckless social experimentation. Marriage is the fundamental cell of society. If you mess with marriage, you threaten the very future of humanity. We ask our government to do their job. Fix the problems we already have. Don't make new ones! Do your job!"

Let's do everything we can to encourage the Senators of New York to protect marriage in this last stretch!

Do you agree?

Pro-Homosexuals at Brown University Respond to Peaceful TFP Rally with Violence from Brian Brown on Vimeo.

A conservative group demonstrating support for traditional marriage met with violent opposition in Rhode Island last week.

Volunteers from the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) visited Brown University during their statewide tour for traditional marriage in Rhode Island on March 23. While peacefully demonstrating on the Ivy League campus, their pro-family banner was vandalized and a volunteer was spat upon in the face.

“What we faced at Brown University, an Ivy League university, had the flavor of a religious persecution,” said TFP Student Action Director John Ritchie. “Dozens of pro-homosexual students screamed, spat, taunted, and even attempted to destroy our traditional marriage banner.”

... Days after the videotaped incident was posted on YouTube, the video sharing website pulled down the footage, leaving a message stating: “This video has been removed because its content violated YouTube’s Terms of Service.”

Youtube ... which is owned by Google Inc., has consistently declined to provide explanations for why such videos were removed.

The video was taken on March 3rd, roughly a week before the Maryland house voted to table SSM for this year.

Great turnout both places, with around 100 supporters in Albany on Saturday, and more than 200 on Sunday in Providence. But it was the protestors who turned out that really made things memorable. They like to cloak themselves in the color of the rainbow, but they sure showed their true colors as intolerant, inconsiderate bullies who shout down and insult anyone who disagrees with them, including women and children.

Here’s the scoop:

It started Saturday in Albany. Those following our Twitter feed (follow us!) may have already seen my comments: “Silliest. Protest. Ever.” was how I described the pictures on Saturday. Right in the middle of a presentation by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, a bunch of people with umbrellas started walking up on stage. I told them we had a permit for the space, but they refused to leave. Shortly, the Capitol police came out and said to the protestors -- You know that the marriage tour has a permit here . . . you should leave. But still they hung around, holding their rainbow-colored umbrellas and balloons.

I had to smile . . . certain that the protestors just don’t realize how badly their militancy comes off looking when they crash someone else’s rally. The American people know the value of playing fair. This was our rally in support of marriage. Let them have their own rally -- to each his own -- but what’s to be gained by making a spectacle at someone else’s rally? All it did was raise the profile of our event and show them to be the intolerant bunch they are.

This was made crystal clear in their behavior to a Hispanic woman who had brought her family out to the rally with a picnic lunch. During the rally she moved to the back to nurse her baby. A bunch of male protestors followed her with their rainbow umbrellas and stood directly in front of her, blocking her view of the stage. She asked them to move, or at least turn around while she fed her baby, and they refused. Classy.

You really ought to see the 2-minute interview we did with the woman afterwards. My words here don’t do it justice. It’s pretty powerful. Click here to watch the video.

But it was in Providence on Sunday that the protestors really went crazy.

I’ve never seen anything like it. Chatter on the gay blogs had given us a heads-up that the Providence protestors intended to “out-do” their friends in Albany. Still, they told the Capitol police that all they planned was to assembly peacefully behind us on the Capitol lawn and demonstrate their support for gay marriage.

That lasted about 5 minutes.

Then they came around behind our rally and tried to shout over us. Then they came right into our crowd, getting in people’s faces and shouting at our marriage supporters. At one point while I was delivering my remarks, three protestors physically surrounded me and got right up in my face, trying to shout me down as Capitol police did nothing. Despite having ten days to prepare for the rally, and numerous calls from our state director to check on their preparations, Capitol police were totally unprepared and eventually had to call in state troopers to help restore order.

Throughout the event, the protestors were disgraceful. Mocking religion. Mocking children. I mean, what kind of adult goes up to a 7-year-old child and sneers, “Mommy raising you to be a good little bigot?”

We've just uploaded a video recap of Sunday's rally in Providence. It's hard to capture the intensity of the moment, even with the video footage, but you need to see it. These are the people who want to control our culture's understanding of marriage, family, and tolerance. Click here to watch now.

During the interviews afterwards, even the gay press seemed embarrassed by the display of hatred and intolerance from these activists. There was no need for us to comment -- these protestors’ actions spoke for themselves. Not only did they truly embarrass themselves and their cause, they made our point far more powerfully than we could ever hope to do, making it crystal clear how far they are willing to go to force their agenda on all of society.

If gay marriage ever becomes the law in Rhode Island, or any other state, remember this display of intolerance when they tell you they would never dream of forcing it on young children in public schools, as they did in Massachusetts and California.

I think gay marriage advocates are just beginning to realize what a disaster Sunday's unseemly behavior was for them. The New Jersey group organizing a counter-rally in Trenton even sent an urgent message to its members yesterday afternoon, urging them to not interfere with our Marriage Tour rally: "Walk right by them if you see them. We don't taunt them, harass them or shout them down."

Meanwhile, our supporters were outstanding! Many were in prayer, all were peaceful, and left more determined than ever to stand firm for marriage in Rhode Island. Before the protest, we had steady signups at the Two Million for Marriage table. Afterwards, we were absolutely flooded with supporters, newly galvanized in their commitment to protect marriage!

We have a message of tolerance and respect for all, adults and children alike. Theirs is a message of intolerance and hatred -- if you don’t agree with me, you’re a bigot and we’re going to either shout you down or intimidate you into silence. That’s no civil rights movement.

Our movement is growing. We're in Trenton today, where we’re looking forward to an even bigger crowd.

Follow all the tour coverage at www.marriagetour2010.com. Go tell your friends. Then come on out to join us on the tour!

Faithfully,

Brian