Dear Marriage Supporter,

Colorado state senator Pat Steadman, author of the senate version of the civil unions bill, has a message for those who disagree with his views of tolerance and equality because they support marriage:

"[G]et thee to a nunnery, and live there. Go live a monastic life, away from modern society, away from people you can't see as equals to yourself'. . . . Go some place and be as judgmental as you like, go inside your church, establish separate water fountains if you like. But don't tell me that your free exercise of religion requires the state of Colorado to establish separate water fountains."

With Colorado's civil unions bill now headed to the Senate, we have one last chance to stop this dangerous measure.

Consider this:

1. In 2003, California adopted a civil unions law. Two years later, a California state court judge ruled California's marriage law unconstitutional. By 2008, the state Supreme Court echoed that ruling, finding that civil unions undercut any possible justification for laws recognizing marriage only between a husband and wife.

2. In 2005 Connecticut adopted a civil unions law. Three years later the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that because of civil unions, Connecticut's marriage laws were now unconstitutional.

3. In New Jersey, a civil unions law was used to deny tax exempt status to religious organizations that refused to allow use of their property for civil union ceremonies.

And the list goes on . . .

Wherever civil unions are adopted, there is immediate pressure to throw out the "discriminatory" civil unions bill in favor of same-sex marriage. Civil unions aren't a compromise . . . they're a Trojan horse that immediately attacks both marriage and religious liberty.

To make matters even worse, for Senator Steadman religious liberty isn't simply a regrettable casualty in the march for same-sex marriage . . . attacking religious liberty is part of the point!

Gay marriage strategists know that people of faith — people like you and me — are one of the biggest obstacles to a state-imposed same-sex marriage regime. And many of them would like nothing better than to muzzle, isolate, and ultimately silence religious believers — using intimidation and ostracism to closet Biblical views about marriage.

We must draw a line in the sand. I know you understand the stakes. Please take action today. Together we can protect marriage in Colorado, but only if you take action right now.

TAKE ACTION

Please help keep up the pressure with a phone call or email to your state representative today.

1. Click here to look up the phone number for your state representative.

2. Use this link to send a short email message to your state representative urging him or her to vote to defend religious liberty and defend marriage, our only civil institution that connects children with parents. Marriage and faith matter!

3. Finally, forward this email to friends and family throughout the state, or use the buttons below to share on Facebook and Twitter. It's going to take thousands of Coloradans like you working together to preserve marriage in Illinois. Help spread the word today!

   

Together we can keep up the pressure and save marriage in Colorado! Now is the moment — please join us!