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Monthly Archives: August 2012

The Great News from Tampa! NOM Marriage News

NOM National Newsletter

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Greetings from the great state of Florida, where marriage emerged from the platform fight with a great victory!

In the buildup to the RNC Convention in Tampa, the Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud promised that a new generation of Margaret Hoover Republicans would help weaken the GOP's commitment to marriage.

This is part of a larger narrative of supposed inevitability that we always hear: "Support for gay marriage is growing everywhere."

Except when it's not.

The effort to get the GOP to retreat from marriage in Tampa was an epic fail for the seditious pro-gay marriage elites within the GOP!

The director of the Log Cabin Republicans, R. Clarke Cooper, told the Boston Globe in July that his group's goal was to convince Republicans to strike any "anti-gay language" from the platform—including any mention that marriage is a union of male and female or any other definition of marriage as a heterosexual union.

Even two weeks ago, Cooper was still holding out hope to the gay press that "progress" in eviscerating the marriage language would be made.

But in the end he and other gay marriage advocates were reduced to boasting that they were permitted to distribute literature, and calling that a victory. Well, gee! As I asked HuffPo—is that really the best they could do? I'm one of the strongest opponents of gay marriage around, and I don't oppose letting people distribute literature at Republican conventions!

And then GOProud actually boasted victory for giving what they thought was the coolest party attended by conservative luminaries in a Tampa gay bar complete with male go-go dancers. [Pictures from the event, like the one here, are floating around the internet. You can take a look and see if you think they have cause for such celebration!]

Well gee, if that's your victory, then good on you, guys!

Maybe their failure has something to do with another truth the media doesn't report: even gay people don't think gay marriage is their most urgent problem.

That's right: a new Harris interactive poll touted by GOProud shows just 6 percent of gay voters named same-sex marriage as their top issue!

Meanwhile, supporters of marriage can boast a truly substantive victory, as the platform language endorsed by the GOP—far from retreating or equivocating on marriage—is the strongest ever:

Defending Marriage Against An Activist Judiciary

A serious threat to our country's constitutional order, perhaps even more dangerous than presidential malfeasance, is an activist judiciary, in which some judges usurp the powers reserved to other branches of government. A blatant example has been the court-ordered redefinition of marriage in several States. This is more than a matter of warring legal concepts and ideals. It is an assault on the foundations of our society, challenging the institution which, for thousands of years in virtually every civilization, has been entrusted with the rearing of children and the transmission of cultural values.

A Sacred Contract: Defense of Marriage

That is why Congressional Republicans took the lead in enacting the Defense of Marriage Act, affirming the right of States and the federal government not to recognize same-sex relationships licensed in other jurisdictions. The current Administration's open defiance of this constitutional principle—in its handling of immigration cases, in federal personnel benefits, in allowing a same-sex marriage at a military base, and in refusing to defend DOMA in the courts—makes a mockery of the President's inaugural oath. We commend the United States House of Representatives and State Attorneys General who have defended these laws when they have been attacked in the courts. We reaffirm our support for a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. We applaud the citizens of the majority of States which have enshrined in their institutions the traditional concept of marriage, and we support the campaigns underway in several other States to do so.

We owe special thanks to Phyllis Schlafly, and also to Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council, for all their hard work towards this great (and underreported) victory for marriage.

If you were here with me in Tampa, you wouldn't be surprised at marriage's triumph.

Walking the floor and speaking with delegates at the Convention, it's very apparent that (again counter to the media-narrative) marriage is an issue which totally unites the heart of the GOP—much to the frustration of my old buddy Fred Karger, who's been following me around with a camera hoping to catch me in something he considers a faux pas.

I don't think Fred's going to post the conversation I had with an Indian-American from Texas, one of many who came up to me to say he reads NOM's emails and blog, and that he's praying for me in particular and for all of us in this marriage fight.

The guy's Indian. He's Christian. He's also Texan. Which means he's speaking to me from under a gigantic cowboy hat. You gotta love America!

But if the media and Fred Karger did miss it, others have noticed this great victory for marriage.

Here's Rev. Owens, NOM's liason for outreach in the black community, on Christian Broadcasting News, speaking for a coalition of black pastors to thank the GOP for ensuring at least one party still stands strong for the "common sense and biblical understanding of marriage."

Several folks have given great speeches for marriage from the podium here this week, including Sen. Rick Santorum, whose theme was that we cannot shrink government unless we strengthen marriage and the family—and that support for each and every human life is not a "social issue," but a constitutional issue, part of America's founding creed.

"Marriage is disappearing in places where dependency is the highest," Senator Santorum said. "Most single mothers do heroic work and an amazing job raising their children. But if America is going to succeed we must stop the assault on marriage and the family in America today."

We also owe our thanks to Gov. Mike Huckabee for supporting marriage in his convention speech—but also for having me on his radio show this week! If you missed it, have a listen here:

Most impressive this week, perhaps, was Paul Ryan's touting of Mitt Romney's strong defense of marriage, in a speech that was supposed to be all about the economy. (In his own convention speech, Romney promised: "As president, I will protect the sanctity of life. I will honor the institution of marriage. And I will guarantee America's first liberty: the freedom of religion.") But Paul Ryan gave what was for many of us the clearest refutation of the idea the GOP is running from marriage or life because voters have changed their minds:

Mitt and I also go to different churches, but in any church the best kind of preaching is done by example, and I've been watching that example. The man who will accept your nomination tomorrow is prayerful and faithful and honorable—not only a defender of marriage, he offers an example of marriage at its best. Not only a fine businessman—he's a fine man, worthy of leading this good-hearted and optimistic country. Our faiths comes together in the same moral creed: we believe that in every life there is goodness; for every person there is hope; each one of us was made for a reason, bearing the image and the likeness of the Lord of life.

As Paul Ryan said, a time of choosing draws near. For marriage, as for life and religious liberty, the consequences of this election will be of unprecedented importance.

And the National Organization for Marriage will NOT be sitting on the sidelines!

This week, in a historic announcement, a group of social conservative organizations announced a new Life and Marriage Coalition, pledging to work together to make sure voters understand where the two candidates stand on the so-called "social issues" of life and marriage. In the joint press release on the Coalition's site, we explained:

[The coalition is] coordinating efforts in Ohio, Iowa and North Carolina to talk about the importance of preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and supporting the sanctity of human life. Together, the groups hope to influence voters in key swing states that Barack Obama carried in 2008.

The Life and Marriage Coalition includes FRC Action, Susan B. Anthony List, the National Organization for Marriage, American Principles in Action, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, and Common Sense Issues. Combined efforts will include independent expenditures for radio advertisements, billboards, phone and bus tour events designed to educate and mobilize socially conservative voters in the three targeted states.

"For millions of Americans, this election is about more than the economy, it's about the direction our nation takes on foundational principles, like what constitutes marriage, and whether unborn children have a right to life," said Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage.

I'm also proud to announce this week NOM's first volley in this joint effort: a radio ad campaign in Raleigh, North Carolina, home to 40 percent of the black electorate. The ad urges black voters to tell President Obama "no more," and features the highly-respected black pastor Patrick Wooden. You can listen to it here:

It was the African American community that helped [President Obama] win here in North Carolina. But President Obama has turned his back on the values of our community with his strong endorsement of the homosexual movement. We worked hard to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment this past May. With the strong support of the African American community, the amendment protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman passed overwhelmingly. The very next day, President Obama came out for homosexual marriage. Now his campaign leaders are working to deny North Carolina's ability to define marriage, and they want to overturn our state marriage amendment altogether. Join me in saying 'no more' to President Obama.

Our own internal polling shows that radio ads on marriage are extraordinarily effective, by the way. This is probably because your average voter, outside of church, hears so little in support of the common sense view that marriage means a husband and wife. So, they notice these ads and they respond!

North Carolina is a state that swung for Obama in 2008 by just 15,000 votes, out of 4 million total votes cast! Obama needed 95 percent of the black vote to eke out that victory! And in a state with 800,000 black voters, don't you think Rev. Wooden is probably going to change a few hearts and minds with this hard-hitting message? It's more than likely—it's certain!

And this is just the beginning of something big!

For the first time in American presidential politics, the American people are being offered a clear and unequivocal choice on the issue of marriage. And NOM intends to make sure voters understand that—and that politicians supporting gay marriage understand that it is a losing proposition!

One was of helping voters understand this is to keep reminding them of the consequences for us all that gay marriage entails. In Vermont these consequences were severe for the O'Reilly family, a Roman Catholic family who ran a small bed and breakfast, the Wildflower Inn. Facing backbreaking litigation threats from a gay couple (supported by the ACLU) who had wanted to get married at the bed and breakfast (which is, after all, the O'Reilly family's home as well as their business), Mr. and Mrs. O'Reilly agreed to pay $30,000 to the lesbian couple.

Vermont gay marriage law changed the O'Reilly family's lives. They must now host gay weddings, or pay a costly price. Remember the O'Reilly family when people tell you that gay marriage is not going to affect anyone at all except gay couples. Gay marriage has consequences for us all!

And while we are on the subject of intolerance, let me give a great shout out to my friend and colleague, Peter Wolfgang, who took over the Family Institute of Connecticut when I left to help found the National Organization for Marriage. Peter has been the subject of a horrific campaign of death threats since last Thanksgiving. If you want to see for yourself what I'm talking about, he's now posted some examples on his Facebook page.

Peter has been able to do this now because the gay activist who'd been threatening him has pled guilty in federal court to the harassment and the threats. LifeSiteNews reports:

One message read: "No mercy for homophobes. I suggest you make your funeral arrangements real soon, Mr. Wolfgang."

Another said, "I sure hope somebody blows you away. Yer dead."

Sarno once asked, "Are 'family values' worth dying for, Mr. Wolfgang?"

"Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident," Wolfgang said in a statement e-mailed to LifeSiteNews.com. "In fact it is part of a growing and disturbing intimidation campaign among some proponents of same-sex 'marriage.' It is clear that their pretense of 'tolerance' is over."

When I ask you to pray for all the people on the front lines of the marriage fight, now you will know why.

But we do have good news to report, too: this on the New Family Structures Study published by Professor Mark Regnerus. The University of Texas found no evidence of "scientific misconduct" by Prof. Regnerus, despite the overwrought and hysterical allegation of a gay blogger named Scott Rose. (He's now moved on to trying to get the American Sociological Association to "discipline" Regnerus for doing a study with results of which he disapproves.) You can read more about it here. And another fierce critic of the study also found no violations of standard peer review process (although he remains, one might say hysterically critical, of the study).

If you're in the mood for a kinder, gentler gay marriage debate, without these hysterical and accusatory polemics, check out Maggie Gallagher debating co-author John Corvino on C-Span's Book TV (the new Oxford University Press book, Debating Same-sex Marriage, is available for purchase!):

Meanwhile, I have to thank Frank Schubert, NOM's National Political Director, for his account of my debate with Dan Savage, which Frank called "The Smackdown in Seattle!"

The debate lasted just over an hour. Some of you have already watched it in its entirety. But I realize that not everyone has the time in their busy schedule to watch the full debate, so I went through the video and picked out about ten minutes of highlights. Please take a few minutes to watch.

What you will see is a passionate, reasoned, articulate defense of marriage, and a presentation of the profound public good it serves. You will see Brian demolish Dan Savage's arguments that the bible cannot be believed when it comes to marriage. You will see Brian make a case about the inherent nature of marriage, and how that nature cannot be altered. It is what it is and it cannot be redefined. Gay "marriage" can never exist, Brian explains, because marriage is intrinsically the union of one man and one woman.

Defending marriage is in one sense easy. The truth doesn't change. All the media narratives cannot change the nature of marriage, nor the continuing evidence that the American people remain invested (with good sense) in the idea that marriage matters because children need a mom and a dad.

I promise you that we here at NOM will remain your voice for your values. Whether Democrat or Republican, whether black or white, whether evangelical Christian, or Mormon or Orthodox Jew, we will fight together for what's right—for God's truth about marriage—and we will, by His grace, WIN!

Brian Brown on CBN News: GOP Right to Reject Gay Marriage in Platform

CBNNews:

Brian Brown, with the National Organization for Marriage (LINK), told CBN News the Democrats have taken such extreme positions backing same sex marriage and abortion, they may lose groups they think are solid Democratic voters."And I don't think the Democratic Party can continue to just simply take advantage and be nonchalant about the votes of African-Americans, blue-collar Catholics, Hispanics," Brown said.

"And the Republican Party, because of its platform, I think we've made very clear where we stand," he continued. "We stand on the side of defense of marriage and life."

Poll: Just 6% of Gay Voters Say Gay Marriage is Most Important Issue

The Washington Times:

"...A poll taken last week by Harris Interactive of more than 1,000 voters who identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender found that nearly one-third dubbed the economy the nation’s most pressing issues with only 6 percent calling same-sex marriage most important."

Brian Brown on Mike Huckabee

Listen to Brian on the Mike Huckabee radio show in Tampa, FL at the Republican National Convention!

Roy McDonald Constituent: "I Have Not Forgotten Your Vote [for Gay Marriage]"

A constituent of marriage flip-flopper Roy McDonald shares why he intends to vote the way he will:

I keep getting glossy flyers from Roy McDonald ... at least three in the past two weeks. No doubt they are paid for, at least in part, by the contributions he got from New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg for his vote for gay marriage.

That being the case, I continue to wonder why Senator (hopefully soon to be former Senator) McDonald never mentions that vote when he lists his achievements. One must wonder why ... mustn’t one?

If it was “the right thing to do” as he said at the time, then one would think that he should be proud of that achievement. Evidently not. He now sees the handwriting on the wall and values his job more than the “right thing to do,” continuing to “forget” to mention this “right thing.”

... I have not forgotten your vote. And I will not forget when I proudly vote for Kathy Marchione on Sept. 13 in the Republican primary. -- The Record

California's Multiple-Parent Bill Advances

CitizenLink with an update:

The California General Assembly approved a bill Monday that would authorize the courts to decide whether it’s in a child’s best interest to have more than two legal parents.

Senate Bill 1476 was introduced by state Sen. Mark Leno, who regularly introduces legislation from a gay-activist perspective, in February. This bill appears to be aimed at deconstructing what it means to be a “family.”

... S.B. 1476 passed the General Assembly on a 50-19 vote. It now heads back to the Senate for final passage.

CBN Video: Black Pastors Thank GOP for Supporting Marriage

CBN News:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Video: Maggie Gallagher Debating Same-Sex Marriage With John Corvino on C-SPAN BOOK TV

NOM co-founder Maggie Gallagher debates Wayne State's John Corvino on C-SPAN BOOK TV:

Embed Part 1:

Embed Part 2:

You can pick-up a copy of the new book here.

LTE: Fairness is an Empty Argument in Marriage Amendment

A pro-marriage citizen writes to the editor of the Minnesota PostBulletin responding to the "fairness" argument for redefining marriage:

"In the midst of all the “Vote NO” signs that litter the landscape, telling us not to “limit the freedom to marry,” I pray we will defend traditional marriage this November. I fear too many Minnesotans are letting so-called “fairness” throw sand in the eyes of common sense.

“Marriage is about love and a committed relationship between two people,” wrote Richard D. Hurt of Rochester in an Aug. 5 Letter to the Editor, “and should be provided irrespective of color, race, ethnicity, religion and gender. To stigmatize a whole group of people by prohibiting marriage is a step backward.”

No one wants to prohibit marriages based on race, ethnicity, or religion. But if a mere emotional bond is the only requirement for marriage, then what prohibits “marriage” between two brothers, two sisters, or a father and son?

Fecundity is a gift exclusive to opposite-sex unions. That fact is no less “fair” than saying humans can’t breathe under water or mosquitoes can’t complete algebra assignments. Healthy societies come from healthy families in which children are not denied their right to be reared by Mom and Dad."

First Civil Union Between Three Partners in Brazil Sparks Outrage

Gay activists say it is absurd to argue that redefining marriage to be genderless opens the door to legal polygamous unions. Now it has happened. So what do they say?

Controversy has been sparked as the first civil union between three separate partners was registered in Tupã, in the Northwestern region of Sao Paulo state, Brazil last week. The three-person union has shocked religious groups in the country, and sparked further concerns that the traditional family unit is being further eroded by the current day society.

The actual declaration of the union between the man and two women was in fact made three months ago, but it finally became public this week.

Notary officer, Claudia do Nascimento Domingues, has explained that the three partners lived together and wanted to publicly declare their status in order to guarantee their rights. Checks were conducted to see if there was any legal impediment to the unions and the notary office has confirmed that none were found.

Attorney Nathaniel Batista dos Santos Junior oversaw the legal process of creating the three-way declaration. -- Global Christian Post

Video: O'Reilly Takes on SPLC For Labeling FRC a "Hate Group"

Bill O'Reilly invited Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center to defend their choice to label the Family Research Council a "Hate Group" -- check it out:

New York Times Editor Notes Paper's Bias on Gay Marriage

Not surprised but happy to see it admitted! This from Arthur Brisbane, public editor of the New York Times

"...I also noted two years ago that I had taken up the public editor duties believing “there is no conspiracy” and that The Times’s output was too vast and complex to be dictated by any Wizard of Oz-like individual or cabal. I still believe that, but also see that the hive on Eighth Avenue is powerfully shaped by a culture of like minds — a phenomenon, I believe, that is more easily recognized from without than from within.

When The Times covers a national presidential campaign, I have found that the lead editors and reporters are disciplined about enforcing fairness and balance, and usually succeed in doing so. Across the paper’s many departments, though, so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism — for lack of a better term — that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of The Times.

As a result, developments like the Occupy movement and gay marriage seem almost to erupt in The Times, overloved and undermanaged, more like causes than news subjects."

Leader of Organization Possibly Targeted by FRC Shooter Says AG Holder Does "Not Believe They Need to Protect" Christians

LifeSiteNews reports on allegations that the Department of Justice has been unresponsive to organizations espousing pro-marriage views:

The leader of an organization that may have been targeted by the man who opened fire at the Family Research Council says the Justice Department has done nothing to investigate credible threats of violence against it, because the Obama administration applies “different tiers of protection” to Christians than it does to Muslims, abortionists, and homosexual activists.

LGBT volunteer Floyd Lee Corkins II said “I don’t like your politics” before wounding a security guard at the Family Research Council’s Washington, D.C. headquarters last Wednesday. Federal authorities say the shooter toted a Chick-fil-A bag – but Traditional Values Coalition President Andrea Lafferty said the FBI revealed he was carrying something else: TVC’s address. If he had escaped, he planned to ambush the Traditional Values Coalition, she said.

Lafferty told LifeSiteNews.com that she attempted to contact Attorney General Eric Holder and appealed to investigators at the Department of Justice but was “blown off.”

“If someone had mailed bacon to a mosque, all heck would have broken loose, and they would have sent in attorneys from the Justice Department. It’s considered a hate crime,” Lafferty told LifeSiteNews. “But they ignore the concerns of Christians.”

... The TVC has received “many, many threats from the homosexual and transgender community,” Lafferty said – adding that LGBT extremists had attacked the home of TVC’s chairman, her father Rev. Lou Sheldon, as well as its office in Anaheim, California.

... Like FRC President Tony Perkins, she believes the Southern Poverty Law Center’s designation of TVC as a “hate group” played a role in landing pro-family lobbyists on a hit list.

The Smackdown in Seattle

The Smackdown in Seattle

By Frank Schubert

My friend and NOM's President Brian Brown absolutely put a smackdown on Dan Savage the other day in their grand debate about marriage in Seattle, Washington. For those who don't know him, Savage is the foul-mouthed face of the gay marriage movement. To understand how badly Brian demolished Savage, consider this: Savage is complaining about the subject chosen for the debate (which his hand-picked moderator selected); he's complaining about the location (his own dining room table, also his choice); The New York Times reporter who moderated decided to write a kitschy odd-ball article about the encounter (including how he was drunk), rather than a substantive review of the debate, and Savage has buried the video of the debate down near the bottom of his own website.

In other words, Brian so demolished Dan Savage that gay activists and the media now want to bury it.

Let's begin at the beginning. You may remember when Savage was a keynote speaker at a national conference for high-school journalists, held in Seattle. The creator of the "It Gets Better" anti-bullying campaign, Savage is himself a renowned bully. During his "lecture," Savage was true to form and used the occasion to berate the young Christians in the audience who were compelled to attend, mocking their faith, calling the bible "B...S..." and ridiculing people who accept the bible's teaching on homosexuality. After this diatribe had gone on for a while, some students began to walk out, and they were targeted by Savage with hateful and insulting comments. You can watch the video here, but be forewarned—Savage seems unable to communicate without resorting to cursing and invective.

Anyway, Brian saw the clip of Savage berating the teens and he immediately called him out in an email to NOM supporters, challenging him to a debate anytime, anywhere. "I'm here, you name the time and the place," Brian wrote. "Let's see what a big man you are in a debate with someone who can talk back." A few days later, Savage accepted the debate challenge in a three-word post that included an f*bomb. (Savage's incessant use of the f*bomb and similar language reminds me of the great line from the film "Broken Trail," when the character played by Scott Cooper asks the foulmouthed matron of a bar, "Do you kiss your mama with that mouth?")

I don't imagine that Dan Savage realized what he was getting himself into. It's my sense that our opponents have a view of us as bumpkins and boobs, reliant solely on our belief in God, and unable to defend our position on the basis of reason and rationality. But if you know Brian Brown, you know that he's an Oxford University-educated and intellectually gifted advocate who can combine philosophy, religious history, natural law and economics in mounting a reasoned defense of marriage. He's one of our movement's many brilliant advocates, not the least of whom include NOM's co-founders Maggie Gallagher and Robby George.

Dan Savage picked the location of the debate—Savage's own house. Savage picked the debate moderator, New York Times reporter Mark Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer, a supporter of same-sex marriage, picked the topic: "Resolved, Christianity is bad for LGBT persons," which both Savage and Brian accepted. And Savage insisted that the debate be recorded, no doubt relishing the thought of pushing out clips to a waiting gay activist community, anxious to see him take on the "evil" Brian Brown. Brian agreed, asking only that both sides get the full video to make publicly available.

I don't know too many people who would accept a debate under such circumstances, where even the moderator is openly on the other side. Yet Brian not only accepted, he embraced the opportunity… and he went on to demolish Savage!

As a political consultant, I've seen my share of debates. I could tell immediately that Savage was not up to the challenge. He appeared nervous and stilted, and he had pages of notes in front of him. No doubt he'd been very heavily coached. He managed to avoid the use of the f*bomb entirely, but was not able to avoid the occasional reference to bull excrement. Brian on the other hand was comfortable, confident in his subject matter, laughed easily, and had no notes.

The debate lasted just over an hour. Some of you have already watched it in its entirety. But I realize that not everyone has the time in their busy schedule to watch the full debate, so I went through the video and picked out about ten minutes of highlights. Please take a few minutes to watch.

What you will see is a passionate, reasoned, articulate defense of marriage, and a presentation of the profound public good it serves. You will see Brian demolish Dan Savage's arguments that the bible cannot be believed when it comes to marriage. You will see Brian make a case about the inherent nature of marriage, and how that nature cannot be altered. It is what it is and it cannot be redefined. Gay "marriage" can never exist, Brian explains, because marriage is intrinsically the union of one man and one woman.

Most of all, you will see Brian make a reasoned argument about the very nature of marriage as society's way of connecting children to their parents, and about how marriage is and always must be about something more than satisfying the desires of adults. If marriage is only about the public recognition of the relationships adults want for themselves, Brian asks, then why would this recognition be limited to just two people? Why not three, or four, or even more? Dan Savage struggles with the polygamy/polyamory argument, first bristling about having to answer it, and then articulating (poorly) what is essentially an economic argument against the practice—that under a polygamist regime, high-status men will accumulate many wives because of their status, which would create a shortage of women for less accomplished men. That would be unfair, Savage argues. Hmmm. I can think of a lot of arguments to mount against the inherent immorality of polygamy, but an appeal to economic equity isn't one of them.

As an aside, take a look at the statue of Jesus behind Dan Savage in some of the clips. Notice how he has it adorned with what appears to be press passes and convention tags, along with a "NYC Pride" badge. That tells you all you need to know about how the nation's leading gay marriage advocate feels about the role of faith in America.

One of the things that has bothered me the most about the marriage debate over the last few years is the way elitist judges and media commentators sanctimoniously contend there is "no rational basis" for maintaining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This pabulum is served up regularly on the editorial pages of The New York Times and others in the elite media. And it's what the corrupt gay former federal judge Vaughn Walker ruled in declaring Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. As the campaign manager for Prop 8, I was on the list of potential witnesses that Ted Olsen and David Boies were to call at the trial. Regrettably, they didn't have the guts to put me on the stand where I could deliver a reasoned, passionate defense of the institution of marriage.

The other day in Dan Savage's dining room, Brian Brown spoke for me, and for millions of others, and he did so brilliantly.

Sometime later this year, the US Supreme Court will very likely accept a case that will be the Roe v Wade of marriage. They will be set to determine if there is, indeed, a rational basis for defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Brian Brown answered that question resoundingly in the affirmative during the Smackdown in Seattle. Someone ought to forward a copy of the debate to the justices of the Supreme Court. If they see it, it will be game, set and match.

Bravo, Brian!

Frank Schubert is NOM's National Political Director. He managed the successful marriage campaigns in California, Maine and North Carolina and is managing all four campaigns on the November ballot this year.

National Organization for Marriage Launches Radio Advertisement in North Carolina Encouraging African Americans to Say "No More" to President Obama

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 27, 2012
Contact: Elizabeth Ray or Jen Campbell (703-683-5004)


"We urge all North Carolinians to join Dr. Wooden in rejecting the anti-family policies of President Obama this November" —Brian Brown, NOM president—

National Organization for Marriage

Washington, D.C. — Today, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) launched a radio advertisement in the Raleigh, North Carolina media market featuring Dr. Patrick Wooden, a prominent African American pastor, urging African Americans to say "no more" to President Barack Obama in light of his recent endorsement of homosexual marriage. NOM plans to spend $34,000 on the advertisement in the Raleigh media market, which is home to 40 percent of the state's African American population. If proven successful, NOM plans to roll out the advertisement in markets across North Carolina, a key presidential swing state.

"African Americans in North Carolina were quite understandably proud of Barack Obama for his historic election in 2008," said Brian Brown, NOM's president. "But President Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage, his administration's determination to repeal DOMA and the Democratic Party's call for the repeal of North Carolina's marriage amendment puts Obama at odds with the values of the African American community."

The advertisement features African American leader Dr. Patrick Wooden, a highly renowned pastor who gained state wide recognition for his strong efforts to pass the North Carolina Marriage Protection Amendment on May 8, 2012, which passed by over 61 percent of the vote. Pre-election surveys showed that a plurality of Democrats supported the amendment, with African Americans supporting it by a two-to-one margin.

"It was the African American community that helped [President Obama] win here in North Carolina," Wooden said in the advertisement. "But President Obama has turned his back on the values of our community with his strong endorsement of the homosexual movement. We worked hard to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment this past May. With the strong support of the African American community, the amendment protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman passed overwhelmingly. The very next day, President Obama came out for homosexual marriage. Now his campaign leaders are working to deny North Carolina's ability to define marriage, and they want to overturn our state marriage amendment altogether. Join me in saying 'no more' to President Obama."

"The goal of our advertising campaign is to issue a wake-up call to the African American community in North Carolina that President Obama does not represent the values that they have fought to protect," Brown said. "We urge all North Carolinians to join Dr. Wooden in rejecting the anti-family policies of President Obama this November."

Listen to the radio ad here.

###

To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), [email protected], or Jen Campbell (x145), [email protected], 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).