NOM BLOG

Monthly Archives: September 2012

FRC President Perkins on SPLC's Hate Label: "This Type of Demonizing Must Stop."

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins:

"...This comes in the context of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) designating FRC a “certified hate group” because of our biblically-based beliefs regarding marriage and human sexuality. We encourage love and respect for all people including those seeking to redefine marriage, and we have made clear we abhor and reject all violence directed against anyone for their sexual behavior.Yet some associate “hate group” with advocating physical harm or other deplorable actions. As we work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, we now know that the man who shot our employee was also targeting at least one other organization labeled a “hate group” by SPLC.

This war of words launched by the SPLC as cover for its allied organizations on the left has led to an open assault upon those with whom they disagree. This type of demonizing must stop.

... SPLC’s tactics are intended to intimidate and ultimately silence. Nothing could be more threatening to the future of our republic.

Combined, we three have over a hundred years of fighting for freedom on battlefields, in legislative halls, diplomatic circles, marketplaces, and the public square. We approach these matters from economic and security vantage points, not just social and legal. -- FOX News Opinion

New Minnesota Poll: Marriage Amendment Within a Hair of Passage

More encouraging polling, this time form Minnesota, shows we are close to a victory there -- it's all hands on deck time!

The increasingly costly and bitter fight over a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage is a statistical dead heat, according to a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll.

Six weeks before Election Day, slightly more Minnesotans favor the amendment than oppose it, but that support also falls just short of the 50 percent needed to pass the measure.

Among likely voters, 49 percent would approve constitutional language that defines marriage as only the union of a man and woman. Another 47 percent oppose the measure, while 4 percent are undecided. Minnesota law requires any change to the Constitution to capture a majority of all ballots cast. That means a voter who skips the question is counted as a no vote.

... The slight edge for the pro-amendment side, while not outside the margin of error, shows "we are in good shape and reinforces our belief that if we execute our game plan, we will pass the amendment," said Frank Schubert, who leads that effort for Minnesota for Marriage. The other side, he said, "has not moved the needle" from a year ago, even after a months-long campaign. -- The StarTribune

Learn more about how you can help at MinnesotaForMarriage.com.

UK's Cameron Invites American SSM Activists in Attempt to Convince His Own Party

It's interesting that Cameron thinks he can avoid defeat within his own party on marriage from activists who have yet to score a victory for gay marriage in America:

David Cameron is concerned that his own backbenchers could sink his plan to change Britain’s marriage laws, if and when the issue comes to a vote in the Commons.

Although he has repeatedly tried to portray the case for same-sex marriage as a “conservative” cause, many of his MPs vocally disagree.

Meanwhile supporters within the Tory ranks have voiced frustration that those making the case for gay marriage have been “preaching to the converted” rather than taking the case to wavering Tories.

It is understood that senior Tories met a group of lobbying experts, who have worked with the US campaign group “Freedom to Marry”, ahead of a renewed charm offensive within the party.

They are understood to have discussed tactics at a “cross-governmental meeting” last Monday. -- UK Telegraph

Liberal Priest: Abp. Cordileone Appointment Shows Vatican "Serious" About Protecting Marriage

Fr. Reese's point is hardly a revelation, but it is also interesting how the local community is taking note of the Archbishop's arrival:

"...Oasis California, the Episcopal Church's gay ministry, convened a meeting recently at a Castro District bar to discuss how spiritual people should respond to the "architect of Prop. 8" coming to town.

Cordileone's appointment "re-emphasizes the Vatican's concern, and the U.S. bishops' concern, about gay marriage," said Father Thomas J. Reese, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Woodstock Theological Center. "Even in a city like San Francisco, they're willing to appoint someone who … has a high state and national profile on this issue.

"They're serious," Reese said, "and they're not going to back down."

During a July news conference, Cordileone was circumspect when discussing the "cultural challenges" his new diocese would present — which he said revolved around "issues of family life and, essentially, come down to our understanding of the human person, the purpose of our human sexuality, what God calls us to do and how he calls us to live and how he calls us to love." -- Los Angles Times

After SSM, What Next? Mark Steyn on "Happy Triples" in Toronto Grade Schools

Mark Steyn in National Review:

A few years ago, when the gay-marriage bandwagon got rolling, some of us argued that “if the sex of the participants is no longer relevant, why should the number be?” The same-sex-marriage crowd swatted the polygamy shtick aside as utterly irrelevant, even though there are far more takers for polygamy than there will ever be for gay marriage, and it is, de facto, already recognized to one degree or another by multiculti types in the British Government pensions department and the French welfare system.

So here we are in 2012, and the Toronto District School Board has a new poster called “Love Has No Gender“, full of happy couples but also happy triples. This poster is in every Toronto grade school.

Mike Huckabee: Dan Cathy of Chick-fil-A is Still Pro-Marriage

From Mike Huckabee's Facebook page:

I talked earlier today personally with Dan Cathy, CEO of Chick Fil-A about the new reports that Chick Fil-A had capitulated to demands of the supporters of same sex marriage. This is not true. The company continues to focus on the fair treatment of all of its customers and employees, but to end confusion gave me this statement: 

“There continues to be erroneous implications in the media that Chick-fil-A changed our practices and priorities in order to obtain permission for a new restaurant in Chicago. That is incorrect. Chick-fil-A made no such concessions, and we remain true to who we are and who we have been.”

Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy: We Have Made No "Concessions" to Same-Sex Marriage Supporters

The Blaze on Dan Cathy setting the record straight:

On Friday, Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy said media reports claiming the restaurant chain will no longer give charitable donations to groups that oppose same-sex marriage are untrue.

Cathy issued a statement on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s website, one day after Chick-fil-A released a company statement arguing that their corporate giving has been “mischaracterized” by the media.

“There continues to be erroneous implications in the media that Chick-fil-A changed our practices and priorities in order to obtain permission for a new restaurant in Chicago. That is incorrect. Chick-fil-A made no such concessions, and we remain true to who we are and who we have been,” Cathy wrote in his statement.

The controversy flared up this week when a Chicago politician said the company was no longer giving to conservative groups, like Focus on the Family, that oppose same-sex marriage in exchange for being allowing to open up a restaurant in Chicago.

In its statement Thursday, the Georgia-based company said its corporate giving was not intended to “support political or social agendas” but rather to support “programs that educate youth, strengthen families and enrich marriages, and support communities.”

Why is the State in the Marriage Business?

Adam Seagrave explains why the state is in the marriage business:

Governments don’t legally recognize a certain type of relationship because they are suckers for romance; they do so because they are understandably afraid of the potentially destructive consequences of such romance.

In the now-famous interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that precipitated President Obama’s public endorsement of same-sex marriage, Vice President Joe Biden asserted that “all marriages, at their root, are about” the following question: “Who do you love?” As contentious as the recent marriage debates often have been, both the advocates and the opponents of same-sex marriage might agree with the basic point of Biden’s assessment in affirming that something about marriage is more fundamental than politics. Whether this something is a basic right to marry the person of one’s choosing or the traditional institution of conjugal-procreative marriage, both sides agree that there is more to marriage than tax breaks and other legal trappings.

... Although civil marriage is now commonly understood in the elevated terms characteristic of marriage’s more fundamental and profoundly fulfilling aspects, the purpose of civil marriage is, in fact, more in keeping with its sterile legality. Governments assign legal responsibilities and benefits to marriage, rather than to other relationships, to help mitigate the potentially destructive and tragic consequences of irresponsible procreation. -- Public Discourse

English PM Cameron: Church Schools Should Not Teach About the Bible's View on Sex

The UK Christian Institute:

David Cameron thinks that faith schools should not be allowed to teach that homosexuality is a sin, according to a quote unearthed by the Daily Mail.

The would-be Prime Minister made the inflammatory remark during an interview with a gay lifestyle magazine ahead of the last general election.

According to the Daily Mail’s Andrew Pierce, when Mr Cameron was asked if faith schools should stop teaching that homosexuality is a sin, he said: “Basically, yes, that’s the short answer to that, without getting into a long religious exegesis.

Canada Admits They Overestimated Number of Same-Sex Married Couples

LifeSiteNews:

Statistics Canada has admitted that “there may be an overestimation” in the number of same-sex ‘married’ couples from the 2011 census, after the government agency mistakenly counted some same gender roommates as gay couples.

Stats Canada warned that the census data should be “used with caution.”

While same-sex couples — both ‘married’ and common law — accounted for merely 0.8% of all couples in 2011, the numbers showed same-sex ‘married’ couples nearly tripled: that is, until analyzers realized that many of the “couples” polled may have been migrant workers who were splitting rent with other migrant workers of the same gender and who both happened to be married, but not to each other.

Statistics Canada noted today that it may have overestimated the number of same-sex ‘married’ couples by 4,500.

“We observed that there was a possible over estimation of same-sex families,” said census manager Marc Hamel to The Globe and Mail. “The counts for some smaller communities seemed too high.”

Hamel noted that the number of ‘married’ same-sex couples seemed especially high in places like Alberta and Saskatchewan where rent sharers who left a wife back home could have been counted as a couple.

“We seem to observe that [trend] in more transient communities where we have a lot of temporary workers coming in. So it could be people living together, for example, and reporting each other as married, but not necessarily to each other.”

Brian Brown on Chick-fil-A: "Dan Cathy Has Not Changed His Position on Marriage"

LifeSiteNews:

According to a statement from Civil Right Agenda, a homosexual rights group, Moreno has confirmed that Chick-fil-A will no longer give money to “anti-gay organizations” through its charitable foundation, WinShape, and has agreed to clarify “in an internal document that the company will treat every person equally, regardless of sexual orientation.” Moreno says he will no longer oppose Chick-fil-a’s efforts to open a location in Logan Square.

However, it is unclear how much has really changed.

... Interestingly, many news agencies reported that Civil Rights Agenda press release had originally mentioned Focus on the Family and the National Organization for Marriage as specific organizations that WinShape would no longer donate to.

That statement is no longer in the homosexual organization’s release. And it’s not hard to figure out why. Neither of these organizations received any funds from WinShape in 2010 – the last year for which figures are available. In fact, according to a statement from NOM today, NOM has never received funding from WinShape.

... NOM President Brian Brown told LifeSiteNews today that the egregious part of this story is that an alderman would tell a company what they can or can’t believe if they are to be granted access to the marketplace. “Dan Cathy has not changed his position on marriage,” he said, adding that he is still urging pro-marriage Americans to support the restaurant chain.

So Much Marriage News, And All Of It Good!

NOM National Newsletter

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Last Thursday, the voters in New York State finally got a chance to have their say.

As I told you in last week's letter, the primaries recently held in New York are incredibly important to the future of marriage.

Powerful donors tried—and are still trying—to remake the Republican Party in their own image: namely, as pro-gay marriage supporters.

Getting New York Republicans to bring up and pass a gay marriage bill was the first step in that plan. The four Republicans who voted for gay marriage were hailed as heroes and showered with accolades—and massive quantities of cold hard cash. They were supposed to sail to victory, thus disproving the "myth" that voters care about marriage.

But on Thursday, the voters got their turn, and to the shock and surprise of the pundits and establishment hacks, they tossed out long-term incumbents in both parties who had betrayed their constituents' values and voted for gay marriage.

And thanks to your help, the National Organization for Marriage has been at the forefront of these victories.

Here I am on Christian Broadcast News, speaking about this breaking story:

 

On Wednesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg both expressed sadness that these pro-gay marriage Republicans were in so much trouble with voters because of their vote.

Cuomo even openly admitted that he couldn't help them in the primaries:

"If you're voting against them because of marriage equality, my support is not going to help," he said. "And you could argue that my support may have actually been a negative in that context, because if it was about marriage equality, I would have been a great reminder of the marriage-equality vote, and I would have gone out of my way to speak about the marriage-equality vote, frankly."

Mr. Bloomberg had donated $10,300 to each of the four Republican senators who'd turned on their constituents and voted for gay marriage, and had also hosted a high-dollar fundraiser for them. He tried to offer them consolation:

"No matter what happens in the election," Mr. Bloomberg said, "they're going to have the satisfaction of knowing for the rest of their life they stood up and voted their conscience."

Did their consciences also tell them to mislead the voters? To vote "no" on gay marriage, to run against gay marriage, and then to vote "yes" at the last minute after the money talked?

Perhaps next time their consciences will have the courtesy to tell the voters the truth.

NOM PAC NY also played a key role in these victories, and the newspapers noticed:

"It wasn't supposed to be this way!" was the Daily Beast's cri de coeur!

Gay marriage backers assured them that they would remember their vote for every Election Day hence—even if the candidates were running against Democrats.

"We are in it for the long haul with any supporter of gay marriage," Brian Ellner, the lead lobbyist behind the effort, said in June 2011 as he was trying to convince the four to support the bill. "We have not lost a single supporter because of their support of marriage equality in an election and we are certainly not going to start now."

But the results so far have left supporters of gay marriage fearful that the primary will dissuade other Republicans around the country from supporting same sex marriage.

... "The message we sent was pretty simple," said Brian Brown, executive director of NOM. "If you are a Republican and you vote for [gay] marriage, you are going to lose."

According to the Associated Press:

"Republican primary voters in New York punished two incumbents last week who voted to legalize same-sex marriage, firing a potential warning shot nationwide toward GOP lawmakers who could soon face tough votes in their states.

Two of the four veteran—and long-secure—Republican senators in New York who voted for same-sex marriage a year ago await counts of absentee ballots as they sweat out the political fight of their lives. A third announced his retirement this year in the face of strong opposition to his gay marriage vote.

"Any Republican legislator faced with this vote is going to think twice," said Robert Bellafiore, a political commentator and former top aide to Republican Gov. George Pataki of New York. "I don't think there is any question this going to have a chilling effect across the country."

Well, we certainly hope so! Betraying the values and views of the people who put you in office is always a bad idea!

John Fund in National Review put it the most simply in his editorial, "Gay Marriage Backers Face Consequences in N.Y. Primaries":

The results from Thursday's low-turnout primary aren't complete given uncounted absentee ballots. But it is clear the National Organization for Marriage and other traditional-marriage groups drew some blood.

NY State Senator Roy McDonald was known to be in some trouble, but Senator Stephen Saland's electoral problems came as a huge shock. Feisty challenger Neil DiCarlo was given no chance at all. Saland was not just a long-time incumbent, he was 'Mr. Moneybags', outspending DiCarlo 40 to 1! On election night, DiCarlo was just 42 votes behind with hundreds of absentee ballots still being counted.

As the Albany Times Union admits, the primary results show that "grass-roots insurgents are at least an even match for the party's establishment candidates."

Senator Mark Grisanti was the only pro-gay marriage Republican to win his primary on Tuesday night, but we still have a chance—and a good one!—to defeat him in November.

Why? Because by betraying marriage, Grisanti lost the Conservative Party endorsement to Chuck Swanick in a district that is 60% Democratic. The Buffalo News reports on Grisanti's grim prospects in November:

...If some of the more conservative GOP voters turn against Grisanti and vote for Swanick over the same-sex marriage issue, Amodeo said, that could prove an unbeatable obstacle to the incumbent.

The New York primary election results should have come as no surprise to the pundits and the politicians (remember Dede Scozzafava?!) except too many believe the untruths persistently spread by gay marriage activists and a compliant media.

The New York victories come on top of a win in Minnesota last month where a Minneapolis state representative, Rep. Steve Smith, one of the longest serving Republicans in the Statehouse, lost his GOP primary. As the AP notes, "His opposition to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage was one of the reasons."

The victories in New York also follow on the heels of the defeat of several pro-gay marriage GOP incumbents in New Hampshire; and last but not least, the epic failure of an attempt by out-of-state billionaire Tim Gill to flood the Rhode Island Legislature with pro-gay marriage Democrats through a tsunami of money. Five of six of those efforts failed—in the Democratic primary!

Money matters—and believe me, I'm deeply grateful to each of you who have given a widow's mite of your time and treasure to help win this great fight for marriage— but money isn't everything. When you have truth, history, and the American people on your side—and when you strive to take God's side on something as important as His creation of marriage—amazing things can happen!

Four states now face tough gay marriage battles, but with your help and the grace of God, we're going to win them all!

In Iowa, we've helped launch the "NoWiggins Bus", as the Sioux City Journal recently noted. Our special thanks go out to Sen. Rick Santorum and Gov. Bobby Jindal for joining the effort to oust Judge Wiggins, one of the Iowa judges who voted to impose gay marriage on the people of Iowa without their consent!

... "The judiciary's usurpation of authority in recent years is completely unacceptable," Santorum said in a statement. "It is obviously clear the people's Constitution gives the judicial branch the least power, and yet these appointed judges continuously legislate from the bench whether it is gay marriage in Iowa, collective bargaining in Wisconsin, or resulting in the death of millions of lives caused by the opinion of Roe v. Wade."

The "No Wiggins" bus tour—sponsored by CitizenLink, Patriot Voices, the Family Leader, the National Organization for Marriage and CatholicVote.org—seeks to mobilize opposition among Iowa voters to oust Wiggins.

You will remember that in 2010 the first three judges who invented a right to gay marriage in the Iowa Constitution came up for election—and for the first time in history, Iowa voters turned out all three!

It will be a tougher battle this time, as pro-gay marriage money will swarm the state. But with God's help, and yours, we will stay in this fight, too—and win!

Some good news breaking from Down Under: The Australian House and Senate massively defeated a pro-gay marriage bill:

With the House of Representatives rejecting Labor MP Stephen Jones' bill 98-42 earlier in the week, the Senate rejected a similar bill from Labor Senator Trish Crossin 26-41 yesterday afternoon.

Here at home, college students are fighting back against intolerance by standing up and Eatin Mor' Chikin!—according to a story in a new online paper, The College Fix, edited by the young and brilliant Nathan Harden (author of God and Sex at Yale:

The University of Maryland's student newspaper, for example, recently reported that sales are up at its campus Chick-fil-A... "Sales rose dramatically during the first two weeks of school following the controversy around Cathy's statement."

That must be why the newspapers are circulating misleading reports the Chick-Fil-A has somehow cut funding to NOM (which has never received money from the company or from the Winshape Foundation, its charitable arm).

We continue, therefore, to urge you to "Eat More Chikin" on Wednesdays throughout the campaign season, continuing to show your support for the rights of every American to give their views on marriage without threats or harassment!

Elsewhere, columnist George Will turned his discerning eye on one of those threats in the New Mexico wedding photography case:

Elaine Huguenin, who with her husband operates Elane Photography in New Mexico, asks only to be let alone.

But instead of being allowed a reasonable zone of sovereignty in which to live her life in accordance with her beliefs, she is being bullied by people wielding government power.

As Will points out, the same-sex couples seeking a wedding photographer (in a state that does not recognize gay marriage!) could have shrugged their shoulders and said "live and let live"; instead they went after Elaine's livelihood using government power. Will writes, "Perhaps advocates of gay rights should begin to restrain the bullies in their ranks."

And did you see the comments of British actor Rupert Everett, one of the first stars to come out as gay? He told the media his Mom wanted him to have a wife and kids, because "She thinks children need a father and a mother and I agree with her," he said. "I can't think of anything worse than being brought up by two gay dads."

After the predictable furor erupted, Everett stood by his comments, telling the British talk show "This Morning": "The good news on this is I'm not applying for any sort of public office. I don't want to be a (Member of Parliament), I don't want to be in a council, I don't want to be the head of (actors' union) Equity. I'm just an individual with my own life and the things I want to do myself."

I don't know Rupert Everett's views on gay marriage. But it is important to remember that gay people are not a monolith. They are our neighbors and fellow citizens with diverse views. There are homosexuals who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife—and I want to reiterate: if you want to help protect marriage, we welcome you to join NOM in the fight!

A last small piece of good news: Recent polling by Public Policy Polling and the liberal-leaning Maine People's Resource Center show gay marriage support in Maine to be declining—this, in spite of weeks of ads being run by same-sex marriage proponents to garner support. Another internal poll by JMC Analytics and Polling, the first of its kind run by a non pro-gay marriage source, showed support for gay marriage falling even further than the other polls showed: below the 50% margin, in fact from 48% to 44%!

The AP reported on September 10 that in Maine, the "National Organization for Marriage has made a $500,000 matching contribution to fight same-sex marriage."

So, we are not done. We have just begun to fight.

We are sending support and prayers into all four states with marriage fights on the ballot this November—thanks to you, we can help voters wherever we are needed to stand up for God's truth about marriage.

Finally, there's that other important election in November: for President of the United States.

As the gay marriage cases head to the Supreme Court, it's vitally important that we have a president who is going to defend marriage and the rights of millions of voters to organize, speak, vote, donate in defense of God's vision of marriage.

On that point, in case you missed it, here's Mitt Romney's video message to the Values Voters Summit, wherein he promises to defend marriage, not redefine it:

 

We agree, America needs a President who will respect our traditional values

Register to vote. Register your friends. Register your family. And make your voice heard this November!

At NOM, we will fight to make your voice and your values heard—to show that together we can fight for the right—and win!

As Rev. Rick Warren said, we who are believers should take our view of marriage into our lives—by living chastely and faithfully and lovingly within our marriages and teaching our children to grow up to be men and women who do the same.

But we should also take our views and values into the voting booth, without apology.

"You don't need to apologize for voting for a Christian worldview which stands up for the sanctity of life, the sanctity of sex and the sanctity of marriage. You don't need to apologize for that because everybody votes what they believe," Rev. Warren told thousands of Saddleback Church attendees at the launch of a new sermon series.

The Southern California pastor said three issues (are non-negotiables for Christians. Christian believers may disagree on health care or tax policy, he said, but we must be firm on is protecting the unborn, viewing sex as holy, and protecting traditional marriage.

"If you call yourself a Christian, you need to line up with what God says is the original intent of all three of these things," he preached.

Whether we are Catholic or Protestant, LDS, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh or nonbeliever, we are called in these difficult days to stand up for core truths about human beings everywhere: we are born male and female, and called to come together in love in this sacred bond called "marriage."

Whether we individually are married or not, we can stand up and defend the great truths of Genesis.

We can fight for marriage and, with God's help, win!

JMC Analytics Poll: Maine Amendment Within Margin of Error (48%-44%)

More encouraging polling out of Maine, by JMC Analytics and Polling:

Marriage amendment within the margin of error (48-44% in favor).

Our philosophy about which population to use depends on the election, but we are generally comfortable with a “likely” model (as opposed to a “registered” model) for most elections. For this poll, we chose a sample of likely Maine voters for an automated poll, with a sample size of 615 respondents.

The poll was conducted September 17-18. The margin of error, with a 95% confidence interval, was 4%. The party registration breakdown of the respondents was 37% Democratic, 35% Republican, 28% Unaffiliated/Green. The geographic breakdown of the respondents was weighted as follows: 6% from Androscoggin County, 20% from the coastal counties, 22% from Cumberland County, 16% from the interior of Maine, 10% from Kennebec County, 11% from Penobscot County, and 15% from York County (The explanation of the boundaries of these regions is graphically depicted below). Finally, the gender breakdown of the respondents was 53% female and 47% male.

New Poll: Gay Marriage Under 50 Percent in Maine!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 21, 2012
Contact: Elizabeth Ray or Jen Campbell (703-683-5004)


WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) released the following statement after recent gay marriage polling in Maine:

National Organization for Marriage

Recent public polls conducted by Public Policy Polling (PPP) and the Maine People's Resource Center are showing support for gay marriage declining in Maine, despite 3 weeks of as yet unanswered ads. A new internal poll by JMC Analytics and Polling, the first public poll not pushed by a pro-gay marriage source, shows support for gay marriage falling further behind in Maine and under 50% for the first time in months—by a margin of 48% to 44%. As PPP stated, "undecideds" typically vote against gay marriage. JMC's poll confirms that gay marriage is in great trouble in Maine, despite the spending advantage.

"It's worth recalling in September of 2008 polls had Proposition 8 in California down by as much as ten percent, and yet voters in that blue state rejected gay marriage. We expect the voters of Maine will do the same," stated Brian Brown, President of NOM.

###

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).

PMW Responds to NYTimes Article on Why Fathers Really Matter

Chip White, Communications Director for Preserve Marriage Washington submitted this letter to the editor of the New York Times:

Judith Shulevitz’ opinion piece on September 9 (“Why Fathers Really Matter”) underscores the important role that fathers play in the lives of their children. As Schulevitz explains, fathers shape their children “not just by way of genes,” but also in terms of “cognitive style,” “character,” “psychological dimensions,” and a host of other important ways. This November, the definition of marriage is on the ballot in four states (Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington). If marriage is redefined to be a genderless institution, children are the ones who would suffer. Such a paradigm shift says to children that mothers and fathers don’t matter (especially fathers) – any two “parents” will do. It proclaims the false notion that men and women are exactly the same in rearing children. And it undermines the marriage culture by making marriage a meaningless political gesture, rather than a child-affirming social contract. We urge voters to reject redefining marriage.