Defending Marriage

I can’t help feeling ambivalent about the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. Those who are most “pro-life” also seem to be manically attached to a neo-conservative view of foreign policy, which will plunge the United States into another disastrous war, perhaps against Iran, at first, and then against an increasingly Islamicized Arab-world. When will the neo-cons learn the lesson of recent history that radical Islam thrives on the anti-Americanism caused by hawkish US militarism? When will so-called Catholic politicians listen to the wisdom of the Popes (John Paul II and Benedict XVI) on this issue? On the other hand, the one candidate who seemingly will not drag the US into a disastrous war, is not prepared to defend marriage and the family against the secular fundamentalist fanatics who seek to destroy marriage as the cornerstone of healthy family life. This being so, one is tempted to echo the words of Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet who wished “a plague o’ both your houses”. Nonetheless, I thought the recent e-mail from the National Organization for Marriage is worth noting. It is important that Catholic voters are informed. With this in mind, and my wider misgivings notwithstanding, I’m posting the e-mail, with its sundry links, in its entirety:

From: Brian Brown
Sent: Fri 1/13/2012 8:31 AM
To: Joseph Pearce
Subject: The Week Marriage Became a National Issue, NOM Marriage News, January 12, 2011

Thursday, January 12, 2011

My Dear Friends,

This is the week that marriage and religious liberty became national issues.

I don’t know if you watched the New Hampshire debates over the weekend. I did.

And I saw two things:

For the first time, the mainstream media has decided to echo and push the idea that support for marriage makes you a bigot.

And I also saw major political figures magnificently rebut these attacks.

As you know, the National Organization for Marriage launched a Marriage Pledge last summer, asking major candidates to commit-to sign their name on paper-to five specific things:

* To support a federal marriage amendment
* To defend DOMA vigorously in court
* To appoint judges who will not impose gay marriage on all 50 states
* To investigate the increasing reports of threats to the liberty of traditional marriage supporters
* To restore to the people of D.C. their right to vote for marriage.

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry all agreed to be marriage champions.

(Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman refused.)

Because we adopted the Marriage Pledge as a strategy for identifying marriage champions, NOM will not be making an endorsement.

Instead, we’ve sought to become the voice for all marriage voters, and to make sure marriage remains a visible issue in this campaign, as in this country.

And wow, this week our marriage champions were magnificent!

ABC News’s George Stephanopolous and Diane Sawyer tried to “grill” the candidates on their supposed bigotry on gay rights, and the same questions came up at the debate on NBC as well.

Here are Romney and Santorum responding on NBC

And here’s an extended exchange on marriage

But I want to call your attention to something important which happened this week: The same-sex marriage attack on religious liberty became a campaign issue.

I have to give credit to Newt Gingrich for first bringing up the issue, receiving wild audience applause, and to Gov. Romney, who quickly stepped in to validate and affirm Gingrich’s critique from his Massachusetts experience.

Gingrich jumped in to point out media bias: “You don’t hear the opposite question asked: Should the Catholic Church be forced to close its adoption services in Massachusetts because it won’t accept gay couples? …Should the Catholic Church find itself discriminated against by the Obama administration on key delivery of services because of the bias and bigotry of the Administration? The bigotry question goes both ways… and none of it gets covered by the media.”

(He’s right about that. That’s why we launched our new Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance, to bring you the news the media is not covering. More on that in a second.)

Romney stepped in to strongly affirm that Gingrich was right about what happened in Massachusetts. “This decision about what we call marriage has consequences,” Gov. Romney said. “…Calling it marriage creates a whole host of problems for family, for the law, for the practice of religion, for education. Let me say this: 3000 years of human history shouldn’t be discarded so quickly.”

Kudos to both men for braving the media firestorm, and to Rick Santorum for bravely defending marriage as well.

Here’s one last video you’ll just enjoy: Newt Gingrich the next morning, beating back a CNN anchor who tries to embarrass him on his position:

Do you know who else just jumped in to validate our concerns about marriage and religious liberty?

The US Catholic Bishops just released this morning an important letter from an interfaith group of religious leaders from the “Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Lutheran, Mormon, and Pentecostal communities” calling on people of good will to reject efforts to equate traditional views on sex and marriage with racial bigotry.

These leaders point out that the real danger is not that clergy will be forced to perform same-sex marriage: “While we cannot rule out this possibility entirely, we believe that the First Amendment creates a very high bar to such attempts.”

Instead, they point out, “the most urgent peril is this: forcing or pressuring both individuals and religious organizations-throughout their operations, well beyond religious ceremonies-to treat same-sex sexual conduct as the moral equivalent of marital sexual conduct.”

Can we really create an America where people who believe sex should be confined to the union of husband and wife are treated like racial bigots?

These leaders say the answer is yes, and the threat is “urgent”:

“In short, the refusal of these religious organizations to treat same-sex sexual relationship as if it were a marriage marked them and their members as bigots, subjecting them to the full arsenal of government punishments and pressures reserved for racists.”

They conclude with this call: “Therefore, we encourage all people of good will to protect marriage as the union between one man and one woman, and to consider carefully the far-reaching consequences for the religious freedom of all Americans if marriage is redefined.”

For an example of the future Human Rights Campaign is working hard to create for religious people and our institutions, look no further than the state of Washington. There, Mary Margaret Haugen, a Democratic state senator who told her constituents that gay marriage would not happen in that state without a vote of the people, met with this over-the-top response from an angry pro-gay-marriage activist, according to news reports:

“One constituent likened denial of marriage rights to gays and lesbians to racial apartheid in South Africa. ‘I saw apartheid, I was in South Africa and I can tell you this is different,’ Haugen shot back. She recalled the ‘necklacing’ practice in which victims were stuffed in a tire which was then set afire.”

Let’s get real here!

No major spokesman or leader in America wants to hurt gay people, or deny them the civil rights we all share.

The right to redefine marriage is a made-up right, it’s not real; it has no roots in our constitution, our history, our traditions, or common sense.

Being denied the right to call a same-sex relationship a marriage is not like what happened to South Africans, or African-Americans.

A movement which makes this argument is rooting itself in wishful self-aggrandizing fantasies which will backfire in the end.

The great thing about working for marriage is that it is an issue that transcends the usual political divides-of creed, of race, and of party.

Democratic leaders are stepping forward on the local level to stand proudly for marriage and we are very grateful to them for their courage!

Another such hero is Maryland Senate President Mike Miller, a lifelong Democrat, who firmly announced he opposes same-sex marriage and predicts the people of Maryland will reject it if the legislature tries to pass it.

And, of course, this week another strong voice made one of his most powerful statements on the need to protect marriage.

According to Reuters, Pope Benedict told diplomats from nearly 180 countries that the education of children needed proper “settings” and that “pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman.”

“This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself,” he said.

Wow.

We have fights bursting out all over in the next few weeks. Gay-marriage activists are trying to block the GOP from reversing gay marriage in New Hampshire, and push through gay marriage bills quickly in New Jersey, Washington state, and Maryland, and possibly Maine. They are laying the groundwork for a fight to push gay marriage in Illinois. We have a chance to pass a marriage amendment in Minnesota in November.

The fight is heating up all over this country, in states and on the national level:

Are we going to discard 3000 years of human history, and redefine our country’s Biblical traditions on sex and marriage as the equivalent of bigotry?

Or are we going to fight for marriage-and win?

Thank you for all the victories you’ve made possible in this good fight.

How bad can things get if we do not show courage now?

NOM’s Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance just released this incredibly moving-and yet chilling-video interviewing Eunice and Owen Johns, a black Pentecostal married couple in Great Britain whose own government told them they were not fit to
foster a child unless they were willing to advocate for gay sex.

Mrs. Johns is especially tender and moving, about how much she wanted to love a child, any child-gay, straight, black or white.

The empty spare room in their modest home filled with love is a distressing example of how far government may go, in some cases, in condemning traditional Christian views on sex and marriage as bigotry and discrimination.

It’s an outrage because just as with Catholic Charities and other religious adoption agencies, the true victims are some of our most vulnerable children in need of care.

Pray for me and for everyone on the front lines of this great and good fight.

Blessings,

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

P.S. Our fight for marriage is your fight! When you donate to NOM, you’re making sure that your voice is heard. The year ahead will bring many challenges, and many new opportunities. Why not take this time to help ensure that marriage is protected-in the new year, and in the generations to come?

National Organization for Marriage Commends Mitt Romney on Impressive Victory in New Hampshire

We commend Mitt Romney on his impressive victory tonight in New Hampshire, adding to his delegate total following his victory in Iowa. Mr. Romney has signed NOM’s pledge to take specific actions as president to defend traditional marriage. He has also called for the repeal of same-sex marriage in New Hampshire. Voters rewarded him and we congratulate Mr. Romney on his well-earned victory.

National Organization for Marriage Pledges Major Fight in New Jersey to Prevent Passage of Same-Sex Marriage

Trenton, N.J. – The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today pledged an all-out effort to prevent same-sex marriage from becoming law in New Jersey, and said it would spend upward of $500,000 to support legislators who stood to preserve traditional marriage and hold those accountable who impose same-sex marriage in the state. Backers of gay marriage today unveiled yet another legislative attempt to redefine marriage in New Jersey.

The National Organization for Marriage Continues Campaign in New Hampshire Opposing Ron Paul’s Position on Marriage

Manchester, NH – The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today announced that it is mounting a $50,000 independent expenditure effort in New Hampshire to educate state voters about Ron Paul’s “unacceptable” position on marriage. The group began running television commercials online last Friday, as well as calling tens of thousands of voters to bring Paul’s position to the attention of voters.

Video: Romney and Santorum Repel MSM Attempts to Portray Their Marriage Views as Bigotry

NBC, not to be left out of the mainstream media effort to equate protecting marriage with bigoted views, goes after Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum for their views on marriage. Both men handle the line of attack easily. The last jab at Santorum, asking him what he would do if one of his sons were to come out to him as gay, well – see for yourself:

Video: Newt Gingrich Responds to CNN Bias Against Religious Liberty

Newt Gingrich called out the mainstream media for bias when covering religious liberty issues at a GOP debate this weekend and defended that critique when a CNN host tried to counter his claims in an interview:

Santorum Engages Pro-SSM NH College Students in Rational Conversation

He’s rather charming here. And patient. Why doesn’t marriage equality include all marriages, including polygamous marriages, if the only principle at stake here is all people have a right to have their relationships treated equally if those relationships are important to their happiness? The students have no answer, so they try to claim its not a legitimate question:

Gronstal Continues to Block Marriage Vote in Iowa

Sen. Mike Gronstal said this week that he will not allow a vote on an amendment to the constitution that would ban gay marriage.

New Jersey Legislature to Introduce SSM Bill Again, With Announcement Tomorrow

In a dramatic move, Democratic leaders plan to announce at a news conference tomorrow that a bill legalizing gay marriage will be the first measure introduced in the new session of the Senate and the Assembly, sources with knowledge of their intentions said last night.

David Storobin to Challenge Lew Fidler for Disgraced Sen. Kruger’s Seat

Republicans emboldened by a recent Congressional victory are eager to grab the state senate seat vacated by disgraced Sen. Carl Kruger – but they’re facing a popular Democrat who

Law Professor Alleges U. of Iowa Discriminated Against Her For Her ProLife Views

In a groundbreaking lawsuit, Teresa Wagner is alleging a public university law school discriminated against her for exercising her First Amendment rights on life and marriage, as the New York Times reports:

New Child Trends Brief on Unwed Childbearing

Having children outside of marriage-nonmarital childbearing-is increasingly common in the United States. A new Research Brief, Childbearing Outside of Marriage: Estimates and Trends in the United States [PDF], describes how the population of women bearing children outside of marriage has changed, often in ways that challenge public perceptions. Nonmarital childbearing remains a significant public concern as it is linked to negative outcomes for women and their children across a range of measures, as well as with a reliance on public assistance.

Pope Benedict said Monday that gay marriage was one of several threats to the traditional family that undermined “the future of humanity itself.”

Contributions or gifts to the National Organization for Marriage, a 501(c)(4) organization with QNC status, are not tax-deductible. The National Organization for Marriage does not accept contributions from business corporations, labor unions, foreign nationals, or federal contractors; however, it may accept contributions from federally registered political action committees. Donations may be used for political purposes such as supporting or opposing candidates. No funds will be earmarked or reserved for any political purpose.

This message has been authorized and paid for by the National Organization for Marriage, 2029 K Street NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006, Brian Brown, President. This message has not been authorized or approved by any candidate.