Dear Marriage Supporter,

Game on!

With Senate hearings on the repeal of DOMA yesterday, President Obama and the hard-left core of the Democratic Party in Washington declared war on marriage, on federalism, on democracy and on religious liberty.

Do you think I exaggerate?

As Maggie said in National Review yesterday, the chilling of our First Amendment rights has commenced, in the name of a faux equality:

The First Amendment is more than a legal guarantee. It is a key American value—which holds that in a free society, decent, law-abiding citizens should not be afraid to speak up with civility for the moral good as they see it.

Sen. Chuck Grassley's remarkable opening statement in Wednesday's Senate DOMA hearing on a bill to repeal DOMA called attention to a very serious and growing intolerance directed at Americans who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife:

"The minority very much hoped to call a witness today at this hearing to testify in support of DOMA. I am sure she would have done an excellent job," said Sen. Grassley (R-Iowa). "She declined, however, citing as one reason the threats and intimidation that have been leveled against not only her but her family as a result of her public support for DOMA. She will continue to write on this subject, but will no longer speak publicly about it. This chilling of First Amendment rights is unacceptable."

When Chris Johnson, a reporter from the Washington Blade, called and asked if that woman was our own Maggie Gallagher, Maggie tells me she was at first amused. No, of course not. Maggie would never back down from standing up for the truth about marriage, no matter the threats, abuse, or scorn gay marriage advocates attempt to heap upon her head.

But she and I could both sympathize.

The death threats and hateful mail New York state senator Rev. Rubén Díaz says he has received are not unusual, as anyone who speaks with civility and common sense for our marriage tradition discovers. Marriage as the union of husband and wife is not bigotry, it's common sense. Nevertheless, whole professions are in the process of being closed to anyone who espouses—and acts on—the view that marriage is the union of husband and wife.

We told you last week about a Toronto sportscaster who was fired for tweeting that he believes in the "true and authentic meaning of marriage." Nothing in the First Amendment will prevent similar injustices in this country if the government adopts the view that our traditional understanding of marriage is like racial bigotry, and needs to be suppressed in the name of "equality."

Next week, NOM is flying to North Carolina to interview Frank Turek, who also had his contract with CISCO terminated, after a human resources official googled and found out he had written against same-sex marriage.

Take a moment and look into the eyes of Ruth Sheldon, a 65-year-old town clerk in the little town of Granby, New York, who resigned a job with a $32,000 a year salary plus health insurance, because New York politicians have threatened to criminally prosecute any clerk who cannot, in good conscience, sign a gay wedding license. "I'm standing on the word of God," she says. Indeed she is, with honor.

According to the Syracuse Post-Standard, Ruth lives with her husband, Robert, a retired dairy farmer, and they will celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary next month. "I know how to live on a little and I know how to live in abundance, and if I have to live on a little then that will be it," she said.

Look into the eyes of this decent, hardworking, conscientious woman, who lost her job and was threatened with criminal prosecution if she didn't license gay weddings, and ask yourself: What kind of a political movement wants to deprive a woman like this of her job and the town of Granby of her skills? What kind of government would put her in jail?

If it makes your blood boil the way it makes mine, fight back! Step one: Go to DefendDOMA.com and sign our petition! Get your friends to sign on. Gentleman may cry "peace! peace!" but there is no peace—the war on marriage has begun. Speak now, by signing NOM's DOMA petition, or face the possibility of forever after holding your peace, submitting to the political forces that seek to strip you of your right to stand for God's truth over man's.

Instead of protecting marriage and people like Ruth, the hard left—which now controls marriage law in New York and wants to control it nationwide by repealing DOMA—wants to use this law to suppress, marginalize, stigmatize and punish good, decent, law-abiding people like her.

We cannot stand by and let this happen. DefendDOMA.com is the first step, but not the last.

Maggie writes, "The underlying truth that so-called 'pro-equality' Republicans need to understand is this: They are aiding and abetting a political movement that, at this point in history, seeks to make traditional Christian views on sex and marriage unacceptable in the public square—just as racist views on interracial marriage are unacceptable—by heaping scorn and hatred on any American who does something to support marriage as one man and one woman."

Advocates of gay marriage now seek to redefine not only marriage, but the relationship between Judeo-Christian values and the American tradition. Deface our Bibles by ripping Genesis out as "bigoted" and remake an America where those who espouse Biblical views on sex and marriage are treated like racists? Just what will be left to "conserve" of the American tradition?

Do not believe the lies, or submit to the hatred.

You and I can fight back against the flood of Tim Gill's and Ken Mehlman's money which is seeking to overturn DOMA, to intimidate Bible-believing Americans, and to turn the Republican Party away from its support for marriage so that it can remake America without opposition. This cannot happen while you and I have the strength to stand up for truth, with love, for common sense and common decency.

I have faith that with your help and God's we can and will win this fight for marriage itself and for the place of Biblical values in America.

We don't have to match the zillionaires dollar for dollar, because we have three great assets on our side. We have truth, including, most crucially, God's truth about marriage. We have justice, because the ugly side of this so-called "equality" movement to redefine marriage and America is becoming more visible and harsher every day.

And we have 3,000 years of human experience, and the common sense of the majority of the American people. That common sense has been demonstrated time and time again when politicians and courts have trusted the American people—the experts on marriage—with the decision about what marriage is and should remain: a union of husband and wife, who give themselves to each other in the only kind of union that can ever make new life and connect those children to that precious gift, a mom and a dad.

Marriage is unique for a reason.

Thank you for signing our Defend DOMA petition, and sending it to a friend.

If you have the means, and can meet the other responsibilities God has given you, I need you today to reach down and donate $5, $10, or $100 today to help us fight this battle—to fight it and win!

If you've donated to NOM before, thank you. Please do so again today if God has given you the means, now that the stakes are so high and so clear.

If you have enjoyed reading this newsletter, hearing of our victories, but never paused to donate, I am asking you today to donate just $5—the price of a hamburger!—to fight back against the powerful movement which threatens to overwhelm marriage, common sense, human decency, and Biblical values, and seeks to punish good people like Ruth Sheldon who stand up for marriage.

This week, we at NOM announced the first step of an intense, multi-year $2 million campaign to take back New York—and give all the Ruth Sheldons of America back their God-given right to participate as full and equal citizens, their views and values respected in the public square.

We spent $150,000 sending "Benedict Arnold" mailers into the districts of the seven senators who flip-flopped on marriage (including four key Republicans senators).

This is the crucial first step to fulfilling our pledge to spend $2 million against the politicians who imposed same-sex marriage without a vote of the people. The politicians and the media are sitting up and taking notice!

"NOM targets 'Benedict Arnolds' of the state Senate who Voted for Gay Marriage," blared the New York Daily News headline.

"This is the first step in what will be a sustained, determined effort to make sure the constituents of these cowardly Senators know what they have done," I told the Daily News. "They decided to ignore principle and their constituents in a calculated political flip-flop only after Governor Cuomo raised $1 million from Wall Street billionaires and hedge fund managers to support the legislation. Now, some of these same Senators are raising tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash from gay marriage activists all around the country. It's despicable."

The mailings target Republican Senators Mark Grisanti, Roy McDonald, James Alesi and Stephen Saland; and Democratic Senators Shirley Huntley, Joseph Addabbo and Carl Kruger. Why? Well, for instance:

• Grisanti ran for office on a traditional marriage platform and solicited and accepted a $4,000 campaign contribution from NOM.
• Alesi said "It's not our job to be moral."
• Kruger, who has been indicted for allegedly taking $1 million in bribes in exchange for political favors, declared the Senate vote would "redefine what the American family is."

On Sunday, July 24 at 3 p.m. Maggie and I will join Sen. Rev. Rubén Díaz (D-Bronx), New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedom, and thousands of New Yorkers across the state at rallies to protest the way the New York senate hijacked marriage and ignored the will of the people. Simultaneous 3 p.m. rallies (which your donations to NOM help pay for!) in Manhattan, Albany, Rochester and Buffalo. The new coalition is called Let the People Vote!

As Sen Díaz said in his latest press release:

"In a city where teachers and public employees are being laid off, and fire houses are being closed for lack of funds, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided to spend city funds to have government offices open on a Sunday to perform same-sex weddings.

"Having had this bad law passed, we should not retreat in fear the way the Apostles did in the days after the crucifixion and before the resurrected Christ came to reveal himself. Instead, we need to maintain the same drive that the Apostles had after the resurrected Lord filled them with the Spirit."

Join us! 3 p.m. this Sunday, July 24, is the first step to taking back marriage in New York from corrupt Albany Republicans who sold our birthright in exchange for Ken Mehlman's and Mayor Bloomberg's cash.

Whatever your faith tradition, if you believe in limited government, in the truth about marriage, and in respect for the people's wishes, join us!

Go to LetthePeopleVote.com for more information on how to attend the New York rally.

While Pres. Obama is fighting to overturn DOMA, I don't want to forget to say thank you to Speaker John Boehner, who condemned that act as "another effort by the White House to take attention away from jobs and the president's economic policies, which have been a failure. The Defense of Marriage Act is the law of the land, and the House will continue with its effort to ensure the constitutionality of the law is determined by the courts rather than by a unilateral action by the Obama Administration."

Good men and women of every race, creed and color will join together and rise above the hate, in the true rainbow coalition, to speak truth, with love, about the purpose and meaning of marriage.

As the new Archbishop of Philadelphia, Charles Chaput, said in his very first press conference in his new position this week, "this is the issue of our time."

God bless and keep you. Remember me and all the fighters on the front lines for marriage in your prayers.

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

P.S. We will fight for marriage and we will win—but we need your help to do it! Can you give $20 right now to defend marriage? Or can you make a commitment to just $5 a month? If you have the means, please consider a larger donation—and know that every dollar you can spare will make a difference in this crucial time.