Dear Friends of Marriage,
Gay marriage advocates push the idea that there is no hope--the future is inevitable and resistance is futile. Well, a funny thing just happened on the way to inevitability.
A CBS News/New York Times poll released last week generated a curious headline: "Poll: Support for Gay Marriage Dips."
Knowing how hard the media tries to spin things the gay marriage advocates' way, I wondered just how big the drop in support for gay marriage was. So I tracked down the poll.
Dips? Dips? "Support for Gay Marriage Collapses" would be a more accurate headline for this latest poll.
Since April, support for gay marriage has plunged nine percentage points, a huge change in a few short weeks. Just one-third of Americans support gay marriage. A funny thing happened on the way to inevitability!
In Rhode Island, NOM Rhode Island commissioned our own poll--because gay marriage advocates started touting (front page news in the Providence Journal!) a recent poll claiming 60% of Rhode Islanders support gay marriage. We used a respected Rhode Island pollster because we didn't want an "advocacy poll." We really wanted to know: How do Rhode Islanders feel about gay marriage? And as the ProJo story below noted, once again we found a large drop in support for gay marriage just a few short weeks. Here's the truth: Rhode Islanders are more likely to oppose than favor same-sex marriage. I can't tell you whether that represents a change (for the better!) from a few short weeks ago, or just a bad poll result--a statistical fluke or whatever.
But the latest polling confirms that public opinion is heading in the right direction.
And it blows sky-high the myth of inevitability that gay-marriage advocates use to try to drive you to despair, to give up, to go home, and to leave them in possession of the field.
But we won't! Not you and me. Not the American people. Not when something as precious as the future of God's sacred bond of marriage and the freedom of the faith communities which sustain marriage is at stake--right? I know you'll help us in this crucial moment. Can you give $10, $50... even, if God has given you the means, $200 for marriage? Your emails, your prayers, and your donations do affect public opinion.
A quick update on DC: As I predicted last week, the board of elections is trying to prevent the people of DC from voting on the marriage issue (in this case, by overturning a bill which requires recognizing as marriages same-sex unions performed elsewhere). The board quite absurdly ruled that overturning this law would amend the human rights code--even though the bill authorizing recognition of other areas' gay marriages is not part of the human rights code, and even though the basic marriage law within the District remains a union of one man and one woman. The next step is to court to settle the question of whether the civil rights of the people of the District to amend their own laws will be upheld--or not. We'll keep you informed.
The media is noticing all that NOM is doing to fight for marriage. In National Review Online, Mark Hemingway reported on the situation in New Hampshire. The piece is called, "Pyrrhic Victories for Gay Marriage? The issue could help the GOP."
"Since their stinging defeat over Proposition 8 in California, supporters of same-sex marriage have seen a string of victories," writes Hemingway. "...But a closer look at the politics of New Hampshire--which legalized same-sex marriage two weeks ago--shows that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the issue might be a boon to Republicans."
"If anything I hope [same-sex] marriage is an issue in next year's election, as it plays to our advantage," our good friend Kevin Smith of Cornerstone Policy Research, a conservative think tank in New Hampshire, told National Review Online. "We did a lot of polling on this issue statewide and the results were always very consistent. Anywhere from 55 to 65 percent did not support gay marriage."
I told NRO: "It makes absolutely no sense when someone like [McCain presidential-campaign manager] Steve Schmidt is saying the party needs to abandon its support for traditional marriage. Our biggest victories are coming in places where people stand up on this issue."
Thanks to your help, of course!
Some more big news this week: NOM formed our first political action committee in New York. "Politicos" noticed--as the story in the widely-read webzine Politico.com made clear. Here's the idea: The first $500,000 we raise will go to the primary opponent for any GOP state senator in New York who votes for gay marriage. We will also be looking for maverick Democrats willing to buck the establishment to support marriage. Here's the bottom line: If politicians won't vote our values, we need to find new men and women to stand in that gap.
Despair is a fearsome spiritual weapon. And so is hope.
Genuine hope is rooted in faith and in truth, in love and in reason. Same-sex unions are not marriages. Political regimes based on lies about human nature cannot last. Same-sex marriage takes a sacred institution, with deep roots in human nature, and tries to turn it into the plaything of politicians, a creature of the state, a bundle of rights to be tossed about between adults.
Something so feebly rooted, so fragilely constructed and imposed cannot last. Here at NOM we are so proud to have the chance to work with you, to be the voice for your values. We will continue this good fight, for truth, for common sense, for the dignity of the human person, and for a responsive government that cares about what ordinary people think and believe. (Can you help us be your voice? Even a small monthly donation--even as little as $10 a month!--can make a big difference.)
I'll be piling into my car with the family in the next few days, driving across the country from San Diego to our new home in Washington D.C., where NOM is opening up our new national office. We'll have some adventures along the way--to see a few awesome sights like the Grand Canyon, to stay (this is my kids' personal favorite) in a few motels with swimming pools and video games.
"Brian and Sue go looking for America, six kids in tow." Coming to a multiplex near you!
Thanks, friend, for staying strong and honoring us with your support.
God bless you!
Brian S. BrownExecutive Director
National Organization for Marriage
20 Nassau Street, Suite 242
Princeton, NJ 08542
[email protected]
PS: There's a lot of good news this week--and a lot of difficult work ahead of us. Please consider whether you can make a financial sacrifice, to make a difference for marriage!
NOM in the News: Selected Clippings
"NY Gay Marriage Bill Faces New Challenges"
CBS News Political Hotsheet
June 17, 2009
And now, one group is also trying harder to keep that from happening. The National Organization for Marriage announced Tuesday that they have set up a Political Action Committee for New York to fight the measure.
With the announcement, Executive Director Brian Brown also said that the first $500,000 raised will be used to back a primary challenger to GOP Senators who vote for gay marriage.
"NOM threatens GOP primary challenges in New York"
Politico
Ben Smith
June 17, 2009
"Gay marriage is not high on the list of any voters' priorities, but again and again we've seen politicians respond to political money thrown around by Tim Gill and his friends and ignore the wishes of their own constituents," said Brian Brown, executive director of the anti-same-sex-marriage organization, who said the group is forming a subsidiary, NOM PAC New York, for the purpose.
"The first half million dollars will be used in GOP primaries," noted Brown, "but we are also looking to aid Democratic candidates who want to buck the establishment on the marriage issue, and to help in general election contests."
"In R.I., Some Wary as Tide of Gay Marriage Rises at Border"
Boston Globe
June 15, 2009
"When I look at a real map of the United States, we're actually not alone here," said Plante, executive director of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex unions. "This is not the United States of New England."
Poll: 43% oppose gay marriage
Providence Journal
June 16, 2009
A new poll -- funded by a group opposing gay marriage -- suggests that 43 percent of Rhode Islanders are against same-sex nuptials, while 36 percent support it.
An even larger segment -- 74 percent -- said they would favor putting the question on the ballot for a vote, rather than allowing the General Assembly to decide. Only 2 percent of respondents identified gay marriage as one of "the most important issues" facing Rhode Island. Four hundred voters were surveyed.
"Pageant Preachers"
ChristianityToday.com
June 17, 2009
For Carrie Prejean, one opportunity to preach took the form of her response to Perez Hilton's question about gay marriage. Her opposition to gay marriage launched her into the public spotlight, garnering the respect of many conservative Christians. James Dobson conducted an interview with Prejean that aired on May 11 and 12. Her pastor, Miles McPherson, interviewed her during services at The Rock Church in San Diego, California. She appeared as a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage in a television ad against gay marriage. Indeed, I'm intrigued by how quickly (and how many) Christians gravitated to her and used her for her "right" belief with little or no regard for the other "preaching" she did while on stage in Las Vegas and in her previous modeling career.
"Pyrrhic Victories for Gay Marriage?"
Mark Hemingway
National Review Online
June 18, 2009
Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage points out that the legalization of same-sex marriage has upset voters in New Hampshire because there's a sense that it was the result of an out-of-state campaign. "If you look at the amount of money that was put into New Hampshire to flip that legislature, especially by Tim Gill and other gay multimillionaires, you're talking millions of dollars," Brown said, referring to the software entrepreneur who's funded same-sex-marriage efforts around the country.
"The Saga Continues as New Miss California Says No to Same-sex Marriage"
Lifesite
June 15, 2009
"Hollywood will dance its tribal war dance over her body -- the hatred generated against her has been extraordinary -- but Carrie will be free to define her own mission and message from now on," said Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, in a press release. NOM has thrown its support behind Prejean in a new website called StandWithCarrie.com to gather petitions in support of Prejean and true marriage.
