Dear Friends of Marriage,

California heats up!

Just a week until the big June 8 primary, and here’s good news.

A new poll shows pro-gay-marriage Republican Steve Cooley slipping far behind in the race for California Attorney General. The Survey USA Advantage poll showed Tom Harman pulling 29 percent, Steve Cooley 22 percent and John Eastman 19 percent, with a whopping 28 percent of Republicans STILL undecided just a week out.

The Traditional Values Coalition just released a strong statement slamming liberal Steve Cooley as a pro-abortion, pro-gay-marriage RINO.

“Conservative Voters Beware! Attorney General Candidate Steve Cooley is NO Friend of Pro-Family Conservatives,” said the letter addressed to “pro-family and pro-life friends.” The letter called Steve Cooley “a dangerous pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage candidate seeking the Republican nomination for Attorney General.” TVC notes that Cooley’s extremely liberal social views haven’t received much attention in the press, and that “The position of Attorney General in California is of extreme importance. The Attorney General is the one who will either defend Proposition 8 in court or work against it in court.”

They are certainly right about that!

Don’t read too much into John Eastman’s third-place showing. Why? The Survey USA poll offered voters ONLY the names of the candidates and NOT the titles that will appear on the ballot. The ballot title (which in John Eastman’s case is “Constitutional law attorney”) is the information voters will have in front of them in the privacy of the voting booth, and in “down-ballot” races, where candidates lack mega-budgets or a great deal of statewide name recognition, ballot titles make a huge difference in the final vote.

When the Probolsky poll came out in late April showing Eastman with a lead, the polling firm noted, “While none of the candidates for Attorney General are well known, Eastman’s relatively strong numbers are likely reflective of his ballot title.” “Eastman may have developed some recognition among voters from his numerous talk radio appearances, but almost certainly his ballot designation (‘Constitutional Law Attorney’) is an additional key to his strength in the current political climate, especially among Republican primary voters,” explained Adam D. Probolsky, pollster and Probolsky Research CEO. “It’s anybody’s race at this point, but Eastman starts from a good position.”

Meanwhile Tom Campbell’s campaign continues its free-fall. The Los Angeles Times reported June 1, “Campbell goes dark a week before the primary.”

That’s “dark” as in pulling ALL his TV ads, even though he’s trailing Carly Fiorina 38 to 23 percent in the latest LA Times/USC poll (with Chuck DeVore at 16 percent).

A week to go before pro-marriage Americans will probably have a lot to celebrate!

As the unpopularity of gay marriage trickles down into politicians' consciousnesses we are going to face a new problem: obfuscation. NOM’s Marriage Election Watch 2010 this week focused on Steve Bray’s victory in the Democratic primary in Alabama. Why? Well, just because his answer to the question (it’s a simple question), “Are you for or against gay marriage?”, was a masterpiece of obfuscation, which is a polite word for “pulling a fast one” on ordinary folks.

In answer to the question of whether he was for gay marriage, Bray brayed, and I quote, “Marriage as a religious institution should be left up to states and churches. But civil unions that the state recognizes regarding inheritance, visitation, and individual rights, those are legal issues.”

Okay, Steve, does this mean you support civil unions but not gay marriage? Or does it mean you think the law should recognize gay civil unions as marriages? Or did you mean to say that government should get out of the marriage business altogether and just do civil unions for all? Stop futzing around, Steve, Alabama voters want to know!

I promise you that NOM’s Marriage Truth Squads will be spreading out across the country breaking through the fuzzy logic and spin machines, thanks, as always, to your support!

Also in California this week, we gave out the first NOM Marriage Protector award to the leader of the worldwide Church of God in Christ, presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr., and to Mother Willie Mae Rivers, the senior women’s leader of COGIC.

COGIC is one of the largest black Christian denominations in the U.S.--and has 5 million members in 60 countries. More than 20,000 women from around the country and the world were in Los Angeles this week for the Women’s International Convention of COGIC, where NOM Chairman Maggie Gallagher presented the award:

"I am here to present an award, but the honor is really ours--to acknowledge with gratitude the contributions of COGIC in standing for the truth that to make a marriage you need a husband and wife. At a time when so many powerful voices argue that this idea is rooted only in hatred and bigotry, we are blessed by your witness to the truth, which is really God's truth, about marriage," Maggie Gallagher told the assembled 20,000 African-American women and COGIC bishops, and other church leaders.

Wow. This marriage fight is awesome isn’t it?

Our opponents like to call it “divisive” but the real truth is that marriage unites. Amazing things happen when we have the courage to stand on the truth about the good, no?

It’s getting close to Father’s Day, so let me close with a note for those of us who have children.

I’m the father of six children, with a seventh on the way. So I was incredibly touched when I read in the Wall Street Journal about a new study of adults who lost a parent when they were children:

For adults who were children when their parents died, the question is hypothetical but heartbreaking: "Would you give up a year of your life to have one more day with your late mother or father?"

One in nine Americans lost a parent before they were 20 years old, and for many of them, this sort of question has been in their heads ever since.

"I'd give up a year of my life for just half a day with my parents," says Jonathan Herman, a 33-year-old health-care executive in New York. He lost both his parents to cancer before he was 13. "I've had friends complain that they have to drive to see their parents for Thanksgiving," he says. "I tell them: I'd do anything to spend Thanksgiving with my parents."

When polled, 57% of adults who lost parents during childhood shared Mr. Herman's yearnings, saying they, too, would trade a year of their lives. Their responses, part of a wide-ranging new survey, indicate that bereavement rooted in childhood often leaves emotional scars for decades, and that our society doesn't fully understand the ramifications.

Don’t ever forget how much you mean to your kids. They are the reason we fight together for what is right!

God bless you, and until next week, semper fi!

Faithfully,

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage
20 Nassau Street, Suite 242
Princeton, NJ 08542
bbrown@nationformarriage.org

P.S. For just $21 you can help NOM’s Marriage Truth Squad break through the mainstream media’s wall of silence about pro-gay-marriage RINOs. $21 will allow us to send a letter to 20 Americans like you who care about marriage but won't see through the spin unless you act today!

NOM in the News
"24 Statehouse Races Contested"
Des Moines Register
May 30, 2010
For example, gay rights activists Tim Gill of Colorado and Jon Stryker of Michigan have donated $162,500 to Iowa Democrats since 2006, according to state records. Groups that oppose same-sex marriage such as the Iowa Family Policy Center Political Action Committee and the National Organization for Marriage have together donated $207,421, mostly to Republican candidates.

"Sen. Marty Hits Back Against NOM Anti-Gay Marriage Ad"
Minnesota Independent
June 1, 2010
Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, criticized ads hitting metro area media outlets by the National Organization for Marriage, a group that opposes homosexuality. The ads use video clips of Marty speaking in committee hearings about his efforts to legalize same-sex marriage. Calling the ads “outrageous,” Marty told The UpTake that those behind NOM “are the ones that want to impose their will on others.”

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.