My Dear Friends,

I have so much to share with you this week, so much good news you will not hear anywhere else.

Let me start by acknowledging with gratitude the immense contribution to NOM, to marriage, and to our country of Maggie Gallagher.

Today we are announcing that Maggie is stepping aside as Chairman of the Board, and that a truly distinguished constitutional law scholar, John Eastman, is stepping into her shoes.

I've long admired John for his brilliant intellect, his fearless courage, and his profound desire to make a difference.

John is a former Dean of Chapman Law School, and our friends in California will recognize his name from his bid for the California Attorney General nomination.

Brilliant and in the arena, a fighting law scholar!—it doesn't get better than that.

Maggie asked us to find a new Chairman of the Board so that she could finish some long-deferred projects—including an Oxford University Press book, "Debating Same-Sex Marriage," which she is co-authoring with pro-gay-marriage advocate and philosophy professor John Corvino.

But don't worry—she is not going anywhere. Maggie remains on the board of NOM, a cherished part of the NOM family, and I promise you she is continuing to fight for marriage—with NOM!

Witness the latest exciting project I have to announce this week, which Maggie is shepherding:

NOM's Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance!

You and I know that advocates of gay marriage are seeking to create an America in which good, decent, loving, law-abiding people are afraid to speak up for marriage as the union of husband and wife.

It's intellectually and morally absurd, but our opponents have sought to silence debate, and to strip Americans of our core civil rights to speak, to donate, to organize and to vote to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

We are so blessed as Americans to have a voice like Frank Turek.

Frank is a Christian apologist who has written a book opposing gay marriage. In his day job, as a former naval officer, he teaches leadership skills to Fortune 500 companies.

If you do one thing this week, watch this video:

It will tell you more succinctly than I can where we are now in America.

A student of Frank's says, in essence, that he LOVES Frank's corporate leadership class, which includes teaching respect for diversity within a corporate culture. But because this student has Googled Frank and discovered that Frank opposes same-sex marriage, he seeks to get Frank Turek fired—and succeeds!

This is even bigger than gay marriage. This is simply un-American. You have to have a corporately-correct political view to hold a job in America?

What does that tell us about the kind of America gay-marriage advocates are seeking to build?

You have to see Frank speak for himself about what happened to him.

Take a moment and see what courage in defense of truth looks like:

But NOM's Marriage Anti-Defamation League is fighting back! We've reached out, in the first instance, to citizens of North Carolina in the Charlotte area, where Bank of America is headquartered, and let me tell you, in the hundreds and the thousands they have responded:

Are you outraged that Frank Turek was fired? Yes!

Will you call the company to complain? More than than 1,400 North Carolinians, out of the 9,000 we called, agreed to phone in their dismay. 37 percent of them are customers of Bank of America.

(I have to pause to give a shout out to the American Family Association, which has also taken up Frank Turek's cause, God bless them!)

If you are a Bank of America customer who wants to join the Americans expressing concern about Frank Turek's firing, you can call too: 704-386-5681. Press 2. And say you are outraged that Bank of America would disrespect all its customers by firing a man for writing a book opposing gay marriage. Be polite, give respect, but make your voice heard!

NOM's Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance is not a one-shot. It's the beginning of something truly big. We need to come together in love to support each other in the threats to our jobs, our families, and our rights that are now clearly laid down by gay-marriage advocates.

Remember, alone we can be isolated, but together we are too many to stigmatize!

Please go to marriageada.org. Pass the website address to a friend. This is the beginning of something Big!

Each week or so you will see another video, another face of a human being whose rights and dignity are denied by too many gay-marriage advocates. (Yes, we know there are exceptions—we hope that people on both sides of this debate step up to the plate to deplore these injustices!)

This is just the beginning of a huge new step, a blow for liberty, for justice, for community and for civility to ALL sides in the gay marriage debate.

Marriage ADA is our unique, fruitful response to this attempt to create a climate of fear.


Marriage ADA's goal is to create a community of Americans who, regardless of their faith tradition, adhere to the core Gospel value: "Be not afraid!"

On that front, NOM's leadership in NY-9 continues to bear great fruit.

Initially, pundits tried to deny that David Weprin's vote for gay marriage was a key part of his loss, but with perseverance—and good data—we've pushed through the media's wall of silence.

God bless the good conservative voices who have arisen to speak truth to power.

Here, for example, is Rush Limbaugh on the "Lessons of NY-9":

"Gay marriage was an issue here, gay marriage, and the anti-gay marriage position is what emerged as victorious here!"

Peggy Noonan, the liltingly beautiful prose stylist, said, "Orthodox Jews and Israel, gay marriage, the economy—all these things played a part...."

John Fund (formerly of the Wall Street Journal, now at the American Spectator), acknowledges the role of gay marriage on the John Batchelor show on WABC.

And the magnificent Laura Ingraham said, "This is a pushback on the Andrew Cuomo cramdown of marriage. No doubt about it. ...An interesting piece in Politico, 'Is NY 9 in part about the marriage question?' David Weprin, who is the Democrat who hoped to win this seat, his support for same-sex marriage has been a MAJOR issue in the district.

"He's hurting because of his vote earlier this year to legalize same-sex marriage...The National Organization for Marriage invested $75,000 in mailers in NY- 9 last week, that is the story that most in the media will not cover; I give kudos to Politico for actually writing this piece."

(The best single run down of the evidence that gay marriage sunk David Weprin was provided by our beloved Maggie Gallagher in her nationally syndicate column. Check it out here.)

The need for our new Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance was made clear this week in a new study from the National Religious Broadcasters warning that for the first time in American history, the new media platforms are being used to censor Christian speech and thought, primarily on the gay issue.

Almost every major technology platform studied has used their market power to suppress speech the corporate owners deem "anti-gay."

This is the result of a deliberate campaign by gay-marriage advocates to express "offense" over statements they do not like (like the eloquent Manhattan Declaration, signed by major religious leaders).

The Christian Broadcasting Network's news report is here:

God has given us challenging times But in the end truth and love together will prevail.

Let me end by detailing for you a wonderful victory in California by good people who refused to be cowed or intimidated, in the matter of whether or not the California GOP would continue to stand for marriage and life.

When the platform was threatened to be rewritten to exclude marriage, close to a thousand "GOP activists, donors and leaders descended on the L.A. Live! Marriott-Ritz hotel, across from the Staples Center (we were the pre-show for the Emmy Awards, I guess)," according to Jon Fleischman's flash report.

"Moderate Bay Area Republican donor Charles Munger, Jr. (the son of Warren Buffet's billionaire business partner) has decided, so the story goes, to put a pile of money behind a play to moderate the party's platform into something more to his liking. While his plan was cloaked as an effort to 'update; the platform, it takes about a nanosecond to compare the new version he was advancing, and the existing platform (see the comparison here) and see it for what it is—a play to fundamentally alter the California GOP's positions on a myriad of issues. ...Because conservatives were asleep at the proverbial switch, a small group of moderates won the majority of seats on this small committee. Then, with around 30 people present (barely achieving a quorum), the Drafting Committee adopted a platform draft that guts the current platform. Though not on the platform or drafting committees, Munger was at the drafting meeting, as was his paid staff."

The effort was foiled only by a strong turnout from good people who are unwilling to excise marriage and life from the list of core political principles for which they fight.

Tom Fuentes, a former Chairman of the California Republican Party, is battling cancer. His flesh was weak but his spirit was willing when he arose in a dramatic speech to urge his friends and fellow citizens to stand tall for marriage and for all the core principles on which our nation was founded:

Tom said:

"Be not afraid... When next you see the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger don't be afraid to reject him. ...Most especially... when money and special interests are set to gut our party's traditional conservative platform, don't be afraid to stand firm and tell them: that we are not just a party of big business and special interests, we are a party of people with values and principles that must be defended. ...Be not afraid. Remind Mr. Munger he has only one vote in the ballot box just like you and me. Sustain our platform as a conservative Republican platform. Thank you and God bless you all."

I can't end any better than that:

Be not afraid, and God bless you all!

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

PS: Can you stand up for your values and principles today? Can you help fight for marriage by considering what you can give—whether it's $20 or $200? When you donate to NOM you make sure that your voice is heard.