Dear Friends of Marriage,

Victory for Prop 8!

Victory for the 7 million Californians who worked, donated, spoke, organized and went to the polls to defend our views and our values from activist judges who can't tell the different between marriage and bigotry.

Most of all this is a great big victory for you--because you are the people who put NOM in the position of being able to fight for marriage in California.

If you are one of our newer friends, you may not know: In January of 2008, at the request of Bishop Cordileone of San Diego (the new Bishop of Oakland), my wife and I and our six kids moved from Princeton to Southern California to help lead sponsors Protect Marriage get Prop 8 on the ballot. Thanks to your help, we ended up the single largest donor to the initiative. But even more importantly, we helped raise the key early money to get the signature-gathering teams in the field. The coalition had to raise $2 million to get this to the voters in California--and we had to do it before the California Supreme Court ruled.

I helped found NOM because I recognized the important of a lean, mean, effective and strategic national activist organization which can spot opportunities and ACT FAST to make things happen. (Can you help us get results, by giving $10, $50, or, if God has given you the means, $500 today?)

Thank you for making my dream a reality. I'm so grateful to God--and to you--every day I wake up with the resources we need to fight for truth, to fight for Love, to fight for a sacred union that was created by Somebody who knew what He was doing! 

Of course you've heard the news. Two big-name lawyers have joined forces in a last desperate effort to overturn Prop 8: a U.S. Supreme Court challenge. Here's the really important thing to recognize: Gay marriage activists are now not just threatening Prop 8--they are asking the court to impose a national right to gay marriage on all 50 states, whether we like it or not. They are asking nine powerful judges to declare that your views on marriage are like racial discrimination--and that you and I and our faith communities should be treated by law the way we treat bigots who oppose interracial marriage.

We are not going to let that happen!  As the famous saying goes, "The Supreme Court reads election returns." Help us demonstrate to those robed justices what you and I know: The American people, sympathetic as we are to the legitimate rights of gay people, do not want gay marriage.  It's a civil wrong, not a civil right, as NOM president Maggie Gallagher said on Lou Dobbs's show last night. (See the clip below.)

These days, with new developments coming thick and fast, I really need your help to fight for your values. If you can possibly spare $20, or $50--or maybe a monthly donation, just $5 a month?--your money can make a big difference. Can you help us protect marriage in this great country? 

We'll keep you informed!

Here's another big piece of news you aren't hearing about from the mainstream media: Polls show that opposition to gay marriage is, if anything, growing.

A new Gallup poll finds that by a 57 percent to 40 percent margin, a strong majority of Americans oppose gay marriage. As one reporter in the New Mexico Independent put it, "The same question has been asked six times since 2003 and the results have always been about the same."

Gallup also asked this important question: Would legalizing gay marriage change society for the better? Or for worse? Here the margin is truly huge: Just 13 percent of Americans believe gay marriage will be good for society.  48 percent say it would change society for the worse.

Remember those headlines from a few weeks back about how opposition to gay marriage was crumbling?  Somebody forgot to tell the American people that.

We here at NOM knew those headlines were false, manufacturing despair in the hopes of making you and I give up the fight. But thanks to you, we here at NOM are in a position to see the truth for ourselves. We're generating thousands of phone calls from outraged voters deep in blue state territory: Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, and now in New York where (see the stories below!) our new ad campaign and phone outreach is causing consternation in the ranks of gay marriage advocates. (Kudos to Sen. Ruben Diaz and to other local leaders working hard in New York.)

We're looking forward to taking what we've learned about how to protect marriage and using it to help pass marriage amendments, and elect pro-marriage legislators in other states which are even more receptive. Stay tuned!

But we already know something important that the mainstream media wants us to overlook: When it comes to marriage there are no blue states and red states--just an American consensus that we do not want our own government messing around with the meaning of marriage for our children and grandchildren.

Can you help us preserve the meaning of marriage? Can you possibly spare $20 a month--just five dollars a week!--to help in this important work?

A final note. The Washington Post this morning reports on the gay marriage movement's new strategy: Encourage bigotry and hatred against Mormons. Our old friend Fred Karger is trying to place crudely bigoted ads warning that "The Mormons are coming!" (see the article below). 

Apparently when you feel you are the self-appointed civil rights movement of the century you don't have to care about common decency. Or about preserving the precious American consensus against fanning the flames of religious hatred. I often wonder about folks like Fred who proclaim their victory is inevitable--and then stoop to tactics like this, which are just plain wrong, no matter what your cause.

I can tell you this: In spite of obvious theological differences, the LDS community has won a great deal of admiration from many of us for their church members' courage, competence, and ongoing decency in the face of hateful attacks like this.

Here's what I believe and I know you believe it too: No Americans, and especially no religious minority, should ever feel afraid because they peacefully and lawfully participate in the democratic process--especially in defense of a core common-sense ideal like, "To make a marriage you need a husband and a wife."

But these are the times we live in, my friend, and this is the challenge God has given to us--to you and to me. With your help, your prayers, your emails, and your financial sacrifices, we can meet that challenge.

Thank you so much for giving me the privilege of your friendship and fellowship, and the chance to fight for our shared values together.

God bless you!

Brian S. Brown
Executive Director
National Organization for Marriage
20 Nassau Street, Suite 242
Princeton, NJ 08542
[email protected]

P.S.:  There's a lot of encouraging news this week--thanks to you! Can you help us continue the fight? Your donations make a difference. Please consider giving what you can spare in these troubled economic times--whether that's $5, $1000, or anything in between.

NOM Interview of the Week: Maggie Gallagher on Lou Dobbs' CNN Face-Off:  

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2009/05/28/ldt.face.off.gay.marriage.cnn

NOM in the News: Selected Clips

"Backers of Gay Marriage Trumpet the Mormon Church's Work Against It"
Washington Post
May 29, 2009
"The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are coming!" warned ads placed on newspaper Web sites in three Eastern states last month. The ad was rejected by sites in three other states, including Maine, where the Kennebec Journal informed Californians Against Hate that the copy "borders on insulting and denigrating a whole set of people based on their religion."

"Group Begins Ad Blitz Against Same-Sex Marriage"
New York Times
May 28, 2009
"We need to combat the relative vacuum on our side," Maggie Gallagher, the founder of the National Organization for Marriage, said in an interview on Wednesday. "This message is that gay marriage will have consequences. And if you oppose gay marriage, pick up the phone, write a letter, drop an e-mail, send us some money."

Ms. Gallagher added: "Their most powerful argument is, 'This won't matter to you, so you can drop your opposition.'"

"Calif. Ruling Shows Hurdles Remain for Gay Marriage"
Washington Post
May 26, 2009
"What happens after this is it shifts to the federal level," said Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes gay marriage. The state-by-state battles, she said, "are steps in a national picture." In pushing for a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, she said, proponents are "trying to clear the ground for having a Supreme Court decision on a constitutional right to gay marriage."

"Poll: Majority of RI Voters Favor Gay Marriage Law"
Associated Press
May 28, 2009
Christopher Plante, executive director for the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, pointed out that polls showed California voters supported same-sex marriage, which they banned in the November election.

"The same-sex marriage movement is about a small minority of people trying to radically alter the historic definition of marriage to suit their lifestyle," Plante said in a statement.

"Conservative Activists Turn to Web for Traction; Denounce Gay 'Marraige'"
Christian Science Monitor
May 28, 2009
NOM's campaign spills across multiple platforms: Twitter, YouTube, blogs, message boards, Facebook, MySpace. On each platform, users from all over the nation are invited to share their thoughts on the same-sex marriage debate, and given addresses of their local lawmakers. The idea is to create a groundswell of online support, and mobilize conservatives from Boston to Los Angeles. And obviously, someone has done his or her homework. The NOM site is sleekly produced, and the Twitter and YouTube channel follow all the rules of Web 2.0: update frequently; link out; create a community.

"Group Targets New York Same-Sex Marriage Bill in New Ads"
CNN Political Ticker
May 28, 2009
The National Organization for Marriage is out with new television and radio ads in New York as the state's senate is considering legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage.

"Prop 8 Upheld, But Existing Same-Sex Unions to Stand"
San Jose Mercury News
May 26, 2009
"We're grateful this court did not overturn the civil rights of all Californians to amend our own constitution," said Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, which through its California affiliate was the top fundraiser for Prop. 8. "The 7 million Californians who worked hard to protect marriage as the union of husband and wife are breathing easier today."

"Miss California Carrie Prejean Keeps Quiet on State's Prop 8 Ruling"
New York Daily News
May 27, 2009
Prejean, who is the reigning Miss California, shot to fame after condemning gay marriage during the 2009 Miss USA contest.

She went on to appear in an anti-gay marriage PSA for the National Organization for Marriage.

"Prop 8 Wins"
RealClearPolitics
May 27, 2009
By Maggie Gallagher
I should be thrilled with Proposition 8's victory in the California Supreme Court. Instead, I wonder: Why in the world did I have to worry? Seven million Californians went to the polls and voted to define marriage as "one man and one woman." How in the world have we reached a point where respectable people argue the courts have the power to strip those voters of their absolutely fundamental civil rights?

"Senate Same-Sex Divorce Debate Focuses on Legality"
Providence Journal
May 22, 2009
Christopher Plante, president of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization of Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage, said it is misleading to say there is no legal remedy, noting that couples can move to another state to seek a divorce. "I understand that it is a burden and it may be onerous but there is a remedy," he said.

"California Upholds Gay Marriage Ban"
Politico.com
May 26, 2009
In a statement following today's decision, Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, called it a "victory for children, for civil rights and for the common good."

"Court Rules in Favor of Proposition 8"
Merced Sun-Star
May 27, 2009
Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, one of the main backers of Prop. 8, said the state shouldn't recognize same-sex couples who are married. "The court is opening up a really large legal can of worms, so it is problematic," Brown said. "But I am really disappointed that the court created this problem in the first place."

"Supreme Court Rejects Gay Marriage in California"
May 29, 2009
San Francisco Sentinel
"We're grateful this court did not overturn the civil rights of all Californians to amend our own constitution," Brian Brown, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "The 7 million Californians who worked hard to protect marriage as the union of husband and wife are breathing easier today."

"Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage Release TV Ad"
LoHud.com
May 28, 2009
"Marriage really matters because children need a mom and dad," Gallagher said in a statement.  "New Yorkers do not want government redefining marriage for our children or grandchildren; we do not want public schools teaching first graders that gay marriage is okay, that's a decision that should be left to parents and our values." 

"Marriage Threatened Again at State House"
The Rhode Island Catholic
May 21, 2009
Joseph Cavanagh, a Providence lawyer and father of nine children, defended the traditional definition of marriage before the Committee. "My plea to you, representatives of the people of Rhode Island, is to learn what your people think about marriage. Rhode Island has a history of independence. Others in neighboring states are making wrong and culturally dangerous decisions on same-sex marriage. We [Rhode Islanders] should not be afraid to stand up and act according to common sense for the common good," said Cavanagh.

Cavanagh is a member of the National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island (NOM) advisory board.  

"New Hampshire Gov and House in 'Gay Marriage' Standoff"
Christian Telegraph
May 23, 2009
Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, said he hopes the legislature will not approve "gay marriage" even with the governor's proposed language.

"The fact is that legalized gay marriage is a bad idea that has profound implications for society that go way beyond religious liberty concerns," Brown said. "Gov. Lynch's language does nothing to protect New Hampshire children from being taught in school that gay marriage is just the same as marriage. That is exactly what happened over the state line in Massachusetts. His language does nothing to stop schools from taking young children to celebrate a lesbian wedding, as happened in California.

"His language does nothing to protect photographers and other professionals from being fined because they refuse to participate in something they morally oppose, as happened in New Mexico," Brown added. "Nor does it protect medical professionals who object to procedures like artificial insemination of a lesbian couple."

"Lawmakers Reacting to California Decision on Proposition 8"
LoHud.com
May 26, 2009
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms issued a statement congratulating ProtectMarriage.com, the National Organization for Marriage and other groups that worked on getting Proposition 8 passed last year. The Rev. Duane Motley, executive director of the New York group, said he is disappointed that the California court's decision to recognize same-sex marriage licenses granted before Proposition 8 was passed.

"Supreme Court Upholds Prop 8"
Christian Web News
May 26, 2009
"Marriage is worth protecting because it is the way we teach the next generation: children need mothers and fathers," said Maggie Gallagher, president of NOM. "This victory for Prop 8 is a victory for children, for civil rights, and for the common good."