Dear Marriage Supporter,

Before I get into this week's news, I want to share with your our brand new website for the upcoming March for Marriage, scheduled for March 26 in Washington, DC. Please check out the new site today, and share this link with your pro-marriage friends and families. On the site, you'll find information about how the attend the March, and also get to see some of the great speakers we've already got lined up for the rally!

Money Sometimes Doesn't Just Talk — It Lies

With the cash of GOP mega-millionaires like Ken Mehlman and Paul Singer, a carefully crafted campaign to get Republicans to abandon marriage has been nurtured and launched.

Last week HRC tried to enlist Laura Bush in its campaign to prove Republicans support for overturning the views and the votes of millions of California voters.

This week the New York Times is singing about a small group of "prominent" Republicans like Jon Huntsman who signed a brief asking the Supreme Court to override the voters of California and impose gay marriage on all 50 states.

These pro-gay marriage Republicans mostly share one important characteristic: they are no longer in office, nor seeking office. (All of former Gov. Jon Huntsman's millions could not get him better than a third place finish in New Hampshire, remember.)

After helping to falsely manufacture Laura Bush's support for court-ordered gay marriage, the New York Times has now had to apologize for an even more embarrassing blooper: falsely reporting that Federal Marriage Amendment sponsor Marilyn Musgrave, the former Colorado Congresswoman, signed the brief urging the Court to overturn Prop 8. FOX31 in Denver reported the error:

[New York Times reporter] Stolberg told FOX31 that Musgrave's name was actually on the brief she was shown for the story.

"I got my information from those collecting the signatures," she told FOX31 Denver.

Stolberg told FOX31 that she called Musgrave to personally apologize for the error.

Well, we're calling out HRC and the New York Times and others for trying to push this figment of a groundswell of GOP support for gay marriage. As I pointed out in a NOM press release earlier this week, "If Republicans actually supported gay marriage — an absurd claim — the Human Rights Campaign would not have to spend millions of dollars claiming they do and the New York Times would not have to falsely claim the support of stalwart pro-marriage Republican figures such as Marilyn Musgrave."

After conducting an independent analysis of gay marriage votes in 8 states, the Associated Press concluded the obvious: "Gay Marriage Support Has Risks for GOP Lawmakers."

The piece points out, "Of the 47 Republican legislators nationwide who voted yes starting in 2009, only 21 are in office today."

The story continues:

In New York, only one of four Republican senators who supported gay marriage is still in the Legislature. One lost a primary, one retired and one lost the general election after narrowly winning a bitter primary. A New Hampshire Republican representative lost a primary after her 2009 vote for gay marriage, and in Maryland the former Senate Republican leader relinquished his leadership post when he started working with Democrats on a gay marriage bill that passed last year.

We are facing tough, close votes in blue states across America. Republicans are being groomed and encouraged by the media to ignore the wishes of their own constituents; to join the crowd denouncing our traditional understanding of marriage as hatred, the moral equivalence of racism.

So, we have announced once again our intention to stand by those who stand by their own voters, and to hold to the fire the feet of those who run away from their own constituents' voices and values — regardless of party. As I said on Monday. "Marriage is not a partisan issue, and NOM does not hesitate to oppose weak Republicans and support strong Democrats."

Media of course is treating our pledge like a crime or a threat. It's not a threat: it's a promise.

We are telling elected officials: we will stand by your voters and our shared values for marriage — against the media, against Hollywood, against the mega-billionaires. If you didn't come out for gay marriage before the last election, you have no business betraying voters' trust now and expecting no-one to notice.

Dispelling the Myths of the Pundits

Still the GOP's recent electoral losses are being blamed on the lack of support for gay marriage.

Take for example the interview given to the Associated Press by Cheryl Pflug, a Washington state Republican who voted for gay marriage and is no longer in office:

Pflug argued that the party's rigid stance on the issue is costing it votes from young people, suburban women and other demographics.

"I think a lot of conservative elected Republicans are going to go down with the ship on this one," Pflug said. "I think the Republican Party is at a crossroads."

Well, I can't blame Ms. Pflug for parroting the punditry. Yet, consider how wrong that consultant's alleged wisdom is: It's pretty intellectually absurd, given that the most popular governor in America right now is New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie, who actually vetoed a gay marriage bill. 74 percent of blue-state New Jerseyans approve of him!

Whatever explains the GOP's problems and its failure to connect with voters in the last election cycle, blaming their lack of support for gay marriage is not just wrong — it's stupid.

The conventional wisdom — "run away from all social issues" — lost badly in the last election cycle; but that doesn't seem to stop political elites from prescribing more of the same medicine that didn't work.

If you doubt me, just look across the pond: the Tories' embrace of gay marriage is earning the party no credit from liberal voters, but is tearing the base of the party apart. According to the Christian Institute's Mike Judge:

Party activists are leaving in their droves. Membership has plummeted by more than half since [Cameron] became leader, and over 70 percent of remaining members believe the issue of gay marriage is tearing the party apart…. Ultimately, [Tory PM David Cameron] is hoping that his disco-dad moves are a vote-winner. It's not working, according to polling which shows gay marriage could cost him 1.1 million votes and up to 30 parliamentary seats [emphases added].

Voters can respect political leaders who stand by their principles, even if they disagree. Chucking core principles for political expedience only persuades voters that you have no integrity.

Our Fight Continues

I promise you one thing: we at NOM will never stop fighting for your rights, to be the national voice for your values to the high and mighty — in the media and in the halls of power.

Decent, loving, law-abiding men and women of integrity are everywhere coming together to speak God's truth about marriage — even where it requires courage.

Let me leave with this feel-good story you might have missed. A young husband and wife team who run a bakery "Sweet Cakes" in Oregon:

Now notice: this young couple isn't refusing to serve gay customers. They aren't trying to deny delicious cupcakes to gay people. They simply cannot, in good conscience, facilitate a homosexual wedding, which they see as a wrong, a violation of God's will for marriage.

The lesbian couple has filed a discrimination complaint and gay rights groups are protesting on the sidewalk in front of "Sweet Cakes" in Gresham.

But a funny thing happened on the way to this mean-spirited attempt by gay rights activists to take away this young couple's entire livelihood, to damage the small business they built together: the community came together to buy cupcakes to support freedom of speech, and freedom of conscience! It's a Chick-fil-A moment all over again.

Amazing things can happen when we come together in love and trust to God's providence.

We've seen that again and again in this fight for marriage, haven't we?

Bless you for all your help — your prayer, your words of encouragement, your sacrifices of time and treasure.

We are not going to win every battle. But we are going to make it clear that we will not surrender and lay down God's own vision of marriage.