Dear Marriage Supporter,
The epic events of the last week for marriage unfolded at breakneck speed: a huge victory for marriage, an attack on you and your rights that was truly "scurrilous" — But first the courage of one man who stood up for truth and justice in the halls of Congress.
Standing Up For All Our Rights
NOM's Chairman of the Board John Eastman went viral — and it's the result of his amazing courage and eloquence in standing up to some Democrats in Congress who argued traditional marriage supporters have no right to the same tax-exempt status that gay rights groups have.
When, shamefully, Rep. Earl Blumenauer said that NOM should be stripped of our nonprofit status because we oppose gay marriage, it was John Eastman who put him in his place.
"Scurrilous" is the word he used to describe these Democrats who do not respect your First Amendment rights, or the rights of millions of American to participate equally in the American public square.
"Representative Blumenauer, it's your kind of statement that have empowered IRS agents to make determinations about which organizations qualify for the public good and which do not."
The crowd burst into applause as Blumenauer, bow-tie in place looked sheepish.
"The notion that defending traditional marriage doesn't qualify as a defense of the public good is beyond preposterous," Eastman said, as some in the crowd gave him a standing ovation.
John Eastman was the man of the hour.
"The man at the center of the storm, who put up quite a storm today...John Eastman chairman of the National Organization for Marriage. John, you were on fire!" an admiring Neil Cavuto exclaimed on FOX Business.
"What they did to us is expose our tax returns to our political enemies... it's a felony to have done that and we can't get the Department of Justice to investigate or prosecute the people who committed that felony," said Prof. Eastman.
"What does that tell you?" Cavuto asked.
And here is where the seriousness of what we face in our beloved nation came shining through:
"We've got people in government and their allies outside of government that are willing to commit felonies to shut down their political opposition on major contested issues of the day," Eastman said.
"If you were impressed with Paul Ryan's retort to Jim McDermott today in the House hearing on the IRS scandal, get your seatbelts in place for John Eastman's ferocious, angry rebuttal to two other Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee," said Hot Air.
Sean Hannity called his testimony "stunning." "And it got that stunning applause, a standing ovation from some," Hannity added.
Again Eastman nailed the heart of this outrage: "Major policy disputes in this country are now resolved by intimidation and fear to try and shut down the opposition rather than to reason with people about what the best course for our policy judgments are."
Because you helped John Eastman and NOM stand up for your rights, the message is getting out everywhere:
You can read his opening statement here. Here's just a partial list of the media who covered John Eastman—and the felonies committed by someone in the IRS against traditional marriage supporters like you and me:
While watching Rep. Blumenauer and his colleagues say the IRS was right for targeting NOM — I wanted to ask him: "Rep. Blumenauer, we get money honestly, from free citizens who want to donate to a cause they and we believe in. When are you going to stand up and denounce the $431,360 in taxpayer "stimulus" money that funded a study in Nancy Pelosi's district of the emotional distress and sex life of 48 gay male fathers?" Almost a half million in your money, allegedly to stimulate the economy and produced not a single job? Because the academics who performed it are already employed at San Francisco State University (at taxpayer expense!).
Somebody in the IRS — we don't know how far up it goes — committed a felony releasing protected and private taxpayer information — and the Department of Justice does nothing. The IRS stonewalls. And Rep. Blumenauer says it's your fault for opposing gay marriage.
Unbelievable!
We will not stand down. We will not surrender marriage. We will not cave and surrender your rights — and the rights of millions of other decent, loving, law-abiding freeborn American citizens of every race and creed and color to participate in the public square on an equal basis and defend marriage and other things which are good and worth defending.
And together, we will win.
A Deep Blue Miracle
Less than a week ago, an unbelievable miracle occurred, deep in the blue state of Illinois, where Democrats have a supermajority in the legislature, where President Obama campaigned for redefining marriage, where GOP turncoat Sen. Mark Kirk tried to pressure GOP State Representatives, where Rahm Emmanuel threatened and Governor Pat Quinn tried to bribe — the people of the state stood up to power and rejected same-sex marriage.
As the legislature came to a close, no vote was scheduled — because bill sponsor Greg Harris and the Speaker of the House agreed only to schedule a vote if gay marriage had enough votes to prevail.
Instead "a broad grassroots coalition of Illinois families of faith of all creeds and colors took on all the Illinois political bosses from Washington to the Governor's Mansion to Chicago's City Hall who tried to pay back the [gay] community for their political support," said Paul Caprio, our friend and spokesman for the Coalition to Protect Children & Marriage.
"Same-Sex Marriage Hits Red Light in Blue Illinois," BigGovernment.com blazoned (and lots of other news outlets picked up).
Thank you for making this victory possible.
Breitbart noted the key role NOM played in winning this unbelievable victory (of course we are thankful for every person and organization that worked so hard and came together to achieve this victory!):
". . .While pastors held breakfasts, the National Organization for Marriage gave financial support and provided expert testimony in Springfield with Dr. Jennifer Robach Morse on the troubling side of same-sex marriage. Cardinal Francis George wrote and spoke with conviction against the proposal, as did Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of Springfield. Churches rallied and, in spite of the odds, to the surprise of Chicago media and the much better resourced gay gobby, pro-traditional family forces stopped the vote."
The party bosses underestimated the resolve of black pastors, in particular, to whom I personally want to express profound gratitutde for their courageous stand for Biblical values. I learned so much and am so honored to stand with such fine Christian leaders.
In the end, it came down to enormous pressure on twenty black Democratic legislators "I think after President Obama came out as a supporter of [gay] marriage there was a belief that it would be a no-brainer," Representative Christian Mitchell said. "But I don't think folks properly understood the influence and role of the church as it relates to African-American politics."
The Poll You Won't See on the Nightly News
Let me end with another bit of good news. You probably heard, because any message that supports gay marriage gets trumpeted everywhere, of a Pew poll finding that some marriage supporters are getting discouraged and view gay marriage as "inevitable."
Let me tell you, nothing is inevitable to free born men and women except that one day we will all be held accountable by our Creator for whether and how we stood up for His vision of good on this earth.
More Americans than the media wants you to think understand this fact.
A new poll released by the very liberal HuffPo/YouGov finds that a plurality of Americans oppose the Supreme Court overturning DOMA, with just 41 percent saying federal law should redefine marriage, while 45 percent want the Court to uphold the federal law defining marriage as one man, one woman. The same poll found that flat-out, more Americans oppose gay marriage than support in this poll (45 percent to 43 percent).
Twenty-four percent of Democrats polled said the federal government should not redefine, while independents split 42 percent to 44 percent (in favor of protecting marriage). And the vast majority of Republicans said the federal government should not redefine marriage and keep defining it they way it has (73 percent to 19 percent). This is encouraging news that should be shared far and wide.
And keep praying for all those on the frontlines of the fight for marriage and for those standing up against these disturbing abuses of power.
I never forget that, under God, and with His blessing, it is thanks to you that this fight continues, that these victories are possible. It is thanks to the sacrifices of time and treasure you've made to build the National Organization of Marriage, supporter, the last message the Supreme Court will receive before it hands down critical decisions in the fight to protect marriage is that America believes in preserving marriage!
We will not surrender. We will not stand down. We will fight for God's truth about marriage, and for the right of every law-abiding freeborn American citizen to participate equally in our beloved country's democratic process.
Until next week, and the next good fight, I remain.
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