Dear Friends of Marriage,

This week in D.C. a man came into my office. He was very distinguished-looking, with white hair; and he had a distinguished past to match. "I was on the front lines marching against the war in Viet Nam," he told me. "I want to help you fight to protect marriage."

This combination would probably blow the minds of the Washington Post. But it's no longer a surprise to me. 

"I fought the war because I thought it was an important moral issue," he told me. "So is marriage." (If you agree, why not consider a small weekly or monthly contribution? Can you sacrifice even $5 a month to protect God's own precious and sacred institution?)

Among the great joys and privileges of being in this position, as a leader of this grand new marriage movement, are the people I get to meet all over the country. It's amazing: Marriage is drawing together Americans across all different political, racial, religious and ethnic lines.

The fights for marriage are accelerating across this country: District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey, Maine--and now the gay press is reporting that House Democrats plan shortly to introduce the repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

The needs on NOM are expanding rapidly. I am so profoundly grateful to each of you who have donated your time, your ear, and your treasure to this great and good fight. If in these tough economic times you cannot afford to give, I understand. Would you pass on this newsletter to a friend? We need to reach out and build--from half a million activists to more than a million in the next few months. I need your help.

If God has given you the means, can you step forward to help us replenish our coffers? We are the largest single donor to the effort to protect marriage in Maine. We are the only national organization fighting to protect marriage in New York and New Jersey. And we need your help to fight for your values.

Maggie Gallagher, NOM's president, had a great column this week called "Gay Marriage Rage." You can read it in its entirety below. But I want to pull out one big thought: Gay-marriage advocates have stopped persuading. Public opinion polls are no longer moving in their direction. And so they are responding with the politics of hate, attempting to intimidate and silence opposition by raising the cost of speaking for the Truth.

I can promise you that here at NOM, no matter what efforts they make, we will not be silenced. We will be your voice for your values. Together we will make a difference.

Let's not forget that this morning is the anniversary of 9/11. Please join me in praying for the souls of the thousands of Americans who gave their lives in a war they did not even know had been declared on our beloved country. Of all the mysteries, the mystery of evil is the most unfathomable. 

"Truth and love will prevail over lies and hate." That is our solace and our Hope.

God bless you and your family,

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

NOM in the News: Feature
"Gay Marriage Rage"
Maggie Gallagher
September 8, 2009
I was in Maine on the day that marriage qualified for the ballot this November. I went to Maine as president and founder of the National Organization for Marriage, which helped local groups organize the signature drive in Maine, as we did in California for Proposition 8.
Most of the people in Maine were enthusiastic, but one clergyman asked me, "Shouldn't we live with our neighbors in peace?"

His question haunts me for its debased presumptions: Is using democracy to fight for shared values somehow an act of war against our neighbors? "Agree with me or you're a hater" is not the authentic voice of peace and tolerance. But the question underscored an increasingly obvious truth: Gay marriage advocates now rage against Americans who disagree with them, no matter how civilly we conduct the debate. They believe only one side has the moral right to be heard.

Witness what happened to poor Monica Hesse, a Washington Post reporter who wrote a profile on NOM's executive director, Brian Brown. The profile was (in my view) clearly written by someone who supports gay marriage. She began by assuming gay marriage opponents were ugly, mean and stupid, and then presented Brian Brown as the surprising exception. That's why Monica expected outrage from social conservatives for her "snideness." Instead, she was shocked by the tidal wave of rage directed at her for publishing anything even remotely expressing human sympathy for a guy who effectively fights to promote marriage as the union of husband and wife.

I'm not the person calling this "rage." That's what The Washington Post called it in a piece by their own ombudsman on Monica, "'Sanity & a Smile' and an Outpouring of Rage."

Here's how weird things have gotten: The ombudsman of the Post felt he had to step in to defend Monica by credentialing her as a pro-gay marriage bisexual.

Reading her angry e-mails, Monica "wept." She won't care for my sympathy, but nonetheless, she has it. You have to experience it to understand -- it is shocking to discover the waves of hatred now aimed at forcing conformity with the gay marriage party line. Either you are for gay marriage or you are a bad person who should be repressed, humiliated, hurt, marginalized and excluded. "What's next, a piece on how a KKK leader is just 'someone next door' and 'really a nice person'?" as one outraged Post reader put it.

Here's the truth: You will now be called a hater and a bigot merely for standing for marriage as one woman and one man. What do we make of this sad truth? So far, the bullies pay no price for their meanness and their rage.

This is not an issue of free speech but of neighborliness. Fundamental decency requires that we treat each other with respect, especially when we disagree deeply on hot moral issues. Sadly, I've grown used to the reality that tolerance is now a one-way street for gay marriage advocates. It no longer matters how respectfully and civilly one makes the case for humanity's marriage tradition.

So Fred Karger gets quoted in The Washington Post calling Brian Brown "just as shrill, just as anti-gay as any of the leading gay-bashers." Fred doesn't provide any examples because he can't. Fred doesn't have to. The Washington Post does not feel any obligation to ask Fred Karger for proof. Being pro-gay marriage, Fred doesn't need proof as he hurls his charges like brickbats at Americans who disagree with him.

I know that not every gay person agrees with the tactics of hate currently employed by this powerful steamroller of a political movement to suppress dissent, just as I know some gay people don't support gay marriage. (Not many, but I've met 'em!) And I do know this: Bullies don't stop as long as bullying works. Gay marriage advocates have to rein in their movement, or people in Maine and elsewhere are going to draw the natural conclusion: When the law endorses gay marriage advocates like Fred Karger and their ideas, it will have consequences.

"FRC Action Announces Presidential Values Voter Straw Poll"
FRC Action
September 8, 2009
Next week, one of the first major presidential straw poll events of the 2012 election cycle will be held at FRC Action's fourth annual Values Voter Summit.  The ballot will feature ten possible presidential candidates, several of whom will be speaking at the Summit, who have also exhibited leadership on key issues -- Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. 

NOM in the News
"How Dare You Call a Right-Winger 'Sane'!"
Tim Graham
National Review Online (blog)
September 8, 2009
Washington Post reporter Monica Hesse dared to compliment a man opposing "gay marriage," and her e-mail from the gay Left was so hostile it made her cry. The man was Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage. Hesse snidely wrote that unlike the Pat Robertsons and James Dobsons of the world, Brown was civil, "instantly likable" and a "thoughtful talker." Brown is effective because "he is pleasantly, ruthlessly sane." 
  
"Washington Post Apologizes for Praiseworthy Portrayal of Gay Marriage Opponent"
NewsBusters
September 6, 2009
The profile examined Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, one of the groups that lobbied for Proposition 8, the hotly-contested California State ballot initiative that explicitly defined marriage as between and man and a woman, overturning a State Supreme Court decision to the contrary.

"The political education of Monica Hesse"
World Magazine
September 8, 2009
The fallout from Washington Post Style writer Monica Hesse's profile of Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage has been quite amusing.
 
"Washington Post Apologizes for Calling NOM Head's Views Sane"
Alliance Alert
September 8, 2009
Following an "avalanche of messages angrily attacking" Monica Hesse's profile of National Organization for Marriage executive director Brian Brown, Washington Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander apologized to same-sex "marriage" advocates. 
 
"'Washington Post' Bewildered Over Gay Marriage Reaction"
On Top Magazine
September 7, 2009
The Washington Post was caught off guard last week by the negative reactions it received over a profile story it published on Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the nation's most vociferous opponent of gay marriage.