Dear Friends of Marriage,

I've heard from many of you who were shocked and simply appalled at the anti-religious bigotry shown by supporters of same-sex marriage in the DC Council debate over same-sex marriage.

Unfortunately, that isn't even the worst of it. The Council's treatment of representatives from the Catholic Church, expressing concerns that it would be forced to choose between its charitable work and its religious convictions, has been nothing short of shameful. Several members of the Council are nearly giddy at the chance to punish the Catholic Church -- and religious believers of all stripes -- by passing a same-sex marriage bill.

The anti-religious bigotry on display in DC is reaching the point of the absurd. Earlier this week, Councilmember Tommy Wells wrote an open letter to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin urging him to use his position as committee chair to block educational vouchers for poor kids in DC.

Why?

Because some of the kids are using the vouchers to go to Catholic schools -- and the Catholic church opposes same-sex marriage.

So here it is:

Same-sex marriage advocates on the DC Council want to punish the District's poorest children because they can't force the Catholic Church to change it's historic beliefs about marriage.

I hope you find that as shocking as I did. It's bad enough that they want to punish religious believers who disagree with them. But to go after the District's poorest kids who are stuck in dead-end schools? Simply inexcusable.

In the Council vote on the DC same-sex marriage bill yesterday, just two of the Council's thirteen members had the courage to stand up for marriage in the face of the strong pressure brought to bear by same-sex marriage advocates.

Please take a moment to thank Councilmembers Marion Barry and Yvette Alexander for standing up for marriage. Click here to send an email to these courageous leaders today.

Reading the newspaper, you'd think this fight was over. "District Approves Same-Sex Marriage . . . Foes see little chance of reversal," is how Tim Craig of the Washington Post put it. Craig's piece (mis)quoted Bishop Harry Jackson as conceding the fight was over, but nothing could be further from the truth. Bishop Jackson heads up the Stand4Marriage committee where I represent NOM as treasurer. When I saw this article, I called up Bishop Jackson to see what he really said to the Post. You know what he said? We have not yet begun to fight!

We've known for more than a year how the DC Council would vote. That's why we're more determined than ever to make sure the people of the District have a chance to vote on this attack on marriage and religious liberty.

After the Board of Elections rejected the marriage initiative proposed by the Stand4Marriage coalition, we filed suit to overturn this bogus attempt to deny DC voters their constitutional rights. I'll keep you posted as the lawsuit moves forward.

Meanwhile, there's more we can do.

The same-sex marriage bill requires two votes before being enacted into law. The second vote is scheduled in two weeks, after which Mayor Adrian Fenty has promised to sign it into law. From that point, the U.S. Congress has 30 days in which to reject this blatant violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- not to mention the protections against anti-religious discrimination contained in Title VII and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Help send a message to Congress! Tell Senate and House leaders to reject this violation of DOMA and attack on religious liberty. We know Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi won't take any action to stop the DC Council's vitriolic attack on religious liberty unless they're forced to deal with it. They're hoping it will just go away, but if the issue blows up on them, they'll have no choice but to take action. We need to send a message to our Senators and Congressmen, telling them to stop same-sex marriage in our nation's capital. Click here to send a message to your Senators and Congressman today!

Please take a moment to contact your Senators and Congressman today.
And don't forget to send a message thanking Councilmembers Alexander and Barry.

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