Dear Marriage Supporter,
The fight to take back New York begins. Now it gets serious. Now, it's also a fight to take back the Republican Party from the forces who wish to abandon marriage: the so-called new "pro-equality Republicans."
Four Republican senators in New York voted for gay marriage. But the entire Republican conference, under the leadership of Dean Skelos, helped to make that happen by voting to bring up the gay marriage bill.
When the Democrats controlled the New York Senate, gay marriage lost in a landslide. After an election, Republicans took control. What did they do with their newfound power? They sold out the party's base, the party's principles, and the timeless institution of marriage.
They imposed gay marriage without a vote of the people!
Now is the time for the sunshine patriots to get out of the way, and for those of us who understand what is at stake in this marriage debate to defeat politicians who had no problem lying to get elected, then turning around and betraying the voters who helped them.
I've got really exciting news to announce to you this week: a new coalition, a new plan, a rebuilt PAC. And here's the most exciting news: a huge multi-city series of rallies and protest marches taking place across the state of New York to win a vote to protect marriage in New York's constitution!
Save the date: Sunday, July 24, 3 p.m. Go here to get the practical details. And here's the good news: You can show up to let Albany know you've had enough of the corruption, the backroom deals, the lying, the politics as usual. Let the people vote!
Don't forget to send this link to Let the People Vote to your five best friends, the folks you know who are mad enough not to take this from Republicans and other pols lying down!
We at NOM have promised to raise $2 million to help defeat the politicians who've betrayed marriage in 2012.
The good news is that in our first week alone, hundreds of you sent donations adding up to $40,000 to NOM's NY PAC. Fight back against the GOP betrayal by donating $5, $10 or $99 to our NOM NY PAC now.
And New York state has no limit on PAC donations (although they are public knowledge if you donate $100 or more). If you really want to show the GOP politicians they made a big mistake in betraying marriage, the sky is the limit.
We are drawing a line in the sand for politicians and the Republican Party here. You cannot deal away marriage in backrooms behind voters' backs. This is not just about New York; it is about the future of marriage in America.
Republican elites like Ken Mehlman are counting on using New York as a model for pushing gay marriage—over the heads of the people across the country—unless you and I show them how big a mistake this is!
As the New York Times concedes, "the events in New York also have national repercussions: ... gay-rights advocates increasingly need Republican support if they are to change local laws elsewhere in the country."
Ken Mehlman, one of a network of Karl Rove protégés, boasted about how he used money to sway Republicans to vote for gay marriage:
"I didn't come in there saying, 'Do this for me,'" Ken Mehlman, the openly gay former RNC chairman who persuaded Republican lawmakers in Albany, told the Huffington Post. "I said, 'Do this for you.' ...We were saying, 'It is the right thing to build the party from a political perspective.'"
New York Republican elites with powerful national connections are now openly saying that abandoning marriage is the key to building the Republican Party!
I'm not making this stuff up.
A plan is in place to bring down the GOP's commitment to marriage, to create an America in which no party and no politician is willing to stand for the fundamental truth of Genesis that marriage is unique for a reason—that male and female must come together, in love, to make the future happen, and to give that future the love and care of a mother and a father.
These powerful megamillionaires want to deface the Bible by ripping Genesis out of it, and then to remake an America without a strong foundation of Judeo-Christian values. What kind of conservative movement would we have left if we let that happen?
And of course it is not just Republicans who stand up for marriage.
Sen. Rev. Rubén Díaz is a loyal, lifelong liberal Democrat who stood up fearlessly and lovingly in New York for marriage as the union of a husband and wife.
He is now facing an ongoing, continuous, thundering barrage of hatred for his courage, for his refusal to kowtow, for being unafraid and unashamed of his support for marriage.
Even victory in New York has not sated some gay-marriage advocates' thirst to somehow humiliate a brave leader like Sen. Díaz, as he made clear in a statement released this week, "Unashamed to Be a Christian." It's worth reading in full (warning: he is very blunt about the kind of hate mail he is receiving, in language no one should have to read), but here's one part I want you to see, to know what he's going through and to share in his passion:
"I was the only Democrat in the Senate to vote against this legislation, and I wear my vote as a badge of honor.
"Although Republican Senate Leader Dean Skelos ushered the gay marriage vote to the floor in order to make the 11:00PM news, and even though the vote passed, the hatred that has spewed in my direction before June 24th continues.
"Yesterday I received a series of five emails in my Senate account from one person that read like homicidal rantings: 'You eat sh*t. You are sh*t.' 'There is no worse person on Earth than you. God has told me so.' 'You worthless pile of human excrement!!!' 'I hope you die! I hope you die soon! I'm waiting for you to die!'...
"Those messages suggest that even though the gay marriage vote passed, that author did not get what he wanted which suggests to me that for some reason, I am the embodiment of his disappointment. He may also be upset because I am unashamed of my vote.
"...After the June 24 vote, so many people who disguise themselves as victims and decry bullies hide behind their computer screens and demonstrate what is called 'keyboard courage' by posting hateful and vicious comments about me.
"For my part, I will continue to be unashamed to be a Christian."
Wow.
NOM is committed to helping brave Democrats like Sen. Díaz, too. Stand with Sen. Díaz and show that you too are unashamed, by making a public donation of at least $100 to NOM's NY PAC today.
On Sunday July 24 evangelicals, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, and Jews will come together in love all across the state to take back marriage from the politicians who betrayed it. Join us.
Already, Republicans are quietly protesting the dishonesty of the four Republican senators who voted for same-sex marriage:
"'He's not honest,' said Ray Akey, 66, a retired sales engineer and a Republican who had voted for Jim Alesi in the past," the New York Times reported. He told the Times he would not vote for him again.
"Asked to sum up his feelings about his senator, Mr. Akey said: 'It's not real pretty. I'd have to put some cuss words in there.'"
The Grisanti flip-flop in Buffalo is creating the most voter anger, in part because Mark Grisanti ran so publicly and vocally as an opponent of gay marriage.
Adam Kaiser, 27, is actually a Republican in favor of gay marriage, but he's still so disgusted by Grisanti that he would never vote for him again: "All politicians are liars, but you got to do a better job of pretending like you're telling the truth," Kaiser told the Times. "I think it's a ticket out of office for him."
Paul Smith, a 60-year-old in Niagara Falls, agreed: "Logic and truth and moral fiber, it's being taken away from us right now. No matter what opinion he gives you publicly on TV, you don't know if he's being honest."
Voters are disgusted with the lying and no one lied more flagrantly or repeatedly than Mark Grisanti.
Dr. Kevin Backus wrote on the blog of the Grand Island Conservative Party that he had lunch before he endorsed Mr. Grisanti and his position on same-sex marriage was the top of the list of items they discussed. "I've spoken with the senator on this issue repeatedly since he took office. I've been assured by him personally and been asked to assure others that he'd never vote for anything with the word 'marriage' in it. Mark committed himself to that position. As recently as 11 days before the vote was taken, Mark was firm in this position."
Dr. Backus says Grisanti is now hinting that Gov. Cuomo may be very helpful to him when it comes to redistricting in ways that could help him keep his seat.
In our fight in New York, Michael Long has made it clear that no Republican who betrays marriage will get the Conservative Party endorsement.
Have voters had enough of politicians who cut secret backroom deals while lying to voters?
We'll find out.
Big things are happening.
The quiet protests among the grassroots are going to get louder and clearer. and ring out from New York City to Niagara Falls—and all the way to Washington: Don't mess with marriage!
In politics, money talks. We do not have the billionaires on our side, the rich Republic mega-donors like Ken Mehlman pushing the party towards this disaster. But we do have you and I, and thousands of other hardworking, loving, decent people of all races, creeds, and colors, willing to sacrifice their time and treasure to protect the precious gift that is marriage.
Stand with us, and stand up to the backdoor back-dealing politicians in both parties, by giving just $10 for marriage to NOM's NY PAC.
Next week, we'll be announcing some big new plans for the GOP presidential race as well—to help you and other voters find out whether the candidates who claim to be for marriage will fight or, like the New York Republicans, fold on marriage.
I walked outside of a TV studio in Arlington, Virginia today and saw on the news chyron these flashing words in big red lights: "Politico: Republicans Fall Silent on Gay Marriage."
The mainstream media thinks it's over. They think they can silence half the population, and create an America without a party for marriage. The mainstream media is going to find out how wrong they are.
And so will the Republicans who betrayed marriage.
Count on it.
Keep fighting the good fight!
And God bless you, and God bless America.
Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage
P.S. Show pro-gay marriage politicians how big a mistake it is to lie to voters and betray the people. Anything you can give will help us stand up to Ken Mehlman and the GOP donors who want to drive the party into the arms of gay marriage, to take away our voice and to reduce your power. Fight back today with a generous gift of $9 to $99.
And remember, if you are a person with the means, you can give an unlimited gift of $500, $1,000, or $10,000 more to NOM NY PAC. Thank you! Let the people vote!
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