Dear Friends of Marriage,

Let's talk Corzine for a minute.

Gov. Corzine has made it clear that gay marriage is one of his top priorities--but only to his "base." Privately, he is pushing for a vote on gay marriage in the lame duck session. The reason he's pushing for gay marriage in the lame-duck is that he wants the vote as far away from an election as possible.

GOP leaders are calling Gov. Corzine on his secret deal and pushing for a marriage amendment that would put the question to the people of New Jersey.  

Does Corzine care about what the people think? When Corzine was asked what he thought about a marriage amendment in New Jersey--putting the marriage question to the voters--Corzine fumbled badly.

The Star Ledger columnist called him on it: "Gov. Jon Corzine's got a lame excuse for ducking gay-marriage issue."
Here's Corzine's answer, verbatim:

"Well, I, uh, you know, it probably will not as long as I am governor because I actually believe, uh, that these are the kinds of decisions based on, uh, the, ummm, acceptance of the Supreme Court's judgment that, uh, marriage equity, umm, is consistent with our principles and our Constitution and I believe we should, uh, follow the Constitution."

As you can infer, the governor did not seem to enjoy fielding this question. For good reason. He is too smart to believe his own argument about the need to follow past rulings by the high court on the question.

That's because such a referendum would take the form of a constitutional amendment. If the voters decided to enact a ban on same-sex marriage, then Article One would be amended to read "Only the union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in the State of New Jersey." The court would be taken out of the equation.

So that's one reason Corzine sounded uncomfortable. We learned another possible reason yesterday. A group of conservative Republican legislators held a press conference at the Statehouse to make public an allegation that the Democrats are planning a move to legalize same-sex marriage in the lame-duck session after the election. State Sen. Gerry Cardinale of Bergen County said he had heard a conversation between key Democrats in which the deal was made.
Get ready to fight for our right to speak the truth about marriage!

The New Jersey Family Policy Council is organizing a rally October 25 on the steps of the Capitol in Trenton. If you have an hour to spend on marriage that Sunday, go down and make your voice heard. NOM's own Chairman of the Board Robby George will be speaking, too. If you live in New Jersey, can you pass this message on to a friend?

Now is the time to get ready to make our voices and our values heard! Speak out for marriage! And consider what you can give to NOM's New York PAC.

Meanwhile in New York, Mayor Bloomberg is telling the gay press that there may well be a vote on gay marriage this fall. The gay press is reporting, "Albany watchers say lawmakers are close to moving on a gay marriage bill waiting on Senate approval to become law." At NOM, with your help, we have promised to raise $500,000 to fund a primary challenge to any GOP senator who abandons this marriage issue. With your help, we are building the seed capital within the PAC that will allow us to reach our with direct mail and raise that money in the next six months. To date, we've raised over $35,000. When we hit $50,000, we will be ready to use that money to build the war-chest that politicians cannot ignore! Help us this week, so we can send a message to Albany: We stand up for marriage!

A final thanks to the Catholic bishops of New Jersey, who are calling on Catholics and others of good will in New Jersey to stand up for marriage. See the piece below, in the Trenton Times:

The debate over same-sex marriage has reached the pews in Mercer County.

In anticipation of a possible vote on the issue by state legislators sometime after the November election, Catholic bishops in New Jersey have begun a campaign against same-sex marriage, issuing a 2,300-word letter opposing the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples. Clergy and others in the movement have urged parishioners to contact legislators asking them to oppose same-sex marriage.

"A same-sex relationship is not the same as marriage. Marriage is rooted in sexual union, and sex union requires sexual difference," said Damon Owens, 43, the New Jersey coordinator for the National Organization for Marriage.

Thanks Damon and to all of you who will not buckle to the absurd, or surrender the truth under pressure. God's grace be with you always,

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

This Week's News
"Gov. Jon Corzine's Got a Lame Excuse for Ducking Gay-Marriage Issue"
NJ.com
Paul Mulshine
September 29, 2009
The governor had a friendly audience of college kids during his appearance at Rider University last week. But there was one guy who put him a bit off-balance.

The questioner asked Jon Corzine whether the question of legalizing same-sex marriage is likely to be on the ballot if he is elected to a second term. 

"State's Catholic bishops oppose same-sex marriage approval"
Times of Trenton
September 20, 2009
"A same-sex relationship is not the same as marriage. Marriage is rooted in sexual union, and sex union requires sexual difference," said Damon Owens, 43, the New Jersey coordinator for the National Organization for Marriage.

He recently spoke to a crowd of about 40 parishioners at St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church. Owens said there is line between accepting people, which is always a virtue, and tolerating something "that's not true." He added that same sex marriage "is in conflict with reality."

 NOM PAC NY Newsletter (Paid for by NOM PAC NY)