Dear Friends of Marriage,

The San Francisco Chronicle broke the news that Judge Vaughn Walker is gay. I don't know if it's true or not, but here's the really big indisputable fact the mainstream media should be focusing on: Judge Walker has been incredibly biased in his rulings from start to finish.

He ordered an expensive trial over the objections of Protect Marriage, in a case where frankly the issues are primarily matters of law. He further ruled that the private and personal feelings and attitudes of Protect Marriage folks and their campaign consultants--things by definition never communicated to voters--were properly subjected to subpoena power. This was a fishing expedition of a major order: Judge Walker tried to give gay-marriage advocates access to more than a million emails by ordinary Californians who worked on the campaign, and also to internal campaign strategy memos. (The Ninth Circuit rapped his knuckles on that one.) He refused to play fair by ordering opponents of Prop 8 to open up their strategy, too. Worst of all, he broke all the rules to try to get this case televised, over the objections of Protect Marriage (who are the defendants in this case).

The Supreme Court had to step in to rap his knuckles on that one, acknowledging the reasonable fears of intimidation--but by then two-thirds of the expert witnesses in this case had withdrawn.

So why did Bill O'Reilly say on "The Factor" that Judge Walker is a "straight shooter"? I'm a big fan of "The Factor." I'm sure if Bill knew the real story, he wouldn't have called Judge Walker a "straight shooter." Instead he would've told the real, no-spin truth: Judge Walker has acted like a biased partisan, not a neutral referee in this case. Why? Only God and Judge Walker know for sure.
 
The 7 million Californians who voted for Prop 8 deserve a fair shake and so far their rights have been profoundly disregarded and disrespected by this judge. And that's just a plain and simple fact.

Check out Sen Rick Santorum's op-ed on the subject in the Philadelphia Inquirer, which you can read below. He's been a brave spokesman for marriage at a time when few elected officials dare to face the Gill machine and the mainstream media. Kudos and thank you, Rick! 

And kudos to Kevin Smith of Cornerstone Policy Research, who helped bring some good news out of New Hampshire this week. According to the Union Leader,

Rep. David Bates, R-Windham, is spearheading the petition drive [to allow New Hampshire to vote on repealing gay marriage] and has formed the group "Let NH Vote" to promote the effort in towns across the state. Yesterday, Bates said he expects votes will take place in at least 125 towns, and he is waiting to hear from more.

Towns in some remote areas have gone ahead and gathered petitions without any help from Let NH Vote, he said.

"It's all over the state. Every county will have (towns with) a question on the ballot," Bates said.

Gill money flowed big time into New Hampshire to push a gay marriage bill voters did not want--just as the Gill money flowed into Iowa, where the Democrats continue to block the people's rights to vote. I got a call recently from Indiana, where a frustrated marriage supporter complained that the speaker there is blocking a vote on a state marriage amendment that more than two-thirds of the representatives and senators would support. And this week in D.C., a new Washington Post poll showed that by a 2-1 margin the people of D.C. want the right to vote on marriage--that includes, by the way, a big chunk of pro-gay-marriage voters who believe in democracy and the civil right to vote guaranteed by the D.C. Charter.

Finally, a word about that new non-monogamy study, which according to the New York Times shows that half of gay male couples interviewed are in open relationships (and other research suggests men in three-quarters of the theoretically closed relationships "cheat"). The Baptist Press filed a story this week suggesting something worth thinking about: How will the "planned infidelity" of gay couples reshape our marriage culture?

The first step is to claim that gay couples are just the same as married couples. But even an anti-Prop 8 expert witness had to concede that monogamy--sexual fidelity--just isn't the norm in the gay male community.

"The study demonstrates clearly what we've been arguing: That gays bring a different definition to marriage," Glenn T. Stanton, a sociologist who is the director for family formation studies at Focus on the Family, told Baptist Press. "And it's not just a different definition that male and female become optional, but that monogamy becomes optional as well. They are coming into marriage with a wholly different view of marriage than anybody has -- left, right, conservative, liberal.... They come in with that understanding of openness. These are people who come into marriage with a wholly different and really radical definition of what marriage is about." 

The Baptist Press quotes other prominent gay men who've acknowledged this obvious truth: "Gay male couples generally don't view monogamy as the defining characteristic of a loving, committed relationship," gay columnist Dan Savage wrote. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Christian Churches, an organization of homosexual churches, said the same thing: "Monogamy is not a word the gay community uses," Perry told the Dallas Morning News in 2003.

"Marriage Equality" will be a two-step dance. The first step is to claim that gay unions are just like opposite-sex unions. The next step will be to say, "Gay marriages are just as much marriages as yours, so if gay men don't want fidelity, then fidelity shouldn't be considered a basic part of marriage." Making fidelity an optional part of the cultural perception of what marriage means is already on the gay rights agenda. Consider when Andrew Sullivan first made this argument back in 1993. The uproar caused him to immediately recant and say that gay marriage would be sexually exclusive like other marriages. 

Now the groundwork is being laid in the pages of the New York Times for a "fidelity-optional" version of marriage. Look for it to be taught in a public school near you soon.

Thank you again for your letters of encouragement, your prayers and your financial sacrifices. Without you, we would be nothing. Together we can make a difference.

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

PS: NOM relies on your donations in order to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Whether you can spare $100, $200, or maybe just $5 a month, your contributions make a big difference!

NOM Featured Article
"No Way to Preach Tolerance"
Rick Santorum
Philadelphia Inquirer
February 10, 2010
Kids need a mom and a dad. Californians who think the state's marriage law should reflect this deeply held belief were forced to appeal directly to the people, with a 2008 referendum to overturn a state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Proposition 8, an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as being between one man and one woman, passed easily.

NOM in the News
"'Outed' Judge Accused of Bias in Prop 8 Trial"
NBC Bay Area
February 10, 2010
While not suggesting that there's anything wrong with 9th District Court of Appeals Justice Vaughn Walker being gay, if that's true, National Organization for Marriage Director Brian Brown accuses Walker of bias against the defense in the Proposition 8 trial anyway.

"Don't Ask, Don't Judge?"
Ruth Marcus
Washington Post
February 10, 2010
Does it matter if the judge hearing the lawsuit challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage is gay? Would his sexual orientation interfere with his ability to render an impartial judgment in the case, or the public's confidence that he could decide the case fairly?

"Judge in High-Profile Prop 8 Case Is Gay"
Baptist Press
February 9, 2010
"We have no idea whether the report is true or not," Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, an organization that supports Prop 8, wrote in an e-mail to constituents. "But we do know one really big important fact about Judge Walker: He's been an amazingly biased and one-sided force throughout this trial, far more akin to an activist than a neutral referee. That's no secret at all."

"Prop 8's Gay Judge"
The Week.com
February 9, 2010
The legal fight over California's gay marriage ban is exploding, as new revelations bring the trial's simmering controversies to a boil. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the judge overseeing the federal challenge to the state's Proposition 8 is himself homosexual. Prop 8 supporters are accusing Judge Vaughn Walker of bias--but is Walker being unfairly maligned?

"Countering NOM's Missive on Prop 8 Judge Walker with the Facts"
Karen Ocamb
Huffington Post
What's that adage about spin - say it long enough, hard enough, loud enough and eventually it will take on the cloak of truth? Well, the latest missive from National Organization Executive Director Brian Brown reads more like a fairy tale - showing that this Emperor has no clothes.

"Marriage Equality Low Priority for Iowans"
The Edge Boston
February 8, 2010
Though national anti-gay organizations such as the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) have targeted marriage equality for repeal in Iowa, as in other states that extend legal parity to gay and lesbian families, Iowans themselves are largely unconcerned with the issue, rating the problem of drivers texting while at the wheel as being of greater significance than attempts to wrest marriage away from same-sex families, according to a Feb. 8 article at the Des Moines Register.

"RI Gubernatorial Candidates Pledge to Sign Gay Marriage Bill"
On Top Magazine
February 9, 2010
Carcieri publicly supports placing a gay marriage ban in the Rhode Island Constitution. And last spring, he and his wife, Sue, joined the state's newly minted chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, the nation's most vociferous opponent of gay marriage.