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Monthly Archives: February 2011

NOM-Rhode Island Begins Radio Ad Campaign Telling Governor Chafee to Let the People Vote

February 3, 2011 – 4:10 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 3, 2011

CONTACT: Christopher Plante, at 401-954-7173 or [email protected]

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE-RHODE ISLAND BEGINS RADIO AD CAMPAIGN TELLING GOVERNOR CHAFEE TO LET THE PEOPLE VOTE

"Governor Chafee needs to stop wasting time by messing with marriage
and start focusing on the real issues of the state.”
– Christopher Plante, Executive Director of NOM-RI

Providence, RI – The National Organization for Marriage-Rhode Island (NOM-RI) launches a radio ad tomorrow focusing on Gov. Chafee’s attempts to pressure lawmakers into passing gay marriage, while serious threats to the state, such as its economy, are not receiving the attention they need.

“Lincoln Chafee has recently asked for more time to work on the state budget, but our question is why has he been wasting the state’s time pushing his same-sex marriage agenda instead of focusing on the economy?” said Christopher Plante, Executive Director of NOM-RI. “The Governor has been calling on the legislature to move quickly to enact same-sex marriage, denying voters their say on marriage, and pushing aside critical issues like getting the state economy on track. He needs to stop wasting time by messing with marriage and start focusing on the real issues of the state.”

The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to have a hearing on a bill legalizing same-sex marriage next Wednesday, February 9. The introduction of this bill represents the denial of the people of Rhode Island the right to vote on the marriage issue.

“In 31 out of 31 states where voters have been given the right to decide the marriage issue, all thirty-one have voted to protect marriage. We want Rhode Island voters to be given that same opportunity,” said Plante. “Now is not the time for an activist Governor who only received 36 percent of the popular vote in the November election to force his agenda through the legislature and onto the state.”

NOM-RI has been active in the state on the marriage issue with previous ad campaigns, grassroots outreach, and events.

“We are not backing down from this challenge, and we will not let up on our efforts to get a vote for the people of Rhode Island,” concluded Plante.

Transcript of the Radio Advertisement:

“Wasting Time"
60 Second Radio

WOMAN

Oh brother.

MAN

What’s that, hun?

WOMAN

Lincoln Chafee says he needs more time to get his budget proposal together.

MAN

More time? Well it is a tough problem.

WOMAN

Which is why I don’t understand why he’s wasting time trying to redefine marriage instead of solving our economic problems.

MAN

Redefine marriage?

WOMAN

Chafee wants to impose gay marriage on Rhode Island with no vote of the people.

MAN

That’s not right.

WOMAN

He’s got time to pressure lawmakers about gay marriage, but needs more time to get his economic plan together?

MAN

Sounds like he’s wasting time.

WOMAN

I don’t want legislators messing with marriage. Marriage brings men and women together to help ensure that as many children as possible are raised by a mom and a dad. And kids need a mom and a dad.

MAN

What can we do?

WOMAN

I’m going to tell our representatives not to mess with marriage. And if they think marriage needs changing then they should put this issue on the ballot for voters to decide.

MAN

Let the people vote.

MAN (Different voice)

Paid for by National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island.

To schedule an interview with Christopher Plante, Executive Director of National Organization for Marriage-Rhode Island, please contact Elizabeth Ray, [email protected], (x130) or Mary Beth Hutchins, [email protected], (x105) at 703-683-5004.

###

By NOM Staff | Posted in Catholic Church, Marriage, Rhode Island, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (11)

CBN: Will 'Bluest of Blue States' OK Gay Marriage?

February 3, 2011 – 4:00 pm

CBN News:

Lawmakers in two East Coast blue states are pushing to legalize gay marriage. Rhode Island is one. The other is Maryland -- next-door neighbor to Washington D.C., where the practice was legalized last year.

... "They're going to continue to argue that this is all about rights," Del. Don Dwyer, R-Maryland Dist. 31, said. Dwyer is the main opponent of the legislators who want to legalize gay marriage.

Dwyer believes his opponents probably could have won civil unions for same-sex couples, but have overplayed their hand by going for full-fledged marriage for gays.

"When you cross the line on the term 'marriage,' all of a sudden it's a new game," he explained.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Maryland, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (4)

Do Girlfriends and Boyfriends have Rights to Your Child?

February 3, 2011 – 3:40 pm

For the gay press, this case is about discrimination against a gay "mother" who never adopted a non-biological child.

For the rest of us it raises the question: what happens when the law gives romantic partners legal rights over our children?

Lambda Legal: "Today the Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments in Lambda Legal's case defending Michele Hobbs, a lesbian mother who was denied access to her child when she and her former partner, the biological mother, ended their relationship."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Divorce, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (9)

Senate Republicans show opposition to SSM in MD

February 3, 2011 – 3:30 pm

From Jon Fairbanks:

Senate GOP caucus leaders in Maryland say they will not support legislation legalizing gay marriage.

During a private meeting on Tuesday, the group voted to take a formal position against a same-sex marriage bill pending in the Maryland General Assembly.

Senate Minority Leader Nancy C. Jacobs said at least eight of the 12 senators who participated in the caucus voted against the bill.

“We met that threshold,” Jacobs said. “The caucus expects extensive debate on this bill and we look forward to discussions of why so many Marylanders are passionate about this issue.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in Maryland, Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off

NOM Pres. Brian Brown pledges "Full Fight on Marriage in Maryland"

February 3, 2011 – 3:15 pm

LifeSiteNews: Bill to legalize gay 'marriage' introduced in Maryland legislature

Meanwhile, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has guaranteed “a full fight” in Maryland. Brian Brown, NOM’s president, said the state is on a “dangerous path” toward “radically redefining the most pro-child institution ever.” He maintains most Marylanders do not support same-sex “marriage” and says he expects that “if ignored, they will rise up and overturn the legislature at the ballot box.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in Maryland, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

New chief justice: Calif. Supreme Court will decide about entering Prop 8 soon

February 3, 2011 – 2:56 pm

The Los Angeles Times:

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said Wednesday that the California Supreme Court may decide "as soon as next week" whether to weigh in on the federal Proposition 8 appeal and expressed hope that a Southern California Latino would be chosen to succeed departing Justice Carlos R. Moreno.

In her first meeting with reporters since taking over for retired Chief Justice Ronald M. George, Cantil-Sakauye said she would meet with Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday and discuss the judicial branch budget and Moreno's successor.

Moreno, the only Democrat on the court, is leaving at the end of this month to make more money in the private sector. He was the sole justice on the court to vote to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that reinstated a ban on same-sex marriage.

By NOM Staff | Posted in California, Prop 8, Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off

Adult Children Also Hurt By Parents' Late-Life Divorces

February 3, 2011 – 1:11 pm

Reuters:

Children often have it rough when their parents divorce, but grown up "kids" may have it even rougher.

Adult offspring whose parents split up later in life face the usual and expected psychological issues: "They may feel like 'everything I thought was real, isn't,'" says Diana Mercer, an attorney-mediator and author of several books on divorce.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Divorce, Parenting | Comments Off

NYT: Chick-fil-A Protests at N.Y.U. Are Muted

February 3, 2011 – 12:05 pm

From NYT’s City Room Blog:

On some college campuses, students are agitated about the presence of Chick-fil-A, a purveyor of Southern-style chicken sandwiches that has run afoul of some proponents of same-sex marriage. But at a New York University cafeteria, the only place in the city where a craving for Chick-fil-A can be sated, the squawking has been limited.

… In the dining hall, students who were lined up for Chick-fil-A food said they were unaware of the controversy.

… The station serving Chick-fil-A’s food has been a popular part of a food court in the dining hall on University Place in Manhattan since the fall of 2004, Mr. Beckman said. Chick-fil-A won out in a student taste test when the dining hall was being revamped by its operator, Aramark, he said.

… “Thank God for this hidden treasure!” one reviewer wrote on Yelp. “Yes it’s in an N.Y.U. dining hall. But if you feel too weird eating with students you can get plastic bag and take it to Washington Square Park.”

Here’s hoping we can continue to keep poultry a-political.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

In face of bipartisan House vote, Gronstal digs in his heels

February 3, 2011 – 10:23 am

Yesterday’s bipartisan vote in the Iowa State House hasn’t deterred Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal from his decision to be the one man in Iowa stopping a vote on marriage:

The bipartisan vote in the House was “a big step backwards for the constitutional rights of all Iowans,” Gronstal said.

Danny Carroll, spokesman for the Family Leader, formerly known as the Iowa Family Policy Council, takes Gronstal at his word, but hopes it's not the final word on the resolution.

“The House has spoken, and spoken rather convincingly, with a bipartisan vote in favor of letting the people vote,” Carroll said. “That should mean something to the Iowa Senate.”

The effort to undo the April 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision in Varnum v. Brien that struck down the state ban on same-sex marriage now is in the hands of the Senate Democratic caucus, which has a 26-24 majority, Carroll said.

“They're the ones who chose (Gronstal) for their leader,” he said.
Some Democratic senators have indicated they support the proposed constitutional amendment and have said they will support it if it comes to the floor. Among them are Senate President Jack Kibbie of Emmetsburg, Tom Hancock of Epworth, Dennis Black of Grinnell and Joe Seng of Davenport.

“If there is any way to prevail upon Sen. Gronstal it will have to come from within his caucus,” Carroll said. [Continue reading]

By NOM Staff | Posted in Iowa, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

One GOP state Senator in MD breaks ranks to support SSM

February 3, 2011 – 8:00 am

From the Advocate:

"[State] Sen. Allan Kittleman announced his support for the [same-sex marriage] bill in Maryland on Wednesday, becoming the first, and perhaps the only, Republican senator to support the measure..."

... In the statement, he also announced that he would abandon his proposal for a civil unions bill, a consensus attempt he conceived last month that failed to gain traction among gay rights activists and senators from either party."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Maryland, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

NYT: White House may be forced to finally take a stand on DOMA

February 2, 2011 – 5:41 pm

Last week the New York Times published a fascinating story suggesting that the White House may soon be forced to take a stand on DOMA, one way or the other:

President Obama has balanced on a political tightrope for two years over the Defense of Marriage Act, the contentious 1996 law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriages. Now, two new federal lawsuits threaten to snap that rope out from under him.

Mr. Obama, whose political base includes many supporters of gay rights, has urged lawmakers to repeal the law. But at the same time, citing an executive-branch duty to defend acts of Congress, he has sent Justice Department lawyers into court to oppose suits seeking to strike the law down as unconstitutional.

The President has been candid about his personal opposition to DOMA:

“I have a whole bunch of really smart lawyers who are looking at a whole range of options,” Mr. Obama said, referring to finding a way to end the Defense of Marriage Act. “I’m always looking for a way to get it done, if possible, through our elected representatives. That may not be possible.”

In the meantime, lack of action by the Justice Department, while not explicitly abetting DOMA’s dismantle, still would serve to pull the rug out from under it:

Justice Department officials say they have a responsibility to offer that argument [that DOMA is constitutional] and let courts decide, rather than effectively nullifying a law by not defending it.

In other words, inaction is itself an answer to the question, “Does the Obama Administration support this law passed by Congress?”

At any rate, we may soon get closer to a real answer from Obama’s Administration on DOMA: do they support it, or don’t they?

By NOM Staff | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off

First step to civil discourse? Drop the hateful labels

February 2, 2011 – 5:36 pm

So says Washington DC’s Cardinal Wuerl in the Washington Post:

Increasingly, there is a tendency to disparage the name and reputation, the character and life, of a person because he or she holds a different position. The identifying of some people as "bigots" and "hate mongers" simply because they hold a position contrary to another's has unfortunately become all too commonplace today. Locally, we have witnessed rhetorical hyperbole that, I believe, long since crossed the line between reasoned discourse and irresponsible demagoguery.

… People and organizations should not be denounced disparagingly as "homophobic" simply because they support the traditional, worldwide, time-honored definition of marriage. The defaming words speak more about political posturing than about reasoned discourse.

Danny Carroll, chairman of the Iowa Family Policy Center speaks of a similar experience:

Carroll said supporters of the marriage amendment have no malice in their hearts.

"In fact, many of those people would be quick to offer an apology to the homosexual community for the way they have been treated over the decades, for the ridicule and at least verbal if not physical abuse that they had been subject to," Carroll said. "We reject that, Mr. Chair. Let me repeat: We reject that, just as much as we reject evangelical Christians being the brunt of name-calling, being called bigots because they simply want the chance to vote on what the definition of marriage is and has been for the last 2,000 years."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments (23)

"Marriage Benefits Personal and National Economic Stability"

February 2, 2011 – 4:17 pm

From the National Marriage Week USA press release:

As part of an international marriage week movement in 12 countries during the week leading up to Valentine's Day, National Marriage Week USA -- February 7 to 14 -- announces new national initiatives to show marriage benefits personal and national economic stability and for raising more well adjusted children. National Marriage Week USA provides a new clearinghouse of marriage classes and conferences all around the country to help couples strengthen their own marriage, or to reach out and help others.

"Marriage breakdown costs taxpayers at least $112 billion a year. Research shows an alarming drop in the marriage rate from 79 percent of all adults married in 1970 to 57 percent today. Plus 40 percent of all American babies are now born outside of marriage. Combined with our 50 percent divorce rate, family breakdown is costly to the nation." said businessman Chuck Stetson, CEO of National Marriage Week USA, citing research from the esteemed Institute for American Values. "In these days of economic hardship, policy leaders and individual Americans need to get serious about our efforts to strengthen marriage."  "Marriage pays," says National Marriage Week USA executive director Sheila Weber. "Research shows that marriage makes people happier, live longer, and build more economic security. Children with married parents perform better in school, have less trouble with the law, less teen pregnancy and fewer issues with addiction."

"Most folks don't know where to go to get the help they need," said Weber. "We've created a list of hundreds of classes and conferences all around the country. Folks can locate an event near them by logging on to www.NationalMarriageWeekUSA.org."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Marriage | Comments (5)

Sprigg to Maryland: Marriage’s public purpose is raising children

February 2, 2011 – 3:51 pm

Peter Sprigg, a Maryland Resident and senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council, asks in The Baltimore Sun, “do children matter in Maryland?”:

That is the question that will be at stake in 2011, when the Maryland legislature considers radically changing the definition of our most fundamental social institution — marriage.

The question of whether Maryland should place its highest stamp of official government affirmation on sexual unions between two men or two women actually has little to do with debates over "sexual orientation" and even less to do with bromides about "equality."

… Marriage is a public institution because it serves two public purposes: bringing together men and women for the reproduction of the human race and keeping together a man and woman to raise to maturity the children produced by their union.

The existence of future generations of children is fundamental to the survival of any society. The quality of their nurture is directly related to the quality of life in that society. Bonding the man and woman whose sexual union produces a child to one another and to that child is by far the most efficient way of ensuring that nurture. [Continue reading]

By NOM Staff | Posted in Children, Maryland, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (6)

Indiana University reverses Chick-Fil-A suspension

February 2, 2011 – 2:42 pm

Good news from the Washington Times:

Indiana University at South Bend will resume its use of Chick-fil-A’s campus services on Wednesday after suspending the restaurant chain over its plans to provide free lunches for a Pennsylvania conference on traditional marriage.

The restaurant’s services on IUSB’s campus have featured Chick-fil-A meals with the famous chicken sandwiches and milkshakes every Wednesday at two dining locations: the Courtside Cafe and the Grille.

But the restaurant chain, known nationally as a family-held Christian business that does not open on Sundays, was barred late last month at the demand of Campus Ally Network, a pro-gay campus group.

“Last week, Chancellor [Una Mae] Reck ordered a review of the suspension. The review was completed today, and based on a more complete understanding of the facts, Chancellor Reck ordered the end of the suspension. At this time, Chick-fil-A is a full-service food provider for IU South Bend with no restrictions,” said Ken Bairl, IUSB’s director of communications and marketing in a written statement.

Hopefully we can now all go back to enjoying our "chikin" again!

By NOM Staff | Posted in Free Speech, Indiana, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (5)