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Monthly Archives: April 2011

Gacek on Seeking the Real Obama on Marriage

April 2, 2011 – 7:00 am

Chris Gacek, JD, PHD, and a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, goes on a hunt for the real Obama when it comes to marriage:

Since the days when Obama ran for president, he has been slippery regarding his support for same-sex marriage. He has told America that he opposes same-sex marriage, but he has been quick to point out that he did not support the traditional definitions of marriage found in Prop. 8 or the Defense of Marriage Act. Prop. 8 and DOMA contain simple definitions of traditional marriage. Oppose them, and you really must not support true marriage. [Continue reading]

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Have you joined NOM's Defend DOMA effort? Visit our Defend DOMA website today and learn how you can protect marriage in 3 Easy Steps!

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

Protect Crystal Dixon’s Right to Speak!

April 1, 2011 – 5:02 pm

In 2008, Crystal Dixon was fired from the University of Toledo for expressing her view that equating gay rights with civil rights is wrong.

Now, Equality Michigan (funded by the Arcus foundation) is trying to get her fired from her next position, too—this one in Jackson, Michigan.

They say a "public leader" with a record like Crystal "is unacceptable anywhere in our state," and have mounted a campaign to get her fired for her views.

Click here to send a message to Jackson County Administrator Adam Brown. Thank him for standing firm, and for hiring employees based on their own merit, not the opinions of a small minority who believe those who disagree with them should be denied employment "anywhere in our state."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments (3)

ACT NOW to Protect Christian Adoption Agencies From Virginia Government – DEADLINE TONIGHT!

April 1, 2011 – 2:34 pm

Driving religious foster care and adoption agencies out of business appears to be the purpose of new regulations proposed by the Virginia Department of Social Services.

Proposed Virginia Administrative Code section 22 VAC 40-131-170 provides that:

"[Private adoption agencies] shall prohibit acts of discrimination based on . . . sexual orientation, disability or family status to:

1. Delay or deny a child's placement; or
2. Deny an individual the opportunity to apply to become a foster or adoptive parent."

URGENT ALERT!

Please take action immediately! Public comment on this dangerous new regulation closes at midnight tonight. Click here to register your comment today!

Here's the message the DSS officials proposing this regulation need to hear:

Don't hurt needy children by driving religious foster care and adoption agencies out of business. If an agency provides good parents for children, they should be embraced, not rejected by the state of Virginia.

The message of exclusion you will send to children with strong religious identities, as well as to potential foster and adoptive parents is unconscionable and destructive.

The state of Virginia Social Services has no right to impose this strange new morality on other people, to the detriment of the neediest children in our state.

Please place your comment right away!

By NOM Staff | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments (50)

Video: Rep Weiner jokingly claims to be for "mandatory gay marriage"

April 1, 2011 – 12:22 pm

And now for something completely different ...

Rep. Anthony Weiner, whose primary hobby these days is to appear petulant and annoyed during FOX News interviews, was at the Congressional Correspondents' Dinner this week. Overall he did a good job, but one joke seemed to fall a little flat:

At least the new mayor of Chicago got a kick out of it.

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

Urgent Action Alert: Protect Christian Adoption Agencies from Government!

April 1, 2011 – 12:16 pm

We received this news from a reader:

The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) has proposed regulations to require state licensed adoption agencies in Virginia, including private church-run adoption agencies, to not refuse to process adoption of children based on sexual orientation. If these new regs are adopted, even private, church-run agencies would be required to process adoption applications by same-sex couples.

The VDSS is requesting comments from the public on this proposal. The comment period ends tonight at 11:59 PM today. Please leave a comment and help us spread the word!

Driving religious foster care and adoption agencies out of business appears to be the only real purpose of new regs proposed by the Virigina Dept. of Social Services.

Write to the government of Virginia and tell them: Do not hurt needy children, by driving religious foster care and adoption agencies out of the business of helping needy kids. If an agency provides good parents for children, they should be embraced --not rejected-- by the state of Virginia.

The message of exclusion government will send to children with strong religious identities, as well as to potential religious foster and adoptive parents, is unconscionable and destructive.

The State of Virginia's Social Services has no right to impose this strange new morality regulations on other people, to the detriment of the neediest children in our state.

Write today and tell a friend.

Photo: www.catholiccharitiesofmadison.org

By NOM Staff | Posted in Adoption, Religious Liberty, Virginia | Comments (10)

Jim Jordan, Conservative Hero

April 1, 2011 – 12:08 pm

He says the GOP should honor their promises to voters:

Jim Jordan, chairman of the 176-member Republican Study Committee, is leading an effort by conservatives to press House leaders for floor votes in opposition to gay marriage.

“We want to advance marriage. That’s the pledge. Our party should be all about defending marriage as it has always been defined,” he said.

By NOM Staff | Posted in DOMA, Same Sex Marriage, Washington DC | Comments (1)

CARA Pollster: Info missing from survey claiming Catholic support for SSM

April 1, 2011 – 10:21 am

From the Catholic News Agency:

A survey claiming majority U.S. Catholic support for same-sex “marriage” shows some differences with the “gold standard” of social surveys and did not report important information like the margin of error.

A March 23, 2011 report from the Washington, D.C.-based Public Religion Research Institute included claims that Catholic support for same-sex “marriage” stood at 53 percent.

Mark M. Gray, Ph.D., director of CARA Catholic Polls and a research associate for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, said the claim of majority support cannot be made “with any certainty, given the relatively small sample size here and the margin of error.”

The survey had interviewed about 3,000 people, including about 600 Catholics, Gray said. The margin of error for the Catholic population was plus or minus six percentage points.

“Any percentage here, for all Catholics, could be six points higher, it could be six points lower,” he explained. He criticized the institute’s report for not including either the margins of error or the numbers of Latino Catholics, which he said was “standard practice.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in Catholic Church, Polling | Comments (2)

Offbeat: Brian Brown and Archbishop Wenski - long lost cousins?

April 1, 2011 – 10:05 am

Since it's Friday, I couldn't resist an offbeat observation....

Here's a photo of Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami that I stumbled across:

And here's a picture of our president Brian Brown:

... I don't know about you, but I see some resemblance!

Of course, Brian loves surfing and Archbishop Wenski loves riding motorcycles.

That's probably because, as we all know, Florida can't compete with California waves.

By Thomas Peters | Posted in Humor | Comments (3)

Archbishop Wenski writes that pro-SSM folks risk living in a false reality; in response, gay blogger creates a false reality

April 1, 2011 – 9:42 am

This week Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami published an op-ed in the Sun Sentinel: "Traditional Marriage Predates All Of Us."

But it was the Archbishop's description of the two sides of the marriage debate which drew the venom of a local gay journalist.

Here's what Archbishop Wenski wrote:

"In our nation's culture wars, the two sides are fighting about the understanding of man and his relationship to truth and reality. One side — and today, "gay marriage" is its poster child — holds that anyone can essentially create his or her own reality. This side holds for a radical autonomy by which truth is determined not by the nature of things, but by one's own individual will. The other side holds men and women are not self-creators, but creatures. Truth is not constructed, but received and thus must reflect the reality of things. Or, as the Book of Genesis says: "Male and female, He (God) created them." (Genesis 1:27)."

Local gay journalist Brandon K Thorp wrote a sarcastic, intentionally-offensive response [Update - link fixed] in the Broward Palm Beach New Times to the Archbishop's op-ed. Ironically, Thorp perfectly fulfills this prediction of the Archbishop:

"Those who see "same sex marriage" as progress towards a more "tolerant" society will, with characteristic intolerance, label their opponents as "intolerant," "bigoted," "homophobic" and so on."

Instead of just attacking Wenski personally and suggesting that he is all the nasty things Wenski mentions, Thorp proceeds to attack the entire Catholic Church (and it's history) as well as the Christian position on marriage and family.

In other words, Thorp creates his own reality about what Christianity is and what it teaches. (I have more thoughts on Thorp's screed on my personal blog, American Papist.)

Whatever your views about the Catholic Church (Thorp clearly hates it with a passion) - we should be thankful that brave men such as Archbishop Thomas continue to publicly defend the institution of marriage, knowing full well the sort of vicious response they will be subject to.

Read Wenski's column and read Thorp's response and then ask yourself - "which man is living in reality?"

Photo: Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post

By Thomas Peters | Posted in Catholic Church | Comments (2)

Video: Senator Sessions says decision not to defend Doma "cannot be justified"

April 1, 2011 – 7:00 am

From the Senator's YouTube Channel: "Senator [Jeff] Sessions, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sharply questioned Donald Verrilli, Jr, the nominee to be Solicitor General of the United States. Sessions strongly expressed his views on how the Department of Justice recently handled the Defense of Marriage Act."