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Monthly Archives: April 2011

Video: Full Q&A Session at Congressional DOMA Hearing

April 21, 2011 – 8:00 am

For the political junkies, here is the 32-minute video of the Q&A at last week's Congressional hearing on DOMA, where Democrat and Republican members asked the panelists --Maggie Gallagher, Ed Whelan and Carlos Ball-- questions:

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

Lawrence v. Texas for India?

April 21, 2011 – 7:00 am

India's Supreme Court postponed a hearing on a Dehli High Court's decision that decriminalized laws against homosexuality. The Court is expected to take up the issue over the summer. Abolishing legal restrictions on non-marital sex is obviously a much bigger deal in a country where just one in six Indian men, and less than one out of 20 Indian women, have premarital sex.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture | Comments (6)

Delaware Lets Boyfriends and Girlfriends Sue for Rights to Your Child

April 20, 2011 – 12:02 pm

So a lesbian mom adopts a child in Kazakhstan. Her girlfriend says she intended to file for a joint adoption in Delaware but no papers were filed before they broke up. Delaware's high court rules the adopted mom's the mom, end of story. The Delaware legislature passes a law to give girlfriends and boyfriends potential "defacto parenthood" status.

This particular case is a same-sex couple, but it could easily have been an opposite sex couple:. The lesbian mom who adopted a child and doesn't want to subdivide her parental rights with her ex-girlfriend puts it this way:

"Parental rights have been dismantled," Smith said. "It will take a few years for people to realize what it means, but parents don't have the right to care and custody of their children any more. Another individual now has the right to sue you for rights to your children. It's downright scary."

Wait until abusive boyfriends discover this threat to hold over their girlfriend's heads.

By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in Adoption, Delaware | Comments (22)

The Formerly Conservative Lawyer Known as Ted Olson

April 20, 2011 – 11:53 am

Ted Olson definitely used to be a judicial conservative. So why is he in court now arguing the First Amendment requires the release of videotapes that the judge promised would never be used, and that the Supreme Court ruled could not be broadcast?

Here's the argument:

"The Olson team’s brief countered, saying a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Globe v. Superior Court) held that "public access to trials 'protect[s] the free discussion of governmental affairs' that is essential to the ability of 'the individual citizen...[to] effectively participate in and contribute to our republican system of self-government.'" (In Globe, the Supreme Court ruled against a Massachusetts court order that had closed to the public and the press the trial of a man accused of raping three minor children.)"

But of course the public and the press were present at the Prop 8 trial, and the trial record is public.

The First Amendment requires courts to televise trials?

Wow Ted, that's a stretch. So much for judicial restraint.

By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in California, Prop 8, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (9)

Video: RI Speaker Fox Shuts Off Mic of Rep Asking Why SSM Is Holding Up the Budget

April 20, 2011 – 10:37 am

In Rhode Island, House Minority Leader Bob Watson thinks focusing on the serious budget issues facing the state is long overdue. When he tried to raise that point of view on the House floor, however, Speaker Gordon Fox had his microphone shut off. Leader Watson commented later:

“I don’t like it when they turn my microphone off, and I also don’t like it when we keep secrets in that building,” Watson said of the Statehouse. “There’s no reason why we can’t discuss the travel and the tracking of the gay marriage bill. It is a distracting issue. It’s been a preoccupation throughout the course of the session, and I just hoped and expected when we came back off of April vacation we would be focused on the budget exclusively.”

Local WPRI Eyewitness news talks about the episode --and shows us what happened in the Statehouse-- during an interview with Leader Watson:

By NOM Staff | Posted in Rhode Island, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (2)

Why Supporting Marriage is Not "Anti-Gay": Rep. Quigley and I Have a Heart-to-Heart

April 20, 2011 – 10:00 am

I don't expect any gay marriage activist to appreciate this exchange, but I did. Gay parents can be good parents, just as single moms and dads, or remarried parents can be good parents. That doesn't mean we should abandon the idea, or the ideal that children should be loved and cared for by the man and woman who made them--or the idea that this is what marriage is for.

By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in DOMA, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (30)

Catholic Church blasts Scottish SSM push

April 20, 2011 – 9:30 am

From the Christian Institute in the UK:

Calls in Scotland for marriage to be fundamentally redefined ... have come under fire from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland.

John Deighan, the Parliamentary Officer for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, asked: “Are we saying that, for the past few thousand years, Western civilisation has been wrong and because of the lobbying by pressure groups over the past ten years everything should now change?”

Mr Deighan also asked: “What are we going to teach our children at school, that you can marry a man or a woman when you grow up?”

By NOM Staff | Posted in Europe, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (8)

Video of Maggie: Why DOMA is Good Policy for Society and the Next Generation

April 20, 2011 – 9:00 am

NOM Chairman Maggie Gallagher, in her testimony last Friday, examines why DOMA is important for establishing the sort of parameters most conducive to raising and educating the next generation well - one of the primary signs of a stable and flourishing society (read her written, more complete testimony here):

By NOM Staff | Posted in DOMA, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (2)

Check out NOM's new Facebook page!

April 19, 2011 – 6:15 pm

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Have you visited our new Facebook page yet?

Check it out today at www.facebook.com/NationForMarriage.

It's the new home on Facebook for all things marriage-related. Click here to visit and "Like" the new NOM Facebook page, ensuring that all the latest news shows up in your newsfeed.

Even if you're not a Facebook user, you can check out the page regularly for news, information and conversation about marriage (although you have to be a Facebook user to post comments).

Many of you have asked what happened to the "Protect Marriage: One Man, One Woman" Facebook page. As I mentioned in last week's newsletter, Louis Marinelli helped build the Facebook page to almost 300,000 supporters, and wanted to use that page to help further NOM's work. But unexpectedly, 10 days ago Louis assumed sole control of the page, announced a sudden change of heart, and relaunched it with support from same-sex marriage activists.

Many of the page's fans have felt betrayed, and thousands have already "unliked" the page. While we wish Louis all the best personally, we're obviously disappointed that he would deprive nearly 300,000 marriage supporters of their Facebook community.

That's why we want to build this new, secure, page into the largest Facebook page supporting marriage, and we need your help.

Here's what I'm asking you to do:

LIKE IT! Click here to visit and "Like" the new NOM Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NationForMarriage. And after you like the page, come join the conversation, helping to make "NationForMarriage" a vibrant community of marriage supporters from all across the nation and around the world.
SHARE IT! Help spread the word to your friends and online networks. You can share this email via Facebook and Twitter, or post a short statement in your Facebook status, letting your friends know about NOM's new page. ("I'm liking http://www.facebook.com/NationForMarriage because I believe marriage is the union of a husband and wife. Join me in taking a stand for marriage today!")
Finally, if you're still a member of the "Protect Marriage: One Man, One Woman" (yes, that's still the name) Facebook page, click here to visit and "unlike" the page. The unlike button is at the bottom of the left-hand sidebar when you visit the page.

Thanks for standing with us in this fight for marriage. We're excited about this opportunity to reach out to new marriage supporters and hope that you'll join us in spreading the word.

Brian Brown

Faithfully,

Brian brown

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

P.S.: If you're on Twitter, don't forget to follow us @NOMtweets for multiple marriage updates throughout each day!

By Brian Brown | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

Video of Ed Whelan: Obama Politicized Department of Justice on DOMA

April 19, 2011 – 5:55 pm

Legal scholar and president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center Ed Whelan minced no words in his testimony last week as he summarized his extensive research and coverage of the Obama administration's efforts to undermine DOMA.

Whelan argues that the Obama administration is "eager to obscure from the American public its stealth campaign to induce the Court to invent a constitutional right to same-sex marriage." Watch his opening statement here:

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

Video of Chairman Franks: Obama's DOMA Decision an Opportunist Attempt to Solve a Political Dilemma

April 19, 2011 – 5:53 pm

Chairman Trent Franks (R-AZ) began last week's DOMA hearing with many astute points, including:

"The President’s decision [to abandon defending DOMA] was a baldly opportunistic attempt to free himself from a political dilemma. The Administration had a duty to defend DOMA, but powerful constituencies of the President did not want the President to defend it. Politics trumped duty.

... [N]ever has a President refused to defend a law of such public importance, on a legal theory so far beyond any court precedent, for such transparently political reasons."

Watch his full opening remarks here:

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

Breaking News: VA Social Services Commissioner Opposes New Adoption Regs

April 19, 2011 – 5:47 pm

From the WaPo's Virginia Politics blog:

Virginia Social Services Commissioner Martin Brown, who was appointed by Gov. Bob McDonnell and who also worked for two other Republican governors, George Allen and Jim Gilmore, is advising a state board that it cannot impose proposed regulations that some argue would, for the first time, allow same-sex couples in Virginia to adopt children.... The proposed changes would require private and faith-based groups, such as Catholic Charities and Jewish Family Services, to allow gay parents to adopt or foster children.

The article notes that the State Board of Social Services will consider the issue Wednesday.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Adoption, Religious Liberty, Virginia | Comments (1)

Ed Whelan on Prop 8: "Disclosure Delayed Is Justice Denied'

April 19, 2011 – 12:54 pm

Legal scholar Ed Whelan argues that Judge Vaugh Walker should have been disqualified from the Prop 8 case now undergoing appeal - and that the decision he rendered in that case should be vacated:

Two weeks ago, former federal district judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled last summer in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that California’s Proposition 8 is unconstitutional, publicly disclosed for the first time that he has been in a same-sex relationship for the past ten years. A straightforward application of the judicial ethics rules compels the conclusion that Walker should have recused himself from taking part in the Perry case. Further, under well-established Supreme Court precedent, the remedy of vacating Walker’s judgment is timely and necessary.

... In taking part in the Perry case, Judge Walker was deciding whether Proposition 8 would bar him and his same-sex partner from marrying. Whether Walker had any subjective interest in marrying his same-sex partner — a matter on which Walker hasn’t spoken — is immaterial under section 455(a). (If Walker did have such an interest, his recusal also would be required by other rules requiring that a judge disqualify himself when he knows that he has an “interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding.”) Walker’s own factual findings explain why a reasonable person would expect him to want to have the opportunity to marry his partner: A reasonable person would think that Walker would want to have the opportunity to take part with his partner in what “is widely regarded as the definitive expression of love and commitment in the United States.” A reasonable person would think that Walker would want to decrease the costs of his same-sex relationship, increase his wealth, and enjoy the physical and psychological benefits that marriage is thought to confer.

By NOM Staff | Posted in California, Prop 8, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (30)

New Hungarian Constitution Protects Marriage as One Man, One Woman!

April 19, 2011 – 12:46 pm

Big change is afoot in Hungary, as the AP reports:

Hungarian lawmakers approved a socially and fiscally conservative new constitution Monday that was blasted by rights groups and the political opposition for measures including a ban on gay marriage and protection of the life of a fetus from conception.

Conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban says the constitution will allow the former communist country to complete a transition to democracy and move to an era of sound finances and clean government after years of mismanagement and scandals.

... "We've just participated in a historical moment," parliamentary speaker Laszlo Kover said moments after the bill was approved 262-44. "The new constitution is built upon our past and traditions, but seeks and contains answers to current problems while keeping an eye on the future."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Europe, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (12)

House Files to Intervene in NY DOMA Case

April 19, 2011 – 12:40 pm

A Wall Street Journal blog notes the first example of the House intervening in a case brought against DOMA (this one in New York):

In a filing in federal court in New York, House lawmakers asked to be allowed to intervene in a case that challenged the legality of the law since the Justice Department had withdrawn its defense.

Dan Lungren (R., Calif.), chairman of the Committee on House Administration, which oversees the House general counsel, said: “This administration’s failure to enforce current law, an act inherently unconstitutional in and of itself, has forced the House to intervene and ensure the courts – not the president – determine constitutionality.”