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Monthly Archives: August 2011

Values Voters Bus Tour - Your chance to meet presidential candidates in person!

August 8, 2011 – 6:05 pm

$100,000 Challenge

I hope you've made plans to join us at one of the Values Voters Bus Tour stops this week as we tour Iowa on our way to the Ames Straw Poll next Saturday. With 22 stops over 4 days, you'll have plenty of opportunities to find a tour stop near you, bring out your friends and neighbors, and ask GOP presidential candidates about their support for marriage.

The tour kicks off at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines tomorrow morning, and continues through Oskaloosa, Washington, Muscatine, and Davenport before ending the day in Iowa City. And that's just the first day! Visit ValuesBus.com for all the updated information regarding the tour locations.

We're privileged to be teaming up with the Family Research Council and the Susan B. Anthony List on this important project, giving Iowans the chance to meet presidential candidates, raising the profile of the marriage issue, and encouraging pro-family voters to come the Ames Straw Poll next Saturday. I had my first chance to tour the great state of Iowa during the Judges Bus Tour last fall, and was thrilled to see how committed Iowans are to protecting marriage and family.

Iowa Values Voter Bus Tour

Joining the Values Voters Bus Tour will be presidential candidates Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum, as well as stalwart pro-family Congressmen Steve King (R-IA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX). FRC Action President Tony Perkins and former Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, now project director for the SBA List's "Votes Have Consequences" Project will be on board also, accompanied by various pro-family and pro-life leaders from across the state.

Here's the full list of tour stops, but be sure to check back at ValuesBus.com for all the latest updates. If you live in Iowa, I hope you'll be able to come out and join us! And don't forget to tell family and friends!

  • Tuesday, August 9th
    • 9:45 AM – 10:30 AM: Des Moines
      Iowa State Capitol, West Capitol Terrace, 400 Finkbine Drive
    • 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM: Oskaloosa
      City Square Park, 150 High Avenue East
    • 2:00 PM – 2:30 PM: Washington
      Central Park, 190 North Marion Avenue
    • 3:45 PM – 4:15 PM: Muscatine
      Riverside Park, Harbor Drive
    • 5:15 PM – 5:45 PM: Davenport
      Lafayette Park, 700 West 4th Street
    • 7:00 PM – 7:30 PM: Iowa City
      Culver's of Coralville, 2591 Heartland Place, Coralville
  • Wednesday, August 10th
    • 8:30 – 9:00 AM: Cedar Rapids
      Cedar Rapids Marriott, 1200 Collins Road NE
    • 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Dubuque
      Washington Park, 351 W 6th Street
    • 12:45 PM – 1:15 PM: Waterloo
      Lincoln Park, 451 E 4th Street
    • 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM: Mason City
      Central Park, 75 1st Street NW
    • 5:45 PM – 6:15 PM: Dickinson County
      TBA
  • Thursday, August 11th
    • 8:30 – 9:00 AM: Sioux City
      Holiday Inn Express Sioux Center, 100 Saint Andrews Way
    • 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM: Le Mars
      Bob's Drive Inn, Highway 75 South
    • 10:45 AM – 11:15 AM: Sioux City
      Sergeant Floyd Monument, 2701 S Lewis Blvd/Old US Highway 75
    • 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM: Council Bluffs
      Bayliss Park, 159 South 6th Street
    • 3:15 PM – 3:45 PM: Atlantic
      Atlantic City Park, 51 W 6th Street
  • Friday, August 12th
    • 10:00 AM – 10:30 AM: Webster City
      Wilson Brewer Park, 280 Ohio Street
    • 11:15 AM – 11:45 AM: Fort Dodge
      City Square Park, 120 N 5th Street
    • 1:30 PM – 2:00 PM: Carroll
      Carroll County Courthouse, 595 Court Street
    • 3:15 PM – 3:45 PM: Boone
      Pizza Ranch, 1703 South Story Street
    • 5:00 PM – 5:30 PM: Marshalltown
      Susie Sower Park, 60 N 2nd Avenue

I hope you'll come on out at and join us in standing for marriage at this critical time!

By Brian Brown | Posted in Iowa, Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off on Values Voters Bus Tour - Your chance to meet presidential candidates in person!

CNN Video: Huntsman, Who Refused to Sign Marriage Pledge, Says He's Fine with SSM in NY, Iowa

August 8, 2011 – 12:00 pm

In a recent interview with Wolf Blitzer on CNN:

By NOM Staff | Posted in Election Watch 2012, Iowa, Marriage Election Watch, New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (42)

Marriage Takes Center Stage as Straw Poll Nears

August 8, 2011 – 11:44 am

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 8, 2011
CONTACT: Mary Beth Hutchins at 703-683-5004

Presidential Candidates Travel State with NOM on Values Bus Tour

WASHINGTON– The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) is ensuring that marriage will be a primary factor in voters’ decision on which presidential candidate to support in the upcoming Straw Poll, highlighting on the “Values Voter Bus Tour” the support of four top candidates who have signed NOM’s Marriage Pledge.

“Restoring marriage as the union of one man and one woman will be a major issue in both the upcoming Ames Straw Poll, as well as in selecting Iowa’s GOP nominee in the caucuses next year,” said Brian Brown, president of NOM. “When the Iowa Supreme Court did the unthinkable in 2009 and invented a right to gay marriage in Iowa’s state constitution, they set off a powerful voter reaction that is still unfolding. First, voters threw out all three Supreme Court justices who faced voters in the retention election, including the Chief Justice. Next, Iowa voters will elect a presidential candidate who has pledged to take concrete steps to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Finally, Iowa voters will elect a pro-marriage majority that will put forward a proposed constitutional amendment reversing the activist decision by the Supreme Court.”

NOM is sponsoring the “Values Bus Tour” along with FRC Action and Susan B. Anthony List. The bus tour will come to 22 cities throughout the state during the week leading up to the important Ames Straw Poll on August 13th.

“We encourage our tens of thousands of supporters to come visit us on the bus tour and mingle with some of the presidential candidates who will be joining this,” Brown said. “The top four presidential candidates have all signed NOM’s Marriage Pledge, including Mitt Romney, Michelle Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum. Several of them have expressed a desire to participate in the bus tour.”

NOM's supporters and all citizens of Iowa are encouraged to visit www.valuesbus.com to see the tour schedule and get updated information about which candidates will be joining portions of the tour.

“The valuesbus.com website is an invaluable resource for people to use to get information and participate in promoting marriage as a defining issue in the 2012 presidential campaign. We encourage everyone to go to the website for updated tour scheduling and other information,” Brown concluded.

To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage, or Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the Board, please contact Mary Beth Hutchins (x105), [email protected], or Elizabeth Ray (x130), [email protected], at 703-683-5004.

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By NOM Staff | Posted in Press Releases | Comments (5)

UK Council: "Mum's the Word when it Comes to to Children's Happiness"

August 8, 2011 – 11:00 am

Children are affected when their parents are unhappily married or "partnered" but amazingly not that much, in this study by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council. The majority of kids whose mothers say they are unhappy with their husband or partner, say they are "completely satisfied" with their family life.

As part of the study, which will follow 40,000 UK households over a number of years, young people aged between 10 to 15 years have been asked how satisfied they are with their lives. The findings indicate that a mother's happiness in her partnership is more important to the child than the father's. The findings are based on a sample of 6,441 women, 5,384 men and 1,268 young people.

Overall, 60 per cent of young people say they are 'completely satisfied' with their family situation but in families where the child's mother is unhappy in her partnership, only 55 per cent of young people say they are 'completely happy' with their family situation – compared with 73 per cent of young people whose mothers are 'perfectly happy' in their relationships.

The Understanding Society research examined the relationships between married or cohabiting partners, and relationships between parents and their children. Professor John Ermisch, Dr Maria Iacovou, and Dr Alexandra Skew from the Institute for Social and Economic Research found that the happiest children are those living with two parents – either biological or step – with no younger siblings, who do not quarrel with their parents regularly, who eat at least three evening meals per week with their family and whose mother is happy in her own relationship.

Commenting on the findings, Dr Maria Iacovou said: "At a time when there is widespread political concern about 'Broken Britain', these findings show that family relationships and the happiness of parents are key to the happiness of young people. Contrary to the popular belief that children only want to spend time playing videogames or watching TV we found that they were most happy when interacting with their parents or siblings."

The research also finds that having older siblings is not related to children's happiness with their family, but having younger siblings in the household is associated with lower levels of satisfaction, and this effect is greater the more younger siblings there are in the household. But relationships with parents are even more important than relationships with siblings. Only 28 per cent of children who quarrel more than once a week with their parents, and don't discuss important matters with their parents are completely happy with their families.

 

By NOM Staff | Posted in Children, Parenting, Research/Study, United Kingdom | Comments (2)

Katherine Kersten: Wisconsin, Colorado & Minnesota Have Most Advanced Progressive Infrastructure

August 8, 2011 – 10:00 am

Katherine Kersten, a senior fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, looks at the way progressives carefully organize human and financial resources to push their political goals in states:

... today, a phalanx of left-wing influence groups -- heavily dependent on government union power and money -- is transforming Wisconsin politics. With lavish funding, hardball tactics and national connections, they are ratcheting up statehouse politics to a level of intensity seen before only in high-profile, targeted congressional races.

In the process, these organizations are drowning out authentic grass-roots issues and voices, and are increasingly assuming functions traditionally performed by political parties.

... One Wisconsin Now serves as a 24/7 communications hub for left-wing issues and organizations in Wisconsin. It coordinates messaging and strategy so the state's hundreds of progressive groups are on the same page.

But the network doesn't confine its efforts to election years, the traditional focus of outside influence groups. It uses the same aggressive, campaign-style strategy to pressure public officials on issues on a daily basis.

... We Are Wisconsin acts, in essence, like a parallel political party. It has field operations in every recall district, runs TV and radio ads, and oversees direct mail and phone banks. Kelly Steele, its spokesman, is a longtime national Democratic operative who is widely credited with turning around Sen. Harry Reid's campaign in Nevada in 2010, using tactics that allies have described as "cutthroat."

... In 2008, Rob Stein of the George Soros-funded Democracy Alliance declared that "progressive infrastructure" is most advanced in three states: Wisconsin, Minnesota and Colorado. By 2012, the left plans to have similar operations in 25 states. --Star Tribune

By NOM Staff | Posted in Colorado, Culture, Election Watch 2012, Minnesota, Wisconsin | Comments (7)

Citzen Link: APA Does Not Represent All Psychologists

August 8, 2011 – 9:30 am

A good piece by Catherine Snow at Citizen Link to which we would add: unlike the definition of homosexuality as a mental illness, which is clearly within the APA's alleged expertise, there's also no particular reason to think psychologists are the experts on what the definition of marriage should be:

...Rogers H. Wright and Nicholas A. Cummings, past presidents of divisions within the APA and self-identified “lifelong liberal activists,” would not be surprised with the APA’s decision.

“Political diversity is so absent in mental health circles that most psychologists and social workers live in a bubble,” Cummings once wrote. “So seldom does anyone express ideological disagreement with colleagues that they believe all intelligent people think as they do.

“They are aware that conservatives exist, but regard the term ‘intelligent conservative’ as an oxymoron.”

In their book, “Destructive Trends in Mental Health,” Wright and Cummings concluded that the APA is now run by “agenda-driven ideologues” and that “psychology, psychiatry and social work have been captured by an ultra-liberal agenda.”

Political correctness is ingrained in the institutions of social science, academia and government agencies that they say it has a chilling effect on objective research — and free speech.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, Polling, Research/Study, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (6)

Ethics Expert Asks: "Whose Rights Do We Value Most: Those of Children or of Homosexual Adults?"

August 8, 2011 – 9:00 am

That question forms the core of Margaret Somerville's case against same-sex marriage. She's the director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law in Montreal:

Same-sex marriage creates a clash between upholding the human rights of children with respect to their coming-into being and the family structure in which they will be reared, and the claims of homosexual adults who wish to marry a same-sex partner. It forces us, as a society, to choose whether to give priority to children’s rights or to homosexual adults’ claims. This problem does not arise with opposite-sex marriage, because children’s rights and adults claims with respect to marriage are consistent with each other.

Many people who oppose extending the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples do so on religious grounds or because of moral objections to homosexuality. In contrast, my arguments are secularly based and, to the extent that they involve morals and values, they are grounded in ethics, not religion.

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

Sao Paulo OKs Pride Day—for Heterosexuals

August 8, 2011 – 9:00 am

Weird news, via the AP:

The city council of South America's biggest city has adopted legislation calling for a Heterosexual Pride Day to be celebrated on the third Sunday of each December.

... The legislation's author, Carlos Apolinario, said the idea for a Heterosexual Pride Day is "not anti-gay but a protest against the privileges the gay community enjoys."

As an example, he mentioned how Sao Paulo's huge gay pride day parade is held every year on Paulista Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in this city of 20 million people, while the March for Jesus organized by evangelical groups is not allowed on the same avenue.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, South America | Comments (1)

New Poll: 58% of NJ Voters Oppose SSM, if Civil Unions Offered As Option

August 8, 2011 – 7:00 am

In the New Jersey Star Ledger, the difference between giving people all the options and narrowing their choices becomes clear:

The poll [PDF], by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, found 47 percent of voters [in New Jersey] wanted to legalize marriage between same-sex partners, while 42 percent wanted to keep it illegal.

... But when the pollster asked the question a different way, a majority of voters opposed gay marriage. When asked if gay couples should be able to legally marry, enter into civil unions but not marry, or not have their relationship recognized at all, 41 percent favored marriage, 40 percent favored civil unions but not marriage, and 17 percent wanted no recognition.

By NOM Staff | Posted in New Jersey, Poll, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (8)

Video: Christian Therapist in UK Could Lose License After Gay Man Poses As Someone Seeking Therapy

August 7, 2011 – 1:00 pm

CBNews reports:

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, Religious Liberty, United Kingdom | Comments (36)

Carolyn Moynihan on How TV, Professors and Judges Collaborate to Promote Polygamy

August 7, 2011 – 9:00 am

Carolyn Moynihan connects some dots:

... Community leader Warren Jeffs, already in trouble before the raid, is currently in jail awaiting trial in Texas on sexual assault and bigamy charges. If he sits tight a bit longer, though, the bigamy charge may collapse; with same-sex marriage apparently in the bag, polygamy is looking like the next big thing in the United States -- and no-one seems to care what happens to the kids.

While Jeffs has been cooling his heels in clink, television networks have promoted his cause by rolling out shows such as Big Love and Sister Wives. The Browns ofSister Wives, all four of them, have talked about how happy they are with their choice and how well adjusted their 16 children are, and how the children are carefully educated about choice and consequences, and how there are no underage or arranged marriages. Fictional versions of the lifestyle add to the gloss by leaving out what one script writer calls the “yuck factor”.

Now that the small screen has demystified and sentimentalised polygamy it is the turn of professors and judges to legitimise it. And what better time to do so than in the wake of the latest green light for same-sex marriage? Straight after New York conferred the right to marry on homosexuals, Ralph Richard Banks, a Stanford law school professor predicted that polygamy and incest must now be legalised: “Over time, our moral assessments of these practices will shift, just as they have with interracial marriage and same sex marriage.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, Law, Media, Polygamy | Comments (11)

William Duncan on Congress Weighing-In on DOMA Litigation

August 6, 2011 – 1:00 pm

William C. Duncan in National Review's The Corner blog:

Congress, represented by former solicitor general Paul Clement, has filed two briefs in one of the cases challenging the Defense of Marriage Act in a federal court in New York. One is a memorandum providing legal reasons the court should deny the ACLU’s motion for summary judgment. The second is a memorandum with reasons the court should grant the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group’s motion to dismiss. Both are excellent, and I particularly appreciate the way the second brief explains the state’s interests related to procreation.

The opposition brief argues that “sexual orientation” is not analogous to race because, among other things, all federal circuit courts have rejected this idea, and gays and lesbians are not politically powerless (especially given that the state of New York and the federal government are supporting the ACLU position in the case). The brief also notes that the federal government has been involved in the definition of marriage in the past. A representative quote: “Plaintiff appears oblivious to the irony of maintaining that homosexuals have limited political power in a case in which her position is supported by both the State of New York and the United States Department of Justice. In light of the latter’s longstanding duty to defend the constitutionality of federal statutes, its decision to decline to defend the constitutionality of DOMA, and instead adopt the very position advocated by Plaintiff, is particularly telling.”

The memo supporting the motion to dismiss makes the foundational argument that DOMA is entirely consistent with constitutional guarantees. It argues that same-sex marriage is not a fundamental right deeply rooted in history and tradition, and that it does not discriminate on the basis of sex or sexual orientation. The brief also explains that Congress is justified by government interests in avoiding creation of “a social understanding that begetting and rearing children is not inextricably bound up with marriage” and in fostering marriages that provide mothers and fathers for children. It argues that any redefinition of marriage should be left to the democratic process. Representative quote: “Indeed, most sexually-active opposite-sex relationships have an inherent ability to produce children whether or not the spouses are seeking to do so at any given time. And the fact that opposite-sex relationships produce unplanned and unintended pregnancies is at the heart of society’s traditional interest in promoting the institution of marriage and providing incentives for these unplanned offspring to be raised in the context of a traditional family unit. Whatever else is true of the procreative potential of same-sex couples, the phenomena of unplanned and unintended pregnancies is limited to opposite-sex couples. Congress rationally could have concluded that a special legal category was necessary to recognize the special concerns that face a couple who must take account of this inherent possibility of their relationship, and to support and incentivize such relationships despite the increased responsibility they place upon the spouses.”

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

NYT: Among Conservative Rabbis, a Wide Disagreement Over Same-Sex Marriage

August 6, 2011 – 11:00 am

Joseph Berger of the New York Times reports:

... The two rabbis’ contrasting viewpoints are reflective of the wide disagreement within Conservative Judaism on an issue that continues to roil many of its synagogues even after passage of laws in New York and five other states that legalize same-sex marriage.

The other denominations of Judaism are less divided. All but several Orthodox rabbis, from Modern to Hasidic, oppose same-sex marriage largely because of the explicit ban against homosexual sex in Leviticus and would never officiate at a Jewish wedding ceremony, while most, but not all, Reform and Reconstructionist rabbis will do so.

... The spectrum in the movement is striking, according to experts. Some rabbis staunchly resist requests to officiate at same-sex weddings, even if congregants want them, arguing that the movement should not equate homosexual relationships with heterosexual ones. Other rabbis are eager to officiate, but will not do so because their congregations are opposed. Others step out ahead of their congregations and might perform the ceremony far from the synagogue and not offer blessings for the couple at a Sabbath service. New York’s law prohibits any penalties for clergy members who refuse to perform same-sex weddings.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (2)

MSNBC Video: Brian Brown Vs. John Lewis on NOM's Marriage Pledge

August 6, 2011 – 10:31 am

Here is video of NOM President Brian Brown's appearance on MSNBC opposite John Lewis and MSNBC host Thomas Roberts, discussing NOM's Marriage Pledge, which has now been signed by four candidates for the GOP's presidential nomination:

Related: NewsBusters: MSNBC Misrepresents US News Article on Same-Sex Marriage

By NOM Staff | Posted in Election Watch 2012, Marriage Election Watch, New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (30)

Heritage Foundation on How Nondiscrimination Laws Factor In Same-Sex Marriage and Threats to Religious Freedom

August 6, 2011 – 9:00 am

Thomas Messner at the Heritage Foundation explains how same-sex marriage threatens religious freedom by triggering nondiscrimination laws.

Here is the abstract:

Proponents of religious freedom have firmly established that same-sex marriage threatens religious freedom in a number of ways. In response, some have argued that certain threats to religious freedom discussed in this context have more to do with nondiscrimination laws than with the legal status of same-sex marriage.

This argument reflects certain realities. Conflicts between same-sex marriage and religious freedom will often involve some type of previously adopted nondiscrimination law or policy, and nondiscrimination laws can impose burdens on religious freedom even in jurisdictions that do not legally recognize homosexual unions as marriages. But neither point diminishes the threat that same-sex marriage poses to religious freedom.

Same-sex marriage is likely to trigger a number of conflicts between nondiscrimination laws and religious freedom that otherwise would not exist, and threats to religious freedom are no less troubling because they involve nondiscrimination laws and same-sex marriage, not just same-sex marriage...

From the conclusion:

Where nondiscrimination laws have been enacted without consideration of how they would interact with radical legal developments like same-sex marriage, lawmakers should reconsider and update those laws wherever appropriate. Failure to do so threatens to turn the marriage debate from a culture war into a conscience war and provides an additional ground for proponents of religious freedom to oppose the expansion of nondiscrimination laws in the future.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments (31)
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