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Home » August, 2011

Monthly Archives: August 2011

Tomorrow: Brian Brown on FOX Business at 10PM ET

August 17, 2011 – 10:39 am

NOM President Brian Brown will be debating gay marriage with columnist David Harsanyi on John Stossel's FOX Business show, tomorrow night at 10PM ET.

Tune in if you can!

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

PPP Poll: Michigan Voters Oppose SSM 53%-33%

August 17, 2011 – 9:00 am

In 2004 Michiganders approved a constitutional marriage amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, 58%-41%.

Today, as reported by Democrat-leaning Public Policy Polling, even less support legalizing same-sex marriage: 33% (with 53% opposed).

When given the option for civil unions, there is even less support for redefining marriage (full cross-tabs here):

"Which of the following best describes your opinion on gay marriage: gay couples should be allowed to legally marry, or gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally marry, or there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship?"

Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry: 29%
Gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not marry: 33%
There should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship: 35%
Not sure: 3%

The poll respondents self-identified as 40% Democrat, 30% Republican and 30% Independent/Other.

Democrats support SSM 48%-36%. Independents oppose SSM 50%-36% and Republicans overwhelmingly oppose SSM 78%-10%.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Michigan, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (48)

Double Standard? Sen. Grisanti Wants to Grant New Yorkers More Time to Review New Rules

August 17, 2011 – 8:00 am

New York Senator Mark Grisanti had no problem voting on SSM before his constituents had a chance to read the law:

Dozens of groups across New York want more time to review the state's proposed "fracking" rules.

... "The public itself doesn't have time to review it," Grisanti told WNED News.

The DEC's draft regulations for the controversial natural gas drilling process weigh in at more than a thousand pages and the public, right now, will get 60 days to review the complex document and respond. --WNED

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

New Video: Presidential Hopefuls Promise Iowans to Protect Marriage!

August 16, 2011 – 7:00 pm

Iowa Bus Tour Header

Thanks to all those who contributed to making the Values Voter Bus Tour through Iowa such a success last week! Co-sponsored by FRC Action and the Susan B. Anthony List, the tour covered 22 cities and more than 1300 miles in just 5 days.

From judicial appointments to abandoning DOMA, and in dozens of behind-the-scenes maneuvers designed to undermine marriage in our society, President Obama is quietly pushing our nation toward same-sex marriage. It's time to say “enough is enough,” and put the brakes on President Obama's pro-SSM agenda.

And the GOP presidential candidates seem to be getting the message. On Saturday afternoon we were thrilled to see the NOM Marriage Pledge signers take three of the top four spots in the Ames Straw Poll. And throughout the week, GOP hopefuls Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum and Thaddeus McCotter all joined us at various points on the tour, sharing their commitment to marriage directly with the people of Iowa.

We've just finished a short recap video with highlights from last week's bus tour. I hope you'll take a few minutes to watch, and then share it with a friend.

We have much more to come in the days ahead, but would you take a moment right now to make a donation to help protect marriage? Perhaps you haven't donated at all yet in 2011. Your gift of $20, $35 or even $50 or more would send a strong message of support during these summer months. Perhaps you would consider becoming a monthly donor – even just $5 or $10 a month would help to sustain NOM and our work all through the year.

Thanks for all you do to support marriage. I hope you'll stand with us again today!

Faithfully,

Brian Brown

Brian Brown

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

Contribute

By Brian Brown | Posted in Election Watch 2012, Iowa, Marriage Election Watch, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (7)

Video: Why Rick Santorum Suddenly Moved Up in Iowa: Marriage and Life

August 16, 2011 – 2:19 pm

Rick was nowhere in the polling but fourth in the Ames Straw poll. It wasn't money or organization--it was the message: stand strong for life and marriage.

Michelle Bachmann, winner of the Ames Straw poll also signed NOM's Marriage Pledge.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Election Watch 2012, Iowa, Marriage Election Watch, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (11)

Sen. Diaz and NOM Demand Equal Air Time for Marriage

August 16, 2011 – 1:57 pm

From the office of New York Senator Ruben Diaz (as published by the Albany Times Union):

In response to the news we broke yesterday that Time Warner Cable gave over $70,000 of free airtime to advocates of same-sex marriage, proponents of traditional marriage are demanding equal time.

“Many New Yorkers have been wondering why their cable bills continue to escalate. A portion of every subscriber’s bill is going to support liberal causes like gay ‘marriage.’ When families subscribe to a cable and internet provider, they are looking for service not to have their values sold out,” said the Rev. Jason McGuire, a lobbyist for New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms. “It is shocking to think that Time Warner would say ads promoting the most controversial issue to come before the State Legislature in decades were merely a public service announcement. I would hope that Time Warner would offer New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms a similar opportunity to freely promote the fact that kids deserve a mom and a dad,” McGuire concluded.

Time Warner officials told us they mistakenly thought the ads, produced by the Human Rights Campaign, were public service announcements.

Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage — which spent $300,000 on television advertisements lobbying against the same-sex marriage bill — agreed, and said Time Warner’s actions were “disturbing to say the least.”

“Time Warner clearly ought to give equal time to the millions of New Yorkers who believe it’s important to sustain marriage as the union of husband and wife, and to the New Yorkers now being asked to choose between their conscience and their jobs because of same-sex marriage,” Gallagher said. “The coverage by the news media on this issue is not remotely balanced–not a surprise just a fact — and the fact that a major corporation decided to weigh in on only one side of a controversial question about which its customers have many different views is disturbing to say the least.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the same-sex marriage law on June 24; it took effect several weeks ago.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Free Speech, Media, New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (17)

Albany Times Union: Time Warner Gave Free Time to HRC Before NY SSM Vote

August 16, 2011 – 1:53 pm

The Albany Times-Union's Capital Confidential blog:

Time Warner Cable gave advocates of same-sex marriage $70,846 of free airtime this spring, a disclosure form shows.

The television giant aired advertisements produced by the Human Rights Campaign as part of its “New Yorkers for Marriage Equality” series during March and May, as Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushed for same-sex marriage in a statewide tour.

... initially, Time Warner considered the ads to be public service announcements, according to Susan Leepson, a regional vice president for communications at the company.

Leepson and Amirshahi also said TWC initially sought money from HRC to cover the fair market value of the airtime, but HRC was disinclined to pay.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Free Speech, Media, New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (10)

Did Gay Activists Force Starbucks CEO to Cancel Church Speech?

August 16, 2011 – 1:01 pm

Winona Daily News reports:

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz canceled an appearance at one of the most prominent megachurches in the country after an online petition condemned the congregation as anti-gay _ a charge the church denies.

Schultz had been scheduled to speak Friday at The Global Leadership Summit organized by the Willow Creek Association, based in South Barrington, Ill. The annual event draws tens of thousands of viewers via satellite. Past speakers have included former President Bill Clinton, GE's Jack Welch and rock singer Bono.

A Starbucks spokeswoman confirmed Schultz would not speak as scheduled, but she declined to say more.

However, at the start of the event Thursday, the pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, Bill Hybels, said Schultz had canceled suddenly after a petition was posted on the Internet a week ago that said his participation would be unacceptable.

The petition at Change.org accused the megachurch of "anti-gay persecution" over Willow Creek's past relationship with Exodus International, a Christian ministry that offers to help gays and lesbians change their sexual orientation. Willow Creek cut ties with Exodus in 2009, church spokeswoman Susan DeLay said.

Hybels said that Willow Creek does expect its members to follow biblical ethics and reserve sex for marriage between a man and a woman, but welcomes worshipers of all backgrounds.

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

VA Legislator: "On SSM, O'Malley Should Heed O'Brien"

August 16, 2011 – 11:00 am

Bob Marshall writes in the Baltimore Sun:

"... As a Catholic, a 20-year member of the Virginia General Assembly, the author of Virginia's 2006 voter-approved one-man, one-woman Constitutional Marriage Amendment, and a graduate ofMaryland public schools, I take issue with Gov. Martin O'Malley's insinuation that Baltimore's archbishop should remain silent while the governor attempts to alter marriage — nature's most fundamental relationship for mankind.

... The governor said the bishop had a right to define and administer Catholic Sacraments. I believe Governor O'Malley, who is challenging 6,000 years of Western religious and moral teaching, has an obligation to define same-sex marriage, and explain how he intends to administer same-sex legal status when this radical change impacts the rest of us.

If so-called same sex-marriage becomes a "civil right" in Maryland, the family, the building block of society, will be negatively impacted. Tax exemptions of objecting churches and private schools will eventually be revoked, as will their licenses to place children for adoption and foster care. Schools will be required to promote (not just tolerate) homosexuality, as many already do."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Free Speech, Maryland, Religious Liberty, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (4)

University of North Carolina: Government-Approved Theology on Gay Issues

August 16, 2011 – 10:30 am

Columnist Mike Adams at Town Hall comments:

The campus left [at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington] keeps handing me more material to write about in my weekly column. The endless supply of column-worthy madness is fueled by the endless degree of hypocrisy in the name of campus diversity. That isn’t surprising because our campus has not just one but five diversity offices. And it really makes you wonder what these people sit around and do all day while the government is going bankrupt by over-spending your money.

In the case of our LGBTQIA Office, the answer is simple: they investigate and then endorse churches based on their stance on homosexuality. And they print lists of approved gay-friendly churches using official university letter-head. Then they circulate their approved church list on state-owned computers to other state employees who then recommend the approved churches to their students.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, Delaware, Education, Religious Liberty | Comments (4)

Michele Bachmann, on Campaign Trail, Praises Iowans for Defeating Pro-SSM Judges in Iowa

August 16, 2011 – 10:14 am

In the Des Moines Register Caucuses blog:

Michele Bachmann [at the Iowa Straw Poll] emphasized her stand against marriage for same-sex couples and her opposition to abortion.

“You showed the world when you did not retain those justices in your last election,” Bachmann said to a screaming crowd, referring to the members of the Iowa Supreme Court who were part of the unanimous 2009 decision ruling a law limiting marriage to a man and a woman was unconstitutional.

She continued: “And as president of the United States I will only appoint justices that follow the constitution and don’t legislate from the bench.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in Election Watch 2012, Iowa, Law, Marriage Election Watch, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (10)

Charles Limandri Interviews Newt Gingrich on Marriage, Life and American Exceptionalism

August 15, 2011 – 3:10 pm

Charles Limandri at Catholic Radio of San Diego recently interviewed GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich. You can find the audio

here
.

Here's a sample of the interview back-and-forth:

Charles Limandri: When I read in your book that there’s a strong connection between having strong families and having strong economic growth in how strong families are directly tied to the whole concept of the American free enterprise system, it struck me as particularly insightful in light of what’s going on in our country now. We’re becoming increasingly secular, the family is under attack and economically we’re experiencing woes like we’ve never known in our history it seems. So what is the connection there?

Newt Gingrinch: You have to recognize that free enterprise is based on free people and […] free people are based on faith. The very basis of our belief and freedom is that we believe we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. The very source of our strength is that we believe these are truths […] and so there’s a core absolute overlap between free enterprise, freedom and freedom of faith. And if you don’t have freedom of faith in the end you’re not going to have free enterprise because there’s no moral force that defends and protects you…

By NOM Staff | Posted in California, Election Watch 2012, Marriage Election Watch, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (7)

Maggie Gallagher to Participate in SCOTUSblog Symposium on SSM

August 15, 2011 – 2:00 pm

NOM Chairman Maggie Gallagher will participate with many others in this SCOTUSblog symposium:

Continuing with our summer symposia, for the next two weeks SCOTUSblog will be hosting an on-line debate on the topic of same-sex marriage. Although neither the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) nor California’s Proposition 8 (now embodied in Article 1 Section 7.5 of California’s Constitution) is currently before the Court, challenges to both have been percolating in the lower courts in California, Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, and elsewhere and are likely to reach the Court soon, even if not this Term.

During this symposium, guest bloggers will weigh in on how the Court is likely to approach the question of same-sex marriage. Authors will consider, among other things, whether the issue of same-sex marriage is ripe for the Court’s review, what standard of review the Court should use if it does reach the merits, and how the Court’s decisions in cases such as Romer v. Evans and Lawrence v. Texas will affect its views on the constitutionality of DOMA and Proposition 8, as well as broader questions about federalism and religious liberty.

[Participants will include:]

Carlos Ball – Rutgers University School of Law
Bob Barr - Former Representative for Georgia’s Seventh Congressional District
Thomas Berg – University of St. Thomas School of Law
Dale Carpenter – University of Minnesota Law School
Erwin Chemerinsky – UC Irvine School of Law
David Cruz – USC Gould School of Law
William C. Duncan – Marriage Law Foundation
John Eastman – Chapman University School of Law
William Eskridge – Yale Law School
Maggie Gallagher – Institute for Marriage and Public Policy
Charles Fried – Harvard Law School
Andrew Koppelman – Northwestern University School of Law
Pamela Karlan – Stanford Law School
Robert Levy – Cato Institute
Laurence Tribe – Harvard Law School
Brian Raum – Alliance Defense Fund
Ruthann Robson – CUNY School of Law
Robin Wilson – Washington & Lee School of Law
Kenji Yoshino – New York University School of Law

By NOM Staff | Posted in DOMA, Law, Same Sex Marriage, Supreme Court | Comments (21)

Stanford Prof Asks: Is Marriage for White People? How African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone

August 15, 2011 – 9:00 am

David French at NRO's The Corner blog explains:

"...the Wall Street Journal has waded once again into controversial social territory. On Saturday, Stanford law professor Ralph Richard Banks — author of the forthcoming book, Is Marriage for White People?: How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone — urged black women to help save marriage by marrying men of other races. Black women “are the most unmarried group of people in the U.S.” and “lead by far the most segregated intimate lives of any minority group in the U.S.” According to Banks, black women are less than half as likely to marry interracially as black men and only about 1 in 20 marry across racial lines. If black women only marry black men, and if achievement gaps and high incarceration rates leave fewer eligible black men, then a marriage crisis is inevitable.

While he hasn’t hit Tiger Mother territory yet, Banks’s piece was the most-read article in theJournal over a weekend that included a debt downgrade, and he’s certainly not afraid to ask tough questions. The sociological importance of his work would be hard to overstate. By now we know that marriage is a firewall against poverty and abuse, and the decline of marriage (and not just in the black community) is a culture-shaking phenomenon. It’s also a problem that defies any easy fix, depending as it does on the deeply personal choices of millions upon millions of Americans."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, Marriage | Comments (2)

Australian Bishop Protests Census Recognition of SSM

August 15, 2011 – 8:30 am

Via Catholic Culture:

An Australian Catholic bishop has decried the decision of national census officials to count some homosexual couples as “married,” despite the fact that same-sex marriages are not legally recognized in Australia.

... Marriage, the bishop argued, “is a legally defined reality that can be objectively determined.” Since marriage is defined in Australia as a union between a man and a woman, the census results will deliberately distort that objective reality, he said.

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