NOMblog: The Official Blog of the National Organization for Marriage

NOM BLOG

Monthly Archives: January 2012

We Did It!!! Thank You So Much!!!

January 14, 2012 – 11:43 am

Email Header Image

The Presidential primaries have begun, and we're already in the middle of some major campaigns to promote and defend marriage. 2012 has begun with a bang—I'm currently writing to you from Texas where I'm meeting with key religious leaders. I've already been to Iowa for the caucuses and will soon be going to South Carolina.

But I wanted to take a minute to write you a quick note and let you know—WE DID IT!

As you know, a very generous donor gave us 3 months, during which time they would match every donation we received dollar-for-dollar up to one million. As of this morning, we have raised $995,339.85, and I'm awaiting a final update on the mail returns from the end of the year. But given the mail volume we received to date, I've no doubt and am extremely happy to announce that we are going to reach our goal of raising $1 million!

And it couldn't have happened without incredible supporters like you. Thank you so much for standing with us and giving us your support in defense of marriage.

The cause of marriage will win out in the end in no small part due to you and millions of Americans just like you. I am honored to be your representative in the fight to defend marriage.

Thank you for your continued support and trust. It means so much to me and to this just cause.

God bless you!

UK Critics Say Tax System Partially to Blame for Number of Single Parents

January 14, 2012 – 11:00 am

The UK Christian Institute:

More British children are being raised by single parents because the tax and benefit system “encourages transient shack-ups”.

One in five British children live with a single mother or father. This figure is some 35 per cent higher than in Germany and 50 per cent higher than in France.

Researcher and author Patricia Morgan points out that these are the countries whose tax and benefits systems reward parents who stay together.

She said: “You can look at these figures and see immediately which countries help couples through tax and benefits.

“In France, people get help if they draw up legal family contracts. In Germany, Holland and Italy, married people get tax relief and tax relief for children.”

She added: “By contrast, our system encourages transient shack-ups.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in Children, Cohabitation, Parenting, United Kingdom | Comments Off

Michael Stokes Paulsen Praises Supreme Court Decision on Religious Liberty

January 14, 2012 – 10:30 am

In Public Discourse:

Every now and then, the Supreme Court surprises its critics by getting something absolutely, completely right: Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, decided on Wednesday, is just such a case. The Court held that the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment—both the Free Exercise Clause and the Establishment Clause—prohibit any government interference with the employment relationship between a religious body and those it in good faith (so to speak) considers its “ministers”: those leaders, teachers, and others who, in the words of the Court, “personify” the beliefs of the religious community.

The decision embraced, in broad language, the constitutional right of religious groups to autonomy in matters of their own “internal governance” and to the freedom to exercise “control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs.” It specifically affirmed “a religious group’s right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments.” And it grounded its holding in the proposition that “the text of the First Amendment itself . . . gives special solicitude to the rights of religious organizations.”

The decision was, strikingly, unanimous: no one disagreed with Chief Justice Roberts’s opinion for the Court. The only separate opinions were concurring ones, suggesting further extensions or specific applications of the Court’s reasoning. On a Court that has often been bitterly divided, this expression of unanimity is truly remarkable.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Religious Liberty, Supreme Court | Comments Off

Byron Johnson: No Empirical Evidence Ties Being Pro-Marriage to Anti-Gay

January 14, 2012 – 10:00 am

Sociologist Byron Johnson at Baylor University argues in Public Discourse this week why being pro-marriage does not mean you are anti-gay:

A recent national survey by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) provides a closer look at public opinion on same-sex marriage. The survey was funded by the Arcus Foundation, an organization that champions the rights of gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual persons.

... The media coverage of the PRRI survey, however, has painted a very different picture of the findings, drawing the more general conclusion that younger Americans are pro-gay while senior citizens are anti-gay. But does the PRRI survey, as well as other recent national surveys, provide data actually supporting such a conclusion?

... If older Americans are indeed anti-gay, one would not expect 90 percent of senior citizens to support equal employment opportunities for homosexuals.

...Simply put, it is inappropriate on methodological grounds to draw the conclusion that opposition to same-sex marriage is synonymous with being anti-gay.

...There is indeed a significant gap in support of same-sex marriage when one compares all Millennials to all senior citizens. However, when one looks at the views of Evangelicals toward same-sex marriage—a group estimated to be 100 million strong—a considerably different picture emerges. Being an Evangelical Protestant significantly lowers the chance one will agree with gay marriage in either age range, and brings the 18-to-29 age group down to a level of support similar to all others in the 65-and-over age range. Perhaps Evangelical churches are doing a better job combating the considerable cultural influences in support of same-sex marriage.

It is unwarranted and irresponsible to interpret opposition to same-sex marriage as a proxy for being anti-gay. There is no empirical evidence to suggest that senior citizens are anti-gay.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, Research/Study | Comments (3)

UK Telegraph: "Boys Raised by Traditional Families 'Do Better at School'"

January 14, 2012 – 9:00 am

The UK Telegraph reports on a study we linked to earlier this week:

In a major study, researchers said family structures had a much more significant effect on boys’ early education than school type or even the gender of teachers.

It found that boys were much more likely to misbehave, be excluded from school and go on to achieve low grades after rebelling against “emotionally distant” parents.

The pattern is particularly marked in single-parent families where mothers “invest disproportionately less in their sons or feel less warm toward them” than daughters.

The disclosure comes amid continuing concern over the gender gap at the heart of the education system.

Data shows boys fall behind girls after just a year of school and the gulf widens throughout primary and secondary education.

... Researchers from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business analysed school suspension rates among boys and girls in the US. They also used surveys of parents and teachers relating to children’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Children, Education, Parenting, Research/Study | Comments Off

WaTimes: Religious Leaders: Gay Marriage a "Peril" to Liberty

January 14, 2012 – 8:30 am

The Washington Times:

Nearly 40 religious leaders, including Catholic, evangelical, Jewish and Mormon figures, issued an open letter Thursday that argues that the battle against same-sex marriage is a fight on behalf of religious freedom.

“Marriage and religious freedom are both deeply woven into the fabric of this nation,” clergy members wrote in their letter, “Marriage and Religious Freedom: Fundamental Goods That Stand or Fall Together.” It calls on all Americans to promote and protect marriage “in its true definition.”

The “most urgent peril” associated with legalizing same-sex unions is that religious individuals and organizations would be forced or pressured to treat same-sex sexual conduct as the moral equivalent of marital sexual conduct, they explained.

... “It is sad to admit that our culture has reached a point where such a statement is necessary, and yet it is for just such a time as this that the Lord has called the North American Lutheran Church into being, to be able to make such a stand and offer our support to this important cause,” said the Rev. John F. Bradosky, bishop of the NALC, which was created in 2010 as a church body for “traditionally grounded” Lutherans.

“Marriage and religious liberty are at a crisis point in the United States. This letter is a sign of hope,” said Cardinal-designate and New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Religious Liberty, Supreme Court | Comments (1)

AP Polls WA Senate: 18 Oppose SSM, 22 Favor, 9 On The Fence

January 13, 2012 – 1:00 pm

The Associated Press says gay marriage advocates are "on the verge" even though it's clear they have a long way to go -- we've seen "on the verge" end in defeat for SSM time and time:

The Legislature is on the verge of having enough support to make Washington the seventh state to approve gay marriage, according to a tally by The Associated Press.

A same-sex marriage bill is expected to be introduced by the end of the week. The AP reached out to all 49 state senators over the past week and found that more lawmakers are firmly supporting gay marriage than opposing it, by a margin of 22-18.

The measure needs 25 votes to pass the Senate.

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

Florida Christian Family Coalition: Reclaim Religious Equality!

January 13, 2012 – 12:00 pm

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse wants to "take back the rainbow." The Florida Christian Family Coalition is taking back the words "equality", "human rights" and "social justice":

Today, the Christian Family Coalition, (CFC), Florida's tireless human rights and social justice organization announced its legislative priorities for the upcoming 2012 statewide legislative session in Tallahassee.

"During the 2012 statewide legislative session our priorities include restoring religious equality in our schools and women's rights.

Currently, children of faith in Florida are not allowed to express their beliefs in school during non-compulsory events, at a time where all forms of public expression are tolerated and even celebrated, religious speech should be no exception, this form of discrimination is not acceptable.

This is a bipartisan issue and a matter of basic fairness for all children of faith, that is why we applaud Democratic State Senator Gary Siplin and Republican State Representative Charles Van Zant for courageously filing Senate Bill 98 and House Bill 317, respectively, to restore religious equality in our schools."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, Florida | Comments (4)

John Culhane Asks: "Will Opposite-Sex Civil Unions Spell the End of Traditional Marriage?"

January 13, 2012 – 11:00 am

As in Europe, civil unions are proving more and more frequently to undermine the institution and traditional role of marriage, as Slate author John Culhane (who supports SSM) argues after interviewing straight couples who opted for civil unions instead of marriage in Illinois:

...When asked during a long Skype interview why she and her partner, Justin Gates, chose to enter a civil union rather than marry, Leah Whitesel, who identifies as queer despite her current relationship, framed the question this way: “Gay marriage doesn’t seem like the right discussion to me. Because it should be: ‘What is this institution of marriage and does it still need to be defined the way it has been?’ ” For Whitesel and Gates, the answer is no.

Many of the other straight civil union pioneers have also said no to marriage—for themselves and as an institution. The evidence is in a report that the Cook County Clerk’s Office recently issued on the nation’s first opposite-sex couples who civilly united. It found dissatisfaction with the institution of marriage because of concerns with its historical assignment of roles, its connection to religion, and its unfairness to gay and lesbian couples. My own interviews with some of these same couples, who have rejected marriage and plunged into the shallower, murkier pool of the civil union, reflect a cohort prepared to take the wrecking ball to marriage itself.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Civil Unions, Illinois, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off

Thank Senate President Mike Miller for standing up for marriage!

January 13, 2012 – 10:30 am

Please take a moment to thank Maryland Senate President Mike Miller (D) today.

His courageous comments urging "Evangelicals, Catholics, and African Americans" to come together to stop same-sex marriage in Maryland have already come under attack from gay marriage advocates. Miller said, "I'm a historian and I look at civilizations, I study civilizations, I read history every night. And I see it's an attack on the family, I think it's an attack on traditional families. That's the way I see it."

With Governor O'Malley, Equality Maryland and the Human Rights Campaign mounting an all-out assault on marriage this year, Senator Miller needs to hear from voters standing with him in defense of marriage—especially over the next 48 hours as he is condemned by gay marriage advocates.

Please take a moment right now to send a message of thanks to Senator Miller, thanking him for standing up for marriage and for Maryland's families.

By Brian Brown | Posted in Maryland | Comments (11)

Documentary Details People Who Claim To Fall In Love With Inanimate Objects

January 13, 2012 – 9:00 am

From the feminist site Jezebel:

You have got to see this documentary about "objectum sexuals," people who fall in love with objects like fences and amusement park rides, (one woman even married the Eiffel Tower). And they have sex.

If you thought that men in love with Real Dolls was strange, wait until you see Strange Love: Married to the Eiffel Tower, which follows these fetishists (all of them, for some reason, female). Interestingly, Objectum Sexuals - they call themselves OS people - believe their love with the objects are reciprocal and that they can telepathically communicate with them.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture | Comments (22)

The Week Marriage Became a National Issue, NOM Marriage News, January 12, 2011

January 12, 2012 – 9:28 pm

NOM National Newsletter

My Dear Friends,

This is the week that marriage and religious liberty became national issues.

I don't know if you watched the New Hampshire debates over the weekend. I did.

And I saw two things:

For the first time, the mainstream media has decided to echo and push the idea that support for marriage makes you a bigot.

And I also saw major political figures magnificently rebut these attacks.

As you know, the National Organization for Marriage launched a Marriage Pledge last summer, asking major candidates to commit—to sign their name on paper—to five specific things:

To support a federal marriage amendment
To defend DOMA vigorously in court
To appoint judges who will not impose gay marriage on all 50 states
To investigate the increasing reports of threats to the liberty of traditional marriage supporters
To restore to the people of D.C. their right to vote for marriage.

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry all agreed to be marriage champions.

(Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman refused.)

Because we adopted the Marriage Pledge as a strategy for identifying marriage champions, NOM will not be making an endorsement.

Instead, we've sought to become the voice for all marriage voters, and to make sure marriage remains a visible issue in this campaign, as in this country.

And wow, this week our marriage champions were magnificent!

ABC News's George Stephanopolous and Diane Sawyer tried to "grill" the candidates on their supposed bigotry on gay rights, and the same questions came up at the debate on NBC as well.

Here are Romney and Santorum responding on NBC.

And here's an extended exchange on marriage.

But I want to call your attention to something important which happened this week: The same-sex marriage attack on religious liberty became a campaign issue.

I have to give credit to Newt Gingrich for first bringing up the issue, receiving wild audience applause, and to Gov. Romney, who quickly stepped in to validate and affirm Gingrich's critique from his Massachusetts experience.

Gingrich jumped in to point out media bias: "You don't hear the opposite question asked: Should the Catholic Church be forced to close its adoption services in Massachusetts because it won't accept gay couples? ...Should the Catholic Church find itself discriminated against by the Obama administration on key delivery of services because of the bias and bigotry of the Administration? The bigotry question goes both ways... and none of it gets covered by the media."

(He's right about that. That's why we launched our new Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance, to bring you the news the media is not covering. More on that in a second.)

Romney stepped in to strongly affirm that Gingrich was right about what happened in Massachusetts. "This decision about what we call marriage has consequences," Gov. Romney said. "...Calling it marriage creates a whole host of problems for family, for the law, for the practice of religion, for education. Let me say this: 3000 years of human history shouldn't be discarded so quickly."

Kudos to both men for braving the media firestorm, and to Rick Santorum for bravely defending marriage as well.

Here's one last video you'll just enjoy: Newt Gingrich the next morning, beating back a CNN anchor who tries to embarrass him on his position:

Do you know who else just jumped in to validate our concerns about marriage and religious liberty?

The US Catholic Bishops just released this morning an important letter from an interfaith group of religious leaders from the "Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Lutheran, Mormon, and Pentecostal communities" calling on people of good will to reject efforts to equate traditional views on sex and marriage with racial bigotry.

These leaders point out that the real danger is not that clergy will be forced to perform same-sex marriage: "While we cannot rule out this possibility entirely, we believe that the First Amendment creates a very high bar to such attempts."

Instead, they point out, "the most urgent peril is this: forcing or pressuring both individuals and religious organizations—throughout their operations, well beyond religious ceremonies—to treat same-sex sexual conduct as the moral equivalent of marital sexual conduct."

Can we really create an America where people who believe sex should be confined to the union of husband and wife are treated like racial bigots?

These leaders say the answer is yes, and the threat is "urgent":

"In short, the refusal of these religious organizations to treat same-sex sexual relationship as if it were a marriage marked them and their members as bigots, subjecting them to the full arsenal of government punishments and pressures reserved for racists."

They conclude with this call: "Therefore, we encourage all people of good will to protect marriage as the union between one man and one woman, and to consider carefully the far-reaching consequences for the religious freedom of all Americans if marriage is redefined."

For an example of the future Human Rights Campaign is working hard to create for religious people and our institutions, look no further than the state of Washington. There, Mary Margaret Haugen, a Democratic state senator who told her constituents that gay marriage would not happen in that state without a vote of the people, met with this over-the-top response from an angry pro-gay-marriage activist, according to news reports:

"One constituent likened denial of marriage rights to gays and lesbians to racial apartheid in South Africa. 'I saw apartheid, I was in South Africa and I can tell you this is different,' Haugen shot back. She recalled the 'necklacing' practice in which victims were stuffed in a tire which was then set afire."

Let's get real here!

No major spokesman or leader in America wants to hurt gay people, or deny them the civil rights we all share.

The right to redefine marriage is a made-up right, it's not real; it has no roots in our constitution, our history, our traditions, or common sense.

Being denied the right to call a same-sex relationship a marriage is not like what happened to South Africans, or African-Americans.

A movement which makes this argument is rooting itself in wishful self-aggrandizing fantasies which will backfire in the end.

The great thing about working for marriage is that it is an issue that transcends the usual political divides—of creed, of race, and of party.

Democratic leaders are stepping forward on the local level to stand proudly for marriage and we are very grateful to them for their courage!

Another such hero is Maryland Senate President Mike Miller, a lifelong Democrat, who firmly announced he opposes same-sex marriage and predicts the people of Maryland will reject it if the legislature tries to pass it.

And, of course, this week another strong voice made one of his most powerful statements on the need to protect marriage.

According to Reuters, Pope Benedict told diplomats from nearly 180 countries that the education of children needed proper "settings" and that "pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman."

"This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society. Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself," he said.

Wow.

We have fights bursting out all over in the next few weeks. Gay-marriage activists are trying to block the GOP from reversing gay marriage in New Hampshire, and push through gay marriage bills quickly in New Jersey, Washington state, and Maryland, and possibly Maine. They are laying the groundwork for a fight to push gay marriage in Illinois. We have a chance to pass a marriage amendment in Minnesota in November.

The fight is heating up all over this country, in states and on the national level:

Are we going to discard 3000 years of human history, and redefine our country's Biblical traditions on sex and marriage as the equivalent of bigotry?

Or are we going to fight for marriage—and win?

Thank you for all the victories you've made possible in this good fight.

How bad can things get if we do not show courage now?

NOM's Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance just released this incredibly moving—and yet chilling—video interviewing Eunice and Owen Johns, a black Pentecostal married couple in Great Britain whose own government told them they were not fit to foster a child unless they were willing to advocate for gay sex.

Mrs. Johns is especially tender and moving, about how much she wanted to love a child, any child—gay, straight, black or white.

The empty spare room in their modest home filled with love is a distressing example of how far government may go, in some cases, in condemning traditional Christian views on sex and marriage as bigotry and discrimination.

It's an outrage because just as with Catholic Charities and other religious adoption agencies, the true victims are some of our most vulnerable children in need of care.

Pray for me and for everyone on the front lines of this great and good fight.

Blessings,

Brian Brown

Brian S Brown

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

P.S. Our fight for marriage is your fight! When you donate to NOM, you're making sure that your voice is heard. The year ahead will bring many challenges, and many new opportunities. Why not take this time to help ensure that marriage is protected—in the new year, and in the generations to come?

By NOM Staff | Posted in Election Watch 2012, NOM Marriage News, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (13)

Dr. Morse Responds to Think Progress Spin on "Boys Do Better With Both Parents" Study

January 12, 2012 – 3:00 pm

Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse on the Ruth Institute blog:

... Perhaps Mr. Ford [of ThinkProgress] doesn’t realize that the issue of fatherlessness would be a serious issue, even if the definition of marriage were completely off the table. Even if we weren’t debating “gay marriage,” some of us would still be worried about the impact of absent fathers on children. As proof of this, I offer my own works; I wrote two books, one in 2001, and another in 2005, which deal extensively with impact of family structure on the lives of children, arguing for the importance of the two parent married couple household for the development and happiness of children. Neither book has a single word about homosexuality or same sex unions.

Glen Stanton [of Focus on the Family] is not being duplicitous when he talks about the importance of mothers and fathers: he is talking about what he sees as a serious issue, with or without the gay marriage issue. Likewise, Maggie Gallagher, whose earlier books on family structure have nothing to say about homosexuality or same sex unions. Likewise, David Blankenhorn, whose seminal work, Fatherless America, put the topic on the map. These books are not about same sex unions.

It is only the gay blogmen and their compatriots, who equate every mention of the fatherlessness issue as a personal affront. Why might this be? I will discuss that question in another post. For now, let us just note that the common-sense general conclusion that Glen Stanton and Focus on the Family “intact families are best for children of either gender,” is more about children than about adults, and is certainly consistent with the evidence in this paper. And the marriage redefiners do themselves no credit if they consider a statement like that to be fighting words.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Children, Parenting, Research/Study | Comments (12)

Breaking News: New Jersey School Board Moves to Fire Viki Knox!

January 12, 2012 – 2:45 pm

The Star-Ledger:

The Union Township school board has filed tenure charges against Viki Knox, the high school English teacher whose anti-gay remarks on Facebook raised a firestorm over her free speech rights and her role as a public school teacher.

The board formally filed the charges against Knox in late December, a step that begins the lengthy and costly process to fire Knox, school board president Ray Perkins said. He could not comment on the findings of the district's three-month investigation of Knox's conduct.

... Knox could not immediately be reached for comment about the board's action. In September, Knox's husband spoke publicly defending her comments as expression of her religion.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Education, New Jersey, Religious Liberty | Comments (48)

Religous Leaders Express Concern: After SSM, Will Government Treat Us Like Racists?

January 12, 2012 – 1:45 pm

This morning an interfaith group of religious leaders, including “Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Lutheran, Mormon, and Pentecostal communities”, released an interfaith statement [PDF here] validating the growing concerns over religious liberty and marriage:

"...we believe the most urgent peril [of redefining marriage] is this: forcing or pressuring both individuals and religious organizations—throughout their operations, well beyond religious ceremonies—to treat same-sex sexual conduct as the moral equivalent of marital sexual conduct.

...In short, the refusal of these religious organizations to treat a same-sex sexual relationship as if it were a marriage marked them and their members as bigots, subjecting them to the full arsenal of government punishments and pressures reserved for racists. These punishments will only grow more frequent and more severe if civil "marriage" is redefined in additional jurisdictions. For then, government will compel special recognition of relationships that we the undersigned religious leaders and the communities of faith that we represent cannot, in conscience, affirm. Because law and government not only coerce and incentivize but also teach, these sanctions would lend greater moral legitimacy to private efforts to punish those who defend marriage.

Therefore, we encourage all people of good will to protect marriage as the union between one man and one woman, and to consider carefully the far-reaching consequences for the religious freedom of all Americans if marriage is redefined."