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Monthly Archives: August 2012

Minnesota Voter Says Look to Iowa for Why We Need to Pass the Marriage Protection Amendment

August 13, 2012 – 8:00 am

Morris Gildemeister of Hastings, MN on the clear and present danger to marriage in states without Marriage Protection Amendments:

"...Our neighboring state of Iowa provides an excellent example of why marriage should be defined as between a man and woman in the state constitution, as the amendment up for a vote this fall would provide.

Iowa legislators passed a law in 1998 defining marriage as between a man and woman, similar to the law presently on the books in Minnesota.

But in 2005 a lawsuit was brought on behalf of same-sex couples stating that the existing law violated the equal protection clause of the state constitution. A district court ruled in favor of the same sex couples and later the state Supreme Court upheld the district court ruling. Today same-sex marriage is legal in Iowa.

A similar scenario is likely in Minnesota unless the state constitution is amended to define marriage as between a man and woman.

Anyone who believes children are best nurtured in a setting which includes both a man and woman must vote “Yes” on the proposed constitutional amendment this fall. Again, remember not voting on the amendment is counted as a “No” vote." -- Hastings Star Gazette

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

Leroy Huizenga: "Opposing Gay Marriage Is Rational, Not Religious"

August 12, 2012 – 11:00 am

Leroy Huizenga, Director of the Christian Leadership Center at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, writes in First Things:

"Many make the mistake of thinking that opposition to gay marriage is religious. A Facebook friend recently posted this quote: “Have you ever noticed the same people who claim that marriage is a religious institution only think that LGBT people shouldn’t get married? They never seem to object to Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, or atheists getting married.”

This is a perfect summary of the ignorance with which many (though by no means all) gay marriage proponents operate.

...Because of the harmony of faith and reason, thoughtful Christians can speak of marriage in terms of both categories. And we sometimes confuse categories, and that proves confusing to the general public. But make no mistake: Our defense of marriage is no act of legerdemain, in which we try to force what we know solely by revelation on the public. (Observe no one is pushing laws forcing participation in the sacraments or forbidding participation in a particular faith.) Rather, we are concerned for the common good, a rational concern motivated by our very faith. Convinced that reason and nature teach us the truth about marriage, we will continue to make arguments in the public square about the public goods of marriage, for no society or person can long thrive kicking against the goads of reason and nature."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Culture, Debating Marriage, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (22)

Washington State Bishop Urges Catholics to Reject Gay Marriage

August 12, 2012 – 9:00 am

An excerpt from his statement sent to all parishes in the Catholic diocese of Spokane:

"...My genuine hope is that we all can value the coming vote on Referendum 74 as an opportunity to have a substantial public debate regarding this critical issue, carried on with respect, honesty and conviction. When addressing issues of depth and passion – indeed, most importantly at such times – we should be committed to the proposition that our public dialogue must be marked by civility and clarity, and that it should generate light rather than heat. As a means of contributing to that effort, I ask your careful consideration of the attached reflections which outline some of the reasons for the Catholic Church’s position recommending that citizens vote “reject” on Referendum 74, and thus overturn the law that redefines marriage. I offer these thoughts with respect, but also out of a sense of duty to contribute to the debate for the good of our state."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Catholic Church, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage, Washington | Comments (16)

Paul Ryan's Solid Pro-Marriage Voting Record

August 11, 2012 – 1:00 pm

Today Mitt Romney introduced Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his vice presidential running mate.

Here is a sampling Rep. Ryan's pro-marriage votes during his years in public service:

"Voted for a resolution proposing a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union between one man and one woman." (source)

Voted against repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in 2011. (source)

Voted YES on Constitutionally defining marriage as one-man-one-woman. (Jul 2006)

Voted YES on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage. (Sep 2004)

Voted YES on permanently eliminating the marriage penalty. (Apr 2004)

Votes YES on reducing Marriage Tax by $399B over 10 years (Mar 2001)

Voted YES on promoting work and marriage among TANF recipients. (Feb 2003)

Voted YES on eliminating the "marriage penalty". (Jul 2000) (sources)

Supported the marriage amendment in Wisconsin in 2006. (source)

By NOM Staff | Posted in Congress, Election Watch 2012, Marriage, Marriage Election Watch, Mitt Romney, Politics, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (82)

New York Times Embraces Gender Fluidity for Little Kids

August 11, 2012 – 11:00 am

The New York Times on the next steps towards obscuring gender:

Many parents and clinicians now reject corrective therapy, making this the first generation to allow boys to openly play and dress (to varying degrees) in ways previously restricted to girls — to exist in what one psychologist called “that middle space” between traditional boyhood and traditional girlhood. These parents have drawn courage from a burgeoning Internet community of like-minded folk whose sons identify as boys but wear tiaras and tote unicorn backpacks. Even transgender people preserve the traditional binary gender division: born in one and belonging in the other. But the parents of boys in that middle space argue that gender is a spectrum rather than two opposing categories, neither of which any real man or woman precisely fits.

“It might make your world more tidy to have two neat and separate gender possibilities,” one North Carolina mother wrote last year on her blog, “but when you squish out the space between, you do not accurately represent lived reality. More than that, you’re trying to ‘squish out’ my kid.”

The impassioned author of that blog, Pink Is for Boys, is careful to conceal her son’s identity, as were the other parents interviewed for this article. As much as these parents want to nurture and defend what makes their children unique and happy, they also fear it will expose their sons to rejection. Some have switched schools, changed churches and even moved to try to shield their children. That tension between yielding to conformity or encouraging self-expression is felt by parents of any child who differs from the norm. But parents of so-called pink boys feel another layer of anxiety: given how central gender is to identity, they fear the wrong parenting decision could devastate their child’s social or emotional well-being. The fact that there is still substantial disagreement among prominent psychological professionals about whether to squelch unconventional behavior or support it makes those decisions even more wrenching.

Many of the parents who allow their children to occupy that “middle space” were socially liberal even before they had a pink boy, quick to defend gay rights and women’s equality and to question the confines of traditional masculinity and femininity. But when their sons upend conventional norms, even they feel disoriented. How could my own child’s play — something ordinarily so joyous to watch — stir up such discomfort? And why does it bother me that he wants to wear a dress?

By NOM Staff | Posted in Children, Culture, Parenting | Comments (36)

French Bishops Ask All French Catholics to Pray for Protection of Marriage

August 11, 2012 – 9:00 am

Matthew Cullinan Hoffman of LifeSiteNews:

Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, the Catholic archbishop of Paris and the leader of the Conference of French Bishops, has issued a prayer against the legalization of homosexual “marriage” and euthanasia that he is asking all parishes to pray on August 15, feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The prayer, which revives an ancient tradition that fell into disuse after World War II, petitions God on behalf of “children and youth, that all of us may help each one of them to find his own way to progress towards the good, that they cease to be the objects of the desires and the conflicts of adults, by benefiting completely from the love of a father and a mother.”

In a preamble written for the prayer, Vingt-Trois explains that it is a response to French president Francois Hollande’s intention to legislate homosexual “marriage” and adoption in the first half of 2013.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Catholic Church, Europe, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (9)

Weekend Viewing: A Conversation on the Definition of Marriage Between Jennifer Morse and John Corvino

August 10, 2012 – 5:00 pm

A couple weeks ago Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute, Prof. John Corvino, head of the philosophy department at Wayne State University, Gene Robinson, the first openly-gay episcopal bishop and Dr. Robert Gagnon, scriptural expert, assembled at Skyline Church in San Diego to have a discussion about the definition of marriage, both in government and in Christian tradition. The event was organized and moderated by Senior Pastor Dr. Jim Garlow.

It's well worth the watching!

Skyline Church: Conversation on the Definition of Marriage from SkylineChurch on Vimeo.

How do you think it went? Whose arguments were more compelling?

By NOM Staff | Posted in California, Debating Marriage, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (32)

Let's Bring the Chick-Fil-A Crowds to the Polls in November!

August 10, 2012 – 3:45 pm

Email Header Image

Dear Marriage Supporter,

With "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day"—which NOM was instrumental in launching, along with Governor Mike Huckabee—America witnessed a national demonstration of support for marriage.

In the past, voting on the marriage issue has been undertaken quietly, at the state level; and, time and again, voters have gone into the privacy of the voting booth and traditional marriage has emerged the winner—in 32 consecutive states! But in the outpouring of support for Chick-fil-A, we've seen a nationwide, and very public, demonstration of Americans' belief in the biblical meaning of marriage.

The millions of people who took time out of their day, and money out of their wallets, to support a business leader who had publicly spoken up for God's definition of marriage—they are our families and our friends. They stand with us: we are the silent majority, but on this day we rose up and spoke up, in a very prominent way.

Now is the time to capitalize on the momentum we established in showing our support for Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A. Marriage is on the ballot this fall in four critical states—Maryland, Maine, Minnesota and Washington. Every one of those battles is enormously important. Even though voters in 32 consecutive states have voted to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman, homosexual activists are raising millions of dollars to defeat us. If they are successful in even one state, they will have leverage to get the mainstream media to convince Americans—and the US Supreme Court—that our country has changed, and that it's time for gay marriage to come to the entire nation.

We need to mount a national campaign to win in these four states. That's what the Stand For Marriage America campaign is all about. Supported by NOM, and managed by ActRight (a clearinghouse for conservative action), Stand For Marriage America makes it easy for people to support all four state campaigns to preserve traditional marriage.

If every person who made an effort to eat at Chick-fil-A last Wednesday donated $10 to Stand For Marriage America, we would guarantee victory in all four of these critical states. There's no question that people will vote to preserve marriage—as they have done in 32 straight states—as long as we have the resources to communicate with voters and get out the vote. We need to raise millions of dollars to prevail, because we're battling against billionaires on Wall Street and in Hollywood, including Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, who has himself given $2.5 million to our opponents.

We can overcome the contributions of Bezos and his billionaire friends with our strength in numbers: if we all contribute together to Stand For Marriage America. Contributions will by default be divided equally between each of the four states; but if you prefer, you can specifically designate part of your donation to go to a specific state.

Can you give $500 to help us preserve marriage? I know that's asking a lot, but some can afford a gift of this amount, or even more. But whatever you can give—$250, $100 or $25—will go a long way. Even if enough people just contributed the price of a nice meal at Chick-fil-A—say, $10—we would be able to meet our goal, and fund each of these four critically important marriage campaigns!

I know NOM supporters can raise $100,000 in the next week through Stand For Marriage America. Prove me right! Will you join us?

By Brian Brown | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments (5)

Pro-GOP PAC Spends Almost $1 Million on Pro-Marriage Swing State Billboards

August 10, 2012 – 3:00 pm

This billboard by the Republican Union PAC is popping up in various places across the country:

Its part of an effort to encourage pro-life and pro-marriage Americans to support Republican candidates this fall.

Bloomberg reports:

"Republican Union PAC has spent $950,000 on billboards, it said in an FEC filing yesterday. The billboards are going up in five key states — Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia — and will encourage political independents and conservative Democrats to consider voting Republican, Harmon said."

By NOM Staff | Posted in Election Watch 2012, Marriage, Marriage Election Watch, Mitt Romney, President Obama, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (60)

Obama Still Quiet on Gay Marriage in Democrats' Platform

August 10, 2012 – 2:00 pm

The Washington Times:

Democrats are asking supporters to "stand with" President Obama and the Democratic Party in solidarity on gay marriage — even though the White House and Mr. Obama's campaign repeatedly have declined to say whether the president supports efforts to write a gay-marriage plank in the party's platform.

...Mr. Obama earlier this year reversed himself and said he now embraces gay marriage, but the White House last week as well as the campaign declined to say whether the president supports adding the plank or whether doing so would hurt Democratic candidates in swing states.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Election Watch 2012, Marriage, Marriage Election Watch, Politics, President Obama, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (8)

Video: What Has Happened in Canada Since Gay Marriage?

August 10, 2012 – 1:00 pm

Kalley Yanta of the Minnesota Marriage Minute explains:

"The news media is full of examples of negative consequences as a result of Canada's redefinition of marriage. Some examples: recently a national sportscaster, Damian Goddard, was fired for tweeting his support for traditional marriage. Bishop Frederick Henry of Calgary was investigated by the Alberta Human Rights Commission for doing little more than writing about the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality in a newspaper column. Several court cases have been fired challenging Canada's laws against polygamy, using the same arguments that led to the imposition of same-sex marriage. A study commissioned by then-Prime Minster Paul Martin concluded that 'laws banning polygamy are discriminatory' and should be repealed."

She adds many more examples:

By NOM Staff | Posted in Canada, Culture, Education, Law, Marriage, Religious Liberty, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (48)

Canadian Schools Teaching 8-Year-Olds There Are Six Genders Without Parental Permission

August 10, 2012 – 12:00 pm

Dr. Charles McVety, President of the Institute for Canadian Values writes in the Canadian Times:

The Newly proposed, Ontario curriculum, which teaches six genders (male, female, transgendered, transsexual, two-spirited and inter-sexed) is being taught by teaches in Toronto schools and is confusing to our children. Our precious, impressionable little boys and girls, as young as eight years old, are forced to “role play opposite (gender) roles” and even search images of Pride Week. The curriculum is mandatory without parental notice or option to withdraw their children.

Last year, parents voiced their concern over this same material. The Premier promised to withdraw the program. Instead the Ministry of Education transferred the teaching to another department, refaced the curriculum and belligerently continued to teach this special interest material. The Ministry admonishes teachers “to address controversial issues” even in the face of “negative parent response”. Teachers are further warned if they omit any of the curriculum then they will be guilty of “foster(ing) a poisoned environment”. The fact that they include such a statement means that the Ministry knows that parents are upset but just don’t care.

Would you teach your eight-year-old child, six genders and to question his or her gender? If not then your home is a “poisoned environment” according to the reasoning of Ontario’s Ministry of Education.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Canada, Children, Culture, Education, Parenting, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (97)

False Equivalency: Canadian SSM Activists Harass Company Which Shares Similar Name to Chick-fil-A

August 10, 2012 – 11:00 am

In Canada, where same-sex marriage has been legal for seven years, activists took their Chick-fil-A protest even further, ordering food they refused to pay for, even though they had the wrong company!

In America, when one gay marriage activist was exposed for harassing a Chick-fil-A employee, he was fired by his company.

In Canada, the employees simply had to take the abuse and harassment:

The battle over Chick-fil-A and its president's thoughts on gay marriage has created an unwitting victim: Canada's Chick-Felays. The teeny Toronto-area chain has just four outposts, and definitely isn't serving up spicy chicken sandwiches and peach milkshakes—it combines Portuguese-style chicken with North African spices. But it's been the target of upset customers all the same, reports the Wall Street Journal.

"The servers were like, 'What’s going on?'" says Chick-Felays' founder. "I didn't have any idea what they were talking about. I was selling chicken." And some customers were ordering chicken ... then refusing to pay, and lambasting the "discriminatory" company. A customer finally clued the founder in, though he remains a little confused. "How can they mistake us, when it’s a completely different logo, different colors, different menu, different name?" -- Newser

By NOM Staff | Posted in Canada, Culture, Free Speech, Marriage, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (39)

Matthew Schmitz: Youth Support for Gay Marriage Weaker Than You Think

August 10, 2012 – 10:00 am

Matthew Schmitz writes for First Things' First Thoughts blog:

Young voters are abandoning social issues and focusing on fiscal ones, the New York Times informs us in a hopeful voice. They present scant data for this contention, ignoring the fact that young voters—who through the 70′s, 80′s, and 90′s were the most pro-choice cohort—became the most pro-life cohort around the year 2000, even more pro-life than senior citizens. This difference is opinion is massively amplified by an “intensity gap” between pro-life and pro-choice young people. A 2012 NARAL survey found that 51 percent of pro-life voters age 30 or younger feel abortion is a very important issue in determining their vote while only 26 percent of their pro-choice peers feel the same way. Pro-life young people not only outnumber pro-choice young people in aboslute terms, they overwhelm two-to-one in terms of commitment to the issue, a result so depressing for pro-choice activists that it prompted Nancy Keenan, NARAL’s head, to resign.

... Same-sex marriage famously receives less support (about seven points less) at the ballot box than on opinion polls because voters who oppose same-sex marriage are reluctant to admit their opposition to an interviewer. But is support for same-sex marriage uniformly overstated? If respondents lie because they feel social pressure to support same-sex marriage, those who feel the most social pressure (i.e. young people) are likely to be cohort in which support is most radically overstated. Same-sex marriage proponents have learned to mistrust opinion polls, but have failed to absorb the lesson that polls of young people are likely to be the least reliable of all.

We find more evidence of polls overstating same-sex marriage support in yet another intensity gap that favors social conservatives. An ABC/Langer Research Associates poll found that 65 percent of conservatives reacted in a strongly unfavorable way to Obama’s same-sex marriage announcement while only 52 percent of Democrats responded in a strongly favorable way. That 13-point difference reflects a basic imbalance in the debate: opposition to same-sex marriage is much firmer than support for it, and proponents are going to have an increasingly difficult time converting those who have held out this long.