Dear Marriage Supporter,
"Sank Like a Stone" — that's how same-sex marriage faired in Australia this past week.
Australia held elections for Prime Minister the other day, but it was as much a referendum on whether the Aussies would redefine marriage or not. Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd nailed his hopes of winning to a promise of introducing legislation to redefine marriage within the first 100 days of returning to office.
As was reported, the pro-marriage platform of the former Prime Minister "sank beneath the waves" of the pro-marriage majority down under.
You may remember I had traveled to Australia in August for the World Congress of Families, and I could not be happier for the friends I made on that trip and our pro-marriage and family allies there.
It's a great victory for marriage, and a win worth celebrating across the globe. It also serves as a reminder that when people are given the right to vote on marriage, they invariably vote to preserve the true and intrinsic nature of marriage as an institution binding one man to one woman for life in order to love and care for one another and for any children born of their union.
To cement this great victory, the people of Australia should insist on the right to a national referendum to preserve marriage. That's the best way to capitalize on the momentum of the victory, and only an amendment will protect marriage from the unceasing efforts of gay-'marriage' activists and the politicians who rely on them for support. It's the only way to ensure that the people — and not politicians or judges — control the definition of marriage in Australia.
While Here at Home
Speaking of amendments, here at home we're continuing to work to encourage support for the Federal Marriage Amendment being sponsored by Representative Tim Huelskamp of Kansas. We've written to thousands of marriage supporters across the country urging them to invite their own Representative to become a co-sponsor of the proposed amendment. The resolution now has 52 co-sponsors! NOM will be working with our allies on the Hill and among other organizations to keep the pressure on members of the House to support this important bill.
Meanwhile, marriage faces direct threats in the next two to three months, and we're working hard to meet them.
Hawaii and Illinois will have special legislative sessions where activists will again try to ram through legislation to redefine marriage for the people of those states. We've beaten them before — in Illinois, already once this year — but our opponents have amassed more money from homosexual activists and are turning up the heat. New Jersey, too, will attempt to redefine marriage before the end of the year. These are all tough battles in difficult states, but we're going to give our all to prevail.
But to give our all, we need your help. It's your donations that give us the resources we need to continue fighting across the nation and in the halls of Congress. Your generosity funds our calls, letters and rallies that have been so important in these pitched battles. So, if you can help us with a generous gift today as we prepare for battle in these key states, it would be a blessing. (Remember, every dollar you give will be matched by a very kind donor, and all the funds we receive will be immediately deployed to the front where the battle for marriage is being waged.)
A positive state-level outlook comes from Indiana, where the legislature will likely vote in coming months to put marriage on the ballot for voter approval in 2014. We're working vigorously as part of the growing coalition there to ensure Indiana citizens their right to vote on marriage.
In the courts, challenges to true marriage are being argued across the country, and in the near future we expect decisions to come down in states like Pennsylvania and New Mexico, as well as other states.
With all these court fights and legislative battles in full gear, the next two to three months are crucial to marriage in America. It's why the our $1 million matching gift campaign from now to the end of the year is so important. If you haven't take advantage of this tremendous opportunity, please do so just as soon as you finish reading this newsletter.
Confident in the American People
As I've always told you, I'm confident that if America were to vote on marriage, we would clearly win. Like the people of Australia, we know the importance of marriage for men and women and for our whole society, especially children.
We hear a lot that public opinion is shifting away from marriage in America, but that's simply not the case. One recent Fox News poll showed that 56% of Americans "oppose" redefining marriage: continuing proof that marriage redefinition is not "inevitable."
But even more telling is a Rice University poll that has been given little attention. Our friends at CitizenLink brought this poll to light the other day, publishing an article by Jerry Cox, the president of the Arkansas Family Council.
Cox explains how the poll shows that between 2006 and 2012, "if a person was going to change their mind on the issue of marriage, they were more likely to swing toward opposing same-sex marriage than supporting it."
This poll is particularly interesting, because it interviewed people over time. This allows researchers to measure changes in opinion. And contrary to the myth that support for gay marriage is rapidly gainsing steam, the truth is that it's opposition to gay marriage that is growing.
Of course, the media doesn't want Americans to know this, so they refuse to report it. All we get are stories about the "oppressed minority" and how "equality" is being denied.
Stakes Higher Than You Can Imagine
Despite this, glimmers of the truth do get out — such as the Fox poll and the Rice University study. To make sure that more Americans know about this, we as ordinary Americans need to speak out, and to be heard in the halls of power — such as the state houses of Hawaii, Illinois, and New Jersey. We need to be heard in the courtrooms across the country as well, and we need to be heard in the public squares across the land. NOM is dedicated to helping you have your voice and values heard in all the places of power where the future of marriage is being debated and decided.
We know how much is at stake. Quite literally, the well-being of future generations is at risk. When marriage is redefined, legally or even just 'culturally,' the connection between marriage and children breaks down, and it is the children who pay the price.
One of the most grave consequences of redefining marriage, be it intended or otherwise, is how it leads to other mistakes of definition down the line — for example, mistakes about the definition of parenthood.
Same-sex couples and others are frequently turning down certain technological paths to parenthood which, by definition, deny children of at least one, and very often times both, of their biological parents. In other words, it's becoming more and more a 'new norm' that children are created by design who will be denied their inherent right to know and love their own mom and dad!
Alana Newman has written powerfully about the sense of loss and lack of rights that donor-conceived children feel. Her words are a timely reminder to us, as we blindly follow the urgings of homosexual activists and others in taking step after step into an Orwellian future, that we are creating a whole host of problem for society, and these children in particular.
This madness is certainly not unrelated to cultural urgings toward the deconstruction of marriage. Once we ignore marriage's intrinsic purpose in bringing men and women together to be parents for children, other misunderstandings follow closely behind. Simply put, once marriage falls, parentage falls soon thereafter.
At its core, that's what we must fight against. Marriage is so much more than a private contract and the satisfaction of adults' desires. It is God's design, in His perfect wisdom, for building a healthy society through healthy and whole generations of children.
Let's all be angels here on earth for the cause — speaking the truth in love about marriage, its purpose, its profound good, and its enormous importance to a flourishing society.
Thank you for all you do.
Faithfully,
Brian S. Brown
P.S. Marriage's victory in Australia bought them 2 – 3 years to pass a Constitutional Amendment. But here in the U.S. we only have 2 – 3 MONTHS to protect and promote marriage in Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, and New Jersey. And there's only 3 months left to have your donation doubled by our matching gift program. Please take the time to consider a generous contribution today. Two to three months is all we have.
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