Dear Marriage Supporter,

Thanks be to God!

The victory for marriage in North Carolina was huge. "Overwhelming" and "landslide" were just two of the words even MSNBC had to use in covering the great victory for the marriage amendment.

North Carolina was huge because once again, with your help we visibly exploded the myth of inevitability.

In a record turnout for a primary, 61% of voters in a moderate Southern swing state which President Obama carried four years ago voted "yes" to marriage and "no" to gay marriage.

Congratulations to Tami Fitzgerald, whose leadership made last night's victory possible; to my good friend and campaign manager Frank Schubert of Mission: Public Affairs; and to the dedicated volunteers whose tireless efforts made victory happen.

It was truly an honor to serve on the Executive Committee and be a part of this campaign. Check out this video of the official victory celebration in North Carolina! I have a couple brief appearances in it!

61% to 39%!

If you are one of the more dedicated readers of my email alerts, you already know my and NOM's response to this victory: Let's use it to push harder for more victories.

Four more states will vote on marriage this November. In Maryland and Washington, the people will vote on whether to repeal gay marriage bills passed by their politicians. In Maine, advocates of gay marriage will seek to get the people to approve gay marriage by a popular vote. In Minnesota, voters will decide whether to add a Marriage Amendment to their own state's constitution.

Winning these battles takes money.

Over the past several months, NOM was able to contribute $425,000 to the North Carolina campaign. But the simple reality is that we can't match that level of financial support in four states this November.

Every crisis is also an opportunity—to take our movement to the next level.

That's why we're launching Stand for Marriage America.

Through Stand for Marriage America, you can make a single contribution and know that all of it will go directly to the four state campaigns in Minnesota, Maine, Maryland, and Washington state. With just a few clicks of the mouse, 25% of your gift (or any portion you allocate) will go to each of the state campaigns fighting to protect marriage this November.

I want to underline a bit how unusual this new initiative is. Organizations mostly raise money for their own organizations. But we at NOM are not in this fight for our organization but for a great and noble cause: to protect God's vision of marriage. We hope other organizations will join us in raising money 100% of which will go directly to winning more marriage battles in more states. This is a cause and a community, and no one organization can win alone.

Please help us launch this initiative and come out of the gate strong by making a generous donation today! This November, Minnesota, Maine, Maryland and Washington state each have the opportunity to share in North Carolina's success, defending marriage and sending a powerful statement to politicians and judges across the country: The American people know what marriage is—the union of one man and one woman.

Here's the thing. I'm not going to just ask you to give—I'm going to put NOM's money where your dollar is. NOM will match every dollar you contribute, up to $100,000.

Together, this November we will once again prove that the naysayers, the doubters, and the pessimists are wrong: The people standing together will not be defeated.

God is real, and the inevitability myth is made up to substitute for His providence.

That's why I'm challenging you today to make a generous gift, not to NOM today, but to Stand for Marriage America.

With President Obama's marriage flip, the stakes just got even higher.

As I told the press,

President Obama has now made the definition of marriage a defining issue in the presidential contest, especially in swing states like Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Florida and Nevada.. His administration is already trying to dismantle the nation's marriage laws by refusing to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court. All the state marriage amendments and laws are at risk under a president who actively wants to change the definition of marriage.

NOM will work ceaselessly in these swing states and across the nation to preserve traditional marriage because it is profoundly in the public good to do so. God is the author of marriage, and we will not let an activist politician like Barack Obama who is beholden to gay marriage activists for campaign financing to turn marriage into something political that can be redefined according to presidential whim. Just yesterday North Carolina voters sent a clear message that America wants to preserve marriage. We intend to win the marriage debate this November.

Gov. Mitt Romney immediately came out to affirm his disagreement with gay marriage and Pres. Obama:

Jeff Bell in the The Weekly Standard has a great analysis of the political consequences of the North Carolina victory coupled with Pres. Obama's pro-gay-marriage announcement:

Yesterday's overwhelming approval of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions by the voters of North Carolina underlines the growing likelihood that the issue will be a major factor in the 2012 presidential election. Consider the following circumstances:

...Republican elites and consultants who say the definition of marriage and other social issues are "narrow" and "divisive" will now no doubt explain why marriage is, in terms of margin, today running more than 20 points ahead of John McCain in 2008 and (in recent North Carolina polls) Mitt Romney. (Don't hold your breath waiting for that one.)

Regardless of what the consultants think, the gulf between the American people and what the Democratic party is likely to write into its platform this September in Charlotte is rendering the issue of gay marriage unavoidable this November. The unanimity of Democratic elites has made a gay marriage platform plank unstoppable. The Republican platform will continue to oppose gay marriage, and by election day more voters than ever before will be aware that, for better or worse, reelection of the Obama-Biden ticket could well mean federal imposition of gay marriage in the president's second term. Given that in the swing states most critical in the Electoral College, voters are (like those in North Carolina) more socially conservative than economically conservative, partisan polarization of the marriage issue should be far from a source of comfort for Team Obama and its strategists.

Jeff Bell, one of the original Reagan supply-siders, has a new book, "The Case for Polarized Politics: Why America Needs Social Conservatism," making the case that the social issues are key to GOP victories.

Pres. Obama may be basking in the applause of the media, and rolling in cash from his gay millionaire bundlers, but American now has a clear choice: a president who supports gay marriage or one who stands with the majority of the American people.

The polls were wrong in North Carolina, as they have been wrong in predicting every single marriage amendment battle.

The new Gallup poll shows a six-point swing in our favor since last year. That's good news, but I do not believe the topline that 50% of Americans support gay marriage. A poll just last year by ADF showed that 62% of Americans reject same-sex marriage.

I don't believe the pro-gay-marriage polling, and neither does the Democratic polling firm PPP, which tweeted, as returns from North Carolina's landslide victory for marriage rolled in,

"Hate to say it, but I don't believe polls showing majority support for gay marriage nationally. Any time there's a vote it doesn't back it up."

Let me make a prediction for this November: Gov. Romney will be proven to be on the right side of history, on the right side of 5000 years of the wisdom of mankind in defining marriage as the union of husband and wife.

Family Research Council's Tony Perkins just released a statement, which I agree with, saying that with this announcement Pres. Obama may have handed the support of social conservatives to Gov. Romney.

The choice for voters will be clear.

Gov. Romney consistently opposed same-sex marriage. Gov. Romney has signed NOM's Marriage Pledge, promising to appoint judges who respect our Constitution, to support a federal marriage amendment, and to protect Americans who have been harassed for their views on marriage.

BTW, speaking of harassment, if you have not yet seen this video of young Daniel Glowacki please take a moment to watch it:

And please take a moment to write to him and his mother thanking them for their courage.

A 14-year-old kid branded a bigot on national television and by his own teacher, simply for speaking up for his Catholic faith?

Amazing that this could happen in the United States of America. It's a clarion call to us to stick together, to build a movement strong enough to speak up, in love, for what's right—and, especially, to defend the heroes of the next generation who are refusing to be cowed.

Please, as NOM's new spokesman Damian Goddard suggests, thank a hero today.

Hundreds of you already have. We need to stand together to withstand the hatred and incivility headed our way.

Meanwhile in New York state, another pro-gay-marriage Republican just stepped down.

In an interview which aired on Capitol Tonight, GOP state senator Jim Alesi announced that he will not run for reelection:

"Alesi sparked controversy when he became the first Republican to publicly support same-sex marriage last year. Those troubles were magnified by an ill-timed lawsuit Alesi brought against two of his own constituents. He dropped the suit and apologized repeatedly, calling the move boneheaded, but the damage was done," reports Capitol Tonight.

"At some point, you have to really look at what is good for the party. What makes it easiest to maintain the majority," Alesi said. Too bad the GOP leadership which brought up and passed the gay-marriage bill did not think of that earlier.

He was even more frank to the New York Daily News: "Gay Marriage Vote Sunk Me."

"I've gotten a lot of support from Democrats and the gay community, but unfortunately they can't vote in a Republican primary," he said.

One down, three to go among Republicans who voted to bring gay marriage to New York.

Another bit of good news. Senator Orrin Hatch is asking the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the possible unauthorized disclosure of the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM) confidential donor information.

Sen Hatch, the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote that "evidence suggests that the IRS may have been the source of the unauthorized disclosure of donor information," and adds that this "is a matter that I take with the utmost seriousness, and I expect that you will treat this inquiry with the attention that it deserves."

(You can hear NOM Chairman John Eastman discussing the situation on Steve Deace's nationally-syndicated radio show here.)

We believe the IRS is taking the release of protected tax information seriously and we thank Sen. Hatch for his support.

Thank you for the victories you made possible this week and every week. Together we will stand up against the hatred and continue to fight in defense of marriage.

Together we will win more impossible victories.