NOM BLOG

Gay Blogger on NY Post Editorial: "The Entire Thing Seems to Have Been Ghost-Written by Maggie Gallagher"

That's what Joe My God says about the NY Post editorial opposing same-sex marriage.

Their editorial is good, we agree! But just to be clear, NOM's Chairman didn't ghost-write it.

NOM's Warning To GOP Senators: A Vote For This Bill Will Endanger Catholic Adoption Agencies, Religious Liberty

“Greg Ball promised a bill would be dead without genuine religious liberty protection,” said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). “We’re counting on Senate leadership to deliver on that promise.”

NEW YORK - NOM released its legal analysis of the hastily added religious liberty provision in Andrew Cuomo’s same sex marriage bill.

“Andrew Cuomo’s last minute language, added without time for review in order to pick off GOP votes, clearly failed to protect many religious organizations and individuals. Groups including Catholic adoption agencies will be at risk and it will do nothing to protect the rights of parents concerning their children’s education,” said Brown.

“New York adoption and discrimination laws are particularly complex,” said Josh Baker, NOM’s legal analyst. “Without a very clear exemption, Catholic Charities is likely to be forced to shut adoption and foster care services due to the cost of litigation that would threaten its many other charities. This happened in Illinois, even though the bill’s own sponsor thought religious liberty would be protected. He was shocked to discover it wasn’t true. New York Senators cannot claim that ignorance if they vote yes on this bill.”

In addition, because the bill declares marriage a fundamental right, the interaction between that language and the religious liberty language is not clear and would have to be extensively litigated. (The consequences for the context for future litigation are also unclear.)

“Last minute fake religious liberty protection is not good enough,” said Brown. “GOP senators have been warned. Their conscience is now at stake.”

Report: NY SSM Vote May Be Postponed Until Friday

So says the NY Daily News -- all the more reason to keep the pressure up in the meantime:

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said if there is a gay marriage vote -- and that will be decided by the conference tomorrow morning in a closed-door session -- it will likely be on Friday, our Ken Lovett notes.

Despite there already being 31 votes, Skelos wasn't prepared to say the bill will pass if it reaches the floor.

This means it's not at all clear they have enough votes to pass their bill.

Let's continue to hit the phones! And encourage your friends and family to call as well.

NY on the Brink: David Tyree Stands Up to Protect Marriage -- Will you? Act Now!

Action Alert: New York

Dear Marriage Supporter,

ESPN called it the greatest play in Super Bowl history. NFL Films called it "The Play of the Decade." Dubbed "The Catch," David Tyree's near miraculous catch with a minute to go in Super Bowl XLII that set up the NY Giant’s victory against the undefeated New England Patriots.

Now, three years later, in another fourth quarter drive to victory, David Tyree once again stepped up with a courageous stand for marriage, standing yesterday with pastors from across the state on the steps of the Capitol in Albany and declaring: "I believe in marriage as God originally intended, between one man and one woman."

Below is a list of possible Republican swing votes. Please stand with David, the pastors, and millions of New Yorkers by calling and urging these legislators to stand firm in defense of marriage!

Call the Republican Swing Votes! See the list of legislators below. Call and urge them to stand strong on marriage!

Watch NOM's Maggie Gallagher interview with David Tyree.

In the past two days, five Senators have announced their support for same-sex marriage, bringing the total to 31 senators publicly endorsing same-sex marriage. One more vote would give same-sex marriage activists a majority in the 62-member Senate.

With just four days left in the session, New Yorkers are coming together to resist this final push for same-sex marriage. Archbishop Dolan personally called on legislators to withstand the tremendous pressure they are under from gay marriage advocates. Pastors of all denominations have come to Albany to represent their congregations at this decisive moment. And New Yorkers from every walk of life are calling, emailing, visiting, faxing, and praying as the final vote approaches.

In these final moments, it is absolutely essential that these swing senators know that you oppose same-sex marriage today. Please call every senator on this list right now!

Since yesterday’s email, Kemp Hannon has assured us that he will vote NO on the bill, so we’ve taken his name off this list. But Senator Mark Grisanti—once an avowed defender of marriage—has suddenly announced that he is "undecided."

Stephen Saland (518) 455-2411
Roy McDonald (518) 455-2381
Andrew Lanza (518) 455-3215
Mark Grisanti (518) 455-3240
Greg Ball (518) 455-3111
Kemp Hannon (516) 739-1700
Charles Fuschillo (518) 455-3341
Betty Little (518) 455-2811

Also, please call Senator Dean Skelos to make clear that the people of New York–not politicians or judges–should define marriage. As Senate Majority Leader he should make sure that this question goes directly to the people.

Dean Skelos (518) 455-3171

We urgently need your help. Please forward this message to all your family and friends.

Brian Brown

Faithfully,

Brian Brown

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

NRO Interviews Edward Mechmann on the NY Marriage Fight

Edward T. Mechmann is a lawyer who deals with public-policy issues for the Archdiocese of New York as assistant director of its Family Life/Respect Life Office. An excerpt from his interview with Kathryn Lopez:

LOPEZ: Did it surprise you that one of the Democrats who switched yesterday, Carl Kruger, announced, “What we’re about to do is redefine what the American family is. And that’s a good thing”?

MECHMANN: Legislative humility is not exactly a widely practiced virtue in New York, so it didn’t surprise me that a one of our state senators would consider himself qualified to redefine the basic structure of society. What did surprise me was that he was candid enough to say it aloud.

LOPEZ: Does a small percentage of men marrying (to use the term advocates use) men and women marrying women really pose a threat to the American family? Why can’t they do their thing and we do ours, and we all get along? You can argue natural law, but if it doesn’t feel natural to them, who’s to say?

MECHMANN: To be clear, we are talking about redefining marriage to satisfy a very tiny percentage of society — only three to four percent of the population defines themselves as gay or lesbian, and the Massachusetts experience suggests that only a small percentage of them will even get “married.”

New York long ago decriminalized homosexual conduct, so gays and lesbians are perfectly free to do whatever they want. That’s not what this debate is really about. It’s about forcing society, and everyone in it, to recognize the moral equivalence of heterosexual and homosexual acts. And I do mean “force,” by using all the powers of the state and local governments.

The problem also is that if you redefine marriage, you’re changing a public, not private, institution. The effect of the redefinition of marriage will reach far beyond the parties to the “marriage.” For example, this bill would change the meaning of countless laws that ban discrimination on the basis of marital status. Those laws touch areas like eligibility for government contracts, employment decisions, tax-exempt status, and eligibility for professional or business licenses. We have no idea how the bill might affect religious organizations and individuals who oppose the redefinition of marriage. And the governor and legislature aren’t even talking about this.

Will Skelos Permit a Vote? Mike Long Ramps Up "Republicans Who Vote 'Yes' Will Have to Answer for It in 2012"

From The New York morning roundup from City Hall and The Capitol:

Momentum may be building toward a vote on same-sex marriage, but the Conservative Party is letting it be known that Republicans who vote "yes" will have to answer for it in 2012.

An operative close to party leadership texted to say: "The Gov & AG's ex-wife [aka, lobbyist Jennifer Cunningham] pulling Senators into meetings doesn't alter the math come November 2012. [The] Senate GOP is being sold a bill of goods, and have forgotten how elections are won and lost back in districts."

David Tyree's Other Moment of Glory--See NOM Interview David Tyree on Marriage!

ESPN says Tyree's "leaping hands-clasped-in-prayer, football-atop-helmet snare of a Manning third-down heave" made Tyree "a Super Bowl legend."

"I never said that I was the best receiver or, you know, the greatest receiver," the now-retired Tyree, 31, recalled one morning last August in his New Jersey home. He works primarily with the International Children's Support Foundation these days.

"I felt like I was the guy [who], when given the opportunity, was going to make the play."

See NOM's exclusive interview with him this afternoon. 3 p.m.

Photos: Pro-Marriage Rally in NYC!

Here are some photos from the pro-marriage rally held in New York City yesterday -- featuring over 80 pastors and numerous New Yorkers:

ABC NY Video: Opponents of SSM Say It Will Come Down to Two GOP Senators

Here's the video from ABC 7:

Interlude: Laurel & Hardy on Gay Marriage

Gwyneth Paltrow: What's Wrong with Second Graders Learning About Homosexuality?

LifeSiteNews:

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow, a top gay rights proponent in Hollywood, is thrilled that her second-grade daughter is learning about homosexuality.

In her newsletter GOOP, the Iron Man actress says that when her daughter came home with news about a classmate’s lesbian parents, she was enthusiastic.

“When my daughter came home from school one day saying that a classmate had two mommies, my response was, ‘Two mommies? How lucky is she?!’” she wrote.

... While Paltrow once explained her daughter Apple’s unusual name as a “Biblical” choice, she has rejected any ties to the Judaeo-Christian religious tradition. “I don’t believe in religion. I believe in spirituality. Religion is the cause of all the problems in the world,” she told MSN’s Woman’s Day in March 2010.

Fine for her kids, if that's what she believes, but what about yours?

NYPost Editors: Marriage Should Be a Matter of Conscience

The editors of the New York Post come out in favor of retaining the commonsense definition of marriage:

Gov. Cuomo yesterday ratcheted up the pressure in favor of same-sex marriage in New York, sending his own bill to the Legislature while arm-twisting lawmakers on its behalf.

That's a pity.

Sure, politics drives everything in Albany, but some topics properly are a matter between legislators, their constituents and their consciences.

We would include same-sex marriage on that list.

There is no denying that same-sex marriage could become law this year...

But if we had a vote, it would be no.

Marriage as an institution has fallen on hard times in recent years. But that's no excuse for weakening it further.

Since the dawn of human history, marriage has been defined as the union between one man and one woman, the point being procreation -- that is, raising children in a stable, nurturing environment.

GetReligion on NY Daily News "Demonizing the Opposition" to SSM

We couldn't take the recent NY Daily News hit piece on protectors of marriage seriously enough to respond, but Mollie at Get Religion points out some of the obvious ironies in it:

You know a story is going to be bad when the headline is “National Organization for Marriage crusading against gay nuptials in NY.” Crusading! Hide your kids! Hide your wife!

But the headline to this New York Daily News article by Douglas Feiden might actually be the highlight. It quickly goes downhill from there. Take the lede (please!):

A shadowy group run by religious fundamentalists is bankrolling a pitched crusade against same-sex marriage in New York.

Um, yeah. So, uh, yeah. Not really sure what to say about this. This article might seem like an Onion-like satire of how unfair the mainstream media regularly is when discussing support of traditional marriage. But it’s not. It really ran in the New York Daily News. Just like that.

The article claims that the National Organization for Marriage works to keep its donor lists secret. I don’t know why, although this article might ironically suggest an answer.

Daily Caller Op-Ed: As New York Economy Tanks, Social Re-Engineering Cuomo & Bloomberg's Top Priority

Brian Raum, senior counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, writes in the Daily Caller:

As the battle for marriage heats up again in New York, so does the tired rhetoric. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has stated that marriage redefinition is one of his top two priorities, and for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, it’s priority number one. 

While social re-engineering tops the agenda, New York’s unemployment rate lingers near 8 percent. The state faces a $315 million budget deficit, and a bleak economic forecast is forcing reductions in the state police force. New York’s tax policies are driving people and businesses away in droves, fewer than half of its students are leaving high school prepared for college or well-paying careers, and its poverty rate — the highest among all Northeastern states last year — tops the national average.

As for Mayor Bloomberg, his approval rating has tanked. Prescription drug abuse is rising at an alarming rate in his city, the citywide murder rate skyrocketed last year, and 41 percent of all pregnancies in the Big Apple are aborted — that’s more than twice the national average.

... New York is faced with a monumental decision, the full consequences of which we cannot begin to predict. One thing is sure, however: if the politicians succeed with their “highest priority,” it will guarantee, by design, that more children will be raised without either a mother or a father. That may be a side of history that Gov. Cuomo and Mayor Bloomberg want to be on, but I and most other Americans do not.

Breaking News: French Parliament Rejects Same-Sex Marriage

Via France24:

France's lower house of parliament Tuesday rejected a bill that would have allowed gays to marry.

The house, dominated by the ruling right-wing UMP party, voted by 293 votes to 222 to block the bill, with most left-wing lawmakers backing it and most of the right opposed.

"We are against homophobia but we do not want to alter the image and function of marriage in the collective subconscious," said UMP lawmaker Michel Diefenbacher.