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Another Republican Comes Out for Gay Marriage in NY

June 14, 2011 at 5:44 pm

It looks like the religious liberty language is picking off some GOP votes.

Redouble your efforts right now!

By NOM Staff | Posted in New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (15)

Federal Judge Sides With Judge Walker on Prop 8 Disclosure Question

June 14, 2011 at 4:24 pm

The AP with the breaking news:

A federal judge has upheld a gay judge's ruling to strike down California's same-sex marriage ban.

Chief U.S. District Judge James Ware said Tuesday that former Chief Judge Vaughn Walker did not have to divulge whether he wanted to marry his own gay partner before he declared last year that voter-approved Proposition 8 was unconstitutional.

Lawyers for backers of the ban argued at a hearing Monday that Walker should have recused himself or disclosed his relationship because he and his partner stood to personally benefit from the verdict.

Read Judge Ware's full order here (PDF).

By NOM Staff | Posted in California, Prop 8, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (17)

Judge Who Will Rule on Prop 8 Question Contrived Tale About Brother's Assault

June 14, 2011 at 4:07 pm

Ed Whelan writes at NRO's Bench Memos about another weird example of people making stuff up (is this a new trend?):

By all accounts, it was clear from yesterday’s hearing that Chief Judge James Ware will deny Prop 8 proponents’ motion to vacate former district judge Vaughn Walker’s anti-Prop 8 judgment on account of Walker’s failure to recuse. Notwithstanding what I believe to be the compelling merits of the motion, that result will be no surprise. It would take a judge of clarity and courage to do the right thing, and it would be especially uncomfortable for a longtime colleague of Walker’s to vacate the signature ruling of Walker’s career. No one familiar with Ware would have expected him to grant the motion. As a prominent lawyer in the Northern District of California put it (in an e-mail to me):

[Ware] is infamous for having contrived a story about his brother being attacked by a racist mob which made him, a black man, especially sensitive to racial prejudice. Turns out the incident never happened, he didn’t even have a brother. The fabrication kept Ware from advancing to the 9th Circuit but was not considered serious enough to compel him to step down from the District Court. The excuse for his staying was that he hadn’t actually told the story under oath, just to the FBI and congressional staffers during their conduct of the background investigation. Ha!

By NOM Staff | Posted in California, Prop 8, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (4)

Breaking News: NY Giants Hero David Tyree Stands Up for Marriage!

June 14, 2011 at 2:40 pm

David Tyree was best known for the dramatic helmet catch during the winning touchdown drive (see video below) in the final minutes of the fourth quarter of the NY Giants' Super Bowl victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots.

Today, during another dramatic fourth quarter drive for victory, we are told David Tyree showed up and stood with the more than 80 pastors who joined together at the press conference held on the steps of City Hall in New York City today. We are looking for photos and coverage. More to come.

Brave man!

UPDATE - CBN News features a quote from Tyree:

"I believe in marriage as God originally intended, between one man and one woman. My position may not be popular in some circles, but I care more about marriage and family than my reputation," he said, according to a Tuesday press release by City Action Coalition International.

By NOM Staff | Posted in New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (5)

Social Workers Favor Gay Couples over Married Couples?

June 14, 2011 at 1:25 pm

In a New York Times report that gay adoption is generally on the rise, this story sticks out:

"Matt and Ray Lees, a couple in Worthington, Ohio, said they were selected as parents for a 7-month-old, ahead of several heterosexual couples, in part because they had successfully adopted two older children."

So a couple with two older children who could not legally jointly adopt were favored by social workers for a 7 month old baby, over a childless married mom and dad in Ohio?

Sigh.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Adoption | Comments (5)

Human Events: Fake Lesbian Blogger Epidemic Widens

June 14, 2011 at 12:50 pm

John Hayward writes (and satirizes):

Yesterday I wrote about Tom McMaster, a 40-year-old married college student living in Edinburgh who pretended to be “A Gay Girl In Damascus,” who was purportedly a lesbian Syrian blogger who got nabbed by Bashar Assad’s secret police.

McMaster’s hoax was uncovered by Paula Brooks, an American lesbian who owned a blog called LezGetReal, where McMaster often posted comments under his fake “Amina” identity. Now it turns out that Paula Brooks is, in fact, a 58-year-old construction worker and Air Force vet named Bill Graber. The other owners of LezGetReal are said to be “devastated” by this revelation. A team from the Centers for Disease Control has been dispatched to verify that they really are lesbians, and control the epidemic of fake lesbian blogging before it spreads any further.

“To be honest, this outbreak is not a surprise to us,” said Dr. Lilith Faire, head of the CDC containment team. “Modern liberal politics are strongly focused on de-legitimizing middle-aged white men. Mr. Graber provides important insight into Fake Lesbian Blogging Syndrome when he says he feared he would ‘not be taken seriously’ unless he created a lesbian identity.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in Ethics | Comments (2)

Dan Savage Says Kids In Religious Homes Are His Target

June 14, 2011 at 12:27 pm

Dan Savage says his "It Gets Better" campaign is about eliminating bullying, then goes on to call Peggy Nance a "hateful s***". What's that promoting?

LifeSiteNews:

Peggy Nance of Concerned Women for America expressed outrage that the Fox network aired an “anti-gay bullying” advertisement, part of the “It Gets Better” campaign, during [American Idol].

... Dan Savage [founder of the "It Gets Better" campaign...] shot back at Nance, saying that promoting their message to those with religious upbringing was precisely the point.

“Nance’s son was always our target demo,” wrote Savage. “Again, we don’t know if he’s gay. But he might be and, if he is, he needs to hear from us.”

The “primary goal” of the campaign, he explained, is “to reach LGBT kids who are being bullied by their peers and their families.”

“Now I don’t know if Nance’s son is gay, bi, or trans, but if he is, he needs to know more than most that it can get better for him too, that there’s hope for his future, and that the adult world isn’t entirely populated by hateful s***s like his mother,” he wrote, adding “here’s hoping” that “Nance’s son is gay.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in Civility | Comments (10)

Video: Will the Black Church Rise Up in New York For Marriage?

June 14, 2011 at 12:20 pm

We shot this video at the Church of God convocation in the Bronx on May 28th with Rev. William Owens:

By NOM Staff | Posted in New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (4)

Emergency Alert: New York on Precipice of Redefining Marriage

June 14, 2011 at 12:05 pm

Dear Marriage Supporter,

In the next four days marriage will be won or lost in New York. We've won many great victories together—in California, Maine, Iowa, Maryland, and Rhode Island—but without you making a call today, marriage will be lost in New York. It's that simple.

Right now there are 30 votes committed to passing same-sex marriage in the New York Senate—29 Democrats and one Republican (James Alesi, R-Rochester). Only two more Republicans need to vote for same-sex marriage for a bill to pass the Senate.

The list below are the key possible Republican swing votes. It is absolutely URGENT that you call all of the Senators below and make clear that you oppose same-sex marriage TODAY!

Stephen Saland	(845) 463-0840
Roy McDonald	(518) 274-4616
Andrew Lanza	(718) 984-4073
Greg Ball	(845) 279-3773
Kemp Hannon	(516) 739-1700
Charles Fuschillo	(516) 882-0630
Betty Little	(518) 743-0968

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

Please forward to all of your friends and family. The time to act is now.

Yours,

Brian Brown

Faithfully,

Brian Brown

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

P.S.: While phone calls are most effective at this time, you can also send a message to key senators by email through the NOM Action Center. Click here to get started!

By Brian Brown | Posted in Marriage, New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (42)

Weird News: "Lez Get Real" Editor Paula Brooks Confesses: He's a Married Man in Ohio

June 14, 2011 at 12:02 pm

We've received a lot of particularly virulent criticism from this website. Turns out "Dr. Paula Brooks" is an avatar for an old white guy from Ohio, who has a wife, and is a retired military man. Weird news via Slate:

Bill Graber, a 58-year-old retired military man, admitted to the Washington Post that he had been using his wife’s online identity without her knowledge to run the site, which has “A Gay Girls’ View on the World” tagline.

The paper explains:

Brooks had told reporters at The Washington Post that she could only speak on the phone through her father because she was deaf. She provided a photograph of her license as proof of her identity, which showed a woman named Paula Brooks.

On Monday, we continued to question her identity. We spoke to the man who identified himself as her father, who finally admitted after numerous telephone conversations: “I am Paula Brooks.” That man turned out to be Bill Graber.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Ethics | Comments (3)

NY Archbishop Dolan on The True Meaning of Marriage

June 14, 2011 at 11:48 am

Archbishop Timothy Dolan writes on his personal blog today:

The stampede is on. Our elected senators who have stood courageous in their refusal to capitulate on the state’s presumption to redefine marriage are reporting unrelenting pressure to cave-in.

The media, mainly sympathetic to this rush to tamper with a definition as old as human reason and ordered good, reports annoyance on the part of some senators that those in defense of traditional marriage just don’t see the light, as we persist in opposing this enlightened, progressive, cause.

But, really, shouldn’t we be more upset – and worried – about this perilous presumption of the state to re-invent the very definition of an undeniable truth – one man, one woman, united in lifelong love and fidelity, hoping for children – that has served as the very cornerstone of civilization and culture from the start?

... Our beliefs should not be viewed as discrimination against homosexual people. The Church affirms the basic human rights of gay men and women, and the state has rightly changed many laws to offer these men and women hospital visitation rights, bereavement leave, death benefits, insurance benefits, and the like. This is not about denying rights. It is about upholding a truth about the human condition. Marriage is not simply a mechanism for delivering benefits: It is the union of a man and a woman in a loving, permanent, life-giving union to pro-create children. Please don’t vote to change that. If you do, you are claiming the power to change what is not into what is, simply because you say so. This is false, it is wrong, and it defies logic and common sense.

By NOM Staff | Posted in New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

Flipped NY Senator Admits: "What We're About To Do is Redefine What the American Family Is"

June 14, 2011 at 11:44 am

New York isn't a done deal -- not by a long shot (remember how often we've heard this claim?) -- but one of the Democrat Senators in NY who recently came out in favor of redefining marriage admits frankly that redefining marriage also carries with it the consequence of redefining the family:

Those who flipped Monday were Democratic Sens. Joseph Addabbo and Shirley Huntley of Queens and Carl Kruger of Brooklyn as well as Rochester Republican James Alesi...

"What we're about to do is redefine what the American family is," Kruger said...

As Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse has argued before other state legislatures, if government can redefine the family, there are few (if any) limits to its powers.

By NOM Staff | Posted in New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (5)

NY Senator Rev. Diaz Pulling Out of NY Minority Caucus

June 14, 2011 at 11:25 am

Via Capital Confidential:

Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. sent a letter to the bicameral Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus announcing his departure due to “different philosophies” separating himself and the group.

Although not specified, we’re betting those differences have to do with same-sex marriage and not, say, hydrofracking.

Here’s the letter.

By NOM Staff | Posted in New York, Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off

Breaking News: Major CA SSM Advocates Say They Will Not Try to Repeal Prop 8 in 2012

June 14, 2011 at 11:16 am

The New York Times:

[Prop 8] was a crushing defeat for gay rights groups, many of which swore to take the issue back to voters — in a kind of instant do-over — as soon as possible.

But with a pending federal court case showing promise and major donors reluctant to step forward, it is unlikely that California voters will revisit same-sex marriage anytime soon.

“I’m not aware of a single donor who would support a ballot measure campaign,” said Chad Griffin, the co-founder and board president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights. “A ballot would be unwise, foolish and, in fact, dangerous.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in California, Prop 8, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (9)

Federalism or Marriage?

June 14, 2011 at 8:00 am

Michelle Bachman is the original sponsor of the Minnesota Marriage Amendment that just passed the legislature. She has been visionary--at a time when people denounced you as insane--for saying that after gay marriage public schools will teach about gay marriage and religious liberty will be influenced.

She struggled with vigorously endorsing both marriage and states rights.

But the overall takeaway from this debate: all of the candidates support a constitutional marriage amendment, if necessary.