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Maggie in Providence Update

February 9, 2011 at 4:12 pm

It's half an hour before the hearing starts. They just allowed those of us who will speak back into the room. The crowd gets larger and larger. I spent my time in the hallway talking to a number of marriage supporters. Roberta Short, 32, lives in Cranston, a beautiful strawberry-blond married woman with two kids. She works part-time as a book-keeper. She found out about the hearing because of NOM's facebook page. I asked her why she was here. She told me, "I think Rhode Islanders have a right to vote on marriage. 113 people shouldn't redefine marriage for everyone in Rhode Island." I asked her if she had a chance how she would vote and she told me, "I would vote for traditional marriage because children need and deserve a mom and dad."

I was leaning over to speak with another marriage supporter, and realized I was rudely talking over a rather colorful gay-marriage supporter named Edgar. Edgar is 77. He has a long white beard, and was wearing a blue plaid shirt over a rainbow t-shirt. The aging hippie look, I'd call it. He told me that he likes men and women: "I slept with a woman for three years but I couldn't marry her becuase I also like men." I paused and said to him, "Well, gay marriage isnt going to solve your problems is it?" And we both chuckled. He agreed and told me, "I'm too old for military service and I don't think I'm going to get married. It's not personal with me."

Maggie Gallagher
By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in Rhode Island, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (2)

Maggie in Providence Preview

February 9, 2011 at 3:35 pm

It's about an hour before the hearing starts. Police have politely cleared the room to set it up and we're standing in the hall. There are probably about 50 people here right now with many, many folks wearing blue "one man, one woman = marriage" t-shirts.

Maggie Gallagher
By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in Rhode Island, Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off on Maggie in Providence Preview

SSM debate in Rhode Island today

February 9, 2011 at 3:00 pm

From the Providence Journal's politics blog:

The State House debate over same-sex marriage will play out in three forums on Wednesday: a press conference, a rally and then a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

It will begin with the 2:45 p.m. press conference called by [NOM Rhode Island].

Speakers will include Maggie Gallagher, the chairwoman of the National Organization for Marriage, Christopher Plante, the executive director of the local NOM chapter, Austin Nimocks, who is identified as the "Senior Counsel Alliance Defense Fund,''' Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, president and founder of the Ruth Institute, which is described as a project of NOM, state Sen. Harold Metts and state Rep. Raymond Hull.

At the press conference, these opponents of same-sex marriage pledge a vigorous campaign to "defeat efforts by House Leadership and Governor Chafee to impose same-sex marriage on Rhode Island with no vote of the people,'' according to a statement issued by the national group.

...After the House adjourns for the day, the House Judiciary Committee hearing will begin on two bills. One would legalize gay nuptials. The other, backed by the opponents, seeks a referendum on amending the state Constitution to specifically limit marriage to a man and a woman. [source]

NOM
By NOM Staff | Posted in Rhode Island, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

Pro-marriage comments made at MD's SSM hearing

February 9, 2011 at 1:44 pm

Some sample comments made in defense of traditional marriage at yesterday's hearing on SSM in Maryland:

Martha Schaerr, Montgomery County School Board candidate: "Marriage is about children and the good of society. To change it to adult love changes the definition of marriage.”

Maggie Gallagher ''The reason that marriage is a virtually universal human social institution that reoccurs again and again in different cultures, and different religious backgrounds, is that humanity recognizes that we need a special institution to bring together a male and female to make and raise the next generation. 'To get to gay marriage requires that we repudiate this as a public purpose of marriage . . . way that we can give our children the benefit of a mother and father in a single family is to first pledge to a permanent, faithful, sexually exclusive union of man and woman.''

Austin Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund: “The legislation before you is inconsistent with the purposes of Maryland’s marriage laws. Men and women still comprise the two great halves of humanity."

Derek McCoy, president of the Association of Maryland Families: "Your concerns should not be on pandering to the political mood of the day . . . Marriage is between a man and a woman.” [source: TBD.com]

Our own Maggie Gallagher and Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse are in Rhode Island today testifying at the hearing on SSM.

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

Marriage Bits

February 9, 2011 at 10:00 am

Is Marriage on the decline?

WaPo reports that a study shows the recession has weighed heavily on American marriages ... but there is a silver lining: "About a third of the couples surveyed said the recession had prompted them to work harder on saving their marriage."

There is also good news for those who work to stay married: "In 2007, after reviewing research on the health effects of matrimony, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a 68-page report that found that, in general, married people are happier, live longer, drink less and even have fewer doctor's appointments than unmarried folks."

National Marriage Week continues, as reported by Heritage:

National Marriage Week is underway! Beginning today and culminating on Valentine’s Day, hundreds of organizations, community groups, and religious institutions will spend a week celebrating the benefits of marriage and encouraging married couples across the country to remain committed to lifelong love.

Remember the marriage gap for college-educated women? It's gone.

Paula Szuchman at the WSJ asks if the key to happy marriages is "mom cooks, dad plays?"

Cristen Conger, meanwhile, somewhat haplessly tries to make the case that marriage doesn't make much of a difference to a relationship.

Meanwhile Daniel Estrin writes about Egypt's "apolitical frustration", namely,  the poverty that keeps people from getting married.

NOM
By NOM Staff | Posted in Marriage, Parenting | Comments Off on Marriage Bits

UK B&B owners deluged with obscene, threatening e-mails, phone calls

February 9, 2011 at 9:00 am

LifeSiteNews:

The Christian owners of the UK Bed & Breakfast who recently went to court for refusing to provide a double room to a homosexual couple, say they are now being deluged with offensive phone calls and blasphemous, obscene emails.

As you can see from the picture - they have supporters as well as detractors.

NOM
By NOM Staff | Posted in Religious Liberty, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (7)

Top UK Cabinet minister says "couples should be encouraged to marry"

February 9, 2011 at 8:30 am

The UK  Telegraph:

In what is the Coalition's clearest pro-marriage intervention since it was formed, Iain Duncan Smith will say that it is "absurd and damaging" for ministers not to extol the benefits of marriage for fear of stigmatising those who choose not to marry.

The Work and Pensions Secretary will argue that the current system of benefits is "crazy" because it stifles people's genuine aspirations to build and commit to a strong family. He believes marriage has become the preserve of the better off.

Mr Duncan Smith will say: "We do a disservice to society if we ignore the evidence which shows that stable families tend to be associated with better outcomes for children."

He will add: "There are few more powerful tools for promoting stability than the institution of marriage."

NOM
By NOM Staff | Posted in Marriage | Comments Off on Top UK Cabinet minister says "couples should be encouraged to marry"

Pawlenty Tours Iowa, voices opposition to SSM

February 9, 2011 at 8:00 am

The AP:

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is focusing on his evangelical background and offering a conservative social message as he opens a lecture series in Iowa sponsored by social and religious conservatives who are testing Republican presidential contenders on their views on key issues.

During a meeting on Monday in Pella with the Family Leader, Pawlenty stressed his religion, saying it shapes his politics and policies. He spoke about family-centered tax policies and his opposition to gay marriage.

NOM
By NOM Staff | Posted in Election Watch 2012, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (2)

RI Newspaper profiles NOM RI's Christopher Plante

February 8, 2011 at 9:32 pm

From the Warwick Beacon:

The debate on legalizing gay marriage has been in the state spotlight in recent weeks, but for Christopher Plante, it’s been a priority for more than two years.

Plante is the executive director of the National Organization for Marriage’s Rhode Island Chapter, which was formed in 2008, one year after the national organization sprung up to defend against the growing movement of same sex marriage advocates.

“At the time, and still, Rhode Island was a target state of homosexual marriage advocates,” Plante said. “We knew the battlefront was here.”

NOM
By NOM Staff | Posted in Rhode Island, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

Maggie Gallagher, Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse To Testify in RI SSM Hearings Tomorrrow

February 8, 2011 at 6:14 pm

Maggie Gallagher, fresh from testifying in Annapolis today, will fly to Providence, RI tomorrow to testify - and blog and tweet - about the hearings on SSM there. The Ruth Institute's Dr. Jennifer Roeback Morse will also be there to testify to the importance of protecting marriage as the union of husband and wife.

If we can locate a website where the hearings are streamed online, we'll share that here. Otherwise stay tuned hear for breaking news from the hearing room.

NOM
By NOM Staff | Posted in Rhode Island, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

NYT's most-emailed article: Social Scientist Sees Bias Within

February 8, 2011 at 5:45 pm

From the NYT:

Some of the world’s pre-eminent experts on bias discovered an unexpected form of it at their annual meeting.

Discrimination is always high on the agenda at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s conference, where psychologists discuss their research on racial prejudice, homophobia, sexism, stereotype threat and unconscious bias against minorities. But the most talked-about speech at this year’s meeting, which ended Jan. 30, involved a new “outgroup.”

It was identified by Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the University of Virginia who studies the intuitive foundations of morality and ideology. He polled his audience at the San Antonio Convention Center, starting by asking how many considered themselves politically liberal. A sea of hands appeared, and Dr. Haidt estimated that liberals made up 80 percent of the 1,000 psychologists in the ballroom. When he asked for centrists and libertarians, he spotted fewer than three dozen hands. And then, when he asked for conservatives, he counted a grand total of three.

“This is a statistically impossible lack of diversity,” Dr. Haidt concluded, noting polls showing that 40 percent of Americans are conservative and 20 percent are liberal. In his speech and in an interview, Dr. Haidt argued that social psychologists are a “tribal-moral community” united by “sacred values” that hinder research and damage their credibility — and blind them to the hostile climate they’ve created for non-liberals.

NOM
By NOM Staff | Posted in Science, Statistics | Comments (6)

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE: MAGGIE GALLAGHER MAKES THE CASE FOR MARRIAGE IN MARYLAND

February 8, 2011 at 5:06 pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 8, 2011

CONTACT: Elizabeth Ray, x130 or
Mary Beth Hutchins, x105 at 703-683-5004

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE:
MAGGIE GALLAGHER MAKES THE CASE FOR MARRIAGE IN MARYLAND

"SB 116 doesn't just add more people to marriage, it changes marriage."
- Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of NOM

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the National Organization for Marriage and one of the nation's leading spokespersons for the societal benefits of traditional marriage, today led off the testimony in favor of retaining marriage as a unique institution between a man and a woman in the Maryland Senate Committee on Judicial Proceedings.

Gallagher made a powerful case that marriage is and should always be an institution of great importance to civil society as well as one steeped in religious tradition, because it is the only institution purposely established to connect children to their biological parents and tie those parents to the raising of their children into the responsible future generations of citizens.

"Marriage is the union of husband and wife for a reason: these are the only unions that can make new life and connect children in love to their mom and dad. SB 116 doesn't just add more people to marriage, it changes marriage. As so many pro-gay marriage voices testified at this very hearing, gay marriage is grounded in the belief that this view of marriage is like objections to interracial marriage--something that should be discarded in law, culture and society. If Maryland adopts this radical new view of marriage, it will have consequences." Gallagher stated.

Gallagher was asked by local supporters of marriage, including the Maryland Catholic Conference and the Association of Maryland Families, to lead testimony in opposition to SB 116, which would change the definition of marriage in Maryland from a man and a woman to "any two persons."

The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee in Maryland is stacked with gay "marriage" supporters, with a majority of the committee signed on as sponsors or co-sponsors of the bill. However, passage of the bill on the Senate Floor is uncertain, with supporters at least 4 votes short of the 24 needed for passage.

"Despite Maggie's powerful testimony, we know this committee today was stacked against us, and we expect the legislation to be on the Senate Floor as early as next week," said NOM President Brian Brown. "That is where the real action will be, and I would urge all of Maryland's State Senators to review Maggie's testimony before they vote on the Floor next week. This is no casual act they are considering."

Brown further indicated that NOM and its allies in Maryland will, if necessary, utilize Maryland's referendum process to block passage of this radical redefinition of marriage so that Maryland voters will have final say.

"The legislature should heed the overwhelming call of their constituents not to change marriage in Maryland," said Brown. "If they proceed down this radical path, the voters will surely overturn them in 2012."

To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, President, or Maggie Gallagher, Chairman of the  Board, of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray, [email protected]@crcpublicrelations.com, (x130) or Mary Beth Hutchins, [email protected]@crcpublicrelations.com, (x105) at 703-683-5004.

NOM
By NOM Staff | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off on NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MARRIAGE: MAGGIE GALLAGHER MAKES THE CASE FOR MARRIAGE IN MARYLAND

Maggie in Maryland: Final Update

February 8, 2011 at 4:11 pm

The chairman of the committee just announced that in all 146 people who signed up to testify will get to speak for 3 minutes.  So—provided no senator asks a single question—the hearing will run another 6 hours.

I'm heading home.

Maggie Gallagher
By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in Marriage, Maryland, Religious Liberty, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

Maggie in Maryland: What's in a Name?

February 8, 2011 at 3:55 pm

I just learned the woman who said she is a conservative Republican and that no republican had ever lost an election for voting for SSM is Margaret Hoover.

Maybe Republicans shouldn't take election advice from anyone named Hoover. (Yes, she's a descendant of Herbert.)

Maggie Gallagher
By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in Marriage, Maryland, Religious Liberty, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (1)

Maggie in Maryland: Mary Ellen Russell of the MD Catholic Conference Testifies

February 8, 2011 at 3:51 pm

Mary Ellen Russell is now testifying for the Maryland Catholic Conference.

"It is clear why marriage has always been recognized as a man and a woman: if we leave that, it's not clear what the parameters of relationships that should be considered marriages are."

She also said "We are also concerned about the religious liberty consequence—that is not the only concern, we're not here to say we are fine if we get exempted—we think its of concern to the whole society."

Maggie Gallagher
By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in Catholic Church, Marriage, Maryland, Religious Liberty, Same Sex Marriage | Comments (7)
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