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NOM BLOG

Gay Rights Advocates Desperate to Gain Ground

January 12, 2011 at 2:21 pm

Our own Brian Brown is quoted in this Christian Post Article:

National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown believes the renewed push for redefining marriage in both [Maryland and Rhode Island] is a reaction to pro-values gains throughout the country.

“In most states we have positive legislation to protect marriage,” stated Brown.

So far, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Iowa, Minnesota and Wyoming are all working to repeal or ban same-sex marriage. Maryland Republican lawmakers are also introducing an inclusive civil union law as an alternative to same-sex marriage.

Brown said gay rights advocates are now desperate. “I think supporters of redefining marriage are looking [at] any place they can gain ground,” he shared.

Brown believes attempts in both Rhode Island and Maryland will come up short. In Rhode Island, Brown said, “The people just don’t want same-sex marriage.” Brown pronounced the same sentiment to be true in heavily Democratic Maryland.

In the event that the Maryland state legislature tries to approve a gay marriage bill, he said NOM will work with advocates on the ground to collect the signatures necessary for a referendum.

“In every state where the people had the chance to vote, in both deep blue and deep red states, they have voted against same-sex marriage,” Brown emphasized.

By NOM Staff | Posted in NOM Marriage News | Comments (23)

New Chilean Org Takes on SSM, Bioethics

January 12, 2011 at 2:18 pm

The center for the investigation of Bioethics in Chile has debuted a new website (in Spanish, of course).

You may also view the various topics they discuss here.

Google can provide a (limited but helpful) translation of the site into English her e. Please feel free to share this site with your Spanish-speaking friends!

By NOM Staff | Posted in NOM Marriage News | Comments (1)

Marriage amendment to be introduced in W.Va. Legislature

January 12, 2011 at 1:54 pm

From the local Herald-Dispatch:

“Lawmakers are set to introduce and sponsor a marriage protection amendment to the state constitution during the upcoming legislative session, according to a press release issued by the West Virginia Family Foundation.

… “We call on the Legislature to stop obstructing the people's right to join 30 other states in constitutionally protecting the definition of marriage as only between one man and one woman," [said Kevin] McCoy.”

By NOM Staff | Posted in NOM Marriage News | Comments (19)

Supreme Court to Decide on D.C. Right to Vote on Marriage

January 12, 2011 at 1:23 pm

Will D.C. voters get their right to vote on marriage restored? The case Jackson v. D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, appears on the Supreme Court's docket for private discussions on Friday, meaning we can expect to hear next week whether or not the Supreme Court will take up this case.

The Charter granted to residents of D.C. by Congress gives them a right to pass laws via referendum. The City Council has refused to permit the people to vote on marriage, which they say is now part of the human rights code. Can the legislature (city council) overturn a right given in a state constitution (the Charter)? That's the legal question.

By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in Same Sex Marriage, Washington DC | Comments (17)

Why Marriage is Essential to a Thriving Society

January 12, 2011 at 1:06 pm

From Focus on the Family's talking points on Marriage:

- Marriage provides important benefits to society that no other institution can. Marriage:
- Regulates sexuality. Marriage establishes sexual guardrails, which remain a requirement for all successful societies.
- Socializes men. A society's most serious problem is the unattached male, and marriage links men to women who help channel male sexuality and aggression in socially productive ways. Marriage and parenthood socialize men to care for and respect their wives, other women and children.
- Protects women. Without a social norm of monogamy, women become commodities to be used and discarded.
- Provides children with a mom and a dad. Both mothers and fathers contribute in unique and irreplaceable ways to their children that prepare them to contribute to, and continue a flourishing society.

Read the rest here.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Marriage Update | Comments (1)

Canadian Marriage Official "They'll have to fire me"

January 12, 2011 at 1:03 pm

"A Saskatchewan marriage commissioner says the government will have to fire him if it expects him to perform same-sex marriages.

Larry Bjerland of the east-central Saskatchewan community of Rose Valley said he was "very disappointed" by a Saskatchewan Court of Appeal opinion Monday dealing with proposed changes to the Marriage Act.

The province's highest court ruled that two proposals from the Saskatchewan government that would let marriage commissioners opt out of performing same-sex marriages on religious grounds would be unconstitutional.

The decision was hailed by gay rights advocates, but Bjerland said it may result in his losing his appointment.

"I do not intend to marry any gay couples and so, therefore, I’m not going to resign," said Bjerland, who has been a marriage commissioner for 10 years. "They’ll have to fire me."

Click here to read more.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Marriage Update | Comments (7)

"I Honestly Don't Know How to Answer Maggie's Rhetorical Question"

January 11, 2011 at 10:00 pm

I appreciate, very much, the honesty of this poster at Queerty, who says he honestly does not know how to answer my rhetorical question in my debate with Evan Wolfson:

"For those of you reading this I would ask of you only one thing: whether you support gay marriage or not, can you at least acknowledge what you are asking of those of us who disagree, who believe our historic marriage tradition is good? … Gay marriage will make it virtually impossible to renew marriage's central public role, which is not to celebrate private romantic love—hardly any business of government—but to protect children by increasing the likelihood that they will be born to and raised by their own mother and father. Gay marriage makes it impossible to articulate this as a goal of marriage, much less to realise it in real children's lives."

By Maggie Gallagher | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments (103)

NOM RI TO Chafee: 36 Percent Is Not a Mandate

January 11, 2011 at 5:20 pm

“Getting 36% of the vote is no mandate to redefine marriage.”
– Christopher Plante, Executive Director of NOM-RI

Providence, RI – The National Organization for Marriage-Rhode Island (NOM-RI) today launched a statewide advertising campaign in support of traditional marriage and challenging Governor Lincoln Chafee’s claim to have a mandate to redefine marriage.

“Lincoln Chafee got just 36% of the vote in the recent election, and fewer popular votes than the Cool Moose Party’s candidate for Lieutenant Governor,” said Christopher Plante, Executive Director of NOM-RI. “Our message is that getting 36% of the vote is no mandate to redefine the institution of marriage for all of Rhode Island society.”

Chafee signaled in his inaugural address last week that imposing same-sex marriage in Rhode Island is a top priority, and called on the legislature to move quickly to enact it. He opposes giving Rhode Islanders the right to vote on marriage, even though public opinion polls show that 80% of voters want the right to decide this issue themselves.

“80% of Rhode Islanders want the chance to vote on marriage, just as voters in 31 other states have done,” the ad states. It calls on Rhode Islanders to call Chafee’s office, and that of House Speaker Fox and Senate President Paiva-Weed to express their views.

“In some ways, Lincoln Chafee is an accidental governor for Rhode Island, elected in the most unusual of circumstances,” Plante said. “Yet he expects legislators to follow him off the cliff in pursuit of same-sex marriage. This is what happened in neighboring New Hampshire and before that in Maine. In both those states, politicians who followed their so-called leaders have been replaced with pro-marriage legislators and same-sex marriage has been repealed, or is on its way to being repealed. In Iowa, three judges who voted to impose same-sex marriage were summarily thrown out of office by voters. If legislators in Rhode Island wish to redefine marriage, they should put this issue on the ballot where the people themselves can decide if they wish to abandon one of the most fundamental institutions of society.”

The NOM-RI advertisement is running statewide on broadcast and cable stations. The group is spending in excess of $100,000 on the advertisement.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Christopher Plante, executive director of NOM-Rhode Island, contact Elizabeth Ray (x.130) or Mary Beth Hutchins (x.105) at 703-683-5004 or via e-mail at [email protected] or [email protected]

By NOM Staff | Posted in Rhode Island | Comments (42)

Will Tolerance Help RI’s Economy?

January 11, 2011 at 4:13 pm

GoLocalProv News Editor Stephen Beale gives you his take.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments Off

CPAC and the Crack Up of Conservatism?

January 11, 2011 at 12:23 pm

The Daily Caller has the story.

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

U.S. Passports blur "mother/father" terminology

January 11, 2011 at 12:11 pm

Over the weekend the news broke that the U.S. state department was planning to remove the words "mother" and "father" from our passport applications and replace them with "parent 1" and "parent 2."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's spokesman says she was unaware that the changes she authorized would completely remove the names "mother" and "father" and so the new solution is to split the baby. According to the Associated Press, "the form will now ask for the names of the child's "mother or parent 1" and "father or parent 2."

Efforts to remove state recognition of mothers and fathers remind us of the dangers of alienation faced by children in a post-marriage culture. Reuters reported back in 2007, for instance, that in Ontario, a child may have three parents on their birth certificate:

In a ruling released on Tuesday, the Ontario Court of Appeal said the female partner of the child's biological mother could be legally recognized as the boy's third parent.

It is not inconceivable, following this sort of logic, for a child to have five parents legally recognized: what if two men hire a man and woman they know to conceive a child through In Vitro, and then ask another woman to carry that child to term?

By Thomas Peters | Posted in Same Sex Marriage | Comments (14)

Bishop Evans on "Our Baptismal Call to Defend Marriage"

January 11, 2011 at 9:50 am

Bishop Evans is the auxiliary bishop of Providence, RI. This is his sermon from last Sunday:

I submit that today, in the State of Rhode Island, we are faced with a challenge to our baptismal promises to renounce the modern day evil works of Satan and confess our belief in Christ and His holy Catholic Church. On the day of our baptism, we chose whose side we are on. The question we must now ask ourselves is: Are we still on God’s side? And if we are, how will we prove it?

This challenge takes the form of an attempt to grant to same sex couples that recognition reserved for the oldest and the only institution God created in His own image: Man as male and female united in marriage. The essence of marriage in God’s plan is a union of one male and one female, who are so physically, emotionally, psychologically and religiously complementary that each completes the other in such a way that without the other each is incomplete. For this reason, it is a vocation, a call from God to the persons concerned as to how they are to live their lives and win their salvation.

Read the entire sermon.

By NOM Staff | Posted in Marriage Update | Comments (45)

NOM Exposed ad "possible the most laughable piece of gay propaganda ... ever"

January 11, 2011 at 9:46 am

John Jalsevac is amused:

Today I came across a video by the Human Rights Campaign “exposing” the pro-family organization the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). It has to be one of the most embarrassing and ultimately hilarious pieces of propaganda ever produced.

With the breed of creepy music, and foreboding, overstated voice-overs usually reserved for the grittiest crime shows about grisly homicides and serial killers, the Human Rights Campaign explains that while NOM would have you think that its mission is to “protect marriage” (“Ah, such a noble cause isn’t it?” says the creepy voiceover), there’s a much darker (duh-duh-duh!) purpose behind NOM.

Oh yes, the HRC has dug deep, has done its research, has snooped about in seedy bars with nothing more than a notebook, a hidden tape recorder and an instinct for a scandal; they’ve pored over the dusty records in the archives, they’ve found and interrogated anonymous sources – and they have uncovered NOM’s deep dark secret: NOM exists *gasp* to fight same-sex marriage.

In the words of HRC: “their only purpose is to deny the rights of marriage to loving and committed same-sex couples and their families.” (Well, that’s not actually true: NOM would also deny marriage to homosexual couples who can’t stand each other and aren’t committed in the least.).

Out of curiosity I immediately went to NOM’s (publicly accessible) website, and clicked on the “About us” section. And indeed, just as HRC had said, in the first sentence NOM claims that their mission is to “protect marriage.”

You have to read all the way to the second sentence to find out that NOM was founded “in response to the growing need for an organized opposition to same-sex marriage in state legislatures.”

Do you see how NOM hides its true purpose, purporting to be something that it isn’t? Can you evenbegin to grasp the level of dishonesty and depravity it takes to bury your real purpose all the way in the second sentence on your about page on your publicly accessible official website?! It takes your breath away.

But wait, there's more!

By NOM Staff | Posted in Marriage Update | Comments (21)

NH Gay marriage law could be repealed

January 10, 2011 at 5:41 pm

After just a year, gay marriage in New Hampshire could be history.

[Continue reading in The Eagle Tribune.]

By NOM Staff | Posted in News | Comments (32)

Prop. 8 legal battle has implications for all ballot measures

January 10, 2011 at 3:48 pm

From the San Diego Union Tribune:

... in effect, if a governor and attorney general were unwilling to defend an initiative approved at the ballot box, as in the case of Proposition 8, those two elected officials could veto the measure with their inaction.

Andrew Pugno, general counsel for the Proposition 8 Legal Defense Fund, said such a scenario would affect “any other issue decided by initiative, as well as the integrity of the initiative process itself.”

And from the other side:

Pizer added that [Lambda Legal] does not believe state law allows proponents [of an initiative] a seat in court battles.

One wonders if supporters of gay marriage would still hold to this position of denying voters standing in court if tables were reversed.