Big news! NOM is coming soon to a city near you!
This week we announced the launch of our new "Summer for Marriage" 2010 Bus Tour. That's me, my wife, and six kids on a tour bus, along with thousands of other Americans holding rallies for marriage in 19 cities across the country.
Judge Walker will issue his ruling on Prop 8 shortly--and we expect him to rule that marriage is bigotry. He will likely overturn Prop 8. He will attempt to nullify the votes of millions of Americans across this great land who believe to make a marriage you need a husband and a wife--to take away forever our right to vote for marriage. This is our chance to fight back!
NOM's Summer for Marriage bus tour will tell all the Judge Walkers and all the politicians across this great country: We have a right to vote for marriage. And we are going to fight for our rights—and, most importantly, for our children's right to grow up in a country where God's truth about marriage trumps political correctness and judicial tyranny! We're here, we support marriage, we're not going anywhere!
This summer is an important moment. Judge Walker's ruling will echo politically as well as legally in November and beyond, according to a Wall Street Journal columnist: "The issue could be a difficult one for Democratic incumbents from the South, much of the Midwest, Southwest and Rocky Mountain states. Because the current Congress has so few Republicans from gay-friendly states in New England, other parts of the Northeast and the West Coast, it is difficult to see the issue cutting the other way," points out Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Our job is to swell that echo into a chorus of voices raised in defense of marriage! Here's where you can find out more about NOM's Summer for Marriage Bus Tour. And do me a favor right now, will you? Send this message to a friend. This is a chance to meet others who share our deepest values; to identify, energize and equip fellow activists; and to send a powerful message to elites who pretend that Americans don't care about this issue. If they can isolate us, they can intimidate us. But the people united cannot be defeated!
In Maine, first stop on the tour, the press is already taking notice. "Maine rally to launch tour for traditional marriage," the Portland Press Herald reports. (And thanks to Focus on the Family news for covering the tour.)
We know the mainstream media will try to spin this unfavorably--they always do. That's why we need NOM's Summer for Marriage bus tour--to build our own communication networks, to get in touch with each other and build a voice that politicians cannot ignore.
As always we will be working with many folks in these states, especially a number of family policy councils, so thank you.
Look for blogs, tweets, and stories from the Summer for Marriage Bus tour--and sign up your friends too!
Speaking of politicians, we asked you last week to go to Americaspeakingout.com to tell GOP leadership to support marriage! Gay-rights folks were flooding the blog but in just one week you changed the vote from pro-gay-marriage, to pro-marriage. But we can't stop now; we need to make the margin bigger. Can you take the time to vote Yes for marriage? Thank you!
I told you we expect Judge Walker to disrespect the millions of citizens who voted for Prop 8. But the news from judges isn't all bad: We had two great court rulings this week. What, you didn't hear about them? Of course not. The mainstream media only plays up stories they think help the cause of gay marriage.
We got unexpected support this week from the European Union Court of Human Rights, which ruled in a case called Schalk and Kopf v. Austria, that the plaintiffs were not discriminated against because they are not permitted to marry. And the EU Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously: The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union "did not impose an obligation on the Austrian Government to grant a same-sex couple ... access to marriage" and that the "decision whether or not to allow same-sex marriage [is left] to regulation by member States’ national law."
Meanwhile in Wisconsin the state supreme court unanimously rejected an absurd and frivolous challenge to that state's marriage amendment, approved in 2006 by 60 percent of people in this blue state. Gay-marriage activists, obeying their own internal rule which is "we have a right to win no matter what," went into court claiming the marriage amendment violated the "one subject rule" (amendments have to be about one subject) because it defined marriage and also prevented the legislature from passing any other partnership status substantially the same as marriage. This argument has been unanimously rejected by courts across the land, and we're glad the supreme court in a progressive state like Wisconsin also respected the rule of law and the people's right to vote.
The Supreme Court ruled this week 5-4 that a public law school could require all student groups to accept all students for membership and leadership (Christian Legal Society vs. Martinez). No sooner had the ruling come down than the supposedly conservative lawyer Ted Olson released to the press a letter to Judge Walker, claiming that this new ruling supports his anti-Prop 8 claim that sexual orientation is a suspect class, entitled to special Constitutional protection, and that there is no possible distinction in that class between status and behavior. (That is, he argues that the right not be judged for your orientation, which you may not control, also includes the right not to be judged for your sexual behavior, which obviously you do control--if not you, who?)
Gay marriage is not about what people are permitted to do in private--it's about using the most powerful tools in the law to reshape the culture to repress alternative views as discriminatory and bigoted. This is no secret any more. But how does Ted Olson still call himself a judicial conservative? I can't answer that question.
NOM's founding Chairman of the Board, Princeton Prof. Robert George, also asks a great question for "progressives" this week: Is President Obama is a bigot or is he just a liar? NOM's current Chairman, Maggie Gallagher, also takes on Pres. Obama in a column on his Father's Day declaration, and critiques the new "Lesbians are Better Parents" study. See both below.
If you need more good news, consider this: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has announced a new educational campaign, "Marriage is Unique for a Reason" (marriageisuniqueforareason.com). It's the first in a series of short videos, accompanied by a downloadable study guide and a guide for Catholic clergy and teachers. But I think many other Christians will find this useful too, so check it out and let us know what you think!
One of my favorite lines comes from the guide for clergy and other teachers: "Treating different things differently is not unjust discrimination. Standing for the truth of marriage does not ignore rights or the equal dignity of human persons. Rather, it is a stand for the rights of husbands and wives, the unique responsibilities of mothers and fathers, the good and rights of children, the dignity of all human persons, and the common good."
God had His reasons for making marriage what it is. But developments like these make me hope and pray that He has His reasons for letting the challenges to marriage unfold as they are unfolding--that the fight against same-sex marriage is going to spur people in many faith communities to strengthen their teaching on the importance of marriage, on the gift and awesome responsibility of human sexuality, and on every child's right to the love and care of his mom and dad.
Thank you and please do not forget this week to pray for me and for all the folks on the front lines of this great battle for marriage.
P.S. Bus tours are not cheap. There's renting, wrapping, gas, insurance, media prep, not to mention hot dogs for all those kids! This week NOM needs $48 from 100 people to pay for the tour launch. Can you be one of those 100 this week? Can you spare $48--$4 a month--to empower thousands of Americans to fight for marriage? I'll be tweeting and writing, sending you photos of what your money paid for. This is our chance for a big splash which sends a message to politicians and judges that we will fight back! It's an outreach that will help us identify, energize and bring into our community hundreds of new activists across the country. If you cannot come to one of our rallies, please help us take NOM's message all across this country by donating $5, $10, or (if you can afford it) $49 today for marriage. Thank you for all that you do to protect two of our country's great treasures: marriage and the right to vote!
