Over the next two days, I have much to share, but the basic message I need to convey this week is simple: The next 90 days will determine the future of marriage in our nation.
With now less than 90 days remaining before the November 4 elections, the future of marriage hangs in the balance, not only in California, but in the rest of the nation as well. "[T]he Armageddon of the culture war," is how Chuck Colson referred to the Prop 8 campaign in California. Or as Don Wildmon of the American Family Association explained, if we lose in California, "it will open the floodgates for same-sex marriage in all the other states."
Already, we see new threats emerging in other states, and the pressures will only increase if we fail to save marriage in California. (Visit ProtectMarriage.com to sign up as a marriage volunteer!)
Just last week, Massachusetts legislators voted to repeal their "marriage evasion" statute, allowing couples from across the country to marry in Massachusetts and setting the stage for lawsuits from Alabama to Wyoming as couples return home from their Massachusetts wedding.
The next 90 days will be pivotal in determining the future of marriage in the United States. With decisive victories in California, Florida and Arizona, we have the opportunity save marriage in those states and at the same time send a strong message to courts and politicians across the country. But victory will require each of us to pitch in and do whatever we can to help.
The stakes could hardly be higher. Join us as we push to victory in November. Would you commit to give $1 a day between now and November 4th? Please use this hyperlink to become a monthly NOM supporter with a recurring or one-time gift of $30, $60, $100 or more!
Over the past two years, California Attorney General Jerry Brown has maintained a facade of support for California's marriage laws, even while vehemently rejecting the marriage arguments which had proven persuasive to the courts of New York, Maryland and Washington State.
This sort of gamesmanship likely played a role in the California Court's marriage ruling this past May. Without any vigorous defense from the Attorney General's office, the marriage statutes were left to be defended by outside groups, with the Attorney General himself ridiculing the strongest arguments for marriage.
Now Jerry Brown is at it again. Abusing his office and ignoring his legal responsibility to prepare a fair and impartial ballot summary, California Attorney General Jerry Brown last week unilateraly rewrote the Prop 8 ballot summary he had approved last fall.
His brand new title for the amendment?
"ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY."
Brown then goes on to suggest that Proposition 8 would cost the state "several tens of millions of dollars" in lost sales taxes if the Court's edict were to be reversed by the voters.
The Contra Costa Times got this one right and called Brown out for his shenanigans:
"Brown's spokesman claims the change was made do describe the effect it would have on the Supreme Court ruling. That's nonsense. The new wording is clearly designed to make Prop. 8 less appealing to voters.
"All voters should be upset with Brown. If the measure is defeated, certainly supporters will be disappointed. But opponents also should be concerned that the vote will be tainted because of the attorney general's interference.
"Prop. 8 backers are suing to get the title and summary changed to reflect what was on the petition. They deserve to prevail. As an individual, Brown can express his views on any political issue. But the attorney general's office should take a neutral position on all ballot measures."
The Prop 8 legal team is already in court seeking a speedy decision rejecting Jerry Brown's antics before the voter guide is mailed to voters on September 25th. (You can view the voter guide, including arguments submitted for and against Prop 8 here.) In a close race, a prejudicial ballot summary could be decisive -- for many people it's all they'll ever read about the amendment.
ProtectMarriage.com is the lead group in California, and is coordinating the grassroots volunteer efforts. We need tens of thousands of volunteers all across the state to combat misinformation, especially during these last 90 days before the election.
Visit ProtectMarriage.com to sign up as a marriage volunteer today!
The stakes could hardly be higher. Join us as we push to victory in November. Would you commit to give $1 a day between now and November 4th? Please use this hyperlink to become a monthly NOM supporter with a recurring or one-time gift of $30, $60, $100 or more!
With gay marriage advocates and their willing accomplices in the courts, "live and let live" is a one-way street.
For years, opponents of a federal marriage amendment have assured us that there is no need for an amendment -- because "marriage is an issue best left to the states," and besides, the Defense of Marriage Act already protects states from being forced to recognize same-sex marriages.
But now, as soon as same-sex couples from across the country start flocking to California and Massachusetts for marriage licenses, we start hearing how "absurd" and "discriminatory" it is to have same-sex marriages recognized in some states but not in others.
Writing in a Findlaw.com column last month, Chicago Attorney Steve Sanders argues that the 14th Amendment Due Process Clause requires states to recognize same-sex marriages, so long as the marriage was validly entered in another state. The marriage law in at least 42 states suddenly becomes "irrational, unprincipled, and dangerous."
As early as next year, same-sex marriage advocates are now eyeing the repeal of DOMA. In fact, I expect that the next Congress will consider a bill to repeal DOMA, setting the stage for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on marriage in the mold of Roe v. Wade. We must act now to ensure that our elected officials know that Americans support marriage.
In 1996, DOMA received overwhelming bipartisan support, protecting the rights of states to recognize marriage as the union of a husband and wife, free from interference by other states. In the Senate, DOMA passed with 85 votes, achieving a similar 5-1 margin in the House before being signed into law by President Clinton.
Yet today, a number of prominent politicians have declared war on DOMA. While running for the Senate in 2004, Barack Obama told a gay newspaper in Chicago that DOMA is "an abhorrent law," and that "the repeal of DOMA is essential." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week told reporters that she supports Obama's position on DOMA.
If Congress were to repeal DOMA next year, we would quickly see litigation over whether, for example, Indiana is required to recognize a same-sex marriage from Massachusetts. By the time the case reached the Supreme Court two years later, we would be facing the possibility of nationalized same-sex marriage, much as the Supreme Court set national abortion policy in 1973.
The stakes could hardly be higher. Join us as we push to victory in November. Would you commit to give $1 a day between now and November 4th? Please use this hyperlink to become a monthly NOM supporter with a recurring or one-time gift of $30, $60, $100 or more!
The landscape is shifting rapidly. We need your help to ensure that we are able to mount a rapid response whenever and wherever the need arises.
Already in 2008, NOM has run TV and radio ads in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island. In Rhode Island, with 3 days' notice, we were able to organize testimony for legislative hearings coordinated with a radio ad campaign and targeted e-mail campaign reminding legislators that their constituents care about marriage.
In New Jersey, gay marriage activist Steve Goldstein of Garden State Equality is boasting that New Jersey couples don't need to travel to Massachusetts to get marriage licenses because "[t]he expectation of couples here is marriage equality will come soon, probably within the next year."
The best way to stop same-sex marriage in New Jersey, or Rhode Island, or New York is to give people a voice and help them get involved. With your help, NOM is building grassroots networks across the country, with an emphasis in states where the battle is most intense.
We're here to give voters a voice. And when voters speak up, politicians have to listen.
The stakes could hardly be higher. Join us as we push to victory in November. Would you commit to give $1 a day between now and November 4th? Please use this hyperlink to become a monthly NOM supporter with a recurring or one-time gift of $30, $60, $100 or more!
As I close, I wanted to encourage you with a report from a pastors' conference call I had the chance to sit in on last week. With hundreds of pastors on the call, I was inspired by their passion and fervor. The mood was determined, confident, and upbeat.
Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Church in San Diego told the group of clergy: "One of the dumbest things the devil ever did was attack the institution of marriage." Rev. Jim Franklin from Cornerstone Church in Fresno told the group: "We must be consumed with a holy anger . . . this is the time to fight."
And so we press on. We are in the midst of the biggest fight for marriage our nation has ever seen. But we are confident that with God's help we will prevail. Thank you for standing with us in your prayers, financial contributions, and volunteer efforts.
These next 90 days are critical. Thank you for whatever you can do to help.
Brian S. Brown
Executive Director
National Organization for Marriage
20 Nassau Street, Suite 242
Princeton, NJ 08542
bbrown@nationformarriage.org
