Defend Marriage: Newsletter

In this issue:

A Thank You Letter From Sharon Slater
Please Don't Forget to Send Mother's Day E-Cards to Bush and Kerry
Massachusetts Roundup
Congress Watch
Other News Items of Interest
We Need Your Financial Support to Help Defend Marriage and the Family

Dear Reader,

I have asked Richard Wilkins, the Chairman of United Families International’s Defend Marriage project, if I could take his usual space in this issue of the Defend Marriage Newsletter. I wanted to personally thank the thousands of you who have acted to defend marriage and the family, not only in the U.S., but worldwide. Recently, we have made a tremendous impact on some significant initiatives, defending these critical institutions, across the globe, in no small part thanks to you.

Initiative One

About a month ago, we informed you of an important UN conference in Geneva where the Brazilian delegation had introduced a very dangerous and controversial resolution proposing that “sexual orientation” be recognized as an international human right. International policy experts reasoned that if this resolution were to pass, it could very likely pave the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage across the world.

As part of an effort by international pro-family groups to head this off, we set up a special page on our Web site and asked you to do two things. One, to send an email to President Bush asking him to direct the U.S. delegation in Geneva to make the defeat of this resolution a top priority. Second, we also asked you to send e-mail messages to the UN ambassadors of the nations sitting on the Human Rights Commission expressing your concern and opposition to the Brazilian resolution.

Your response was tremendous. Within just a few days over 350,000 email messages were sent to these UN ambassadors through our Web site, and nearly 6,000 of you had e-mailed President Bush. Shortly thereafter we understand that the U.S. delegation received instructions to oppose the proposal. And they did.

Focus on the Family Citizenlink quoted Dr. Farooq Hassan, a former UN diplomat who who currently serves on the UFI International Board as saying, "I think President Bush's personal intervention in this matter has been a great help, and there's no doubt that the weight the United States has put behind this entire agenda [helped]."

The UN had never seen anything like it. While attending the World Congress of Families in Mexico, one of the key UN negotiators at the Human Rights Commission, representing Egypt (who also serves on UFI’s international board) approached me to let me know that the Egyptian UN offices had received your emails and immediately forwarded them on to their delegations in Geneva and that others had as well. He felt it had made a big difference as shortly thereafter, citing a lack of international support, the Brazilian delegation tabled the resolution.

However, they are already planning to try again next year. When they do, we’ll call on our supporters again!

Initiative Two

In the United States, we asked you several weeks ago to email a message of support to Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in his fight to head off legalized same-sex marriage in his state. Unless he is able to do something, same-sex marriage will be imposed on his state by the court beginning on May 17. Very quickly, nearly 9,000 of you e-mailed Governor Romney. Again, we had a very positive impact.

Initiative Three

Just two days ago, we asked you to send an electronic Mother’s Day card to President Bush and Senator Kerry as part of our ongoing efforts to build support for a constitutional amendment to define marriage in the United States as only the union of a man and a woman. Several thousand of you have already sent cards and more are flooding in every hour.

We learned early in the 25 years that United Families has been involved in advocating marriage and family issues that there is no “silver bullet” solution. There will be individual battles and skirmishes in various forums and countries that we will have to be engaged in as far into the future as any of us can see. We have to stay vigilant and stay actively involved.

But to be successful, it has to be a team effort. We will stay on the front line of this fight, but we can only be successful if we have the continuing support of thousands of people like you.

So, I wanted to take this opportunity to offer you my personal thanks and appreciation for all that so many of you are doing to defend marriage and the family. There is no more important fight than to protect these institutions that are so vital to the future of nations and societies around the world.

With the continued support of people like you, we will win!

Sincerely,

Sharon Slater
President, United Families International

Please Don’t Forget to Send Mother’s Day E-Cards to Bush and Kerry

Defend Marriage has provided a quick and easy way to send electronic Mother’s Day cards to President Bush and Senator Kerry to underscore the importance of amending the Constitution. This effort has generated several thousand cards in just the first two days. Many more are needed, however. This is a great way to begin educating others on how important an amendment is to all aspects of family, including the special place mothers have in nurturing future generations. It takes just a few minutes to personalize and send these attractive e-cards through the page we have set up on our Web site. Simply click here.

Massachusetts Roundup

Massachusetts continues to be the focus of the same sex marriage issue in the country. Governor Mitt Romney appears to be stymied in his attempt to get the legislature to allow the appointment of a special counsel to represent him before the Supreme Judicial Court. He wants to ask the court to stay its decision that would require legalized same sex marriages on May 17th until the people of Massachusetts can vote on a proposed constitutional amendment. Another citizen’s group has independently asked for a stay as well.

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of 13 legislators has filed a suit asking the Supreme Judicial Court to stay its ruling until their assertion can be litigated that under the state constitution only the governor or the legislature have jurisdiction over marriage. The suit asks the court to vacate its own ruling, citing the provision in the constitution that provides “All causes of marriage, divorce, and alimony, and all appeals from the Judges of probate shall be heard and determined by the Governor and Council, until the Legislature shall, by law, make other provision." Article here.

Governor Romney, meanwhile, has made it clear that local officials in the state must either perform same sex marriages if they become legal or resign their positions. However, he has also made it clear that the state will enforce a 1913 law that prohibits Massachusetts from marrying anyone if the marriage would be “void” in their state of residence. The governor has noted that no other state allows same sex marriage so only same sex partners who are legitimate Massachusetts residents would be eligible for marriage. Article here.

There are several developments regarding the Supreme Judicial Court justices themselves. A loose coalition, called the Article 8 Coalition (after the section of the state constitution that permits the removal of judges) is pushing for legislation that would remove the four justices who voted to legalized same sex marriage. A legislator has agreed to introduce the legislation. Article here.

A citizen’s coalition is also raising ethics questions about Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, one of the four voting for same sex marriage. In 1999, she was the featured speaker at a fundraising event for the lesbian and homosexual bar association, which the group claims violated the ethics code for justices. They say she should have recused herself from the same sex marriage case. Article here.

Congress Watch

Four different Senate committees have announced hearings over a three week period on various aspects of marriage. The first hearing, held April 28th in the Health subcommittee looked at “Healthy Marriage: What is it and why should we promote it?”

Other hearings will look at social science research on marriage and family issues and on the legal implications of Massachusetts and other efforts to try to legalize same sex marriage. Senate GOP leaders say the hearings are prompted in large part by the increasing national interest in marriage issues as a result of the controversy over whether to legalize same sex marriage. Article here.

Other News Items of Interest

Cybercast News Service examines the recent action by a California Assembly committee to report out the first bill to legalize same sex marriage ever to move in a state legislature in “California Assembly Committee Passes Same-Sex 'Marriage' Bill.” Article here.
An Associated Press Article reports the recent Oregon court ruling stopping the issuance of same sex marriage licenses in Multnomah County but also ordering the state to recognize as valid the 3,000 same sex marriages already performed in “Judge orders stop to gay marriage in Multnomah County.” Article here.
In a clear portent of what is to come in the upcoming general election season, the Associated Press examines how opposition to same sex marriage is being incorporated into the campaigns of conservative candidates across the country in “Conservative ads focus on gay marriage.” Article here.
The Washington Times reports on Oklahoma becoming the fifth state to put a constitutional amendment before voters banning same sex marriage as well as offers a good roundup of what is happening on the issue around the country in “Oklahoma to vote on marriage amendment.” Article here.

We Need Your Financial Support to Help Defend Marriage and the Family

We need your financial support to defend marriage and the family more effectively, so we are asking you to please consider making as generous a contribution as you can. Defend Marriage is a project of United Families International (UFI), a 501 (c )(3) organization, so your contribution is tax deductible.

If you would like to designate your contribution to UFI to go entirely to the Defend Marriage Project, you can easily do so by making a contribution that ends with 4 cents, i.e. $25.04, $173.04, $1,000,000.04 and so on. That will automatically flag it to be applied entirely to Defend Marriage. You can easily and securely make a contribution online or print out a form to mail in a contribution. Click here. Thank you in advance for your generous support.

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United Families International PO Box 2630 Gilbert, AZ 85299-2630
Phone: (480) 632-5450 • FAX: (480) 892-4417