In this issue:
- The Most Important Election of Our Lifetime?
- State-By-State Marriage Amendment Roundup
- We Need Your Generous Financial Support to Defend Marriage!
The Most Important Election of Our Lifetime?
Dear Defender of Marriage,
I
recently returned to the United States from more than two weeks
abroad. The contrast in the tone of the presidential
election race in that short period was truly striking.
It had became much more negative, personal and pointed.
Analysts attribute this to a number of factors. One is that the race has stayed so close. Another is the intense effort by both major candidates to encourage their newly registered voters to go to the polls on Election Day.
What is also striking, however, is the increasingly common characterization by both sides that this is “the most important election of our lifetime.” That may be hyperbole, and for those of us who hope and expect to live long lives, of course only time will tell. But at least as far as the future of marriage is concerned, they may well be right.
This is because the clock clearly is ticking down to the time when we will have a federal court ruling on same-sex “marriage.” I expect it before the next presidential election in 2008. I also expect that a federal court somewhere in the land, applying the reasoning in Lawrence v Texas, the case overturning Texas’ anti-sodomy law last year, will rule that same sex “marriage” is a constitutional right, just as state courts in Massachusetts and Washington already have done. That eventually will put the case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, I fear, would most likely affirm such a ruling.
All this makes it even more urgent that we pass a federal constitutional amendment as quickly as possible to define and protect marriage in this country. The make up of the next Congress will have a direct bearing on the prospects for doing that, of course, and what happens in some individual races will be important. But the most important factor in building momentum for the federal amendment is probably passing as many as possible of the state constitutional amendments on the ballots November 2nd.
We provide a brief rundown below on what the prospects appear to be for passage in each of these states. You will note that in some states, passage seems virtually certain. In others, it is questionable, and in Oregon, at least, passage is very much in doubt.
Predicting success is particularly difficult in the several presidential “battleground states” including Oregon, Michigan and Ohio. The massive voter registration drives and “get out the vote” campaigns make the opinion polling on the likely support for these amendments less reliable than usual.
If you live in one of these states, the most important thing you can do to defend marriage is to get as many others as possible who will vote for your state amendment to the polls. If you do not live in one of these states you can still help out by contacting every marriage supporter you know in those states. Remind them of the special opportunity they have to defend marriage in their states and to make a positive statement that will also assist in passing the federal amendment.
In addition to pouring millions of dollars into defeating these amendments, marriage opponents are also rallying their troops around the country to do the same thing, so it is essential that we at least match them in these efforts.
As far as marriage is concerned, the next few years will determine whether we can protect this vital social institution for our children and future generations or whether we will make them involuntary “guinea pigs” in a social experiment that no successful society has ever undertaken.
This is what may truly make this election the most important one in our lifetime!
Sincerely,
Richard G. Wilkins
Chairman
P.S. You can help defend marriage even more by forwarding this alert on to everyone on your e-mail list.
State-By-State Marriage Amendment Roundup
Based on polling, new reports and the observations of political analysts, here is our assessment of the prospects for passage of the eleven state marriage amendments on the ballot November 2.
- Arkansas—The amendment, Amendment 3, will pass easily.
- Georgia—Just today the Georgia Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit aimed at blocking a vote on the marriage amendment, Amendment 1. Polls show support in the low 60% range and the amendment should pass.
- Kentucky—Polls find 3 to 1 support among voters and the amendment should pass easily.
- Michigan—Recent polls show support levels ranging from nearly even to support in the low 60% range. As a presidential battleground state, much will depend upon voter turnout. In addition, the wide range of support reflected in the polls makes this the second priority target for defeat of a state amendment after Oregon. It will likely pass, but by a narrow margin.
- Mississippi—There is overwhelming popular support for the amendment and it will pass easily.
- Montana—This amendment is supported by Montanans by about 2 to 1 and should pass easily.
- North Dakota—While a recent poll suggests that support for the marriage amendment is eroding somewhat, it should pass easily.
- Ohio—As with Michigan, polls in this battleground state show a wide range in the level of support for Issue 1, the marriage amendment. Also as in Michigan, prospects for passage of the amendment will depend heavily on which group of voters, liberal or conservatives, turn out in greater numbers in this presidential battleground state. It will likely pass, but also by a very narrow margin.
- Oklahoma—Question 711, the marriage amendment, has 3 to 1 support among Oklahoma voters and will pass easily.
- Oregon—The latest polls show only a bare majority support Amendment 36. Oregon is the number one target for homosexual groups seeking to defeat a marriage amendment and they have poured a huge amount of out-of-state money into defeating it. As a battleground state, passage will depend largely on voter turnout. Chances of passage are no better then even.
- Utah—Polls consistently show support for Amendment 3 in the low 60% range and this amendment is likely to pass easily.
We Need Your Generous Financial Support to Defend Marriage!
Our success in defending marriage depends almost entirely on the generous financial support of people like you. Please consider making a generous contribution to support our efforts.
You can easily and securely make a contribution online or print out a form to mail in a contribution.
Your contribution will be made to United Families International (UFI), a 501 (c )(3) organization, so it is tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. United Families International is active in defending marriage and the family at the U.N. and in countries around the world. Defend Marriage is a project of UFI and focuses on defending marriage in the U.S.
If you would like to designate your contribution 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.
Thank you in advance for your generous support!
Want to help even more?
Please forward this on to others who may be willing to help defend marriage and the family.
To unsubscribe, click
here.
United Families International PO Box 2630 Gilbert, AZ 85299-2630
Phone: (480) 632-5450 • FAX: (480) 892-4417