Falwell Confidential
Date: November 20, 2003
From: Jerry Falwell
FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER
In an alarming but expected decision on Wednesday, the Massachusetts Supreme
Judicial Court ruled 4-3 that a ban on homosexual marriage violates the
state constitution and gave the state legislature 180 days to come up with a
compromise or a plan to comply with the ruling.
As the enemies of conventional marriage continue to make gains, it is
becoming increasingly imperative that Americans who want to preserve our
traditional values must get proactive.
These activist judges, realizing that the large majority of Americans will
not support homosexual marriage, feel a need to instill their version of
America on the rest of us. They know that Joe America is not going to
support homosexual marriage, so they take the only remaining step to
accomplish their goal - they enact a court ruling.
(click read more for full article)
"The court is seeking to create a counterfeit," said Jan LaRue of Concerned
Women for America. "Even if the legislators ignore the will of the people
and institute some type of civil unions, a license can't create a marriage
any more than a licensed electrician can produce power by taping two
same-sex plugs together."
With militant jurists looking to authorize laws for America, it is more
imperative than ever for those who uphold the Judeo-Christian values of our
Founding Fathers to stand up and fight.
The Federal Marriage Amendment (H.J.Res. 56) offers us the preeminent way to
protect marriage as a sacred bond between one man and one woman. The
amendment states:
"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and
a woman. Neither this constitution or the constitution of any state, nor
state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or
the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."
The bi-partisan cosponsors of the Federal Marriage Amendment are: Marilyn
Musgrave (R-Colo.), Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.), David Vitter (R-La.), Collin
Peterson (D-Minn.), Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) and Ralph Hall (D-Texas).
While homosexual-rights advocates suggest that American values on marriage
are rapidly changing, a poll by the Pew Research Center found that less than
one-third of Americans favor homosexual marriage.
Furthermore, a Wirthlin Poll earlier found similar results, with a solid 62
percent saying they agree with the statement, "Marriage is the union between
a man and a woman." Only 26 percent disagreed with the statement.
Even more important was the fact that overwhelming numbers of Hispanics (63
percent) and African-Americans (62 percent) in the Wirthlin Poll said they
support a constitutional amendment to protect marriage from lawsuits
challenging traditional marriage.
This is great news, but we cannot sit on our hands and hope for the best.
If we don't win this battle, marriage as we know it becomes insignificant.
"It is very important to remember that the entire effort to undermine the
legal status of marriage in the courts is premised upon constitutional law,"
said the folks at the Alliance for Marriage. "For example, activist
organizations openly admit their plans to use the Equal Protection and Full
Faith and Credit clauses of the United States Constitution to eventually
impose same-sex 'marriage' and 'civil unions' on every state in the nation.
The only question is whether the constitutional status of marriage will be
determined by unelected judges or the American people."
That's the picture in a nutshell.
Hegemonic jurists will have the leeway to enact their valueless vision on
America in terms of altering marriage unless the Federal Marriage Amendment
becomes the law of the land.
Please call or e-mail your representative and senators today to
considerately urge them to support the Federal Marriage Amendment (H.J.Res.
56). An easy way to contact your congressional members is to visit the
Campaign for Working Families website ( http://www.cwfpac.com ). Simply
click on "Congressional Directory" to find e-mail addresses, phone numbers,
fax numbers and background information on your elected officials.
By the way, Campaign for Working Families Chairman Gary Bauer said this week
that his organization "will work hard to defeat any politician who refuses
to defend traditional marriage."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council agreed, saying,
"Protecting marriage will be a major issue in the 2004 elections. Every
candidate seeking the votes of pro-family Americans must be ready and
willing to offer an unwavering defense of not only the word 'marriage,' but
also the institution it represents."
I'm with Gary and Tony in this effort; I'm committed to doing whatever I can
to ensure that marriage remains the way God intended it. I hope readers
will stand with us in this critical campaign to preserve the Judeo-Christian
foundations of marriage.
Finally, I urge those who have not signed my Federal Marriage Amendment
Petition to do so by visiting the website http://www.onemanonewoman.com .
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have already signed this petition that
will soon be forwarded to President Bush and members of Congress. This
petition is a powerful tool to lobby fence-sitting lawmakers that the
majority of Americans want them to preserve traditional marriage. Please
sign the petition today: http://www.onemanonewoman.com