“Right at this moment, It’s not about gay marriage whether you are for it or against it. People are afraid. They are afraid in their homes. They are afraid for their jobs. All up and down California strangers are showing up and yelling at them. They’re getting hate mail saying we’re going to go after your job….We’re seeing attacks on churches….”

This quote is from Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, in a recent interview on Fox News. On November 4, after years of hard work and dedication, the voice of voters in three states affirmed this statement: marriage should be defined as the union between one man and one woman. California, Arizona and Florida became the 28th, 29th, and 30th states to pass a Marriage Protection Amendment.

Maggie Gallagher’s comment above is due to the violent response from activists opposing the voice of the people. In these states who recently passed marriage amendments, the response from these activists opposing marriage amendments has shown the true colors of their side.       

Violence Against Marriage Amendment

- A “No on Prop 8″ rally turned ugly as 69-year-old Phyllis Burgess carried a large foam cross.  The self-proclaimed “No on Hate” protestors ripped the cross from Ms. Burgess’ hands, stomped on it, then circled menacingly around Ms. Burgess and a TV news reporter standing with her.

- A homosexual anarchist group on Sunday disrupted the worship services of an evangelical Christian church in Lansing, Michigan. The anarchist group, Bash Back, claimed credit for the disruption, referring to Mount Hope Church of Lansing as “a deplorable, anti-queer mega-church…complicit in the repression of queers in Michigan and beyond.”

- Letters containing a suspicious white powder were sent to Mormon temples in Los Angeles and Salt Lake City that were the sites of protests against the church’s support of the Marriage Amendment.

Tolerance?

In response to the passage of the amendments, the LBGTQ community organized a nation-wide rally against the passage of the marriage amendments.  As part of their mission statement from JointheImpact, they say: “We do not stand for bigotry, for scapegoating, or using anger as our driving force. Our mission is to encourage our community to engage our opposition in a conversation about full equality and to do this with respect, dignity, and an attitude of outreach and education.” 

With respect and dignity.  With respect and dignity they chose to have a clutched fighting fist as their logo.  With respect and dignity they use phrases like ‘Ready to Rumble’ and ‘Fight the H8 (Hate)’ as slogans. 

With respect and dignity they offer pictures of protest sign ideas: ‘Separation of Church and Hate’, ‘Why Do You H8 my Family?’, ‘Shame on YOU!’, ‘Bigotry…Not Very Christ Like’, ‘Mormon teaching: Racism, Sexism, Anti-Gay’, ‘I’m here-I’m not queer-Love is Love-Get used to it’….

Is this ‘encouraging our community to engage’ with ‘respect and dignity’?

Humble Yet Bold
 
John Stemberger witnessed first hand the opposition toward the marriage amendment as the state chairman of the Yes2Marriage.org Campaign in Florida.

Mr. Stemberger says, “Let’s once again thank supporters of natural marriage and encourage them to continue to be humble yet bold in standing with us for what is right, true and good.  The future of our country and generations of children yet unborn are depending upon it.”

Thank you to those supporting the marriage amendment in Pennsylvania and around the country.  Thank you for being humble yet bold in your support and please continue to stand for what is right, true and good.

 Join Pennsylvania in support of the Marriage Amendment by going to www.PA4Marriage.org