“Besides advocating a flawed marriage policy, the so-called “marriage equality act” contains a shocking lack of religious liberty protections, potentially ghettoizing people of faith unless they compromise and remain silent in the public square.” —Christopher Plante, Regional Director for NOM-RI—

Providence, RI — The National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island today condemned the redefinition of marriage signed into law by Governor Lincoln Chafee. Criticizing the new law as short-sighted and potentially dangerous to people of faith, NOM Rhode Island reiterated its commitment to protecting marriage and the faith communities that support it.

“Redefining marriage into a genderless institution to satisfy the demands of a small but politically powerful group is short-sighted policy that fails to take into account the rights and needs of the generations to come,” said Christopher Plante, regional director of NOM Rhode Island. “Children deserve to know and be cared for by a mom and dad. This law will intentionally deny children one or the other. The full impact may not be seen next week or next year, but our children will be the ones who pay the price for this decision.”

“When marriage is redefined into a genderless institution, it presents a range of legal conflicts for people of faith and the small businesses and charitable organizations they operate to serve the public,” Plante said. “Without robust legal protections to allow these faithful people and groups to maintain fidelity in the public square to their religious beliefs, we’re likely to see a raft of lawsuits and governmental action such as license revocations, fines and denial of governmental contracts to these faith-based groups and individuals.”

In other states that have recently redefined marriage such as New York, Maine, Vermont and Washington, people of faith have faced consequences for refusing to accommodate genderless marriage in violation of their deeply-held faith. A Christian couple in Vermont was sued for not hosting a same-sex ceremony in their inn, and was forced to pay a fine and agree to no longer accommodate any weddings in their facility. Recently the Washington State Attorney General has taken legal action against a Christian florist for declining to utilize her artistic talents in celebration of a same-sex wedding, which she opposes on religious grounds. The florist has also been sued by a lesbian couple and the ACLU. Notary Publics in Maine have been warned that they must surrender their certifications if they refuse to solemnize a same-sex marriage even if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. Town Clerks in New York faced similar threats.

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To schedule an interview with Christopher Plante, Regional Director of the National Organization for Marriage, contact him at 401-228-7602 or cplante@nationformarriage.org

“Besides advocating a flawed policy, HB 5015 and SB 38 contain a shocking lack of religious liberty protections, potentially ghettoizing people of faith unless they compromise and remain silent in the public square.” — Christopher Plante, Regional Director for the National Organization for Marriage

Providence, RI — The National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island today urged the Rhode Island House to defeat HB 5015 and SB 38 redefining marriage, citing their flawed understanding of marriage and absence of any real religious liberties protections.

“Redefining marriage into a genderless institution to satisfy the demands of a small but politically powerful group is bad enough, but besides advocating a flawed policy HB 5015 and SB 38 contain a shocking lack of religious liberty protections,” said Christopher Plante, executive director of NOM Rhode Island. “If anything, experience since the civil union bill was passed shows that the need for robust religious liberty protections has only increased; yet HB 5015 and SB 38 fail to address the serious consequences that will befall people of faith and the organizations they operate to serve the public.”

The only true remedy to the coming conflict between religious liberties and sexual liberties in Rhode Island is to not redefine marriage in the first place. Barring that, HB 5015 and SB 38 ought to contain real and enforceable protections for people of faith from having to violate their consciences.

“We urge the Rhode Island House to reject HB 5015 and SB 38 because redefining marriage into a genderless institution that intentionally denies children the love of both a mother and a father is a fundamentally flawed policy,” Plante said. “However, at a bare minimum, the legislation should be amended to provide all the provisions of the Corvese amendment to our civil union law and to ensure that individuals, small businesses and religious-based charitable and educational groups are not targeted by government or others with lawsuits, fines, denials of contracts and other forms of punishment for refusing to accept this radical redefinition of marriage.”

In other states that have recently redefined marriage such as New York, Maine, Vermont and Washington, people of faith have faced consequences for refusing to accommodate genderless marriage in violation of their deeply-held faith. A Christian couple in Vermont was sued for not hosting a same-sex ceremony in their inn, and was forced to pay a fine and agree to no longer accommodate any weddings in their facility. Recently the Washington State Attorney General has taken legal action against a Christian florist for declining to utilize her artistic talents in celebration of a same-sex wedding, which she opposes on religious grounds. The florist has also been sued by a lesbian couple and the ACLU. Notary Publics in Maine have been warned that they must surrender their certifications if they refuse to solemnize a same-sex marriage even if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. Town Clerks in New York faced similar threats.

“When marriage is redefined into a genderless institution, it presents a range of legal conflicts for people of faith and the small businesses and charitable organizations they operate to serve the public,” Plante said. “Without robust legal protections to allow these faithful people and groups to maintain fidelity in the public square to their religious beliefs, we’re likely to see a raft of lawsuits and governmental action such as license revocations, fines and denial of governmental contracts to these faith-based groups and individuals. If the House of Representatives pass HB 5015 or SB 38 without substantial religious liberty protections, it will be putting their constituents with deeply held faith beliefs about marriage directly in the cross-hairs for punishment by political groups and ambitious politicians.”

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To schedule an interview with Christopher Plante, Regional Director of the National Organization for Marriage, contact him at 401-228-7602 or cplante@nationformarriage.org

Providence, RI — The National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island today urged state Senators to reject legislation redefining marriage and instead allow voters to determine the definition of marriage in Rhode Island. The Senate Judiciary Committee today passed two bills redefining marriage (SB 38, HB 5015) but narrowly failed to pass legislation allowing voters to determine the issue (SB 708).

“Marriage has served Rhode Island well since statehood and policymakers should not act unilaterally to redefine this foundational institution of society,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s president. “Rhode Island voters deserve the right to vote on marriage just as voters in 35 other states have been able to do. We urge Senators not to redefine marriage and instead let the people vote.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee defeated SB 708 on a 5-6 vote while passing SB 38 and HB 5015 redefining marriage. A recent statewide public opinion survey found that 78% of Rhode Island voters want the right to vote on the definition of marriage in the state.

“Now is the time for Rhode Island citizens to contact state Senators to tell them to let the people vote on marriage,” said Scott T. Spear, a member of NOM Rhode Island’s Advisory Board. “Rarely do nearly 80% of Rhode Islanders agree on a political issue, but that is the size of the overwhelming majority of voters who want the right to vote on marriage. The issue before state Senators is who gets to decide. We call on them to let the people vote.”

NOM asked Rhode Island Senators not to undefine marriage and rip it from its historic roots to child-rearing, warning that when this has happened elsewhere, religious groups, small businesses and individuals have suffered.

“Marriage is intrinsically the union of a man and a woman and has been for thousands of years” Brown said. “When the definition of marriage has been changed elsewhere, we have seen countless examples of people being punished if they do not abandon their deeply-held beliefs that marriage is and can only be the union of a man and a woman. Wedding professionals have been fined, small businesses have been sued, church groups have lost their tax exemptions and religious-based charities have closed down, unable to compromise their beliefs about the true nature of marriage. Rhode Island risks these types of consequences if Senators vote to impose same-sex ‘marriage.’ The so-called religious liberty protections in SB 38 and HB 5015 are grossly inadequate and provide no protections at all for individuals or small businesses. These misguided bills should be defeated.”

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To schedule an interview with Scott T. Spear, Advisory Board member of NOM Rhode Island or Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), eray@crcpublicrelations.com, or Jen Campbell (x145), jcampbell@crcpublicrelations.com, at 703-683-5004.

Paid for by The National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown, president. 2029 K Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006, not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. New § 68A.405(1)(f) & (h).

Dear Marriage Supporter,

It’s happening NOW—Senate Bill 38, which would redefine marriage in Rhode Island, may be voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee today or tomorrow, and swiftly move to a vote before the full chamber!

This vote is by no means a “done deal.” It will be close, but there’s still a chance of keeping this bill from moving out of committee—that’s why it’s so important that you act right away!

Here are three ways you can help now:

1. Send an urgent email message to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, your State Senator, and the Senate leadership—letting them know that the citizens of the Ocean State will not stand idly by while marriage is redefined against our will and without our input!

   

2. Take some time to place a personal phone call to these Senators’ offices, urging them to VOTE NO ON SENATE BILL 38 both in Committee and on the Senate Floor.

   District	Legislator	Telephone
   22	Sen. Stephen R. Archambault	(401) 276-2599
   18	Sen. William J. Conley, Jr.	(401) 438-1924
   35	Sen. Dawson Tucker Hodgson	(401) 203-3256
   5	Sen. Paul V. Jabour	(401) 751-3300
   26	Sen. Frank S. Lombardi	(401) 270-1379
   31	Sen. Erin P. Lynch	(401) 739-8500
   29	Sen. Michael J. McCaffrey	(401) 739-7576
   6	Sen. Harold M. Metts	(401) 272-0112
   15	Sen. Donna M. Nesselbush	(401) 728-3244
   33	Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis	(401) 397-2720
   38	Sen. Dennis L. Algiere	401-222-2708
   4	Sen. Dominick J. Ruggerio	401-222-3310
   13	Senate President Teresa Pavia-Weed	401-222-6655
   1	Sen. Mary-Ellen Goodwin	401-272-3102

3. Make plans to be at the Statehouse in Providence tomorrow—Tuesday, April 23—at 3:00PM, when the Senate Judiciary Committee meets to consider this issue again. Show them by your presence that Rhode Island stands for marriage!

We must act now to let our legislators know that marriage is not of the State’s making and not theirs to unmake by radical redefinition!

As if we need any more reminders why this is such a crucial issue and a critical moment for our State, news from across the sound today gives us the latest terrible example of what happens where marriage is redefined. Christian News reports:

A recent anti-bullying presentation at a middle school in New York that focused on homosexuality and gender identity has angered parents after their daughters have come home to tell them they were forced to ask another girl for a kiss.

[...]

During the workshop for girls, the 13 and 14-year-olds were told to ask one another for a kiss. They were also taught words such as “pansexual” and “genderqueer.”

Parents were not given any advance notice about this instruction, nor afforded the opportunity to opt their kids out of it. This is what’s at stake: our right to raise our children with our values!

Thank you for your urgent help in this crucial, make-or-break hour!

Dear Marriage Supporter,

Please take the time to call and email the Senate Judiciary Committee today and urge each member to REJECT the redefinition of marriage IN COMMITTEE.

Click here to find a comprehensive list of the Judiciary Committee to see where each member is reported to stand on the issue, and to review a simple script you can use when you call.

The fate of marriage remains on a knife’s edge in Rhode Island. At any time the Senate Judiciary Committee could call a vote on Senate Bill 38 redefining marriage. If this bill passes the Judiciary Committee, it will be very difficult to defeat in a floor debate. If any of our allies on the Committee choose not to vote—even if they say they will vote “No” on the Floor—the bill will pass committee and face a very difficult floor-fight to defeat. Therefore…

We need the ordinary women and men of Rhode Island to stand up now to protect marriage and stave off for at least another year the tragedy that surely would befall generations yet to be born if the fundamental institution of marriage were to be redefined.

“The greatest political storm flutters only a fringe of humanity, but an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children will literally alter the destiny of nations.”

“The most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children.”

— G.K. Chesterton

If the ordinary men and women of Rhode Island make calls and emails to the Senate Judiciary Committee members, or even pay them a personal visit, the destiny of this State and the culture we leave our ordinary children will be altered for the good. But only if folks like you and I stand up and demand to be heard right now!

Be extraordinary today! Please click here for the contact information, reported stance, and brief scripts for speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee members, and make your call or email right away.

If you need encouragement to be extraordinary, check out the video clips from last week’s March for Marriage in Washington, DC. Approximately 10,000 ordinary men, women, and children marched and rallied on the National Mall with the message that “Marriage Matters Because Children Need a Mom and a Dad.

Finally, if you’re able to spare a donation today for NOM Rhode Island, your urgently-needed financial help will enable us to continue standing with you in support of the values we all hold so dear. We can and will continue to present our leaders and the popular pundits with the common-sense case that marriage is good for ordinary men, women, and children—but only with your extraordinary and generous help today!

Stand up for marriage, Rhode Island! Stand up for your rights as ordinary citizens and for the extraordinary gift and blessing that marriage is for our society. An investment today of your time or treasure for marriage is an investment in the future, a gift to our children’s and grandchildren’s generations. Won’t you please give this gift right now?

Wide angle shots of the demonstrations during the judiciary hearing show same-sex ‘marriage’ activists peppered into a sea of people standing up to protect marriage.

One of the biggest arguments in favor of same-sex ‘marriage’ in Rhode Island has been that allowing same sex couples to marry would help the economy by relieving the tax burden on these people.  However a new analysis on the tax situation for same-sex ‘marraige’ shows that it may in fact increase the tax burden rather than decrease it. This completely derails most of the talking points of people like gov. Lincoln Chafee, Suze Orman and the entire “Rhode Islanders United for Marriage” group.

That’s because with equality, gay couples will face the same tax woes of many heterosexual couples with similar incomes, including the tax hit known in America as the marriage penalty.

Taxpayers filing as married couples may be forced to pay higher taxes as their collective income crosses into a higher tax bracket sooner than if they were filing separately.

Grace’s testimony focused on what parents mean to a child.  She discussed how important and necessarily different the roles a mother and a father play in the upbringing of a child.  Grace ultimately summed up her point by asking the legislators, “Which parent don’t I need, my mom or my dad?”  Grace’s point tugged at the heartstrings of all who heard it because it rang true.  Parents are not interchangeable.

Yes, there are anecdotal stories of children with two moms or two dads who seem to be well adjusted.  These stories however do not paint an honest picture of the effects of same-sex parents on developing children.  One could easily find victims of a tragedy who say that they are ‘ok’.  Some may even say they are ‘better off because of it’.  However, that does not justify a tragedy nor should it justify same-sex ‘marriage’.  Just because a child like Matthew may seem to be – or even say that he is – ‘ok’ does not mean that the scenario of his upbringing is optimal or to be condoned.

Let’s talk about Matthew’s story.  Matthew states that he has two moms and two dads.  An arrangement that the four parents apparently came to after meeting at church.  Now, we will set aside how deeply organized this “spontaneous” Providence Journal video is.  We will set aside the statement caught by one of his mothers in reference to who wrote his testimony: “LET’S do it now.  Right now. LET’S do it!”  We will EVEN set aside the fact that the testimony was practiced in school, and what that may imply about the political nature of the education system in Rhode Island.

What we want to talk about is the way Matthew talks about the issue.  Matthew is wholly focused on the happiness of adults.  In his mind marriage has nothing to do with children.  Matthew said, “My parents, and all the other gay and lesbian people here, just want to be happy…” as if happiness is the only thing at stake.  Matthew’s perspective prevents him from seeing the perspective of people like Grace, and more importantly the perspective of therapists, civil society, spouses in failed or troubled marriages and many others who have been directly effected maybe even unknowingly by a non-traditional family life.  Matthew’s perspective also prevents him from one very important thing.  The understanding of what it would be like for him to have a family with one mother and one father.  He cannot compare his upbringing to what it would have been like for him if things had been different.

Everything possible should be done to allow children the right to grow up with a mother and a father.  Many things already threaten this right such as divorce and other situations that leave children in a disordered family life.  Many single parents would be the first to admit how fatherlessness or motherlessness has negatively impacted their children,  as heroic as their parenting may be.   Let’s not add another reason to separate children from a natural upbringing.  No matter how many personal anecdotes progressives can muster.

“We are proud of our noble tradition of compassion and respect for human dignity.  Nonetheless, we want to make clear that any assertion that the Torah (Bible) and Jewish religious principles in any way condone same-sex relationships, or sanction their formalization, is a gross misrepresentation.”

The Rabbis stated what every thinking person already knows.  There is no reality where opposing same-sex ‘marriage’ is the same as discrimination.  Compassion and respect for human dignity remain intact within the belief that marriage should not be redefined.

What is important to point out here – yet again – is that the progressive leaders in Rhode Island continue to parade groups of people before the media as same-sex ‘marriage’ supporters who do not support redefining marriage.

The most recent example of this charade is an article running in the Providence Journal titled “New group called Rhode Island Catholics for Marriage Equality urges passage of same-sex marriage bill”.  The group purportedly consists of 100 Catholic parishioners.  Progressives would have you believe that this is a ground swell of Catholics changing heart on the issue.  It is not.  Supporting same-sex ‘marriage’ is completely against what the Catholic Church teaches and completely against the personal beliefs of the vast majority of regular parishioners.

The progressive pied pipers would like people to read this story and think, “Even Catholics are on board.” However, Catholic people are one of the most vocal groups against this legislation.  It’s a dirty political tactic, and it is funded incredibly well.  This time they didn’t even try to hide the affiliation with BIG progressive money in Rhode Island the groups website is www.riunited.org/catholics.   It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the huge level of money and organization going into this endeavor.   To call it “grass roots” is a bald faced lie.  It is a gigantic financial entity hand selecting a small group of people and encouraging them to speak loudly and frequently for the demographics they disingenuously represent.

S0708 promises a broad protection to individuals and small businesses from being forced to facilitate a marriage, which violates the tenets of their religious affiliation.  Now, as we have stated before, little faith can be placed in religious protections, but they are better than nothing when push comes to shove.  Though nice to have in a worst-case scenario, the inclusion of religious protections is not the reason why NOM-RI supports S0708. S0708 makes marriage an issue for the PEOPLE to vote on.  We strongly believe that in the privacy of their own vote, people will make the right decision to vote down S0708.

Senator Frank Ciccone also introduced S0096, which had almost no chance of passing the Rhode Island House.  However, it is still very important that people are given the opportunity to vote.  The only other option on the table, other than S0096 and S0708, is the bill inherited by the House – S0038.  S0038 is the worst option of the 3 bills.

S0038 has almost non-existent religious protections – one of the narrowest definitions of religious freedom in the US.  But most importantly, S0038 would take the decision away from the voters to instead be made behind closed doors where money and political pressure rule the roost.

If the Senate must take action on same-sex ‘marriage’, their choices are then between S0708 or S0038.  Both are unconscionable, but S0708 at least gives the people the right to be heard.  If something is going to come out of the committee for the full Senate to consider, marriage supporters – and 78% of Rhode Island voters – would prefer that something to be S0708.