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We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image.... While the whole scope of Christian moral concern, including...

More than 150 leaders across a spectrum of conservative Christianity on Friday released a 4,700-word document vowing civil disobedience if they are forced to take part in "anti-life acts" or bless gay marriages. Called the "Manhattan Declaration," the six-page, single-spaced document was drafted by Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, an evangelical, and Princeton University professor Robert P. George, a Roman Catholic, and included a bevy of Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox bishops, archbishops and cardinals as signatories along with dozens of clergy and laity. Archbishop of Washington Donald W. Wuerl is one of the signatories. "Throughout the centuries, Christianity has taught...

Below is an informative piece by my friend Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan about the awful decision by the LDS Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to support legislation granting legal protections based on homosexuality. Gary of AFA-Michigan writes: A Shocker from Salt Lake City: The LDS (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Church now officially endorses so-called “gay rights” laws, specifically a Salt Lake City law prohibiting “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation” (homosexual behavior) and “gender identity” (cross-dressing). From the official LDS Church website: http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/church-supports-nondiscrimination-ordinances ASSOCIATED PRESS: “Mormons throw support...

A California man wants divorce outlawed. John Marcotte has filed for a ballot initiative to protect traditional marriage in the state of California as an extension of the work related to Proposition 8, the voter-approved constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. In essence, Marcotte's project would legally ban divorce. "Marriage is an important and sacred institution, and I'm just trying to safeguard it in really the most direct way possible," he states. He says he needs the help of California's registered voters in acquiring "700,000 valid signatures, which likely translates into 1,000,000 [signatures] total."...

(RNS) With the passage Tuesday (Nov. 10) of nondiscrimination laws in Salt Lake City that expand gay rights, Mormon officials and gay activists have found a patch of common ground. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and gay organizations both advocated for the laws, which prevent discrimination in housing and employment. SNIP The Sutherland Institute, a Salt Lake City-based conservative think tank, expressed disappointment in the church's action. "As a public relations opportunity, the LDS church's statement before the Salt Lake City Council may assuage the minds and soften the hearts of advocates of 'gay rights' in Utah,"...

Gay rights legislation in Salt Lake City receives its first ever endorsement by the Mormon church. Salt Lake City, Utah (WiredPRNews.com) - The passage of gay rights legislation in Salt Lake City, Utah was supported for the first time by the Mormon church. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the church announced its support of laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing and employment prior to a vote on the legislation Tuesday. Michael Otterson, the director of public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is quoted by the AP...

Salt Lake City has become the first Utah city to offer housing and employment protections for gays and lesbians — an action supported by the Mormon Church. The City Council, in a unanimous vote Tuesday, passed a pair of nondiscrimination ordinances that would bar landlords and employers from discriminating based on sexuality — a protection not currently afforded under state or federal laws. In a rare public appearance before local lawmakers, a representative from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints read a supporting statement at a public hearing before the Salt Lake City Council regarding the ordinances proposed...

Salt Lake OKs Gay Rights Ordinances Mormon church — which opposes same-sex marriage — backs laws SALT LAKE CITY - With a historic endorsement from the Mormon church, the Salt Lake City Council unanimously passed a pair of ordinances making it illegal to discriminate against gays. Tuesday's action was the first time the Utah-based church — which has been steadfast in its opposition to gay marriage — has publicly supported gay rights legislation. "The church supports these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do violence to the institution of marriage," Michael Otterson, the director of public...

The most effective man fighting to deny the right of gay marriage in America is Frank Schubert of Sacramento. Schubert ran the successful Yes on Proposition 8 campaign last year, the initiative banning gay marriage in California. This week, when Maine voted to repeal a new law allowing gay marriage, Schubert was again the pivotal organizer. If conventional wisdom on gay marriage inevitability were a balloon, Schubert would be the needle. His win in California galvanized Yes on Prop. 8 believers from the right and left - from black to white to Latino and Asian. His win in Maine halted...

Last night, by a comfortable margin of 53-47%, the citizens of Maine became the 31st state to vote down gay marriage (as has every single state that has given its citizens a chance to vote on the issue). Not surprisingly, the mainstream liberal press is beside itself with frustration, especially because it drives yet another nail in the "inevitability" and "wrong side of history" arguments we are often fed. As I wrote on National Review this morning, Maine voted for traditional marriage "despite it being a liberal state, despite a 2-1 funding disadvantage, despite aggressive legal action against traditional-marriage...

PORTLAND, Maine — Voters on Tuesday repealed the state’s same sex marriage law after an emotionally charged campaign that drew large numbers to the polls and focused national attention on Maine. In a defiant speech to several hundred lingering supporters, No on 1 campaign manager Jesse Connolly pledged that his side “will not quit until we know where every single one of these votes lives.”

A think tank has compiled and analyzed reports of the harassment, intimidation, and “gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry” shown in reaction to the successful passage of Proposition 8. If partisans of marriage redefinition continue to increase in power, the analysis warns, those who seek the preservation of marriage as a union of man and wife may risk paying a price legally, socially and economically. The Heritage Foundation’s Oct. 22 report “The Price of Prop 8,” authored by researcher Thomas M. Messner, said that many individuals and institutions who defend the nature of marriage as a union between a man and...

Abstract: Supporters of Proposition 8 in California have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry protests, violence, at least one death threat, and gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry. Arguments for same-sex marriage are based fundamentally on the idea that limiting marriage to the union of husband and wife is a form of bigotry, irrational prejudice, and even hatred against homosexual persons. As this ideology seeps into the culture more generally, individuals and institutions that support marriage as the union of husband and wife risk paying a price for that belief in many...

SEATTLE — Conservatives here, a droll minority, say that under this city's quota system, when a conservative enters the city, one already here is required to leave. They also say Washington is actually two states: There's what you see from atop this city's Space Needle — meaning, this liberal city — and there's everything else, extending to the Oregon, Idaho and Canadian borders. On Tuesday, Washington residents will vote in a referendum that has national significance because of a controversy about disclosing names and addresses of those who signed petitions to trigger the referendum. This threatens the right to privacy,...

Yes on repeal of gay marriage 51% No on repeal of gay marriage 47%

The latest challenge to Prop 8 could be show on television. Ted Olson and David Boies, are suing saying Prop 8 is unconstitutional. The judge has reportedly 'hinted' that he may allow cameras..

Abstract: Supporters of Proposition 8 in California have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry protests, violence, at least one death threat, and gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry. Arguments for same-sex marriage are based fundamentally on the idea that limiting marriage to the union of husband and wife is a form of bigotry, irrational prejudice, and even hatred against homosexual persons. As this ideology seeps into the culture more generally, individuals and institutions that support marriage as the union of husband and wife risk paying a price for that belief in many...

Mormon Apostle Dallin Oaks chose a friendly audience deep within the Book-of-Mormon-belt for his now controversial October 13 speech in defense of the Mormons’ ongoing fight against same-sex civil marriage. Speaking to students at Brigham Young University-Idaho, Oaks decried the continuing erosion of religious freedom and the declining influence of religion in the public sphere, before mounting a strongly-worded defense of “the ancient order” of marriage against the “alleged ‘civil right’ of same-gender couples to enjoy the privileges of marriage.” Elder Oaks recalled expressions of outrage directed at Mormons and acts of vandalism against Mormon temples and wardhouses committed after...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge said sponsors of California's ban on same-sex marriage may not delay in handing over campaign strategy documents to gay-rights groups that are looking for evidence of anti-gay bias as they try to overturn the measure. The sponsors had sought to keep the documents while challenging the order to turn them over in an appeals court. But in a ruling late Friday, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of San Francisco said backers of Proposition 8 had failed to show that disclosing internal memos and e-mails would violate their freedom of speech or subject them...

Abstract: Supporters of Proposition 8 in California have been subjected to harassment, intimidation, vandalism, racial scapegoating, blacklisting, loss of employment, economic hardships, angry protests, violence, at least one death threat, and gross expressions of anti-religious bigotry. Arguments for same-sex marriage are based fundamentally on the idea that limiting marriage to the union of husband and wife is a form of bigotry, irrational prejudice, and even hatred against homosexual persons. As this ideology seeps into the culture more generally, individuals and institutions that support marriage as the union of husband and wife risk paying a price for that belief in many...

Of all the lawyers who might have challenged California's ban on same-sex marriage, one of the least likely candidates would seem to be Theodore Olson: a high-ranking Justice Department attorney under Ronald Reagan, U.S. solicitor general under George W. Bush, and lawyer for Bush in the Bush vs. Gore case that decided the 2000 presidential election. But when a federal judge in San Francisco held a critical hearing last week in a suit by two same-sex couples challenging Proposition 8, they were represented by Olson and David Boies, his courtroom adversary in Bush vs. Gore. Before the hearing, Olson talked...

LDS apostle Dallin H. Oaks called on Mormon faithful last week not to be silenced by post-Proposition 8 intimidation, urging members to insist on the free exercise of religion. What really is threatening religious liberty, four gay-rights groups countered Friday in a joint statement, is the church's meddling in a political campaign to deny rights to same-sex couples. "We have always been taught that it is not 'just to mingle religious influence with civil government,' " wrote Cheryl Nunn, executive director of the Foundation for Reconciliation, quoting Mormon scripture. "How can I face my friends in other faiths if I...

A federal judge refused today to dismiss a lawsuit challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage, setting the stage for the nation's first trial on the constitutionality of a law allowing only opposite-sex couples to wed. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, in a ruling from the bench in San Francisco, said a trial was needed to resolve crucial issues, including whether gays and lesbians are persecuted minorities entitled to judicial protection from discriminatory laws. He has scheduled the trial for January. Sponsors of Proposition 8, approved by 52 percent of the voters in November, argued that the initiative was clearly...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge today refused to dismiss a legal challenge to Proposition 8, concluding that the ongoing courtroom battle over California's voter-approved ban on gay marriage must be resolved in a full-blown trial.</p> <p>After two hours of legal sparring, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker largely rejected the arguments of Proposition 8 supporters, who maintained that U.S. Supreme Court precedent and a lack of proof of constitutional violations should sidetrack a lawsuit designed to overturn the ballot measure.</p>

In a meeting with gay-rights activists last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized the LDS Church for backing a ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in California, saying the leaders of his faith should have stayed out of the contentious political fight. Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, is the highest ranking elected official who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.-SNIP-Marchers in Sunday's equality rally, which drew tens of thousands to the U.S. Capitol, repeatedly referenced the Prop 8 defeat in signs, statements and even face paint. But when organizers sat down with Reid,...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill recognizing gay marriages sanctioned in other states during the nearly five months such unions were legal in California. Schwarzenegger says the action is consistent with a state Supreme Court ruling upholding the marriages of same-sex couples who tied the knot in California before voters approved Proposition 8. Proposition 8 is a constitutional amendment passed in November that limits marriage to a man and a woman. The bill signed by the governor late Sunday also says gay and lesbian couples who were married in other states after Proposition 8's passage have...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed two gay rights bills, one honoring late activist Harvey Milk and another recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. In the last of hundreds of bill actions taken before midnight Sunday, Schwarzenegger approved the two bills by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. The governor last year vetoed the measure declaring May 22 a state day of recognition for Milk, suggesting that the former San Francisco supervisor be honored locally. But he subsequently named him to the California Hall of Fame. Leno's SB 54, meanwhile, requires California to recognize marriages performed in other states where same...

Iowa at Disney encouraging gays to move to Hawkeye State October 2nd, 2009 by Eric Carpenter Figuring that plenty of gay couples in California are frustrated by the inability to get legally married here, representatives from Iowa have set up a booth at Gay Days at the Disneyland Resort encouraging them to consider moving to the Hawkeye State. Iowa is one of four states nationwide that allow gay marriages. That state’s Supreme Court made the decision earlier this year. Two representatives for three regional visitors bureaus flew out for the three-day Gay Days, when 30,000 partipants roll into town to...

AIPNews.com Report: On Friday, September 25, 2009, an LGBT organization filed paperwork with the California Attorney General's office to overturn Proposition 8 (Marriage Amendment) by presenting a new Amendment to the State Constitution for the people to vote on in the November 2010 election.This may be good news for the personhood movement because not only will the pro-life voters be out in force but so will the pro-marriage voters. It won't hurt for an already energized electorate to have additional reasons to show up at the polls. While some might say that the pro-abortion voters will be out in force...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge is considering whether to order the sponsors of California's voter-approved gay marriage ban to produce their internal campaign records to lawyers now suing to overturn the law.

A coalition of groups supporting same-sex marriage submitted ballot measure language for a proposed initiative to repeal Proposition 8 to the Attorney General's office today. The move marks the first official step toward asking California voters to repeal the law prohibiting same-sex marriage, which was approved with 52 percent of the vote during the 2008 election. If the proposed initiative is approved for circulation by the Secretary of State's office, proponents will have to collect nearly 700,000 valid signatures by April 2010 to qualify the measure for the ballot. "We need to get our rights back. It's really just that...

The 40-year-old "comedian" Jack Black went on the "dark side" during the MTV Awards praying to the devil. Black, who was promoting a heavy metal video game called Brütal Legend, asked the "Dear Dark Lord Satan" to bless the rock star nominees with "continued success in the music industry." "I was mortified when Jack Black lead everyone in a prayer to satan. It was no joke," said Samantha Taylor of California. "The audience held hands and did it. I was a fan, but not anymore." Black made his grand entrace wearing extra muscles and a battle axe. "During the Awards,...

A federal judge for the Northern District of California set a trial date of Jan. 11, 2010, in a case that could decide whether California, and possibly the rest of the nation, can legally ban same-sex couples from exchanging nuptials. The judge also barred public interest law firms from joining in the Defense of California’s Proposition 8. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of two same-sex couples denied marriage licenses, challenges California’s narrow passage of Prop. 8 last November. Prop. 8 overruled a California Supreme Court decision finding a fundamental right for same-sex couples to marry in the state’s constitution. Three...

Most Rev. Salvatore Cordileone Proposition 8, the California constitutional amendment that deprived gay men and women of the right to marry one another, was perhaps the ugliest and most divisive electoral moment since Proposition 187, which denied illegal immigrant children access to health care and public education. All across the state, gay men, lesbians, and their friends picketed hostile churches and boycotted businesses that backed the amendment. And as they contemplated their fate, they asked themselves: Who did this to us? Was it the Mormons? The National Organization for Marriage? Black voters? White evangelical megachurches? Now, eight months after...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal court case which could legalize gay marriage in the United States will begin trial in January 2010 with high-profile lawyers but not longtime gay and conservative antagonists lined up on opposite sides of the debate, a district judge ruled on Wednesday. Aiming to speed a contentious case that could be destined for the U.S. Supreme Court, San Francisco District Court Judge Vaughn Walker denied requests to join the case from gay advocacy groups and social conservatives who said they would not be adequately represented. Ted Olson, the conservative lawyer whose Supreme Court arguments put...

SAN FRANCISCO — Trial of a federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn Proposition 8 and let California's same-sex marriages resume will begin Jan. 11, a federal judge said Wednesday. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker also during Wednesday's 90-minute hearing denied the motions of a coalition of three gay-rights groups, as well as of the conservative Campaign for California Families, to intervene as parties to the case. Neither proved an interest not already adequately represented by the case's plaintiffs — same-sex couples wishing to marry — or the proponents of Proposition 8, he ruled. But Walker did grant a motion...

SALT LAKE CITY -The Mormon church's vigorous, well-heeled support for Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California last year, has turned the Utah-based faith into a lightning rod for gay rights activism, including a nationwide "kiss-in" Saturday. The event comes after gay couples here and in San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, were arrested, cited for trespassing or harassed by police for publicly kissing. In Utah, the July 9 trespassing incident occurred after a couple were observed by security guards on a downtown park-like plaza owned by the 13 million-member Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The court...

"Join the Impact", the national homosexual political group that organized angry demonstrations across the country to terrorize supporters of Proposition 8 and the other anti-same sex marriage initiatives, is back again. They've decided that the public needs to have homosexual behavior pushed in everyone's direction just a little harder.

Gay rights advocates were shocked last year when hundreds of thousands of Californians who voted for Barack Obama's presidential bid also voted for Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage. They're still debating among themselves what went wrong with the anti-Proposition 8 campaign. The finger-pointing continues with a very sharp internal argument over whether to seek Proposition 8's repeal in 2010, or wait until 2012 for a new ballot fight. Sometime this week, it appears, that decision will be made by the myriad gay rights organizations because any attempt at qualifying a measure for the 2010 ballot must begin...

Not too long ago, conventional wisdom seemed to dictate that gay marriage in America was inevitable. Conservatives, surprisingly, would tell me this more often than anyone. But something has changed. Carrie Prejean has had an effect on us. That's the argument made by my friend, Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, in the latest issue of National Review. After a series of judicial usurpations, legislative victories, and public-relations onslaughts, the gay-marriage movement took a blow this past November, when Proposition 8 was passed in California. Voters affirmed a ballot measure that defined marriage as "between a man...

When the California Supreme Court in May decided to ban all same-sex marriages from that point forward, but keep valid the 18,000 gay marriages that already went down, it never addressed one other little matter: what to do about out-of-state gay marriage. Enter State Sen. Mark Leno, who wants to give the Mormon Church an aneurysm with a new bill that would recognize those unions. Just like Washington D.C.'s City Council did, California could be en route to banning gay marriage in its own borders, but opening itself up to gay Iowans and Bay Staters who wed in their home...

"A gay rights group plans to stage a mass kissing demonstration outside the San Diego Mormon temple as a show of support for a gay couple cited for trespassing in Utah after sharing a kiss on church property. "

A gay rights group plans to stage a mass kissing demonstration outside the San Diego Mormon temple as a show of support for a gay couple cited for trespassing in Utah after sharing a kiss on church property. The Empowering Spirits Foundation says the "kiss-in" is intended as a peaceful rally to encourage dialogue between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The event is scheduled for Wednesday evening at the temple near La Jolla, Calif. "It's an opportunity for us to stand up for two members of our community that...

Gay Marraige and the Consitution (BARF ALERT) Why Ted Olson and I are working to overturn California's Proposition 8. By DAVID BOIES When I got married in California in 1959 there were almost 20 states where marriage was limited to two people of different sexes and the same race. Eight years later the Supreme Court unanimously declared state bans on interracial marriage unconstitutional. Recently, Ted Olson and I brought a lawsuit asking the courts to now declare unconstitutional California's Proposition 8 limitation of marriage to people of the opposite sex. We acted together because of our mutual commitment to the...

A proposed law to recognize a growing number of same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries is winding its way through California's Legislature. Opponents of gay marriage say Senate Bill 54 violates Proposition 8, a voter initiative approved last November that amended the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. The bill's sponsor contends that his proposed changes to state family law are consistent with the California Supreme Court's nuanced decision in May to uphold Proposition 8. The court's decision upheld the right of voters to bar gay couples from the label "marriage," acknowledged...

A federal court Thursday threw out a legal challenge filed against California's constitutional amendment that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. In December 2008, two men filed a lawsuit claiming that the California marriage amendment, which voters passed as Proposition 8 in last November's election, violates the U.S. Constitution. The two men obtained a "marriage" license in California during the short window of time in which such licenses were allowed to be issued to members of the same sex. In its order dismissing the two men's challenge to the amendment, the court pointed out that...

... The San Diego Pride Parade was crawling by with its deliberate abandon, and the real estate investor from Hillcrest was duly impressed. Things had not always been so carefree for Anderson or those closest to him. “I have a lot of friends who had to put up with a lot – discrimination, harassment,” he said. “There's still a lot of resentment.” In this 40th anniversary summer of the Stonewall riots, which broke out after New York City police raided a gay bar in Greenwich Village, one theme emanated from the cavalcade of floats and the people watching them: activism....

DETAILS San Diego Pride ParadeWhen: 11 a.m. todayWhere: University Avenue at Normal Street to Sixth Avenue at Upas StreetSan Diego Pride FestivalWhen: From noon to 10 p.m. today, and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrowWhere: Balboa Park, Sixth Avenue at Juniper StreetFestival admission: $20 each dayHillcrest Community CleanupWhen: 7 a.m. MondayWhere: Park Boulevard at University AvenueMore information:www.sandiegopride.orgThe hundreds of San Diegans who marched for gay rights in the mid-1970s walked through a city largely indifferent, even antagonistic, to the cause.What strides they have made.Today, up to 9,000 people will take part in the San Diego Pride Parade, including the...

Today, a federal judge tossed out yet another challenge to Proposition 8. (Prop 8 is a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman in California) This time the challenge was on "federal constitutional grounds..."

The hottest debate among California gay marriage supporters revolves around a simple question: Do you try to overturn Proposition 8 in 2010 or 2012? This week it got hotter, as the community started to choose sides. A diverse union of LGBT coalitions of color -- including API Equality-LA, HONOR PAC, and the Jordan/ Rustin Coalition -- said let's wait until 2012 before shoving another ballot initiative in front of folks. Their motto: Prepare to Prevail. Say the P2Pers: Going "back to the ballot to remove the voter-imposed ban on same-sex marriage from the state constitution in 2010 would be rushed...