Drop Gay Dan Savage!

By now you've probably heard about the incredibly squalid performance of President Obama's anti-bullying advisor, Dan Savage.

If not, go watch this video here:

Invited to address the issue of bullying before a captive audience of other people's children, Dan Savage chose instead to belittle these high-schoolers' faith, to repeatedly curse at the Bible, and, when a group of rather brave students quietly walked out, to curse directly at them.

He has refused to apologize for any of it, except for directly cursing at the teens who left.

Let me lay down a public challenge to Dan Savage right here and now: You want to savage the Bible? Christian morality? Traditional marriage? Pope Benedict? I'm here, you name the time and the place and let's see what a big man you are in a debate with someone who can talk back. It's easy to make high-school girls cry by picking on them. Let's pick on someone our own size!

Here's Dan Savage following up on that performance with an incredibly filthy and obscene attack on the Pope from the Hammerschmidt Memorial Chapel at Elmhurst College in Illinois. Warning: It's sexually-explicit and disgusting language. Please do not play it where children can hear.

I'm here, any time, any place you name, Dan Savage. You will find out out how venal and ridiculous your views of these things are if you dare to accept a challenge.

But our greater challenge is to Pres. Obama and the White House, which is continuing to host and promote Dan Savage's anti-bullying campaign It Gets Better.

Pres. Obama needs to disassociate our nation's White House from a man who behaves in this awful manner.

Savage himself told the Seattle Times there was nothing unusual about his speech. It's at the heart of how he defines "anti-bullying":

"Savage said the speech is one he has repeatedly given in promoting 'It Gets Better,' his hugely successful project to help gay, lesbian and transgender youths cope with bullying. The project has at least 40,000 videos—testimonials meant to offer encouragement—including one by President Obama, and an accompanying book that debuted on The New York Times best-seller list."

Dan Savage actually told the Seattle Times, "It wasn't like I sneaked up on a Bible study class and commandeered the podium. ...I'm like the Devil. You have to invite me in."

So far Dan Savage has been invited in and warmly welcomed to the White House, on the White House website, as well as MTV. It's unseemly to say the least.

Thanks to the thousands of you who have already responded to our call to Pres. Obama: Drop Dan Savage!

And I really need you to send the petition request to all your friends and relatives. Let them see the man Pres. Obama is standing by, at this point.

Let them see what real unabashed and unashamed hatred looks and sounds like.

If you haven’t yet signed our petition, go here and please do so.

For all our children's sake, and for the sake of civilized discourse in this beloved and God-blessed land.

On Tuesday, we will wake up and find out whether the people of North Carolina have voted for the Marriage Amendment.

It's been a rough campaign, as our opposition has chosen to raise millions to spread blatant falsehoods to North Carolina voters.

The campaign to dehumanize supporters of our marriage tradition has been stepped up as well, with reports that as many of half of all pro-marriage signs have been vandalized.

Yes, a pro-marriage amendment teenager stole a neighbor's sign and videotaped himself shooting it and posted it on YouTube. This teen was properly visited by the police to make sure he meant no harm to any person and they also properly cited him for destruction of property. Let me reiterate NOM's persistent call to mutual respect and civility in the midst of these important moral questions that we believe ought to be decided by the people as a whole.

No gay person, or gay-marriage advocate, should be afraid in our great democracy to stand up, speak, organize, or donate for the things they believe in. Violence, threats of violence, and name-calling have no place in our democracy.

Will Joe Solmonese or Evan Wolfson or any other major gay-rights leaders stand up and say the same? Will they tell their people: Respect the rights of "anti-gay marriage" citizens, even as we fight for what we think is right?

I hope so. I'm waiting to see.

I was there in California during the Prop 8 campaign when so many people faced harassment and threats just for standing up for marriage. So when the NC campaign released a report that an elderly woman was physically attacked for having signs that said "Yes on the marriage amendment," I was shocked but not surprised.

This story has not received media attention. But we posted the police report on the NOM blog.

According to the police report, this elderly lady went to a home looking for her sister. She told police that a man who lived there told her they needed to "talk about this marriage amendment." She said she didn't want to speak about it, but as she tried to back out, this man stuck his head in the window and would not let her leave. Her glasses got knocked off somehow. When she tried to retrieve them, he started banging the car door against her four or five times, cussing at her very angrily because she supported the marriage amendment. The police officer noted what looked like bruises on her back and that she was very upset and crying.

She told police she had "never experienced anything like this."

I'm so sorry this happened to her. But of course she is not alone. You and I know that apparently even in North Carolina it now takes courage to stand up for marriage.

The students at TFP Student Action have just released their own video about what it's like to be a young man holding signs on the street saying positive things: "One man, one woman = marriage."

The hatred generated against these young people is profoundly antithetical to the basic principles of fair play and democracy. But too many gay-marriage leaders are determined to create an equation in which opposition to gay marriage = hatred. They have convinced themselves of this, among many other untruths, and they are convincing others to act on it.

They think it's a strategy for victory, clearly. But it amounts to an attempt to write out of civilized society at least half or more of the American people. And it's going to fail.

Meanwhile a dramatic story is unfolding in North Carolina, where voters will go to the polls on May 8 to decide the future of marriage in that state.

As pro-gay-marriage advocates began to blanket the state with ads claiming that the marriage amendment will strip single women of domestic-violence protection, I began to get a little worried.

But the NC campaign fought back with the truth. Take a look at this great ad, which I call "Facts, not Fear," where districts attorneys from around the state assure voters that the marriage amendment has nothing to do with domestic-violence protections (which are available to married and unmarried people alike!).

"I am concerned about the false and misleading claims that are being made by opponents of the Marriage Protection Amendment," said Rockingham County District Attorney Phil Berger, Jr., Vice President of the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys. "Citizens should have no concern that the marriage amendment will impact domestic violence prosecution, because it will not."

And yesterday something amazing—something that to me is the hand of God intervening—just happened.

Rev. Billy Graham, at 93, rarely intervenes in public any more. But yesterday this beloved favorite son of North Carolina released a personal statement urging North Carolina voters to vote for the marriage amendment: "At 93, I never thought we would have to debate the definition of marriage. The Bible is clear—God's definition of marriage is between a man and a woman."

Moreover, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association announced that they will be running ads in 14 North Carolina newspapers publicizing Billy Graham's endorsement.

I was so moved. And so were so many others who have fought for marriage in North Carolina.

So after showing some initial slippage, the polling now shows gay-marriage advocates heading for a massive defeat at the polls.

The latest SurveyUSA today poll shows the Marriage Amendment ahead by 20 points!

The most amazing thing about the support for marriage is its breadth. SurveyUSA reports that the measure passes 57 percent to 37 percent, "with majority support among men and women, black and white, rich and poor, and in all parts of the state. Opposition is most strong among Democrats and independents, but rises to a majority only among the relatively small number of voters who identify themselves as liberals."

Read that again closely. Majorities of blacks and whites, rich and poor, men and women, and Republicans and Democrats oppose gay marriage.

This is not surprising to you and me; we know the truth, which is rooted in Truth itself.

Don't stop fighting now, in North Carolina—or anywhere else! Victory is within our reach!

Thanks to all of you who have written to express your support and concern about the massive illegal attacks on NOM, most recently through the release of federally-protected IRS tax returns.

We believe that both the IRS and other legal authorities are responding appropriately with a serious investigation and we want to respect the legal process as it moves forward.

Please pray for the safety of all the voters in North Carolina, both those who favor and those who oppose marriage.

But please remember especially in your prayers this week the one elderly lady who says she was viciously attacked for standing up for God's vision of marriage, and for all the teens in Dan Savage's audience.

With charity towards all, with malice towards none, we will fight for the right, as God gives us the power to see what's right.

God bless you and may God bless America,

Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage

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