Ruth Institute Blog

You have to see this. (Be sure to watch the video.)

The question at the end of LifeNews.com’s article says it all: “Which side has more joy?”

(For the storm troopers who besieged NOM’s Summer for Marriage Tour at every stop last July and August: This is how to do a counter demonstration people! Don’t intimidate, be non-threatening, don’t charge the opposing rally’s stage, stand off and respect the other assembly’s right to free speech, and above all else, do it with joy – not hatred.)

By the way: Did you notice how young the overwhelming majority of the Pro-Life demonstrators were? They are the future, my friends.

You can watch additional videos here.

Welcome readers from the Good As You site. I just wanted to clarify for all of you the fact that I have indeed read the Iowa decision, Varnum v Brien. I believe it was wrongly decided and poorly argued. I have written about it in two separate places, which are now posted on the Ruth Institute article archive. The Institution Formerly Known as Marriage argued that the Iowa court ignored the essential public purpose of marriage, namely to attach mothers and fathers to their children and to one another, and replaced that essential public purpose with inessential private purposes. I made that argument in my talk in Augusta ME on the bus tour.

In How Iowa Happened, I reviewed some of the behavior of the Court that undermine their own credibility. Read more…

(July 21, 2010) We’ve already podcasted Dr J’s talk from this rally, “It Takes a lot of Faith to Believe in Same-Sex Marriage.”  She also recorded two of the other speakers.  Bishop Harry Jackson and Pastor Derek McCoy both discussed the importance of the vote in the defense of traditional marriage.

To date, 31 states have voted to define marriage as occurring between one man and one woman.  Maine overturned same-sex marriage by People’s Veto, and all the states that have enacted same-sex marriage have done so through the courts (Vermont used its legislature as well).

Bishop Harry Jackson

Pastor Derek McCoy

(July 20, 2010) We’ve already podcasted Dr J’s talk from this rally, “Why Not Privatize Marriage?“  She also recorded two of the other speakers.  Bishop John Smith, the ninth bishop of Trenton, discussed how marriage compliments the uniqueness of men and women.  Jim White, former Supreme Director of the Knights of Columbus, encouraged civic participation and accountability of government officials.

Bishop John Smith

Jim White

(July 21, 2010) This podcast is a rebroadcast of Family New in Focus’s coverage of NOM’s bus stops in Rhode Island and Annapolis.  The original is available here; listen below or on our podcast page.

NOM Summer Marriage Tour

(July 21, 2010) Though NOM’s Summer Marriage Tour continues through August 15, Annapolis, Maryland is Dr J’s last stop.  Her final talk is entitled “It Takes a lot of Faith to Believe in Same-Sex Marriage.”  Listen below or at our podcast page.

Annapolis, Maryland

Dr J updates Todd’s listeners at Issues, Etc. on the progress of NOM’s Summer Marriage Tour–especially the intolerance they experienced in Providence, Rhode Island when a well-organized group of same-sex “marriage” supporters tried to shout them down (as well as intimidating and threatening the listeners).  They also discuss a settlement in Mississippi, where a school student wants to bring a same-sex date to prom.

[In]tolerance

Chris Plante, president of NOM’s Rhode Island Chapter, and Brian Brown, president of NOM, were also at Providence’s “Summer of Marriage” rally with Dr J (see “The Problem(s) with Same-Sex Marriage, Part 2″).  The shouting and chanting you hear are the rainbow protestors, who also attended the rally.  We also have a few other reports of how they tried to disrupt the rally (here, here, here, here & here, here, and here) as well as audio and video (here, here, here, and here).  Much of this is on our blog, too.

Plante & Brown

Father John Codega, priest in the diocese of Providence and advisory board member to Rhode Island’s chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, was also at Providence’s “Summer of Marriage” rally on July 18 with Dr J (see “The Problem(s) with Same-Sex Marriage, Part 2″).  The shouting and chanting you hear are the rainbow protestors, who also attended the rally.  We also have a few other reports of how they tried to disrupt the rally (here, here, here, here & here, here, and here) as well as audio and video (here, here, here, and here).  Much of this is also on our blog.

Father John Codega

Scott Spear, advisory board member to Rhode Island’s chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, was also at Providence’s “Summer of Marriage” rally on July 18 with Dr J (see “The Problem(s) with Same-Sex Marriage, Part 2″).  The shouting and chanting you hear are the rainbow protestors, who also attended the rally.  We also have a few other reports of how they tried to disrupt the rally (here, here, here, here & here, here, and here) as well as audio and video (here, here, here, and here).  Much of this is also on our blog.

Scott Spear

This is the gist of what I said in annapolis on Wednesday:

The gay lobby and their sex radical friends want you to believe that the only issue in the same sex marriage debate is equality. That is all they talk about. That is all they want you to think about. All the shouting, and the heated-up rhetoric is designed to keep you from thinking, from asking any questions, indeed, from even forming any questions in your mind.

But there are other issues. Same sex marriage undermines 4 key principles:

1. Biology is the ordinary basis for parenthood. Read more…

In Trenton today, Dr. J covered the question of, “Why not privatize marriage?” First, it’s not possible to privatize the essential purpose of marriage, namely to join men and women together. Second, it’s highly unlikely that the government would stop being involved in marriage as they have for so long. “The government is already favoring certain kinds of relationships; namely, single parenting.” We need the government to adjudicate the disputes that might arise privately in the issue of marriage. But rather than working against it (as with marriage penalties in the tax code), we should work to encourage marriage.

http://www.marriagetour2010.com/2010/07/dr-j-in-trenton-privatize-marriage-forget-about-it/

“You’d better watch that kid, or we’re gonna kidnap him.” Yowsa!

http://www.marriagetour2010.com/blog/

Ah, such friendly faces.

http://www.marriagetour2010.com/2010/07/dr-j-in-manchester/

Still going on strong, NOM’s Summer Marriage Tour was in Trenton, New Jersey yesterday (July 20).  During her 10-minute talk, she addressed the question “Why not privatize marriage?”  This is something a lot of libertarians like in principle, but as you’ll hear, Dr J gives examples of why it won’t be sustainable.  Listen here or on our podcast page.

Trenton, New Jersey

Local news coverage of the event available here and here (13:42 or headline “gay marriage”).

Dr J is in Providence, Rhode Island with the NOM Summer Marriage Tour.  (You can also listen on our podcast page.)  This talk, from July 18, answers the question “Why not privatize marriage?”  She’s got a pragmatic answer for a slightly utopian viewpoint.

Click here to listen!

Providence, Rhode Island

News reports from other sources also covered our rally in print (here, here, here, here & here, here, and here) as well as with audio and video (here, here, here, and here).  Some of these detail the behavior of the rainbow protestors, who were holding a counter-rally nearby, and their attempts to engage and threaten those listening to the speakers from the Summer Marriage Tour.

A mother of young children wrote this story about what happened to her during the NOM rally yesterday in Providence.

Did you ever see that scene in one of the Narnia movies, where a battle is about to start and preparations are being made – when off in the distance there is a faint chanting and drumming? It grows louder and louder, till off in the distance the enemy is spotted. It’s terrifying. I’m not joking, the same thing happened to us yesterday in Rhode Island at the State Capitol. You see, Peter and I got this great idea to go a Rhode Island rally and support our counterparts in the defense of traditional marriage and visit our friends the Brown Family who would also be there. How was I to know that simply attending a “permitted” event – i.e., we had a permit, to show our support for traditional marriage would end with my family having to be escorted to our minivan by the police for our own protection. Read more…

Still traveling with the NOM Summer Marriage Tour, this July 17 talk by Dr. J comes from Albany.  (You can also listen to it on our podcast page.)  This time around she addresses some of the problems with same-sex marriage and the dissolution of the biological basis of the family.  Midway through her address, a group of rainbow protesters approached and surrounded the Marriage Tour assembly (Dr J refers to them in her speech around 7:35).

Click here to listen!

Albany, New York

The woman in this photo is right in Brian Brown’s face. He is standing behind the podium. We had a permit for this event, to exercise our First Amendment rights to speak and assemble. You can see two other heads in the photo, who are also disrupting our peaceful demonstration. Intimidation. Bullying. While the police stand around doing nothing. This is what they have in mind for those who disagree with them.
read Brian Brown’s whole report here.
This is how they think they are entitled to treat those who disagree with them. What do you think?