The National Organization for Marriage
(NOM) has launched lobbying efforts in Illinois and Minnesota to
defeat proposed bills which would legalize gay marriage in both
states.
Illinois, which recognizes gay and
lesbian couples with civil unions, is expected to take up the issue
next month during the General Assembly's lame-duck session.
Democrats in Minnesota plan to
introduce a marriage equality bill on the first day the Legislature
convenes: Tuesday, January 8.
In
separate blog posts, NOM President Brian Brown called on
supporters to contact lawmakers and voice their opposition.
“The broken promises from Springfield
keep stacking up,” Brown wrote. “It's only been 2 years since
activists passed a civil union law, claiming it would provide
much-needed equal rights for same-sex couples … now many of these
same groups are claiming the very law they helped pass is
discriminatory and demeaning to same-sex couples.”
Brown skewed the results of a
referendum rejecting an amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual
couples as a vote to “maintain the status quo on marriage.”
“Now gay marriage activists are
trying to force a whole new battle on the state,” he wrote.
In a pre-written email for supporters
to contact lawmakers, NOM denies there is anything discriminatory
about excluding gay couples from marriage.
“For millennia, marriage has been
recognized as the union of a husband and wife – across all
religious, cultural and geographical lines – connecting children
with both their mom and their dad. Marriage is rooted in a
biological reality, not in bigotry or discrimination.”