IFI Launches Marriage Protection Referendum Drive; There Is No ‘Shame’ in Protecting Marriage
6/13/2005 10:10:00 AM
By Peter LaBarbera, IFI Executive Director
 | Homosexual protester lies about GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis at Gay Liberation Network protest against IFI Friday in Chicago. |
Dear IFI Supporters,
Illinois Family Institute and our new sister organization Protect Marriage Illinois announced the launching of a Marriage Protection Advisory Referendum last week at events in Metro-East St. Louis, Springfield and at the Columbia Yacht Club in Chicago.
Our galas were great successes, even though attendees at the Chicago event Friday evening had to walk through a gauntlet of homosexual protesters shouting "Shame! Shame!," "Stop Religious Bigotry," and even personal insults at those approaching.
In addition to telling lies and being quite mean (one protester actually joked about molestation as he held a sign slandering attendee and GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis; see photo at right), those activists were wrong: there is absolutely no shame in protecting marriage as between a man and a woman, which is what we aim to do.
Need 500,000 signatures by April 2006
At the galas, IFI launched a signature drive for a Marriage Protection Advisory Referendum for the November 2006 ballot. The referendum calls upon the General Assembly to pass a Marriage Protection Amendment, and will require collecting about 500,000 signatures by April 2006. (The actual number is 283,000 but we must far exceed that to compensate for thrown-out signatures.)
If we gather the required number of signatures, all Illinois voters will have the opportunity to cast a ballot for traditional marriage in November 2006 - and show our politicians that Illinois voters want to join the 18 other states that are taking extra steps to permanently protect marriage as between a man and a woman. We must send a signal to the courts that they cannot simply redefine the sacred institution of marriage by judicial fiat, as was done in Massachusetts.
Here is the wording of the Advisory Referendum: "Shall the Illinois General Assembly submit an amendment to Article IX of the Illinois State Constitution to the voters of the State of Illinois at large at the next General Election stating as follows:
'To secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, a marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State'?" (Yes or No) The Marriage Protection Referendum is necessary because House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) and other liberal politicians have used their power to block consideration of a marriage amendment for the last two years.
Download a petition today!
To download a petition and learn more about this campaign, go to the website of our new sister organization, Protect Marriage Illinois, at www.protectmarriageillinois.org. If you have questions about the process call IFI's office at 630-790-8370 or email IFI's Dave Smith at desmith@illinoisfamily.org. You can also e-mail IFI at the general email address, at: info@illinoisfamily.org.
Our Number One priority right now is gather signatures for the Referendum. But to give you perspective on what lies ahead, please understand that to achieve our ultimate goal of passing a binding amendment to the Illinois constitution, we face at least a three-year process involving two statewide votes and a three-fifths vote in the General Assembly. Here is what hope to achieve, with God's help:1) Qualify our Advisory Referendum by gathering 283,000 signatures by April 2006; then win passage of a Marriage Protection Advisory Referendum in November 2006--calling on the legislature to pass a constitutional amendment to define marriage as one-man, one-woman;
2) The General Assembly heeds the will of Illinois citizens and passes a state constitutional amendment by the required three-fifths margin; and
3) The voters pass a binding marriage amendment to the Illinois Constitution in November 2008 by a three-fifths vote. Burress inspires crowds
Friday night's homosexual protest, organized by a vicious group known as the Gay Liberation Network, was only a distraction to a wonderful evening Friday, culminating three days of galas and pastors' luncheons in Fairview Heights, Springfield and Chicago to raise funds for Illinois Family Institute and announce our referendum campaign.
At five events over the three days, Phil Burress of the Cincinnati-based Citizens for Community Values told the seemingly miraculous story of how pro-marriage forces collected hundreds of thousands of signatures in just about two months to get Issue One, a Marriage Protection Amendment, on the ballot in Ohio last year.
The amendment passed with nearly 500,000 more votes than the number received by President Bush, whose critical Ohio victory was due in part to the grassroots pro-marriage drive, according to many in the media.
To even get to the vote, Burress and his team had to fight back lawsuits in 42 Ohio counties seeking to deny ballot access. He credited the outstanding work of the Alliance Defense Fund in stopping each of those attempts to thwart democracy.
Homosexual activists know that their only hope to achieve "gay marriage" (what the Pope calls "pseudo-marriage")--or to stop pro-marriage ballot initiatives like ours--is in the courts. So the ACLU and their liberal friends will certainly be opposing our efforts here in Illinois, where polls show a sizeable majority of citizens favor traditional marriage.
Illinois is ready, but media is hostile
Motivated by Burress' speech, those attending the Columbia Yacht Club--and the other IFI events--were energized and motivated to work hard for the Marriage Protection Referendum. But Burress made clear that it will not be easy. He said that the vast majority of newspapers denounced Issue One, with many liberal journalists trying to portray the effort as a Republican election scheme due to the significance of Ohio's electoral votes.
(The reality is different: Ohio Gov. Bob Taft and some other GOP leaders denounced Issue One; Burress and pro-family advocates across the country have had to work to educate some recalcitrant GOP leaders on the importance of protecting marriage.)
We will surely face the same sort of opposition here in Illinois. Already, the liberal Chicagoland media are stepping up their attacks on the Illinois Family Institute. As I was driving down to Metro East St. Louis for our first event Wednesday, I received a call from a Chicago Tribune editorial writer asking me about IFI's opposition to Kraft Foods' and Harris Bank's sponsorship of the "Gay Games" in Chicago in 2006.
I told the writer that people see a clear difference between tolerance and celebrating homosexuality, and challenged him to report the "Gay Games'" promotion of a recent grotesque sadistic sex convention in Chicago called "International Mr. Leather." Of course, none of this made it into the Tribune editorial. Instead, in a piece titled "Out of Touch," the Tribune blasted IFI's and American Family Association's campaign to expose the "Gay Games" as "pure intolerance."
Who is out of touch?
I was not surprised by the Tribune's dishonesty. Make no mistake: the media, which sees itself as the protector of the homosexual movement--and which pretends that this issue is an extension of the noble Black civil rights struggle (it's not)--will attack our Marriage Referendum campaign and malign us as bigots, "homophobes," etc.
But we will NOT be intimidated--by the biased secular media that sees "gay marriage" as "no big deal," or by hateful homosexual protesters who claim that defending our nation's Judeo-Christian institutions is "religious bigotry."
Although there are fair and decent reporters, the liberal-activist media are becoming sort of like the Wizard of Oz. They are becoming increasingly irrelevant, as proven by the last presidential election. President Bush won despite overwhelmingly biased coverage against him and in favor of John Kerry, who somehow escaped serious scrutiny from reporters who pride themselves on their investigative reporting skills. Although IFI is non-partisan, I truly believe that Bush would have won by 60-65 percent if there were anything close to "fair and balanced" media coverage of that 2004 election.
More than ever, Americans and the people of our great state don't take their direction from the liberal media, which is a really good thing!
Who are those journalists behind that curtain?
'We the People' will decide
This campaign is not about "gay-bashing," Republican politics, or "intolerance." It is a common-sense, "We the People" effort to stand up for the sacred institution of marriage, which is the bedrock of healthy families and a healthy society. God created marriage to unite man and woman for the creation of children--a family. It cannot be redefined to suit the interests of homosexuals, bisexuals (should they be allowed to marry a man and a woman?), or polygamists.
We cannot let a few unelected judges, or out-of-touch politicians, destroy marriage in Illinois by foisting the social experiment of "same-sex marriage" or "civil unions" (which are homosexual "marriage" by another name) on our citizenry.
This issue goes well beyond "gay rights": did you know that the ACLU is now defending polygamists' supposed "right to marry"?
Thank you to all those who attended our galas, and who have supported Illinois Family Institute so faithfully. I look forward to working closely with many of you as we press ahead to achieve the best protections possible to permanently protect marriage in Illinois. God bless you.
Sincerely in Christ,
Peter LaBarbera
Executive Director
Illinois Family Institute
Protect Marriage Illinois
www.protectmarriageillinois.org
P.S. Please note: if you would like to be an official Circulator or a leader in your local area to gather signatures for our Marriage Protection Referendum, please contact Dave Smith at desmith@illinoisfamily.org. You can also call IFI at 630-790-8370. To download a petition and the Instructions for Circulators, go to Protect Marriage Illinois' website at www.protectmarriageillinois.org.
Be on the alert,
stand firm
in the faith,
act like men,
be strong.
Let all that you do
be done in love.
1 Cor. 16:13-14 (NASB)
Click HERE TO SUPPORT Illinois Family Institute.
As little as $10 or $20 goes a long way to protect your values in Illinois!
E-mail this article to a friend | Printer friendly format
|
 |
|
| |
|
