Maggie Gallagher is co-founder and president of the National Organization for Marriage, and president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy.
She is a nationally syndicated columnist, the author of three books on marriage and a leading voice of the marriage movement. In 2004, National Journal named her to its list of the most influential people in the same-sex "marriage" debate. She also has been a guest on the Focus on the Family radio broadcast.
She talked to CitizenLink about why marriage is so important and what she's doing to protect it.
1. What is the National Organization for Marriage (NOM)?
I founded NOM with Princeton Professor Robby George because we recognized that, if nothing changes, state legislatures are going to begin to pass laws to redefine marriage and that our churches, charities, schools and other organizations were going to be persecuted by state governments as a result.
The National Organization for Marriage's mission is "to protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it." We help local groups fighting state marriage battles, whether it's passing a state marriage amendment in Florida or preventing state legislatures in the Northeast or California from passing gay-marriage laws. We put up billboards in Massachusetts calling attention to legislators who betrayed their promise to support marriage.
In New Jersey, we're launching a "Faith in Marriage" ad campaign. And for the first time, we created a Marriage PAC (political action committee) that targeted New Jersey leaders who support gay marriage.
Our overall strategy is to create political risk. Ultimately, legislators have to be convinced that enough people care about marriage that they risk their seats if they vote the wrong way.
2. Tell me about the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy.
iMAPP is a different marriage organization, a 501(c)3 whose mission is to contribute intellectually to finding new ways to strengthen marriage as a social institution so that more children are raised by their married mom and dad. I am president of both organizations; Brian Brown is executive director of the National Organization for Marriage.
3. Why is marriage so important?
Marriage is the way we bring young men and women together to make and raise the next generation. It's the way a society transmits itself into the future. It's the visible incarnation of the idea that love can be transformed into a tie so strong a child's heart can rely upon it.
As marriage declines, children suffer. Many are permanently damaged. Whole communities become socially chaotic and disorganized. A "marriage gap" emerges between black and white, rich and poor, in which children face unequal opportunities based on whether their parents were able to give them the gift of a decent, loving marriage holding a family together through time.
Pretty much every bad thing that can happen to a child happens more often when parents do not get and stay married: more poverty, more sexual abuse, more infant mortality, lower life expectancy, more teen pregnancy, more sexually transmitted diseases, more high school drop-outs, more conduct disorders, more juvenile delinquency and adult criminality.
We need to strengthen marriage in order to protect our children and build a better future in America.
4. What is going on in New Jersey? Can we expect same-sex "marriage" in that state in 2008?
Here's the good news: In the four years since Massachusetts' highest court imposed gay marriage, we've won almost every marriage battle. Twenty-seven out of 28 states have voted to provide constitutional protection for marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Opinion polls show opposition to gay "marriage" is high and holding, with more than 60 percent of Americans opposed.
Meanwhile, gay-"marriage" activists have been pouring money into state legislative political campaigns, targeting our next generation of pro-life and pro-marriage leaders. If nothing changes, state legislatures throughout the Northeast, including New Jersey, are going to start passing gay-"marriage" laws. They are going to start using these and existing civil-union laws to punish Christian organizations that hold on to their own views of marriage.
Gay activists are persuading legislators they can ignore the polls, that nobody really cares about marriage, so they might as well please the affluent and well-organized groups pushing for gay marriage.
In 2007, for the first time, we made some political leaders pay a price for their support for gay "marriage." It's just a beginning, but it's one important piece of the puzzle. We need to be organized and involved in politics — or we will lose marriage, and our faith-based institutions will face penalties and persecution in the public square.
5. In August, a judge in Iowa decided to redefine marriage. Can we expect other judges to follow suit?
It could happen at any time, in any state, without a federal Marriage Protection Amendment. But I see the focus of the marriage shifting now from courts to legislatures. The battle is increasingly going to be fought in state elections, and they get to pick which states. In Maine, gay advocates are promising their supporters they can pass gay-"marriage" laws in three to five years.
We have a short window of opportunity to change the "facts on the ground," to demonstrate that Christians and others really care about marriage and will devote their time and treasure to the political efforts necessary to win the battle for marriage and for religious liberty.
If we lose, it will be because gay people cared more, and gave more, than we did. There's no other way 2 percent can beat 60 percent.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Go online to learn more about the National Organization for Marriage, and the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy.
(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)
