Marriage Appeal Is Universal

[Okay, I love Lisa... and Tony is a jerk.]

An Email from Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council

Marriage Appeal Is Universal
Not everyone was as jubilant about the gains for marriage as FRC and our supporters. This morning, FOX News posted photo after photo of the anti-family rioting in Los Angeles (where a majority of voters actually voted "yes" on Proposition 8), Hollywood, Santa Monica, and San Francisco. Hundreds of protestors spilled out into the street last night, blocking traffic, and, in one incident, climbing atop a police car. "...[A]bout 500 [demonstrators] gathered near CNN's Los Angeles bureau, where they were seen banging on the doors and walls, causing the [L.A.] police Department to declare a tactical alert. ...Several others were arrested..." With nearly all of the votes counted, Proposition 8 leads by more than a half million votes (52.5% to 47.5%). Even though there are an estimated three million mail and provisional ballots, none of the local officials expect the outcome to change. Members of the "No on 8" campaign are shocked and distressed, but San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (who famously declared that "gay marriage is here whether you like it or not!") said he is "hopeful" the courts will overturn the people's will. To that effect, three separate lawsuits have been filed in California courts, all challenging the validity of Proposition 8. Once again, homosexual extremists are turning to their place of preference for creating public policy-the courts. The nation's voice has long been a casualty of this powerful alliance between judicial activists and the radical Left. For years, liberals have used the courts to impose their agenda on Americans when the people or legislature refused.

On this issue, however, democracy has spoken. From every corner of California, Florida, and Arizona, voters proved that marriage crosses demographic lines-even party lines, in some cases. The attachment to marriage and its meaning is deeply rooted in the African-American, Latino, Asian, and white communities. And exit polling proved it. In the Golden State, where Newsom is trying to invalidate voters' decision on marriage, Proposition 8 proved to be a moral mandate from every race, every sex, and all income levels. Although minorities overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama, seven in 10 black voters and 53% of Hispanics propelled Proposition 8 to victory. Men and women were equally supportive, as were people aged 35 and above. Nor did it matter what the household income was. In a survey of 2,240 voters, the richest and poorest of California were separated in their support for marriage by only one percentage point!

The same trends continue in Arizona on Proposition 102. Both sexes voted for marriage (57% of men and 55% of women); Latinos and whites were equally supportive (at 55% apiece); and even the generational gap was slight (49% of 18-24-year-olds voted to preserve marriage, compared to 55-57% among 30-64-year-olds). Down in Florida, where Amendment 2 rocketed past the 60% approval it needed, males and females were again equally supportive (63% of men and 62% of women) and, in California-like fashion, the support of Latinos (64%) and blacks pushed the ban (71%) over the top. Even Florida Republicans (83%), Democrats (47%), and Independents (56%) combined their support to prove that marriage is a non-partisan issue. In the state where marriage needed them most, even a majority of young people voted to protect marriage (52% of 18-24-year-olds), providing the backing the amendment needed to pass.

Protecting marriage means so much to so many Americans that people across the country gave more to the fight for Proposition 8 than they ever had in the history of a social issues campaign. In hard economic times, their sacrifices, so powerfully illustrated in the story of the Patterson family, are what made this victory possible. "On Oct. 13... the Sacramento Bee ran a remarkable story about Rick and Pam Patterson, a Mormon couple of modest means - he drives a 10-year-old Honda Civic, she raises their five boys-who had withdrawn $50,000 from their savings account and given it to the pro-8 campaign. 'It was a decision we made very prayerfully,' Pam Patterson, 48, told the Bee's Jennifer Garza. 'Was it an easy decision? No. But it was a clear decision, one that had so much potential to benefit our children and their children.'"