Marriage Tour Over but Still on the Road

So everyone knows that the Summer for Marriage Tour wrapped up and wrapped up with a bang on Sunday the 15th but here I am on Wednesday the 18th and still on the road. Although most of the marriage tour crew has returned to their normal lives and daily routines, I volunteered to drive back down to Georgia to return the equipment we rented for the tour.

That meant a 9-hour, 600-mile trek down to Atlanta with a stop overnight in Pineville, NC. Remember Pineville? I stopped there on the way up to Maine to start the marriage tour and met my cousins for lunch at Olive Garden.

Well, I decided to do the same thing this time and met with my Uncle and one of my cousins for dinner at Applebee's. Olive Garden and Applebee's are my two favorite restaurants.

I had the Chicken Alfredo, my favorite pasta dish. However, the strawberry-lemonade they served was a bit weak in flavor and the one they brought me to replace it was even weaker so I just gave up on the drink at that point.

Logistical issues forced another overnight stay in Atlanta - I was trying to be able to drop off the equipment and get a start on the journey back home all in that same day but I ended up having to spend the night. Not a bad idea anyway, I was pretty tired after two days of less than five hours of sleep. It was great to be able to lie down to sleep before 10:00 PM.

While there, I ate dinner at Stevie B's Pizza. It was good and I even was adventurous with my food. I am usually a pretty simple eater. People say I'm picky but it's not about being picky, it's about wanting everything I eat to be simple. Anyway, I tried a slice of Smore's Pizza. It tasted more like cake than pizza but it was still pretty good and very sweet.

The next day, which is today, I left Atlanta and have been driving since about 10:00 AM. I'm an hour or so south of D.C. right now. I'm going there to return the NOM van and then catch a bus back home to Buffalo with an arrival time of 13:45 tomorrow. That will be the end of my Summer for Marriage travel which began on July 7th.

UPDATE: (9:32 PM AUGUST 18)

I have arrived at the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Washington, D.C., purchased my bus ticket for $83 and I am now waiting for the 10:00 pm departure for Buffalo. I am really happy I bought Broadband2Go this morning because now I won't be bored for the next 15 hours until I get home. I also have a Netflix account so I can and probably will be streaming movies. It's going to be great.

UPDATE: (3:04 AM AUGUST 19) 

After nearly five hours on the bus from D.C. I have arrived at the bus terminal in New York City. I'll be here until 5:40 AM when the bus leaves for Buffalo. I was able to get a few hours of sleep on the bus but spent the majority of the time speaking with two girls I met who are visiting the U.S. from Russia on the summer "Work and Travel" program. They live in New York City and were visiting D.C. for the day.

READ MORE - Marriage Tour Over but Still on the Road

Marriage Tour Finale Echoes Through D.C.

Today the Summer for Marriage Tour, a project I helped create and organize over the past seven months has come to an end and it couldn't have wrapped up any better. 

We had Brian Brown, Bishop Harry Jackson, Reverand Walter Fauntroy, Commission Robert 'Bob' King, Bishop Neavelle Coles and a special pre-recorded message from Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 


Reverend Fauntroy helped plan the March on Washington where Dr. King delivered the "I Have A Dream' speech, he is a former member of the U.S. Congress and even ran for President back in 1972. 


The focus of his message today was that same-sex marriage does not fall into line with the kind of Civil Rights he has been fighting for nor does it fall into line with the kind of Civil Rights that where the foundation of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Honestly speaking, even I was a little surprised at today's turnout at the Capitol Building considering the fact that it was literally pouring this morning until about 11:00 AM just before we arrived on site.

Luckily, the rain had stopped by the time we arrived but it was still raining on and off up until about 1:00 PM or so, an hour before we were scheduled to get started. In fact, it was raining enough during set-up that we moved our podium and speakers under one of our tents. We were thinking up a contingency plan for what to do if it kept raining or worse - started to rain during the rally.

Do we use the stage or not? Well, using the stage puts the speaker up about 15 inches higher. That's great but the tent isn't high enough for that . What about taking the 15-inch legs and using the 8-inch legs? Is there enough room? No, still not enough room, no one can see the speaker's head. What about attaching the umbrella to the podium somehow? No, that's not going to work - not stable enough.

We were fortunate to see the rain subside and not be faced with that issue going into the rally.

We started our rally about 25 minutes late today. Seems there was some confusion about the location of the rally, as some of our attendees gathered and were waiting for us on the West Side of the Capitol Building - the side that faces the Washington Monument.

We were actually on the East Side. We also had some issues with parking. Heightened security and all, we had to park our van six blocks away at Union Station. So yes, we started a bit late but that was not a problem.

Today's rally was also streamed live over the Internet via UStream. We experimented with the idea for some of the earlier rallies but we either didn't have the equipment we needed or couldn't get it set up the right way or simply didn't have the extra pair of hands to operate the camera for it. We did today though, and at a peak, I believe some 300 people were viewing today's rally from all over the United States.

View of the DC rally from the rear. Aug. 15, 2010

Nearly as many, if not as many, physically attended today to stand up for marriage.

They came from all over. There were people from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and of course the District of Columbia.

All turned out for marriage between a man and a woman and what an inspiring event it really was.

By this time I had long forgotten about the rain and was busy taking pictures and shooting videos of all the people who came out to stand with us.

At first we were by ourselves and the planned protest of our rally was nowhere to be seen or heard. But that was short-lived. A group of them made there way towards our rally holding a sign that was created in honor of some of the participants friends who had been victims of violence because of their sexuality.

I understand the message and I think it's great that these people came out to stand against violence against homosexuals - we should all be standing up against this kind - or any kind of hate not only against homosexuals but everyone.

Our rally today was not a rally of hate or of violence or of the advocation of violence or hate. The people who attended our rally today were God-loving Christians who stood together to honor the institution of marriage and to stand up for the family. I therefore don't think there is much integrity or honesty in the attempt to link violence geared towards homosexuals to the effort to protect marriage between a man and a woman.

Protesters bear signs claiming NOM is responsible
for the deaths of victimized homosexuals. 

Yet those who came out to protest us today used their bullhorns to claim that the National Organization for Marriage's words are lies and even that they "lead to murder".

One sign, as shown to the right, goes as far as to say that "NOM has blood on its hands".

This was not necessary, completely untrue and it  merely demonstrates the campaign of deceit our opponents and running in order to gain sympathy for their cause.

Anyway, we also were given the opportunity to listen to Bishop Harry Jackson speak and he rocked the Capitol. He was really great and I have got a video I'm going to put up later on for everyone to have the opportunity of hearing his message.

Bishop Harry Jackson addresses the crowd
in Washington, D.C. on August 15, 2010.

The Bishop also attended our rally in Annapolis, MD earlier on in the tour but I believe he was recovering from a sickness or was simply not feeling well then.

So this was the first time I had the opportunity to listen to this man speak at full strength and it was incredible how he was able to inspire us all.

He led the crowd in a great chant of "Let the People Vote, Let the People Vote, Let the People Vote".

Of course our friends over at the Courage Campaign were at the rally today. By that I mean, the NOM Tour Trackers were walking around. Unfortunate how, to the very last rally they continued to identify themselves in rather shady ways. Most people we talked to after an interview with them told us they thought the NOM Tour Trackers were with us.

Think about it. You're at a rally hosted by the National Organization for Marriage (aka NOM) an organization many got acquainted with for the first time at the very same rally. Then you are approached by Arisha and Anthony who identify themselves "with the NOM Tour Tracker". I think it's fair to say that is less than honest.

I will at least give them credit for eventually admitting who they were with after someone would press for more information - and there were some who did that from time to time. It would have been nice if they just said "Hi, we're from the Courage Campaign out of California and we'd like to interview you," or something like that.

Talking about questions. Arisha loves to and is good at asking questions and can hold her own in a conversation. I've talked with her many times throughout the tour and although we disagree on this issue we've always been nice to each other. Now, I can't tell you what they say behind my back, maybe nothing, but generally speaking, they were respectful throughout the tour. So this is not an attack on Arisha or Anthony.

But like I said, Arisha likes to ask questions and grill Brian daily with what essentially amounts to the same conversation everyday. Arisha tries to get Brian to say certain things their readers want Brian to say in order to catch him in some kind of a contradiction or something like that and Brian gives his answers.

Now these answers are never satisfying to Arisha because she basically fails each time to get Brian to say something she could use against him.

NOM Tour Tracker "Arisha" from California ignores
woman speaking to her about God. 

That's why the majority of the interviews with Brian haven't been posted on their site. That's because the dialog between Brian and Arisha just helps our side and hurts theirs.

But the point of this is that Arisha doesn't seem to like it when the camera is on her or when she is being asked questions.

I happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch this shot of Arisha making a beeline for any exit she could when some woman, supporting our marriage rally, was speaking with Arisha.
Arisha wanted nothing of it.

However, to her credit, she did entertain an hour-long conversation with me after the Charleston, WV rally where, not to her credit, she said she wouldn't oppose the legalization of polygamy because it wouldn't personally affect her marriage.

She also didn't oppose the idea, hypothetically speaking, if her future child wanted to marry a man and a woman. This would be a triad marriage between three people. Arisha said she'd want to talk with said child and see where his or her heart was.

This came up when I asked her, on camera, if she believes it is possible to use the same legal argument she uses now for the legalization of same-sex marriage for the legalization of polygamy or other alternative forms of marriage.

So long story short, this woman, who represents the Courage Campaign, a gay-rights organization out of California, is on record not necessarily opposing polygamy or triad marriages. To be fair she did say that she  wouldn't personally engage in such activities.

Speaking about the Courage Campaign, I had the opportunity to meet it's chair today, Richard Jacobs. Apparently, he flew out from California for one last shot to put Brian on the spot. I guess they were getting frustrated with the lack of fodder Arisha was providing.

Richard Jacobs, Courage Campaign debates
Brian Brown, National Organization for Marriage. 

Courage Campaign really needed to get Brian on the record saying something crazy or off-message so they replaced Arisha with the head-honcho.

As you can see, Arisha is in the background, having been relieved by her boss, and Anthony is filming.

He too, was unsuccessful.

You see, perhaps if our cause was actually centered around the hate and bigotry our opponents say it is, they'd be able to get us to say radical and hateful and bigoted things.

But when you're not talking to a radical or hateful or bigoted person, you're probably not going to hear them say hateful or bigoted things!

Such is the case when speaking with Brian Brown or anyone who supports marriage between a man and a woman including myself.

On another note, I spoke with Mr. Jacobs and he's a nice guy. We have something in common: Russia. We've both lived in Russia for some period of time and it was cool to exchange a few lines with each other in Russia. It's too bad that he has forgotten much of the language - it would have been fun to speak in Russian again.

It even took me a second and a few lines to get back into that phase. Switching to Russian after speaking only English for a few months takes a few seconds. Nice to meet you, Rick. You should have come to our other stops, too.

READ MORE - Marriage Tour Finale Echoes Through D.C.

Halloween comes early to Orlando

If you were in Winter Park on Sunday, you might have had an early glimpse at Halloween. The National Organization for Marriage held a "One Man, One Woman" marriage rally at the First Christian Church of Winter Park, a suburb of Orlando, FL and those who showed up to protest our rally let it all out in the strangest protest of the Summer for Marriage Tour yet.

This man put it all on but forgot the trick-or-treat bag. He stood there holding his sign and when he noticed I was taking his picture, he smiled and waved. Then he encouraged everyone to "smile for the NOM camera".

Few of them did but he was not alone. There were many protesters assembled in front of the church dressed in a variety of costumes, many of which were a size or two too small. Not to mention the face paint - the thick white face paint. I was confused if they were going for the "V for Vendetta" look, the "Internet Troll" look or if they just wanted to plaster on the make up. Either way their appearance did not help.

Who can look at a crowd of people holding signs and yelling about equality when they are dressed like that? Who is going to take them seriously? The mere costume itself draws people's attention away from their signs and off their message.

They weren't reading their signs or listening to their calls for 'equality', they were looking at their costumes and probably laughing at them. It doesn't bother me, though. If they want to dress like that it just helps the effort to protect marriage. Especially with those people still on the fence or undecided or apethetic people. Honestly, which side would you stand on?

And let's not brush this man aside as a fringe element of that protest. He was not alone. He was joined by a handful of other men dressed in the very same way. The dress, the face paint, the make up, the combat boots, the wedding veil, the biker gloves.

Here is another man dressed in another dress. This time it's pink and for extra fun and mockery, he's wearing a cross around his neck and black elbow-length gloves. Oh, and a purse and the especially large ornament on his finger he must have borrowed from Lady Gaga.

Now don't take this the wrong way. This has nothing to do with teasing these men or saying they can't dress however they want. I do want to point out that if you want to be taken seriously in the public square you should take a look at how you present yourself.

I would really like to know what the purpose of attending their protest dressed in this fashion was. I don't see any reason to do it. Sure, perhaps they like to wear women's clothing but that doesn't have anything to do with the debate over same-sex marriage and it didn't have anything to do with why we went to Winter Park yesterday.

Although there were more men dressed in dresses and white face paint that I could count with one hand, they were not the only group of protesters who came 'dresssed for the occasion'. These next two men dressed in a way that could only be attributed to their blantant will to mock Christianity.

Don't forget the setting. The First Christian Church of Winter Park. At least the men above may be dressed in a way that represents the sex they consider themselves to be. It was inappropriate and unnecessary for the event but what these two men did was just an attempt to show disrespect and disdain for the church.

I don't think anyone can argue that what these two wore had anything to do with same-sex marriage, sexuality, sexual orientation, gender identity or anything close to it. It was a real display of mockery - or they just turned out early for trick-or-treat.

So I assume they are trying to pose as angels as they stand in front of the church.

However, they didn't stop at that.

One of them actually took to the center of the road and stood in the middle of traffic. What was the point? What did they seek to achieve?

Why would they come to a protest, supposedly organized to push for their 'equal' rights and then mock the religious beliefs of not only those who were in attendance at our rally inside but the millions of Christians across the Nation?

Yes they did seem to be attracted to the middle of the road. The 'angel' you see above wasn't the only one to take to the street to greet the drivers passing by at 30 mph.

This second man almost tripped over himself as he ran across the street and in front of oncoming traffic sideways.

Not only did he not look both ways before he crossed like I'm sure his mother taught him to as a child, but he purposely jumped out in front of moving traffic.

It's not setting a good example for the kids that were at their protest. One of which they had yelling their twisted chants and holding thier signs.

"They're lost," one of our supporters told me as he stood nearby the church holding one of our "One Man, One Woman" marriage signs. He told me he would pray that they could find Jesus.

The marriage rally was held inside due to poor weather conditions.

READ MORE - Halloween comes early to Orlando

Alveda King clarifies meaning of Civil Rights at rally

Dr. Alveda King speaks at the "One Man, One Woman" marriage rally
in Atlanta, Georgia on August 7, 2010 at the State Capitol.

After a long drive from Saint Louis, MO and a few hours sleep we were right back at it today in Atlanta, GA standing up for what is right and for what is best for our society and our children and our future.

This time we were standing up with Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Director of African American Outreach of Priests for Life.

The significance of having the opportunity to work with Dr. Alveda King today is clear. Our opponents have been grasping onto - in fact hijacking the Civil Rights Movement for the advancement of their own agenda. Today we were able to set the record straight about civil rights is all about - at least the kind of civil rights her uncle fought and died for - and that is what Dr. Alveda King sought to do today by joining us in defense of traditional marriage between a man and a woman.

In an interview I held with her after the rally, Alveda taked about her beliefs on this matter.

Question 1: Do you think we should separate our faith from our government? 
Reasoning: Our opponents repeatively claim that the principle of separation of church and state demand that we keep our private faith beliefs out of the public square.

DR. ALVEDA KING'S ANSWER: Well, I'm always looking for a unity of the faith and that's the people coming together in faith. Government can not govern our hearts and so when it comes to an issue of faith that's going to be we the people rising up in faith doing what we know in our hearts is right.

The government can not mandate that, the government really can not control that and so the government should not keep people from voting.

Question 2: We have heard some comparisons between the legalization of same-sex marriage and the legalization of interracial marriages. Do you think there is a legitimate comparison between the two?

A protester in Atlanta holds a
sign that says "People of different
colors couldn't marry until 1967"
which is a reference to the
Loving v. Virginia case. 

Reasoning: Our opponents constantly cite the Loving v. Virginia case that struck down bans on interracial marriages as reasoning to strike down bans on same-sex marriage. They think they are one in the same. 

DR. ALVEDA KING'S ANSWER: There is one race on the planet and that's the human race and of one blood everybody was made. And so to tell two people that they can't marry because of differences in skin color is against the foundational understanding that is in our hearts that we're one race.

So any man of any complexion can marry any woman of any complexion and that lines up with the Bible. Now, the civil rights of all human beings, and the rights to human dignity also can be found in the Bible and the Biblical principles.

Now the issue of two men marrying or two women marrying of course in direct opposition to what's there. And so therefore, it's not a civil right... when you consider the question of sexuality, the guidelines are clear.

They are inherently made within us that two men or two women can not procreate. So the civil rights question would follow closely to the natural laws that are in the Bible and there are no natural laws that say that two men or two woman can procreate and therefore they should not marry.

Question 3: Some of our opponents say that defending marriage as the union of a man and a woman is really an act of hatred towards homosexuals. What do you think about that?
Reasoning: Our opponents think that we hate them and that our cause is centered around a mutual hatred of homosexuals. 


DR. ALVEDA KING'S ANSWER: Many times a lack of understanding causes us to feel as though someone hates us. And so we love everybody. Everyone that God created is deserving of love. Love and sexuality are two different things.

And so the discussion comes down to - the debate comes up that you're going to be mad with me because I'm going to have sex... however I want to have sex. We're not going to be mad with anybody but we must point out that sexuality has a purpose - that purpose is procreation and procreation occurs when there is sex between a man and a woman.

One man's sperm and one woman's egg come together to make a baby and so that is the process that we are upholding and that is the process that is protected by marriage between one man and one woman.

Question 4: How do you feel about our opponents using the Civil Rights Movement for the advancement of their own cause? 
Reasoning: Advocates of same-sex marriage often quote Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and use the Civil Rights Movement he led and died for as a foundation of the homosexual agenda to redefine marriage.


DR. ALVEDA KING'S ANSWER: I believe that all human beings should get a full understanding of what the meaning of civil rights is. Civil rights means human rights. And that means dignity from conception until natural death.

And so if we are fighting for human dignity and human rights then our own personal desires and preferences and doing what we want does not measure into that equation. And so people who disagree with the principles and the standards of Natural Law which can also be called Bible Law - that's when you get into the differences and the discussion.

And so I believe that those who feel as though they are hated or that we are against them should reexamine their own hearts and the basis of Natural Law and what they will find in us and in those principles is the love of God and love will not fail anybody.

*NOTE:  A video of this interview will be available soon and a link will be added here in order to view it.


It was a great honor to meet Dr. Alveda King and it was great to stand beside her in our mutual struggle.

Vernessa Mitchell

Angelica Tucker

After Dr. King's comments, we had a special show for Atlanta in store. Two soloists came with Alveda and performed for us. They really did a great job and their songs really made our stop in Atlanta special.

The singer to the right, Angelica Tucker, provided an emotionally charged performance singing "Rebuild", a song she wrote herself.

The singer to the left, Vernessa Mitchell, followed Angelica and put on a great performance singing "Unity", a song which drew the attention and the applause of our opponents. Vernessa was an honored performer at the Inaugural Ball for President Clinton.

It was nice to find something in common with the counter-protesters, Brian Brown joked at the podium.

It was indeed humorous seeing our opponents dancing and singing to the performers at our rally. It really lightened things up today and that is something that we should be encouraging to happen between our two sides more often.

We've seen so much hate from our opponents throughout the course of the marriage tour alone from Albany to Providence to Madison. To see our opponents stnad with us in appreciation of art and music was a nice breath of fresh air. I mean, look at them.

Protesters dance, sing and hold hands during performance of Vernessa Mitchell,
a supporter of traditional marriage between a man and a woman. 

READ MORE - Alveda King clarifies meaning of Civil Rights at rally

Iowa leg of Summer for Marriage Tour wraps up

Today we held our second and final rally in the Hawkeye State in Sioux City, IA near Iowa's border with Nebraska and South Dakota. Iowa is a particularly important part of our marriage tour given the relevancy of the issue here.

Last spring, a handful of non-elected justices legalized same-sex marriage through judicial activism. Well, this year three of those justices are on the ballot in November and the people will have the opportunity to retain them or to vote them out. The message we have been pushing in Iowa this week has been to vote them out.

"One Man, One Woman" marriage rally
Sioux City, IA (August 3, 2010)

Our rally today in Sioux City attracted about 80 people. Our opponents claim that only 56 showed up but that of course, is because they need to make it sound like there were more people at their same-sex 'marriage' rally they held than who showed up to support authentic marriage between a man and a woman.

They can take a picture from forty feet away and count the heads they see. Sure from that point of view and in a two-dimensional photo, there very well may be only 56 heads visible. But said photo lacks important aspects such as depth which is why their head count of 56 is about 25 heads short.

There's no way one photo from one vantage point is going to show each person standing in a group! It's a  very simple concept yet our opponents have made this mistake time and time again - but the point is that it actually isn't a mistake.

They are doing this on purpose because if NOM appears to have high turnouts or at the very least turnouts that are greater than their counter protests, then they lose.

This is why time and time again we see their estimates of our turnouts to be lower than media reports and more importantly, lower than their counter-protest turnout. The first thing they posted today was about turnout focusing on 56 NOM supporters and a convienently slightly higher 64 same-sex marriage supporters.

Volunteers signing up to join us in our effort to
protect marriage across the country.

Regardless of their tactics, we've continued our stride to sign up 2 million Americans who stand with us for traditional marriage by signing up a bunch of new supporters today.

As Brian has been reporting, we've got 750 thousand now and we need two million and one of the reasons we are doing this Summer for Marriage Tour is to get out there and reach out to rational American citizens who are ready to stand up with us for marriage between a man and a woman.

Rational Americans with their moral compasses properly calibrated like these people you see are the ones who have in the past and who are going to protect marriage in the future. The National Organization for Marriage is working to organize and activate these people.

This woman was excited to sign up and wanted
to say a few things so we interviewed her on camera.

Challenge: Find these two women signing up to join the NOM team in the picture of the rally above.

If you can't find both of them, then you must admit that no picture (unless taken from above) is going to show every person assembled in a group at a rally which then by default tells you that the tally our opponents made by counting heads in a taken in a picture from forty feet away must be inaccurate.

What about this woman in the purple shirt? Can you find here in the first picture in this article? If not, does that mean that she wasn't there?

Again, we saw an exceptionally low turnout of counter protesters at our rally today. In fact, so low were their numbers I was able to count all of them with one hand.

This is because generally speaking, the people of Iowa do not support same-sex marriage and believe in authentic marriage between a man and a woman.

Our stalkers from California were also there milling around and "radioing in" to their colleagues out in California. Much to my surprise, they didn't go for another one-on-two exclusive interview with Brian Brown again.

They must have gotten tired of having the same conversation everyday. Especially since the conversation doesn't go quite the way they stay up all night planning it on their blogs.

READ MORE - Iowa leg of Summer for Marriage Tour wraps up

Update from the road: Iowa

So now I am writing from western Iowa. We have basically arrived in Sioux City, but I don't know off hand what highway it is. I know that we were on the 80W.

We are going to Sioux City because we are holding a rally there on Tuesday to stand up for geniune marriage between a man and a woman. I say geniune, and I've made this point before, because a piece of paper doesn't make you married. A piece of paper gives you access to a series of benefits afforded to married couples but it doesn't make you married.

I say this because of this picture taken by one of our stalkers over at the NOM Tour Tracker.

It's a sign held by one of our opponents today in Des Moines (we held a good rally there earlier today at th State Capital) was holding a sign that said she was married to her parner for 9 months and was thanking the State of Iowa for that.

These people are not married.

Marriage is between a man and a woman and taking something and molding it into the shape of marriage and then giving it the name of marriage doesn't make it marriage! It is merely a mockery of marriage and that is what these so-called "same-sex marriages" amount to.

Now this couple may very well be wonderful people. They may be great people individually and according to some, they may even make a cute couple. It's not about that. I am not attacking them individually or personally but I am attacking the misunderstanding these women share about marriage. And that misunderstanding, that fallacy, is that marriage is only about love and commitment.

Today's rally was quite good. It wasn't our largest turnout but that could be understood taking into consideration the heat. It was really hot. I drank two bottles of water within that hour rally and I hardly ever drink water at all. We actually had to set up our stage area closer to trees because everyone wanted to stand or sit in the shade. So ten minutes before we were supposed to start, Brian came over to us and asked us to relocate everything.

So we rushed and packed everything up and carried it down another flight of stairs and set the whole stage, speakers, sound equipment right there by the water fountain in front of the State Capital.

We were ultimately able to start on time but that just demonstrates how hot it actually was today. As you can see, our 150+ supporters gathered in the shade to escape the hot glaring sunshine.

Our stalkers over at the NOM Tour Tracker love to downplay the turnout we have at our rallies. The last thing they want is for the public to see a strong turnout of Americans who support marriage between a man and a woman only.

That is why they have been constantly claiming that our turnouts have been very low. Now this picture shows about fifty people but it is taken from within the crowd. A conservative estimate would be 150 yet the stalkers from Califrornia claim we had less than 90. They do this so that they can (and they have) claim that the counter-protesters who show up to interfere with the rally "outnumber" our supporters.

Now I don't remember the last time I used the word "outnumber". Really, it isn't a very common word but our stalkers from California have got the word "outnumber" or a variation of it 5 times on their homepage. For them, it is imperative that they paint a picture that those who support marriage between a man and a woman are a minority, that we're on the wrong side history.

Then again, maybe they were too busy interviewing Brian Brown (again) to really get a good headcount.

Honestly speaking, I didn't see them walking around our crowd counting heads so perhaps their estimate is the number of people they were able to count from a particular angle but as you can see in photo, that crowd was pretty deep.

You've got to give credit to Brian for dealing with these people who want to have the same conversation everyday.

Everytime they have approached him he has been more than willing to take 10+ minutes and grant them exclusive interview after exclusive interview when we all know they leave the rally and hold a pow wow to decide how they can plaster the interview on their website and use it against Brian.

So overall, we had another successful rally in Des Moines and signed up more supporters. Each stop we make we sign up more and more all in our effort to sign up 2 million Americans from across the Nation who support marriage between a man and a woman only.

Once we've reached that goal (we've got 750k now), we'll have the political power and foundation to effect the change we want to see in places like Iowa and to prevent changes we want to avoid in places like California in 2012 when the homosexual activists are planning to go after the Golden State again.


UPDATE: (00:20 August 2, 2010) 
A recently posted article from KCCI News out of Des Moines says the rally "drew more than 100 people to the Iowa State Capitol to voice support for traditional marriage." Here is the full story. 

READ MORE - Update from the road: Iowa

Great crowd rallies in Saint Cloud

Today we held another very successful and upbeat rally in Saint Cloud, Minnesota.

It was my first time this far north into Minnesota and it was great to have the opportunity to be there, to meet the people and to speak with them about why they need to stand up for marriage.

I had come to Minnesota a few years back but stayed in the Minneapolis area, visited the Mall of America and had dinner at a Russian restaurant in Saint Paul.

Anyway, the message was particularly important for the people of Minnesota because activists pushing the homosexual agenda have opened multiple fronts in the legislative branch, are working hard to elect a sympathetic governor this year and they are trying to legalize same-sex marriage through the judicary as well.

That is why our message today focused on educating the public about the imminent threat that marriage is facing here.

Unlike some other states, the threat is imminent here and the elections this November may very well be the most important elections for the state of Minnesota in terms of protecting things like marriage, life and family. That is the message Chuck Darrel of the Minnesota Family Council delivered to our rally of over two hundred.

Chuck did a great job of demonstrating the urgency of the issue and of motiviating the crowd to take action. Chuck was also with us in Saint Paul yesterday in front of the Minnesota State Capitol but I still need to confirm whether or not he will be with us tomorrow in Rochester, MN. I will update on that later on.

Like I mentioned, we had at least two hundred attendees today and the best part is that they were an active crowd. You could sense that they were engaged and excited to be there and I know that when they left our rally today they were going to go home and spread the word. I remember one man who I was standing next to for a period of time who wanted to know how he could organize a GOTV effort within his church, as one of our speakers suggested to the crowd as a way of taking action.

Luckily for him, one of our supporters was Minnesota State Representative Steve Gottwalt, who represents MN District 15A in the State House.

He came to our rally today, wore our marriage sticker and explained to the man how he could set up a group to get out the vote. It was great to meet Mr. Gottwalt.

So again we signed up a bunch of new supporters, handed out hundreds of stickers, buttons and pens. We also had bumper stickers this time - one with the NOM logo alone and the other with the NOM logo and "National Organization for Marriage" written under it.

As for the protesters, there were enough to count on one hand and they stayed closer to the street, held and few signs and kept to themselves. They weren't an issue.

Our stalkers from California were lurking around our crowd, though. They too basically kept to themselves. One of them sat on the grass typing away at her computer and the other had his nose in his camera for the majority of the rally.


I am encouraged. We've had two rallies without a disrespectful group of protesters. It's off to Rochester.

READ MORE - Great crowd rallies in Saint Cloud

Great marriage rally today in Saint Paul

Today was a beautiful day in Saint Paul. 


First, the weather couldn't have been better for an outdoor rally. 


Second, about two hundred others from all around Minnesota must have agreed with me as they made their way out to the Minnesota State Capitol to stand with me and the National Organization for Marriage for our "One Man, One Woman" marriage rally which kicked-off shortly after noon today. 


We had a great bunch of speakers today including NOM's President Brian Brown, Chuck Darrel of the Minnesota Family Policy Council, Pastor Brad Brandon of KKMS Radio, Senior Pastor Bob Battle of the Berean Church of God in Christ, and Father Michael Becker, representing the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. 

Today we had some protesters who had arrived early but all in all they were quiet and respectful. There were exceptions, though. 


One loner silently walked around our rally with her rainbow flag. She didn't seem to be a part of the official counter protest. 


Like I said, she didn't say a word but did tip her hat to us a few times towards the end of the rally. She was a non-issue. 


We also had in attendance two people I was particularly pleased to meet today and that is Minnesota State Senator Warren Limmer, who represents District 32 in the Minnesota State Senate and Tom Prichard, the President of the Minnesota Family Policy Council.


It was a pleasure meeting Senator Limmer today because he is a huge supporter of one man, one woman marriage and has authored legislation that would amend Minnesota's state constitution to define marriage between a man and a woman. 


To the right is a picture of Senator Limmer standing with the President of the Minnesota Family Policy Council, Tom Prichard. Warren is on the right, Tom on the left. Mr. Prichard has led the struggle against same-sex marriage in Minnesota and we owe him our thanks as well. 


Towards the end of our rally, we did come across more of what we've unfortunately become accustomed to seeing throughout the Summer for Marriage Tour - disrespect and intolerence from those who demand just that from us. 

Granted today's protesters, including the ones I am pointing out here were much more in control of themselves, unlike what we have seen in Madison, Providence and Albany. 


However, it isn't appropriate for the protesters to chalk up our stage area with foul language. There were small kids in the front row of that rally. Yet, that didn't stop one of the protesters.


Other messages included "We Recruit" as well as "Gay" with an arrow pointing to the NOM podium, which was written while Brian Brown was addressing the crowd. 


The protester who went around writing this stuff all over was quick and drew a bit of attention to herself. It was actually funny because she drew the attention of the local media and they started following her around trying to get a shot of what she was doing.

She then disappeared into the crowd and wasn't seen from again.

And that reminds me of our stalkers from California who have been following us around, sometimes getting up real close and personal, trying to film Brian Brown holding private conversations with his family, his children.
They've peered over his shoulder as he used his Blackberry, stuff like that. Well, we noticed that since they were rightfully removed from the rally site in Annapolis for doing all of the above (not for documenting the rally as they claim), they obtained press passes which they've been wearing on their shirts since then.

So why when I wanted to look at their  press passes today, they did everything they could to turn them around so I couldn't see them?

Their videographer even went so far as to turn around the press pass of one of his colleagues before I could get a glimpse of it.

So let's look at what happened step by step.

First, as you can see in photograph one, the press pass is visible and right-side-up. He doesn't realize I am there and is continuing to record Brian for the umpteeth minute of his umpteenth interview since the beginning of the Summer for Marriage Tour.




Then, the videographer notices I am taking an interest in his press pass and in step two he blocks my view with his hand. Hm, that's interesting. Maybe he had a bad hair day or something and didn't want me to see his photo.




Now, at the end of the process, as photograph three shows, the press pass is turned around and not visible. What is the secret? What are our friends from the NOM Tour Tracker Blog trying to hide? What's the purpose of wearing press passes if you turn them around when someone wants to see them?


But it goes a little further than that and it wasn't about his photo. When I noticed he didn't want to let me look at his press pass, I turned to his colleague, whose name I didn't catch because... (try to guess).... the videographer flipped that one over too!

At that point the three of them were wearing flipped-over press passes and were stubbornly opposed to anyone actually looking at anything more than the big "PRESS" headline on it. What's the big secret?

Overall, we had a great rally and signed up a great number of new supporters, gave out hundreds of pens, stickers and our T-shirts were quite popular. The event did catch the attention of a handful of local media, which I mentioned earlier, so we had a pretty successful day.

READ MORE - Great marriage rally today in Saint Paul

Update from the road: Illinois

I don't spend my entire day working on blogs like some people do but I do think this blog has just implemented a nice new aspect to it which will improve the reader's ability to comment on my posts. The down side is that when I added the widget, I lost all the old comments from the previous posts.

Maybe I didn't do it exactly right but I read somewhere online that you could add disqus to the blogger and have it include the previous posts. Anyway, what's done is done and that's it.

So at the moment we are driving to Madison, Wisconsin I don't quite know exactly where we are but we are in the general vacinity of Chicago. Contrary to the beliefs of many of our opponents, we are not taking a detour off the marriage tour to stop in South Bend, IN as our stalkers from California and the NOM Tour Tracker claim.

I don't know who their "source on the ground" is but he or she doesn't seem quite reliable. He or she also predicted that the Providence, RI rally was going to be cancelled and that we would blame the weather for that. We went to Providence. We held our rally. Our opponents made fools out of themselves.

 And so we are long past South Bend, Indiana.

OK, so we are actually at a toll booth right now so I can see that we are at least in Illinois, as I suspected. So that means we'll be setting our clocks back an hour. We'll be meeting up with Brian Brown and his family, which are returning to the tour with us in Madison.

The Brown family had some business to tend to out west and so they stepped off the tour for a few stops but Madison will be great because we will have both Brian and Maggie as speakers. It should be a great rally as have been all the rallies that we have held so far. We've signed up hundreds of people from around the country who want to be active in the struggle against the redefinition of marriage.

We want to get 2 million people signed up from all over the country. So far we've got a little over 700,000 people from every corner of this country who support our mission and want to be involved. So I think we've made great progress towards our goal and this summer marriage tour is helping that very mission.

We're signing up supporters in the most important places in the country where marriage is under attack and the people's elected representatives are working to redefine marriage. We've been to Maryland, which may gay rights activists claim is their next major target. Of course we've been to New York and New Jersey where we won huge battles against same-sex marriage last year in December. We kicked-off our marriage tour in Maine, where we won - and won big - in November, 2009.

Now, like I said, we're going to Wisconsin -a state which only 4 years ago voted by an overwhelming supermajority to ban same-sex marriage in their state. It was also in Wisconsin earlier this month that the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the state's constitiional amendment defining marriage between a man and a woman.

We're going to Iowa, where we are working to let the people vote. We'll be going to DC to wrap up our tour for this very same reason and let me assure all of you that the people of DC will have their say and when they do, the integrity of marriage will be restored with the repeal of same-sex marriage in our Nation's Capital.

Today we had a great rally in Indianapolis. I'll post about this later on my blog because I'm having computer issues getting the pictures from the camera's memory card to my laptop. Don't worry, we've got some interesting information about what happened in Indianapolis that you won't hear from our opponents because they probably wish you didn't know about it.

READ MORE - Update from the road: Illinois

Columbus gay marriage protest for 'civil rights' was antithetical

Today we held our rally in Columbus, Ohio at the Statehouse shortly after noon under the hot sun. It wasn't too bad though, thanks to the occasional breeze and a cooler with ice-cold drinks for our staff and supporters. 

From the start of our rally, the protesters that had assembled on site at approximately 11:30 am whistled and shouted from the sidewalk in attempt to deny those who came to our rally the right to assembly - and our speakers, the right to free speech. It shocks me how hypocritcal some of the gay marriage activists are. 

One one hand, they hold a sign advocating 'civil rights' for all but use their other hand to deny the civil rights of those who don't support their agenda. 

The freedom of assembly is not merely the freedom to physically assemble at a particular location. The freedom of speech is not merely the freedom to physically utter words. 

These rights, enumerated to us in the First Amendment, are about the freedom of assembly without harrassment and about the freedom of speech without impediment. 

Yet "harrass and impede" seems to have been the strategy of our opponents today. As I said, as soon as our first speaker rose to the podium, the gay marriage activists in unison created as much noise and hullabaloo as possible. 

No, they didn't bring water bottles filled with rocks this time. No, they didn't have bullhorns, either. That was Providence. They've learned from that mistake. Providence to this day remains an embarressment to the overall homosexual agenda. 

This time the activists resorted to whistling and hollering and even taunting some of those in attendance.

One elderly couple, including a U.S. Army veteran, had trouble making it through the group of activists who were blocking the main entrance to the plaza prior to the beginning of the rally.

He expressed to them his disapproval of their tactics upon finally making it through. He was alright though. More relieved than anything. This, of course, is a much more of a civil way of expressing one's feelings than our opponents had. 

Now was this necessary? We all know what those middle fingers represent. Vulgarity. Why must the gay marriage activists be so vulgar? It's not anything new, though. They were vulgar in Albany. They were vulgar in Providence. They were vulgar throughout the Proposition 8 campaign. 

Now, the vast majority of the protesters respected our permit rights to the south lawn of the Statehouse and did not encroach on that. Most likely because of the strong police presence. However, that didn't stop some particularly bold activists from infringing on that permit. 

Now I do not have a problem if our opponents want to attend our rally. In fact, I encourage it. If only they would actually listen to our speakers they might actually learn what we stand for and why. Talk about ignorance. These people don't even listen to what our speakers say then have the audacity to critisize what was said? Seriously? 

I don't expect any of them to change their minds by listening to the speakers. I do believe, however, that at the very least there would be a clearer understanding of who we are and what we stand for. It's not about hatred of homosexuals. How many times have you heard that people who don't support gay marriage don't support it because they hate gay people? Some of the activists today were pushing that very point. 

It couldn't be further from the truth. Our message and our mission is not about hate. I would suggest to our opponents to stop yelling and screaming during one of our rallies and just listen for the sake of hearing what has to be said. Then, criticize what was actually said if you feel the need to. The problem is most of what I personally heard from the activists today were topics we haven't even talked about on the marriage tour. 

Moving on. There was one couple (one of those bolder couples who came into the rally itself) who were particularly disappointing. The two men decided not to just attend the rally but they brought a baby with them. Notice I said 'a baby" because it isn't "their baby". It was clearly adopted. They were white the baby was not. 

This baby has been adopted and is being raised in a house of homosexuality and can't even speak yet. Who will speak for this and all the other children who are adopted and are being subjected to a house of homosexuality?

Let's say this couple was 'married' on paper by one of the states that have legalized same-sex 'marriage'. That doesn't change the fact that, according to recent research from San Francisco State University, a great number of same-sex couples, whether they are 'married' to each other or not are in open relationships! 

Is this the kind of household we want to be putting adopted children into? Who will speak for these children? Nonetheless, they came. So be it. However, and I'll take my words from the Ohio State Troopers on this one, the couple came to the rally to stand as a "symbol".


What kind of parents use their children as symbols? Coming to the rally and standing there quietly as they did wasn't enough. They had to make a statement - a statement that involved exploiting their own child for their own gain. This is why I will emphasize the fact that adoption exists to give children the parents they need - not to give parents the children they want. These two men are not the kind of parents this child needs. 

Now this woman for some reason thought that our rally had something to do with losing her job based on, as she claimed, suspicion of homosexuality. I really don't understand just how our marriage rally and the fact that she lost her job and is still sour about it have anything to do with each other but OK, whatever. 

This photo was cropped because I believe the girl standing next to her was a minor, probably no older than fifteen or sixteen so out of respect for her, I've taken her out. 

But yes, this woman, getting back to their strategy of impediment, tried to occupy the Concerned Women for America of Ohio table with her sob story and struggled for several minutes to force the nice woman working the booth to answer why she lost her job sometime in the past. 

It even got to the point that the police came over to "respectfully ask" the woman to move on. I quoted above because that is literally what the trooper said to her. She resisted, claiming she was just getting literature, which had already been in her hand for a while by that time, but eventually moved on at the officer's request. 

Again, nothing wrong with being there. Nothing wrong with asking questions. But this woman went above and beyond that, bordering harassment. 

Tomorrow we are headed out to Lima, Ohio where we will be holding our next rally. We will be on private property so I am not really expecting too much of an appearance by our friends at Equality Ohio. They've got some picnic planned at a park quite a distance away from our rally location. 

READ MORE - Columbus gay marriage protest for 'civil rights' was antithetical

Providence sparks infighting among homosexual activists

Well, we had our longest drive of our marriage tour thus far. It wasn't too bad, though. Trenton to Annapolis is only a couple of hours. Along the way we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at a nice little restaurant in Pennsylvania. Being a native of Buffalo, I had a Buffalo Chicken Wrap but everyone else was insisting on getting Cheese Steak this or Cheese Steak that. Not for me.

Anyway, I have been monitoring our opponents response to their behavior in Providence the other day and saw pretty strong split in opinion.

Some praise the radical homosexual activists who stormed our podium and yelled in the faces of our speakers, who rattled water bottles filled with little stones, who engaged in lengthly tongue kissing in front of a crowd of parents and their young children, who made sexually suggestive gestures with their hands (again in front of a crowd of parents and their young children), who targeted those same very children with their hateful rhetoric, among other things.

And then there were some who saw the error in what the counter-protesters did in Providence. It was good to see that at least some of our opponents have common sense and reason and were able to see even when those on their own side had made a mistake and I would like to take the time to applaud such integrity. Of course, I am specifically referring to this blog entry from the Box Turtle Bulletin.

Now of course there is going to be differences of opinion not only between opposing sides of an issue but also amongst those of the same side. This happens all the time and for practically every politically divisive issue. However, I would like to draw to your attention the extent to which those those who actually support what happened in Providence went in response to BTB's blog post.

In this first image, which may or may not still be viewable on the aforementioned blog entry, you can see a perfect example of how quickly the most radical of the homosexual agenda, the ones who support the protesters actions in Providence, turn on one of their own the moment he doesn't stay on message.

Look at first post from Wendy. First off all, she is incorrect about the man speaking in tongues. That was not Brian Brown and someone corrected her on that further down in the comments.

But let's look at what she wrote after that. "I find your article severely more damaging than a couple of protesters...". So here she recogizes the damage caused by the radical protesters. Here's where she goes too far, just like those in Providence did.

"Take this [expletive] down and write a supportive piece and stow the caninbalization and sell out." Here she is scolding one of her own because he had the audacity to tell the truth, the audacity to admit a mistake. She turned on him. According to who was once a 'fan', the author of that article is a sell-out. Nice. Tolerant.

Wendy continues. "I'm normally a devote fan but this is a terrible anti-community piece." So does this Wendy girl want to hear only one-sided stories? Is she only interested in pro-LGBT propaganda? Is she really saying that it woud be better if the writer put a spin on everything to paint the LGBT community in only positive light?

 OK, so I guess the writer's name is Jim Burroway. Well, props to you Jim for writing this article and for keeping it posted after pressure to remove it and replace it with something less-truthful but more positive for 'the community'.

So even though Mr. Burroway has some integrity, as you can see in his response to Wendy, reading through his response demonstrates the rational side of the divide in 'the community' over what happened in Providence.

Mr. Burroway comes right out and says what the protesters did in Providence was stupid. I was there and I am for the other side, as you all know, and even I didn't use such strong language to describe their actions. Not that I object to his choice of words.

Mr. Burroway says something about the fact that principles matter. I agree. What I do everyday is stand for the principle that marriage is between a man and a woman because it is what is best for society, best for families, best for children, best for everyone as a whole. Now I realize that this causes problems for 'the community' which seek fair and equal treatment. This too, is a principle for which we should all stand for.

When it comes to fair and equal treatment of homosexuals, I am going to clearly state that I and the National Organization for Marriage and every other rational person believes in the fair and equal treatment of all people. This was one of the points Brian Brown emphasized during our rally in Manchester, NH.

Let's clarify. There are some benefits and protections afforded to married couples which same-sex couples can not obtain while same-sex marriage remains illegal.

The solution to this is not the redefiniton of marriage, not the changing of family structures but the legislation of due rights for this 'community'. There are rights and protections same-sex couples ought to have - fair and equal treatement - but we don't have to redefine marriage in order for them to obtain them.

So back on track. Here, AdrianT calls "babyish" and "infantile" what the protesters did in Providence. He even calls Wendy out on her statements and her speaking for the LGBT 'community'.

Well good for you AdrianT.

I am honestly impressed with the overall concensus from your side of this issue, from 'the community', that what your friends and allies did in Providence was inappropriate. I am glad to see that both of us are able to draw the same conclusions on this matter and find something to agree on.

But that doesn't change the fact that there are members of your 'community' who condone and were excited by what happened in Providence. Unfortunately, I believe we will see more of that type of behavior during the rest of the Summer Marriage Tour.

I've already seen some homosexual activists vowing to come out to protest our rally in Annapolis later today. It's 1AM so I am referring to the Annapolis rally as today for that reason. I still have yet to go to bed and wake up on the day of the Annapolis rally.

We'll have to see if reason and respect win out as it did in New Jersey today. Garden State Equality did a good job at keeping their members at bay and away from our rally in front of the Statehouse in Trenton today.

We were expecting problems but were relieved when we came across a message from GSE President telling their members not to harrass us. They obviously did not want to see a repeat of Providence.

This picture shows how bold GSE's members were willing to go during our rally.

Yet on the other hand that just further demonstrates the divide on the issue, the difference in opinion on strategy and tactics. I am thrilled to see that the majority of that 'community' is standing with people like myself and the National Organization for Marriage in opposition to the kind of behavior we witnessed in Providence.

READ MORE - Providence sparks infighting among homosexual activists