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01/21/2013

NOM president draws from Dr. King's legacy to save married gays from 'false promises' that bring 'sadness and even despair'

by Jeremy Hooper

It's a truly shameful way to honor both Dr. King and today's historic inauguration of a pro-equality POTUS. As might be expected, it comes from none other than Brian Brown, the president of America's most notable house of 21st century discrimination:

But as I reflect on the America we live in today and the society we are building for my eight children, I can't help but be concerned. Too many of our people live in poverty. They are impoverished not only by unemployment and the throes of a struggling economy, but by cultural forces that rob people of their inherent, God-given Screen Shot 2012-12-11 At 4.59.37 Pmdignity, and entice them through false prophets and by false promises, often peddled in the guise of providing pleasure but that ultimately bring nothing but sadness and even despair.

Last November during the same election that sent President Obama to a second term, three states allowed marriage to be redefined with the president's misguided encouragement. If this is the path we're on, and
[sic] it's not a good one. The President bears considerable responsibility for this as a result of his abandonment of the eternal truth of the uniqueness of the marriage relationship.

Yet as I watch the pageantry of a presidential inauguration I am reminded of the vast power and potential of our country to be a tremendous force for good.

How do we help America get on a better path, one that uplifts families, that inspires future generations to greatness?

Very simply, I think we need to call our nation to good — to pursue law and policies that promote social good and are based on moral truths.

I think one key is in the words of Dr. King, set forth so articulately in the spring of 1963 while sitting in jail in Birmingham, Alabama. King's Letter From Birmingham Jail called the nation to understand that there are just laws, and unjust ones. Dr. King said, "A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law."

Dr. King went on note that segregation laws were plainly unjust: "All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority."

Marriage is the very type of relationship that Dr. King would no doubt have recognized as just, rooted as it is in the moral law, observed over thousands of years as an eternal law, in perfect harmony with the law of God. It is a profoundly just institution that brings men and women together and provides children with the best opportunity to be raised by a mother and a father.

So many of our laws and policies today are out of harmony with natural law and nature's God. The killing of the pre born innocent in the name of privacy; the euthanizing of the infirm in the name of compassion; the destruction of embryonic humans in the name of advancement; the protection of pornography purveyors and the merchants of violence in Hollywood and the video game industry in the name of free speech; and the restructuring of institutions like marriage to provide emotional satisfaction to politically powerful adults, even as they strip from the law the right of children to a mother and father.

No, indeed, we as a nation are not on a good path.

But it is not too late to change direction and to choose a better path. If we are willing to keep Dr. King's admonition in mind to pursue policies that are just, that are in harmony with eternal, natural and moral law, then we can reclaim America and restore our future.
FULL:
We Can Reclaim America and Restore Our Future [NOM]

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Because it can't be repeated enough: Coretta Scott King, who presumably knew her late husband's heart better than anybody else, believed King's dream very much included LGBT equality:

CORETTA QUOTES
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice... But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King, Jr., said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere' ... I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
-March 31, 1998

Like Martin, I don’t believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others", she would tell black civil rights leaders angered by gays and lesbians comparing their struggle to their own. She would quote her husband and say, “I have worked too long and hard against segregated public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concern. Justice is indivisible."
-June 23, 1994

"Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages."
March 24, 2004

"We have a lot more work to do in our common struggle against bigotry and discrimination. I say "common struggle" because I believe very strongly that all forms of bigotry and discrimination are equally wrong and should be opposed by right-thinking Americans everywhere. Freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation is surely a fundamental human right in any great democracy, as much as freedom from racial, religious, gender, or ethnic discrimination."
November 9, 2000

"We have to launch a campaign against homophobia in the black community."
June 8, 2001

"Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. This sets the stage for further repression and violence that spread all too easily to victimize the next minority group."
April 1, 1998

If Brian Brown believes the man/woman marital bed to be sacrosanct, then how dare he ignore what MLK's own wife had to say about his heart and his wishes?

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