A group of concerned Virginia citizens have formed the Protect Isabella Coalition in response to a custody battle between lesbian parents over their six-year-old daughter Isabella. Birth mother Lisa Miller who now lives in Virginia is fighting for sole custody of their daughter from her former partner Janet Jenkins in Vermont. The couple was joined by civil union in 2001 but split a few years later when Jenkins decided she was no longer a lesbian and moved back to Virginia. Isabella was just 17 months old.

To drum up support and media attention for the case the Protect Isabella Coalition has put out the following television ad in Virginia.

And from their website’s Action page…

What can you do to help?

First, pray. We believe God has a wonderful plan for both Lisa and Isabella. Please pray with us that they will be able to stay together, without the disruptive visitations ordered by the Vermont Judge. Pray that God would turn Janet Jenkins’ heart and open her eyes to Isabella’s real needs, which are far greater than her own. Pray for Janet’s salvation. Pray also for godly wisdom for our nation’s leaders, our legislators and judges.

Currently Virginia courts have refused to deny a Vermont court order granting Jenkins visitation rights. Unfortunately Miller has frequently been in contempt of that order by refusing visitation, and is reported in Newsweek as likening the visits to “…handing my child over to the milkman.” Miller who is now a devout Baptist also said that Jenkin’s lesbian “lifestyle” would be harmful to the child and was “fundamentally wrong.”

I wonder what’s more harmful? Having a lesbian mom or an ex-lesbian mom whose heart is filled with bigotry and hate?

Maggie Gallagher, President of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), defended their anti-gay “Gathering Storm” ad on Hardball today against Joe Solomonese of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

Since “Gathering Storm” debuted online yesterday, HRC has exposed its participants as actors having discovered the audition tapes for the ad…

Frankly I’m not all that surprised that these were actors, and bad actors at that. But they were too pretty. Sorry to go all “judging a book by its cover” on everyone but a lot of these haters are as ugly on the outside as they are in the inside. Fred Phelps anyone?

Visit HRC for a thorough debunking of the Gathering Storm ad.

The National Organization for Marriage is launching a nation-wide TV campaign against gay marriage starting in New York, Rhode Island and California. The ominous ad promises a “gathering storm” where freedoms are be taken away, churches punished, and schools are allowed to teach that gay marriage is “okay.” Watch.

Where marriage equality opponents see a gathering storm, the rest of us see the clouds breaking… and it’s a beautiful sight.

This of course is just a small smattering…

Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs with both Liberty Counsel and Liberty Alliance Action

“Here we go again. While citing the specter of ‘equal protection,’ the Iowa Supreme Court today has unanimously joined a leftist gaggle of ideologically driven judges in California, Massachusetts and Connecticut, creating, from thin air, a phantom ‘right’ to the ridiculous, oxymoronic and postmodern ‘gay’ marriage counterfeit… The U.S. Supreme Court long ago rejected the untenable notion that ‘equal protection’ requires two biologically incompatible persons to be permitted to ‘marry.’ Marriage, of course, by its very spiritual, historical and biological nature, requires binary compatibility. It is no more discriminatory to disallow two men from marrying each other, than it is to prohibit a man from marrying his house plant.”

Douglas Napier, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund

“The Iowa marriage law was simple, settled and overwhelmingly supported by Iowans … There was simply no legitimate reason for the court to redefine marriage.”

Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst at Focus on the Family Action, said the ruling took his breath away.

“The justices brazenly asserted that their role was not only to redefine marriage, but also to legislate whatever new social agenda they favored, ‘free from the influences’ of a society resistant to such change,” he said. “Such an admission is breathtaking in its arrogance and scope.”

Tony Perkins, president of FRC Action

“We need to remember that the marriage-amendment movement has been many times more successful than the same-sex ‘marriage’ movement,” he said. “We urge Iowans to contact their legislators and urge them to move quickly to pass a constitutional amendment protecting marriage … We hope the Legislature will heed the powerful swell of statewide support for an amendment and reclaim from the High Court its rightful place as the state’s policy-making body.”

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America

“Marriage is a civilizing institution that brings a man and a woman – two fundamentally different yet complementary people – together in an unparalleled bond that provides children with the benefits of the two sexes, male and female. The Iowa justices in reality regress in their attempt to impose ‘progress’ by destroying the concept of marriage in a naked, self-serving power grab. Claiming that they have a ‘keen and respectful’ understanding of the Constitution doesn’t make it so, anymore than claiming marriage can be complete without one or the other sex.”

Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition

“If this ruling is permitted to stand without challenge, it will result in the persecution of Christians and anyone else who criticizes homosexual conduct. This ruling will mean that schools will be forced to teach that homosexual marriage is normal – and parents who object will face ridicule and possible criminal penalties against them. This ruling will be used to force pastors to conduct same-sex ceremonies or face penalties.”

Chuck Hurley, Iowa Family Policy Center

Pardon me while I hunt down my extremely small violin.