In an obvious nod to U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, the National Organization for Marriage has released a new ad attacking her Republican opponent Tom Campbell and incumbent Democrat Barabara Boxer. The ad attacks Campbell and Boxer for being too liberal and for being against Prop 8. Watch:

Fiorina voted in favor of Proposition 8 in 2008. When she announced her bid for Boxer’s seat last November, Fiorina reiterated her stance against gay marriage saying she “believes in the sanctity of a marriage between a man and a woman.” Fiorina has been relatively quiet on the issue since.

The depositions of Prop 8 witnesses Paul Nathanson and Katherine Young who may have withdrew out of fear for their own safety reveal today how damaging their statements could have been (and ultimately are) to their case. Watch:

Paul Nathanson a Canadian religious scholar who just happens to be gay (duh!) was also trotted out in Varnum v. Brien which ultimately led to the Iowa Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage. In the document Defending Faith, Family and Freedom by the Family Research Council Nathanson is quoted as saying that cultures can only survive and thrive via opposite-sex marriage.

“Because heterosexuality is directly related to both reproduction and survival … every human society has had to promote it actively … Heterosexuality is always fostered by a cultural norm” that limits marriage to unions of men and women. He adds that people “are wrong in assuming that any society can do without it.”

Not surprisingly marriage scholar Maggie Gallagher also surfaces in said document.

Nathanson and Young also co-authored  Marriage à la mode: Answering the Advocates of Gay Marriage in 2003 which attempts to dissect and tear down many marriage equality positions. Some of their arguments below.

Argument 7: Children would be no worse off with happily married gay parents than they are with unhappily married straight ones: This comparison is false, because it involves the best of one scenario with the worst of another. A legitimate comparison would compare either the best of both or the worst of both. Once again, we suggest that the best of marriage (providing at least one parent or other adult of each sex) is better than the best of gay marriage (which provides two parents of the same sex and none of the other one).

Argument 15: Anyone who opposes same-sex marriage is homophobic: This argument amounts to verbal terrorism. By “homophobic” is meant prejudice and hostility, although this word actually connotes the neuroticism of a phobia. The implication is that only evil or sick people can possibly disagree with any claim made by gay people. So much for the possibility of rational debate. (Never mind that not even all gay people are in favor of gay marriage.)

Moreover, this is an ad hominem argument. It is easy to trivialize arguments by attacking the personal integrity of those who make them. That way, you need not deal with the argument itself.

It’s a lengthy document but a good source for “verbal terrorists” such as myself in developing counter arguments.

While neither same-sex marriage nor civil unions are recognized in the Philippines, a recently introduced bill would further punish anyone attempting to enter into such a union, describing gay marriage as “highly immoral, scandalous and detestable.”

The bill recommends penalties both for the applicants for marriage and the solemnizing officer.

Under the bill, the would-be partners face 15 years imprisonment and a P150,000 fine.

Likewise, anybody caught faking or trying to mis-declare his/her gender in order to secure a marriage license may be meted a 12-year jail term and a P100,000 fine.

If the offender is a public officer or employee, he/she shall be dismissed from government service and banned from re-employment in any public office.

Former Baptist minister turned lawmaker Bienvenido Abante Jr. introduced the bill last December saying that without the measure same sex unions would  “snap the remaining strand of our moral values.”

When serving as chairman of the Human Rights committee back in 2006 Abante rejected a bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, calling it a “culture of death” and reverse discrimination against heterosexuals.

Really.

My husband who was born and raised in the Philippines chimes in…

Why am I not surprised about this, especially coming from a very religious country like the Philippines. This is just another example of the power and control organized religion has in poor countries like this one.

It is safe to conclude that Bienvenido Abante, Jr. has the strong backing of the church, so I am not at all surprised with what he is doing right now. It is sad if not laughable to have him as the chairman of the Human Rights committee. Seriously, how can you be the chairman of the Human Rights committee and try to pass a bill that violates the core meaning of your position. Really, can somebody please tell this man what his job is all about?

I believe that it is inhumane to discriminate against another group of people just because of their sexual orientation and I think this is a reaction to what is going on in Western countires like the United States. I hope that the Filipino people, and not only the LGBT pinoys, will wake up and rise up against this reprehensible bill.

“Huwag matakot mga kapatid. Magkaisa tayo laban sa mga masasama.” (Don’t be afraid my brothers and sisters to unite against all that is evil and bad.)

At least we finally have it in writing…

A group of religious leaders representing various denominations released a 4,700 word manifesto today called the Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience, which formally declares their opposition to gay marriage and abortion, among other things.. The document also encourages Christians to resist and disobey laws contrary to their teachings on those issues.

“We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence,” it says.

The manifesto, to be released on Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, is an effort to rejuvenate the political alliance of conservative Catholics and evangelicals that dominated the religious debate during the administration of President George W. Bush. The signers include nine Roman Catholic archbishops and the primate of the Orthodox Church in America.

They want to signal to the Obama administration and to Congress that they are still a formidable force that will not compromise on abortion, stem-cell research or gay marriage. They hope to influence current debates over health care reform, the same-sex marriage bill in Washington, D.C., and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The document is the usual treasure trove of hate, one of the choicer passages below…

It is ironic that those who today assert a right to kill the unborn, aged and disabled and also a right to engage in immoral sexual practices, and even a right to have relationships integrated around these practices be recognized and blessed by law—such persons claiming these “rights” are very often in the vanguard of those who would trample upon the freedom of others to express their religious and moral commitments to the sanctity of life and to the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife.

The signatories for the document is a who’s who of the anti-gay religious establishment, including James Dobson, Maggie Gallagher, Bishop Harry Jackson, Bill Donohue and  Tony Perkins.

Charles Colson, one of the authors of the declaration, pimps the document with some of the usual fear mongering in the clip below…

You can view the document in its entirety here (warning, the link may be a bit slow).