In New Hampshire, Minnesota and North Carolina, pro-marriage advocates are on offense, working to repeal gay marriage (NH) or adding marriage to state constitutions that don’t have it yet (MN, NC).

In New Jersey, Maryland and Washington State, gay marriage activists are trying to legalize gay marriage, and are attempting to prevent the issue going before a vote of the people in those states.

Today in Maine, gay marriage activists announced that they will attempt to pass gay marriage by a vote of the people in 2012. The people of Maine defeated gay marriage in 2009 by a 53%-47% margin.

Meanwhile, the presidential election in November will between a Republican candidate who supports marriage and Barack Obama, whose record on marriage is abysmal.

The outcome of this race will directly influence the future make-up of the Supreme Court and, in turn, how this issue is ultimately decided in the courts.

There are three outcomes to this year’s marriage battles:

1) gay marriage activists and advocates of protecting marriage split these battles and the war for marriage continues on into the future.

2) gay marriage activists succeed in more states than they fail, convincing themselves that momentum to redefine marriage is on their side, emboldening them to press on, while religious liberty continues to be rolled back as a result.

3) advocates of protecting marriage succeed in a majority (if not all) of these contests and we go on to remember 2012 as the year that efforts to redefine marriage were stopped in their tracks. Emboldened by success, advocates of protecting marriage go on to repeal gay marriage where it is currently legal and are left free to dedicate themselves wholeheartedly to the important task of building up marriage as the foundational social institution of our country.

… I don’t know about you, but I want to see #3 come to pass this year.

Why is it important for Catholics in particular to work actively to protect marriage? The seven bishops of New Jersey explain why succinctly today:

Why should citizens care about the state’s definition of marriage?

Citizens must care about the government’s treatment of marriage because civil authorities are charged with protecting children and the common good, and marriage is indispensable to both purposes. Citizens have the right and the responsibility to hold civil authorities accountable for their stewardship of the institution of marriage. Citizens also have the responsibility to oppose laws and policies that unjustly target people as bigots or that subject people to charges of unlawful discrimination simply because they believe and teach that marriage is the union of man and a woman.

Their entire letter is well worth reading. They recommend doing three things to help protect marriage:

First, pray for all married couples and all families. Second, reflect on this important question, “How can I help my family and the families I touch to grow in hope, love, peace and joy.” Third, we ask everyone to reach out to your neighbors, your legislators and the governor with a simple message: “Preserve the definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman.”

I would add a Fourth thing to do: join/support the National Organization for Marriage (where I work) which is dedicated to protecting marriage across the U.S. and a Fifth thing to do if you live in one of the states I mention above: find the local group in your state in charge of protecting marriage and join them.

They will have things for you to do which will enormously help in the fight to protect marriage.

Sixth, take action on these pending action alerts right now:

• New Hampshire SSM Repeal Vote
• Stop the NJ Same-Sex Marriage Bill!
• Help Stop Same-Sex Marriage in Washington!
• Tell Governor Christie You Expect Him to Keep His Promises on Marriage
• Thank Senate President Mike Miller! (MD)

Seventh, share this post on Facebook, Twitter and via Email!

I’ve written many times before about the threats of redefining marriage, to religious liberty, to individuals, to Catholic institutions, and — most importantly — to the next generation and to society. Please join this important fight. Let’s make 2012 a year of marriage victories we can be proud about. THANK YOU!

Archbishop José Gomez penned a powerful piece in First Things on “our first freedom” – that of religious liberty. The archbishop of the nation’s largest diocese said: “There is much evidence to suggest that our society no longer values the public role of religion or recognizes the importance of religious freedom as a basic right.” He cited several attacks on religious liberty including: the legal fights surrounding the merger of Catholic and secular hospitals, the Justice Department claiming in Court that religious supporters of marriage are biased and prejudiced, and the recent federal contraception mandate that provides a religious exemption so narrow that almost no Catholic organization would qualify. This article is a must-read. http://cvote.to/6X

Maronite patriarch (Catholic) warns of an ‘Arab Winter’ in which the rights of Christians are harmed in countries like Egypt and Libya where a dictator is removed only to be replaced with a regime that actually persecutes Christians more. “We do not wish to see happening in these countries what happened in Iraq, where the country now is in the middle of a civil war,” said Patriarch Bechara Rai. http://cvote.to/6Y

The City of San Francisco passed a law that targets crisis pregnancy centers for “false advertising.” According to Catholic San Francisco newspaper: “The ‘False Advertising by Limited Services Pregnancy Centers’ legislation, introduced by Supervisor Malia Cohen, is aimed at First Resort’s use of billboards in poor Latino and African-American neighborhoods and pay-per-click Google ads that bring up First Resort’s website in response to the search engine query ‘abortion.’” Makes you wonder: What happened to Free Speech? http://cvote.to/6a

Quote of the Day

“We are slowly losing our sense of religious liberty in America.” – Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles.

Notes:

You can also follow our CatholicVote bloggers on Twitter. Just remember, as always, their opinions are their own and not necessarily CatholicVote’s. http://cvote.to/6c

We’ve received positive feedback on the Lunchtime Reader. But we’re thinking it needs a better name. Offer your suggestions in the Comments section…

Other articles of interest:

A federal judge puts a stop on a law in North Carolina which requires that women be allowed to see an ultrasound before abortion. http://cvote.to/6b

The Pennsylvania Senate is set to vote on a school choice plan tomorrow. http://cvote.to/6d

Ron Paul said that heterosexual soldiers were “causing more trouble than the gays.” A curious way to win over social conservative voters in Iowa. http://cvote.to/6e

… that sound you aren’t hearing is the sound of the mainstream media ignoring the news.

Meanwhile, the special election in NY-9 (Brooklyn & Queens NY) is shaping up to be very interesting. Pro-life, pro-marriage Catholic Bob Turner is taking on pro-abortion, pro-gay-marriage David Weprin to replace disgraced Anthony Wiener in Congress, in a district that Democrats have a 3-1 voter registration advantage.

Will Bob Turner pull it out? We’ll certainly see! I’ll be tweeting tonight as the results come in.

Meanwhile, if you live in this district (or have friends or family who do) please go out and support Bob Turner!

UPDATE: Bob Turner won tonight’s special election 54%-46%! A huge upset and awesome news! More from me after I catch a few hours of sleep. In the meantime, see the AP coverage.

• To put pressure on the New York State Senate, the lower chamber just passed a bill to legalize so-called ‘same-sex marriage’ by a 80-63 vote. With Gov. Andrew Cuomo ready and willing to sign the bill, the last chance to stop marriage redefinition is in the New York State Senate. The New York Daily News notes the margins are razor thin: “Currently, 31 senators, including two Republicans, have publicly supported the bill. Thirty-two are needed to pass a bill in the chamber.”
• Rep. Anthony Weiner is going to resign from Congress today because of his sexting scandal. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be tasked with setting a date for the special election. The National Journal notes that Republicans have a decent shot of capturing the seat because of a surge in GOP voters in the district over the last 10 years.
• North Carolina became the third state to fully defund Planned Parenthood. Blogger Ann Leary notes that Indiana and now North Carolina both voted for Obama in 2008 but have since decided to cut all state funding to the nation’s leader in committing abortions.
• The Supreme Court rejected Michael Newdow‘s latest attempt to remove the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.
• Catholic blogger Elizabeth Scalia thinks that comedian Conan O’Brien gave a brilliant and thoughtful commencement address at Dartmouth College.