The National Organization for Marriage is asking 2016 presidential candidates to sign its pledge to champion traditional marriage, including support for a constitutional amendment on the issue and rolling back Obama administration directives within the federal government.
The group issued first issued the pledge in 2012 and the majority of Republican hopefuls signed it. NOM President Brian Brown says it’s designed to see which candidates plan to walk the walk on a critical cultural issue.
“It makes clear that the candidates won’t just give lip service to protecting marriage, but will actually take concrete steps to protect marriage. So it’s important that the candidates are on the record and that voters know which candidates will actually do something,” said Brown.
With so many Republicans in the race, several are likely to sign the pledge. Brown says those candidates will we rewarded during the campaign.
“Our goal is to have champions stand up for marriage. Whether we get three people to sign or 14, it doesn’t matter,” said Brown. “Whoever signs, we’re going to promote.”
The pledge asks candidates to make five commitments, the first of which is to back a constitutional amendment defining marriage in the United States as the union of one man and one woman.
Even polls were lopsided in favor of traditional marriage a decade ago, the amendment failed to advance in Congress. Brown says this is going to be a long fight but the Supreme Court could soon make an amendment more necessary than ever.
“In past years, we haven’t had the specter of the Supreme Court potentially forcing the redefinition of marriage on the whole country. That is not the way our Constitution was written. That will be an illegitimate decision. The clear process we have to stop this form of judicial supremacy is a constitutional amendment,” said Brown.
The pledge also asks candidates to champion marriage through their judicial nominations and key administration appointments, such as attorney general. It also demands allowing Americans to be free to exercise their conscience in their daily affairs and to not punish citizens for publicly advocating traditional marriage.
Those are clear references to recent religious liberty battles involving business owners uncomfortable with servicing a same-sex wedding and to the the IRS harassment of the National Organization of Marriage. The IRS not only harassed NOM but shared it’s sensitive donor information with organizations on the opposite side of the debate.
The pledge also asks the next president to roll back President Obama’s directives within the federal government that NOM says erodes marriage and promotes the LGBT agenda. Brown says this White House activism extends from office rules to official diplomatic policy.
“Even at the State Department, we’re seeing de facto threatening of countries with the removal of aid unless they get on board with a new definition of marriage. That is fundamentally wrong,” said Brown.
Republicans are divided on the best campaign strategy moving into 2016. Many consultants and elected officials say that while the party should defend traditional marriage, candidates should speak about it very sparingly so as not to turn off voters who otherwise like the GOP agenda.
Brown says Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign proved that’s a bad idea.
“A billion dollars were spent on a grand experiment to do just that and it failed,” said Brown. “The people of this country still understand what marriage is. They’re looking for a leader who will stand up with conviction for the truth of marriage and not be silenced or intimidated by a media culture that largely believes this fight is over.”
