ME, seeing a DC-area number on the phone and thinking it might be a Warminsky: Hello?
Robo-voice: Hello. We are calling from the National Organization for Marriage. Do you believe marriage in your state should be for one man and one woman only?
ME: EFF no.
Robo-voice: Thank you. *click*
Actually after the "Thank you" there was the whole disclaimer, address, phone number etc., though it didn't include their motto, "Protecting Marriage and the Faith Communities that Sustain It," or its nickname, NOM. This is the Princeton-based organization led by Maggie Gallagher, a co-author of "The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier, and Better-Off Financially." Kudos to YOU, Maggie, for trying to keep them queers from trying to be happy, healthy or financially well-off!
Here's the NOM website, which includes the group's Marriage Talking Points, in case you find yourself sitting across the dinner table from your favorite nephew who just told you he and his "friend" aren't just roommates and could they have their wedding on your farm. NOM's money line, should you want to say "ban same-sex marriage" without actually saying "ban same sex-marriage":
Gays and Lesbians have a right to live as they choose,
they don’t have the right to redefine marriage for all of us."
You should probably keep the dehumanizing "they" when talking to your nephew, too, lest your loved one think you have a problem with his specific gayness, when really it's just the idea of him having the same civil rights you do that makes you feel threatened. Then clutch your longtime spouse's hand and say, "Remember, as straight people, only we have the right to define marriage for all of us."
Obviously this call didn't come out of nowhere. The New Jersey Senate is set to vote on same-sex marriage tomorrow.
