FIC Rally for Marriage a Success
June 5th, 2007 by Peter
FIC’s May 23rd Rally for Marriage was a success, drawing our largest-ever weekday crowd. Roughly 300 pro-family citizens like you attended the event to show their support for marriage protection and to support a rare constitutional opportunity to let the people decide.
The Rally began with an invocation by Pastor William Ashburn of the First Assembly of God in Torrington. Speakers included FIC executive director Brian Brown, Connecticut Catholic Conference acting director Deacon David Reynolds and Rep. Marilyn Guiliano (R – Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Westbrook). Other state representatives present included Al Adinolfi (R – Cheshire, Hamden, Wallingford), Vincent Candelora (R – East Haven, North Branford, Wallingford), Bruce Morris (D – Norwalk) and T.R. Rowe (R – Trumbull). Clergy, civic and religious organizations from all across the state were also at the Rally.
The mainstream media by and large chose to simply black us out. But there were a few honorable exceptions: an informative piece in the Republican-American (not online), a brief mention by the AP, some great radio coverage and a fair and balanced Channel 8 story. Most of these outlets noted that we had over 200 supporters while a counter-rally across the street managed to draw only “[a] dozen or so” proponents of same-sex “marriage.”
In his speech, Brian celebrated the defeat of the same-sex “marriage” bill and explained why the end game may be closer than we think. This year’s victory is directly attributable to the faith and dedication of FIC members who made their voices heard at the state capitol despite the inordinate influence of our well-heeled opposition. The next step for marriage protection involves a question automatically appearing on the ballot in November, 2008 asking state voters if they want to hold a constitutional convention. Getting a “yes” vote to that question provides our clearest path to letting the people—not politicians or unelected judges—decide the future of marriage.
Following the Rally, our large crowd of pro-family supporters marched into the legislative office building (LOB) and packed a room so tightly that, for the first time ever, an overflow room was necessary. After the meeting in the LOB rooms, people met with their own legislators to ask them to support marriage protection and to support the campaign for a constitutional convention.
The size of our May 23rd crowd continues a trend we have experienced since February: each weekday event we’ve held has broken our previous attendance record. This disproves the lie that same-sex “marriage” is inevitable. The momentum is on our side. If we have the courage to see this through to the end, victory will be ours.
Watch for more information in the months ahead on what you can do to make the constitutional convention happen. For now, our sincerest thanks to everyone for the important pro-family victories that you helped make happen in 2007!
