Traditional Marriage Defenders Rally In DC

by Bill Fancher
October 18, 2004

(AgapePress) - Tens of thousands gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., last Friday (October 15) to show support for traditional marriage. The light rain that fell on the audience did not dampen the spirits of those who had come from all over the nation to stand up for preserving "one man, one woman" as the definition of marriage in America.

A crowd estimated to be near 200,000 braved the intermittent rain and chilly winds on Friday to take part in this first of its kind "Mayday for Marriage" event. Rally organizer Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (frc.org) described the rally's primary purpose as a sort of convocation.

"We come here today, not to the nation's capital, which is the seat of power, to send a message to a political audience," Perkins said, nor "to communicate a message to the media. We come here today for the audience of one -- we welcome the presence of the Holy Spirit here today to accomplish His work, to accomplish the Lord's will."

Many of the local and national pro-family leaders were on hand to speak to the huge rally, including Chuck Colson of Prison Fellowship Ministries. In his speech, he warned of the consequences of redefining marriage and the ultimate destruction of the family that would result.

"If we allow the family to be destroyed in our generation," Colson said, "it'll be on our hands -- the blood of the victims of crime -- and we won't be able to build prisons fast enough in America to contain all the kids swept up off the streets because they didn't have a family that taught them right and wrong."

Other speakers issued challenges to ordinary citizens in the Church to take a stand for marriage and make their voices heard. Among them was Don Leonard of San Antonio, Texas. "I'm here today to support marriage," he said. "The problem we have with marriage [today] is that we have judges that are trying to define marriage as not between a man and a woman, but between any two people."

Leonard went on to declare that the joining of one man and one woman in matrimony is the only definition of marriage that God sanctions. "That's the union that He blessed, and that's why we are here today -- we are sharing our belief, letting the Congress know and the whole capital know, that is what we believe in," he said.

Another prominent speaker was Alan Chambers, executive director of Exodus International (exodusglobalalliance.org), a ministry that offers help and support to people seeking to leave the homosexual lifestyle. He called the audience's attention to the foundations of the attack on traditional marriage.

While acknowledging that judicial activism has helped to further homosexual activists' same-sex marriage agenda, Chamber asserted, "We're not here mostly because we have an activist judge problem. We're not here mostly because we have a homosexual problem." At the same time, he added, "We're not here mostly because we live in an immoral culture and an immoral time. We're here mostly because we've had an apathetic, disengaged, and asleep Church."

But the Exodus International spokesman shared with the "Mayday for Marriage" crowd his belief that the October 18 rally marked the start of "something remarkable." He told them he believed God must be smiling on their gathering "because He knows that the Church is engaged, the Church has awakened, and no one can stop the Church when the Church is unified."

In his remarks at the rally, Gary Bauer of Campaign for Working Families (cwfpac.com) reminded the crowd that even though "the other side controls our courts," pro-family forces can still win the battle to defend the institution of marriage. And if asked why he believes this, Bauer indicated that the rally audience itself, in part, holds the answer.

"Why? Because the thousands gathered in the rain today on the National Mall and the million upon millions of men and women of faith across this good and decent land are not a tiny special interest group," Bauer says. "That is the other side! We are the overwhelming majority."

The Campaign for Working Families spokesman says the judicial activists who make bizarre, anti-family decisions "can be removed from the courts by the men and women we elect to public office." Moreover, he points out that the Constitution of the United States does not give final say over what is constitutional to the courts, but to the people.

"The American people are the final arbiters of what is constitutional law in America," Bauer says, "because we have the power -- through our elected representatives at the state and federal level -- to amend the Constitution as necessary." In other words, the people are within their rights to define marriage, as the majority does, as the union of one man and one woman, and to act to enshrine that definition in the Constitution through a federal marriage amendment.

Bauer insists that pro-family Americans must make their voices heard loud and clear on the cultural issues that matter most -- sanctity of life, public displays of faith, and the meaning of marriage -- particularly now, as the election draws near.