Call to Decision

AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION OF PENNSYLVANIA

ACTION ALERT

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P.O. Box 1048

149 Summit Drive

Franklin, PA 16323

Phone: 1.814.271.9078 FAX: 1.814.437.5432

http://www.afaofpa.org

AFA of PA ACTION ALERT

Philadelphia Mayor John Street to Perform Same-Sex Marriage!

November 20, 2007

This coming Saturday will be another dark day in the history of the City of Brotherly Love. Even though Mayor Street has officiated over less than ten marriages during his two terms as mayor, he has chosen to be involved in yet another one on Saturday. But he will not be uniting a bride and groom in marriage, but two men – one of which is his Deputy Secretary of External Affairs. These activities will be taking place in Philadelphia’s City Hall.

The Mayor has insisted that this is not really marriage, but homosexual activists view it quite differently. The ‘groom and groom’ view it as a political statement and from neighboring New Jersey, Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality said, "Every single time a public official like Mayor Street performs a ceremony, it strengthens the case for marriage equality."
What kind of message is the mayor sending to Philadelphians and the rest of Pennsylvania – especially the children of this state?
If the Mayor’s actions disturb you, please consider contacting his office. A copy of our news release can be found at the end of this e-mail.

ACTION NEEDED:

1.) Contact Philadelphia Mayor John Street at mayor@phila.gov Please also consider calling the mayor’s Executive Secretary Betty Kibler at (215) 686-2181 or his Chief of Staff Joyce Wilkerson at (215) 686-7508.

2.) If you live in Delaware, Montgomery or Philadelphia Counties, please sign our online petition supporting the Cradle of Liberty Scout Council. Click here.

3.) Don’t forget you can now listen to Diane Gramley’s weekly radio program ‘American Family Focus on PA Issues’ on our website. Click here. This week’s guest will be David Barton of Wallbuilders and we’ll be discussing the ‘politically incorrect’ meaning of Thanksgiving. (This will be up on our website Wednesday evening.)

4.) Feel free to forward this alert to other concerned Pennsylvanians. If this alert is being forwarded to you by a friend, please feel free to sign up by clicking here. Please indicate in which county you live.

5.) Please consider supporting the ongoing work of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania. Make an online donation.

In His service,

Diane Gramley

President

American Family Association of PA

AFA of PA encourages Christians, through education, to become involved in pro-family issues in their community, state and the nation.

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Begin news release:

American Family Association of Pennsylvania

http://www.afaofpa.org

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 20, 2007

CONTACT: Diane Gramley 1.1814.437.5355 or 1.814.271.9078

No, Mayor Street, Same-Sex Marriage is Not Legal In Pennsylvania

(Philadelphia) – Outgoing Mayor John Street’s decision to perform a same-sex commitment ceremony on Saturday at City Hall offers a further explanation in the course Philadelphia has taken in the past several years. Today the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide group which supports Pennsylvania’s one man, one woman marriage law and the effort to pass a Marriage Protection Amendment to the PA Constitution, faxed the mayor a letter of concern outlining the wrong messages that will be sent by his involvement in Saturday’s activities.

“Mayor Street has drifted off course during his political career. Once a strong advocate for traditional values, he can no longer be trusted to uphold those values that are supposedly part of his belief system,” said Diane Gramley, President of the AFA of PA.

Mayor Street is a practicing Seventh Day Adventist. Their beliefs include, “Marriage was divinely established in Eden and affirmed by Jesus Christ to be both monogamous and heterosexual, a lifelong union of loving companionship between a man and a woman. . . . . To this biblical view of marriage the Seventh-day Adventist Church adheres without reservation, believing that any lowering of this high view is to that extent a lowering of the heavenly ideal.”

Some of the wrong messages outlined in the fax to Mayor Street include:

q Marriage in the eyes of the children of Philadelphia and beyond will be redefined on that day (Saturday). In their eyes marriage will no longer be just between a man and a woman.

q Homosexual activists will be given a green light to challenge Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act. This is a political statement to them.

q What Scripture says and a church’s beliefs are don’t matter.

q Traditional marriage is not worth defending.

Under Mayor Street’s watch the City of Philadelphia has become even more ‘gay-friendly.’

q Defended Philadelphia’s domestic partner registry

q Formed a mayor’s commission on sexual minorities

q After election to his second term, held a Gay and Lesbian Inaugural Ball to raise funds for a homosexual center.

q Supported the ‘Get Your History Straight and Your Night Life Gay’ tourism campaign

q Street spoke at the unveiling of a gay historical marker across from Independence Hall.

q An official acting on Mayor Street's behalf presented a proclamation to ‘Team Philadelphia,’ a group of homosexual athletes competing in the 2006 ‘Gay Games’ in Chicago.

q Mayor Street signed a smoking ban, but ignored the greater threat to his City – the promotion of the homosexual lifestyle and all the health risks involved – including HIV/AIDS which is much more dangerous than smoking.

q But Mayor Street’s legacy will be the City reneging on a 1928 agreement with the Boy Scouts to permit them ‘in perpetuity’ to use a half acre piece of property in downtown Philadelphia. Because of the Scout’s ban on homosexual leaders, the Scouts must now pay $200,000 annual rent or by May 31st vacate the headquarters they built in 1929.

“The Mayor has officiated over less than ten marriages during his two terms as mayor. Even though he is insisting the ceremony is not marriage, homosexual activists are viewing it as a political statement and a giant step forward in their quest for so-called ‘marriage equality.’ Their ultimate goal is the legalization of same-sex marriage and Mayor Street’s decision helped in that effort,” Gramley commented further.

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