It's marriage traditionalists vs. big corporate bucks

"We have gained 10 points since last month's poll and are within four points and closing in; the other side is under 50 percent for the first time," said Cedar Park Assembly of God senior pastor Rev. Joe Fuiten on his Facebook page. Pro-marriage advocates now trail 49 to 45 percent.

Fuiten's church, which recently donated $5,000 to the "No on Ref. 74" campaign, is one of the backers of a movement designed to preserve marriage's definition as the legal union between one man and one woman. So far, the pro-family campaign has received $2.1 million to fight same-sex marriage.

Contributing to the effort, St. Monica's Catholic Church on Mercer Island just gave $5,000, and this is indicative of Catholic support statewide, where bishops are working to lead Washington's 800,000 Catholics to do all they can to make sure Ref. 74 does not win come November 6.

"Redefining marriage is a step backward in the progress we have made in protecting children," Spokane bishop Blase Cupich stated. "It is important to state that the Catholic Church's stance on Referendum 74 is not 'against' anything and especially not 'against' anyone. To the contrary, it is our stance 'for' the gift of marriage, 'for' God's plan for human society, 'for' husbands and wives, 'for' children. To suddenly change the God-given and time-honored understanding of marriage would be a very harmful thing for our state and for the world."

The Catholic Church has been at the heart of the charge to protect marriage. After the Washington House of Representatives voted 55-43 on February 9 to pass a bill for same-sex "marriage," pro-family advocates collected 200,000 signatures and filed a referendum with Washington's Secretary of State June 6 to overturn the law and put it on the ballot for voters to decide. Last month, Catholic bishops issued a pastoral statement about their concerted effort to upturn Referendum 74 (read the wording of the referendum).

"The legal separation of marriage from procreation would have a chilling effect on religious liberty and the right of conscience," reads the statement issued at the Washington State Catholic Conference. "Once marriage is redefined as a genderless contract, it will become legally discriminatory for public and private institutions such as schools to promote the unique value of children being raised by their biological mothers and fathers. No institution or individual could propose that married mothers and fathers provide a singular benefit to children without being accused of discrimination. Recent attacks on churches, businesses and nonprofit organizations that express their conscientious objection to the redefinition of marriage underscore the danger."

Big business fueling homosexual agenda

But the big business climate in the Pacific Northwest is predominantly geared to fuel the homosexual agenda. Ramping up for the election, homosexual activists and corporate advocates have done all they can to garner and contribute financial support in the name of "marriage equality."

Some major corporate endorsers pushing Washington State to be the seventh state to allow same-sex marriage include: Microsoft, Google, Starbucks, Amazon, Nordstrom, Costco, REI, Nike, Alcoa, Vulcan, and Expedia, with the latter being one of the latest major big businesses to join the charge.

"As the world's largest on-line travel company ... we know firsthand that the world is a diverse place," said Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in her company's endorsement statement. "We strive to actively promote equality in our workplaces .... Today, we add our voice to the topic of marriage equality."

Just what kind of money are we talking about? Referendum 74 has a $9.5 million campaign fund. Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and his wife donated $2.5 million of this total. And more than $5 million has already been funneled to TV ads promoting the redefinition of marriage.

The ground force? Numerous ethnic, religious and civil rights organizations, as well as state unions have joined the effort to redefine marriage, mobilizing more than 4,000 volunteers.

In a surprise to many, major Protestant and Jewish denominations have jumped on board to support same-sex marriage, and the organization Catholics for Marriage Equality joined activists to march in June's Seattle [Gay] Pride Parade, an annual event sponsored by local businesses such as Verizon, YMCA, Microsoft, Amazon, Expedia, Starbucks, Hard Rock Café, Wells Fargo, Alaska Airlines and the Seattle Storm WBNA professional basketball team.

In addition, practicing Catholic Gov. Chris Gregoire drove the Washington Legislature to embrace "marriage equality," which has the self-proclaimed devout Catholic State Sen. Ed Murray (D-Seattle) as its chief sponsor.

Pro-family groups not intimidated

With the enormous support and funding in a predominantly "Blue" state, is same-sex marriage well on its way to victory, despite recent gains by the No on Referendum 74 campaign?

Despite the fact that the pro-Ref. 74 campaign has much greater resources, the attitude from the pro-family camp is anything but dismal.

"We do not need to match the other side dollar-for-dollar to get our message out," says Preserve Marriage Washington communications director Chip White, who contends that voter support for same-sex marriage has historically been overrepresented in polls taken before elections. Of the $1.8 million his organization has collected to date in contributions, $725,000 was given by the National Organization for Marriage, its largest donor out of the nation's capital, which stands alongside numerous Protestant churches and Catholic leaders as a strong supporter.

With the Public Disclosure Commission reporting Wednesday that Referendum 74 opposition has spent less than $1.5 million ─ just a fraction of its opponents' spending ─ a trend of increased backing for traditional marriage is reported to have begun with a recent television campaign. The ad argues that a Referendum 74 win will result in the promotion of same-sex marriage in the schools, with one TV ad highlighting a young girl telling her mother upon returning home from school, "I learned how a prince married a price and I can marry a princess!"

In addition to this anticipated effect ─ should Referendum 74 pass ─ White is confident that businesses will be penalized and possibly shut down for following their conscience and denying services for same-sex marriages. Over the years, lawsuits in New Jersey and New Mexico ─ neither of which recognize such unions ─ have penalized business owners for cordially refusing these services to couples practicing homosexual behavior. The former was a religious organization that rented out its facilities for wedding ceremonies; and the latter lawsuit saw a wedding photographer being sued for declining to photograph a same-sex couple's commitment ceremony.

But is the commercial targeting parents of schoolchildren ─ as well as the lawsuits against business that are not "gay"-friendly ─ exceptional? Marriage equality supporters acknowledge that the anti-Referendum 74 ad was produced to emulate a Lexington, Massachusetts, school that uses a book in its public school classrooms to promote same-sex marriage. The Bay State, which was the first of six to allow same-gender marriages, is said by marriage-equality advocates to already have set in place anti-discrimination laws that make it illegal for businesses to deny their services to customers because of their unnatural sexual orientation.

For years, pro-family advocates have attempted to relay the message that keeping marriage between a man and a woman is all about protecting the best interests of children, whose ideal living environment is with their biological parents. They contend that the issue should not revolve around adults' emotional bonds.

Preserve Marriage chairman Joseph Backholm stated on a recent KING TV debate that if Washington voters pass Referendum 74, marriage will become "entirely about the emotional connection that adults have and not at all about how this affects children and the environment they are raised in."

And Catholic bishops have made a concerted effort to spur congregants to protect marriage from succumbing to Referendum 74. Yakima bishop Joseph J. Tyson recently sent an announcement to pastors at 41 parishes in his Central Washington diocese that they would soon be receiving contribution envelopes in hopes of collecting added financial support for the No on Referendum 74 campaign. A letter recently circulated by Catholic bishops emphasizes that procreation is the purpose of marriage.

"Marriage is founded on sexual difference and ordered toward the fulfillment of husband and wife and the procreation and rearing of children," the bishops expressed in their letter. "This basic understanding of marriage and family is 'built in' to the very nature of man and woman. By separating marriage from procreation and the responsibility of men and women to raise children that result from their sexual union, the new marriage law would abandon the state's principal interest in this time-honored institution."

The bishops proclaim that it is the state's duty to only enforce policies and laws that protect and nurture healthy and stable families ─ not laws that propagate living situations proving to be detrimental to children's wellbeing and to their emotional development.

"If the state successfully disconnects marriage from the potential inherent to sexual union between a man and a woman, the civil meaning of marriage will be lost, and the institution that results will be a genderless contract without reference to children," the letter concludes. "The foundational nature of marriage for the good and the strength of human society will be harmed beyond repair."