02/14/2006

'Protect Marriage' Referendum Volunteers Top 7,000 -- Showing that Illinois Citizens Have a Heart for Marriage
says Illinois Family Institute

CHICAGO, Feb. 14 /Christian Newswire/ -- Illinois Family Institute (IFI) Executive Director Peter LaBarbera today announced that the campaign to put a referendum on the November ballot calling on the General Assembly to constitutionally preserve marriage as one-man, one- woman now has over 7,000 signature-gathering volunteers on the ground.

The Protect Marriage Illinois referendum states: "To secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, a marriage between a man and a woman is the only legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state."

Protect Marriage Illinois -- http:// www.protectmarriageillinois.org -- needs to gather 283,111 valid signatures of registered voters by May 8 to qualify for the November ballot.

"We weren't expecting to cross the threshold of 7,000 volunteers until March, so we are exhilarated by the growing momentum of this campaign," said LaBarbera. "From African-American evangelicals in Chicago to Muslims in Villa Park to Catholics in Carbondale, this is truly a diverse movement of people who are uniting to defend marriage in Illinois."

Illinois Family Institute, Family Taxpayers Network, Concerned Women for America and dozens of other groups throughout the state are working to place the PHI referendum on the ballot. In addition to Illinois' six Catholic Bishops, over 100 legislators and pro- family leaders have endorsed the Marriage Protection Referendum-including two gubernatorial candidates and three candidates for Lieutenant Governor. "Valentine's Day is the perfect day to announce the progress of the PMI campaign," LaBarbera said, "because Illinois citizens on this special day, like every day, believe that liberal, activist judges have no right to redefine marriage and family -- the bedrock institutions of society for the raising of children. Illinois is not the Massachusetts of the Midwest."

LaBarbera chastised the leftist Chicago group Gay Liberation Network for "ripping off" Valentine's Day to promote the "gay marriage" agenda. GLN is demanding marriage licenses for homosexual couples despite Illinois' clear law declaring that two people of the same sex cannot marry. Last year, GLN leader Bob Schwartz threatened physical violence against LaBarbera, who was engaged in peaceful dialogue with homosexual students in Chicago.

IFI is associated with Focus on the Family and works "to protect marriage, family and the sanctity of life in the Land of Lincoln."