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Thank You Meridian Readers for Supporting
Marriage —
23,000 Signatures Delivered
to Senate
By Maurine Jensen Proctor
Photography
by Scot Facer Proctor
The Senate vote is
upon us, but the House is expected to vote on the same amendment
some time in July. You can continue to sign the Marriage Defender
Petition by clicking
here — and we will deliver these to the House when the vote
takes place.
When the Family Leader Network put
a Marriage Defender Petition on Meridian on Memorial Day, we decided
to be really bold and challenge you, our readers, to come up with
10,000 signatures. The goal was to deliver the petitions to the
Senate one week later — so the time frame was short. Maybe just
too short. We had been working on the technical backend of the
petition for some time. We had really hoped to get the petition
up sooner, but computer programs take longer to develop than you
plan and the days clicked off.
Click to Enlarge
Petitions printed by our volunteer
neighbors started stacking up by the thousands.
Meanwhile, we debated. Should we just
challenge the readers for 5,000 signatures? Was 10,000 too many?
Should we really be so unabashedly open as to post a counter where
the whole world could see a change in our total number with each
new signature? We asked the same question, you sometimes wonder
about another invitation. What if you throw a party and nobody
comes? What if the number of signers to the petition was embarrassingly
low — and everybody could see it?
After all, what politicians always
tell us about the marriage amendment is that nobody really cares
about it. We didn’t believe it — but still, dare Meridian be so
unabashedly open that we expose exactly how many signed up? What
if nobody came to this party?
Meridian posted the petition asking
senators to vote in favor of the Marriage Protection Amendment on
Monday, Memorial Day, at 11:00 AM EDT, coincidentally the day after
a letter from the First Presidency was read over the pulpits asking
members to call their senators and expressing their feelings about
marriage. The minute the petition was up, the signatures began
pouring in.
Our cat, Freckles, jumped into
one of the petition boxes and would not move until we brought the
next 5,000 to fill his hiding place.
Meridian readers wanted to have a voice
on this critical issue of our time. We had 10,000 signatures by
Wednesday. We upped the goal to 12,000 — and had that number by
Thursday noon. We boosted the goal again to 20,000 signatures and
that number was hit by Saturday at 2:00 — or 123 hours after the
petition was posted.
Labels were attached to each
box, reminding the Senators how quickly these signatures were gathered.
The signatures poured in so fast that
refreshing the computer screen became a game. Now there are 16,452.
Refresh the screen. Now there are 16,545. Now there are 16,797.
Meridian readers and those who have become committed to be part
of the Family Leader Network do not begin to understand their power
for good. We are like a sleeping giant who, when educated, organized
and mobilized can renew our society for families and protect the
values and institutions that provide for a hopeful tomorrow.
If when you signed the petition you
didn’t sign up for Family Leader’s free email that updates you on
significant issues regarding marriage, family and religious freedom,
now is you chance to do that by clicking
here.
Most people have scant understanding
of how much impact their voices can have in the affairs of state.
Yes, certain senators may ignore you or their positions may be cast
in stone, but it is hard to ignore a clamor. Laws are passed because
groups of enthusiastic and informed people do their best to make
sure policy they favor is considered by Congress and then passed.
Until I came to Washington DC and sat
in frequently on meetings with Senators and Representatives, I had
no idea how much the voice of the people shapes what happens.
Delivery
Monday morning, June 5, we loaded up
multiple boxes of petitions defending marriage and delivered them
as promised to the Senate majority and minority leaders, Bill Frist
and Harry Reid. We also delivered the names from the petitions specifically
to about 30 other senators.
Helping in that delivery were Doug
and Catherine Arveseth and their year-old baby Eliza.
Doug, Catherine and Eliza Arveseth stand by me as we get ready to
take the petitions into the Hart Senate Office Building.
Eliza’s pure face seemed the perfect
symbol for why this effort matters so much. It is for the kind
of world that the rising generation will inherit. Will they inherit
a world where marriage has been eroded and is no longer a social
norm? — where the best interests of the children have become tangential
to adult freedom? Will they inherit a world where their church
has been marginalized for its doctrine? Where it can’t use public
facilities or express private opinion without being penalized?
Catherine and Eliza pose for
a moment as we deliver the petitions to the Senate.
To those senators who say that other
issues are way more important than marriage — issues like the price
of gas and what we’re going to do about it — Doug Arveseth said,
“It would be easier to explain to our children why we are paying
$4 per gallon for gas, then why we lost marriage. I just couldn’t
stand by another day and only be a silent supporter.”
The dolly was a bit stressed
with the five boxes full of petitions.
Catherine Arveseth said, “The more
we’ve been educated on the issue and the impact that this has on
families and religious freedom, the more we have felt compelled
to be involved. We have to make our voices heard, not just in the
halls of Congress, but also we have to speak to our friends, neighbors
and co-workers about why marriage is so important.”
Jacques Purvis, assistant in
Senator Harry Reid’s office, received the 23,000 petitions that
you had signed in 158 hours.
We could not help but think about the
sanctity of marriage and the wonder of family as we watch Eliza
and her parents attempt some of her first steps on the slippery
halls of the Capitol building. The world she grows up in will depend
on the world we shape today.
Having turned one year old just nine days ago, Eliza
is taking some of her first steps with her Dad, Doug, and her Mom,
Catherine, giving her the steadying she needs.
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As we finally head to bed after this
extremely long day (we left just after 6:00 AM and now it is past
2:00 AM), the petitions are still being signed and the number is
now 26,068. To add your voice to the petition (we will continue
to collect the signatures so we can be ready for the House, please
click here.
Click
here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.
© 2006 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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