We founded the Alliance for Marriage (AFM) in 1999 to confront the alarming fact that over 25 million American children -- more than one of every three -- were being raised in a broken home.  This is not only a disaster for these children; it’s a disaster for our society.  Our most serious social problems — from youth crime to dropout rates — track far more closely with family breakdown than they do with other social variables like race or poverty.

AFM’s mission was -- and is -- to see more children raised in a home with a mother and father.  We’ve worked for adoption tax credits, for the elimination of the marriage tax penalty, and for other common sense reforms to help strengthen families in America.  At the time of our founding, amending the U.S. Constitution to protect marriage was something that no one dreamed would be needed. 

Then all of that changed.

During the first year of AFM’s existence, it became clear that powerful forces were working through the courts to destroy the legal status of marriage and the family in America.  These forces are well-financed and determined to destroy the common sense definition of marriage under our laws. 

Our laws need to send a positive message to kids – especially given the constant bombardment of negative messages, values and signals they encounter each day.   So it became obvious that if AFM was to help rebuild a culture of intact families in America, we would also have to work to defend the legal status of marriage as the union of a man and a woman – our best hope for providing families with mothers and fathers for kids.

Since then, our foes have continued to redouble their efforts.  At the national, state and local level, they continue their assault on our marriage laws as part of a systematic plan for destroying marriage.   This activist movement is backed by the vast financial resources of gay philanthropists and others who want to refashion our laws and our society in the image of their own socially destructive values. 

We realized that if these stealth forces were victorious in changing the institution of marriage from being between one man and one woman, our mission of more children raised in homes with both a mother and father would be exponentially more difficult to achieve.  We simply could not stand by and let that happen, and so we engaged in this fight.

The battle to protect marriage has been a long struggle, and one we wish it weren’t necessary to wage.  But because of our efforts and your support, we have unmasked and slowed the progress of the powerful forces seeking to destroy the American family. 

We wanted to let you know how much we’ve achieved with your help, update you on the key developments in our struggle, and encourage you to continue standing by us in this fight.  Families with a mother and a father are the foundation upon which our country was built, and we remain committed to defending the traditional family while promoting its importance, so that more kids are raised in a home with a mom and a dad.

Our latest challenge in the effort is to put public pressure on both political parties to protect traditional marriage.  We’re organizing a national campaign and coalition, specifically targeting Hispanic Americans, to stand up and let their voices be heard, including a high-profile rally at the Democratic National Convention this August in Denver, Colorado.