Thank you!

Only minutes ago, the Paul amendment to prevent the U.N. from placing a direct tax on American citizens in order to fund its sovereignty-busting agenda was accepted by the U.S. House of Representatives. We won!

Blocking the U.N. push for a global tax is a crippling blow to the world-government agenda.

Your efforts -- and in no small way, your faith -- have paid off.

Thank you. More battles lie immediately ahead, perhaps only hours away. The Paul amendment to withdraw from the U.N. is coming up next. Momentum is with us. Send your message urging your U.S. representative to support the Paul amendment that would get the U.S. out of the U.N.

To send your message, go to http://capwiz.com/liberty/issues/alert/?alertid=7719766&type=CO

What you do makes a difference.

Kent Snyder
The Liberty Committee
http://www.thelibertycommittee.org

*****

NJ Appellate Court Upholds Ruling Against Same-Sex Marriage
By Alexa Moutevelis
CNSNews.com Correspondent
June 15, 2005

(CNSNews.com) -- A New Jersey appellate court Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that same-sex marriage is not protected by the state's constitution.

The Superior Court of New Jersey's Appellate Division ruled two to one, with Judge Stephen Skillman writing that the "plaintiffs' claim of a constitutional right to State recognition of marriage between members of the same sex has no foundation in the text of the Constitution, this Nation's history and traditions or contemporary standards of liberty and justice."

Skillman found that homosexuals already have the right to marry, as long as the marriage is not to a member of the same sex. "Plaintiffs, like anyone else in the state, may receive a marriage license, provided that they meet the statutory criteria for marriage, including an intended spouse of the opposite gender." Therefore, the judge stated, the rights of homosexuals are not being abridged.

Judge Anthony J. Parrillo, concurring with Skillman, explored the difference between "the right to marry and the rights of marriage". The DPA gives same-sex couples the rights of marriage, Parillo wrote, but the qualifications for the right to marry are decided by the state, qualifications that include the presence of one man and one woman in the marriage.

In his dissent, Judge Donald G. Collester argued that "the right to marry is effectively meaningless unless it includes the freedom to marry a person of one's choice."

Last year, New Jersey passed the Domestic Partnership Act (DPA), which gave many benefits previously only available to married heterosexual couples to same-sex couples.

However, "absent legislative action, there is no basis for construing the New Jersey Constitution to compel the State to authorize marriages between members of the same sex," Skillman concluded in his opinion, which upheld the Superior Court of New Jersey's Law Division of Mercer County.

Parrillo added that any constitutional right for homosexual marriage should "come from democratic persuasion, not judicial fiat."