TALLAHASSEE (FBW)—Leaders of a coalition advocating a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage announced April 17 a new name for the effort—"Yes on 2"—at 10 news conferences across Florida.

TALLAHASSEE (FBW) – Leaders of a coalition advocating a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage announced April 17 a new name for the effort – “Yes2Marriage” – at 10 news conferences across Florida.

TALLAHASSEE (FBW) – A constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage will be on the November ballot because supporters gathered 92,000 extra petitions in about two weeks after learning a computer glitch had dropped the previous tally below the 611,009 petition requirement.

A multi-year effort to allow Florida voters the opportunity to protect marriage is in serious jeopardy of not making the 2008 November ballot unless concerned citizens act immediately and decisively to collect an additional 22,000 petitions before Jan. 29.

UPDATED 4:10 p.m. EST

ORLANDO (FBW)–John Stemberger, state chairman of Florida4Marriage.org, Jan. 14 declared a state of “constitutional emergency” when he learned about 22-30,000 petitions are still needed by Feb. 1 to place the Florida Marriage Amendment on the ballot for 2008.

What would you expect the response to be of a person who signed a petition supporting a citizen initiative protecting traditional marriage in the state constitution when told that the effort has succeeded and Floridians will vote on the proposed amendment in November?

TALLAHASSEE (FBW) – In the wake of the cancellation of the annual Florida Leadership Prayer Breakfast, which was abandoned this year because legislators would be in violation of a new lobbying law since the annual event was in part underwritten by lobbyists, legislators who are part of a weekly prayer group decided to hold their own prayer breakfast.

WEST PALM BEACH (FBW)–Palm Beach County Commissioners voted unanimously Jan. 10 to create a county-wide registry of domestic partners. Unmarried couples, including homosexual partners, may sign up to receive “visitation rights and decision-making abilities,” according to the Palm Beach Post.

ORLANDO (FBW) – With only two weeks until the Feb. 1 deadline for petitions seeking to put a constitutional amendment to protect marriage on the November ballot, more than 300 pastors from various evangelical denominations gathered Jan. 16-17 for a last-ditch rally organizers hope will propel the amendment effort beyond the necessary 611,000 petitions to allow voters to ban “gay marriage” in Florida this fall.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (BP)--Barring an incredible effort by Florida churches in the final days of January, a signature drive for a constitutional marriage amendment there appears likely to fail.

ORLANDO (FBW)–Passing out petitions aimed at getting a voter initiative on the ballot or hosting a voter registration drive at church is not only legal, but is a natural result of a church which teaches “basic, biblical moral issues,” a legal expert says.

James Dobson has a stark warning about “gay marriage” for Christians in America: “This is the climactic moment in the battle to preserve the family, and future generations hang in the balance.”

TALLAHASSEE (BP)–Conservatives in Florida are gathering signatures with the goal of placing a state constitutional marriage amendment on the ballot in 2006. Their deadline (late January) is fast approaching. Following are a list of some commonly asked questions, with answers.

LAKELAND (FBW)–”My hope is that we don’t look in our rear view mirror and say, ‘We should have done that,’” said Lakeland pastor Jay Dennis of the approaching deadline for petitions to get the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment before the state’s voters. Florida Baptists, along with thousands of other Christians in Florida, have been given a deadline of Jan. 23 to have petitions mailed in to a collection center at First Baptist Church in Orlando.

JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)–The declining esteem with which people hold marriage is detrimental to society, and it is the responsibility of the church to address the issue, Union University faculty members said in sessions held at First Baptist Church in Jackson, Tenn.

TALLAHASSEE (FBW)–Backers of the proposed Florida Marriage Protection Amendment held simultaneous news conferences at nine locations across the state Jan. 6 to announce the endorsement of the state constitutional amendment by hundreds of religious, political and business leaders and to announce an “ultimate mailing deadline” of Jan. 23 to receive petitions.

JACKSONVILLE (FBC)–The images flashed on the screen are startling: Two men jubilantly kiss each other; a robed minister signs a marriage license for a male couple; a beaming man drapes his arm amorously around another man’s shoulder; two women hug at the obvious conclusion of their nuptials. And on each, the caption reads: “Gay marriage became legal in Boston May, 2004.”

TALLAHASSEE (FBW)–Backers of the proposed Florida Marriage Protection Amendment held simultaneous news conferences at nine locations across the state Jan. 6 to announce the endorsement of the state constitutional amendment by hundreds of religious, political and business leaders and to announce an “ultimate mailing deadline” of Jan. 23 to receive petitions.

The Florida Marriage Protection Amendment signing ceremony during the Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting in Ocala was important symbolically. But symbols alone will not get the job done.

JACKSONVILLE (FBC)–A year after messengers attending the Florida Baptist State Convention called for a state constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage, a coalition created to gain its passage is urging churches and individuals to become more aggressive in securing signed petitions.

OCALA (FBC) — Seeking to galvanize the 1,550 messengers in attendance to action, leaders of the Florida Baptist State Convention publicly signed the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment during its 144th annual meeting Nov. 14-15 in Ocala.

NAPLES (FBW)–Florida Baptist State Convention president Hayes Wicker believes “the time is short before Jesus returns” and is praying for a “great awakening” in “perilous times” marked by “hurricanes, Islamic extremism, liberal ideologies and rampant immorality.”

The next three months may very well determine whether or not Floridians will have the opportunity to vote to protect marriage in the state constitution during next year’s election. My question to Florida Baptists is simple: what are you prepared to do to make sure we can vote on this critical issue in 2006?

TALLAHASSEE (BP)–The American Civil Liberties Union joined other liberal interest groups Sept. 21 in filing a lawsuit against a proposed constitutional marriage amendment in Florida, seeking to prevent it from appearing on the ballot in 2006.

ORLANDO (FBW) – Leaders of a coalition supporting a state constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage announced at three simultaneous news conferences Aug. 19 the effort has virtually reached an important “milestone” and called on Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, Attorney General Charlie Crist and the state Supreme Court to “expedite” their review of the proposed amendment.

ORLANDO (FBW) – Leaders of a coalition supporting a state constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage announced at three simultaneous news conferences Aug. 19 the effort has virtually reached an important “milestone” and called on Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, Attorney General Charlie Crist and the state Supreme Court to “expedite” their review of the proposed amendment.

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)-The Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage is sponsoring a marriage amendment workshop June 9 in Jacksonville.

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—Orlando attorney John Stemberger, president and general counsel of Florida Family Action will be the featured speaker at workshops throughout Florida in April and May on strategies and arguments for promoting a Florida amendment defining marriage between a man and a woman.

ORLANDO (BP) -- All but one of the lawsuits challenging Florida's ban on "gay marriage" have been withdrawn by homosexual activists, the pro-family legal group Liberty Counsel said April 7. The group announced that seven of the eight lawsuits that had been filed had been withdrawn in recent weeks.

JACKSONVILLE (FBC)—An effort to encourage registered voters to go on record supporting a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage exclusively as the “legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife” is being mounted by Florida Baptist congregations.

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—In Jacksonville Nov. 9, Jay Dennis, pastor of First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland, stood at a microphone and made a motion before the Florida Baptist State Convention in support of a statewide constitutional marriage amendment. Every Sunday since that day, members of homosexual organizations have picketed his church.

Last November at the annual meeting of the Florida Baptist State Convention, Florida Baptists enthusiastically endorsed a call for a state constitutional amendment to protect marriage.

ORLANDO (FBW) – A broad-based coalition of religious and pro-family organizations – including the Florida Baptist Convention – launched on Valentine’s Day an ambitious citizen initiative to amend Florida’s Constitution defining marriage as “the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife.”

Editor’s note: This story will be updated later today, Monday, Feb. 14.

ORLANDO (FBW) – A broad-based coalition of religious and pro-family organizations – including the Florida Baptist Convention – launched on Valentine’s Day an ambitious citizen initiative to amend Florida’s Constitution defining marriage as “the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife.”

TAMPA (BP)—Florida attorney Ellis Rubin said Jan. 25 that he is dropping his legal challenges to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, fearful that a loss on the appeals court level or at the Supreme Court would set a legal precedent he wants to avoid.

LEESBURG (FBC)-Unanimously affirming that “marriage between one man and one woman is the only-God-ordained building block of the family and bedrock of civil society,” the State Board of Missions began developing a strategy to pass a constitutional amendment that defines marriage on the Nov. 2006 Florida State ballot.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP/FBW)—In the wake of severe Election Day setbacks, a coalition of more than 20 homosexual and liberal organizations released a joint statement Jan. 13 outlining their goals for the future and re-stating their commitment to fight for legalized same-sex “marriage” nationwide.

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—Voting unanimously to support a statewide constitutional marriage amendment, messengers to the Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting Nov. 9 urged legislators and citizens to press the issue defining marriage as a “God-ordained union between a man and a woman.”

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)- Voting unanimously to support a statewide constitutional marriage amendment, messengers to the Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting Nov. 9 urged legislators and citizens to press the issue defining marriage as a "God-ordained union between a man and a woman."

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)-Messengers to the Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting in Jacksonville Nov. 8-9 will consider a resolution urging the State Legislature to adopt a ban on “same-sex marriage,” according to State Convention President Tommy Green, who will conclude his presidency this year.

Jay Dennis really knows how to stir things up! His motion urging Florida Baptists to “lead the way” on biblical marriage is precisely what we did last week in Jacksonville.

TALLAHASSEE (FBW)-The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and several Planned Parenthood associations filed suit in Leon County Aug. 2 to remove the “parental notification” amendment from Florida’s November ballot. The proposed state constitutional amendment would make it impossible for a woman under 18 to obtain an abortion without parental consent.

Why We Can’t Stay Silent

A few weeks ago, the Federal Marriage Amendment, an amendment that would have defined marriage in America as the union between one man and one woman, did not pass. Granted, for some senators, it was a political hot potato in an election year. The safe response was to leave it alone.

The old saying was never truer: “It’s time to put up or shut up.”