Conservative Group Urges Americans to Visit Congress Reps. During Recess

Traditonal Values Coalition tells Americans they have until Sept. 6 to visit local offices of Senators and Representatives during the Congress recess.
Aug 06, 2004 09:29 PM EDT

A conservative group is urging Americans to take the opportunity to present their concerns on protecting traditional marriage to their Senators and Representatives who will be on recess until Sept. 6 this year.

Traditional Values Coalition, with membership of 43,000 churches nationwide representing 12 denominations, informed its readers that U.S. Senate and House of Representatives began their recess on July 26 and urged them to set up appointments to discuss traditional marriage.

“With all Senators and Representatives back in their home districts through the first week of September, this is an excellent time to set up appointments to visit your federal legislators in their home offices,” the post read.

”Develop a list of concerns and legislation such as protecting traditional marriage with no civil unions that you would like to see passed and schedule an appointment to visit your elected representatives in Washington, DC.”


The advocacy group also provided links to resources on traditional marriage on its site.

Even though the Senate filibustered the Federal Marriage Amendment, a constitutional amendment which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, thereby banning same-sex “marriages,” religious conservatives have repeatedly declared their commitment to protect traditional marriage.

Backers of traditional marriage have been using a grassroots approach to garner Congress support on the issue. The “We Votes Values” campaign, sponsored by Family Research Council and the Ethics and Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, successfully convinced 8 middle-ground Senators to vote in favor of the FMA after viewers flooded their offices with calls following a July 11th broadcast. The group has rescheduled their planned mid-August broadcast until September.