This week Focus on the Family joined a coalition effort led by Alliance Defending Freedom, calling on the U.S. Senate to protect people of faith and traditional marriage by rejecting H.R. 8404, the deceptively titled “Respect for Marriage Act.”

The Act is a calculated political move to discriminate against people of faith who support God’s design for marriage.

This legislation was rushed through the House last week and passed by a vote of 267 to 157 without any public hearings.

Proponents of the measure say they are codifying same-sex marriage under federal law, but according to the coalition letter sent to the Senate this week, the Act “is an attack on millions of Americans, particularly people of faith, who believe marriage is between one man and one woman ….”

Signatories of the letter say that the measure would do much more than codify same-sex marriage under federal law; it would attempt to “shut down any disagreement, silencing those with the long-held conviction that marriage between one man and one woman is essential to human flourishing ….”

It is critical to contact Republican senators and urge them to protect marriage and defeat this dangerous bill.

Contact your senators today and tell them to vote “NO” on H.R. 8404.

Your help is urgently needed to stop the dangerous and deceptively titled “Respect for Marriage Act.” It should be called the “Codify the Radical Redefinition of Marriage and Family Act.”

lso known by its bill number, H.R. 8404, it just passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is headed for a quick vote – maybe even this week – in the U.S. Senate.

The bill is a trojan horse designed to undermine families, religious organizations and states that desire to protect marriage and religious faith. The Act is an assault on religious freedom and free speech.

Please call or email your U.S. senators and respectfully request that they oppose the bill, H.R. 8404, which attempts to enshrine same-sex marriage into federal law, disrespecting the wishes of millions of Christians and pro-family Americans who view marriage as a God-ordained union of one man and one woman and simply want to live their lives consistent with their deeply held beliefs.

Supporters of the bill claim that H.R. 8404 merely “codifies” the 2015 Obergefell same-sex marriage decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. But that’s a smokescreen for the bill’s real purposes, which threaten religious people, businesses, and organizations with costly, harassing lawsuits merely for practicing their faith.

This is URGENT. Please contact your senators TODAY.

Leading sociologists have discovered something they call the Success Sequence. It is as close to a magic formula for avoiding poverty as can be found. And it is certainly something all parents should know about because it affects the lives and future of our children and how they can almost guarantee never living in poverty as they enter young adulthood. It involves three relatively simple steps.

• Finish high school.
• Maintain a full-time job once you finish school.
• Get married before you have children and stay married.

College is not even a necessity for success.

A full 97% of American Millennials who do these three things will not be poor as adults. 97 percent! And this sequence is so powerful that it even lifts those who come from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.

Specifically,

• 96% of Black and 97% of Hispanic Millennials who complete these three steps are not poor in their mid-30s.
• 94% of Millennials who grew up in lower-income families will avoid poverty if they follow the Success Sequence.
• 95% of Millennials who grew up separated from their mother or father will avoid poverty following the Sequence.
• And 95% of Millennials who follow the three steps of the Sequence but do not have a college degree will not be poor by their mid-30s.