Tuesday, September 26: Read my latest column, Summit signals power of religion in public life.
Saturday, September 23:
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I’m coming to you live from the 2006 Values Voter Summit, sponsored by the Family Research Council. Invited by FRC’s new communications guy, blogger Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost, I’m here to take advantage of the opportunity to meet other conservatives and discuss issues important to Christian conservatives.
Here’s the program.
FYI, ten years ago yesterday, President William J. Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). I’ve argued against the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment for several reasons. DOMA is one of those reasons. The relevant text:
No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or
judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.
I think I’m the only blogger in the world who takes live-blogging seriously. I’m on blogger’s row, in the main room where the speakers are (as opposed to in the basement at CPAC), blogging. The other invited bloggers aren’t here. Just me. Blogging.
I’m sitting next to blogger Randy Thomas, however, who is not an official blogger. Pictured above are me, Joe, and Jared Bridges, another new FRC communications employee.
Right now I’m listening to The Preservation of Traditional Marriage panel with Maggie Gallagher [Update: Met her today. Great lady. She said I should make more TV appearances. If producers start calling, I wouldn't turn them down...], marriage researcher and columnist. I’m among people who believe Roe v. Wade should and will be overturned someday. Righteous.
I’ll post updates and photos throughout the day. Thanks again for reading LBC. 
Sources:
Update (2:35 p.m.): I’ve blogged about Randy Thomas’s (pictured) story before. Once caught up in the homosexual lifestyle, he is now a Christian, blogger, and “poster boy” for Exodus International, a ministry that helps people overcome homosexuality through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Blogger Stacy Harp is here with her husband Randall, who’s also a blogger. The president’s new press guy Tony Snow, formerly of FOX News, is cracking everyone up with a funny, lively, and inspiring speech. I found out at CPAC, before Snow landed his new job, that he’d heard of me. Political stuff is what gets my attention. Hollywood has nothing on DC. 
OK, so Senator George Allen is talking about…something. He mentioned a parental notification bill he vetoed in 1994 because it was watered down. A different version was signed into law in 1997. Marriage is a union between one man and one women, etc. Allen sounds like the right kind of conservative, but I hate that he caved and apologized for a remark that wasn’t intended to be an insult. Then there’s the confederate flag thing. I don’t care, but some conservatives might.
4:49 p.m.: I’m going to try to stick around to live-blog Ann Coulter’s speech. She always – always – says something controversial at these events. At last year’s CPAC, she called Islamofascists “ragheads.” Some conservative bloggers (and libertarians) had “issues” with her remark.
8:26 p.m.: I’m such a chicken. I was a foot away from Ann Coulter, and I didn’t try to meet her. I’d stepped out of the ballroom to check my phone messages, and there she was. I’m not a groupie, but… 
Oh, well. There will be a next time. Gary Bauer is speaking now. Coulter’s up next, playing to a packed house, as usual.
Bauer says to the radical homosexual movement: “You will not defeat us. We will defend marriage!” Standing ovation. A man small in stature spoke BIG just now. His speech was a serious call to courage. Don’t be afraid of the ACLU or any other radical group. Stand up for decency.
8:44 p.m.: Coulter’s talking about the Roe v. Wade travesty. I’m counting the number of quotes the press will take out of context and print tomorrow. No matter what Coulter says, it’s golden. Like her, love her, or hate her…She’s talking about the left’s euphemisms for abortion: medical procedure, termination of pregnancy, partial birth abortion (infanticide, to you and me). Anything but “killing.” Lots of talk at this conference about overturning Roe. I’m in. How about you?
On the day of the last presidential election, states with a homosexual marriage referendum on the ballot rejected it, even in states that John Kerry carried. Interesting point to remember: When the people, rather than the courts, get to decide on the issue of homosexual “marriage,” they vote against it. That’s why liberals go through courts instead of “the people.”
Says Coulter to homosexuals: If you want to overturn a 3,000-year-old tradition, the burden is on you to make the argument. I don’t have to explain or prove to you how “gay marriage” will negatively affect my life.
