This pledge, organized by the 15 groups listed at the bottom, ran in a full-page ad in the Des Moines Register on August 13, 1999, the day before the Ames Straw Poll.  Gary Bauer, Pat Buchanan, Steve Forbes, Orrin Hatch, Alan Keyes, Dan Quayle signed; George W. Bush, Elizabeth Dole and John McCain did not, nor did Democrats Al Gore and Bill Bradley.

For the Importance of Marriage & Family

A Presidential Candidate Pledge

ON MARRIAGE

I hereby pledge to the American peoplethat if elected President of the United States, I will uphold the sacred institution of marriage as the lifelong union of one man and one woman.
As President, I will vigilantly defend this age-old institution against any effort -- judicial or legislative -- to redefine it to include same-sex relationships.
Furthermore, as President, I will resist all attempts to provide the benefits and privileges traditionally accorded married couples to unmarried "domestic partners"-- as such efforts diminish the unique role of marriage as the bedrock of family and society.

ON FAMILY

I also pledge to use the executive office, including the bully pulpit, to advance the unchangeable truth that children need a mother and a father -- a need that must not be sacrificed to special interest politics.  Hence I will promote the placement of adoptable and foster care children with traditional husband-and-wife couples.
I will oppose all judicial and legislative efforts to place children in homosexual households, which are motherless or fatherless by design.

ON PARENTAL RIGHTS

When educators subject students to politicized lessons about homosexuality, they infringe upon the rights of parents to provide moral instruction to their children.
I pledge, therefore, to oppose the promotionof homosexuality as normative in America's public schools, recognizing that this issue is best discussed at home.

ON CIVIL RIGHTS

As President, I will honor the spiritand intent of nondiscrimination policies and law by opposing federal legislation that would expand them to include special legal protections based on sexual behavior or preference.  Further, I will stand for the right of private organizations--such as the Boy Scouts--to abide by their own moral code.
 

                                                                    ________________________________
                                                                  Candidate                                                    Date

The organizations represented belowbelieve that the health of our society has always rested upon the shared strength of Marriage
and Family.  We offer this pledge to each declared presidential candidate that they may publicly acknowledge to the nation
their support for those laws and policies that will strengthen these vital institutions.

American Family Association	Concerned Women for America	Mission America
Americans for Truth About Homosexuality	Coral Ridge Ministries	National Legal Foundation
Center for Reclaiming America	Family First	Stop Promoting Homosexuality Int'l
Citizens for Community Values	Kerusso Ministries	Straight from the Heart
	Liberty Counsel	Toward Tradition