NEW YORK – Tit for tat.

Earlier this month, the anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) announced a summer tour across 17 states and the District of Columbia to "protect marriage." In NOM's call to action, they declared that "this is an urgent time for marriage," that "a strong marriage ... makes a strong family," and that "groups of these strong families make strong neighborhoods" and "strong towns, cities, and states."

Freedom To Marry (FTM) supporters couldn't agree more, and they thank NOM for drawing attention this summer to the love, commitment and the crucial safety net that marriage brings to families across the country.

Now, Freedom To Marry will join NOM in embracing this summer as a Summer for Marriage. They will spread the word across the country about the importance of ending exclusion from marriage.

As part of FTM's Summer for Marriage, supporters will be working with local and state partners to plan rallies and other events wherever NOM is planning to push discrimination and distort the truth about gay couples and their families.

In 17 states and the District of Columbia, FTM activists will share personal stories and demonstrate how the denial of marriage harms same-sex couples and their families, while helping no one.

FTM has always believed that the best way to change hearts and minds is to break the silence, spark conversations, and share personal stories about why marriage matters to same-sex couples and their families. But it also knows that supporters cannot allow the distractions, distortions and discriminatory agenda of groups like NOM to go unanswered.

In advertising its summer tour, NOM referred to supporters of the freedom to marry as the "iconoclasts" who "pillage the values of our nation." Nothing could be further from the truth. FTM will continue to demonstrate that there is nothing more American then embracing the Golden Rule and celebrating love, commitment, and equal protection under the law.

Freedom To Marry's Summer for Marriage tour will begin next month and last through August. FTM invite gay people and non-gay allies across the country to join the effort to make this a Summer for Marriage for all loving couples who choose to embrace the commitment of marriage.

To stay tuned, sign up at freedomtomarry.org for updates and ways to show what being for marriage really looks like.