State Sen. David Fowler, president of The Family Action Council of Tennessee, announced the first component of a statewide media campaign "to promote the worth and value of a married mom and dad to their children."

Sen. Fowler said, "In these challenging times in which our popular culture is constantly forcing upon us the idea that marriage between same-sex couples and even groups of people is worthy of our consideration, it is increasingly important that we take a step back and consider the implications such radical ideas could have on our children."

This is the organization's first campaign and the beginning of a larger, on-going educational effort to promote strong, healthy families in Tennessee, it was stated.

Sen. Fowler said, "It is our hope that we will lay the ground-work, by raising public awareness of the need for stronger families in Tennessee so we can begin to roll-back our state's high number of divorces, reduce out of wedlock births, and the number of co-habitating couples with children.

"In spite of the tremendous amount of help and support the church community currently provides to families in crisis, more can be done. One consideration will be a review of no-fault divorce laws and other public policy issues that directly or indirectly tear at the fabric of Tennessee's families. Raising children brings with it unique challenges that are best addressed by mothers and fathers. Further, we should not experiment with the well-being and future of our children by intentionally creating families without the possibility of ever having either a mom or a dad.

“Certainly, there are some single-parent families, who utilize strong support networks, who are making the best of their situation and whose children do very well. For that they are to be applauded and they deserve our active help and support. But as a society, we should aspire to the idea - a mom and a dad - while doing what we can to support children and parents who must raise their children alone. Long term, one of the ways we can help is by promoting a culture in our state that recognizes the value of in-tact families, where divorce is more rare and married couples work as hard as possible to remain together because they realize the value and benefit of doing so for their children.

"Additionally, this ad is timely in that it helps bring attention to an important issue voters need to consider as they go to the ballot box to vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment to our state constitution and the impact it's passage or failure could ultimately have on our future." The Family Action Council of Tennessee is a sister organization of Family Action of Tennessee, which heads the RealMarriage.org single-measure ballot committee initiative.

The radio ad, which began airing on Wednesday, is titled, "Kids do Best With a Married Mom and Dad," and cites a collection of research to back the premise of the ad. It is in rotation on the top-rated stations in Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga and the Tri-Cities.