Pastor Harry R. Jackson Jr. is pastor of Hope Christian Church in Lanham, Md. He also heads the High Impact Leadership Coalition.

Linda Hardin is national coordinator for the Church of the Nazarene’s single adult ministries.

Bishop Kwabena Rainey Cheeks is pastor of Inner Light Ministries in Washington, D.C., and a supporter of the legislation.

The Massachusetts Family Institute is an organization that promotes marriage as between a man and a woman.

Paul Jarzembowski is the USCCB representative to the National Catholic Young Adult Ministry Association, which is an outreach to singles and couples in their 20s and 30s.

Frederick Lawrence is a theology professor at Boston College and the author of Punishing Hate: Bias Crimes Under American Law.

Jeff Strank of LetMyPeopleGo organizes popular gatherings for Jewish singles in several cities. The annual Christmas Eve ball in New York City attracts more than 3,000 people. Contact through the website.

Spark Networks in Beverly Hills, Calif., owns online singles services, including JDate for Jewish singles, CatholicMingle.com, ChristianMingle.com and LDSMingle.com. In its 2007 trends reports, Spark Networks said it is seeing a rise in offline events connected to its dating sites and an increased subscriber base of single parents.

Repent America is a Philadelphia-based evangelistic organization that works against homosexuality, abortion and evolution.