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

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.

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

Rebecca Stotzer is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her research includes studies on racial and sexual discrimination.

Brian Levin is director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism, a nonpartisan research and policy center at California State University, San Bernardino. Levin is also a professor of criminal justice at the university.

Gregory M. Herek is a psychologist at the University of California, Davis. He is a well-known scholar in the areas of prejudice against lesbians and gay men, hate crimes and anti-gay violence, and AIDS-related stigma.

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

Janet Porter is the president and founder of Faith2Action, a Christian advocacy group that works to influence politics and legislation. The group is based in Dania Beach, Fla.