From an article yesterday in the conservative CNSNews.com, “Obama: Homosexual Relationships ‘Just as Real and Admirable’ as Heterosexual Marriage”:

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
By Pete Winn, CNSNews.com Senior Writer/Editor

(CNSNews.com) – President Obama delivered an unprecedented message to the Human Rights Campaign Saturday night. Sounding more like a homosexual activist than a sitting president, Obama went well beyond his expected message of “I’m here with you” on the homosexual agenda.

“My expectation is that when you look back on these years, you will see a time in which we put a stop to discrimination against gays and lesbians — whether in the office or on the battlefield,” Obama told an estimated audience of 3,000. “You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.”

Even Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese was stunned at the breadth of  Obama’s statement, calling it “something quite remarkable.”

“This was a historic night when we felt the full embrace and commitment of the President of the United States,” Solmonese said in a post-speech statement. “It’s simply unprecedented.”

But Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, called the president’s remarks “appalling.”

“Barack Obama is … declaring that these relationships are basically equal to the real thing,” LaBarbera told CNSNews.com. “I think this is the ultimate Obama audacity play –– for him, just declaring it seems to make it so.”

The president pointedly used the pronoun “we” – not “you” –– throughout much of his speech.

“Do not doubt the direction we are headed and the destination we will reach,” Obama said at one point….

LaBarbera said Obama’s comments went far beyond using the presidency as a bully pulpit.

“The condescension is glaring,” LaBarbera said. “He’s really putting down millions and millions of faithful, moral-minded citizens and dismissing traditional beliefs with such arrogance, it is almost indescribable. It really is amazing.”

“It’s just hateful rhetoric,” LaBarbera added. “It’s a different kind of hate, to be sure, but it is hate –– he hates our Judeo-Christian tradition.”

Obama’s Expanding Anti-Christian Agenda: Photo of President Obama appearing on the website of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the world’s most powerful homosexual lobby group. Obama was the keynote speaker at the group’s annual fundraising dinner. He echoed HRC’s talking points by claiming that homosexuality-based relationships are “just as real and admirable” as normal and natural relationships between a man and a woman.

CHICAGO, Illinois — President Obama used the bully pulpit tonight to defy the Creator, by brazenly declaring before a homosexual activist audience that homosexuality-based relationships are “just as real and admirable” as normal relationships between a man and a woman.

Here is how influential one homosexual activist — Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign, whose annual fundraising dinner Obama keynoted tonight — reacted to the president’s unprecedented endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle:

“Finally, we heard something quite remarkable from the President:  ‘You will see a time in which we as a nation finally recognize relationships between two men or two women as just as real and admirable as relationships between a man and a woman.’

“This was a historic night when we felt the full embrace and commitment of the President of the United States. It’s simply unprecedented.”

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality President Peter LaBarbera issued this response:

President Obama has taken his ‘audacity’ to new levels tonight, equating sin-based ‘relationships’ to the normal and natural male-female relationship that finds its best fulfillment in God-ordained, procreative marriage.

During the presidential campaign, Obama once punted on an abortion-related query as to when life begins, saying that was above his “pay grade.” Too bad he didn’t attempt a similar evasion on  homosexuality. The president has gone way over his pay grade on this one. Homosexual practice is a moral issue, settled by the Creator and His clear design of nature since the beginning of time. Obama can no more declare with any authority that abnormal, homosexuality-based relationships are as “admirable” as normal relationships than he can proclaim that each day will now have 30 hours instead of 24 to increase American productivity.

The president could not be more wrong. Homosexual relationships are not to be admired, they are to be pitied, as immoral “unions” that can only pretend to copy real marriage. Moreover, when the government treats such aberrant relationships like marriage, it risks placing hundreds of thousands of children in homes that are motherless or fatherless by design, through “gay adoption” — another misguided homosexual demand advanced by Obama.

Perhaps the president needs to meet at the White House with some “ex-gays” — former homosexuals who now live in natural, man-woman marriages — people like Steve Bennett, Yvette Schneider, and Alan Chambers — to see the error of his ways.

We have yet to analyze Obama’s entire speech, but his declaration about admiring immoral homosexual relationships alone is the latest in a series of acts of spectacular hubris that have marked his political career. But Obama has a problem: he sold himself to the American electorate as a moderate Christian who believes deeply in traditional marriage between a man and a woman. Yet the more he panders and postures to his impatient homosexual allies, the more Obama’s supposed embrace of husband-and-wife marriage becomes a farce — one apparently designed to fool voters who knew next to nothing about his real, radically pro-homosexual and pro-transsexual agenda.

We don’t blame Obama’s “queer” allies for asking: if you truly believe same-sex relationships are as “real and admirable” as male-female relationships, then why NOT support “gay marriage”? Equal is equal, right? The truth, of course, is that homosexuality-based relationships are anything but equal to the real thing: they cannot produce children; they are based on destructive and changeable behavior that has been condemned by Christianity and other major religious throughout most of civilized human history; and in celebrating their particular sin and attaching it to the noble institution of marriage, they force the teaching of homosexuality and counterfeit “marriage” as normative to schoolchildren in the name of tolerance and equality.

Barack Obama is a man whose “audacity” and pride seem to know no bounds — he even distorts the Bible to justify his “gay” advocacy. In his mind, he knows better than God, or so it would seem. Yet in this respect Obama is not unlike other pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality politicians — mostly Democrats but some Republicans — who take it upon themselves to redefine right and wrong based on their subjective “feelings.” As the prophet Isaiah said long ago, they call good evil and evil good (Is. 5:20).

We hope that Obama’s cynical habit of talking out of both sides of his mouth on the homosexual issue (like other issues) will be his undoing. Now it is time for moral-minded Americans — especially those who voted for Obama  — be they Christian, Muslim or Jew; black, white or brown — to let the White House and Congress know that they will oppose all of the Obama Administration’s legislative efforts to create a bogus “civil right” out of the human wrong of homosexuality.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3: 16-18)

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, in the few years I have known Matt Barber — I met him in 2005 after he was fired by Allstate Insurance Company after writing an article on his own time critical of homosexuality — I have come to see him is an antidote of sorts for the ills besetting the “anti-homosexual-agenda” movement. (Calling it “anti-gay” makes it sound like we’re against people when we really oppose destructive, unnatural and changeable behaviors that for centuries have been prohibited according to Judeo-Christian moral teachings; “gay” self-identity is a very new concept, historically speaking.)

Barber’s contribution to our noble cause should not be underestimated: he is just as unapologetic and aggressive for biblical truth as hell-bent activists like Kevin Jennings and HRC’s Joe Solmonese are for their evil agendas. That’s why coming to see him at AFTAH’s banquet on Saturday, October 24 will be so good for your soul. Each of us needs to have our batteries recharged to fight the anti-Christian Left — and there is no force, short of Muslim extremists perhaps, that poses a greater threat to our God-given American liberties than the homosexual/transsexual activist juggernaut.

Matt will pump you up to fight on for God, family and country and help put things in perspective about why we must resist the nefarious “GLBT” (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) lobby — or lose our nation and its precious freedoms as we know them.

STUDENT/PASTOR DISCOUNT:  I am so convinced that Matt will spur you on to do good deeds for the Kingdom that I have cut the price in half for pastors and teenage students to attend: from $50 to $25 per person. Would you please prayerfully consider sponsoring your pastor or teenage students (and their friends) for $25 to hear Matt’s talk? If you cannot muster up the $25, then e-mail AFTAH and we’ll find a way to get that person there — because I do not want anyone to miss this uplifting presentation for lack of money. You can call 910-308-7619 or write us at americansfortruth@comcast.net.

In a world of insane political correctness and perversion- and gender-confusion-based “rights,” our young people and spiritual leaders NEED to hear Barber’s bold defense of truth.

If it is true that religious America is filled with “evangellyfish” and “Catholic cop-outs” who are marked by their timidity in the public square and disdain for the “culture wars,” then Matt is just the shark we need to tear down their bogus excuses and restore a vision of courageous Christian citizenship in this blessed nation. He doesn’t try to be “nicer than Jesus,” as many Christians do today who cannot bear to apply God’s “tough love” standard to this Sin Movement euphemistically known as “gay civil rights.” Instead, Matt just stands fearlessly on the truth that flows from the Bible — backed by reason — and fights as hard for it today as he did in the ring as a professional heavyweight boxer who went undefeated before bowing out due to an injury. (Click HERE to watch Matt’s knock-out fights on YouTube.)

If you fall into one of these categories, then hearing Matt’s tough but true message on Oct. 24 is just what you need:

• Are you overly defensive about fighting in the “culture war” or think that it gets in the way of Christians “ministering to the gay community”?
• Do you shy away from cultural confrontation and think it’s more “Christ-like” for believers to stay out of the messy Culture Wars?
• Do you have doubts about the rightness of our cause or whether God’s word remains valid in today’s “gay”-affirming culture? Are you sometimes embarrassed or resentful about the Bible’s strong prohibition against homosexual sin, or find yourself questioning God’s word even as you accept the flawed presumptions of homosexual apologists?
• Are you nervous about being called “intolerant” or hateful if you stand up for real marriage and against the many demands of the GLBT movement?
• Do you feel homosexuals largely have no choice about their “orientation” so why shouldn’t they have (homosexuality-based) “civil rights” like other minorities?
• Do you feel we’ve already lost this battle so what’s the point of fighting on? That “same-sex marriage” is inevitable? Or that the Culture War is futile because the “end times” are upon us and Bible predicts immorality will continue to grow anyway?
• Are you beaten down by the persistence and power of ungodly forces in our culture? Are you so sick of this issue you just don’t want to deal with it anymore?
• Do you think protecting the word “marriage” is the best we can hope for when it comes to stopping the GLBT movement?
• Do you feel like “gays and lesbians” are largely victims in our culture — including at the hands of “rigid,” pharisaical Christians — and that the Church should move away from its “obsession” with this issue and on to more pressing matters like Global Warming?
• Are you largely ignorant of the size, financial resources and clout of the GLBT movement? Would your attitude toward the Culture War change if you saw how outgunned pro-family forces are in this battle?
• Do you have trouble answering this question from the other side: “How does my gay marriage affect your marriage?”

Now be honest: most of us struggle with at least one of those questions, and many justify inaction using similar lines of thinking.

Matt Barber’s inspiring story is the answer to such Christian confusion and defeatism. He is the personification of that very non-obscure verse in the Book of Romans (8:28): “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” He could never have predicted what his Heavenly Father had in store for him when he was fired by Allstate in a heavy-handed act of anti-religious bigotry. (If you doubt that, apply the “gay-Christian” substitution test: can you imagine a Fortune 500 corporation abruptly firing a homosexual employee who was privately championing “gay pride” on the web? Exactly.)

Matt and his wife faced financial ruin and a sudden dead-end to his solid career path thanks to Allstate’s liberal intolerance. However, through God’s amazing grace and provision, he now rhetorically battles the very same Homosexual Activist Lobby that cost him his job. (The homosexual group Human Rights Campaign, which played a key role in Matt’s demise at Allstate, is welcoming President Obama as keynote speaker at its fund-raising dinner Saturday night.) And frankly, Matt is amazed that so many fellow Christians are now bowing out of the “culture war” on the “gay” issue despite the clear and present danger that organized homosexuality poses to our children and to our First Amendment liberties — at at time when our political enemies are boasting that they are on the precipice of total victory!

God wouldn’t have us quit the battle for Truth in a free society and concede to a powerful special interest lobby that despises and twists His Inerrant Word to rationalize their particular besetting sin (one He calls “detestable”). We must defend the Truth no matter what comes — as Matt has — because God wins in the end, and His truth will set men free.

_________________________________

Read these Matt Barber columns:

Matt Barber Answers Charge that Christians Focus Too Much on Homosexuality

Matt Barber: Commies, Fascists and Perverts, Oh My!

Also relevant:

Dr. Michael Brown Corrects Andrew Marin and Emergent Evangelicals on their ‘Celebration of Ambiguity’ on Homosexuality

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, Dr. Michael Brown gave an excellent presentation at AFTAH’s monthly dinner-lecture last week. We hope to post a YouTube on Dr. Brown’s succinct and compelling response to my question on the “Big Three” hostile questions thrown at Christians who defend the Bible’s prohibitions against homosexual conduct:

1. “But Jesus Christ never said anything about homosexuality”;
2. “Why should we believe the Old Testament says about homosexuality when it also bans wearing polyester and eating shellfish?”; and
3. “You Christians are so judgmental.”

Dr. Brown, a world renowned biblical scholar, hit it out of the park. He also challenged what he calls the “celebration of ambiguity”in describing neo-evangelicals’ and the “Emergent Church’s” evasive and equivocating — and unbiblical — positioning on the issue of homosexuality.

Brown specifically challenged Chicago evangelical Andrew Marin (right), founder of the Marin Foundation and author of “Love Is Not an Orientation.” Brown praised Marin for wanting to reach out to homosexuals and the portions of the book in which Marin relays personal stories of homosexuals he has encountered who have been hurt by the Church. But he was highly critical of Marin’s misuse of Scripture in interpreting verses dealing with homosexuality.

Brown said of the Emergent Church — which is much more accepting of homosexual identity, uses the controversial term ”gay Christian,” and generally scolds Christians for actively condemning homosexuality and the “gay” political/cultural agenda: “Their cure is worse than the sickness …. [they] have shown more solidarity with [homosexual] people than with God.”

“How are we helping anyone when we make the clear unclear … the unambiguous ambiguous? … How is that love?” Brown asked, calling on Christians to share the full truth of the Gospel in love. After first noting that Christians need to repent for neglecting to lovingly share God’s salvation plan with people caught up in homosexuality, Brown warned against believers falling into a “soulish sympathy” for homosexuals that overrides Biblical truth and their Christian conscience. [AFTAH will be offering a DVD of Brown's talk; write americansfortruth@comcast.net for more information.]

“There is a fundamental denial of the power of the Gospel,” Brown said, noting that a key requirement of being a disciple of Christ is to “deny yourself.”

Brown — who strongly urged Christians to humble themselves and repent for not offering the grace and love of Christ to homosexual friends and acquaintances — will be writing a review of Marin’s book for AFTAH. We will also transcribe Brown’s important critique of Emergent philosophy in a future post.

DISCLAIMER: I have not read Marin’s book yet, but have been deeply troubled by his chameleon-like approach to ministry and his watered-down Gospel as it relates to the issue of homosexuality. Marin — a self-described former “bible-bangin’ homophobe” who moved to Chicago’s homosexual “Boystown” community to reach homosexuals after three of his friends “came out” to him as “gay” – turned on me last year after we both appeared on a Moody Radio broadcast in Chicago.

After our mutual appearance on Moody’s WMBI Radio, I posted a sympathetic Moody commentary about it by WMBI’s Julie Roys. After we republished Roys’ piece, Andrew and his wife pleaded with me to take it off AFTAH’s website to accommodate their covert-like approach to ministry (an approach that has earned him criticism and distrust from both homosexual activists like Michaelangelo Signorile and biblically faithful Christians). After I rejected his appeal, Marin did an online interview on ExGayWatch, a homosexual activist website, to supposedly “clear the record” and distance himself and his work from Americans For Truth.

Marin’s turnaround came just days after he praised me enthusiastically on Moody Radio for “[taking] the bullet for all of us” in opposing the homosexual activist movement. Predictably, ExGayWatch used Marin’s interview as an opportunity to bash my alleged “shameless self-promotion.” I was appalled that Marin would use a blatantly anti-biblical website — one bitterly hostile to the truth that Jesus Christ can help homosexuals leave the lifestyle – to undermine a fellow Christian believer.

(I have worked with Andrew before: in 2006 he once almost appeared at a press conference that I organized as executive director of Illinois Family Institute — comprised of local pro-family leaders confronting the “Gay Games,” which were being held in Chicago. Marin supported IFI’s efforts — which included a Gospel outreach to Gay Games participants – but he pulled out as a speaker at the press conference, fearing that his public stance would hurt his ministry.)

Below is Marin’s startling post on the ”gay”-affirming site, ExGayWatch. I say “startling” because Marin — who regularly works with Moody Bible Institute and is promoted through sympathetic Moody Radio interviews – now seems intent on muddying up the Bible’s clear truth: that homosexual practice is sinful yet changeable through Christ. Dr. Brown noted the exact same tendency in Marin’s book, which he critiqued at AFTAH’s talk.

Needless to say, Christians like Marin who equivocate on biblical truth will be championed by the same homosexual activists who viciously (and erroneously) denounce AFTAH and groups like us as “hateful.”

The highly “ambiguous” Marin “Is Homosexuality a Sin?” piece below is actually a long comment posted on the same ExGayWatch thread that contains his self-serving online interview with homosexual activist David Roberts. To be honest, I was so disturbed by Marin’s actions that I could not bring myself to listen to his XGW interview, but now that he’s “out of the closet,” as it were, with his “Love is an orientation” approach toward homosexuality, it’s time to review his comments and correct the record ourselves. We will respond point-by-point to Marins’ take on what transpired with WMBI and his dubious exegesis of Scripture.

I do not believe — or at least I hope — that the equivocating Andrew Marin, who seems ashamed of the Gospel of Christ (at least as applied to homosexuality),  represents Moody Bible Institute’s approach towards the homosexual issue. Moody has faithfully served the Lord for decades. And I regret that despite Julie Roys’ hopeful commentary, we must now openly oppose Marin’s habit of downplaying the sin of homosexuality — forgiveness for which is part of the great transforming work of Christ!

Dr. Brown is absolutely right: there is a great need for ministry-minded Christians to lovingly share the Gospel with practicing homosexuals, but they should never resort to publicly obfuscating or denying biblical Truth to carry out that mission. Please pray for Andrew Marin – that he will return to the truth on this issue, including the parts that are politically incorrect. – Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth

_____________________________

DL Moody once preached:

That’s the trouble with the sinners in Chicago.  They’ve turned against God, broken His commandments, trampled His law under their feet, and their sins hang upon them; until they show signs of repentance their sin will remain.  But the moment they see their iniquity and come to God, forgiveness will be given them and their iniquity will be taken out of their way.  Said a person to me the other day, “It is my sin that stands between me and Christ.” “It isn’t,” I replied, “it’s your own will.” That’s what stands between the sinner and forgiveness.  Christ will take all your iniquities away if you will. Men are so proud that they won’t acknowledge and confess before God.  Don’t you see on the face of it, if your boy won’t repent you cannot forgive him, and how is God going to forgive a sinner if he don’t repent? If He was allowing an unrepentant sinner into His Kingdom, there would be war in Heaven in twenty-four hours.  You cannot live in a house with a boy who steals everything he can lay his hands on.  You would have to banish him from your house.

__________________________________

Andrew Marin’s Post on ExGayWatch

Andrew Marin’s comment posted on the homosexual activist website “ExGayWatch,” on April 24th, 2008:

Hello Everyone,

I am part of the subject of this post [referring to his online interview] and I wanted to say a few things. First, I appreciate the opportunity that I was given by David to explain what happened. I also appreciate everyone’s comments, and I want to let all of you know that I want to be as open and transparent as I can possibly be.

With that in mind I would like to address Bob’s concerns one by one because I am not trying to hide anything from anyone. I want to be honest about my life, my experiences and my organization – and so here are detailed answers for each of the concerns that were raised.

1. To explain my verbiage of “love” and “not judging” and how that influences our “educational work”:

As I said on the interview, my view of love is lived out through the following definition – love is a tangible and measurable expression of unconditional behaviors that no matter who you are, what you say or what you do I have your back 110% and will never leave or give up on your salvation/belief in God. I believe that the word love has become a trivial word coming from the Christian community to gays and lesbains because too often Christian expressions of love has become conditional. My goal is to unconditionally be apart of, and involved in people’s lives to overcome that negative perception and truth of what “love” has become. The Father is unconditional; Jesus is unconditional; and so to do I want to follow that example whether or not there is any “change” because at the end of the day only God can allow someone into heaven. So why not seek validation from the One who can bring eternal validation. Humanly opinions have no bearing on heavenly judgment, and therefore my wish is to take those humanly judgments away and focus on our Lord and let Him do as He sees fit for each of our lives. Therefore our entire educational work is based off of this premise.

2. Is homosexuality a sin?

Does anyone else ever wonder why when it comes to the most divisive topic in the church today that most questions revolve around one word, yes or no answers? I started to think about that, and I’ve come to the conclusion that both sides ask those same yes or no questions at the beginning so they can then label you and place you on their side, or the opponent’s side. This is nothing more than an expression of an “us vs. them” mindset. Building bridges cannot happen through an us vs. them mindset. Therefore, is homosexuality a sin?

I have three clear answers:

1. Romans 3:23 – we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

2. James 2:10 – in God’s eyes, if you have committed one sin you have committed them all

3. Matthew 7:1-2 – the measure you use to judge others will also be used to judge you

Theologically I believe that sin has been propitiated to us all through the Original Sin, and we are all born sinful into a sinful world. My position is that it is time to elevate the conversation past what is always fought about and shift our mind-frames to belief and communication with the Creator. If we can focus on a tangible expression of love, belief and a humbled understanding of ourselves, and each other’s point of view as valid to their experience – in our lives and our sexuality (from both sides) –then we can advance the worship and dialogue past negative debates and onto more important eternal issues. I strongly believe that we are all on the same plain constantly learning and growing in our lives and faith trying to figure this life out. The unique juxtaposition is that we will never figure it out and have to live by that same faith to continue on another day, in what many times is a non-felt security by God. We know He’s there and yet there are times, especially during the extremes of when things are great and when things are horrible, that we don’t feel Him. Hebrews 11:1 states that faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. I feel as though it is my job to tangibly reach out to the GLBT community and apologize for what has happened in the past – and then help both sides to move forward to bring faith and spiritual reconciliation to a community evangelical Christians have traditionally only fought against.

3. Where do I stand of civil rights issues such as marriage equality?

I let the politicians handle the politics. I head a religious organization that is solely focused on religion and spirituality and to a bridge being built between time-tested opposing communities. I believe that politics does not have to enter into every conversation. I understand that many of the “religious right” have placed themselves in the middle of political debates and agendas, as well as many on the “left” have done the same. I will do neither. I have been put here for spiritual things, and that is my only focus. When our government decides either way, I will so live by those laws and not argue, disagree or fight in either direction. My world is not of this world because of what is to come.

4. “If I love gays, why do I oppose gay rights?”

I have never commented on gay rights so I am not sure where that statement is coming from – this is the first time. Just because I was connected by a third party to LaBarbera does not mean I agree or disagree. Others can continue to fight over politics, I just wish to focus on being as best of a representation I can to the one true God.

5. “In a Reader interview I flunked both tests”

The link to the Reader article is
http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/andrewmarin/

and if so inclined, please read it in its entirety. I believe that all quotes need further context, but becuase this issue was brought up here is a direct quote from that article:

The Marin Foundation takes no official position on gay marriage or gay adoption, although Marin praised one of his gay students who took in foster children from a third world country with his partner. And he says there’s no reason gays shouldn’t serve in the military. But these familiar debates are, for Marin, “nitpicking,” so mired in the realm of politics and worldly power that they detract from his broader spiritual mission. “I’m not political,” he insists. “I’m religious.”

6. There are other denominations that affirms the GLBT community so why do you need a “ministry”?

First, The Marin Foundation is not a ministry. We are an organization that is not connected to a church or denomination. We work with 9 different denominations in fact, including Episcopal and UCC churches. We are here because there are many people in the GLBT community who are frightened of church – the building, the dogma, the stigma that comes with the name. As a non-profit organization we are not a church, and therefore a safe place for people to come to talk, be validated as a child of God, listened to and not have to feel like they are being preached to or tied down to one thing or the other. Many people in the GLBT community who participate in our organization say that is the reason they go to us and not a church. Also, the Episcopal and UCC are traditionally liturgical in their approach. We have found that there are many GLBT people who were raised in evangelical homes and wish for that same environment. The Marin Foundation is one of the ways to return into spiritual things that are more comfortable for them then attending a church of any particular denomination. My denomination is the belief in God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit who love me as their child.

7. Bob [Schwartz, of the hard-left Gay Liberation Network] called me an “unabashed homophobe” and that I am a “velvet-gloved hammer of antigay bigotry and discrimination.”

I in deed was, for the first 19 years of my life a homophobe. There was no two-ways about it. But to call me that now, with so many people in the GLBT community who love and respect me and the work that I do through The Marin Foundation who has helped so many GLBT people who have been really hurt by religion, is off base. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and after I read Bob’s post I had an epiphany this morning.

“I need to release the burden of having to feel like I have to convince people who don’t like me, of the things that I know are true in my life whether they agree or not.”

This might seem like old hat to all of you reading that, but my problem is that I take way too much too personally. So when I am insulted it really hurts my soul. I’m not a hardened season veteran of this issue that insults don’t hurt. I don’t have people call me names everyday of my life, so it stings when it does happen. Maybe it’s because I’m younger than most who are already involved, maybe I am naive? I don’t know. But regardless of where it comes from the reason I felt that I needed to write all of these issues down was to clear my conscious of being saddened by what Bob said.

I believe now, that I have covered all of his major points. I am very open to peaceful discussion and I look forward to continuing this very important dialogue.

Thank you very much.

[Marin posts again in the discussion on ExGayWatch; you can also listen to his interview in which he opposes AFTAH's Peter LaBarbera; go to: http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2008/04/labarberas-shameless-self-promotion-may-damage-a-real-ministry/]

Obama likes to play basketball, and the head fake is an important part of the game. You try to get your defender to commit with a head or body fake, throwing him off balance so you can move in to take the real shot (or get a clear shot at the basket). “Both Sides” Barack, the candidate, made some pretty good head fakes on abortion and homosexual “marriage” during the campaign, and many Americans were fooled. He said he wanted to “reduce the number of abortions” and pretended to be a strong supporter of preserving traditional marriage. (Remember the Saddleback Church debate moderated by Rick Warren?)

Then the real Obama went to the hoop: he championed the radical Freedom of Choice Act to rally his pro-abortion base as a candidate, expanded taxpayer-funded abortions worldwide as president, and now is moving to destroy DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act (signed into law by Democrat Bill Clinton in 1996). But the double-game is getting much tougher for Obama: a growing number of Americans are seeing him for what he is: the most radically left president ever to occupy the Oval Office. Shame on the gullible Christians and religionists who went for his head fakes. We’d be fools to rely on them again to “defend” life and marriage. — Peter LaBarbera

P.S. I wonder if Obama is aware of Planned Parenthood’s racist origins.

[This YouTube video had only 85,371 hits as of Aug. 30, 2009.]

America is getting to know the real Barack Obama — and he’s a lot more radical than a 2008 presidential candidate by the same name. This aggressively pro-homosexual speech by Michelle Obama to the Democratic National Committee’s Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council (June 27, 2008) had only 56,805 views on YouTube as of August 7, 2009. Most Americans have never seen this side of Michelle Obama, just as most have not seen the side of her husband that celebrated America’s biggest abortion “provider,” Planned Parenthood, in a 2007 campaign speech. (That speech had only 84,875 views on YouTube as of Aug. 7.) Social liberals and “gay” activists will cheer this speech by Michelle; everyone else won’t recognize her vis-à-vis the “apolitical” First Lady described by the national media. (A transcript follows the video; emphasis and web links added.) — Peter LaBarbera

To put it in perspective: timeless truth from that “obscure” passage in the New Testament.–Ed.:

“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” (Romans 1:26-27)

_______________________________________

Incomplete transcript of Michelle Obama speech to DNC’s Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council, June 27, 2008 (emphasis and web links added):

Reprinted from TransGriot website: http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2008/06/michelle-obamas-remarks-to-dncs-gay-and.html

Thank you Howard Dean [then Democratic National Committee Chairman], for all your hard work building our party. We are proud to have you as our party Chairman. I want to recognize the members of UNITE HERE Local 6 who are working this event tonight. And thank you all for inviting me to spend some time with you.

I’m honored to be with you in a week that reminds us just how far we’ve come as a country. Five years ago today, the Supreme Court delivered justice with the decision in Lawrence v. Texas that same-sex couples would never again be persecuted through use of criminal law. And on Saturday, we recognize the anniversary of the day people stood up at Stonewall and said “enough.”

These anniversaries remind us that no matter who we are, or where we come from, or what we look like, we are only here because of the brave efforts of those who came before us. That we are all only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in a pursuit of that more perfect union that is the promise of this country.

Over the course of this campaign, we’ve seen a fundamental change in the level of political engagement in this country. We’ve seen a renewed sense of possibility and a hunger for change. We’ve seen people of all ages and backgrounds investing time and energy like never before; writing $20, $30, $50 checks; investing for the first time ever in a political candidate. We’ve seen people talking to their neighbors about candidates and issues; working hard to clarify misperceptions; challenging one another to think differently about the world and our place in it.

It’s precisely this type of individual engagement and investment that has been the mission of my husband’s life. Barack has always believed that there is more in this country that unites us than divides us; that our common stories and struggles and values are what make this country great; that meaningful change never happens from the top down but from the bottom up.

I’ll never forget the first time I realized there was something special about Barack. It was nearly 20 years ago this summer. Barack and I were just getting to know one another, and he thought the best way for me to get to know him better was to get a better sense of the work he cared about most — his work as a community organizer.

He took me to a small church basement on the South Side of Chicago, where a group of neighborhood residents were gathered; folks he knew from his years as a community organizer before he went to law school. They were desperate for change. They were regular Americans struggling to build a decent life for themselves and their families. Single mothers living paycheck to paycheck; grandparents raising grandkids despite an income that wouldn’t allow it; men unable to support their families because jobs had disappeared when steel mills closed. Like most Americans, they didn’t want much; they weren’t asking for much: just dignity and respect.

I watched as Barack walked into the room, took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and instantly connected with each and every person in that room. He spoke eloquently of “the world as it is” and “the world as it should be.” He said the key to change is understanding that our job as citizens of this nation is to work hard each and every day to narrow the gap between those two ideas. He explained that we often settle for the world as it is even if it doesn’t reflect our personal values. But he reminded us that it is only through determination and hard work that we slowly make the world as it is and the world as it should be one in the same. His words were powerful not only because they made us believe in him – they challenged each of us to believe in ourselves.

One of the many reasons I’m proud of the way Barack has handled himself in this campaign is that he is still the same man I fell in love with in that church basement. His unyielding belief in that simple idea – closing the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be – is precisely why he’ll be a President you can be proud of.

Barack is not new to the cause of the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] community. It has been a conviction of his career since he was first elected to public office. In his first year in the Illinois State Senate, he cosponsored a bill amending the Illinois Human Rights Act to include protections for LGBT men and women. He worked on that bill for seven years, serving as chief cosponsor and lobbying his colleagues to reject the political expedience of homophobia and make LGBT equality a priority. In 2004, his efforts paid off as that bill finally became law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace, in housing, and in public places.

He’s led on gender-based violence with his work on the Illinois Gender Violence Act, successfully reaching across the aisle to put in place the nation’s strongest law giving the survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence legal remedy against their attackers. He joined his colleagues in fighting to include explicit protections for the LGBT community in that act. He lost that battle, but his efforts brought gender violence in the LGBT community into the political consciousness like never before.

In 2004, after hearing from gay friends and supporters about the hurtful impact of DOMA, Barack went on record during his U.S. Senate race calling for its complete repeal. And as a U.S. Senator, he voted to protect our Constitution from the stain of discrimination by voting against the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Barack’s record is clear. There is so much at stake in this election. The direction of our country hangs in the balance. We are faced with those two clear choices: The world as it is, and the world as it should be. We have to ask ourselves: Are we willing to settle for the world as it is or are we willing to work for the world as it should be?

Despite the extraordinary challenges we face today, we have a candidate who believes that the country is moving in the right direction, despite the inequalities created over the last 8 years.

And then we have Barack Obama, who believes that we must fight for the world as it should be.

A world where together we work to reverse discriminatory laws like DOMA and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

A world where LGBT Americans get a fair shake at working hard to get ahead without workplace discrimination.

A world where our federal government fully protects all of us — including LGBT Americans — from hate crimes.

And, a world where our federal laws don’t discriminate against same-sex relationships, including equal treatment for any relationship recognized under state law.

A world that recognizes that equality in relationship, family, and adoption rights is not some abstract principle; it’s about whether millions of LGBT Americans can finally live lives marked by dignity and freedom. Barack has made crystal clear his commitment to ensuring full equality for LGBT couples. That is why he supports robust civil unions. That is why he has said that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide for themselves how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples — whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage. And that is why he opposes all divisive and discriminatory constitutional amendments – whether it’s a proposed amendment to the California and Florida Constitutions or the U.S. Constitution. Because the world as it should be rejects discrimination.

But, it’s not just about the positions you take, it’s also about the leadership you provide.

Barack’s got the courage to talk to skeptical audiences; not just friendly ones. That’s why he told a crowd at a rally in Texas that gays and lesbians deserve equality. Now, the crowd got pretty quiet. But Barack said “now, I’m a Christian, and I praise Jesus every Sunday.” And the crowd started cheering. Then he said, “I hear people saying things that I don’t think are very Christian with respect to people who are gay and lesbian.” And you know what? The crowd kept cheering.

That’s why he told evangelicals at Rick Warren’s Saddleback church that we need a renewed call to action on HIV and AIDS.

That’s why he went to Ebenezer Baptist Church and said that we need to get over homophobia in the African-American community; that if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll embrace our gay brothers and sisters instead of scorning them. And that’s why he stood up at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and told all of America that we refuse to be divided anymore.

That’s the choice in this election. Between slipping backward and moving forward. Between being timid or being courageous. Between fighting for the world as it should be, or settling for the world as it is.

My husband is running for President to build an America that lives up to the ideals written into our Constitution. We have just come through a historic primary election where a woman and a black man were running to become President of the United States. It hasn’t been painless, but change never is. As I travel this country, I am certain that we have arrived at a moment in our collective history where we are ready to move forward and create the “world as it should be.”

I know which world Barack will fight for each and every day as your President. But he can’t do it alone. As he said in that church basement, change happens when ordinary people are ready to take the reins of their own destiny. He needs you by his side every step of the way. That kind of change won’t be easy. There will be powerful forces who believe that things should stay just the way they are.

That’s where you come in. Your voices of truth and hope and of possibility have to drown out the skeptics and the cynics.

If you stand with my husband; if you reach for what is possible and if you refuse to let this chance get away; we can begin building that better world in November.

Thank you.

Dear Sir,

…. Are you saying that a holy God made your son to desire and have sex with other men — even though that same God in the Bible clearly and unequivocally condemns homosexual practice (Old and New Testaments)? Do you believe God designed nature so that “men who have sex with men” (MSM), to use sterile CDC terminology, even though MSM suffer disproportionately from all sorts of sexually transmitted diseases? With all due respect, I think that is an untenable position. (See Professor Rob Gagnon’s website, www.robgagnon.net, for more information on the Bible and homosexuality.)

I have met MANY ex-gay men and women who have overcome this lifestyle, and others who still fight homosexual attractions but are living chastely in accord with God’s Word and the teachings of their religion. (See www.sbministries.org, www.exodus.to, or http://couragerc.net/.) Why don’t you hold up those options as available to your son, rather than recasting God and His creation? I urge you to resist the temptation to cave in to the activist “gay” ideological mindset, which is antithetical to God’s revealed guidebook for our lives, the Bible.

Sincerely,

Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
www.aftah.com

 Letter to AFTAH:
——————————————————————————–
From: [name withheld]
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2009 12:59 PM
To: americansfortruth@comcast.net
Subject: [AFT Web Site] homosexuals

The following message was sent from the Americans for Truth Web site:

——————————————————————————–
I am a Christian, and my son is gay. After much prayer and [Pastoral] counseling I have learned the the one true God made my son with love and for a reason that I may not know. But God does have a plan, and [you] or I cannot question God\’s creations.

MEGA-PANDERING MEGA-PASTOR: “Purpose-Driven” Rick Warren sells out defense-of-marriage movement, telling CNN’s Larry King that he “apologized” to his homosexual friends for his role in supporting Prop 8, which reinstated the historic definition of marriage in California. Warren said he was “oblivious” to the Iowa supreme court’s ruling imposing “same-sex marriage.” Go to end of article to watch the YouTube video of Warren’s stunning CNN interview.

The following is excerpted from Saddleback Church  pastor Rick Warren’s interview with Larry King on CNN April 7 (emphasis added). Following that is a YouTube video of that segment of the interview (except the last few comments and questions from the transcript):

LARRY KING: … How did you handle all the controversy that resulted [from] the President selecting you [to deliver the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration]:

RICK WARREN: You know, Larry, there was a story within a story that never got told. In the first place, I am not an anti-gay- or anti-gay-marriage activist. [I] Never have been, never will be. During the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once issued a statement, never—never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going.

The week before the—the vote, somebody in my church said, ‘Pastor Rick, what—what do you think about this?’ And I sent a note to my own members that said, I actually believe that marriage is—really should be defined, that that definition should be saved—between a man and a woman.

And then all of a sudden out of it, they made me, you know, something that I really wasn’t. And I actually—there were a number of things that were put out. I wrote to all my gay friends—the leaders that I knew—and actually apologized to them. That never got out . . . .

Not a single criticism came from any gay leader who knows me and knows that for years we’ve been working together on AIDS issues and all these other things.

LARRY KING: All right. Do you, therefore, criticize or not comment on the Iowa court decision to permit gay marriage?

WARREN: Yes. I’m—I’m totally oblivious to—to what—that’s not even my agenda. My agenda is two things. One, today is the 15th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. It’s the national day of mourning, which I—as you know, I’ve been heavily involved in—in Rwanda and helping rebuild that nation and I’m very concerned about that.

And the second thing is, I’m interested in what the recession is doing to the spiritual climate of our nation. And as we start Easter week and Passover week, which is a really big week for those of us who are Jews or Christians, Passover and Easter, it’s our biggest week of the year. And it actually was the—the week that I started Saddleback Church 30 years ago this Easter Sunday. . . .

KING: One other thing in the gay issue, while you said you were not an activist at all . . . did you not encourage your flock to vote yes on Proposition 8?

WARREN: Oh, yes. You know, I don’t think that the definition of marriage should be changed.

KING: So you did ask your people who worship with you to vote that way?

WARREN: Yes. I just never campaigned. . . .

KING: It’s not high on your road of issues?

WARREN: No, no, it’s very low. In fact, I am working with a number of gay organizations on issues that we care about, in saving lives.

__________________________________

“I probably will get hate mail for saying this but this type of hookup culture is common in the homosexual world. Another guy in NY who did the same thing was murdered. And yes heterosexuals do it to, but no matter what type of sexual proclivity it is, SIN leads to death. The best course of action is to get out of the deadly sin business and live for Christ.“
–DL Foster, former homosexual and publisher of Gay Christian Movement Watch, commenting on the murder of homosexual New York City newsman George Weber.

DL Foster, founder of Gay Christian Movement Watch, and
the beautiful family that his former life of homosexuality could not have produced.

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, I heartily recommend that you become regular readers of DL Foster’s important blog, Gay Christian Movement Watch, analyzing and monitoring the so-called “gay christian” movement. DL gets attacked often by loving and tolerant homosexual activists because he tells it like it is. Go there often, tell all your friends about it, and take a stand for truth with DL against those who would pervert the Gospel of Christ.

(Speaking of which, renegade Christian and Grove City College prof Warren Throckmorton now seems to be on a crusade against pro-family veteran Scott Lively — joined by Warren’s homosexuality-promoting buddies, of course. We think Warren ought to deal with that heretical log in his own eye –  Throckmorton agreed in a 2007 interview with “gay” activist Mike Signorile that “being gay” is “normal, natural and healthy” — before picking at the speck in Scott’s.)

But I digress. Below Foster comments on the sad irony that less than a year before his death, George Weber — who was murdered by a 16-year-old boy he hooked up with for sex — complained about evangelical Christians witnessing at an airport. “Jesus freaks,” he called them. DL is right: many of America’s problems can be traced to the fact that there is so little fear of God in this nation. There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12).

Who can doubt that if Weber had stopped and listened to those “Jesus freaks” in the airport and allowed the Gospel of grace to penetrate his heart and change his life, he likely would have escaped putting himself in the dangerous circumstances that exposed him to a sadomasochistic, teenage, sex-crazed murderer. Go to “A Tragic and Ironic End” on the on the GCM Watch site to read the whole entry:

Little did the gay man [George Weber] who wrote that tragically ironic blogpost March 30, 2008 know that his soul would be required of him less than a year later.  George Weber, an ABC News broadcaster in New York was stabbed to death March 22, 2009, by a 16 year old boy he picked up for sex. The report said Weber routinely picked up men for sex from Craigslist. [source]

No one knows when their time to die will come. If you are reading this and you have not given your life to Christ, don’t delay. Don’t turn a deaf ear and go on enjoying your sin. Don’t mock God or the people he sends to you to tell you time is winding up and your soul is at stake. The only payment you can receive from sin is death.  And when death comes and you are not in relationship with Christ, hell and eternal torment await you. That’s not to scare you, its just the unfettered truth.

Read HERE to read what another man who turned his former “gay” life around by accepting Christ says about the Weber murder.

Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton has escalated his homosexuality-affirming rhetoric in recent years, as he has sought to “expose” conservative Christians standing boldly against the GLBT agenda.

The following is an article sent out yesterday by veteran pro-family advocate Scott Lively, founder of DefendtheFamily.com, a branch of Abiding Truth Ministries, which Lively founded. Click HERE to see the blog of Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton, who has criticized Lively for allegedly “enabling” Ugandan programs punishing homosexual behavior.  Click here for AFTAH’s article reprinting Lively’s initial report following his Uganda trip, in which he states that Throckmorton and others distorted his counsel to the Ugandans. Also see our reprint of the excerpt of Throckmorton’s 2007 interview with “gay” activist Mike Signorile in which he agrees with Signorile’s characterization that “being gay” is “natural, normal and healthy.” (Which begs the question: is Throckmorton helping to “enable” homosexual activists seeking to “mainstream” homosexual behavior?) — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.com.

Lively writes:

___________________________________

Friends,

I was recently attacked by Grove City College Professor Warren Throckmorton on the false charge that I called for Uganda to force homosexuals into therapy. In recent months, Dr. Throckmorton has become the darling of the “gay” movement for his criticisms of ex-”gay” ministries and recovery methods. Without checking first with me, he took the word of “gay” activists about my recent mission in Uganda and blasted me on his blog. I exchanged e-mails privately with him about that matter, but a bigger issue deserves to be aired publicly, which is his endorsement of mutually consensual unions of principle of homosexuals who don’t want to change.

The following is my comment:

Warren,

Our job as Christians is to love God and our fellow man by affirming His truth through the witness of our own lives and by “casting down arguments” that contradict Him.

You apparently have turned against Him in the matter of sexual morality by embracing the lie that sexual freedom limited by mutual consent can be a workable alternative for individuals and nations. If it can be true for homosexuals, it must be true for everyone.

God is clear that sex belongs only in marriage, and the society that respects His will thrives. It guarantees a family-centered society.

The consequences of “sexual freedom” since Kinsey are manifest to anyone with eyes to see. That philosophy guarantees hedonistic individualism and family disintegration and that is what we have produced, not just here in our country, but around the world.

The “gays’” long-standing, necessary political objective is the overthrow of God’s standard and its replacement with “sexual freedom” as a central social value. They are using you as a patsy.

Meanwhile, you are betraying Christ and every parent who sent his or her child to GCC [Grove City College] to be inculcated with a Christian worldview.

I urge you to repent.

Scott

Veteran pro-family advocate Scott Lively.

WARREN THROCKMORTON: The aim of Sexual Identity Therapy is a satisfied life – a client who believes that they have come to an integration of their conflicts, and we’re, by the way, only talking about people who are in conflict.

MIKE SIGNORILE: So you think it is normal, natural and healthy for people who come out and accept that being homosexual — accept being gay — and completely have no issues with their religious faith — you believe — would you describe the words as [strong emphasis by Signorile] “normal, natural and healthy” – that that is fine?

THROCKMORTON: Yes. Yes, I have been very clear about that in my public statements, that the efforts to demonize people who accept their homosexuality and come out as gay have been futile. The research–[Signorile cuts him off] …

We will provide further excerpts from this interview, and possibly the entire interview transcript, as soon as they are available. Look for more reports on Throckmorton and other Christian Left activists who are challenging Biblical orthodoxy on the homosexual issue.

Related Stories:

Higgins Responds to Throckmorton’s Criticism of Day of Silence Boycott

Why Is Grove City College’s Warren Throckmorton Picking on Sally Kern?
Lively Gives Report on Uganda Conference

Evangelical Gadfly or “Gay Activist”?: Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton has directed his hostile “reporting” at NARTH, “reparative therapy,” former homosexual Richard Cohen, Sally Kern and now the pro-family coalition campaign to boycott the homosexual activist “Day of Silence” in schools (April 17). But Throckmorton doesn’t like it when pro-family critics focus attention on his unScriptural positions, which are presumably at odds with Grove City’s Christian mission. In a 2007 interview with homosexual activist Mike Signorile, Throckmorton answered in the affirmative when asked directly by Signorile if it is “normal, natural and healthy” for people who “come out and accept that being homosexual” (”being gay”) is “fine.”

Dear AFTAH Readers,

We will have more in the coming weeks on controversial Grove City College associate professor Warren Throckmorton, who has strayed far from a Biblical worldview on homosexuality, and far from the mission of his employer. (Grove City College’s mission statement affirms that the college “remains true to the vision of its founders. Rejecting relativism and secularism, it fosters intellectual, moral, spiritual, and social development consistent with a commitment to Christian truth, morals, and freedom.”) AFTAH has written previously on Throckmorton, including this story.

Throckmorton aims to steer Christians in a new (more ambiguous) direction on homosexuality, but many evangelical pro-family leaders active in opposing the GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender] activist agenda are wary of his alliances and ideas, finding them to be more serving of the pro-homosexuality movement than Christian truth. There is no more troubling example of that than Throckmorton’s July 2007 radio interview with well-known homosexual activist Mike Signorile, which includes the following excerpt:

 WARREN THROCKMORTON: The aim of Sexual Identity Therapy is a satisfied life – a client who believes that they have come to an integration of their conflicts, and we’re, by the way, only talking about people who are in conflict.
MIKE SIGNORILE: So you think it is normal, natural and healthy for people who come out and accept that being homosexual — accept being gay — and completely have no issues with their religious faith — you believe — would you describe the words as [strong emphasis by Signorile] ‘normal, natural and healthy’– that that is fine?
THROCKMORTON: Yes. Yes, I have been very clear about that in my public statements, that the efforts to demonize people who accept their homosexuality and come out as gay have been futile. The research–[Signorile puts him off]

We will provide further excerpts of this interview, and possibly the entire transcript, which we will provide to Grove City College officials (who have already been contacted by pro-family leaders concerning Throckmorton’s controversial statements and tactics). We will be happy to report Warren’s response to our concerns in our future posts on this story. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.com

________________________________

Here is the letter by Laurie Higgins of Illinois Family Institute responding to Throckmorton’s post accusing IFI and “avoiding the sinner” with its boycott of the pro-homosexual “Day of Silence”:

Open Letter to Warren Throckmorton:

We at Illinois Family Institute [IFI] are troubled by both the title of your article, “Illinois Family Institute Hates the Sin, Avoids the Sinner,” and its content. [The IFI press release to which Throckmorton was responding is reprinted below.]

I don’t know where in the text of our press release or in any of the documents we’ve posted on the Day of Silence Walkout you would get the idea that the coalition seeks to “avoid the sinner.” Our concern is with the exploitation and disruption of instructional time for political action.Contrary to the suggestion in your title, we actually want students–heterosexual and homosexual alike–to remain in school together pursuing their studies. We in no way seek to separate heterosexual students from homosexual students or to separate those students with conservative views on homosexuality from those who hold liberal views.

Illinois Family Institute finds your title not only inaccurate and wholly without justification but also irresponsible in that it contributes to the pernicious deceit that Christians hate, fear, or seek to separate themselves from those who identify as homosexual.

Furthermore, you made the statement regarding the Day of Silence press release that “the release first says the Day of Silence requires that teachers exempt students from speaking and then admits that the DOS does not mandate such exemption,” suggesting that statements in the press release were contradictory. The problem with your analysis is that the first statement addressed what the Day of Silence’s request for students to remain silent would require of teachers, while the second statement addressed what schools are legally required to do.

What the first sentence expresses is that the central defining feature of Day of Silence-—classroom silence-—necessitates that teachers who are permitted to accommodate student silence or are instructed to accommodate it either exempt students from speaking or create activities around their silence. The second statement regarding the ACLU and Lambda Legal document simply makes clear to confused administrators and parents who erroneously believe that schools must permit student silence that schools have a legal right to require verbal participation in the classroom. Perhaps your confusion arose because of the abbreviated nature of a press release necessarily precluded a full exposition of the issue.

Political protest does not belong in the classroom. Taxpayer-subsidized instructional time should not be manipulated, exploited, or disrupted for any social or political goals or messages. Our coalition has not asked for students to shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse door. Day of Silence participants have the right to wear t-shirts and put up posters. But the important goal of ending bullying does not justify the means of intruding into and disrupting instructional time; nor does it justify the use of public money to transform society’s views on the nature and morality of volitional sexual conduct.

Finally, opposition to political action in the classroom and opposition to the efforts of activist educators to inculcate students with their unproven, controversial theories on the moral status of homosexual behavior do not constitute support for bullying.

Sincerely,

Laurie Higgins

Director of the Division of School Advocacy
Illinois Family Institute
www.illinoisfamily.org

_______________________________________________________________

OPINION: Illinois Family Institute Hates the Sin, Avoids the Sinner

By Dr. Warren Throckmorton, on his blog

The Day of Silence is coming — April 17 to be exact — and some conservative groups are already calling for students to walkout of school on that day.”

From the Illinois Family Institute: “A national coalition of pro-family organizations is urging parents to call their children out of school on April 17. This is the day designated for this year’s Day of Silence when students and/or teachers will purposely remain silent during instructional time to protest so-called discrimination and gain sympathy for students who identify as homosexual or transgender.”

The Day of Silence is a yearly event sponsored by the partisan political action group, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). The implicit purpose is to undermine the belief that homosexuality is immoral. It is the belief of the sponsors of the Walkout that parents should no longer passively accept the political usurpation of taxpayer funded public school classrooms through student silence.”

The walkout is a new wrinkle. Last year, these same groups called for parents to keep the kids home. It sounds like the plan this year is to allow students to go to school and then tell them to walk out.

The article contradicts itself on at least one point. First, it reads:

“The DOS requires that teachers either create activities around or exempt silent students from any activity that involves speaking. DOS participants have a captive audience, many of whom disagree with and are made uncomfortable by the politicization of their classroom.”

And then a little later, says:

“Higgins further emphasizes that ‘The worthy end of eliminating harassment does not justify the means of exploiting instructional time.’ The First Amendment already allows DOS participants to wear t-shirts or put up posters, but according to a document co-written by the ACLU and Lambda Legal, a “school can regulate what students say. . . and it can also insist that students respond to questions, make presentations, etc.” Students and teachers should not be allowed to exploit instructional time to advance their socio-political goals.”

Note the two sentences in bold print. The release first says the Day of Silence requires that teachers exempt students from speaking and then admits that the DOS does not mandate such exemption. As noted in the release on my personal blog last year, DOS materials make this clear. In any event, it seems to me that a walkout will be more disruptive than silence in the hallways.
_________________________________________________

Below is IFI’s original release on the DOS Walkout (see AFTAH’s article HERE):

Parents: Keep Students Home — Schools: Stop Politicizing Our Classrooms

The Illinois Family Institute is part of a national coalition of pro-family organizations urging parents to call their children out of school on April 17. This is the day designated for this year’s Day of Silence when students and/or teachers will purposely remain silent during instructional time to protest so-called discrimination and gain sympathy for students who identify as homosexual or transgender.

The Day of Silence is a yearly event sponsored by the partisan political action group, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). The implicit purpose is to undermine the belief that homosexuality is immoral. It is the belief of the sponsors of the Walkout that parents should no longer passively accept the political usurpation of taxpayer funded public school classrooms through student silence.

The DOS requires that teachers either create activities around or exempt silent students from any activity that involves speaking. DOS participants have a captive audience, many of whom disagree with and are made uncomfortable by the politicization of their classroom.

Laurie Higgins of the Illinois Family Institute explains that “While in the public school setting, it is legitimate to teach students that there exist diverse opinions on this issue, it is not legitimate to imply that one of those opinions is preferable to another. While it is appropriate to teach students that tolerance requires that society should treat all with civility, it is not appropriate to teach that tolerance requires students to accept the view that homosexual conduct is moral.”

Higgins further emphasizes that “The worthy end of eliminating harassment does not justify the means of exploiting instructional time.” The First Amendment already allows DOS participants to wear t-shirts or put up posters, but according to a document co-written by the ACLU and Lambda Legal, a “school can regulate what students say. . . and it can also insist that students respond to questions, make presentations, etc.” Students and teachers should not be allowed to exploit instructional time to advance their socio- political goals.

Parents are encouraged to call their children’s middle schools and high schools to ask whether the administration and/or teachers will permit students to remain silent during class on the Day of Silence. If so, parents can express their opposition by calling their children out of school on that day and sending letters of explanation to their administrators, their children’s teachers, and all school board members.
________________________________________
Endorsed by: Abiding Truth Ministries; AFA Michigan; AFA Pennsylvania; AFA National; Americans for Truth; Association of Maryland Families; Called2Action; Campaign for Children and Families; Citizens for Community Values of Ohio; Coalition of Conscience; Community Issues Council; Concerned Women for America National; Concerned Women for America Washington; Culture Campaign; Faith2Action; Faith, Family & Freedom Alliance; Illinois Family Institute; Indiana Voice; Liberty Alliance Action; Liberty Counsel; Maine Family Policy Council; MassResistance; Mission America; Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX)

http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=34286

WorldNetDaily.com; posted January 21, 2009

By Judge Roy Moore

Barack Obama, who campaigned on “Change We Can Believe In,” was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States yesterday, Jan. 20, in the most expensive inauguration in the history of our country. Despite a bleak economy and a rising unemployment rate, Obama and we the taxpayers are estimated to have spent over $150 million. That is a lot of “change,” to be sure.

While many in the country were welcoming the Obamas, the incoming president was busy putting out the welcome mat for the homosexual agenda. At the “We are One” gathering at the Lincoln Memorial on the Sunday before the Inauguration, Obama invited Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly “gay” bishop ordained in the Episcopal Church, to give the opening prayer. It seems rather strange that an event to celebrate “unity” would begin with prayer by an individual whose homosexual conduct is responsible for one of the deepest divisions in the Episcopal Church in its history, as various dioceses have severed ties with the Episcopal Church to join the more conservative international Anglican community.

But even more shocking is the fact that Bishop Robinson was asked to pray at all. When questioned about the upcoming event by the Associated Press, Robinson assured them that he would “be careful not to be especially Christian in my prayer,” and – not surprisingly – that he would not use a Bible. If that is the accepted view of our new president and those attending the event, then we are indeed in for a “change,” but one actually contrary to our beliefs and very destructive of our national morality. Historically, there has never been a time when Christianity has been so openly shunned and homosexuality so expressly promoted.

Our first president would have been appalled at such “change.” George Washington began a long tradition of adding “so help me God” to the constitutionally required presidential oath while resting his hand on the Holy Bible. The records of the National Archives show that, after repeating the oath, Washington leaned over and reverently kissed the Bible. Unlike Robinson, Washington was careful to publicly emphasize his faith in God and His Word, not run from it. …

Obama has not only chosen an open homosexual to open an historic event with prayer, he plans to promote homosexuality in other ways. Obama has proposed expanding federal “hate crimes” statutes to include “sexual orientation,” supported adoption rights for homosexuals, and opposed a constitutional ban on same-sex “marriage.” Obama seems determined to force change that only radical homosexuals can believe in, even in our military.

Every president is not only the chief executive of the federal government, but he is also commander in chief of the Armed Forces. When George Washington led the Army, he recognized the destructive influence of homosexuality in the military. Washington’s public dismissal of Lt. Enslin from the Army for attempted sodomy comported with a “longstanding element of military law” that is still reflected in the current military code, 10 U.S.C. § 654:

The presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morals, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability.

But Obama is planning to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy of the Clinton administration, which although a concession to homosexuals, still recognized the prohibition against homosexuals in the military. Instead, Obama intends to enforce a policy of “non-discrimination” in favor of those who practice homosexuality.

Unfortunately for Obama, the majority of those who now serve in the military disagree with his pro-homosexual policy. According to a 2007 Military Times poll, 59 percent of active-duty military personnel said that they did not think that those who openly professed homosexuality should be allowed to serve in the military. The Center for Military Readiness in 2008 claimed that Obama’s change in policy would force heterosexual and homosexual soldiers to cohabitate around the clock in conditions of little or no privacy, causing “unprecedented harm to discipline, morale, recruiting and readiness.”

Click HERE for the full article by Judge Moore in WorldNetDaily.com

By blasting Obama for choosing Rick Warren as an Inaugural speaker — and demonizing Warren as a “homophobe” because he supported Prop 8 — homosexual activists are showing the world just how empty their “tolerance” ideology really is. Click on photo to enlarge.

Here’s an outstanding release from Pastor Bryan Fischer with the Idaho Values Alliance, an affiliate of American Family Association. Poor Barack Obama: he’s promised the world to one of the most demanding and unreasonable special interest movements on the planet. Imagine blasting the gregarious Warren as a “homophobe” because he supported Prop 8 in California. (Note the incredibly elastic, ever-expanding definition of homophobia.) Our favorite lesbian blog-stremist Pam Spaulding chastises Warren for his “sad bigotry” HERE and hits Warren for “bigotry, small-mindedness and downright ignorance” (Pam and friends know a thing or two about small-mindedness).

We agree with Bryan about the vaguely threatening nature of this quote by the hypocritical Joe Solmonese, head of the homosexual lobby group Human Rights Campaign:

Bizarrely, Solomonese says that Warren has “repeated the Religious Right’s big lie that supporters of equality for gay Americans are out to silence pastors.” He appears blind to the obvious fact that that’s exactly what he is trying to do here – put a muzzle on one of America’s leading pastors, proving that it’s hardly a lie at all.

Ominously, Solomonese told Politico, “There is a lot of energy and there’s a lot of anger and I think people are wanting to direct it somewhere.” If that sounds like a threat to you, I won’t disagree.

Also, note that Tolerant Joe embodies the evil nexus of the abortion and homosexuality movements: “Solmonese is the former Chief Executive Officer of EMILY’s List, where he oversaw one of the nation’s prominent pro-choice [read: pro-abortion] Democratic political action committees” (Wikipedia).

People are finally waking up to the truth: that the homosexual activist lobby is to tolerance and diversity what Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is to honest government. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

Below is the Idaho Values Alliance release (write them at contact@idahovaluesalliance.com):

_________________________________________

Bryan Fischer, Executive Director, Idaho Values Alliance, 12-18-09

Voices of Tolerance, Diversity, Multiculturalism Come Unglued

Prediction: for the first time in American history, a speaker at a presidential inauguration may be booed unmercifully, and his remarks completely drowned out by angry jeers from an incensed crowd. We may even see shoes tossed at the inauguration platform by the hundreds. It could be a modern day lynching, only this time the victim of a vigilante mob will be proverbially strung up not because of skin color but creed.

Liberals in general and homosexual activists in particular claim to be all about tolerance, diversity, pluralism, multiculturalism and respect for differences.

Well, their commitment to those values has just been challenged by President-elect Barack Obama, and they have failed the test miserably.

Obama’s criminal offense is that, in a move that ought be celebrated by all who claim that America’s strength is found in its embrace of diversity, he picked an evangelical pastor who supports natural marriage and the sanctity of life to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has been tabbed for the task, despite the fact he openly supported Prop. 8, which elevated protection for one-man, one-woman marriage into the California constitution.

Said Warren during the campaign for Prop. 8, “For 5,000 years, every culture and every religion – not just Christianity -has defined marriage as a contract between men and women. There is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population … This is not a political issue – it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about.”

Warren also said, in a recent interview with Beliefnet, that he is opposed to those who say that abortion should be “safe and rare.”

“Don’t tell me it should be rare. That’s like saying on the Holocaust, ‘Well, maybe we could save 20 percent of the Jewish people in Poland and Germany and get them out and we should be satisfied with that’ – I’m not satisfied with that. I want the Holocaust ended.”

A sample of what the press is calling “universally negative” outrage from the gay rights crowd:

Kathryn Kolbert of People for the American Way: Warren “doesn’t … deserve this position of honor.” She adds that someone who has “consistent mainstream American values” rather than someone so “radical” should have been picked instead.

Note to Ms. Kolbert: Prop. 8 got the same percentage of votes in California that Obama got nationwide. I guess that means natural marriage is at least as “mainstream” as Obama is, Kathryn.

Sarah Posner of the “Nation” magazine: “Now it (Democratic outreach to evangelicals) has gone too far.”

Joe Solomonese of the Human Rights Campaign to Obama: “[You] have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.” The selection, he says, is a “genuine blow to LGBT Americans,” and added, “We feel a deep level of disrespect when one of the architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.”

Bizarrely, Solomonese says that Warren has “repeated the Religious Right’s big lie that supporters of equality for gay Americans are out to silence pastors.” He appears blind to the obvious fact that that’s exactly what he is trying to do here – put a muzzle on one of America’s leading pastors, proving that it’s hardly a lie at all.

Ominously, Solomonese told Politico, “There is a lot of energy and there’s a lot of anger and I think people are wanting to direct it somewhere.” If that sounds like a threat to you, I won’t disagree.

Solomonese throws Warren’s support for the sanctity of human life into the mix as another unforgivable sin that should disqualify him from public prayer.

Gay rights activist Rick Jacobs: “It’s a huge mistake. (Warren’s) really the wrong person to lead the president into office. His presence on the inauguration stand is a slap in the faces of the millions of GLBT voters who so enthusiastically supported him. This tone-deafness to our concerns must not be tolerated. We have just endured eight years of endless assaults on our dignity and equality from a president beholden to bigoted conservative Christians. The election was supposed to have ended that era. It appears otherwise.”

Gawker.com: Warren is “yet one more in a long and historic line of American Huckster Ministers, but he’s still a right-wing crank in mainstream clothing.”

The Washington Blade, a homosexual newspaper: “Obama’s first big mistake.”

Obama’s spokesman (generic use) gamely defended the choice, saying, “This is going to be the most inclusive, open, accessible inauguration in American history.”

(But lest evangelicals take too much encouragement from Obama’s decision, his spokesman was quick to say that “The president-elect certainly disagrees with (Warren) on [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] issues.”)

There are several lessons here.

1. One, the tolerance crowd has tolerance only for people who agree with them. They are blindly and hypocritically intolerant to the point of tyranny toward advocates of the Judeo-Christian tradition.
2. Two, homosexual activists really are out to silence the voice of evangelical Christians. They want Warren muzzled and driven off the platform, and my guess is that they will boo him off if Obama doesn’t pull him off first. Unless cooler heads prevail, we may see the exercise of a heckler’s veto like we have never seen before. Imagine the sound of 4 million people booing in unison, and you’ve got a picture of what may happen at the inauguration ceremony…We have only seen the beginning of this saga. There is just no way left-wing activist groups are done putting pressure on Obama to repent in dust and ashes. They will be relentless until he recants, and make him pay if he doesn’t.
3. Three, this shows the utter emptiness of homosexual advocacy of pluralism and multiculturalism. If they really believed that stuff, they would be celebrating the most inclusive inaugural ceremony in American history. But they won’t because they don’t. Their circle of inclusiveness is far too narrow, tiny and small to have a place in it for conservative Christians.
4. Four, it doesn’t matter how gracious you are, if you take a stand for natural marriage you will be labeled a hatemonger and a bigot. Warren is about as gracious, compassionate, jovial and kind as you can get. Fat lot of good that has done for him with the tolerance crowd.

In the worldview of homosexual activists, “loving the sinner, hating the sin” is simply Sunday School bigotry.

This affair gives the lie to the accusation – even shared by many naïve Christians – that Christians are hated on this issue because we are condemning and hateful. Warren is neither, and look what they’re doing to him.

We as Christians certainly should continue to be gracious, open-hearted and courteous to all, including homosexual activists. I have always treated them with kindness and friendliness, and I have a fondness and affection for many of them I’ve met. But it is foolish to think this will cause them to like us in return. Disagreement is not hatred – but try telling that to them.

Liberals Outraged Over Inaugural Preacher

Obama backers slam his pick of Rick Warren

Newsmax.com – Liberals Outraged Over Rick Warren’s Obama Invocation

Obama’s Rev. Warren Inaugural Pick Sparks Gay Fury – FOXNews.com

Obama’s inaugural choice sparks outrage

Gay leaders furious with Obama – Ben Smith and Nia-Malika Henderson – Politico.com

LAist: Inauguration Team for Obama Stirs Prop 8 Fears After Choosing OC Pastor

IVA IN THE BLOGOSPHERE:

Free Speech Blazing: Proof The Planned Parenthood Is A Racist Organization

If you value the work of the IVA, please consider a donation today. Information on how to donate, including online, may be found HERE. Thank you!

Grove City College prof Warren Throckmorton and Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern: is Throckmorton violating the Golden Rule by joining homosexual activists in unfairly attacking Kern and her motives? See this great testimony regarding Kern’s character: “The Untold Story about Sally Kern.”

Folks, we expect homosexual activists like Jeremy “Good As You” Hooper to take cheap shots at pro-family leaders like Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (R) — but we don’t expect the same from someone affiliated with a leading evangelical Christian College. Sadly, Grove City College psychology associate professor Warren Throckmorton is becoming a “gay”-affirming activist of sorts in his dubious quest for neutrality (as a Christian) on this divisive moral issue.

Warren has done some good work, e.g., debunking various “born gay” claims, but we’re taken aback by his hostile postings against Christian conservatives like Sally who are more principled and outspoken than he in their opposition to homosexual activism. Later we’ll examine a far more serious question: Throckmorton’s “neutral” counseling approach toward homosexuals, which also has raised eyebrows at NARTH and among Christian pro-family observers.

Below is my response to Throckmorton’s latest blog post about Sally Kern; also see THIS LINK for another Throckmorton blog post targeting Kern questioning her Christian love. –Peter LaBarbera

I wrote today:

Warren, I must say from your various blog posts on Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern that it looks like you’re going out of your way to (publicly) pick on this fine woman (and fellow Christian) — who has been targeted for vilification by radical homosexual activists. Your comments are petty and mimic those of gay activists, who only wish her the worst. I ask you on behalf of [various pro-family advocates]: why?
— Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org; here’s a wonderful testimony from ex-gay Chris Morrison that testifies to Sally’s loving heart for people caught up in homosexuality: “The Untold Story about Sally Kern.”

PS. I just spoke with Sally. What happened is that as she was coming to a meeting at the Capitol, she accidentally forgot to leave her concealed-carry pistol in the car as she entered the building. The alarm went off and she explained the mistake and then quickly put the gun back in her car. (Other Oklahoma lawmakers have made this same mistake.) Even though only two Capitol police actually saw this incident, somebody leaked it to the press to embarrass Sally. (But in Oklahoma it may only make her more popular — she could probably run for governor [and win] after the way over-the-top “gay” campaign against her.) This is a non-story that has been used by liberals to bash her. Note this AP story cited by Warren T. with its curious and skewed lead paragraph (see red part):

Kern stopped from bringing gun to Capitol
Associated Press – July 23, 2008 6:55 PM ET
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper prevents a state representative known for an anti-gay rant from entering the Capitol today after a loaded hangun was found in her purse.

——————————————————————————–

Warren Throckmorton’s latest blog post:

Kern packs a hot lunch

Posted: 23 Jul 2008 05:39 PM CDT

Why would you need a gun in your legislative office? [AP story]

Oh, now I get it… [Tulsa World story]

OKLAHOMA CITY – Outspoken state Rep. Sally Kern was turned back by security Wednesday morning when she arrived at the Capitol carrying a pistol in her purse.

Kern, R-Oklahoma City, was nearly as surprised as security when a camera spotted the small handgun when her purse rolled through the camera-equipped conveyer.

The lawmaker, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, said she routinely removes it before entering the Capitol, but just forgot this time.

Kern said she asked security if she “could put the gun up.” She returned to her vehicle, left the weapon there, and returned to the Capitol for a meeting.

The lawmaker was not arrested.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Chris West said, “We tell security to use their heads,” and assess this kind of situation before taking action.