Dave Smith of Ilinois Family Institute led the grassroots campaign to stop a homosexual “marriage” bill in Illinois. The bill was stalled despite Democrats possessing super-majority control of both House and Senate.
This is Part One of our interview with David Smith [click HERE to listen], Executive Director of Illinois Family Institute, which led the grassroots, pro-family coaltion effort to stall a homosexual ”marriage” bill, SB 10, in Illinois. (Proponents of the bill, lacking the votes, did not call it for a vote by May 31, the last day of the legislative session. However, SB 10, which passed the Senate, remains alive to be called when legislators are back in session, through the lame-duck session in January 2015.) This interview was recorded June 6, 2012. Smith tells AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and co-host John Kirkwood that the key to victory was the diverse grassroots opposition to the bill, especially the strong opposition from Black and Latino Christians. He describes how half the Black legislators in Springfield (all Democrats) ultimately declined to back the homosexual “marriage” bill, and calls its failure to pass in an Illinois General Assembly with Democratic super-majorities in both House and Senate a “miracle.” Smith also notes the well-funded lobby campaign on behalf of the same-sex “marriage” bill — including dozens of paid lobbyists – which far surpassed (monetarily speaking) that of pro-family advocates for natural, man-woman marriage. He said that the ability of grassroots citizens to stop SB 10 “marriage” in deep-blue, Democratic-dominated Illinois shows that “gay” activists and pundits are wrong in asserting that the national triumph of homosexuality-based “marriage” is “inevitable.”
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Linda Harvey of Mission America speaks out against pro-homosexual youth programs, outside the homosexual lobby group Human Rights Campaign’s D.C. headquarters. Harvey was the target of vulgar hate-emails after she was mentioned days before in an AFTAH press release announcing the event. Click on photos to enlarge.
This is a good account of our Tuesday press conference against “Gay Pride Month” in front of Human Rights Campaign’s D.C. headquarters – by Cliff Kincaid of America’s Future, which also provided full video coverage of the event [see YouTube videos Part One, Part Two and Part Three]. This article is reprinted from the Renew America website (which we highly recommend), and published June 5, 2013. All photos are from Americans For Truth and can be reprinted provided credit is given to AFTAH.org.
An Obama-allied group that is at the center of the scandal over IRS harassment of conservative organizations was the target of a protest outside its own headquarters.
“The escalation of homosexual activist power is bad for America, and American liberty,” declared Peter LaBarbera of the group Americans for Truth outside the headquarters of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in Washington, D.C. He said Christians and conservatives in favor of traditional values are being subjected to “intimidation, bullying, violence, [and] dirty tricks,” such as the HRC’s acquisition of the National Organization for Marriage’s IRS donor filings, for the purpose of harassing opponents of the gay agenda.
The Huffington Post had also received and publicized the confidential information, a violation of federal law.
A banner, “Homosexuality Is Nothing to Be Proud of, but overcoming it is,” was displayed in reference to President Obama’s proclamation of June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.”
Obama previously celebrated the 1969 homosexual riots at a seedy Mafia-run bar known as the Stonewall Inn.
HRC sign “welcomes” AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera. A few hours later, an HRC spokesman was maligning him and the other pro-family advocates as the “fringe.”
Aware of the planned press conference, the HRC put a “Welcome Peter” sign on its headquarters.
But LaBarbera didn’t return the welcome, saying that “The deviant sexual revolution represented by the Human Rights Campaign headquarters behind us is built on a foundation of lies.”
He called the homosexual revolution “one of the most amazing marketing stories of all time: a sexual sin once defined by Noah Webster as the ‘Crime Against Nature,’ condemned by God for millennia, was repackaged as the supposed basis for ‘civil rights.’”
Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel Action, one of several participants in the news conference, denounced the Human Rights Campaign for its role in receiving and u sing confidential financial records from the IRS to attack donors to the National Organization for Marriage (NOM).
The following is Part Three of America’s Survival’s coverage of our press conference Tuesday, June 4, 2013, in front of the D.C. headquarters of Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest and most powerful homosexual activist lobby organization. Speaking first is Patrick Mangan, president of Citizens for Community Values of Indiana, who discusses whether homosexualism is a “civil right” or a “special right.” He is followed by Eric Holmberg of The Apologetics Group, a Christian filmmaker who discusses his soon-to-be-released documentary, “Is Gay the New Black: Homosexuality and the Civil Rights Movement.” Holmberg distributed a clip from the documentary titled, “From Selma to Stonewall.”
AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera briefly explains the stalling of a homosexual “marriage” bill in Illinois despite super-majority Democratic control of both the Illinois House and Senate. (There is also a revealing question by homosexual journalist Chris Geidner of Buzzfeed, who mentions [at 10:00 in the video] his conversation with a top advisor to Mitt Romney who told him, based on polling and electoral data, “that there is no reversing the trend of support for LGBT rights, and he woud challenge anybody to make the case that there is a way to reverse that trend.”)
The last half of the video is made up of Q & A, and includes discusses by Matt Barber and Magnan on their response as Christians to homosexuals — one not of “hate” but reaching out to people in the love of Christ. Mangan explains why “Love the sinner, hate the sin” still encapsulates the proper Christian response to homosexuals:
Left-wing Chicago homosexual activist Andy Thayer (at left) of Gay Liberation Network (GLN) unfurls pro-homosexual “rainbow flag” in the gallery of the Illinois House May 30. Photo: Dave Smith of Illinois Family Institute — who led the successful grassroots effort to stop passage of a homosexuality-based “marriage” bill before the legislative session ended May 31. Click on photo to enlarge.
UPDATE: June 1, 2013 — in what is a stunning setback to the Homosexual Lobby in Illinois, openly homosexual St. Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) announced on the last day of the legislative session yesterday that he did NOT have the votes to call SB 10, the same-sex “marriage” bill. Harris and his high-powered liberal allies were not able to peel off enough Chicago Democrats or wavering Republicans – in a General Assembly that has veto-proof Democratic super-majorities in both houses — to pass the bill. A strong grassroots coalition of black, white and latino Christians across the state formed the backbone of the opposition.
Congratulations are well deserved to: first and foremost to my good friend and Illinois Family Institute (IFI) leader Dave Smith, who worked his tail off up and down the state to stop SB 10; and Laurie Higgins, Kathy Valente, Dave Norck and the entire IFI team; Paul Caprio of Family-PAC, who led the Coalition to Protect Children & Marriage (of which AFTAH is a member) and did yeoman’s work in thwarting SB 10; Bob Gilligan of the Catholic Conference; former Sen. Rev. James Meeks, who played a huge role; veteran Springfield lobbyists Ralph Rivera and Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch; Penny Pulen; Peter Breen; Scott Phelps (Abstinence & Marriage Partnership); Bishop Lance Davis; AFTAH Board Member John McCartney; John Zahm; John Biver; Jack Roeser; Nick Costello; Rev. Larry Rogers; Hiram Crawford; Tom Brejcha (Thomas More Society); Mary Anne Hackett; Elise Bouc; Rev. Bill Owens (Coalition of African American Pastors); Brian Brown and National Organization for Marriage; Jim Finnegan; Cardinal Francis George (see his letter on homosexual “marriage” HERE); and all the pro-family advocates who helped secure this unlikely victory. (There are so many more I could name.)
We must realize that this is only a temporary win. Now homosexual activists will redouble their efforts to homosexualize marriage in our state — so we must redouble our efforts to stop them.
Also, immediately after the defeat, the powerful homosexual lawyers group Lambda Legal began touting its lawsuit – before openly lesbian judge Sophia Hall — as another avenue towards legalizing homosexuality-based “marriage” in Illinois. Self-styled ”queer” activists, filled with “pride” and considerable arrogance, believe they are entitled to homosexual “marriage” as a supposed constitutional “civil right.” They are wrong. (And, yes, Judge Hall should recuse herself from this case due to her obvious conflict of interest; see biased homosexual Advocate article HERE and “Think Progress” piece slamming AFTAH HERE.)
This hard-won victory, after a string of “marriage” defeats in other states, will encourage and energize pro-family advocates across the nation because it shows – despite the frequent boasts of our adversaries – that homosexuality-based “marriage” is NOT “inevitable,” even in Democratic-dominated Illinois. AFTAH has been defending real marriage here for a long time, so we will savor this triumph of common sense over social leftism. But only for a moment, and then it’s back to work.
This was about “We the People” winning out over homosexual and liberal special interest groups. God bless all of you who got involved in this battle: YOUR calls and contacts with legislators and fellow citizens made the difference! Let’s keep on fighting for Truth! — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
Wholesome alternatives to homosexuality-affirming Scouts already in the works
By succumbing to homosexual activist pressure, the Boy Scouts of America has ensured that a mass exodus of boys will flow from its membership ranks. Already, pro-family conservatives have scheduled a planning meeting to form a wholesome alternative to the Scouts.
By Peter LaBarbera
May 23, 2013 was a sad day for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), and another tragic day for an America in decline. The Scouts’ corporate-driven leaders in their folly put sexual morality up for a vote, and when it was all over, the Scouts as we once knew them – a God-fearing, wholesome organization – were finished. Now, truly “morally straight” organizations (to quote the Scout Oath) will rise up to compete with the corrupted BSA, and parents by the hundreds of thousands will migrate with their sons to these trustworthy alternatives.
This was a completely unnecessary capitulation. The equivocating Scouts somehow managed to snatch defeat from their hard-won victory in the Supreme Court in 2000 – which preserved the Scouts’ right to live by their own moral creed. Now they have eviscerated that creed, thus rewarding the very Homosexual Lobby that tormented the BSA since its high court triumph.
Pursuing godliness and virtue is not a democratic exercise but a walk of obedience. Truth is transcendent; it is not decided by polls or votes. (Two men or two women will never truly be “married.”) We all fall short and hence need a Savior, but absolute Truth never changes. God – not man — sets the Standard for proper living. Allowing boys who identify with and, presumably, engage in homosexual behavior is the opposite of virtue — and certainly wasn’t a Scouting value in my father’s and grandfather’s America.
Let’s cut through all the pro-“gay” noise that infests most discussions of this issue. Practicing homosexuality is a destructive lifestyle choice and a sin. It is immoral, against Nature, and changeable – as evidenced by the countless men (like Michael Glatze) and women (like Charlene Cothran) who once proudly considered themselves “gay” but now live in accordance with God’s natural design for their bodies.
Homosexuality is not the basis for healthy self-identity. “Sexual orientation” is an artificial construct because homosexuality is not “who you are,” it’s what you do. And when people make sinful choices bad things happen. (I should add that most homosexuals come from troubled backgrounds, including: dysfunctional parent-child relationships; lack of a father; divorced households; early sexualization; and sexual predator abuse. But these “causes” – while meriting our pity and understanding — do not condone the behavioral choice of embracing a homosexual lifestyle.)
Homosexuality is about as natural, normal and healthy as a tongue piercing. Actually, it’s much riskier: in fact, if this were any other behavior, there would be a full-scale government/corporate mobilization against it (like smoking). Consider these alarming statistics on male homosexuality and HIV from a December 2012 report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
“CDC estimates that MSM represent approximately 4 percent of the male population in the United States but male-to-male sex accounted for more than three-quarters (78 percent) of new HIV infections among men and nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of all new infections in 2010 (29,800).”
No honorable organization would confirm boys and young men in an immoral sexual “identity” associated with such disproportionate, massive health risks. Shame on the Boy Scouts, and on their sponsors – most notably, the Mormon and Catholic Churches — for failing to use their considerable leverage with the BSA to stop this “gay” surrender.
After a hiatus, AFTAH is back on the air. This podcast [click HERE to listen], recorded May 16, 2013, is Part One of our interview with Mormon pro-family activist Stephen Graham, founder of Standard of Liberty, a group based in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Graham discusses the Mormon Church’s (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) retreat on the homosexualist agenda — especially after the LDS Church was hammered by the pro-”gay” Left for funding and supporting the Prop 8 constitutional amendment to protect marriage in California as one-man, one-woman. At about the 8:18 point on this audio, Graham cuts to the root of the Mormon pullback in resisting the overarching ”gay” agenda (including “same-sex marriage”): a fear that bad publicity will limit the ability of its farflung missionaries to engage potential converts.
Graham describes his disappointment with Mormon Church leaders for failing to stand resolutely against the liberalization of the current Boy Scouts of America (BSA) policy prohibiting openly homosexual Scouts. AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera, co-host John Kirkwood and Graham agree that had LDS leaders done so — given the Mormons’ huge sway with the Scouts — the potential for BSA capitulation on the homosexual issue would have been greatly diminished. LaBarbera references a Mother Jones article about the LDS Church cuttin back on funding anti-”homosexual marriage” state ballot measures in 2012, and Graham says the MJ article is accurate. The discussion ends with a focus on how the fear of losing corporate funding led to the Scouts’ proposed policy change — and how pro-family companies like Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby should step in and offer to make up any lost corporate grants to the BSA.
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AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera speaking at IFI rally against homosexuality-based “marriage.” He is holding a “children’s” book, “King & King,” that promotes same-sex “marriage” to innocent children. The book is about a prince who “marries” another prince, rather than a princess. A man disrupted the speech, yelling out to LaBarbera and demanding to know if he wanted to “round up” homosexuals and put them in camps. Photo: IFI. Click on photos to enlarge.
The following is adapted from a speech I gave Saturday (May 11, 2013) at a rally in Western Springs, Illinois, home district to State Rep. Jim Durkin (R). The rally was one of several sponsored by the Illinois Family Institute to educate citizens on the threat of “same-sex marriage” legislation in Springfield. Despite Democratic super-majorities in both House and Senate, the homosexual “marriage” bill (SB 10} has stalled in the Illinois General Assembly. A coalition of Christians — Black, White and Latino — is leading the charge against SB 10, against a far better funded pro-homosexual opposition in Springfield. IFI is to be commended for holding back the media-backed push for same-sex “marriage” against much-better funded pro-homosexual opponents. Click HERE for their Resource Page on homosexual “marriage.” — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
______________________________
Good afternoon, thank you for coming and thanks to IFI for sponsoring these marriage rallies.
I have a question for you today: do you fear God or do you fear man? If you fear God, you will shudder at the thought of attaching the noble, life-giving, God-ordained institution of Marriage to a deviant sexual lifestyle – homosexuality – that God Himself condemns as sin.
But if you fear man, you will worry about being Politically Incorrect – or being called a “bigot” or a “homophobe,” simply because you believe Marriage is what it is: a sacred union between a man and a woman.
I stand before you today as one who fears God. But I also fear for this once-great State of Illinois – that more and more kicks God to the curb. Yes, the Land of Lincoln has become the Land of Liberals, and liberals are destroying this state, and this Nation.
We’re here today to fight against the secular progressives’ latest social experiment – marriage (so-called), based on homosexuality, which God calls an abomination. Liberals and homosexual activists call this “Marriage Equality,” but we know there’s nothing “equal” about it. Two men or two women cannot produce children without the assistance of heterosexuality, so enough about “Marriage Equality.” It’s just not equal.
But it’s not just liberal Democrats promoting this bad idea, it’s liberal Republicans like Pat Brady, who finally stepped down as Chairman of the Illinois GOP. Let’s be clear: when Mr. Brady – a close friend of Representative Jim Durkin – came out for homosexuality-based “marriage” (so-called), he did not just come out against the clear language of the Illinois Republican Platform (which calls for a state constitutional amendment to preserve Marriage as one-man, one-woman). No, Brady came out against God’s natural plan for Marriage.
Our Declaration of Independence speaks of “Nature and Nature’s God.” Attaching unnatural and wrong behavior to marriage is an offense against Nature and Nature’s God. And when you defy Nature, bad things happen. Listen to this shocking quote from the federal Centers for Disease Control last December: CDC estimates that MSM – that’s “Men who have Sex with Men” – “represent approximately four percent of the male population in the United States, but male-to-male sex accounted for more than three-fourths (78 percent) of new HIV infections among men and nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of all new infections in 2010 (29,800).”
Our government should be warning against the dangers of homosexuality, not trying to call it “marriage.”
Coach notes rapid desensitization of Americans toward homosexuality
Folks, Coach Dave Daubenmire of Pass the Salt Ministries is one of a kind. It was a pleasure to be interviewed by the Coach — a man’s man whose old-fashioned moral frankness may be out of step with today’s culture but is so much more refreshing than the pablum coming from some “Christians” and “conservatives” these days. I love Coach’s point — as politically incorrect as it is true – at around the 22:25 mark regarding what parents fear most. Also note:
Coach’s comments on TIME magazine’s indecent “gay kiss” cover and what it says about desensitization in the USA (10:30);
my comments on Larry Kramer and “gay” men who look back “fondly” on their own molestation (27:35); and
the section on the sinister pro-pedophilia “B4UAct” website (“NAMBLA with a PhD”), which mimics homosexual activist talking points to advance the agenda of the “Minor Attracted People” movement.
Give me just 100 pastors like Coach Daubenmire scattered across America and you wouldn’t recognize this nation! Please support the Coach and his ministry. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
PS. Let me anticipate a homosexual activist criticism of my comments – which of course will be distorted – around the 14:00-15:00 minute mark. I am not “reassured” (14:40) that homosexual men contract so many diseases related to their perversion, in the sense of taking some sort of heartless satisfaction from their suffering. Rather, I am reassured that Nature and the practical realities of the homosexual lifestyle affirm God’s revealed truth about this sin. As I say in the interview, “The real world is backing up what the Bible says about homosexuality.” This should further motivate Christians to lovingly share God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ to people caught up in homosexual behavior. More information follows the interview….
This interview was published by NewsWithViews.TV on Apr 11, 2013. Coach writes:
“Peter LaBarbera of www.AmericansForTruth.org joins Coach Dave for an in-depth discussion of the homosexual agenda and how ‘marriage’ is just their latest assault on traditional values. Listen to this riveting, no-holds-barred discussion.”
Americans for Truth
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Naperville, IL 60567-5522
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