Gay Rights vs. Others’ Rights

Matt Barber Column – What if ‘Gays’ Were Forced to Serve Westboro Baptist Haters?

Saturday, September 7th, 2013

Matt Barber turns tables on ‘homofascists’ who put bakery out of business

Sweet Cakes by Melissa Owners Melissa and Aaron Klein were forced to shut down their business after a lesbian couple sued them for refusing to make a cake for their "wedding."

Sweet Cakes by Melissa owners Melissa and Aaron Klein — born-again Christians — were forced to shut down their storefront business in Gresham, Oregon after a lesbian couple sued them for refusing to make a cake for their “wedding.” Said Aaron “I don’t want to help somebody celebrate a commitment to a lifetime of sin.”

First published by WND.com, September 6, 2013

By J. Matt Barber

At least Oregon is applying its anti-discrimination laws evenhandedly. Interesting story out of Gresham: The Oregonian is reporting that Bruce Bottoms – a homosexual baker and owner of “Cakes By Cupcakes” – has been charged with anti-Christian discrimination by the Oregon Ministry of Human Rights (OMHR). Mr. Bottoms and his partner, Lance Limpkowski, recently declined to bake a cake for the notoriously anti-”gay” Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). As a result, they’ve been forced to shut down their business.

It seems that, in another tired attempt to be provocative, representatives from the attention-starved WBC demanded that Bottoms and Limpkowski bake a cake for a Westboro fundraiser with the group’s trademark slogan, “God Hates Fags,” emblazed in rainbow frosting across the top. Mr. Bottoms, who reportedly moonlights as a part-time blogger for the homosexual activist “Human Rights Campaign,” was understandably appalled. He refused.

“Look, I’ll serve anybody, Christian or otherwise,” said Bottoms. “I just refuse to bake a cake that endorses an ideology that I find obscene. If Westboro came in and asked me to bake a birthday cake with the words ‘Happy 120th, Papa Freddy,’ it’d be my pleasure,” he said. “I didn’t decline to bake the cake because the customers defined themselves as ‘Christian’; I refused because nobody should be forced to lend their talents to endorse – whether directly or indirectly – a message or event that they find repugnant.”

Tolerance Enforcement Commissioner Brad Avakian disagreed: “We are committed to a fair and thorough investigation to determine whether there’s substantial evidence of unlawful discrimination,” he told the Oregonian. “The goal is never to shut down a business. The goal is to rehabilitate. For those who do violate the law, we want them to learn from that experience and have a good, successful business in Oregon. Everybody is entitled to their own beliefs, but that doesn’t mean that folks have the right to discriminate,” he said.

Meanwhile, churches and Christian groups across America organized a boycott of Cakes By Cupcakes, picketing the business and threatening to target other businesses that associated with Bottoms and Limpkowski. The two men have additionally reported multiple death threats, with one Presbyterian preacher leaving a voicemail: “Die bigots! You anti-Christian haters need to keep your Christophobia to yourselves!” he said.

Just kidding.

Sort of.

Although the “Cakes By Cupcakes” incident didn’t actually happen, something quite similar is happening across America. It’s a photo negative of the above scenario, but it’s equally absurd. Homosexual activists and “progressive” government officials are targeting Christian business owners – true Christians, not hateful Wesboro-types – for real anti-Christian discrimination.

'Gay'-Manufactured "Hate": This note was posted by Sweet Cakes owners Aaron and Melissa Klein on their Facebook page September 6, 2013

‘Gay’-Manufactured “Hate”: This note was posted by Sweet Cakes owners Aaron and Melissa Klein on their Facebook page September 6, 2013. Click on graphic to enlarge

And they’re doing it in the name of “non-discrimination.”

Todd Starnes of Fox News reports: “A family-owned Christian bakery, under investigation for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, has been forced to close its doors after a vicious boycott by militant homosexual activists.

“Sweet Cakes By Melissa posted a message on its Facebook page alerting customers that their Gresham, Ore., retail store would be shut down after months of harassment from pro-gay marriage forces.

“‘Better is a poor man who walks in integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways,’ read a posting from Proverbs on the bakery’s Facebook page.”

“It’s a sad day for Christian business owners, and it’s a sad day for the First Amendment,” owner Aaron Klein told Starnes. “The LGBT attacks are the reason we are shutting down the shop. They have killed our business through mob tactics.”

“Last January, Aaron and Melissa Klein made national headlines when they refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple.

“Klein tells me he has nothing against homosexuals,” reports Starnes, “but because of their religious faith, the family simply cannot take part in gay wedding events.

“‘I believe marriage is between a man and a woman,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to help somebody celebrate a commitment to a lifetime of sin.’”

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Pro-Family Leaders Slam ‘Gay Pride,’ Human Rights Campaign’s Role in IRS-Gate, at AFTAH Press Confernce

Thursday, June 6th, 2013
Linda Harvey of Mission America speaks out against pro-homosexual school 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 in press release days before the event.

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.

__________________________

Backlash to Obama’s Gay Rights Agenda

By Cliff Kincaid

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, they were denoucing pro-family advocates as the "fringe."

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).

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VIDEO: AFTAH Press Conference at HRC against ‘Gay Pride’: Pat Mangan and Eric Holmberg Speeches and Q&A

Thursday, June 6th, 2013

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:

VIDEO: AFTAH Press Conference at HRC against ‘Gay Pride’: Linda Harvey on Gay Youth Propaganda and Diane Gramley on Gay Health Risks

Thursday, June 6th, 2013

The following is Part Two 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 Linda Harvey, founder and president of Mission America, discussing the homosexualist agenda and youth. She is followed by Diane Gramley, president of American Family Association of Pennsylvania, who discusses homosexual-related health risks. The text of both Harvey’s and Gramley’s speeches follow the video, after the jump:

Text of speech by Linda Harvey:

Remarks by Linda Harvey, President, Mission America, www.missionamerica.com , June 4, 2013

Press conference at Human Rights Campaign, Washington, DC:

Is homosexuality a human right? No, it’s not. This sexual preference is not intrinsic to human beings, is far from positive conduct for any person and certainly not for children, but the organization in the building behind me believes it is. And they intend to keep using smoke and mirrors to prevent America from a careful analysis, from a respectful debate, about what they are demanding.

Starting with its deceptive name, the Human Rights Campaign is spreading sweeping lies throughout America. And they are, of course, not alone.  From the misnomer of “gay pride” as deviant displays in our major cities, to the ungodly idea of two men or two women as marriage, HRC joins other untrustworthy groups to arm-twist and bully our country into embracing high-risk immorality, behavior that no one ever needs to do in the first place. People aren’t born homosexual, so objecting to this conduct is not a violation of anyone’s “rights.”

But how does HRC deal with challenges? By “agreeing to disagree”? By welcoming a reasonable debate? No, if you disagree, you become the target of smear campaigns, where truth is noticeably absent. If you stand up for man/woman marriage, HRC calls you a hateful bigot.

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Barber – DOJ Gay Pride Order: ‘Silence Will Be Interpreted as Disapproval’

Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013

 

Logo for Department of Justice homosexual employees group, "DOJ Pride."

Logo for Department of Justice homosexual-bisexual-transsexual employees group, “DOJ Pride.”

By Matt Barber

Under President Obama, “justice” is anything but blind. Neither is it deaf. In fact, based on recent revelations, it appears to be watching your every move and listening to your every word. Still, if you happen to be a federal employee, now it’s even listening for your silence.

The only thing this Obama White House seems to generate is scandal. Well, here’s yet another to add to the growing list. In addition to the Benghazi cover-up, IRS targeting of political dissenters and the illegal seizure of media phone records, whistleblowers within DOJ have contacted Liberty Counsel to express grave concerns over this administration’s latest attack on freedom.

Our sources have provided Liberty Counsel an internal DOJ document titled: “LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers.” It was emailed to DOJ managers in advance of the Left’s so-called “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.”

The document is chilling. It’s riddled with directives that grossly violate – prima facie – employees’ First Amendment liberties.

Following are excerpts from the “DOJ Pride” decree. When it comes to “LGBT” employees, managers are instructed:

  • “DON’T judge or remain silent. Silence will be interpreted as disapproval.” (Italics mine)

That’s a threat.

And not even a subtle one.

Got it? For Christians and other morals-minded federal employees, it’s no longer enough to just shut up and “stay in the closet” – to live your life in silent recognition of biblical principles (which, by itself, is unlawful constraint). When it comes to mandatory celebration of homosexual and cross-dressing behaviors, “silence will be interpreted as disapproval.”

This lawless administration is now bullying federal employees – against their will – to affirm sexual behaviors that every major world religion, thousands of years of history and uncompromising human biology reject.

Somewhere, right now, George Orwell is smiling.

The directive includes a quote from a “gay” federal employee to rationalize justification: “Ideally, I’d love to hear and see support from supervisors, so it’s clear that there aren’t just policies on paper. Silence seems like disapproval. There’s still an atmosphere of LGBT issues not being appropriate for the workplace (particularly for transgender people), or that people who bring it up are trying to rock the boat.”

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So Much for San Francisco’s New Ban on Public Nudity

Thursday, April 11th, 2013
SanFran-Nude-Guys-Tutus-2013-resized

One would expect the world’s most famous “gay” Mecca to be perverse, and it surely is. Photos: Americans For Truth About Homosexuality.

Folks, it’s street scenes like this one — in the heart of San Francisco’s “gay” Castro district — that led the city’s suffering citizens to push successfully last year for a qualified ban on public nudity. But as the saying goes, old habits die hard.

I shot these photos on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013, near the corner of Market and Noe streets. (I ventured to the “gay” Mecca to cover the homosexual drag queen group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s uber-blasphemous “Hunky Jesus” contest, which was cancelled and later rescheduled due to rain.) San Francisco’s prohibition of public nudity — which exempts baudy street festivals like the city’s annual “Folsom Street Fair” — went into effect Feb. 1 and is being challenged in court by nudists.

The ban doesn’t seem to be tightly enforced, as these bare-bottomed man-bunnies were ‘hanging around’ for quite awhile in plain view — on Easter Sunday, no less. They were standing outside a venue hosting a “Zombie Christ” dance party/”haunted house” timed to mock Christ and bash Christianity on the most important Christian holiday of the year. AFTAH will have more on that in another post. (Permission granted to use photos provided credit given to “Americans For Truth.org”) — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

More photos after jump…

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Greg Quinlan: Gay ‘Marriage Equality’ = Unequal Treatment for Heterosexuals

Monday, November 5th, 2012

The following column by our friend Greg Quinlan first appeared on the website of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays):

By Greg Quinlan

Greg Quinlan says he was labeled a “traitor” for leaving the homosexual lifestyle and his “gay” identity behind.

The homosexual push for “equal marriage,” otherwise known as genderless marriage, can only lead to a ban on heterosexual rights. With a President in power who endorses gay causes and readily misuses executive orders, and emboldened by their numerous wins for gay rights at the legislative and judicial level, homosexuals have now moved beyond equal rights to the “more equal than you” level. As a result, gay organizations are working to ban that practice they fear the most — heterosexual behavior.

Witness the ban on heterosexual therapy successfully pushed by homosexual groups in California. Even though no scientific evidence exists of a “gay gene,” parents in California are now prohibited from taking their children to see a therapist to resolve their child’s unwanted same-sex attractions.

So for parents who discover that their son has been molested and is now sexually confused, their only option is to make an appointment with a gay-affirming therapist — because unlike heterosexual affirming therapy, gay-affirming therapy has not been declared illegal in California even though such therapy has not been proven beneficial by the APA.

Yet a parent can take their son to a therapist to approve gender blocking hormones so that the child’s natural gender is stunted before he reaches puberty. In short, parents can attempt to change a child’s gender, but they cannot change their child’s sexual orientation unless it is to a homosexual identity.

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