“Civil Unions” law cynically named “Religious Freedom Protection Act” now used to force Christians to violate their moral conscience
Jim and Beth Walder and their five children. The Walder's, owners of a Paxton, Illinois bed and breakfast, believe homosexuality is sinful and do not allow "civil union" ceremonies to be held at their establishment. Because of that they now potentially face years of litigation after a homosexual activist couple filed a legal complaint againt them with state authorities.
Dear AFTAH Readers,
On Tuesday, March 1, I and an AFTAH volunteer visited Jim Walder, who with his wife Beth is owner of the Timber Creek Bed & Breakfast [e-mail: info@timbercreekbb.com] in Paxton, Illinois and the latest victim of the homosexualist legal-political agenda in the United States. Below is an article by my friend Laurie Higgins of Illinois Family Institute about how Walder and another Illinois bed & breakfast owner are being sued by a homosexual activist couple because they will not allow a same-sex “civil union” ceremony to be held at their establishments.
The well-financed, big-city “gay” agenda is rolling into small town USA, and it will crush religious freedom in its path if it is not defeated. Paxton is a quiet farming community in central Illinois with a population of 4,600 – and here it is embroiled in the “culture war” battle of our day: whether homosexuals’ supposed “right” to have their sexual lifestyle and relationships affirmed supersedes moral-minded citizens’ First Amendment right to disagree with sexual immorality. (And their right to live out their beliefs: freedoms for beliefs that must be kept “personal and private” and that cannot be acted upon are not real freedoms.)
Here’s the bitter irony: the law being used by the homosexual couple attempting to force Walder and all Illinois B&B owners to allow homosexual “union” ceremonies on their property was named the “Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.” It doesn’t get much more cynical and dishonest than that; no wonder Americans don’t trust politicians.
Walder is being represented by Alliance Defense Fund, and he is not doing interviews at this time, but his disturbing case classically illustrates why “sexual orientation” laws — especially combined with “civil union” or “gay marriage” laws — are so dangerous to our God-given liberties, and why they must be repealed. Legal “rights” based on changeable, aberrant and unhealthly sexual misbehavior (sin) are destined to collide with genuine First Amendment liberties, which are rooted not in government but in God Himself.
Illinois' Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed the ironically named "Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act" into law Jan. 31. Photo: Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth.
As Gary Glenn correctly said in my recent interview with him — confirmed by homosexual legal activist and Obama appointee Chai Feldblum below – pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” laws naturally discriminate against people of faith. A few weeks ago, Jim and Beth Walder hadn’t given that much thought. Now they and their family (see photo below) are living out this painful reality caused by modern secular liberalism. All who cherish religious freedom and American liberty must stand with the Walder’s. AFTAH will closely follow this story. God bless you. – Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org; copy me with your encouraging notes to Jim and Beth at americansfortruth@gmail.com.
TAKE ACTION:
Please pray for the Walder’s;
Send Jim and Beth a note of encouragement (info@timbercreekbb.com) and pass this article on to your friends and family. Better yet, stay a night or two at the Timber Creek Bed & Breakfast in Paxton (it is wonderful and comes highly recommended);
Write or call Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and urge her to respect the Walders’ freedoms of religion and association; and
Inside llinois: call your Illinois state representative and senator (217-782-2000) and educate them on the Walder’s victimization at the hands of aggressive “gay” activists, and urge them to REPEAL both the Illinois “sexual orientation” law and the “civil unions” law – each of which was passed in a lame-duck session and signed into law by Democratic governors. Outside Illinois: call your federal, state and local representatives and urge them to oppose ALL homosexuality-based “sexual orientation” legislation because the evidence is in: these laws will destroy religious freedom in America.
Democratic “hate speech”? What if someone made a vicious public comment like this against a homosexual activist?
In a podcast, Democrat Joe DiSano, a host on the Michigan political podcast "Two Guys Named Joe," said he hoped Republicans would go over to pro-family advocate Gary Glenn's headquarters and "beat the hell out of this guy" with a sock full of quarters.
Gary Glenn of American Farmily Association of Michigan
Part Three of our interview [click HERE to listen] with Gary Glenn of AFA of Michigan. We play some audio from a hateful podcast (Oct. 29, 2010) by “Two Guys Named Joe” — Michigan political consultants Democrat Joe DiSano and Republican Joe Munem. In a discussion railing against Glenn for exposing a homosexual Republican candidate’s pro-”gay” record (using radio ads quoting pro-homosexual sources), the Democrat, DiSano, gets so worked up that he says: “I would hope the Republicans would go over to Midland [Mich.] where he lives, take a whole bunch of quarters in a sock and beat the hell out of this guy.” Glenn notes that had he said the same about, say, a homosexual activist, there would be a huge outcry. (Surely he’d be accused of committing a ”hate crime.”) AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and Glenn discuss the immense health risks associated with practicing homosexuality, and the absurd idea — fostered by the Southern Poverty Law Center (which has cynically labelled both AFTAH and AFA “hate groups”) — that educating the public about this is “hateful.” [See Part Two of Glenn interview HERE and Part One HERE.]
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This is Part 2 [click HERE to listen] of our 4-part interview with Gary Glenn, president of American Family Association of Michigan [see Part 1 HERE]. It was pre-taped and aired Feb. 6, 2011. AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and Glenn discussed how “sexual orientation” laws are inherently discriminatory against people of faith and anyone who opposes homosexuality. Glenn ticks off case after case of Christians and moral organzations like the Boy Scouts being victimized by pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” laws. Glenn also holds a mini radio “Truth Academy” on the proper mindset for pro-family work – urging activists not to use defensive language that suits the Homosexual Lobby’s debate frame but rather to put homosexual activists on the defensive by “telling the truth” that the “homosexual agenda itself discriminates against people.” Glenn and LaBarbera agree that the idea of “civil unions” as a supposed compromise is a non-starter — noting how the concept was regarded as “radical” in Vermont just a few years ago, while today leading liberal elites easily jump from backing “civil unions” to “gay marriage.” Glenn also discusses school bullying laws, urging an approach that protects ALL students without ”segregating” them by singling out “sexual orientation.”
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This video says it all regarding the Joint Chiefs’ grim reaction to President Obama’s plan to homosexualize the U.S. military. Kudos to the Thomas More Law Center for their excellent work in opposing the repeal of the common-sense ban on homosexuals in our Armed Forces. The saddest thing of all is that this battle need not have been lost had more VIP “conservatives” acted, well, conservatively in mobilizing the country against this “lame-duck” congressional outrage. – Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org
This is the first of a multi-part interview [Click HERE] with Gary Glenn, president of American Family Association of Michigan. It was pre-taped and aired January 29, 2011. AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera describes Glenn as one of the most effective, strategic and principled pro-family leaders in the United States (which probably explains why he is despised and routinely smeared by the pro-homosexuality Left and pro-”gay” Republicans). Part of the conversation revolves around whether “conservatism” can abide the promotion of homosexuality through Republican-oriented groups such as GOProud — which has been accepted as a sponsor at the upcoming CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) in D.C. Glenn says the truly conservative portions of GOProud’s stated agenda (e.g., support for gun rights) are “window dressing’ for their real goal of “advancing the homosexual agenda.” He also discusses the recent lame-duck congressional repeal of the ban on homosexuals in the military – noting that our Armed Forces are “being used as a tool of social experimentation.” Glenn said pro-family advocates need to deal with the reality that politicians “understand two things”: punishment and rewards.
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Part Two of our interview with “Chaps” Gordon Klingenschmitt of the Pray in Jesus Name Project. This was pre-recorded and aired Jan. 22, 2010 on WYLL-AM 1160 in Chicagoland. This is the second of a two-part interview; click HERE to listen to Part One. AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and Chaps discuss the next steps in the debate over “homosexualizing” the U.S. military — following the lame-duck congressional repeal of the ban against homosexual servicemembers. They discuss the prospects of Republicans in Congress making a serious move to thwart or reverse the implemtation of the new plan to open up the Armed Forces to open homosexuals. Chaps also rebuts left-wing accounts that accuse him of deceit in his public efforts as a then-Navy chaplain to “pray in Jesus’ name.”
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Part Two of our year-end interview with Matt Barber and John Biver. This was pre-taped and aired Jan. 8, 2010. To listen to Part One, go HERE.
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This interview with Gordon James “Chaps” Klingenschmitt [click HERE to listen] was pre-taped and aired Christmas day, 2010. Chaps is founder of the “Pray in Jesus’ Name Project,” named after his much-publicized struggle to pray in Jesus’ name in public and without restrictions as a U.S. Navy Chaplain — which cost him his career in the service. Chaps, a graduate of the Air Force Academy, discusses his work reaching men and women for Christ in the Navy — including an “exorcism” involving a woman who overcame lesbianism. AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera commends Klingenschmitt for his yeoman’s work in mobilizing tens of thousands of Americans to fight the Democrat-led, lame-duck congressional effort to repeal the ban on homosexuals in the military. Chaps discusses God’s view of homosexuality as sin, and says his biggest disappointment among Senate Republicans who joined the Democrats in ending the homosexual ban was Mark Kirk — the new Illinois Senator who quickly alienated conservatives in his own state by voting for the repeal. Part Two of this interview will air in January.
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