P.S.  We understand that the Christian-bashing, Marxist radicals over at Gay Liberation Network will be protesting IFI’s banquet. Now we know IFI must be doing something right.

WARNING: Crude language, inappropriate for children

TAKE ACTION: 1) e-mail this video to your elected Republican officials at the national (202-224-3121; www.congress.org), state and local level and urge them to reject the Log Cabin’s radical homosexual agenda (which includes joining with other “gay” groups in trying to use the courts to overturn California’s pro-traditional-marriage Prop 8 vote). 2) call or write Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele at chairman@gop.com or 202-863-8700; 2) Call or write Nettelhorst Elementary’s principal, Cindy Wulbert, at Cw1411@gmail.com or (773) 534-5810.

The Log Cabin Republicans, a homosexual activist group, fielded a float in Chicago’s annual “gay pride” parade on June 28. 2009 — with a couple of crude signs: “BIG DICKS, small government” and “A Strong Military Shoots Big Loads.” If that’s not bad enough, the “gay” parade — like others across the country — saw the participation of many young children, brought by their same-sex parents or gay-sympathetic adults. A Chicago school, Nettelhorst Elementary, participated semi-officially after parents rallied to have their children be part of the first-ever grade school contingent to march in the parade.

As you can see from the video, beyond the crude signage, the “pride” parade featured sexual images and even public nudity (a woman atop a float is shown flashing her bare breasts — covered up in this video). Homosexual activists claim that same-sex parenting and “gay” adoption are good for children. Then they take their impressionable kids to annual “gay pride” celebrations that feature erotic and perverted behavior and language that are clearly inappropriate for children. They can’t have it both ways.

This video was produced by Americans For Truth about Homosexuality.  At previous Chicago “gay pride” parades, AFTAH has witnessed public nudity and even a vile gay sex act between two men, which was allowed to take place on the street directly in front of a row of Chicago cops, who stood by and did nothing.

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Watch AFTAH’s other Chicago “gay pride” 2009 video:  VIDEO: Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Chicago ‘Gay Pride,’ and the Homosexual Cop-Haters

Related Log Cabin and “gay pride” stories:

• Homosexual Group ‘Log Cabin Republicans’ Has Measly 20,000 Members Nationwide
• Should Children Attend Lewd ‘Gay Pride’ Parades? LaBarbera Asks Biased Chicago Tribune Reporter
• [Illinois Family Institute - 2004:] Will Mayor Daley Again Allow Homosexuals to Commit Illegal Sex Acts on Chicago Streets at Upcoming ‘Gay Pride’ Parade?
• AFTAH Gives RNC Chief Michael Steele 20,000 Reasons NOT to Embrace Divisive Homosexual ‘Log Cabin Republican’ Agenda
• Tony Peraica, Christine Radogno Cozy Up to the Homosexual ‘Log Cabin Republicans’
• Log Cabin Republican Jamie Ensley Comes Out of his Bigot Closet
• Log Cabin Republicans Erase Photo of Boy-Seducing Predator Mark Foley from their Website
• Judy Baar Topinka Featured at Pro-Homosexual Log Cabin Republicans Fundraiser
• Public Nudity Tolerated as Angry Mob Assaults Peaceful Christians at Chicago ‘Gay Pride’ Parade
• San Diego School Superintendent: “Parents Don’t Have a Problem with Their Kids Being in Gay Pride Parade!”
• Coach Daubenmire Is Right: Christian Man, You Need to Observe a ‘Gay Pride’ Parade!
• San Diego City Councilman Blocks Public Display of Photos from “Gay Pride” Parade
• Ex-Log Cabin Republican Leader Takes over Pro-Homosexual-’Marriage’ Effort – Cal. Teachers Ass’n Pledges $1 Million to ‘No on [Prop] 8′

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Media Advisory

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality

June 16, 2009; Contact: Angela at 847-722-5330; americansfortruth@comcast.net

Coalition Press Conference: Obama’s Appointments and Policies Reflect Extreme Homosexual Agenda

CHICAGO, Ill. – Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is organizing a news conference Wednesday, June 17th at 11:00 AM, to highlight President Obama’s radical homosexual appointments and overall “gay” agenda:

Where: 29 South LaSalle Street, Suite 610, Chicago, IL
When: Wednesday., June 17, 11:00 AM
Who: Scheduled speakers:

Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel;
Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern (R);
Hiram Crawford, pro-family, pro-life advocate, Chicago;
Mary Ann Hackett, Catholic Citizens of Illinois;
Diane Gramley, American Family Association of Pennsylvania;
David Smith, Illinois Family Institute;
Pastor Larry Rogers, Israel Methodist Community Church, Chicago;
Tom Brejcha, Thomas More Pro-Life Law Center;
Pastor Calvin Lindstrom, Church of Christian Liberty, Arlington Heights, IL

What: press event drawing attention to Obama’s emerging homosexual- and transsexual activist agenda:

• Obama’s radical appointments including anti-traditional-Catholic Harry Knox (of the homosexual lobby group Human Rights Campaign) and Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) founder Kevin Jennings;
• Hate Crimes bill;
• Obama’s radical promise to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), signed into law by President Clinton in 1996);
• Obama’s ENDA (Employment Nondiscrimination Act) plans to force businesses to approve of homosexuality;
• Obama’s plan to homosexualize the U.S. military (repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”);
• Obama’s confusion about Christianity, the Bible and homosexual practice;
• Obama’s lack of mandate to push the envelope on homosexual and transsexual issues

“Americans are largely ignorant about President Obama’s extreme pro-homosexual goals, which includes repealing DOMA and homosexualizing the U.S. military,” said AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera. “We are thrilled that these organizations and leaders are coming together to expose Obama’s ‘gay’ and transsexual agenda –– for which he has zero mandate because these issues were almost completely ignored in the general election campaign.”

Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel attorney and AFTAH board member, said: “By pledging his support for every demand of extremist homosexual pressure groups, President Obama has revealed himself to be out of step with those he serves. For example, he has promised to homosexualize the military supplanting sound judgment with San Francisco vice. It’s dangerously irresponsible for the President to place political correctness above national security. Now is not the time for sexual revolution in this nation. Now is the time to return to the family values that made America great.”
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Americans For Truth Needs You! … Give $25 and Get a Free Book

We need your financial help and prayers to keep fighting the powerful “queer” lobby.  If you will help Americans For Truth with a tax-deductible gift of $25 or more, we will send you a free copy of the hard-cover book Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far, by the late Dr. Charles Socarides, who dedicated his life to understanding homosexuality and helping people overcome it.  Will you consider a gift of $25, $100, $500 or even $1,000 or more to help Americans For Truth fight the powerful, well-financed Homosexual Lobby?  You can make your gift online at www.americansfortruth.com/donate, or mail your gift to: Americans For Truth, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522.

No “Civil Unions” in Illinois: thanks to an energetic grassroots campaign, pro-homosexual “civil unions” legislation (H.B. 2234) — ridiculously titled the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act — was rejected decisively by the Illinois General Assembly. Homosexual activist Rick Garcia’s prediction that H.B. 2234 would “absolutely” pass did not come true. as Garcia’s allies fell well short of the backing needed to call for a floor vote — despite their huge, well-funded lobbying campaign. Americans For Truth made the case against “civil unions’ and “gay marriage” on WGN-TV (left), Moody Radio (WMBI), WIND (Geoff Pinkus Show) and in the Chicago Tribune.  AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera’s argued in a Tribune religious reporter’s blog that “gay marriage” and “civil union” laws violate business owners’ freedom of conscience.

TAKE ACTION: Thank your state House legislator (call Springfield at 217-782-2000; go to http://ilga.gov/ or find your representative at www.congress.org) if he or she opposed the “civil unions” legislation. Express your gratitude to them for NOT BUCKLING to the enormous, well-funded pro-”gay” lobbying blitz in Springfield.  Also call your state senator and ask for his or her stance on “civil unions” — since the main battle was in the House. Stay vigilant in this battle, as homosexual activists are already vowing to lobby key districts over the summer.

By Peter LaBarbera

Pro-family grassroots forces in Illinois have scored a stunning victory with the decisive defeat of “civil unions” legislation, (H.B. 2234/S.B. 1716) — despite the prediction of the state’s leading homosexual activist that “civil unions” would “absolutely” be voted on and passed (by last Wednesday), and overcoming a massive and well-funded lobbying campaign by pro-homosexual groups.

Despite some some very premature gloating by homosexual activists across the country who thought a victory was in the bag, and despite some dirty tactics and lies, time ran out in the Illinois General Assembly Sunday night with the bill not even being called due to lack of support in the House.

Moreover, it appears the massive pro-gay lobby blitz for HB 2234 (12-13 full-time paid lobbyists) did not even come close to securing the number of votes needed to pass the bill, disproving claims by pro-”civil unions” lobbyists and legislators in the last two weeks that the bill had more than enough votes to pass.

“Same-sex marriage” still doesn’t play in America’s heartland — which is why the “Gay” Lobby’s strategy in neighboring Iowa resorted to its imposition by liberal, arrogant judges.

The victory in the Land of Lincoln is an impressive rebuke to the current national “gay” movement’s talking point that same-sex “marriage is somehow inevitable.

Ralph Rivera, a veteran pro-family, pro-life lobbyist in Springfield for the Illinois Family Institute (IFI) — the AFA (American Family Association) state affiliate that led the opposition to HB 2234 — summed up the impressive victory:

Civil Unions bill – SB 1716 (HB 2234) – HAS BEEN STALLED DUE TO A SIGNIFICANT LACK OF VOTES!  WE GIVE GOD THE GLORY FOR THIS VICTORY!!!    Of course, the battle is not over — they will continue to try to use their huge war chest to try and pass a civil unions/same-sex “marriage” bill — but they didn’t do it this time.  As I had written to you, they hired a stable of high priced well known lobbyists, some from a powerful Chicago law firm, and after a “full court press” we are not aware of them getting any legislator to switch!  They admitted a couple of days ago that the votes for them are not there and that they don’t even have enough for “postponed consideration.”  This is a motion that is used when you the vote is at least 48 votes and the sponsor wants the roll call erased  and can have another vote later.  So they admitted to being at least 13 votes away.

The phone calls and letters to legislators by all of you did the job!  I heard from a number of House secretaries that the highest number of calls to their offices were on the income tax increase proposal (which so far has failed miserably) and civil unions (and that was in a big way our way).

The role of the Catholic Conference of Illinois was critical in the effort. Illinois’ bishops distributed a letter opposing HB 2234 — shamelessly titled the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act — which included the following warning on the threat it posed to religious freedom:

Please also consider the impending clash between religious liberty and this legislation. A title declaring religious liberty does not suffice when the text of the underlying legislation undermines the principle. Illinois statute refers to the term “spouse”over 500 times, granting rights and benefits ranging from employment benefits to adoption. All of those instances will apply to parties to civil unions, and the full impact of these changes has not been fully discerned or discussed. How this legislation will impact Church operations from the adoption and foster care services of Catholic Charities to benefits afforded to employees are bonafide concerns.

Pro-family veterans will recall that the imposition of “same-sex marriage” in Massachusetts led to the closing down of the Catholic Charities adoption agency in that state because the Catholic Church opposes the placement of children in homosexual households that are motherless or fatherless by design.
Dirty tactics, lies and bogus vote tallies

In an interview with AFTAH, Rivera of IFI said that the pro-”civil unions” lobbyists engaged in some dirty tactic and falsehoods in their desperate zeal to fulfill expectations that HB 2234 would pass. Nothing unusual there, except that in this case the sheer amount of professional lobbyists and outside money and activism pouring into the effort was remarkable, to the degree rarely seen in Springfield.

“People were coming out of nowhere” to lobby for the bill, Rivera said. Calls were streaming in to the Illinois legislators from out-of-state legislators (most from New York and the Northeast) and from pro-homosexual activists nationwide. Rivera said at one point he worried that some legislative secretaries were not taking down which calls that were from Illinois constituents as opposed to people from outside the district. Obviously, the calls from constituents are what matters — but ultimately it appears that state legislators understood that Illinois calls were heavily favoring the pro-traditional marriage position.

Rivera said legislators were told that “surveys” in their district showed overwhelming support for “civil unions,” but the legislators did not know about the methodology of the “survey.” He doubted their reliability and accuracy — and evidently so did most legislators who were unmoved by the intense pressure.

Apparently one female lobbyist even posed as the “wife” of a constituent to gain entree with a legislator, Rivera said. (The plan didn’t work as she was identified as one of the paid lobbyists pushing for HB 2234.)

False projections and misleading vote tallies were also common, according to Rivera, who has spent many years in Springfield along with Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch as the state’s two main pro-family lobbyists. Apparently, Chicago’s openly homosexual state representative Greg Harris (D), H.B. 2234’s main sponsor, was floating vote tallies that made it appear as if victory was close or certain. It is unclear if Harris also misled his homosexual ally, Garcia from Equality Illinois, perhaps fueling Garcia’s fateful promise of “absolute” victory. Legislators were told that the “civil unions” bill was just “one or two votes shy,” Rivera said, when in reality the pro-”gay” forces were at least a dozen votes short of what they needed.

New grassroots clout

The cumulative impact of the deceptions, liberal overconfidence and boasting, and turning back of such a well-funded, “professional,” pro-homosexual lobby campaign in Springfield will be to boost the stature and credibility of the pro-family movement in Illinois. Lobbyists like Rivera and Vanden Bosch (who earlier led the lobby effort — joined by the Catholic Conference — to turn back the radical, pro-abortion “Freedom of Choice Act”) will now have added clout when they tell legislators that while the LGBT side has lots of money and media support, the grassroots power in Illinois lies with the vast majority of citizens who do not want to see marriage radically redefined.

One sad footnote was the presence of former State Sen. Dave Sullivan — who as a Park Ridge Republican had a pro-life and pro-family voting record — among the paid lobbyists for HB 2234. Money talks.

Thank you for taking action

To all the AFTAH readers and pro-family Illinois voters who took action against this bill, I say a hearty “Thank you!”  And please join me in offering our collective congratulations and thanks to the coalition of marriage defenders that helped secure this victory: my friend Dave Smith and Illinois Family Institute, the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, FamilyPAC – and pro-family advocates like Mr. Rivera, fellow veteran pro-family lobbyist Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch (Concerned Christian Americans), Bob Gilligan and the Catholic Conference, Jack Roeser and the guys at Champion News, Elise Bouc, Illinois Review, and many others who worked so very hard to preserve traditional marriage in our state.

All across the country, cocky homosexual activists are behaving as if they’re pretty much already won the same-sex “marriage” debate. They repeat ad nauseam that “gay marriage” is “inevitable” across the USA — despite losing 30 out of 30 state marriage amendment ballot votes. It certainly is not inevitable. Here in deep blue Illinois, Barack Obama’s home state, we have turned back “civil unions” — which is essentially “same-sex marriage” by another name.The pro-homosexual forces tried to build support for the bill by putting “Religious Liberty” in the bill’s title, but that didn’t fool anyone. (See my comments about the threat to freedom of conscience posed by legalized state recognition of homosexual unions in this Chicago Tribune religion reporter’s blog.)

The Battle Continues

Even as we celebrate a much-needed win for pro-family forces across the nation, we must not let up one bit in this fight.  Here is the post-defeat e-mail message yesterday from Rick Garcia — who predicted “absolute” victory just days ago — and his homosexual lobby group Equality Illinois:

Equality Illinois will work throughout the Summer and Fall to
build popular support for civil unions in targeted legislative
districts. We must work hard to bring voters to our cause if we
are to convince their elected representatives to vote for civil
unions. And we will continue the long-term public education
necessary to achieve marriage equality.

For now, we suggest you contact your legislators’ district
offices to let them know how disappointed and frustrated you are
with their failure to secure passage of the civil union bill.
For a list of legislators and their contact information, click
here: http://ilga.gov/

They continue to work. So must we. Natural marriage in America will only be preserved if pro-family forces match the zeal and hard work of the pro-homosexuality movement. That happened in Illinois over the last few weeks and months and the result is a victory that will reverberate across the nation and give courage to Americans in every state not to believe the media when it echoes the homosexual activists’ propaganda about the “inevitability” of same-sex “marriage.”

Homosexual activist Rick Garcia’s prediction, thankfully, did not come true.

WARNING: OFFENSIVE DESCRIPTIONS OF DEVIANT HOMOSEXUAL ACTS

PERVERT SHAME? The sadistic boys at “International Mr. Leather” (IML) have no problem with welcoming guys who urinate in each other’s mouths for a sexual thrill, or porn videos extolling the horrifying practice of “fisting” and other über-deviant acts — but they are deeply, deeply concerned that a couple of Christians might show up at IML taking pictures to document such depravities. At left, atheist leatherman Joe Jervis hawks an online “UNWANTED” flier designed to alert IML attendees to the possible presence of Peter LaBarbera (Americans For Truth) and Matt Barber (Liberty Counsel). Check out the hateful comments on Jervis’ “Joe.My.God” blog post, and click HERE for the online “Unwanted” photos, and here for the accompanying flier, filled with lies. LaBarbera challenged Jervis on why he is not “proud” about IML’s twisted activities and instead feels the need to hide them from the public, while Barber says he’d only attend IML in a biohazard suit.

TAKE ACTION:  call Hilton’s HQ in Los Angeles at 310-278-4321 ; and Hilton Chicago at 312-922-4400 to tell them how you feel about Hilton profiting off of the extreme perversion-fest that is “International Mr. Leather”; the Hilton Chicago closed all its rooms to the public from May 22 to May 25 so IML could take over the hotel as a “private event.” E-mail Hilton’s national headquarters HERE.)

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WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF DEVIANT HOMOSEXUAL ACTS 

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, the sadistic boys at “International Mr. Leather” (IML) have no problem with guys who urinate in each other’s mouths for a sexual thrill (yuck), or porn videos extolling the horrifying practice of “fisting” and other über-deviant acts — but they are deeply, deeply concerned that a couple of Christians might show up to shoot pictures to document the depravities at the annual “leather” perversion-fest.

Yes, some “leathermen” distributed my photo and that of Matt Barber (a Board Member of AFTAH and Liberty Counsel culture warrior) at the notorious IML, which this year was held in the Chicago Hilton & Towers hotel on Michigan Avenue in the Windy City (phone: 312-922-4400).

I posted the following comment on New York City homosexual Joe Jervis’s blog, Joe.My.God, after Jervis publicized the “UNWANTED” fliers:

My, my. So much homosexual hate, so little time. Joe [Jervis], what are you afraid of re: photos of IML getting out to the public? I thought you and your hateful buddies were “proud” of all things “gay” and “leather.” Could it be that deep down you’re actually ashamed of the depravities or you know that America would regard you as freaks? If not, why don’t you post pictures of the men who urinate on and in one another and explain to America why we should all have more “tolerance” for this lovely activity?

What is comical is to behold the ad hominem attacks from a group that espouses “tolerance.” Gimme a break: there’s more hate and judgmentalism just in this thread than Fred Phelps could muster in a year. Any sane person reading Joe’s blog will see who the real haters are. Your putdowns have as much a basis in reality as your fake “masculinity.” (We oppose homosexual activism, therefore we must be secret homosexuals–wow, that’s profound.) Real men don’t sodomize other men.

I have a proposal in the interest of “Leather Pride”: why don’t you post a webcam at IML Leather Market of all the fun activities so the public can get to know who you are and what you’re about? Like the “watersports” porn, or the “pig sex” booth, or the fisting videos? That way the public can assess who is telling the truth. What are you afraid of, Joe? Show me some “pride”!

Matt Barber made the following comment after learning that he was on the IML “UNWANTED” flier:

“Oh, those fun-loving little sadomasochists. They do enjoy their, um, slapstick, don’t they? I’m flattered to have made such an impression. Comedy aside, though, forgive me if I find the specter of a fussy little mob of queer CPAs, I.T. geeks and interior designers in buttless leather chaps pointing at me shrieking ‘There he is! There he is!’ a little less than daunting. I hate to disappoint, but with the disgusting and wicked perversion that goes on at these events, If I did somehow end up at the Chicago Hilton, I wouldn’t be that hard to spot. I’m the guy walking around the lobby in a full biohazard suit looking for the exit.

“So much for ‘gay pride.’ I don’t blame them for desperately trying to keep their lifestyle under wraps. As John 3:19 tells us: ‘And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.’ The reality of the behavior doesn’t mesh with the rhetoric, you see. It’s all about ‘marriage equality’ and ‘civil rights,’ remember? We can’t focus on the actual perversion or America might get wise to the scam.”

Lies upon lies

The “Unwanted” poster is filled with the usual lies against Americans for Truth, and against LaBarbera and Barber. It refers to LaBarbera using the “gay” smear term “Porno Pete,” implying that the AFTAH president has some prurient interest in homosexual perversion just because he works to expose it. (According to such logic, ardent pro-lifers who protest abortion mills and expose the horror of abortion secretly support the killing of unborn children.) Jervis the leatherman blogger has pushed this silly line before; in fact, he was so irate that AFTAH helped close down a homosexual “pig sex” orgy in a Washington, D.C. hotel that he wrote a piece called “Peter LaBarbera wants to have sweaty mansex with every one of you.”

Apparently if you want to bring out the hate and rage in the “leather” world, take away their vile perversions.

In a different post, Jervis, commenting on an AFTAH article, writes, “Porno Petey [Peter LaBarbera] should know by now that ’sadistic pervs’ is a honorific to Folsom attendees.” If that is the case, I wonder why Joe and his IML friends are so paranoid about AFTAH exposing their pet “fetishes” to the public.

As for Barber — who was fired by Allstate Insurance Company in 2005 after writing an online column critical of homosexuality on his own time — the “Unwanted” flier spreads the Allstate talking points. Don’t forget: Allstate settled Barber’s lawsuit. Clearly they didn’t want all the facts of the case to come out in open court. They folded like a cheap lawn chair, cut their losses and gave Barber an undisclosed amount for violating his civil rights.

More on IML in future posts: AFTAH has learned the Miller Brewing Company serverd as a “proud sponsor” of the perversion-fest.

Folks, I will be speaking on the defense of marriage in Illinois at the Americans For Life rally in downtown Chicago on Friday, May 22nd, at the State of Illinois Building, from 11:30-3:00. The rally is being organized by my friend Dick Walsh, a tough, veteran cultural warrior if there ever was one. WYLL’s Sandy Rios — another great friend of life and marriage — will be emceeing the event. Come to the rally, stand up for the unborn, whose lives are slaughtered for convenience. Bring your family and have a wonderful time standing up with fellow pro-life and pro-marriage Americans! — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.com

Here are the details:

Please join Americans For Life at the May 22, 2009 March for Life
11:30 a.m.  to 3:00 p.m. in downtown Chicago

11:30 am to 12:15 pm    Rally at the State of Illinois Building 100 West Randolph Street (between LaSalle and Clark Streets):

Speakers:

• Dick Walsh, Chairman, Americans For Life
• Sandy Rios, FOX News contributor and Radio Host from Chicago radio station WYLL
• Mary Anne Hackett, Illinois Right to Life Committee
• Tom Morrison, Illinois Family Institute
• Jim Finnegan, License Plates For Life (fighting for Illinois to approve “Choose Life” license plates)

12:15 p.m. to 1:00 pm    March For Life from the State of Illinois Building to the Federal Building Plaza

1:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.   Rally in the Plaza north of the Federal Building at 50 West Adams:

Speakers:

• Joe Scheidler, Pro-Life Action League
• Jill Stanek, Born Alive Infant Protection Act; see www.jillstanek.com
• Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality

… and religious leaders for pro-life causes.

This rally is being co-sponsored by WYLL Radio AM 1160 and WIND AM 560. For information on co-sponsorship opportunities, please contact Bea Sutkis at WYLL at 708 256 2851 or by email at bea@salemradiochicago.com.

Send To Phone

Dear AFTAH Readers,

The following is an account by my good friend Dave Smith of the Illinois Family Institute, on the leftist “queer” protest last night against my talk at the Christian Liberty Academy [listen to the speech or download it HERE]. I’ve been called a lot of nasty names in the last 15 years by loving and tolerant homosexual activists, but “Satan’s Lover” is certainly at the top of the list in terms of perverseness! Oh well, comes with the territory. Per the usual, Gay Liberation Network (GLN) — a far-left homosexual group in Chicago that once slandered Chicago’s historic Moody Church as a “House of Hate” — lied about the number of people who attended the talk (30 as opposed to 80-90).

Also note that GLN is on record supporting Wright State University’s banning of a Christian Bible group because it would not sign the university’s “nondiscrimination” policy — which would force it to violate its Christian teachings against homosexuality. Dave is right: the “Queer” Left is itching to take away our First Amendment freedoms, and it’s up to you and me to stop them. Stay strong. — Peter LaBarbera, www.americansfortruth.com

Dave Smith of Illinois Family Institute writes:

_________________________________________

Name Calling is O.K. for Anti-Christian Radicals3/24/2009 12:22:00 PM
By David E. Smith, Executive Director -Illinois Family Institute

Last night I joined approximately 80 to 90 other concerned citizens in Arlington Heights to listen to pro-family advocate Peter LaBarbera talk about the homosexual agenda and our diminishing freedom of conscience. Peter is the President of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, an organization dedicated to exposing the homosexual activist agenda.

He did a fantastic job! (Listen to it online or download it HERE.)

As usual, there was a tiny group of homosexual protesters from the Gay Liberation Network. These activists follow LaBarbera to many of his speaking engagements in order to harass and intimidate anyone who dares to disagree with their pro-homosexual propaganda.

Ironically, some in the group chanted “love thy neighbor” while one of their compatriots carried a sign that said “LaBarbera is Satan’s lover.” [See the photos at top and bottom of this story.]

This is the same small group of intolerant, anti-Christian radicals who stood outside Bishop Larry D. Trotter’s Sweet Holy Spirit Church on Chicago’s South Side, yelling, “BORN AGAIN BIGOTS, GO AWAY” and other slogans designed to demonize people of faith who, like Trotter, stand up for God’s design for marriage.

This is the same small group who protested Moody Bible Church and Catholic Cardinal Francis George’s home as “Houses of Hate.” Defending biblical sexual morality is not prejudice, and defending natural marriage is not “hate.”

Make no mistake, radical, anti-Christian groups like the Gay Liberation Network would like nothing more than to use the heavy hand of government to censor LaBarbera’s work. They and other leftist groups are working to quash our First Amendment rights to freely exercise our religious faith.

The Lies of the Left: Bob Schwartz of the hard-left Gay Liberation Network’s (GLN) rails against Peter LaBarbera and Americans For Truth, outside the venue where LaBarbera discussed the threat that the “gay” agenda poses to religious liberty. Schwartz claims to be against censorship yet he applauded Wright State University for banning a Christian group from campus. Per the usual, GLN lied about the number of people attending the speech at Christian Liberty Academy, in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Listen to LaBarbera’s talk or download it HERE.

“Recent court decisions in other states have similarly made clear that providing benefits to same-sex couples, no matter how minor and even if accompanied by statement of intent meant to protect marriage, will be treated as evidence that the legislature does not object to redefining marriage.

“In each of the State high court decisions mandating a redefinition of marriage (in Massachusetts, California and Connecticut), the majority opinions have pointed to the extension of benefits to same-sex couples in those States in support of its conclusion.[3] This was the case in Massachusetts even though the legislature had specified in one bill that “[n]othing in this act shall be construed so as to legitimize or validate a ‘homosexual marriage’, so-called.” – William Duncan, Marriage Law Foundation

TAKE ACTION:  “Civil unions” and “domestic partner” bills are used by activist judges to legalize “same-sex marriage,” as Bill Duncan of the Marriage Law Foundation shows below. Such bills are being considered in several states. “Sexual orientation/Gender Identity” bills create the foundation for artificial, homosexuality-based “rights,” culminating in homosexual “marriage.”  A “civil unions” bill just advanced in Illinois, and several pro-homosexual bills will be considered soon in Florida. Take action in the following states (this list is not comprehensive):

TO FIND OUT WHO YOUR STATE AND FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVES ARE, go to www.congress.org and plug in your zip code.

FLORIDA: OPPOSE the pro-homosexual/-transsexual “Civil Rights” bill (HB397); the “Domestic Partnership” bill (SB1642); and the pro-homosexual-adoption bills (SB500, HB413); also, OPPOSE the repeal of Abstinence Education (S268,  H0019); here is the Florida legislature website;

ILLINOIS: Oppose the “civil unions” bill, HB 2234, that just passed out of the Youth and Family Committee; urge House Speaker Mike Madigan to stop blocking the marriage amendment (HC002); for more information and an action letter template on HB2234, go to Illinois Family Institute’s website; here is the Illinois General Assembly website;

MICHIGAN: Gary Glenn, head of AFA-Michigan, reports that the following bills are under consideration in Michigan: state-level ENDA (HB 4192); state-level hate crimes; State-level bullying bill (SB 0159 and SB 0275); State-level authorization of homosexual couples being allowed to adopt children. All the bills include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” language. Click here for the Michigan legislature website;

NEW MEXICO: Americans For Truth provided crucial information that helped defeat SB12, a “civil unions” bill in New Mexico — read about the pro-family victory HERE. Thank the state senators who voted against SB 12; you can find a roll call at the end of this article; click here for the New Mexico legislature’s website;

NEW YORK: Urge your legislators to OPPOSE efforts to legalize counterfeit (”gay”) “marriage”; homosexual activists in New York hope to make it the first state to pass “gay marriage” legislation; read a homosexual magazine account HERE; and go here for the New York State Assembly website.

OHIO: OPPOSE SB 55 and 57, pro-homosexual “comprehensive” (anti-abstinence-based) sex-ed bills; here is the Ohio legislature website;

PENNSYLVANIA: Diane Gramley of AFA of Penn. reports that yesterday H.B. 300 was introduced – adding ‘sexual orientation and gender identity or expression’ to the PA Human Relations Act.  Also, one senator has indicated he will reintroduce a hate crimes bill in the near future. So OPPOSE HB300 and “Hate Crimes” legislation. Here’s the Pennsylvania General Assemby website;

UTAH:  Oppose “Common Ground InitiativeWe” legislation; for more information, go to the Southerland Institute website’s “Legislation” page; here is the Utah legislature’s website;

WEST VIRGINIA:  the West Virginia Family Foundation lists the “sexual orientation” bills (OPPOSE) and the state marriage amendment (SUPPORT) in the legislature; go here for the West Virginia legislature website.

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Here’s a very important article by Bill Duncan, who has put in many years of good work defending marriage:

Utah’s “Common Ground” Package a Trojan Horse

By William C. Duncan, Marriage Law Foundation

A group called Utah Equality has proposed a package of legislation meant to increase the rights of same-sex couples in Utah. The package has been presented against a backdrop of widespread intimidation directed towards supporters of marriage as the union of husband and wife, including churches.

One of the bills this group includes in its package (expanding eligibility for unmarried people to pursue wrongful death actions) is currently pending in the Utah Legislature. The most significant part of the package would repeal a provision of the Utah Constitution that prevents the creation of legal statuses—such as civil unions– equivalent to marriage that have been understood as a prelude to redefining marriage in California and Connecticut.

Supporters of the package have presented this legislation as the only way for supporters of marriage to show they are acting in good faith.

For instance, a recent article in the Los Angeles Times says: “If the LDS [Latter Day Saints] Church were to support McCoy [the legislative sponsor of the currently pending bill] it would show that it really does believe in love, compassion and equal rights. If it does not, the church’s supposedly conciliatory stance would simply be one more obfuscation in support of truly bigoted intentions.”[1]

While there may be a particular measure included in the package that may not be objectionable taken in isolation , the sponsors of this package have precluded individual consideration of the ideas by creating a package of “bundled” measures and declaring an intention of “incremental advances” on gay rights while the “marriage dialogue” is “set aside . . . for a while.”[2]

Don’t be Fooled

Recent court decisions in other states have similarly made clear that providing benefits to same-sex couples, no matter how minor and even if accompanied by statement of intent meant to protect marriage, will be treated as evidence that the legislature does not object to redefining marriage.

In each of the State high court decisions mandating a redefinition of marriage (in Massachusetts, California and Connecticut), the majority opinions have pointed to the extension of benefits to same-sex couples in those States in support of its conclusion.[3] This was the case in Massachusetts even though the legislature had specified in one bill that “[n]othing in this act shall be construed so as to legitimize or validate a ‘homosexual marriage’, so-called.”[4]

Sound legal and public policy does not require the Utah Legislature to support legislation as a way of rebutting attacks on the integrity of defenders of marriage. If a measure is necessary it should be accompanied not by accusations of bad faith but by evidence of a need for that measure, including a showing that the measure’s purposes cannot be accomplished in a way that provides no threat to marriage (such as by private contract).

Thus, Utah Equality describes the need for wrongful death legislation as “help[ing] families [of those killed as a result of negligence or malpractice] stay in their homes by removing existing barriers to inheritance and insurance.”[5] At a minimum, then, sponsors of the legislation should be able to show that:

1. people are losing their homes because of the absence of the legislation; and
2. these goals could not be achieved through joint ownership of a home, life insurance policies or other private arrangements including wills, that are currently accessible to any person.

These showings will require study and deliberation. It is neither necessary nor wise for the legislature to endorse a package of legislation meant to change the State’s sound public policy in regard to marriage.

Notes
1 Rick Jacobs, “Why We’re Mad at the Mormon Church,” Los Angeles Times , December 8, 2008 at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oew-jacobs8-2008dec08,0,3004487.story.

2 Steve Gehrke, “More Than Mischief: Are Recent Acts of Church Vandalism Tied to Bigotry?,” Salt Lake Tribune , November 24, 2008; Aaron Falk, “Gay Rights Battle Heads to Capitol,” Deseret News , December 10, 2008, B4; see also Kirk Johnson, “Gay Leaders in Utah Plan 5-Bill Attack in Legislature,” New York Times , November 11, 2008, A15.

3 Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, 798 N.E.2d 941, 962 & 967 ( Mass. 2003); In re Marriage Cases, 183 P.3d 384, 428 ( Cal. 2008), Kerrigan v. Department of Public Health, 2008 WL 4530885, *15 ( Conn.
2008).

4 Mass. General Laws Ann. 151B §4; see Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, 798 N.E.2d 941, 977 ( Mass. 2003) (Spina, J., dissenting).

5 Equality Utah , “Common Ground Initiative” at http://www.equalityutah.org/CommonGroundInitiative.html.

TAKE ACTION: Support SB600 in the Illinois State Senate by calling the Senators listed in this Illinois Family Institute Alert; the Capital Switchboard number in Springfield is 217-782-2000). This legislation could be effectively killed in committee soon so please call today.

Dear Readers,

I endorse this article by my friends at Champion News (based in Carpentersville, Illinois) — advocating a bill, SB600 (sponsored by Sen. Chris Lauzen (R-Aurora), which would allow the direct election of the Republican State Central Committee in Illinois — with the following proviso: though I am active in Republican Party politics in Illinois, Americans For Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH) is a non-partisan organization that promotes pro-family values in all parties and all areas of society. We are not a GOP organization; in fact, some Republicans do not like AFTAH when we criticize pro-homosexual pandering within the Republican Party (see our campaign urging RNC Chief Michael Steele not to embrace the homosexual “Log Cabin Republican” agenda). They especially don’t like us when we assert that all de facto homosexual activist Republicans (and Democrats) working behind the scenes to promote the GLBT agenda should be open with the voters about their sexual special interest (instead of hiding behind the homosexual closet).

The reality here in the Land that Gave America Obama (sigh) is this: the Illinois Republican Party leadership has failed to stand boldly for conservative, pro-family ideals, and the party desperately needs some competitive energy. The ILGOP is hurt by its own “moderates” (read: social liberals) who continually talk down pro-family policies and proclaim their disdain for the ILGOP becoming “too conservative” (even as they lose one election after another). We hope that SB600 will become a vehicle for MORE pro-family advocacy in the party — and that it will help bring an infusion of new blood and Reaganesque thinking to the Party of Lincoln. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

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Direct Elections: Awaken the IL GOP

First published in Champion News, March 3

By John Biver

My Champion News colleague Doug Ibendahl has been advocating for a return to Direct Elections for several years now, and along the way has thoroughly made the case in articles such as this one from last June: “Reawaken our Illinois Republican Party – Vote for a Return to Direct Elections.” Doug opened the article by asking rank and file Republicans to stand-up for the restoring of “a basic legal right that was taken away two-decades ago, with devastating consequences.” Devastating indeed. Here are excerpts from Doug’s article:

All Republicans in Illinois used to have a say in electing the top leadership of our Illinois Republican Party (the “State Party”). Our State Party is run by a 19-member State Central Committee, one member from each of our state’s U.S. Congressional Districts.

Our State Central Committee is the political equivalent of a board of directors – it’s charged with setting policy, overseeing operations, and looking out for the best interests of all Republicans.

In the late 1980’s the good-old-boys decided they wanted to consolidate power in Illinois. So they changed the system of selecting that board of directors – without asking Republican voters by the way. The Illinois Democrats kept direct elections for their Central Committee, but we adopted a much more closed, easily rigged system, with some really bad incentives.

Myth: “Returning to direct elections will mean only the wealthy will get on the State Central Committee.”

TRUTH:  The wealthier candidate is often the loser in an election, especially in Illinois. Our recent GOP primaries are full of examples.

Doug’s following point is huge – as it gets right to correcting the perverse incentives of the current system (emphasis added in bold and reformatted into bullet points).

We’re talking about an unpaid party post in the case of the State Central Committee. Making the members accountable to Republicans again will do much to change the job from being a mostly do-nothing ceremonial post, into one where the members have an incentive to become doers, working to build our Party.

Let’s create some common sense performance expectations for this State Central Committee for a change. Let’s measure that performance and share it with Republican voters in advance of election.

• For example, how many get-out-the-vote efforts did the person lead?
• How many new Republicans were registered to vote?
• What were the recruitment efforts for candidates, volunteers, election judges, poll watchers, etc.?
• And most importantly, how did the Republican vote fare in their districts?

Let’s see who runs for a volunteer service position that actually has some real work involved. And if someone wants to spend a significant sum of his or her own money to attain a volunteer job where they have to work hard on behalf of Republicans – is that a bad thing? Might that be exactly the kind of committed leader we need to reawaken this Illinois GOP?

A campaign for the State Central Committee means more energy and more people engaging and getting Republicans to the polls. Again, how can that be a bad thing?

Myth: “With direct elections, only public officials or those with high name I.D. would get elected.”

TRUTH: Our State Central Committee has lots of public officials NOW – plus there are a few more who are essentially the stand-in for a public official in the district.  If our party really wants to keep public officials off the State Central Committee, there is a simple solution. That State Central Committee could amend its By-Laws to include the prohibition.

If this public official point were truly a legitimate concern, our State Party could call a meeting and make the change today — if it wanted to. But passage would mean several of the current incumbents who are already public officials would have to give up a post. . .

Myth: “Direct elections will help Chicago Democrats get on our State Central Committee.”

TRUTH: We’ve got Chicago Democrats for all intents and purposes on there NOW. Think Skip Saviano for example. Enough said.

The truth is it’s our current system that’s encouraged Democrats to seek our party titles. This is evident in Chicago especially. Under our current system we’ve had lifelong Democrats in Chicago Ward Committeemen posts. Our current system encourages the State Central Committeemen not to say a peep or lift a finger, as long as they get that person’s vote to help stay on the State Central Committee.

Myth: “All of the County Chairmen are against returning to direct elections.”

TRUTH: Lots of County Chairmen support the reform. (Click HERE for a partial list of those supporting direct elections, which now includes former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald.)  More importantly, no other proposal impacting our Illinois GOP has generated as much energy and support from the rank-and-file in recent years as this direct elections reform.

Myth: “Direct elections would take power away from the precinct committeemen.”

TRUTH: Direct elections make the precinct committeemen MORE important. A State Central Committee member who wants to stay in office is going to have to build a much closer working relationship with his or her precinct committeemen – and the County Chairmen. And the relationship is going have to revolve around getting-out-the-vote, and less on just currying personal friendship.

Direct election of the State Central Committee is crucial to better align the interests of all party officials, at all levels, with the interests of Republicans. This is a big reason why every corporation gives every shareholder a direct vote for the board of directors for example.

More importantly, our current system has in fact been devastating to the precinct committeeman ranks. Note how our State Party consistently refuses every two years to help recruit precinct committeemen to fill the huge number of vacant slots around the state. This is just one of the bad disincentives built into our current system. It’s pretty obvious there’s a major concern among a few insiders about expanding the pool of voters, i.e., precinct committeemen.

Myth: “Going back to direct elections constitutes a ‘risky’ change.”

TRUTH: It’s our current system which is odd and extreme. Changing back to direct elections means going back to the sensible system, and the one that’s more like how every well run corporation is structured. Don’t forget, we were consistently a Red State when we had direct elections. Since abandoning direct elections, the GOP Presidential nominee has lost Illinois every time, usually by a lot.

To our knowledge, no other state party in America has a system as closed as the one we’ve tried.  It’s high time we ended the radical experiment that’s been an obvious failure.

Again, click HERE to read Doug’s entire article. Also recommended are these:

• Issue Brief: In Support of Direct Elections;
• Step 1 for an Illinois GOP recovery is giving Republicans back their vote;
• Illinois needs a Republican Party that can credibly push for a special election.

John Biver is the Editor of Champion News.

The Chicago Tribune ran this photo of Kari Rothkopf (left) and Victoria “Tori” Kirk, Illinois residents who had horrific, emasculating “sex change” operations in Thailand and are now suing the State of Illinois to switch the gender on their birth certificates from male to female. Not one to miss out on a politically correct opportunity to promote gender confusion and the GLBT agenda, the Tribune refers to these men with a female pronoun and calls them “women.” Pray for these terribly confused men, who have already successfully changed the sex identifier on their driver’s licenses, passports and Social Security cards. (Click to enlarge photo, by Tribune photographer Kuni Takahashi)

By Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute, first published 1/29/2009

In the Jan. 28, 2009 edition of the Chicago Tribune, there is a story about the two sexual amputees who are suing the state over the refusal of the state to change the “gender” designation on their birth certificates from “male” to “female.” Several important points must be made. First, it’s utterly reprehensible that anyone in the medical community would be complicit in facilitating a psychological disorder by amputating healthy body parts. There is a condition known as either apotemnophilia or Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) that is characterized by the desire to amputate a healthy limb. It is useful for comparison in that it is thought by many to be closely related to Gender Identity Disorder (i.e., transsexualism), which society is increasingly accepting as a valid identity that emerges from biological influences and whose behavioral manifestations are morally legitimate. Apotemnophiles, as they are referred to in some circles, identify with amputees and seek to align their bodies with their psychological identities through amputation of healthy body parts. Dr. Anne Lawrence explains the condition:

Desire for amputation of a healthy limb has usually been regarded as a paraphilia (apotemnophilia), but some researchers propose that it may be a disorder of identity, similar to Gender Identity Disorder (GID) or transsexualism. Similarities between the desire for limb amputation and nonhomosexual male-to-female (MtF) transsexualism include profound dissatisfaction with embodiment.

She further explores the similarities between Male-to-Female (MtF) transsexuals and those who seek limb amputation:

Persons who want to undergo limb amputation typically experience an intense desire or overwhelming compulsion to change their bodies to match their idealized images of themselves as amputees. . . . They usually describe their feelings as developing early in life, often before puberty. . . . most emphasize that they are primarily seeking a sense of wholeness or completeness or are attempting to correct a mismatch between their bodies and their identities.

There is debate about whether BIID should be included in the next edition of the DSM as a mental disease or disorder. There is also considerable debate surrounding causation and treatment with some theorizing that this condition “may in fact have a neurological basis.” American psychoanalyst Greg Furth, who suffers from apotemnophilia himself, and Scottish surgeon Dr. Robert Smith are both “committed to the position that surgery should be regarded as a viable therapeutic option for at least some individuals who suffer from apotemnophilia.” Dr. Smith, in fact, performed two elective amputations of limbs in order to align the bodies of people who experience B.I.I.D. with their psychological identities as amputees. Most people, rightly in my view, recoil in horror at this decision. But it is difficult to see how amputating a healthy arm or leg is substantively different from amputating a healthy penis or breasts.

Second, these two men remain men even without their penises, even with hormone-induced or prosthetic breasts, and even with hormone-induced female-ish voices. As I’ve written before, my mother was no less a woman following her mastectomy, hysterectomy, and oophorectmy than she was before her surgeries. The disordered desire of these two men does not change objective reality.

Finally, these two men are not merely asking the government to become complicit in their disordered delusion; and they are not merely asking the government and all of society to accept their delusion as reality; they are also asking the state to commit fraud. They are asking the state to affirm in a legal document a falsehood. Even these two men acknowledge that they were born male. If they hadn’t been born male, they couldn’t have had a “sex-change” operation.

What almost gets lost in this disturbing article is that these voluntary sexual amputees could have had their birth certificates changed if their surgeries had been performed in the United States rather than Thailand. Already the government has been complicit in this monumental deceit and delusion by allowing them to change their “gender” designation “on their driver’s licenses, passports and Social Security Card.” Just as the medical profession acts unethically when amputating healthy body parts in the service of a delusion, so does the government act unethically when changing legal documents to affirm a falsehood in the service of a delusion.

A just and merciful society treats all with respect and compassion. But respect and compassion do not entail complicity in deceit. Integral to real justice, real mercy, real respect and real compassion is truth.

Laurie Higgins is the Director of School Advocacy at the Illinois Family Institute, which first published this essay. Republished with the permission of IFI.

The far left, Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network has been smearing Christians as “haters” for years. Here they shown in 2005 picketing the city’s beloved Moody Church, which GLN fanatically labeled a “House of Hate” because Moody pastor Erwin Lutzer wrote a book against homosexual “marriage.” Click to enlarge; photo by Dave Smith, Illinois Family Institute.

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News Advisory, Protect Marriage Illinois and Americans For Truth

November 15, 2008

Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; americansfortruth@comcast.net

CHICAGO – Peter LaBarbera, Board Member of Protect Marriage Illinois and president of Americans For Truth (www.aftah.org), issued the following statement in response to the national homosexual protest day against Proposition 8’s passage in California. LaBarbera joins Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel (www.lc.org) and a small group of Illinois pro-family advocates in Chicago to oppose the Chicago pro-homosexual-“marriage” rally today at Federal Plaza.

Statement by Peter LaBarbera:

We stand here today proudly in support of Prop 8 – which preserves the age-old definition of marriage as between and a man and a woman in California – and similar pro-traditional-marriage amendments that have passed in 30 states across the nation. Americans have spoken: they oppose the radical redefinition of marriage. We in Illinois hope to join the other states in passing a constitutional amendment to prevent activist courts from foisting “gay marriage” on our citizens.

Homosexual activists arrogantly reject the will of people and are trying to overturn their loss at the ballot box through the courts in California. If they succeed, it will create a constitutional crisis in California and sour citizens on the power of their vote – but that’s fine for homosexual activists because it’s always all about them. No wonder they regard all opposition to their “gay marriage” agenda as illegitimate, and even malign pro-family advocates – including African Americans who voted by 70-30 in California for Prop 8 – as “haters, bigots and homophobes.”

Gay activists talk a lot about “tolerance” but many do not practice what they preach. In the days since the election, America has watched as homosexual militants have escalated their anti-Christian and anti-religious attacks. Homosexual activists targeted the Mormon Church and other churches that supported Prop 8 with protests and even violence. A suspicious white powder was discovered at two Mormon temples and at a printing plant used by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization that supported and helped finance Prop 8’s successful campaign.

In Palm Springs, an elderly woman in favor of Prop 8 was assaulted by “gay” militants, and in Michigan, a lesbian anarchist group called “Bash Back!” stormed an Assemblies of God church and began throwing around condoms and engaging in vulgar behavior. So it’s no surprise that homosexual activists are going after the IRS non-profit charity status of opposing churches.

Incredibly, even after “No on 8” ran a vicious TV ad that was blatantly bigoted against Mormon missionaries, in the aftermath of the election “gay” activist accused Prop 8 of telling “lies” during the campaign. Here in Chicago, one of the main organizing groups for today’s homosexual protest is the Gay Liberation Network (GLN) — a group that regularly maligns Christians and smears churches as “haters” because they disagree with GLN about homosexuality. Defending marriage is not “hate,” and agreeing with the historic Judeo-Christian opposition to homosexual practice is not “bigotry.” Those like GLN who smear Christians as “bigots” and “homophobes” merely for standing up for their Biblical beliefs about the sanctity of marriage reveal themselves as hateful bigots. We need a Proposition 8 here in Illinois!

Why does McDonald’s equate defenders of marriage and Judeo-Christian morality with “hate”? TAKE ACTION: Call McDonald’s to let them know about your decision to boycott at 1-800-244-6227 (or 630-623-3000; fax: 630-623-5004). For more information about AFTAH’s Wednesday press conference at McDonald’s world headquarters, write americansfortruth@comcast.

Dear Readers,

Americans For Truth has called a press conference outside of McDonald’s world headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, this Wednesday, July 16, in support of American Family Association’s (AFA) boycott of the fast-food giant. Joining AFTAH and AFA will be representatives of Liberty Counsel, Illinois Family Institute, AFA of Pennsylvania, Culture Campaign and other pro-family advocates — including some moms who will explain why they won’t be taking their children to McDonald’s until the corporation stops promoting homosexuality and “gay” activism.

Note McDonald’s unfortunate choice below of the word “hate” as applied to critics of the company’s pro-homosexual policies. When we’ve reached the point where belief in the Bible and traditional morality is routinely equated with hatred, America has become hostile territory for people of faith. Sadly, pro-homosexual “diversity” is becoming a code-word for anti-Christian bigotry, as we at AFTAH have experienced before. (See our story about the founder of DiversityInc magazine, Luke Visconti, outrageously equating this writer (and Americans For Truth) with racist pro-slavery advocates of the past. Click HERE for African American ex-lesbian Charlene Cothran’s response to Visconti’s ugly and, yes, hateful analogy.)

We must stand up for marriage and the natural family and defend truth, in love — which includes pointing people caught up in homosexuality to the possibility of wholesome change. Thanks for your support! — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

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American Family Association writes July 10, 2008:

McDonald’s: those opposing SSM motivated by hate

Throwing out any pretense of being neutral in the culture war, McDonald’s has taken up the rhetoric of gay activists, suggesting those who oppose same-sex “marriage” (SSM) are motivated by hate.

AFA has asked for a boycott of McDonald’s restaurants because of the company’s promotion of the gay agenda. AFA asked McDonald’s to remain neutral in the culture war. McDonald’s refused.

In response to the boycott, McDonald’s spokesman Bill Whitman suggested to the Washington Post that those who oppose SSM ["same-sex marriage"] are motivated by hate, saying “…hatred has no place in our culture.” McDonald’s has decided to adopt the “hate” theme used by homosexual activist groups for years.

Whitman went on to say, “We stand by and support our people to live and work in a society free of discrimination and harassment.” Mr. Whitman has intentionally avoided addressing the reason for the boycott. This boycott is not about hiring gays or how gay employees are treated. It is about McDonald’s choosing to put the full weight of their corporation behind promoting their agenda.

McDonald’s donated $20,000 to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in exchange for membership and a seat on the group’s board of directors. The NGLCC lobbies Congress in support of same-sex “marriage.”

McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner said the company will promote issues they approve. “Being a socially responsible organization is a fundamental part of who we are. We have an obligation to use our size and resources to make a difference in the world…and we do.”

Take Action!

• Sign the online [AFA] Boycott McDonald’s petition: www.boycottmcdonalds.com.
• Forward this to family and friends and ask them to sign the petition.
• Print and distribute the Boycott McDonald’s petition.
• Call your local McDonald’s. Speak with the manager. Tell him or her (in a polite manner) that you will be boycotting McDonald’s until they stop promoting the pro-homosexual agenda. To find the phone number of your nearest McDonald’s, click HERE.

Thank you for caring enough to get involved. If you feel our efforts are worthy of support, would you consider making a small tax-deductible contribution to help us continue? [click HERE to donate to AFA; click HERE to donate to Americans For Truth]

Sincerely,

Donald E. Wildmon,
Founder and Chairman
American Family Association

By Peter LaBarbera

We’re back from vacation — just in time to state our support for American Family Association’s boycott of McDonald’s. Actually, Americans For Truth has unofficially encouraged a boycott of the fast-food giant for the last few months — after AFA publicized McDonald’s budding, cozy relationship with the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Today I went on Janet Folger’s “Faith2Action” radio program to express AFTAH’s support for AFA’s boycott. We will be detailing the many ways in which McDonald’s supports homosexuality and gender confusion. The Oak Brook, Illinois-based corporation has an 85 percent ranking in the 2008 “Corporate Equality Index” scorecard put out by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s leading homosexual pressure group.

You can contact McDonald’s HERE, and we urge you to stop in at the local McDonald’s restaurant that you would normally visit and explain to them in person why your family will no longer be eating there. Here’s one approach:

“My family spends at least __ hundred dollars a year at your restaurant but we will not be visiting again until McDonald’s stops supporting and financing the homosexual agenda. Homosexuality is a sin, and I don’t want my consumer dollars going to subsidize the unhealthy and immoral sexual agendas that undermine marriage. Please convey to McDonald’s national executive team that their decision to promote homosexuality is costing the company business.”

I’ve talked to many pro-family people who already have been boycotting McDonald’s for weeks. The idea has obviously caught on because it’s an easy step to take for the many Americans who are sick and tired of rewarding and subsidizing corporations that promote homosexuality.

On a personal level, from the perspective of a pudgy family man who’s scarfed down, say, about 100 too many Quarter-pounder-with-cheese and Big Mac meals in my lifetime, McDonald is an ideal boycott target. Unless you’re supremely loyal to McDonald’s brand of fattening, greasy burgers, McChicken sandwiches and fries, etc., it’s pretty easy to drive to another fast-food joint or — better for your body — substitute healthy food instead.

Come to think of it, this is one of the few protests against unhealthy lifestyles that can lead you to live a … healthier lifestyle. Two birds with one stone.

Pathetic as it may sound for what it reveals about my eating habits (and in my own defense I do have five kids), I’ve probably avoided spending easily $100-$150 since vowing not to reward the “gay”-promoting fast food chain a while back.

This is a boycott that any American, now matter how “average,” can take part in and help make successful. Past AFA boycotts affected those who may have been in the market to buy a car (Ford) or visit a Florida theme park (Disneyworld), but this boycott is for anyone with enough willpower to redirect his growling stomach away from the Golden Arches as he drives down the road.

How easy is it to punish corporate bad behavior? Just think “McDonald’s — Financing the Unhealthy Homosexual Agenda” and drive on by.

I haven’t seen any data on this, but I’ll bet that McDonald’s execs know full well that “burger loyalty” to their chain is not near what it used to be in an age with so many fast and cheap eating options. We’ll see if they continue to dig in their heels against AFA or actually get out of the Homosexuality Promotion business. (I’d be shocked if the latter happens anytime soon.) On a technical note, we at AFTAH have our own concerns with McDonald’s’ corporate practices that may go beyond those stated by American Family Association; we’ll lay those out for you in forthcoming posts.

Lastly, as a long-time observer of the particular brand of narcissism associated with “gays,” I must add: the spectacle of hordes of body-conscious homosexual men venturing to McDonald’s to buy fattening Quarter-Pounders — just to offset AFA’s boycott — is, well, simply delicious.

“They invent ways of doing evil.” (Book of Romans 1:30)

See article below

By Peter LaBarbera

The above is a photo of videos sold at one of the many pornographic booths at the International Mr. Leather 2008 convention, held in the Hyatt Regency Chicago Hotel (Patrick Donnelly, Gen. Man.: 312-565-1234) over the Memorial Day weekend. Click HERE to listen to an online CWA interview with this writer. (I walked through the IML “vendors market,” open to the public, in a lower-level conference room at the Hyatt, where I shot this photo. )

Note that we’ve covered up the pornographic images. The bestiality titles (e.g., “Goat Fever,” “Amateur Animal 1,” speak for themselves. “Scat,” according to one online (and sexually explicit) “Robert Scott’s Gay Slang Dictionary,” refers to “A gay male who gets sexual gratification from acts involving faeces.” That is, excrement, which to us at Americans For Truth is proof that Satan is alive and well in this world.

Many IML “leathermen” may be successful businessmen or professionals by day, but in secret they glory in the sickest perversions imaginable, including (for some) “sex play” involving urine and feces. See this incredible photo of a group that advocates “piss parties,” and which hawks its vile products every year at IML.

All those concerned about the spread of HIV will be horrified to learn that homosexual “barebacking” (condomless sodomy) porn videos were everywhere at IML 2008, more so, it seemed, than at last year’s event at the Palmer House Hilton, also in Chicago. So much for all that homosexual “safer sex” education.

Pity the poor Hyatt Regency Chicago workers who had to clean up after the orgies and sex parties of the IML’s (mostly) homosexual “leathermen,” who attracted vendors selling such porn titles as the “Eat [Sh-t]” porn series (1, 2 and 3!; see photo above). Other videos playing at IML vendor booths in the Hyatt Regency gloried in homosexual fetishes involving urine, “fisting,” domination, submission, humiliation, extreme pain and bondage. As CWA’s Matt Barber and Martha Kleder discussed in the online CWA interview with this writer, what normal person would want to stay in a hotel room previously occupied by men engaging in such filthy sodomitic practices? (Call the Hyatt Regency’s Chicago’s General Manager, Patrick Donnelly, at 312-565-1234.)

International Mr. Leather is a spectacle that, like the annual, sadistic Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, could only have emerged from the hyper-sexualized, God-defying “gay” male subculture. And lest we dismiss IML as the “fringe of the sexual fringe,” we should remember: 1) that International Mr. Leather organizers claimed to “expect over 18,000 people from around the world to join in the celebration of IML” (Official Program Guide, p. 13); and 2) that America’s groundbreaking “sexologist,” Alfred Kinsey, was himself driven to punish himself masochistically, inserting foreign objects up his penis since his youth, according to his biographer, James H. Jones (Alfred C. Kinsey: A Life).

Of course, Kinsey’s covert and reckless perversions were not known to the American public as he labored carefully, with the media’s all too willing compliance (click HERE for Aug. 24, 1953 Time cover story), to achieve his vision of loosening the country’s sexual mores in the name of science. Jones describes how Kinsey “punish[ed] himself with savage brutality”:

“For a boy like Kinsey, a righteous boy whose sense of self-worth depended upon rigid self-control, nothing needed to be kept more hidden than the fact that he masturbated and that he did so with a foreign object inserted up his penis. Kinsey’s secret hiding place was not a treasure trove but a torture chest that contained the instrument of his pain. By late adolescence, his masochism was well advanced. He had progressed beyond straws and was inserting a brush back up his penis, a practice he would continue for life, at times changing the instrument of self-torture, but never the point of attack.”

So now we come full circle as the sadistic “International Mr. Leather” marks its 30th anniversary — with men celebrating with whips, anal “sex toys” and bondage gear a version of what was then the self-brutalizing Kinsey’s secret shame. (Certainly had the public known about the real Kinsey, including his lifelong sadomasochistic perversions, and willingness to include alleged self-reporting pedophile “data” on infant “orgasms” (Table 34 in his 1948 book Sexual Behavior and the Human Male), it would have spoiled his culture-changing enterprise.) Tragically, for the idolatrous men at IML, shame seems to be in pathetically short supply.

Perhaps to pay tribute to the man whose inner demons drove him to popularize deviant sexuality — paving the way for the “gay pride” revolution and, ultimately, outright perversion-fests like International Mr. Leather — Alfred Kinsey’s image should replace the heart on that black-and-blue “Leather Pride” flag (at right).

AFTAH’s photo-coverage of IML 2008 will continue. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth.

Sadistic homosexual men attending an “International Mr. Leather” convention took over the Hyatt Regency Hotel (Patrick Donnelly, Gen. Man.: 312-565-1234) in Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend. Click HERE to listen to the CWA online interview with Peter LaBarbera of AFTAH. LaBarbera reports that the most vile pornography videos imaginable, including bestiality porn, were on sale in abundance in a large conference room at the Hyatt Regency. Above is a (blocked out) photo from last year’s IML (held at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago) of the “Water Boys,” a group that advocates orgies involving men urinating on and in one another. At this year’s IML, the “Water Boys” advertised the “Biggest Piss Party on the Planet” in Palm Springs, CA July 11-13. Hard-core sodomitic pornographic videos depicting this and other depraved acts showed on screens throughout the Hyatt Regency ballroom hosting the IML venders’ market.

CWA’s Matt Barber asks in the online interview: assuming that the men engaging in the above type of “pig sex” (as they call it) indulged in their twisted perversions in their hotel guest rooms, how does the Grand Hyatt staff clean up and disinfect the rooms afterwards? Would YOU want to stay in the same room where men engaged in satanic, depraved sodomitic orgies involving feces and urine? Call the Hyatt at 312-565-1234 to tell management that you, too, will never stay at this hotel; and also call the Palmer House Hilton (312-726-7500), host of last year’s IML (see 2007 photo-story HERE). Both hotels should pay a price for profiting off of sadistic and unhealthy perversions.

Concerned Women for America writes:

The Hyatt Regency Chicago just hosted three days of homosexual perversion featuring the open display of obscenity and debauchery in both their ballrooms and guest suites. Matt Barber, CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues spoke with Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, who documented activities on site. Both say that potential guests need to voice their disapproval of Hyatt hosting and profiting from such an event. They also want to know what Hyatt does to protect the rights and health of their workers during such events as well as sanitizing afterwards. Listen | Download

The number for the Hyatt Regency Chicago (Patrick Donnelly, Gen. Man.) is 312-565-1234.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN ONLINE. CWA’s Barber asked two questions on the program:

1. “Why is the Hyatt Regency facilitating this kind of immorality and debauchery?”; and
2. “What are they doing to disinfect these rooms to ensure the safety of future guests … and hotel workers … who have to clean up this stuff?”

Stay tuned on Americans For Truth’s website for more posts and photos of this evil homosexual event.

By Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH Exclusive

Steamworks, a 24/7 Chicago homosexual bathhouse where men go for anonymous sex with other men — one man said it is “like the Disneyland of gay sex” — is one of the sponsors of a “Queer Prom” tomorrow night for Latino homosexual youth.

A link for the bathhouse is found in web articles promoting the “Queer Prom,” which, ominously, is also open to adults to attend.

The item below in the Chicago homosexual newspaper Windy City Times (May 14, 2008) points to the problem of “gay youth” events, which too often expose impressionable and already sexually confused young people to the hyper-sexualized, adult (male) homosexual culture; note that the event is open to adults:

Queer Prom approaches

Get out your suits and dresses, because Queer Prom 2008 is May 23.

The dance for LGBTQ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning] youth and friends will take place at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 1952 W. 19th, at 6:30 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by Radio Arte, the National Museum of Mexican Art, CALOR, Steamworks, the Association of Latino Men for Action, the Young Women’s Empowerment, Amigas Latinas, Latinos Progresando, Project Vida and Lambda Legal.

There is a $10 suggested donation for youth, and a $25 suggested donation for adults, but no one will be turned away due to lack of funds….

One click away

As you can see by viewing THIS LINK advertising the event, youth are a mere click away from the web page for Steamworks, which caters to men 18 years and older. It appears as if the bathhouse owners are doing smart public relations to attract future clients to their sex business.

Here is a description of Steamworks bathhouse from its website (a photo from the site is at left; emphasis added below):

“STEAMWORKS has been providing men 18 years & older with a clean, comfortable and stylish place to meet other men, relax, workout and play 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 30 years….

“With over 800 lockers and over 230 private rooms, combined with over 10,300 gallons of water in our hot tubs and almost 44,000 square feet of club space… as soon as you walk into any of our clubs, you are grabbed by that inescapable Steamworks sexual energy. Whether you are here hanging out, working out or making out, think of Steamworks as your free space on the game of life - a place where man2man interaction is not only accepted, but encouraged!”

On a homosexual, pornographic website dedicated to helping men find public sites across the country where they can anonymously “cruise for sex” with other men, a satisfied out-of-town customer happily described his sodomitic encounters (he lost track of how many) and said: “I recently traveled to Chicago and before going I came to [the homosexual "cruising" website] as I was looking for some hot experiences. Man! Steamworks is like the Disneyland for gay sex.”

Steamworks, located in Boystown, the Chicago “gay” neighborhood north of downtown, is part of a chain of homosexual bathhouses (the others are in Toronto, Seattle and Berkeley, California, near San Francisco). Although Illinois’ best-known homosexual activist, Rick Garcia, claimed in the media not to know what goes on at Steamworks (located down N. Halsted Street from his offices at Equality Illinois), bathhouses and sex clubs are fixtures of big cities with large homosexual populations. (See this blog post about bathhouses by homosexual activist Keith Boykin, and the interesting comments that follow.)

One big problem with bathhouses — and one of the reasons why Americans For Truth About Homosexuality supports the permanent closure of all bathhouses and commercial sex clubs — is that many men who do not identify as “gay” use them. Places like Steamworks make it easy for bisexuals or men with girlfriends or wives to secretly engage in perversions, thus putting their spouses at risk.

The following description of the “Queer Prom” is found on the website Think Pink Radio (where there is also a web link to the Steamworks website):

Chicago’s only queer prom for youth who want a chance to go to a fancy party as themselves (with a real date) is looking for volunteers. No need to go in a group or with a friend, this is a safe space for anyone in high school or college that identifies as some form of queer. Presented by Homofrecuencia and WRTE Radio Arte, this annual gala will take place at The National Museum of Mexican Art on Friday, May 23, 2008. Interested volunteers can go here and fill out the form. If you are young and just looking to party, tickets are (suggested donation) $10 for youth and $25 for adults. Queer Prom 2008: “Todos Me Miran” will be super fun and filled with tears of joy, as always. … –Stinky Pinky

Mario Diaz, a Hispanic American pro-family advocate and policy director for legal issues for Concerned Women for America, said, “It’s bad enough that there’s a prom which celebrates deviant and unhealthy sexual behavior. But the fact that it’s sponsored by an adult homosexual bathhouse where men meet for anonymous sex is appalling.

“This goes against everything that the Latino community stands for,” Diaz said. “Latino organizations should be working for a better future for Hispanic youth, not encouraging them to celebrate self-destructive behaviors and a lifestyle that God opposes.

“This is another reason why parents need to be involved in the lives of their children,” Diaz said. “Not one Hispanic family I’ve ever known would approve of their children being involved in this kind of activity.”

AFTAH Board Member Matt Barber, also with CWA, said, “I want to know what business adult homosexuals have co-mingling with impressionable youth at an event centered around sexuality. What are their intentions with these teenagers?”

Perhaps since this is an event open to adults, parents and concerned members of the community should attend to monitor the event and ensure that minors are protected.

Click HERE to listen online to the CWA broadcast, and HERE to download it. Click here for AFTAH’s original story on the case: “Illinois Teen Faces Three Years Jail Sentence for Potentially Fraudulent ‘Hate Crime.’”

In the interview, Knight calls Champaign TV station WCIA-3’s initial story on the incident — in which reporter Amanda Evans interviewed only one side of the dispute — a “classic case” of media bias. More from Knight:

The message here is that there’s a special class of victim. If a homosexual is involved in this equation at all, the media and the legal system are supposed to presumably come to the aid of the homosexual every time. And it’s that selective victimization that you’re talking about, Matt, that’s so frightening.

Brett VanAsdlen

TAKE ACTION: 1) Urge Champaign County, Illinois State’s Attorney Julia Rietz (phone: 217-384-3733) to drop the government’s one-sided felony “hate crimes” prosecution against 18-year-old student-athlete Brett VanAsdlen — based on the inconsistent and likely exaggerated claims of Steven Velasquez, a homosexual University of Illinois (U of I) student who may have initiated physical contact with VanAsdlen. Already, Brett is being smeared as violent “gay-basher” by Velasquez and pro-homosexual activists in the media. Pray for Brett and his family.

2) Call or write WCIA-3 TV, the local CBS affiliate, and urge them to be fair in their coverage of this unfortunate story. Call (217) 373-3650 and ask for Producer Nancy Foreman. WCIA reporter Amanda Evans has led the TV coverage of the story, but her reporting appears to heavily favor Velasquez. It is wrong to smear the reputation of young man by airing all the accusations against him without presenting the other side of the story.

_____________________________

By Peter LaBarbera

CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, Illinois — Two young men — one homosexual, one heterosexual — tell very different stories about an argument that occurred late on a Friday night (April 11) in this college town, but only one — the straight student-athlete — faces a felony “hate crime” conviction with a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison.

Brett VanAsdlen faces a Class 4 felony hate crime after originally being charged with aggravated battery following an incident in which he pushed 20-year-old homosexual University of Illinois student Steven Velasquez to the ground. The critical question is: why did he push Velasquez and who was aggressor? VanAsdlen’s family says it was Velasquez who — after Brett made a comment about Velasquez and his homosexual partner — first “got in Brett’s face,” to which Brett responded by pushing Velasquez away. Velasquez claims that Brett attacked him unprovoked because of his homosexuality.

You can read and watch WCIA-TV’s initial, one-sided account of the incident featuring an interview with Velasquez HERE — which set the tone for those seeking to portray VanAsdlen as a violent hate criminal.

Obviously, it is difficult ascertain the facts about this case because we lack direct access to the principals. AFTAH has not been able to acquire a police report of the incident, but we have learned the aggravated battery charge has been dropped. Velasquez is getting his version of events out in the sympathetic media, and it is being trumpeted as a vicious “hate crime” by various homosexual and leftist websites including Daily Kos, but Brett’s side of the story is not getting out. We did speak with Brett’s mother, as did pro-family advocate Ted Pike, who first alerted the nation to the story. Here is an excerpt from Pike’s original account, based on his phone conversation with Rona Lee VanAsdlen (emphasis added):

The police department of Champaign, Illinois is reported to be under pressure from higher authorities to increase its quota of hate crimes convictions. Brett VanAsdlen, an 18 year-old Christian college student on a baseball scholarship, didn’t know this. On April 12 he and a friend saw two homosexuals leaning on each other and holding hands, walking toward them on the sidewalk. “Look at those two guys holding hands,” Brett said to his friend and walked past them. According to Brett’s mother, the next thing he knew, one of the homosexuals (whom he perceived to be drunk) had grabbed him by the shoulder, putting his face up to Brett’s and repeatedly shouting, “What did you say?” Brett told him to go away several times and then pushed him. The homosexual fell over backwards. On his back, the homosexual told his partner to call the police. In eight minutes, four officers arrived. Two interviewed Brett and his friend and assured them there would be no problem. Brett had been physically accosted and detained, clearly an assault. The other two officers interviewed the homosexual, who was taken to the hospital.

Note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy of this account, which of course is coming from a source (Brett’s mother) very sympathetic to the young man now charged with a “hate crime.” It is conceivable to this writer that young VanAsdlen might have made an untoward or derogatory comment about the homosexual couple, sparking the confrontation. But there is no law against speech critical of homosexuality (yet) and if it is true that Velasquez grabbed Brett, then perhaps he was the real (i.e., physical) aggressor.

Brett’s mother, Rona Lee, confirmed the account above to Americans For Truth, although she did not say what exactly Brett said to the homosexual couple. She did say that Brett did not initiate physical contact with Velasquez but that the homosexual “grabbed” Brett first — and then badgered him about the comment he had made. She said Velasquez was yelling at Brett and “in his face” and that Brett told him twice to get away from him before pushing him away. She and others familiar with the encounter said that Velasquez never lost consciousness.

Rona Lee described her son as a “happy, good natured” kid who “never dreamed that something like this could happen to him.” She said he did not take the arrest as seriously as he should have — especially after police told him it would be no big deal — and that Brett may even have neglected to state in the official police report that Velasquez was the first to make contact — a critical point in the story.

The VanAsdlen family is Christian and attends the nondenominational Minooka Bible Church, in Minooka, Illinois. Rona Lee says her son Brett, her oldest child (he has two brothers and a sister), is a “people person” — a conservative Christian but “not straight-laced” — who is “so naive it’s scary. … he had no idea what was in store for him.”

Rona Lee said she was very thankful that one of Brett’s teammates, Kevin Crane, was with him when the incident occurred, and can serve as a witness to what truly happened that night. She said neither she nor her husband have seen a police report of the incident.

Athletic Director says Brett is no hater

Brett transferred from Purdue University to Parkland College, a junior college in Champaign, after receiving a baseball scholarship and assurances that he would get more playing time than if he had remained at Purdue. After the alleged “hate crime” April 12, Brett was suspended from the baseball team pending the outcome of his court case.

Parkland College Athletic Director Rod Lovett told AFTAH that VanAsdlen’s removal from the team was handled as an “internal matter” for violating the college’s athletic code of conduct. He said Brett will have a right to appeal to be returned to the team following the resolution of the court case, and hoped it will be resolved by this summer so that Brett can train with the team in August. Lovett was skeptical of the trumped-up “hate crime” aspect of the case and said he hopes for a speedy resolution of the matter.

Lovett said he is aware of “both sides of the story” and sympathetic to Brett’s plight. “He didn’t set out to have conflict” that evening, he said. Asked if while on the Parkland baseball team, Brett ever exhibited irrational hatred of the type associated with “hate crimes,” he said no, and that he saw no “ongoing issue” in Brett’s life of “brewing” animosity toward any particular group.

“He’s a typical 18- or 19-year-old kid,” Lovett said, granting that young men that age can an do act immaturely. Lovett said he “wasn’t particularly thrilled” by WCIA’s coverage of the incident, including one story in which an activist accused VanAsdlen of a “brutal attack” against Valasquez.

“Regardless of what it was, it was never a brutal attack,” he said, adding that WCIA is the only TV station in Champaign giving major attention to the story.

I attended yesterday’s brief preliminary hearing, where Brett VanAsdlen — a strapping, clean-cut, All-American looking young man — and his family members learned that his next court appearance (another preliminary hearing) will be July 1, when Brett turns 19. Afterward, Amanda Evans, the WCIA reporter, interviewed Brett VanAsdlen’s attorney, Steve Beckett, who said that this case is about “two kids who ran into each other on the streets,” and that the facts are disputed.

He said, he said

So this is a case of “he said, he said” — but the special treatment of it thus far illustrates why conservatives and traditionalists oppose “hate crimes” laws as fundamentally unfair and open to abuse:

• Brett VanAsdlen’s name and reputation are being sullied by the media and “gay” and leftist blogs without regard to any objective record of the incident;
• With all the late-night altercations that happen in a college town, why does a young man face a felony conviction because of this one? (If convicted, Brett would be banned from voting for life and his record would be stained permanently; his mother noted that it would hinder his ability to be hired as a teacher or coach, one of his goals);
• If it is true that the aggravated battery charge against VanAsdlen was dropped, why are prosecutors continuing to pursue the felony hate-crimes charge against the young man?
• Are Champaign police are under pressure to make “hate crimes” arrests?
• If it is true that the alleged homosexual victim, Stephen Velasquez, is distorting what happened the night of April 12 to further an agenda — there have been many examples of fake “hate crimes” reported across the country — it is fascinating how much mileage he has gotten from it, all at the expense of Brett VanAsdlen. When you are at the top of a politically correct hierarchy of victims, much injustice can occur whether there is a trial or not to sort it all out.

Selective prosecution

The true danger of hate-crimes laws is selective prosecution and unequal protection under the law. If a homosexual were to push an obnoxious Christian onto the ground, or things got out of control after a verbal spat, would he be facing a felony hate-crime conviction and possible jail time in Champaign, Illinois right now? I think most readers know that answer to that question, and it speaks volumes.

In 1996, pro-family activist and Pilgrims Covenant Church pastor Ralph Ovadal, then with Wisconsin Christians United, was punched in the left ear from behind by a pro-homosexual activist while protesting a pro-homosexual event in Madison, Wisconsin. Ovadal was knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital with serious injuries from the blind-side assault. Although police first charged the attacker with “substantial batter,” Dane Country prosecutors did not even secure a misdemeanor conviction against Ovadal’s assailant.

According to Ovadal’s website, “The day before the trial of Pastor Ovadal’s assailant, the D.A. calls to inform Ovadal that there will be no trial because his attacker’s charges are being dropped from substantial battery to an ordinance violation because he ‘does not want to have a criminal record.’ Pastor Ovadal continues to suffer neck and leg pain from the brutal attack which is fully documented with police reports.”

Clearly, Ralph Ovadal’s case was not treated as a “hate crime” because he was the wrong type of victim. If it were the other way around and Ovadal had beaten a homosexual activist, Ralph would probably still be in jail today.

Now, here in Illinois, we see a case in which a boy has words with a homosexual, who then apparently became so agitated that he got in Brett’s face until the boy pushed him away. (We do not know; they may have shared guilt in causing the conflict.) Now this young man, Brett VanAsdlen, faces a felony conviction and jail time — not to mention that his good name is being destroyed by “gay” activists and the sympathetic media and that he will miss the baseball season after transferring to the team to make the most of his talents.

And Mrs. VanAsdlen worries that legal costs to defend her son may rise to $20,000 or $30,000. AFTAH will be following this case closely. Meanwhile, please pray and take action:

TAKE ACTION: 1) Urge Champaign County, Illinois State’s Attorney Julia Rietz (phone: (217) 384-3733) to drop the government’s one-sided felony “hate crimes” prosecution against 18-year-old student-athlete Brett VanAsdlen — based on the inconsistent and likely exaggerated claims of Stephen Velasquez, a homosexual University of Illinois (U of I) student who may have initiated physical contact with VanAsdlen. Already, Brett is being smeared as violent “gay-basher” by Valasquez and pro-homosexual activists in the media. Pray for Brett and his family.

2) Call or write WCIA-3 TV, the local CBS affiliate, and urge them to be fair in their coverage of this unfortunate story. Call (217) 373-3650 and ask for Producer Nancy Foreman. WCIA reporter Amanda Evans has led the TV coverage of the story, but her reporting appears to heavily favor Velasquez. It is wrong to smear the reputation of young man by airing all the accusations against him without presenting the other side of the story.

Kudos to Dave Smith and the Illinois Family Institute, an independent family group, which led the charge against this misguided legislation to create “domestic partner” benefits for Chicago teachers. Pro-family lobbyists Ralph Rivera and Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch also deserve credit for their hard work against this bill in Springfield.

Illinois still faces “civil unions” bills in the House and Senate that would put the state’s authority foursquare behind extramarital relationships — heterosexual and homosexual — which is the last thing that children and the beleaguered institution of marriage need in the Land of Lincoln. A roll call of the vote is available HERE. — Peter LaBarbera

Here is the IFI report:

IFI Update: Good News! Homosexual Teachers Bill Falls Short in the Illinois House;

How did they vote?

By David E. Smith, Illinois Family Institute

You made a difference! Thank you for taking action on this bill!

Thanks in part to your phone calls and emails, the Illinois House of Representatives in Springfield voted 43 to 67 (with 1 voting ‘present’) yesterday, defeating HB 4731, a bill that would have allowed homosexual partners of public school teachers to qualify as surviving spouses for purpose of survivor and death benefits.

Look at the chart below to see how your State Representative voted, or you can also download it by clicking HERE.

If your State Representative voted ‘NO’ — please call to thank him/her. You can look up your elected officals HERE, or you can call the IFI office at 630-790-8370, and we will be happy to look them up for you.