Illinois Department of Employment Security document affirming that Matt Barber was NOT fired for misconduct at Allstate Insurance Co. It states that Allstate fired Barber "because AN OUTSIDE ORGANIZATION HAD COMPLAINED ABOUT AN ARTICLE HE HAD WRITTEN WHILE ON HIS OWN TIME." Click on graphic to enlarge.

By Peter LaBarbera

Below is a longer version of an article I posted in Facebook responding to homosexual activist Alvin McEwen, who repeated an oft-used bit of “gay” misinformation about Allstate’s 2005 firing of pro-family advocate Matt Barber. (Barber sits on the Americans For Truth Board, is Associate Dean at Liberty University School of Law, and is Director of Cultural Affairs for the Liberty Counsel.) Alvin is a bitter fellow who — although purporting to factually correct alleged pro-family falsehoods — regularly dishes them out himself (go HERE to see him viciously slander me as “Porno Pete”). In posting a response to an AFA column by pro-family writer Jerry Newcombe (reprinted at bottom), McEwen writes:

Sorry but Mr. Newcombe is inaccurate about one part. Matt Barber used his company’s computer AND identified himself as an employee of the company [Allstate] in his column. That’s why he was fired.

Funny how I heard these same spurious “talking points” about Matt Barber’s firing from the mouth of Rick Garcia — formerly Illinois’ top homosexual activist before he was ousted by Equality Illinois. We were on a Chicago TV news program together and I was making the point that conservative Christians are now more likely to lose their jobs or face punishment on the job than homosexuals.

Of course, had Matt been a homosexual activist who was abruptly terminated after writing a column on his own time about “gay pride,” the liberal/”gay” outrage would have been through the roof – and Alvin would not be repeating Allstate’s misleading corporate “spin” as he does above.

Following is my correction of Alvin McEwen’s erroneous and tendentious “correction”:

Matt Barber is a good friend of mine, a Christian man of high integrity, and a Board Member for my organization, Americans For Truth. As one living in Illinois who was intricately familiar with Matt’s case, I want to set the record “straight” here and correct the lies that homosexual activists like Alvin McEwen repeatedly spew about his unjust firing.

Homosexual activist Alvin McEwen pushes a lie about the abrupt firing of Matt Barber by Allstate.

Barber was fired after writing a column (which was published by conservative websites) against the homosexual agenda — on his home computer, on a Saturday. He did NOT identify himself as an employee of Allstate, but a third-party blog publisher did so by mistake. A staffer with the homosexual lobby group Human Rights Campaign then “reported” Barber’s web article to Allstate’s HR depart, and Matt immediately was called in on a Friday afternoon. Ironically, he was told that Allstate “celebrates diversity,” and that his (traditional) values did not reflect those of Allstate. Barber was suspended and informed that he likely would be fired for writing the column. He was then escorted by Allstate security guards off the corporate grounds. Monday morning, Barber was canned over the telephone.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security [see graphic above] investigated the firing and found Barber innocent of misconduct; IDES made this judgment (emphasis theirs): “The claimant was discharged from ALLSTATE INS. CO. because AN OUTSIDE ORGANIZATION HAD COMPLAINED ABOUT AN ARTICLE HE HAD WRITTEN WHILE ON HIS OWN TIME.”

Furthermore, even if Barber had used his company laptop for personal use (which he did not), Allstate policy allowed such personal use — especially for employees who traveled frequently, as did Barber.

Barber sued Allstate and as the trial date approached, Allstate frantically contacted Matt’s attorneys and begged for a cash settlement so that the details of his discriminatory firing would not become public.

Needless to say, Allstate had to pay Barber a very significant sum of money to make the embarrassing scandal go away. Had the case gone forward, Allstate’s blatantly anti-Christian (and anti-conservative, anti-family) employment policies would have been exposed. This would have included Allstate’s self-serving lies designed to discredit Barber, which were disseminated to the media — and which Alvin McEwen cynically regurgitates here. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth.

__________________________________

Column by Dr. Jerry Newcombe in AFA “One News Now”:

Must All Our Opinions Be Politically Correct?

By Dr. Jerry Newcombe,
Reprinted from OneNewsNow, 8/25/11

Those were his opinions, although they were not politically correct, and for expressing them, he was canned from the Fortune 500 company.

Thankfully, today, he works as an attorney fighting for religious liberties with the Orlando-based Liberty Counsel.

Liberty Counsel has now defended someone else, who got in trouble for expressing his own opinion, on his own time, with his own computer.

Last year’s “Teacher of the Year” at Mount Dora High School in central Florida (Jerry Buell) was suspended as a teacher because on his Facebook page, he expressed his disapproval of New York’s adoption of same-sex marriage.

Buell has for 22 years had a spotless record. But Chris Patton of Lake County Schools said, “We took the allegations seriously.”

Apparently, the allegations are that Buell is unfit to serve as a teacher in that he doesn’t agree with same-sex “marriage” about which he says (correctly), that it contradicts what the Bible says about marriage.

Patton went on to say, “All teachers are bound by a code of special ethics (and) this is a code ethics violation investigation.”

Buell was amazed at the charges: “It was my own personal comment on my own personal time on my own personal computer in my own personal house, exercising what I believed as a social studies teacher to be my First Amendment rights.”

I guess the First Amendment only applies these days to expressing politically correct opinions. Especially on an issue like same-sex marriage.

Remember Miss California in 2009?

Carrie Prejean appeared on her way to possibly winning the Miss USA pageant, until she made the fateful mistake of expressing a politically incorrect view on same-sex “marriage.”

When asked her views on same-sex marriage, she replied: “Well, I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And, you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that, I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman.”

For that, it would appear she lost out on any chance of winning.

The moral of the story?

If your opinion is politically incorrect — especially on an issue like same-sex “marriage” — you’re best off keeping it to yourself. So much for the sacred right of conscience.

But this is America, and the sacred right of conscience is … well, just that, sacred.

Thomas Jefferson declared, “Almighty God has created the mind free.” Any attempt to force people into opinions they don’t share is wrong. Especially in America. Not that we’ve always gotten it right. But the ideal is great, and we seem to be losing that in our time.

The settlers of this country and the founders highly valued the sacred right of conscience. British North America was first settled by Christian dissidents seeking to worship Christ according to the dictates of conscience.

Dissident Puritan leader, Rev. Roger Williams, who out-Puritaned the Puritans in his goal to be a purist, founded Rhode Island on the premise that it would be a haven for people with various opinions: “I desired … it might be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience.”

Williams stated, “the doctrine of persecution for cause of conscience, is most evidently and lamentably contrary to the doctrine of Christ Jesus the Prince of Peace.”

In 1648, in their document The American Church Manual, the Puritans wrote, “God alone is Lord of the conscience.”

In 1701, when William Penn founded the colony named in honor of his father (Pennsylvania), he declared in the charter, “Almighty God being the only Lord of Conscience,” therefore, the right of conscience was to be protected.

It’s still protected. You don’t see the Amish being drafted into our military.

In 1776, when Pennsylvania became a state, they stated in A DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE INHABITANTS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OR STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA, that “no authority” was in any way to interfere with “the right of conscience in the free exercise of religious worship.”

Examples like this from our history abound.

Perhaps some of the greatest affirmations of the sacred right of conscience come from George Washington himself. In 1789, President Washington said to a group representing the United Baptist Churches of Virginia:

“If I could now conceive that the general Government might ever be so administered as to render liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution….”

Why? Because Washington believed “that any man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”

George Washington and other founders said we must never violate the sacred right of conscience — certainly not for merely holding and stating unpopular opinions.

Thankfully, a positive outcome took place in Florida on the case of the Teacher of the Year on the very day of this writing. He prevailed, as did common sense. But why did he go through the whole ordeal in the first place?

_____________________________

Dr. Jerry Newcombe is the senior producer and host of the television program, “Truth That Transforms with Dr. D. James Kennedy” (formerly “The Coral Ridge Hour”). He has also written or co-written 21 books, including “The Book That Made America: How the Bible Formed Our Nation.” Jerry co-wrote (with Dr. Peter Lillback) the bestselling, “George Washington’s Sacred Fire.”

Pro-family advocates in Chicago rally against the new "Civil Unions" law in Illinois. The bill, HB 1716, was passed in a lame-duck session and ironically called the "Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act" despite the fact that its passage immediately put Illinois citizens' religious and First Amendment liberties in jeopardy. Photo by Lynn Thomas; click to enlarge.

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (www.aftah.org); June 1, 2011

Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; americansfortruth@gmail.com

CHICAGO–Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality and a principal behind the Illinois Defense of Marriage Initiative (www.DefendMarriageIL.org), issued the following statement on the new Illinois “Civil Unions” law that takes effect today:

Homosexual behavior is always wrong, according to the broad sweep of Judeo-Christian history, so it is tragic to behold the State of Illinois – or any government entity – recognizing immoral same-sex relationships and treating them like marriage. Moreover, for the City of Chicago and Gov. Pat Quinn to celebrate homosexuality with a mass Civil Union ceremony June 2^nd is an act of hubris and defiance toward the Creator that mocks His wonderful plan for real marriage – the sacred union of a man and a woman to produce children and family. The pandering Quinn – epitomizing the modern Democratic politician –mocks his own professed Catholicism by working tirelessly to undermine its clear moral dictates.

The anti-Christian Civil Unions law must be repealed. It was passed in a lame-duck session that once again revealed the contempt that liberal Illinois lawmakers have for the citizens they are supposed to serve. Ironically, shortly after passage of this bill – mischievously titled the Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Unions Act –religious liberty for Illinois citizens and religious institutions was immediately put in jeopardy. A homosexual male couple targeted Paxton, Illinois, bed-and-breakfast owners Jim and Beth Walder – who now face prosecution by the State because they refuse – as Christians – to hold “civil union” ceremonies celebrating homosexuality on their own business property. And the Rockford Diocese’s Catholic Charities announced that it will halt its state-funded foster care and adoption services rather than be forced by the State of Illinois to place children in same-sex households that are motherless or fatherless by design.

These sad developments in the Land of Lincoln constitute further proof that homosexuality-based “rights” and religious freedom cannot co-exist. “Gay” activism – empowered by Illinois’ “sexual orientation” law and the new Civil Unions law — will drive out the free expression of religion and morality, which must include the right to oppose sexual behavior historically regarded as disordered and sinful. (Thankfully, homosexuality is also changeable, as evidenced by Chicago Christian ex-lesbian Linda Jernigan, who spoke at Friday’s rally launching the Illinois Defense of Marriage Initiative.)  [Upcoming Event Notice: Jernigan will be giving a dinner-lecture at AFTAH's office in Carol Stream, IL, 25W560 Geneva Rd., on Friday, June 17th, on the topic "What's Wrong with 'Gay Pride'?"; e-mail us for more information: americansfortruth@gmail.com.]

Already, there are “conservative, pro-family” defeatists who argue that the radical Civil Unions bill cannot be repealed. It’s funny how “gay” activists never display such timidity. The well-financed Homosexual Lobby sees “Civil Unions” as a mere pathway to full, legalized “same-sex marriage.” We must work diligently to repeal this anti-Christian law, while also collecting 300,000 signatures to put a referendum on “same-sex marriage” on the Illinois ballot in 2012. Also, we will continue to push for House Speaker Mike Madigan to stop blocking a vote on a binding constitutional marriage amendment that will permanently prevent the radical redefinition of marriage in our state.

Display prominently celebrating new Illinois "Civil Unions" law put up by a pro-homosexual student club at Lyons Township High School. Photo: Earl Gough. Click on photo to enlarge.

Dear Readers, each pro-homosexual law makes it easier for school administrators and teachers to allow the one-sided promotion of homosexuality in their school, as occurred recently at Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, Illinois (see photo). The state’s Democrat-dominated General Assembly passed a “Civil Unions” bill in a lame-duck session last year (before a new elected, more conservative legislature could take office) — and Gov. Pat Quinn (D) signed it into law January 31. (The bill, which also allows heterosexual “civil unions,” thus further undermining marriage, takes effect June 1.)

America’s public schools are becoming de facto “Homosexuality-Promotion Zones” — directly undermining the authority of parents to guide their children’s moral upbringing — and subjecting Christian and moral-minded students to one-sided pro-homosexuality propaganda like the above. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org; [Send news about your children's or local schools to americansfortruth@gmail.com.]

Illinois pro-family advocate Earl Gough writes March 7, 2011:

This is one of the reasons my kids no longer attend Lyons Township High School (LTHS) in LaGrange and Western Springs [Illinois].  This and much worse happens there because parents are not involved enough and (sorry) churches do even less.

I was at the South Campus this evening and found this large display (see photo at right) applauding Civil Unions at the front entry of LTHS.

There are 17 suburbs and 25 feeder schools that send their children to this school.  Imagine what influence parents would have if they cared to get involved.  But, because less than 2% (not 10%) of the population is more consistent in pressing this agenda, all of our kids, the majority, have to be subjected to this family-threatening political correctness that is not healthy or in the interest of the general welfare.

Perhaps, with upcoming school board elections [April 5, 2011], this may be good time to discuss this in the public square.  Remember the frog in the kettle?

Earl Gough

Illinois Citizens for Excellence in Education
Brookfield, IL

Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch

Folks, Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch of Concerned Christian Americans is a minister and veteran full-time pro-family lobbyist in Springfield, Illinois. Below are his accounts of the ”lame duck” Civil Uions votes in the Ilinois General Assembly. Here are Rev. Bob’s two reports on the Civil Union votes in the House and Senate; note the ridiculous analogy to Jim Crow laws in the second article. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

___________________________________________________________________________

It’s Getting Dark in Illinois!

By Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch, Concerned Christian Americans, published 12/1/10

It is said of Jesus in John 1:5, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” It is getting darker in Illinois. Today the Illinois Senate passed the Civil Unions bill (SB 1716) by a vote of 32-24 with 1 member voting present, and another absent. Much of what was done to pass this legislation was done in darkness.

This morning, I talked to a Democratic House member who voted No on SB 1716. He had tears in his eyes as he said, “Bob, they bought the passage of that bill.” Yesterday [Tuesday], Governor Quinn was running House members in and out of his office to pass the bill out of the House. Today [Wednesday], Governor Quinn was running Senate members in and out of his office. Both days, Governor Quinn was on the floor as the bill was voted on in the House and the Senate.

Meanwhile, all the work on jobs and balancing the budget took a back seat to making sure that the Civil Unions legislation passed. As one Senator said today, “He’s fiddling while Rome is burning!” Where is the urgency about the $13 Billion deficit Illinois is running? Where is the urgency about getting jobs for Illinois citizens? Where is the urgency on figuring out how to cut a budget deficit?

Just this week, I read that Illinois’ bond rating is just below that of Iceland, and just above that of Iraq–but the most important thing the governor and the legislature can do is to pass civil unions legislation. Where is the sense of priority?

In spite of some of the frustration that I feel (along with many legislators on both sides of the aisle), I must say that I have been able to experience the peace of God through all of this. Isaiah said, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee.” While I do not trust God perfectly, I can say that God has upheld me by His grace through all of this. I don’t know what God is doing through all of this, but I do know that I can trust Him in the middle of this storm.

Thank you to the many of you who have contacted your legislators and let me know how they were voting. What a great help and encouragement! Thank you to those of you who have already contacted me and been an encouragement after this potentially devastating defeat.

Just so you can know how your state senator voted on SB 1716, I am including the web address for you to click on. It is: http://ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/96/senate/09600SB1716_12012010_006000C.pdf .  You will notice that the only Republican voting “yes” on this bill is the newly elected Treasurer of Illinois, Senator Dan Rutherford. I would encourage all of you to contact his office to let him know how disappointed you are in him. If your state senator voted “no” on SB 1716, I would encourage you to contact their office to thank them for their principled stand against same-sex “marriage” and civil unions.

Thankfully, tomorrow is the last day of the fall veto session, although the House of Representatives is coming back to Spring field on January 3, 2011 for a continued lame duck session. Just remember this: It is when it is the darkest out that the light can shine the brightest. While it has been a defeat, it can be a defeat which God can use in a tremendous way to show His light to the world.

May God bless all of you. In His Service,

Rev. Bob [Vanden Bosch]

______________________________________________

Emphasis added below:

A New Day Dawning

By Rev. Bob Vandenbosch, Concerned Christian Americans, published 11/30/10 

There is a new day dawning in Illinois, literally and figuratively, as I write this to you. It was an extremely disappointing day yesterday, to see legislators who have no moral compass being persuaded by Speaker Madigan on the floor, to vote for the Civil Unions Bill. Some legislators talked of potential projects in their districts, while others talked of legislation that the Speaker will now allow them to move forward. Some were guilt-ridden and unable to sleep because of the deals they made.

Take a look at the roll call for the House vote yesterday (http://ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/96/house/09600SB1716_11302010_012000T.pdf) and you will find that at least 12 of the 61 “yes” votes on the Civil Unions Bill are those of lame ducks who will not be back in the Illinois General Assembly next year. It’s hard not to be skeptical of Illinois government leaders, who in the face of a $13 Billion state deficit find that the most important items to vote on in the lame duck session are the death penalty, civil unions, and medical marijuana.

One thing is clearly illustrated: We do not have enough people in public office who have moral convictions. If there is one thing that must be looked for in those running for public office is for moral conviction.

The organizations supporting Civil Unions put out an email yesterday, and I will attempt to pass it on to you later, but will at least quote them for now:

“Furtermore, TCRA [The Civil Rights Agenda] and LGBT Change [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender] will now turn their efforts to marriage as a matter of full equality. It is time to open a new chapter in our State’s history and start the march toward full marriage equality. We won’t drink from a separate water fountain; we won’t accept ‘separate-but-equal’ treatment, and we won’t tolerate a government that discriminates against its own citizens.”

Just a last few thoughts this morning: God is still on the throne. Christians will face difficulties down the road, especially those who own businesses, and may be required by law to provide benefits or do things they find morally repugnant. Churches need to make sure that they have their church constitutions in order, specifically stating what marriage is in their doctrinal statement–or they could find themselves in the uncomfortable position of being asked to do a civil union. After the session is out, we will work on putting together a package of information to help churches to protect themselves.

Pray for the Senate vote today. They go in at 10 AM this morning. As I mentioned yesterday, it is unlikely that we can stop SB 1716 in the Senate today unless God intervenes in a very unusual way. Pray for us as we continue to lobby. My heart breaks for Illinois and the direction it has taken. May God bless all of you.

In His Service,

Rev. Bob

House Speaker Mike Madigan, a Catholic, used his considerable power to advance the homosexual agenda in Illinois by successfully pushing for a "civil unions" bill -- even though the state's Catholic Conference urged opposition to the bill.

The following e-Alert was sent out yesterday prior to the House vote. Pathetically, only two downstate Republicans, Rep. Dave Reis (Olney) and Rep. Ron Stephens (Greenville), rose on the floor to speak against this bill – which that takes a giant step toward government promotion of homosexuality in Illinois. Good for Reis and Stephens, and bad for the IL-GOP, which continues to live down to its reputation as one of the weakest Republican parties in the nation when it comes to actually fighting for the conservative GOP Platform.

We hear from a key pro-family lobbyist in Springfield that some “pro-family” legislators lied about their voting intention — saying they would vote against “civil unions” and then caving like cowards under the pressure of Mike Madigan’s and the Democrats’ lobby campaign. Now the vote goes to the Illinois Senate. TAKE ACTION: call your state senator at 217-782-2000 (see below for more info).

And so Illinois, dominated by Chicago and its corrupt Democratic machine, continues its moral descent. Land of Lincoln? In name only, as Abe Lincoln — whom some very troubled homosexual activists have tried to smear as a homosexual (it’s easy when the targeted victim is deceased) – actually revered the Bible, and thus surely respected its moral teachings — including the sinfulness of homosexual behavior and all sex outside of marriage. 

Here is a PDF with the House vote tally, and Illinois Family Institute’s initial story on the vote. And here is the Chicago Tribune story in which the reporter seems surprised that Stephens linked the embrace of homosexuality to the decline of American civilization. No, I’m afraid America is not “special” in that regard: every advance of homosexualist legislation strengthens a powerful perversion movement that ingeniously plays the victim while promoting acceptance of its pet sin in the name of “civil rights.” Aren’t you tired of politicians like Madigan who ignore the teachings of their own church because they presume to be smarter than God?  — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

____________________________

AFTAH’s e-Alert sent out Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010:

Dear Illinois Readers,
 
TAKE ACTION TODAY!  If you are an Illinois resident and care about marriage, it is imperative that you make your voice known NOW about the “Civil Unions” bill that liberal Democrats are pushing in the lame-duck session in Springfield!  A vote could come today, tomorrow or at any time before the new session if they extend the lame-duck Veto Session.  Call your state legislators at 217-782-2000 (find them here: www.ilga.gov or use your your zip code to find them here: www.congress.org; or call IFI at 708-781-9328 and get the information).  Dem power-brokers like Rahm Emmanuel, Lisa Madigan, and her powerful father Mike Madigan are lobbying hard to pass Civil Unions.  They are cutting deals to get votes for this bill (S.B. 1716) — so “We the People” must act now to defend real marriage and resist their pro-”gay” machinations! 
 
LaBARBERA on WYLL; CHICAGOLAND RADIO AUDIENCE: Today [Nov. 30] I will be appearing as a guest on the Janet Mefford Show on WYLL-AM 1160 from 3:30-4:00 Central Time to discuss the Civil Unions threat in Illinois — and the national Democrat push in the Senate to repeal the common-sense ban on homosexuals in the military.  Please listen in.
 
HOW TO CALL: Call the Capitol Switchboard in Springfield at 217-782-2000.  If you don’t know who your representatives are, call IFI at 708-781-9328 or go to www.congress.org.  You don’t need the bill number; just say, “Please oppose the Civil Unions bill.”  Call your representatives immediately, then send this alert to your Illinois friends and all your contacts who have an Illinois connection and ask them to do the same.  But they must act NOW.   Please also call your church and your friends and urge them to make their voices heard! 
 
My pro-family sources including IFI’s Dave Smith tell me that the vote is getting closer on this bill due to the Dem leadership’s wheeling-dealing.  See this article at the top of the Illinois Family Institute website: http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=35089 about the Democrats’ intense push to pass this misguided bill during the Veto Session (a vote could come today, tomorrow or at any time if they extend the session).  — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org
 
THIS JUST IN! … REPUBLICANS, TOO?  We have just learned that at least one prominent Republican, Comptroller-elect Judy Baar Topinka, has joined the Democrats in lobbying for the homosexual Civil Unions bill; after you have called your own representatives, call Topinka at 877-751-5839 and urge her to stop her anti-family, pro-”gay” advocacy. Then call or write the IL-GOP at 217-525-0011 or 312-201-9000 and urge them to stay faithful to the Republican Party’s pro-family and pro-marriage plank.  (Baar Topinka is no surprise, she used to march every year in the annual Chicago “Gay Pride” parade and has a history of undermining the GOP Platform; here is her Facebook page and her web page. However, IL-GOP Chairman Pat Brady recently opined, on Tom Roeser’s WLS radio show, that a conservative case could be made for “gay marriage.” Brady is dead wrong.)
_____________________________________________
 
Background: “Gay Marriage” by Another Name
“Civil unions” is merely the Homosexual Lobby’s false-compromise way-station to get their real prize of “gay marriage.”  SB 1716 gives all the rights and benefits of marriage to unmarried couples (homosexual or heterosexual!).  As IFI reports, pro-family and pro-life veteran Penny Pullen, a former state lawmaker and the current president of Eagle Forum of Illinois, warns that the passage of a civil unions law would:

• Force employers to grant registered same-sex cohabiters the benefits currently provided for spouses of married employees.
• Undermines the unique position which marriage holds in our society as the foundation of the family.
• Cost taxpayers by adding unrelated persons to health insurance coverage for public employees and as dependents under workers compensation benefits.
• Force employee benefit costs to rise in the private sector.
• Likely lead to mandates on schools to teach quasi-spousal relationships as equivalent to marriage (based on experience in other states).

Of course, the bill — since it covers heterosexuals — would also give guys and girls “shacking up” just one more incentive NOT to get married.  Is that sensible public policy in this era in which marriage is already in danger of becoming obsolete?  Illinois is not Denmark; we value marriage in the Heartland!
 
The ultimate irony of this capitulation to the Homosexual Lobby is that liberal activist judges in other states have used the passage of state “civil union” or “domestic partner” laws to impose the legalization of “same-sex marriage” — the very thing homosexual activist claim will NOT result from this bill.  (Wink, wink … if you believe that, then did you hear that the Democratic National Committee has just issued a public apology for its decades of advocacy against the right of unborn children to live?!  .. That’s a joke… but what’s not a joke is how the Democratic Party has become the Party of Abortion and Homosexuality.  Shame.)
 
It is the height of arrogance, yet typical in this corrupt blue state, for Democratic politicians to attempt to ram this groundbreaking bill through the legislature before Springfield becomes more Republican — and more pro-family — next year.  This is all about payback by Gov. Pat Quinn to his powerful “gay” friends and left-wing allies after his narrow election victory (which was all about the economy — not radical social experiments and the normalization of homosexuality). 
 
Let’s not let them get away with this outrageous Special Interest power grab!  Call Springfield at 217-782-2000.  If you don’t know who your representatives are, call IFI at 708-781-9328 or go to www.congress.org. 
 
Thank you for taking action on this latest threat to marriage and morality (including our children: this bill would definitely help those seeking to use our public schools to normalize homosexuality to impressionable students.   We must not let the Secular Left impose its IM-morality on the state of Illinois — by passing legislation that would result in the loss of Christians’ freedom to live out their beliefs! 
 
Please pray and act for victory here, and God bless you.
 
Sincerely in Christ,
 
Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
www.aftah.org
 
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. – 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

_______________________________________________________
 
Resources: 
Here is a wonderful report on the Civil Unions bill by my friend and IFI analyst Laurie Higgins: “Civil Unions: One Step Closer to the Destruction of Marriage”; http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=35081
 
Here is an excellent statement by the Catholic Conference of Illinois and Cardinal Francis George AGAINST the Civil Unions bill: http://www.illinoisfamily.org/content/img/f35089/catholic-conference-press-release-sb1716.pdf
 
Here is a copy of S.B. 1716, the “Civil Unions” bill: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/96/SB/PDF/09600SB1716ham001.pdf
 
 _______________________________________________________
 
AFTAH Nears Full Match for Generous $20,000 Grant! Help Us Complete the Match!
 
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality is almost there in matching a $20,000 grant to AFTAH to help us fight the well-heeled Homosexual Lobby. Please help put us over the top with your tax-deductible gift of $1,000, $500, $100, $50, $25 or whatever you can give: www.americansfortruth.com/donate/. Or mail your gift to:
 
Americans For Truth
PO Box 5522
Naperville, IL 60567-5522
 
FREE BOOK:  All who give $100 or more toward the match grant will receive a free copy of the late Dr. Charles Socarides’ book, “Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far.” You can give online using a credit card or PayPal at www.americansfortruth.com/donate.  

TRUTH ACADEMY TAPES: The CDs from the AFTAH Truth Academy are now available. You can order DVDs or CDs of our recent Truth Academy: Chicago 2010 via fax or regular mail using our Online Order Form HERE. Contact us at americansfortruth@gmail.com.
 
JOIN THE AFTAH ‘TRUTH TEAM’: Please also consider becoming a monthly AFTAH “Truth Team” Partner with your regular pledge of $250, $100, $50 or $25/month to Americans For Truth; sign up at http://americansfortruth.com/membership.php.  Thank you for standing with us!

The following is video of the August 5 protest against the AFTAH Truth Academy by a coalition of pro-homosexuality groups led by the Marxist Gay Liberation Network. The Chicago-based GLN attempted to smear the Truth Academy as “teaching hate,” but the real hate came from some of the protesters — not Truth Academy instructors like Ryan Sorba (featured prominently in this video). Several Academy presenters including Matt Barber, Greg Quinlan and AFTAH founder Peter LaBarbera joined Sorba in wading into the crowd, engaging various protesters on the question of “hate.” The first video below was shot by Illinois conservative Lynn Thomas, creator of Cao’s Blog, and Janet Aldrich [a second YouTube follows the jump]:

This video of the protest was shot by Lynn Thomas; in it Gay Liberation Network co-leader Bob Schwartz says hopefully about Truth Academy instructor Cliff Kincaid — who exposed GLN’s deep linkage with pro-Communist organizations like the Sparticist League: “maybe he could get hit by a car” (now that’s tolerance….):

HOW TO LISTEN: This is an  mp3 file.  Left click once on the link below to play.  (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

7-24-10, Wayne Lela & John McCartney, All

HOW TO LISTEN: This is an  mp3 file.  Left click once on this link to play (more instructions at bottom) : 7-17-10, John McCartney & Wayne Lela, All

In this interview (Part One of two), which aired Saturday, July 17, 2010, AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera talks in studio with John McCartney and Wayne Lela – two Chicago men who have a unique “ministry” of going to local Chicago colleges and universities and educating students about homosexuality and “gay” activism. They do this from a pro-natural-family perspective that most young people rarely hear. For that they have been harassed by liberal professors — among other trials — but they persevered and have now gained entry on to all the Chicago-area public colleges, which cannot legally engage in viewpoint discrimination.

In the interview, McCartney discusses the way “brainwashing” works on this issue — censoring negative information about homosexuality while demonizing opponents of the “gay” agenda. Lela (who as an agnostic is not a member of the so-called “Religious Right”) formed a group called HOME, Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment. McCartney is a retired English teacher and committed Catholic living in Chicago who has long served both the pro-life and pro-family causes. Both men will be attending AFTAH’s upcoming Truth Academy Aug 5-7, to be held at the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL.

In this (Part One) interview, the two discuss the reactions of students to their work — and how Chicagoland newspapers seem to be cutting back on printing letters-to-the-editor that are critical of homosexuality — which would be consistent with the increasingly censorious posture of Chicago’s major media, which generally are very pro-”gay.” Lela and McCartney deserve our commendation. There are millions upon millions of people who affirm the truth that homosexual behavior is wrong, destructive, unnatural and changeable. But there are precious few like these two men who actually contend for this truth in the public square — and especially with students who, as they say, are “brainwashed” by the non-stop pro-homosexual propaganda in the media and popular culture.

HOW TO LISTEN: This is an  mp3 file.  Left click once on the link below to play.  (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

7-17-10, John McCartney & Wayne Lela, All

Tentative Speakers Schedule

Thursday, August 5 – Saturday, August 7, 2010

Location: Christian Liberty Academy, 502 W. Euclid Ave., Arlington Heights, IL 60004;

Cost: Adults: $149 for 3-day conference; Single day rate: $50/day; Married couples discount: $199 for full conference; Youth: $99 (scholarships available to attendees ages 14-25)

Contact info/queries/RSVP: E-mail americansfortruth@gmail.com ; phone: 630-717-7631; more background information HERE.

Truth Academy Instructors:

• Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel ; Board Member, AFTAH
• Cliff Kincaid, America’s Survival; Accuracy in Media
• Prof. Robert Gagnon, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, author, The Bible and Homosexual Practice
• Arthur Goldberg, Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH), author, Light in the Closet: Torah, Homosexuality, and the Power to Change
• Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute
• Robert Knight, Coral Ridge Ministries; author, Radical Rulers: The White House Elites Who Are Pushing America Towards Socialism, keynote presenter
• Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
• Prof. Rena Lindevaldsen, Liberty University School of Law
• Greg Quinlan, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX); Pro-Family Network
• Ryan Sorba, Young Conservatives of California

_______________________________________________________

THURSDAY, AUGUST 5 (Day One)

All presentations are 45 minutes followed by 15 minutes of Q & A.  There will be a panel discussion and Q & A on Thursday and Friday, and a special evening presentation each of those evenings.

8-9:30 – Light breakfast;  Registration

9:30 – 10:00 – Opening Prayer, Calvin Lindstrom, pastor, Church of Christian Liberty;

Welcoming Remarks, Peter LaBarbera, President, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality:

“From gay pride to gay tyranny”

10:10 – 11:10 – Prof. Rena Lindevaldsen, Liberty University School of Law:

“History of modern ‘gay’ activism and the courts”

11:20-12:20 – Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel; Board Member, AFTAH:

“Masculine Christianity: a non-defensive approach to the Culture War over homosexuality”

12:20-1:20 – Lunch Break; light lunch provided

1:20-2:20 – Ryan Sorba, Young Conservatives of California:

“The ‘born gay hoax”

2:30 – 3:30 – Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute:

“Using reason and logic in answering pro-homosexuality arguments”

3:40-4:40 – Arthur Goldberg, JONAH (Jews Offering Healthy Alternatives to Homosexuality), author, Light in the Closet: Torah, Homosexuality, and the Power to Change:

“Can gays change? Is gay parenting good for kids? Presenting the research on homosexuality”

4:50-6:00 – PANEL DISCUSSION and Q & A:

Theme:  “Can the effort to ‘mainstream’ homosexuality in American culture be stopped?”

Panelists:  Rena Lindevaldsen, Matt Barber, Laurie Higgins, Ryan Sorba, Arthur Goldberg, and Greg Quinlan, Cliff Kincaid; Moderator: Peter LaBarbera

Special Thursday evening presentation (Q & A will follow talk):

7:45 – 9:15 – Greg Quinlan, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX); Pro-Family Network:

“An Ex-Gay Christian Discusses Love, Truth and Homosexuality”

__________________________________________________________________________

FRIDAY, AUGUST 6 (Day Two)

8:00-9:00 – Light breakfast; Registration

9:00 – 10:00 – Cliff Kincaid, America’s Survival, Accuracy in Media:

“The battle over blood: ‘gay’ health risks and public policy”

10:10 – 11:10 – Prof. Rena Lindevaldsen, Liberty University School of Law:

“The zero-sum game: homosexuality-based ‘rights’ vs. religious and First Amendment freedoms”

11:20-12:20 – Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute:

“Corrupting children, politicizing schools: the homosexual youth agenda”

12 :20-1:20 – Lunch Break; light lunch provided

1:20-2:20 – Arthur Goldberg, JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality:

“The gender confusion agenda: ‘transgender rights’”

2:30 – 3:30 – Prof. Robert Gagnon, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary:

“From abomination to ‘gay’: answering ‘queer theology’ — Old Testament”

3:40-4:40 – Prof. Rena Lindevaldsen, Liberty U. School of Law:

“The legal strategy to stop homosexual ‘marriage’: triumphs and pitfalls”

5:00-6:00 – PANEL DISCUSSION and Q & A:

Theme:  “Returning the debate to behavior – getting off the ‘GLBT’ playing field”

Panelists:  Rena Lindevaldsen, Matt Barber, Laurie Higgins, Ryan Sorba, Arthur Goldberg, Cliff Kincaid, Robert Knight, Robert Gagnon, Gregg Quinlan; Moderator: Peter LaBarbera

Special Friday evening keynote presentation (Q & A will follow talk):

7:45 – 9:15 – Robert Knight, Coral Ridge Ministries; author, Radical Rulers: The White House Elites Who Are Pushing America Towards Socialism:

“From destroying DOMA to homosexualizing the military: Obama’s radical homosexual/transsexual agenda for America”

__________________________________________________________

SATURDAY, AUGUST 7 (Day Three)

8:00-9:00 – Light breakfast; Registration

9:00 – 10:00 – Prof. Robert Gagnon, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary:

“’But Jesus never said anything about homosexuality’”: Answering ‘Queer Theology’ — New Testament”

10:10 – 11:10 – Robert Knight, Coral Ridge Ministries:

“Destructive legacy: Alfred Kinsey and the (Homo)Sexual Revolution”

11:20-12:20 – Greg Quinlan, PFOX, Pro-Family Network:

“The big, pink plan for a lavender culture”/”How to lobby effectively”

12:20-1:20 – Lunch Break; light lunch provided

1:20-2:20 – Cliff Kincaid, America’s Survival; Accuracy in Media:

“Combating pro-homosexual media bias, confronting pro-gay ‘conservatives’”

2:30-3:40 – Prof. Robert Gagnon, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary:

“Agreeing with God: a truly biblical approach toward ‘out and proud’ homosexuality”

3:50-4:50 – Ryan Sorba, Young Conservatives of California:

“Confronting the zeitgeist: new strategies to turn around younger Americans on ‘gay rights’”

5:00-6:00 – Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel, AFTAH Board Member:

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Bleed: stopping Obama’s campaign to homosexualize the U.S. military”

6:00-6:20 – Closing remarks, Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth

Gay Liberation Network's Bob Schwartz supports the University of Illinois' firing of Catholic professor Kenneth Howell. Imagine how different his reaction would be if it were a "gay" professor fired for explaining "gay rights" to his students.

I received the following note yesterday from Bob Schwartz, a leader of the Gay Liberation Network in Chicago. Schwartz is a self-described Trotskyite (communist) and is the fellow who bragged that he worked to get AFTAH’s website labeled as a “hate site” by the Southern Poverty Law Center:

From: [Bob Schwartz, Gay Liberation Network]
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:55:16 -0400
To: <americansfortruth@comcast.net>
Subject: Kenneth Howell
Here are AFTAH’s two stories on Howell’s firing:

Just a note to advise you that I asked the new U of I president to support the termination of antigay bigot “natural law” [Prof. Kenneth] Howell.

Bob Schwartz

Here is my reply to Schwartz:

From: [Peter LaBarbera} americansfortruth@comcast.net to [Schwartz]
Date: July 13, 2010
Subject: Re: Kenneth Howell

Bob…If this happened to a homosexual prof who affirmed gay rights to his students (in a class about the GLBT Movement), you and GLN would be crying “discrimination!” to the media and holding protest vigils at U of I. But I’ve come to expect such hypocrisy from you guys. “Tolerance for me but not for thee.”…

Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality

Here are two AFTAH articles on the University of Illinois-Howell termination scandal:

• U. of Illinois’ President Hogan Says Kenneth Howell Firing Under Review
• The E-Mail that Got Dr. Kenneth Howell Fired at U. of Illinois

New University of Illinois President Michael Hogan

We have heard from several readers who received the form letter below from University of Illinois President Michael Hogan after writing or calling the University concerning Catholic professor Dr. Kenneth Howell being terminated after explicating Natural Moral Law opposed to homosexuality. Call him at (217)333-6400; or go HERE for more U-I contact info and action steps. Thanks to all of you who took action against this injustice — which we hope will be corrected soon. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

______________________________________________________

—– Forwarded Message —-
From: President Hogan <uipres@uillinois.edu>
To: [---------]
Sent: Mon, July 12, 2010 11:45:16 PM
Subject: RE: Sham “Inclusivity” Policy

Dear [--------],

Let me begin by thanking you for expressing your concerns.  Academic freedom is at the core of our teaching and research missions.  It’s vital to our ability to explore new ideas, educate our students, and promote the civil and free exchange of alternative viewpoints in a democracy.

I learned of this action on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) campus late last week and immediately asked Chancellor Robert Easter, who oversees the campus, to provide me with a briefing on the matter.  I want to assure you that the University administration shares my commitment to the principles of academic freedom.  At the same time, we do believe it’s important to fully investigate all of the details related to this situation.  As I’m sure you’re aware, it is sometimes the case that public reports may convey only part of the story.  I think it important to reserve judgment until I have all of the facts and I hope you’ll agree.

We have asked the UIUC Senate’s standing Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure to immediately review this action.  This is the mechanism on the campus through which these matters should be vetted.  We expect this review to be completed very soon.  By using our channels of shared governance and review, we are in the best position to make informed decisions that afford a fair process for all.

Again, I’m grateful to have heard from you and others about this and I’m grateful for the opportunity to respond.  It reaffirms the deep commitment that so many have to the University and public higher education and to ensuring that the University of Illinois continues to be a beacon of excellence, as it should be for the state, the nation, and the world.

Sincerely,

Mike

Michael J. Hogan
President
University of Illinois

"Stay at Home" Lesbian to Take Kids 1,800 Miles from their Dad? University of Illinois professor Karen Kelsky is one step closer to uprooting her children from their devoted father in Illinois and raising them with her lesbian lover in Oregon.

Folks, this is a tear-jerker — a real-world by-product of the cultural elites’ myth advancing the supposed equality of “gay parenting.” If this rancid decision is left unturned, these poor children will be forced to live with immoral role models and all the confusion that entails — far, far away from their devoted father. (Maybe a couple of homosexual “uncles” from Portland could replace him….) Also, note the perverted “scholarship” at the University of Illinois — your tax dollars at work, Illinoisans! God help us, and God help these poor children: that they won’t become guinea pigs in the Left’s latest social experiment: intentionally fatherless, lesbian parenting. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

____________________________

By Laurie Higgins, reprinted with permission from Illinois Family Institute

I apologize for the lurid title, but this is a lurid story.

Every divorced father, every non-custodial parent, and every decent, fair, compassionate person should both tremble and be outraged by the recent feckless court decision of activist Illinois judge, John R. Kennedy.

The now-lesbian ex-wife of Mr. Taro Iwata took him to court in Urbana, Illinois in a successful attempt to take their two young children, with whom Mr. Iwata is very close, to Eugene, Oregon to live with her and her lesbian partner.

Eugene, Oregon–a stone’s throw from the lesbian mecca of Portland, Oregon–is 1,800 miles away from Champaign, Illinois, where both Mr. Iwata and his children currently live.

His ex-wife, Karen Kelsky, is a tenured associate professor of East Asian Languages and Culture and Anthropology at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). Kelsy has decided that her self-serving and disordered desire to live with a lesbian lover across the country trumps her husband’s natural and legitimate desire to be deeply and regularly involved in his children’s lives and trumps her children’s needs, desires, and rights to be deeply and regularly involved with their father.

And apparently Champaign County Judge Kennedy agrees, for he has decided that Kelsky may uproot her children, take them far away from their devoted father, and settle them permanently in a household defined by deviance.

According to attorney Jason Craddock, who represents Mr. Iwata, the Court found the following:
that the children’s best interests will be served by allowing the move because 1) the mother will be a “stay at home mom” (ah, yes, the quintessential picture of traditional domesticity: a fatherless home led by two lesbians) while her lover works (even though their standard of living here in Illinois is higher than their standard of living will be in Oregon); 2) the judge views the lesbian relationship as equivalent to a heterosexual marriage (even though neither the state of Illinois nor the state of Oregon views them as equivalent); 3) the judge found that the mother being with her lover will be a direct benefit that will enhance the children’s quality of life; and 4) the judge found that the presence in Oregon of the extended family of the lesbian lover was a factor warranting removal of the children in that neither the mother’s nor the father’s extended family lives close to Illinois or Oregon.

So now interactions with the extended family of a homosexual partner constitute a greater benefit to children than regular, frequent interactions with a loving, committed–and heterosexual–biological parent? That is a radical, subversive, insidious, pernicious, and stupefying idea. Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.

The Court went even further in its efforts to undermine the fundamental human right of both children and fathers to be intimately involved in one another’s lives: Kennedy decreased the remaining inadequate summer and holiday visitation times.

Attorney Craddock explains that,

Even from a “coldly” legal standpoint, this decision is subversive. It flies squarely in the face of decades of removal jurisprudence in Illinois, as Illinois courts historically and consistently give great weight to the relationship enjoyed between children and their non-custodial parents, and typically allow removal only where the visitation time would either remain the same or increase after the move. Also, Illinois courts have never allowed removal where a custodial parent desired to move to a place in order to move in with a paramour or when such a move would lower the family’s standard of living. Courts have without exception allowed removal only where the new spouse or fiancee of the custodial parent lived away from Illinois and where the standard of living would be increased.

This decision clearly constitutes an activist decision, with Judge Kennedy going boldly where the Illinois legislature expressly declined to go before: the Illinois “civil unions” bill presented in the House of Representatives was soundly rejected this past year. Our elected legislature apparently recognizes a legal distinction between heterosexual married couples and same-sex couples. Judge Kennedy has taken it upon himself to confer legal status where it decidedly does not exist.

This tragic, unconscionable, deliberate rupture in an essential relationship serves the unholy desire of Kelsky, who writes this about herself on the U. of Illinois faculty bio page (emphasis added):

My current work is on the lesbian community and the politics of transgenderism in Japan. I am at work on a book project entitled “The Personal is Personal: Reading the Lesbian in Contemporary Japan,” which is a cultural studies-based exploration of the major lesbian popular texts of the last twenty years, including autobiographies, zines, and pornography. I focus on the major sites of contestation around lesbian identity and subjectivity in this work, particularly around issues of butch-femme and sexual autonomy, coming out, privacy and visibility, and the question of sexual diversity. I have just finished a manuscript entitled “[Not] a Lesbian Feminist: Kakefuda Hiroko and the [Im]Possibility of the Lesbian Subject in 1990s Japan.”

Judge Kennedy’s findings reveal his likely underlying assumptions: he likely holds the unproven, highly arguable, a-historical theory that homosexuality is ontologically equivalent to race and morally equivalent to heterosexuality, whereas in reality homosexuality is both ontologically and morally equivalent to polyamory or consensual incest.

He also likely holds the unproven, arguable, a-historical, erroneous theory that “gender” is irrelevant to both marriage and parenting.

Perhaps most troubling of all is that he has arrogantly decided that subordinating the relationship of father and children to the profoundly disordered relationship of mother and homosexual partner serves the best interests of the children.

It’s a wonder that Kennedy can sleep at night.

Mr. Iwata intends to appeal this execrable decision. Please pray for his victory.

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.

__________________________

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′

_____________________________________

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.”
_________________________________________

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.)

_____________________________________

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.

 _________________________________________________

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.