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By Peter LaBarbera

Peter LaBarbera

If you want a good indication of the hatred and vilification to which Americans For Truth and this writer are subjected on a daily basis for exposing the truth about the homosexual and transsexual activist lobbies, do a Google search on my name: Peter LaBarbera (often misspelled: Peter LaBarbara).

Then try another Google search on the smear term that hateful homosexual militants like Wayne Besen and Joe Jervis have adopted in their quest to discredit me and AFTAH: Porno Pete.

Do you see why I can easily relate to Sarah Palin? AFTAH has been on the receiving end of irrational hate from snide leftists and mean-spirited homosexual activists well before anybody in the continental U.S. had even heard of Palin! If I had a quarter for every piece of pro-”gay” hate-mail we’ve received, I could fund our operations for a year.

Just the other day I noticed on Besen’s “Truth [gag] Wins Out” website that Wayne had posted another item blasting me as “Porno Pete.” It was a video that another bunch of hateful activists had created to attack me — sort of a Christmas present from the Gay Grinches to yours truly. I was touched.

“Porno Pete” is Besen’s proud creation, intended to mock me for exposing vile “gay” events like San Francisco’s annual depraved and nudity-filled “Folsom Street Fair” — and Chicago’s “Queer Prom” (sponsored by a gay bathhouse). We expose these events as often as possible because most Americans have no clue how radical the “gay” movement really is — and the threat it poses to kids [check out this gay youth flier] — and the liberal media will never tell them.

Besen plays the part of a responsible advocate for his cause on TV when he appears periodically on the Bill O’Reilly Show, but in real life he is a very bitter fellow who feels no compunction against using slimy, kill-the-messenger attacks like “Porno Pete” as a substitute for a real argument. (Wayne says I have an unnatural interest in gay perversions, to which I respond: I’ve got more than a few problems, but thankfully one of them isn’t lusting after men.)

Anyway, it’s all par for the course when it comes to exposing and opposing the Homosexual Lobby. To be hated by the likes of Besen for exposing the Truth is part of the job.

And determined “gay” activists wouldn’t bother hurling so much venom at AFTAH if we weren’t effective at what we do.

Most people don’t want their good name ruined on the web like mine has been, and so they pull back from opposing homosexual activism — even when they know in their gut that the “GLBT” movement represents one of the gravest threats to our America’s First Amendment liberties — and our Judeo-Christian moral heritage — that this nation has ever seen.

We understand why most people shy away from criticizing “queer” activists, but that makes AFTAH’s role even more crucial. We cut through the political correctness and the media’s pathetic pandering to the GLBT Lobby. And we will never quit. How can we when we look out at dozens of “gay,” lesbian, bisexual and “transgender” groups with collective budgets in the tens of millions every year? How can we give up when we behold the professional homosexual activist CEO’s with their annual salaries exceeding $200,ooo and even $300,000?

All to promote immorality in America and tear down Christians and anyone who agrees with God on this vexing issue.

AFTAH’s budget is miniscule compared to the “gay” giants like Human Rights Campaign (which — did you know? — has been busy promoting pro-homosexuality “Bible studies” that twist Scripture to advance the idea that the Bible does not condemn homosexual behavior). We could do so much more if we had even one-tenth the resources of HRC.

But despite all their money and power, homosexual activists lack something much more valuable: the truth. That’s why they lie so much — remember the “10 Percent” myth about the supposed number of “gays” in society? — and why they resort to hate-filled and bigoted attacks against AFTAH and other pro-family groups.

I can’t begin to document the full scope of homosexual activist hate and attacks directed our way, but here’s a few lowlights:

• One homosexual activist posted page after page of my personal financial records from my home purchase on his website;
• One “gay” militant sent AFTAH what appeared to be semen in an envelope;
• Pro-homosexual activists sought to shut down an AFTAH ad (full-page in USA Today) by inundating our 800# with harassment calls. So many calls came in that our phone-line supplier begged us to shut down the lines. How’s that for “tolerance”?
• Another “queer” activist wrote a post our address online accompanied by a sinister message: “Snipers, take note!” (he later apologized after being approached by local police);
• An evil fellow created a website using my name and accusing me of wanting to kill homosexuals (we are also regularly compared to racists despite my strong condemnation of racism);
• Another wicked activist, Joe Jervis, scribbled a piece on his blog: “Peter LaBarbera Wants To Have Sweaty Mansex With Every Single One Of You” (notice a trend here…?). Joe, I hereby nominate you for our “Gay Grinch of the Year” 2009 award — you deserve it!;
• The AFTAH-bashing website Box Turtle Bulletin created the “LaBarbera Award” to mock me — for the “most outrageous, offensive, malevolent, crazy or excessive statement or claim.” Perhaps I should nominate the website’s own editor, Tim Kincaid (another Gay Grinch 2009 candidate), for preposterously stating that my good friend Laurie Higgins (a former high school writing instructor and a very kind person) “believes it is a Christian kid’s duty to bully his gay classmates”. Kincaid made the outrageous, offensive, malevolent, crazy and excessive claim because Higgins advises students to forthrightly oppose the homosexual activist “Day of Silence” in schools and because she criticized one compromised Christian’s namby-pamby alternative to it;
• Homosexual activists have engaged in various illegal acts of harassment against AFTAH involving the mail, phones, etc. — which I will not describe here so as not to encourage harassers;
• One confused activist created an entire Facebook page devoted to smearing this writer, ingeniously titled, “Peter LaBarbera is a liar and spreader of hate.”

After a while, all the “gay” hatred, lies, and vicious attacks start to run together and you become numb to them. I’ve forgotten more than I can remember. What makes it so surreal is that homosexual activists spew their malice in the name of … “tolerance.”

They are blinded by a desperate need to defend a lifestyle that is indefensible. And their desperation translates into an escalating war against Christian America and a driving need to destroy religious freedom in the USA. The GLBT lobby works to undermine all religious and moral teachings against homosexuality because they know that true religion is the last bulwark stopping state-sponsored homosexuality in America.

The sad story of America and Homosexuality is that aggressive propaganda –that remains largely unanswered — works. Homosexual militants have learned — like so many spoiled children — that they can intimidate Americans into submission by yelling and screaming and falsely equating their sincere moral critics with being “haters, homophobes and bigots.”

But we are not intimidated at Americans For Truth. We don’t put up with the “gay” militants’ lies, and we are fearless when it comes to exposing the extremism that follows organized homosexuality like a dog follows squirrels. (After all, this is a perversion movement.)

But we need your help. We need to grow AFTAH into an organization that does indeed have one-tenth of Human Rights Campaign’s resources (that would put us well over $1 million annually), so that we — working beside like-minded family groups — can stop the “gay” juggernaut before it rolls over freedom of conscience in this blessed nation. Please help Americans For Truth by Dec. 31st with your tax-deductible donation.

Let me leave you with this wonderful note, which I received yesterday from Mike, a former homosexual and one of those guys that Wayne Besen claims doesn’t exist:

From: Mike <—————->
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:07:27 -0600
To: americansfortruth@comcast.net;
Subject: [AFT Web Site] Thanks for all your Great work.

As a born again Christian and an ex-gay man (5+ years) I was really happy to finally find such a great on-line media site that runs parallel to my beliefs. So much of the usual media endorse a lifestyle that often masks deep depression and despair. Growing up in an extremely liberal home where homosexuality was praised as a “good thing” I know firsthand how susceptible children can be to this misguided message. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for putting in all the hard work you do to preach God’s word and get the Truth out there.

God bless you, and thank you for standing with us! Tomorrow I’ll share another message about AFTAH’s unique role in the fight against the well-funded and powerful homosexual-bisexual-transsexual movement.

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TAKE ACTION by Dec. 31st: Please support Americans For Truth with a tax-deductible gift before the year’s end: www.americansfortruth.com/donate/. All donations received online by midnight Dec. 31st — or postmarked no later than Dec. 31st for regular mail gifts — can be deducted on your 2009 tax return. Send gifts to: Americans For Truth, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. You can become a regular monthly AFTAH “Truth Team” giver by going HERE. Thank you for helping AFTAH fight for the Truth as hard as homosexual activists fight for their “gay” lies!

In 2008, 15-year-old Amanda Collette was shot and killed by lesbian classmate Teah Wimberly after she resisted Wimberly's homosexual advances.

A SERIOUS NOTE: As you can see, below we are making light of the bald-faced hypocrisy of homosexual activists, who demand tolerance for themselves even as they maliciously attack and victimize their critics — and falsely accuse them of “hate.” However, we are not including the most vicious manifestation of homosexual hatred that occurred this year: the recent murder conviction of  Teah Wimberly, a lesbian student who shot and killed Amanda Collette, her 15-year-old classmate at Ft. Lauderdale’s Dillard High School — because Collette refused Wimberly’s same-sex romantic advances.

This is no joking matter, so Wimberly (courtroom photo below left) is not on our list. Needless to say, her conviction for the murder of the talented and beautiful Collette (pictured below right) — a murder directly tied to homosexuality — has not received anything close to the national media attention that made homosexual murder victim Matthew Shepard a household name. (Recall that the much-touted “anti-gay-hate-crime” motive for Shepard’s murder was later cast into serious doubt by ABC’s 20/20.)

Teah Wimberly was found guilty of murdering the target of her same-sex crush, Amanda Collette.

A little over a year ago, Amanda Collette became the ultimate victim of homosexuality when Wimberly shot her in the back at school. As the Miami Herald reported, “Collette, 15, a star dancer on the school’s hip-hop dance squad, had rejected romantic advances from Wimberly in the days before the shooting.” Minutes after the shooting, Wimberly cried in a call to the 911 operator: ”I didn’t want to kill her so I shot her in the back . . . I just wanted to give her the pain she gave me.”

Regardless of what other factors were involved in this tragedy, it is not unreasonable to assert that Collette would be alive today were it not for the modern GLBT activist movement, which aggressively seeks to mainstream sexual deviance and immoral gay/lesbian “relationships” as normal and acceptable — most tragically among young people.

Yes, Virginia, there was a time in America when young women did not have to worry about sexual harassment and sexual advances from other young women. And the GLBT movement is first and foremost to blame for the rising number of youth who are embracing homosexual behaviors and considering destructive “gay,” lesbian, bisexual, or “transgender” self-”identities,” at younger and younger ages.  We ask you to pray for the families of both Collette and Wimberly, and pray for the Christian conversion of Teah Wimberly as she awaits sentencing. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

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Nominees Sought for ‘Gay Grinch of the Year 2009′

By Peter LaBarbera

CAROL STREAM, Illinois — Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is taking nominations for our first annual “Gay Grinch of the Year” Award for 2009 — given to the meanest, most deceitful, most socially destructive and/or most blasphemous “gay” activist of the year. Two Thousand Nine was a particularly “mean one” for the Homosexual Lobby — to quote the infamous theme song for the Grinch (which was sung by Thurl Ravenscroft and not Boris Karloff, by the way) — so the choice will be a tough one. We want your input: send your nominations, suggestions and documentary evidence of “gay” Grinchiness to americansfortruth@comcast.net. The Gay Grinch 2009 Award winner will be announced after Christmas.

As this is AFTAH’s debut “Gay Grinch of the Year” award, our procedures are still in flux. I am inclined to limit the competition to actual practicing homosexuals, bisexuals and “transgenders” but am open to the idea that we will need to give another award to the Grinchiest heterosexual advocate for “gay rights” (perhaps starting next year). We have noticed the growing arrogance and stridency of straight, pro-homosexuality activists — and some of the most caustic pro-”gay” rhetoric comes from straight sympathizers — so we don’t want to leave them out.

AFTAH has already received input from various pro-family experts in choosing Gay Grinch of the Year 2009 candidates. Please write to us at americansfortruth@comcast.net to cast your vote for the Grinchiest “gay” activist of the year, or to nominate one. Here is a partial list of the candidates that we have assembled (a few more nominees will be in another post):

• Perez Hilton — homosexual Hollywood online gossip columnist — for his vulgar, bigoted rant against Miss California Carrie Prejean during the Miss USA 2009 pageant (Hilton’s other mean and intolerant acts can count towards the award as well);
  

  Perez Hilton

• Wayne Besen — for his ongoing hatred and harassment of former homosexuals and Christians who help “gays” leave the lifestyle; Besen was videotaped screaming with a megaphone into the window of Boston’s Park Street Church that was hosting an “ex-gay” seminar; see MassResistance’s full story on the Park Street protest HERE.
  

  Wayne Besen leads fellow homosexual militants in harassing Boston's Park Street Church, which was hosting an "ex-gay" conference. Imagine if "Christian" activists did this to a "gay" church.

• Frank Kameny — this “gay” historical icon — who led the first public pro-homosexual protest in America — proclaimed that the God of the Bible is a “sinful homophobic bigot” who needs to repent (to whom, we wonder…) — in a letter to Americans For Truth’s Peter LaBarbera; Kameny is an atheist, yet he maintains that “Gay is Godly”;
• Rachel Maddow, resident lesbian talker 0n MSNBC — for suggesting that rather than tossing two tomatoes at Sarah Palin, an activist in Minnesota should have thrown a pie at the former Alaska governor (it’s more accurate). Especially coming from a “gay” activist, this recalls the infamous incident in which a homosexual militant threw a pie in the face of Anita Bryant — a very mean act indeed.  (Maddow too has plenty of other material that gives her a serious shot at the Gay Grinch 2009 award.);
• ChadMichael Morrisette and Mito Aviles — This West Hollywood homosexual couple erected a grotesque Halloween display on their rooftop: a nude female mannequin with “LIAR” written on the belly and a copy of the face of pro-traditional-marriage advocate Maggie Gallagher attached as the head (amongst other anti-religious images; see photos of the pathetically putrid and puerile prank HERE). This followed last year’s effigy of a Sarah Palin lookalike mannequin hanging from a noose. The vicious anti-Palin stunt in 2008 may have made the deviant duo a favorite for last year’s Gay Grinch award, but alas, we didn’t give one out. They remain dark horse for the 2009 Gay Grinch Award.
• Timothy Kincaid — this writer for the homosexual website “Box Turtle Bulletin” stepped into the competition for Gay Grinch 2009 when he preposterously accused pro-family advocate Laurie Higgins (a former high school writing instructor) of wanting to see students harmed — just because Higgins opposes the pro-homosexual “Day of Silence” and affirms the Scriptural condemnation of homosexual sin.
  

  Tim Kincaid

  Kincaid wrote: “Let’s be clear. Higgins does not oppose the Day of Silence because it is the wrong way to go about ending the bullying of gay kids. Rather, Higgins opposes the Day of Silence because she believes it is a Christian kid’s duty to bully his gay classmates.” This is a mischievous and awful lie, and Kincaid knows it, yet he and Box Turtle Bulletin’s editors have left it up on their “fact-checking” site for months — even after Higgins strenuously complained to Kincaid. (We understand from Laurie that the Grinchy Kincaid now regrets his word choice but not enough for BTB to remove their spurious hit-piece.) Read Higgins’ response to Kincaid’s “stunning display of malicious, deceitful non-reasoning” HERE.

• George Fornero — This homosexual superintendent of school District 113 in the northern suburbs of Chicago was caught red-handed spreading gossipy, lying e-mails about the same Laurie Higgins and her family. Higgins, now with Illinois Family Institute, is a former writing instructor at a District 113 high school. She filed a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request with the district — which revealed dozens of nasty, catty in-house e-mails by and between Fornero and other liberal educators and administrators.
  

  George Fornero: bad role model for students.

  Fornero’s most malicious lie occurred in the form of a constituent e-mail he forwarded that made this absurd claim about Higgins: “I have a pretty good idea that she doesn’t care for Jews.” The hate-filled missive erroneously asserted that Higgins had barred her son from attending a classmate’s bat mitzvah ceremony, and then added this über-Grinchy bit of nastiness: “”I guess the contamination would have spread to [Higgins' son's] pure heart nor did he attend her celebration–probably too many Christ killers there.” WRONG, writes Higgins, who corrected the record: her son “attended countless bat and bar mitzvahs, as did my other children.” Fornero should be fired as a mean-spirited activist and poor role model for students who does not practice the respect and tolerance that he demands from others. See the incredible story HERE and if you are a pro-family advocate who holds educators accountable: file a FOIA request at your child’s school!

Look for more Gay Grinch of the Year 2009 Nominees Tomorrow!

Frank Kameny with one of his original "gay" protest signs, as he was being honored by Smithsonian Museum of American History officials. The homosexual icon says the God of the Bible is a "sinful, homophobic bigot" who needs to repent.

Press Release – For Immediate Release

Protest Against President Obama and EEOC Nominee Chai Feldblum

Rabbi David Eidensohn issued the following statement (web links added by AFTAH):

“I protest President Obama’s claim that his support for EEOC nominee Chai Feldblum is because “if any of my nominees are attacked not for what they believe but for who they are, I will not waver in my support.” This is a gross distortion of the honest opinion of people who oppose his nominee, not for what she is, but for what she believes.

“At one time Ms. Feldblum belonged to a NSDP “non-sexual domestic partnership” with three other women. She demanded for them government support and recognition similar to married mixed-sex couples. And why stop at relationships between caring people? Why not declare support for sadists and masochists who marry their mothers and fathers? And what of those people in the closet because they sleep with their pet dogs? Surely polygamy and prostitution should not be a problem.

“In 2007, 40 percent of mothers who gave birth were unmarried, and they were mostly mature women who had simply rejected marriage. What will happen when the President of the United States nominates and supports people like Ms. Feldblum? What will happen when the President of the United States supports those who don’t discriminate in defining marriage against those who do discriminate in defining marriage as something based on family values?

“I believe Mr. Obama when he says that he will do anything to oppose discrimination. One thing he is doing is to twist the argument against twisted marriages into an attack on family people. This must stop.”

Pastor Stephen Boissoin

By Tim Bloedow; reprinted from ECP Centre website, Dec. 4, 2009

The ECP Centre (Equipping Christians for the Public-square Centre) is very encouraged to see that sanity prevailed in Alberta’s court system with the decision Thursday to overturn the abusive Human Rights Commission ruling against Stephen Boissoin. We are also grateful to have played an important part in the case, raising awareness of the case over the past several years and organizing three successful fundraising dinners in the spring of this year which helped to bring in over $25,000 from generous Canadians towards Mr. Boissoin’s substantial legal costs. We continue to receive donations designated to Mr. Boissoin’s legal defense and we are grateful for the Christians who take their faith seriously enough to be aware of these disturbing cases and who are able to donate to support fellow-Christians in today’s battles.

Those familiar with the case will know that seven years ago, a “human rights” complaint was filed against Stephen Boissoin due to his sharp criticism of homosexuality in a letter to the editor printed in the Red Deer Advocate. In December 2007, the Alberta Human Rights Commission issued a ruthless decision against Mr. Boissoin which itself was an expression of hatred against Christianity. The provincial HRC essentially became a tool for a homosexualist inquisition whereby Mr. Boissoin was ordered to give a false apology for the substance of his letter. He was banned from ever criticizing homosexuality again in public or private communications, and even from the pulpit. The implications of the decision were stunning in terms of the imposition of the state over the church and the restrictions on religious liberty. Mr. Boissoin was also fined $5,000.

Needless to say, Mr. Boissoin filed an appeal of the decision. His legal counsel Gerry Chipeur was very confident that they would win the appeal because the historic principles of fundamental justice were on Mr. Boissoin’s side so, in a real court where such rules applied, the absurd HRC decision wasn’t expected to stand. The plaintiff Darren Lund, however, is reported in the Calgary Herald as not having made up his mind whether to appeal the decision.

Stephen Boissoin vindicated

In his decision, Justice Earl Wilson said that whatever one thinks about Mr. Boissoin’s comments, they didn’t violate Alberta’s human rights legislation which is to say, as the Edmonton Sun reported, that “there was nothing in the letter to suggest it was exhorting Albertans to discriminate against homosexuals in areas of employment, tenancy or goods and services which fall under provincial jurisdiction.” Justice Wilson said, “”Inferring some sort of call for discriminatory practices prohibited by provincial law is an unreasonable interpretation of the letter’s message.”

Of course, that wasn’t really the issue. Mr. Lund, who does not acknowledge being homosexual himself, but who thinks he has enough sensitivity to represent homosexuals, wanted Mr. Boissoin’s comments to be judged a hate crime and outside of free speech protections. Justice Wilson’s decision also rejected this spin on Mr. Boissoin’s comments.

But the references to discrimination aren’t unimportant. As Colby Cosh noted in an analysis posted on Macleans.ca today, “a province, Wilson observed, isn’t allowed to duplicate the Criminal Code provisions against hate speech. It’s only allowed to suppress hateful speech that can also be shown to encourage discrimination in the specific areas that lie within provincial powers and are enumerated in the statute – i.e., housing, employment, access to goods and services.”

Following the announcement of the decision, Stephen Boissoin expressed great joy over this victory for “freedom of speech and religious expression in Canada,” adding: “I am overjoyed that this malicious and frivolous process is over. It’s been seven and a half years of my life being run through the mud. I’ve been called a bigot and a hate-monger. What a waste of time.”

The Canadian Constitution Foundation, Canada’s freedom fighting legal defense organization, was also pleased that Justice Wilson threw out the Commission’s decision, but they remain concerned that the anti-freedom provision which was exploited in the complaint against Mr. Boissoin remains on the books. “Unfortunately, the law that was used against Reverend Boissoin to subject him to a expensive and stressful legal proceedings for more than seven years is still on the books,” said executive director John Carpay. That law forbids anyone from publishing a statement that is likely to expose a person or a class of persons to hatred or contempt on the basis of several criteria including “sexual orientation.” “In spite of today’s court ruling, Albertans need to continue to exercise extreme caution when speaking about public policy issues, lest they offend someone who then files a human rights complaint,” said Mr. Carpay. “No citizen is safe from being subjected to a taxpayer-funded prosecution for having spoken or written something that a fellow citizen finds offensive.”

Canada’s hard-left media not interested

A stunning development from Thursday’s decision is the lack of development, which is to say, the total lack of interest in the ruling by Canada’s media. Alright, I admit it, I’m not stunned at all by this totally predictable result from Canada’s anti-Christian, pro-homosexual media.

Canada’s national media fawns over homosexuals, so any victories they receive in law, politics or the culture are widely reported. In a sharp shift from their traditional role, Canada’s news media almost universally despise the “little guy,” who today is often the Christian, especially when homosexualists are the aggressors.

Certainly when Alberta Christian Stephen Boissoin got strung up by the provincial HRC, acting on behalf of pro-homosexual Darren Lund, Canada’s passionately pro-homosexual media was on top of this story, providing lots of sympathetic coverage to the homosexualist agenda and the HRC.

But, today (Friday), following the announcement of the decision throwing out the anti-democratic HRC ruling, how much media coverage did the story receive across Canada? Who wants to guess?? Based on the results of two media search engines we used, we discovered that the Canadian Press dutifully wrote up the decision. And four Alberta papers reported on it: the Calgary Herald, the Lethbridge Herald, the Calgary Sun and the Edmonton Sun, but we could not find one single newspaper outside of Alberta which covered the story. Perhaps they were so amazed with the profundity of the decision that they wanted at least 24 hours to analyze it, so maybe on Saturday we’ll see the 35 or more cross-Canada media hits on the story that we would have seen today if the decision went against Mr. Boissoin. Even late this evening, a Google News search for “stephen boissoin” only produces 8 hits: One is Canoe which is the Sun Media article printed by the Edmonton and Calgary Sun papers, one is Xtra [a homosexual publication], another is the social conservative LifeSiteNews, one is CTV, another is Macleans.ca, another the Vancouver Sun and the last two are both from the Montreal Gazette.

Even if our media searches missed one or two articles, the point is still vivid in terms of how the media reflects a strong pro-homosexual advocacy agenda, working hard to self-censor any stories that undermine the march towards a homosexualist hegemony. They would deny it, but the evidence is before us for all to see. If it’s an unconscious bias, then that means that this anti-Christian bias is even more ingrained than many of us thought.

Ezra Levant has done a great deal of valuable work publicizing all the diverse people who have spoken out in defense of freedom and against the HRC agenda in the past few years. This includes many media outlets, journalists and editorial boards from across Canada. It’s great to emphasize and publicize these comments in the hope that it will pressure these media personnel to be consistent with their subsequent comments on liberty, but you don’t want to take these defenses of liberty too seriously or place too much hope in them. Most Canadian journalists are die-hard leftists and most of the rest are left-leaning, and leftists will only defend freedom on a case-by-case basis if they see it as in their own best interests to do so. And secularists never seem to see it as in their best interests to defend liberty when the case involves a Christian defendant and a homosexualist complainant.

Despite the fact that Canada’s liberty tradition is rooted in the Judeo-Christian worldview, Christians have very few friends in today’s Canada, especially in positions of influence. Most people, including all special interest groups, are fighting for power and control, not for liberty. If Mr. Lund appeals this recent decision, we may have to rally the troops again on behalf of Mr. Boissoin and the fundamental constitutional principles of liberty which are at stake with this case.

Justice Wilson slams the Alberta government

By implication, Justice Wilson’s decision is a damning indictment of Alberta’s anti-liberty Conservative government. Many patriotic Canadians were shocked when the Stelmach government chose to intervene in the Boissoin HRC case – AGAINST Stephen Boissoin. Even the national homosexual activist group EGALE (Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere) spoke out against this case, arguing that Darren Lund’s complaint went over the top with its censorship agenda. Despite the number of responsible people and organizations which condemned this complaint, the Stelmach Conservative government, with no obligation to do so, chose to intervene against freedom of speech, against religious liberty, against freedom of conscience, against Christianity.

Justice Wilson was more direct in his repudiation of phony experts. Mr. Cosh reported in his Macleans article: “Wilson thus ended up throwing several witnesses who testified against Boissoin overboard: the ex-cop who thought Boissoin’s anti-gay babblings might make teens ‘act out’, for example, and the shrink who warned that the Reverend’s letter might provoke a second Columbine. … Wilson has thus made expert evidence in future tribunal proceedings a lot harder to come by: the logic of his decision suggests that complainants will no longer be able to round up every bleeding-heart social scientist or self-styled hate expert they can find, but will have to provide evidence of potential economic impacts from hate speech.”

Even the homosexual publication Xtra in an online article about the decision today declared: “Gays also stand to benefit from yesterday’s court decision. As we continue to face censorship — whether it be at the Canadian border or on major TV networks — it’s in our interest to promote free speech and expression. Censoring homophobes is an easy way to shut them up, but it does little to address the outrageousness of their arguments. Speech should be fought with speech.”

Justice Wilson’s decision to throw out the HRC decision against Mr. Boissoin by extension is also a decision against the Alberta government and its shockingly imprudent decision to intervene on the wrong side of that case. If the Stelmach government is not intelligent enough to realize this, the Wildrose Alliance is likely to benefit from such Conservative arrogance.

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We would be most grateful for any donations you would consider giving to the work of the ECP Centre in defending Christians facing persecution in Canada and as we confront hostile forces in our culture through NoApologies. Please send your donation to: ECP Centre, PO Box 7, Russell, ON K4R 1C7 or visit our website to make a donation online. Thank you very much for your support.

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You can reach NoApologies/ECP Centre at ecpcentre@gmail.com or at 613-496-0091.

Enough trembling before the online “queer” thugs who want to punish people or frighten them for doing what’s right! I say: shame on the Homosexual Lobby — which has a knack for doing the most outrageous things to promote and defend its pet sin of homosexuality.

Nobody should be ashamed of being identified with the Truth on this issue or any social position that aligns with their faith. Life teaches us that you never reward a bully; you stand up to him. If that means that some creep might ring you up at midnight or call you a name or list your address on some twisted website, so be it. Christians in some parts of the world are maimed, tortured or even murdered for believing in Jesus Christ; their churches are burned down. Shame on us if we’re unwilling to be called a name for defending God’s wonderful created order of sex in marriage. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

P.S. In saner times, sinners were ashamed of their sin or at least knew deep down they were wrong. Some responded to Gospel preaching, were forgiven and became part of the body of Christ. Now sinners “preach” at us, coax us to approve of their errant lifestyles –  and even demand that Christians surrender truth on this issue by bowing to their immoral vision. Isaiah 5:20 applies.

Statement regarding threat to Yes on One TV ad spokesman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2009     Contact: Scott K Fish
Communications Director
207-458-7185

STATEMENT FROM STAND FOR MARRIAGE MAINE
REGARDING THREAT TO YES ON 1 TV AD SPOKESMAN DON MENDELL

The following statement can be attributed to Marc Mutty, chairman, Stand for Marriage Maine:

“I want to alert you to a disturbing development that confirms what we have been saying about the larger threat that redefining marriage poses to every Mainer.

“Don Mendell, one of our spokesmen who appeared in a television ad for Stand for Marriage Maine, has come under attack by our opponents.

“Don is a high school guidance counselor and licensed social worker. His appearance in the television ad prompted a complaint to the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation – requesting that his license to practice social work in the state of Maine be stripped away – simply because of his personal opinion on marriage.

“It is ironic that those who claim tolerance as their highest value prove themselves to be so intolerant that they would go so far as to threaten a father’s career and put his family’s future at risk. This latest attack highlights the true agenda of those who demand that marriage be redefined.

“No one who opposes Question 1 is in similar danger from those who support marriage between one man and one woman.

“Our opponents want to shut us down. We have no interest in limiting free speech and threatening the right of conscience for those who disagree. So who’s really intolerant?

“This attack proves that a “YES” vote next Tuesday is about much more than protecting marriage. It is also about preserving free speech, religious liberty and right of conscience and about what is taught to children.

“This threat to Don and his family’s livelihood is proof that those who demand marriage be redefined seek to punish and silence those who disagree.

“It is our hope that the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation dismisses this complaint for what it is – nonsense. The Alliance Defense Fund – a legal alliance of attorneys committed to defending the right of people to freely live out their faith – is considering potential action on behalf of Don’s fundamental liberties.

“If the people of Maine vote Yes on Question 1 to protect marriage, we have hope that free speech and religious liberty will be respected. If marriage is not protected, Don will only be the first victim.

Promoting Human Wrongs in the Name of Human Rights: HRC and its president, Joe Solmonese, love to smear defenders of traditional marriage and the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality (including preachers) as “haters” and “extremists.” Barack Obama demeans the office of the presidency of the United States by celebrating this radical and profoundly anti-Christian organization.

President Barack Obama is telegraphing his left-wing sympathies and defiance of America’s historic, Judeo-Christian-based morality to the world. The same man who didn’t have time for the National Day of Prayer has worked into his busy schedule a keynote address at a fundraiser Saturday for the world’s largest homosexual lobby group — one that glories in its anti-religious bigotry (masquerading as tolerance, of course). Yes, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is really all about Human Wrongs — whether it’s demonizing as “extremists” Americans who are simply trying to protect the age-old definition of marriage; crusading for legislation that denies our First Amendment right to defend normalcy and Judeo-Christian mores; lobbying for taxpayer funding of transsexual “sex-change” mutilations operations; or its ongoing attempt to redefine the clear Word of God to serve the sinful cause of “proud” homosexuality. (HRC’s Harry Knox — an Obama “faith council” appointee — outrageously calls his own homosexuality a “gift from God.”) At bottom is the HRC press release below highlighting Obama’s address Saturday evening.

Obama’s friend, HRC President Joe Solmonese (above left), is to true respect and “tolerance” what John Edwards and Mark Sanford are to “family values.” Solmonese revels in his role as D.C.’s top homosexual power-broker. A former exec with the pro-abortion PAC EMILY’s List, he embodies the spirit of the age that elevates subjective feelings and libertine, godless ideologies over timeless revelation of right versus wrong. Moreover, Solmonese and fellow “queer” advocates arrogantly behave as if there is no legitimate “other side” to their homosexual movement. He has no problem castigating religious foes of the homosexualist agenda — including pastors, who he accuses of “preaching hatred from the pulpit” for merely agreeing with God about homosexual sin. (Much as they hate religious “fundamentalists,” those homosexual activists sure do have their own set of absolute “fundamentals” down pat, huh?)

Solmonese even has the chutzpah to accuse the Vatican of having a “truth” problem when the Catholic Church tries to deal with its crisis caused by homosexual priests (you know, the ones with a sexual preference for adolescent boys). What he and fellow “gay” activists call a witch-hunt was actually an attempt by the church to prevent further man-boy predations that have badly damaged its reputation. When the pope condemns same-sex “marriage,” HRC and Solmonese dismiss him as “anti-gay” and say he is out to divide “faithful Catholics.” (Last I heard, people who champion sins are not called “faithful.”)

I remember way, way back when HRC joined other “gay” organizations in blacking out its websites following the murder of college student Matt Shepard — and shamelessly used the tragedy as an opportunity to promote “Hate Crimes” legislation. They cynically demonized Christian pro-family groups as somehow having a role in the crime. This is a profoundly anti-Christian organization, so when President Obama celebrates HRC and helps it raise funds, he honors their particular brand of animus and bigotry, which equates genuine, God-fearing Christians (and orthodox Jews, and traditional Muslims) with “hatred” and vile prejudice. That makes this a hateful act by Mr. Obama, and one that demeans the office of the presidency of the United States. Pray for Obama — he cannot serve both God and a Bible-distorting sin group. You can contact the White House HERE. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

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HRC’s press release follows:

President Barack Obama to Deliver Keynote Address at the 13th Annual Human Rights Campaign Dinner

U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy will also present first Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award to Judy and Dennis Shepard

10/5/2009

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization, announced today that President Barack Obama will deliver the keynote address at the 13th Annual National Dinner on Saturday, October 10th, in Washington, D.C.  U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy will also present the first-ever Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award to Judy and Dennis Shepard.  The award is named in honor of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), a champion in the fight for LGBT equality.

“We are honored to share this night with President Obama, who has called upon our nation to embrace LGBT people as brothers and sisters,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.  “It is fitting that he will speak to our community on the night that we pay tribute to his friend and mentor Senator Edward Kennedy, who knew that as president, Barack Obama would take on the unfinished business of this nation – equal rights for the LGBT community, and for every person who believes in liberty and justice for all.”

The event will begin at 7 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.  All media planning to attend the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner must pre-register by Thursday, October 8.  ….

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

ENDA Paves the Way: John Berry (left), President Obama’s openly homosexual director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, says that once the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is “enacted and signed into law, it is only a matter of time” before the rest of the administration’s sweeping homosexual and transsexual activist agenda will become law.

TAKE ACTION: write (preferably not just by e-mail) and call your U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121; 202-225-3121; www.congress.org) and urge them to oppose this radical big-government legislation that would strip away Americans’ foundational right to act on their religious and moral beliefs.

The following is excerpted from the homosexual newspaper Washington Blade (emphasis added):

_________________________________

ENDA should be top priority – Berry

Says ‘Don’t Ask,’ DOMA repeal should also be pursued

By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade
September 28, 2009

The highest-ranking openly gay appointee in the Obama administration is encouraging LGBT Americans to make passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act their No. 1 priority and said its success would place within reach other civil rights goals.

John Berry, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, called for greater focus on ENDA on Saturday following his keynote address at Out for Work’s national convention at the Westin City Center Hotel in D.C.

Berry advocated for the importance of ENDA — and identified repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and the Defense of Marriage Act as other priorities — in response to an audience member’s question about possible legislative issues on the horizon and criticism that President Obama isn’t moving quickly enough on LGBT issues.

“The most important thing we can do right now is we got to … secure the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — and it’s got to include full transgender protections,” Berry said. “I believe that if we all concentrate our efforts where it needs to be concentrated, which is on the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, we can get the job done.”

Other pro-LGBT legislation can be more easily achieved, Berry said, if Congress were to pass ENDA.

“If we can get ENDA enacted and signed into law, it is only a matter of time before all the rest happens,” he said. “It is the keystone that holds up the whole bunch, and so we need to focus our energies and attention there.”

Berry was confident that there are enough votes in the House to pass a fully inclusive ENDA, but said a question remains over whether there are 60 votes in the Senate to end a filibuster.

“We’re very close to the 218 [votes in the House],” Berry said. “We’re within spitting distance, and I think we will get it. We are not as close on the 60 in the Senate, but we will be, and this will happen, so I think it’s going to take that focal energy point.”

The OPM director commended Obama for being “clearly on the record” in support of ENDA. …

Berry said Defense Secretary Robert Gates has “an open mind” on repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but that the secretary also has to work to “balance some things,” such as military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Still, the OPM director noted that administration support alone is insufficient to overturn the law.

“This administration strongly supports the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ but in the end, having the president say that without 218 votes in the House and 60 in the Senate don’t get you far,” Berry said.

Also high among Berry’s priorities is overturning DOMA. The OPM director criticized Congress for passing the law in 1996 and said it was enacted for bad reasons.

“It was motivated only by hate, it was motivated by discrimination, it is a base law and it should be repealed,” Berry said.

Berry noted that Obama has called DOMA [discriminatory] and urged for its legislative repeal, but the OPM director added the best way toward overturning the law would be through the courts and not Congress.

“I will tell you personally I believe that I think the courts will strike this down before Congress will have to repeal it legislatively,” he said. “And thank goodness because, in this case, the backbone is not there in Congress.”

Support for repealing DOMA through litigation echoes the position of gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on the issue. Frank has not signed on as a co-sponsor to the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would repeal DOMA, because he said Congress should tackle other LGBT priorities and a pending lawsuit against the statute better addresses the issue….

Folks, below my friend Laurie Higgins ably rebuts the spurious, ongoing “gay” activist attempt to blame Christians and religious people for tragic, violent attacks on homosexuals, like the August 1 slaughter at a “gay youth” center in Tel Aviv. Many homosexual activists apparently are compelled by their rejection of Biblical morality to lie in such a way about Christians. (At the same time, they malign us for highlighting gay-on-gay violence and for pointing out the obvious: that homosexual practice threatens longevity.)  The claim that Christian, conservative and religious speech causes “anti-gay violence” will continue to be used to advance a totalitarian homosexualist agenda, here and abroad. All lovers of freedom must fight this Orwellian agenda that has as its end game the very destruction of liberty as we know it — all in the name of “civil rights.” Please send this article to your friends. — Peter LaBarbera, www.americansfortruth.com

P.S. Unlike the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, I would support the death penalty for the Tel Aviv murderer (though Israel abolished the death penalty for such crimes). That would be far more effective than “hate crimes” laws in deterring such attacks in the future.

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Higgins writes:

Are Christians Responsible for Anti-Homosexual Bloodbath in Tel Aviv?

By Laurie Higgins, reprinted from Illinois Family Institute, 8/3/09

Yet another tragic, horrific, and utterly unjustifiable murder of homosexuals has taken place, this time in Tel Aviv, Israel at a youth center for homosexual teens. Saturday night [August 1], two were killed and thirteen wounded when a gunman opened fire in a club where homosexual teens meet. The unspeakable carnage exposes how very dark the mind of fallen humans can become.

And this recent mind-numbing crime provides yet another occasion for homosexual activists and those who support their social and political goals to lay an unbiblical, unchristian, indefensible crime at the feet of all Christians who hold biblical views on the nature and morality of homosexuality and who deplore murder.

Mourning for those young people whose lives were violently taken had not even begun before attacks on Christians could be found in the comments section of homosexual blogs. For example, last night one blog comment read, “The extremist religious people in our society, especially those like [National Organization for Marriage] and other anti-gay religious organizations (Pat Robertson, et al) are the cause of this kind of violence against the GLBT community. Members of these organizations spew their hatred on television and in their churches, and the weak-minded grab hold of their hateful words and act on them.”

Another read, “Last night I was at evening Mass in my home town. The priest began his sermon by talking about the ‘culture of death’ and his disapproval of euthanasia. How did he get from that to an attack on gays and lesbians? I don’t know, but somehow he did. He ranted about the introduction of civil partnerships for gays and lesbians in the UK and the adoption of children by gays and lesbians, and said that God had shown his attitude to ‘active homosexuality’ once and for all by his destruction of those ‘wicked people’ of Sodom and Gomorrah. We see from the events in Tel Aviv exactly where that kind of thinking leads.”

In an exploitative effort to silence Christians, homosexual activists rush in to impute culpability directly and speciously to orthodox Christian teaching on the morality of homosexual acts.

Can any homosexual activist provide evidence that those who are responsible for crimes associated with hatred of homosexuals are or were serious, committed followers of Christ who loved the Lord and His Word, knew Christian doctrine, and sought to live a life that would bring glory to God?

How specious to claim that the deaths of Nir Katz and Liz Trubeshi in Tel Aviv, Sakia Gunn, Sean Kennedy, Lawrence King, Jose Sucuzhanay (who was presumed to be but was not homosexual), Scotty Joe Weaver, or Carl Walker-Hoover and Jaheem Herrera (who were not homosexual but called anti-homosexual epithets) were caused by the orthodox beliefs of those who desire nothing more than that all should come to Christ so that they can know “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” and the “fullness of joy.”

How specious to claim even implicitly that the convicted offenders Richard McCullough, Stephen Andrew Moller, Brandon McInerney, Hakim Scott, Christopher Gaines, Nichole Kelsay, Keith Phoenix, and the schoolyard bullies who harassed children were true followers of Christ who believed that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

One of the problems with the line of reasoning manipulated by homosexual activists is that they make the error of claiming that because two disparate groups of people share one idea in common, they must share all ideas in common. In other words, homosexual activists falsely claim that because orthodox Christians believe homosexual acts are wrong and anti-homosexual haters believe homosexual acts are wrong, both groups share all ideas in common and are equally culpable for the acts of violence that only one group endorses and in which only one group engages.

That would be like saying that Quakers who opposed the war in Viet Nam but rejected violence and the Weather Underground that opposed the war and endorsed the use of violence were equally culpable for the violence committed only by the Weather Underground.

Or it would be like saying that all people who oppose the exploitation of the environment are culpable for the acts of ecoterrorism engaged in by the Earth Liberation Front.

It’s exactly the same kind of charge that pro-abortionists level at all pro-lifers. Pro-abortionists offensively claim that those who oppose the killing of the unborn and reject murderous vigilantism are responsible for the murderous acts of vigilantes.

Are homosexuals who believe that polyamory, or “swinging,” or adult consensual incest is immoral guilty of creating a climate of hatred and danger to those who are in plural relationships, open relationships, or incestuous relationships? Do all moral claims about behavior constitute hatred toward people and contribute to climates of danger and fear, or is it just the moral claims with which homosexuals disagree that create climates of hatred, danger, and fear?

The kind of reasoning employed by homosexual activists is akin to the logical fallacy of “guilt by association.” Homosexual activists are attempting to coerce orthodox Christians into either self-censorship or outright rejection of the belief that homosexuality is immoral by associating it with a group with whom no one, including orthodox Christians, would want to be associated. But as one writer explains, “the fact that someone does not want to be associated with people she dislikes does not justify the rejection of any claim. For example, most wicked and terrible people accept that the earth revolves around the sun and that lead is heavier than helium. No sane person would reject these claims simply because this would put them in the company of people they dislike (or even hate).”

This line of reasoning also employs the logical fallacy of “hasty generalization” in which all members of a group are assumed to have all the characteristics of one or a few of its members.

In the book After the Ball [see MassResistance analysis HERE], homosexual tacticians Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen, architects of what is referred to in the book’s acknowledgments as a “gay manifesto,” urge homosexual activists to “learn from Madison Avenue, to roll out the big guns. Gays must launch a large-scale campaign. . . .We’re talking about propaganda” which “relies more upon emotional manipulation than upon logic, since its goal is, in fact, to bring about a change in the public’s feelings.”

Kirk and Madsen’s goal is to “make homohating beliefs and actions look so nasty that average Americans will want to dissociate themselves from them.” What must be made clear is that what Kirk and Madsen mean by “homohating beliefs” are any negative views of homosexual acts, including even those that involve no hatred whatsoever. They go on to say that they “intend, by this tactic, to make the very expression of homohatred so discreditable that even Intransigents will eventually be silenced in public.”

Then they offer their truly pernicious tactic:

“The public should be shown images of ranting homohaters whose associated traits and attitudes appall and anger Middle America. These images might include:

• Klansmen demanding that gays be slaughtered or castrated;
• Hysterical backwoods preachers, drooling with hate to a degree that looks both comical and deranged;
• Menacing punks, thugs, and convicts who speak coolly about the ‘fags’ they have based or would like to bash;
• A tour of Nazi concentration camps where homosexuals were tortured and gassed.”

I’m sure Kirk and Madsen would have liked nothing more than to be able to associate the Tel Aviv masked gunman’s bloodbath with orthodox Christianity.

Christians ought not to fall victim to this tactic. Christianity teaches not only that homosexual acts are sinful but also that no person shall commit murder; that hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses; that we are to love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God; that anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love; that we are to do good to those who hate us and bless those who curse us and pray for those who mistreat us; and that all are created in the image and likeness of God.

Orthodox Christians who are living out the entirety of Scripture do not hate, commit acts of murder, or endorse acts of murder.

Now is the time to pray for those who were injured and for the loved ones of those lost in Saturday’s carnage and to administer the full weight of civil justice to the guilty party: the man with the seared conscience who opened fire on a group of teens.

Below we reprint the first of an excellent three-part series on the “Hate Crimes” bill (S. 909) by Pittsburgh Theological Seminary professor Robert Gagnon (left), probably the world’s foremost expert on the Bible and homosexuality from an orthodox (Bible-believing) perspective. S. 909 could be voted on as early as Thursday in the U.S. Senate. (So says the extremist National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.) For those who can’t wait on AFTAH for Parts II and III, go to this page on Gagnon’s website and scroll down for the full series.

TAKE ACTION: call or write your U.S. Senators (202-224-3121 or 202-225-1321; www.congress.org) today and urge them to oppose the “hate crimes” bill, which is likely to be tacked on as an amendment to the defense appropriations bill for a vote as early as Thursday. Federal “hate crimes” legislation including homosexuality and gender confusion will lay the groundwork for the persecution of religious Americans or anyone who acts on the belief that homosexuality is wrong — as well as pro-life activists working to save unborn babies and those who fight jihadist Islamo-fascism. Every red state with no “sexual orientation” laws will instantly be affected by this federal power-grab that guarantees unequal treatment in the law by awarding homosexuals, bisexuals and the gender confused specially protected “civil rights” status.

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Gagnon writes:

Why a Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity “Hate Crimes” Law Is Bad for You

Part 1: Promoting hatred of people opposed to homosexual practice and transgenderism

by Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D.

May 28, 2009

To print a clean copy with proper formatting and pagination go to the pdf version HERE.

The so-called “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act” (H.R. 1913), passed by the U.S. House of Representatives along party lines on Apr. 29 and introduced into the U.S. Senate shortly thereafter by Ted Kennedy (S. 909), is improperly named. The bill is really a hate-promotion bill as regards the inclusion of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” among the groupings slated to receive special protection.

Supporters of this bill who rightly believe homosexual practice to be unnatural and sinful have been duped into thinking that this bill is primarily about protecting homosexual and transgendered persons from violence. They hear the rubric “hate crimes” and think: Who can be for violence toward homosexual and transgendered persons?

The real objectives of the “hate crimes” bill (hint: it’s not about crime)

Supporters of this bill who believe homosexual practice to be immoral rarely stop to consider that all necessary laws are already in place protecting everyone from violent physical attacks or verbal threats to do bodily harm, including persons who engage in homosexual and transgendered behavior. Even homosexual columnist Andrew Sullivan has recently commented: “The real reason for hate crime laws is not the defense of human beings from crime. There are already laws against that—and Matthew Shepard’s murderers were successfully prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in a state with no hate crimes law at the time.” There is absolutely no evidence that state prosecutors are systematically ignoring genuine crimes against homosexual and transgendered persons, once reported to law enforcement officials.

So why pass “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” so-called “hate crime” legislation? The reason has more to do with foisting an expansive homosexualist agenda on the nation than with concerns about crime. The bill serves the following vital aims of that agenda:

• It gets the federal government to enshrine in federal law “sexual orientation” (i.e. homosexuality and bisexuality) and “gender identity” (i.e. transsexualism and cross-dressing) as identity markers worthy of special protection and promotion alongside racial and gender diversity.
• This in turn gives federal backing to hatred of all persons who express opposition to homosexual practice and transgenderism as the moral equivalent of racists and misogynists (sexists), no matter how loving that expression of opposition may be.
• It also lays the foundation for a litany of future “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” bills that will markedly abridge the civil liberties of all who express moral disapproval of homosexual practice and transgenderism.

The foot in the door

This “hate crimes” bill is the proverbial foot in the door or camel nose in the tent that makes possible —— indeed inevitable —— all future laws involving “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” By simply placing “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” alongside of “race,” “color,” “national origin,” “gender,” and “disability,” this “hate crimes” bill does most of its damage. It ensconces in federal law the principle that homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality are as benign as race, gender, and disability —— an aspect of human diversity that must be affirmed and celebrated. Those who refuse to go along with this principle then become encoded in law as hateful, discriminatory bigots.

Note that while “religion” (an identity marker involving choice) is one of the protected categories of this “hate crime” bill, the bill mainly makes a connection between “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” on the one hand and a host of benign innate conditions on the other (i.e., the five other protected categories of the bill). I’ve never heard an advocate for homosexual practice and transgenderism make the connection between these behaviors and religious belief. The analogy is always made with race and gender.

The thought crime of “prejudice” against homosexual and transgender behavior

Make no mistake about the fact that this is an Orwellian thought-crimes bill. Suppose a young man and a 70-year-old grandmother push each at roughly the same time. The man does so after shouting out “You bigoted homophobe!” while the grandmother does so after responding “Well then, you are a sexual pervert!”

This “hate crime” bill would apply only to the grandmother and would do so solely on the basis that she believed that homosexual practice was a perversion of the natural sexual order. For the bill establishes this conviction to be a “prejudice,” stating that the federal government can intervene when “a crime of violence … is motivated by prejudice based on the actual or perceived … sexual orientation [or] gender identity … of the victim” (emphasis added). The bill effectively (but wrongly, go HERE) declares this conviction to be a hate that society must prosecute vigorously by enhancing penalties and calling for massive federal intervention.

However, the bill shows no concern for classifying as hateful prejudice the alternative conviction; namely, that advocates of a male-female requirement for sexual relations are hateful, ignorant bigots. Rather, the bill promotes this alternative conviction to society at large. It essentially declares to all sectors of society that it is “open season” on hating and ostracizing persons who find homosexual behavior and transsexualism to be morally repugnant, much as society hates and ostracizes members of the Klu Klux Klan or skinhead Nazi groups.

Recent cases in point are the widespread intimidation tactics employed by homosexualist opponents of California’s Proposition 8 against its supporters (for example, go HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE) and the smear campaign against Miss California, Carrie Prejean, for daring to disagree with a homosexual pageant judge’s affirmation of “gay marriage” (note that the point holds whatever Prejean’s deficiencies may be as a role model for Christian sexual modesty). Why shouldn’t those opposed to homosexual practice or transsexualism get special protection from the federal government? The reason is simple: They’re bigots.

The analogy of other sexual orientations

This bill thus goes beyond protection of homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered persons (who are already protected) to promotion of hatred —— hatred toward those opposed to homosexual and transgendered behavior. If you have any doubt about that, consider whether adding pedophilia (‘pedosexuality’) to the list would imply promotion of pedophilic behavior by the state and antagonism by the state toward perceived opponents of pedophiles. Surely it would.

Sadly, this may not be the best example since Rep. Steven King unsuccessfully introduced an amendment to the “hate crimes” bill in the House that would have excluded pedophilia from the definition of “sexual orientation.” If you can believe it, the Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee defeated the amendment along party lines, 13-10. To be sure, the Democrats are right that both “pedosexuality,” sexual desire for children, and “polysexuality,” sexual desire for more than one person concurrently, are “sexual orientations.” Where the Democrats err is in failing to recognize that this is a good reason for not having a “sexual orientation” provision.

Conclusion

So don’t fall for the line that, if you really love “gay,” lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered persons, you will support this “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” “hate crime” bill. No, support for this bill does not mean that you oppose hateful, violent acts against persons who self-identify as homosexuals, transsexuals, and cross-dressers. Existing laws already make that point. Rather, it means that you support stigmatizing, marginalizing, and penalizing people who, lovingly or not, oppose homosexual practice and transgenderism. This is a hate-promotion bill.

Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D. is associate professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (Abingdon Press) and co-author of Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views (Fortress Press). See www.robgagnon.net for more information.

The SPLC has embarrassed itself by politicizing “hate” in the service of pro-homosexual politics. Perhaps if it stopped demonizing Christian and pro-family groups like IFI and MassResistance based on their moral opposition to homosexual practice, we would take its assessment of who the real haters are more seriously. — Peter LaBarbera, www.americansfortruth.com

_________________________________
From: Americans For Truth
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 7:10 AM
To: George JonesSubject: Re: [AFT Web Site] MassResistance
_________________________________

We reject the Southern Poverty Law Center’s biased assessment of what is or is not a “hate” group, Mr. Jones. We regard the SPLC itself as bigoted in the extreme (and, in essence, hateful) toward pro-family groups. And you are right: we don’t “hate queer people.” We disagree with them about their behavior and their embrace of homosexuality as an identity. I hope you don’t “hate” us. Best–PL

Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
www.aftah.com

——————————————————————————–
From: George Jones [--------]
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 8:53 PM
To: americansfortruth@comcast.net
Subject: [AFT Web Site] MassResistance

The following message was sent from the Americans for Truth Web site:
_________________________________

You know mass resistance is hate group, as classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center, right? Why are you citing them (and thanking them!) in your most recent post on Massachusetts Queer Youth Pride day? You\’re not sympathizing with a hate group, are you? Does that make you a hate group? No, surely that can\’t be the case. You don\’t hate queer people. You just think they aren\’t living how god wants. Of course. How could I be so silly?