Americans for Truth

Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. — Matthew 19:6

Pray for the six children whose homes have been broken, whose fathers have been left behind…and the many more just like them.

Excerpted from Gay Marriage Advocates Switch Strategies, by Ray Henry, published Mar 17, 2007, by Associated Press:

Aronda Kirby and Digit Murphy were once married to men, received the tax breaks for married couples and were legally permitted to take family leave if their husbands or children got sick. Both women lost those protections when they came out as lesbians, divorced their husbands and set up a new household together with their six children.

Now, with couples like Murphy and Kirby in mind, some gay rights advocates who previously fought for “marriage or nothing” are shifting strategies. Rather than fighting to legalize marriage for same-sex couples, they’re lobbying for the protections marriage provides…

“We’ve had all the rights, so we want them back,” Murphy said. “We don’t care how we get them.”

Continue reading at TBO.com…

By Sonja Dalton

On The View, during a debate over the 2008 presidential election, the Iraq war, and the Patriot Act, Rosie O’Donnell lashed out at Elisabeth Hasselbeck, calling her “young and wrong.” When Elisabeth, 30, objected to Rosie’s “ageism,” Rosie defended herself by saying (emphasis added):

“I know, but it’s the way that I’m able to be on this live broadcast
and love and support you
in spite of the fact that I disagree so abhorrently
with most of the things you believe,
so it is what I tell myself in order to not get into the RAGE I feel
at at some of the IGNORANT comments,
so that’s what I have to do!”
– Rosie O’Donnell on The View, Feb 28, 2007
(see the clip on ABC’s website: select “Hot Topics, War on Iraq Part 2″)

Two questions:

• If Rosie wants us to demonstrate “tolerance” (which in homosexual activist speak really means “approval of”) toward her, her homosexual “partner,” the exposure of their children to their lesbian lifestyle, and her radical political views, then why can’t she simply listen to Elisabeth Hasselbecks conservative viewpoint without feeling and expressing RAGE?

• What if this discussion had been the other way around? What if Elisabeth Hasselbeck had lashed out at Rosie O’Donnell and said “Sometimes I can barely contain the RAGE I feel at your IGNORANT comments?” Somehow, I suspect Elisabeth would either be issuing a public apology and going to “homophobia” therapy or else watching her media career go up in flames. But neither Barbara Walters or ABC insisted on a public apology from Rosie. Why is okay for Rosie O’Donnell to talk to her co-workers like this?

Her blog poetry makes obvious that Rosie O’Donnell feels badly about her lack of self-control — and that she needs Jesus Christ to heal her heart and transform her life. Keep her in loving prayer.

By Sonja Dalton

Lesbian blogger Pam Spaulding published a post on Mar 3, 2007, entitled Intimidation Tactics In the Name of Religion Will Not Stop Change. In it, she accuses Christians of inciting violence against homosexuals — for example,

• Bil Browning, head of Indiana Action Network and Bilerico blogger, claims that, following his coverage of a protest in Indiana over SJR-7, he received threatening phone calls and that the window of his car was smashed.
• 72-year-old Andrew Anthos of Detroit was taunted and viciously beated with a metal pipe, leaving him paralyzed and in a coma for ten days until he finally died. A sketch of the suspect has been released, but no arrests have been made at this point.
• A 19-year-old Hoboken High School student, Andy Rivera, has been charged (and a second person is sought) in the brutal beating of a 21-year-old man, allegedly for wearing pink pants.

Ms. Spaulding, a Duke employee whose blog has been lauded by the university (which has historic ties to the United Methodist church), says:

“This behavior occurs because many fundies actually justify explain violence against gays and lesbians as God’s wrath being visited upon them. It’s about controlling the behavior of people who are different, who may or may not share their worldview, or else, dag nab it, ‘God’ is going to work in his mysterious ways by inspiring someone to take a pipe to beat a 72-year-old gay man to death or beat up a gay man for wearing pink pants, for instance.”

Though none of the perpetrators have claimed to be Christians nor to have acted on God’s behalf (some are not yet identified), Ms. Spaulding blames these heinous crimes on “fundie” (fundamentalist) Christians — and she is not the only activist to make such claims.

On Feb 24, 2007, Matt Foreman, Executive Director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (which takes in over $30 million/year), issued the following statement blaming Christians:

“The hatred and loathing that led to the vicious murder of Andrew Anthos only because he was gay is not innate. Instead it is being taught every day by leaders of the so-called Christian right and their political allies. They disguise their bigotry as ‘deeply-held religious beliefs.’ They cloak themselves in ‘family values.’

“For years, Michigan has been subjected to the homophobic rants of Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan, while so many otherwise good and decent people have been silent. Just two years ago, the state endured an ugly campaign, led by Cardinal Adam Maida, to ‘protect marriage’ by writing anti-gay discrimination into its constitution. Based on that amendment, a three-judge panel of Michigan’s court of appeals voted last month to terminate medical insurance coverage for families of LGBT government workers throughout the state.

“It is appalling hypocrisy for these forces to pretend that their venomous words and organizing have no connection to the plague of hate violence against gay people, including the murder of Mr. Anthos…”

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I read this testimony with tears of joy streaming down my face — GOD IS SO GOOD! Let us thank Him for the amazing transformation in Charlene Cothran’s heart and life — and let us pray that He will endow her with courage and wisdom as she grows in the grace and knowledge of the LORD. She is the publisher of Venus Magazine — check out the updated mission statement! — Sonja Dalton

From Redeemed! 10 Ways to Get Out of the Gay Life, If You Want Out, by Charlene E. Cothran, published by Venus Magazine:

Over the past 29 years of my life I have been an aggressive, creative and strategic supporter of gay and lesbian issues. I’ve organized and participated in countless marches and various lobbying efforts in the fight for equal treatment of gay men and lesbians. I have kept current on the issues and made financial contributions to those organizations doing work about which I was most passionate.

As the publisher of a 13 year old periodical which targets Black gays and lesbians, I have had the opportunity to publicly address thousands, influencing closeted people to ‘come out’ and stand up for them selves, which is particularly difficult in the African-American community.

But now, I must come out of the closet again. I have recently experienced the power of change that came over me once I completely surrendered to the teachings of Jesus Christ. As a believer of the word of God, I fully accept and have always known that same-sex relationships are not what God intended for us.

I don’t expect that this message will be widely received, quite the contrary. But, I do know that there is someone, possibly reading this very article, who is tired and unhappy living this way. Someone, in your heart of hearts, is searching for a way out, but you just can’t seem to break free on your own. I am speaking to my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters who want real peace; the kind you’ve heard about, sung about, read about. It is simpler than you think to acquire it and there is no condemnation once you’ve entered it.

Although I have lived as a lesbian for my entire adult life, it is without a doubt my soul’s purpose to use my gifts to LOVINGLY share the truth about how we got here: how we came to be gay or lesbian, how we came to enjoy our ‘lifestyle’ and how we came to believe that this was OK with God. [Romans 1:21-28]

Many argue that each individual should determine for themselves what God intends for him or her. This would indicate that we each have a separate set of biblical rules to live by. This is untrue. If you are ready for change and willing to open yourself to the truth, God’s love can bring your current belief system in line with His Word. Jesus will cleanse and forgive all confessed sin from a willing heart. Homosexuality is only one of them. It is no greater sin than any of the others, but it is sin.

By now you’re asking, ‘Has she lost her mind? My answer is NO. I didn’t lose it, I gave it away! In fact, I traded it in for a new one! [Romans 12:1-2]

ONE TUESDAY MORNING

I was minding my own business one fine New Jersey morning when I received a call from a local pastor, the Rev. Vanessia M. Livingston. I had never spoken to her previously. She was calling to add a statement to an article about her gospel group in another paper we own called the Kitchen Table News.

I don’t remember how we got on the subject of salvation but she could not have known how much I had been struggling with trying to reckon my spiritual upbringing with my lesbian lifestyle.

My stiff-necked resistance to the truth arose in me as she ministered. I honestly figured that if I simply mentioned the ‘L’ word that she’d drop the phone, anoint it with oil and that would be the last I’d hear from her. But that’s not what happened. The pastor prophetically confirmed what I’ve known for years, ‘one day you will come out of the world and bring many gay and lesbian souls out with you.’ She asked if today was the day that I would choose but I said no. I felt the power of conviction upon me as she spoke but I resisted and hardened my heart against the truth as I had done many times before. I was not willing to hear her or give up my all to God, especially knowing that I had a confirmed speaking engagement scheduled the following week at the Schomberg Center during New York City Gay Pride.

Read the rest of this article »

Words have meaning. To be a virgin is not just to abstain from sexual intercourse with a man, but to remain completely chaste and pure. It’s no more accurate to say that a sexually active lesbian is a virgin that it was for Bill Clinton to say “I did not have sex with that woman” — and furthermore, it’s terribly dangerous to mislead young people like this. When young people heard Bill Clinton equivocate and deny that oral sex was indeed sex, they felt liberty to try it themselves — and now society is reaping the consequences. Similarly, if Suze Orman identifies herself as a lesbian while calling herself a virgin, she sends a confusing and mixed message — and a deceitful one — to young women.

Homosexual sex may not carry the “risk” (or as we Christians like to think if it, the great blessing) of pregnancy, but homosexual sex practices (lesbian, “gay,” or “trans”) substantially increase the risk of physical, emotional, and spiritual damage to the human body and soul. If Suze Orman has been in a lesbian relationship for seven years, she is no virgin. If you “experiment with” or engage openly in homosexual sex (or are heterosexually intimate, even without intercourse), you cannot please God unless you repent (ie, change). – Sonja Dalton

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The following is excerpted from She’s So Money (an interview with financial guru Suze Orman), by Deborah Solomon, published Feb 25, 2007, by New York Times Magazine:

Q: Are you married?

A: I’m in a relationship with life. My life is just out there. I’m on the road every day. I love my life.

Q: Meaning what? Do you live with anyone?

A: K.T. is my life partner. K.T. stands for Kathy Travis. We’re going on seven years. I have never been with a man in my whole life. I’m still a 55-year-old virgin.

Q: Would you like to get married to K.T.?

A: Yes. Absolutely. Both of us have millions of dollars in our name. It’s killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa.

Continue reading at New York Times Magazine…

UPDATE – Also see Newsday story published Feb 25, 2007.

Excerpted from Millions At Stake In Gay Adult Adoption Case, published Jan 15, 2007, by the pro-homosexuality 365Gay:

…In 1991 Olive F. Watson used [a Maine adult adoption] law to adopt her partner of 14 years, Patricia A. Spado. Even though the couple lived in Connecticut Watson owned a summer home in Maine.

Watson was the daughter of former IBM executive Thomas J. Watson Jr., who was the CEO of the company from 1956 to 1971…

When Watson adopted Spado there were no same-sex partnership agreements in the country and Watson believed it would provide Spado with security if anything happened to her.

But a year later the couple broke up.

When Thomas Watson’s widow died in 2004 his fortune went into a trust and her 18 grandchildren became eligible to receive income from two trusts until they turned 35, at which time they would receive the principal outright.

Several months later a lawyer representing Spado notified the trust that there was a 19th grandchild, Spado, and that she also was entitled to a share of the trust.

Continue reading at 365Gay…

“Being queer is more than setting up house,
sleeping with a person of the same gender,
and seeking state approval for doing so…

“Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family,
and in the process, transforming the very fabric of society…

“As a lesbian, I am fundamentally different from non-lesbian women…

“In arguing for the right to legal marriage,
lesbians and gay men would be forced to claim
that we are just like heterosexual couples,
have the same goals and purposes,
and vow to structure our lives similarly…

“We must keep our eyes on the goals
of providing true alternatives to marriage and
of radically reordering society’s view of reality.”

by Sonja Dalton

CosmoGirl! editors have become “conversant with queer issues,” according to a pro-lesbian website.

In an article entitled CosmoGirl! Includes Queer Peers (published Aug 8, 2006, by afterellen.com), writer Rose Yndigoyen says,

“Over the past few years, CosmoGirl! has subtly but steadily included stories from and about lesbian, bisexual and questioning girls, as well as coverage of LGBT issues amid the more traditional teen magazine fare of quizzes and heartthrob interviews.”

Ms. Yndigoyen offers this sample of Cosmo’s foray into lesbian love stories for adolescent girls:

When my family moved to a small town in Illinois, I’d been having mixed feelings for about a year. All I could think about was who did I like — boys or girls? One day at my new school, I was in the locker room.

All the girls were taking showers when one of them saw me looking at some of them and made mean comments about me being a “lesbo.” Everyone left in a hurry after she said it, except for this one girl. I didn’t notice that she was there so I got dressed, sat on the ground and started bawling my eyes out.

Suddenly she came up and put her arm around me — she didn’t have to say anything. I could tell from that moment there was a connection. Later on, after a long talk about my feelings, I told her I felt comfortable with her and had never felt that way with a girl. Then she kissed me.

I almost pulled back, but I stopped myself and put my hand on her face. I never wanted it to end, and I knew at that moment I’d never forget it, because it was my first kiss with a girl.

Wonder why Cosmo is writing about lesbian teenagers? Ms. Yndigoyen explains:

• 60 percent of CosmoGirl! readers revealed that they have a friend who is gay or bisexual, and
• 63 percent of readers support “gay marriage.”

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