CONTACT: Peter LaBarbera (630)717-7631; americansfortruth@gmail.com

Christian business owners Jim and Beth Walder could be tied up in litigation for years to stop an attempt by homosexual activists and the State of Illinois to force them to host homosexual "civil union" ceremonies -- against their religious beliefs -- at their bed-and-breakfast in Paxton, Illinois. Here the Walders are shown with their five children.

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois – Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera said today that Springfield’s first-ever “Gay Pride” celebration is another tragic watershed for the Land of Lincoln – and said aggressive homosexual activism encroaching on America’s heartland will surely undermine the First Amendment and religious liberties of citizens who stand for traditional, biblical morality.

LaBarbera and AFTAH (Americans For Truth About Homosexuality) will stand in silent counter-protest to the Springfield homosexual “pride” festival near the state capitol (on Capital Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Streets), under the banner: “Homosexuality: Wrong. Unhealthy. Unnatural. Changeable.”

AFTAH expands on the banner’s message below:

•  Wrong:  Historic Judeo-Christian teaching  – Old and New Testament — holds that homosexual practice is sinful. (See Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Professor Robert Gagnon’s website, www.robgagnon.net, which ably refutes various LGBT attempts to affirm homosexuality as consistent with Christian ethos.) The Roman Catholic Church teaches that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” Other major religions including Islam similarly teach that homosexual practice defies the Creator.

Naturally, efforts to transform American law to affirm people practicing same-sex behavior have collided with the religious and First Amendment liberties of those who disagree with homosexuality. In Illinois, shortly after lame-duck passage of the ”civil unions” bill, a homosexual  male couple targeted Paxton bed-and-breakfast owners Jim and Beth Walder, who have held wedding ceremonies on their property. The “gay” activists seek to use the new law to FORCE the Walders to use their own private business (and property) to host homosexual “civil union” ceremonies against their Christian conscience. Similarly, LGBT activists are maneuvering to FORCE private, religious adoption agencies in Illinois to place children in homosexual-led households against their religious beliefs.

•  Unhealthy:  Astonishingly consistent data from public health agencies continue to affirm homosexual practice as leading to disease rates vastly disproportionate to the tiny numbers (1-3 percent) of practicing homosexuals in society. For example, in 2008, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) surveyed “men who have sex with men” (MSM) in 21 major U.S. cities [see this CDC Fact Sheet] and found that one in five MSM had contracted HIV, and 44 percent of those did not even know it. (Ironically, today’s debut “Springfield Pride” is organized by the Phoenix Center, a local HIV/AIDS organization.)

•  Unnatural.  Even homosexual advocates admit to the high risk of practicing “gay” sex. Homosexual author Jack Hart writes that “some practices common among gays – especially rimming [anal-oral intercourse] and anal intercourse – are highly efficient at transmitting disease.” Moreover, Transgender activists celebrate the horrific surgical removal of healthy breasts and sex organs as part of their pitiable (and futile) quest to “become” the opposite sex. Nevertheless, pro-LGBT messages are given to youth in schools in the guise of promoting their “safety.”

•  Changeable:  Despite the sometimes vicious efforts of LGBT militants to deny the possibility of healthy change away from homosexuality, untold thousands of men and women have left the homosexual lifestyle behind. An example is Chicago’s Linda Jernigan, a one-time proud lesbian who now, as an ex-“gay” Christian, helps other people overcome homosexuality. Jernigan is black and cannot change her skin color, though with God’s help she successfully abandoned her immoral behavior and false lesbian identity. She was among those lobbying in Springfield against “civil unions” legislation.

“The truth is that homosexuality, bisexuality and gender confusion are nothing to be proud of,” said LaBarbera. “We hope and pray that some of the proud homosexuals attending ‘Springfield Pride’ would find freedom from homosexuality through Christ, and become content in healthy, wholesome sexuality – as so many ex-‘gays’ and ex-lesbians have.”

LaBarbera will be speaking at a rally in downtown Chicago May 27^th – at St. Peter’s Church in the Loop at 11:00 AM — where he will be announcing a major new ballot campaign to put Illinois voters on record in 2012 as supporting the preservation of marriage as between one man and one woman.

Funding Homosexual "Pride": One of the criteria by which a corporation gets a perfect "100 percent" pro-"gay" HRC rating is by either funding homosexual events or organizations, or buying positive ads in homosexual publications. Thus, funding "gay pride" parades like the one shown above -- with all their attendant perversions -- is one way for a company to get a perfect HRC score. Scantily clad go-go boys like the above, riding atop a "gay pride" float, can be found at any big-city "pride" parade. We added the box to accentuate that to gain a perfect "gay" rating, corporations are required to finance the celebration of immoral conduct and lifestyles.

By Peter LaBarbera

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) begins its project of regularly informing readers about “100-percent” pro-homosexual corporations, according to the rating system set up by the homosexual lobby group Human Rights Campaign (HRC). We will be updating this page with further details about the system, through which HRC is effectively pressuring companies to go along with — and subsidize — its radical pro-homosexual and pro-transsexual agenda.

To earn a perfect 100-percent ranking by HRC and its “Corporate Equality Index” for 2010, a corporation must meet five sets of “positive-behavior” criteria and avoid one set of “negative” behaviors. The bulk of HRC scorecard’s involves getting points for implementing “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” nondiscrimination policies and providing corporate benefits to homosexual/transgender employees and their same-sex partners. To see the HRC requirements, go to page 5 on this online PDF document.

1. Criterion 1 requires that the corporation establish a “sexual orientation” corporate nondiscrimination policy and engage in “diversity training” to implement it. (AFTAH readers will be well aware that such “training” usually propagates only a homosexualist ideology and makes no room for teaching respect for and understanding of moral or religious opponents of homosexual behavior.)
2. Criterion 2 requires the same nondiscrimination policy and diversity training based on “gender identity and expression.” To get 5 points and the full credit in this category (of the 15 points possible), HRC stipulates that: “2c)
   Offers transgender-inclusive insurance coverage for at least one type of benefit: At least one: Counseling by a mental health professional; pharmacy benefits covering hormone therapy and other associated lab procedures; medically necessary surgical procedures such as hysterectomy; or short-term leave for surgical procedures.”;
3. Criterion 3 requires provision of various domestic-partner health insurance and other benefits (providing “adoption assistance” helps fulfill one part of this section);
4. Criterion 4 requires the corporation to support a homosexual employees resource group or “diversity council.”

Criteria 5 and 6 essentially lock an aspiring “100-percent pro-homosexual” corporation to aggressively affirm homosexuality with company dollars AND not do anything that could be construed as “anti-gay”:

• Criterion 5: “Engages in appropriate and respectful advertising and marketing or sponsors LGBT community events or organizations”
• Criterion 6: Employer exhibits responsible behavior toward the LGBT community; does not engage in action that would undermine LGBT equality

The day began with an overview of the current research on bisexual health. Research shows that bisexual people — who make up about half of those who identify as GLB [Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual] — face huge health disparities. …

['Bisexual health researcher' Cheryl] Dobinson and others said that stigma and biphobia certainly play a large role in why this population is impacted by certain health disparities at even higher rates than gays and lesbians.

While more research is needed, particularly of bisexual men, the findings thus far indicate that much work needs to be done to address the disparities. Many present said that considering that bisexuals make up a relatively large percentage of the GLB population, it’s time to take action, especially if one’s goal is to improve the health of the overall GLBT community.

“Bisexual people make up a much larger percentage of the sexual minority population than one might expect,” Dobinson said. According to a 2002 study by the National Center for Health Statistics, about 1.8 percent of men ages 18-44 and 2.8 percent of women ages 18-44 consider themselves to be bisexual.

More coming on this story. Click HERE for the Free Press story and HERE for the Bi Health Summit website.

The graphic below is a question (one of 70) from the “National Survey on Transgender Experiences of Discrimination in the U.S.,” sponsored by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Sort of makes you yearn for the good old days when people were either “male” or “female.” Come to think of it, they still are. You would practically need a PhD., to keep up with the ever-expanding array of gender identities that fall under the “T” umbrella in the “GLBT” (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) equation. Check out this mind-numbing Wikipedia entry attempting to define “Genderqueer.”

Note that the choices offered below do not comprise a comprehensive list of identities associated with GLBT movement, leading to an expansion of that acronym to “GLBTQQ” (the “QQ” stands for “Queer” and “Questioning”) and even longer combinations of letters. (Check out this Unitarian Universalists document, which on its front page also encourages sadomasochistic, prostitution and “non-monogamous” identities for young “queers.” Pure evil.) Here is the NCTE survey question:

The report states, “The results of the survey will be part of an important report on discrimination against transgender people by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to help create better opportunities for transgender and gender non-conforming people. We are grateful to Penn State University’s Center for the Study of Higher Education for hosting the survey and maintaining the integrity of our data.”

The survey will be used to support pro-”transgender” legislative goals, including “hate crimes” legislation and “working to include transgender provisions in a federal bill to protect lesbian, gay and bisexual workers from discrimination in employment.” The latter refers to including “gender identity” provisions in the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) bill, which would federalize “sexual orientation” law for businesses and organizations.

See our adjoining story: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Talks of ‘Moral Leadership’ while Honoring Homosexual S&M Pornographer

Rea Carey of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force says her movement shows “moral leadership” to the nation — even as the Task Force presented its “Leather Leadership Award” to a homosexual pornographer. The Task Force’s “Creating Change” conference in Denver ran supportive workshops on: transsexuality; prostitution (“sex workers’ rights”), “polyamory/nonmonogamy”; and – most disturbing – pushing a “sexual freedom” (read: sexual license) agenda on youth.

Dear AFTAH Reader,

If you are reading this website, you are seriously concerned about the homosexual activist agenda.  So I have an assignment for you.  Please print out the enclosed “State of the Movement” speech by the Rea Carey, the new executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and read it all the way through (it’s about 8 printed pages with my introduction).  Now, why would a Christian pro-family organization send out a speech by a radical homosexual activist?  Because we need to know what our Culture War enemies are saying and this speech is very instructive for OUR cause of defending traditional morality and marriage in America.

If you can’t find time to read the whole “Creating Change” speech, at least read the parts of it that we have bolded below.  Note how Ms. Carey talks about “moral leadership” even as the Task Force gave its ‘Leather Leadership Award” to a hard-core homosexual pornographer at the same “Creating Change” conference.  (Talk about chutzpah!)  And note also how she refers to the Bush administration as the “Evil Empire” – Ronald Reagan’s famous description of expansionist Soviet Communism – just as Iraqi citizens were preparing to vote in another free election made possible by the U.S. liberation of their country from the grip of dictator Saddam Hussein.  Nobody lies like the Left, yet the liberal media rarely challenge groups like the Task Force on their many falsehoods and slanders.

Several observations about Carey’s speech:

• The sheer organization of the anti-Christian Left:  thousands of left-wing, grassroots activists attend these annual “Creating Change” conferences; there is no parallel on the social Right for this scale of people and groups working closely together toward common goals.  There are precious few organizing and political “how-to” conferences for pro-family conservatives.  The Left eats and breathes politics; the Right is more distrustful of government, worse at politics, but more oriented toward God, family and church (the latter is obviously a good thing).  All this helps explain why so much destructive social “change” has come to America, where political organization is rewarded in our democratic system.  (That said, we would not see such a progression of evil in our nation were our culture not so deceived, and its once-Christian character so worn down by faithless secularism.)  In the coming days, we will shed more light on the extremist Task Force agenda, which now includes sadomasochism, prostitution (“sex workers’ rights”), “polyamory/nonmonogamy,” and – most disturbing – pushing a “sexual freedom” (read: sexual license) agenda on youth;
• We must acknowledge homosexual-agenda “victories” before we can move forward:  the pro-family movement must take a sober look at where we are in the battle over homosexuality, and it’s not pretty.  While it is tempting to point to pro-marriage victories in November (California, Florida, Arizona) as evidence that our movement is healthy, underneath the surface we are losing the critical public-policy and cultural argument over the legitimacy of and government endorsement of same-sex relationships.  Homosexual activists are making steady, incremental advances, often with little pro-family opposition – e.g., passing “domestic partner” legislation like the bill currently moving through New Mexico’s legislature – as part of a longterm strategy for bigger victories ahead.  Many of the “gay” gains came in states targeted by homosexual moneymen like Tim Gill, who has successfully knocked out pro-family state legislators in Iowa, Colorado and other states.  This begs the question: why do such hardball efforts seem to succeed only on the Left and not the Right?  When will the pro-family Christian “Tim Gill” step forward to help our side?
• The dedication of evil:  if Christians were as devoted to defending God’s truth about sex and marriage as homosexual and transsexual activists are to promoting their destructive lies, we would be in a much better place.  The sad reality is that many Christians remain opposed to engagement in politics and public policy and are ambivalent about this cultural battle.  Some Christian leaders have made key concessions to pro-homosexualist ideology – or declared their neutrality on the issue – while they point judgmental fingers at the few groups that are trying to resist the “gay” juggernaut.  Meanwhile, there are no corresponding doubts on the Secular Left, which works unapologetically to radically redefine family and marriage and destroy the Judeo-Christian moral consensus that helped make this country great.  Ultimately, if the Left succeeds, Christians could see their faith-based freedoms to disagree with sexual sin disappear.
• Stealing “morality” (why not? The homosexual activists already stole the word “gay” and are trying to redefine “marriage,” “family,” “equality,” and “civil rights”):  Homosexual activists realize that to achieve total victory, they must separate Christianity from traditional (Christian) morality.  They aim to redefine right and wrong apart from God’s will for people’s lives, as clearly revealed in Scripture and nature with God’s beautiful, complementary design for man and woman united sexually in marriage to produce children.  “Queer” theologians are busy redefining the Bible and now brazenly claim that homosexuality is a “gift from God.”  The homosexual militants’ game plan is to reinvent Christianity by spouting religious-sounding yet subversive ideas for a nation that is still very religious, but largely ignorant of the Bible;
• The progression and unity of sexual sin … Face the evil:  at Americans For Truth, we’ve come face-to-face with homosexual extremism and have no problem labeling the overall GLBT movement as evil.  But many people are in denial about the nefarious homosexual agenda.  We need to admit that the media “soft sell” of homosexuality does not match what the GLBT Lobby has in store for our nation.  We ask: why does Rea Carey advocate for abortion (seemingly a non-issue for homosexuals) and against “useless” abstinence-focused education?   Why does the Task Force – which receives lots of corporate support — give an award to a purveyor of hard-core homosexual porn?  Why do they teach gender confusion (“transsexuality”) and “sexual freedom” to youth?  (The latter is a code term for no-limits sexuality including S&M.)  Why does the Task Force champion “nonmonogamy” even as it seeks to homosexualize “marriage”?  Because the Left unites around “mainstreaming” perversion and an anti-life, anti-nature, anti-God agenda.  Homosexuality.  Abortion.  Pornography.  Casual and deviant sex outside marriage.  The Task Force supports them all in its decidedly anti-moral quest.  This isn’t about “civil rights” but using the government to promote destructive, immoral and changeable behaviors.

Christians and moral traditionalists need to wake up: the other side is dead serious about “transforming society,” to quote Carey, and “imposing its morality” on us all.  It’s time for us to get serious in the Culture War, too.  God bless you.

Sincerely in Christ,

Peter LaBarbera
www.americansfortruth.com

________________________________________________________

THE FOLLOWING IS THE SPEECH BY REA CAREY, HEAD OF THE HOMOSEXUAL “TASK FORCE”:

Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2009
Subject: State of the Movement Address by Rea Carey, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
From: “The Task Force”  …

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey delivers State of the Movement address at 21st National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change

DENVER, Jan. 30 — National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Rea Carey presented the annual State of the Movement address today at the 21st National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change, where 2,000 activists have gathered to strategize on how to advance LGBT equality in this new political climate. What follows below is the text of her speech:

I know many of us may be questioning the state of our movement, and I’ll get to that in a bit, but first, I can’t resist saying that we now live in a country with a community organizer in chief and since the Task Force literally has the trademark on Creating Change, we know that our moment has arrived!

I am honored to serve as the executive director of the Task Force following my friend Matt Foreman. In fact, pretty much since I came out at the age of 16 here in Denver I have watched, learned from and been inspired by the Task Force, so I consider myself to be incredibly fortunate to be part of it. I have come up through this movement and many of my teachers are here with us today, including a couple of former Task Force executive directors — Urvashi Vaid and Lorri Jean.

You’ve already met Russell Roybal, and I want to call up to the stage my other new partner in running the Task Force — a woman who you will be hearing a lot from — our new deputy executive director, Darlene Nipper.

I want to thank each and every one of you for being here. These are incredibly tough economic times and the fact that you have spent your precious time and limited dollars to be here — to gather with your fellow activists and allies from across the country and others who have joined us — speaks to your commitment to social change, to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, and most importantly, to each other.

This gathering is the public square of the LGBT movement and our time together is made richer and more valuable because each of you is here.

First, let’s talk about the past year. You know, there are years when our movement for full equality jumps by leaps and bounds and other years when we toil to gain every inch of ground. This year has been a bit of both in which we made progress on the local and state level and our country elected its first person of color to the presidency! Yet our love for each other was attacked again by the majority at the ballot box; our right to marry was taken away in California; our transgender brothers and sisters were denied much needed protections; and federal policy continued to elude us under the evil empire — I mean the Bush administration.

It has been a bittersweet year, but the state of our movement is engaged!

This year, we made many gains — gains made because of your hard work, your strategic thinking, your long hours, and your dollars funding state and local efforts. With all of the attention paid to marriage, it would be easy to miss the progress made at the local and state level that improves the lives of LGBT people. And so much of this progress has happened not on the coasts, but in the middle part of the country.

This weekend we will invite you to text to screen all the accomplishments you’ve had this year but I will mention just a few of the many achievements for LGBT people in 2008:

Here in our host state of Colorado, Amendment 46, a Ward Connerly initiative that would have ended affirmative action in public employment, public education or public contracting was defeated.

In Arizona, voters rejected Proposition 202, which would have penalized businesses that hire undocumented workers. And in Oregon, voters rejected an English-only proposal.

In three states — California, Colorado and South Dakota — voters considered initiatives related to reproductive freedoms. And we won in every state.

Also, here in Colorado we expanded progress by passing a law protecting LGBT people from discrimination in housing and public accommodations.

Eight localities passed and held onto nondiscrimination laws: Gainesville and Broward County, Fla.; Columbus and Oxford, Ohio; Kansas City, Mo.; Detroit, Mich; Columbia, S.C.; and Binghamton, N.Y.

We also — with incredibly hard work — successfully defended one of our victories from last year: a transgender rights ordinance that passed in Montgomery County, Md., where the combined efforts of the Task Force, Equality Maryland, Lambda Legal and a host of other organizations came together to defeat the referendum and prevent it from even reaching the ballot.

In the area of family recognition, Connecticut joined Massachusetts in becoming a freedom-to-marry state and then beat back efforts that would have threatened it. Those of you from Connecticut and our great partners Love Makes a Family and Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, congratulations and thank you.

We won marriage in California and over 18,000 couples are now legally married — and we plan on keeping them married. Even though we lost that right temporarily, our community and allies rose up in the days after the election to say, “Enough!”

We have with us today one of the founders of Join the Impact, Willow Witte, who along with her fellow organizer Amy Balliett, used the power of online organizing to fill the streets! We’re proud that some of the Join the Impact crew cut their organizing teeth at Creating Change in Portland, Ore., a few years ago and are now sharing their skills with thousands across the country.

Cities and towns in many states including Wisconsin, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and Utah, established domestic partnership or similar registries in 2008. There were domestic partnership expansions in Washington state and Washington, D.C. Maryland established limited domestic partnership recognition and New York has decided to respect out-of-state same-sex marriages. Maine had an unprecedented year of victories in 2008 culminating in an Election Day action that surpassed their wildest dreams. After waiting in line for an hour to vote, voters were waiting in line to sign pro-marriage postcards. When EqualityMaine ran out of 30,000 postcards, voters signed scraps of paper, jotting their names and addresses down on anything they could find.

Building on the momentum, EqualityMaine and its coalition partners recently introduced a marriage bill and they have a solid plan for winning marriage in the Legislature in 2009 and then protecting it in the inevitable referendum campaign.

And finally, this last year’s accomplishments include a record 450 out [homosexual] elected officials serving in local, state and federal offices including Colorado’s very own Jared Polis, who became the first openly gay man to run for and be elected to Congress, joining Reps. Barney Frank and Tammy Baldwin in the House.

For each and every one of you in this room who contributed to any of those victories and the many others we had, thank you!

What we continue to accomplish as a movement is electrifying. And, yet, some of this year’s results were bitter — extremely bitter — pills to swallow.

At the outset, let me say that I tend to be a glass-half-full person, so I can’t help but see this year’s anti-marriage and anti-family ballot measures as deeply painful but temporary defeats that demonstrated just how far we’ve come. But, it isn’t just my gut feeling that this is temporary, it is based on the concrete progress we have made. For example, just four years ago, we lost 13 anti-marriage ballot measures by huge margins — by an average of 67 percent, and as high as 86 percent. In California alone, the last time we faced a similar anti-marriage measure, we lost by over 20 points. This year, we lost by less than four. I know it doesn’t feel like it sometimes, but this is progress.

However, this was a particularly painful year because we lost the fundamental right that we had worked so hard to secure — the right to marry in California.

In the days and weeks after the election, so many in our community were searching for a quick answer as to why we lost in four states. My fellow activists, there is no easy answer.

The days and weeks after the election were some of the most painful I’ve experienced in my 24 years in this movement. I know they were painful for many of you and for our colleagues around the country, particularly in California, Arizona, Florida and Arkansas.  It was hard and painful enough to have lost four statewide ballot measures. But pain turned the corner into agony when we all started lashing out at each other, our allies and our would-be allies and didn’t let up.

Did the other side run excellent, although lie-filled campaigns? Yes it did. Could we all have done more or done things differently that might have moved us closer to defeating the four measures? Certainly. We at the Task Force are a particularly analytical and reflective group and we’ve been taking a hard look at what we could have done better to fight against these measures.

But our winning on any of the four statewide measures was always far from being a slam dunk. We need to learn what we can from this last year and we must move forward, as we have before in times far worse than this.

I want to specifically address the blaming of African-American voters for the passage of Prop. 8.

Sadly, shamefully, an incorrect statistic was put forth in the media and many people both in and outside of our community ran with it. I want to be clear — the blaming of African-American voters was wrong, despicable and inexcusable.

The Task Force released a study with authors Ken Sherrill and Pat Egan that included actual voting data that showed that party affiliation, conservative ideology, frequent church-going and the voter’s age trumped all other factors in the Proposition 8 vote — including race. The Task Force was criticized by some for being “politically correct.”

It is not politically correct to conduct sound research. It is not politically correct to challenge racism.

Have we done enough as a community to deal with our own racism and to make sure that our movement is one that reflects the true diversity of LGBT people? We sure haven’t. But the finger pointing and scapegoating was an affront to the many people of color and others who worked on and with the campaign and to our allied organizations. Furthermore, it avoids the complexity of the work we still have to do to win equality.

I have had enough. WE have had enough. Let us dig deep in ourselves and show others that we will not stoop to scapegoating, we will not turn our backs on our allies, and we will not give up.  There is a big difference between blaming and learning. Let us be learners so that we may be leaders.

As we look back on this year, our confidence has been shaken and our anger has been roused — but now is the time to turn our anger into action and our action into long-lasting change. We must now refocus on regaining marriage equality in California and winning across the country. But we need to remember that these anti-marriage ballot measures are fundamentally about the larger right-wing assault on the ever-expanding diversity in the United States, our freedom to live openly and to create and define our sexuality, our selves and our families.

I urge us not look at our movement as if it is only about this last election or only about marriage equality. Let us recall that our movement for liberation and equality has created much change since the police brutality in New York and other cities gave rise to the Stonewall riots, the activism of black and Latino gay men, and the birth of the modern LGBT movement.

If we do not come together again to fight another day, we can’t win our full equality. As the magnet on my grandmother’s fridge says, “Fall down seven times, get up eight!”

The state of our movement is resilient and we will win!

So, where are we headed as a movement? In order to take a look at where we are headed as a movement, we must first take a look at the broader social and political context in which we work for full equality. This context has now shifted radically.

The most obvious change is that for the first time in our nation’s history, we have as president, a black man, Barack Obama.  Candidate Obama recognized and affirmed a grassroots hunger for change. This year saw record numbers of young people, people of color and progressive people coming out to vote and we are now a better country for it.

This does indeed feel like a new political era for our country and our movement.  I believe the power of this historic moment is the seismic shift in this country from a culture of “I” to a culture of “We.” Obama ran with a mantra of “Yes we can!” Obama didn’t say, “Yes I can” or “Yes YOU can.” He said, yes WE can.

This mantra, of course, carries on the organizing legacy of the United Farm Workers and Dolores Huerta. This unifying WE invites each of us into the work ahead; into the reclaiming of a government that has turned its back on so many; into challenging the long held beliefs and practices of who holds power; how power is used; and who benefits from the use of power.

Obama’s “WE” challenges the culture of “I” that has been so core to this country’s identity — the image of rugged individualism, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. This imagery has been bolstered and perpetuated by scenes like Ronald Reagan riding his horse and by George Bush clearing brush on his ranch. This iconic imagery is finally being challenged. We are now off the ranch and have moved back into the WE of urban energy and creativity, the WE of close family ties and community in rural areas, the WE that has been at the center of the farm workers, civil rights, feminist and labor movements.

We are only just beginning to see the manifestations, the benefits of this cultural shift. And, our community — the LGBT community — is expert at showing the nation just what is possible when WE come together. This historic moment plays to our strengths.

After all, our community built an entire infrastructure of service and support for people with HIV when our own president did not have the decency to speak the syndrome’s name.  Our community overturned sodomy laws in a nation that possesses an intense fear of sexuality.  And our community put gender identity legislation and family protections on the political map.  WE have much to offer this country.

So, now it is our time to contribute again — to express moral leadership and creative fortitude. It is our time to hold steady as we are attacked at the ballot box and on the streets. To hold steady as we share our talents and ideas and are pushed back. To hold steady as we assert how we create family.

The state of our movement is expansive.  In fact, the success of our aspirations will only be limited by the expansiveness of our vision and the assertion of what is in our hearts. There are a few things we must do to make the most of this moment in history and to navigate the waters of this new era.

First, this moment calls for a new kind of leadership in the LGBT movement — not the leadership of one, but the collaborative leadership of many. Don’t get me wrong, the Task Force and I will assert leadership — but at the Task Force, we believe that strength comes not from hoarding power but by building power and sharing power and using power for good. It is why so much of our work is done through coalitions or convenings like Creating Change.

We are leaders in what is good and right and just in this country.  When we insist that LGBT people be involved in the policy conversations about the economy, about health benefits, about tax policy, about immigration — as we have been doing with the Obama transition team and administration — we assert our community’s moral leadership.

When we win marriage equality in Maine, Iowa, New Jersey and other states — and we will — we assert our community’s moral leadership.

When we pass a gender identity-inclusive ENDA — and we will — we assert our community’s moral leadership.

When we continue to work to get rid of useless abstinence only education, we assert our community’s moral leadership.

When we stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends in labor and women’s groups as the Task Force did yesterday morning at the White House for the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — we assert our community’s moral leadership.

When we promote, sustain and maintain people of color leaders — we assert our community’s moral leadership.

The second thing we must do is to think differently about who our playmates are. I was a Girl Scout when I was growing up and there was this song “make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other’s gold.”

We will certainly keep our LGBT organizational friends. But, it is time for us to make new, substantive and strategic friendships with non-LGBT organizations with which we share common concerns. The time for isolating ourselves as a movement is over. We will never win on our own.

So, in the coming years, you will see the Task Force partnering with some perhaps surprising organizations. We will ask them to show up for us and we will show up for them, as we have in our work with AARP on national policy and with Planned Parenthood and NAACP on ballot measures.

Third, so many of our straight friends and family are with us and we must find ways for them to make a difference in our pursuit of equality. They are near and dear to us. They’re willing to work with us; they’re wanting to work with us; they’re waiting to work with us. Among the most striking experiences for me in the last year have been my conversations with straight people across the country, not the least of which was with my own 92-year-old grandmother who has been my cheerleader and was crushed when she was not able to make it to our wedding.

Next week the Task Force will be a partner in launching a new campaign called, “Tell 3″ headed up by the ACLU and Join the Impact, along with other organizations. This campaign is simply about talking to the people in our lives about issues that matter to us as LGBT people.

We ask each and every one of you to go to our Web site next week and take part in what could be — with your help — the most massive friends and family education effort ever launched. If every one at Creating Change has meaningful, real conversations with three people about our lives, about the things we care about, we will have made progress in changing the hearts and minds of thousands of people — people who will be voting on our rights next year and the years after that.

Finally, organize, organize, organize — however you do it, walking door to door, talking to friends, going to meetings, sending tweets — I just did — connecting on Facebook or MySpace, or getting people elected.

Just organize!

For 35 years, the Task Force has been the home for people like you, like me, like hundreds of thousands of people across this country who know that we are part of a larger community of people reaching for full equality.

As you experience the Creating Change conference, you can’t help but see and hear and feel and know in your heart that the state of our movement is engaged, it is resilient, it is expansive and expanding, and it is stronger and more inspirational than ever before!  With all of us together –

We will win complete equality!
We will protect and defend our families!
We will change our communities and
We will transform society!

Thank you.

____________________________________________________________

Help Support Americans For Truth!

Will you help Americans For Truth stand as boldly for the Truth as homosexual activists do for their lies?  We appreciate your support:

TO GIVE TO AFTAH: Go to our user-friendly giving page — www.americansfortruth.com/donate/ — to make your tax-free donation using PayPal or your MasterCard or Visa.  Regular mail: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567.

TRUTH TEAM MEMBERSHIP:  To sign up as a Truth Team member by pledging $25, $50, $100, $250 or more per month to sustain AFTAH’s critical work, go HERE or copy http://www.americansfortruth.org/membership.php on your web browser.

_____________________________________________________________

Americans For Truth sent the following letter today to WKMB (Orlando, Florida) anchorwoman Lauren Rowe. You can reach Rowe through her web profile page, and WKMB’s News Director HERE (scroll down on the pull-down menu to “News Director”)

____________________________

Dear Ms. Rowe [Anchorwoman, WKMB, Orlando, FL],

I’m writing as President of Americans For Truth and as a pro-family conservative opposed to the homosexual activist agenda, to express our concern about your decision to serve as “host MC” for the Orlando “Gay Days” Kickoff Party tonight. Here’s the web link citing your participation: http://www.gaydays.com/events/kickoff/.

Pro-family advocates and conservatives are rightly concerned about escalating media bias surrounding the homosexual debate. It is difficult for a well-known newsperson like yourself to maintain a reputation for fairness and neutrality while simultaneously hosting a “Gay Days” event that celebrates homosexuality. You must know that homosexuality and related issues like “same-sex marriage” are deeply divisive issues in our culture, and I would hope that you see it as your role, as a professional journalist, to “play it down the middle” in this debate. Also, the fact that Orlando Gay Days centers around Disneyworld — a destination for children and families — makes this homosexual celebration all the more concerning to pro-family Americans.

Moreover, all proceeds from the Orlando Gay Days Kickoff event that you will be hosting reportedly will go to the pro-homosexual youth organization Be Real Orlando. This group promotes the controversial homosexual activist practice of encouraging young people to “come out” as homosexual, bisexual or “transgender” — at young ages (13, below) — supposedly to embrace their “true” self. Be Real Orlando’s website states:

Our mission is to raise community awareness, lend support & provide resources for GLBT youth & their families in order to create safe places to work, learn, live, and thrive….

Coming Out is now more than ever a youth issue. Studies indicate that many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) young people are aware of their sexual orientation/gender identity by the time they are 13. Chances are that more than a few students at your middle or high school are wrestling right now with how and when to tell their friends and families they are LGB or T.

Perhaps you are unaware of the disproportionate health risks associated with homosexual behavior — e.g., the CDC reports that in 2005, “men who have sex with men” (MSM) accounted for 71% of all HIV infections among male adults and adolescents” (http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/msm/resources/factsheets/msm.htm). Leaving aside the question of whether adolescent youth are mature enough to make the critical decision of embracing “gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered” identity/behavior, it is reckless to promote such (immoral) lifestyles while youth remain largely ignorant of the tremendous health risks associated with them. Be Real Orlando is also surely a part of the organized pro-homosexual activist network that equates traditional beliefs about sex and marriage with “hate, bigotry, and homophobia.” This itself is a form of bigotry: demonizing people of faith for their sincere and loving embrace of Biblical truth and the hope that is in Jesus Christ to overcome any besetting temptation, including same-sex desires.

We believe it is wrong and lacking in compassion to promote homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality identities and behaviors to impressionable young people — especially without providing the other side of the issue, such as that represented by former homosexuals — men and women who have left homosexuality behind (www.exodus.to). Every person receiving this email loves young people enough to tell them the truth: that homosexuality is not “who you are” but a behavior that can be overcome. Pro-homosexual/transgender organizations put youth directly in harm’s path by promoting the “gay” ideological construct — belied by “ex-gays” — that homosexuality and gender confusion are fixed (inborn) identities or unchangeable, innocuous traits. Through your appearance tonight, you are helping them to advance this false message.

Too often these days, the media are getting their cues for covering “same-sex marriage” and other homosexuality-related issues from gay activists themselves. This creates the impression among people of faith and traditionalists of whatever background — including some who are not religious but who oppose the promotion of aberrant sexuality — that media professionals are essentially part of the pro-”gay” movement. By MC’ing this event, you risk undermining your viewers’ trust in WKMG and you as a professional, objective newsperson — at least among pro-family citizens who will learn of your promotional role in Orlando Gay Days. Many will question your and your station’s ability to fairly cover the Florida Marriage Amendment and other critical questions related to homosexuality and gender confusion.

Years ago, New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse, who covered the U.S. Supreme Court, was widely criticized for marching in a pro-abortion “rights” rally in the nation’s capital. Many pro-lifers were offended at Greenhouse’s participation in a high-profile event celebrating one side of a controversial moral and human rights issue. In the same vein, we at Americans For Truth are troubled by your breach of journalistic neutrality here. We urge you to reconsider — even at this late hour — serving as host at the Orlando Gay Days Kickoff event this evening. Please indicate to us how you plan to recover a balanced approach on this divisive cultural issue.

Thank you for considering this request. I will cc a copy of this letter to the WKMB News Director.

Sincerely,

Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth
Naperville, Illinois
www.americansfortruth.org
W: 630-717-7631

CC: PRO-FAMILY LEADERS: John Stemberger, Florida Family Policy Council; David Caton, Florida Family Association; Tom Minnery, Focus on the Family; Beverly LaHaye, Concerned Women for America; Robert Knight, Culture and Media Institute; Timothy Graham, Media Research Center; Tony Perkins c/o Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council; Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media; Wendy Wright, Concerned Women for America; Sandy Rios, FOX News contributor and Culture Campaign; Phil Burress, Citizens for Community Values; Matt Barber, CWA; Linda Harvey, Mission America; Alan Chambers, Exodus International; Andrea Lafferty, Traditional Values Coalition; Pastor Ken Hutcherson, Antioch Bible Church; Janet Folger, Faith2Action; Joe Glover, Family Policy Network; Gary Glenn, AFA-Michigan; Don Wildmon, Buddy Smith, and Tim Wildmon, American Family Association; Mat Staver, Liberty Counsel; Mike Heath, Christian Civic League of Maine.

By Peter LaBarbera

Here we go again, everyone. Can both sides of the homosexuality debate agree that it is incumbent on political candidates to be completely open and honest about their involvement in homosexual behavior — or any sexual misconduct? We understand that homosexual activists and many social liberals do not view homo-sexual behavior as misconduct, but many voters do, and even those in the middle on this issue have a right to know what their representative is up to and what biases he holds. Too many politicians with a homosexual problem are hiding this “special interest” from the voters; they should run as openly homosexual Republicans (or Democrats) so we can avoid post-election surprises like the pathetic Gov. Jim (“I’m a gay American”) McGreevey scandal in New Jersey.

We will need another column to discuss the new, post-Mark Foley politics and media ethics surrounding “outing.” Suffice it to say that such “outings” are usually done (or forced) only when they suit pro-”gay” interests — putting pressure (unbeknownst to the voters) on pols who are publicly conservative yet privately homo/bi-sexual. The message is clear: if you don’t want to be “outed,” stop opposing the “gay” agenda. I was told as much by homosexual “outing” activist Mike Rogers, who said he is not interested in “outing” politicians whose politics are pro-homosexual.

Enter Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a popular Republican who is reportedly under serious consideration for the party’s vice-presidential nod. Based on what’s already out there, if Crist were to be chosen, it would only be a matter of days — make that hours — before there would be national political and media speculation about his “sexual orientation.” You won’t believe the amount that’s already been written and discussed in the media about Crist’s sexuality and related issues in the homosexual and liberal press (see links below).

In our view, that’s a reason right off the bat not to consider Gov. Crist for the highly visible and important position. But the biggest reason is that Gov. Crist is weak on protecting marriage as between a man and a woman, having straddled the fence on whether and how strongly he would support the Florida Marriage Amendment that will be on the state’s ballot this November after much hard work by pro-family forces (see links at very bottom).

We called the Florida Governor’s office to ask if the governor is a homosexual or bisexual, and whether he has ever engaged in homosexual behavior — odd questions, to be sure, but necessary ones in this situation. We did not hear back. Here are just some of the links we’ve found, or that have been forwarded to us, on Gov. Crist:

Washington Blade (nation’s premier homosexual newspaper), Oct. 20, 2006:

Opponent outs GOP candidate for Fla. governor
Crist has denied rumors, opposes gay marriage

www.washingtonblade.com/2006/10-20/news/national/outed.cfm

Denies He is “Gay”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ4DyPTEJ6A

www.expressgaynews.com/2006/10-27/news/localnews/localnews.cfm

www.browardpalmbeach.com/2006-10-19/news/charlie-crist-is-not-gay/

www.browardpalmbeach.com/2006-11-02/news/crist-denies-trysts-ii/

www.democrats.com/Crist-I-Never-Had-Sex-With-That-Man

Denies Out-of-Wedlock Child
www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060923/NEWS/609230380/1004

www.sptimes.com/2006/09/17/State/For_GOP_mantle__dirt_.shtml

www.sptimes.com/2007/01/25/Tampabay/A_girl_wonders__Is_Cr.shtml

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/did-governor-charlie-crist-father-a-child-out-of-wedlock-17-years-ago/1117563460

Denies He Roomed with Homosexual Republican Mark Foley for Years in Legislature
http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2006/10/crist_not_foley.html

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2006/10/is-gop-candidate-crist-straight-was-he.html

First Homosexual VP?
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1980201/posts?page=6

www.huffingtonpost.com/david-fiderer/does-the-media-advise-and_b_90014.html

Crist Supports the FL Marriage Amendmenmt AND
Crist Does Not Support the FL Marriage Amendment- take your pick:
http://ccsfla.org/MarriagePetition

www.floridabaptistwitness.com/6266.article

www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070214/NEWS/702140308

www.bilerico.com/2007/12/charlie_crist_doesnt_support_floridas_an.php

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_namesblog/2008/02/log-cabin-repub.html

www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4007

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2007/02/crist_against_u.html

www.sptimes.com/2007/12/14/State/Crist_takes__live_and.shtml

Denounces Homosexual “Civil Unions” Right before Election
http://files.meetup.com/80123/BASTARD.doc

NOTE TO READERS: When we made our initial comments on our story, we were relying on what turned out to be a sloppy and erroneous Chicago Tribune story (see bottom), and we had not seen the Chicago Sun Times story on this crime, which conflicts with the Tribune account. I apologize for reporting this so quickly and for foolishly relying on a single Chicago media story for accurate news (not a good idea).

Here are the essential details from the Sun-Times article, “Alleged gay advance cited in rape” (emphasis added):

Felipe Rivera, 43, is charged with a hate crime as well as aggravated criminal sexual assault and other offenses, said a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. If convicted, he could face more than 30 years in prison, a source said.

 

According to a spokesman for Cicero police, Rivera and the victim encountered each other at a party Friday night in the 1200 block of South 50th Avenue.

 

“Mr. Rivera got upset apparently because he believed the victim, No. 1, didn’t respond to a female and then, No. 2, somehow winked at him — made what he perceived as a sexual advance,” said Cicero police spokesman Dan Proft.

 

30 years possible
Rivera then punched the victim in the face, Proft said, and was asked to leave the party. He allegedly waited outside for the victim. According to Rivera, the victim, 37, then propositioned Rivera for a sex act — a claim the victim denies, Proft said.

 

Rivera followed the victim to the outer staircase of a basement apartment, where he removed the victim’s pants and raped him, authorities said. Afterward, Rivera punched the victim in the head, leaving him semi-conscious, then inserted a metal broom handle in the victim’s rectum, sources said.

 

Rivera gave police these details in a videotaped statement, according to Proft. When asked why he did it, Rivera allegedly said it was “because he hates f – - – - – s, and this is what they get,” according to Proft.

 

A spokesman for the state’s attorney said Rivera also shouted “sexually oriented derogatory comments” during the rape.

 

After the alleged attack, Rivera went to his mother’s residence nearby. Because she has an order of protection against him, she called the police, Proft said.

I just spoke with Cicero spokesman Dan Proft, who says that the Sun-Times story is the most accurate he’s read.

In our original commentary (below), I relied on the Trib account which appears to have mangled Proft’s statement so as to assert that the violent assailant propositioned his male victim for sex. According to the Sun-Times, however, the assailant claims that his victim did the propositioning (which the victim denies actually happened). 

Regardless, what we still have with this case is a maniac who sexually assaulted another man, while later claiming to hate “faggots.” Strange. Most men would never think of sodomizing another man, and last I heard anal sodomy was seen as the defining act of male homosexuality.

So, we come back to this: if this criminal — who is so crazed that his own mother put out an order of protection against him — is a violent “gay-basher,” then he’s one with a homosexual problem.

The fanatical “queer” activists who regularly attack me and AFTAH love to imply — like so many hack psychoanalysts – that because I oppose organized homosexuality, I must secretly be ”gay” myself. Columnist John Derbyshire smartly dispensed with such nonsense a few years back on the pages of National Review Online. Believe me: I’ve got plenty of sinful inclinations to overcome in my life; thank God homosexuality isn’t one of them.

Nevertheless, there is a phenomenon of deranged behavior focusing on a problem that is itself a part of the deranged persona, and that appears to be what we have with the now-incarcerated Mr. Rivera, since he practiced the very behavior he “hates.” I hope he gets locked away for a long time. 

We know there is a problem with homosexual-on-homosexual violence (hence the book, Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them). It seems ludicrous to call such crimes “anti-gay hate crimes” — for use in the “gay” propaganda cycle that feeds off exaggerated spinning of FBI data to imply an outbreak of (straight) “anti-gay violence” that doesn’t exist.

It is even more ridiculous to treat the victims of same-sex rape with greater deference than, say, straight women raped by men — or, conversely, to punish “straight” male rapists of women any less harshly than, say, a “homo-hating” pseudo-straight guy who sodomizes another man in an act of rage – simply because the latter says he “hates faggots.”

All rapes are hate-motivated at their core. “Hate crimes” is an unworkable concept that should be abandoned.

___________________________

Here are my original comments with redactions based on the better information:

Now here’s an interesting report: a man attends a party with another man, allegedly offers the man cash for sex, then, after the man refuses, he sexually assaults him. Later the assailant tells police that he “hates homosexuals,” and he is charged with an anti-homosexual ”hate crime.”

This appears to be a textbook case of homosexual-on-homosexual violence — regardless of what the alleged assailant, Felipe Rivera, considers his sexual identity — straight, gay, or bisexual.

Our question: what percentage of “anti-gay hate crimes” are actually committed by people who themselves are involved in homosexual behavior? If this Chicago Tribune report is accurate, then this is no typical ”gay panic defense” – whereby a man blames his assault on a homosexual by claiming that the victim first made an unwanted sexual advance toward him — because the alleged perpetrator here offers to pay his victim for homosexual sex and then sexually assaults him.

We also know that some men may secretly (or even not so secretly) engage (or desire) homosexual perversions yet eschew the “gay” label for themselves – so the fact that Rivera told police that he “hates homosexuals” tells us little. He may hate that part of himself drawn to deviant homosexual acts.

Behavior, not self-labels, is what counts: we wonder how many cases like this end up on the FBI’s list as an “anti-gay” “hate-crime” statistic — to be exploited later, ironically, by “gay” activists lobbying for dubious pro-homosexual “hate crimes” laws …

One more question: if same-sex sexual assaults are classified as “hate crimes,” what about men who rape women (or vice versa)? Shouldn’t these sex crimes also be labeled “hate crimes” against women, as they are typically motivated by contempt and misogyny (hatred of women)?  We’ll follow this story closely. — Peter LaBarbera

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Cicero man accused of rape is charged with hate crime
Tribune staff report, http://www.chicagotribune.com/

4:16 PM CST, December 27, 2007

A Cicero man was charged with a hate crime and sexual assault for allegedly raping a man Friday, Cicero police officials said Thursday.

Felipe Rivera, 43, of Cicero, who allegedly told police in a video confession that he hates homosexuals and the victim got what he deserved, was charged with a hate crime, aggravated criminal sexual assault, sexual assault and aggravated battery. Bond was set at $350,000 Thursday in the Maywood courthouse, a Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokesman said.

Cicero spokesman Dan Proft said a 37-year-old man was attacked as he was climbing an outdoor stairwell to his Cicero apartment about 9:30 p.m. Friday. Proft said a neighbor called the police, who found the victim unconscious and bleeding on the stairwell.

Proft said Rivera and the victim were both at a party in the 1200 block of South 50th Avenue earlier in the evening. Proft said Rivera allegedly punched the man in the face at the party after, Rivera said, the victim “winked at him.”

Proft said the victim alleged he had refused an offer from Rivera to pay him $50 for sex later in the evening. Police said Rivera was asked to leave the party, waited for the victim outside and followed him home.

Rivera was arrested Saturday morning after his mother found out about the incident and called police, Proft said.

He said the victim was treated at a hospital and released.

“There are workplace situations — communal showers, for example — when the demands of the transgender community fly in the face of conventional norms and therefore would not pass in any Congress. I’ve talked with transgender activists and what they want — and what we will be forced to defend — is for people with penises who identify as women to be able to shower with other women.” –– Homosexual Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), back when he opposed including “transgenders” in the Employment NonDiscrimination Act (ENDA). Frank later relented but since has signed on to a watered-down version of ENDA (H.R. 3685) that dropped the “trans” language.

The “gay” activist movement’s partnership with the “transgender” cause is costing it votes for the expansive version of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), H.R. 2015, on Capitol Hill, so a new version of the bill (H.R. 3685) was floated that throws out the “gender equity” provisions. (H.S. 3685 also simplifies the bill’s religious exemption.) Now that version is being rejected by major homosexual and transsexual groups, led by the Human Rights Campaign (see letter below).

Over the years, homosexual activists including Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) (see quote above) have chafed at their alliance with a transsexual movement — knowing that it only makes their cause look even more radical to the general public. Yet the two movements have been intertwined and their partnership, as symbolized by the “GLBT” acronym (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender), has only strengthened in recent years. 

Transgender activists lobbied HRC to back a “trans”-positive ENDA and the leading homsoexual lobby organization eventually embraced it.

For the moment, the leading pro-homosexual groups are sticking with the  ”transgenders,” but word on the Hill is that ENDA’s ”trans” language — which AFTAH, CWA and other conservative groups have highlighted (we called ENDA the “Transgender Bathrooms for Business Bill”) — has cost H.R. 2015 key support, including among moderate Democrats.

The following letter (emphasis added) was sent yesterday by the liberal coalition Leadership Conference to Rep. George Miller (D-Cal.), Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor. Miller’s committee was scheduled to consider the watered-down ENDA (H.R. 3685) this morning until the hearing was cancelled following the “gay”-led coalition effort against it. — Peter LaBarbera

Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

1629 K Street, NW
10th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20006
Phone: 202-466-3311
Fax: 202-466-3435
http://www.civilrights.org/

October 1, 2007

The Honorable George Miller, Chairman
Committee on Education and Labor
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Miller:

On behalf of the undersigned organizations, we write to express our opposition to the strategy and process by which the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (HR 3685) is to be considered in the House of Representatives. We ask that the markup in the House Education and Labor Committee, scheduled for less than 24 hours from now, be canceled.

For many years, we have worked to develop an employment non-discrimination bill that protects the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Our organizations support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act as introduced (H.R. 2015).

Although we believe that the bill’s sponsor, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA), and the House Democratic Leadership have a sincere desire to protect the LGBT community from
discrimination, we believe the process and strategy that has been adopted is a mistake. That mistake is compounded by moving forward with a markup tomorrow.

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Nancy Zirkin, LCCR Vice President, at (202) 263-2880 or Rob Randhava, LCCR Counsel, at (202) 466-6058.

Sincerely,

American Civil Liberties Union
American Friends Service Committee
Gender Public Advocacy Coalition
Human Rights Campaign
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Legal Momentum
National Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Centers
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Council of Jewish Women
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG National)
People For the American Way
Pride At Work, AFL-CIO
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
GLSEN – the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society
The Woodhull Freedom Foundation
Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker
Representative Barney Frank
Representative Tammy Baldwin

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/2007/10/02/homosexual-transgender-alliance-tested-as-trans-inclusive-enda-falters-on-capitol-hill/feed/ 0 http://americansfortruth.com/2007/09/07/youth-corruption-watch-mtv-to-air-bisexual-dating-show/ http://americansfortruth.com/2007/09/07/youth-corruption-watch-mtv-to-air-bisexual-dating-show/#comments Sat, 08 Sep 2007 04:16:55 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/youth-corruption-watch-mtv-to-air-bisexual-dating-show.html  I confess to being such a square that I had never heard of Tila Tequila until today. But neither had MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson until he did the following 2006 interview with her, now posted on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL98DlGyThE. On that video — which alone is an education in the awesome power of the web — Tequila (Tila Nguyen) talks only about finding a boyfriend, not a girlfriend. Apparently she’s “evolved” since then, as politically correct liberals love to say (even though promoting homosexual behavior seems to run counter to Darwin’s theory).

Nobody ever charged MTV — which has relentlessly promoted “alternate” sexual lifestyles — with caring about Biblical morality. But how tragic that a top video youth network would stoop to using bisexuality to titillate its audience in the quest for viewers.

Advice to parents:  if you have cable, don’t allow a TV in your kids’ rooms; better yet, find a way to kick MTV out of your house altogether. – Peter LaBarbera

AP reports today from Los Angeles: 

MTV to air bisexual dating show
‘A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila’ airs Oct. 9

A bisexual dating show featuring a woman who gained fame on MySpace is in the works for MTV.

“A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila,” in which 16 men and 16 women will compete for Tequila’s affections, is set to debut Oct. 9 on the cable channel, Television Week reported Thursday.

“Tila Tequila made a name for herself by doing things her way, captivating legions of fans online, both men and women,” said MTV executive Tony DiSanto. “Now she is taking that attitude and sex appeal to her own TV series where she is looking for a mate … by again, captivating a group of both men and women.”

Tequila’s MySpace page includes racy photos, her music and a Time magazine description of the singer-model-actress-blogger (born Tila Nguyen) as an Internet sensation and “the Madonna of MySpace.”

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/2007/09/07/youth-corruption-watch-mtv-to-air-bisexual-dating-show/feed/ 0 http://americansfortruth.com/2006/11/05/scott-brison-marches-with-drag-queens-in-halifax-pride-parade/ http://americansfortruth.com/2006/11/05/scott-brison-marches-with-drag-queens-in-halifax-pride-parade/#comments Sun, 05 Nov 2006 22:58:43 +0000 Sonja Dalton http://americansfortruth.com/the-agenda-glbtq-activist-groups/glbtq-terms/03-bisexual/scott-brison-marches-with-drag-queens-in-halifax-pride-parade.html Excerpted from Halifax Teacher Marshalls ‘Pride’ Parade, published Jul 22, 2006, by Canadian Press:

…DevaStation and DynaMight, a pair of drag queens who wore go-go boots, shiny miniskirts and headdresses about a half-metre tall, said the day is just about having a good time.

“We’ve been here for the last six years and people almost expect us to go crazy now,” said DevaStation. “We just like to have fun — strut ourselves down the road and make everybody take notice.”

Scott Brison, an openly gay MP who is also a candidate for the federal Liberal leadership, shook hands with people lining the streets as he walked in the parade.

“This is not just a celebration of rights for gays and lesbians and bisexual and transgendered Canadians, it’s a celebration of Canadian rights and our Charter (of Rights and Freedoms),” Brison told CTV News.

Continue reading at CTV…

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/2006/11/05/scott-brison-marches-with-drag-queens-in-halifax-pride-parade/feed/ 0 http://americansfortruth.com/2006/11/05/the-confession-part-ii-radical-proponents-of-same-sex-marriage-gaining-power/ http://americansfortruth.com/2006/11/05/the-confession-part-ii-radical-proponents-of-same-sex-marriage-gaining-power/#comments Sun, 05 Nov 2006 07:38:25 +0000 Sonja Dalton http://americansfortruth.com/news/the-confession-part-ii-radical-proponents-of-same-sex-marriage-gaining-power.html Be sure to read The Confession (Part I) posted below…

“Many if not most of the major gay and lesbian organizations who have signed on to the fight for same-sex marriage would instantly sign off at any suggestion that they were actually encouraging gay men and lesbians to marry.” – Gabriel Rotello, in his 1997 book on the AIDS crisis, Sexual Ecology

Excerpted from The Confession, Part II, by Stanley Kurtz, published Nov 1, 2006, by National Review:

…Around the time the Beyond Same-Sex Marriage statement was released, a controversy broke out over news that the Boston Globe had told its gay employees to marry their partners or face losing their domestic-partnership benefits…

According to [Globe journalist Zak] Szymanski, “Many national LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] groups, despite their large investment in securing gay marriage, agree that there is a problem with a society that values marriage over all other family forms.”

For example, Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and a major spokesman in the battle for same-sex marriage, said, “We’re deeply disappointed by the Globe’s decision, and >we do not feel that benefits should flow only from marriage, because a married couple does not reflect the reality of the American family, gay or straight.”

Michelle Granda, of GLAD, which Szymanski calls “the group that is widely credited with winning same-sex marriage in Massachusetts,” said, “We have always believed families are configured in many ways and that marriage is not the answer for all families.”

…Here we have a clear indication of the family radicalism that hides beneath the only apparent conservatism of same-sex marriage advocacy groups…

A Striking Development
In late 2005, I published a piece entitled “Here Come the Brides,” about the role of bisexuality in the drive for legalized multiple-partner marriage. It’s notable that the Beyond Same-Sex Marriage manifesto justified its radical platform, in part, by lamenting the short shrift historically given to bisexuals by the broader LGBT movement. Among the signers of the Beyond Same-Sex Marriage manifesto were a number of bisexual activists. In “Here Come the Brides,” I also noted the role of Unitarian polyamory activists, and the potential role of arguments made by Yale law professor Kenji Yoshino in a pro-polyamory movement. Sure enough, the Beyond Same-Sex Marriage manifesto was signed by a number of Unitarian ministers and by professor Yoshino…

A Political Future
…Jonathan Rauch offered some remarkably frank concessions: “I had originally hoped that the [same-sex marriage] debate would not be followed by a polygamy debate, but clearly it has been. Some [same-sex marriage] advocates maintained that there was no significant constituency for polygamy, but that’s proving to be wrong as well.”

…This all means that in a post-gay-marriage world, the political organization of the gay community will shift. For now, “conservative” proponents of same-sex marriage are out in front, supported by a vast array of considerably less conservative activists and lobby groups. Meanwhile, the radicals are marginalized and/or intentionally keeping a low profile. In a post-gay-marriage world, this situation will flip. The radicals will step out in front, supported by largely the same coalition of activists and lobby groups who currently support same-sex marriage. At that point, the conservatives, no longer needed to run interference for the larger movement, will be quietly put out to pasture. By then we shall be well beyond same-sex marriage. Listen carefully to the words of same-sex marriage supporters, and they confess as much themselves.

Continue reading at National Review…

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/2006/11/05/the-confession-part-ii-radical-proponents-of-same-sex-marriage-gaining-power/feed/ 0 http://americansfortruth.com/2006/09/07/toronto-school-board-to-ask-all-high-school-students-their-sexual-orientation/ http://americansfortruth.com/2006/09/07/toronto-school-board-to-ask-all-high-school-students-their-sexual-orientation/#comments Thu, 07 Sep 2006 23:58:57 +0000 Sonja Dalton /youth-and-schools/toronto-school-board-to-ask-all-high-school-students-their-sexual-orientation.html Excerpted from Toronto School Board to Ask All High School Students Their Sexual Orientation, by Gudrun Schultz, published Sept 5, 2006, by LifeSite News

The Toronto District School Board is introducing a survey asking high school students to self-identify their sexual orientation, the Canadian Press reported last week.

Ontario students will be asked to provide voluntary information on a variety of questions—for students in grades nine to twelve, those questions will include whether they identify as straight, gay, “lesbian, transgendered, bisexual, queer or two-spirited (an aboriginal term).”

Experts in the field of children’s mental health have suggested the trend in schools toward determining child sexual orientation is dangerously misplaced. George A. Rekers, Ph. D., research director for child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, stated that children are particularly vulnerable to confusion in the development of their sexual identity.

Continue reading at LifeSite News…

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/2006/09/07/toronto-school-board-to-ask-all-high-school-students-their-sexual-orientation/feed/ 0 http://americansfortruth.com/2006/08/29/very-sad-schwarzenegger-squashes-religious-freedom/ http://americansfortruth.com/2006/08/29/very-sad-schwarzenegger-squashes-religious-freedom/#comments Tue, 29 Aug 2006 05:59:21 +0000 Sonja Dalton /news/very-sad-schwarzenegger-squashes-religious-freedom.html Campaign for Children and Families (CA) PRESS RELEASE

Campaign for Children and Families is shocked and dismayed that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed SB 1441 (Kuehl). Today’s disastrous action by Schwarzenegger means Christian and other faith-based colleges in California will be forced to promote transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality if they accept students with Cal Grants.

“People of conscience are appalled that Arnold Schwarzenegger has trampled religious freedom to satisfy hyperactive sexual activists,” said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a leading California-based pro-family organization. “SB 1441 will force religious colleges to either abandon their Biblical standards on sexuality, or reject students with state financial aid. Schwarzenegger is doing what Gray Davis did – trample religious freedom at the bidding of liberal activists from San Francisco and West Hollywood.”

“Arnold Schwarzenegger has two faces,” said Thomasson. “He speaks at churches and says he believes in religious freedom and family values, yet he’s stabbing pro-family Californians in the back. People of faith are suffering under Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s not the lesser of two evils, he’s doing evil.”

CCF had informed thousands of Californians about SB 1441, generating thousands of phone calls, faxes, and emails opposing this offensive bill. Last week, the Governor was faxed letters pleading for a veto by Christian colleges, including Westmont College (Santa Barbara), Shasta Bible College (Redding), The King’s College and Seminary (Van Nuys), Vanguard University (Costa Mesa), Life Pacific College (San Dimas), Trinity Law School (Santa Ana), William Jessup University (Rocklin), and Simpson University (Redding).

Supported only by Democrats in the California State Legislature, SB 1441 specifically requires “any program or activity that…receives any financial assistance from the state” to support transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality or lose state funding. SB 1441 contains no exemption for religious colleges and universities that accept students with Cal Grants, or child-care providers that accept CalWORKS vouchers.

RESPOND NOW: Call Governor Schwarzenegger’s office

CCF’S FLOOR ALERT OPPOSING SB 1441

Campaign for Children and Families opposes SB 1441 (Kuehl), which would trample the religious freedom of faith-based colleges and universities, infringing on their values for sexual standards and appropriate role models for the children and students in their care. SB 1441 could easily harm the religious freedom of dozens of religious colleges and universities in California that accept financial aid for students. There is NO EXCEPTION for Protestant, Catholic, Jewish or other religious institutions.

1. Trampling Religious Standards

SB 1441 requires “any program or activity that… receives any financial assistance from the state” to support and promote “gender identity” (transsexuality) and “sexual orientation” (bisexuality and transsexuality). By importing these controversial sexual lifestyle definitions from the Penal Code, this intolerant bill tramples the religious values of faith-based institutions:

- Penal Code, Section 422.56(c) “Gender” means sex, and includes a person’s gender identity and gender related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth.

- Penal Code, Section 422.56(h) “Sexual orientation” means heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality.

If signed into law, SB 1441 would mean religious colleges (which accept students with state financial aid), children’s day care centers and after-school programs (many which receive state funding) could be forced to allow men to wear women’s dresses and hire transsexual, bisexual or homosexual instructors. SB 1441 would destroy these institutions’ standards for role models and their dearly-held values to provide for the best interest of children in their care.

2. Forced Upon Religious Universities, Private Child Care Centers

The Senate Judiciary Committee noted how the effect of SB 1441 was “wide-ranging and deep,” affecting both religious universities that accept students with state financial assistance (through Cal Grants), and private child care facilities (through CalWorks child care vouchers):

Because Gov. Code Sec. 11135 covers not only the state but also state agencies and any program or activity at the local level that receives funding from the state, the impact of this bill is both wide-ranging and deep.

It will also affect contractors with the state (such as nonprofits), where the services provided locally are funded directly by the state or where the contractor receives any financial assistance from the state.

Some of the programs that would be affected by this bill are: Medi-Cal, State Disability Insurance, CalWORKS, food stamp programs, Unemployment Insurance, Workers’ Compensation, financial aid programs administered by the University of California or the California State University, child support services programs and services for veterans, legal services programs, home loan assistance programs, licensing of businesses, government contracting and procurement activities, and voter registration. — Analysis of SB 1441, Senate Judiciary Committee The Assembly floor analysis reports that all kinds of financial aid programs would be affected by SB 1441:

Some of the programs that would be affected by this bill are: Medi-Cal, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids, food stamp programs, unemployment and disability unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, financial aid programs, child support services programs, services for veterans, legal services programs, home loan assistance programs, licensing of businesses, government contracting and procurement activities, and voter registration. — Analysis of SB 1441, Assembly Floor

OTHER SEXUAL INDOCTRINATION BILLS HEADING TO SCHWARZENEGGER

SB 1437 prohibits textbooks, instructional materials, and school-sponsored activities from “reflecting adversely” on transsexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality, thus indirectly requiring positive portrayals of these sexual lifestyles in curriculum in all grades in all public schools. Consequently, schools would have to promote “same-sex marriages” and even sex-change procedures. SB 1437 is on the Senate floor.

AB 606 authorizes the California Superintendent of Public Instruction to arbitrarily withhold state funds from any district that does not adequately promote the State Department of Education’s “model policy” promoting transsexuality, bisexuality, or homosexuality in its school policies. Clears the way for transsexual, bisexual, and homosexual curriculum to be forced on all public schools. AB 606 is on the Senate floor.

AB 1056 would spend $250,000 in taxpayer dollars to promote transsexual, bisexual, and homosexual lifestyles under the banner of “tolerance education.” Redefines “tolerance” to allow schools to force attitudinal support of transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality. AB 1056 is on the Senate floor.

CAMPAIGN FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (CCF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization representing children and families in California and America.

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