From the Bi Health Summit’s website’s report on its conference in Chicago Friday, Aug. 14 (emphasis added):

Research presented by Cheryl Dobinson, MA, and Stewart Landers, JD, MCP, from their two separate studies was remarkably similar.  Bisexuals reported suffering from depression and anxiety in higher rates than heterosexuals or lesbians and gay men.  In terms of attempting or thinking of attempting suicide, bisexual men were 7 times higher, while gay men were 4 times higher, than straight men; bisexual women were 6 times higher, while lesbian women were 4 times higher, than straight women.  An Australian study revealed that middle-aged bi women were 24 times more likely to engage in self harm, like cutting, than straight women, as a coping mechanism.

Dobinson’s research revealed that only 26% of bisexuals did not experience child sexual abuse.  I’ll be getting more information on violence, domestic violence, and physical or sexual abuse, since she whizzed through a lot of that information and I don’t wish to misquote her findings.

I would also like to speak more with Cheryl Dobinson regarding her findings in anal sex for bi women and men.  Her research shows that bi men have fewer male partners than gay men and engage in anal sex less with men, but are more likely to have unprotected anal sex with men; while bi women have higher rates of anal sex with men than straight women and are more likely to report being HIV+.  … I would really like to discuss the 2005 CDC study with her that showed 44% of straight men and 35% of straight women engaged in anal sex.

Stewart Landers’ information from the 2001-2006 Massachusetts’ Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey — which is just the kind of huge population study bi researchers are looking for — revealed similar levels of depression, anxiety, suicidality, self-harm, and suffering from violence.  Bisexual adults report poorer health and greater risks across a whole spectrum of health factors, including alcohol, substance abuse, and tobacco use.  Heart disease seems to be up 3 times higher than straight people, asthma rates reported higher than straight people but fairly equal to lesbians and gay men.

Landers’ study showed a surprising finding that people 18-24 were the largest group identifying as bisexual.

See also a related report from the Bi Health Summit: “Half of Homosexuals are Bisexual: Homosexual Newspaper.”

America is getting to know the real Barack Obama — and he’s a lot more radical than a 2008 presidential candidate by the same name. This aggressively pro-homosexual speech by Michelle Obama to the Democratic National Committee’s Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council (June 27, 2008) had only 56,805 views on YouTube as of August 7, 2009. Most Americans have never seen this side of Michelle Obama, just as most have not seen the side of her husband that celebrated America’s biggest abortion “provider,” Planned Parenthood, in a 2007 campaign speech. (That speech had only 84,875 views on YouTube as of Aug. 7.) Social liberals and “gay” activists will cheer this speech by Michelle; everyone else won’t recognize her vis-à-vis the “apolitical” First Lady described by the national media. (A transcript follows the video; emphasis and web links added.) — Peter LaBarbera

To put it in perspective: timeless truth from that “obscure” passage in the New Testament.–Ed.:

“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” (Romans 1:26-27)

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Incomplete transcript of Michelle Obama speech to DNC’s Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council, June 27, 2008 (emphasis and web links added):

Reprinted from TransGriot website: http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2008/06/michelle-obamas-remarks-to-dncs-gay-and.html

Thank you Howard Dean [then Democratic National Committee Chairman], for all your hard work building our party. We are proud to have you as our party Chairman. I want to recognize the members of UNITE HERE Local 6 who are working this event tonight. And thank you all for inviting me to spend some time with you.

I’m honored to be with you in a week that reminds us just how far we’ve come as a country. Five years ago today, the Supreme Court delivered justice with the decision in Lawrence v. Texas that same-sex couples would never again be persecuted through use of criminal law. And on Saturday, we recognize the anniversary of the day people stood up at Stonewall and said “enough.”

These anniversaries remind us that no matter who we are, or where we come from, or what we look like, we are only here because of the brave efforts of those who came before us. That we are all only here because of those who marched and bled and died, from Selma to Stonewall, in a pursuit of that more perfect union that is the promise of this country.

Over the course of this campaign, we’ve seen a fundamental change in the level of political engagement in this country. We’ve seen a renewed sense of possibility and a hunger for change. We’ve seen people of all ages and backgrounds investing time and energy like never before; writing $20, $30, $50 checks; investing for the first time ever in a political candidate. We’ve seen people talking to their neighbors about candidates and issues; working hard to clarify misperceptions; challenging one another to think differently about the world and our place in it.

It’s precisely this type of individual engagement and investment that has been the mission of my husband’s life. Barack has always believed that there is more in this country that unites us than divides us; that our common stories and struggles and values are what make this country great; that meaningful change never happens from the top down but from the bottom up.

I’ll never forget the first time I realized there was something special about Barack. It was nearly 20 years ago this summer. Barack and I were just getting to know one another, and he thought the best way for me to get to know him better was to get a better sense of the work he cared about most — his work as a community organizer.

He took me to a small church basement on the South Side of Chicago, where a group of neighborhood residents were gathered; folks he knew from his years as a community organizer before he went to law school. They were desperate for change. They were regular Americans struggling to build a decent life for themselves and their families. Single mothers living paycheck to paycheck; grandparents raising grandkids despite an income that wouldn’t allow it; men unable to support their families because jobs had disappeared when steel mills closed. Like most Americans, they didn’t want much; they weren’t asking for much: just dignity and respect.

I watched as Barack walked into the room, took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and instantly connected with each and every person in that room. He spoke eloquently of “the world as it is” and “the world as it should be.” He said the key to change is understanding that our job as citizens of this nation is to work hard each and every day to narrow the gap between those two ideas. He explained that we often settle for the world as it is even if it doesn’t reflect our personal values. But he reminded us that it is only through determination and hard work that we slowly make the world as it is and the world as it should be one in the same. His words were powerful not only because they made us believe in him – they challenged each of us to believe in ourselves.

One of the many reasons I’m proud of the way Barack has handled himself in this campaign is that he is still the same man I fell in love with in that church basement. His unyielding belief in that simple idea – closing the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be – is precisely why he’ll be a President you can be proud of.

Barack is not new to the cause of the LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] community. It has been a conviction of his career since he was first elected to public office. In his first year in the Illinois State Senate, he cosponsored a bill amending the Illinois Human Rights Act to include protections for LGBT men and women. He worked on that bill for seven years, serving as chief cosponsor and lobbying his colleagues to reject the political expedience of homophobia and make LGBT equality a priority. In 2004, his efforts paid off as that bill finally became law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace, in housing, and in public places.

He’s led on gender-based violence with his work on the Illinois Gender Violence Act, successfully reaching across the aisle to put in place the nation’s strongest law giving the survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence legal remedy against their attackers. He joined his colleagues in fighting to include explicit protections for the LGBT community in that act. He lost that battle, but his efforts brought gender violence in the LGBT community into the political consciousness like never before.

In 2004, after hearing from gay friends and supporters about the hurtful impact of DOMA, Barack went on record during his U.S. Senate race calling for its complete repeal. And as a U.S. Senator, he voted to protect our Constitution from the stain of discrimination by voting against the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Barack’s record is clear. There is so much at stake in this election. The direction of our country hangs in the balance. We are faced with those two clear choices: The world as it is, and the world as it should be. We have to ask ourselves: Are we willing to settle for the world as it is or are we willing to work for the world as it should be?

Despite the extraordinary challenges we face today, we have a candidate who believes that the country is moving in the right direction, despite the inequalities created over the last 8 years.

And then we have Barack Obama, who believes that we must fight for the world as it should be.

A world where together we work to reverse discriminatory laws like DOMA and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

A world where LGBT Americans get a fair shake at working hard to get ahead without workplace discrimination.

A world where our federal government fully protects all of us — including LGBT Americans — from hate crimes.

And, a world where our federal laws don’t discriminate against same-sex relationships, including equal treatment for any relationship recognized under state law.

A world that recognizes that equality in relationship, family, and adoption rights is not some abstract principle; it’s about whether millions of LGBT Americans can finally live lives marked by dignity and freedom. Barack has made crystal clear his commitment to ensuring full equality for LGBT couples. That is why he supports robust civil unions. That is why he has said that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide for themselves how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples — whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage. And that is why he opposes all divisive and discriminatory constitutional amendments – whether it’s a proposed amendment to the California and Florida Constitutions or the U.S. Constitution. Because the world as it should be rejects discrimination.

But, it’s not just about the positions you take, it’s also about the leadership you provide.

Barack’s got the courage to talk to skeptical audiences; not just friendly ones. That’s why he told a crowd at a rally in Texas that gays and lesbians deserve equality. Now, the crowd got pretty quiet. But Barack said “now, I’m a Christian, and I praise Jesus every Sunday.” And the crowd started cheering. Then he said, “I hear people saying things that I don’t think are very Christian with respect to people who are gay and lesbian.” And you know what? The crowd kept cheering.

That’s why he told evangelicals at Rick Warren’s Saddleback church that we need a renewed call to action on HIV and AIDS.

That’s why he went to Ebenezer Baptist Church and said that we need to get over homophobia in the African-American community; that if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll embrace our gay brothers and sisters instead of scorning them. And that’s why he stood up at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and told all of America that we refuse to be divided anymore.

That’s the choice in this election. Between slipping backward and moving forward. Between being timid or being courageous. Between fighting for the world as it should be, or settling for the world as it is.

My husband is running for President to build an America that lives up to the ideals written into our Constitution. We have just come through a historic primary election where a woman and a black man were running to become President of the United States. It hasn’t been painless, but change never is. As I travel this country, I am certain that we have arrived at a moment in our collective history where we are ready to move forward and create the “world as it should be.”

I know which world Barack will fight for each and every day as your President. But he can’t do it alone. As he said in that church basement, change happens when ordinary people are ready to take the reins of their own destiny. He needs you by his side every step of the way. That kind of change won’t be easy. There will be powerful forces who believe that things should stay just the way they are.

That’s where you come in. Your voices of truth and hope and of possibility have to drown out the skeptics and the cynics.

If you stand with my husband; if you reach for what is possible and if you refuse to let this chance get away; we can begin building that better world in November.

Thank you.

WARNING: Crude language, inappropriate for children

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

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

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

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

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

Related Log Cabin and “gay pride” stories:

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

Tom Dart, Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, shows his support for the homosexual agenda by fielding a float and marching in the 2009 Chicago Gay Pride Parade (June 28, 2009). Ten minutes later in the parade, a radical leftist homosexual organization holds up a banner that reads, “Gay Pride Means Fight Cops.” Note that the faces of the young men holding up the cop-hating banner are covered with Intifada-like headdresses.  More description is after the jump and under the video ….

… This footage was shot by Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, as we make our belated entrance into the world of YouTube. As is typical, the 2009 Chicago “Pride” parade featured participants violating the Chicago Public Morals Law, e.g., a presumed transsexual “female” baring his/her breasts riding atop a float block after block on Halsted St (much like I witnessed at the 2007 Chicago “Pride” march). Keep in mind that there were many children at the parade — and this year children from Chicago’s Nettelhorst Elementary School actually participated in the homosexual parade at the request of their parents.

Also, this footage of Sheriff Dart’s float was shot directly in front of a 24/7 homosexual bathhouse called “Steamworks,” (at 3246 Halsted in Boystown, Chicago), where men go for anonymous, deviant sex with other men. Perhaps Dart should focus less on “gay pride” and more on enforcing decency laws — and closing down Chicago perversion centers like Steamworks that  facilitate the spread STDs by enabling reckless homosexual promiscuity. Call Sheriff Dart at 312-603-6444, or e-mail: sheriff@cookcountysheriff.org. Thanks for taking action. — Peter LaBarbera, www.americansfortruth.com

TAKE ACTION: Call or write Nettelhorst Elementary’s principal, Cindy Wulbert, at Cw1411@gmail.com or (773) 534-5810.

I send the following note to Rex Huppke of the Chicago Tribune, reporter who wrote the article: “Chicago School to March in Pride Parade” (reprinted below):
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Mr. Huppke, have you ever been to a Gay Pride parade?…

… If you had, you might have covered the issue of rampant and inappropriate sexual misbehavior that goes on at such events.  In the past few years observing Chicago Gay Pride parades as a critic of the organized homosexual movement, I have witnessed:

• in 2004, a disgusting gay (oral-anal) sex act that was allowed to go on in the middle of the street (children were seen nearby) — right in front of a row of Chicago cops — involving two guys who were trying to get under the skin of a group of Christian protesters whom the cops were protecting; see http://www.illinoisfamily.org/informed/contentview.asp?c=26650;
• in 2007, a male transvestite (?) going topless with “his” breasts exposed for block after block as cops and parade organizers did nothing; see: http://americansfortruth.com/news/angry-mob-assaults-peaceful-christians-at-chicago-gay-pride-parade.html
• lewd acts (e.g., simulated sodomy) and gyrating sexual dances on floats — including one by an apparent lesbian cop who appeared to be drunk or high, riding atop a Chicago PD float;
• a contingent of sadomasochists marching in the parades as they do every year;
• blatant anti-religious and anti-conservative bigotry on display — usually equating Christianity or the Catholic Church with “hate”;
• after the 2007 parade, homosexual “pride” celebrants assaulted two peaceful men giving a Christian street witness in opposition to homosexuality; see http://americansfortruth.com/news/angry-mob-assaults-peaceful-christians-at-chicago-gay-pride-parade.html;
• a homosexual bathhouse called “Steamworks,” which fields a float every year at the parade.  Steamworks is a 24/7 sex club on Halsted Street in Boystown where men go for anonymous sexual liaisons with other men; see http://www.illinoisfamily.org/informed/contentview.asp?c=33904.

You get the picture. How does a parent answer the question: “Daddy, what’s Steamworks?” or, regarding gender-bending “transgenders”: “Mommy, is that a man or a woman?”  Or how about: “Why does that man have hardly any clothes on?” Do you think this is an appropriate, nurturing environment for young children?

Couldn’t you have at least gathered an opposing comment from a critic (rather than paraphrasing opponents in one paragraph without actually quoting them)?  “Gay” cheerleading is just that.  A modicum of balance on your part might have turned your piece into journalism, or at least something like it.  Such propaganda masquerading as reporting is one of the reasons why print journalism — with its arrogant disregard for common-sense and traditional viewpoints (not to mention historic Judeo-Christian mores) — is dying, in Illinois and across the country.

I can assure you that a large majority of Chicagoland residents would be appalled at the idea of placing young children in an atmosphere filled with the sexualized celebration of homosexual and transsexual behaviors. But what do they know? They’re just a bunch of homophobic “transphobes” out of step with elite, “progressive” Chicago values.

Perhaps you and the Tribune could balance your one-sided “gay pride” article with a thoughtful piece shedding light on how a massive outpouring of grassroots opposition across Illinois thwarted “gay” activists’ and the ACLU’s dream of turning Illinois into a “civil unions” state (see http://americansfortruth.com/news/civil-unions-decisively-defeated-in-illinois-a-pro-family-victory-with-national-significance.html).

Sincerely,

Peter LaBarbera
President
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
www.aftah.org
Cell: 630-546-4439

Cc: Fran Eaton, IL Review; David Smith, Kathy Valente and Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Inst. (IFI); Mary Anne Hackett, Catholic Citizens of IL; Arlene Sawicki, longtime pro-family advocate; John Biver and Jack Roeser, Champion News; Joe Morris, Lincoln Legal Foundation; Bruce Tincknell, Dr. John Koehler and Jim Finnegan, Board Members, IFI; Jill Stanek, pro-life advocate; Tom Brejcha, Thomas More Law Society; Brent Bozell III and Tim Graham, Media Research Center; Cal Skinner, former IL State Rep., Protect Marriage IL Bd. Member and McHenry Co. blogger; Robert Unruh, WorldNetDaily.com; Jim Brown, OneNewsNow.com; Dan Zanoza, Republicans For Fair Media; Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media; Robert Knight, Coral Ridge Ministries; Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel; Wendy Wright, Concerned Women for America (CWA); Janice Crouse, Beverly LaHaye Inst and CWA; Robert Peters, Morality in Media; Karen Hayes, CWA-Illinois; Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council.
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Chicago Tribune article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-gay-pride-parade-25-jun25,0,3925455.story

Chicago school to march in Pride Parade

Nettelhorst Elementary School to show solidarity with surrounding gay community
By Rex W. Huppke | Tribune reporter
June 25, 2009

Nettelhorst Elementary School parent Amy Goodman prepares a wagon for the 40th annual Pride Parade with daughter Sadie Blade, 3, while son Ben Blade, 6, plays in their home. (Tribune photo by Phil Velasquez / June 24, 2009)

The black metal fence in front of Nettelhorst Elementary School is obscured by thousands of strips of dyed fabric — yellows giving way to greens, then blues, purples and reds — each one tied on by the small hands of a student.

The ruffled, waist-high rainbow is a symbol of the school’s solidarity with its east Lakeview community, and a sign hanging by the gate trumpets that Nettelhorst this year “will be the first Chicago public school to march in the city’s gay pride parade.”

“We believe family means everybody,” the sign reads.

Amy Goodman agrees with that. She’ll be in the parade at noon Sunday with her husband, towing their 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter in a wagon bedecked in rainbows.

Brad Rossi agrees as well. He’ll be there with his partner and their 7-year-old daughter, along with more than 50 other families from Nettelhorst whose presence marks the latest expansion of a parade that began in the 1970s with drag queens and gay activists and has grown to reveal the full spectrum of the city’s diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

In this, the 40th annual Pride Parade, there will be gay Democrats and gay Republicans, gay business people and gay artists, seniors and teens and Christians and veterans — and, as always, drag queens and activists.

“We’ve never had a grammar school, or a school for that matter,” said Richard Pfeiffer, who has coordinated the parade since 1974. “The remarkable thing about the gay pride parade is that it’s the one day that you get that full cross-section of the GLBT community. We’re young, we’re old and a growing portion of our community now has children. And I think that has often gone unnoticed.”

That’s why the Nettelhorst contingent will be near the front.

“I love that my kids will understand that there are all different kinds of families,” Goodman said. “When it comes to any kind of differences, I think the only way to really realize how much we have in common is to celebrate and acknowledge our differences.”

Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Monique Bond stressed that Nettelhorst was not “officially involved” with the decision to enter the parade. Parents, both gay and straight, organized the school’s entry, viewing it as an important statement to make in a community with a large GLBT population.

“One of the fundamental tenets of being a community school is that you bring the community in,” said Jacqueline Edelberg, author of a book about Nettelhorst — “How to Walk to School: Blueprint for a Neighborhood School Renaissance” — and a straight mother of two Nettelhorst students.

More than 500 students attend the elementary school. While there’s no official number, Rossi and other parents say they know of at least eight same-sex couples with children enrolled at the school, which suggests that most of the Nettelhorst people marching will be straight.

“For the vast majority of parents who have come up to me, people have been really excited about it,” said Marcia Festen, a lesbian whose eldest daughter attends Nettelhorst. “I had one parent come up and say, ‘Oh my God, I don’t think the school should be doing this and it’s not a proper venue for kids.’ But it’s actually been a little shocking that the conversation has been so positive.”

One conservative blogger from Rogers Park denounced the school’s parade plans, and a group of Baptist protesters set up one day outside the school. But many parents, both straight and gay, say the reaction has been surprisingly muted.

Modesto Tico Valle, executive director of the Center on Halsted, a GLBT community center, said each year more and more of the gay and lesbian community has felt comfortable showing its face. Now seeing families from a public school join together as a single parade entry doesn’t surprise him.

“It’s like a domino effect,” Valle said. “Once this parade had picked up some clout and became very large, the politicians decided, ‘Oh, maybe I need to pay attention to this constituency.’ Then we started having news stations involved. The more we advance in our movement, the more people wake up and say, ‘These are human beings just like you and I. Let’s give them some respect and attention.’ ”

Rossi finds the support of other families from his child’s school heartening. Taking a break from painting parade banners this week, sitting not far from the fabric-covered fence at Nettelhorst, the 44-year-old thought back on his youth and how differently gays and lesbians were viewed.

As much as things have changed, he still worries that his daughter, Maria, could get picked on because her family is different:

“We can sit around and wait, and if something happens, we jump up and down and say, ‘This is an outrage.’ Or we can let people know we’re out here, so it eventually isn’t even a thing.

“So Maria has two dads? Big deal.”

rhuppke@tribune.com

Chicago Public Schools’ new CEO Ron Huberman.

Our friend Laurie Higgins at Illinois Family Institute has done an important thing below in rationally discussing the implications of new Chicago schools chief Ron Huberman’s public embrace homosexual conduct (politically correct media translation: he’s “gay”). By questioning Huberman as a role model because he “affirms sexual deviance and … in his personal life volitionally engages in immoral conduct,” Higgins has departed from the popular Newspeak (Gayspeak?) of our age that posits “gays” as a minority and homosexuality as an innocuous trait completely irrelevant to morality and character. This is embodied by the popular phrase that such-and-such person “happens to be gay.” Let’s apply our “substitute-another-sexual-sin” test to see if this makes sense: “Jane, who happens to be an adulterer, is a terrific teacher”; or “Joe, who happens to be into incest, is a really great guy.”

Just like those other destructive sexual sins, homosexual behavior is never morally justifiable.

It is one of the modern treacheries in our spiritually shallow society that even advocates of (traditional) marriage have taken behavior “out” of the debate over homosexuality. During the Prop 8 campaign in California, one spokeswoman FOR the pro-marriage ballot measure even went out of her way to affirm Ellen DeGeneres and “gay” couples in general. How absurd that we should have to promote one evil  — the acceptance of homosexual behavior and relationships — in order to fight another: homosexually-redefined “marriage.”

We do not know what led Ron Huberman to choose to embrace homosexual behavior (and a “gay” self-identification), but morally-speaking, he is wrong to defend it and needs to find redemption and godly change through Jesus Christ. The “lifestyle” (read: sexual misbehavior) by which he describes himself — and which surely he will now promote as normative to impressionable Chicago students — is as immoral today as it was thousands of years ago when condemned by the God through the divinely-inspired writers of the Bible.

Homosexuality is about changeable, sinful and often unhealthy behaviors — not innocuous, inborn “identities.” When even the pro-family movement detaches homosexual conduct from the personal morality and integrity of those practicing it, we cripple our short- and long-term case against a GLBT agenda that will not show such deference and timidity in return as it escalates its attack on Christianity and the Bible as the foundation of our culture mores. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

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Chicago Public School’s New CEO

By Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute, Feb. 2, 2009

This week Illinoisans were greeted with the news that the new CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Ron Huberman, self-identifies as homosexual. Mayor Richard Daley’s choice as head of the third largest school district in the nation, one that serves more than 400,000 students, has revealed both his ignorance about and involvement with sexual perversion.

This is exactly what students who already suffer from significant disadvantages don’t need: a leader, and therefore role model, who affirms sexual deviance and who in his personal life volitionally engages in immoral conduct.

What a terrible example he sets, particularly for young men. I’m sure that Huberman possesses many admirable traits, but his sexual conduct is not one of them. There are no perfect people, and therefore there can be no perfect leaders, but possessing flaws and affirming immorality are two entirely different things.

It’s one thing to make mistakes or to engage in immoral acts-both of which every person does every day. It’s quite another thing to fail to make proper distinctions between what constitutes right and wrong or moral and immoral behavior. Someone who asserts that immoral behavior is moral is neither a good leader nor a proper role model for anyone let alone impressionable children.

Some professions require expertise in relatively narrowly circumscribed areas, but, as educators continually affirm to themselves and the public, they teach the “whole child.” In fact, that is one of the serious problems in public education: public educators increasingly arrogate to themselves areas of life that are decidedly not their business.

Whereas in many professions one’s views on sexuality and one’s sexual conduct would be irrelevant, in the field of education it is highly relevant. First, Huberman will be called upon to superintend issues related to how homosexuality is addressed in Chicago public schools.

Second, Huberman serves as a public role model. His open, unapologetic, unrepentant appropriation and affirmation of sexual deviance as morally defensible and central to his identity vitiates any legitimacy as premier educational leader in Chicago that his admirable qualities may have otherwise conferred on him.

How will Huberman respond to the proposal for a high school that affirms homosexual and cross-dressing behaviors if it’s resubmitted later this year? How will he respond to a proposal for a school that embodies the very same controversial, unproven, and destructive theories on the nature and morality of homosexuality that he holds?

Chicago’s children deserve far better. They deserve a leader who demonstrates discernment, wisdom, and integrity in one of life’s most profound aspects: sexuality.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I highly recommend this masterful evisceration of the left-wing Chicago Sun-Times by conservative old-hand Tom Roeser (a former Sun-Times columnist himself who was fired twice by that newspaper, and by the Tribune). I don’t know about Richard Roeper (pictured at left), but it is curious that this “swinging bachelor” opines in print about how Americans need to “get over” their objections to seeing two men kissing on the big screen. (Not to be outdone, the rival Trib ran a feature piece by a woman describing how the movie Brokeback Mountain is a turn-on for women, who supposedly like to see men engaged in sexual situations with other men.)

For those who want to get an inside tutorial on the liberal, corrupt Chicago political/media culture from which Barack Obama emerged — or if you simply enjoy good writing — there is no better read than Tom Roeser. Sign up for a Feedblitz service on his blog at www.TomRoeser.com. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

—————————————————-

Roeser writes (Dec. 1):

A Modest Proposal that May Save the “Sun-Times.” Who Knows? Both City Newspapers.
Michael Cooke: A nice guy, basically.

…

For decades now, the culture sage Michael Medved has been sharing with us certain bitter truths about Hollywood…and one of them, surprisingly, is this: a host of examples show tinsel-town that America wants wholesome entertainment…not saccharine stuff but entertainment that can give them a particle of hope. But Hollywood steadfastly refuses to package these shows…not because they would be economic failures…but because the film colony itself is so damnably cross-eyed that it is unable to see straight because it concentrates on a prism of abhorrent scripts…hate America scripts, if you please…gruesome, sadistic dark films of perversion and hatred…which generally either fail at the box-office or are keen disappointments to their investors.

I have just read an interview with Joe Eszterhas, a gifted screenwriter who has turned away from this Hollywood aura and wants to make wholesome, ethically redemptive films-not candy-coated ones. He thinks…in fact KNOWS…there is money to be made here: he cites “Rocky” “The Passion of the Christ” and “Narnia.” Don’t get me wrong, Joe Eszterhas has spent a long time getting here and has made some turkeys in his earlier incarnation-which included editorship of “Rolling Stone” and a stint as Hollywood’s top paid screenwriter who ground out scripts filled with sex and violence. He says exactly what Medved has said: the Hollywood community is so screwed up it is passing up prospects of hugely successful enterprises because it is so inured with…well…sin. Consequently he says the town is consumed with remakes of “Batman.” He sees great film possibilities in the works of Thomas Merton and Graham Green.

If Eszterhas is right, the errant philosophy of Hollywood is responsible…the perverted idea that objective truth is not discoverable. Well, last night before my radio show I attended Mass at Old St. Patrick’s and witnessed the christening of Jay Doherty’s third child, Ignatius James (named after the late Father Mac, Ignatius McDermott). There and later at a reception for the family at Gibson’s I saw Michael Cooke, the editor of the “Sun-Times” whom I have assailed from time to time here. I don’t regret assailing any journalist, by the way, since that trade…having belonged to it myself…is replete with injurious remarks. In fact they OUGHT to be on the receiving end. In the past there was a publication called “The Chicago Journalism Review” which dished out criticism. It doesn’t exist and hasn’t for many years. So all by myself I try to make up for it.

But I digress. I was looking at Michael from across the room` (we conscientiously try to avoid each other and somehow yesterday didn’t quite make it). He’s one whom I fancy is a pretty nice guy despite everything. Standing there studying Cooke, I applied Eszterhas’ theory to the “Sun-Times.” Both city newspapers have resolved to save their skins by appealing to very base values-the “Sun-Times” more than the “Trib.” Suppose, I thought, Cooke would undertake an entirely new tack…a last-gasp effort to save his newspaper. What would he do? He would resolve to clean it up. He has some remarkably prescient journalists–outstanding daily reporters like Fran Spielman and Abdon Pallasch. (Believe it or not I have never met Fran Spielman…never in my life…but I deeply admire her City Hall coverage and her punchy style).

Okay, what would Michael do? He would get rid of most of the snarky, grubby columnists…aside from Sneed and Huntley…one by one and slowly replace them with conservative ones-or at the very least, center-right ones. That means Mark Brown who writes poorly anyhow and has no insights to offer except lefty visceral ones. It most certainly means getting rid of Neil Steinberg who tirelessly reminds everyone he is a Jew and who insults center-right ideas and the Catholic church on a fairly regular basis. Then dump Mary Mitchell who has a sharp axe to hone against whitey.

Roeper who is pretty long in the tooth to keep playing the swinging bachelor. Jesse Jackson, of course, who is an ancient old-line black hangover representing contrition by the paper for having exposed some of his extortive machinations…who has utterly nothing to offer but lefty boilerplate. Andy Greeley decidedly. I’m glad Andy is on the mend but really his pathetic masquerade in clerical garb that scantily covers his abject Democratic partisanship is ridiculous: he is a lifelong exemplar of frustrated ambition to be a bishop so he’s taking it out on the church…the funny thing is that he would probably have been a very orthodox one. He was on that track with the man called “the Dutchman,” Cardinal Albert Meyer but Cody came in and scotched it. Greeley got even with Cody in a grisly way: having scouted up supposed rumor he contributed greatly to the old man dropping dead which is on Andy’s conscience …correction: SHOULD BE. Not having made bishop he has vowed to stick it to the church. As he does regularly.

First to go would be Falsani-to be replaced by one who has the semblance of a theological education to replace a school-girl with a God-squad mentality. I’ll stop here.

See, if Michael would do that as a final shot…it just may be that he saves what is now a rag. No, I don’t want to come back as an Op Ed. I have the distinction of having been fired twice by both papers and rehired…then fired finally by the “Sun-Times.” Now as an octogenarian, husband, father of four adults, grandfather of 13, I’m having enough fun to last me to my final days with this website, WLS and “The Observer,” chairman of the City Club and of Catholic Citizens of Illinois.

What would I do to replace these discards? I’d take Spielman out of city hall and give her a column which she should have made aeons ago. Mary Mitchell would be replaced by one who is not filled with rage…a black who would concentrate on reporting from the fecundity of black churches and black business and black ideas without saying I-I-I. Brown would not be missed so nobody should even try to fill his shoes. Replacing Roeper would be a super-straight, Christian youngish businessman type: how’s that? Greeley should be supplanted by Fr. Bob Barron, smarter than hackish ol’ Andy will ever be.

Oh yes, get rid of the sluttish column dealing with sex. You know who I mean. I cannot bear to publish her name. There: that’s for a start.

I’ll bet that with that jolt, Michael will be surprised…stunned…to see a pickup…much like hospital attendants supply when they place the clappers on one whose heart has flagged.

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE. Chicago’s CBS TV affiliate fields a float every year at the city’s bawdy homosexual “pride” parade, but CBS and other major Chicago secular media were no-shows at AFTAH’s pro-family coalition press conference yesterday highlighting a huge and growing pro-family boycott of McDonald’ s (based outside Chicago). McDonald’s was given a high 85% rating by a homosexual lobby group for its pro-homosexuality and pro-transsexuality policies. Photo courtesy Illinois Family Institute.

Dave Diersen, an Illinois Republican activist, has provided a summary of the coverage of our press conference in front of McDonald’s’ world headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois. Predictably, I suppose, we were completely blacked out by Chicago’s and Illinois’ major media — which had no excuse since they were inundated with press releases about the event by four pro-family organizations taking part: Americans For Truth, American Family Association, Illinois Family Institute and Liberty Counsel. It appears that the Fox News item below came from AP.

So once again the major media are doing the work of the homosexual lobby. Many in the media have decided that the “gay” issue is settled, and the homosexual activists have won. (Remember when Big Media thought the abortion issue was pretty much over?) Yesterday’s non-coverage was appalling journalism, even by corrupt Chicago standards. Clearly, the boycott story is compelling — even from a pure business perspective: already, nearly 200,000 people have signed AFA’s boycott petition (www.boycottmcdonalds.com).

The people involved in this boycott of McDonald’s are good family people — not vegans, America-hating leftists, or some other fringe group. And the idea really seems to be catching on. As I said yesterday, millions and millions of Americans have had it with the elite media’s and pop culture’s promotion of homosexuality, but they don’t know what to do about it. Boycotting McDonald’s, an easy target but admittedly not the worst corporate offender — PepsiCo Foundation recently gave $500,000 to the homosexual group Human Rights Campaign Foundation, compared to McDonald’s $20,000 to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce — is something simple to do to stand up for marriage and the natural family.

More coming on this story. — Peter LaBarbera

P.S. Most major Chicago media either field floats or participate in the annual Chicago “Gay Pride” parade, and the local ABC affiliate televises it (see photo above). Now there’s some “news” with wide appeal in Chicagoland!

______________________________

Dave Diersen writes:

[Note for those outside Illinois: the "combine" derogatorily refers to Chicagoland Democrat and Republican politicians and interests that work together (corruptly) to advance their own political and monetary interests irrespective of party and principle.]

News clips and upcoming event information:
GOPUSA ILLINOIS
VERY SAD BUT NOT SURPRISING: The Combine gets its news media members to keep the McDonald’s boycott off their websites – Dave Diersen
www.gopillinois.com
The American Family Association and other groups have called for a boycott of McDonald’s because it promotes homosexual activity. It is very sad, but not surprising, that the Combine got its news media members to keep the boycott off their websites. The boycott was announced at an outstanding 10:00 AM press conference yesterday at the McDonald’s restaurant across from McDonald’s world headquarters in Oak Brook. Because the Illinois Democrat Party Platform promotes homosexual activity and the Illinois Republican Party Platform discourages homosexual activity, the boycott is a political story. I was hoping to see Mary Ann Ahern, David Beery, Mike Flannery, Rick Preason, Andy Shaw, and other political reporters at the press conference, but I did not. Speakers at the outstanding press conference included Matt Barber, Peter LaBarbera, Sandy Rios, and David E. Smith. Sadly, McDonald’s is a member of the Combine. Hopefully, Illinois Republican Party (IRP) Chairman Andy McKenna Jr. will get his father, Andy McKenna Sr., the President of McDonald’s, to get McDonald’s to stop promoting homosexual activity. Also, hopefully, he will get his father to cancel McDonald’s membership in the Combine. IRP Chairman Andy McKenna Jr. was scheduled to meet with DuPage County Republican Central Committee (DCRCC) leaders in Wheaton this evening. Hopefully, all this will be discussed during that meeting and summarized in a DCRCC press release.

FOX NEWS CHANNEL
– Christian Group Boycotts McDonald’s for Supporting Gay Chamber of Commerce
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,383561,00.html
(THE ARTICLE: OAK BROOK, Ill. – A Christian group that opposes same-sex marriage launched a boycott of McDonald’s because of the fast-food chain’s support for the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. American Family Association president Tim Wildmon says almost 200,000 people have signed an online pledge to boycott McDonald’s for promoting homosexuality instead of remaining neutral. McDonald’s spokesman Bill Whitman says the company has made a financial contribution to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, and a McDonald’s executive serves on the chamber’s board. He insists that doesn’t mean that McDonald’s supports “a particular lifestyle or same-sex marriage.”)

LIFE SITE NEWS
– Family Advocates Take McDonald’s Boycott to Home of the Golden Arches After “Hate” Smear – Peter Smith
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jul/08071602.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: OAK BROOK, Illinois, July 16, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The boycott against McDonald’s over its public support of a gay lobby group pushing same-sex “marriage” has now escalated, as the pro-family groups the global hamburger giant accused recently of “hate” have brought the fight right to the home of the famed Golden Arches. The American Family Association (AFA), Americans for Truth, the Illinois Family Institute, and the legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel held a joint press conference Wednesday in front of the McDonald’s restaurant across from McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois to protest the corporation’s statements that people opposed to its support of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), were motivated by “hate.” . . . The AFA boycott petition may be found here: http://www.boycottmcdonalds.com/ Contact info for McDonald’s: Andrew J. McKenna, President, McDonald’s Corporation USA, McDonald’s Plaza, Oak Brook, IL 60523 Phone: 1-800-244-6227 or: 630-623-3000 Fax: 630-623-5004)

DAKOTA VOICE
– Protest at McDonald’s HQ Over Promotion of Homosexual Agenda – Alexander Sheffrin
http://www.dakotavoice.com/2008/07/protest-at-mcdonalds-hq-over-promotion.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: McDonald’s, however, has been unapologetic about its pro-gay stance, asserting that organizers of the boycott are motivated by a hateful agenda against homosexuals. “Hatred has no place in our culture,” McDonald’s USA spokesman Bill Whitman told The Washington Post. “That includes McDonald’s, and we stand by and support our people to live and work in a society free of discrimination and harassment,” he explained. But the AFA is arguing that its boycott is about the record of McDonald’s and its duty to be a responsible and neutral corporation. “This boycott is not about hiring homosexuals, or homosexuals eating at McDonald’s, or how homosexual employees are treated,” the AFA said. “It is about McDonald’s, as a corporation, choosing to put the full weight of their corporation behind promoting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage,” the group explained. In an e-mail to boycott supporters, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth, which organized a press conference outside McDonald’s headquarters Wednesday, said that the accusations of “hate” and prejudice from McDonald’s were a reflection of the food chain’s own deeply embedded anti-Christian views. “When we’ve reached the point where belief in the Bible and traditional morality is routinely equated with hatred, America has become hostile territory for people of faith,” he said. “Sadly, ‘diversity’ is becoming a corporate code-word for anti-Christian bigotry – forcing people of faith to imbibe politically correct ideologies that violate their beliefs,” he added. According to a press release, boycott organizers “are encouraging families to do two things: sign, print and distribute a Boycott McDonald’s petition at www.boycottmcdonalds.com; and call the local McDonald’s to politely tell the manager they are boycotting the chain until it stops promoting the gay agenda.”)

WICHITA EAGLE
– Not ‘lovin’ it’: McDonald’s supports gay group – Brent Castillo
http://www.kansas.com/opinion/castillo/story/465759.html
(FROM THE ARTICLE: Bigot. Homophobe. Hater. These are the terms that many gay activists and their supporters use to label you if you oppose gay marriage, or believe homosexuality is immoral. What is surprising is to see the spokesman for McDonald’s USA, Bill Whitman, incorporate some of the same rhetoric when justifying the company’s support and involvement in the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. The chamber lobbies Congress on a wide range of issues, including the promotion of same-sex marriage. “Hatred has no place in our culture,” Whitman said in an interview with the Washington Post. “That includes McDonald’s, and we stand by and support our people to live and work in a society free of discrimination and harassment.” The “hatred” he is referring to is the American Family Association’s call for a boycott of the restaurant chain.)

PAM’S HOUSEHOLD BLEND
– DIERSEN HEADLINE: VERY SAD: “tfeminist” a) denigrates Christians as being “religious wingnuts” and “kooks” and b) defends McDonald’s promotion of homosexual activity
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showComment.do?commentId=69952
(THE POSTING: My view on McDonalds – McDonalds is a corporation based in eastern DuPage county. As much as DuPage gets a wrap for being conservative, lets be clear, the wing nut section is in Wheaton, eastern DuPage is some pockets of liberalism and corporate conservatism. The eastern part of DuPage draws employees from Cook and Chicago. It is really just a gigantic corporate office park, especially Oak Brook. McDonalds, secondly exists in Illinois and is a stones throw from “gay friendly” Chicago (I still love the fact that Mayor Daily turned down the Republican Convention saying he was to busy with the gay games). They have to play to Dem Politics to keep State Tax incentives. Illinois is not going to turn red any time soon, the state has become indigo, as younger blue collar folks, and their white collar brethren are starting to share a common political vision for the state. Dem Politics in Illinois, has become pro-queer as a result. Some of it has to do with the increasing progressive nature of the state, and some is pure economics. They want the state to be a “creative class” one that rivals California. They have done a pretty good job of it so far. The state is without question getting an increasing amount of corporate relocations, sees major Hollywood movies regularly (both Batman and Wanted were filmed there). McDonalds, wants to be part of this effort, they have strong ties with the interests of the state and the City of Chicago. McDonalds, a long time sponsor of the Olympics, also wants to see the games in their back yard. So to say they have increasing ties to the democratic party in the state would be an understatement. They may as well be a million miles from these religious wingnuts, they exist in another political reality and honestly are not influenced by these kooks. Their reality that is more about tax incentives, the Olympic games in Chicago and recruiting, than right wing boycotts, really don’t have much of an impact. Either way, I am encouraged that McDonalds is ignoring the boycott. When it gets down to it the company has always been one that success is tied to urban areas and urban politics more than anything. I am not saying McDonalds is great, rather . . . that they are a corporation that exists in Illinois and influenced by the politics of the state. A corporation that exists in a pragmatic reality unaffected by right wing politics, and more centered on their own corporate interests.)

UPDATE: We learned June 26 from a Catholic, pro-family advocate who contacted the Chicago Archdiocese that AGLO has now been denied permission to march officially in this year’s homosexual “pride parade.” Stay tuned for more on this story.

[Click on photo to enlarge.] Topless transsexual bares his (presumably hormone-induced) breasts at last year’s (2007) Chicago “gay pride” parade. The “man” rode exposed like this for blocks along the parade route, as the crowd lining the streets cheered him on. Faithful Catholics in Chicagoland are outraged that a church-affiliated group called AGLO (Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach) may march in this year’s homosexuality-celebrating parade. (AGLO is listed as #114 in the parade line-up.) Photo: AFTAH. Click HERE to contact the Archdiocese of Chicago regarding AGLO.

Folks, I cannot help but commend this brilliant response from my friend Gary Morella to the news that Chicago Cardinal George is allowing (at least for now) a so-called “gay Catholic”-oriented group called AGLO (Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach) to march in this Sunday’s “Chicago Gay Pride” parade. (AGLO is listed as #114 in the parade line-up.) Morella is a Catholic pro-family, pro-life activist and research mathematician at Penn State, who catches enormous flack for his stubborn insistence on proclaiming truth at that academic den of iniquity.

Gary as a Catholic and I as an evangelical disagree on some points of theology, but we are completely in accord on the need to combat all worldly attempts to transform the sinful yet changeable behavior of homosexuality into some kind of inherent and innocuous “identity.” — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

P.S. I learned from my friend Susan Jordan, a Chicagoland Catholic, that AGLO has marched in other Chicago “gay pride” parades.

___________________________

Gary Morella (left) writes:

In regard to the report of a Chicago “AGLO” group marching in a “Gay Pride” parade, some seminal Catholic truths apply in regard to the “bottom line,” not the least of which is the following. The Chicago Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach is misnamed. There is nothing “gay” about being inclined to unnatural acts that are so revolting as to cause extreme revulsion when accurately described! We are talking about sexual perversion that has not evolved to sexual deviance to sexual preference to sexual orientation, which is the politically correct lie of those practicing same in order to anesthetize society that they must accept the vices of a radical fringe under force of law – to heck with the common good! Rather, we’re talking about aberrant behavior that remains sexual perversion, regardless of the devil’s packaging! Accordingly, there is nothing Catholic about celebrating such perverse behavior that is condemned by traditional Catholic teaching rooted in Sacred Scripture, PERIOD! This truth should be obvious to anyone who is Catholic in more than name only in the recognition that the common good leads ultimately to a supernatural good in accord with God’s Divine Plan for His Creation. To thwart the common good is to do the work of the devil!

This begs the obvious question, why are Catholic frauds repeatedly allowed to cause public scandal to the faith with impunity? AGLO does not deserve to exist because, as an organization, it shamelessly promotes the commission of Mortal Sin which is anathema to Catholicism. Why can’t Cardinal George see that seminal truth? Just how much more scandal must be tolerated, putting souls at extreme risk of eternal perdition, before the plug is pulled on the AGLO liars? The Catholic goal should be the encouragement to leave, not live, homosexual lifestyles!

What is frustrating is that this decline in the Church could be thwarted by some very simple courageous actions on the part of bishops, in particular, Cardinal Archbishops as metropolitans for their Episcopal brethren, by taking the bull by the horns and saying, e.g., to the Archdiocesan Gay and Lesbian Outreach (AGLO) in Chicago, “You can no longer exist because your premise is counter to Church teaching in that you believe that one can live homosexual lifestyles and still be Catholic, which is a lie.” Are you listening, Cardinal George?

The traditional Church teaching on sins against nature is very clear using Sacred Scripture and Tradition in the form of statements from the Popes, Councils, Saints, and Apologists combined with the tradition of civil legislation to show the moral chasm that has resulted when the language of “pseudo charity” replaces the language of “tough love” for salvation’s sake. The result being that the necessary feelings of revulsion toward those proudly trumpeting their sodomite tendencies are no longer there opening the door for a misplaced compassion that such individuals do not deserve. They are differences between an ontological dignity to which all are entitled by virtue of being made in the image and likeness of God, and a moral dignity as a function of being endowed with an intellect and will whereby good can be accepted and evil rejected. Moral dignity does not exist for sodomites, a distinction that AGLO never makes using language that would have us erroneously believe that there exists something called the homosexual person, a concept which turns Catholic anthropology on its head making God, Who is Perfect Good, out to be a liar in creating man with a built-in one way ticket to hell in complete ignorance of the effect of the concupiscence due to Original Sin.

The clear consistent condemnation of homosexuality in Catholic teaching does not have to be needlessly qualified, which is something that Saints Peter, Jude, Pius V, Basil of Cesarea, Augustine, Aquinas, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Great, Peter Damian, Albert the Great, Bonaventure, Catherine of Sienna, Bernardine of Sienna, Peter Canisius, and the councils of Ancyra, Toledo, Nablus, and Third Lateran did not suffer.

Is it possible to be Catholic and be inclined to homosexual acts? The answer is yes as there is no guarantee that Catholics are not tempted to sin. It is better to ask, “Is it possible to remain a Catholic and live a lifestyle that equates sexual perversion with normality?” The answer is an unequivocal no. For to do so makes a mockery of Sacred Scripture which states emphatically that Jesus condemns the sin out of concern for the sinner’s eternal end. The same “good and gentle” Jesus who is readily quoted out of context by the contemporary disciples of “dignity” and “self esteem” also is the “just” Jesus who talked more about the consequences of grave sin than any other New Testament figure. He was especially discriminatory in this regard as while some ceremonial aspects of the old law were rescinded, the moral requirements were not.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen, I say unto you, till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall not pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven. For I say to you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and of the Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:17-20)

But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but, nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh. And if thy hand of thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee with one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (Matthew 18:6-9)

It is an oxymoronic contention that you can be a practicing homosexual and be Catholic. This is a violation of a fundamental philosophical principle in that “Something cannot ‘be’ and ‘not be’ at the same time in the same respect.” The Church’s clear teaching is that there is nothing “gay” about being inclined to proven self-destructive physically, psychologically, and especially spiritually, unnatural behavior that has also been proven to be changeable, i.e., there is no such thing as a homosexual orientation in an innate final sense. Such inclinations are to acts which the Church considers intrinsic moral evils, the inclination itself being objectively disordered because of the unnatural tendencies involved. To say otherwise is absurd!

This is not a question of exclusion but rather one of unconditional love for man’s salvific eternal end that demands telling the Truth, Who is a Someone, not a something, per the beginning of the Gospel of John.

Catholics, above all clerics, ought to realize that by lying to people who need the full truth does nothing to help them. And it is a lie to have someone believe that they can be Catholic and have no problems with being inclined to acts, which if performed, lead to final spiritual ruin. That is playing with fire. The Church calls those inclined to homosexuality to leave, not live, their lifestyles. In order to do that the Church cannot lie about such inclinations being benign naturally, and especially spiritually, given the eternal truth of the Natural Law of God which is a participation in His Eternal Law.

Would so-called “Catholic” apologists for the homosexual lifestyle have us believe that Matthew 5:21-31 excuses any responsibility for living it because homosexuality is not explicitly referred to?

“You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire….You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart…It is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

It most certainly is. In particular, see Genesis 18:20-21, Romans 1:24-28, and the Epistle of Jude. Moreover, Jesus took the old law one step further and made the actions leading to the act as severe as the act itself. Are we to believe as Catholics that somehow homosexuality fell through the cracks in Sacred Scripture? Thus, from the Catholic standpoint, to imply that Jesus never said anything about being inclined to unnatural acts is Bible eisegesis with the consequences of Matthew 18:6.

To give a message to those inclined to homosexual acts that “they are OK as they are” is un-Catholic in the extreme given the above observations. It makes no more sense than to tell an alcoholic that you may continue drinking to get over alcoholism. Moreover, it is akin to giving a serial killer more bullets.

The Magdalenes of the Gospel were most certainly forgiven, but the words of Jesus following His forgiveness are conveniently forgotten. “Go and sin no more.” That is what it means to be Catholic. To make the attempt to live a Faith which will be mocked by the world. To imply that the homosexual lifestyle somehow has a Catholic blessing is tragic. It is tragic because souls are at stake — those living the lie and, especially, those telling it. For Catholics, that’s NOT love but REAL hate for their fellow man.

Lest we forget, Jesus Christ exists eternally as Second Person of the Blessed Trinity of the One True Triune God, i.e., as God Jesus destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, which is the first thing that should be remembered when the heinous lie that “Jesus never had anything to say about homosexuality” rears its ugly heads via the disciples of the devil! We are talking about a proven changeable lifestyle with the Grace of God that is physically, psychologically, socially, economically, and most especially spiritually ruinous!
As Ralph McInerny in Catholic Dossier has pointed out, obfuscation has reached the college campuses and campaigns are waged against something called “homophobia,” the net effect of which is to suggest that it is the judgment that homosexual acts are sinful that is sinful, not the acts themselves. In this effort, Scripture and magisterial documents are invoked as if they favored homosexuality as erroneously implied in many college editorials. One has a Catholic duty, it seems, not to state the Catholic message on the matter. During campus campaigns to give recognition to homosexual organizations, no mention is ever made of the serious health dangers that follow homosexual activity. And this on “smoke-free” campuses. Now it is the consequences of the vice that dare not speak their name.

Lenience toward homosexuality is only an aspect of the Dionysian frenzy that characterizes talk of human sexuality. Human persons need the sane and saving doctrine of the Catholic witness on homosexuality today more than ever. To give a stone where bread is asked for is unkind. The Church’s mission is not to conform to the world, but to stand in contradiction to it in order to save it. Given this seminal Catholic truth, AGLO is not saving anyone, and as such, deserves to be summarily condemned by Holy Mother Church. — Gary L. Morella, Catholic Activist

Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631.

TAKE ACTION: Contact WTTW online or through their main switchboard at 773-583-5000; ask for WTTW CEO/President is Dan Schmidt and/or Programming Director Dan Soles. Or you can call WTTW’s “Member Services” phone number at 773-509-1111, ext. 6 (between 9-5:00 Central); hit “6″ and you will get a live person; kindly communicate your opposition to WTTW’s pro-homosexual programming and the blatant anti-Christian bigotry that is part of it. Click HERE to find the PBS TV station in your area to check if they are engaged in the same “Gay Pride Month” biased programming and let us know what you find: americansfortruth@comcast.net.

__________________________________

AFTAH Condemns WTTW, PBS for Airing Anti-Christian Programming Celebrating Homosexuality During ‘Gay Pride Month’

NAPERVILLE, Illinois — Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera today accused the Chicago public TV station WTTW, and by extension the Public Broadcasting System, of using taxpayer monies to celebrate homosexuality and worse, air programs that displays flagrant anti-religious bigotry during “Gay Pride Month.”

“It is unconscionable that WTTW would show such blatant disregard for its faith- and tradition-minded viewers that it would use anti-Christian programs celebrating homosexuality for its fund-raising telethons,” LaBarbera said. “Public television must be impartial on controversial moral issues. We call on WTTW and PBS to balance their pro-homosexual programming with faith-based educational material from the other side, or stop it altogether.”

Last night (and apparently on June 1), WTTW used the documentary, “The Power of Harmony,” featuring the Dallas-based Turtle Creek Chorale, as a fund-raiser. It included:

• The homosexual men’s choir singing the song, “I Ain’t Afraid,” which contains the following refrain denigrating faithful Christians, Jews and Muslims: “I ain’t afraid of your Yahweh, I ain’t afraid of your Allah, I ain’t afraid of your Jesus, I’m afraid of what you do in the name of your God”;
• Repeated assertions that God made homosexuals that way and that portray Christians who disagree as hateful, ignorant or prejudiced. Said one homosexual man’s mother: “God created homosexuality. It’s just part of a person.” Historic Christian teaching holds that homosexual acts are sinful but that this behavior pattern – like other sinful lifestyles – can be overcome through faith in Christ;
• Testimonies by bitter “gay” men who despise and attack the religion of their upbringing because it does not sanction their lifestyle;
• A homosexual male couple adopting a Guatemalan baby.

WTTW’s 2007 Annual Report, shows that the Chicago station received $3,030,000 in Corporation for Public Broadcasting grants in Fiscal Year 2007 and a State of Illinois grant of $1,679,000.

WTTW’s airing of the anti-Christian “The Power of Harmony” comes during June, when homosexuals celebrate “Gay Pride Month.” This month, WTTW also repeatedly has aired another pro-homosexual documentary, “Out & Proud in Chicago,” as a telethon fund-raiser.

“WTTW talks a good game about diversity, but it shows profound disrespect for people of faith and real diversity with its bigoted, one-sided programming on homosexuality,” LaBarbera said. “We expect PBS and WTTW officials to fix this bias problem.”

See letter to AFTAH below

‘CONSENSUAL’ DEGRADATION: [Click photo to enlarge] Leatherman “doggie slave” poses on all fours for a photo at the sadistic-sex-glorifying International Mr. Leather (IML) convention, hosted by the Hyatt Regency Chicago over the Memorial Day weekend. The “slave’s” older male “owner” stands nearby with a cane. TAKE ACTION: Call the Hyatt Regency’s General Manager, Patrick Donnelly, at 312-565-1234 to tell him that it is wrong to profit off of pornography and perversion and that you will never stay at the Hyatt Regency Chicago — where vile, homosexual orgies involving IML participants occurred in guest rooms. Tell Mr. Donnelly that you will tell others not stay there as well. To contact Hyatt Regency’s national headquarters’ consumer affairs department: click HERE or e-mail consumeraffairs@hyatt.com; or call: 800-323-7249. PHOTO: AFTAH

Beverly Bubb of Michigan writes (emphasis added):

Thank you for your recent communication about the IML \\\”celebration\\\” held at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. Per your suggestion, I listened to the interview on CWA about this event and then called the General Manager; Patrick Donnelly. He was shameless in his defense of hosting this event in the name of \\\”diversity\\\”! Since I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and still have many friends and family there; I informed Mr. Donnelly that I would make sure they all knew about what the Hyatt was promoting at their hotel and tell them never to stay in their facility. Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention and to the attention of God-fearing people everywhere.

Beverly Bubb, Canton, Michigan

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

See article below

By Peter LaBarbera

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Concerned Women for America writes:

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

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

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

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

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

Two Sides of the Same Coin
By Julie Roys

Andy Marin and Peter LaBarbera.  They’re two very different men pursuing two very different missions.  But both serve the same God.

Andy Marin serves as president of the Marin Foundation; Peter LaBarbera, as president of Americans for Truth.  The Marin Foundation builds bridges with the gay and lesbian community.  Americans for Truth erects fences to contain the influence of that community. Some may see them as opponents.  But in reality, Marin and LaBarbera simply represent two sides of the same coin.  Marin emphasizes God’s love; LaBarbera stresses God’s truth. But both do God’s work.

Fortunately, LaBarbera and Marin understand this reality and don’t fall into the opposition mentality that plagues so many believers. Too often, Christians with such divergent calls fail to see they’re on the same team.  They’re like an offense unable to see that the points their defense prevents matter every bit as much as the points their offense scores.

Marin and LaBarbera, however, demonstrated remarkable maturity during a segment on the Morning Program last week. Marin was discussing his ministry to gays when LaBarbera called in.  Some might expect LaBarbera – given the antipathy gay activists express towards his work – to chide Marin for cavorting with the enemy.

But LaBarbera rightly understands that his struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil.  Gay activists are not our enemies.  They’re victims of the evil one – deceived and in need of the same redemption God’s granted every believer.  That’s why LaBarbera could bless Marin’s work.  And he could thank God that Marin is engaging people in spiritual discussions who otherwise never would talk to a born-again believer.

Similarly, Marin praised LaBarbera for his work, reminding listeners that this defender of truth – quote – “takes the bullet for all of us.”  Understandably, LaBarbera may make Marin’s work more difficult.  By opposing the gay agenda in politics and schools, he’s angered many gays and lesbians and possibly made them more resistant to the gospel.  But Marin rightly understands that Christians can’t remain silent while the culture capitulates to Satan’s schemes.  For the sake of the family and our children, we must fight for decency.

LaBarbera functions as a soldier for God’s kingdom and Marin, as an ambassador.  And fortunately, neither goes to unbiblical extremes while pursuing his particular call. LaBarbera refrains from nasty rhetoric and tempers his arguments with civility.  And Marin, while expressing God’s love for gays, continues to call homosexual acts sin.

Certainly, gays may reject one and embrace the other.  But Christ followers should support them both.  For Moody Radio, I’m Julie Roys.

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

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

Here is the IFI report:

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

How did they vote?

By David E. Smith, Illinois Family Institute

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

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

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

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

TAKE ACTION: Today is Homosexuals Re-defining Marriage Lobby Day in Springfield (at least that’s what we’re calling it). Homosexual activists are targeting Illinois — with the goal of turning us into the “Massachusetts of the Midwest” — and we need your help to stop their radical agenda. If you are an Illinois resident:

1) Call your State Representative and your State Senator at 217-782-2000 and urge them to oppose HB 1826, the House homosexual “civil unions” bill, and SB 2436, the Senate version. While you’re at it, ask your legislators to oppose the pro-homosexual “domestic partnership” bill, HB 4731, which would expand the definition of spouse for some Chicago teachers’ benefits to include homosexual “partners.” Illinois (and every state) needs to reward and provide incentives for real marriage and the natural family, not destructive and immoral homosexual behavior. If you don’t know the names of your representative and state senator, call Illinois Family Institute at 630-790-8370 or go to this IFI web page: http://www.votervoice.net/Core.aspx?AID=728&APP=GAC&screen=Address&.

2) Join Protect Marriage Illinois‘ (PMI) effort to defend marriage in Illinois! Go to PMI’s website, www.protectmarriageillinois.org, and download a pro-marriage petition sheet for the county you live in. PMI is working to get signatures to place an Advisory Marriage Protection referendum on the ballot to call on Illinois legislators to pass a constitutional amendment to preserve the sacred institution of marriage as between a man and a woman. The deadline is very near — April 30th — to get the necessary 269,000 signatures on the ballot, so please act now and encourage YOUR CHURCH to do a petition drive. All petitions must be notarized. Call PMI’s Acting Director Joetta Deutch at 217-377-6017 or email her at info@protectmarriageillinois.org for more information and for help in doing a petition drive at your church. More details on PMI below.

____________________________

1) Background on Homosexual Activists’ “Redefining Marriage” Lobby Day

Here is some background from our friends at the Illinois Family Institute:

Homosexual activists with Equality Illinois, Stonewall Democrats, Illinois Log Cabin Republicans, and the ACLU of Illinois are going to the Capitol on Wednesday, April 9th to lobby for the passage of counterfeit marriage legislation — HB 1826.

This bill would extend legal recognition and benefits of civil marriage to homosexual couples. The only difference between marriage and the governmental recognition this bill would grant is in name.

TAKE ACTION: Click HERE to email your State Representative today and ask him/her to vote ‘NO’ to the “Civil Unions” bill — HB 1826. Politely tell your lawmaker that Illinois’ government should not officially recognize immoral, unhealthy, and changeable homosexual behavior. (Be assured, your calls and emails are very important; legislators take very seriously the letters and the numbers of letters they receive.)

Email your state representative now by clicking HERE, or you can call the Capitol switchboard at 217-782-2000.

______________________________

2) Background on Chicago Teachers’ Homosexual Partners bill, HB 4371:

See White Paper by IFI Executive Director Dave Smith: http://www.illinoisfamily.org/content/img/f33761/IFI_HB_4731_2.pdf. This bill is sponsored by homosexual activist legislator Gregg Harris. Smith writes:

“While Illinois does not even recognized common-law marriage, this bill is moving to recognize same-sex domestic partners to be the same as married spouses for purposes of survivor and death benefits under Illinois law….

“HB 4731 would set a new precedent and public policy in Illinois as the first legislative vote explicitly establishing governmental benefits for unmarried “partners.” Previously, unmarried partners secured “DP” benefits — e.g., at the University of Illinois — but there was no vote in the Assembly creating these misguided benefits.”

More info on other bills of concern to Illinois families can be found here: http://www.illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=33786

______________________________

3) Background on Protect Marriage Illinois (www.protectmarriageillinois.org) Petition Drive:

TAKE ACTION: Download your PMI petition for YOUR COUNTRY at www.protectmarriageillinois.org. Call PMI Acting Director Joetta Deutch at 217-377-6017 or email her at info@protectmarriageillinois.org for help or information on the petition drive. The deadline for turning your NOTARIZED petitions in is April 30th, so you must act fast.

PMI, which nearly succeeded in getting a Marriage Protection referendum on the Illinois ballot in 2006, is trying again, after some big changes to the organization that have temporarily slowed our effort down. You can read the petition language at www.protectmarriageillinois.org. PMI is no longer affiliated with Illinois Family Institute, which is focusing instead on legislation in Springfield. PMI is now a stand-alone, all-volunteer effort (Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera is on the PMI Board of Directors), which retains the same goal as always: passing a binding, constitutional amendment to preserve the age-old definition of marriage in the Land of Lincoln.

The good news is that despite the changeover and the totally volunteer nature of the new PMI campaign, Protect Marriage Illinois has gathered over 100,000 signatures! Obviously, there is tremendous support in Illinois and the heartland in general for preserving marriage against the homosexual activists’ relentless campaign to re-define it to accommodate their immoral lifestyles.

The “bad” news is that the deadline for turning the required 269,000 signatures is the end of this month, April 30th. It will take a huge influx of petitions in these last three weeks to cross the threshold. This often happens in petition drives, so do what you can to help and get YOUR CHURCH involved! Set a goal of, say, 100, (notarized) signatures and send them to PMI by April 30th; the address to turn in the petitions is:

PMI
P.O. Box 6017
Taylorville, IL 62568

Whether we make it or not, PMI will not rest until a binding constitutional amendment is on the books protecting marriage in Illinois from being radically re-defined. Again, you can contact PMI’s Joetta Deutch at 217-377-6017 or at info@protectmarriageillinois.org.

_________________________________

The Homosexual Lobby Has Lots of $$$$, but AFTAH Needs Your Help!

How come the forces FOR homosexuality are bolder than those opposing their immoral agenda? Help us defend your liberties — and the next generation — by regularly praying for and financially supporting Americans For Truth. To make a donation online to Americans For Truth, click on our online donation page (you can use PayPal or your own credit card): www.americansfortruth.com/donate.

We are grateful for those of you who have signed up as monthly “Truth Team” givers by pledging a donation on of at least $20/month to AFTAH. We think this is a good investment in your children’s and their children’s future!

Our goal is to sign up 1,000 monthly AFTAH ‘Truth Team’ givers to put us on healthy financial footing.

You can also send your tax-deductible donation via regular mail to:

Americans For Truth, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522

WARNING: Pornographic and Highly Offensive Excerpts Follow

Note to Readers: the following are sample excerpts from what surely is one of the most disturbing selections ever to be used or considered as a literary resource for use in a high school — or any — classroom. We understand that most readers will be shocked by this material and some offended that it has even found its way onto our website, but please consider that this will be made available to underage (teenage) children in a classroom setting.

Parents MUST be aware that the public schools are becoming pro-homosexual indoctrination and desensitization centers. How did America get to this point where outright perversion is introduced to students in the guise of studying literature? –Peter LaBarbera

Click HERE to take action by emailing or calling DHS and District 113 authorities and read the North Shore Student Alliance’s news release.

Sample Excerpts from Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

Part One: Millennium Approaches — Part Two: Perestroika

By Tony Kushner

WARNING: GRAPHIC AND VULGAR LANGUAGE! DO NOT READ FURTHER if you do not want to be exposed to the perverse reality of this awful play that is being promoted to young minds in a school setting!

PERVASIVE VULGARITY:

• 50 F – words
• 27 S – words
• 24 G** damn’s
• 8 “Jesus Christ’s”
• many other offensive words (nigger, dick, bastard, asshole, cock, cunt, etc.)

TOTAL: 221 Vulgar Words (books are short – only 119 and 158 pages)
GRAPHIC SEXUAL CONTENT EXCERPTS: (THIS LIST IS ONLY A SAMPLE.)

1.
Man: What do you want?
Louis: I want you to fuck me, hurt me, make me bleed?
Man: I want to.
Louis: Yeah?
Man: I want to hurt you.
Louis: Fuck me.
Man: Yeah?
Louis: Hard?
Man: Yeah? You been a bad boy?
Man: Here, then
Louis: I . . . Do you have a rubber?
Man: I don’t use rubbers.
Louis: You should (He takes one from his coat pocket.)
Man: I don’t use them.
Louis: Forget it, then.
Man: No, wait. Put it on me, Boy.
Louis: Forget it, I have to get back. . .
Man: Oh, come on, please he won’t find out.
Louis: It’s cold. Too cold.
Man: It’s never too cold, let me warm up. Please?

(They begin to fuck.)
Man: Relax
Louis (A small laugh); Not a chance.
Man: It . . .
Louis: What?
Man: I think it broke. The rubber. You want me to keep going? (Little pause) Pull out? Should I . . .
Louis: Keep going. Infect me. I don’t care. I don’t care.

(Pause. The Man pulls out.)

2.
The nose is really a sexual organ. . . . Smelling. And tasting. First, the nose then the tongue . . They work as a team, see. The nose tells the body – the heart, the mind, the fingers, the cock— what it wants, and the tongue explores, finding out what’s edible . . .
(Louis slips his hand down the front of Joe’s pants. They embrace more tightly. Louis pulls his hand out, smells and tastes his fingers, and then holds them for Joe to smell.. .. . . . they kiss again.)

3.
Prior: OH! Oh. (He looks under the covers. He discovers that the lap of his pajamas is soaked with cum.) Fuck fuck fuck. Will you look at this! First goddamn orgasm in months and I slept through it. . . . . I am drenched in spooj. .. .Spooj? . . . . Cum. Jiz. Ejaculate. Spooj? Onomatapoetic, isn’t it. I’ve had a wet dream.

4.
Roy: Hold a minute. God-fucking- dammit to hell . . . Jesus fuck this goddam thing.

5.
Prior: I don’t remember, I don’t give a fuck. I want Louis. I want my fucking boyfriend, where the fuck is he?

6.
Roy: . . . move your nigger ass out of my room. ….. move your nigger cunt spade faggot lackey ass out of my room.
Belize: Shit-for-brains filthy-mouthed selfish motherfucking cowardly cock-sucking cloven hoofed pig.

7.
Louis: I don’t believe in God. I think you should know that before we fuck again (Joe bites one of Louis’s nipples.) . . . . Oh God, Oh God, I believe, I believe.

(Joe and Louis begin to fuck again.)

8.
Louis: I’m losing myself in some ideological leather bar. The more appalling I find your politics the more I want to hump you. Bunker fucking; burn me up; may I never ever reemerge. . . . .

(They start to fuck.)

9.
Harper: (Angry) I miss Joe’s penis.

10.
Angel: Open me Prophet. I I I am The Book. Read.
Prior: Wait. Wait. How come . . . How come I have this . . . unm, erection? It’s very hard to concentrate.
Angel: The stiffening of your penis is of no consequence.
( . . . They both get very turned-on)
Prior: (Hit by a wave of intense sexual feeling): Hmmmmmm . . .
Angel: The Pulse, the Pull, the Throb, the Ooze . . .
Angel: Priapsis, Dilation, Engorgement, Flow. The Universe Aflame with Angelic Ejaculate
Prior: Oh, shit . . .
Prior: OH! OH! . . . . OH! Oh, Oh, oh . . .
Angel: HOLY Estrus! HOLY Orifice! Ecstasis in Excelsis! AMEN!

Prior: Oh. Oh God. ….. What was that?
Angel: Plasma Orgasmata. . . . . . .
Belize: Whoa, whoa whoa wait a minute excuse me please. You fucked this angel?
Prior: She fucked me. She has . . . well, she has eight vaginas.
Angel: REGINA VAGINA

Prior: Angelic orgasm . . . they used to copulate ceaselessly before . . .

11.
Suck my dick, Mother Teresa . . .
Submitted by North Shore Student Advocacy
Contact us at: NSSAdvocacy@aol.com

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.

___________________________ 

Get a DVD of Cothran, Parker Speeches at AFTAH Banquet!

All proceeds will go to help the work of Americans For Truth 

To order a complete DVD (or CD) of both Charlene Cothran’s and David Parker’s outstanding talks, make an online donation of at least $25 postpaid to Americans For Truth (please use the online form to specify ’2007 Banquet DVD’. You can substitute an audio CD but you must request this specifically. To order by regular mail, send your check or money order specifying ”2007 Banquet DVD” (or CD) to: Americans For Truth, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. 

Bulk Orders available (all postpaid): 2 for $40; 3 for $55; 4 for $70; add $10 for each additional DVD or contact us (630-717-7631) for large bulk order pricing. 

____________________________ 

NOTE:  What better occasion than the homosexual activists’ misguided “National Coming Out Day” (October 11th every year) to publish Charlene Cothran’s testimony — representing a “coming out” story that we who agree with God on homosexuality can get behind? To contact Charlene, write editor@venusmagazine.org.

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, Americans For Truth’s banquet Friday night was a wonderful event that exceeded our expectations. We packed out our banquet room at the Embassy Suites Hotel – which was actually a fallback location for our event after another hotel had abruptly cancelled our reservation – and everything went smoothly, despite the small “gay” protest outside.

(Click HERE to read about how Gay Liberation Network and other homosexual activists – obsessed as they are with smearing Americans For Truth – are now lying about our banquet numbers, saying that as few as 30 people attended our banquet (do I hear 20?…) when our room was actually packed out with more than 110 attendees.)

Our two keynote speakers, Charlene Cothran and David Parker, were riveting and held the audience in rapt attention until the evening’s end – as I have rarely seen at such an event. Charlene’s heartfelt testimony (portions of which are excerpted below) about how God drew her from her (very “successful”) lesbian lifestyle had so many wonderful lessons to teach: the faithfulness of God; the answered prayers of a faithful mother; the possibility of radical change in the life of even a longtime homosexual (Cothran had lived 29 years as a lesbian); and the need of loving Christians to reach out to homosexual strugglers trying to leave the lifestyle.

Charlene had the Americans For Truth audience laughing right off the bat when she said:

If you had told me two years ago that I would be a featured speaker at the Americans For Truth about Homosexuality banquet, I would have laughed in your face! Because I was one of those girls who would have been outside across the street with the gang trying to prevent this from happening. But God has a way of bringing us full circle, doesn’t He?  

Full circle, indeed. As a leading African-American homosexual activist and the most successful minority publisher in the “gay” world with her Venus Magazine – which she now uses to spread the Gospel of Christ – Cothran once partnered with a host of homosexual activist groups to advance that cause: Human Rights Campaign (back then it was called Human Rights Campaign Fund); the National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum; the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; and PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays), to name a few.

Many of those groups do everything they can to hide the truth from the public that men and women like Charlene are walking away from homosexuality.

Cothran continued:

“It was right here in Chicago … back in 2003 at a ‘gay pride’ event – out in Bryant Park, on a sunlit afternoon where I should have been the proudest lesbian out there….At any other pride event, I was always very proud to be there. … But on this day a shame fell on me, and something spoke in my spirit and said: ‘This is that road that’s leading to destruction, and you are on it.’ And it was such a loud voice that I could no longer ignore that what I was doing and how I was living was wrong.

“And that afternoon, as young people came up to me – [saying], ‘Oh, Miss Cothran, I want to be just like you!’ – [I thought:] How am I going to get from where I am back to God? How is that going to happen? And it was a very difficult three years. And it took three years before I finally came to Christ. It was a real battle in the mind.

“How do I tell my partner of ten years that I no longer want to be a lesbian or want this life anymore? How do I tell the people who volunteered for my publication – who helped me build it to the point where I could now live [off] it? “How do I tell them that I am no longer your proud, black lesbian?

“How do I leave 30 years’ worth of friendships behind – people who … we buried each others’ parents, we buried each others’ neighbors, you know? – friends! … how do I leave that behind?

“So it took from 2003 to 2006 before the Lord sent a pastor my way: on a Tuesday afternoon. I wasn’t at church. I was in my car at a mall: God will meet you where you are! … And a pastor whom I had never met before – I was in New Jersey; we were publishing another small community newspaper; she was calling about that. And we talked about our business, and then she asked me at the end of that conversation: she said, ‘Charlene, where are you in the Lord?’

“And of course two voices went off in my head: one of them was like, ‘Yes, pastor, share with me, talk with me! I want to be free from this! Help me!’ But of course the other voice was saying: ‘You tell her you’re a proud lesbian and all the accomplishments you’ve made. As a matter of fact, I’ve got a card in my wallet that proves I’m a lesbian [audience laughter] …And of course, you know which voice won out.

“And she let me go and pontificate for a while … and after I finished she said, ‘You know something? ….I can tell that you want to come back to God, but you feel unworthy. You feel as though God can’t use you because you’ve been so public about your sins. … You feel like you’re damaged goods if you got saved now and came back to church. And she was so right: I really didn’t realize it like that…. The way she spoke it, it really unlocked something in me that she was right, and I couldn’t speak for several minutes. And it seemed like the Holy Spirit just shut me up, to allow this minister, this woman of God to just get some more words in me.

“And even as she was speaking, the Spirit of God began to deal with me and said, ‘You know what, you are going to choose today who you are going to serve?’ [Joshua 24:14-16]

“And of course the enemy’s right in the other ear [saying:] ‘Oh, no, you’re not! You’re not going to get saved today! … You’ve got an appointment at New York City Gay Pride and they’re expecting you in two weeks: what are you going … to say?’

“But then my mother’s voice also spoke to me. Because my mother, before she passed away, she looked at me and she said, ‘You know something? I don’t think I’m ever going to see you again. She was a woman of faith. And I knew she meant in glory [heaven]. And she died two months later. And that always stuck with me: ‘I’ve got to see my mother again, that mean you’ve get out of this [lifestyle]!’

“And so I gave my heart in my car, in the parking lot of the mall, to Jesus Christ, and He set me free [audience applause]… from 29 years of lesbianism. And so I stand today as an epistle of change. I am proof that change is possible in the homosexual [community].

“And so tonight I hope you’re in the mood for the whole truth… Because I got a question for you. … My mother used to sing a little song. it went something like this [sings Gospel song:]

Is there anybody here who loves who loves my Jesus?   Is there anybody here who loves my Lord? Is there anybody here who loves my Jesus? 

 

I want to know, Americans For Truth, if you love the Lord.

“Because if you really love God, then there’s compassion somewhere in your heart, and you realize that we’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God, haven’t we? That’s right. And so that we know that gays and lesbians deserve compassion, and that’s what’s going to draw them. A simple Gospel song reminds me of that.

“There are certain names that we gay activists just used to hate and my [homosexual] friends still do.

“Jerry Falwell. Pat Robertson. And the loathsome Peter LaBarbera….[laughter]

“And it seemed as if anyone who is bold enough to stand up and say that homosexuality is sin got added to the gay activist hate list. And so now my name has been added to the gay activist hate list….

“A month ago or so I received a letter from a particular gay activist [Wayne Besen of the curiously named Truth Wins Out]. … I call him the Prince of Darkness. Here is a man who at one time supported my work and he even wrote a front-page article in my … Venus magazine. And in his letter among the many attempts to insult me, he says, ‘Ms. Cothran, you have been brainwashed.’

“We’ll, I want this prince to know that he is absolutely right. I have been brainwashed, I have been heart-washed, I’ve been soul-washed in the blood of the lamb!

“I don’t expect him to understand what that means. You can’t explain the things of the Spirit to people who don’t want to hear it, or don’t want to understand it.

“And so now that my name has been added to this hate list, I’m actually kind of proud of it, for two reasons. One, it tells me that I’m doing something right. Gay activists don’t waste their time and energy. They go after people whose ministries are effective, Peter: your ministry is effective, and that’s why they’re coming after you.

“And also, if they believe that I’ve been brainwashed, then essentially they are acknowledging that there has indeed been a change in me. Because remember, these are the people who knew me. All of you are just taking my word for it. They knew me. And they knew that I was a diehard lesbian. And yet they see and know that I’ve changed. And they can’t attribute it to reparative therapy, and they can’t attribute it to anything except Jesus Christ.

“And it unnerves them! Because I am living proof that homosexuals can change through a committed relationship with Jesus Christ. [audience applause]

“After I gave my heart to Christ, I began to take a closer look at the ministries that we had been trained to hate, and why. Americans For Truth, I want you to know that I am not naive about the nature of the work that you do. I believe that this organization has had to position itself to fight a very ugly and very active and powerful segment of the gay community.

“And I want you to know that this ugly segment of the gay community … does not represent most members of the gay community… Most gays and lesbians are hard-working … good-willed people who would never parade themselves in the nude in front of children down San Francisco [streets] …. It’s just not true. Most gays are not like that.

“Another very active and powerful segment of the gay community claims that being gay is innate … that all gays are born this way. And I believe that this is the most vicious lie that has been released against God’s people. It is a lie! … This is a lie that was hatched in some boardroom, basically so that we could gain civil rights for gays and lesbians. They needed [something] to level the playing field, and this was the one that went out.

“And I remember back in 1994 when a reporter for a gay newspaper came to interview me about [Venus] magazine. I remember [observing] in that interview just how desperate they were to get this lie out. I never believed it.

“And the young man did the interview and he turned his microphone off. And he then said, ’Well Ms. Cothran, I want you to say when I turn the microphone back on … that all gays and lesbians are born this way because we need you to influence the African American gay [and lesbian community].

“And I said, ‘Well hold on now! I don’t believe that. I’m not going to say something I don’t believe. Absolutely not!’

“And I felt satisfied that the interview was over and that would be the end of it.

“Well, two weeks later when the article came out, they printed the quote anyway as if I had said it!

“And I learned then just how desperate they were to get this lie out at any cost. They refused to print a retraction. And, again, I learned a lot, right then and there….

“There is no such thing as a gay gene, and they know this. Gay activists know this. They know that their house has been built on a lie. And so now they’re scrambling to come up with something else — anything to prove their case, like a study of homosexuality in animals.

“Well, you know, I could care less about how many male sheep are homosexual [audience laughter], because God did not leave specific instructions on how to live to sheep.[applause] But He gave men and women very specific instructions on how to live through the Word of God.

“And the Word of God is clear on the subject of homosexuality. The truth is that it is not what God intended. …

“Now I know i it doesn’t look like it but I want you to be encouraged. Because things are beginning to change. I want you to know that many gays and lesbians are tired of this life and they want out. I’m hearing from them every single day through our [Venus Magazine] website. And many are walking out. [applause] And they’re not doing it on their own strength because they can’t do it on their own strength. No one can stop what they’re doing on their own strength. It takes a committed relationship with the Jesus Christ.

“And they need the genuine open arms of the Church to be there to help them at the point of their need. They need loving and compassionate believers who will embrace them just as they are, and who will continue to walk out with them and not judge them as they grow in grace.”

[More excerpts of Charlene Cothran's talk and that of parents rights advocate David Parker will follow.]

___________________________

Get a DVD of Cothran, Parker Speeches at AFTAH Banquet!

All proceeds will go to help the work of Americans For Truth 

To order a complete DVD (or CD) of both Charlene Cothran’s and David Parker’s outstanding talks, make an online donation of at least $25 postpaid to Americans For Truth (please use the online form to specify ’2007 Banquet DVD’. You can substitute an audio CD but you must request this specifically. To order by regular mail, send your check or money order specifying ”2007 Banquet DVD” (or CD) to: Americans For Truth, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. 

Bulk Orders available (all postpaid): 2 for $40; 3 for $55; 4 for $70; add $10 for each additional DVD or contact us (630-717-7631) for large bulk order pricing.    

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