ACLU - Gay & Lesbian Project

Great News: Michigan High Court Rules that Marriage Amendment Bans Same-sex Partnership Benefits

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

marriage_the_real_thing.bmpCongratulations to the Thomas More Law Center, AFA of Michigan and all the pro-family groups, legislators, citizens, and churches in Michigan for successfully defending marriage in your state!

LANSING, Mich. (Catholic News Agency), May 8, 2008 — The Michigan General Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages also blocks Michigan governments and state universities from offering “domestic partnership” benefits for homosexual couples. Click HERE to read the Michigan Supreme Court ruling.

The Marriage Protection Amendment was approved by nearly sixty percent of voters in 2004. Considered the broadest of the 11 state marriage amendments barring same-sex marriage, the language of the Michigan amendment says “…the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.”

The Michigan ACLU, representing the AFL-CIO homosexual activist group National Pride at Work, had challenged the application of the law as based in Attorney General Mike Cox’s interpretation of the amendment.

The Michigan court’s 5-2 decision did not rule on whether government employment benefits can be offered to homosexual partners on some broader basis also available to other employees. Some local governments and universities have attempted to maintain present benefits by amending the eligibility requirements.

The people of Michigan have constitutionally protected marriage as exclusively the union of one man and one woman, period, and that includes prohibiting the recognition of homosexual relationships as equal or similar to marriage for any purpose, including offering spousal-type benefits to the homosexual partners of government employees,” said Gary Glenn, one of the co-authors of the Marriage Protection Amendment and head of the American Family Association of Michigan.

Richard Thompson
, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, praised the decision, saying, “The Michigan Supreme Court courageously upheld the will of the people.”

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12591

Related news release from Thomas More Law Center: “TMLC Praises Michigan Atty General Cox for Defending Marriage Amendment; Blasts Gov and Universities”

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Is the ACLU Crazy, Evil … or Both?

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

anthony_romero_aclu.jpg ACLU’s homosexual Executive Director, Anthony Romero. Read the ACLU’s outrageous, pro-bathroom-sex legal brief here: http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/freespeech/craig_v_minnesota_acluamicus.pdf.
  
By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, could any of us on the Right make up something this nutty, this extreme? The ACLU is defending DEVIANT SEX IN PUBLIC BATHROOMS as a “privacy right.” This was too much even for lefty MSNBC “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann, who makes a living slamming conservatives. Here’s a paragraph from their amicus brief in the Larry Craig case (emphasis added):

Sex is a constitutionally protected liberty interest. … Thus, the government may make sex a crime only where it has a constitutionally sufficient justification for doing so. … [cites the Supreme Court’s 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision striking down Texas’ sodomy law].  The government does not have a constitutionally sufficient justification for making private sex a crime. … It follows that an invitation to have private sex is constitutionally protected and may not be made a crime. … This is so even where the proposition occurs in a public place, whether in a bar or in a restroom.

Activists courts are the tool that the Left has used to advance what pro-family attorney Jan LaRue calls America’s “unholy trinity”: abortion-on-demand, pornography, and homosexuality.  If killing one’s unborn child (with his or her own, separate DNA) can be justified as a “privacy” right; if owning or buying even child pornography can be defended as a First Amendment “right,” then hey, why not homosexual perversion in bathroom stalls?
  
We know enough about the ACLU to assert that even if a homosexual activist (Anthony Romero) were not running the organization, it would have joined this case.  “Sexual freedom” is the Libertine Left’s new clarion call to legalize and expand the “rights” of even the most outlandish perversions: sadomasochistic house parties; the hetero “swingers community”; the “right” of sex businesses to set up shop in your neighborhood; “polyamory” (multiple-partner “marriage,” anyone?); and, yes, even public bathroom sex.

Can you picture the liberal protesters chanting: ”FREE LARRY CRAIG”!! “FREE LARRY CRAIG”!!

Wackiness aside, if America’s modern history has taught us anything, it is to take the Left’s legal gambits and cultural aggression seriously.  Using the courts, the ACLU lawyers and their comrades in the Homosexual, Radical Feminist (Abortion) and Porn Lobbies are destroying America, in the name of freedom.

Think about that later this year when you vote for our next U.S. President, who will pick the nation’s highest-level judges. God help us.  

P.S. Click HERE for a great piece on the ACLU’s folly by Brenda Zurita of CWA’s Beverly LaHaye Institute.

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Sex in Bathroom Stalls, Privacy Expectations and the ACLU

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

And the Punch Line Is …

aclu-agenda-stalls.jpg Will the ACLU’s bathroom-sex agenda stall?

By Brenda Zurita

Reprinted with permission from CWA’s Beverly LaHaye Institute, Jan. 16, 2008

Due to the current Hollywood writer’s strike, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has jumped in to fill the gap existing in late-night monologues and sit-coms. If only that were true there might be a joke in there somewhere.

Alas, the title refers to a brief filed by the ACLU in the Larry Craig case in Minnesota. Yes, the senator of the “wide stance” fame has a new defense argument, courtesy of the ACLU.

The Associated Press reported that the ACLU is arguing there is an expectation of privacy when people have sex in public bathrooms.

Hmmm, when I enter a public bathroom I have the expectation of toilet paper being in the stall, not a sex encounter. And privacy in a public bathroom is at a minimum. The gap around the door frame and the open space between the dividers and the floor and ceiling provide only a modicum of coverage. Not exactly a rendezvous spot for randy patrons expecting privacy. It does however make an excellent place for exhibitionists to meet.

Imagine taking your child to a public restroom and hearing two people engaging in a sex act six inches away. Again, due to the construction of the average public restroom stall, there is little that is private. Having an expectation of privacy there is laughable. And what about the expectation of people using the restroom for what is was intended and not being subjected to sex acts?

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Worcester Telegram Reporter Richard Nangle ‘Stands By’ Story Echoing ACLU Activist Sarah Loy’s Lie Against Larry Cirignano Rejected by Jury

Friday, October 26th, 2007

pseudo_victim_sarah_loy_in_tears.jpg This photo of ACLU activist (or should we say actress?) Sarah Loy crying at the rally where she falsely accused pro-family advocate Larry Cirignano of violently assaulting her, appeared in the December 17, 2007, Worcester Telegram and Gazette’s initial report of the incident. Telegram Reporter Richard Nangle (rnangle@telegram.com) wrote that Cirignano ”pushed [Loy] to the ground, her head slamming against the concrete sidewalk.” But a jury rejected this story, which echoed Loy’s account. (The jury found that Loy tripped rather than being pushed.) Nangle, testifying in court, could not find himself among enlarged photos of people at the center of the rally crowd – casting into doubt whether he could have seen what actually transpired.  Nevertheless, a defiant Nangle says he “stands by everything” that he originally reported. Telegram photo is by Paul Kapteyn. 

By Peter LaBarbera

This is a fascinating case involving media bias: a reporter whose story was proven false — or at least not credible — in a court of law is “stand[ing] by everything ” he originally wrote.

On December 16, 2006, the Worcester Telegram and Gazette published a story under reporter Richard Nangle’s byline, regarding a pro-marriage rally in Worcester protested by Sarah Loy and the local ACLU. Nangle, an ACLU Board Member, reported that Catholic family advocate Larry Cirignano had “pushed [Loy] to the ground, her head slamming against the concrete sidewalk.”

Nangle’s vivid depiction of the alleged attack echoed Loy’s own charges of assault and battery against Cirignano, and helped created an impression in the public’s mind that she was a victim of violence (and that he was violent man who attacks women). A photo accompanying Nangle’s story (see above) showed Loy in tears at the rally scene. However, on October 22, a jury found Larry Cirignano innocent of assault and battery against Loy, a week after presiding Judge David Despotopulos had thrown out Loy’s “civil rights” complaint against him. See our story relaying MassRessistance’s account of the case and trial.

Here are the first three paragraphs in Nangle’s story, under the headline (which he did not necessarily write), “Worcester Rally Takes Ugly Turn; Gay Marriage Backer Pushed,” with emphasis added:

WORCESTER- Tempers boiled over at an anti-gay marriage rally yesterday when the executive director of the Boston-based Catholic Citizenship emerged from behind a lectern outside City Hall, rushed toward a female counter-demonstrator, and pushed her to the ground.

 

Sarah Loy, 27, of Worcester was holding a sign in defense of same-sex marriage amid a sea of green “Let the People Vote” signs when Larry Cirignano of Canton, who heads the Catholic Citizenship group, ran into the crowd, grabbed her by both shoulders and told her, “You need to get out. You need to get out of here right now.” Mr. Cirignano then pushed her to the ground, her head slamming against the concrete sidewalk.

 

“It was definitely assault and battery,” said Ronal C. Madnick, director of the Worcester County Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. Police interviewed Mr. Madnick and several others moments after the incident.

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Great News: Cirignano Triumphs over ACLU Activist Sarah Loy’s Lying Lawsuit

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

sarah_loy_phony_victim.jpglarrycirignano-mikegilleran.jpg 

Larry Cirignano (with yellow tie in bottom photo) with attorney Mike Gilleran, after their triumph over ACLU activist Sarah Loy’s harassing lawsuit. At top, ACLU Board Member Loy (in middle, holding sign) describes her phony “assault” to police after she disrupted Cirignano’s rally and then lied about him pushing her down. If you look closely, you can see Loy’s nose growing in the photo — not really. You can congratulate Larry for his court victory over the ACLU at larryvote@aol.com.

“That’s what hate does!”
– Massachusetts activist Sarah Loy’s chant after she had fallen to the ground at a pro-family meeting she was disrupting; a judge and jury found no basis for her claim that Larry Cirignano had pushed her in an attack on her “civil rights.”  

By Peter LaBarbera

Every freedom-loving American owes a debt of gratitude to Larry Cirignano and all those like him who refuse to give up or “settle” in the face of the radical Left’s lies, dirty tricks and intimidation tactics. Cirignano is a Catholic family advocate who was “set up” by an ACLU activist at a pro-marriage rally in Worcester, Massachusetts, turning the pro-family event into a 10-month personal nightmare. (See below, or go HERE to Mass Resistance’s excellent background story on the case; their final write-up is HERE.)

You simply won’t believe this case: alleged “victim” and pro-homosexual protester Sarah Loy invaded a pro-marriage rally on December 16, 2006; then, as Cirignano was leading her away from the rally that she was trying to disrupt, she fell to the ground and started screaming about “hate” as if he had attacked her! (You can view a sample of the leftist tripe on this website, which identifies Loy as a Board Member of ACLU.)

Loy claimed that Cirignano shoved her to the ground but the jury found that she tripped and fell. You can watch some amateur video footage of the rally HERE. (The video, which is of low quality, might be called, Anatomy of a Smear; a longer version of it, along with still photographs, was used in court to show that some of the government’s key “witnesses” to the alleged assault — including Richard Nangle of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, who reported it as fact — were not in the crowd but standing dozens of feet away.) 

The whole case is further proof — as if we needed it — that nobody lies like the pro-homosexual, pro-abortion Left, whose members are so consumed with hatred for those defending life and the natural family that they will stoop to evil tactics like this in their ends-justify-the-means crusade to destroy them.

Loy’s story was a complete fabrication, but Worcester’s prosecutors — in bed with the ACLU, the liberal media, and the state’s powerful “gay” lobby — took it seriously, wasting tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars and smearing a good man’s reputation in the process. 

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GOP Reps Save ENDA in Close Committee Vote

Friday, October 19th, 2007

The following is excerpted from the homosexual newspaper Washington Blade. For the full story, click HERE:

GOP Reps save ENDA in close committee vote
Kucinich, others vote ‘no’ citing lack of trans protection

By LOU CHIBBARO JR., Washington Blade | Oct 18, 8:14 PM

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) cleared a pivotal hurdle in committee today after four gay-supportive Republicans joined the Democratic majority to save the bill from defeat.

Four pro-gay Democrats, including [a presidential candidate and Congressman], voted against the bill, saying they did so because a provision protecting transgender persons had been removed.

The bill passed in the House Committee on Education and Labor by a vote of 27 to 21, with 23 Democrats and four Republicans voting for the measure, which calls for banning job discrimination based on sexual orientation, a category that includes gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. Seventeen Republicans and the four Democrats voted against the bill.

If the Republicans voting for the measure had voted the other way, it would have lost by a vote of 23 to 25.

“We have never been able to pass a gay rights bill with only Democrats,” said gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of the lead sponsors of ENDA. “We’ve always known we need some Republicans.”

The bill is scheduled to go to the full House for a vote next week.

Click HERE for the full Blade article

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Major Homosexual Groups Join in Effort to Stop David Parker Court Appeal

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

david_parker_in_handcuffs.jpg NOTE:  David Parker (at left) will be a keynote speaker at Americans For Truth’s upcoming dinner banquet in Naperville, Illinois (outside Chicago) on Saturday, Oct. 6. His is one of the most important cases in the country, as parents’ rights to guide their children’s moral upbringing is on the line. Click HERE for more information on the AFTAH banquet. 

By Brian Camenker, MassResistance.org

In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
- George Orwell

MassResistance.org reports

National homosexual groups targeting children file in US First Circuit Court to stop appeal in David Parker lawsuit.

GLSEN and PFLAG, as well as GLAD all file appearance in case. Reveals nationwide importance of Parker’s court action. 

As David Parker’s lawyers prepare to appeal the ruling against his federal civil rights lawsuit against the Lexington School system, three major homosexual activist groups have officially filed their appearance in the case, and will be submitting amicus briefs as part of their effort to stop his appeal.

Read the official appearance document here:
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker_lawsuit/GLSEN_appearance_doc.pdf

David Parker, his wife, and another couple, the Wirthlins, are suing the Lexington, MA school system over the teaching and normalization of homosexual behavior in the elementary schools, purposefully without parents’ knowledge or consent, or ability to opt out.

Earlier this year, Federal District Court Judge Mark Wolf issued an unbelievable ruling against the Parkers which, among other things, gives schools in Massachusetts the right to teach homosexuality at will, without parents’ input, consent, or even knowledge. The Parkers are appealing.

Read Wolf’s disturbing ruling here:
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker_lawsuit/hearing_020707/hearing_dismissed.html

More on the Parkers’ case and events leading up to it.
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker/index.html

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City of Brotherly Love Hates the Boy Scouts

Monday, July 2nd, 2007
boy_scout_with_oath.jpg 
Shame on the Philadelphia City Council.

By Robert Knight, Human Events Online, July 2, 2007 

Philadelphia has big city problems.

The murder rate is on the rise, and gangs make some areas unsafe even in the daytime. It’s no secret that fatherless, undisciplined boys are the main reason the streets are deadly.

So what is the city doing about it? Let’s imagine for a moment that we’re in a Philadelphia City Council discussion.

“How about a crackdown on gangs? Or a crackdown on drug dealers?”

“Nah. Those people shoot back. I’ve got it! Let’s persecute the Boy Scouts! They won’t give the police any trouble.”

“Yeah, this will be a great way to pay back those gay groups for donating to our campaigns. The media will love us, too. Watch how they’ll frame this: ‘Enlightened Officials Reign in Hateful, Bigoted Boy Scouts!’ Good for us! Now, let’s take a Starbucks break!”

So it was that on May 31, the real-life City Council, without debate, and under pressure from an organization that promotes the rights of “sexual minorities,” stabbed the Scouts in the back. They voted 16 to 1 to break a 79-year-old agreement allowing the Cradle of Liberty Council of the Boy Scouts to occupy a building in a city park. The Scouts built the building in 1928, and turned it over to the city in exchange for a rent-free lease “in perpetuity.” Apparently, “perpetuity” in Philadelphia now means, “until gay groups boot you out.” The Scouts can stay only if they will open their ranks to open homosexuals.

Sexual immorality is now the moral high ground in Philadelphia, and the Boy Scouts are the bad guys. Does anyone with clout in Philadelphia see why this is monstrously wrong? Let’s be generous and assume that lots of people still don’t know about this. The story was ignored by all the networks except Fox News Channel, and the local press didn’t even put it on the front page.

Click HERE to read the entire story by Bob Knight in Human Events Online

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