By Laurie Higgins

Homosexual activist Wayne Besen of the oddly named Truth Wins Out described Dr. Michael Brown’s group of evangelists (the “God Has a Better Way” campaign responding to the Charlotte, N.C. “gay pride” parade) as “uninvited locusts” descending on Charlotte. With that description in mind, I wonder how conservatives should describe the thousands of participants in “pride” parades and “fairs” who pollute our streets with illegal nudity and public sex acts to which law enforcement agents, who are paid by the public to enforce laws, turn a blind eye.

When Besen said that “the notion that gay people in conservative North Carolina needed Brown to educate them about religious fundamentalism was farcical,” he revealed his ignorance about Biblical and Historical Theology. Although the belief that homosexual acts violate God’s will is a belief held by “fundamentalists,” it also integral to all orthodox theological traditions and has been since the beginnings of the church. His ignorance is not surprising, however, since Besen is a member of the homosexual activist movement that regularly makes numerous ludicrous exegetical claims, including the claims that Ruth and Naomi and David and Jonathan had homosexual relationships.

Then Besen makes a patently false assertion when he states that homosexual activists are “falsely accused of working to undermine freedom of religion.” He may want to read the words of Georgetown University lesbian law professor, Chai Feldblum who writes that when same-sex “marriage” is legalized, conservative people of faith will lose religious rights.

Besen’s clouded vision is manifest in this description of a group of Christians engaged in evangelism: “Most alarming are these charlatans’ deliberate perpetuation of paranoia by trumpeting alleged religious persecution that exists only in their warped minds.” Perhaps Besen should talk to the Christian infertility doctors in California whom a lesbian sued when their religious convictions prevented them from inseminating a lesbian. Or perhaps he should talk to the Christian owners of a New Mexico photography studio who were sued and fined for “discrimination” when their religious beliefs prevented them from photographing the commitment ceremony of two homosexuals.

Perhaps Besen (left) should talk to the Christian mother in Alameda, Cal., whose public school is introducing pro-homosexual resources to first-graders next year. The school is refusing to notify parents prior to the presentation of these resources and is refusing to allow parents to opt out. Or perhaps he should talk to me about the efforts of change.org to get a hotel to break a legal contract with Illinois Family Institute because of our religious conviction that homosexual acts are immoral. Sounds remarkably like religious persecution to me.

What is confusing in Besen’s diatribe are these two seemingly contradictory claims: first, he said, “Brown tries to cover his tracks by sprinkling his apocalyptic rhetoric with calls for non-violence. Good orators, however, understand the principle of ‘layering’ messages. If in one sentence you speak of violence and in the next of non-violence, the listener will almost always embrace the words that support his or her belief system.” This clearly implies that Dr. Brown “spoke of violence in one sentence.”

But shortly thereafter, Besen said, “Brown, of course, doesn’t actually have to make an overt pitch for mayhem,” which seems to imply that Dr. Brown did not, in fact, “speak of violence.”

Besen takes issue with the proposition that the movement to normalize homosexuality tampers “with the foundations of human society.” Surely, he knows that this belief is not unique to Dr. Brown. It is widely held by theologians from most denominational traditions and by many legal scholars, philosophers, political commentators, sociologists, psychologists, and ordinary people of all educational backgrounds and walks of life. Many, many people view heterosexual marriage between one man and one woman who together produce and nurture future generations of children to be the foundational institution of any healthy society. Once society divorces marriage from children and marriage from gender, the institution becomes meaningless and the culture dies.

Besen goes on to say in his apoplectic way that “It is time for Brown and his comrades to abort their increasingly hostile and combative tactics before it leads to more wanton death.” This tactic of misrepresenting any public opposition to the ideologies and political actions of homosexual activists and their supporters as hate mongers, fomenters of violence, and bigots is the stock-in-trade of the “LGBT” movement. The logical implication of the argument that the expression of opposition to one group’s moral claims represents hatred, bigotry, and incitement to violence, however, would be that Besen’s words represent hatred, bigotry, and incitement to violence against Christians, and Orthodox Jews, and Muslims, and secular conservatives.

Besen’s screed is laden with overheated, inflammatory, intolerant rhetoric. Kudos to Dr. Brown for doing what faith leaders should have done decades ago. Let’s hope more brave men step forward.

One last point on another topic: I noticed that Besen (shown with the bullhorn at right) refers to Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth as “Porno Pete” which I also find ironic in light of the homosexual community’s purported opposition to name-calling.  It’s not just ironic; it’s hypocritical. It’s just one more revelatory sign of the intellectual and ethical vacuity of the homosexual movement.

Laurie Higgins is the Director of Illinois Family Institute’s Division of School Advocacy.

I sent a version of the following letter to Jeff, who wrote Americans For Truth in February urging us to respect the “civil rights” of homosexuals (who he believes are born that way). Jeff’s letter is beneath mine at bottom. — Peter LaBarbera:

Peter LaBarbera’s Letter to Jeff:

…Jeff, I doubt the accuracy of your numbers (I believe 1-3 percent of the population is homosexual), but did you know that there are many men and women who once identified as “gay” or “lesbian” who left that lifestyle and are now living happy lives free of homosexuality?  I respect them and their choices; do you? Have you ever met a former homosexual or read one of their testimonies?  If not, here’s a website for you to visit: www.exodus.to.  (Keep in mind that homosexual activists like Wayne Besen (www.truthwinsout.org) relentlessly demean, ridicule and even harass former homosexuals and the whole idea of “ex-gays” — strange conduct from a group that demands tolerance and respect from others.)

We disagree on the morality of homosexual practice, it’s that simple. I don’t ask you to “respect” all my decisions and behaviors — or my arguments — but I do ask you to respect my freedom to live according to my conscience, in a nation founded on religious freedom. And though as a Christian I respect the dignity of all human beings (who are made in the image of God), I will never respect the choice to embrace homosexual/bi/trans behavior — any more so than I would respect people self-identifying by any other sexual sin. (Of course, there are no Adultery Pride Parades.)

That said, speaking as a sinner myself, I have no use for people who hate homosexuals — who need the hope and grace of the Gospel like everyone else.  Rather, I would ask people practicing homosexuality to consider the possibility that they are wrong about this behavior (and their “gay” self-identity), and to be open to the possibility of leaving it through a relationship with Jesus Christ. (Of course, people can leave homosexuality and other sinful patterns without God, but I have found that the most satisfied ex-gays are those who have embraced Christ; see http://www.redeemedlives.org/index.asp, a ministry led by another ex-gay, Mario Bergner.)

So the gist of this debate is: do I and others like me have the right not to approve or subsidize behavior we consider immoral and changeable — or will that right be stripped from us in the name of “LGBT rights”?  Should a small businessman, say an Orthodox Jew with 25 employees, be required by the state to subsidize the homosexual relationships of his employees against his will?  You see, this is far different from traditional civil rights — based on unchangeable skin color — which perhaps explains why African Americans are the strongest sub-group in opposition to “same-sex marriage.”

Besides, the science isn’t in on the supposed “gay gene” so why do you assume it’s fact? (Check out the American Psychological Association’s recent retreat on the alleged innateness of homosexuality: http://www.washblade.com/2009/7-10/news/national/14849.cfm.)

Since you “care about freedom,” will you stand up strongly for the liberty of all Americans to live by their moral and religious beliefs, even if you don’t agree with or understand them?  I hope so.

Thanks for taking the time to write, and sorry for the late reply. We get thousands of emails a month and many are not as respectful as yours.

Sincerely,

Peter LaBarbera
President
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
www.aftah.org

July 17, 2009

——————————————————————————–

Jeff’s Letter to AFTAH:

From: Jeff H. [mailto:--------]
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 12:59 PM
To: americansfortruth@comcast.net
Subject: introduction

Hi,

I am a straight man, married for 30 years. As an entrepreneur and capitalist I have created thousands of jobs. I am no “left wing” radical.

About 5% of the people of the world are gay or lesbian, one out of twenty people. Just as you and I didn’t pick our sexuality, they didn’t pick theirs. Their “agenda” is the agenda of civil rights. It is also my agenda and the agenda of everyone who cares about freedom.

It would be great if you were to respect all humans regardless of what their genes are, and fight for human rights for everyone.

Thank you for your time.

- Jeff

Opinion piece by J. Matt Barber [Note: Barber will be keynoting Americans For Truth's fund-raising banquet on Sat., Oct. 24 in suburban Chicago]

The highly contentious “nature vs. nurture” debate over whether “gay” penguins choose the homosexual lifestyle or are hatched that way has reached a hard boil.

San Francisco’s Fox affiliate KTUV reports: “The San Francisco Zoo’s popular same-sex penguin couple has broken up.

“Male Magellan penguins Harry and Pepper have been together since 2003. The pair nested together and even incubated an egg laid by another penguin in 2008, but their relationship hit the rocks earlier this year when a female penguin, Linda, befriended Harry after her long-time companion died.

“Zookeepers say Harry and Linda are happy and were able to successfully nest this year,” reported KTUV.

But not everyone is celebrating Harry and Linda’s newfound love. Some believe there can be no such a thing as an “ex-gay” penguin. Upon news of Harry’s decision to fly the same-sex-coop, outspoken pro-homosexual activist and anti-ex-gay crusader Wayne Besen cried fowl:

“Attempts to change sexual orientation are patently offensive, discriminatory by definition, theologically shaky, uniformly unsuccessful and medically unsound!” exclaimed a visibly angry Besen. “There is no ‘ex-gay’ sexual orientation. Harry is simply in denial. He’s living what I call the ‘big lie.’”

When asked if heterosexual penguins can become gay, Besen replied, “Well, um, sure. It happens all the time. But in that case it’s just the penguin embracing who he really is. Penguin pride is quite a courageous thing to witness, what with all the mean-spiritedness and homophobia among Penguo-Americans and everything. Once gay, always gay! You know; birds of a feather and all that.

“See,” continued Besen, “medical science has conclusively determined that, while still eggs, many of the more effeminate penguins sometimes get a bit scrambled, so to speak, due to what’s called ‘Homospheniscus Magellanicus Inheritus’ or, as it’s commonly referred: ‘The Gay Penguin Gene’ (GPG).

“No, seriously. It’s science,” insisted Besen. “Harry’s as gay today as he’s ever been. Mark my words. It’s just a matter of time until he ends up slinking around some back alley gay bar in the Castro District, strung out on meth.”

As is customary, Besen – along with a lathered-up handful of equally irate anti-ex-gay blowhards – intends to raucously picket Harry’s Zoo holding area – megaphones in hand – to protest what Besen called, “the tremendous political setback an ever-increasing number of ex-gays pose to our furiously ambitious political agenda. I really, really wish they’d just go away.”

Meanwhile, Pepper has also had difficulty accepting Harry’s decision to embrace natural sexuality. According to KTUV, Harry’s relationship with Linda “did not go over well with Pepper, who became violent.” Zookeeper Jennifer Katz lamented that “Pepper is by himself now.”

Still, it appears that Pepper has yet to hit rock bottom. In recent days he has reportedly been spotted waddling around the zoo’s public men’s room, skulking in stalls and inexplicably tapping his flipper. There’s even speculation that, as things continue to spiral, he may consider a run for political office.

___________________________

Matt Barber is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Director of Cultural Affairs with both Liberty Counsel and Liberty Alliance Action. Send comments to Matt at jmattbarber@comcast.net. (This information is provided for identification purposes only.)  Barber will be the keynote speaker at AFTAH’s fund-raising banquet on Saturday, October 24 at the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, Illinois, northwest of Chicago (see below).

Matt Barber to Keynote AFTAH Fund-raising Banquet on October 24th

NOTE: The date of our banquet has been changed to Saturday, Oct. 24th:

SAVE THE DATE, Saturday Oct 24: Please save the evening of Saturday, October 24 to attend Americans For Truth’s banquet. Our featured speaker is Matt Barber, culture warrior for Liberty Counsel and author of the column below. Matt is quite a guy, to say the least. He’s gone from being a professional heavyweight boxer, to being fired by Allstate Insurance Company in 2005 because he wrote an online article – on his own time — critical of organized homosexuality, to his current position as one of America’s leading defenders of natural marriage and family. AFTAH got rave reviews for its last banquet; you won’t want to miss this one! The event will be held outside Chicago, in Arlington Heights, IL. Write us for more information at aftahangela@gmail.com or americansfortruth@comcast.net. We hope to see you there!

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

_________________________________________

The following release was sent out by PFOX April 7:

Contact:  Greg Quinlan, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX); PFOX@pfox.org

Gays Hating Ex-Gays

Hate Crimes Bill Introduced in Congress

A commentary by ex-gay Greg Quinlan

Washington D.C. – April 7, 2009/ What happens when ex-gays dare to come out of the closet?  When I helped staff the exhibit booth for the Ex-Gay Educators Caucus at the National Education Association conference in June 2006, Wayne Besen, the former spokesperson for the gay Human Rights Campaign, approached our booth and began to insult us for having the audacity to live as heterosexuals.  He took photos of our booth for his ex-gay bashing website which targets the ex-gay community for ridicule and harassment.  Mr. Besen and gay rights organizations do not believe ex-gays are entitled to the same rights and respect that gays currently enjoy.  They picket ex-gay conferences and protest vigorously against ex-gay equal access.

In his continuing zeal to discredit the ex-gay community, Besen likes to bully ex-gays by insisting that we still look “gay.”  When he was Director of Communications for the Human Rights Campaign, Besen delighted in telling me to “butch up” so “normal people” wouldn’t think I’m still “gay.”  See his emails for yourself at http://pfox.org/Human-Rights-Campaign-Hate-Against-Ex-Gays.pdf

At the conference, Besen stuck his finger in my face and called me a “fu*king faggot,” “fu*king cocksu*ker,” “fu*king fag bastard,” “fu*king nellie fairy,” and so on.  I guess he skipped the tolerance class where school kids learn to appreciate diversity and gays.  “You’re still having gay sex,” he yelled at me.  We had to call security to escort him out of the convention hall because we were scared for our safety.

Hate against ex-gays like me is all too common.  What’s going to happen when Congress passes the national Hate Crimes Prevention Act for gays?  It was introduced last week in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL).

With their hate officially protected by law, gay rights groups will force ex-gays into the closet.  Homosexuals will determine heterosexuality by censoring any ex-gay speech or behavior they disagree with as “hateful,” “discriminatory,” “intimidation,” “bullying,” “dangerous,” or leading to “spiritual and physical violence.”  We know because this is what they already label us.  Fighting “hate” and “discrimination” against gays has become a euphemism for attacks against ex-gays and their supporters.

Think twice, America.  Do you want to give gay activists like Besen the right to hate under the guise of a “civil rights” protection?  Besen has now aligned himself with Lambda Legal, the nation’s oldest and largest attorneys group “working for the civil rights of lesbians and gay men.”  Lambda Legal has offices and lawyers across the country.

While you still can, please stand up for the equal rights of the ex-gay community.  Unpopular minorities like former homosexuals deserve the right to be free and out in society.  The violence and hate spewed against heterosexuals after they voted against genderless marriage last fall is proof that a politically powerful and wealthy group like homosexuals can scare us into silence.  Let’s not be silent.

###

See http://pfox.org/about_us.html for more information about the ex-gay community. Greg Quinlan is a director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX). Mr. Quinlan is available for media interviews; contact: PFOX@pfox.org

__________________________________________

FOX Bill O’Reilly segment (April 21, 2009) in which Wayne Besen labels opposition to “gay marriage” as “bigotry”:

Send To Phone

Who Is the Real Hateful Bully? Professional homosexual-hater-of-EX-gays Wayne Besen (left) got in former homosexual Greg Quinlan’s face and spewed vulgarities at Quinlan, accusing him of “still having gay sex” before being led away by security.

How fascinating that Wayne Besen (left) is given the opportunity to appear on FOX News, of all places [this YouTube clip features Besen whining about a hilarious Snickers ad that was pulled], to critique alleged “homophobic” attitudes and speech toward homosexuals — when he has such a well-deserved reputation for being one of the nastiest “queer” activists in the business. (Besen is the guy who came up with the deceptive smear “Porno Pete” to demonize yours truly — as if I have some prurient interest in homosexual pornography rather than a desire to expose the hyper-promiscuity celebrated within the homosexual male subculture. Wayne knows this is a lie but he continues to use it–strange conduct for the founder of a group called “Truth Wins Out.”) TAKE ACTION: forward this article by my friend Greg Quinlan to FOX’s Bill O’Reilly (oreilly@foxnews.com) and urge him to reconsider his use of an accomplished anti-Christian bigot (who especially hates public ex-gays like Greg) as a talking-head “expert” on “tolerance.”– Peter LaBarbera, www.americansfortruth.com

Greg writes:

PFOX (Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays)

Gays Hating Ex-Gays

By Greg Quinlan, April 5 2009

What happens when ex-gays dare to come out of the closet?  When I helped staff the exhibit booth for the Ex-Gay Educators Caucus at the National Education Association conference in June 2006, Wayne Besen, the former spokesperson for the gay Human Rights Campaign, approached our booth and began to insult us for having the audacity to live as heterosexuals.  He took photos of our booth for his ex-gay bashing website which targets the ex-gay community for ridicule and harassment.  Mr. Besen and gay rights organizations do not believe ex-gays are entitled to the same rights and respect that gays currently enjoy.  They picket ex-gay conferences and protest vigorously against ex-gay equal access.

n his continuing zeal to discredit the ex-gay community, Besen likes to bully ex-gays by insisting that we still look “gay.”  When he was Director of Communications for the Human Rights Campaign, Besen delighted in telling me to “butch up” so “normal people” wouldn’t think I’m still “gay.”  See his emails for yourself at http://pfox.org/Human-Rights-Campaign-Hate-Against-Ex-Gays.pdf

At the conference, Besen stuck his finger in my face and called me a “fu*king faggot,” “fu*king c**ksucker,” “fu*king fag bastard,” “fu*king nellie fairy,” and so on.  I guess he skipped the tolerance class where school kids learn to appreciate diversity and gays.  “You’re still having gay sex,” he yelled at me.  We had to call security to escort him out of the convention hall because we were scared for our safety.

Hate against ex-gays like me is all too common.  What’s going to happen when Congress passes the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and national Hate Crimes Act for gays, as Obama has promised?  With their hate officially protected by law, gay rights groups will force ex-gays into the closet.  Homosexuals will determine heterosexuality by censoring any ex-gay speech or behavior they disagree with as “hateful,” “discriminatory,” “intimidation,” “bullying,” “dangerous,” or leading to “spiritual and physical violence.”  We know because this is what they already label us.  Fighting “hate” and “discrimination” against gays has become a euphemism for attacks against ex-gays and their supporters.

Think twice, America.  Do you want to give gay activists like Besen the right to hate under the guise of a “civil rights” protection?  Besen has now aligned himself with Lambda Legal, the nation’s oldest and largest attorneys group “working for the civil rights of lesbians and gay men.”  Lambda Legal has offices and lawyers across the country.  [See AFTAH's story about Lambda Legal's role helping to keep men practicing deviant sex with other men in public places out of trouble.]

While you still can, please stand up for the equal rights of the ex-gay community.  Unpopular minorities like former homosexuals deserve the right to be free and out in society.  The violence and hate spewed against heterosexuals after they voted against genderless marriage last fall is proof that a politically powerful and wealthy group like homosexuals can scare us into silence.  Let’s not be silent.

###

See http://pfox.org/about_us.html for more information about the ex-gay community.

Greg Quinlan is a director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX).  Mr. Quinlan is available for media interviews at 804-453-4737 or p-fox@pfox.org

This article may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety only.

Americans For Truth sent the following e-letter today to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, and cc’d to pro-family leaders across the country. Homosexual militant Wayne Besen (left) is once again attacking the Pope — one of his many targets among those who espouse traditional Judeo-Christian morality. Tonight Laura Ingraham subbed for Mr. O’Reilly:

Dear Mr. O’Reilly, why are you helping gay extremist Wayne Besen project a false “moderate” image?…

… Dear Mr. O’Reilly, homosexual activist and “Truth Wins Out” founder Wayne Besen plays nice and respectable on your show, but he is one of the most hateful, anti-religious bigots in the overall homosexual activist movement. I write today because I believe that if you were aware of his full record, you might not want him on your program – except perhaps in one of those interview segments in which you expose the hard Left. Besen regularly lies about pro-family advocates, cynically equates sincere defenders of historic, Judeo-Christian sexual mores (such as Dr. James Dobson) with “hate” and vile prejudice — and practically stalks ex-gay leaders like Greg Quinlan (cc’d above) in his fanatical campaign to discredit the well-observed reality that homosexuals can change and leave that lifestyle.

Besen certainly is not the responsible and respectful gay spokesman he pretends to be on your show, and he benefits greatly from the moderate image that comes from being a frequent guest on FOX. At the very least, I would expect you to do a segment grilling Besen, in tough O’Reilly tradition, on some of his extreme statements and tactics – such as when he had to be escorted from a convention after harassing an “ex-gay” booth and getting in the face of Quinlan, screaming at him in an obscenity-laden tirade. Or when he not only accused Dr. Dobson of being “hateful” but also of contributing to “hate violence” against homosexuals – in a “Truth Wins Out”-sponsored campaign to deny Dobson’s entrance into the Radio Hall of Fame. (Ironically, a year earlier the same Besen did all he could to discredit a real victim of physical assault – after a homosexual activist angrily attacked an ex-gay man volunteering at a PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays) booth at a fair in Arlington, Virginia. Besen’s baseless insinuation that the victim was lying was ultimately disproved when an Arlington police officer confirmed that the ex-gay man was attacked, and that his assailant had to be escorted out of the fairgrounds. Imagine how Besen would have decried the “hate crime” had the victim – and not the victimizer – been a homosexual.)

Thank you for challenging Besen — in your most recent interview with him about anti-Prop 8 protests — on his preposterous claim of “just wanting to be left alone,” For Wayne Besen to say such a thing – after his mean-spirited harassment of critics; his penchant for slandering good people and revered Christian leaders like Dr. Dobson as fomenters of “hate violence,” and his ends-justifies-the-means campaign to discredit healthy change and time-tested morality — is the height of irony. Thank you for all the good work you have done in exposing left-wing “loons” – a description Wayne Besen has well earned with his particularly nasty brand of intolerance in the service of homosexual “rights.”

Sincerely,

Peter LaBarbera

President, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality

Cc: Regina Griggs, PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays); Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council; Tom Minnery and Kermit Rainman, Focus on the Family; Matt Staver and Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel; Sandy Rios, Culture Campaign and FOX contributor; Robert Knight, Coral Ridge Ministries; Brent Bozell and Tim Graham, Media Research Center; Gregg Quinlan, New Jersey Family Policy Council; Joseph Farah and Bob Unruh, World Net Daily; Don Irvine and Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media; Michael Heath, Maine Family Policy Council; Randy Thomasson, Campaign for Children and Families; Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families; David Smith, and Laurie Higgins, Illinois Family Institute; Phil Burress, Citizens for Community Values; Rick Scarborough, Vision America; Gary Glenn, AFA-Michigan; Don Wildmon and Buddy Smith, American Family Association; Dean Byrd and David Pruden, NARTH (National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality); Jack Roeser and John Biver, www.ChampionNews.net; Linda Harvey, Mission America; Stephen Bennett, Stephen Bennett Ministries; Scott Lively, Abiding Truth Ministries; Joe Glover, Family Policy Network; Brian Camenker, Mass Resistance.

Following is the e-alert Besen sent out earlier today announcing his appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor”:

——————————————————————————–

From: Wayne Besen [Truth Wins Out]
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 12:27 PM
To: [recipient]
Subject: TWO’s Wayne Besen on O’Reilly Factor TONIGHT (8PM EST)

Please tune in at 8PM EST to the Fox News Channel. Truth Wins Out’s founder Wayne Besen will appear to discuss the Pope’s comments that condoms make the AIDS epidemic worse.

“You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” the pope told reporters aboard the Alitalia plane headed to Yaounde, Cameroon, where he will begin a seven-day pilgrimage on the continent. “On the contrary, it increases the problem.”

How many people is this man willing to see die to defend his outdated dogma? Can the Pope show us a population where HIV increased because of condom use? Of course not!

Tune in TONIGHT. (The show re-broadcasts at 11PM EST.)

Truth Wins Out | P. O. Box 25491 | Brooklyn | NY | 11202

Yvette Cantu Schneider, husband Paul and their two children. Yvette was once a committed lesbian but recently she and Paul celebrated their ninth wedding anniversary. Homosexual activists like Wayne Besen ridicule Christian ex-homosexuals like Yvette with their slogan, “Pray away the gay” — which trivializes healthy change and God’s redemptive work in the lives of men and women.

By Peter LaBarbera

I don’t know if Sodomitic Spinmeister Wayne Besen of “Truth” Wins Out invented the silly slogan “pray away the gay” to slam the observable reality that homosexuals can leave the lifestyle (as countless thousands have), but he is busy promoting it. The following is taken from Besen’s new column criticizing President-elect Obama for picking evangelical pastor Rick Warren to say the invocation on Inaugural Day:

After all, Warren has a program to “help” homosexuals “pray away the gay” and played a prominent role in passing Proposition 8, which prohibits same-sex couples from marrying in California. He has even compared same-sex couples marrying to incest and child abuse.

Now what’s Besen’s goal here? Obviously, to ridicule the notion of healthy change for homosexuals, but with the added bonus of playing to secularist, anti-Christian cultural biases and caricatures — which Wayne himself stokes at every opportunity.

Some observations:

• There are lots of men and women who once identified as “gay” or “lesbian” who left the lifestyle and are living contented and fulfilled lives in their post-homosexual identities.  My friend Yvette Cantu Schneider just celebrated her ninth anniversary — Yvette was once a proud lesbian [see her testimony HERE] but now is happily married to husband Paul, and they are the parents of two beautiful children. (Yvette also testifies that she has no lingering sexual attraction toward females);
• Many “ex-gays” and former lesbians appear to have come out of homosexuality through a religious experience — others not. In Yvette’s case, she experienced a born-again relationship with Jesus Christ. That involved prayer and repentance, to be sure, but to dismiss such profound experiences as “praying away the gay” is to cynically trivialize a most powerful spiritual transformation;
• We don’t know about “the gay,” as Besen puts it, but profound change like that experienced by Yvette and former homosexual D.L. Fostor — creator of the Gay Christian Movement Watch website –provides serious anecdotal evidence that serious change in homo-sexual behavior and attractions IS possible. This is hardly a surprise to evangelical Christians, whose lives testify to the power of Jesus Christ to overcome ANY sin — including horrible addictions like drugs and alcoholism. (Imagine deriding AA — which has a spiritual component — as “praying away the drunk.”) We trust that most Bible-believing Christians would agree that there is no reason to treat homosexual conduct/ideation as some “special sin” that cannot be overcome like other behavioral sin patterns.
• Back to the notion of “the gay”: as we’ve written before, the evil genius of the “gay” construct is that it turns changeable, sinful and destructive behavior into personhood — i.e., an innocuous trait; ditto for “sexual orientation,” which implies that one has no control over aberrant sexual feelings and indulging those feelings. (It’s “who I am,” homosexuals say, as if deviant sexual propensities are intrinsically part of their nature; the corollary follows: “if it’s who I am, and I was born this way, how could it be wrong?”) The reason homosexual activists like Besen despise happy “ex-gays” like Yvette and DL is that they shatter the rigid, “fundamentalist”-like “gay identity” paradigm and suggest that all “homosexuals” (including Wayne) have the ability to stop practicing (wrong) homosexual behaviors. Taking personal responsibility for your actions — as countless men and women have by repenting of their past homosexual lifestyle and abandoning same-sex behavior — means, ultimately, that nobody has to be (act) “gay.” Choice IS involved in the embrace of homosexuality. Here we could spend several hundred pages discussing feelings versus behavior and lingering same-sex attractions, etc.  (Besen and others allege that ex-homosexuals really are only curtailing behaviors, but that they remain essentially “gay.”) But the bottom line is that all people struggle with temptations and sinful desires that they should not give in to (lust, greed, selfishness, etc.); this does not require that we assign an identity to those feelings/struggles and remove culpability from the person for indulging them;
• Lastly, to assert that men and women working with God through repentance and prayer CANNOT experience deep change is an affront to our Savior, Jesus Christ. When homosexual activists flip nature on its head and insist that their aberrant feelings and conduct are natural (and not sinful) and that the Bible is the problem  — or at least the way it has been interpreted by multitudes of “homophobic,” bigoted Christians down through the centuries — they insult their Creator, who created men and women for one another, and who has already proven His awesome, transformative power in the lives of countless sinners from the beginning.

Taking all the above into account — and the sheer animosity that so many homosexual activists like Besen have for Christians and religious people who refuse to compromise the Bible to accommodate a pro-homosexuality agenda — it becomes obvious what “pray away the gay” is: another arrogant attempt by homosexual militants to discredit faithful Christians and subvert Biblical Truth, and to affirm their destructive lifestyle as natural, normal and good — no matter what their loving Creator says.

Former homosexual DL Foster and his beautiful family. Foster created the website “Gay Christian Movement Watch” to monitor the subversive attempt by homosexual activists to argue that the Bible and Christianity actually affirm their sinful lifestyle choice.

By Peter LaBarbera

We received an e-mail about yesterday’s piece on the first-ever homosexual band in the Inaugural Parade from Alonzo, a homosexual advocate who — although passionate about his beliefs — always remains civil.

By the way, and for the record, AFTAH does not allow comments to be posted on our website precisely because of the sheer viciousness, vulgarity and ad hominem, hate-filled attacks that characterize so many messages against us from pro-homosexual activists. Responding to the lies and smears would take all of our time. Uncivil homosexual activists would love that.

Porno Pete?

As veteran AFTAH readers know, one of the favorite, ongoing “queer” lies against me is that I am a secret homosexual or, worse, a covert aficionado of (unspeakably evil and revolting) homosexual S&M and pornography. Hence the nasty slam against me concocted by homosexual spinmeister Wayne Besen: “Porno Pete.” (I suppose if you use the logic of ‘Wayne’s World,’ someone who exposes abortionists secretly yearns to slaughter innocents in the womb — and Wayne himself, who monitors and exposes allegedly fraudulent “ex-gays” through his comically named Truth Wins Out — is a closeted fundamentalist Christian who TiVos every episode of “The 700 Club” while pretending to fight for Queer Liberation.)

Yep, aside from the murderous Islamic jihadists, it seems nobody hates (or lies) like the Left, and nobody on the Left hates like the homosexual militants. If you doubt me on this, take a detour into Loony Liberal Land for a few minutes and read the comments responding to one of Besen’s attacks on me and Americans For Truth. In another piece, mean-spirited even by Besen-esque standards, the Professional Homosexual Agitator (PHA) goes after ex-homosexual Greg Quinlan for getting divorced — exploiting Quinlan’s family tragedy without knowing the facts of the situation, his personal hatred for Greg oozing from sentence after sentence.

Another of my favorite Homosexual Hate Sites — and a quick-and-easy resource for finding examples of nastiness and anti-Christian bigotry — is lesbian blogger Pam Spaulding’s Pam’s House Blend. Yet as out there as Spaulding is, and she’s out there, Pam’s blogging buddies’ comments make her seem almost respectable by comparison: see this piece about AFTAH Board Member Matt Barber and me counter-protesting a Chicago “gay marriage” rally — rife with personal insults and the same, old “they must be gay” attacks. (Funny, it seems that accusing someone of being “gay” is the biggest insult that radical homosexuals can hurl at their opponents.) Can you imagine trying to deal with daily submissions from such bitter extremists? We can’t, and we won’t.

Below, Alonzo responds to my post yesterday post on the homosexual band marching in Barack Obama’s Inaugural Parade, followed by my answer:

_______________________________________
From: [Alonzo]
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2008 12:43 PM
To: americansfortruth@comcast.net
Subject: Transgender Twirlers[Cites sentence from AFTAH article, "Transgender Twirlers: Homosexual Band to March at Obama's Inaugural Parade":] “Question: what deserving, hard-working high school band from Anytown, USA was bumped out by the homosexual marchers in the intense competition to march in the Inaugural Parade?”

Are you implying that because the band is GLBT [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered] they aren’t hard working?

It must really burn you that we have a President that sees value in ALL AMERICANS not just the straight Christian ones.

_______________________________________

Peter LaBarbera responds:

I’m sure the GLBT band works very hard, Alonzo. The point is, does their presence bump out a high school band? Keep in mind that you believe homosexuality is moral (or innocuous, not sure which) and I believe its practice is immoral, so obviously my side views it as a shame that a band centered around immoral conduct (and advocacy) would bump out an innocent, “nonpolitical” [high school] band.

Does that help? Have a Merry Christmas, Alonzo!

Ray Boltz back when he was not publicly defying God’s Word. The Christian artist and father of four now says being homosexual “is the way God made me.” 

By Peter LaBarbera

Last week, I was at the Family Research Council’s “Values Voter Summit” in Washington, D.C., where I was struck by how many former homosexuals I encountered in the space of a three day visit. I had breakfast with my good friend Jim, who is happily married and has left homosexuality so far behind that he told me he can barely believe that was how he once lived.

Then there was Anthony Falzarano, a veteran former homosexual who is out with a new book about his life, And Such Were Some of You. (Anthony — who has attended the funerals of many homosexual friends from his old life — was accompanied by his beautiful daughter Mary Victoria, who is alive today because he stopped living the “gay” lie.)

And I met Anthony Glover, an African American man whose road to overcoming homosexuality was solidified by a scary experience of almost committing sodomy with a homosexual man who was HIV-positive. (Yes, some homosexual men intentionally try to infect others with HIV.)

Also stopping at our Americans For Truth booth at the FRC summit was Grace Harley, a former (female-to-male) “transgender” who is now a Christian advocating for healthy change in Maryland.

Amidst all this, I picked up a copy of The Washington Blade, D.C.’s main homosexual newspaper, only to find a long story on former Christian Gospel singer Ray Boltz, who has sold out Jesus by embracing a false “gay” identity after living a life as a married family man. (Self-styled “queer” activists will say that Boltz was living a lie, but his four children do not owe their existence to a “gay” lifestyle.) I read the entire Blade story, but all you really need to know is in the final paragraph:

“This is what it really comes down to,” [Boltz] says. “If this is the way God made me , then this is the way I’m going to live. It’s not like God made me this way and he’ll send me to hell if I am who he created me to be … I really feel closer to God because I no longer hate myself.”

Wow, talk about presumption! This talented man is lost and he needs our prayers. Boltz may “feel” closer to God, but if you believe the Scriptures, he’s farther than ever from Him. We understand that the radical “gay” movement exalts its collective “feelings” over the Bible’s clear teaching — and certainly they are not alone in that regard — but each of us must choose between the truth and lies every day, and homosexual behavior is egregiously sinful, according to God’s Word. (See www.robgagnon.net if you are tempted to rationalize away the Bible’s clear condemnation of homosexual practice.) You just can’t sugarcoat that verdict, although these days even many Christians try.

The good news is that for every Ray Boltz, there is a man or woman who went the other way — toward Truth –and, with the help of a loving God, is overcoming strong homosexual temptations in their life. The logical fallacy of homosexual ideologues like Wayne Besen or the self-serving activists at ExGayWatch — and all who are in the business of “disproving” or discrediting former homosexuals — is that they put forth “failures” like Boltz as the “truth” standard for all who feel the homosexual pull.

In a world of “my truth” as opposed to Absolute Truth (right vs. wrong, good vs. evil), it’s an effective tactic to celebrate those who “feel” that “being gay” is “who I am.” But take a moment to think about the implications of that approach for other besetting sins. Would society ever hold up the men and women who tried to overcome addictions but then failed and returned to their destructive habit as the norm and role models for others? (Yes, homosexual practice is a destructive habit, as attested by the drastically shortened lifespans and high incidence of disease among men who practice same-sex sin.)

Moreover, homosexual activists and fellow travelers are using their insider roles in our public schools to guide sexually confused youth into following Boltz’s model by giving in to powerful yet destructive homosexual urges. Remember that “GLBT” identities remain an ideological concept:  What does it mean to assert that homosexuality (”gay” or “lesbian” identity) defines “who a person is” when the very outworking of that identity — same-sex sexual behavior — has caused so much suffering over the last three decades? Only a society in moral decline would countenance confirming impressionable young people into sinful and unhealthy identities/lifestyles.

Truth is timeless

If we are to accept Boltz’s story, how can we reject my friend Jim’s, or Yvette Schneider’s, or Anthony Falzarano’s? Truth is not decided by sinful man’s “feelings” but is revealed by God, through His Holy Word. And even if you don’t believe the Bible, Nature itself reveals the wrongness of homosexual behavior. Yes, Nature discriminates against men having sex with men, as reflected by the through-the-roof sexually-transmitted disease quotient among MSM (men who have sex with men) and other salient factors like the indisputable fact that homosexual relationships cannot produce children without the assistance of normalcy (heterosexuality).

I do not believe there is a single “cause” of homosexuality, but the reporter in me wants to know more about how Boltz grew up — was there sin (of others), predatory behavior, or dysfunction in his early life that helped set him on this path? My hunch is there is a story there, but regardless, we must pray for this wandering soul to return to Christ while combating the lie he now espouses that a holy God who hates sin “makes people gay.”

Below is an excellent column by Joel Belz, founder of WORLD magazine, answering some of the current Christian gibberish critical of believers who fight for Truth in the public square. (Click HERE for the full column in WORLD.) While we’re at it, here are 20 more good reasons why Christians (or anyone) should never feel guilty about a single-minded focus in countering the homosexual/transsexual activist and pro-abortion lobbies:

1. Human Rights Campaign (largest pro-homosexual PAC);
2. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force;
3. Lambda Legal;
4. NARAL Pro-Choice American (formerly National Abortion Rights Action League, which cruelly defends even later-term abortions).
5. GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation;
6. GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network);
7. NOW (they manage to promote both lesbianism and abortion-on-demand);
8. MTV (obnoxious in its one-sided promotion of homosexuality, bisexuality, etc.);
9. Soulforce and other Bible-twisting, “queer theology”-promoting groups;
10. Radical, reason-challenged, pro-homosexual websites like young Jeremy Hooper’s Good As You blog, Wayne (”Anything But Straight”) Besen’s ‘ex-gay’-hating Truth Wins Out, and lesbian Pam (”Jeebus”) Spaulding’s Pam’s House Blend;
11. National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association;
12. EMILY’s List (a pro-abortion PAC)
13. Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (working to open up the military to homosexuals);
14. ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project;
15. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
16. Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
17. Tim Gill (homosexual money-man)
18. Pro-homosexual activist groups like Equality Illinois fighting in all 50 states for radical legislation that undermines marriage;
19. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
20. PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians & Gays), a radical pro-homosexual group.

_______________________________

Belz writes for WORLD:

Stop Apologizing!
It’s not always wrong to be a “single-issue” advocate

It’s become an increasingly frequent reminder to us evangelical Christians not to let our cultural identity be framed by “single issues.”

It was a reminder implicitly included in the “Evangelical Manifesto,” a document whose basic content we at WORLD have applauded but whose political direction I questioned in our last issue. Why are the Manifesto’s backers so ready to join the cultural left in suggesting a guilt trip for those evangelicals who have been preoccupied with the evils of abortion and same-sex marriage?

And if some argue that the rising generation of younger evangelicals is a bit embarrassed by what they think is an out-of-balance focus by their elders, and thinks it’s time to get equally exercised over issues like racism, economic justice, and the environment—well, if that’s the case with our twentysomethings and our teenagers, then maybe we need to go to work and do a better job of explaining to them why we’ve put the emphasis where we have for the last generation and why we believe that it’s time not to lower our voices.

Evangelicals shouldn’t be embarrassed to say boldly and clearly: Abortion and same-sex marriage are uniquely heinous sins. They rattle the foundations of a civilized society. They take a culture in a dreadful direction. We haven’t been wrong to say so. We aren’t fanatics.

Click HERE to read Belz’ entire column in WORLD

___________________________ 

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.    

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/ex-lesbian-charlene-cothran-tells-aftah-banquet-that-born-gay-claim-is-vicious-lie.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/gay-activists-journalists-mingle-and-stragetize-at-national-gay-journalists-conference.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/gay-activists-journalists-mingle-and-stragetize-at-national-gay-journalists-conference.html#comments Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:43:54 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/gay-activists-journalists-mingle-and-stragetize-at-national-gay-journalists-conference.html  This FOX News Channel ad ran in the program guide of the recent National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association conference in San Diego. 

The following is Allyson Smith’s first installment on the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) conference in San Diego — which she attended representing Americans For Truth. Note the casual mixing of homosexual media with “mainstream” media – all sharing and strategizing around a pro-gay perspective — and the complete lack of opposing voices present at the NLGJA panels. (Allyson tells me that at one panel on “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell,” the moderator said that opponents of homosexuals in the military were invited to speak but declined to attend.)

All this begs the question of whether homosexual reporters working in establishment media can truly be objective — i.e., fair and balanced –  especially when they are assigned to cover homosexual-related issues. Also, note that for ease of reading, we have not put quote marks around the word “gay” as we would normally do. – Peter LaBarbera

By Allyson Smith

Gay Activists & Journalists Mingle and Strategize Together at National Gay Journalists Conference: Day 1 at the NLGJA

On Thursday, August 30, I attended the first of three days of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association convention, held at the Westin Horton Plaza Hotel in downtown San Diego. Although I have been to many homosexual conferences and events since the dawn of the millennium, at times using my real name and at other times an assumed name, this would be my first time to attend such a convention as a totally “out” Christian conservative reporter under the auspices of an organization many homosexual activists hate: Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), headed by longtime pro-family activist Peter LaBarbera.

“What will all these homosexuals do,” I wondered, “once they find out someone from Americans For Truth is here? Will they kick me out? Will they try to embarrass me? Will they call me names? Will they just ignore me?”

Having “prayed up” before arriving at the NLGJA convention, I felt that deep peace which passes all understanding as I opened the Westin’s door. After checking in at the registration desk – so far, so good – I headed to the first session, titled The Right Approach: Covering LGBT Conservatives.

Wayne Besen ’Outs’ Me
Entering the conference room, I encountered session moderator Wayne Besen. Besen is the executive director of Truth Wins Out, described on its website as “a non-profit think tank and educational organization that counters right-wing disinformation campaigns, debunks the ex-gay myth, and provides accurate information about the lives of GLBT people.” Besen is also author of the books Anything But Straight: Debunking the Scandals and Lies behind the Ex-Gay Myth and, most recently, Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics and Culture.

[Editor's Note: for more on Wayne Besen, see AFTAH's posts: Wayne Besen Has Been Taking his Hate Pill again; ‘Gay’ Militant Seeks to ‘Shut Down’ Americans For Truth and Files False Complaint to Illinois AG; CWA Interviews LaBarbera Regarding Deceptive Wayne Besen Complaint.]

It wasn’t the first time I’d encountered Besen that day. Earlier in the morning, while I was still at home getting ready to go to the convention, his name had appeared in my inbox as the result of his copying me on an e-mail discussion he was having with pro-family advocate Guy Adams of ValuesUSA, over the cause of Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s recent bathroom bust. According to Besen, such episodes occur because “fundamentalists” “drive people deep into the closet (or ex-gay ministries, a fancy closet).” Adams and other conservatives, on the other hand, had attempted to point out that homosexual behavior is actually the cause.

Thus, this e-mail conversation was fresh on my mind as I met Besen in the conference room doorway. He glanced at my name badge, noting that I was with AFTAH. I shook his hand, introduced myself, and told him that Peter LaBarbera had sent me. Using the epithet he coined and by which a few of the more nasty homosexuals activists refer to Mr. LaBarbera, Besen in turn told me to say hello to “Porno Pete.” (Ironically, the conference would later feature a session about how to cover stories involving name-calling against homosexuals.)

“Now, just wait,” I thought, “he’ll announce me to the whole room.”

Besen opened the session by introducing the other three “LGBT conservative” panelists:  Dan Blatt, a Los Angeles-based writer who blogs on the GayPatriot.net website and founded the Log Cabin Republican Club of Northern Virginia; Scott Olin Schmidt of West Hollywood, an elected member of the 42nd District Republican Central Committee who also serves on the executive committee of the Los Angeles County Republican Party; and James Vaughn, director of Log Cabin Republicans of California, who said it’s his job to tell Republicans why they’re wrong.

That Larry Craig was on many conference-goers’ minds was evident when Besen fired off his first question to the panelists, asking them for their take on the scandal.

Blatt responded that there had been “terrible saturation” coverage by the media and that Craig had exercised “terrible judgment.” Schmidt said, “This isn’t a gay issue; this is an issue of people who pursue anonymous sex.” Vaughn asserted that Craig’s behavior “shows how dangerous the closet is.” Most of the scandals, he said, came from people living in the closet, not those who live as open homosexuals.

About 20 minutes into the discussion, Besen announced, “We have a friend of ours here, Allyson, from Americans For Truth Against [sic] Homosexuality.”

Waving my hand, I said light-heartedly, “I’m from the right wing. I’m the opposition researcher.” Many people in the room laughed. “I’m friendly; I don’t bite,” I assured them, and the discussion continued.

GOP Drifting ‘Gay’-ward?
Besen asked what it’s like for a gay Republican to walk into a party convention. “Is it better or worse than when you walk into a gay bar?” Here he was joking about his expose a few years back exposing that John Paulk – then an ex-gay spokesman with Focus on the Family – had visited a homosexual bar while on a business trip to D.C.)

The gay Republican, Vaughn, drew laughter as he answered, “Absolutely. It is much easier . . . to walk into a Republican convention and say you’re gay than it is to walk into a gay bar and say you’re a Republican.” Vaughn said he’d been having a lot of meetings recently with elected officials — and that most of them or their staffers said, “We’re with you,” and that homosexuality is not an issue for them.

Vaughn said that conservative groups like Lou Sheldon’s Traditional Values Coalition can’t hold a meeting that would fill a small conference room these days, when in the past they used to fill convention centers, “because they’re just not relevant anymore. They’re fading; they’re going away. People are getting over the gay issue.”

“What we lack in the Republican Party is not support. What we lack is leadership,” he said, confirming that elected officials have told him privately they support same-sex “marriage” but don’t dare say so publicly for fear of their constituents’ reactions.

Blatt, the Los Angeles writer, confirmed a similar experience, saying he finds it easier to be gay in Republican circles than to be Republican in gay circles. Libertarian in many of his views, Blatt said he does not support hate crimes legislation or the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), because he favors less government.

Schmidt asserted that there is a big divide between activist Republicans and the rank-and-file. “Most Republicans are moving toward the center.”

Blatt said, “The party knows it can’t win by being anti-gay.” Vaughn added that if enough GOP leaders “come out” in favor of homosexual issues, it will help to change the party’s rhetoric.

As I was leaving this session, a young woman approached and asked if she could interview me. She turned out to be a Georgia State University student who was attending the conference, along with several other college students from throughout the United States, to report on the NLGJA conference proceedings. According to the NLGJA conference booklet, this is the 10th year that student journalists have come to the convention. We made arrangements to conduct the interview later in the day.

‘Gay Games’/Clear Channel Media Marketing
The next session I attended was Mainstream Media and the LGBT Press: Co-opting or Cooperation? Moderated by Court Passant, executive producer of CBS News on Logo, the panel included Cynthia Laird of the homosexual newspaper Bay Area Reporter, San Diego Union-Tribune writer Pat Sherman, Jared Cohen of Clear Channel Communications, and Kevin Boyer, director of public relations and marketing for All Terrain in Chicago.

Cohen described his experience being interviewed by Clear Channel. Cohen told the interviewer that, if hired, “I would develop a gay and lesbian wing for Clear Channel,” adding that he explained a model and a method for a national development that could be tailored to local markets. “Two years later, we’re in 19 markets . . .”

Boyer discussed some of the strategies and methods he used to publicize the 2006 “Gay Games,” held in Chicago. He said that he had to do a mainstream public relations effort because he wanted the mainstream media to report on the Gay Games the way the LGBT press would, through sports stories, business stories, and the like. [The event was covered that way by the local, Chicago-area media – especially the Chicago Sun-Times, which also sponsored the “Gay Games” -- as if an event for homosexual athletes was something of daily interest to the media-consuming public. – Editor]

Boyer said he employed one strategy for the mainstream press and another for the homosexual press. Key themes were “inclusion,” “everybody enjoys sports,” “personal best,” and “straight people are always welcome at the Gay Games.” With the mainstream media, he helped educate reporters on homosexual issues; did athlete profiles, making sure to include men, women, elders, youth, and heterosexuals; and promulgated the message “This is a human interest story, not just a gay story.”

Cynthia Laird talked about some of the areas of cooperation and dissension between the mainstream media and the homosexual press. For example, she said there was a lot of support in the mainstream media for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” after General Peter Pace commented that homosexuality is immoral. On the other hand, she said, mainstream papers fail to give credit to GLBT papers. 

Citing Bill Gates’ recent $26.2 million investment in PlanetOut, Pat Sherman said the gay press is not in danger of being usurped by the mainstream media. “People will always want to go to the gay press” because it can provide history that the mainstream press cannot.

Sherman later added that there is room for both types of media, but the gay press may have to adapt and move toward niche publications, since it lacks the money or resources of the mainstream media.

During the question and answer period, discussion ensued regarding whether homosexual newspapers should report the names of men arrested for public sex. David Webb, a staff reporter for the Dallas Voice, noted that the Dallas police department has begun publicizing names and wondered how such stories should be reported if they involve prominent gays. One respondent said both the good and the bad must be reported.

After this session, I gave an interview to the college student.

Hillary Goes to ‘The Advocate’
Sponsored by the Gill Action Fund and Gill Foundation, organizations founded by Denver software entrepreneur Tim Gill to advocate and finance homosexual causes, the luncheon plenary was themed 40 Years of The Advocate: A Conversation with Anne Stockwell. The Advocate is a national homosexual magazine and website.

However, editor-in-chief Stockwell was unable to participate, so the magazine sent publisher Michael Phelps and deputy editor Rachel Dowd in her place. During the plenary, which was moderated by homosexual blogger and news reporter Rex Wockner, Phelps and Dowd discussed how The Advocate, whose parent corporation is PlanetOut, has evolved and stays relevant, as well as upcoming style and editorial changes planned for the magazine.

Dowd said “The Advocate used to be the only place to hear gay news, and now that’s just not the case . . . We’re not only covering same-sex issues, but we’re also covering things the New York Times is covering.”

When Wockner asked what the magazine will do to make gay people want to pick it up, Phelps answered, “We do a lot of exclusive interviews that you can’t find anywhere else.” An upcoming issue, he said, would feature an exclusive interview with [a major Democratic presidential candidate]. “She decided to do an interview with gay media, and of course sees The Advocate as the one and only place so far. And for a presidential candidate to come and seek you, a gay publication, this far in advance, really is groundbreaking.”

Larry Craig, Covering ‘Public Sex,’ and ‘Emotional Entrapment’
Wockner brought up the Larry Craig scandal and noted that there are some questions he hasn’t seen answered yet: “Why is it illegal to tap your foot in a bathroom? How is that breaking the law? To what extent was he [Larry Craig] entrapped into this?”

“How are you going to cover this story?” Wockner asked the panelists.

The Advocate’s Dowd said she had been involved in an editorial meeting about that topic just the previous day. “When did the bathroom become a beat? It’s kind of an odd question. So that was one angle we were actually looking at.” Another angle, said Dowd, is “perspective.” “We reached out to [former New Jersey governor] Jim McGreevey to write a piece for us on what happened to Larry . . . and it’s from his perspective. We look at it as a Republican phenomenon, what’s going on of living a double life, but that Jim understands perhaps emotional entrapment as being in Congress, and how political personas and political life creates a natural closet.”

Not all was sweetness and light, however, in the open question and answer period that followed. One audience member said, “I don’t feel The Advocate has much relevance to me and my life as I get older” because he isn’t familiar with a lot of the pop culture personalities it features. Another complained that the magazine used to address police entrapment issues, but not anymore, and wondered how many readers had canceled subscriptions as a result.

Gays in Charge of Gay Images
The final session I attended was Gay Panic: LGBT Media Merger Mania, where participants discussed mergers within the homosexual media and whether “gay” media will ever merge with “straight” media.

Moderated by Libby Post, a nationally syndicated commentator on homosexual issues for Q Syndicate and WAMC/Northeast Public Radio, the panel included Stephen Macias, a senior vice president at here! Networks; Sue O’Connell, publisher of Bay Windows, New England’s largest homosexual newspaper; Fred Kuhr, editor of Press Pass Q; editor Kevin Naff of the Washington Blade, “the nation’s oldest and largest LGBT newspaper;” and Joanne Jacobson, vice president of business development and operations at Logo, MTV Network’s homosexual cable channel, whose parent company is Viacom.

Post asked Macias how media mergers impact the way the gay community sees itself. He answered that one benefit is “you have gays and lesbians in charge of gay and lesbian images, whether it’s a media company that is as enormous as Viacom or an independent company like our company predominantly being run by gays and lesbians.”

O’Connell talked how homosexual community newspapers lose local flavor when they are owned by large conglomerates, harkening back to the early days of the homosexual press: “We were all picking up the mimeographed bar rags, and we were not looking at them to see where our rights were coming from. We were looking at them to see where drag night was going to be held.”

Kuhr lamented the fact that there are often identical stories on homosexual websites such as Gay.com and Advocate.com because they are owned by the same parent company.

In response to a questioner who said he still picks up the Washington Blade every Friday but no longer reads it because it lacks “local voices,” editor Naff responded in part, “I always tell people, ‘Write something.’” O’Connell agreed, citing the difficulty getting and keeping good writers due to the fact that they can now write for the mainstream press or blogs, as well as the poor pay.

As she said this, I nodded my head, remembering some of my own experiences as a freelance writer trying to collect payment. Fred Kuhr noticed and said, “Even she’s nodding.”

“We have the same issues in the conservative press,” I said.

One audience member asked Jacobson why there was no one from the gay press, yet there were non-journalists like lesbian rock musician Melissa Etheridge, on the panel during the recent presidential forum on homosexual issues, which was broadcast by the MTV offshoot Logo.

Jacobson replied that she had been at Logo from the beginning, and that she was one of the people who “pitched” Logo to Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone. “Is everything we do perfect? No. But were we able to do a national forum where these guys were seen in 28 million homes about issues that are important to us? Yes. Would I have picked Melissa Etheridge personally? I’m not answering that question (laughter). . . Afterwards, the quotes that were picked up [were hers], and everyone said that she really had the voice of the community.”

After this session, I left the conference for the day, missing the LGBT Media Summit Closing Reception, the Chapter Meet & Greet, the NLGJA Newcomers’ Reception, the Welcoming Reception with remarks by NLGJA national president Eric Hegedus (whose column equating pro-family critics of homosexuality to racists can be seen HERE on the NLJGA site) and executive director David Barre, and a screening of the documentary film Tell – a film critical of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on homosexuals.

Look for the Next Installment on the 2007 NLGJA Conference

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/gay-activists-journalists-mingle-and-stragetize-at-national-gay-journalists-conference.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/support-dr-james-holsinger-for-surgeon-general-against-homosexual-lobbys-smear-campaign.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/support-dr-james-holsinger-for-surgeon-general-against-homosexual-lobbys-smear-campaign.html#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2007 16:14:11 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/support-dr-james-holsinger-for-surgeon-general-against-homosexual-lobbys-smear-campaign.html  TAKE ACTION:  Help counter the pro-homosexual lobby’s smear campaign attempting to “Bork” Dr. James Holsinger, President Bush’s nominee for U.S. Surgeon General. Here’s how: 

1. Call your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 or write them (http://www.congress.org/) and politely urge them to support Dr. James Holsinger, Jr. as Surgeon General; the members of the Senate Health Committee, which will first consider Holsinger, can be found HERE (e-mail the committee at: help_comments@help.senate.gov) – but Holsinger’s nomination will likely be voted on by the whole Senate, so tell your Senators to use their influence to insure that he is treated fairly;
2. Thank the White House (202-456-1111 or -1414; e-mail: comments@whitehouse.gov; www.whitehouse.gov/contact) and urge the President to stand by Dr. Holsinger and not to be swayed by the pro-homosexual lobby’s distortions and anti-Christian bigotry;
3. Tell your friends to support Dr. Holsinger with a quick e-mail or call.

Click HERE TO READ DR. HOLSINGER’S 1991 PAPER, “PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF MALE HOMOSEXUALITY,” which liberal, pro-homosexual groups are distorting to discredit him.

 __________________________

Dear Americans For Truth Reader, 

By Peter LaBarbera 

Folks, anti-Christian homosexual activists and their liberal allies are out again in force to take down another good man — Dr. James Holsinger, Jr., President Bush’s nominee for U.S. Surgeon General – who happens to agree with the ancient Judeo-Christian moral understanding of homosexual practice as unnatural, unhealthy and wrong.

The ABC report below is Orwellian in its framing of the campaign against Dr. Holsinger – a Christian medical doctor (cardiologist) who also holds a doctorate in anatomy and physiology. Holsinger is being vilified because he wrote in 1991 that male homosexual sex practices are unhealthy, and because he believes that men and women can abandon homosexuality.

The ABC report below — which includes a politically correct quote by the spokesman for the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — implies that Holsinger’s writings, such as his 1991 paper, “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,” are obsolete and way outside of the scientific mainstream. Hello… Has there been some change in human anatomy (perhaps some hyperactive “evolutionary” mutation in the last 16 years) that suddenly makes rectal sex between men natural and good for the human body?

Please take a few minutes to read Dr. Holsinger’s 1991 paper, reprinted on our website. It was written for a United Methodist Church committee studying homosexuality. See for yourself if the paper has the ring of extremism. Here’s an excerpt:

From the perspective of pathology and pathophysiology, the varied sexual practices of homosexual men have resulted in a diverse and expanded concept of sexually transmitted disease and associated trauma. “Four general groups of conditions may be encountered in homosexually active men: classical sexually transmitted diseases (gonorrhea, infections with chlamydia trachomatis, syphilis, herpes simplex infections, genital warts, pubic lice, scabies); enteric diseases (infections with hig gel la species, Campylobacter jejuni, Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia lamblia, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, hepatitis non-A, non-B, and cytomegalovirus); trauma (fecal incontinence, hemorrhoids, anal fissure, foreign bodies, rectosigmoid tears, allergic proctitis, penile edema, chemical sinusitis, inhaled nitrite burns, and sexual assault of the male patient); and the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)” (Owen, 1985).

Project Smear-the-Good-Doctor Has Begun 

The “gay” activist reaction to Holsinger’s appointment was as swift as it was condemnatory:  

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in a statement opposing Holsinger’s nomination, ominously states, ”Holsinger authored a 1991 paper titled ‘Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,’ which essentially equates homosexuality with disease in lurid terms.”

 

Our reliable nemesis, Wayne Besen, never one to let facts and reason get in the way of some good Christian-bashing, writes of the man he calls “Dr. Discrimination”: “Holsinger is an ideologue whose medieval medical views on gay and lesbian people resemble sorcery more than sound science.” For more Besen-isms on Holsinger, click HERE.

 

The “Reverend” Troy Plummer, director of an outfit called the “Reconciling Ministries of United Methodist Church,” made this very un-’reconciling’ remark about Dr. Holsinger: ”For the last 20 years, James Holsinger has been the worst kind of bully inside the United Methodist Church…  As a member of a sexuality study team in 1991, he used his position as a medical doctor to promote skewed and inaccurate information regarding gay men.” 

 

And Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Joe Solmonese took Dr. Holsinger to task for being part of a church that helps homosexuals change their lifestyle: “Additionally, Holsinger and his wife were founders of Hope Springs Community Church which, according to the church’s pastor, ministers to people who no longer wish to be gay or lesbian. The pastor, the Rev. David Calhoun, said that the church has an ‘ex-gay’ ministry. ‘We see that as an issue not of orientation but a lifestyle,’ Calhoun said. ‘We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle.’ This type of ‘ex-gay’ conversion therapy has been condemned by almost every major, reputable medical organization — including the American Psychological Association, which issued a condemnation more than 10 years ago.

 

“Although the church’s theology isn’t being nominated, this discredited practice purports to be a psychological and medical service, and if Dr. Holsinger is involved in any way, it conflicts with his duty to accept and promote sound science in the interest of public health,” continued Solmonese.

Solmonese’s remarks testify to the “gay” movement’s increasingly brazen anti-Christian bigotry. The fact is, thousands of men’s and women’s lives have been changed through ex-”gay” ministries and church outreaches to bringing healing to people with unwanted homosexual attractions. So the Left is now calling for “investigations” into Christian nominees’ churches?

It is also telling that none of the above radical homosexual groups put a link to Dr. Holsinger’s 1991 paper on their web statements slamming his appointment. If the paper is such good proof of his poor credentials for Surgeon General, why don’t they make if available for all to see?

Incidentally, Carol Lloyd of Slate magazine has another (predictably liberal) take on the Holsinger paper, in a piece called “Hot, Homophobic Pseudoscience.” Lloyd highlights a few portions of the paper and then asks, “Is any else getting hot here”?

Sure, Carol, there’s no aphrodisiac quite like reading descriptions of diseases and bodily damage stemming from deviant sex acts like homosexual sodomy. 

Mysteriously, Slate, too, avoided a direct link to the supposedly awful paper. She linked to HRC’s website but, as we noted, that also has no link to the 1991 paper. Suddenly, it seems, all the high-tech liberals have forgotten how to link to easily available documents to make them accessible to all! 

Can’t Let Facts Get in the Way 

In its online story, ABC News ran the headline, “Homosexuality Isn’t Natural or Healthy,” above this mischievous sub-headline for the Holsinger story: “Bush’s Choice for Top Doc Compared Human Genitalia to Pipe Fittings and Said Homosexual Practices Can Cause Injury or Death.”

Perhaps it is big news to ABC, but isn’t it a reality of America’s post HIV/AIDS landscape that homosexuals men (i.e., “men who have sex with men,” or MSM), comprise an easy majority of all AIDS cases, so why is it a stretch to say that “gay” acts have caused death? 

The premature death of homosexuals and the massive health risks of men having sex with other men is the pink elephant in the room that “gay” activists are desperate to deny is there, despite the evidence all around them. This explains why one homosexual group, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, caught flak from fellow “gay” activists when it launched a campaign with the message: “HIV is a gay disease. Own it. End it.” 

Regarding “pipe fittings,” here’s what Dr. Holsinger wrote:

It is absolutely clear that anatomically and physiologically the alimentary [relating to the digestive tract] and reproductive systems in humans are separate organ systems; i.e., the human does not have a cloaca. Likewise it is clear that even primitive cultures understand the nature of waste elimination, sexual intercourse, and the birth of children. Indeed our own children appear to “intuitively” understand these facts. I think we should note that these simple “scientific” facts are the same in any culture — patriarchal or matriarchal, modern or primitive, Jewish or gentile, etc. The anatomic and physiologic facts of alimentation and reproduction simply do not change based on any cultural setting. In fact, the logical complementarity of the human sexes has been so recognized in our culture that it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming various pipe fittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon which one interlocks within the other. When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur as noted above. 

Gee, controversial, hateful stuff. Here is the ABC News report on Dr. Holsinger, with our commentary in red:

‘Homosexuality Isn’t Natural or Healthy’
Bush’s Choice for Top Doc Compared Human Genitalia to Pipe Fittings and Said Homosexual Practices Can Cause Injury or Death 

By JAKE TAPPER
June 7, 2007 —

President Bush’s nominee for surgeon general, Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., wrote a paper in 1991 that purported to make the medical argument that homosexuality is unnatural and unhealthy. Doctors who reviewed the paper derided it as prioritizing political ideology over science, and Democratic aides on Capitol Hill say the paper will make his confirmation hearings problematic, if not downright bruising.

Holsinger, 68, presented “The Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality” in January 1991 to a United Methodist Church’s committee to study homosexuality. (Read the paper [PDF copy] here.) The church was then considering changing its view that homosexuality violates Christian teaching, though it ultimately did not do so. Relying on footnotes from mainstream medical publications, Holsinger argued that homosexuality isn’t natural or healthy.

“A confirmation fight is exactly what the administration does not need,” said David Gergen, a former adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, who predicted the paper would cause a “minor storm” among Democrats on Capitol Hill.

“You have to wonder given the quality of some of the nominations that have gone forward recently, whether the selection group in the White House has gone on vacation,” Gergen said. “There has been a growing criticism the administration favoring ideology over competence, and this nomination smacks of that.”

[Note that ABC News and Tapper do not quote a single non-administration conservative, pro-family or GOP leader in support of Dr. Holsinger.]

White House Avoids Direct Response to Paper
In its response to the controversy Thursday, the White House avoided directly discussing the controversial paper.

“Dr. Holsinger has dedicated his life to the care of others and public service and his respect for all is evidenced by his actions and his career ,” said White House spokesman Emily Lawrimore. “On numerous occasions, he has taken up the banner for under represented populations and he will continue to be a strong advocate for these groups and all Americans. Dr. Holsinger is a highly respected, well-qualified physician and educator. His impressive medical background, which includes leading one of the Nation’s largest healthcare systems, decades of service in the armed forces, along with his commitment to combating childhood obesity, will serve him well as Surgeon General. We urge the Senate for a swift confirmation.”

HHS: Paper Not Reflective of Holsinger’s Thinking
But Holly Babin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Heath and Human Services — the agency that will take the lead on trying to achieve Holsinger’s confirmation — insisted that the paper was by no means reflective of Holsinger’s thinking.

“That paper was a survey of scientific peer-reviewed studies that he was asked to compile by the United Methodist Church, it’s not that he was saying ‘this is what I believe,’” Babin said. “It’s a reflection of the available scientific data from the 1980s. It should be noted that in 1991, homosexuals were banned from the military and several years before that, homosexuality and Haitian nationality were considered risk factors for HIV/AIDS. Over the last 20 years, a clearer understanding of these issues has been achieved.”

[Backtracking rarely works in the face of aggressive attacks: of course the 1991 paper reflects Holsinger's views. Moreover, medical studies and the CDC continue to point to the immense health risks of male homosexual and bisexual behaviors. See our story, " ‘Gay’ and Bisexual Men at 17 Times Higher Risk than Straights for Anal Cancer: CDC."  Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) re-affirmed its lifetime ban on blood donation from men who have had sex with other men.]

Asked about medical experts who disputed that Holsinger’s paper expressed opinions timely in 1991 and pressed to explain what Holsinger’s views on homosexuality are currently, Babin said, “we look forward to the confirmation process, where we can share Dr. Holsinger’s qualifications and views.”

Advocacy Groups Protest Nomination

Those answers will likely not quell the controversy. Critics say the paper certainly seems to be written from Holsinger’s point of view.

Noting that Holsinger also belongs to a church that offers a ministry to “cure” gays of the sexual orientation, gay and lesbian rights advocates immediately protested Holsinger’s nomination. “His writings suggest a scientific view rooted in anti-gay beliefs that are incompatible with the job of serving the medical health of all Americans,” said the Human Rights Campaign in a statement. “It is essential that America’s top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology.”

[Again, why doesn't Tapper quote an independent pro-family advocate here in support of Dr. Holsinger? Tapper would probably say that the Bush administration official he quoted serves as the "pro-Holsinger" spokesman, but the ABC reporter's piece is heavily stacked with opposition comments, so it would have been fair to include remarks from the Family Research Council or another conservative, pro-family organization.]

Democrats will likely be sympathetic to such arguments. Holsinger’s confirmation hearing, which has yet to be scheduled, will be heard by the Senate Health Committee, chaired by longtime gay rights advocate Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. Members of the committee include three Democratic presidential contenders … eager to prove their bona fides during the primary season to the gay and lesbian community.

Holsinger, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Kentucky College of Public Health, did not return calls for comment.

When announcing his nomination on May 24, Bush said that as “America’s chief health educator, [Dr. Holsinger] will be charged with providing the best scientific information available on how Americans can make smart choices that improve their health and reduce their risk of illness and injury.”

What Holsinger’s Paper Argues
Holsinger’s paper argued that male and female genitalia are complementary — so much so “that it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming pipe fittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon which one interlocks within the other.” Body parts used for gay sex are not complementary, he wrote. “When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur.”

[Wow. Is this breaking news -- that male and female anatomy are complementary?]

Holsinger wrote that “[a]natomically the vagina is designed to receive the penis” while the anus and rectum — which “contain no natural lubricating function” — are not. “The rectum is incapable of mechanical protection against abrasion and severe damage … can result if objects that are large, sharp or pointed are inserted into the rectum,” Holsinger wrote.

The cardiologist details many different diseases gay men can catch, and several sexual practices they may engage in, including “anal eroticism,” which can lead to injuries and even death. “From the perspective of pathology and pathophysiology, the varied sexual practices of homosexual men have resulted in a diverse and expanded concept of sexually transmitted disease and associated trauma?”

[Here Tapper distorts: the words "anal eroticism" are actually taken from a 1988 paper by Richard Giest titled "Sexually Related Trauma," in the journal, "Emergency Medicine Clinics in North America." The paper describes the "fist fornication" (fisting), which -- according to Holsinger, citing Geist -- "during the 1970s was practiced by approximately 5% of the male homosexual population." As you can see by reading HERE, the heinous act of "fisting" is still practiced today by some homosexual men (sadomasochists).]

In the context of the larger argument in his church as to whether homosexuality should be accepted, Holsinger presented a medical and scientific argument that anal intercourse was not natural.

“It is absolutely clear that anatomically and physiologically the alimentary and reproductive systems in humans are separate organ systems, i.e., the human does not have a cloaca,” he said, referring to the posterior orifice that serves as the one opening for genital, urinary and intestinal tracts in amphibians, birds and reptiles. The surgeon general nominee wrote that “even primitive cultures understand the nature of waste elimination, sexual intercourse and the birth of children. Indeed our own children appear to ‘intuitively’ understand these facts.”

A Political Agenda?
Professor Eli Coleman, Director of the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School said that the paper seems to have a pre-1970s view of human sexuality. “I can’t imagine that any scientific journal would be able to publish this material because of its very narrow views of homosexuality,” he said.

[This comment sets up a straw man, in that Holsinger's paper was not written for a scientific journal. Of course, the average TV viewer has no inkling of what the 1991 paper is all about, except that it is now "controversial."]

In fact, if one of his students handed the paper in, Coleman would give it a failing grade, he said. “I find it rather outdated in terms of its scientific knowledge and also narrow in its view of homosexuality,” Coleman said. “It concerns me because I think our public policy really should be based upon best available science.”

[How silly: can we blame Holsinger for the fact that his paper, written 16 years ago, would now be considered "outdated"? C'mon, professor!]

“It’s a totally faulty paper. The man doesn’t know anything about human sexuality,” said June M. Reinisch, Ph.D., director emeritus of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender & Reproduction. “There’s clearly a political agenda in this paper. This is not a scientific paper.”

[Tapper brings in yet another left-leaning critic to bash Dr. Holsinger. The 1991 paper was written to buttress the case against changing the United Methodist Church's policies regarding homosexuality and "gay" relationships. It used facts and academic research about the risks of homosexual practices to do so.]

Paragraph by paragraph, Reinisch said Holsinger presents faulty arguments. Many homosexuals do not engage in the sexual act he criticizes; 40 percent of heterosexuals do. “It seems to me he’s arguing the only way reproduction happens is in a loving heterosexual environment which is of course not true,” Reinisch said, noting artificial methods, rape and one-night stands.

[Here, the media consumer has no inkling of which "paragraphs" on which Ms. Reinisch is commenting. Dr. Holsinger's 1991 paper talked only generally about the reproductive vs. the alimentary (digestive tract) systems, so her comments about rape and one-night stands seem out of place.]

Reinisch, who was director of the Kinsey Institute when Holsinger wrote this paper, said that if Holsinger “is going to come up with this position in 2007 I think I can clearly say that he is not qualified to be surgeon general.”

[Pretty sweeping conclusion from a biased read of a 16-year-old paper! This is a Washington smear-politics at its worst. Call or write your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 (www.congress.org) to support this good man who could become the latest victim of the Left's attack machine.]

Holsinger holds a doctorate in anatomy and physiology and an M.D. from Duke University. He spent much of his career working for the Veteran’s Health Administration. From 2003 to 2005 he was Kentucky’s secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

 

 

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/support-dr-james-holsinger-for-surgeon-general-against-homosexual-lobbys-smear-campaign.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/wayne-besens-been-taking-his-hate-pill-again.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/wayne-besens-been-taking-his-hate-pill-again.html#comments Sat, 02 Jun 2007 21:26:49 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/wayne-besens-been-taking-his-hate-pill-again.html By Peter LaBarbera

UPDATE: Since I posted this item below, Wayne Besen has put up another piece filled with lies against me. Thankfully, a couple friends have defended me on his site, but I’m afraid Wayne is losing it. As my son would say, chill… Click HERE for Wayne’s latest hateful blast against Americans For Truth.

It looks like Wayne (”Anything But Straight”) Besen has been taking his hate pill again. Besen, who is out to prove, with Stalinesque zeal, that no homosexual can change – has written another diatribe against me and Americans For Truth. 

Just as night follows day, we could have predicted that Wayne and his fellow “gay” comrades, including the folks at Box Turtle Bulletin (who alternate between high-minded critiques of pro-family research and mean-spirited name-calling), would ridicule — not the men at International Mr. Leather who were engaging in vile (”pig sex”) orgies at Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton Hotel; not the “leather” vendors hawking twisted porn videos including those featuring “fisting” and “water sports” – but yours truly, for exposing these perversions.

We’ll have more on Wayne and friends later, but for now, check out his angry blog entry following our feeble attempt to shine the light of truth on the sadistic goings-on at IML. Oh, we almost forgot: “Porno Pete” is Wayne’s nickname for me because, you see, the fact that I expose “gay” extremism makes me, well …. a secret gay (make that a secret “leatherman”). I suppose according to that logic, Simon Wiesenthal was a covert Nazi and Mother Teresa made hidden donations to Planned Parenthood.

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/wayne-besens-been-taking-his-hate-pill-again.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/the-agenda-glbtq-activist-groups/national-glbtq-activist-groups/pro-homosexual-groups-and-leaders-reactions-to-jerry-falwells-death.html http://americansfortruth.com/the-agenda-glbtq-activist-groups/national-glbtq-activist-groups/pro-homosexual-groups-and-leaders-reactions-to-jerry-falwells-death.html#comments Thu, 17 May 2007 17:56:39 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/the-agenda-glbtq-activist-groups/national-glbtq-activist-groups/pro-homosexual-groups-and-leaders-reactions-to-jerry-falwells-death.html Courtesy of lesbian actiivist Pam Spaulding’s website:

“The man was a hateful pig.”

–Homosexual activists blogger John Aravosis. For more of same, click on Aravosis’ “Americablog” page on Falwell HERE.

“It is with great regret that Rev. Jerry Falwell never moderated his position on homosexuality,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “While our hearts go out to his family, we can’t help but to reflect on his life and think about all of the families he’s torn apart and teenagers that committed suicide because he made them feel inferior. He never missed an opportunity to kick our better angels to the curb and capitalize on our lesser demons to advance his career…Unfortunately, the anti-gay infrastructure built by Falwell survives him. With the founding of Liberty University and his legal arm, the Liberty Counsel, his legacy of intolerance will continue for quite some time.”"
– Wayne Besen, of Truth Wins Out

“The death of a family member or friend is always a sad occasion and we express our condolences to all those who were close to the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Unfortunately, we will always remember him as a founder and leader of America’s anti-gay industry, someone who exacerbated the nation’s appalling response to the onslaught of the AIDS epidemic, someone who demonized and vilified us for political gain and someone who used religion to divide rather than unite our nation.”
– Matt Forman, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

“It breaks my heart to think that Jerry died without ever discovering the truth about God’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children. I sincerely hope that one day his school and his church will have a change of heart.”
– Rev. Dr. Mel White of Soulforce, who used to write for Falwell 

“Reverend Falwel’s death today causes my thoughts to turn toward the members of our community who have at great personal sacrifice contended with the Reverendâ??s work and teachings.  As I remember Reverend Falwell’s life, I also remember all of the families of people who have died of AIDS.  Reverend Falwell’s legacy is not about the tenants of Jesus’s ministry such as healing the sick and standing with the disenfranchised but about shunning and ridiculing those who have suffered and died of AIDS and their families.  Many faith leaders today are moving away from his divisive approach and toward the compassion and inclusiveness that Jesus modeled every day of his ministry.”
– Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign (leading homosexual group in America)

“We extend our condolences to Rev. Jerry Falwell’s family and friends.  He was an effective advocate for his vision of America, a vision with which we strongly disagreed.”
– People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas, with these links to its past coverage of Jerry Falwell

 ”While Soulforce has a long history of nonviolent direct action at Jerry Falwell Ministries, our adversary was never Jerry Falwell, but rather the misinformation about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people espoused by Falwell and so many others.”
– Soulforce Executive Director Jeff Lutes

“The passing of as public a figure as Jerry Falwell naturally garners intense media attention. Our condolences are with the Rev. Falwell’s family and loved ones during this emotional time.  And as the nation’s media examine Falwell’s life and legacy, it is important that they focus attention on the damaging impact of his rhetoric and advocacy on millions of gay and lesbian people and families.”
– Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) President Neil Giuliano

“We extend to Reverend Falwell the simple dignity and deference that our own families seek as part of the American family. Reverend Falwell may have attempted to make himself our adversary with his own personal attacks and political campaigns, but we remember that he remained our neighbor. As we understand that each American should be treated equally under the law, we recognize that each neighbor should receive our respect. Our thoughts and our prayers are with his widow Macel, the Falwell family and the membership of Thomas Road Baptist Church.”
– Jo Wyrick, Executive Director, National Stonewall Democrats

“It has to be a difficult time for Rev. Jerry Falwell’s family right now. They are going to have to deal with an intense storm of media coverage, with bloviating from the left and the right, and much of it will not be pretty or complimentary. To have to grieve so publicly is not something to wish on anyone, particularly when the departed is a political lightning rod.

“He was a towering icon of the religious right movement, and he has left quite a legacy — one I cannot agree with in any form or fashion, nevertheless one cannot ignore his success at mobilizing a large portion of the electorate in ways that many organizations on the left have yet to do.

“It’s sad to hear, as of last week (in an interview with CNN), he stood by his 2001 comments  that gays, lesbians, pro-choice advocates and feminists were to blame for 9/11.

“I wish that Reverend Falwell, who at one time was against integration and interracial marriage, could have lived long enough to see full LGBT equality finally come to pass. We all know that it will prove him terribly wrong once again –  that treating one group of citizens the same as everyone else isn’t a threat to marriage, the American family or this country.”

– Lesbian blogger Pam Spaulding. Spaulding was considerably more respectful than some of her fans posting comments on her “Pam’s House Blend” website.

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/the-agenda-glbtq-activist-groups/national-glbtq-activist-groups/pro-homosexual-groups-and-leaders-reactions-to-jerry-falwells-death.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/homosexuals-savage-jerry-falwell-but-he-loved-them-with-the-truth.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/homosexuals-savage-jerry-falwell-but-he-loved-them-with-the-truth.html#comments Wed, 16 May 2007 21:15:04 +0000 Peterlab http://americansfortruth.com/news/homosexuals-savage-jerry-falwell-but-he-loved-them-with-the-truth.html  

Jerry Falwell, 1933-2007

 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

(Jesus Christ, in Matthew 5:11-12)

By Peter LaBarbera

On hearing of the death of Jerry Falwell (read pro-family tributes to him HERE), I was reminded of an incident that revealed his heart, as a Christian and as a human being. Homosexual activists heaped instantaneous (and horrifyingly wicked) scorn upon this man of God — in a way that only seems to confirm what he said about their movement.

Their sickening behavior also confirms what the Bible says about God giving up unrepentant homosexuals to a “reprobate” (also translated depraved and debased) mind (Romans 1:28).

But before we get into the homosexuals’ vicious response to Falwell’s death, a history lesson: conservative icon Richard Viguerie states in his tribute to the Moral Majority founder:

“With the death of Dr. Jerry Falwell, the conservative movement has lost one its founders and key leaders. Dr. Falwell was one of the main architects of the conservative movement in the 1970s and 1980s. His work and leadership played an indispensable role in the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.

“For decades, the conservative movement stood on a two-legged stool and won few elections. But when Dr. Falwell became an integral part of the movement, he led tens of thousands of ministers, along with millions of their followers, into the voting booths to support vital conservative causes. This provided the third leg of the stool, which allowed conservatives to level the political playing field with the Left.

“Without Dr. Falwell, there would be no meaningful conservative movement. He was a true history-maker in our nation.”

And now, on to the “Immoral Minority’s” reaction:

John Aravosis, a homosexual blogger who certainly fits the bill, called Falwell a “hateful pig,” inspiring a slew of even nastier comments on his “Americablog” site. Said one: “Too bad [Falwell's death] wasn’t more prolonged and painful.” Wrote another: “Now cross your fingers for Pat Robertson to join him in Heaven soon.” Many of the remarks are too vulgar to reprint here.

As is the trend on the Left these days, many of the anti-Falwell posters used religious condemnations to make their point: “The gates of hell swing open and Satan welcomes his beloved son,” wrote Amanda Marcotte, a “Pandagon” blogger who became a short news story herself after it was revealed that she had been hired by Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards – but who now, after being fired by Edwards, is once again free to spew her venom.

Homosexual activist Wayne Besen, the former spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, the world’s largest “gay” lobby group, wrote on his site, next to an altered photo of Falwell (how mature, Wayne…): “Won’t the good preacher be shocked when he finds himself at the gates of Hell this morning! Man, I would love to post that video on YouTube. I must go now and mourn, as I can hardly contain my sorrow.”

Poor, pitiful Wayne. More proof that nobody hates like the Left in this country.

Some homosexual activists in San Francisco even held a public celebration of Falwell’s death – a spectacle that more savvy “gay” leaders warned would backfire.

The latter were right. As libertarian Bill Barnwell writes in a piece titled, “Celebrating the Death of Jerry Falwell”: “I cannot recall a time I read about Falwell making statements where he laughed off or celebrated the death of a gay person.”

Besen, Aravosis and their ilk hate in the name of their twisted version of “tolerance,” but Falwell was no hater — as most Christians who disagree with the homosexual cause are not haters but good people simply trying to follow God’s unchanging moral law.

The real Falwell: hugging homosexuals 

Back in 1999, under the threat of a large protest from from Mel White — founder of the “gay” group Soulforce and an evangelical writer who left his wife and family to pursue a sexual relationship with a man – Falwell agreed to host a joint media event with White at his famous Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. There was a contingent of mostly homosexual students and activists there to cheer on White, and a corresponding crowd of Liberty University students and pro-family advocates, including myself, backing Falwell’s position.

After the media event, the main participants and the “gay” Soulforce activists and kids went to unwind at a banquet room where pastries and drinks were served. And that is where the stereotype of Jerry Falwell as “homophobe” and “hatemonger” fizzled before everyone’s eyes, but especially those of the young “gay” activists.

In the corner of the room, Mel White conferred with his strategists — probably upset that the event did not turn out to be as useful a “gay” propaganda event as he had hoped. White nervously looked over at Falwell in the center of the room, but the contrast between the two men’s demeanors could not have been more pronounced. For there was the gregarious Falwell, wearing a huge smile and laughing, putting his big arms around the Soulforce kids as he posed for one souvenir “celebrity” photo after another.

This was not just a show for the crowd — the media weren’t even present — this was the real deal. Falwell was like a big teddy bear having a genuine good time playing host and showing Christian love to the confused Soulforce kids who, I’m sure, were experiencing a bit of cognitive dissonance.

I did not know Jerry Falwall personally, but from my experience that day at his church, I don’t think there was a hateful bone in his body. As Tony Perkins of Family Research Council said yesterday, Falwell was “a very, very loving, friendly, happy guy,” much loved by the students at the Liberty University, which he founded.

Falwell later claimed that some of the pro-Soulforce youth who attended the media event began attending his church and left the homosexual lifestyle – which White disputed. The determined White, who once edited Falwell’s autobiography as a ghostwriter before “coming out” as a homosexual, later moved Soulforce’s headquarters to Lynchburg to facilitate his religious brand of “gay” activism.

Haters of God’s truth

What explains the outpouring of homosexual hatred at Falwell’s death? Well, he was one of the first to speak out when he saw that people proudly practicing homosexuality were starting to organize, and he led American Christians in responding to the explosion of this new sin movement.  He knew that the “gay” political and cultural agenda would harm the nation — as does the proud defense of abortion, pornography or any sin — and he was right. (If you doubt that he was right, just read today’s headlines.) Through the Moral Majority, he helped elect one of America’s greatest presidents, Ronald Reagan, and gave voice to millions of Americans who simply view the practice of homosexual behavior and its advocacy as wrong.

Falwell was far from perfect — who isn’t? — but even if he had never uttered a single controversial public statement, such as that about 9-11 for which he was roundly criticized, he would be hated and vilified today by those who talk show host Michael Savage calls the “Immoral Minority.”

They despise Falwell not because of how he preached against their lifestyle, but because he dared to speak out at all. The Left has re-defined the ancient Christian belief that homosexuality is a sin as “hate” itself. Anyone who disagrees publicly with homosexuality, no matter how nice, is now a “hater” or a “homophobe.”

 

The proud homosexuals believe the Gospel does not apply to them because they have decided — all evidence in the Word of God and in Nature’s design to the contrary — that homosexual behavior is not sinful. Nope, because they “feel” that “being gay” is “who they are,” then that’s the way it is, and “we don’t need your Jesus, thank you!”

Or, worse, like Mel White and Soulforce, they set about redefining Christ and the Bible (or other religions such as Islam) to accommodate their particular “orientation,” which is actually a bent toward perversion that must not be indulged – just as “heterosexual” men must not indulge their seemingly inborn and natural “orientation” toward lust for women (pornography, etc.). 

The truth that many conservatives and Christians are still only beginning to understand is that there is no group of activists in America today that is as mean, petty, and vindictive — and, yes, as collectively evil — as the organized homosexual lobby. If you want to know why Jerry Falwell, way back in the ’70s, felt the need to warn the nation about the “gay” revolution, take a look at what his critics are saying about him now, celebrating his death in the most unseemly manner. Try these websites [WARNING: vulgar language]:

http://www.waynebesen.com/2007/05/farewell-to-falwell.html#comments (Wayne Besen’s site)

 

http://www.haloscan.com/comments.php?user=katsiva&comment=1042193778436255563 (John Aravosis)

 

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1681 (Pam Spaulding)

There is much confusion these days about the role of evangelicals in politics, with many pastors opting out of the “culture wars” in favor of spreading the Gospel (must the two be mutally exclusive?). For its part, the Left, both religious and secular, doesn’t talk about retreating. Now “gays” are on the offensive, flipping the Bible on its head by saying that WE, not them, should be ashamed for disagreeing with their lifestyle (”homophobia”).

Jerry Falwell ended up apologizing for some of his rhetoric, but he never strayed from the Biblical truth – despite the protests by Mel White and other pro-”gay” activists – that homosexuality is about sinful behavior that is changeable through a relationship with a loving, forgiving God. Conversely, to believe White’s false gospel, people are intrinsically “gay” — naturally created for nonprocreative and often destructive sexual behaviors like sodomy – and Jesus Christ is powerless to help them change and overcome this disordered yet powerful pull in their lives.

Tell that to all the men and women who have overcome homosexuality through Christ.

As “gay” activist power grows in our nation, all Christians will face a choice: will they, like Falwell, agree with God that this behavior is sinful — and speak out publicly against all attempts to codify it in the law, including laws making it illegal to oppose homosexual behavior? Will they confidently refute “proud” homosexuality and “queer” theology while reaching out in the love of Christ to homosexuals with the truth that they can become “new creations” (2 Corinthians 5:17) in Jesus Christ if they repent and believe in Him? 

Or will they, like White and evangelical leader Tony Campolo – whose wife Peggy, incredibly, supports “same-sex marriage” – seek some non-Scriptural accommodation with a movement that now enjoys the support of so many liberals and opinion-leaders? 

Will they bow to the world in strategic silence on this issue, perhaps rationalizing their cowardice with creative theology, or will they trust God by standing with Him for Truth no matter what the media and pop culture say?

There is no doubt that this ”gay” movement whose loud voice and overpowering self-righteousness – wielded by a single homosexual or collectively as a counterfeit, “queer” minority — can be intimidating to those who disagree with homosexuality. But the Bible is clear: Jerry Falwell is in heaven today. And the proud homosexuals who speak of hell to mock him will be headed there one day unless they repent and turn away from this lifestyle, as many men and women already have:

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/homosexuals-savage-jerry-falwell-but-he-loved-them-with-the-truth.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/cwa-interviews-labarbera-regarding-deceptive-wayne-besen-complaint.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/cwa-interviews-labarbera-regarding-deceptive-wayne-besen-complaint.html#comments Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:03:31 +0000 Sonja Dalton http://americansfortruth.com/news/cwa-interviews-labarbera-regarding-deceptive-wayne-besen-complaint.html Homosexual Activist Files Deceptive Practices Complaint against Ex-Gay Video 1/25/2007

Homosexual activist Wayne Besen has filed a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General’s office over an Illinois ministry promoting the video “It’s Not Gay.” Besen claims that the video, which features interviews with those who have come out of homosexuality, is deceptive. A similar charged has been filed against the American Family Association and others who promote or sell the video. Martha Kleder spoke with Matt Barber, CWA’s policy director for cultural issues and Pete LaBarbera, founder and president of Americas for Truth, the ministry targeted by Besen. Listen Online | Download

]]> http://americansfortruth.com/news/cwa-interviews-labarbera-regarding-deceptive-wayne-besen-complaint.html/feed 0 http://americansfortruth.com/news/%e2%80%98gay%e2%80%99-militant-seeks-to-shut-down-americans-for-truth-with-false-complaint-to-illinois-ag.html http://americansfortruth.com/news/%e2%80%98gay%e2%80%99-militant-seeks-to-shut-down-americans-for-truth-with-false-complaint-to-illinois-ag.html#comments Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:17:13 +0000 Sonja Dalton http://americansfortruth.com/news/%e2%80%98gay%e2%80%99-militant-seeks-to-shut-down-americans-for-truth-with-false-complaint-to-illinois-ag.html By Peter LaBarbera

Then Jesus told them this parable:

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”

– Gospel of Luke: 15:3-7)

Michael Johnston of Pure Life Ministries

Most people celebrate healthy change -– be it a man who overcomes a drug or drinking addiction, a young girl who escapes the deadly, self-loathing world of anorexia/bulimia, or a husband who stops using pornography and saves his marriage. Jesus (above) taught that there is a celebration in heaven when just one sinner repents and turns back to God.

And so, when proud, practicing homosexuals repent and say good-bye to that destructive lifestyle, we at Americans For Truth join God in celebrating it as a joyous thing. Countless thousands of people have left the homosexual lifestyle, many after converting to Christ or rededicating themselves to the faith of their youth.

But while we’re cheering, homosexual activists like Wayne Besen are grumbling and putting on their ANTI-ex-“gay” investigative hats in the hunt for another “ex-gay fraud.” Besen is one of the angriest (and most vicious) activists in the movement that oddly calls itself “gay.” Recently he embarked on a futile crusade called “Truth Wins Out” to deny the clear reality of change for people struggling with unwanted homosexual attractions.

Now Wayne and his friends think they have a new scandal because Americans For Truth is “selling” an American Family Association (AFA) video (“It’s Not Gay”) featuring an interview with ex-“gay” Mike Johnston, who lost his “ex-gay” ministry several years ago by falling back into homosexual perversion, but who now has been restored through Pure Life Ministries. In their zeal to crush AFTAH, Besen and other homosexual activists missed a wonderful story of one man’s redemption and his rescue from deep spiritual hypocrisy and sexual sin.

Celebrating Failures
Besen and his fellow homosexual activists have everything invested in the politically correct idea that people are naturally (born) “gay” -– and that “sexual orientation” (another misleading term inspired by homosexual activism) is unchangeable. They are downright cruel in hoping for and exploiting failures in the ex-“gay” movement.

Once again, the homosexual movement has it backwards: rather than applauding overcomers, the fanatics in “Wayne’s World” champion the failures -– people who tried to walk away from homosexuality but gave up, or -– even better, lost their ministries like Ted Haggard in scandal.

The whole “gay” activist strategy of hyping “coming out” (in which people declare their homosexuality to others) is a celebration of failure and aberration, but it has worked: today’s media applauds homosexual “coming out” stories –- even cases like former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey, who left his wife for another man — but rarely gives sympathetic coverage to men and women who “come out” of homosexuality.

Besen’s is a cynical take on man’s nature and struggles: yes, there are “ex-gay” failures (“ex-ex-gays”), and deep-seated homosexuality is hard to leave behind. But so is drug addiction, pornography, compulsive lying and other sinful habits. How many drug abusers have relapsed back into that dangerous lifestyle, but don’t we still celebrate the man or woman who comes clean and saves their life from destruction?

How many marriages have been destroyed by pornography or infidelity, but aren’t our hearts lifted when we hear the testimony of a man who repents and changes his lifestyle, saves his marriage and goes back to fathering his children?

Who in his right mind champions the cause of homosexual failures, when there are so many examples of men and women — like Mike Johnston below — who have overcome this lifestyle or are seeking to honor God through obedience to His will?

Why do “gay” advocates celebrate failure? Because sadly, like the pro-abortion lobby, they are on the side of sin and against God and nature, having convinced themselves that homosexuality (“being gay”) is a big part of “who they are.”

Ah, but you protest: homosexuality is so complex. How can we judge it? Why would a person “choose” that lifestyle with all the hardships that come with it? Well, why does a man or woman “choose” to embrace any wrong lifestyle/behavior: bulimia, porn addiction, alcoholism? We can sympathize with the person who faces intense personal struggles, but it is not our right to normalize and celebrate homosexuality or ANY aberration/sin just because we don’t fully understand its genesis. Doing so runs counter to several millennia of understanding of humanity as fallen beings whose hearts tend toward wrongdoing.

There is right and wrong, and homosexual practice will always be wrong. Leaving it will always be right.

Besen Takes on Americans For Truth
Wayne Besen’s latest stunt is to file a complaint against Americans For Truth with the Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, erroneously accusing us of “selling” false information because we put up a link on our website for an American Family Association video called “It’s Not Gay” featuring former homosexual Mike Johnston. Mike is a good friend and former ministry partner of mine who, as you can read by clicking THIS LINK (reprinted below), left homosexuality a long time ago but then began practicing furtive homosexual behavior around 2001, ultimately causing him to lose his national “ex-gay” organization, Kerusso Ministries.

Thankfully, after his public reputation was shattered, a repentant Johnston turned in desperation to Pure Life Ministries, which helps men struggling against sexual sin (e.g., lust, pornography, homosexuality) by strengthening their spiritual walk with Jesus Christ. I spoke with Mike yesterday and he described the deep heart transformation that has taken place in his life through Pure Life. He is now a humbled man at peace with God and himself, who fully owns up to the foolish pride that allowed him to be in public “ex-gay” ministry while living a double-life as a homosexual (see Mike’s Pure Life bio below).

Mike is no longer in the public policy world but through Pure Life, he is beginning to share his testimony of deep healing. Many men struggle with sexual temptation their entire lives, and Mike’s story of transformation through a closer walk with Christ will hopefully inspire countless men and women (straight and homosexual) to get beyond shallow and hypocritical Christianity and to live with integrity.

I do not doubt that Wayne Besen and the “anti-ex-gay” crowd will reject Johnston’s testimony of transformation through Christ because, in so many ways, it is at odds with their “gay”-positive ideology and worldview. So be it. We hope and pray that many people whose minds are not closed will be touched by how God mercifully continued to work in Mike’s life.

In a separate column Tuesday, Besen writes:

“The anti-gay groups American Family Association and Americans For Truth should be immediately shut down for committing wanton and craven acts of fraud. They are unabashed con artists duping their own members by selling a product both groups have admitted was misleading.”

In his complaint, Besen asks Illinois Attorney General Madigan to “require a written apology from LaBarbera that he must post prominently on his website and that refunds be offered to dissatisfied customers.” This foolish request is made more so because AFTAH is not selling the AFA video.

Here are some facts and comments to counter Wayne Besen’s false charges about Mike Johnston, Americans For Truth and the “It’s Not Gay” video:

1) Mike Johnston is not practicing homosexuality. He has repented after his scandalous fall back into homosexual behavior and made the total life-change of moving from Virginia to Kentucky-based Pure Life Ministries to get help (thus removing himself completely from the environs where he fell back into deviant conduct). By his own testimony, observed by others, he has found healing, personal peace and transformation through that ministry;

2) Therefore Mike is a former homosexual just as a man who escaped his pornography addiction (despite having a serious falling) can no longer be called a “porn user.” (Of course, Mike will always be on the alert and is being held accountable through Pure Life, so as not to succumb to homosexual temptation — just as a porn addict must take special care not to fall back into that vice.)

3) Americans For Truth never “sold” or received any money for the “It’s Not Gay” video as Besen alleges, but merely pointed people to AFA website where it can be purchased. However, we might start selling it since it is an excellent resource on the harmful realities of the homosexual lifestyle;

4) American Family Association stopped selling “It’s Not Gay” in 2003, when Mike Johnston’s scandal was revealed, but began reselling it when they were convinced after meeting with Mike about the genuineness of his restoration through Pure Life Ministries (I spoke with two top AFA officials yesterday on this point);

5) Johnston’s role in the video is mostly to describe how he was drawn into the “gay” lifestyle and his regrets for turning toward homosexuality in his youth. His comments are relevant today;

6) Even if Mike Johnston had remained in homosexual rebellion, the information in “It’s Not Gay” would be valid: embracing homosexuality is destructive to both body and soul. Nevertheless, AFA would not have resumed offering the video had Mike not repented, abandoned homosexuality and sought help in an accountable and highly-respected Christian ministry like Pure Life;

7) Wayne Besen demonstrates the censorious and totalitarian impulse of radical “gay” activists when he calls for AFTAH and AFA to be “shut down” based on his false and incomplete information. Besen was obviously ignorant of (or does not care about) Mike Johnston’s restoration through Pure Life, and was motivated only by his crusade against all public “ex-gays” and pro-family groups like Americans For Truth;

How many other pro-family and Christian ministries will be targeted by pro-homosexual activists in the future with similar wild charges–and will “sexual orientation” laws be used to engage in quasi-legal witch hunts against these groups?

9) It is clear that after getting much propaganda mileage from Johnston’s fall and the collapse of Kerusso Ministries, Besen and other anti-ex-“gay” activists (such as the group Ex-Gay Watch) have no real interest in Mike Johnston’s welfare, especially the good news of his emotional and spiritual healing through Pure Life. To them, the end justifies the means, and their goal is to “shut down” and/or discredit Christian ex-gay ministries and groups like AFTAH.

10) The idea of homosexual activists serving as arbiters of accuracy and truth is preposterous. For decades, “gay” activists intentionally promoted the fraudulent statistic that homosexuals comprise “10 percent” of society –- to exaggerate the clout of homosexuals in America — just one of their many public misinformation tactics.

In future e-mails and web postings, we’ll have more information about the writings of Wayne Besen, Pam Spaulding (a lesbian who recently agreed when someone on her blog compared African-American pastor Vincent Fields to mass-suicide cult leader Jim Jones) and other radical “gay” activists employing cruel tactics. The following is reprinted from the website of Pure Life Ministries:

Mike Johnston walked away from the gay community in 1988 after almost 11 years of involvement in homosexuality and testing positive for HIV in 1986. He founded Kerusso Ministries in 1989 as an outreach to individuals, and family and friends of those, struggling with homosexuality.

Following his appointment as a Commissioner on the Anchorage Equal Rights Commission from 1992-1996, Mike founded and served on several local and national political action committees including the steering committee for the National Campaign to Protect Marriage. He quickly rose to prominence as a national speaker presenting a Christian perspective on homosexuality as it relates both to ministry and public policy.

His speaking venues included a broad range of churches, state and local legislative bodies, college campuses, high schools and correctional institutions. He was a regular guest on radio and television programs around the country and hosted his own weekly broadcast and daily radio commentary. His story was featured in the 1996 Campus Crusade for Christ Another Way Out campaign and the 1999 Truth in Love national ad campaign. Mike was awarded the Hero of the Faith Award by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000 and assisted in the drafting of the 2001 Assemblies of God Position Paper on Homosexuality.

Mike came to Pure Life Ministries in June of 2003 following a very public and painful exposure of his sexual sin. He had been living a double life which began in 2001 with dabbling in pornography and ended with the collapse of his ministry in 2002 with the revelation that he was having sexual relations with men. Mike graduated from the residential program in 2003, completed an internship, and now serves as the Director of Donor Relations for the ministry.

Since coming to Pure Life Ministries, God has accomplished a wonderful transformation in Mike. Through a series of spiritual breakings and heart-wrenching repentance, God has systematically stripped off the many masks he has worn over the years and brought down the heavily fortified walls that protected his heart from others for so long. For the first time in his life, Mike has gained a genuine understanding of what it really means to be a follower of Jesus and God has given him a fresh vision of helping others find real freedom; this time not for the purpose of self-promotion but to glorify Christ.

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