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Facebook Censors AFTAH Post Blocking Same-sex Kiss, Poking Fun at Defiant Homosexual Activist Phillip PicardiSeptember 14th, 2018Below is a graphic about the recent act of Facebook censorship against Americans For Truth About Homosexuality’s (AFTAH) FB page. Our commentary at right was not a part of the original deleted post. The circled portion is Facebook’s notification to AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera; it reads:
Honestly, I don’t know what triggered the left-leaning techies at Facebook (or that FB “algorithm” we keep hearing about in the news): was it the use of the word “queer,” even though I was just paraphrasing a widely used slogan by the homosexual group “Queer Nation”? (Note: almost all major LGBTQ groups and websites use that word.) Or was it that I covered up the indecent “gay kiss”? Either way, FB’s oppressive application of leftist “hate” politics is deeply troubling. The Soviet Thought Police had nothing on these morally-challenged techies. How can conservatives go on in the most popular social media platforms under these conditions? Talk to almost any pro-family advocate on Facebook who defends biblical sexuality and you will find similar stories of heavy-handed and often petty acts of FB censorship. It has happened to us before. Perhaps it’s time to break up these leftist de facto monopolies.–Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH.org; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera Dr. Robert Gagnon Critiques Revoice Conference and ‘Gay’-Affirming ‘Spiritual Friendships’ – Then Facebook Jails HimJuly 27th, 2018Facebook puts Bible-and-homosexuality scholar in “jail” after post critical of conference recognizing homosexuals as “sexual minority”Folks, my friend Robert Gagnon, the world’s foremost authority on the Bible and homosexuality, last week penned this critique of the Revoice conference going on right now in St. Louis. Revoice aims to recognize and celebrate LGBTQ-identified celibate Christians as a “sexual minority” in the Church. It has been widely challenged by orthodox Christians for undermining Scriptural truth; see this article on Revoice’s speakers. After publishing his piece on Facebook, Gagnon was was put in “Facebook jail” for 24 hours–the second time this has happened to him in recent weeks. That’s very troubling, as is the fact I and several other Christians were BANNED from attending Revoice after we were “checked out” by organizers. Gagnon wrote in an email:
We will be following this story very closely, as I share the belief of others that Revoice is the LGBTQ activist camel’s nose under the tent of the evangelical Christian church. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera ______________________________ Concerns with the upcoming Revoice Conference and Spiritual Friendship FolkBy Robert A. J. Gagnon While I am glad for the fact that persons at the upcoming Revoice Conference (July 26-28, St. Louis, in a PCA venue) and those who align with the “Spiritual Friendship” program want to refrain from engaging in same-sex intercourse and thereby uphold this part of the orthodox witness, I have seven consequential concerns about their views. 1. Inadequate engagement with the need for “renewal of the mind” as regards homosexual desires. Is there any asking of: “What is the false narrative that gives these impulses particular strength? Why am I viewing a person of the same sex as a sexual complement or counterpart to my own sex? Why am I aroused by the distinctive sexual features of my own sex, by what I already have? Am I thinking of myself as only half of my own sex? What kind of strategies for renewing my mind can I use to counter this false narrative beyond ‘washed and waiting’?” Instead, the benefits of a generalized “gay” perspective (minus the sex) are celebrated or lifted up. Even if one’s attractions may not change with such an evaluation, they can be disempowered by exposing the lie that lies behind attempts to gratify same-sex desire or (for “transgenders,” so-called) to deny one’s biological sex altogether. There is more to be addressed here than refraining from homosexual sex. Read the rest of this article » RNC Passes Resolution Affirming Parental Rights, Assailing Biased Sex Education in SchoolsJuly 23rd, 2018Folks, this is from pro-family education advocate Donna Garner, a Texas-based conservative hero. She writes about a new Republican National Committee (RNC) resolution supporting parental rights in sexuality education (sex-ed). Of course, as with all political party resolutions, they’re not worth too much if the politicians ignore them (as GOP pols are wont to do, for example, their failure to steadfastly resist the advances of Big LGBTQ). Congrats to RNC Committeewoman Cynthia Dunbar and all those who helped to push this common-sense resolution through. —Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH.org; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera Donna Garner writes: _______________________ Landmark Resolution to Protect Children from Unsuitable Content — Passed by Republican National CommitteeJuly 22, 2018 by Donna Garner Education Policy Commentator From Cynthia Dunbar, Republican National Committeewoman 7.20.18 A landmark Resolution supporting parental rights was unanimously adopted this week by the Republican National Committee. Cynthia Dunbar, National Committeewoman for Virginia and sponsor of the Resolution stated, “I’m thrilled we were able to get this Resolution adopted. This should not be a partisan issue. Parents everywhere deserve the right to know what their children are being taught and have an opportunity to consent to it. Passage of this Resolution is a huge victory and will hopefully serve as the impetus for state legislation across the nation.” ===================== 7.20.18 — REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, Austin, Texas RESOLUTION TO PROTECT STUDENTS FROM EXPOSURE TO POTENTIALLY UNSUITABLE CONTENT BY SUPPORTING A PARENT’S RIGHT TO GRANT PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT FOR SEX EDUCATION WHEREAS, parents are a child’s first and foremost educators, and have primary responsibility for the education of their children. Parents have a right to direct their children’s education, care, and upbringing; (1) WHEREAS, education is much more than schooling. Education is the whole range of activities by which families and communities transmit to a younger generation, not just knowledge and skills, but ethical and behavioral norms and traditions. It is the handing over of a cultural identity; (2) WHEREAS, American education has, for the last several decades, been the focus of constant controversy, as centralizing forces from outside the family and community have sought to remake education in order to remake America. This has done immense damage; (3) WHEREAS, school administrators routinely ask parents for their prior written permission for students to participate in various school-related instruction and activities, including, but not limited to: field trips, sports, and distribution of medicine; WHEREAS, parents and their students should be afforded the same respect with regard to the increasingly sensitive and controversial nature of human sexuality instruction; WHEREAS, much of the content in human sexuality instruction centers on contentious and sensitive issues, including but not limited to: abortion, birth control, sexual activity, sexual orientation, transgenderism, and/or gender identity; WHEREAS, the content often includes a personal analysis or survey that reflects or influences the student’s opinions on sensitive topics such as religious beliefs and practices, sexual orientation, and/or sexual activity; WHEREAS, most states grant an obscenity exemption that allows content that would otherwise be deemed harmful to minors to be disseminated for educational purposes, creating the potential for inappropriate content to be included within human sexuality instruction; WHEREAS, such information, content, or ideology is most appropriately placed within the discretion of the parents or guardians; WHEREAS, the current opt-out paradigm assumes parental consent to student participation, allowing schools to automatically enroll students in potentially explicit, sensitive, and/or controversial human sexuality instruction without prior written permission; WHEREAS, human sexuality instruction frequently places the wishes and concerns of the parents and/or guardians at odds with those of the school district; and WHEREAS, the wishes and concerns of the parents and/or guardians are preeminent to those of the School District and should be acknowledged by simply affording parents and/or guardians the right to grant permission for such instruction; therefore RESOLVED, that public schools must disclose the content contained within human sexuality instruction to the parents and/or guardians of all unemancipated students and shall only enroll those students whose parents and/or guardians provide prior written permission to opt their student into human sexuality instruction; RESOLVED, that the default shall be that no human sexuality instruction shall be provided to any student not yet emancipated without prior written consent from their parent and/or guardian, making an opt-out default an insufficient protection for either the safety of the student or the rights of the parent; RESOLVED, that all state legislatures are encouraged to enact legislation that implements these notices and safeguards to protect students from exposure to potentially inappropriate and salacious content and to acknowledge the right of the parents and/or guardians to direct their children’s education, care, and upbringing, including their right to protect them from exposure to content they find unsuitable. _____________________________________ 1 Platform of the Republican Party, Issued by the Republican National Committee, page 33 (2016, Cleveland, Ohio). 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. Adopted by the Republican National Committee, July 20, 2018 Staver Backs Trump SCOTUS Nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Citing His Praise of Rehnquist and Judicial RestraintJuly 11th, 2018Folks, here is Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver’s take on Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The monumental question before us is this: how would a future “Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh” decide on past cases like Roe v. Wade (coupled with Doe v. Bolton: Court-imposed nationalization of abortion-on-demand) and Obergefell v. Hodges (Court-imposed nationalization of homosexuality-based “marriage”), both of which relied heavily on an activist-minded judicial approach that displaced the legislative process? Also, please note in the media discussions about Kavanaugh that commentary on the potential repeal of Obergefell is muted, despite it being only three years (as opposed to 45 for Roe) since the Court invented a new “constitutional right” by radically redefining marriage–effectively blocking the American people’s voice and votes in dozens of states from preserving real and natural marriage. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera Press release by Liberty Counsel, July 10, 2018: Kavanaugh’s Judicial PhilosophyWASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump nominated D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy’s vacancy on the Supreme Court. Judge Kavanaugh, who has written over 300 judicial opinions, said in his nomination speech last night that his judicial philosophy has been “straightforward. A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make it.” Kavanaugh also stressed he believes in interpreting statutes and the Constitution as they are written, “informed by history and tradition and precedent.” In his speech, “From the Bench: The Constitutional Statesmanship of Chief Justice William Rehnquist“ that Kavanaugh presented for the 2017 Walter Berns Constitution Day Lecture at the American Enterprise Institute about Chief Justice Rehnquist, he said Rehnquist was “his first judicial hero.” Kavanaugh’s lecture focused on the impact that Rehnquist had on the Supreme Court, noting that the “Court unquestionably changed and became more an institution of law, where its power is to interpret and to apply the law as writing, informed by historical practice, not be its own person and policy predilections.” Regarding the Supreme Court’s abortion decisions, he pointed out that Rehnquist dissented from the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision. In Casey, Rehnquist was originally writing the majority opinion to overrule Roe, but 30 days into the writing phase, Justice Kennedy changed his vote from striking down Roe to upholding Roe. The opinion was now removed from Rehnquist who then found himself in the dissent. Rehnquist believed a judge must apply the law, not create it. He believed that fundamental rights must either be enumerated in the Constitution (like free speech) or deeply rooted in history and tradition. Abortion was neither an enumerated right nor deeply rooted in history and tradition. While Rehnquist’s views on abortion never became the majority opinion, he did write the majority opinion in the 1997 so-called “right to die” case known as Washington v. Glucksberg. Writing for the 5-4 majority, Rehnquist said that the “right to die” was neither an enumerated right nor deeply rooted in history and tradition. Here, Rehnquist’s originalist views did prevail. Read the rest of this article » A Tribute to Peter HuizengaJune 29th, 2018“I will never give up on God’s truth.” — Peter HuizengaBy Peter LaBarbera Peter Huizenga, one of the finest men I have ever met (or will meet), passed away last month (May 2) and is now with his Savior, Jesus. Peter was an amazing man, and I simply was not prepared to hear the news that he would no longer be with us. I don’t handle death very well, especially since my mother passed away suddenly 12 years ago from leukemia without us even being able to talk. So I’ve been ruminating on what I would like to write about Peter, but here is a start. I have such tremendous respect for Peter Huizenga, from whom I learned so much. Mostly I learned COURAGE. Because after getting to know Peter over the years as an Illinois pro-family activist, I came to assume and trust that Peter would always be on the side of aggressively defending Truth. In a world gone mad, that was very reassuring. I loved Peter Huizenga, and he loved Americans For Truth. He and his lovely wife of 50 years, Heidi, faithfully and generously supported us over the years. Peter embodied the wholesome, industrious, God-honoring roots of his Dutch ancestry. His grandfather, Harm Huizenga, immigrated to the United States from The Netherlands in 1893 at age 23 and settled in Chicago. Entering the garbage business along with other Dutchmen, his entrepreneurial spirit and hard work laid the groundwork for the Waste Management, Inc. empire that spans the world today. Peter was a man possessing straightforward, no-nonsense moral clarity and convictions of the sort that are sorely lacking in today’s America—especially in the business community in which he and his family thrived. In an age in which corporate execs finance “gay” groups and events willy-nilly so they can check off the pro-LGBTQ box to score “diversity” points, Peter never flinched from helping those fighting this destructive, anti-Christian social revolution. What a rarity in the business world–which itself speaks volumes about why America is in such desperate spiritual and moral straits. Another thing about Peter is that he actually cared. He never stopped working to push Illinois’ notoriously dysfunctional GOP in a more conservative direction, a thankless task if there ever was one. Peter had a brilliant mind and he was a good strategist, but most importantly he never wavered from his conviction that the organized homosexuality (“gay”) movement was against God. In that sense, we were kindred spirits. He liked how AFTAH fought the LGBTQ agenda directly and non-defensively, bereft of politically correct pretending that somehow the battle is not about homosexuality. It is. At the last AFTAH banquet that Peter attended, two years ago at John Kirkwood’s Grace Gospel Fellowship church in Bensenville, IL, we spoke afterward outside the church. I thanked him for so faithfully standing with AFTAH, and with me. Then he said matter-of-factly, “I will never give up on God’s Truth.” I’m not quite capturing the specialness of the moment, but it was vintage Peter Huizenga. In a world of sellouts, he wouldn’t even consider such treachery to his God. That’s how I want to be, and I hope that’s how you want to be. I’m getting chills just recalling that conversation in the dark of night, and it will forever live in my memory. Why is it that more Christian men do not love biblical truth enough to live it out like Peter did, and see it as their duty to stand with God, even when the going gets tough in a culture spiraling downward? I suppose it’s because we sinners are comfortable and weak, and usually we care more about what others think as opposed to what the Lord says clearly in His Word. we My friend Jim Finnegan, a pro-life stalwart and another of those old-timers who never had to be persuaded to fight a movement that glorifies sexual perversion as a “civil right,” had this to say about Peter Huizenga:
A huge loss, indeed, but now he has triumphed in passing on to paradise with Jesus. Peter, I will miss you. I wish I had a chance to say good-bye, but we will meet again. My condolences to Heidi, their four children, and the extended Huizenga family, whose existence is another lasting legacy of this very good man who touched the lives of so many others.
VIDEO: Ex-Transgender Grace Harley Describes How Her ‘Sexual Orientation’ Was Completely ChangedJune 28th, 2018“I never wanted to be heterosexual,” says former “transgender” who once “married” a woman.Folks, here is Rev. Grace Harley’s speech at AFTAH’s June 26 “Repeal Obergefell” press event in front of the Supreme Court, to mark the three-year anniversary of the judicial travesty of the Obergefell “gay marriage” decision. Every day I am confronted by LGBTQ activists who insist that “sexual orientation” cannot be changed. And yet my friend Grace testifies to the opposite–saying [go to 4:25] that she hasn’t had a lustful sexual thought about women since her Christian conversion 26 years ago. Grace, like all of us, cannot change her skin color but she praises the Lord that through His grace and power she radically changed her sexual thoughts and disordered “transgender” lifestyle. (Her reference to the “MCC” is for the Metropolitan Community Church, a “gay activist” church catering to unrepentant homosexuals.) This video was shot by Cliff Kincaid of America’s Survival; note that I’m a contributor to the new AS book advertised in the video, “Permanent Revolution: The Secret Life and Legacy of Barack Hussein Obama”; my chapter is on the bizarre childhood and potential homosexual background of Obama, and his deceptive flip-flop to help usher in “gay marriage” in the United States. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; @PeterLaBarbera AFTAH ‘Repeal Obergefell’ Press Conference at SCOTUS – CBN CoverageJune 28th, 2018The following is CBN’s (Christian Broadcasting Network) coverage of Americans For Truth’s “Repeal Obergefell” press conference at the Supreme Court June 26, 2018–the third anniversary of the Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which effectively forced the recognition of homosexual “marriage” on the entire nation. We’ll have much more on the event, including videos of our excellent speakers, in future posts. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; @PeterLaBarbera _______________________________ ‘I Was Living a Lie Until Jesus Delivered Me’: Ex-Gays Reflect on Historic Gay Marriage RulingBy John Wesley Reid, Jenna Browder, 6-26-18, CBN.com WASHINGTON – Three years have passed since the US Supreme Court validated gay marriage as the law of the land in the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges. To mark the three-year anniversary of this case, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) stood outside the Supreme Court to denounce the decision and demand a repeal. But this wasn’t only about a judicial conflict. Joining the protest were a group of ex-LGBT people who credited Jesus with pulling them from their former lifestyles. “I was enslaved to homosexuality for 30 years until I prayed to Jesus and He told me where my true identity was,” one speaker told the crowd. “I was living a lie in who I thought I was until Jesus delivered me!” Kathleen Crank, Republican pro-family advocate and a candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates, expressed the challenges often felt with advocating biblical truth. “Exposing the darkness is no fun and can be frustrating and frightening as I have learned.” Crank said. “Even though it’s frustrating and frightening to keep telling the truth, we have to keep doing it because the right side of history is true.” Read the rest of this article » Ex-‘Gays,’ Pro-Family Leaders Mark Third Anniversary of Supreme Court’s Devastating Obergefell Ruling Imposing Homosexual ‘Marriage’ on All 50 StatesJune 25th, 2018Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 312-324-3787; americansfortruth@gmail.com June 25, 2018 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH.org) is sponsoring a press event in front of the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow, Tuesday, June 26, 2018 to mark the third anniversary of the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that radically redefined natural “marriage” to accommodate homosexuality and effectively imposed it on all 50 states.
“The Obergefell judicial travesty is right up there with Roe v. Wade and Dred Scott as among the most unconstitutional and misguided Supreme Court decisions in American history. It tramples over marriage-protection amendments–passed overwhelmingly by voters in dozens of states–while attaching the noble and godly institution of marriage in U.S. law to homosexuality, a sexual perversion that is clearly proscribed in Scripture,” said Americans For Truth president Peter LaBarbera. “Obergefell put a gas pedal to America’s already-accelerating moral decline and the LGBT-leftist war against religious freedom. It also makes it easier for schools to indoctrinate children in sex-and-gender confusion in the name of ‘equality.’ Americans who care about truth, virtue and liberty must never accept this Court-imposed lie. We must work and pray for its reversal. People of faith simply must never give in to the false version of reality and nature that Obergefell attempts to normalize,” LaBarbera said. Participants include:
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