From Human Rights Campaign:

WASHINGTON — This year, the Human Rights Campaign flexed its political muscle in unprecedented and strategic ways that helped alter the political dynamic in key races across the country. With victories for strong pro-equality candidates like Florida’s Ron Klein and Arizona’s Gabrielle Giffords, the 110th Congress promises to be the most fair-minded in history. Voters in Arizona also made history last night, defeating that state’s discriminatory domestic partnership ballot initiative.

Out of the 225 candidates that HRC endorsed, 208 proved triumphant, with several races still too close to call. HRC was involved in 18 Senate victories, 179 House wins and 11 successful governors’ races. HRC also helped to defeat some of the most anti-gay voices in Congress such as John Hostettler and Rick Santorum, signaling that the era of gay-bashing for political gain is coming to an end.

“Last night we saw unprecedented victories for fair-minded candidates and for equality; we also witnessed a stinging rebuke of anti-gay elected officials in this country,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “The historic rejection of the domestic partnership ban in Arizona is a symbolic turning point in the march toward marriage equality. We congratulate Arizona Together for their work in defeating the discriminatory, un-American measure.”

HRC Helps Candidates Win in ‘06

Human Rights Campaign — the nation’s largest gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization — aggressively targeted races and leveraged millions of dollars and extensive staff resources to ensure victories for pro-equality candidates. And those efforts paid off, with wins in some of the most closely watched campaigns this year.

“American voters sent a clear message yesterday that the era of gay-bashing to win elections is over, as voters flatly rejected anti-gay and divisive candidates,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese.

Conservative extremists pulled a chapter out of their 2004 campaign playbook to exploit the gay community for political gain, but their efforts fell flat with an electorate angry and disillusioned by rampant corruption and the Iraq war quagmire. The failure of right-wing candidates to mobilize their base with anti-gay messages this year is a clear sign that scapegoating GLBT Americans for political points is a recipe for failure.

Although some races are still too close to call, including the Virginia Senate race, HRC’s efforts successfully helped the following candidates make historic wins:

Key Senate HRC Endorsee Victories:

* Sherrod Brown (OH)
* Maria Cantwell (WA)
* Ben Cardin (MD)
* Bob Casey (PA)
* Amy Klobuchar (MN)
* Robert Menendez (NJ)
* Debbie Stabenow (MI)

Key House HRC Endorsee Victories:

* Michael Arcuri (NY)
* Melissa Bean (IL)
* Bruce Braley (IA)
* Gabrielle Giffords (AZ)
* John Hall (NY)
* Ron Klein (FL)
* Tim Mahoney (FL)
* Harry Mitchell (FL)
* Patrick Murphy (PA)
* Ed Perlmutter (CO)
* Joe Sestak (PA)
* Chris Shays (CT)
* Tim Walz (MN)

Statements by Some of the 2006 Election Winners:

Said Senator-Elect Bob Casey (Pennsylvania):
“HRC got behind my campaign early and has been a tremendous help. The energy and commitment they put behind our campaign was extraordinary. I look forward to working with HRC’s incredible staff and membership, especially to advance hate crimes legislation in the Senate.”

Said Senator-Elect Sherrod Brown (Ohio):
“HRC’s presence throughout the state of Ohio during this election was nothing short of extraordinary. It demonstrated the best that we can achieve when we work together and stand up for what is right. I was proud of HRC’s financial and grassroots support for my campaign, it made a difference in the larger fight for social and economic justice for every American.”

Said Congresswoman-Elect Gabrielle Giffords (Arizona):
“I have stood up for equality in Arizona, and I am grateful that HRC and the GLBT community stood with our campaign during the primary and the general elections. We can accomplish so much for our families when we work together. Fairness is an essential American value, and when we champion fairness, we can win decisive victories in even the most competitive congressional districts.”

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

This one is incredible: Two adult men are advertising on the internet, including on MySpace, and hosting weekly parties for “gay” youth (age 17+) at their home (10:30 pm every Saturday night at 438 W Algonquin Rd, Algonquin, IL), where they openly welcome alcohol. One of the ads shows a boy standing, holding another boy whose legs are wrapped around him.

Even so, parents allow their children to attend – or are oblivious to their teen’s whereabouts. Have they seen the photos that Mark and Adam post online? Police are well aware both of the parties and the repeated violation of various laws by the homeowners and by party goers. But each week, the party goes on…

Now a young man is hospitalized after being stabbed eight times in the neck and chest at the party. His friend writes:

I have seen Adrian at the hospital. He has been stabbed eight times throughout his chest and neck. He arrived with a collapsed lung and severe loss of blood. He was read his last rights shortly after he arrived to the hospital. He is in a lot of pain. He has a strong will to live and is in for the fight of his life…

Even so, the regular party guests are defending the home as “a VERY safe place” and swearing to continue hanging out there…demonstrating just how deceived these young people are.

Where is the leadership in Algonquin?

TAKE ACTION (CORRECTED):

• Call Village President John C Schmitt at (847) 658-7643 or e-mail him.
• Call Director of Police and Public Safety Russell Laine at (847) 658-4531 or e-mail him.
• Let them both know that this sort of debauchery is completely unacceptable to you! Ask them what more they need to stop this illicit activity in your community.

The following is excerpted from LITH Man Stabbed 8 Times, by Dave Fitzgerald and Rob Phillips, published Nov 6, 2006, by Northwest Herald:

A 21-year-old man from Lake in the Hills remained in fair condition Monday at Sherman Hospital after being stabbed eight times in the chest early Sunday morning at an Algonquin home that advertises weekly parties on the Internet…

Algonquin police said they had previous problems at the home where the stabbing happened. A Web site www.party69.net directed people to a weekly house party on Saturday nights. In addition, the hosts have MySpace.com accounts that promote the parties.

The parties are advertised as a place for gay youth, and the house is publicized as a “club-like atmosphere” where partygoers must be 17 to get in and 21 to drink. A $5 donation at the door is requested, and identification is required to prove age, the ad says. Partygoers are asked to bring their own alcohol.

Algonquin police said they were aware of the parties and said they brought in a mix of people. Party organizers who live at the home, Mark Davidson, 36, and Adam Conard, 24, were charged July 16 with selling alcohol without a license and providing alcohol to minors. Davidson also was charged with obstruction of a peace officer, and Conard was charged with resisting a peace officer. A trial on those charges is scheduled for Nov. 17, according to court records.

Also, in 2005, Davidson was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a child, stemming from his hosting of an underage drinking party at the same home, according to court records.

“It’s not illegal to have a party,” Algonquin Deputy Chief Ed Urban said.

Continue reading in Northwest Herald…

“The 10th Annual Miami Recognition Dinner honored Bond, who received the evening’s National Leadership Award, and local honorees TWN and philanthropist Bob Cole, recipient of the Miami Herald Humanitarian Award. In his keynote address, Bond lambasted the tactics of opponents of marriage equality for same-sex couples. The event raised more than $270,000, two-thirds of which will be donated by the Task Force to organizations serving the Miami-Dade LGBT community.”

Excerpted from Former President Makes Surprise Appearance At Gay Event, published Nov 6, 2006, by the pro-homosexuality 365Gay:

Former President Bill Clinton made a surprise appearance at a benefit on the weekend for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Clinton was in South Florida to campaign for Democratic candidates. An aide called the NGLTF about an hour before to say that Clinton would like to attend.

The former president mingled with the 650 people who attended the dinner and stayed to see old friend NAACP Chair Julian Bond receive an NGLTF leadership award. Bond has been a longtime supporter of LGBT issues…

“All of this makes me heartsick and angry at the root causes of these scourges. Angry that an entire industry has been built around demonizing, defaming and dehumanizing gay people. Angry that we now live in a nation where lying about a blow job is an impeachable offense, but lying that leads to the literal blowing up of thousands of human bodies is not. Angry that homophobia is once again polluting the political discourse in this election — at this very moment in time — in both subtle and crass ways.” – NGLTF Executive Director Matt Foreman

Continue reading at 365Gay…

Excerpted from My New Job at Missouri State University, by Dr. Mike Adams, published Nov 7, 2006, by Townhall:

…I wouldn’t have expected it either – not until I heard about the case of MSU Social Work student Emily Brooker. Emily’s trouble began when she was forced by Social Work Professor Frank G. Kauffman to write a letter to the Missouri State legislature urging representatives to pass legislation that would allow gays to serve as foster parents and even to adopt children.

When Emily refused to do the assignment – because of her religious objections to homosexuality – she was punished. Her complaint about the assignment led to a formal disciplinary hearing.

The hearing was typical of those at most universities. Emily was given no lawyer nor was there any written record of what happened. But she reports that she was asked very personal questions about whether she believed that homosexuals are sinners. And then she was written up for openly confessing her religious objections concerning homosexuality.

Even though the Alliance Defense Fund has decided to represent Emily in a First Amendment lawsuit, I’ve decided to take the job at MSU. This decision is the result of my opinion that MSU is going to stand firm and defend Professor Kauffman.

Accordingly, during my first week at MSU, I plan to assign students to the following projects with assignments depending on important demographic variables:

Continue reading at Townhall…

Excerpted from Gay History Month in City Schools Seen Part of Trend, by Susan Brinkmann, published Nov 6, 2006, by The Catholic Standard and Times:

…For the first time, this year ninth-grade students will read a collection of short stories titled, “Am I Blue?” which is about people who have been affected by the coming-out experiences of youth…

Until two parent groups hired Liberty Counsel lawyers to stop it, a Maryland school district curriculum was about to teach 8th- and 10th-graders that Jesus condoned homosexuality because He never mentioned it by name, that Christians often use the Bible to justify hatred and that being homosexual is similar to being left-handed.

Some of the fuel behind the movement is coming from what many believe is an overly cozy alliance between the National Education Association (NEA) and gay activist organizations, such as the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the nation’s leading pro-homosexuality education group.

“GLSEN is very closely aligned with the Gay-Lesbian caucus inside the NEA,” said Jeralee Smith, a California school teacher and the outgoing chair of the NEA’s Ex-Gay Educators Caucus.

“When the NEA’s Gay Lesbian Caucus started, I’m sure they wanted to see a gay president in charge of the NEA,” Smith said. “Well, that happened when Bob Chase became president. Chase was outed as a gay man by the Washington Blade around the end of his term as NEA president.

“It was during Bob Chase’s presidency that the Sexual Orientation Task Force was initiated, giving a whole arm of NEA leadership to gay- lesbian -bisexual -transgender (GLBT) causes,” Smith said. “In 2002, a 60-page document detailing NEA’s support of GLBT causes was adopted by the NEA executive committee, and handed to NEA delegates as a report which, technically, didn’t even require a vote.”

Since that time, pro-homosexuality curricula have been steadily creeping into schools across the country, says Regina Griggs, executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX).

“Programs like this are in all 50 states, and probably in every major county in the country,” Griggs said…

What if a student later becomes ill, after having been encouraged to embrace the lifestyle by a school program that deliberately withheld information about the risks? Could the student sue?

“I was recently contacted by somebody who, because of one-sided information being provided by doctors, went through a sex-change operation. His mental issues just got worse, and he now realizes this isn’t the choice anyone should make. He wants to sue because he wasn’t provided with full information.”

In the meantime, Lindevaldsen said,

“This is all politics. It’s all politics in the courts and it’s all politics in the schools. And the pawns are our children.”

Excerpted from N.Y. Plans to Make Gender Personal Choice, by Damien Cave, published Nov 7, 2006, by The New York Times:

…Under the rule being considered by the city’s Board of Health, which is likely to be adopted soon, people born in the city would be able to change the documented sex on their birth certificates by providing affidavits from a doctor and a mental health professional laying out why their patients should be considered members of the opposite sex, and asserting that their proposed change would be permanent.

Applicants would have to have changed their name and shown that they had lived in their adopted gender for at least two years, but there would be no explicit medical requirements.

“Surgery versus nonsurgery can be arbitrary,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the city’s health commissioner. “Somebody with a beard may have had breast-implant surgery. It’s the permanence of the transition that matters most.”

If approved, the new rule would put New York at the forefront of efforts to redefine gender…

Transgender advocates consider the New York proposal an overdue bulwark against discrimination that recognizes an emerging shift away from viewing gender as simply the sum of one’s physical parts…

“They should not change the sex at birth, which is a factual record,” said Dr. Arthur Zitrin, a Midtown psychiatrist who was on the panel of transgender experts convened by the city…

The change would lead to many intriguing questions: For example, would a man who becomes a woman be able to marry another man? (Probably.) Would an adoption agency be able to uncover the original sex of a proposed parent? (Not without a court order.)…

Continue reading at The New York Times…

The following is excerpted from Bath Time: An Old Bus Depot Gives Way to Homo Heaven, by Joe P. Tone, published May 3, 2006, in Cleveland Scene (owned by The New York Times):

Charles Fleck’s money-colored eyes dart around the dusty old bus depot, searching for something new to show off. Here’s where he’ll put the Russian sauna. There, a eucalyptus-vapor room. Over there, the 18-man Jacuzzi…

He’s just giddy about his creation. Building the country’s coolest bathhouse apparently has that effect.

Fleck is a millionaire real-estate investor from South Florida… But upscale bathhouses are his passion. The West Side native built his first bathhouse near Detroit Avenue on West 32nd Street in the 1960s. He now owns the Flex bath chain, with clubs in Atlanta, Phoenix, New Orleans, Columbus, and Los Angeles.

But he saved his most ambitious project for his hometown.

The former Greyhound depot near East 26th and St. Clair will be 48,000 square feet of unfettered opulence — a blue-tiled funhouse of private cabanas, steamy saunas, food, entertainment, and men. Lots and lots of men…

Some view bathhouses as little more than legalized brothels. Many were shut down in the ’80s, with the explosion of AIDS. And they remain the targets of conservatives, health officials, and others who blame them for spreading sexually transmitted diseases.

In Atlanta, after he was denied his spa and liquor licenses, Fleck battled the city all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court. New Orleans also tried to deny his spa license, unsuccessfully arguing that he was running a sex club. He’s still in court in Phoenix, where he was accused of running an illegal entertainment venue…

And there’s another advantage to Cleveland: He doesn’t expect much opposition. When he opened his Columbus Flex near a library, he endured protests from conservatives, who gasped at what would go on in the private “cabanas.”…

Customers will come in through the original depot entrance and immediately be greeted by (no doubt strapping) receptionists. From there, they’ll head into a spacious locker room — Greyhound’s original driver/mechanic locker room, Fleck says.

Beyond that will lie every imaginable way to relax. Fleck turned the depot’s mechanic pits — formerly used to service buses — into an 18-man jacuzzi and a sizable indoor pool. Near that, shrouded by tropical plants, will be the shower area, its automatic shower heads spouting perfect-temperature water.

The club also will boast a cedar-lined Russian sauna, a eucalyptus vapor room, and a cavernous steam room. A full-service kitchen will provide food. And Fleck envisions a sprawling lounge and stage, which he hopes to use for live music or even Sunday church.

Twenty small “resting rooms” will be available for rent…

Your local Y, this ain’t…

Fleck expects 40 percent of his business to come from outside the metro area. And with the amenities he offers, he hopes to draw from beyond the standard horny gay-guy clientele.

“With the mix we get,” he says, “I hardly know who’s doing what to who.”

Continue reading in Cleveland Scene…

From Gay Culture and the Riddle of Andrew Sullivan, by Dr. Albert Mohler, published Oct 27, 2006:

Andrew Sullivan is a man of ideas. In recent years, Sullivan has emerged as one of the most influential intellectuals in American public life. Furthermore, he has been identified with some of the most controversial issues of our times–a fact that is hardly surprising given his libertarian view of morality, conservative views of politics, Roman Catholic views of Christianity, and the fact that he is a prominent homosexual advocate…

In the October 24, 2005 issue of The New Republic, Sullivan writes about “The End of Gay Culture.” Of course, Sullivan’s perspective on homosexuality and gay culture is deeply rooted in his own homosexuality and his ardent embrace of his own homosexual lifestyle. He is anything but a dispassionate observer…

As he reviews the impact of the HIV crisis, Sullivan points to some patterns that emerged in its aftermath–patterns that would likely be missed by those outside the gay subculture. The emergence of lesbians as leaders of the major gay rights organizations was, Sullivan suggests, largely due to the fact that the gay male leaders were largely dead…

“Gay marriage is not a radical step,” Sullivan insisted…

But, even as Sullivan argued for the acceptance and legalization of same-sex marriage, more radical homosexual theorists were dismissing marriage altogether. As Sullivan explained,

“Marriage of all institutions is to liberationists a form of imprisonment; it reeks of a discourse that has bought and sold property, that has denigrated and subjected women, that has constructed human relationships into a crude and suffocating form. Why on earth should it be supported for homosexuals?”

Sullivan’s 1995 book, and his most recent article, must be read in light of his 1998 testimonial, Love Undetectable: Notes on Friendship, Sex, and Survival. This book was written after Sullivan had been diagnosed as HIV-positive. As he recalled:

“I contracted the disease in full knowledge of how it is transmitted, and without any illusions about how debilitating and terrifying a diagnosis it could be. I have witnessed first-hand a man dying of AIDS; I have seen the ravages of its impact and the harrowing humiliation it meant. I had written about it, volunteered to combat it, and tried to understand it. But I still risked getting it, and the memories of that risk and the ramifications of it for myself, my family, and my friends still forced me into questions I would rather not confront, and have expended a great deal of effort avoiding.”

When a high school friend asked Sullivan how he had contracted the virus, Sullivan informed him that he had no idea which sex partner had been the source of the viral transmission. “How many people did you sleep with, for God’s sake?,” his friend asked. Note Sullivan’s answer carefully:

“Too many, God knows. Too many for meaning and dignity to be given to every one; too many for love to be present at each; too many for sex to be very often more than a temporary but powerful release from debilitating fear and loneliness.”

In other words, the public Andrew Sullivan emerged as a major proponent of responsibility, stability, and self-control, while the private Andrew Sullivan was deeply involved in homosexual promiscuity.

All this broke into public view in 2001, when a homosexual columnist discovered that Sullivan had been posting advertisements for unprotected homosexual sex at internet web sites. The ensuing controversy within the gay community was vitriolic, even as it was revealing.

“The End of Gay Culture” is an eye-opening essay. As an exercise in cultural analysis, it demonstrates genuine insight and an insider’s perspective. More than anything else, Sullivan’s article should awaken thinking Christians to the fact that homosexuality is being normalized in the larger culture. This surely represents a matter of urgent missiological concern, for the normalization of sin represents a progressive hardening of the nation’s heart against the Gospel.

At a more personal level, this article reminds me to pray for Andrew Sullivan. I say this even as I realize that he may be more offended by my prayer than by anything else. In most of his writings, Mr. Sullivan demonstrates a consistent and ardent determination to celebrate homosexuality as central to his own self-discovery and personhood. Yet, he also reveals significant doubts. When he explains that he “never publicly defended promiscuity” nor publicly attacked it because “I felt, and often still feel, unable to live up to the ideals I really hold,” I detect a glimmer of doubt. I have faced Mr. Sullivan in public debate on issues related to homosexuality. I consider him to be among the most gifted, thoughtful, and unpredictable intellectuals on the current scene. More than anything else, I want Mr. Sullivan to find his self-identity and deepest passions in the transforming power of Christ–the power to see all things made new. Without apology, I pray that one day he will see all that he has written in defense of homosexuality, and all that he has known in terms of his homosexual identity, as loss, and to find in Christ the only resolution of our sexuality and the only solution to the problem we all share–the problem of sin.

Andrew Sullivan has been a focus of my prayer since I first learned of his HIV-positive status. I do pray that God will give him strengthened health and the gift of time. After all, our Christian concern should be focused not only on the challenge of homosexuality in the culture, but the challenge of reaching homosexuals with the love of Christ and the truth of the Gospel.

Continue reading at Albert Mohler…