“The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund is provides strategic, technical and financial support to openly LGBT candidates and officials. It’s the only national organization solely committed to increasing the number of openly LGBT public officials at federal, state and local levels of government. Victory is the nation’s largest LGBT political action committee and one of the nation’s largest non-connected PACs. In 15 years, Victory has helped the number of openly LGBT officials grow from 49 to more than 350. Roughly 22% of all Americans are represented by an openly LGBT elected official.”

Sixty-seven (67) openly homosexual candidates were elected on Tuesday.

From Victory Fund:

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund today reported unprecedented success in electing openly gay candidates this year. Sixty-seven Victory-endorsed candidates were elected to federal, state and local offices, with some winning historic races that make them the first openly gay or lesbian candidates ever elected in their states or legislative bodies.

“This is the tipping point election for openly gay candidates,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund. “We’re proving that qualified, well-prepared candidates matched with committed donors means gays and lesbians can move from having a stake in policy to actually making policy. There’s no reason to sit on the sidelines with our fingers crossed anymore.”

10 Key victories in 2006:

• Patricia Todd, who will represent District 54 in the Alabama State House. Todd is the first openly gay person ever elected to any office in the state.
• Kathy Webb, who will represent District 37 in the Arkansas State House. Webb is the first openly gay person ever elected to any office in the state.
• Henry Fernandez, who won a seat on the Lawrence Township School Board, making him the first openly gay person ever elected to any office in Indiana.
• Al McAffrey, who will represent District 88 in the Oklahoma State House. McAffrey is the first openly gay person ever elected to the Oklahoma state legislature.
• Jolie Justus, who will represent District 10 in the Missouri State Senate. Justus is the first openly gay state senator in Missouri history.
• Ed Murray, who will represent District 43 in the Washington State Senate. Murray, a former state representative, is the second openly gay state senator in Washington history.
• Matt McCoy, who becomes the first openly gay candidate ever elected to the Iowa legislature. McCoy, a sitting state senator, came out during his last term.
• Ken Keechl, who won a seat on the Broward County Commission in Florida, beating an appointee of Gov. Jeb Bush.
• Jamie Pedersen, who becomes the third consecutive openly gay person to be elected to represent District 43 in the Washington State House.
• Judge Virginia Linder will join Rives Kistler on the Oregon Supreme Court, making it the first state ever to have two openly gay Supreme Court Justices, according to preliminary results.

Key Statistics About Victory-Endorsed Candidates in 2006

• Total Victory-endorsed candidates: 88 (55 non-incumbents, 33 incumbents)
• Total Victory-endorsed winners: 67
• Total Victory-endorsed winners running as openly LGBT for the first time: 37
• Percent of Victory Fund bundled money spent on non-incumbent candidates: 80%
• Percent of Victory Fund PAC money spent on non-incumbent candidates: 91%
• States that elected their first-ever openly LGBT officials: Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana
• States that elected their first-ever openly LGBT state legislators: Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma
• 7 States that still have no openly LGBT elected officials at any level of government: Alaska, Louisiana, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia
• 13 additional states that still have no openly LGBT state legislators: Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wyoming

Dr. Rob Gagnon has posted a new article enlightening the reader on four points:

1. Did the debate over homosexuality trigger divisions over Scriptural authority among mainline Protestants or did those differences already exist when discussion about ordaining gays started?
2. Why is it that Protestants with different understandings about Scripture seemed to peacefully co-exist at one time, but appear unable to do so now?
3. Why has this debate gone on for so long?
4. Is there any way to reconcile differing views over homosexuality and interpreting Scripture?

He concludes that the decision which must be faced by each mainline denomination regarding the homosexuality issue is this:

They will operate either under the motto that innate biological urges are Lord, and we their slaves, or under the motto that Jesus is Lord even of such urges.

From his interview with Jake Shears:

“Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays.”

“From my point of view I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it. I love the idea of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the beautiful stories about it… But the reality is that organised religion doesn’t seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it’s not really compassionate…”

I am reminded of a phrase from II Peter 2:12: “blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant.”

It is not enough to “love the idea of” the teachings of Jesus; we must actually love and delight in the teachings themselves (Psalm 1), which include the command to evangelize and to respect the church, the bride of Christ:

“Go and *make disciples* of all nations, *baptizing them* in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, *teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.*” – Matthew 28:19-20

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will *keep* my commandments” (John 14:15). – Sonja Dalton

From the Task Force’s 2005 Creating Change conference:

Creating Change closed with a thunderous speech by Bishop Yvette Flunder, founder and senior pastor of City of Refuge United Church of Christ in San Francisco, who spoke to the separation many LGBT activists feel from spiritual traditions, saying,

“Somebody stole God from some of us. Somebody reached down inside you and stole your spirit from you.”

But she encouraged activists not to abandon the spiritual dimension of the work they do for justice, saying,

“Activism that is rooted in spirituality can bust Hell wide open.”

The audience wildly applauded Flunder’s speech and left the conference with her words resonating as a spiritual call to all justice-seeking people:

“I challenge you, prophets, to stand up!”

TAKE ACTION – Call the Associated Press and ask why they ignored the Mary Stachowicz case while continuing to devote extensive coverage to the Shepard case. Politely tell them that “gay” victims are not more important than Christian victims–hate is hate–and that there is no logical reason why Shepard’s case deserves any more coverage than Stachowicz’s.

by Peter LaBarbera

All murder victims are equal, but some are more equal than others, to paraphrase George Orwell.

On Nov. 3, a jury took just three hours to find Nicholas Gutierrez guilty of the first-degree murder and rape of Mary Stachowicz (pronounced Stack-OH-vich), a 51-year-old Chicago mother of four and former co-worker who attended church nearly every day. Gutierrez, a homosexual, is now eligible for the death penalty, and his horrifying crime is the sort that cries out for that form of justice.

On this date four years ago (November 13, 2002), Gutierrez, then 19, raped and sodomized Mary, and stabbed, beat and strangled her to death before hiding her bloodied and mangled body in the floor crawl space of his apartment—above the Chicago funeral home where she worked and where he had been laid off. For three days, family members and friends searched frantically for Mary until Gutierrez guided police to her body and gave a warped “confession” filled with self-serving lies.

The trial revealed evidence of the brutality of Gutierrez’s murderous assault on Mary: the tip on his hunting knife was bent from the force of his 11 stab thrusts against her body, and he broke 10 of her ribs.

As if his savagery were not evil enough, Gutierrez, a stocky man about six feet tall, and his public defender lawyers effectively blamed Mary for her own murder—arguing that the five-foot-five-and-half-inch tall Stachowicz had attacked him because she was obsessed about his homosexual lifestyle. By attempting this preposterous “anti-Christian panic defense,” Gutierrez’s lawyers played to bigoted and crude stereotypes of religious people as crazed “homophobes”—in a desperate ploy to reduce his sentence to second-degree murder.

To demonstrate the folly of Gutierrez’s defense, prosecutor James McKay showed the jury a crime scene photo of her bloodied and disfigured face—which he mockingly contrasted with the superficial cut sustained by “Mr. Band-aid,” Nick Gutierrez, on the day of the assault.

Thankfully, the jury didn’t buy Gutierrez’s story and took just three hours to convict him.

If you are the typical American—even if you live in Chicago—you probably have never heard of Mary Stachowicz because she simply was not the right kind of victim. Matthew Shepard, a “gay” college student from Wyoming murdered by two drug-induced thugs in 1998—now there’s a victim who deserves worldwide sympathy and fame. Shepard’s is now one of the most famous homicide cases in all of history, thanks to media hype and homosexual activists’ “spin” that:

1) falsely linked his tragic death to the rhetoric of Christian pro-family groups; and

2) erroneously reported that he was targeted for murder “just because he was gay.” His tragic killing is now exploited as a teaching tool to promote acceptance of homosexuality on high school and college campuses across the country. (Six years after the murder, ABC finally did some serious journalism challenging this myth, revealing that Shepard’s killers were motivated by money and drugs, not anti-gay hate.)

A whole industry has arisen to exploit Shepard’s tragic killing, which has been used as a teaching tool to promote the acceptance of homosexuality to millions of impressionable high school and college students across the country.

Enter Mary Stachowicz, who may have been killed, at least in part, “just because she was a faithful Catholic”—not that the media cares. (A recent Nexis media database search on Mary’s name found a grand total of only 13 articles; a similar search on “Matthew Shepard” found 997 articles in the last month alone.)

Associated Press completely ignored the Gutierrez trial, ensuring that it would receive little national attention—despite the heart-rending details of the Stachowicz case. (On the day that Mary’s killer was convicted of murder, her daughter Angela gave birth to another grandchild whom she will never get to see. Mary’s widowed husband Jerry was forced to endure the humiliation of testifying as to when they had last made love, to prove that the semen found on her murdered body was not his.)

Adding insult to injury, as Gutierrez’s trial was going on, AP ran a feature story about Judy Shepard, Matthew’s mother, who was speaking to college students in Chicago about “hate.”

I called AP’s Chicago office to ask why they weren’t covering the Gutierrez trial—right there in the Windy City—after all the attention they heaped (and continue to heap) on the Matthew Shepard case. I was told that the Shepard case is different because that was a “hate crime.”

Such is the folly of the “hate crimes” concept. It is hard to conceive of a greater demonstration of hatred than Nick Gutierrez cutting Mary’s life short in such a ghastly way and then cravenly exploiting his victim’s strong Catholic beliefs as a way to reduce his sentence. Did the “monster” who sodomized and killed Mary do so because she caught him stealing from her purse, as prosecutors argued, or did he fly into a rage after she “taunted” him about his homosexuality (as a headline in the Chicago Sun Times gratuitously stated)? Or was that just a convenient yarn he concocted to save his hide, knowing that the media and some gullible defense lawyers might play along? (The Tribune reported that Gutierrez’s homosexual partner, Ray Scacchitti, testified that “Stachowicz knew he and Gutierrez were gay and never questioned them about their lifestyle.”)

All this could have made for some fascinating coverage of a trial that might have yielded larger questions, such as: Was Matthew Shepard more a victim of hate than Mary Stachowicz? Are some homosexuals so obsessed with others’ approval that they pose a threat to religious people? Are Christians a growing target for “hate crimes” in America? No surprise that the local media failed to pursue these angles, seeing that most big Chicago media corporations march every year in the “Gay Pride” parade.

There is no logical reason why Matthew Shepard should be a household name while Mary Stachowicz, by all accounts a good person who devoted her life to her church, dies unknown—a victim of bigotry and slander even in her death. The ugly truth is too much for most in the media to admit: they would have cared a lot more about Mary Stachowicz if she were “gay,” and if her murderer, Nick Gutierrez, were not.

Excerpted from Dem triumph raises gay hopes, by Joshua Lynsen, published Nov , 2006, by the pro-homosexuality New York Blade:

…Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said the Democratic victories, which included the election of several gay-friendly lawmakers across the nation, signified “a great day for LGBT Americans.”

…Stafford, Solmonese and others said Democrats would give new priority to gay initiatives when the 110th Congress convenes in January.

Perhaps the greatest push will be to advance a trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

“An inclusive ENDA is a very top priority for our community, and I think Congress will put that at the top of their agenda,” Stafford said. “That is something that is very doable.”

Other priorities included a federal hate crimes bill that covers crimes motivated by hatred of gays and transgender people, and a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the military’s ban on openly gay service members.

“Could we have a hate crimes vote in the first six months? Could we have a hearing on gays in the military?” Solmonese said. “Absolutely.”

…Americans for Truth, which is billed as “the only national organization devoted exclusively to exposing and countering the homosexual activist agenda,” pledged to counter efforts by HRC and others.

President Peter LaBarbera told the Blade, “conservative groups and pro-family groups” are “gearing up” to derail ENDA and the hate crimes bill.

Continue reading in New York Blade…

Excerpted from Marriage Protection Ballot Measure Passes Easily in Cartwright Township, Would Pass Statewide in Illinois if Given the Chance Says IFI, a press release from Illinois Family Institute, published Nov 9, 2006:

…Peter LaBarbera, Protect Marriage Illinois board member and president of the Naperville-based Americans for Truth, said Wisconsin voters’ 59 to 41 passage of a Marriage Protection Amendment — which also clearly precludes “civil unions” — has lessons for Illinois.

“Pro-marriage forces were outspent 10 to one in blue state Wisconsin, yet the Marriage Protection Amendment there passed in a landslide,” LaBarbera said. “Here in Illinois, gay activist Rick Garcia has paid for some biased polls to cast doubt on the prospects of a Marriage Protection initiative here. But Illinois citizens should not believe those polls. With hard work and a strong grassroots push, Illinois will join the list of states providing the maximum protection to marriage. We must do so to prevent judges from usurping the power by radically redefining marriage, as occurred in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Vermont.”

Continue reading at US Newswire… 

The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force was in Kansas City, MO, for five days hosting their 19th annual “Creating Change” conference. According to their website, over 2000 homosexual activists gathered to strategize for 2007 and beyond.

The closing speaker on Sunday morning was Loretta Ross, national coordinator and co-founder of SisterSong Reproductive Health Collective. Ms. Ross “espoused the need to talk about the human right to sexual pleasure“:

“While we’re fighting each other in our own Oppression Olympics, the neofascists and neoliberals are kicking our asses. They’re killing us. And only a united movement for all of our human rights will save us.”

Additionally: “Dozens of youth 24 and under attended an interactive creative writing and poetry workshop by award-winning folk poet and progressive artist-activist Alix Olson on Friday.”

Note that on Alix Olson’s website, her bio says that “Alix Olson is an internationally touring folk poet and progressive queer artist-activist.” Why do you suppose the Task Force elected to omit that particular adjective?

“At this morning’s plenary, several of the youth performed a collectively written poem about sexuality, pride and radicalism, saying in alternating voices,

‘Pride is personal.

Pride is identifying.

Pride is loving yourself.

Pride is holding hands without fear…

Living these lives is radical.

That is beautiful…

We are bountiful.

And beautiful.'”