“A Terribly Sad Day for Christians in America”: Traditional Values Coalition

The following is Traditional Values Coalition’s firsthand report from last week’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on the “Thought Crimes” bill, H.R. 1592 (the bill’s is benignly called the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act”). Please note the portions in bold below:  

TVC REPORT FROM THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HEARING ON THE “HATE CRIMES” BILL, H.R. 1592

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

For almost 11 hours Rev. Lou Sheldon, Chairman of Traditional Values Coalition, and CEO Andrea Lafferty monitored every move in the Judiciary Committee relevant to the HR 1592, the Hate Crimes bill.  They sat in the front row from early morning until it was concluded around 9:15 p.m. All 25 Republican amendments were defeated.  The purpose of the Markup is to vote on amendments to the bill.  There are 23 Democrats and 17 Republicans [in the Judiciary Committee].  HR 1592 passed by a party line vote, all Democrats supported it and all Republicans opposed.  Following is TVC’s account of the “Markup.”

TVC materials were used by numerous Congressmen in their presentations.  It was clear that they were quoting from documents TVC had produced.  Numerous Congressmen came over to us and thanked us for staying there all day and all night. 

The TVC staff worked diligently researching, creating reports, meeting with Members and their staff, contacting you the grassroots for help and MUCH MORE.

The first Republican amendment was proposed by Congressman Jim Jordon from Ohio adding those unborn babies and those partially-born babies to the list of protected classes.  However, Chairman Conyers ruled the amendment was non-germane, which means the members were not allowed to vote on it. 

Congressman Darrell Issa, Republican from California offered a clarifying amendment concerning unborn babies which failed.

Republican Congressman Dan Lungren from California stating that no where in the bill are the terms “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” definition and he asked for a definition.   The democrats referred to what they said was an accepted definition of sexual orientation, heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual.  The republicans did not agree stating that heterosexuality was not an orientation.

The democrats did not want to discuss a definition of even sexual orientation or have it in the bill.  They wanted no definitions.

Friends, it was obvious.  There are many additional orientations that would have had to be included in sexual orientation.  Also, they would have to agree to a definition of gender identity and they did not want that.  They obviously did not want to define gender identity to include she-male, cross-dresser, drag queen, transgender, transsexual, etc.

Republican Congressman Randy Forbes from Virginia stated that since it has been proven and established that our military are targets of hate and physical attack, many facilities are recommending that soldiers not wear their uniforms in large adjoining cities.  He mentioned several groups by name that are vehemently spitting on them and abusing them, only because they are US military personnel.

So Forbes offered an amendment to also include military personnel as a protected class and thus to attack them would also be a hate crime.  It was defeated.

The Republicans offered many good amendments to add categories that would be covered by the bill.  They did a very good job trying to clarify the bill and hold the democrats accountable.

Senior Citizens should be a protected class as old people are being beaten up and robbed. Rosa Parks got mugged in Detroit.  Another suggested protected class was Pregnant Women who are battered by boy friends, live-in boyfriends or husbands because they are pregnant. Republican Congressman Tom Feeney of Florida offered an amendment to add the “homeless.”   All were defeated.

Republican Congressman Louis Gohmert of Texas moved to remove “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” from the bill.  It failed on a recorded vote of 19 to 13.

Congressman Mike Pence from Indiana offered the important amendment on Freedom of Religion.  “Nothing in this section limits the religious freedom of any person or group under the constitution.”

A number of Republicans spoke in support of it.  But the Democrats Jerrold Nadler, Tammy Baldwin and Chairman John Conyers kept evading the issue.

Finally, Congressman Gohmert asked, “If a minister was giving a sermon, a Bible study or any kind of written or spoken message saying that homosexuality was a serious sin and a person in the congregation went out and committed a crime against a homosexual would the minister be charged with the crime of incitement?”

Gohmert was attempting to clarify and emphasize that the legislation would have an effect on the constitutional right to religious freedom and thus the Pence amendment was needed to protect religious speech.

The Democrats continued to explain why they could not accept the amendment.  Lundgren continuously shot down their answer.  He said, “What is your answer?  Would there be incitement charges against the pastor?”

And finally Democrat Congressman Artur Davis from Alabama spoke up and said, “Yes.”

Friends, that is what we have been warning you about and our legal advice was correct.  It is evident what HR 1592 is about.  It is not about homosexuals and cross dressers suffering with no food, shelter or jobs, it is about preventing Bible-believing people and pastors from speaking the truth. 

It is about punishing them so they will not dare to speak the truth.

It is about threatening them with prison so they won’t dare speak the truth.

The Judiciary Committee could easily have accepted the amendment, “Nothing in this section limits the religious freedom of any person or group under the constitution.” 

Rev. Lou Sheldon stated, “By refusing to accept this amendment the Democrats on this committee have proven their purpose, to remove freedom of religion from the U.S. Constitution.”

This is an up-to-the minute report late tonight.   

Tomorrow we will send you more news and an Action item so you can write your elected officials.  THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER YET.  HR 1592 WILL GO TO THE HOUSE FLOOR, VERY LIKELY EARLY NEXT WEEK.

Your financial help is urgently needed as we work to defeat HR 1592 on the House floor and continue to uphold and protect Biblical principles here at the Congress.  TVC can be reached at http://www.traditionalvalues.org/ or by calling 202-547-8570.

Scottish Christian Party to make Holyrood election a referendum on the Sexual Orientation Regulation

GLASGOW, Scotland, April 30 /Christian Newswire/ — With the Sexual Orientation Regulations becoming law at midnight last night the Scottish Christian Party has mailed 2 million anti- Sexual Orientation Regulation leaflets to voters in Scotland.

In the Glasgow and the Central region of Scotland ¾ million leaflets have been sent in personally addressed envelopes with a covering letter.

Reverend George Hargreaves, leader of the Scottish Christian Party said, “We intend to high-jack the political agenda as far Christians are concerned. The SOR’s are a far more urgent matter to many Scottish Christians than independence or any other current political issue. It is an assault on their faith and conscience.

Thursday is their chance to say ‘No!’ to the SORs.”

In the party’s election broadcast, aired on BBC and STV last Tuesday, the SORs were compared to anti- Semitic laws passed by the Nazis in the early 1930’s. The broadcast featured footage of Hitler addressing a rally in 1933.

Reverend Hargreaves noted, “We are turning the Holyrood elections into a de-facto referendum on the Sexual Orientation Regulations.”

Note to Editors: In 2000 Brian Souter’s Keep the Clause campaign gained the support of over 1 million Scots. The Scottish Christian Party are fielding 72 candidates across Scotland on the Regional List; more than any other political party.

By Peter LaBarbera

 Thanks to the technological wonder of YouTube (online digital videos), thousands of people across the world got a rare inside look at how pro-homosexual teachers and administrators indoctrinate very young children. Funny thing — and it’s the only funny thing about this story — is that the video clips in question are more than 10 years old. They come from an activist film called “It’s Elementary” made in 1996 by the San Francisco-based group Women’s Educational Media, which has been using this film and others to promote pro-homosexual teachings to young children in schools across the nation.

These video clips, posted by a racist and since taken down by YouTube, are now on my friend Brian Camenker’s “MassResistance.com” website. Please watch them while you still can by clicking HERE. The URL is http://www.massresistance.org/media/video/brainwashing.html.

“It’s Elementary” is a wickedly manipulative pro-homosexual propaganda documentary used to promote pro-“gay” teachings for schoolchildren — even young kids who don’t even know what sex is yet. The film shows actual lessons directed at elementary schools kids — in the classroom — of the sort that only a hardened liberal or homosexual activist would find unobjectionable.

The video is horrifying proof of how liberal educationists are turning the nation’s public (and some private) schools into pro-homosexual advocacy zones — beginning with innocent, young, malleable minds — to create a generation of pro-“gay” Americans who will help usher in the full “gay” political/cultural agenda, including “same-sex marriage.” Changing young minds through one-sided propaganda is GLSEN’s (the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) raison d’etre. (To read a paper I wrote for CWA in 2002 highlighting GLSEN’s radical agenda, click HERE.)

Background: ‘Gay’ Smear Campaign Begins 

Dr. Warren Throckmorton, a good man who promotes ex-“gay” therapy but who we fear is overly solicitous of homosexual activists’ hyper-sensitive complaints, pointed out on his blog (headline: “Racism on YouTube”…) that the man who posted the “It’s Elementary” videos on YouTube is a confirmed racist. This is terrible but only a secondary story line here.

Curiously, Warren offered no timely insights on the pro-homosexuality youth video itself, even as thousands of people across the country were circulating emails about the “brainwashing” videos; more on that later.

Camenker, who is an orthodox Jew, and I (a Christian) share a contempt for white supremacy; to us any kind of racism is a sin, just as all homosexual behavior is sinful. But the real story here is not who originally posted the videos. In fact, I can’t tell you the exact rules, but my hunch is anyone could have posted “fair use” excerpts of “It’s Elementary,” along with commentary, since the pro-homosexual film was in large circulation and has caused great controversy since its creation.

No, the real story is the shocking content of the videos, and that so many Americans apparently were, and are, unaware that such blatant indoctrination techniques already have been used on young children (in more liberal school districts) for so long. In the first video, you can watch as one young girl in a grade school in the People’s Republic of Madison, Wisconsin, expresses visible shock and angst as her (male) teacher informs her in the classroom that popular rock star Melissa Etheridge is a lesbian.

There is simply no excuse for forcing adult sexual ideologies on helpless kids in the classroom. 

Bennett Exposes True Agenda, Gets Smeared 

My friend Steve Bennett, a former homosexual and founder of Stephen Bennett Ministries, received the “It’s Elementary” clips from another group and then passed them on to his ministry members as an e-mail alert when they were still on YouTube (the original poster gave them makeshift titles: “Homosexuals Brainwash Children,” Parts I and II). Steve then sent out a second e-mail disavowing the YouTube poster’s use of the  tag “Faggot” to mark the video. 

Steve tells Americans For Truth that when saw the “faggot” tag and the fact that the same poster had put up white supremacy videos, he immediately reported the guy to YouTube; presumably, after others did the same, the shocking “gay”-indoctrination video clips were taken down and the racist was banned from posting again on YouTube.

“The video stands on its own merits,” Bennett told me.

Predictably, homosexual activists like blogger John Aravosis used the fact that the video was posted on YouTube by a racist to link the pro-family movement and groups like Concerned Women for America to racist hatemongers. Aravosis wrongly asserts that Bennett is a spokesman for CWA when in reality the ex-“gay” leader hasn’t acted as such for several years (and he was never a paid spokesman).

Truth is, Aravosis — who led the homosexual web assault on Dr. Laura Schlessinger a few years back — could write a book on hate, so bitter is he at pro-family groups for opposing homosexual behavior (which he has chosen to embrace), but that’s a story for another day.

Jeremy Hooper, a young homosexual blogger, echoed Aravosis, writing (emphasis his; the original links to racist videos are removed):

Our outrage is not because we have anything to hide with the “It’s Elementary” video and because our hidden “agenda” has been exposed. Our outrage is over the fact that Mr. Bennett linked to a clip of someone who also uploaded clips with titles like “Keep America White,” as well as one with the description: “A video celebrating Hitler and the National Socialist Movement.” What, do they think his antipathy for gay people is his one redeeming standpoint?!
 

…The point is that the YouTube user who violated copyright and misrepresented this “must see video” (as [[the pro-family website Lifesite.com] calls it) is also responsible for tarnishing YouTube with some of the ugliest, angriest, most biased rhetoric that one could possibly disseminate. And Stephen Bennett, someone who is given respect by the organized “pro-family” movement, recommended that all of his good Christian followers support the work of this user.

Two observations:

1) Jeremy may think that the “gay” movement has nothing to hide with “It’s Elementary,” but the truth is that a vast majority of Americans and people worldwide would be shocked by these video excerpts. Saturation exposure of this video could cripple the “gay” movement, but if Jeremy thinks differently, we’d welcome his help in getting this video exposed widely to educate Americans on the “gay” agenda for young people in our schools;

  

2) How silly to think that Bennett or anybody who used YouTube’s efficient site to expose the evil of It’s Elementary’s homosexual propaganda “support[s] the work of this [racist] user.” What “work”? He posted a radical “gay” video, of which most people are unaware. Nobody in the Christian (religious) pro-family movement has anything positive to say about racism. Hooper keeps talking about “the man responsible for this video,” … Hello. The San Francisco group Women’s Educational Media is responsible for this video; they produced it! The sad fellow with racism issues merely posted excerpts from it online.

Bennett wrote me: “I clarified with my e-mail list in a follow up e-mail roughly a half an hour or so later to pay attention ONLY to the two videos I sent links to. I reported the nutty racist (who really needs prayer) before sending out my second e-mail. So, I have NO reason whatsoever to ‘defend’ myself against anyone. We aren’t ‘racists’ — everyone knows that — and the homosexual activists know that, too. They’re simply troublemakers and ‘bullies’ who need serious help.”

To that I add: how sad, or should I say how “queer,” that the main response of “gay” activists like Aravosis and Hooper to a video that shows young kids getting brainwashed — in the classroom — to accept homosexuality as normal is to smear pro-family leaders like Steve Bennett who are trying to bring this terrible injustice against children to the world’s attention.

More on “It’s Elementary” — there are worse excerpts than the YouTube segments — and how homosexual activists target VERY young children in future postings.

Media Release, Concerned Women for America (202-488-7000):

“Hate crimes” bill H.R. 1592, which is on the fast track to passage in Congress, will officially give homosexuals and cross dressers special elevated status in society based upon their chosen sexual behaviors and/or wardrobe.  Under H.R. 1592, the victims at Virginia Tech would officially be considered less valuable to society than homosexuals and cross dressers who are the targets of insults, intimidation, simple assault or other “violent acts.”

The 14^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees “equal protection under the law” for all citizens — regardless of their sexual preference.  “Hate crimes” legislation flies in the face of the 14^th Amendment.  Such legislation would require the government to invest more resources in the investigation and prosecution of crimes against homosexuals than it would the victims at Virginia Tech.  It is an irrefutable fact that H.R. 1592 would treat certain citizens unequally from others.

Concerned Women for America (CWA) asks Congress to grant equal government resources, concern and respect to the victims at Virginia Tech and their families as they do to the demands of liberal homosexual activists by reaffirming the precepts of the 14^th Amendment and voting NO on this dangerous and discriminatory piece of legislation.

“If Seung-Hui Cho’s horrific actions were not an act of ‘hate,’ then what where they?” asked Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues with CWA. “All violent crimes are ‘hate crimes.’ By H.R. 1592’s definition, Cho’s actions would have constituted a ‘hate crime’ except for the fact that he targeted his victims with the wrong kind of bias.  In this case, Cho ‘perceived’ his victims to be ‘rich kids.’  However, under H.R. 1592, ‘rich kids’ are not a specially protected class like homosexuals, so Cho’s crime is second tier and would be considered less egregious.

“The FBI’s latest statistics show that there were zero ‘hate crimes’ murders committed against homosexuals or those perceived to be homosexual in 2005; yet we already know of thirty-two so-called ‘hate crimes’ murders committed against perceived ‘rich kids’ in a single day.  But under H.R. 1592, those ‘rich kids’ would be denied the same protections and justice as homosexuals.  The whole ‘hate crimes’ concept really places logic and reason on its head,” concluded Barber.

Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization.

 Check out this revealing account in yesterday’s New York Post of an appearance by crass lesbian Rosie O’Donnell to a group of VIP women in New York City. The story here is not Rosie’s mouth — the Big Apple’s sewers are cleaner than that — but the lack of outrage from the assembled powerful women despite the presence of a group of high-achieving high school girls in the room. But why are we surprised: after all, most of these women probably endorse the “Vagina Monologues,” a vulgar feminist play that has women discussing their private parts on stage as part of their assault on the patriarchy. (VM wants to take its subversive act from America’s colleges to its high schools — another atrocity for beleaguered parents to fight.) Note how one shocked observer didn’t want to give her name to the press. In other words, she was ashamed to publicly criticize O’Donnell. Meanwhile, we doubt that “shame” is even in Rosie’s vocabulary — which makes her, come to think of it, the perfect spokesman for modern, pro-partial-birth-abortion American feminism.– Peter LaBarbera

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04242007/gossip/pagesix/pagesix_u.htm

April 24, 2007 — ROSIE O’Donnell’s blue humor made faces red when she emceed the Matrix Awards in front of 2,000 feting New York’s most accomplished women in media at the Waldorf-Astoria Grand Ballroom yesterday.

The loose-lipped lesbian dropped the F-bomb as Barbara Walters lowered her head on the dais and covered her face with her hand. O’Donnell concluded a rant about Donald Trump by grabbing her crotch and shouting, “Eat me!”

O’Donnell also said she was sad when Trump called her “disgusting” and “fat” because, “it was always my dream to give an old, bald billionaire a boner.”

The annual luncheon of N.Y. Women in Communications – which honored Cindy Adams, Meredith Vieira, Joan Didion, Susan Lyne, Arianna Huffington and Lisa Caputo, among others – featured as presenters News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch [See photo, facing page], Joy Behar, Nora Ephron, and Martha Stewart.

Also on hand were 17 sweet-faced high school girls who won scholarships to pursue their dreams of careers in media.

“I was offended by how vulgar and common O’Donnell was,” said Robert Zimmerman, a Democrat active in progressive causes. “It was especially inappropriate with young people present.”

Brandon Holley, editor-in-chief of Jane magazine, said, “I wasn’t personally offended, but I thought it was fun to watch other people be offended.”

“I cringed and dove under the table when she said, ‘Eat me,’ ” said one woman attendee who declined to be identified.

Among those in the crowd were Judith Giuliani, her predecessor Donna Hanover, Judge Judy Sheindlin, Helen Gurley Brown, Sue Simmons, Geri Laybourne of Oxygen Media, Jane Friedman of HarperCollins, and Hearst president Cathie Black.

O’Donnell’s publicist, Cindi Berger, told us: “When you ask for Rosie, you know what you’re getting. She’s not a shrinking violet. She’s a stand-up comedienne. She says things that are provocative.”

N.Y. Women in Communications was evidently happy with O’Donnell. The group’s managing director, Beth Ellen Keyes, sent an e-mail to her handlers saying, “Rosie was fabulous. Please let Rosie know how much we appreciated her being there. She was just great.” [See Cindy Adams, Page 20.]

By Chuck Colson, Breakpoint, Prison Fellowship 

The Gay Agenda and Schoolkids

Once upon a time there was a handsome young prince. When he grew up, he began searching for a wife, but could not find a princess he wanted to marry. One day, he met another prince—and fell in love. The two men married and lived happily ever after.

They must have been the only ones who did. When the fairy tale—which ended with the newly married “couple” kissing—was read to Massachusetts first graders, Christian parents were outraged.

Two sets of parents sued the Lexington school district, claiming that district officials violated both state law and their civil rights by allowing a teacher to read to their 6-year-olds a book that normalizes homosexual love and marriage.

Not surprisingly—this is Massachusetts, after all—federal judge Mark Wolf dismissed the lawsuit. Public schools, he wrote, are “entitled to teach anything that is reasonably related to the goals of preparing students to become engaged and productive citizens in our democracy.”

I guess it is not possible to become a productive citizen without embracing the teachings of radical gays.

Incredibly, the judge said parents did not even have a right to pull their kids from classes that discuss and depict homosexual behavior. Allowing kids to leave, the judge said, “could send the message that gays, lesbians, and the children of same-sex parents are inferior and, therefore, have a damaging effect on those students.”

This decision is so ghastly it is hard to know where to begin. Since when did parents not have the right to control what their children are exposed to when it comes to matters of sexuality? And what about the damaging effect on kids who are taught ideas that conflict with their parents’ teachings?

If the school district is really committed to teaching about all kinds of families, then why not give children a story about a prince who longs for another prince, realizes his longings are disordered, undergoes reparative therapy, and lives happily ever after—with a princess?

The real goal, of course, is normalizing homosexuality. The judge tipped his hand on this when he said that children should be taught to “respect” differences in sexual orientation.

The two families are appealing Judge Wolf’s decision, and we ought to be praying for their ultimate success. But we must also realize what is really going on here.

When it comes to sin, humans have been playing the denial game ever since the Fall. In Romans, Paul says that even pagans know God’s moral law because it is “written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness.”

That’s why it is not enough for homosexuals to be tolerated; in order to live with their own consciences, homosexuals demand unanimous assent that homosexuality is a moral good. And that means silencing those who believe that homosexuality is a disorder, and that homosexual behavior is a moral sin.

You and I must fight back when homosexuals attempt to promote gay “marriage” in public schools. But we must also reach out with compassion to those ensnared by disordered sexual desires.

The Bible teaches that sin—and a guilty conscience—can be erased only by the grace of God through faith in Christ.

More links to resources on this story can be found on Breakpoint’s website.

Regulating ‘Hurtful Speech’ with All the Efficiency of the Post Office

How do you feel about the creation of a federal “anti-hate” bureaucracy “regulating group defamation” and operating with all the efficiency of the U.S. Post Office? This bureaucracy would regulate which speech is acceptable and which is criminal because it might stimulate “harassment” and “intimidation” against specified groups, including homosexuals? Passage of a federal “hate crimes” law (HR 1592) would take America one giant step closer to that leftist goal.

Folks, the time to act is NOW to stop “Thought Crimes” (“Hate Crimes”) legislation in Congress. Please take this threat to our liberties very seriously: with homosexual activists and lawyers already putting their aberrant-sex-based “rights” above our freedoms of religion, conscience and association, why would anyone believe them when they say they don’t want to censor  “hurtful speech”? (And don’t forget: most define mere opposition to their agenda as “hate.”)

TAKE ACTION: Call your member of the House and Senate immediately to oppose H.R. 1592 and all “hate (thought) crimes” legislation! Call toll-free 1-877-851-6437 or toll 1-202-225-3121. There is much more information at http://www.truthtellers.org/ and these other pro-family websites: http://www.traditionalvalues.org/; http://www.frc.org/, http://www.cwfa.org/, and http://www.stopthoughtcrimeslaws.com/   (Check out Janet Folger’s “Hate Crimes Discount Coupon” HERE.)
 
ALSO:  Did you know that according to pro-family leaders in Washington, President Bush has NOT yet committed publicly to vetoing “Thought Crimes” and ENDA (the pro-homosexual, pro-“transgender” Employment Nondiscrimination Act) bills in Congress — even as Bush has promised to veto Embryonic Stem Cell research? Call the White House today and urge President Bush to use his Bully Pulpit NOW against “Hate Crimes” laws and ENDA: Call 202-456-1414 and ask for the comment line.  To e-mail the White House, click HERE. 

Ted Pike of the National Prayer Network has done yeoman’s work warning religious people about the implications of “thought crimes” legislation pushed by, among other leftist groups, the Anti-Defamation League, a pro-homosexuality group whose agenda has strayed far beyond the noble calling of fighting anti-Semitism.–Peter LaBarbera 

Here’s Pike’s latest Alert:
 
EMERGENCY ALERT!!!
HATE BILL FAST FORWARDING TO VOTE IN HOUSE

By Rev. Ted Pike

The House version of the federal “anti-hate” bill, H.R. 1592, is scheduled for a last hearing in the Subcommittee on Crime on Tuesday, April 24. The next day the entire House Judiciary Committee will consider the marked-up version, making its own changes. If approved, the bill will be sent forward to the House to be voted on, perhaps immediately.

Those who love free speech must respond NOW with unprecedented calling, not only to the member of the House from your district but to as many members of the House of Representatives as possible.  All House members are listed at http://www.truthtellers.org/. The toll-free number is 1-877-541-6437, or call toll 1-202-224-3121.

Tell them: “Please don’t vote for any hate crimes legislation. Hate laws have taken away free speech in Canada and many European Countries.”

Hate Bill: Worse Than We Imagined

Most persons who are concerned about imminent passage of the federal “anti-hate” bill don’t realize that S. 1105 in the Senate and H.R. 1592 in the House are actually amendments to a federal hate law passed in 1968. During the height of the civil rights movement, “Title 18, U.S.C., Sec. 245” stipulated that no one could verbally “…attempt to…intimidate” another person (chiefly black) away from enjoyment of their federally protected right to equal employment, public services, housing, voting rights, jury privileges, etc. If the government finds such verbal “intimidation” in a state and state officials are not enforcing these guarantees, the federal government can invade states’ rights in local law enforcement, upholding Title 18.

Title 18 is considered a “hate crimes” law because it criminalizes bias-motivated, verbal attempts to “intimidate” blacks by persuading them that they are intellectually, hygienically, or morally inferior — unfit to eat at the same lunch counter, attend the same church, work in the same business, get the same education, live in the same apartment complex, or serve on the same jury with whites.

By Peter LaBarbera

The following is the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) online definition of “homophobia.” The ADL is the leading advocate for federal and state “hate crimes” laws that are inclusive of homosexuality and gender confusion (“sexual orientation” and “gender identity”). Note the bolded portions below and how the ADL seemingly gives no ground for acceptable religious and moral opposition to homosexual behavior. This is important because currently many governmental agencies and “hate crime” law advocates rely on the ADL for definitions of “hate,” “prejudice,” etc. To read an online ADL report on Hate Crime Laws, click HERE. To see the ADL’s recommendation of the pro-homosexual “Heather Has Two Mommies” as an “anti-bias book for children,” click HERE.

What does this Orwellian statement mean: “Many researchers claim that homosexuals still find themselves the target of bias within institutions like churches and professional organizations.” Yes, many Bible-believing churches — and orthodox Jewish synogogues, and Islamic mosques — believe homosexual behavior is sinful and harmful to body and soul, but they also believe that people practicing this lifestyle can change (as proven by the existence of many ex-“gays”). Redefining Biblical doctrine as “discrimination” — ie., classifying people practicing homosexuality as “targets of bias” in churches — is precisely the sort of bureaucratic thought-control-speak that must not be made “the law” in our free nation. To tell President Bush to oppose the “Hate Crimes” law moving through the Democrat-led Congress, call 202-456-1414; or go HERE to contact the White House via email.

The Anti-Defamation League on “Homophobia”

 

Homophobia 
 
Homophobia is the hatred or fear of homosexuals – that is, lesbians and gay men – sometimes leading to acts of violence and expressions of hostility. Homophobia is not confined to any one segment of society, and can be found in people from all walks of life. Organized hate groups have viciously attacked homosexuals and have used especially violent language in attempting to persecute and intimidate them.
 
Discrimination against homosexuals comes in many forms. At times homophobic beliefs lead people toward prejudiced actions at work, at schools, at clubs and in many other areas as well. Prejudiced views directed at homosexuals often stem from the perception that homosexual activity is immoral. Homophobia makes some people think that they are superior to homosexuals. In fact, studies show that anti-gay bias is far more accepted among large numbers of Americans than is bias against other minorities.

 

Many researchers claim that homosexuals still find themselves the target of bias within institutions like churches and professional organizations. Many church and religious groups maintain that homosexual behavior is a sin and runs counter to the will of God as expressed in certain Biblical passages. Up until 1980, many psychiatrists still looked upon homosexuality as a mental disorder. Today, medical professionals believe that homosexuality is not an illness, mental disorder or emotional problem.

 

Homophobia is most dangerous when it serves as the justification for violent action against homosexuals. In recent years attacks on homosexuals have risen. While the violent crime rate in many areas continues to drop, anti-gay crime is moving in the other direction. What is most disturbing is the cruelty and viciousness of many of these attacks.

 

The severity of many of these crimes helps to show the strong hatred that homophobia can create.

 

Many conservative religious leaders have, at some point, spoken out against the gay community and warned of the danger they supposedly pose to America. 700 Club television host Pat Robertson said that, “Many of those people involved in Adolf Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals – the two things seem to go together.” Former Congressman William Dannemeyer also compared homosexuals to Nazis when he wrote that “the homosexual blitzkrieg has been better planned than Hitler’s…” Clearly, it is ridiculous to compare homosexuals in America to Germany’s Nazi government which believed in warfare and mass murder as a means for taking over the world.

 

Apart from these views, many violent extremist groups also hold homophobic beliefs. The neo-Nazi National Alliance has allegedly been involved in anti-gay violence, while racist skinheads around the country have attacked and beaten homosexuals.