We commend this young man, Chase Harper, who inspired the “Day of Truth” as a response to the pro-homosexuality “Day of Silence” in schools across the country. How many grown adults could learn from his example of standing up for godly values, with courage and conviction, and not giving an inch to pro-homosexual political correctness? Harper is now a student at Wheaton College. Note his admonishment to fellow Wheaton students.–PL

By Chase Harper 

I spent the better part of last Monday talking and praying with a homosexual man who recently attempted to commit suicide. His life has been a trail of suffering. Society has almost universally told this man that his sexual lifestyle is one to be celebrated, while in fact it is the root of much deep-seated fear and pain.

He had known Christians who had spoken of God’s deliverance from sin, yet none of them ever told him that homosexuality was something from which he must be delivered. How did these Christians expect this man to be set free? Our love for people in bondage to homosexuality must include the truth regarding the destructive nature of their lifestyle. In this situation, love without truth is utter hypocrisy.

A person trapped in homosexuality is often like a cancer victim who is unaware of their disease. A “good hearted person” would gladly cry with them, hug them, and hold their hand beside their deathbed. Yet would it not be an abominable thing to leave that person in ignorance or self-deception concerning their condition? Truly selfless love would compel you to burst into the room screaming, “Friend, you have a horrible cancer and it is killing you as we speak! Come with me and we’ll go to the Doctor who can save your life!”

Homosexuality is dangerous. People who are given over to a homosexual lifestyle are far more likely to experience disease, mental illness, drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, suicidal tendencies, and even a shortened life span.[1]  It is understandable that the Bible speaks so harshly against sexual “freedom”.

My high school not only endorsed, but glorified homosexuality. While the school-endorsed Day of Silence claims to promote wonderful things such as creating safer environments for LGBT students, in actuality it proved to be a way for my school to portray diverse sexuality as healthy and normal.

Teachers and counselors would suggest to troubled students that their emptiness in life might stem from a denial of homosexual orientation. Students looking for a way out of homosexuality were warned against even considering a search for one. A close family friend of mine arrived at this high school only to be convinced that he was truly homosexual and that embracing his new sexuality was the answer to his troubles.

In an effort to applaud sexual freedom, the school brought an adult male drag queen to speak on campus, only to be outdone by the student vote electing a gay prom king. Sexuality without boundaries was “the way to go”. The school even went as far as providing students with counseling material explicitly stating that the Christian Bible does not in anyway condemn homosexual behavior. Many students, even Christian students, saw sexual diversity as a beautiful part of God’s plan for our lives. Our silence in such circumstances is affirmation of perversity.

http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/589872853.html

Contact: Phil Magnan, Director, Biblical Family Advocates, phil@bfamilyadvocates.com

BUDAPEST, Hungary, April 19 /Christian Newswire/ — America is still reeling over the horrific slaughter of students and faculty at Virginia Tech. The shooter’s actions have not been listed as a hate crime, but what makes that heinous crime somehow less hateful or less important than a crime of bias? No one doubts that there was a great deal of hatred on the part of the gunman who shot so many people regardless of race, sexual orientation or religion.

Another recent story should give us pause as well, Jury gives S.D. woman life in prison, in which a black lesbian woman killed a white heterosexual woman, then burned and chain-sawed her body into pieces. Yet this case will not be listed as a hate crime because the black lesbian did not kill the white heterosexual because of orientation or color, she did it out of jealousy.

“What is striking about these two cases is that it shows the amazing hypocrisy of those who want hate crimes legislation. How can anyone say that it was not a hate crime for any of these students or faculty to die the way they did? Where is their equal protection of the law? The fact remains that all crimes are a crime of hate because real love does no harm towards our neighbor. The existing laws should be equally severe against anyone who does physical harm to any person. The actions of criminals like the shooter have already clearly shown blatant bias to disregard the safety of their fellow neighbors by choosing to do them physical harm. Isn’t that bias enough?” So says Phil Magnan, director of Biblical Family Advocates

Magnan continued “Society would do well to punish the crime and not the bias lest we begin to punish people for their private beliefs or their words. And if mere offense be the measure of the limits of free speech, then no one will be able to speak. I am offended every day by the words of others, but I will not take away their right to free speech in the public forum. We should all be mature enough to take the disagreement of others, without punishing them for not agreeing with us.”

Biblical Family Advocates affirms that all crimes against all persons are crimes of hate and as such should be prosecuted according to the degree of those crimes. Though hate crimes legislation is well intentioned, it diminishes the value of millions of victims, by exalting the rights and value of others over the rest of society.
 

How can students in the United States of America be allowed to promote the acceptance of homosexuality (e.g., the national Day of Silence) but not criticize it? Remember: many people of faith (and others) do not agree with the modern, trendy notion of “gayness” as personhood — i.e., that it is a part of a person’s intrinsic identity. Instead, they view homosexuality as changeable, unnatural and/or sinful behavior, as evidenced by the many men and women who once considered themselves “gay” but have since left their homosexual lifestyle behind.

Judge Hart’s decision creates classic viewpoint discrimination in a public, taxpayer-funded forum (schools) and we hope ultimately that it will be struck down in appeal. I trust that even some of our “gay” critics will see how this ruling is incompatible with the First Amendment.– Peter LaBarbera

Associate Press reports: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2C2933%2C266716%2C00.html

Judge Upholds Illinois School’s Ban on ‘Be Happy, Not Gay’ Shirt

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
CHICAGO — Two Neuqua Valley High School [in Naperville, Illinois] students won’t be able to wear T-shirts saying “Be Happy, Not Gay,” to school on Thursday following a judge’s ruling.

U.S. District Judge William T. Hart ruled in favor of the high school Tuesday in a preliminary injunction that would have allowed the students to wear the shirts the day after Wednesday’s National Day of Silence.

On the Day of Silence, students can refrain from speaking as an effort to protest discrimination against homosexuals.

The Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund is representing Heidi Zamecnik of Naperville and Alexander Nuxoll of Bolingbrook in a lawsuit that claims Zamecnik’s rights were violated last year when she wasn’t allowed to wear the shirt in school.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian litigation group, will appeal the judge’s decision on the preliminary injunction to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, attorney Jonathan Scruggs said. The lawsuit is still pending.

Scruggs said the school is violating the students’ rights to free speech by banning the shirt.

“The school cannot silence speech merely because some people find it offensive,” Scruggs said. “We believe that’s the core of what the First Amendment protects.”

Jack Canna, an attorney for Indian Prairie Unit School District 204, said banning the shirt is part of a policy “to preserve the notion that kids shouldn’t make negative or derogatory comments about other students.”

Messages left by The Associated Press with the Indian Prairie Unit School District 204 and Neuqua Valley High School were not immediately returned Wednesday morning.

Contrast this with the politically correct, pro-homosexual American Library Association, which, as part of its liberal agenda, attempts to block web filters and other attempts to limit adults — some of them predatory — from using public library computers to access pornography.– Peter LaBarbera

Family Friendly Libraries News Release

www.fflibraries.org                                                     

April 18, 2007

(770) 932-9994; Information@fflibraries.org

Family Friendly Libraries, a national grassroots organization dedicated to increasing awareness of the need to protect children from harmful materials in public libraries, has granted two Awards of Recognition to libraries which meet the organizations Standards for Public Libraries.

“We are thrilled with the public response to our nomination process. We have received nominations from all across the country in just the four weeks since we announced the awards process,” said Family Friendly Libraries President, Denise Varenhorst. “To have five award winners at the outset is just fantastic,” she added.  

The two libraries that have earned this award are the Gwinnett County Public Library in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, and the Manhattan Public Library in eastern Kansas. “Both of these libraries meet all seven of our Standards for Public Libraries and deserve to be commended,” Varenhorst said. These standards include the utilization of Internet filters in compliance with the Children’s Internet Protection Act, allowing parents to limit their minor child’s borrowing privileges, and providing a separate area for materials parents may wish to pre-screen for their children.

The former Mayor of Manhattan, Kansas, Mike Taussig, and Gwinnett County Commissioner, Mike Beaudreau, will present the awards to their respective library boards.

In addition to the two Awards of Recognition, Family Friendly Libraries is bestowing three Gold Star Awards for the month of April. Gold Star Awards are given to individuals or libraries which demonstrate exemplary dedication to local control and protecting children in libraries

Gold Star Award winners for April include Maggie Brooks, the Monroe County Executive who threatened to halt library funding if the library would not stop the public viewing of pornography, the Minneapolis Central Library staff, whose report of a patron viewing child pornography led to federal charges, and the Mount Clemens Public Library, which temporarily suspended Internet service after obscene images were found displayed on computer screens in public view.

In addition to receiving award certificates and letters of commendation, award winners are listed on the Family Friendly Libraries website www.fflibraries.org. Citizens and library leaders are invited to nominate libraries in their communities for Family Friendly Libraries awards via the Family Friendly Libraries website at www.fflibraries.org

I am shocked — shocked — at the claims of Brian Camenker and our friends at Mass Resistance: are they saying that self-styled “queer” activists would actually use lies and deception, and manipulate the legal system, to bring down a conservative foe? Of course that’s what they’re saying — and Camenker knows the “gay” lobby like few others, since he — as the leading defender of pro-family values on the homosexual issue in Massachusetts — has been a target of its wrath. Remember, it’s all about ends justifying the means for so many homosexual activists, and it appears Cirignano is their latest victim.– Peter LaBarbera

MassResistance reports: 

Catholic activist Larry Cirignano arraigned in court on assault & battery, civil rights violation — completely phony charges against him by homosexual activists. Hearing on May 1. The justice system turned upside down.  ===

On Tuesday, April 11, Catholic activist Larry Cirignano was arraigned in a Worcester [Mass.] courthouse on charges of assault and battery, and civil rights violations. He will have his pre-trial hearing on May 1. Not only could Larry be convicted of these, but they are also exploring whether to also charge him with a hate crime.  This is being driven — with great energy — by local homosexual activists and the ACLU.

Words cannot express what an incredible, unbelievable fraud and injustice this is.  On Saturday morning, Dec. 16, 2006, Larry was helping run a pro-traditional marriage rally for VoteOnMarriage on the steps of Worcester City Hall. They had speakers, signs, and several dozen people who came to hear and see it. They had a permit to be there and made sure that police officers were present.

Homosexual activists also brought a sizeable group of people there. They gathered right in the same area. Their purpose was to scream and mingle and to disrupt the event in any way they could (see the video link HERE). At one point, one of them came right up and stood, with a sign, in front of the podium and started chanting, in order to disrupt it further. The police (who had already told them to back off) did nothing. So Larry walked up and walked her back into the crowd, away from the podium. When Larry was coming back, he heard screams. The woman (who it turns out is an ACLU Board Member) had dived to the ground and was claiming that Larry had pushed her!  But six eyewitnesses we talked to said that it was an act, an happened well after Larry had started walking the other way. Nevertheless, homosexual activists insisted that Larry had assaulted her and pushed her to the ground!

In the days following that incident, we talked to the Worcester police official responsible for deciding what to do. It became clear to us that the police were, shall we say, unbelievably sympathetic to the homosexual activists (“she had a right to free speech there”) and contempt for the pro-family community.

Now Larry’s being charged with a crime, a civil rights violation, and possible an additional hate crime!  The Orwellian absurdity of this is mind-numbing. The homosexual “community” has been celebrating and are determined to punish Larry as much as they can.

Here’s this week’s Worcester Telegram article on Wednesday’s arraignment. It’s completely slanted. It doesn’t mention that there are a MINIMUM of six close eye-witnesses (whom we’ve talked to) that say the alleged “attack” simply did not happen.
http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070412/NEWS/704120752/1008/NEWS02

Video of disgusting behavior by homosexual activists at the December 16 event
Here’s our current web page on this incident.   It includes a disgusting video of what the homosexual activists were doing during that event to disrupt it — besides the outrageous and phony stunt they pulled on Larry Cirignano. Unfortunately, this video does not have the actual incident, but it shows you what else was going on. We’ll be updating this page over the next week.
COMING UP SOON:  We have a copy of the only video taken during the actual incident. We will be posting that on the MassResistance website for you to see for yourself.

WE WILL KEEP YOU UP TO DATE ON THIS!

By Peter LaBarbera

At right is a facsimile of the “Day of Silence Card,” which Waubonsie Valley High School in Naperville, IL is urging students to pass out in school tomorrow (Wed., April 18th); to view a clear version in PDF, click HERE.

The following is excerpted from a letter I sent to school authorities at Waubonsie Valley High School (WVHS) in Naperville, Illinois, concerning their promotion and endorsement of the “Day of Silence,” an in-school pro-homosexual protest in which students go silent all day [to protest alleged anti-homosexual oppression]. My children attend public schools in Naperville.

To read Waubonsie’s online announcement about the Day of Silence (DOS), click HERE. To view a PDF of the “Day of Silence Card” that WVHS is promoting to students (to present to their teachers and fellow students), click HERE.  For more information on the parental/student boycott of schools promoting the Day of Silence, go to the NotOurKids.com website. And for information on Alliance Defense Fund’s “Day of Truth” designed to counter the DOS, click HERE.

___________________________

April 7, 2007

Re: Waubonsie Valley HS web announcement: “Second Annual Day of Silence”: http://www.ipsd.org/newsevents/news_item_detail.asp?id=14568

Dear District 204 Faculty & Waubonsie School Administrators and Teachers,

I was deeply distressed to read the web posting concerning Waubonsie High School’s outright promotion of GLSEN’s national Day of Silence (tomorrow). Because you have chosen to embrace and officially endorse this event — which clearly advances one side of the controversial moral issue of homosexuality and will disrupt the learning environment at WVHS — my wife and I will be pulling our son … from school tomorrow (Wed, April 18th), and will encourage other parents to do the same.

We will also work to advance a policy of strict neutrality [at WVHS] on the issue of homosexuality and other moral conscience issues at Waubonsie and District 204 in the months and years ahead….

We respectfully ask: how does it promote an environment that is conducive to learning to encourage students to present a card to their teachers informing them that they will “remain silent for the entire day, including class….” (emphasis added) on the Day of Silence, Wed., April 18th? What about the students who do not agree with homosexual behavior, for religious, moral or other reasons? Or what about students who come to school to learn, and are not interested in crusading for social causes during school hours? Doesn’t it concern you that these students will be unfairly subjected to this propaganda exercise — and that their right to be educated in a non-politicized atmosphere will be violated?

We are concerned because the “gay” student club at WVHS, Identity — alone among all the extra-curricular student clubs — deals with a highly controversial moral and social issue that has severe implications for students’ health and spiritual well-being. Nobody doubts the merit of the other student clubs. It is as dubious to portray Day of Silence as an innocuous event about tolerance as it is to say that Identity is like any other student club.

We do not view homosexuality as an issue of innate identity but changeable behavior which is immoral in the eyes of the Creator. Some common “gay” sexual behaviors are also very high risk (unsafe), as evidenced by this quotation — not by Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson — but by homosexual writer Jack Hart (pardon the graphic content):

Many sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) occur more often among gay men than in the general population. Several factors contribute to this difference: Gay men have the opportunity to engage in sex with more people than do most heterosexual men, and some practices common among gays — especially rimming [anal-oral intercourse] and anal intercourse — are highly efficient at transmitting disease. (Gay Sex: A Manual for Men Who Love Men, Allyson Books, 1998, pp. 212-213)

There are countless other credible resources I could cite documenting the health risks of homosexual behaviors. (See Dr. John Diggs’ paper, “The Health Risks of Gay Sex.”)  Are the GLBT and “questioning” students at WVHS made aware of these risks? Do parents know about them? (I was told by [a Waubonsie Valley HS official] that a student can attend Identity meetings without his or her parents’ knowledge or approval.) Moreover, because I have personally met or interviewed dozens of former homosexuals, I do not view this as an issue of “civil rights.” (There are no ex-African Americans or ex-Latinos.) In fact, I am concerned that homosexual activist groups like GLSEN — the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, an acronym which you failed to define in your web posting about the Day of Silence — are strongly prejudiced against tradition-minded students and their parents.

Consider this highly “intolerant” and bigoted quote disparaging religious conservatives from GLSEN founder Kevin Jennings made in a church in 2000:

“Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded [pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we’ll pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] … over to our side. That’s really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit — … I’m trying to find a way to say this. I’m trying not to say, ‘[F–k] ’em!’ which is what I want to say, because I don’t care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!” (Source: audiotape from event, cited in a paper I wrote for Concerned Women for America, “When Silence Would Have Been Golden”)

When schools delve into the promotion of one side of a controversial moral issue like homosexuality, or join with controversial groups like GLSEN, it naturally discriminates against students on the other side.  Several weeks ago, I attended a District 204 Diversity meeting dealing with gay issues. I voiced concern about the biased nature of the presentation — which was reliant on information provided by GLSEN — hardly an objective source and in fact one that has a record of radical activism. Here are just two more black marks on GLSEN’s record (please forgive the graphic content, but this is what pre-teen children were exposed to):

1) GLSEN-backed 2000 “Fistgate” scandal in Massachusetts: (see http://massresistance.org/docs/issues/fistgate/massnews.html) At a GLSEN-sponsored conference at Tufts U., on March 25, 2000, three homosexual activists employed by the Massachusetts Departments of Health and Education led a youth workshop titled “What They Didn’t Tell You about Queer Sex & Sexuality in Health Class” — part of the annual Boston-GLSEN “Teach Out” conference held at Tufts University. The “Queer Sex” session, advertised to “youth only ages 14 to 21,” was attended by Massachusetts family advocate Scott Whitemen, who taped it while standing in the back of the room.

In the workshop, instructor Michael Gaucher, prompted by a teen’s question, verbally guided the students on the mechanics of “fisting” — a homosexual slang term for a sadistic sex act in which a man inserts his hand and arm into another person’s anal cavity. Another instructor, Margot Abels, said fisting “often gets a really bad rap,” and described it innocuously as “an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with.” Abels and Gaucher also guided the students on techniques of oral sodomy and lesbian sex.

[NOTE: I think I am correct that GLSEN never issued an apology to the public for sponsoring this heinous event that corrupted innocent children.]

2) At GLSEN’s conference in Arlington Heights, IL [a suburb of Chicago], in 2000, all participants, including dozens of high school-aged kids, could pick up a homosexual “Visitor’s Companion” — which advertised Chicago’s gay “leather” bars, a gay sex club and a homosexual bathhouse (where men go for anonymous sexual liaisons with other men) called “Steamworks,” which was advertised as a “24-hour men’s gym/sauna.”

If GLSEN were a conservative or Christian group and committed such reckless acts endangering youth, do you think they would still be promoted as a credible source by public schools? Were you aware of GLSEN’s scandals? Do you think Naperville and Aurora parents would countenance any WVHS involvement with GLSEN if they know of this organization’s reckless and radical track record? (For more information on GLSEN’s 2000 conference, click on this link: http://www.geocities.com/sirokai/shininglight/gradeschoolkids.htm.)

Frankly, I am stunned that after another concerned 204 parent and I voiced our objections to District 204’s bias on homosexual issues at the 204 Diversity meeting, you have chosen to so blatantly promote an activist pro-homosexual event like the DOS that has angered parents across the nation.

We regard your promotion of GLSEN’s Day of Silence event as educational malpractice and the misuse of your authority granted to you by tax-paying and voting parents (most of whom probably have no idea that Waubonsie VHS is being used for this pro-gay social protest tomorrow). By promoting this massive, in-school distraction, despite claims that this is merely about “tolerance,” you are harming the educational process and directly undermining parents’ rights to guide their own children’s understanding on this important moral question.

Please also consider this document by the Citizens for Community Values on the “Legal Liability Associated with Homosexuality Education in Public Schools.”

I would like to request a meeting to discuss this matter … Also, I would request any data you have on GLBT students being harassed at WVHS in this and the past few years. If there is truly a problem of WVHS administrators and teachers being unable to protect gay-identified kids, the public deserves to know about it.  For the record, our position is that no child should be abused or harassed, but that schools can safeguard all kids without reference to any special criteria such as “sexual orientation.”

Thank you for your urgent consideration of this matter. Needless to say, it is no small thing for us to intentionally pull our child from school, but we feel that you have given us no choice by endorsing this activist, pro-gay protest.

Sincerely,

Peter LaBarbera

Naperville, Illinois parent

  Hunter College professor Kenneth Sherrill says police arrests of men having homosexual sex in Atlanta’s public restrooms is a “perversion” — not the vile acts themselves.

Atlanta police, looking for luggage thieves, stumbled upon men engaging in homosexual sex acts in airport public restrooms. A sad and pathetic story of men’s lives out of control. “The new restroom dragnet has led to the arrests of more than 30 people in three months for indecent exposure and public sex acts at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport,” AP reports.

Now look at how “gay” activist and Hunter College professor Kenneth Sherill responds in the AP story (below). Sherrill criticizes — not the men committing degrading acts in public places — but the police, calling the undercover arrests in the airport restrooms a “perversion of rational law enforcement activities.” Several observations:

1. Various homosexually-oriented websites publicize locations — across the nation and the world –where men can engage in anonymous homosexual acts with other men in public restrooms, highway rest stops, parks, etc.
2. Many of these men do not identify as “gay”; they have wives or girlfriends who know nothing of their secret double life — women whose lives are put in potentially life-threatening danger by their spouse’s high-risk homosexual adulteries;
3. Children visit these same public restrooms and parks — how many have walked in on men engaging in perverse acts? Also, we’ve received many reports over the years of used condoms being left behind in “public sex” spots such as parks; can’t the authorities keep these known locations clean of public perversion?
4. Some leading homosexual activists and groups actually defend “public sex” — even as a “right” of sorts. In 1998 in Pittsburgh, I was kicked out of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s annual “Creating Change” conference — as I was sitting in the audience listening to a panel led by the webmaster for the leading homosexual “cruising for sex” website. Imagine: the second most powerful homosexual group in America — one that lays claim to the mantle of the noble “civil rights” movement — endorsing public perversions of this sort.
5. Kenneth Sherrill’s disgraceful comments show once again how out of touch left-wing intellectuals are with the average citizen, and how selfish homosexual activists put their interests above the common good. Only a radical “gay” professor (Sherrill has also done work for the Task Force) could manage to take a story about men getting busted for committing vile sex acts with other men in public bathrooms — and say that the police action to catch these men is a “perversion”! Sort of makes you wonder what Professor Sherrill is teaching the youngsters in his care. — Peter LaBarbera

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3033063
 
Arrests Up in Atlanta Airport Restrooms
Restroom Patrols of Atlanta Airport Meant to Stop Baggage Theft Result in Indecency Arrests
By DANIEL YEE

ATLANTA Apr 12, 2007 (AP)— At the world’s busiest airport, plainclothes officers patrolling public restrooms in search of luggage thieves have instead uncovered a rash of other, more sordid crimes.

The new restroom dragnet has led to the arrests of more than 30 people in three months for indecent exposure and public sex acts at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Airport restrooms apparently have become such popular meeting places for men looking for sexual trysts with other men that they have been suggested several times as meeting places in personal ads on the Web site Craigslist.

“Hey … I’m stuck at the airport from 5 p.m. and I’m looking for a good time …,” one ad reads. In another, the person posting says he is stuck at the airport for three hours in the evening and is looking for “discreet, quick action.”

The new patrols were started to stop theft, not catch people in sex acts, police officials say.

Officers started monitoring the restrooms after figuring out that thieves were pulling bags off baggage-claim carousels and taking them into toilet stalls to comb through them.

“We’re trying to provide a safe environment for everyone at the airport,” said Officer Joseph Villafane, a police spokesman. “We’re not out to get all that it’s just we encounter it.”

Among those arrested is Ed Wall, the board chairman of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. An officer said he saw Wall having oral sex with another man. Wall, who has temporarily stepped down from his post, has maintained his innocence. A court date has not been set.

The other court cases are pending.

James Cates, a clinical psychologist, said airport indecency arrests usually involve people getting caught performing sexual acts. He said it illustrates compulsive behavior known as exhibitionism.

“They’re not a lot different from any compulsion … it’s just that this kind of behavior can be offensive to people and can be traumatizing,” said Cates, who counsels and performs psychological testing on sex offenders and people with sexual disorders. “They’ve got to have the thrill and as they keep not getting caught or reported, the thrill gets less and less. It has to become more risky and daring to keep the thrill up.”

Still, some say the airport police should have better things to do than stake out restrooms.

“Police have far better things to do with their time than to arrest people for this,” said Kenneth Sherrill, professor at Hunter College of The City University of New York. “Being ‘sex police’ in bathrooms strikes me as a perversion of rational law enforcement activities.”

Atlanta’s is not the only airport to have had restroom-related arrests. Former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was ordered to pay $35,000 in damages to a custodian who said he shoved her and exposed himself to her in a bathroom at Baltimore-Washington International Airport in 2000. A year later, a county judge in Michigan was arrested at Detroit Metro Airport for allegedly exposing himself to an undercover officer, although a district attorney decided not to prosecute.

The Atlanta airport police efforts may be working, as new personal ads have on Craigslist have warned people to be careful.

“Do NOT do anything at the airport,” one posting from March 29 reads. “If you want to hook up, do it outside the airport! Have fun but be smart about it. It’s not worth going to jail for the night and having your face put on the news.”

By Peter LaBarbera 

Bob Schwartz of the leftist Chicago homosexual group Gay Liberation Network responded to my e-note asking if he favored laws censoring pro-family group’s speech critical of homosexuality. The following is Schwartz’s response (we’ve put his response at the top rather than following my note, as it was in the original).

I certainly doubt the accuracy of Schwartz’s claim about the Nigerian bishop, as he and his group typically lop all Christians who stand for traditional morality in with those who committed indefensible acts (e.g., violence or death threats) against homosexuals. Schwartz also engages in hyperbole typical of many leftists when he claims that Christian groups are a threat to democracy. Schwartz’s flagrant name-calling of committed Christians as “fascists” is a callous and hurtful shibboleth that has no basis in reality and is deeply offensive to all people and groups, like Americans For Truth, that abhor the Nazis’ genocidal record.

As to Schwartz’s claim about “hate speech,” many on our side of the debate regard GLN’s standard rhetoric — e.g., calling the historic Moody Bible Church in Chicago a “house of hate” — as hateful in the extreme.

Finally, regarding his note about socieities in decline, we commend the work of  the (anti-Christian) Edward Gibbons (The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire), historian Will Durant, Pitirim Sorokin, and others who have documented the role of sexual immorality in the demise of great civilizations.

All this said, we are pleasantly surprised that the GLN leader is not an outright advocate of censorship. Here is Schwartz’s reply to my question:

Is The Big House Peter LaBarbera’s future home?
 

_______________________________________________
 
Sure, its tempting to want to enact laws like those in Canada and across parts of Europe that restrict the very kind of hate speech you and others dole out to gays, all under cover of “religious freedom.” But, I do not favor governmental restrictions on hate speech.
 
I reach this conclusion, not because I care one iota about speech rights for people who would like to push me back into the closet, restrict my rights or see me dead, but because governmental regulation of speech–particularly in the United States–would likely be turned against people of the left, not of the right.  I’m not about to cut my own throat.
 
What I will do is keep portraying right-wing outfits like IFI and Americans for Truth, along with more effective hate groups like Focus on the Family, the John Hagee “ministries,” and the Coral Ridge fascist James Kennedy as dangerous to democracy. Dangerous because they include extremists who want to substitute the bible for the US Constitution. Dangerous because they are hate mongers who go after vulnerable gays today, but have an agenda that includes rolling back gains won thru struggle by workers, immigrants, women, and African Americans, as well as support to American/Israeli wars for empire.*
 
This summer, Gay Liberation Network will host a Nigerian gay man who has had to flee his native land following death threats from thugs spurred on by Christian leaders such as the Anglican archbishop, Peter Akinola, a man held to be a hero by some American gay haters.
 
Finally, as you will recall, we are prepared to take our ideas into the street.
 
You and others of your ilk deserve to be isolated, and ousted from respectable society.  The fate of Don Imus hopefully awaits antigay bigots as well.
 
BOB SCHWARTZ
Gay Liberation Network
 
[* See the book by Kevin Phillips entitled “American Theocracy.” Phillips points out that elites of societies in decline often appropriate religious fervor as they attempt to stabilize the sinking ship, branding policy opponents as enemies, demonizing religious and sexual minorities, scapegoating “foreigners,” calling upon the deity to bless military adventures, etc.]

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I got the following response from Peter LaBarbera after I copied him on the message I posted regarding the IFI campaign to defeat federal hate crime legislation.  My response to LaBarbera follows his message. 
LaBarbera posted my original message and his response on his website: http://americansfortruth.org/
He can be reached at americansfortruth@comcast.net
 
 
…. You’d love to censor groups like IFI and Americans for Truth, wouldn’t you? If you had the power, you’d want to shut us down or ban certain aspects of our speech and conduct? For example, would you favor a federal “anti-hate” law that would have made our last email (“Satan’s Talking Points”) illegal? Or am I wrong and you actually support freedom of speech in the USA on the homosexual issue (which does not include direct harassing threats or advocating violence)? Would you favor using anti-discrimination hate speech laws to curb anti-gay speech? Which speech if any would you censor? Do you support anti-“hate speech” laws in Canada and England that are rapidly criminalizing (“discriminatory”) speech critical of homosexuality and are resulting in Christians being sued for discrimination or being jailed because they publicly oppose homosexual behavior? Did you support the jailing of the pastor in Sweden, Ake Green (www.akegreen.org), or do you think he should not have been prosecuted and what the government did to him was an injustice?  Since you’re charging us with being fascists, don’t we have a right to know? Would you use state power to restrict anti-gay speech, or not, and if so, under what circumstances?
 
Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth