If you don't want to miss anything posted on the Americans For Truth website, sign up for our "Feedblitz" service that gives you a daily email of every new article that we post. (This service DOES NOT replace the regular email list.) To sign up for the Feedblitz service, click here.
AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera is hand-cuffed and arrested at the University of Regina–for refusing to abandon a protest led by Canadian pro-life/pro-family advocate Bill Whatcott.
AFTAH Canada Controversy in the News: AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera has left Canada and is now safely back in Chicago. There has been a lot of media coverage of his arrest Monday by Canadian police–as well as the previous controversy surrounding LaBarbera’s near-denial of entry into Canada on the basis that he would violate Canada’s “Hate Propaganda Law.” Here are a few stories:
LifeSiteNews: “American pro-family activist LaBarbera arrested in Canada” [click HERE]
CBC: “U.S. Anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera arrested in Regina” [click HERE]
Regina [Saskatchewan Leader-Post: “Whatcott, LaBarbera arrested on U of R campus (with video)” [click HERE]
Barbwire.com: “U.S. Christian Peter LaBarbera arrested in Canada” [click HERE]
Montreal Gazette: “Anti-gay American speaker allowed entry into Canada after appeal” [click HERE]
Regina Leader-Post: “Anti-gay activist LaBarbera says he seeks civil debate” (with video) [click HERE]
WND.com: “Christian speaker’s entrance to Canada threatened” [click HERE]
____________________________________
Dear AFTAH Readers,
I’m back home in the Land of the Free (well, at least we’re freer than Canada!)…Just a quick note here to let you know that I’m OK after being arrested in Saskatchewan, Canada, for standing up for free speech at a public university (U. of Regina) with Canadian pro-family/pro-life hero Bill Whatcott.
I will have an in-depth report tomorrow, but here are some key facts. I arrived home in Chicago late last night after cutting my week-long visit to Canada short to avoid a second hearing with Canadian Border Service agents on whether I could stay in the country.
The “Pro-Gay Thought Police” seemed to follow me wherever I went in Canada. When I entered the country through Regina [Saskatchewan] Airport last Thursday around 10:00 PM, I was detained for more than three hours as Border Security agents rifled through my luggage, laptop–and even my cell phone–searching for material that would violate Canada’s “Hate Propaganda” law. I hope that most Americans would be as shocked as I was to see government bureaucrats searching through my personal items for evidence of ideas and advocacy it wants to ban (in this case Judeo-Christian morality opposed to homosexual sin).
After the long wait and further questions (including reviewing the AFTAH website), I was formally denied entry into Canada, but elected to appeal the decision with the help of a Canadian attorney. The next day, as Whatcott and I went to the Border Security office at the airport prepared to make our appeal, we quickly discovered that the decision to overturn my entry ban was a done deal. Later we learned that political pressure had been brought to bear on Customs by some conservative Members of Parliament.
A huge THANK YOU to all who prayed for me and offered help to get me into Canada so I could honor my speaking commitment and thwart the arrogant political bullying of leftists who attempted to decide for EVERYONE who could speak at the pro-life event!
Once approved to enter Canada. I stood outside the airport before an array of Canadian reporters and showed them my passport allowing me to stay in Canada until Thursday, April 17 (tomorrow), as long as I did not violate any Canadian laws.
Pro-Life Hero Supports AFTAH
Linda Gibbons, a hero of the pro-life movement who has spent many months serving prison sentences as a result of her sacrificial efforts to save the unborn, championed AFTAH’s work against the homosexual agenda.
I gave my speech at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association and it was well-received, except by a group of protesters outside with signs–who were graciously allowed to attend the conference by SPLA organizers despite their previous attempt to block me as a speaker.
Many attendees expressed their gratitude at being able to hear a presentation on the homosexual agenda, and I was thrilled to have the support of Canadian pro-life hero Linda Gibbons, who has spent many months in jail for refusing to honor “bubble zone” speech codes outside abortion mills. I stressed that Christians need to be as principled against the homosexual activist agenda–including homosexual “marriage”–as they are in defending unborn life.
Arrested at U. of Regina
On Monday, I ventured out with Bill Whatcott to be part of his peaceful pro-life and anti-homosexual-agenda protest at the University of Regina. I brought along an AFTAH flier titled,’ “Is All Love ‘Equal’?” to educate students on the disproportionate health risks of LGBT behaviors (e.g., “The incidence of anal cancer is approximately 80 times that of the general population.”–HIV Essentials).
Immediately upon entering the campus, we were informed by a U.-Regina official that we were not welcome and ordered to leave. Bill responded that he had a right to be at the public campus under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that he would not leave. Whatcott’s right to protest at college campuses had already been affirmed twice by Canadian courts.
Two hours later, police arrived to inform Whatcott that if he did vacate the premises, he would be arrested. Ten minutes after that, Bill and I were being led away by police in hand-cuffs. I felt someone needed to join Bill in standing up for the simple right to speak in defense of biblical truth at a publicly-funded university. We were charged at first with trespassing but later it was changed to “mischief.”
ENTRY BAN LIFTED: Regina, Saskatchewan Leader Post photo shows AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera showing reporters his valid passport Friday afternoon after Canadian Border Security Agency officials reversed their decision to deny entry to LaBarbera. At left is Bill Whatcott, Canada’s leading pro-family activist opposing the homosexual agenda. See Leader Post story HERE. Photo: Don Healy
Folks, today I spoke at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association, as planned–after winning my appeal of Thursday’s Canadian Border Security Agencydecision to deny my entry into Canada as a potential violator of the country’s “hate propaganda” law. According to several attendees at the conference, conservative Members of Parliament used their influence to have the entry ban against me lifted. That explains why the reversal of the entry ban was a “done deal” when Canadian pro-family activist Bill Whatcott and I arrived Friday at Regina International Airport Customs to appeal the decision–without us even having to make our case.
The following is an excerpt of an article about the Customs turnaround in the Regina Leader Post [includes the Leader Post’s accompanying video report]. Thank you to the many pro-family advocates from the United States, Canada and other countries who wrote to Canadian government officials to urge that the spurious “hate” ban on my entry be overturned. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
_________________________
Anti-gay advocate LaBarbera says he seeks civil debate
By Ashley Martin and Pamela Cowan, THE LEADER-POST, April 11, 2014
REGINA — Anti-gay activist Peter LaBarbera will be speaking at a pro-life conference in Weyburn Saturday after being cleared by Canada Border Services Agency in a hearing Friday afternoon.
The head of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) also plans on visiting the universities in Regina and Saskatoon during his time in Canada.
He was initially denied entry into Canada by customs officials in Regina after his Thursday night flight from Chicago. He said his passport was confiscated on grounds he would violate the Criminal Code of Canada by publicly inciting hatred at a Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association (SPLA) conference in Weyburn.
He appealed the decision, and won, during a hearing at noon on Friday, accompanied by SPLA representative Bill Whatcott, a well-known anti-gay activist.
“(The guards) said quite simply and immediately that the person in charge did not feel they had grounds to apply the hate propaganda law to my appearance,” said LaBarbera following the brief hearing. “That’s gratifying, as always.”
In efforts to bar the speech, a petition by Intolerance Free Weyburn has more than 1,300 signatures.
LaBarbera said he was questioned by customs agents regarding his ideologies, and that his luggage, laptop and cellphone were searched Thursday night. He said it felt like being in North Korea, not Canada.
Will ‘Intolerance’ Prevail in Canada? Chris Brookes of “Intolerance Free Weyburn” and his wife led a campaign to lobby Canadian government officials to block AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera’s entry into Canada. On Thursday evening, Canadian customs officials issued a preliminary denial of entry to LaBarbera, who is scheduled to give a speech at a pro-life conference in Weyburn, Saskatchewan Saturday. LaBarbera is appealing the decision today. Photo: Chris Brookes’ Twitter account.
[UPDATE FROM PETER LaBARBERA: Yesterday I wrote the reply below to Regina, Saskatchewan Archbishop Daniel Bohan’s statement about my scheduled presentation at a pro-life conference in Canada. That evening, I flew from Chicago to Regina. Upon deplaning, as I passed through Customs, I was delayed for further questioning by an official with the Canada Border Services Agency. Obviously, I had been flagged as a result of a campaign by the leftist group “Intolerance Free Weyburn,” which is specifically lobbying the Canadian government to deny my entry into Canada as the alleged purveyor of “hate'” [See this AFTAH report on their lobby effort to deny me entry into Canada, and this previous report on the group’s attempt to have me removed as a speaker at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association (SPLA) conference April 11-12.]
After questioning me about the purpose of my scheduled presentation at the SPLA event; rifling through my luggage, which contained numerous books and literature related to homosexuality (pro and con); examining the contents of my laptop and my cell phone; playing a DVD of my speech Wednesday at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio; and critically viewing AFTAH’s website–a preliminary decision was made to deny my entrance into Canada on the basis that my speech at the SPLA would violate Canada’s “Hate Propaganda” law (essentially the potential for “public incitement of hatred” against a group of people based on their “sexual orientation”). The Orwellian experience at Customs dragged on for more than three hours as a formal document was issued outlining my denial of entry under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (citing the Hate Propaganda code). Finally, after 1:00 A.M., I was released pending my appeal of the decision today (Friday). My passport was seized until I arrive back at Customs today at noon for my appeal before a “Minister’s Delegate Review.”– Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH]
NOTE: We have posted letters supportive of LaBarbera speaking at the pro-life conference in Saskatchewan by American pro-life/pro-family advocates Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League [click HERE] and Mary Anne Hackett of Catholic Citizens of Illinois [click HERE]. We will try to post some of the other letters of support–including one from a homosexual man in the U.K.–as soon as possible.]
_________________________________
The following is the April 10 reply by Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), to a letter to Catholics by Archbishop Daniel Bohan, Archdiocese of Regina:
I believe that Archbishop Bohan felt the need to issue a letter that specifically mentions me due to the local controversy that has been instigated by a liberal group that, ironically, has spread much false and derogatory information about me. Many Catholic leaders in the United States, including pro-life hero Joe Scheidler of Pro-Life Action League, have come to my defense–and are deeply opposed to Intolerance Free Weyburn’s (intolerant) efforts to “ban” me from speaking in Canada. I have great respect for the full array of Catholic instuction on the issue of homosexuality, and quote from Catholic teachings all the time. I wish more Catholics knew and honored these teachings–including that no faithful Catholic can support same-sex “marriage” or laws and policies putting adoption by homosexual-led households on a par with adoption by mother-father households.
As an evangelical Christian, I believe that all people, including homosexuals, must be treated with respect and the grace of Christ. As a sinner myself, I am no “better” than the man or woman engaged in homosexual sin. We all need the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. I adhere to the universal philosophy shared by so many who follow Christ: “Love the sinner. Hate the sin,” In fact, if I truly lacked compassion and hated homosexuals as my detractors falsely and maliciously claim, I would not have been invited to speak by the leaders of the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association. Lastly, it has become clear in recent years that OPPONENTS of the homosexual activist agenda have become frequent victims of “unjust discrimination.” In fact, in the lead up to the SPLA convention, one of Archbishop Bohan’s own parishioners, Bill Whatcott, was turned away from service by the owner of Southeastern Computer Solutions in Weyburn–because Whatcott adheres to the historic Judeo-Christian moral understanding of homosexual acts as sinful. Such anti-Christian bigotry and discrimination will be one of the topics of my talk Saturday.
Sincerely in Christ
Peter LaBarbera
President,
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH.org)
__________________________________________
The following is the letter sent out by Archbishop Daniel Bohan, Archdiocese of Regina:
Crude effort to block pro-family speech in Canada not unlike GLAAD/SPLC crusade to censor pro-family voices opposed to homosexuality in media
“I would like for him to be turned away from our border….Peter LaBarbera should not be allowed to enter our country. His sole purpose of entering Canada is to spread his message of hate and intolerance.”–Bailey Ashton Brookes, Intolerance Free Weyburn, in a public letter to Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Steven Blaney
“Tolerance,” Canadian Style: Canadian pro-life and pro-family activist Bill Whatcott poses for photo with adversary and anti-“intolerance” activist Bailey Ashton Brookes, who is lobbying the State to keep AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera out of Saskatchewan, Canada, where he is scheduled to give a talk Oct. 11-12.
By Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Folks, below is the verbatim copy of a Facebook letter by “Intolerance Free Weyburn” [Saskatchewan] activist Bailey Ashton Brookes. She is urging others to write Steven Blaney, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, to bar my entry into Canada, where I am scheduled as a speaker at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association (SPLA) conference in Weyburn, October 11-12. [see original AFTAH story HERE; see letters by Joe Scheidler and Mary Anne Hackett defending me as a speaker].
“I would like for him to be turned away from our border,” Brookes writes.
Despite the Left’s history of censorship and totalitarianism, I am a bit taken aback to be the target of such an outrageous attempt to intimidate SPLA’s leaders into jettisoning me as a speaker–and then lobbying the State to ban me as a supposed purveyor of “hate.”
It’s one thing to write and poke fun at the “pro-Gay Thought Police,” and quite another to be in its crosshairs.
Here we have an object lesson on the inevitable end-result of political correctness–in the form of leftist “thought control” fused with State power. For years now, the far-left-biased Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has maliciously smeared my group, AFTAH, as well as dozens of other pro-family organizations like American Family Association and Family Research Council as “hate groups.” Then fellow travelers on the Left, led by LGBT activists, circulate the SPLC’s lie as if it is some kind of authoritative evidence that AFTAH and this writer are truly “hateful.”
In Canada, bereft of a First Amendment, mischievous “progressives” can cause more trouble faster than in the U.S., by citing legal bans on “hate speech” that have been upheld by the country’s highest court. Canadian Bill Whatcott, a brave pro-life and pro-family activist who will be speaking at the conference next week, has been victimized by such “hate speech” prosecutions. So have many good Canadians like Stephen Boissoin, who have been dragged through preposterous “human rights tribunals” merely because they voiced opposition to the Sin of Sodom.
SPLC smears go worldwide
SPLC’s One-Sided “Hate” Scam: Remember this leftist brick attack on AFTAH’s banquet in 2011? The Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network (GLN) publicly refused to condemn it–demonstrating actual hatred. Yet the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has never labelled GLN–or any homosexual organization–a “hate group,” while slandering dozens of pro-family organizations like AFTAH with that false smear. The words on the paver brick thrown through the glass doors of the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL, refer to AFTAH banquet speaker and honoree Scott Lively.
The SPLC’s corruption and radical pro-homosexual bias is illustrated by the fact that it has never designated an LGBT organization as a “hate group.” In fact, the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network (GLN), which took great pride in “reporting” AFTAH to the SPLC as a potential “hate group,” later publicly refused to condemn a brick attack against the school, Christian Liberty Academy, that hosted our 2011 banquet! [See AFTAH original story on the pro-homosexual brick attack.]
That’s real hate as opposed to ideologically-defined “hate.” Yet the SPLC has yet to designate GLN as a “hate group.” The good news is that many Americans and pundits finally are seeing through the SPLC’s “hate” scam.
Most activists on the Left are not as brazen as Ms. Brookes and her husband in pressing the censor card, but these two “morality-phobic” individuals are merely applying a more extreme and crass version of the pro-LGBT Left’s hardball tactics. Homosexual activist groups like GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)–working with others like the SPLC–continually and falsely equate opposition to homosexuality with “hate.” They also throw around the ominous-sounding charge of “homophobia”–implying that their opponents are filled with irrational fear as opposed to disagreeing with immoral and unhealthy sexual behavior.
Then this Coalition on the Left pressures the media not to give a voice to the haters, homophobes and bigots. In recent years, they have expanded their crusade to include the enemy of “religious-based bigotry.” In their pride, they possess little regard for the sincerity and motives of Christians and others who genuinely seek to defend God’s moral order (“righteousness” in the Bible)–while holding out the hope of healthy change as personified by the many men and women who have left homosexuality (“gayness”) behind.
Since these illogical arguments and self-serving tactics can easily be defeated by pro-family advocates, pro-LGBT militants would rather just shut groups like AFTAH down in the Public Square. Endlessly playing their “anti-hate” card, they plead with the media to stop including the “other side” in their stories–stoking the ridiculous notion that no legitimate opposition to homosexualism (“gay rights”) exists. I’m afraid this is how countless cowed and ill-informed Western journalists think about homosexuality today. The arrogance and injustice of deciding for everyone what supposedly constitutes “hate,” “intolerance” and appropriate arguments in this Culture War debate apparently is lost on these liberal Speech Police and their media accomplices.
This video was just released by Alliance Defending Freedom., on the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the case of the New Mexican Christian photographers Jon and Elaine Huguenin, who were were sued because they declined to take a job shooting photos at a lesbian “commitment ceremony.” ADF has a Fact Page on the case HERE, and also a press page on the case HERE. The decision lets stand a New Mexico Supreme Court ruling that effectively neutered Jon and Elaine Huguenin. Go HERE to read AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera’s in-depth report, “Gay Power vs. Religious Liberty,” for WND.com on other victims of the escalating pro-homosexual tyranny:
Illinois HB 5569 proposes a ban on mental health providers offering counseling to minors with gender identification issues. Here is a video produced by Illinois Family Institute on HB 5569. Go HERE for the AFTAH Action-Alert piece on this freedom-destroying bill that denies self-determination for youth with unwanted homosexual attractions. TAKE ACTION: Illinois Residents:call your legislators (217-782-2000) and urge them to oppose HB 5569 (the so-called “Conversion Therapy Prohibition Act”)–which would deny healthy, pro-heterosexual change therapy to minors with unwanted same-sex desires. The bill, sponsored by lesbian St. Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), has passed out of committee and has been sent to the House floor. It is on the liberal fast-track so act now! Call Springfield at 217-782-2000. Find your state and federal legislators HERE.
On May 11, 2013, I spoke at a pro-family rally and posed the question, “Do you fear God or man?” on the issue of homosexual “marriage–which, of course, is not truly marriage in the eyes of our Creator. The rally was sponsored by Illinois Family Institute and was held outside of (Republican) State Rep. Jim Durkin’s district office in Western Springs, Illinois. At the time, Rep. Durkin was undecided on a pending homosexual “marriage” bill but he ended up voting “No.” The bill ultimately passed the Democrat-dominated Illinois General Assembly and was signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn (D). It goes into effect June 1, although unnatural “gay marriages” are already allowed in Chicago and surrounding Cook County due to legal action. –Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH [Watch this on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/Y4t3bzYkc0c]
Thanks to my friend and stellar pro-life and pro-family advocate Mary Anne Hackett, president of Catholic Citizens of Illinois, for this letter regarding my upcoming speech at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association conference April 11-12 [see article HERE]. Leftists in Weyburn, Saskatchewan are seeking to dislodge me as a speaker at the event and have organized a counter-protest, using the bogus charge that I will be spreading “hate.” –– Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
I am writing to state my support for Peter LaBarbera as a speaker at your event. I have known Peter for almost twenty years and have worked with him on numerous pro-life, pro-family events and projects. He has been an outstanding defender of Life and Family, exposing the agenda of those who wish to undermine the family life in our society. I am past president of Illinois Right to Life and I am president and co-founder of Catholic Citizens of Illinois, a Catholic lay organization faithful to the Holy Father and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. Catholic Citizens was founded seventeen years ago and we have been active participants in the moral battles of our time.
Peter has been willing to stand in the forefront of these efforts, never wavering from his Christian commitment to present the mercy and love of Jesus Christ. There is nothing hateful in his presence or his presentations, but rather a genuine desire to call people out of a sinful and unhealthy lifestyle, by offering them something better. He has earned the gratitude and respect of many ex-homosexuals because his approach is filled with love and concern, not condemnation.
There has been a hate campaign against Peter from the homosexual activists whenever he has been invited to speak or lead public events in support of marriage. I have been a witness to some those attacks. The goal has been to conceal the truth about homosexually from the public. Those of us who have been involved in these efforts to defend Life and Family must not let hate prevent honest and open people from hearing the truth. I congratulate you on your choice of Peter as a speaker and I urge you not to waiver from that decision.
