AFTAH Reaches Out with Truth to Deviant Homosexual ‘International Mr. Leather’ Convention at Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago

“They invent ways of doing evil…” (Romans 1:30)

“Repent…and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out…” (Acts 3:19, NIV)

WARNING: graphic and offensive descriptions of vile homosexual acts

TAKE ACTION: Corporations Profiting Off Perversion: The homosexual perversion celebration known as “International Mr. Leather” (IML) 2016 was sponsored in part by Miller Lite Brewing Co. (312-496-2700), and Orbitz, a subsidiary of Expedia. Contact Orbitz at (844) 663-2266. Contact Expedia at 800-319-4834. To reach Chicago’s Congress Plaza Hotel, which hosted IML, call 312-427-3800 or email: reservations@congressplazehotel.com.

And Please Pray: …for Lee, Eamon, Allen, Brendan and Alex–five men who attended IML and who discussed the Gospel and morality with us Saturday night outside IML.

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By Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH Exclusive

Part One

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) held a peaceful Christian truth outreach against the homosexual “International Mr. Leather” (IML) conference Saturday night (May 28, 2016), across the street from the Chicago’s Congress Plaza Hotel, which hosted the perversion-fest.

Every year, on Memorial Day weekend, IML draws thousands of mostly homosexual “leathermen” from all over the world to a swank Chicago hotel to party, celebrate sadomasochistic deviance and practice some of the most heinous sexual acts invented by men–as well as everyday sodomies. In concert with IML, several orgiastic dance parties such as the “Black & Blue Ball” (sponsored in part by Miller Lite) are held in various Chicago venues. Here is the banner we used in our truth outreach:

Congress Plaza Hotel Profits Off Perversion

Homosexual “Mr. Leather” conference glorifies vile & dangerous behaviors

Protesting Perversion and Sharing the Gospel: AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera (left) and Rob share truth Saturday night outside the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago, as it hosted the annual “International Mr. Leather” homosexual perversion-fest. The banner reads, “Congress Plaza Hotel Profits Off Perversion: Homosexual ‘Mr. Leather’ conference glorifies vile & dangerous behaviors.” The smaller yellow sign is taken from Acts 3:19: “Repent…and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out…” The two men had many interesting conversations with IML attendees, in a spirit of civility. Click to enlarge.

My compatriot Rob and I walked through the IML “Leather Market” Saturday [more on that in the next article], then stood across the street from the Congress Plaza Hotel on the city’s famed Michigan Avenue for about five hours, leaving at midnight. The fact that we were not angrily shouting at the attendees softened the reaction to our message, although there was plenty of hostility to us.

A man named Lee wearing a “golden shower” t-shirt–that’s slang for the perverse fetish in which a man urinates on (or in) another man (or men) for sexual pleasure–approached us and we began bantering back and forth with us on various points of morality and theology. A smart, fast-talking man and an agnostic of sorts, Lee said he embraced homosexuality several years ago after being married and having children. He strongly opposed our message that homosexual behaviors are immoral but he appreciated our non-confrontational, friendly tone and several times stepped between us and IML attendees who might have harassed us or worse.

Strangely, Lee took it upon himself to serve as our “protector” throughout the night. At one point he even laughingly yelled “bad homos” to some people gathered across the street at the hotel who were shouting chants against us. Here he can be seen on the right with his perverse t-shirt; that’s a “Sister of Perpetual Indulgence” drag queen in the center behind the autho:

An IML attendee named Lee (at right) took it upon himself to protect AFTAH’s two Truth emissaries from overly hostile homosexual activists. In the cap holding the sign is Peter LaBarbera. Behind him–the man in drag with white face and a cross–is a member of the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,” a homosexual “troup” of drag-queens who mock Catholic nuns and Christianity in general while raising funds for various “gay”-related causes. See the Sisters’ wicked “Hunky Jesus” contest–mocking the Resurrection and held every Easter Sunday in a San Francisco. Click to enlarge.

We had many people praying for our protection at the IML outreach, so Rob and I took Lee’s presence as an answer to those prayers. Please pray for Lee and the others with whom we had discussions, including this wretched soul of a man wearing only a diaper and a leather harness:

Satan Is Laughing… But we wanted to cry: this young man (“Eamon”) wearing a diaper and a leather harness walked across the street from Congress Plaza Hotel with some others, and spoke briefly with AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera. Pray for this lost soul, that God in His mercy will rescue him from the ravages of deviance and exploitation.

I spoke briefly with this pitiful fellow in a diaper–I think he said his name is Eamon–and urged him to read the Gospel of John in the New Testament. My heart was breaking as I tried to tell him above the surrounding noise that God has a better plan for his life, that He does not want to see people–made in His image–degraded and exploited. But Eamon was obviously drunk or high on something so I’m not sure if he will even remember our encounter. Pray that somehow the Lord in His infinite grace and mercy will rescue him.

Disease Follows Depravity: Poster warns IML attendees of the increased risk for meningitis among “gay and bisexual men.” In the last year there have been two meningitis outbreaks among homosexual and bisexual men in Chicago, causing the city’s Department of Public Health to urge “sexually active men who have sex with men? (MSM) living with HIV, as well as MSM who have anonymous sex partners or use ‘hook up’ apps to identify sexual partners, to get vaccinated” to prevent the disease. Of course, hyper-promiscuous events like IML celebrate the very reckless behaviors that put homosexual men at extra risk in the first place. See this CDC site linking to other government reports detailing STD risks for “gay and bisexual men.”

Last year 17,000 men (and a smattering of women) attended IML, according to organizers. As the granddaddy of indoor “leather” events [see our story on a smaller “CLAW” “leather” event in Cleveland], this is a huge event costing millions of dollars to put on. Looking out at these men, some young and fit, some older and fat (they call themselves “Bears”), I wondered, how many, had they taken a different path, would be husbands and fathers, with wives and children–as opposed to reveling in sexual debauchery with a bunch of horny guys jacked up on drugs and drinking?

Though the Libertine Left scolds, “Who are you to judge?” and the world says, “Live and let live,” we as followers of Christ can and must judge that America’s descent into sexual sin and perversion is a great travesty. Our national heritage is being jettisoned as millions of Americans pursue “lifestyles” that put their eternal souls in jeopardy. Yet where is the Christian Church to respond to such “LGBT” deviance celebrations, and to offer a better way of living through Christ?

For the most part, in Chicago at least–but I suspect in most major cities–the Church has taken a “hands off” approach to the very active “gay” subculture–whether it’s fighting for Truth in the Culture War or simply ministering the Gospel with love, humility and compassion outside perverse sin-celebrations like IML.

Shame on us.

Buried conscience?

What was interesting is that several of the homosexual men we witnessed to had not fully buried their conscience and acknowledged that “International Mr. Leather” was celebrating all sorts of heinous and degrading behaviors. Or at least they took pains to let us know that they were not “into” some of the more extreme behaviors celebrated at this deviant homosexual event–like “fisting,” watersports (urine “sex play”) and “puppy play” (see below).

Pointing to the hundred or so “leathermen” and friends standing under and around the canopy of the Congress Plaza, a man named Allen said, “This is debauchery!” Allen ended up having a long conversation with Rob, who ably and patiently shared biblical truth with him.

Meanwhile, Lee, our self-appointed “protector,” told me several times that although he was wearing a t-shirt (from an IML vendor called “Dungeon Beds”) advertising the depraved BDSM “fetish” of urination orgies (aka “Watersports”), he really wasn’t “into that.” He just “liked the t-shirt,” or so he claimed.

(By the way, “BDSM” stands for Bondage & Discipline/ Domination & Submission/ Sadism & Masochism but many who identify with this “lifestyle” now call it “kink.” In other words, “kink” is the new “gay,” a simple and more appealing word that masks a lot of sexual perversion. Reprobates are constantly looking for ways to “mainstream” their behaviors, to lessen their internal guilt.)

So despite the moral pollution filling the corner of Congress Parkway and Michigan Avenue in Chicago, there was conviction that came from being told the truth. Deep down, I am convinced that many men who identify with the faux-masculine homosexual “leather” scene understand that they are practicing behaviors that God abhors, or at least that are wrong. You can see this from the names chosen for their “leather” products and the homosexual “leather bars” they frequent:

• Nasty Pig (perversion-enabling clothing, IML vendor) -[Note: as I wrote previously, an apology is due here to real (farm) pigs, who are not perverts!]
• Cell Block – Leather bar in Chicago
• Dungeon Beds – Another wicked vendor at the IML “Leather Market”
• Fort Troff: sells sodomy-facilitating equipment (again with the pig-defaming imagery)

“Natural” homosexuals and proud perverts

On the other hand, I do not want to give you a false impression that potential Christian converts were abundant at IML. Most of the men with whom we shared biblical truth with were proud “perverts”–or at the very least confident in their “gay” identity. One man, Alex, who told me he is voting for Trump, asked me if I “chose” to be heterosexual. When I said no and started to explain the difference, he said neither did he choose his homosexuality.

In other words, to Alex homosexuality was his “natural” state from his boyhood (when I asked he said he was not molested). When I had returned home, I regretted that I had not shared this Bible verse with him about not trusting your feelings:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, King James Version)

Another man who came across the street to engage with us was Brendan, a proud atheism apologist and enthusiast of “fisting”–a BDSM perversion invented by homosexuals in which a man inserts his hand and forearm up the rectum and colon of his deviant “sex partner.” I was shaken by how a seemingly intelligent young man like Brendan–who says he reads the AFTAH website–could avidly engage in such a vile and dangerous act.

Brendan extolled the bizarre and depraved act and pointed to his red “fisting” leather wristband (something like this)–the equivalent of the homosexual male “hanky code” dating back to the early 1970s in which a red hanky signals a devotee of “fisting”: worn in a man’s left pocket it designates the “fister”; in the right pocket, the “fistee.” Please pray for Brendan.

By the way, sickening “gay” inventions like “fisting” and “rimming” (mouth to anus) have spread to the lesbian and straight worlds–something “gay” and “leather” activists often affirm to exonerate themselves–as if that makes such revolting acts right. Anything to dull the conscience.

Men living as “dogs”

In another AFTAH photo-story we will expose some of the twisted goings-on at IML, based on our tour of the “Leather Market,” where perversion peddlers sold their wares, such as whips, chains, dildos (fake penises), bondage masks, etc. It was open to the public for the four days of IML; attendees were asked to pay a “suggested” $10 donation to go through it.

The first thing I noticed as different from the last time I walked the floors of the IML “Market” several years ago were the “dogs.” Dozens and dozens of human “puppies”–mostly young men–walking around with doggie masks and tails–often chained to another–usually older–man, their “handler.” Here is one “puppy” on a dog leash held by his older “handler”:

Paganism in Action: Man with his human “puppy” on a leash poses for photo at International Mr. Leather in Chicago. What could be more degrading than a man disassociating himself from his own humanity? And if the older man at right sodomizes his “pup,” is that some kind of faux bestiality? Click to enlarge.

What can one say to a grown man who disassociates from his God-given humanity to become the “puppy” of another man? Ditto for sadomasochistic human “slaves” and anyone eroticizing human degradation? Remember that in the realm of LGBT “liberation,” the men at International Mr. Leather–fisting and felching and rimming and urinating on one another–and becoming “dogs” on a leash–are the most “liberated” people on the planet! Ever-ready to promote the latest godless sexual fad, “progressives” in the media and academia are deathly afraid even to point out how warped and preposterous it is for a man to put on puppy “paws,” a dog mask and a tail to become the canine “pet” of another man.

Analyzing this nutty fetish further: since when does the owner of dog have “sex” with him? Is this fantasized, play-acting “bestiality”? (“Puppy Play” adherents deny that, but bestiality porn was sold by at least one IML vendor.)

Media will mainstream this, too

America’s left-wing media, having countenanced and then fueled the “Gay” Revolution, now enforce its bizarre Tolerance Code by not stating the obvious, even if that means no judgments of anti-human fads like homosexual “puppy play.” [See this curiously neutral Esquire piece by Sarah Rense, who writes benignly: “[Human] Pups exist in a natural, more simplistic state.”]

We see this PC-conscious omission throughout the media, Hollywood, academia and public health establishments–in a much more serious arena–when it comes to public health and reckless homo-promiscuity. America’s opinion-molders simply refuse to condemn even the most egregious behaviors that cause disease outbreaks in the homosexual male subculture–be it meningitis (see above), syphilis, HIV, hepatitis, etc.

Even as reports of various sex-diseases striking “men who have sex with men” (MSM) proliferate, year after year, nobody in authority recommends the obvious: that there should be a public campaign (like the anti-cigarette-smoking ads) to discourage men and boys from engaging in these destructive behaviors.

Logo for Chicago-based “Mid America Fists in Action,” a homosexual “fisting” club.

Moreover, a sane and healthy society would shut down venues like “gay” bathhouses (e.g., the Steamworks bathhouse in Chicago’s “Boystown” homosexual neighborhood) that cater openly to anonymous MSM promiscuity and perversions. (In the IML’s “Official Guide,” Steamworks advertised “Invasion Lights Out Night” May 26: “Fisting Demos from M.A.F.I.A.,” which stands for “Mid America Fists In Action“; see logo at right.)

Indeed, modern liberals are much more apt to bash and mock “judgmental Christians” than proud perverts–no matter what twisted acts crawl out from under the expanding LGBTQQIAPP (LGBTQueer) umbrella. Political correctness has become so absurd that it is impossible to parody. And its enablers are too arrogant and brain-dead, morally and spiritually speaking, to back away from the Orwellian nightmare they helped to create.

Regular folks amidst the sexual chaos

But all is not lost. There are still many millions of Americans whose brains are not so addled by leftist ideology that they cannot recognize evil and the abandonment of common sense when they see it. Very few Americans are even aware that there is something called the “leather community” (with its own black-and-blue “pride” flag!). Similarly, few are aware of the awful practices that go on between men in what is euphemistically called the “gay community.” Perhaps if they knew, they’d warn their sons to stay away from it.

I have heard more than a few stories over the years from–dare I say normal and wholesome–parents who inadvertently came into contact with a large, public homosexual celebration, forcing them to suddenly shield their kids from it. [See AFTAH’s article on Walmart’s Sponsorship of the 2015 New York City “Gay Pride Parade”; Walmart is again sponsoring the NYC “gay” parade this year.]

Take the innocent family members below, who were walking down Michigan Avenue Saturday afternoon when they came upon the IML homosexual-deviance convention, spilling out into the public sidewalk:

“Daddy, why is that silly man wearing a mask?” A normal American family with dad, mom and children passes by the Congress Plaza Hotel on Saturday as IML attendees spill into the nearby sidewalk. Note the man in the mask at right. AFTAH observers saw dozens and dozens of men with bare buttocks exposed at IML–both inside the hotel and out. See other photos below of indecent IML attendees talking on the sidewalk outside the hotel. Click to enlarge.

Here are the sorts of bizarrely indecent scenes that this family or any passer-by would come upon–in front of the Congress Plaza Hotel on popular Michigan Avenue around Memorial Day:

This is a Man…who wants to be a “woman.” America is now coming to grips with the radical “transgender” agenda. But if gender-confused men like this can receive “rights” and corporate accommodations based on their perverse and DNA-denying “gender identity,” how long will it be until “human pups” demand their own “rights” based on their deviant desires and self-identity? Click on photos to enlarge.

Or this:

“Mommy, why aren’t those men wearing pants?” Two young men–each with his bare buttocks exposed in public–stand outside the Congress Plaza Hotel. The man at right is wearing only a blue jockstrap and running shoes. In the background is the transsexual from the photo above. Note that the men’s clothing, or lack thereof, facilitates the reckless and casual male promiscuity–i.e., quick sodomitic penetration (e.g., on a dance floor or in a bathhouse)–fostered by IML and throughout the homosexual “leather” subculture. Yet Chicago public health officials, like their counterparts across the United States, refuse to close down anonymous sex venues like the Steamworks bathhouse in Chicago’s “gay” Boystown district. Nor will they simply urge “gay” men in the strongest terms to stop being promiscuous. Steamworks was heavily involved in the IML’s long weekend of hedonistic activities, including hosting a “Fisting Demos” night on Thursday with the Chicago “Fisting in Action” group M.A.F.I.A.