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The following is a declaration signed by 75 religious and pro-family leaders,and academic VIPs, on the tyranny that flows from “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” laws. It is published by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. To see the list of signers, and add your name in aupport of the declaration, go HERE:
Preserve Freedom, Reject Coercion
As Americans, we cherish the freedom to peacefully express and live by our religious, philosophical, and political beliefs—not merely to hold them privately. We write on behalf of millions of Americans who are concerned about laws that undermine the public good and diminish this freedom for individuals and organizations alike.
We affirm that every individual is created in the image of God and as such should be treated with love, compassion, and respect. We also affirm that people are created male and female, that this complementarity is the basis for the family centered on the marital union of a man and a woman, and that the family is the wellspring of human flourishing. We believe that it is imperative that our nation preserve the freedoms to speak, teach, and live out these truths in public life without fear of lawsuits or government censorship.
In recent years, there have been efforts to add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classifications in the law—either legislatively or through executive action. These unnecessary proposals, often referred to as SOGI policies, threaten basic freedoms of religion, conscience, speech, and association; violate privacy rights; and expose citizens to significant legal and financial liability for practicing their beliefs in the public square. In recent years, we have seen in particular how these laws are used by the government in an attempt to compel citizens to sacrifice their deepest convictions on marriage and what it means to be male and female—people who serve everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, but who cannot promote messages, engage in expression, or participate in events that contradict their beliefs or their organization’s guiding values.
Creative professionals, wedding chapels, non-profit organizations, ministries serving the needy, adoption agencies, businesses, schools, religious colleges, and even churches have faced threats and legal action under such laws for declining to participate in a same-sex wedding ceremony; for maintaining policies consistent with their guiding principles; and for seeking to protect privacy by ensuring persons of the opposite sex do not share showers, locker rooms, restrooms, and other intimate facilities. Under SOGI laws, people of good will can face personal and professional ruin, fines, and even jail time, and organizations face the loss of accreditation, licensing, grants, contracts, and tax-exemption.
SOGI laws empower the government to use the force of law to silence or punish Americans who seek to exercise their God-given liberty to peacefully live and work consistent with their convictions. They also create special preference in law for categories based on morally significant choices that profoundly affect human relations and treat reasonable religious and philosophical beliefs as discriminatory. We therefore believe that proposed SOGI laws, including those narrowly crafted, threaten fundamental freedoms, and any ostensible protections for religious liberty appended to such laws are inherently inadequate and unstable.
SOGI laws in all these forms, at the federal, state, and local levels, should be rejected. We join together in signing this letter because of the serious threat that SOGI laws pose to fundamental freedoms guaranteed to every person.
America has stood as a beacon of liberty to the world because our Constitution protects people’s freedom to peacefully—and publicly—work and live according to their convictions. We represent diverse efforts to contribute to the flourishing of our neighbors, communities, nation, and world. We remain committed to preserving in law and stewarding in action the foundational freedoms that make possible service of the common good, social harmony, and the flourishing of all.
Micah Clark, president of American Family Association of Indiana, writes on this 75th anniversary of the Japanese sneak bombing attack that drew America into World War II that killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,143. It was FDR who famously called December 7th “a Day that will live in infamy” in his speech asking Congress for a Declaration of War against Japan. Clark writes:
“Re: As we remember Pearl Harbor Day (Dec. 7th)… FDR said:
“The world is too small to provide adequate living room for both Hitler and God. In proof of that, the Nazis have now announced their plan for enforcing their new German, pagan religion all over the world — a plan by which the Holy Bible and the Cross of Mercy would be displaced by Mein Kampf and the swastika and the naked sword.”— President Franklin Roosevelt’s State of the Union Address, Jan 6, 1942
“…Not too bad for a liberal Democrat…Note in contrast how secular and far to the Left the Democrats are today. If a Republican said this today–even after a terrorist attack–he’d be blistered by every newspaper and TV talking head in America for mixing church and state.”
The following is reprinted from Family Research Council’s daily Washington Update newsletter, by president Tony Perkins. Remember when pro-homosexual-“marriage” advocates told us that legalization would have no effect whatsoever on the Church? Regarding Kellogg’s and Breitbart.com, it’s astonishing to me that the cereal company is so tone-deaf that it is disassociating from a website that is hugely popular with the American people and which helped elect our next president. Apparently the Gay Thought Police (GTP) and other liberal scolds are not deterred by a repudiation of leftist Political Correctness at the ballot box. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Take Action: Call Kellogg’s at (800) 962-1413 or contact them online HERE.
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Kellogg’s Signals Bran New Day of Bias
November 30, 2016
By Tony Perkins, with Family Research Council staff
HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines were just on the cover of People magazine — and now, they’re the face of something else: a controversy over the fact that their pastor preaches the Bible. For the last few years, the Texas couple has charmed their way into people’s hearts — not just with their talent for renovation, but with their sweet and genuine relationship. Their show “Fixer Upper” has exploded in popularity, and the parents of four have never shied away from their faith — which they’ve talked about at length in their books and interviews.
Today, that faith is under fire by a handful of far-Left extremists who’ve latched onto a sermon the Gaines’ pastor, Jimmy Seibert, preached about marriage and sexuality. “If someone were to say, ‘Marriage is defined in a different way,’ let me just say: They are wrong,” Seibert said. “God defined marriage, not you and I. God defined masculine and feminine, male and female, not you and I.”
Now, I’m not sure why it’s news that a Christian church believes what the Bible teaches about sexuality, but apparently, this is a shock to the liberal media establishment. When reporters contacted the church, the communications director pointed them to Antioch’s webpage on “beliefs,” where it says: “Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime.” That was their belief when the church was founded 17 years ago — and it’s their belief today. And, as recent polling points out, Chip and Joanne’s church is hardly in the minority! Fifty-three percent of all Americans (not necessarily Christian) told Wilson Allen Perkins polling this month that despite what the Supreme Court ruled, they still define marriage as the union of a man and woman.
Obviously, the Left is trying to do to Chip and Joanna what they unsuccessfully did to the Robertsons of “Duck Dynasty:” take down a hugely successful program in a show of political force. That’s unlikely to happen to a couple like the Gaines, who have no interest in renovating their views to suit a narrow ideology. Hopefully, HGTV has learned since its ousting of the Benham Brothers that religious discrimination doesn’t play well with viewers.
Calls pour into Zales as corporate America’s moral free fall continues
Mix the Aberrant with the Normal: Zales’ wedding commercial mixes two joyous, attractive women in an immoral, counterfeit “wedding” ceremony–with several images of normal, male-female couples. The goal is simple: get the public over time to embrace or at least accept that genderless, sin-based “marriages” are akin (“equal”) to the real deal. More info HERE; call Zales at 1-800-311-5393; hit option “6”–or write them HERE.
Folks, if you’re looking to buy diamonds or jewelry but you also care about preserving natural marriage as God designed it–one man, one woman, producing babies together–don’t shop at Zales (call 1-800-311-5393; hit option “6”). The jewelry company created this 30-second commercial that helps normalize homosexuality-based “marriage” by mixing it in with several images of normal, male-female relationships and marriages. That’s a tried-and-true propaganda tactic used to break down cultural norms (the Left’s specialty).
The Zales lesbian counterfeit “wedding” scene starts at the 8-second mark. For more background on the Zales and the campaign against it by our friends at One Million Moms (OMM), see my piece in LifeSiteNews. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH.org
Take Action: OMM gives the following ways to reach the morally-challenged jewelry company:
Call Zales at 1-800-311-5393; hit option “6”–[They’re getting lots of calls!–PL]
LaBarbera: “It would be a YUUGE mistake for Trump to break his pledge to pro-marriage Republican voters who put him in the White House”
LGBTrump? Donald Trump has a long history of pro-homosexual advocacy. He now says–as he did in 2015–that the homosexual “marriage” is “settled” due to the Supreme Court Obergefell ruling –which was eviscerated in a dissent by Trump’s ideal SCOTUS Justice, the late Antonin Scalia. Above is Trump’s 2000 interview with the “gay” magazine The Advocate, in which he suggested adding homosexuality to the federal Civil Rights Act. Read about it HERE. Click on graphic to enlarge.
AFTAH Press Release, November 15, 2016; americansfortruth@gmail.com
CONTACT: Peter LaBarbera or Brad Wallace: 312-324-3787
CHICAGO – AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera called on President-elect Donald Trump to revise his estimation that the Supreme Court has “settled” the issue of homosexual “marriage”–and instead honor his pledge to America’s voters to defend natural marriage against the “shocking” 2015 Obergefell ruling.
[Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH.org) is dedicated to exposing and opposing the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) agenda. Sign up for AFTAH updates.]
In an interview with CBS “60 Minutes” Sunday, Trump asserted that the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling imposing homosexual “marriage” on all 50 states was “settled” law, and that “gay marriage’ as a political issue is “done … And I’m fine with that.”
That directly contradicts what then-candidate Trump told GOP primary voters in South Carolina last February: that he opposed the “shocking” Obergefell decision and that evangelical voters can trust him to protect real, man-woman marriage. Trump said he favors letting the states decide marriage laws for themselves.
Just prior to the Iowa caucuses, where he was appealing to evangelical voters, Trump said he would like to see Obergefell overturned: “If I’m elected I would be very strong in putting certain judges on the bench that maybe could change things, but they have a long way to go.”
The late Antonin Scalia—whom Trump holds up as the type of Supreme Court Justice he would appoint–ripped into Obergefell in a powerful dissent—saying it was a “naked judicial claim to legislative–indeed, super-legislative–power; a claim fundamentally at odds with our system of government.
“[T]o allow the policy question of same-sex marriage to be considered and resolved by a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation,” Scalia wrote.
AFTAH’s LaBarbera described what is at stake with Trump and marriage: “Many millions of evangelical, Catholic and moral-minded voters trusted Mr. Trump with their votes because they did not see him as just another slippery politician. Now it is up to President-elect Trump to show that he is worthy of that trust by clarifying his defeatist statement on Obergefell.
“America cannot become great again by defying God, and homosexuality-based ‘marriage’ is about as godless as it gets,” LaBarbera said. “Trump needs to do all he can to reverse the Supreme Court’s unconstitutional Obergefell ruling—just as he pledges to overturn Roe v. Wade and abortion-on-demand.
Folks, the day for deciding America’s future is finally here. I wrote this piece for LifeSiteNews.com, where I am now a U.S. reporter. [Sign up for LSN updates here.] This callout quote below aptly represents the way “progressives” think. Rather than mold our behaviors to God’s ideal–revealed through the Bible–modern liberals resent those who adhere to a Higher Law and will not conform to sin-based agendas. Go out and vote, and as always, ignore the corrupt, liberal media! — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH.org
“One of my big problems right now is that too many people believe they have a direct line to the divine and they never want to change their mind about anything.” — Hillary Clinton, NPR “Fresh Air” interview, 2014
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Flashback – Pro-LGBT Clinton Defended Natural Marriage as ‘Sacred Bond’ of Man and Woman
By Peter LaBarbera
November 7, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Like the Democratic U.S. president she is trying to succeed, Hillary Clinton has done a 180-degree U-turn on the legalization of homosexual “marriage”—going from a religious-minded foe of genderless “marriage” in 2000 to a fervent crusader for it today as a supposed “constitutional right.”
Most ominously in a post-Obergefell America that is increasingly hostile to citizens who do not wish to participate in or validate same-sex “marriage,” Hillary Clinton is now a vocal opponent of “religious freedom restoration” laws like the one overturned in Indiana. These laws aim to preserve people’s right to live out their support for natural marriage before God (a belief Hillary shared pre-2013) and not to countenance sin.
She also openly expresses hostility to faith-based citizens who refuse to bend their thinking on homosexual “marriage.”
In that vein, Mrs. Clinton touts the federal LGBTQ “Equality Act,” which adds homosexuality and transgenderism to the 1964 Civil Rights Act and which, in its present form, would explicitly negate the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act—which Congress passed to defend religious liberty and the First Amendment.
Americans For Truth banquet attendees were treated to a sobering and fact-filled presentation by Linda Harvey of Mission America on the homosexual-transgender threat to youth–at Grace Gospel Fellowship church in Bensenville, Illinois Friday evening. It was my honor to present Linda with the 2016 “American Truth Teller” award. She joins these other heroes for Truth receiving the annual AFTAH award: Dr. Judith Reisman, the late Ken (“Hutch”) Hutcherson, author Robert Reilly, Sandy Rios, Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Scott Lively.
Linda’s speech was loaded with compelling facts that undermine “gay” and “trans” myths–such as the non-scientific claim that people are “born gay.” We also heard from Jeannette Ward, a Board Member in the U-46 School District northwest of Chicago who has bravely stood up to the modernist notion that boys who think they are girls should be allowed to us the female restrooms in schools. We will have more on Linda’s talk and this exciting evening. Thanks to all who came and supported Americans For Truth! — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
DONATE TO AFTAH, Get Banquet DVD: If you could not make the banquet, send us $25 and we will send you a DVD of the AFTAH banquet presentations. Your gifts make our crucial work possible! Go to our Donation Page HERE or directly to our safe credit-card giving form HERE.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday they will hear the appeal from the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia on the so-called transgender bathroom decision in G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board. This is the first time that the Court will be addressing the question of whether laws protecting against sex discrimination in education are applicable to “gender identity.”
The student bringing the lawsuit, Gavin Grimm, a 17-year-old high school senior, is a biological girl who now says she subjectively “identifies” as a “boy.” When Grimm began using the boys’ restroom, some parents complained. Then the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom.
The justices said they will hear the appeal sometime next year. The High Court’s order means that Grimm will not be able to use the boys’ bathroom in the meantime.
Mat Staver
“It is ridiculous that the Supreme Court has to address whether a confused girl who wants to use the boys’ restroom should be treated as a boy,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “The school district’s responsibility is to protect the safety of students from harmful situations. The federal law does not allow people to change their gender by fantasizing they are something other than reality. How the Supreme Court should rule is simple and obvious. The federal law does not allow persons to subjectively think, and therefore be treated, as the opposite of their biological sex. I have very little confidence in the Supreme Court to follow the plain rule of law. Who knows what a majority of the current justices will do because they often put their own personal ideology over the law,” said Staver.
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Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.
