Excerpted from On Equal Terms, by Dr. Albert Mohler, published Oct 26, 2006:

…One of the most striking aspects of the New Jersey decision is the fact that not a single justice held marriage to be an essentially heterosexual institution that deserves a privileged status as recognized in law. This points to a basic social revolution that is sweeping through the nation’s elites — especially on college and university campuses, and law schools, and in the media.

We are living in an age of ambitious and open revolt against civilization’s most central institution. The headlines of the newspapers will indicate that the New Jersey decision is significant. Only a relative few seem to understand that this amounts to a redefinition of human society. The social regulation of sexuality and the legal recognition of marriage are fundamental to our civilization and way of life. We are witnessing the destruction of an institution fundamental to human happiness and well-being — and all in the name of a radical conception of human rights.

Note this: These plaintiffs did not charge that their rights to marry were violated by the U.S. Constitution — but that charge is surely coming. In short order a case like this will arrive at the US Supreme Court. This is why the Marriage Protection Amendment is so urgently needed and why the battle must be fought in every state.

We are reminded once again that we face a stark set of alternatives: Either we will define marriage for the judges, or the judges will define marriage for us.

Continue reading…

“Our decision today significantly advances the civil rights of gays and lesbians. We have decided that our state constitution guarantees that every statutory right and benefit conferred the heterosexual couples from civil marriage must be made available to committed same-sex couples.

“Now the legislature must determine whether to alter the long accepted definition of marriage. The great engine for social change in this country has always been the democratic process. Although courts can ensure equal treatment, they cannot guarantee social acceptance, which must come through the evolving ethos of a maturing society. Plaintiffs request does not end here. Their next appeal must be to their fellow citizens, whose voices are heard through their popularly elected representatives.”

In the back row, left to right:

• Justice John E. Wallace (joined the majority opinion), nominated by secretly homosexual Governor James E. McGreevey
• Justice James R. Zazzali (joined the minority opinion), nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman
• Justice Barry T. Albin (joined the majority opinion), nominated by secretly homosexual Governor James E. McGreevey
• Justice Roberto A. Rivera-Soto (joined the majority opinion), nominated by secretly homosexual Governor James E. McGreevey

In the front row, left to right:

• Justice Virginia Long (joined the minority opinion), nominated to serve on the Supreme Court by Governor Christine Todd Whitman
• Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz (joined the minority opinion), nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman and re-nominated to Chief Justice by secretly homosexual Governor James McGreevey; she retired the day after this decision
• Justice Jaynee LaVecchia (joined the majority opinion), nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman

Excerpted from Girls’ Room His, Too, by Pete Donohue, published Oct 24, 2006, by New York Daily News:

…The Metropolitan Transportation Authority agreed to allow riders to use MTA rest rooms “consistent with their gender expression,” the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund announced yesterday.

The group filed a complaint against the MTA on behalf of a 70-year-old telephone repair technician who was arrested for using the women’s room at Grand Central Terminal.

The technician, who is assigned to the terminal by Verizon, was born Henry McGuinness but now goes by Helena Stone.

“I’m a 24-hour woman,” Stone declared proudly. “I just feel like a woman and I like to wear women’s clothes.”

The MTA would not comment on the settlement but Stone’s lawyer said it also includes mandatory transgender sensitivity training for MTA employees and a $2,000 payment to the technician for legal fees…

[Note from Americans for Truth: Note the shift in moral compass from generation to generation as demonstrated in the following quotes…]

“I would not like that,” said Gloria David, a retiree from Connecticut. “I have nothing against gay men or drag queens, but they can use the men’s room. I just don’t want to go to the bathroom next to a man.”

One rider feared predators might dress as women and lurk in the women’s room.

But Rena Gantz, 23, a college student, shrugged off the settlement.

“It doesn’t bother me because it is a reality,” she said. “If they believe they are women, they should be treated as one.”

Continue reading in New York Daily News…

I think you will agree that there is a huge double-standard in the way the media covers victims, “hate crimes” and news in general. Some victims are Politically Correct; others are not. The liberal media sensationalized the murder of homosexual Matthew Shepard, which was shamelessly exploited by “gay” groups to promote national “hate crimes” legislation. Meanwhile, when a deranged homosexual man murders a Chicago Catholic and mother of four, Mary Stachowicz, it goes largely uncovered. Shepard is a household name, but try asking a friend or co-worker if they’ve ever heard of Mary Stachowicz and you’ll likely get a “Mary who?” in response. (Or do a Google search comparing the two victims’ names and see how many stories come up.)

Now the public defender for Mary’s murderer, Nicholas Gutierrez, is arguing that Mary was the aggressor, saying she became enraged to the point of violence over his homosexual lifestyle. I trust that this appeal to ugly anti-Christian bigotry – the legal equivalent of spitting on Mary’s grave – will not sway the jury. Think of what Mary’s husband Jerry, four kids and extended family and friends went through yesterday having to listen to this slander from her murderer’s Public Defender. I was at the trial and saw the stocky, roughly six-foot-tall Gutierrez in the courtroom: how ridiculous to think he was threatened by a 51-year-old woman who was known for her religious devotion!

Now imagine how differently this would have been reported had it been a 51-year-old Chicago lesbian, respected in her community, who was stabbed and beaten and raped, then stuffed in a crawl space by a crazed straight man. It’s simply unthinkable that the media would not lavish coverage on such a case.

Today’s online Chicago Sun-Times headline about the Gutierrez murder trial was, “Defense: Killing Payback for Gay Taunts.” It should have been: “Prosecutor Calls Gay Killer of Catholic Mother of Four a “Monster,” Cites DNA Evidence of Rape.” But at least the Sun-Times covered the case (I saw nothing on the Tribune’s website). – Peter LaBarbera

TAKE ACTION – Call or write your local media and ask them to cover the murder trial of Nicholas Gutierrez, who killed Mary Stachowicz, with the same interest that they covered the trial of the Matthew Shepard’s murderers. Here is the contact info for the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times:

AN AMERICANS FOR TRUTH PRESS RELEASE

Sun-Times leads story with outrageous “anti-homophobe” defense as most media ignore trial

CHICAGO—Cook Co. Assistant State’s Attorney Jim McKay yesterday described (homosexual) Chicago man Nicholas Gutierrez’s “ferocious” 2002 murder of a pious, 51-year-old Catholic mother of four, Mary Stachowicz—saying he also raped Mary in addition to stabbing, strangling and beating her, then stuffed her bloody body in a crawl space under the floor of his apartment.

“There is a monster in the courtroom today,” McKay said, describing how Gutierrez stabbed Stachowicz so many times that he bent the tip of his hunting knife. Gutierrez then allegedly wrapped her body in sheets and covered her head in a plastic bag before hiding her, as Mary’s family and friends searched frantically for her for three days.

After McKay laid out the state’s case, including finding Gutierrez’s DNA in Stachowicz’s vagina and anus, Gutierrez’s public defender, Crystal Marchigiani, claimed that it was Stachowicz who attacked Gutierrez: “It happened because she could not leave him alone in his [homosexual] lifestyle.”

Marchigiani said that on the day of her death, November 13, 2002, Stachowicz confronted Gutierrez at the Sikorsky Funeral Home where Mary worked and where Gutierrez once was employed. (He lived in an apartment above the funeral home with his male friend, Ray.) She said Mary angrily pressed Gutierrez with the question, “Why do you sleep with boys?” and then followed Gutierrez upstairs to his room before physically attacking him.

All the while, the stocky Gutierrez, who appeared to be about six feet tall, sat in the courtroom. One of Mary Stachowicz’s sisters left the room in disgust after hearing Marchigiani launch her shocking defense.

Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera responded: “The Gutierrez defense team’s Politically Correct courtroom ploy ought to be called the ‘Anti-Homophobe Panic Defense.’ Marchigiani’s is an ugly attempt to exploit the liberal caricature of Christians who oppose homosexuality as crazed haters with a penchant for aggression.

“So here we see a new defense tactic: stoking the flames of anti-Christian bigotry to save a ‘gay’ murderer from the punishment he deserves,” LaBarbera said.

The Gutierrez trial continues today at 11:00 AM in Room 700 of the Criminal Court Building, 2600 S. California Ave., in Chicago.

In its small story about the Gutierrez murder trial, the Chicago Sun-Times ran with this headline: “Defense: Killing Payback for Gay Taunts.”

The following is excerpted from Defense: Killing Payback for Gay Taunts (‘She could not leave him alone’), by Stefano Esposito, published Oct 27, 2006, in Chicago Sun-Times:

Nicholas Gutierrez killed a 51-year-old mother of four and church volunteer only after she beat and tormented him because he was gay, Gutierrez’s attorney told a Cook County jury Thursday.

“It happened because she could not leave him alone in his lifestyle,” attorney Crystal H. Marchigiani said in opening statements…

Continue reading in Chicago Sun-Times…

This excerpt is from Trial Begins in Funeral Home Slaying, published Oct 27, 2006, in Chicago Tribune:

Assistant Public Defender Crystal H. Marchigiani told jurors that Stachowicz, a mother of four and a church volunteer, instigated the attack by following Gutierrez upstairs and bullying herself into his apartment.

Continue reading in Chicago Tribune…

Who was Mary Stachowicz? Was she a bully, filled with hatred? Read this verbatim excerpt from Chapter 16 of A Mother’s Plea: Journey into the Light, by Father Anthony Bus, published 2005 by Marian Press:

Murder or Martyred? The Death of Mary Stachowicz
The Flame in Her Heart

Mary (Stachowicz) was a graceful and compassionate woman. She was strong-willed but humble. She was without malice. Her faith in Jesus Christ, her love for the Virgin Mary, and her defense of the Catholic faith and Catholic spirituality were simply integral to her personality …Concern for the faith of her family was the flame that perpetually burned in her heart, and that fire spread well beyond the walls of her home. Her only agenda was to make Jesus and the Church known and loved.

By Allyson Smith
Published Dec 4, 2002, by Concerned Women for America

“I really don’t feel sorry for her. She paid a very steep price for being an arrogant religious fascist. Too bad for her.” – “Iris,” in a posting on the ACLU Online Forum.

“Quite frankly, if anyone in this case was being ‘persecuted’ it was Mr. Gutierrez. Unfortunately for the victim this was a lesson that she learned too hard and too late. Maybe this will give pause to other people who similarly try to ‘help’ homosexuals.” – “Silence Dogood,” on ACLU Online Forum.

From LifeLeague (UK):

The Advertising Standards Agency have investigated and upheld LifeLeague’s complaints against the Gay Police Association for their disgusting advert (below) that appeared in The Independent, 29.09.06.

(Click on image to enlarge and read the ad.)

The advert violated ASA guidelines on the grounds of decency, truthfulness and substantiation.

They declared that The Gay Police Association had:

[1] admitted the advert’s wording was structured in such a way as to represent non-criminal behaviour as ‘homophobic incidents’;

[2] failed to substantiate their claims about homophobic incidents;

[3] wrongly implied that Christians perpetrated the reported incidents;

[4] wrongly suggested that all of the reported incidents involved physical injury.

The Gay Police Association subsequently announced that they do not intend to use this ad again – yet they still remain unapologetic. The Independent however, did apologise for ‘offence caused’.

Continue reading at Pro-Life E-Newsletter…

From the church’s press release:

The members of Christ Our Lord Episcopal Church, a thriving congregation of about 200 faithful Christians in this suburb of Washington, DC, have voted to dissolve the church and to conclude its existence as part of the Diocese of Virginia of The Episcopal Church of the U.S. The members of the congregation have reconstituted themselves as a new Anglican church, named Christ Our Lord Church and affiliated with the Anglican Province of Uganda.

The eligible voting members of Christ Our Lord Episcopal Church voted Sunday, October 15 by a 95 percent margin to dissolve the church and to terminate its relationship with The Episcopal Church in the US and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. The congregation also voted to relinquish to the Diocese the church property on Omisol Road in Woodbridge because it was titled in the name of the Diocese. At that meeting, the Rev. George Beaven, the vicar of the church, submitted his resignation and announced that he would retire from The Episcopal Church…

“Our experience is that the Episcopal Church has become an unhealthy environment for orthodox Christians…” Mr. Beaven said.

“Events in The Episcopal Church that have shown profound disrespect for Scripture and Biblical teachings…”

Excerpted from N. Va. Episcopal Church to Pull Out of Diocese Over Gay Issues, published Oct 25, 2006, in the pro-homosexuality Washington Blade:

The 200-member Christ Our Lord Church is the third northern Virginia Episcopal church to withdraw from the diocese and affiliate with the Anglican Province of Uganda.

It joins other conservative congregations upset with denomination leadership…

South Riding Church in Loudoun County left the diocese in November. The Church of the Holy Spirit, also in Loudoun County, left in February.

Two other northern Virginia Episcopal churches will soon decide whether to leave the denomination.

Continue reading in Washington Blade…