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]

Victory shows the cultural battle over homosexuality-based “marriage” is far from over, says LaBarbera

THANK WORLD VISION! The American branch of WORLD VISION has listened to you and thousands of outraged Americans and reversed its sellout on “gay marriage.” TAKE ACTION: Call or write World Vision USA at 888-511-6548 [send an online message HERE] and THANK them for reversing their previously announced policy of recognizing  employees’ unbiblical homosexual “marriages.”  You can read AFTAH’s original press release on World Vision’s marriage sellout–which received wide coverage [e.g., see Charismanews.com]–HERE. 

UPDATE (5:05 p.m.): World Vision released a statement (see below) this afternoon confirming it has reversed its decision to allow its American branch to hire employees in same-sex marriages:

“The board acknowledged it made a mistake and chose to revert to our longstanding policy requiring sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within the Biblical covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. … We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to Biblical authority.”

We now wait to see what the new World Vision policy will be, and how they will handle the inevitable (media-magnified) outrage by LGBT activists. And I want to make clear that we are only commending World Vision’s return to biblical faithfulness on this issue.

MARRIAGE BATTLE FAR FROM OVER: I was just interviewed by SRN News (the national Christian-owned Salem Radio Network) and my message was this: the righteous turnaround at World Vision shows that Culture War over homosexuality and “gay marriage” is not nearly over. The media–who are sort of a huge PR firm for the ‘Gay’ Lobby–want you to give up.  They keep telling Americans that legal homosexual “marriage” in all 50 states is “inevitable”–forget the more than 30 states that passed pro-natural marriage amendments or statewide referenda in support of genuine marriage (one-man, one-woman).

The Left-dominated opinion-molders and pro-“gay” pundits are wrong about marriage. (Besides, when have the media been RIGHT about anything important? Remember how they shilled for Obama?) The American people, and especially those who seek to honor God, do NOT want to treat two men or two women in a homosexual union as if it were a real marriage.

Thanks for not giving in to the Gay Thought Police and standing up for what’s right. The fight ahead is long and difficult, but we must be more committed to defending Truth than the homosexual activists are to pushing their lies. God bless you. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

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[TAKE ACTION: call or writer World Vision and thank them for recognizing their mistake [send an online message HERE]. You can read AFTAH’s original press release on World Vision’s marriage sellout–which received wide coverage (e.g., see Charismanews.com)–ONLINE HERE.]

UPDATE: World Vision Reverses Pro-Homosexual “Marriage” Policy!

As WORLD magazine reports, World Vision has listened to you and thousands of outraged Americans and reversed its sellout on “gay marriage.” TAKE ACTION: Call or write World Vision USA at 888-511-6548 [send them an online message HERE] and thank them for reversing their previously announced policy of recognizing employees’ unbiblical homosexual “marriages.”]

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Denying a Sellout: World Vision took a major step away from historic Christianity by allowing employees in homosexual “marriages” to work for it. The organization’s president, Richard Stearns, then compounded the capitulation by telling Christianity Today that WV’s new policy is not a “an endorsement of same-sex marriage,” nor a “rejection of traditional marriage.”

Press Release, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality

March 25, 2014

Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 312-324-3787; americansfortruth@gmail.com

Read it on Christian Newswire HERE

TAKE ACTION: CONTACT World Vision at 888-511-6548 or online HERE

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By Peter LaBarbera

CHICAGO—In a stunning capitulation to a powerful Sin Movement, World Vision’s American branch announced yesterday that it will now employ people who are in legal homosexual “marriages”—a distinctly anti-Biblical position for an organization that professes “Jesus is Lord” and “We desire him to be central in our individual and corporate life.”

The cultural cave-in by World Vision was made all the more remarkable by WV President Richard Stearns’ awkward attempts to justify and explain it—even denying that World Vision has caved on its Christian principles. WV had previously fought government attempts to force it and other Christian organizations to follow pro-homosexual mandates. Stearns told Christianity Today that the new policy was “not an endorsement of same-sex marriage. We have decided we are not going to get into that debate. Nor is this a rejection of traditional marriage, which we affirm and support.”

Stearns said, “Changing the employee conduct policy to allow someone in a same-sex marriage who is a professed believer in Jesus Christ to work for us makes our policy more consistent with our practice on other divisive issues,” he said. “It also allows us to treat all of our employees the same way: abstinence outside of marriage, and fidelity within marriage.”

Historically, people embracing sin are not regarded as faithful Christians. Homosexual conduct is clearly proscribed in the Bible as a sin (Romans 1:24-27) but one that can be overcome through Christ (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). Many former “gays” and “lesbians” like Anne Paulk have overcome homosexuality through faith in Jesus.

Christ affirmed the Genesis account of marriage as the union of one man and one woman (Mark 10: 6-8). Only in liberal denominations widely regarded as having jettisoned biblical authority does one hear the bizarre concept of two people of the same sex honoring “fidelity within marriage.”

Yet Stearns said, “This is not us compromising. It is us deferring to the authority of churches and denominations on theological issues.” He denied that World Vision is headed down a “slippery slope.”

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) offers the following points about World Vision’s pro-homosexual-“marriage” sellout:

• Stearns’ rationale for the policy change is stunningly dishonest and illogical in its double-speak. Stearns would be more forthright in declaring that World Vision has abandoned the Bible as authoritative and is denying “Jesus as Lord.” The same principle applies to individuals and organizations: one cannot embrace and sanctify sin while professing to honor Jesus Christ, who died and rose again so that believers might have victory OVER sin.
• By recognizing homosexual “marriages” in its hiring practices and treating them like actual marriages, World Vision has not only entered the debate over this issue but greatly advanced the LGBT agenda by lending “Christian” credibility to “gay” activists’ misleading “marriage equality” propaganda. WV also undermines religious liberty by signaling that immoral laws that defy God’s law are more binding than Scripture—unilaterally throwing up the white flag of surrender on freedom of conscience.
• World Vision’s sellout is part of a disturbing trend in evangelicalism to capitulate in the Culture War over homosexuality–while the pro-LGBT lobby only ramps up its advocacy of sexually immoral laws and corporate policies. The WV decision comes just days after Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy chose to censor himself by declaring that his public defense of natural marriage was a business “mistake.” Cathy vowed to stay out of the marriage debate, reportedly after listening to the counsel of friends—including homosexual activist Shane Windmeyer, whose organization, Campus Pride, advocates for homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism on college campuses.

The list of “Victims of Homosexualism” continues to grow; little media sympathy for lives damaged by politically incorrect (pro-gay) “discrimination”

Crystal Dixon was fired by University of Toledo in 2008 after writing a column critical of comparing “homosexual rights” to the noble Black civil rights movement.

Folks, conservative and Christian pro-family advocates should avoid the pitfall of viewing the “gay rights” cultural battle narrowly, as merely between those whose work relates to the wedding business (bakers, photographers, etc.)–and homosexual militants trying to force them to participate in their same-sex “marriages.” That’s part of it, of course, but as you can see from this in-depth report I wrote for WND’s October 2013 Whistleblower magazine, the crisis goes far deeper than that, and it predates cultural fights over homosexual “marriage.” Below I have added photos and a few updates to the original article, which itself was republished by WND.com in November.

Since this report came out, other Christians like Coach Dave Daubenmire have become victims and targets of pro-homosexual bigotry and discrimination. Like those below, Coach Dave was smeared as a “hater,” “homophobe” and “bigot.” (We’re all painfully familiar with such vicious name-calling by “gay” activists–which is tolerated and often echoed by the compliant media.) Shame on us if we allow special “rights” based on a changeable, destructive sexual sin to displace our inalienable rights and liberties as Americans. God bless you. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; e-mail: americansfortruth@gmail.com.

Please help circulate this report, and write Brad Wallace at AFTAH (connops@yahoo.com) if you would like a hard copy of it.

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First appeared in Whistleblower Magazine, Oct. 2013:

‘GAY’ POWER VS. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Exclusive: Peter LaBarbera on how homosexual ‘rights’ is destroying freedom of conscience

Published online by WND.com, 11/29/2013 

WND Editor’s note: This column is part of Whistleblower magazine’s blockbuster issue, “THE NEW SEXUAL REVOLUTION: How the ‘gay rights’ movement has become a Trojan Horse for totalitarianism.”

By Peter LaBarbera

“The legal struggle for queer rights will one day be a struggle between freedom of religion versus sexual orientation.” – Canadian lesbian lawyer Barbara Finlay, quoted by columnist John Leo and Janet Folger (Porter), The Criminalization of Christianity

There is a war between homosexual “rights” and Americans’ religious and First Amendment freedoms – and the “gay” activists are winning.

The “zero-sum game” is how homosexual activist law professor and Obama EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) appointee Chai Feldblum describes the legal battles between modern “rights” based on homosexual “orientation” (read: behavior) and the traditional American principle of religious liberty.

“Gays win, Christians lose,” Feldblum said, predicting homosexuals would win most of the legal contests. She is proving to be correct, as the news for Americans with traditional values gets worse by the year, due to rapidly escalating homosexual and transgender activist power in the legal, cultural, political and corporate arenas.

Following is a summary of cases involving battles between religious and moral freedom and homosexual activism. Some involve legal cases, others involve people who suffered privately for speaking out against the “gay” agenda. Others involve children whose rights (such as girls’ right to privacy) are violated in the name of “LGBT equality.”

In a sense, this could be called a list of the “Victims of Homosexualism”–that is, organized homosexuality. Though not comprehensive, its sheer scope illustrates what pro-family veterans have long known – but which the “gay”-cheerleading media fail to report as a major story: that “rights” based on homosexuality and gender confusion (“transgenderism”) cannot coexist with religious liberty.

First, a few observations:

• These victims of escalating “Gay Tyranny” in America are not all tied to the question of homosexual “marriage.” Indeed, well before “gay marriage” came on the scene as a “mainstream” issue, pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” laws and corporate pro-LGBT policies were victimizing and punishing Christians and other moral opponents of homosexuality. And those laws are invariably used to argue for homosexuality-based “marriage.” The homosexualist agenda moves ahead incrementally, but “sexual orientation” laws and policies – and their philosophical presupposition that homosexuality is about innate “identity” (“who you are”) rather than changeable, wrong and aberrant behaviors (“what you do”) – is the foundation for the entire far-reaching LGBT agenda.
• 

  The pro-homosexual (and pro-atheist) legal war against the Boy Scouts of America was made possible by a “sexual orientation” law in New Jersey.

  The most prominent example of the inherently discriminatory nature of pro-”gay” nondiscrimination laws (predating the entire homosexual “marriage” debate) is the Boy Scouts of America, who were initially challenged in 1990 by homosexual James Dale under a then-new “sexual orientation nondiscrimination” law in New Jersey. Ultimately, in 2000, the Dale case found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where the Scouts narrowly won their right not to have homosexual scoutmasters and members – only to toss away the fruits of their victory 13 years later by changing their rules under corporate pressure to allow openly homosexual Boy Scouts. (The Scouts still ban adult, openly homosexual scoutmasters, but pro-family experts predict that this prohibition will crumble – under continued “gay” activist pressure – now that the Scouts have sacrificed the moral principle that they had fought years to defend.)

• It should also be recognized that oppression comes in many forms and from many quarters. Once professional institutions like the American Bar Association, American Association of Pediatrics and American Counseling Association adopt pro-LGBT “sexual orientation” codes, these policies become the basis for discriminating against people of faith.
• These cases involve mostly higher-profile “victims.” What does not make the following list are everyday small businesspeople who, under an array of pro-homosexual laws and policies, are forced to effectively subsidize sexual behavior they regard as immoral. Thus, in a “gay marriage” state or in a big city with “sexual orientation” laws, business owners – much like the wedding cake makers below – are forced by the heavy hand of government to treat homosexually “married” or partnered employees as they would their normally married workers.
• Also, countless employees and students have been forced to endure “gay tolerance” and pro-LGBT “diversity” programs that promote ideas with which they strongly disagree – a form of “soft tyranny” that most moral-minded employees have come to accept as the price of working in a big corporation. As is shown below, those who rock the politically correct boat invite persecution.
• Lastly, note the irony that several of the victims below are black. [The late] Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Wash., (a former NFL player who appears occasionally on the “Rush Limbaugh Show”) says, “Don’t compare your sin to my skin.” (Hutcherson is black.) Yet that is precisely what the expanding web of “sexual orientation” laws, executive orders and rulings from liberal judges is doing. By mandating “gay” (and transgender) tolerance as a basic, modern American value, the law and politically-correct U.S. corporations are rapidly making opposition to homosexuality and gender confusion anathema – even banning it – thus relegating Christians and defenders of historic Judeo-Christian moral truths to second-class, pariah status.

An America in which faith-motivated citizens can believe (privately) that homosexuality and faux homosexual “marriage” are wrong but cannot act on their beliefs is no longer truly free. 

UPDATE: Gov. Jan Brewer caved in to political correctness and the intense LGBT misinformation campaign against SB 1062 by vetoing the bill Wednesday. See this Arizona TV report to get a feel for what she was up against, and see this excellent RedState piece to understand the Left’s dishonest “Ends justifies the means” tactics. Lastly, here is an NRO article on Cathi Herrod of the pro-family Center for Arizona Policy, who describes how the media’s “ridiculous portrayals of the proposed law” became reality to many in the public. –PL

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By Peter LaBarbera

New Mexican Christian photographer Elaine Huguenin and her husband were fined $6,000 for politely declining to shoot photos at a lesbian “commitment ceremony.” Arizona Senate Bill 1062 seeks to prevent such lawsuits against people of faith in that state–but media report that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer is leaning toward vetoing the bill. The Huguenins lost their case in the New Mexico Supreme Court and are appealing it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[TAKE ACTION: Contact Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer at 602-542-1318 or go HERE to reach her online.]

The powerful, media-fed “Gay Hysteria” machine is exploding over Arizona Senate Bill 1062, which seeks to protect citizens’ First Amendment liberty NOT to violate their conscience with regard to homosexual “marriages.” But few Americans realize how decades of court-imposed favored legal status for homosexuality have already stolen away our “freedom to be moral.”

Tragically, America is far down the road of “Criminalizing Christianity”—or, more accurately, Judeo-Christian morality—thanks to Big Gay Inc. and its powerful allies in the courts, media and academia. But what is most amazing about this Culture War battle is how homosexual activists still manage to play the victim even as more and more Americans become Real Victims of the LGBT agenda—which, at its core, is about enforcing PRO-homosexual discrimination through the State and big corporations.

The Arizona bill is simply an attempt to preempt the sort of pro-homosexual ‘reverse discrimination’ that has spread across the country as (mostly Christian) photographers, wedding-cake makers and bed-and-breakfast owners have been sued by LGBT militants for refusing to allow their services to be used for homosexual “marriage” ceremonies. I have documented many of these cases—and others in which Christians have suffered at the hands of homosexual militants–in my WND article, “’Gay’ Power vs. Religious Liberty.”

Here is National Review’s take on the liberal media distortions surrounding Arizona’s pro-religious-liberty bill:

Defenders of S.B. 1062 reject the claim that the bill effectively legalizes discrimination. Proponents have repeatedly stated — including multiple times on CNN — that the bill does not allow businesses to deny service to someone at an establishment such as a restaurant or coffee shop. The law looks to protect those with religious objections from being compelled to participate in or use their creative expression in circumstances that violate their conscience. Since there is no current law on the issue in the state, lawmakers hope to preempt situations such as bakers and photographers facing legal action for not working a same-sex wedding, as has occurred in neighboring states.

Playing the race card

Julea Ward was drummed out of a graduate counseling program at Eastern Michigan University because as a Christian she could not in good faith affirm homosexual relationships. Ward settled out of court with EMU.

With insultingly inane comparisons to Jim Crow laws, CNN and others on the pro-LGBT Left are “going there” with their spurious racism analogies—conveniently ignoring that skin-color prejudice and biblical morality are completely different things. Do the media know or care that Blacks who believe Scripture that homosexuality is wrong repeatedly have been victimized by “gay” activism—which posits that approval of ‘gayness’ and same-sex relationships trump one’s personal religious and moral beliefs about sexual morality and marriage?

Take the case of Julia Ward, who is Black and was kicked out of Eastern Michigan University’s counseling program as a grad student because as a committed Christian she could not counsel same-sex couples in a manner that affirms homosexuality. Surely Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (who saw homosexuality as a “problem” that could be “solved”) did not wage his nonviolent struggle so that Americans of color would be forced by the State to either deny their faith or be barred from various professions that now worship at the altar of homosexualism. As the late, great pastor and Culture Warrior (and former NFL linebacker) Ken Hutcherson, who was Black, said, “Don’t compare your sin to my skin.”

Treating unequal things as equal

Aristotle wisely observed that it is unjust to treat unequal things equally—yet that is the essence of modern pro-homosexual/pro-transgender ideology, which treats sexual perversion and extreme gender confusion as the basis for civil rights. “Gay marriage” is a lot of things but it is certainly not “equal” to the real deal: two people of the same sex cannot produce a child on their own, and “Daddy No. 2” can never substitute for the love and care of a mother. Nor can two lesbian “moms” replace having a dad in the home. This is radical egalitarian social engineering and, sadly, innocent children are the guinea pigs.

Coach Dave Daubenmire discusses his Christian faith and homosexuality in this interview with the ABC and FOX affiliates in Columbus, Ohio. Coach Dave–who recently was denied a football coaching job at Lakewood High School, his alma mater, after being targeted by a homosexual cyber-smear campaign–ably refutes the Big Lie that opposing same-sex sin constitutes “hate.” Here is the link to the Columbus FOX28 site with the interview; and click HERE to watch this on YouTube.

Click HERE for AFTAH’s background article on the Daubenmire non-hiring story and to get contact information for the Lakewood School Board that voted against him for the coaching job that the school had originally recruited him to fill. The FOX28 write-up on the interview follows after the video (after the jump). To support Coach Dave, visit his Pass the Salt Ministries website.

Columbus, Ohio FOX28 reports [Editor’s note: It is interesting that this report fails to mention the outside lobbying campaign against Daubenmire that ignited this controversy]

Controversial Former Football Coach Talks to ABC 6/FOX 28

Updated: Friday, February 14 2014, 08:45 PM EST

HEBRON, Ohio — (Maria Durant/Ken Hines) — A football coach known for his controversial conservative Christian views spoke out Friday about his hometown school board’s decision to deny him a coaching position on their high school football team.

Ex-“gay” author Bailey chastises internet giant for hypocrisy

We at AFTAH certainly agree with Dean Bailey about Google’s latest bit of pro-homosexual pandering. Note that the colors match the homosexualist “rainbow flag.” (How tragic that a Sin Movement stole the rainbow–which in Scripture holds powerful symbolism regarding divine judgment and man’s sinful rebellion.) Bailey, a former homosexual, is author of Beyond the Shades of Grey: Because Homosexuality Is a Symptom, Not a Solution, which we encourage you to purchase [go to Amazon.com or the publisher’s page — or Bailey’s Facebook page].Strange how so many who advocate for “gay rights” show no interest in — or even deny the existence of — ex-“gays.”

Also, this is the first I’ve seen of the statistic that 24 percent of human sex trafficking victims are boys and young men–obviously disproportionate to the tiny percentage of homosexual men in society. International “sex tourism” by (relatively) wealthy Western homosexual men (can I call them perverts?) creates a demand for underage boys and young men, who become exploited tools for sodomitic gratification. –Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

Google creates pro-“gay” image as part of its radical commitment to promoting the homosexual activist agenda. Here the Google home page copies the homosexualist “rainbow flag” colors to indict Russia, which passed a law prohibiting homosexual propaganda toward minors. Click to enlarge.

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By Dean Bailey

An Open Letter to Google Inc:

I noticed late yesterday that you are once again showing your normal, homo-fascist attitude by shoving a pro-homosexual image in the face of everyone who uses your search engine. You accompanied the image with this quote:

“The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.” –Olympic Charter

Just one problem with your gay-pandering manipulations, Google… Russian law does not prohibit homosexuals from participating in the Olympic sporting events. They are there! It simply prevents them from propagating their lies and blatant immorality to the public, and more specifically, to children citizens of Russia.

You, Google, on the other hand, violate the very quotation you posted there, each and every time you discriminate against the Christian viewpoint of hope that offers people freedom from homosexual sin and behaviors. There is absolutely no “mutual understanding” from you, or from the homosexual activists that you pander to in that regard… NONE WHATSOEVER!