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‘Defend Marriage Lobby Day’ today in Springfield aims at stopping bill in House
This will never be a “marriage,” no matter what laws are changed.
Dear AFTAH Readers,
Today (Wed., Feb. 20th) is Defend Marriage Lobby Day in Springfield, Illinois, as pro-family citizens rally in the state capital against a homosexual “marriage” bill proposed by the Democrats for our state. Our friends at Illinois Family Institute organized this special day to help citizens express their unyielding support for real, natural marriage (one man, one woman) in the Land of Lincoln — which is already reeling from previous pro-homosexual laws. The “gay marriage” bill, SB 10, passed the state Senate on Feb. 14 with the votes of 33 Democrats and one lone Republican, Sen. Jason Barickman (Bloomington), so it is critical to stop the bill in the House. The Democrats who run Illinois — from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel to Gov. Pat Quinn — have made passing a “gay marriage” bill a TOP PRIORITY, so please get involved on the side of “Nature and Nature’s God” to thwart their efforts!
TAKE ACTION — Illinois Citizens: Please attend the Lobby Day today if you are able: there is a 10:30 AM rally outside the Capitol Building in Springfield (401 S. 2nd Street, Springfield, IL), followed by lobbying. IFI will help you lobby your representative if you’ve never done it before! See their site for more details: http://illinoisfamily.org/politics/lobby-day-instructions-what-to-expect-on-feb-20th/. For those in Chicagoland, Kathy Barnette of Truth Exchange still has room on her bus for the trip to Springfield; see the Truth Exchange site.
If you cannot make the trip, make sure to call or write your State Representative and voice your opposition to the “gay marriage” bill. Call the Springfield Capitol Switchboard at 217-782-2000. Find you elected officials HERE.
We already know the ramifications of legalized homosexual “marriage” from other states like Massachusetts:
Religious liberty and freedom of conscience (i.e., the freedom to oppose homosexuality) will be repressed by the state in the name of “gay rights”; Illinois has already experienced this under our “Civil Unions” law [see the case of the Walders’ bed-and-breakfast in Paxton, IL]. Despite the current bill being amended to protect churches and religious institutions, business owners — even devout Christians — who cater to weddings (such as banquet hall owners and photographers) could be forced to use their facilities or expertise to celebrate homosexual “marriages”;
Liberal teachers, especially in public schools, will be emboldened to promote homosexual relationships to students in the classroom; homosexual teachers will be given a platform to discuss their “marriages” and to model homosexuality as normal, natural and good to students. Parents will have a harder time stopping the promotion of homosexuality in schools;
Homosexual “sex ed” will gain ground in Illinois schools. Under the radical egalitarian idea that all relationships are morally “equal” and worthy of marriage, “safer gay sex” will be taught non-judgmentally alongside (normal) heterosexual sex. “Abstinence until marriage” (which regrettably is not the norm but only the ideal for most Illinois health classrooms) would apply to homosexual- and bisexual- as well as “straight” students — despite the reality that all homosexual sex is inherently immoral. High-risk and unnatural practices like anal sex will be mainstreamed in our schools. (Could teaching the truth that sex between men is linked disproportionately to HIV and various sexually-transmitted diseases lead to charges of “anti-gay discrimination”?) And deviant lesbian sex will be taught for girls who in the future might “marry” a woman.
Businessmen will be forced to recognize and subsidize their employees’ immoral same-sex “marriages”; a form of this is already happening under Illinois’ “Civil Unions” law;
Society will be corrupted as unequal things are treated as equal; children will be further confused as the law (which is a teacher, as the saying goes) creates a Brave New Morality that officially “weds” sinful, unnatural and changeable behavior to the noble and life-sustaining institution of marriage;
Homosexual activists will be energized to use the homosexual “marriage” law to pressure citizens to approve of their lifestyle and step up their crusade to stigmatize, demonize and discredit pro-family Christians and moral opponents of homosexuality. Groups like AFTAH that embrace wholesome, godly morality will be vilified as “hateful and bigoted.” And, as we have witnessed in Massachusetts, the push for ever more extreme “LGBT rights” would be propelled by enactment of “same-sex marriage” — including “transgender” activism in schools.
Legalized homosexual “marriage” will help “normalize” homosexual adoption, thus consigning greater numbers of innocent children to be raised in households that are motherless or fatherless by design.
See also this excellent report, “What Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Has Done to Massachusetts,” by my friends at MassResistance to learn what’s headed our way if Illinois politicians continue to pander to the state’s powerful Homosexual Lobby. Thank you for standing up for natural marriage! God bless you. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org
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AFTAH Interviews Lobbyist Ralph Rivera on Threat of Homosexual ‘Marriage’ Bill in Illinois
[NOTE: this interview occurred BEFORE the Illinois homosexual “marriage” bill, SB10, was amended prior to passage Feb. 14. The amended bill precludes churches and religious institutions from being forced to host homosexual “marriage” celebrations in their building. However, this amendment applies only to explicitly religious institutions; Christian- and other moral-minded business-owners could still be forced to host homosexual “marriage” ceremonies and related celebrations under the bill despite their deeply-felt opposition to “gay marriage.” — Peter LaBarbera]
This interview [click HERE to listen] with Illinois pro-family lobbyist Ralph Rivera was conducted on February 4, 2013. Rivera is a lobbyist for the Illinois Family Institute – which is sponsoring a Defend Marriage Lobby Day against the homosexual “marriage” bill in Springfield on Wednesday, Feb. 20th. Along with AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and co-host John Kirkwood (of Grace Gospel Fellowship church), Rivera discusses the pro-homosexual-”marriage” bill looming in the state’s General Assembly. (The Illinois Senate is reportedly slated for a floor vote on the bill on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.)
Rivera explains the bill’s threat to religious liberty — e.g., how in its original draft (likely to be amended) it would force churches and religious institutions that rent their facilities to the public to host homosexual “weddings.” There is also a discussion of how legalized “gay marriage” effectively forces pro-homosexual ”lessons” into public schools. In addition, the three discuss the Boy Scouts of America’s proposed change allowing openly homosexual Scoutmasters and Scouts. Rivera is also a longtime pro-life lobbyist for Illinois Citizens for Life.
HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file, supported in most operating systems by Windows Media Player, Quick Time and/or I-Tunes. Real Player is not supported and there may be difficulty when attempting to listen with it. Left click once on the link below to play. (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.
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Corkins planned to smear Chick-fil-A sandwiches in faces of his victims
Potential mass-murderer and deranged LGBT activist Floyd Corkins used the Southern Poverty Law Center’s spurious “hate” list to target FRC.
“Floyd Corkins II, 28, acknowledged in a plea agreement that he intended to kill as many people as possible during the August shooting at the Family Research Council. He also planned to target other organizations that oppose gay marriage if he wasn’t stopped.“
Corkins intended to smear the sandwiches in the faces of his victims to make a statement about gay rights opponents, he acknowledged during a hearing Wednesday.” — AP report on Corkins’ plea deal
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Understandably, the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center — which outrageouly puts pro-family conservative groups opposed to homosexuality (including AFTAH) in the same “hate” category as the KKK — is laying low on this story implicating its own malicious “Hate Map.”
Here is the full Associated Press story of potential mass-murderer Floyd Corkins’ plea agreement (emphasis added). As of today (Feb. 12, 2013) — six days after AP reported on the plea agreement — you will not find it referenced on the SPLC’s list of recent “Hate Incidents” or anywhere on the SPLC site.
Notably, the SPLC maintains that it has “always oppose political violence, from the left or the right.” However, it worked hand-in-hand with — and has yet to condemn — a Chicago-based, Marxist organization (Gay Liberation Network) that expressly refused to condemn the pro-homosexual brick-attack on AFTAH’s 2011 banquet featuring Scott Lively. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
This interview [click HERE to listen] with Illinois pro-family lobbyist Ralph Rivera was conducted on February 4, 2013. Rivera is a lobbyist for the Illinois Family Institute — which is sponsoring a Defend Marriage Lobby Day against the homsoexual “marriage” bill in Sprinfield on Wednesday, Feb. 20th. Along with AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and co-host John Kirkwood (of Grace Gospel Fellowship church), Rivera discusses the pro-homosexual-“marriage” bill looming in the state’s General Assembly. (The Illinois Senate is reportedly slated for a floor vote on the bill on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.)
Rivera explains the bill’s threat to religious liberty — e.g., how in its original draft (likely to be amended) it would force churches and religious institutions that rent their facilities to the public to host homosexual “weddings.” There is also a discussion of how legalized “gay marriage” effectively forces pro-homosexual “lessons” into public schools. In addition, the three discuss the Boy Scouts of America’s proposed change allowing openly homosexual Scoutmasters and Scouts. Rivera is also a longtime pro-life lobbyist for Illinois Citizens for Life.
HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file, supported in most operating systems by Windows Media Player, Quick Time and/or I-Tunes. Real Player is not supported and there may be difficulty when attempting to listen with it. Left click once on the link below to play. (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.
This is the first of a two-part interview [click HERE to listen] with James Taylor, pastor of University Christian Church in Norman, Oklahoma. It was recorded Jan. 17, 2013. Taylor attended, with AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera, a federally- and state-sponsored conference on substance abuse and homosexuals, held December 12, 2012 in his hometown of Norman. Here is Americans For Truth’s original story on the one-day “LGBTQ2I Summit” conference, which Taylor describes as “nothing more than … a pep rally for the GLBT [Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender] community.” Taylor bristles at the analogy of conference speaker and (male-to-female) transsexual Celeste Flemming comparing “transgenders” being denied the use of opposite sex restrooms (e.g., due to women not wanting to share a restroom with biological males who want to live as “women”) — to Blacks being denied the use of “whites-only” restrooms. He describes how he came to the defense of conservative Oklahoma State Senator Sally Kern (R), who was mischaracterized by the keynote speaker at the conference as being on a “which hunt” against homosexuals. There is also a discussion about a heretical, pro-homosexual “What does the bible say about homosexuality?” flier passed out at one of the sessions attended by Taylor.
LaBarbera also comments on Wayne Besen’s interview opposite Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg on CNN — about the Inaugural prayer controversy involving Georgia Pastor Louie Giglio.
HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file, supported in most operating systems by Windows Media Player, Quick Time and/or I-Tunes. Real Player is not supported and there may be difficulty when attempting to listen with it. Left click once on the link below to play. (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.
This photo showing the massive scope of the Paris rally is from the Facebook page of organizing group “La Manif Pour Tous” (“The Demonstration for All”). Click on photo to enlarge, and see additional photos and video below.
Who would have thought that an anti-“gay marriage” rally in France would draw at least 340,000 people and possibly much more — and that support for homosexual “marriage” would drop precipitously in the polls? (French support for same-sex “marriage” reportedly fell from 65 percent to 52 percent — though I don’t trust polls and suspect that most surveys overstate support for the pro-homosexual agenda.) Check out these photos and a video of this amazing and historic rally — held in Paris on Sunday, January 13. Beneath the YouTube video (after the jump) there is an excerpt from an AP report on the rally, which includes a police estimate of 340,000 people attending the massive rally (organizers claimed 800,000 marchers).
Note too that the organizers of the rally folded a message of opposing “homophobia” into their pro-natural-message campaign (e.g, see the marcher holding the “Friend of Marriage Not Homophobia” sign at 1:09 of this 3-minute video). This viewpoint is far from one that AFTAH would put forward, but nevertheless the rally shows how unpopular the dominant LGBT goal of homosexual “marriage” is even in highly secularized countries like France. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth
PS. The huge rally in socialist-run France and the plummeting “gay marriage” poll numbers speak volumes about the “gay” activist propaganda line that LGBT victories are “inevitable.” They are not.
It’s time to get beyond defensive, naive and just plain bad thinking in the face of aggressive and deceitful homosexual activism…
Homosexual activists like Dan Savage — creator of the vile “Santorum.com” website mocking and “redefining” former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum — get a free pass in the pro-“gay” media, while Christian pro-family groups like AFTAH are labeled “hate groups” by the same media. Too many pro-family advocates are still defensive about fighting this expanding evil in our midst — which now directly threatens Americans’ cherished freedom of conscience. Click on graphic to enlarge but be forewarned: it is vulgar and exceedingly nasty.
Today we begin a 20-part AFTAH series offering resolutions for “Culture Warriors” and everyday Americans who oppose the highly organized and well-funded LGBT agenda. For you novices out there, ‘LGBT’ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender – the modern sin movement built around the affirmation of deviant (homosexual) sex and gender confusion.
Each day, AFTAH will publish an essay explicating a “resolution” that addresses a bad intellectual habit or “gay” talking point that many well-intended Americans have fallen for — e.g., indulging in the false guilt that is aggressively cultivated by our adversaries. We will expose the lies, leftist tactics and erroneous thinking that are at the root of people’s ideological and spiritual compromise in the face of ardent “gay” activism.
What follows is a rough list of our resolutions for the New Year. There will be some overlap, but each entry stands alone as an answer to erroneous thinking that buys into homosexual activist canards. Please pass them on to your friends, family members, and co-workers; they are intended for anyone who is worn down by society’s ubiquitous “gay”-affirming propaganda. Let’s face it: we all are affected by media manipulation on the homosexual issue and need to get back to confidently defending what’s right.
Editor’s Note regarding AFTAH’s Christian rhetoric: Americans For Truth is an openly Christian organization, perhaps more so than most pro-family groups. So we do use Scripture and even mention Jesus Christ in our work. However, the moral and practical principles we espouse are generally universal and have wide appeal — even for the agnostic who is moral-minded and recognizes that homosexuality is unnatural and should not be encouraged by governmental and cultural elites. AFTAH is supported by people of all religions and no religion, and we welcome anybody who agrees with our mission of returning to wholesome sexuality in (real, man-woman) marriage.
I hope you benefit from AFTAH’s resolutions. This list can be expanded upon, so we invite you to send us your own ideas; send your e-mail to: americansfortruth@gmail.com. May the Lord help you to speak out boldly for the Truth — in genuine, God-fearing love — in 2013! – Peter LaBarbera, www.AFTAH.org
20 Resolutions for Pro-Family Advocates Battling the Homosexual-Transgender Agenda in 2013
1) Get OFF the defense, and back on offense – (get rid of that false guilt and incapacitating ambivalence; YOU are defending Truth; homosexual activists are promoting immorality, self-deception and lies).
2) Follow God and not man (shore up your biblical beliefs) – do you fear God or the reaction of people?
3) “Question Authority”: Don’t trust elites – even “conservatives” — on the homosexual issue (e.g., Newt Gingrich’s recent capitulation urging a GOP accommodation on “marriage equality”). [See Numbers 9 and 12.]
4) Get back to the BEHAVIOR and its consequences (try Googling “MSM [men who have sex with men], CDC [the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], HIV” or “MSM, CDC, Syphilis”…)
TAKE ACTION — ILLINOIS CITIZENS: 1) Call or write your state representatives immediately and urge them to vote against the homosexual “marriage” bill [the so-called “Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act”]. IL Capitol Switchboard: 217-782-2000. According to the Illinois Review, the “same-sex marriage” bill is amended to an automobile rental bill and could come up for a floor today — in the lame duck session that ends January 9. The situation is fluid but Democrats need Republican votes to get the bill passed. Click these links for Illinois Senate Members and Illinois House Members. See IllinoisReview.com for timely updates on the bill.
Who knew that when Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady called for “Change for Illinois,” he was referring to legalizing oxymoronic homosexual “marriage”?
ILLINOIS REPUBLICANS: Make your voice heard regarding IL-GOP Chairman Pat Brady’s stunningly ill-advised endorsement of homosexual “marriage” in Illinois. Many conservatives including AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera have called for Brady’s resignation. The IL-GOP can be reached at 217-525-0011 or info@ilgop.org. Contact your local Republican Party officials through this link.
What did “gay marriage” do to Massachusetts? For an excellent report on the effects of legal homosexual “marriage” — including the proliferation of pro-“gay” propaganda in schools, the loss of parental rights, and the harassment of Christian employees — see Brian Camenker’s excellent Mass Resistance report: “What same-sex ‘marriage’ has done to Massachusetts.”
There is a saying popular among American conservatives: the Democrats are the liberal party and the Republicans are the stupid party. Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady provided further evidence for the latter as he reportedly is lobbying Republican lawmakers in Illinois to support a bill legalizing homosexual “marriage” — leading to a new surge in conservative calls for his resignation.
If the IL-GOP pursues this course of abandoning natural marriage and pro-family values, it will sink into permanent minority status in the Land of Lincoln. Illinois is not unlike the rest of the country in one respect: voters deserve a clear choice between party philosophies and policy goals — not a false choice between Democrat and “Democrat-lite.” Already, conservative dissatisfaction with the IL-GOP is so great that many have left the Party or become disillusioned with politics altogether.
Social liberals now dominate the Illinois Republican Party and they are actively undermining its conservative platform. These two influential IL-GOP leaders are working against pro-family values:
Sen. Mark Kirk — this pro-“gay” senator, recovering from a debilitating stroke, boasted in his successful run for U.S. Senate of his support from Planned Parenthood. Kirk is the de facto head of the state GOP and apparently backs Pat Brady;
Dan Rutherford — this former state senator, current Illinois State Treasurer, and effective GOP campaigner (although he ran Mitt Romney’s losing Illinois campaign) cast two key votes to advance the homosexual agenda in Illinois. His lone Republican vote for the Illinois “Civil Unions” bill was critical to its passage and paved the way for a law that led to religious persecution in the state. Incredibly, despite the anti-Christian aftermath of the “Civil Unions” law, liberal proponents of the same-sex “marriage” bill have the audacity to include “religious freedom” in its name. Rutherford is widely rumored to be homosexual himself — and this writer has publicly challenged him to answer questions about whether he has a personal stake in “gay”-related legislation.
Illinois is in such economic and moral decline that people are leaving the state in droves for conservative-friendly states like Texas. Pat Brady’s reckless experiment in “Republican Gay Activism” will only accelerate the decline. If Illinois’ own grassroots citizens do not take action, their “leaders” will bring ruin to the state. AFTAH will closely monitor legislative and court action on same-sex “marriage.” (An openly lesbian judge, Sophia Hall, will rule on the constitutionality of Illinois’ existing law upholding natural man/woman marriage in the state.) Please take action to make your voice heard in Springfield, and in the Illinois GOP. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH, Naperville, Illinois
ILGOP Chair Sees Gay Marriage as ‘Equality Issue’ and ‘True Conservative Position’
Not unexpectedly, the gay marriage bill seems likely to move through committee today and to a floor vote tomorrow. As pro-family forces attempt to rally the grassroots to voice their opposition, the growing question seems to be which Republican(s) might break with the GOP’s traditional stance on the issue and vote in favor of the bill.
Sources reported that Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady has been making calls to legislators in support of the gay marriage bill. When asked, Brady told Illinois Review that he believes it is an “equality issue”, and that the “true conservative position is in favor” of allowing gay marriage.
He also made it clear that this is his personal view only, and not in his role as Chairman of the ILGOP.
The bill presents a problem for Illinois Republicans in that voting in favor would not only be unpopular with the Party’s base, but would seem to be in contradiction to its platform, which states:
1. …The ideal environment for children is within a two?parent family based on the principle of marriage between one man and one woman. The Republican Party endorses a constitutional amendment protecting our Defense of Marriage Act and enshrining in constitutional law marriage as it is defined in “DOMA.”
2. Our laws should strongly support and celebrate the loving commitment a man and a woman make to each other in marriage. …No law should undermine the importance of that union, divide that union nor unduly burden the efforts of parents to rear a family in a safe and nurturing environment.
…Savage’s hateful “Porno Pete” video typical of vicious attacks on AFTAH
A new video by vulgar and hateful homosexual activist Dan Savage takes on AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera, smearing him as “Porno Pete” and using distortions in an attempt to discredit him. In the video (see link below), Savage repeats a lie about LaBarbera being ejected from his speech at Elmhurst College due to supposed disorderly behavior. LGBT militants hate AFTAH because we expose their lies and extremism.
Support AFTAH with a Year-End Gift: Give safely to AFTAH online or mail to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. Thank you and God bless you!
Profane “gay” activist targets LaBarbera with hateful, lying video: watch Savage’s video here (warning: offensive language): http://www.advocate.com/politics/2012/11/20/dan-savage-explains-origins-porno-peteNote: we will offer a point-by-point response to Savage’s video, and correcting its lies, but HERE is an AFTAH article that includes testimony from a Savage sympathizer explaining what really happened at his Elmhurst College talk.
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By Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth
Dear AFTAH Readers,
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying time with your family in this wonderful season when we reflect on Jesus Christ and His free gift of salvation for sinful man.
We at Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) are preparing for the New Year with all its challenges, even as we survey the wreckage of 2012. I say ‘wreckage’ because in recent weeks some prominent conservatives and Christians have compounded pro-family defeats on Election Day by signaling surrender on homosexuality and “gay marriage.”
One of the big stories of 2012 has been the weakening will of people who know in their heart that the Homosexual Lobby is wrong — or who once opposed it on principle — yet now they rationalize their embrace of homosexualism and “same-sex marriage” as an issue of “rights” out of fear that society is trending pro-“gay.”
[NOTE: this interview occurred BEFORE the Illinois homosexual “marriage” bill, SB10, was amended prior to passage Feb. 14. The amended bill precludes churches and religious institutions from being forced to host homosexual “marriage” celebrations in their building. However, this amendment applies only to explicitly religious institutions; Christian- and other moral-minded business-owners could still be forced to host homosexual “marriage” ceremonies and related celebrations under the bill despite their deeply-felt opposition to “gay marriage.” — Peter LaBarbera]
