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Warning: This report contains some offensive descriptions and graphics
Self-Delusion, Self-Destruction: This is a young Massachusetts woman who had her healthy breasts surgically removed to live out her “transgender” fantasy that she is a “man.” The homosexual-transgender lobby is advocating such body-mutilating surgeries even for “trans” minors–and at taxpayers’ expense through the military and government-subsidized health care. Photo: MassResistance.org.
This special report by AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera for Accuracy in Media was first published by AIM on August 19, 2016; we have taken the liberty of adding several photos with captions to the original article.
The purpose of this report is to expose and refute some of the longstanding statistical lies and propagandistic myths of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) activist movement. With media support, homosexual and leftist activists now openly campaign to banish dissenting conservative voices. This dangerous dynamic gives the homosexual-transgender lobby nearly full rein to advance its agenda, which now includes:
Levying large fines to punish Christians and traditionalists who do not want to participate with their small business in homosexual “weddings”;
Criminalizing pro-heterosexual change therapy for sexually confused minors;
Using the government to force schools and businesses to allow “transgenders”—e.g., men who think they are women—to use public female (opposite-sex) restrooms and locker rooms;
Using LGBT “nondiscrimination” laws to mandate that public schools and businesses punish anyone who does not adhere to politically-correct transgender-inclusive language—such as using “zir” instead of “her.” New York City now demands “respect” for 31 “gender identities,” including “genderqueer,” “third sex” and “pangender”;
Taxpayer-funding for horrifying, body-disfiguring “sex reassignment surgeries,” e.g., a woman having her healthy breasts surgically removed to look like a flat-chested “man,” or a man having his penis surgically destroyed to craft a makeshift “vagina”;
Allowing transsexuals into the U.S. military, and paying for their destructive, gender-bending “surgeries” in the name of “health care”;
Encouraging young people to adopt opposite-sex “gender identities”—even going so far as encouraging underage children to take hormones to offset puberty—in a futile attempt to “become” the opposite sex—or worse: allowing minor boys and girls to have their sexual organs surgically mutilated to appear like the opposite-sex; and
Teaching very young children—even kindergartners—to accept homosexuality and the radical “transgender” idea that they can choose a “gender identity” that does not match their biological sex.
So awash is the public in pro-homosexual propaganda that a 2011 Gallup poll found the average American “guesstimated” that a whopping 25 percent of the population is “gay.” (Women and people under 30 put the number even higher, at around 30 percent.) The actual percentage of homosexual men, lesbians and bisexuals in the U.S. population is just 2.3 percent (see below).
The 10 Percent Myth
This ’10 Percent’ Lie Helped Grow “Gay” Power: For decades homosexual activists promoted the myth — started by a homosexual activist — that a full 10 percent of the populace is “gay.” Reality finally caught up with the LGBT Lobby: a major U.S. government survey found that only 2.3 percent of those polled in 2013 identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual. Above is a book by homosexual activist Kevin Jennings claiming that one in ten teachers is homosexual.
The “10 percent” myth is one of the most enduring propaganda claims of the homosexual activist movement. Concocted in the late 1970s by Bruce Voeller, founder of the National Gay Task Force (predecessor of today’s National LGBTQ Task Force), it was accompanied by the slogan, “We Are Everywhere.”
Thus, just as “gay” militants pressured and bullied America’s mental health professionals to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in 1973, they greatly exaggerated the homosexual population to expand their political power in subsequent years. And the media duly cooperated by promoting the statistical sham. For decades American reporters treated the 10 percent claim—a misreading of deviant, pioneering “sexologist” Alfred Kinsey’s discredited research—as fact, using it to “report” huge numbers of alleged homosexuals in society.
The 10 percent myth served its purpose of projecting enormous “gay” political strength when the movement was still weak. But study after study came up with estimates of the homosexual-bisexual population under 5 percent. A massive 2014 survey of 35,557 Americans by the federal National Center for Health Statistics dealt a death blow to the Ten Percent claim. It found that only 1.6 percent of those polled identified as “gay or lesbian,” while 0.7 percent said they were “bisexual.” In 2011 the pro-LGBT Williams Institute at UCLA estimated that 0.3 percent identified as transgender. Thus a combined estimate for homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders in America is around 3 percent.
Born Gay?—No Way
Another popular “gay” activist myth is the notion that homosexuals are “born that way.” This convenient narrative—stoked for many years by LGBT advocates—takes morality out of the homosexual debate by suggesting that homosexuals are not responsible for their sexual behaviors because “being gay” is a genetic part of “who they are.”
From a scientific perspective, however, the “born gay” myth—like its bogus “10 Percent Gay” counterpart—has fallen on hard times. In the 1990s, talk of a “gay gene” was all the rage after then-closeted homosexual researcher Dean Hamer published a media-ballyhooed 1993 study in the journal Sciencepurporting to find a “genetic marker” for male homosexual “orientation.” But Science could not replicate its own study, and other attempts failed as well. Now genetic homosexuality is no longer in vogue, although the possibility of a “gay gene” still excites reporters.
Homosexual activist pressure campaign drove Spitzer to disavow his own study on “ex-gay” therapy, but Archives of Sexual Behavior editor refused to retract it
Target of Homosexual Pressure Campaign: The late Dr. Robert Spitzer, above, reported in a landmark 2003 academic study that “there is evidence that change in sexual orientation following some form of reparative therapy does occur in some gay men and lesbians.” “Gay” activists barraged him with criticism, so much so that he later disavowed his own study–which, however, was NOT retracted. See the study HERE and the abstract of it below.
Folks, below is an excerpt of a critically important Crisis Magazine piece by Linda Ames Nicolosi, formerly the publications director of NARTH (and wife of Joe Nicolosi). Her subject, Robert Spitzer, played a tragic yet pivotal role in the normalization of homosexuality and the advancement of the homosexual political and cultural agenda. But, as Linda describes, for a time he also advanced the truth that people can indeed overcome unwanted homosexual attractions–by authoring a landmark 2003 study of 200 homosexual men and lesbians who self-reported a “change from homosexual to heterosexual orientation.” This seemingly most politically incorrect of all realities is anathema to homosexualist (“gay”) ideologues, who mercilessly hammered Spitzer–then an old man–ultimately manipulating him into disavowing his own research. Note that, despite his requests, the editor of Archives of Sexual Behavior, Kenneth Zucker, refused to retract Spitzer’s study because the data had not been falsified.
Remember: reports of homosexual people who tried to change but couldn’t are counter-balanced by the many people who have successfully left homosexual lifestyles behind. Of course, in line with the LGBT propaganda tactic that I call “Focus on the Failures,” the latter get far less media attention than the former. You can read the full Crisis article HERE. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Position statements of the major mental health organizations in the United States state that there is no scientific evidence that a homosexual sexual orientation can be changed by psychotherapy, often referred to as “reparative therapy.” This study tested the hypothesis that some individuals whose sexual orientation is predominantly homosexual can, with some form of reparative therapy, become predominantly heterosexual. The participants were 200 self-selected individuals (143 males, 57 females) who reported at least some minimal change from homosexual to heterosexual orientation that lasted at least 5 years. They were interviewed by telephone, using a structured interview that assessed same sex attraction, fantasy, yearning, and overt homosexual behavior. On all measures, the year prior to the therapy was compared to the year before the interview. The majority of participants gave reports of change from a predominantly or exclusively homosexual orientation before therapy to a predominantly or exclusively heterosexual orientation in the past year. Reports of complete change were uncommon. Female participants reported significantly more change than did male participants. Either some gay men and lesbians, following reparative therapy, actually change their predominantly homosexual orientation to a predominantly heterosexual orientation or some gay men and women construct elaborate self-deceptive narratives (or even lie) in which they claim to have changed their sexual orientation, or both. For many reasons, it is concluded that the participants’ self-reports were, by-and-large, credible and that few elaborated self-deceptive narratives or lied. Thus, there is evidence that change in sexual orientation following some form of reparative therapy does occur in some gay men and lesbians.
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The Bob Spitzer I Knew
By Linda Ames Nicolosi, in Crisis Magazine, January 11, 2016
When I opened the newspaper a couple of days after Christmas, I was surprised by a familiar face in the obituaries section: psychiatrist Robert Spitzer. The name brought back a flood of bittersweet personal memories. I had learned something about human nature from Bob Spitzer, and also about politics as they play out behind the scenes in the mental-health establishment.
About 15 years before, Spitzer had asked me to help him with a new research project he was working on—a study of people who had come out of a gay lifestyle. He needed help on his wording and the expression of concepts, and I was, at the time, publications director for NARTH (National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality).
CHANGED MAN:Former homosexual turned family man Stephen Black will be attending AFTAH’s banquet Sat., Oct. 25 at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL. The keynote speaker is Dr. Michael Brown, author of “Can You Be Gay and Christian?”
** UPDATE**: Former homosexual (ex-“gay”) leader Stephen Black of First Stone Ministries, based in Oklahoma City, will be attending our banquet this Saturday, Oct. 25. Stephen will offer his observations on the downfall of the ex-“gay” umbrella group Exodus International under false teaching–and the rise of Restored Hope Network to take its place as offering the hope of change for men and women struggling with homosexuality.
Also, Linda Harvey of Columbus-based Mission America–a leading Christian expert on the homosexual-bisexual-transgender agenda in schools–will be on hand at the banquet! Harvey is author of “Maybe He’s Not Gay: Another View on Homosexuality.” There is now a Study Guide for the book available for small group discussions such as home Bible studies.
The keynote speaker at the banquet is Dr. Michael Brown, author of the new book, “Can You Be Gay and Christian?: Responding with Love & Truth to Questions About Homosexuality”; and the well-documented research work: “Something Queer Happened to America–and What a Long, Strange Trip It’s Been.” [Brown will be signing copies of both books at the banquet.]
WHEN: Saturday, October 25; doors open at 5:30 PM; dinner served at 6:30
COST: Tickets are only $20/person in advance (payment received by Oct. 24) or $25 at the door. Dinner is included. Table Sponsorship: just $200 for a table of 10. Please bring young adults who are confused about homosexuality and “gay rights”! Sign up online at www.aftah.com/donate/, or mail your check to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522.
THEME: Can You Be “Gay” and Christian?
Phone: 312-324-3787; E-mail to RSVP: americansfortruth[at]gmail.com; or email Brad Wallace at connops]at]yahoo.com.
Law banning pro-heterosexual Reparative Therapy for minors now likely to go into effect
Mat Staver
June 30, 2014
The following is reprinted from LC.org (web links added by AFTAH); to donate to Liberty Counsel, go HERE:
Washington, DC—The Supreme Court passed on Liberty Counsel’s petition regarding California’s ban on change therapy in the case of Pickup v. Brown. Two lower court judges and two separate appellate panels have issued conflicting opinions upholding and blocking the ban on change therapy. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction pending appeal, followed by a three-judge panel that upheld the law. That panel then agreed to continue the injunction blocking the law until he Supreme Court had a chance to weigh in on the case. Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to pass on the case means the proceeding will go back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which could lift the injunction and allow the law to go into effect.
Former homosexual David Pickup says, “Reparative Therapy helped save my life.” Read his testimony HERE; read other ex-“gay” and ex-lesbian testimonies on the PFOX website.
The California law was the first to restrict licensed counselors from offering, and minor clients and their parents from receiving, any counsel to change unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or identity.
“I am deeply saddened for the families we represent and for the thousands of children that our professional clients counsel, many of whom developed these unwanted attractions because of abuse of a pedophile. The minors we represent do not want to act on same-sex attractions, nor do they want to engage in such behavior. They are greatly benefiting from this counseling. Their grades have gone up, their self-esteem has improved, and their relationships at home are much improved,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “These children have been victimized twice – first by the likes of Jerry Sandusky, and second by legislators and judges who have essentially barged into their private therapy rooms and told them that they must pursue their unwanted and dangerous same-sex sexual attractions and behavior,” said Staver.
Illinois bill HB 5569 banning pro-hetero change therapy for minors robs self-determination and parental rights
AN EX-“GAY” OFFERS HOPE TO STRUGGLING YOUTH: Christopher Doyle is a former homosexual and licensed therapist who now helps people overcome unwanted same-sex attractions. He was molested as a boy and suffered for years with unwanted same-sex desires before getting help. [Read Doyle’s testimony HERE]. He is now happily married and the father of three children. Under proposed Illinois legislation, HB 5569, boys like him who are the victims of homosexual predators or suffering in sexual confusion could not see a therapist (like Doyle today) to deal with their same-sex problems.
TAKE ACTION: 1) ILLINOIS RESIDENTS: if you live in Illinois, 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. We advise calling your legislators at their LOCAL offices since they will not be back in Springfield until Tuesday, April 1.
2) EVERYONE ELSE: Call or write your U.S. Representative (202-225-3121) and Senators (202-224-3121)–or go to ContactingtheCongress.org–and urge them NOT to support ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which is a federal version of the same homosexual/transgender “rights” bills that have been used in states and cities to enforce *politically correct discrimination* against Christians and others who opposes homosexualism and “gay marriage.” [see this AFTAH article.] AFTAH is calling ENDA the “Gay Lawyers’ Dream Act” since it would only make if easier for Christians to be sued for not violating their conscience. [See this excellent report on ENDA by the Heritage Foundation.]
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Dear AFTAH Readers,
One important thing I’ve learned about the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Lobby in more than 20 years of fighting it is that everything they accuse their opponents of doing THEY DO in spades. They say we “hate,” yet many observed that it is radical homosexual activists like Dan Savage, Wayne Besen and Peter Tatchell (in Britain) who are truly hateful and vindictive in their often vicious, “morality-phobic” bigotry.
Pro-homosexual militants say that we are “harming children,” and yet the homosexual-bisexual behaviors THEY promote in the name of “equality” are closely linked to the spread of HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Almost every case of HIV among boys and young men ages 13-24 is linked to deviant homo-sexual behavior [see this AFTAH article pointing to CDC data]. Moreover, bisexual men who have a girlfriend or are married but who (often secretly) engage in homosexual acts with other men are a key group spreading HIV to women.
And of course, homosexual activists charge us with “discrimination,” as the world’s largest homosexual lobby organization, the Human Rights Campaign, does below in a fundraising letter by the actress Sally Field (yes, the “gay” movement has Hollywood and the leftist media helping it). Experts at marketing and manipulation, the LGBT Lobby is now trying to re-define sincere efforts by Americans to protect Christians and moral-minded Americans from discriminatory pro-homosexual laws — calling such legislation–like the recent Arizona bill vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer–“License to Discriminate” bills.
Don’t buy this latest “gay” con job.
Who is really “discriminating”?
Did you know that pro-homosexual “sexual orientation non-discrimination” laws are one of the single greatest threats to freedom of conscience and religious liberty in the Western world? In a report I did for WND’s Whistleblower magazine, I described a bunch of the cases pitting “Gay Power vs. Religious Liberty,” but I didn’t come close to listing them all, and there are many other cases outside the United States I simply didn’t have room to include.
Is the pope using language that is easily exploited by the aggressive Sin Movement that calls itself “gay”? Read his full interview HERE.
Dear AFTAH Readers,
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality works closely with conservative Catholics from across the nation, indeed the world, in opposition to the homosexual activist movement. It is my experience that wherever the Catholic Church still has influence, if the Church or its leaders takes a strong stand against pro-“gay” legislation, the bills usually fail — but if Church leaders compromise on doctrine or go AWOL (public policy-speaking), homosexual activists triumph.
Having said that, I acutely recognize — from my perspective as an evangelical (who was raised Catholic) — that there has always been a “friendly distrust” or competition between ministry and the defense of morality. Between Christians who believe that the primary role of believers is compassionate Gospel outreach to lost homosexuals — and “culture war” Christians who (although also loving the Gospel) see religious traditionalists as a crucial force resisting the Sin Movement of homosexuality that so profoundly threatens our culture.
In this context we ponder the meaning and ramifications of Pope Francis’ new rhetoric on homosexuality. Below we reprint portions of an article from our good friends at LifeSiteNews — a Catholic pro-life, pro-family news site and one of the top social conservative websites in the world — on Pope Francis’ much-discussed interview released yesterday [available HERE or as a PDF document HERE]. We note LifeSite’s apprehensive take that:
“Most major media are reporting the statements [by Pope Francis] as a direct challenge to the Church’s way of operating on the moral issues. The comments are very different from those of his two predecessors.”
Yesterday, I sent out the following cautionary tweet in response to the pope’s comments — both in the new interview and a previous one — about the Church being more “welcoming” and less judgmental toward homosexuals:
The tragic reality is that a lack of proper moral “judgments” toward and vigilance regarding homosexually-inclined priest candidates contributed greatly to the horrifying homosexual-predator crisis that has so devastated the Catholic Church. This was exacerbated by liberals such as Milwaukee’s notorious homosexual Archbishop Rembert Weakland (see my report for America’s Survival on Fox News’ pro-“gay” bias).
I dare say that a more sinister plot to undermine the Catholic Church and its reputation could not have been carried out had Satan’s earthly minions spent $100 million devising one:
Homosexual men take advantage of more lax standards to enter priesthood.
Homosexual priests and male Catholic school officials use their authoritative role to seduce and molest mostly male teenagers and boys.
Homosexuals like then-Archbishop Weakland and their sympathizers in the Church cover up priest abuses and transfer predators to new, unsuspecting parishes, where they molest more boys.
The homosexual-predator scandal blows up in the media — alienating millions of Catholics from the Church and doing untold damage to its reputation and moral, spiritual and political influence.
Homosexuals and liberal allies who advocate for acceptance of homosexuality turn around and say Church is now discredited because it harbored “pedophiles.” Meanwhile, Church officials resist full disclosure of the scandal, thus perpetuating it.
Lastly, “gay” activists and their liberal allies continue to insist that the male-on-boy priest abuse scandal has little or nothing to do with homosexuals — but rather was a “pedophile” or “ephebophile” (adult who is sexual attracted to adolescents) problem.
My hunch is that each and every one of those complicit Church apologists for homosexuality, like Weakland, would consider himself “more compassionate” and “more Christ-like” than “anti-gay Catholics” who have been scandalized by the homosexualist advances in their Church. Such is the arrogance of liberals. This despite the untold suffering of boys victimized by sexual deviants masquerading as pastoral guardians of others’ souls. (See Catholic writer Randy Engel’sRite of Sodomy: Homosexuality and the Catholic Church — one of the best books ever written on homosexuality — and Leon Podles‘ Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church [available through AFTAH; see below to order].)
Barber calls for investigation into HRC’s role in IRS-Gate…
Folks, our press conference yesterday directly in front of the world’s most powerful homosexual lobby organization, Human Rights Campaign, was a success (despite the lack of “mainstream” media present). I was touched to see that HRC had put up a “Welcome Peter” sign on their swank headquarters building on Rhode Island Avenue in Washington, D.C. (see video below). But that was just a stunt as a spokesman for the “gay” pressure group quickly reverted to the usual HRC tactic of smearing our pro-family representatives: “Fringe is too polite a term for them.” HRC spokesman Fred Sainztold the Washington Blade, a newspaper for homosexuals. (Other homosexual websites‘ coverage was more hateful.) Perhaps truth is “fringe” to an aggressive Sin Lobby. Watch Cliff Kincaid’s video coverage of the event and decide who the real extremists are. Thanks to all who participated in this event. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Kincaid’s footage is in three parts, which we will post separately: Part One is below, featuring Matt Barber’s and my presentations; after the jump is a non-verbatim text of my speech:
Speech by Peter LaBarbera at HRC press conference, June 4, 2013
Good morning, and thank you for coming.
The escalation of homosexual activist power is bad for America, and American liberty. Our bottom line here today at the beginning of so-called “Gay Pride” Month — as the banner says — is not about “hate” but that Homosexuality Is Nothing to Be Proud of, but overcoming it is. The deviant sexual revolution represented by the Human Rights Campaign headquarters behind us is built on a foundation of lies. Consider two of the “Founding Fathers” of the “Gay” revolution, Alfred Kinsey and Harry Hay.
Janet Boynes, who abandoned the lesbian lifestyle, is one of thousands of men and women who have overcome homosexuality. In 2012, LGBT advocates showed their intolerance by pushing for laws that ban ex-gay change therapy for minors.
From the website of NARTH (National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality):
Emergency Court Injunction Halts SB 1172!
December 26, 2012m NARTH.com
NARTH and several of our organization’s clinicians who are represented by Liberty Counsel received an early Christmas present late Friday when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the California ban on change therapy (SB 1172) and granted an injunction pending our appeal. The law, scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2013, would have prevented our young clients from continuing counseling to diminish or eliminate unwanted same-sex sexual attractions, behavior or identity.
NARTH has been fighting the California legislative efforts to deny families the right to seek therapy for their children experiencing unwanted homosexual attractions for almost a year. It began with a month’s long opposition to a bill introduced by state Senator Ted Lieu that went through several committee hearings, a number of amendments and changes by the legislature, and finally passage through both houses of the state legislature. NARTH sent a delegation to testify in those hearings and spent many hours contacting legislators explaining why we believe the bill would be both harmful and unconstitutional.