After AFTAH’s report that White House officials gave advice on crafting the religious exemption language in homosexual Rep. Barney Frank’s radical ENDA bill, H.R. 3685, the Administration moved to publicly distance itself from the special-privileges-for-homosexual-employees legislation. Call Congress (202-224-3121; www.congress.org) to oppose H.R. 3685 and call the President to urge a veto (202-456-1111; www.whitehouse.gov/contact). See our paper, “14 Good Reasons to Oppose H.R. 3685, the ‘ENDA Our Freedom’ Bill.”

By Peter LaBarbera 

In a manner similar to what it did regarding the “hate crimes” bill, the White House has issued a “Statement of Policy” raising constitutional and policy objections to H.R. 3685, the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA), sponsored by homosexual Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). The Administration statement states, “The bill raises concerns on constitutional and policy grounds, and if H.R. 3685 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”

REMAIN VIGILANT: please keep those calls and letters coming to the White House (202-456-1111 or -1414; www.congress.org), urging President Bush to do so — regardless of the form the bill takes.

Also, even some key Republicans are supporting ENDA, so call Congress today (202-224-3121; www.congress.org) and urge your U.S. Representative and both Senators to oppose ANY form of ENDA. A House vote on H.R. 3685 could come tomorrow. Homosexuality is not a “civil right” — period, and H.R. 3685’s “religious exemption” wording in ENDA is still very weak, as this memo from the Alliance Defense Fund asserts. See our paper, “14 Good Reasons to Oppose H.R. 3685, the ‘ENDA Our Freedom’ Bill.”

Americans For Truth’s revelation that a White House official had boasted to pro-family leaders that the White House had helped craft ENDA’s religious exemption language raised concerns among pro-family groups counting on an Administration veto of ENDA. It also touched off a flurry of blog posts on the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) side, where there is a ferocious battle taking place over ENDA. Barney Frank’s decision to back a version of ENDA that does not include “transgenders” has infuriated the pro-transsexual groups. Meanwhile, Human Rights Campaign, the country’s leading homosexual lobby group, is playing both sides of the fence — backing Frank’s compromise while publicly supporting Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s pro-transsexual amendment to H.R. 3685 to shore up its pro-“T” (transgender) credentials.

Traditional Values Coalition lobbyist Andrea Lafferty, who with father Lou Sheldon has done more than anyone in America over the years to keep the homosexual agenda in check on Capitol Hill, told Americans For Truth that at a recent pro-H.R. 3685 press conference called by Rep. Frank, the various homosexual/trans groups favoring a more radical (they say “inclusive”) ENDA were kept out in the hall, while HRC staffers were allowed in the room. Lafferty said that the homosexual newspaper Washington Blade played down the GLBT infighting.

Regardless, savvy homosexual activists (led by HRC) understand that passage of ENDA in any form is a huge advance for the homosexual cause — which is why we raised concern over talk of Christian leaders looking to craft “acceptable” exemption language in the bill, with White House input.

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Here is the White House’s statement on ENDA (emphasis added):

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503

    October 23, 2007    (House Rules)

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

H.R. 3685 – The Employment Non-Discrimination Act

(Rep. Frank (D) MA and 9 cosponsors)

H.R. 3685 would extend existing employment-discrimination provisions of Federal law, including those in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to establish “a comprehensive Federal prohibition of employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”  The bill raises concerns on constitutional and policy grounds, and if H.R. 3685 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

H.R. 3685 is inconsistent with the right to the free exercise of religion as codified by Congress in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).  The Act prohibits the Federal Government from substantially burdening the free exercise of religion except for compelling reasons, and then only in the least restrictive manner possible.  H.R. 3685 does not meet this standard.  For instance, schools that are owned by or directed toward a particular religion are exempted by the bill; but those that emphasize religious principles broadly will find their religious liberties burdened by H.R. 3685.

A second concern is H.R. 3685’s authorization of Federal civil damage actions against State entities, which may violate States’ immunity under the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The bill turns on imprecise and subjective terms that would make interpretation, compliance, and enforcement extremely difficult.  For instance, the bill establishes liability for acting on “perceived” sexual orientation, or “association” with individuals of a particular sexual orientation.  If passed, H.R. 3685 is virtually certain to encourage burdensome litigation beyond the cases that the bill is intended to reach.

Provisions of this bill purport to give Federal statutory significance to same-sex marriage rights under State law.  These provisions conflict with the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman.  The Administration strongly opposes any attempt to weaken this law, which is vital to defending the sanctity of marriage.

Breaking News: White House helped craft religious language for pro-homosexual ENDA bill; AFTAH urges Bush to pledge to veto bill in any form

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was written in 2007. Four years later, passage of the ENDA bill — now HR 1397 — is a high priority of the Obama administration. Go HERE for a GovTrack report on the 2011 version of this dangerous bill. — Peter LaBarbera, May 16, 2011. 

AFTAH has learned that White House staffers helped negotiate the new religious exemption language for the radical homosexual employment bill ENDA, H.R. 3685. Will that make it harder for President Bush to veto ENDA should it pass Congress? Call or contact the President (202-456-1111; www.whitehouse.gov/contact) and urge him to veto ENDA in any form should it pass Congress.

By Peter LaBarbera 

BREAKING NEWS/URGENT UPDATE: Americans For Truth has learned that a White House official has boasted to pro-family leaders attending a private Administration briefing that White House staffers were involved in the negotiations to craft expanded religious exemption language for the new ENDA bill, H.R. 3685 (discussed below). Call President Bush at 202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414 (www.whitehouse.gov/contact) to urge him to publicly pledge to veto the dangerous ENDA (Employment Nondiscrimination Act) bill, H.R. 3685 in ANY form should it pass.

At the briefing, the White House official did not commit to the assembled evangelical leaders that the President would veto H.R. 3685, saying that they will wait to see the bill’s final language, according to our source. This is troubling in that vetoing ENDA in any form is regarded as a “no-brainer” by pro-family activists, who are counting on Bush to stop it. Failure to veto ENDA would be a devastating defeat for pro-family forces and a huge gift to homosexual lobbyists. Call the President (202-456-111) and urge him to “please publicly pledge to veto ENDA, H.R. 3685, in any form if it passes Congress.”

Some religious leaders take comfort in ENDA’s exemptions; we do not (see Points 8 and 13 below).  White House involvement in negotiations over ENDA is problematic in that makes it more difficult for President Bush to veto the bill. As you can read below, H.R. 3685’s current religious exemption will hardly affect the many ways in which ENDA would erode and destroy the freedom of Americans to act on their deeply-held moral beliefs about homosexuality.

Also, CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN and SENATORS today and next week to oppose H.R. 3685, which is a watered-down version of a more radical version of ENDA, H.R. 2015 (see Point 10 below). Like H.R. 2015 — for which homosexual and transsexual activists are still crusading — H.R. 3685 has tremendous potential to criminalize Christianity in the United States by creating federal “rights” based on wrong and destructive lifestyles.
 
Yesterday, H.R. 3685 was voted out of the House Education and Labor Committee by a vote of 27-21 (some Democrats voted “no” because it wasn’t liberal enough; see Point 10 below). It is now headed for a House floor vote, possibly early next week. Call 202-224-3121 or go to http://www.congress.org/ to reach your Representative and U.S. Senators.

Here are 14 good reasons to oppose the revised ENDA, H.R. 3685:

1. ENDA and H.R. 3685 would create federally-protected “rights” based on immoral, unhealthy and changeable homosexual/bisexual behavior — masquerading as “orientation” — setting a dangerous legal, moral and spiritual precedent. Homosexuality is not a “civil right”; it is a human wrong — one that is redeemable as proven by thousands of contented former homosexuals and ex-lesbians. Our Founding Fathers, infused with a Biblical view of fallen man, created limited government that sought to restrain the sinful outworking of men’s hearts (including the lust for power, hence our system of checks and balances). The law once punished sin (e.g., sodomy and anti-abortion laws), so it is preposterous to say that homosexuality-affirming laws are necessary to uphold basic, “constitutional rights.” ENDA represents the complete rejection of the Judeo-Christian Western legal tradition by creating newfangled legal “rights” that actually reward errant lifestyles and sexual misbehavior.
2. ENDA/H.R. 3685  would be used to defend the placement of openly homosexual and bisexual teachers in our nation’s public schools in ALL localities (see # 7). For the more activist-minded homosexual teachers who are already in schools, H.R. 3685 could lead them to more boldly promote and discuss their lifestyle in the classroom, as schools could be sued for discrimination if they dared to discipline activist “gays.”
3. ENDA/H.R. 3685 would punish Christians and religious traditionalists by leading directly to the loss of freedom for tradition-minded business owners with 15 or more employees. Take the example of an Orthodox Jewish owner of a for-profit day-care business who would NEVER hire an avowed homosexual, lesbian or bisexual as a supervising adult care-giver, because he believes Scriptural teachings that homosexual practice is immoral and reflects poorly on one’s character. This religious man would qualify for the exemption to ENDA if he has 14 or less workers. But God forbid that his business grows to 15 or more employees, because then, under ENDA, he could no longer apply his religious and moral beliefs about same-sex sin in his hiring and firing decisions . It must be remembered that top homosexual strategists now assert that their “moral” claim (the right not to be treated differently based on their “sexual orientation”) trumps our religious/moral obligation to oppose homosexuality.
4. ENDA is unnecessary: there is no outbreak of homosexuals getting fired; in fact, it is Christians defending their faith in the public square who are getting fired  and mistreated  — like Matt Barber, who was terminated by Allstate Insurance in 2005 after writing an online article on his own time critical of homosexual “marriage.”  Moreover, private companies are racing to create pro-homosexual policies on their own: Kodak now gives special preference to homosexually-owned subcontractors as one of several “minorities” receiving favored consideration. We strongly disagree with these “gay”-affirmative-action-type policies, but corporations have the right to pursue them. However, with the proliferation of such corporate programs, there is no need for the heavy hand of government to act as a corporate Big Brother, forcing all companies to affirm homosexuality in their hiring and firing decisions. Let the free market decide this issue.
5. ENDA/H.R. 3685 would dramatically expand the power of the federal government and would put it behind ONE SIDE of the homosexuality debate: the politically correct and unbiblical claim that homosexuality is about “rights” and innocuous “orientations.” Therefore it would override traditional understandings of homosexuality as a changeable sin. Federal authority will be asserted to enforce homosexual “rights” over traditional Americans rights to operate their business according to their moral beliefs. At the very least, with half the nation still believing that homosexual behavior is wrong, the government should be neutral on this issue.
6. ENDA is a “gay” lawyer’s dream: it would be abused by litigious homosexual activists, who seem to have a special gift for lying about conservatives and exaggerating their own victim status. If history is a guide, ENDA will lead to “gay” harassment lawsuits against people like the theoretical day-care entrepreneur above. Homosexual activists have already used dirty tactics to harass and take down pro-family leaders like Larry Cirignano, Scott Lively, and Gary Glenn — all victims of trumped-up “gay” charges. Glenn was falsely accused by a homosexual activist group, the Triangle Foundation, of favoring the murder of homosexuals (this writer has also been falsely accused of this). Cirignano recently had “civil rights” charges against him dropped after a lesbian invaded his Catholic group’s rally and then claimed that he assaulted her. Lively, founder of Abiding Truth Ministries, was hit with a highly-publicized lawsuit in 1991 based on similar trumped-up charges. Oregon Republican writer Betty Freauf describes what happened: “At one of the O.C.A. meetings, a photo journalist and homosexual-rights activist by the name of Catherine Stauffer attended the [pro-family] meeting uninvited. When asked to leave, she refused. Scott Lively then O.C.A. [Oregon Citizen’s Alliance] executive director, escorted her out of the meeting. She then had her frivolous assault and battery lawsuit which had been the plan all along. Judgments were granted to the plaintiff Stauffer in the amount of $30,000 each against O.C.A. and Scott Lively.”    Certainly, some homosexual activists will not be able to resist using frivolous, ENDA-inspired lawsuits to intimidate conservative business owners into submission — especially those who speak out publicly against “gay marriage,” or oppose the homosexual lobby. Is it really hard to imagine homosexual activists sending “plants” into conservative-owned companies and then suing when the person is not hired, or is fired? Of course, the same might be attempted by apolitical yet greedy “gay” employees and lawyers seeking to manipulate the system through “discrimination” lawsuits.
7. ENDA would trample on the rights of the 30 states without homosexuality-based “sexual orientation” laws — including conservative “red” states like Oklahoma and Texas where there is little voter interest in passing such laws — by turning the whole nation, including all public schools (see #2), into a “special-protections-for-homosexual-workers” zone.
8. ENDA’s “religious exemption” is extremely limited and narrowly tailored: of course, it does NOTHING to protect the freedom of moral-minded small businessmen to hire and fire based on THEIR values system, not the government’s. But beyond that, ENDA’s “religious exemption” is also carefully circumscribed so as to box in non-church, religious-oriented groups, rather than liberate them (see points 12 and 13). Here is how H.R. 3685 defines “religious organization”:
    
   RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION – The term `religious organization’ means–
   (A) a religious corporation, association, or society; or 
   (B) a school, college, university, or other educational institution or institution of learning, if– 
   (i) the institution is in whole or substantial part controlled, managed, owned, or supported by a particular religion, religious corporation, association, or society; or
   (ii) the curriculum of the institution is directed toward the propagation of a particular religion
    
   Now think of all the businesses, associations and schools that would NOT be covered by that definition: private, non-church or non-religious schools, day-care centers not directly tied to a church; small secular businesses (15 or more employees, including part-timers) owned by Christians; etc.               Moreover, Matt Barber (see #4), Policy Director for Cultural Issues at Concerned Women for America and AFTAH Board Member, makes this excellent point on the constitutionality of ENDA’s religious exemption: “For any religious exemption to pass constitutional muster, [it] would have to follow the individual business owner.  The First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion which applies to all individual citizens, not just to a church, religious organization or corporation.  It is unconstitutional to prevent, by force of law, an individual business owner from considering his sincerely held religious beliefs while determining how to best own and operate his private business.”
9. Even though ENDA proscribes quotas, H.R. 3685 would create de facto preferential status for “gay” employees – or those who claim that status (which is another issue: how does a company “prove” that an employee is or is not “gay”?). Especially for corporations and businessmen who fear lawsuits, ENDA would create a new category of “affirmative action” – for a group of people who, far from demonstrating a history of being disadvantaged economically, rank among the more affluent and privileged groups in society (for example, “gays” travel internationally at rates far higher than other groups) . (See #4 on existing private “gay affirmative action.”)
10. H.R. 3685 is merely the camel’s nose under the tent: even though homosexual Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) “threw tranny off the train” as it were – by backing a watered-down ENDA that does not explicitly cover transsexuals (“gender identity”) – the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) lobby is united in pushing for the even more radical version of ENDA, H.R. 2015, which fully covers “transgenders.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has agreed to bring that bill to the House floor for a vote if the bill’s sponsors can show they have enough votes to pass it.  Passage of H.R. 3685 would make passing H.R. 2015 — what we’re calling the “Transgender Bathrooms for Business” bill — easier.
11. H.R. 3685 would advance the “same-sex marriage” agenda. It would be cited by activist judges as evidence that America is moving towards pro-homosexual “equality” (read: state-sponsored “inequality” for people of faith). The homosexual agenda always advances incrementally, but federalizing “sexual orientation” law is a long-sought goal of “gay” activists and liberal social engineers seeking to break down our Judeo-Christian traditions by normalizing homosexuality through the law.
12. H.R. 3685’s exemption for “religious organizations” would divide society further by effectively creating a two-tiered system of rights.  Some Christians and religious people operating in exempted religious groups would get the “special right” to factor in their opposition to homosexuality in their hiring and firing decisions — but morality-conscious secular groups and business owners would lose their freedom to similarly defend heterosexual norms. This is not fair. Many nonreligious people oppose homosexual behavior and creating “rights” based on immoral, aberrant sex: why should they have any less freedom to act on their beliefs than religious citizens?
13. ENDA/H.R. 3685 will lead to further compromise in the Church: its religious exemption would mollify pastors and make them LESS likely to stand on principle and fight the aggressive homosexual agenda, since they would be “protected” (for now) from ENDA’s oppressive mandates. Of course, homosexual activists would later seek to tighten or eliminate religious- and church-based exemptions (there’s that incrementalism again). If homosexual activists truly respected people’s freedom to oppose homosexual behavior, would they constantly be complaining about “religious-based discrimination”? Would they be relentlessly attacking the Boy Scouts and have tried to make it illegal for the Scouts not to hire homosexual (and atheist) scoutmasters? Many “gay” advocates view Christian opposition to hiring homosexuals as simply another form of invidious discrimination to be overcome through law, academia and cultural mobilization.
14. ENDA confuses the issue of civil rights in America and trivializes African Americans’ struggle against discrimination. H.R. 3685 insults African-Americans and confuses the civil rights equation considerably by taking the 1964 Civil Rights Act — designed with the noble goal of redressing institutional racism in America — and refitting it to put the U.S. Government officially behind the false concept of homosexuality as a “civil right.” Blacks cannot change their skin color. Homosexuals can leave that lifestyle behind, as many have. (Conversely, people can become “gay” by embracing that ideology and lifestyle. Nobody can “become African American”; that’s how you are born.) Being black is not a moral issue. Embracing sinful and destructive homosexual behavior is. It has long been the goal of “gay” activists to exploit the noble Black civil rights movement — even appropriating its language of “equality” and drawing bogus analogies between ending legal bans on interracial marriage (a good and just reform) and the campaign to legalize homosexual “marriage” (a revolutionary attack on a sacred institution). ENDA would put government muscle behind this exploitation, and make it much easier to teach schoolchildren that homosexuality is a civil rights issue, not a moral one.

By Peter LaBarbera 

Gov. Schwarzenegger’s signing of two radical pro-homosexuality school bills — SB 777 and AB 14 — is very bad news for the Republican Party, California, and the nation.

I suppose it’s good news for Democrats and pro-homosexuality-education-for-tots Republicans, all 7 of them, but we’ll let the faux conservatives over at Log Cabin Republicans make that case.

If the GOP joins the Democrats as a party embracing homosexuality, many Christians and pro-family voters will start looking to third parties, or check out of the political process entirely. They certainly won’t be motivated to go out and work for the Republican Party.

It’s a pretty simple equation: “Maria Shriver Republicanism” does not sit well with the party’s conservative and religious grassroots — who increasingly feel like the water they carry for the GOP every election is commensurate with the shaft they get from Republican politicians in the ensuing years. (Schwarzenegger did veto a pro-“same-sex marriage” bill but ironically, the bills he signed into law will create precisely the sort of classroom propaganda that conservatives have warned would result from legalized “gay marriage.”)

Under the guise of “equality,” SB 777 and AB 14 will be used to indoctrinate students in the Left’s false analogies between the noble civil rights movement and their pro-homosexuality and -transsexuality activism. (You know, the same Social Leftists that regularly equate people of faith who oppose homosexual behavior with fringe racists.)

The new laws will greatly expand one-sided, pro-homosexuality and pro-“transgender” curricula and programs such as “Gay and Lesbian History Month” that elevate Christian bashing “gay” icons like Frank Kameny — who can’t seem to recall if he spoke at a meeting for the despicable NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association — to U.S. historical heroes. (Kameny is old, but don’t you think a NAMBLA meeting, as reported by NAMBLA itself, would stick in your mind?)

In other words, more indoctrination for public school kids, who will be trained in dubious concepts like “homophobia” and the notion that the only people left who oppose rights based on “gayness” are bigots and irrational religious people out of step with the times.

Gee. California schools are doing such a fine job teaching reading, writing, math and science: isn’t it wonderful that they can now focus on grounding the state’s children in Gay Advocacy 101?

At AFTAH, we operate on the premise that God does not smile on Republican homosexual advocacy any more than He does on the Democratic brand. GOP leaders who fail to see the growing dissatisfaction with their party among the pro-family rank-and-file may be in for a big shock on Election Day. But even if they prevail in 2008, signs of long-term corrosion in the party’s social conservative base are everywhere.

One major political party committed to homosexuality- and transsexuality-based “rights” including “gay marriage” (aka civil unions) is one too many for America. Do the Republicans really want to compete for that title?

TAKE ACTION:  go to the website of the California group Campaign for Children and Families (www.savecalifornia.com), run by my friend Randy Thomasson, who works harder for true family values than anyone I know. CCF has tons of information on the anti-family school bills and ways to get involved.

 

If you are a Republican, communicate with your local and state GOP officials that the party must not embrace homosexuality, and that it is reckless to give children one-sided, pro-“gay” lessons that undermine marriage and historic Judeo-Christian morality. (If you are a Democrat, do the same for your local Democratic officials.) You can write or call Gov. Schwarzenegger through this website: http://gov.ca.gov/interact#contact.

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The following is CNSNews.com’s article on Schwarzenegger’s “gay” school capitulation:

California Group to Fight ‘Sexual Indoctrination’ Laws in Court 

By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
October 17, 2007

(CNSNews.com) – The head of a pro-family organization in California said on Tuesday that his group is mounting a legal effort to overturn pro-homosexual measures signed into law last weekend by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger before they can have a negative impact on the state’s educational system and religious community.

“Apparently, the governor now feels the freedom to favor the pro-homosexual message and to disregard conservative voters and traditional values,” Ron Prentice, chief executive officer of the California Family Council, told Cybercast News Service.

Prentice called Schwarzenegger’s decision to approve the measures “puzzling,” because he vetoed similar legislation last year. (The governor did not explain his decision, nor did his office return calls from Cybercast News Service seeking comment.)

As a result, “we have no security that any bill that comes to him next year promoting homosexuality” will be prevented from becoming law, said Prentice.

Therefore, the organization will challenge SB 777, the California Student Civil Rights Act, which was passed by the legislature to “update specific anti-discrimination provisions that are scattered throughout the state’s education code.”

To accomplish this, for instance, the legislation replaces “sex” as defined as “the biological condition or quality of being a male or female human being” with “gender,” which is “a person’s gender identity and gender-related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth.”

The new law also adds the category of “sexual orientation,” which is explained as “heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality.”

Finally, the measure states: “No teacher shall give instruction nor shall a school district sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias because of a characteristic” identified in the law.

The homosexual advocacy group Equality California (ECQA) described the legislation as protecting students “from harassment and bullying in public schools by making sure teachers and school administrators fully understand their responsibilities to protect youth.”

But as Cybercast News Service previously reported, the Campaign for Children and Families (CCF) responded that the measure is nothing more than “sexual indoctrination.”

“SB 777 will result in reverse discrimination against students with religious and traditional family values,” said Meredith Turney, legislative liaison for the conservative Capitol Resource Institute. “The terms ‘mom and dad’ or ‘husband and wife’ could promote discrimination against homosexuals if a same-sex couple is not also featured.”

Click HERE for the full Cybercast News Service article

WARNING: NOT FOR CHILDREN; GRAPHIC IMAGES — DESPITE OUR EFFORTS TO CLEAN UP THESE PHOTOS DOCUMENTING RAUNCHY SAN FRANCISCO ‘FOLSOM STREET FAIR’

All Folsom Street Fair photos by Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth; permission to reprint given provided that credit be given to “Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, www.americansfortruth.org”; contact us at americansfortruth@gmail.com.

PART ONE

By Peter LaBarbera and Allyson Smith, Americans For Truth exclusive

 S Man bares all at Folsom Street Fair (he was wearing sneakers); right, entrance sticker given to attendees (by Christianity-mocking, drag-queen “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”) reproduces blasphemous, sadistic “Last Supper” photo that drew national attention to Folsom.

SAN FRANCISCO — How do you describe the most depraved public event in the most depraved city in America? Well, we’ll let the pictures do the talking — with our strategically-placed black boxes so as not to reward the perverted exhibitionists who invaded the city’s streets Sunday for the “Folsom Street Fair.” The Fair is an annual street party for BDSM enthusiasts (meaning bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism — or domination/submission) held on several blocked-off city streets here, that reportedly draws hundreds of thousands of “leather” practitioners and curious spectators every year. All frontal nudity is blocked below.

 At left, a young boy looks on at a booth sponsored by Steamworks, a local bathhouse (in Berkeley) where men go to engage in anonymous sodomies with other men. Organizers warned that Folsom was an event for adults, but parents were allowed to bring their young children. Steamworks also has branches in Chicago, Toronto, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Keep in mind as you look at these documented public acts of perversion that San Francisco police took a very passive, “hands off” role at the Fair — despite the national outrage and unprecedented media attention on Folsom following revelations that organizers used a perverted mockery of Da Vinci’s Last Supper painting as their promotional artwork. (The Last Supper rip-off adorned the small stickers given to every person who paid the $5 to get into Folsom; see photo above.)

Indeed, we watched as police standing on the street or just outside the blocked-off perimeter of Folsom did nothing as men walked by baring their genitals (only the men did this; some women bared their breasts). One extended orgiastic scene we witnessed involving several men (see photo below) took place on crowded Folsom Street as hundreds if not thousands of people walked by — yet police took no action.

We spoke with several policemen and security guards and the consensus was that rampant nudity and public sex are expected every year at Folsom Street (this was the event’s 25th year) and that it is the city’s politicians — from the Mayor on down — who are to blame for allowing it.  (Mayor Gavin Newsom greeted Folsom Street attendees in a letter published in the Fair’s program, warmly telling them to “have a great day and enjoy this wonderful and exciting event.”) It seemed to us that the police, as law “enforcers,” were put in the very awkward position of overseeing sexual anarchy and general lawlessness, as clearly there was no expectation that laws would be enforced to stop the public sex and nudity — assuming such anti-lewdness laws exist in San Francisco and California.

In addition to the nudity and public sex acts, there were public whippings and spankings. Some were held at booths: the AIDS Emergency Fund was hawking charity spankings for $5 each — and others apparently occurring spontaneously, if you can say that about an act of consensual, “erotic” violence. We witnessed one man whipping his “partner” on a sidewalk, the “whippee’s” back becoming a brighter red with each round of punishment — done out of love, we are told by the sadists.

 The annual Folsom Street Fair takes place in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) San Francisco district. Speaking to a local “gay” newspaper through her spokesman, Pelosi refused to condemn the blasphemous Folsom 2007 promotional logo — which mocked Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” painting by substituting “leather” men and women for Christ and His disciples. Click HERE to view the blasphemous ad, which was reproduced on Folsom’s stickers for paid attendees. 

And we witnessed many “master-slave” “couples,” one leading the other around with a dog collar, of both the homosexual and heterosexual variety. The Folsom Street Fair began as an event mainly for homosexual sadomasochists, but it now attracts many straights, as evidenced by the thousands of women visible at this year’s event.

Gawkers and photo-takers were everywhere at Folsom, adding to the surrealness of the experience. Twice we witnessed people posing for photos with totally nude men, one who had been masturbating at a curb, as if the latter were celebrities. The fair/freak show was truly an exhibitionists’ dream, made possible by San Francisco’s moral and legal laxity.

So pervasive was the public (mostly male) nudity that it seemed the more “modest” homosexuals were the ones wearing only underwear or leather chaps exposing their behind.

 Man gets flogged at the “Mr-S-Leather” booth in the center of Folsom Street Fair as crowd watches and a man snaps a photo. Note the recipient’s red back.

After a day of walking through this bizarre and hellish “fair” — with occasional “normalcy breaks” to restore our sanity — what struck us was a sense of “tolerance gone wild” in the City by the Bay. If you can tolerate men having sex in the streets, then you can tolerate just about anything. During one respite, when I (Peter) complained to a San Francisco resident about the public sex and nudity going on at Folsom just a block or two away, he grew cold and said, “To each his own.”

To each his own? “I don’t prefer to have sex in the streets, but if that’s your thing, go for it”? San Francisco is a lesson in the evils of liberal, open-ended “tolerance.” On the one hand, the city’s supervisors and left-wing activists harass and condemn Christian youth who seek to promote virtue and a godly lifestyle to San Francisco teenagers. Then the same city leaders welcome with open arms — and emasculated law enforcement — the most perverted public street festival imaginable, with a strong dose of anti-Christian bigotry to boot.

More important than what Folsom says about sadomasochists — after all, those were proud perverts out on Sunday — is what it says about (mostly straight) social liberals and libertarians. Quick to bash — that is, judge — the “religious right,” they are deathly afraid of criticizing or “judging” anything homosexuality-related, even heinous perversion festivals where human beings are walked around with collars like dogs! How troubled are you that Speaker Pelosi has carefully couched her words so as not to offend those who would reconfigure the Last Supper to include sex toys and deviant “fetishists”?

More photos and incredible scenes we witnessed below:

 Naked “leathermen” fondle each other in a public sex scene as passers-by stop to watch and take pictures. This scene (see next photo) went on for at least a half hour, as new men would come and join in the mutual masturbation. The smell of marijuana was in the air. And, yes, that is a baby stroller at the left of the photo. It occurred on the street directly in front of Weiss Welding (“since 1930”) at 1237 Folsom Street. At one point the man at left yelled out, “I’m seeing too many cameras and not enough dicks!” “Tolerance” has run amuck in San Francisco. Of course, it’s one-way: the same “Sisters” (see below) who welcomed the sadomasochists into Folsom Sunday protested vehemently against the Christian teen outreach group BattleCry, which held an evangelistic rally in San Francisco last year.

 Man performs oral sodomy on another man in the same orgiastic street scene at 1237 Folsom Street above. When there is no law, perversion and lawlessness fill the void. The same principle applies toward sin and godlessness in the spiritual and moral realms. How can such open (and illegal) debauchery be allowed to go on year after year by the city supervisors and the mayor? One policeman said the city takes a laissez-faire approach just for Folsom, once a year, but other long-time San Francisco citizens said that public indecency is tolerated on other “special” days, like Halloween.

 Hard-core pornography was easy to find, and buy on sale, at Folsom.

 Man leads bare-breasted female slave “partner” around by a dog collar. It appears that in recent years, heterosexual perverts have joined their “gay” brethren at the “fair” in increasing numbers. Talk about a setback for women’s rights … On the flip side, women were also seen leading around their male “slaves” at the twisted “fair” (see photo below).

  “They invent ways of doing evil” (Romans 1:30); “pony play” perversion on walking display at Folsom. What kind of movement — and city — celebrates human degradation of this sort? (And where is PETA when you need them?)

 Miller’s full-page ad in the Folsom Street Fair’s program states: “Miller Brewing Company Proudly Sponsors the 2007 Folsom Street Fair.” That was until they got caught and hit with a boycott by the Catholic League — and now the company is rethinking its marketing strategy. Miller’s booth, above, was centrally located at Folsom.

 We’ll end this segment with one of the “Sisters” … of Perpetual Indulgence, that is, since they greeted Folsom’s comers and goers. (At least one “Sister” was at every entrance.) The rabidly anti-Catholic and Christianity-mocking group — they’d deny that but trust us on this one — was a major beneficiary of this year’s Folsom Fair. The “order” of male drag queen “nuns” has now spread across America and abroad. This burly “novice” is Sister Mary Margaret MayHam of the “Missionary Order of the Grand Canyon Sisters,” in Arizona. The Sisters’ motto is, appropriately, “Go forth and sin some more!”

Americans For Truth Speaker (Friday, Oct. 5) David Parker of Lexington, Massachusetts, in hand-cuffs after being arrested in 2005 at his son’s elementary school — after refusing to budge in his demand for parental rights. At right is the last page of “King & King,” a “children’s” picture book that was read to first-graders at the school. Those are the two princes kissing, the culmination of a story line in which the prince rejects princesses in favor of another man as his true love. The two princes get “married” and the caption for the “same-sex marriage” page reads: “The wedding was very special. The queen even shed a tear or two.” The principal at Esterbrook Elementary School in Lexington defended the “King & King” lesson and denied parents the right to be informed about it and to opt their kids out.

Dear Americans For Truth Reader,

There is a battle to preserve right and wrong in this country — and a campaign to teach children that “human wrongs” are actually “human rights.” David Parker, who comes to the Chicago area in a week (Friday, October 5) for Americans For Truth’s first annual banquet, is on the front lines of that battle.

David and his wife Tonia are concerned Massachusetts parents who simply didn’t want their son to be brainwashed by a politically correct education establishment that has lost its way.

We are honored and delighted to have David as one of two dynamic speakers at our Americans For Truth banquet next week — Friday, October 5 in Lombard (registration is extended until Monday; click HERE for information). If you live in the Midwest, and can drive (or even fly) in, I’d strongly encourage you to come see this man who is a hero for truth and represents all that is great about this nation.

Here’s my guarantee: your “freedom fighting” batteries will be charged for years to come by this exciting evening.

Our other featured speaker, Charlene Cothran, a former lesbian-activist-turned-Christian and founder of VENUS Magazine, is equally compelling. You won’t want to miss her God-honoring testimony of being delivered from homosexuality; click HERE to sign up by Monday using your VISA or MasterCard.

Get off the sidelines

Let’s face it: most people sit on the sidelines in this ongoing societal “war” over which values will be ascendant in our culture. David and Tonia Parker got off the sidelines. When faced with a school bureaucracy in Lexington, Mass., that asserted it had the right and duty in the nation’s only homosexual-“marriage” state to teach the acceptance of homosexuality to young elementary school children without even informing parents, they fought back. In 2005, the Parker’s five-year-old son Jacob came home with a “Diversity Book Bag,” which contained the book Who’s in a Family promoting the acceptance of “same-sex” families.

The rest is history, as David Parker was famously arrested at Jacob’s school, Esterbrook Elementary, for demanding his parental right to be informed before teachings that violate his and Tonia’s religious beliefs were foisted on their impressionable son.

The controversy grew in 2006 when the Joseph and Robin Wirthlin learned that their seven-year-old son Joey’s first-grade teacher at Esterbrook Elementary had read King & King, a homosexual romance kids book (who would think we’d ever be using those words together?), shown above, aloud to her young students without even notifying their parents.

 Miller Brewing Company has been catering to the perverted sadistic sex movement for years; here they’ve created a “leather” version of their “Miller Lite” logo for use at largely homosexual “S&M” events.

Americans For Truth alerted the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and its director, Bill Donohue, to the Folsom Street Fair’s annual funding of the anti-Christian and Catholic-mocking ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,’ and the now the Catholic League has launched a boycott of Folsom sponsor Miller Brewing Company.

The following statement was issued Wednesday by Donohue and the Catholic League emphasis added):

September 27, 2007

National Boycott of Miller Begins; over 200 Religious Groups Contacted  

Catholic League president Bill Donohue announced a national boycott of Miller Beer on this morning’s “Fox and Friends.” He explains why today:

“Never have we experienced greater corporate arrogance than in this dispute with the Miller Brewing Company. Miller is sponsoring an incredibly outrageous and palpably anti-Christian event in San Francisco: the Folsom Street Fair (see its website at folsomstreetfair.com and be prepared to see the shocking photos of what goes on). Be sure to access our website at catholicleague.org to see the pictures not only of the fair, but of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an anti-Catholic group that is holding a mock Last Supper dinner tonight in San Francisco. The Sisters is one of the organizations that is receiving funding from this Miller-sponsored event.

“This all started when we learned that Miller was sponsoring an event that featured an obscene ad thrashing the Last Supper. After being pressured, Miller offered a lame statement of regret and said it was pulling its logo from the ad. Not only has it not done so—it is still posted on the website of the street fair—Miller refuses to withdraw its sponsorship. To top it off, when we informed them that some of the money being raised at this festival was being funneled to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, they were unimpressed.

“Accordingly, Miller leaves us with no options: we are calling on more than 200 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu organizations to join with us in a nationwide boycott of Miller beer. We feel confident that once our religious allies kick in, and once the public sees the photos of an event Miller is proudly supporting, the Milwaukee brewery will come to its senses and pull its sponsorship altogether. If it doesn’t, the only winners will be Anheuser Busch and Coors.”

Contact: Miller spokesman Julian Green at green.julian@mbco.com

Americans For Truth alerted the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and its director, Bill Donohue, to the Folsom Street Fair’s annual funding of the anti-Christian and Catholic-mocking ‘Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,’ and the now the Catholic League has launched a boycott of Folsom sponsor Miller Brewing Company.

The following statement was issued Wednesday by Donohue and the Catholic League emphasis added):

It Really Is “Miller Time”: Collision Course between Miller and Christians

September 26, 2007

Yesterday [Tuesday], we contacted the Miller Brewing Company protesting an obscene ad for an event it is sponsoring in San Francisco on September 30; the ad for the Folsom Street Fair depicts a sadomasochistic scene where sex toys are placed on the table of the Last Supper, flanked by half-naked homosexuals. Miller now says, “We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive and we have asked the organizers to remove our logo from the poster effective immediately.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded this way:

“Miller’s response (some might find mocking the Last Supper offensive?), while limp, would normally have been enough to get us off their back. But we have subsequently learned that some of the monies being raised at this event are being funneled to a notoriously anti-Catholic and misogynist group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (click here). After this development was brought to the attention of Miller, spokesman Julian Green responded that Miller was standing by the event. That’s fine with us. We just hope he knows that it really is ‘Miller Time.’

“Tomorrow night, the group that Miller is funding via the festival will hold ‘The Last Supper With the Sisters,’ an event that will ridicule this sacred moment in history. Indeed, on its website it describes this sick stunt as the best way ‘to prepare your mortal flesh for the kinkiest weekend on Earth.’ (Its emphasis.)  On Friday, the Sisters will bring in porn stars to entertain the leather crowd. The big day is on Sunday, or what the Sisters call ‘the biggest and baddest fetish fair fundraiser in the world!’ Pictures from last year’s event (click here) show naked men and women, simulated sex, a huge phallic glass sculpture, etc.

“Apparently, Miller has decided to side with a small band of depraved and bigoted gays against Catholics (25 percent of the population) and Protestants (60 percent of the nation). This is an ethical and marketing fiasco of colossal proportions. I will announce within the next day exactly what our game plan will be. The collision course that Miller wants with Christians is now on.”

“The leaders of America’s anti-gay industry are directly responsible for the continuing surge in hate violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. … The right went into demonic, anti-gay hyperdrive following the Supreme Court’s Lawrence v. Texas decision in July of 2003. Since then, church pews have been awash in ugly, anti-gay rhetoric and fear-mongering. … The literal blood of thousands of gay people physically wounded by hatred during 2004 is on the hands of Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, Tony Perkins and so many others who spew hate for partisan gain and personal enrichment.”
–Statement from Matt Foreman, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, April 26, 2005, blaming “anti-gay crime” on “America’s anti-gay industry”

Dear Readers,

The preposterous and astonishingly bigoted rant above by Matt Foreman, head of the second largest homosexual organization in America, illustrates the dangerous potential of pro-homosexual, pro-transsexual “hate crimes” legislation, S. 1105, which reportedly could come up for a vote before the U.S. Senate TODAY.

TAKE ACTION : Call your U.S. Senators today at 202-224-3121, or write then via www.congress.org. Urge them to oppose the Kennedy-Smith-Reid Hate Crimes Bill, S. 1105. Pass this message on to your friends and contact list.

A strengthened federal “Hate crimes” law — which would include transsexuals (perceived “gender identity”) for the first time in federal law — would provide a powerful foundation for politically-motivated, pro-homosexual prosecutors to go after people of faith, based on their alleged “anti-gay” speech.

Foreman is lying about the link between Christians and violent, despicable crimes, just as the homosexual lobby is lying about the supposedly pressing need for this legislation (see below). The last thing America needs is to put the power of the federal government behind a system of law that creates a politically correct hierarchy of victims — in a country where homosexual victims already receive far more media attention than religious victims like Mary Stachowicz.

S 1105 would also spend YOUR tax dollars on biased “anti-hate” programs that invariably discriminate against faith-based opposition to homosexuality.

No need for this bill

A thorough report on S 1105 by the Traditional Values Coalition states that S. 1105 “makes the following fraudulent and ridiculous claims in [its] Findings:

• Homosexuals are fleeing across state lines to avoid persecution;
• Perpetrators are crossing state lines to commit crimes against them;
   
• Homosexuals are so persecuted they have trouble purchasing goods and services or finding employment. [now that’s a whopper–Editor]
   
• These false claims about homosexuals fleeing across state lines are being used as a hook to justify federal involvement in local law enforcement through the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
   
• No Epidemic Of Hate Crimes Exists! S. 1105 falsely claims in The Findings, without any evidence, that “the incidence of violence motivated by the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or disability of the victim poses a serious national problem.”
   
• FBI statistics from 2005 (the latest available) reveal that there is no national epidemic of hate against minority groups or against homosexuals:
   
• According to the FBI, in 2005 there were only 5,190 hate crimes directed against all persons. Of this figure, only 1,171 were sexual orientation bias crimes. Out of this 1,171:
   
• 301 were listed as “intimidation.”
   
• 333 were listed as “simple assault.”
   
• 177 were listed as aggravated assault! There was one forcible rape and no murders based on sexual orientation in 2005.
   
• 1 forcible rape; 30 robberies; 10 burglaries; 27 larceny-theft; 2 motor vehicle theft; 1 arson; 275 damage/vandalism; 3 other; 5 crimes against society.
   
• Nationwide there were 862,947 aggravated assaults against all persons. (Source: FBI Crime in the United States 2005, Aggravated Assault)
• Out of 862,947 cases of aggravated assault, only 177 were motivated by sexual orientation bias. This is 0.000205 percent of all aggravated assaults in 2005.
   
• In a nation of 300 million, this is no epidemic of hate against homosexuals that needs federal involvement in local law enforcement. (Source: Tables 2 and 4, FBI Hate Crime Stats, 2005)

My good friend Bob Knight lays out the basic problems with expanded, pro-homosexual federal “hate crimes”, arguing that legislation like S. 1105:

• violates the concept of equal protection under the law by designating special classes of victims, who get a higher level of government protection than others victimized by similar crimes.
• politicizes criminal law, leading to pressure on police and prosecutors to devote more of their limited resources to some cases, at the expense of other crime victims’ cases.
• vastly expands the power and jurisdiction of the federal government to intervene in local law enforcement matters, once a crime is called a “hate crime.”
• has a chilling effect on free speech by making unpopular ideas a basis for harsher treatment in criminal proceedings. More than half of the so-called “hate crimes” in the last U.S. Justice Department report were categorized as “intimidation” or “simple assault,” which do not necessarily involve anything more than words.2 In terms of the proposed national hate crimes bill, this makes name-calling literally a federal case.
• confuses law enforcers, because the definition of what constitutes a “hate crime” is clear in some instances but unclear in others. This burdens prosecutors and opens up endless opportunities for defense attorneys to invoke technicalities.
• is not necessary. There is no evidence to substantiate the claim that “hate crime” victims are receiving less justice than other crime victims.

The last thing America needs is to expand federal power unnecessarily while creating the foundation for dubious federal “rights” based on homosexuality and gender confusion. Read the full TVC report on S. 1105 HERE. And call your Senators today at 202-224-3121, or e-mail them at http://www.congress.org/.

This “hate crimes” bill has already passed the House, so if it passes the Senate, we will be urging President Bush to wield his presidential veto: call the White House comment line at 202-456-1111 or use the Contact Page on the presidential website.

Thank you for standing up for truth and freedom.

Sincerely,

Peter LaBarbera

Americans For Truth