If you don't want to miss anything posted on the Americans For Truth website, sign up for our "Feedblitz" service that gives you a daily email of every new article that we post. (This service DOES NOT replace the regular email list.) To sign up for the Feedblitz service, click here.
Sen. Cruz: “The religious liberty threat is real. They are coming for each of us, and Kim Davis is only the first.”
Folks, this is a wonderful and enlightening exchange between talk show host and author Mark Levin and GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz on the situation of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused post-Obergefell to issue official homosexual “marriage” licenses under her name due to her Christian beliefs. Davis was jailed yesterday and faces likely stiff penalties, if not extended jail time. This interview was recorded yesterday, September 3, 2015. Levin eviscerates the “rule of law” argument frame advanced by the Left and even many “conservatives” who do not seem to be willing to admit that the Supreme Court of the United States itself declared it above the “rule of law” by taking the issue of marriage away from the people. (Kentucky citizens voted by a whopping 75 percent in favor of a “one man/one woman” constitutional amendment in 2004.) — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Hated for Speaking Truth: Pro-family advocate Scott is being sued by leftists for “crimes against humanity” for educating and advising Ugandans on how to fight the aggressive and intolerant homosexual activist lobby. AFTAH’s 2011 banquet suffered a brick attack by pro-LGBT leftists who wanted to “shut down” the event because Lively was speaking. Read about the 2011 brick attack HERE.
Hey all, Scott Lively, who is perhaps the most *hated* and persecuted Western pro-family leader on the homosexual issue, is coming to Chicagoland tomorrow (Tuesday, August 18) for an informal presentation and Q & A on the LGBT agenda, post-Obergefell. The event is free. Lively will discuss the frivolous leftist lawsuit against him in which he is charge with–get this–*Crimes Against Humanity.* The event is at Grace Gospel Fellowship Church, pastored by my friend John Kirkwood. It starts at 7:00 PM Central Time and light snacks and refreshments will be served. Grace Gospel is in Bensenville, IL, just north of I-290 on Rt. 83. Address: 4 North 220 (Frontage Rd.), Bensenville, IL 60106. Call 312-324-3787 or email AFTAH at americansfortruth@gmail.com for more info. This will be Livestreamed to view live online Tues, Aug 18 at 7 PM Central here: http://livestream.com/inthearena/scotusfallout. See also this Eventbrite notice of the event.
NOTE: Americans For Truth followers will remember that in 2011, AFTAH’s 2011 banquet suffered a brick attack by pro-LGBT leftists who wanted to “shut down” the event because Lively was speaking. Read about it HERE.
Victim of Homo-Fascism: Lakewood, CO baker Jack Phillips has lost 40 percent of his business after closing down the wedding cake part of his business so as not to be forced to make a cake celebrating a homosexual-sin-based “wedding.” To read an in-depth 2014 article documenting the battle between freedom of conscience and homosexual “rights,” go HERE. Read the Appeals Court ruling against Phillips HERE.
[Read the Colorado Court of Appeals ruling against Jack Phillips HERE]
Folks, we suspect that ‘homo-fascism’ of the sort that these two homosexual activists are perpetrating against Lakewood, Colorado baker Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, will prevail when it is appealed to the state’s supreme court. The question is: when will the U.S. Supreme Court finally take a case like this (or the Huguenins’ photography case in New Mexico) pitting religious liberty against homosexuality-based “rights.” That decision ultimately will either protect religious freedom in these United States of America or deal it a critical blow. Meanwhile, we’re losing these cases at the lower courts (and state supreme courts), while the ACLU, which purports to defend “individual rights,” is celebrating the negation of Phillips’ freedom not to violate his strong Christian beliefs. [See CBN video below, and ADF background on the case HERE.]
Is it just a coincidence that homosexualism and “progressivism” are leading the assault on religious freedom in America? Hardly. This case isn’t about “rights” or “discrimination” or “equality.” It’s about homosexual activists’ resentment of God and biblical truth and their obsessive drive to compel others to honor their sinful sexual behavior–perhaps to quell their guilty conscience–using the force of law. Apparently many LGBT activists and allied “progressives” are willing to kill liberty itself to accomplish that goal. — — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH: @PeterLaBarbera
_______________________
“[F]or citizens like Jack Phillips, the court has created a novel exception to the First Amendment — you’re entitled to believe, but not entitled to act on those beliefs. You’re not free if your beliefs are confined to your mind. What makes America unique is our freedom to peacefully live out these beliefs. “–ADF attorney for Jack Phillips
The local CBS4 News reports:
‘The Ruling Is Wrong’ Says Baker After Losing Appeal Of Wedding Cake Case To Gay Couple
August 13, 2015 1:48 PM
DENVER (CBS4) – The Colorado Court of Appeals has sided with a gay couple in the fight over a wedding cake saying a baker cannot cite religious beliefs in refusing service.
Lakewood baker Jack Phillips, who owns Masterpiece Cakeshop, refused to make a wedding cake for Charlie Craig and David Mullins in 2012 saying it was against his religious beliefs. The couple married in Massachusetts but planned to celebrate in Colorado.
Craig and Mullins then sued Phillips and the court found that he violated the law preventing businesses from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Honor Our (Phony, Sin-Based) “Marriage” or We’ll Sue You! Homosexual activists David Mullins (left) and Charlie Craig discuss their court victory against Christian baker Jack Phillips with local CBS news. Click to enlarge. Go here to view CBS4 broadcast online.
Phillips tried to appeal that order arguing that it violated his First Amendment rights. Both sides made their case to the Court of Appeals in July and the court took until now to rule in favor of the couple.
“We feel like the court today affirmed the argument that we have been making that the treatment we received at Masterpiece Cakeshop was both illegal and wrong,” Mullins said.
“The court basically validated what we’ve been fighting this whole time,” Craig said.
Houston’s lesbian mayor put her pro-homosexuality politics above the rule of law.
“The homosexual political movement is a hate movement that discriminates against Christians….It is absurd to base minority status upon a person’s chosen behavior.”–Dr. Steven Hotze, Campaign For Houston
The following was released Friday by Conservative Republicans of Texas and the Campaign For Houston:. To read the Texas Supreme Court ruling, go HERE.
_____________________
July 24, 2015
For immediate release:
Contact Jeff Yates, Campaign for Houston: (832) 545-7644
Texas Supreme Court Decides in Favor of Houston Voters Mayor Parker’s (Un)Equal Rights Ordinance To Be Voted On In November
The Texas Supreme Court ruled today that “the legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored. The City Council is directed to comply with its duties, as specified in the City Charter, that arise when the City Secretary certifies that a referendum petition has a sufficient number of valid signatures. Any enforcement of the [Equal Rights] ordinance will be suspended…If the City Council does not repeal the ordinance by August 24, 2014, then by that date the City Council must order that the ordinance be put to popular vote during the November 2015 election.” In Re Jared Woodfill, Texas Supreme Court, No. 14-0667, p. 11-12 (July 24, 2016)
This means that unless the Houston City Council repeals the ordinance, the citizens of Houston will have the right to vote on Mayor Parker’s personal, liberal, pro-homosexual agenda this November.
“He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous, “peoples will curse him, nations will abhor him, but to those who rebuke the wicked will be delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.” (Proverbs 24:24–25)
Last year, Houston’s lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, and the Houston City Council passed an ordinance that violates religious freedom of businesses and individuals, grants minority status to those who choose to participate in homosexual activities and allows men, if they claim to be transgender or feel like they are a woman that day, to use women’s public restrooms and locker rooms. This is the reason that the ordinance was known as the ‘Sexual Predator Protection Act’ by the opponents of the ordinance.
The Houston City Charter requires only 17,169 signatures [to repeal an ordinance or put it up to a popular vote]. Almost 55,000 signatures were collected on petitions to allow the people an opportunity to vote on this very important issue. Anna Russell, the City Secretary, certified that there were adequate signatures but Parker refused to accept them.
“Mayor Parker arrogantly ignored the will of the people and the city charter, and unlawfully rejected the petitions,” said Dr. Steven Hotze, President of Campaign for Houston.
Jared Woodfill, Steven Hotze, M.D., Rev. F.N. Williams, Sr. and Rev. Max Williams then filed suit against Parker,Woodfill v Parker. During the course of the litigation, Mayor Parker issued subpoenas to several pastors who were not parties to the litigation, ordering them to turn over all communications regarding the ordinance, the mayor, homosexuality, and other related topics, including sermons regarding these topics.
After a month of trial, Democrat Judge Robert Schaffer ruled in favor of the city and against the people, denying Houstonians an opportunity to vote on this issue. Fortunately, the Texas Supreme Court quickly reviewed Judge Schaffer’s decision and concluded he was wrong and that Mayor Parker had broken the law. Despite Mayor Parker’s efforts to keep her personal, pro-homosexual agenda from the people, Houstonians will now have an opportunity to vote on this ordinance in November.
Christopher Doyle, founder and president of Voice of the Voiceless, came out of the homosexual lifestyle and is now happily married with children. Doyle is a professional counselor who helps others find freedom from homosexuality. Read his testimony, and a Mercator interview with Doyle. To support the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, which is defending JONAH against the well-funded SPLC, go HERE.
This article first appeared in the Christian Post, June 17, 2015
This Monday marked the second full week of testimony in the “Trial of the Century”, pitting Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH), a small, New Jersey-based Jewish non-profit organization, against the $340 million dollar Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
At issue are SPLC’s claims that JONAH committed consumer fraud by supposedly guaranteeing four former clients that they could go from “gay” to “straight” in 2-4 years. SPLC recruited these clients to sue JONAH in what has become another installment in the nationwide effort to prevent individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions from accessing counseling.
But SPLC’s case is unraveling at the seams, and the lies that mark this trial should be a lesson for the nation.
First, last Wednesday, under cross-examination by attorney for the defense Charles LiMandri of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, Dr. Carol Bernstein, an expert witness for the plaintiffs and a well-known psychiatrist and Vice Chair of the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine, conceded that sexual orientation is fluid and can change. She went on to state that she has not conducted any research on the effectiveness of sexual orientation change effort (SOCE) therapy or familiarized herself with any studies looking at harm from such efforts.
Additionally, when asked about the particular type of counseling, psychodrama, that JONAH uses in its practice, Dr. Bernstein replied that it was not a well-respected counseling modality, despite that fact that Columbia University, where she attended, offers a course for undergraduate students on the method, a fact of which she was unaware.
LGBT Activist Mocks the Lord: above is a Tweet sent out just before Christmas by influential Indiana “gay” activist Bil Browning. Secular leftists mock Christians and the Christian faith by referring to Jesus Christ as “Jeebus.” AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera responded on Twitter to Browning’s bigotry. See full Twitter exchange HERE.
“If government can compel a Christian or Orthodox Jewish businessman to participate in a ceremony that attaches sinful homosexuality to “marriage,” then the State can compel ANY American citizen or institution to violate ANY of their cherished beliefs. That is the essence of tyranny.”
In the wake of a pro-LGBT, media-driven campaign against Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), Gov. Mike Pence and leaders of the Indiana legislature are backtracking to appease the liberal political mob that has cynically recast the law as the “License to Discriminate.”
Good people everywhere are now intimidated from speaking plain truths about the homosexual-bisexual-transgender agenda. Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is not. The distortions and media hype attacking Indiana’s religious freedom law are obfuscating some key fundamentals in this debate. It is not the purpose here to dig into the “legaleze” about the law (for that, see this Reason.com piece) but rather to expose the core hypocrisy of pro-LGBT progressives on “discrimination.”
Homosexual activists and their sycophants in the media (e.g., CNN’s homosexual anchor/activist Don Lemon) are cunningly building upon their distortions of the RFRA to demand a pro-homosexual special-rights law in the Hoosier State.
It would be the cruelest of ironies if the media-driven backlash against Indiana’s religious freedom law were used to push through a statewide “gay rights” law in Indiana. Such pro-homosexual laws and corporate policies have been the engine driving PRO-LGBT DISCRIMINATION against people of faith for decades—all in the sweet-sounding name of “equality.” For example, the “gay” movement’s bullying of the Boy Scouts of America began with a lawsuit that relied upon New Jersey’s pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” law.
The pro-family movement has long referred to so-called nondiscrimination laws based on “sexual orientation” and ”gender identity” as “special rights” because genuine civil rights are not based on disordered, immoral sexual behavior and gender confusion. These Orwellian laws and corporate policies actually foment discrimination in the name of “non-discrimination.” That’s liberalism for you.
Our cherished American freedoms come ultimately from God, as recognized by our national charter, the Declaration of Independence, which appeals to “Nature and Nature’s God.” Homosexual behavior–which cannot produce life–is against both. Witness the grossly disproportionate STD rates linked to “men who have sex with men.”
It is ludicrous to posit “civil rights” based on homosexuality and gender rebellion as “constitutional.” But it is downright un-American to argue—as many LGBT activists do—that in a nation founded by people fleeing religious oppression, “rights” based on sexual sin should trump Americans’ freedom to uphold biblical sexual morality and real marriage between a man and a woman.
The LGBT Lobby and the media have raised the issue of potential discrimination in Indiana. Let’s talk about discrimination.
With the rise of “gay power” in the West has come an abundance of victims of pro-homosexual Political Correctness. All over the world, Christians and moral-minded citizens have been victimized by a liberal, elitist pro-homosexual orthodoxy that increasingly brooks no dissent. The media have trivialized the zero-sum conflict between “gay rights” and freedom of conscience as being merely about wedding cake bakers–but the escalating “LGBTyranny” goes far beyond that:
Congratulations to American Family Association of Indiana Executive Director Micah Clark and other pro-family leaders in the state for passage of SB 101, which hopefully will help protect the freedom of conscience of Indiana citizens for decades to come. I also read a good piece on Reason.com by Scott Shackfork debunking the main objection to the bill–which homosexual and transgender activists are smearing as the “Indiana Right to Discriminate” law.
Pro-homosexual and pro-transgender laws discriminate against people of faith and morality and women desiring privacy in public restrooms, respectively, but I suppose that kind of discrimination is tolerable to the Left because it accelerates the “gay” and “progressive” transformation of society. Thank God that defenders of liberty are fighting back. Below Clark answers some of the lies against SB 101. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
________________________
Hobby Lobby Bill Has Been Sent to Governor Pence
By Micah Clark, AFA of Indiana
Yesterday Senate Bill 101 cleared the last procedural step before going to the Governor’s office. After the bill passed the Indiana House on Monday by a solid 63-31 vote, the Senate voted on the concurrence motion with another strong vote of 40-10.
The bill is now headed to the Governor’s office. Yet, this movement has not stopped the silliness surrounding this tested legislation. Yesterday, I even had a call at the AFA-IN office that nearly takes the cake, though it is hard to get beyond the vile allegation that this would allow people of faith to bomb abortion clinics. The confused caller was worried that our Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) could be used to keep certain people of faith from being allowed to drive on the Indiana toll roads.
The hostility of the far Left never ceases to amaze me. Ironically, one thing this debate has revealed is the deep hostility that is out there against people of faith. It practically makes the case as to why SB 101 is needed. If you still doubt that those on the political Left and those in the homosexual activist movement want to force all people, including those with deep religious conviction, to embrace the homosexual agenda, then you haven’t paid close attention to this debate over religious liberty.
There have been so many lies repeated in the media and by opponents on this legislation that it is difficult to know where to start. Perhaps the best way, though, by no means comprehensive is to address a few things in bullet points. Here I go:
“A license to discriminate” – perhaps the biggest lie about this law is that it is a vehicle for discrimination. As I noted in the AFA-IN donor newsletter, Indiana Family Voice, SB 101 is only discriminatory if we radically redefine discrimination, which many liberals and homosexuals clearly want to do. This law does not allow a person of faith to deny service to someone, nor should it. No Christian bakery owner should say that people involved in homosexual behavior couldn’t shop in their bakery. That, in my opinion is wrong, un-Christian and discriminatory unless the patron is misbehaving ( i.e. “no shirt, no shoes, no service“). However, when a customer seeks special participation from the baker, asking him or her to specially decorate a “gay” wedding cake and come set it up at a homosexual wedding, then there is a very different line crossed, and a problem for most people of faith. However, while SB 101 could be cited as a defense in such a case, as could the 1st Amendment, courts thus far have not seen RFRA as very compelling in such cases.
It’s bad enough that homosexual activists are “Playing with Redemption”; must major corporations join them by funding this evil enterprise?
This Jesus-Bashing “Art” Brought to You by Southwest Airlines and Comcast/NBC: The book cover to the blasphemous play “Corpus Christi,” in which Jesus is portrayed as a homosexual who had a sexual relationship with Judas and who performs a “gay wedding” ceremony for two of his male disciples (see graphic below). [See AFTAH story on Southwest’s sponsorship of the radical LGBTQ “Creating Change” 2015 conference held last week in Denver HERE.] Twice the Dallas-based SWA has financed LGBT events promoting a documentary that celebrates the “Corpus Christi” play. Call Southwest at 214-792-4000, or contact them online HERE.
TAKE ACTION: Please ask for a reply in writing from Southwest Airlines and other major corporate sponsors of the radical “Creating Change” conference that celebrated a blasphemous documentary portraying “Jesus Christ” as a homosexual who conducts a “gay marriage” between two of his disciples, and has a sexual history with Judas. If you get a reply, please pass it on to AFTAH at: americansfortruth@gmail.com.
Note: so far every time I have called a corporation to complain about its sponsorship of “Creating Change,” the person on the other end of the line was shocked that such funding went to such an extreme event. Act Now: Please take a few minutes out of your day to hold these corporations accountable! See previous AFTAH story on Creating Change 2015 HERE, and other related stories from past CC conferences at bottom. –Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
P.S. Good News!:Chili’s dropped off as a “National Corporate Partner” of the “Gay Task Force” after AFTAH exposed their association with this evil organization — your letters and phone calls worked! Don’t lose heart!]
Scan the 148-page Creating Change 2015 Program PDF celebrating sexual perversions of all stripes and extreme gender confusion: [click here]. See AFTAH’s other articles on this uber-radical National LGBTQ Task Force event over the years at bottom.
CONTACT Southwest Airlines: Dallas HQ (CEO Gary Kelly): 214-792-4000 (hit ‘0’ and make your opinion known to the operator before you get routed to Customer Relations).
Southwest Airlines (SWA) is a “National Corporate Partner” of the (far left) National LGBTQ Task Force.
SWA proudly served as the “Official Airline” of Creating Change;
Twitter: @SouthwestAir
Some other major corporate sponsors of LGBTQ Task Force and Creating Change:
Office Depot:(“National Corporate Partner” of the National LGBTQ Task Force)
Call Boca Raton-based Office Depot HQ (CEO Roland Smith): 561-438-4800; contact form [Here]
Rich Leland, Office Depot Investor Relations: 561-438-2895[Note: Office Depot, which purchased Office Max, is in the process of being bought out by Staples]
______________________
Comcast/NBC: 1 (800) 934-6489; online contact form to senior VP Tom Kerinshak: [here]; Twitter: @Comcast
______________________
Wells Fargo (“National Corporate Partner” of the National LGBTQ Task Force):
Wells Fargo: 1 (800) 869-3557: [Note: San Francisco-based Wells Fargo is one of the most committed major corporations to the overall “gay” agenda]
Letter to Southwest Airlines from AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera:
Dear Southwest Airlines,
I’m writing to express my deep opposition to Southwest Airlines’ funding of and involvement with the homosexual “Creating Change” conference in Denver Feb 4-8–and your role of as a “National Partner” of the event’s sponsoring organization, the National LGBTQ Task Force.
As you can readily see from the Creating Change program [PDF HERE], this debauched event includes a screening of a documentary celebrating a play (“Corpus Christi”) that portrays Jesus Christ as a homosexual–who “marries” two of his male disciples. I have read the play and to call it blasphemous would be an understatement. Making “Jesus”–the Son of God and Savior of the world–a sexual sinner who performs a homosexuality-based “marriage” is an incredible affront to Christian believers everywhere–and decent people of other religions (or no religion) who reject hateful and twisted attacks on Christianity and the Bible.
Funding Perversion and Anti-Christian Bigotry: “National Corporate Partners” of the National LGBTQ Task Force: Comcast/NBC; Southwest Airlines; Hilton Worldwide; Office Depot; Wells Fargo; Showtime; and Grey Goose Vodka. Click on graphic to enlarge.
As a longtime Southwest customer, I am stunned that SWA continues to fund the LGBTQ Task Force despite its record of celebrating–not just anti-Christian bigotry like this film screening–but fringe perversions such as sadomasochism (“kink”) and “multiple-partner unions.” There are also many offensive panels like “Queering Education” that would shock many of your customers. Did you know that the Creating Change conference gives an award every year to its favorite sadomasochist (the “Leather Leadership Award”)? Why is SWA associating itself with such extreme activities and even financing them with major corporate grants?
Did you vet this event? Do you think most SWA customers would support the Task Force’s radical agenda (which includes sessions dedicated to undermining the historic biblical understanding that homosexual acts are sinful)? Did you know that this year’s CC event includes a film celebrating a grotesquely distorted portrayal of Jesus Christ Himself as a homosexual who has “gay” sex, gets drunk and conducts “gay marriages”?
I believe Southwest owes an apology to faithful Christians everywhere for helping to make this event happen. At the very minimum you should adopt a NEUTRAL approach toward giving on the issues of homosexuality, transgenderism and “gay marriage”–rather than fund only PRO-“gay” and PRO-“transgender” organizations and events. Thank you for considering this letter.
Peter LaBarbera,
Chicago, IL
February 9, 2015
_____________________________
Passage in “Corpus Christi” play in which the “Jesus” character (Joshua) conducts a homosexual “marriage” between two of his disciples:
This Blasphemy Brought to You by Wells Fargo, Hilton and Office Depot: “Jesus” (Joshua) conducts a homosexual “wedding” between two of his “disciples” in the above passage from the play “Corpus Christi”–on page 62 of the play by homosexual Terrence McNally. A documentary celebrating the perverse play was screened at the radical “Creating Change” conference–which was sponsored by Wells Fargo, Southwest Airlines, Comcast/NBC, Office Depot and other major corporations.This passage is transcribed immediately below; click to enlarge graphic.
