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.
How ‘non-discrimination’ laws are used to discriminate against people of faith
First published by WorldNetDaily, June 15, 2012; this is the first half of Linda’s column; read the whole column on WND HERE:
Linda Harvey
By Linda Harvey
Relatively few self-identified homosexuals get “married,” even when same-sex unions become legal. But perhaps that was never the main point anyway. Respectability is what they are seeking. But to achieve this goal for behaviors that never can be intrinsically respectable, the power to massage the truth and to silence opponents is critical. How do you gain power? Restrict the rights of your enemies to express an opinion opposing homosexuality and same-sex “marriage.”
The most destructive weapons deployed to this end are sexual-orientation and gender-identity “non-discrimination” laws. The Senate just held its first hearings on ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and many states and municipalities continue to be confronted with this unneeded legislation. As they hear the pleas about someone being fired “just for being ‘gay’ or ‘transgender,’” politicians would be wise to review the history.
Such policies routinely clobber people of faith who don’t agree with same-sex “marriage” or with the open expression of this behavior in the workplace, in schools and in public accommodations, by people who often lack good sense and good judgment. The cost of disagreement? Just your job, your reputation, your bank account and/or your religious liberty.
And we know where the “Gay”-Activist-in-Chief stands on religious freedom, right? Obama is leading the charge on restroom rights for radicals as well. June is once again “Pride” month, and the White House issued a glowing proclamation of support for this noble cause, which Obama thinks is “stronger than hate.” So there you have it.
“You will not acknowledge the freedom of those who seek change”
Homosexual activist Wayne Besen of "Truth Wins Out" viciously attacks people who have overcome homosexuality in their lives--like former lesbian Janet Boynes. To order Boynes' book, go to www.JanetBoynesMinistries.com.
The following is an open letter to “Truth Wins Out” (TWO), a homosexual activist organization that attempts to discredit the observed truth that people practicing homosexuality can change their dominating sexual attractions (and behaviors). This letter was sent to members of the California state Assembly, which is considering SB 1172 — passed in late May by the state Senate — banning “sexual orientation” change therapy (also know as “reparative therapy”) for homosexual youth. The letter’s signers are: myself [Peter LaBarbera, Founder and President of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH)], Wayne Lela, Founder of H.O.M.E. (Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment), and John McCartney, Jr., an AFTAH Board Member and advocate with the Citizens Concerned About Media, also based in Chicago.
TWO viciously demonizes “ex-gays”; typical is TWO founder Wayne Besen’s crass and demeaning characterization HERE of former lesbian Janet Boynes as an “ex-gay fraud” and “con artist.” Significantly, much of Besen’s and TWO’s efforts are directed at denying media visibility to people like Boynes who have overcome homosexuality in their lives. You can also listen HERE to Besen’s embarrassingly unprofessional appearance last year opposite me on liberal radio host Barry Lynn’s talk show, “Culture Shocks”: in addition to repeatedly calling me “Porno Pete” (a nasty smear he concocted) on air, Besen exposes his own folly of trying to “prove” homosexuals cannot change by admitting that he hasn’t (and of course cannot) monitor every former homosexual. (Besen and his small outfit evidently hadn’t been tracking successful Chicago former lesbian Linda Jernigan.)
I wish to add, for myself personally as a Christian who has monitored the homosexual movement for two decades, that some people trapped in homosexuality HAVE experienced rapid and, many would say, miraculous change away from homosexuality — mostly (but not always) through spiritual regeneration in Jesus Christ. However, that should not be the expectation of every person seeking sexual healing and transformation. As in all areas of life, each person brings his or her own unique circumstances, struggles, beliefs and personality to the process of overcoming adversity, sin and addictions in their life. And the lingering effects of temptation, abuse/family dysfunction and indulged, habitual sin — of whatever stripe — usually last a lifetime.
Higgins guides parents on how to pull child from activist schools on Friday, April 20th
Barb Anderson of the Parents Action League.
This is Part One of our interview [click HERE] with Barb Anderson of the Minneapolis-based Parents Action League and Laurie Higgins of Illinois Family Institute. (This pre-recorded interview aired April 14, 2012.) The discussion centers on the upcoming, annual homosexual activist event in schools known as the “Day of Silence” (this Friday, April 20th). Higgins urges a “walkout” of the Day of Silence and guides parents on the proper questions to ask when calling their child’s school. For more information on the Day of Silence Walkout (endorsed by Americans For Truth and other pro-family groups), go HERE. Each child pulled from a school that is encouraging this pro-homosexual event — which disrupts the learning of non-participating students — costs the school money because school funds are allocated based on attendance.
Anderson also discusses the escalating LGBT campaign against the Anoka-Hennepin school district, outside Minneapolis, in which outside forces — including the leftist Southern Poverty Law Center and the Obama Administration — are using the “anti-bullying” rally cry to force an intrusive and one-sided pro-homosexual program into district schools.
HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file, supported in most operating systems by Windows Media Player, Quick Time and/or I-Tunes. Real Player is not supported and there may be difficulty when attempting to listen with it. Left click once on the link below to play.(Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.
North Carolina Christian activist Steve Noble is guardedly optimistic about the upcoming May 8 vote in his state on the Marriage Amendment. He tells how he got active in pro-family advocacy in his book, "The Making of a Christian Wacko."
After a brief hiatus, Americans For Truth Radio is back featuring in-depth interviews with front-line, pro-family activists. This interview [click HERE to listen] by AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera is with Steve Noble, a Christian activist and talk show host in Raleigh, North Carolina. This was pre-taped and aired on WYLL-Chicago (1160 AM) April 7, 2012. Noble hosts a daily talk show, “Called2Action,” on 1030 AM Truth Radio in Raleigh (4:00 PM Eastern). Steve discusses the upcoming May 8 vote in North Carolina for the Marriage Amendment — which if passed would codify in the state’s constitution the preservation of marriage as one-man, one-woman. He notes how North Carolina’s homosexual activists are not affirming theirright to “marry,” but rather throwing up disinformation against the Amendment.
On April 2, Noble interviewed LaBarbera on his program on the same subject [go HERE to the archive page and download the April 2nd podcast: “A ‘Gay Marriage’ North Carolina?”]. Noble is also the author of, “The Making of a Christian Wacko,” about his path to becoming a Christian pro-family activist. You can order the book HERE.
HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file, supported in most operating systems by Windows Media Player, Quick Time and/or I-Tunes. Real Player is not supported and there may be difficulty when attempting to listen with it. Left click once on the link below to play.(Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.
It’s rare when I agree with (pro-homosexual-“marriage”) Chris Matthews, the fast-talking host of the MSNBC program “Hardball” — but here he hits the nail on the head. At a March 24 book signing in Framingham, Mass., Matthews was “ambushed” by video-camera-wielding activists with the pro-homosexual, leftist group Faithful America. They badgered him about having Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, on as a repeat guest on “Hardball.” Here’s Matthews’ response [more commentary after the video]:
Silencing “hate”?
Needless to say, Faithful America justifies its blacklisting campaign against Perkins on the basis of Family Research Council being (mis)labeled a “hate group” — by fellow left-wingers at GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and the Southern Poverty Law Center. [See Faithful America’s Youtube comments HERE.] Perkins is a good man who ably and articulately defends the historic Judeo-Christian sexual and marriage ethic, for which he is rewarded with the usual vitriol by embittered homosexual activists and bloggers. Anyone who has seen Perkins debate on TV can see he is not “hateful” in the least — nor is the respected family organization FRC (where I once worked as a cultural analyst).
Do you see what is happening? The intellectual cowards on the Left — puffed up by a compliant media and suffused with enough “gay pride” and arrogance to presume that their aberrant sexual/gender ideology has NO LEGITIMATE OPPOSITION — are busier than ever trying to bully the media into joining their “Pro-Gay-Only” crusade. It is despicable, but worse: it is a grave threat to American liberty. Because when the media en masse kowtow to censorious activists — a road on which they are quite far along with the Homosexual Lobby — accountability, reason and fairness are jettisoned, paving the way for ever more reckless and extreme pressure campaigns against the dreaded “haters.” (That would be you, me and just about anyone who takes a public stand against homosexual behavior or “gay” agenda goals like same-sex “marriage.”)
Dan Savage's hateful web creation, "Santorum.com." Click to enlarge. On Feb. 2, UNC-Chapel Hill paid Savage $18,500 to speak to students. The same unversity publicly disassociated itself from Rush Limbaugh over his "offensive statements."
RALEIGH, NC – University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill paid $18,5000 to homosexual activist Dan Savage – creator of a vile hate-site “re-defining” Rick Santorum’s last name as the by-product of anal sex – as a guest speaker, just weeks before publicly disassociating from Rush Limbaugh over Rush’s “offensive statements” about Sandra Fluke.
Last week, UNC-Chapel Hill announced that it was banning a local “Rush Radio” station, WRDU, from mentioning Limbaugh’s show during broadcasts of Tar Heel basketball and football games. The university, citing Rush’s “rude, inappropriate and offensive statements” about Fluke, also prohibits WRDU from referencing UNC or the Tar Heel Sports Network during Limbaugh’s daily talk show.
Americans For Truth has written UNC-Chapel Hill officials to ask how they can justify paying a large sum to Savage, who once wished death on all Republicans and who regularly and crudely demonizes religious conservatives. AFTAH also asked UNC to repudiate Savage for his “offensive statements,” and invite a pro-family speaker to campus specifically to balance his appearance.
The following typifies Savage’s unique brand of conservative-Christian-bashing hate:
Savage said on HBO that he “wished [Republicans] were all [f—king] dead” (he later apologized).
Savage’s creation “Santorum[dot] com” (and “SpreadingSantorum[dot]com”) “re-define” Santorum’s surname as follows: “San-TOR-um, n. The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.”
In contrast to Limbaugh, who quickly apologized for his remarks about Fluke, when AFTAH’s President Peter LaBarbera asked Savage to take down “Santorum[dot]com,” he responded : “I’m asking Peter LaBarbera to go [f- -k] himself.”
So consumed was Savage with hatred for then-GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer that he traveled to Iowa to pose as a Bauer volunteer, then got sick himself and began licking campaign office doorknobs, staplers, etc., in an attempt to give Bauer a cold.
AFTAH also condemns Savage, a raunchy sex columnist, for his reckless sexual advice, which includes urging married couples to allow outside sex. AFTAH urges MTV to cancel “Savage U,” a new TV show debuting April 3, featuring Savage visiting college campuses — so as not to reward him for his cyber-bullying against Santorum and history of hateful acts against Christian conservatives.
I am a Bible-believing Christian Pastor and as such I oppose homosexuality and the now global movement to legitimize it in society. The Bible teaches that homosexuality is s sin specially condemned by God as an “abomination” destructive to both individuals and society (Leviticus 18:22f). It is the only sin which prompted the destruction of a city by fire and brimstone (Genesis 19). It is the only sin chosen to epitomize the “reprobate mind,” meaning the mind given over completely to darkness and deceitfulness (Romans 1).
My job as a pastor is to preach this truth without apology or hedging so that people who suffer with a homosexual “orientation” can repent and be delivered from their bondage (Ezekiel 3:18), and society can be spared the damaging consequences of affirming that sin (Jude 1:7). Many homosexuals from the very beginnings of Christianity have been healed of this affliction (1 Cor 6:9-11).
I also preach against the hatred and violence that some direct toward homosexuals. That too is a sin (Matt 22:39).
History affirms the Bible. This homosexual movement does in fact exemplify the conduct described in Romans 1, so much so that since its rise to power it has silenced or destroyed nearly every opponent that once stood against it. Nearly everyone, including a significant number of my fellow clergy, are now afraid to speak against homosexuality for fear of retaliation.
AFTAH in the News: real ‘hate’ comes from ‘Gay Liberation Network’
Gay Liberation Network protester marches with sign smearing Chicago Card. Francis George as an "Archbigot" -- in Sunday morning protest directly in front of Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago. Homosexual activists are pushing hard for legalizing homosexual "marriage" in Illinois. Click on photo to enlarge. PHOTO: Americans For Truth
TAKE ACTION: Illinois Residents: call your state representative and senator (www.ilga.gov; 217-782-2000) and urge them to OPPOSE the “same-sex marriage” bill, HB 5170, that was just introduced by three openly homosexual lawmakers in Springfield. (Also, ask them to REPEAL the “Civil Unions” bill passed enacted last year.) The Civil Unions law quickly became a tool of anti-religious oppression against Christians, and now it is revealed as a mere stepping-stone for the Homosexual Lobby’s real goal: the revolutionary redefinition of marriage — using the State to advance the absurd idea that sinful “unions” based on (changeable) homosexuality should be awarded equal status with natural marriage.
Religious Freedom? Also please note the audacity of liberals calling the new bill the “Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act” — similar to their artful name for the Civil Unions bill — even though both legal “civil unions” and “gay marriage” would force employers to subsidize immoral homosexual relationships (the very antithesis of “religious liberty”).
Click on the photo above right to enlarge it. How would you like to have to walk past THIS to get into church Sunday morning? I was there to witness Gay Liberation Network protesters marching directly in front of Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago on Sunday morning (Feb. 12, 2012) during the main church service. (At least two GLN signs smeared Cardinal Francis George as “Arch-bigot”; one showed his photo and mocked: “Archbigot of Chicago… is intrinsically disordered + needs reparative therapy.”)
