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Hope for Homosexuals: Rev. Mario Bergner, founder of Redeemed Lives, once practiced homosexuality, but is now happily married to wife Nancy and the father of five kids. Through Redeemed Lives, Bergner helps others overcome sexual sin patterns through a relationship with Jesus Christ. In his article, “Go and Sin No More,” he writes, “The most loving thing we can do for anyone caught in the grips of sexual sin is to help them bring their sin to the Cross of Jesus and there find forgiveness, redemption, healing and hope for a new beginning.” For more information on Redeemed Lives, based outside Boston, Massachusetts, click HERE or call 978-356-0404.
I sent a version of the following letter to Jeff, who wrote Americans For Truth in February urging us to respect the “civil rights” of homosexuals (who he believes are born that way). Jeff’s letter is beneath mine at bottom. — Peter LaBarbera:
Peter LaBarbera’s Letter to Jeff:
…Jeff, I doubt the accuracy of your numbers (I believe 1-3 percent of the population is homosexual), but did you know that there are many men and women who once identified as “gay” or “lesbian” who left that lifestyle and are now living happy lives free of homosexuality? I respect them and their choices; do you? Have you ever met a former homosexual or read one of their testimonies? If not, here’s a website for you to visit: www.exodus.to. (Keep in mind that homosexual activists like Wayne Besen (www.truthwinsout.org) relentlessly demean, ridicule and even harass former homosexuals and the whole idea of “ex-gays” — strange conduct from a group that demands tolerance and respect from others.)
We disagree on the morality of homosexual practice, it’s that simple. I don’t ask you to “respect” all my decisions and behaviors — or my arguments — but I do ask you to respect my freedom to live according to my conscience, in a nation founded on religious freedom. And though as a Christian I respect the dignity of all human beings (who are made in the image of God), I will never respect the choice to embrace homosexual/bi/trans behavior — any more so than I would respect people self-identifying by any other sexual sin. (Of course, there are no Adultery Pride Parades.)
It tells us something that Mr. Obama had no time to host an event for the National Day of Prayer.
Nor did he have time to accept the invitation to convey greetings and a few remarks to the couple hundred thousand who came to Washington, as they do every January, for the March for Life.
However, the LGBT Pride event did make it onto the president’s busy schedule.
Obama Honors Anti-Christian Radical: The Administration’s OPM Director John Berry — an open homosexual and ardent “gay” activist (second from left in photo; click to enlarge) — apologized to and honored homosexual activist icon Frank Kameny (third from left). Kameny calls religious conservatives like AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera “Christianofascists” and says “gay is godly” — even though he is an atheist. President Obama’s agenda on homosexuality and transsexuality is as unknown to the public as it is radical. If he fulfills all of his promises to the self-styled “Queer” movement — including homosexualizing the U.S. military — the American people will be less free than we are today. Obama meets in the White today with homosexual and transsexual activists as part of his celebration of June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trangender Pride Month.” At bottom is a larger photo of Kameny and Berry. Photos: Office of Personnel Management.
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TAKE ACTION: Call your U.S. Congressman and Senators and oppose “Hate Crimes” (S 909), ENDA (Employment Nondiscrimination Act) and all aspects of President Obama’s homosexual/transsexual agenda (see below). Call or write: 202-224-3121; 202-225-3121; www.congress.org.
AFTAH Warns of Obama’s Radical Homosexual Agenda as President Meets Today with Gay Activists
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) warns that President Obama will likely renew his radical promises to homosexual activists today at a White House “Pride Month” reception –– promises that, if fulfilled, will undermine the freedoms of the majority of Americans who affirm marriage and healthy, time-tested Judeo-Christian sexual values in their daily lives.
So we don’t have free speech, after all? Leviticus 18:22 banned in Big Apple
Rev. Kristopher Okwedy, a Nigerian immigrant, thought he would have the freedom to proclaim Biblical truth about homosexuality in the “the land of the free and home of the brave,” but alas, New York City politicians banned his billboard (left). Judge Sonia Sotomayor joined a Second Circuit order that denied Okwedy’s free speech. The ruling was obviously hostile to religion despite the Court’s claim otherwise.
SOTOMAYOR: It’s okay for Government to ridicule Holy Bible
In 2003, Judge Sonia Sotomayor joined a Second Circuit order that excused government hostility toward religion. In 2000, Rev. Kristopher Okwedy and Keyword Ministries, Inc. –– a Christian Church –– put up a billboard sign quoting a verse of the Holy Bible, Leviticus 18:22, that says, “Thou shall not lie with a male as with a female –– it is an abomination.” The sign included the postscript, “I AM YOUR CREATOR.” After three days and much public outcry, Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari called the display “mean spirited” and said the Bible verse “conveys an atmosphere of intolerance which is not welcome in our Borough.” He then attempted to have the sign removed or covered up.
The following letter regarding the proposed Hate Crimes Prevention Act was sent by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to Senate leaders:
June 16, 2009
Re: S. 909
Dear Mr. President and Distinguished Senators:
We write today to urge you to vote against the proposed Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act (S. 909) (“MSHCPA”)
We believe that MSHCPA will do little good and a great deal of harm. Its most important effect will be to allow federal authorities to re-prosecute a broad category of defendants who have already been acquitted by state juries—as in the Rodney King and Crown Heights cases more than a decade ago Due to the exception for prosecutions by “dual sovereigns,” such double prosecutions are technically not violations of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the U.S. Constitution But they are very much a violation of the spirit that drove the framers of the Bill of Rights, who never dreamed that federal criminal jurisdiction would be expanded to the point where an astonishing proportion of crimes are now both state and federal offenses. We regard the broad federalization of crime as a menace to civil liberties. There is no better place to draw the line on that process than with a bill that purports to protect civil rights.
Folks, this article from the homosexual Washington Blade newspaper is a must-read. Note that pro-homosexual strategists in Washington fear a filibuster of a “stand alone” version of the bill. We’ve included the key portions below. TAKE ACTION: the anti-Christian homosexual lobby group Human Rights Campaign is pushing hard to get “Hate Crimes” passed. Call your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 and urge them to oppose S. 909 or any “Hate Crimes” legislation — as an amendment or a stand-alone bill. For more on the dangers of Orwellian “Thought Crimes” laws, go HERE, HERE and a legal analysis of the House version of S. 909 HERE.
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Excerpted from the Washington Blade:
Senate to pass hate crimes bill as amendment HRC calls for vote before summer’s end
By CHRIS JOHNSON, Washington Blade | Jun 8 2009
Senate leadership has decided to pass hate crimes legislation as an amendment to another bill instead of a standalone piece of legislation, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
Trevor Thomas, an HRC spokesperson, told the Blade in a statement Monday that the Senate settled on this method of passage.
“We understand that Senate leadership does not believe a hearing or mark up on the bill is necessary and plans to bring it directly to the floor as an amendment to another moving vehicle,” he said.
Would Smarty Pants Lesbian U. be required to endorse an ex-gay evangelical campus club?
If Rachel Maddow were to form Smarty Pants Lesbian University (SPLU), would it be forced to recognize a Christian ex-“gay” student club? At left, the openly lesbian MSNBC talker interviews Brian Diaz, head of a student Democratic club that was denied recognition by Liberty University. See YouTube video at bottom of this story.
By Peter LaBarbera
Nobody has mastered the art of snide inflections and biased liberal hit “journalism” as quickly and masterfully as MSNBC’s resident smarty-pants lesbian talker, Rachel Maddow (see this lesbian site’s story). Check out Maddow’s exaggerated pronunciation of “LGBT” in the YouTube video below as she attempts to skewer Liberty University for banning a campus Democratic Club. (Read the Democratic Party Platform HERE.) Now, at the risk of not knowing my place at the back of the bus as an Idiot Evangelical in Maddow’s World, I’d like to help her understand the principle of American liberty at stake in this case:
Let’s say for the sake of argument that the mannish Maddow and her female partner established the Smarty Pants Lesbian Liberal Party (SPLLP) for the purpose of mobilizing snarky lesbians and liberal fellow travelers to influence government and culture. Furthermore, the determined duo also create (with a Tim Gill financial assist) Smarty Pants Lesbian University (SPLU) to train up annual cadres of mini-Maddows to permeate the media and other culture-influencing institutions. (We’re not sure if non-lesbian feminists or males would be admitted to SPLU.)
Now, here’s our questions for Ms. Maddow: let’s say a covert SPLLP member were to trick her way past Liberty U.’s faith-based admission process, become a Liberty student and then suddenly apply for recognition of her SPLLP club on campus. (I envision a special appearance on MSNBC and sympathetic interviews in all the liberal media.) Would Liberty U. be obligated to recognize the Smarty Pants Lesbian Party? Of course not — it would impinge upon and undermine Liberty’s right to propagate its own belief system to students. In fact, Liberty would be within its rights to expel the troublemaking student, at the risk of making her even a bigger star in Maddow’s World.
In the same vein, take a lesbian student who finds Christ at Maddow’s Smarty Pants Lesbian U. (someone smuggled a Bible to her inside a lesbian magazine). The reborn, ex-“gay” woman now desires to form an Ex-Lesbians for Christ Club (ELCC) on campus. Would Maddow and Smarty Pants Lesbian U. be required to recognize the evangelical, homosexuality-opposing Christian club? Certainly not. That would violate their right to propagate their bitter, snide, left-wing, pro-homosexual, Christian- and Republican-hating ideology — thus jeopardizing their master-plan to spawn Rachel Maddow clones across America! And yes, Smarty Pants U. would be within its rights to expel the righteous former lesbian.
Young Democrat Club president Brian Diaz does not understand the difference between liberty and (state-enforced) egalitarianism (“I think that you should definitely be equal and show both sides of the issue equally,” he tells Maddow). Apparently Liberty University accepts federal student aid and loan dollars (as Maddow mentions on air) but if that ultimately translates into being forced to accept groups like the Democratic Club that defy its foundational Christian beliefs, then we believe it would be time to refuse federal monies — like Hillsdale College does — for the sake of freedom. Now watch the Rachel Maddow video (conservatives: brace yourselves):
Staver: “Same-sex ‘marriage’ agenda on a collision course with freedom”
Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel (right) says the New Hampshire House vote “is clear evidence that the end game is to force clergy and religious institutions to not just accept, but to celebrate and participate in same-sex ‘marriages.’”
Liberty Counsel issued the following press release today; we added the quote marks around “marriage,” as in same-sex “marriage,” as part of our ongoing attempt to preserve the real meaning of words against the semantic onslaught of pro-homosexuality activists:
Manchester, NH – By a vote of 188-186, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted down a same-sex “marriage” bill because it contained a religious liberty protection clause. The state Senate had previously passed the bill along party lines by a vote of 14-10. Governor George Lynch, who is opposed to same-sex ‘marriage,’ said he would veto the bill unless it contained a religious liberty protection amendment. The amendment was added to the House version of the bill, and that is where it met opposition by an openly homosexual member of the House, who lobbied against the bill because of the amendment.