Excerpted from a press release entitled Lambda Legal Files Lawsuit on Behalf of Woman Whose Job Offer Was Revoked Because She is Transgender, published Dec 18, 2006, by the pro-homosexuality legal advocacy organization Lambda Legal:

Today, Lambda Legal has filed papers in federal court in the Southern District of Texas on behalf of a transgender woman whose employment offer was rescinded because she is transgender…

Lambda Legal filed Lopez v. River Oaks in the Southern District of Texas in the Fifth Circuit of the federal court system. The lawsuit charges that River Oaks violated Lopez’s rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in employment…

Lopez v. River Oaks is Lambda Legal’s latest lawsuit in its Blow the Whistle campaign to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and those with HIV in the workplace. At Lambda Legal’s Blow the Whistle campaign website visitors can learn how to share their own stories of workplace discrimination or become an ally to others in the Blow the Whistle campaign. Employers, unions, coworkers, customers and clients can all serve as important allies for fairness in the workplace.

Continue reading at Lambda Legal…

Excerpted from Transgender Woman Sues Would-Be Employer, by Cindy George, published Dec 19, 2006, by Houston Chronicle:

A man who lives as a woman sued a would-be employer Monday for allegedly revoking a job offer after realizing she is transgender.

Izza Lopez, 26, filed the lawsuit in federal court against Houston-based River Oaks Imaging and Diagnostic. She alleges employment discrimination.

She is seeking damages for lost pay and benefits, and for emotional distress, pain and suffering.

The suit says company officials told Lopez she misrepresented herself as a woman. Lopez had been hired to manage appointments, it says…

From Stop Blaming Theology For Your Apathy, by Chuck Baldwin, published Dec 15, 2006, by Chuck Baldwin Live:

It is more than interesting to observe how professing Christians will use their own understanding of doctrine to either justify themselves or blame others. However, the truth is, regardless of one’s personal view of eschatology, there is absolutely no room for fatalism or apathy. Whether one has a dispensational, covenant, or reform ideology, our responsibility as Christians is the same. We are commanded by our Lord to be “faithful unto death.”

I know dispensationalists who will excuse their apathy by saying, “It’s the last days, and there is nothing we can do about it.” Or, “This is just prophecy being fulfilled; we can’t stop it.”

On the other hand, I hear reformers excuse their apathy by saying, “Everything is pre-determined. We have no say in the matter.” Or, “What will be, will be; we can change nothing.”

Therefore, does it really matter from what theological perspective one comes, if apathy, indifference, and inactivity is the result? Regardless of one’s personal view of theology, if the result of one’s belief system produces apathy and fatalism, what good is it?

As Christians, we are plainly instructed to be “light” and “salt” amidst a crooked and sinful world. We are clearly commanded to remain “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.” Regardless of worldly circumstances or theological nuances, we are told to be diligent, active, fruitful, and aggressive in both our promotion of right and our opposition to wrong.

Beyond that, as Americans, there is another important lesson we need to heed. That is the warning by Christ, who said, “To whom much is given, of him much shall be required.”

We Americans have been given much. We were bequeathed a free and independent nation, a nation founded on Biblical principles, a nation founded on the Christian faith. This legacy did not come without price. Our forebears suffered long and hard to give us-their posterity-this free land.

Are we now going to sit down in apathy and indifference and allow this country to be overtaken by the forces of secularism, socialism, and globalism? Are we not willing to fight for right? Are we so weak and cowardly that we would surrender our freedoms and liberties without a struggle?

“We curse the spirit that would come
to bring about same-sex marriage …

We ask you to just look over this place today,
cause them to be shaken in their very heart
in uprightness, Lord, to do [what] is right before you.”

–– Rev. Vincent Fields’ prayer in the New Jersey senate chamber

By Peter LaBarbera

In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a war between good and evil going on in this country, between those who agree with God and those who fight for worldly and immoral agendas — homosexuality, abortion, pornography — that He opposes.

On Monday, the Rev. Vincent Fields (pictured above), having been invited to give the honorary invocation for the New Jersey State Senate, acted on a prompting from the God he serves. For that reason, this preacher will not be invited back to pray in an official capacity for New Jersey lawmakers.

Rev. Fields, (pictured above), pastor of Greater Works Ministries in Pleasantville, N.J., said that when he arrived Monday, he didn’t plan on praying against “gay marriage,” but “the Holy Spirit took over, and I had to pray what He said.”

Here is Rev. Fields’ prayer: “We curse the spirit that would come to bring about same-sex marriage … We ask you to just look over this place today, cause them to be shaken in their very heart in uprightness, Lord, to do [what] is right before you.”

After offense was taken at Rev. Fields’ too-truthful prayer, New Jersey’s Senate President Richard Codey (D) told the Newark Star-Ledger that Rev. Fields will “not be back” to pray in the Senate. The reverend needn’t fret; he is in good company: I doubt that the real, holy God of the Bible has been welcome in that chamber for quite some time. Yesterday was a case in point, as the New Jersey legislature passed a bill legalizing “civil unions” — counterfeit “same-sex marriage” in everything but the name — with an ease that makes one wonder if the Church in the Garden State is in hibernation.

Blue state New Jersey has become a bastion of officially-sanctioned secular immorality: you may recall that the state’s highest court voted 4-3 to mandate that the legislature pass either “gay marriage” or “gay marriage lite” (civil unions) — and the three dissenters were upset only that the court didn’t go all the way and require FULL “gay marriage.” In other words, not a single justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court — including several appointed by Republican governor Christine Todd Whitman — had a problem with giving marital-type rights and privileges to homosexuals.

Getting back our passion

Too often in the cultural debate over homosexuality, the debate is reduced to secular studies and research (e.g., how studies show that it’s better for children to have a mom and a dad). These are worthy pursuits because secular research validates divine truth, and many Americans have closed their minds to the Bible.

That said, appeals to God, the Bible and morality are the most powerful motivators in this struggle because they cut to the heart — at least for Christians. The less often Scripture is spoken in public debates, the less relevant it becomes to society. Surely the vast majority of serious Christians and religious people in the United States would agree with Rev. Fields’ prayer: there IS an ungodly spirit that surrounds the promotion of homosexuality. It is manifested in all aspects of the movement — from the hyper-promiscuity in the “gay” male world to the latest in “queer” theology, which twists the holy Scriptures to claim that homosexuality is a “gift from God.”

And, yes, this ungodly spirit is also found in the quest for domesticated, monogamous homosexuality that merely “regularizes sin,” to quote Rob Gagnon, while still mocking and radically redefining God’s perfect design for marriage and family.

Many of us are intimidated against speaking out on God’s behalf, but the “gay” lobby is quite willing to fill the void — “preaching” at us with its slick but morally bankrupt message that “being gay” is naturally “who they are,” and demonizing Christians as “haters.” They can redefine words all they want, but homosexual behavior will always be wrong, and “gay pride” is direct rebellion against God.

Truth is, homosexual sin is so egregious that the Bible calls it an “abomination” — crying out for judgment by all those who agree with God. If it is not wrong for men to commit sodomitic perversions with other men, and women with women — what Noah Webster termed a “crime against nature” in a wiser age — then nothing is wrong. Sterile public policy debates often fail to convey the moral outrage of legitimizing this destructive lifestyle, as do religious compromisers like Peggy Campolo who seek to make an accommodation with homosexuality, often out of pity for friends or relatives trapped in this lifestyle.

An America where you can’t judge anything as wrong — except Bible-believing Christians and “intolerant” religious people — is a banal and spiritually lifeless America, its moral energy sapped out of it. This is liberalism today. Behold how quickly social liberals like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) moved from considering homosexual “domestic partnership” (and eschewing “gay marriage”) to now embracing homosexual “marriage” as a civil right. And why not? They have no moral absolutes, or at least they don’t share God’s: if you can rationalize the legalized slaughter of innocent unborn life and call it a “choice,” why not let two guys or two ladies “playing house,” to quote ex-homosexual Stephen Bennett, call their arrangement a “marriage”?

Most Americans still call themselves Christian in this country, but when Christianity tolerates everything, it means nothing. There IS such a thing as “God’s side” of some core issues, and those who embrace homosexuality, abortion and pornography ain’t on it.

This is the season to remind ourselves that Jesus Christ came to save men from their sins. The Bible says that those who reject Christ stand condemned (John 3:16-18), but that He offers forgiveness and spiritual rebirth to all, including repentant homosexuals (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). (Yes, there were “ex-gays,” so to speak, in Bible times.) If there is no sin, then there is no need for Christ. Pro-family advocates are often accused of arrogance for “judging” homosexuality as wrong, but the real arrogance comes from those who would effectively pronounce God (and His Word) a liar, because they — frail, created humans on this earth but a moment in the vast scope of time — know better than He does about what’s right and wrong.

In New Jersey, it’s easy to despair as homosexual activists claim yet another court-assisted victory, and all we have for inspiration is Rev. Fields’ Holy Spirit-led prayer. But the faithful pastor actually points the way back for our nation. Secular studies and catchy sound-bites will not bring a return of God’s blessing, but spiritual revival and repentance will — by bringing about godly humility and a desire to obey His moral laws, and creating a newfound wonder at His marvelous creation, including marriage and the family.

To bring about that repentance we need many more like Vincent Fields, men and women who are willing to cast off the shackles of Political Correctness and speak God’s truth to a dying culture. Some will say that Rev. Fields is only the latest casualty in America’s Culture Wars. To me, he is a loyal soldier who refused to squelch the voice of God to please men.

Peter LaBarbera is the president of Americans For Truth.

For background on this debate, see PFOX Official: Homosexual Activists Want to Censor Ex-‘Gay’ Message, by Jim Brown, published Nov 16, 2006, by Agape Press.

From MCPS [Montgomery County, Maryland, Public Schools] Flyer Distribution Policy: Should Organizations Be Allowed to Distribute Material with Report Cards?, Pia Nargundkar vs Iliya Smithka, published Nov 28, 2006, by Silver Chips (student newspaper at Montgomery Blair High School):

Iliya Smithka says YES: Organizations have the right to free speech within schools.

According to the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) website, flyers can be sent home with Blair students when report cards are handed out, on Nov. 10, Feb. 1 and April 11. On Nov. 10, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) distributed an inoffensive and informational flyer about the organization, much to the displeasure of many students and parents. These same students and parents must realize that the flyer policy supports nonprofit organizations’ right to free speech and a free market society.

Excerpted from Clemson Exonerates Student Group, Will Review Policy on ‘Free-Speech Zones’, by Jim Brown and Jody Brown, published Dec 4, 2006, by Agape Press:

There’s been a major First Amendment victory for students at a prestigious university in South Carolina, where a conservative student group has been absolved of charges stemming from its protest of a pro-homosexual event on campus.

Clemson University had a policy that designated only two areas on the campus for students to assemble. Even within those areas, students were required to obtain permission from three different administrative offices 72 hours prior to any planned event. However, after the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) sent a letter to the school, arguing the policy — in violation of the U.S. Constitution — made spontaneous demonstrations impossible, Clemson set aside the policy for review and is allowing the entire campus to be open to free speech.

Samantha Harris, FIRE’s director of legal and public advocacy, explains that a student group known as the Clemson Conservatives had been charged with a violation of the “free-speech zone” policy for protesting a pro-homosexual “marriage” event staged by the Clemson Gay-Straight Alliance. In late October the conservative group had requested, but was denied, permission to stage their protest at a location outside one of the zones — then proceeded with the protest nonetheless.

According to a FIRE press release, campus police did not interrupt the protest, but deployed police officers to videotape the event. Subsequently the university’s Office of Judicial Conduct found Clemson Conservatives guilty of staging a protest in a “non-designated area” and administered an “admonition” and “censure” sentence, along with a warning to the group that
further transgressions of the policy could result in suspension.

The Clemson Conservatives appealed to FIRE for assistance. Now, since FIRE’s letter to the school in early November, Clemson has expunged the charges from the group’s record.

Harris says “so-called ‘free-speech zones'” are “odd and highly inappropriate” on America’s university campuses these days — but that, unfortunately, such policies are all too common. “I think that in a lot of cases it’s kind of a misguided attempt by universities to make sure that
demonstrations and the like don’t disrupt classes, et cetera,” she says, “but of course, you could accomplish that aim with a much, much narrower policy.”

Excerpted from Christian Magistrate Forced To Resign For Refusing to Place Children In Gay Homes, by Meg Jalsevac, published Nov 28, 2006, by LifeSite News:

Andrew McClintock, an 18 year veteran in magistrate court on the South Yorkshire Bench, is suing the British Department for Constitutional Affairs for discrimination against his religious beliefs.  McClintock says that he had no option but to resign when his superiors told him that he would not be permitted to refuse to place children in adoptive homes with homosexual parents.  McClintock says to do so would directly contradict his Christian beliefs that homosexuality is immoral.

Continue reading at LifeSite News…

On Tuesday, November 28, TBN will be airing the exciting new special, “Our First Liberty” that highlights how ADF is defending and protecting the First Liberty — religious freedom — of ordinary Americans.

The special will be aired at 12:30 a.m. EST (11/29), 11:30 p.m. CST, 10:30 p.m. MST, and 9:30 p.m. PST.

Find your local TBN channel here.

Watch “Our First Liberty” Trailers
Quicktime (2.9 MB)
Windows Media Player (8.8 MB)

By Linda Harvey of Mission America:

These incidents–vandalism, assault, intimidation–are ALREADY crimes under existing law. Adding extra punishment for “sexual orientation” incidents only makes homosexuals receive more protection than others. Is this fair?

“Hate crimes” have DECREASED in recent years, including those for sexual orientation…Check out the FBI’s web site on hate crimes, and read the stats for yourself.

These laws are a back door way to “bless” homosexuality, because they imply that it’s wrong to oppose the behavior.

We have had a law (since 1990) that enables law enforcement to count sexual orientation among hate crimes, but not to give extra punishment. Those extra penalties are what is currently being sought.

But just based on the 1990 federal law, some school districts started “anti-bias” lessons that included sexual orientation along with race and religion. Kids through curricula like the anti-Christian “Healing the Hate” middle school program, are indoctrinated to not only approve homosexuality, but to believe anyone who opposes it is evil and potentially violent. This classic propaganda is sure to escalate if a federal law is passed that gives offenders in incidents involving “sexual orientation” extra punishment.

The laws we have now are fine for protecting all citizens against crime. The new proposal is based on the lie that homosexuals are an unchanging minority who are “born that way,” which is not supportable by research or observed sexual practices of U.S. adults.

It also threatens the religious liberty of those who believe this is a harmful and sinful lifestyle. Hate crimes laws that include sexual orientation are being used in other countries to indict and fine Christians, even pastors, who publicly oppose homosexuality. Given the aggressiveness and ceaseless demands of “gay” activists,do we want to lose that right?

For the protection of our children against indoctrination and for the protection of our freedom to oppose homosexuality and to believe the whole Gospel, we must make Congress understand our opposition to adding “sexual orientation” to hate crimes laws.