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Law banning pro-heterosexual Reparative Therapy for minors now likely to go into effect
Mat Staver
June 30, 2014
The following is reprinted from LC.org (web links added by AFTAH); to donate to Liberty Counsel, go HERE:
Washington, DC—The Supreme Court passed on Liberty Counsel’s petition regarding California’s ban on change therapy in the case of Pickup v. Brown. Two lower court judges and two separate appellate panels have issued conflicting opinions upholding and blocking the ban on change therapy. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction pending appeal, followed by a three-judge panel that upheld the law. That panel then agreed to continue the injunction blocking the law until he Supreme Court had a chance to weigh in on the case. Today’s decision by the Supreme Court to pass on the case means the proceeding will go back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which could lift the injunction and allow the law to go into effect.
Former homosexual David Pickup says, “Reparative Therapy helped save my life.” Read his testimony HERE; read other ex-“gay” and ex-lesbian testimonies on the PFOX website.
The California law was the first to restrict licensed counselors from offering, and minor clients and their parents from receiving, any counsel to change unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or identity.
“I am deeply saddened for the families we represent and for the thousands of children that our professional clients counsel, many of whom developed these unwanted attractions because of abuse of a pedophile. The minors we represent do not want to act on same-sex attractions, nor do they want to engage in such behavior. They are greatly benefiting from this counseling. Their grades have gone up, their self-esteem has improved, and their relationships at home are much improved,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. “These children have been victimized twice – first by the likes of Jerry Sandusky, and second by legislators and judges who have essentially barged into their private therapy rooms and told them that they must pursue their unwanted and dangerous same-sex sexual attractions and behavior,” said Staver.
I just talked with our lawyer Michael Weber (part of Tom Schuck’s NSWB lawfirm). The trial date for Peter LaBarbera and I for witnessing at the University of Regina will be October 29, 2014. We were charged with Mischief after we set up abortion signs and one sign saying “Sodomy is a sin,” on the public walkway at the University of Regina back on April 14th. Approximately 20 or so pro-abortion and pro-homosexual protesters set up a counter protest across from us. Notwithstanding that I have two Court of Queen’s Bench decisions affirming my right to protest on public university campuses, Peter and I were arrested and charged and the pro-abortion/pro-homosexual protesters were allowed to continue with their demonstration unmolested.
Thank you to AFTAH Board Member John McCartney for concisely injecting some clarity into the recent tragic resignation of Brendan Eich as Mozilla CEO in the face of a pro-homosexual pressure campaign. The following open letter was sent to Mozilla employees in the last couple of weeks:
An Open Letter to Mozilla Employees
This letter is addressed to those who agitated against Brendan Eich’s promotion to Mozilla Firefox’s CEO. Considering that he was the business’s co-founder and the provider of your livelihood, right order would have required you to resign in protest, but that would have taken courage of your convictions, which was apparently in short supply at the time.
The issue: Eich’s donating $1,000 to [California’s 2008] Proposition 8, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, which is what marriage has generally been throughout the ages and ever should be. Same-sex “marriage” is an absurdity (Pope Francis calls it anthropological regression), which even “gays” joked about in the ’70’s. Proposition 8 was the people’s initiative opposing institutionalizing a man’s using another man as a woman, and a woman’s using another woman as a man. This has neither the support of nature, morality, normality, even health. Three hundred twenty-five thousand (325,000) men having sex with men (MSM) have died of HIV/AIDS since 1980. Of the 1.2 million HIV/AIDS victims in the United States, 532,000 are MSM–who comprise a mere 2 percent of the population. The malady is now spreading fastest among MSM 13-29 years old. What’s homosexual “marriage” going to do for this?
What the media don’t know and the “gay” community won’t admit (the American Psychiatric Association’s non-scientific pronouncement notwithstanding), is that “gay” activists are forcing on this country an adaptation to earlier trauma and/or emotional deprivation. Instead of focusing on the source of such, thereby gaining understanding leading to freedom, they are using politics and media to make it the norm. From this: Spare us, O, Lord.
Peter LaBarbera,
President, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH)
Video of talk confirms LaBarbera did not say what Geiselman and Salon.com allege
THE LIES OF THE LEFT:Above is the headline for the Salon.com hit-piece by Sinclair Community College writing professor Kate Geiselman, who fabricated a quotation and attributed it to AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera. Dozens of students, apparently led by liberal SCC professors, walked out on LaBarbera as he began his April 9 talk at the college–but he never reacted by saying, “You’re leaving? Are you effing [read: a substitute for the F-word] kidding?” A videotape of the walkout, and testimony by firsthand witnesses, confirm that Geiselman’s account is bogus. Click on graphic to enlarge.
Dear AFTAH Readers,
Below is the demand letter sent yesterday by pro-family attorney Chuck Limandri to Kate Geiselman, the Sinclair Community College (Dayton, OH) writing prof who fabricated an outright lie about my SCC talk in an article in the liberal online magazine Salon.com. I was invited to speak on April 9 by the school’s Traditional Values Club–which (I later learned) is despised by a cabal of leftist profs at SCC. Note that Limandri’s letter was also sent to Salon editor Cindy Jeffers. We cannot allow the Left to libel and slander us at will with zero consequences. More coming on this. Thanks.–Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Letter by Charles Limandri to Kate Geiselman and Salon.com editor Cindy Jeffers:
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: [Charles Limandri] [e-mail addresses redacted]
Date: Fri, May 9, 2014 at 8:40 PM
Subject: LaBarbera v. Geiselman
To: [Kathryn Geiselman]
Cc: [Cindy Jeffers, Salon.com]
Dear Ms. Geiselman:
Please be advised that the undersigned has been retained by Peter LaBarbera with respect to a potential claim for defamation against you. As you know, you falsely accused Mr. LaBarbera of using profanity at a talk that he gave at Sinclair Community College on April 9, 2014. The article in which you made that false and defamatory statement is here: http://www.salon.com/2014/04/16/%E2%80%9Cyou%E2%80%99re_leaving_are_you_effing_kidding%E2%80%9D_an_anti_gay_bigot_gets_humiliated/. A Youtube video of the staged walk-out that you organized of Mr. LaBarbera’s presentation is here: http://youtu.be/hxxMiyhxXzo. The audio on the two minute video makes it perfectly clear that Mr. LaBarbera did not utter the unprofessional and defamatory words that you attribute to him. This has been confirmed by multiple witnesses who were in immediate proximity to Mr. LaBarbera during his entire presentation. You further falsely accused Mr. LaBarbera of being “a person who makes his living telling lies” in the internet posting attached above. You did so even though you did not even have the decency to listen to his remarks before publicly excoriating him.
In Ohio, libel is defined as a false and malicious publication made with the intent to injure a person’s reputation or expose him to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, shame or disgrace, or to affect him adversely in his trade or profession. Becker v. Toulmin (1956), 165 Ohio St. 549; Cleveland Leader Printing Co. v. Nethersole (1911), 84 Ohio St. 118. Pursuant to Ohio law, a publication which of itself reflects upon the character of a person by bringing him into public ridicule, or which affects him injuriously in his trade or profession is libelous per se. Westropp v. E. W. Scripps Co. (1947), 148 Ohio St. 365; The Cleveland Leader Printing Co. v. Nethersole (1911), 84 Ohio St. 118. Therefore, the publication of a false statement ascribing to another conduct, characteristics or a condition incompatible with the proper conduct of his lawful business, trade or profession is libelous per se and damages are presumed. Landrum v. Dombey (1971), 30 Ohio App. 2d 200, 202. “A statement that someone is a liar is clearly one which would tend to injure a person’s reputation, and courts have considered such statements to be defamatory on their face”. Dillon v. Waller, 1995 Ohio App. LEXIS 5860, 12, 1995 WL 765224 (Ohio Ct. App., Franklin County Dec. 26, 1995); See also, Dale v. Ohio Civil Serv. Employees Ass’n, 57 Ohio St. 3d 112, 117, 567 N.E.2d 253, 258, 1991 Ohio LEXIS 178, 16, 136 L.R.R.M. 2898 (Ohio 1991).
By your false and defamatory statements you have maliciously sought to injure Mr. LaBarbera in his reputation and to expose him to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, shame or disgrace. You have also sought to injure him in his trade or profession. We hereby demand that you issue a public retraction of, and a public apology for, your false and defamatory statements made against Mr. LaBarbera. If you and Salon.com do not do so within ten (10) days from the date of this e-mail, then we will take all necessary steps to protect Mr. LaBarbera’s rights including bringing a lawsuit against you and Salon.com for compensatory and punitive damages. Please place any homeowner’s insurance carrier and professional liability carrier that you may have on notice of this claim. Such liability insurance may be available to satisfy this claim if you are a member of a teacher’s union. We look forward to your response or the response of your legal representative within the next ten days.
Sincerely,
Charles S. LiMandri
Board Certified Civil Trial Advocate
National Board of Trial Advocacy
******************************
Charles S. LiMandri, Esq.
President and Chief Counsel
Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund
P.O. Box 9520
Rancho Santa Fe, CA 92067
‘Gay’ group gets country and motive wrong in crude attempt to smear Christians
ANOTHER LGBT LIE: This web post by a Traverse City, Michigan homosexual group (TC Equality) gets it totally wrong by attributing a gruesome vigilante murder-by-fire of a criminal in Kenya to alleged “anti-gay” activity in Uganda. Then it blames such violence and murders on Scott Lively and the American Family Association. AFTAH added ** Misinformation** to this graphic. Click to enlarge photo.
WARNING: EXTREMELY TROUBLING AND GRAPHIC MURDER PHOTO
Folks, I’m dealing with an outrageous lie told by Sinclair Community College writing prof Kate Geiselman, who fabricated the “effing” quote attributed to me by in the headline of her recent Salon column on my speech (click HERE)]. But that pales in comparison to the monstrous falsehoods regularly used to defame my friend Scott Lively, an international pro-family, Christian advocate and leading critic of homosexualism who is nothing–nothing–like the evil “gay” activist caricature of him.
This sophomoric slam on Lively by Traverse City Equality is one of the worst and crudest LGBT lies I’ve ever seen. But hey, for the LGBT Left, the end justifies the means, right? Also, please pray that Scott soon will be freed of the harassing and equally absurd “Crimes Against Humanity” lawsuit against him brought by homosexual and left-wing activists. The release below is a good short history of some the nasty attacks against Scott over the years. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
“Gays” Smear Pastor Lively and AFA with Horrific Murder Hoax
Springfield, MA. Pastor Scott Lively of Abiding Truth Ministries and the leaders of American Family Association (AFA) are today demanding a retraction and apology from a Traverse City, Michigan homosexual activist group called TC Equality which has published a horrific photograph on the Internet of an African man being burned to death while a crowd of people including young children look on. TC Equality stated that this photograph depicts the beating, stoning and murder of a Ugandan homosexual man “for being gay” and placed the blame for this murder upon Lively and AFA for “promoting violence against gay and lesbian people around the world.” This photo and message was apparently circulated by email and posted on Facebook, with an urgent plea to “Please share this alarming picture so the world can know.”
However, the gruesome picture was actually taken in the Kibera slums of Kenya and the man in question was an accused mugger and thief killed by a vigilante mob stirred up by his victims. It had nothing to do with homosexuality, Pastor Lively or AFA. Furthermore, the allegation that Pastor Lively and AFA have promoted violence against homosexuals is an absolute fabrication without a shred of truth behind it. http://kevinaloo.wordpress.com/2013/05/23/crime-in-kibera/
“This is the most disgusting piece of libel by the LGBT community that I have ever seen, and I‘ve seen a lot of it” said Lively, who was at one time the California director of AFA. “It is as evil and Satanic as the murder that it misrepresents. What kind of sick minds exploit such a horrific tragedy to implicate innocent people just because they oppose their political agenda?”
Sadly, this in not the first time that the LGBT community has defamed Pastor Lively by accusing him of inciting murder. In early 2011, Ugandan “gay” activist David Kato was beaten to death with a hammer in Kampala by his “gay” lover, Enoch Syudney Nsubuga. However, the global “gay” activist network portrayed the Kato murder as a “homophobic hate crime” inspired by Pastor Lively’s preaching against homosexuality there in 2009. They continued to perpetuate this hateful myth even after Nsubuga, a male prostitute whom Kato had bailed out of jail to be his live-in lover, confessed to the crime and was sentenced to thirty years in prison for it.
So intent have the “gays” been in smearing Lively with false charges that they filed a federal lawsuit against him in 2012 for “Crimes Against Humanity” based almost entirely on the Kato incident — omitting the truth about Nsubuga even to the federal judge!! And on the day of filing the action, a group of them marched to Pastor Lively’s church in a “funeral procession” carrying a giant black cardboard coffin bearing a large photo of David Kato.
The following commentary by Sun News “Byline” host and Toronto Sun columnist Brian Lilley aired April 15, 2014, regarding the arrest at the University of Regina (in Saskatchewan, Canada) Monday of Canadian pro-family/pro-life activist Bill Whatcott and American AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera:
Will ‘Intolerance’ Prevail in Canada? Chris Brookes of “Intolerance Free Weyburn” and his wife led a campaign to lobby Canadian government officials to block AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera’s entry into Canada. On Thursday evening, Canadian customs officials issued a preliminary denial of entry to LaBarbera, who is scheduled to give a speech at a pro-life conference in Weyburn, Saskatchewan Saturday. LaBarbera is appealing the decision today. Photo: Chris Brookes’ Twitter account.
[UPDATE FROM PETER LaBARBERA: Yesterday I wrote the reply below to Regina, Saskatchewan Archbishop Daniel Bohan’s statement about my scheduled presentation at a pro-life conference in Canada. That evening, I flew from Chicago to Regina. Upon deplaning, as I passed through Customs, I was delayed for further questioning by an official with the Canada Border Services Agency. Obviously, I had been flagged as a result of a campaign by the leftist group “Intolerance Free Weyburn,” which is specifically lobbying the Canadian government to deny my entry into Canada as the alleged purveyor of “hate'” [See this AFTAH report on their lobby effort to deny me entry into Canada, and this previous report on the group’s attempt to have me removed as a speaker at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association (SPLA) conference April 11-12.]
After questioning me about the purpose of my scheduled presentation at the SPLA event; rifling through my luggage, which contained numerous books and literature related to homosexuality (pro and con); examining the contents of my laptop and my cell phone; playing a DVD of my speech Wednesday at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio; and critically viewing AFTAH’s website–a preliminary decision was made to deny my entrance into Canada on the basis that my speech at the SPLA would violate Canada’s “Hate Propaganda” law (essentially the potential for “public incitement of hatred” against a group of people based on their “sexual orientation”). The Orwellian experience at Customs dragged on for more than three hours as a formal document was issued outlining my denial of entry under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (citing the Hate Propaganda code). Finally, after 1:00 A.M., I was released pending my appeal of the decision today (Friday). My passport was seized until I arrive back at Customs today at noon for my appeal before a “Minister’s Delegate Review.”– Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH]
NOTE: We have posted letters supportive of LaBarbera speaking at the pro-life conference in Saskatchewan by American pro-life/pro-family advocates Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League [click HERE] and Mary Anne Hackett of Catholic Citizens of Illinois [click HERE]. We will try to post some of the other letters of support–including one from a homosexual man in the U.K.–as soon as possible.]
_________________________________
The following is the April 10 reply by Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), to a letter to Catholics by Archbishop Daniel Bohan, Archdiocese of Regina:
I believe that Archbishop Bohan felt the need to issue a letter that specifically mentions me due to the local controversy that has been instigated by a liberal group that, ironically, has spread much false and derogatory information about me. Many Catholic leaders in the United States, including pro-life hero Joe Scheidler of Pro-Life Action League, have come to my defense–and are deeply opposed to Intolerance Free Weyburn’s (intolerant) efforts to “ban” me from speaking in Canada. I have great respect for the full array of Catholic instuction on the issue of homosexuality, and quote from Catholic teachings all the time. I wish more Catholics knew and honored these teachings–including that no faithful Catholic can support same-sex “marriage” or laws and policies putting adoption by homosexual-led households on a par with adoption by mother-father households.
As an evangelical Christian, I believe that all people, including homosexuals, must be treated with respect and the grace of Christ. As a sinner myself, I am no “better” than the man or woman engaged in homosexual sin. We all need the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. I adhere to the universal philosophy shared by so many who follow Christ: “Love the sinner. Hate the sin,” In fact, if I truly lacked compassion and hated homosexuals as my detractors falsely and maliciously claim, I would not have been invited to speak by the leaders of the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association. Lastly, it has become clear in recent years that OPPONENTS of the homosexual activist agenda have become frequent victims of “unjust discrimination.” In fact, in the lead up to the SPLA convention, one of Archbishop Bohan’s own parishioners, Bill Whatcott, was turned away from service by the owner of Southeastern Computer Solutions in Weyburn–because Whatcott adheres to the historic Judeo-Christian moral understanding of homosexual acts as sinful. Such anti-Christian bigotry and discrimination will be one of the topics of my talk Saturday.
Sincerely in Christ
Peter LaBarbera
President,
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH.org)
__________________________________________
The following is the letter sent out by Archbishop Daniel Bohan, Archdiocese of Regina:
Crude effort to block pro-family speech in Canada not unlike GLAAD/SPLC crusade to censor pro-family voices opposed to homosexuality in media
“I would like for him to be turned away from our border….Peter LaBarbera should not be allowed to enter our country. His sole purpose of entering Canada is to spread his message of hate and intolerance.”–Bailey Ashton Brookes, Intolerance Free Weyburn, in a public letter to Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Steven Blaney
“Tolerance,” Canadian Style: Canadian pro-life and pro-family activist Bill Whatcott poses for photo with adversary and anti-“intolerance” activist Bailey Ashton Brookes, who is lobbying the State to keep AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera out of Saskatchewan, Canada, where he is scheduled to give a talk Oct. 11-12.
By Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Folks, below is the verbatim copy of a Facebook letter by “Intolerance Free Weyburn” [Saskatchewan] activist Bailey Ashton Brookes. She is urging others to write Steven Blaney, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, to bar my entry into Canada, where I am scheduled as a speaker at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association (SPLA) conference in Weyburn, October 11-12. [see original AFTAH story HERE; see letters by Joe Scheidler and Mary Anne Hackett defending me as a speaker].
“I would like for him to be turned away from our border,” Brookes writes.
Despite the Left’s history of censorship and totalitarianism, I am a bit taken aback to be the target of such an outrageous attempt to intimidate SPLA’s leaders into jettisoning me as a speaker–and then lobbying the State to ban me as a supposed purveyor of “hate.”
It’s one thing to write and poke fun at the “pro-Gay Thought Police,” and quite another to be in its crosshairs.
Here we have an object lesson on the inevitable end-result of political correctness–in the form of leftist “thought control” fused with State power. For years now, the far-left-biased Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has maliciously smeared my group, AFTAH, as well as dozens of other pro-family organizations like American Family Association and Family Research Council as “hate groups.” Then fellow travelers on the Left, led by LGBT activists, circulate the SPLC’s lie as if it is some kind of authoritative evidence that AFTAH and this writer are truly “hateful.”
In Canada, bereft of a First Amendment, mischievous “progressives” can cause more trouble faster than in the U.S., by citing legal bans on “hate speech” that have been upheld by the country’s highest court. Canadian Bill Whatcott, a brave pro-life and pro-family activist who will be speaking at the conference next week, has been victimized by such “hate speech” prosecutions. So have many good Canadians like Stephen Boissoin, who have been dragged through preposterous “human rights tribunals” merely because they voiced opposition to the Sin of Sodom.
SPLC smears go worldwide
SPLC’s One-Sided “Hate” Scam: Remember this leftist brick attack on AFTAH’s banquet in 2011? The Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network (GLN) publicly refused to condemn it–demonstrating actual hatred. Yet the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has never labelled GLN–or any homosexual organization–a “hate group,” while slandering dozens of pro-family organizations like AFTAH with that false smear. The words on the paver brick thrown through the glass doors of the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL, refer to AFTAH banquet speaker and honoree Scott Lively.
The SPLC’s corruption and radical pro-homosexual bias is illustrated by the fact that it has never designated an LGBT organization as a “hate group.” In fact, the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network (GLN), which took great pride in “reporting” AFTAH to the SPLC as a potential “hate group,” later publicly refused to condemn a brick attack against the school, Christian Liberty Academy, that hosted our 2011 banquet! [See AFTAH original story on the pro-homosexual brick attack.]
That’s real hate as opposed to ideologically-defined “hate.” Yet the SPLC has yet to designate GLN as a “hate group.” The good news is that many Americans and pundits finally are seeing through the SPLC’s “hate” scam.
Most activists on the Left are not as brazen as Ms. Brookes and her husband in pressing the censor card, but these two “morality-phobic” individuals are merely applying a more extreme and crass version of the pro-LGBT Left’s hardball tactics. Homosexual activist groups like GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)–working with others like the SPLC–continually and falsely equate opposition to homosexuality with “hate.” They also throw around the ominous-sounding charge of “homophobia”–implying that their opponents are filled with irrational fear as opposed to disagreeing with immoral and unhealthy sexual behavior.
Then this Coalition on the Left pressures the media not to give a voice to the haters, homophobes and bigots. In recent years, they have expanded their crusade to include the enemy of “religious-based bigotry.” In their pride, they possess little regard for the sincerity and motives of Christians and others who genuinely seek to defend God’s moral order (“righteousness” in the Bible)–while holding out the hope of healthy change as personified by the many men and women who have left homosexuality (“gayness”) behind.
Since these illogical arguments and self-serving tactics can easily be defeated by pro-family advocates, pro-LGBT militants would rather just shut groups like AFTAH down in the Public Square. Endlessly playing their “anti-hate” card, they plead with the media to stop including the “other side” in their stories–stoking the ridiculous notion that no legitimate opposition to homosexualism (“gay rights”) exists. I’m afraid this is how countless cowed and ill-informed Western journalists think about homosexuality today. The arrogance and injustice of deciding for everyone what supposedly constitutes “hate,” “intolerance” and appropriate arguments in this Culture War debate apparently is lost on these liberal Speech Police and their media accomplices.
