Left-wing Chicago homosexual activist Andy Thayer (at left) of Gay Liberation Network (GLN) unfurls pro-homosexual “rainbow flag” in the gallery of the Illinois House May 30. Photo: Dave Smith of Illinois Family Institute — who led the successful grassroots effort to stop passage of a homosexuality-based “marriage” bill before the legislative session ended May 31. Click on photo to enlarge.

UPDATE: June 1, 2013 — in what is a stunning setback to the Homosexual Lobby in Illinois, openly homosexual St. Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) announced on the last day of the legislative session yesterday that he did NOT have the votes to call SB 10, the same-sex “marriage” bill. Harris and his high-powered liberal allies were not able to peel off enough Chicago Democrats or wavering Republicans — in a General Assembly that has veto-proof Democratic super-majorities in both houses — to pass the bill. A strong grassroots coalition of black, white and latino Christians across the state formed the backbone of the opposition.

Congratulations are well deserved to: first and foremost to my good friend and Illinois Family Institute (IFI) leader Dave Smith, who worked his tail off up and down the state to stop SB 10; and Laurie Higgins, Kathy Valente, Dave Norck and the entire IFI team; Paul Caprio of Family-PAC, who led the Coalition to Protect Children & Marriage (of which AFTAH is a member) and did yeoman’s work in thwarting SB 10; Bob Gilligan of the Catholic Conference; former Sen. Rev. James Meeks, who played a huge role; veteran Springfield lobbyists Ralph Rivera and Rev. Bob Vanden Bosch; Penny Pulen; Peter Breen; Scott Phelps (Abstinence & Marriage Partnership); Bishop Lance Davis; AFTAH Board Member John McCartney; John Zahm; John Biver; Jack Roeser; Nick Costello; Rev. Larry Rogers; Hiram Crawford; Tom Brejcha (Thomas More Society); Mary Anne Hackett; Elise Bouc; Rev. Bill Owens (Coalition of African American Pastors); Brian Brown and National Organization for Marriage; Jim Finnegan; Cardinal Francis George (see his letter on homosexual “marriage” HERE); and all the pro-family advocates who helped secure this unlikely victory. (There are so many more I could name.)

We must realize that this is only a temporary win. Now homosexual activists will redouble their efforts to homosexualize marriage in our state — so we must redouble our efforts to stop them.

Also, immediately after the defeat, the powerful homosexual lawyers group Lambda Legal began touting its lawsuit — before openly lesbian judge Sophia Hall — as another avenue towards legalizing homosexuality-based “marriage” in Illinois. Self-styled “queer” activists, filled with “pride” and considerable arrogance, believe they are entitled to homosexual “marriage” as a supposed constitutional “civil right.” They are wrong. (And, yes, Judge Hall should recuse herself from this case due to her obvious conflict of interest; see biased homosexual Advocate article HERE and “Think Progress” piece slamming AFTAH HERE.)

This hard-won victory, after a string of “marriage” defeats in other states, will encourage and energize pro-family advocates across the nation because it shows — despite the frequent boasts of our adversaries — that homosexuality-based “marriage” is NOT “inevitable,” even in Democratic-dominated Illinois. AFTAH has been defending real marriage here for a long time, so we will savor this triumph of common sense over social leftism. But only for a moment, and then it’s back to work.

This was about “We the People” winning out over homosexual and liberal special interest groups. God bless all of you who got involved in this battle: YOUR calls and contacts with legislators and fellow citizens made the difference!  Let’s keep on fighting for Truth! — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality

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Previous AFTAH “Alert” May 31:

Logo for Department of Justice homosexual-bisexual-transsexual employees group, “DOJ Pride.”

By Matt Barber

Under President Obama, “justice” is anything but blind. Neither is it deaf. In fact, based on recent revelations, it appears to be watching your every move and listening to your every word. Still, if you happen to be a federal employee, now it’s even listening for your silence.

The only thing this Obama White House seems to generate is scandal. Well, here’s yet another to add to the growing list. In addition to the Benghazi cover-up, IRS targeting of political dissenters and the illegal seizure of media phone records, whistleblowers within DOJ have contacted Liberty Counsel to express grave concerns over this administration’s latest attack on freedom.

Our sources have provided Liberty Counsel an internal DOJ document titled: “LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers.” It was emailed to DOJ managers in advance of the Left’s so-called “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month.”

Following are excerpts from the “DOJ Pride” decree. When it comes to “LGBT” employees, managers are instructed:

• “DON’T judge or remain silent. Silence will be interpreted as disapproval.” (Italics mine)

That’s a threat.

And not even a subtle one.

Got it? For Christians and other morals-minded federal employees, it’s no longer enough to just shut up and “stay in the closet” – to live your life in silent recognition of biblical principles (which, by itself, is unlawful constraint). When it comes to mandatory celebration of homosexual and cross-dressing behaviors, “silence will be interpreted as disapproval.”

This lawless administration is now bullying federal employees – against their will – to affirm sexual behaviors that every major world religion, thousands of years of history and uncompromising human biology reject.

Somewhere, right now, George Orwell is smiling.

The directive includes a quote from a “gay” federal employee to rationalize justification: “Ideally, I’d love to hear and see support from supervisors, so it’s clear that there aren’t just policies on paper. Silence seems like disapproval. There’s still an atmosphere of LGBT issues not being appropriate for the workplace (particularly for transgender people), or that people who bring it up are trying to rock the boat.”

Washington Times: victims of military sex assaults are mostly men

Homosexual male pornography often has military themes. This hard-core porn video (nudity covered by AFTAH) is titled, “Military Dorm.” It is sold by the homosexual porn video retailer TLA, which annually has booths at “Gay Pride” events (which are attended by young children).

Folks, we knew this was coming when President Obama and the Democrats pushed through the homosexualization of the U.S. Military. (Actually, Bill Clinton started the process in his first term.) Male-on-male military sexual assaults are escalating. As AFTAH has previously reported, and sickening as it is, one of the realities of homosexualism is that many homosexual men are sexually attracted to macho, “straight acting” men and men in uniform (as opposed to effeminate men). The latter is evidenced by the abundance of male homosexual pornography that has a military (men in uniform) angle. [See “gay” military porn video at right.]

When a society treats sexual perversion and immorality as a “civil right,” terrible things like this happen. “Progressive” change is fueled by feelings and emotionally potent euphemisms like “fairness” and “equality.” Then reality hits, and the liberals make no connection between their “reforms” and the problems they caused. Americans For Truth will follow this story closely. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera; please “Like” AFTAH’s Facebook page. 

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Excerpted from the Washington Times:

Victims of Sex Assaults in Military are Mostly Men

By Rowan Scarborough, May 200, 2013

More military men than women are sexually abused in the ranks each year, a Pentagon survey shows, highlighting the underreporting of male-on-male assaults.

When the Defense Department released the results of its anonymous sexual abuse survey this month and concluded that 26,000 service members were victims in fiscal 2012, which ended Sept. 30, an automatic assumption was that most were women. But roughly 14,000 of the victims were male and 12,000 female, according to a scientific survey sample produced by the Pentagon.

The statistics show that, as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel begins a campaign to stamp out “unwanted sexual contact,” there are two sets of victims that must be addressed.

“It appears that the DOD has serious problems with male-on-male sexual assaults that men are not reporting and the Pentagon doesn’t want to talk about,” Elaine Donnelly, who heads the Center for Military Readiness. She noted that only 2 percent of assailants are women.

Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said the Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Office is tackling the entire problem….

The Pentagon’s 1,400-page annual report came with two basic sets of data: official reports of sex crimes and a scientific survey sample of the 1.4 million active force from which the department extrapolated the number of abuses, regardless of whether they were officially reported.

Data showed 2,949 reports of abuse against a service member last year compared with 1,275 in 2004. The vast majority of victims (88 percent) were female — a statistic that tells the Pentagon that male victims (12 percent) do not come forward at the same rate.

Subjects of investigations are almost always men (90 percent), compared with women (2 percent) — a statistic indicating that male victims are assaulted by other men.

Bill Whatcott says he will go on distributing his pro-family and pro-life flyers despite the Canadian high court’s outrageous “hate speech” ruling against him.

Folks, as bad as things are in the United States with regard to Political Correctness, it seems they are always worse in Canada. Below, Christian pro-family activist Bill Whatcott comments on an outrageous Supreme Court of Canada ruling declaring his anti-homosexual-agenda fliers as “hate speech.” AFTAH is cited in one of the flyers, which can be viewed at the end of the court decision HERE.

Shocking as it may seem, Whatcott — a fearless pro-family advocate — might end up in jail simply for passing out flyers warning fellow Canadians about the aggressive agenda to normalize homosexual behavior.

This Orwellian ruling should be studied as a lesson in the incompatibility of “group rights” — especially those based on homosexuality — with true liberty. Whatcott cites this incredible bit of judicial doublespeak from the ruling:

“Truthful statements can be presented in a manner that would meet the definition of hate speech, and not all truthful statements must be be free from restriction.”

Stunning as that is, I find the most amazing claim in the ruling that supposed “hate speech” like Whatcott’s deserves to be banned because it could “silence” its target. Really? The homosexual activists are a lot of things, but “silent” sure isn’t one of them.

In an excellent piece analyzing the Whatcott decision, Canadian columnist Rory Leishman summarizes:

In short, with this Whatcott ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada has held that nothwithstanding the ostensible guarantees of freedom of expression and freedom of religion in the Charter, a Canadian can be found guilty of violating the prohibition on hate speech in a human rights code by making a statement even if (a) the statement is true; (b) the speaker did not intend to express hatred; (c) the speaker was expressing his or her honestly held religious conviction; and (d), there is no proof that the statement has caused any harm.

The United States, unlike Canada, has a First Amendment. But it is important to remember that Americans’ freedom to oppose homosexuality has already been greatly abridged — through our own Supreme Court decisions like the 1996 Romer v. Evans ruling striking down Colorado’s Amendment Two (through which citizens were attempting to block the very sort of “sexual orientation” rights that lead to discrimination against Christians).

Protecting homosexuality as a right and a “minority” erodes true liberty and historic Judeo-Christian morality. Please support Bill Whatcott in any way you can. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

Here is Bill’s response to the ruling:

‘Defend Marriage Lobby Day’ today in Springfield aims at stopping bill in House

This will never be a “marriage,” no matter what laws are changed.

Dear AFTAH Readers,

Today (Wed., Feb. 20th) is Defend Marriage Lobby Day in Springfield, Illinois, as pro-family citizens rally in the state capital against a homosexual “marriage” bill proposed by the Democrats for our state.  Our friends at Illinois Family Institute organized this special day to help citizens express their unyielding support for real, natural marriage (one man, one woman) in the Land of Lincoln — which is already reeling from previous pro-homosexual laws.  The “gay marriage” bill, SB 10, passed the state Senate on Feb. 14 with the votes of 33 Democrats and one lone Republican, Sen. Jason Barickman (Bloomington), so it is critical to stop the bill in the House. The Democrats who run Illinois — from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel to Gov. Pat Quinn — have made passing a “gay marriage” bill a TOP PRIORITY, so please get involved on the side of “Nature and Nature’s God” to thwart their efforts!

TAKE ACTION — Illinois Citizens: Please attend the Lobby Day today if you are able: there is a 10:30 AM rally outside the Capitol Building in Springfield (401 S. 2nd Street, Springfield, IL), followed by lobbying.  IFI will help you lobby your representative if you’ve never done it before!  See their site for more details: http://illinoisfamily.org/politics/lobby-day-instructions-what-to-expect-on-feb-20th/.  For those in Chicagoland, Kathy Barnette of Truth Exchange still has room on her bus for the trip to Springfield; see the Truth Exchange site.

If you cannot make the trip, make sure to call or write your State Representative and voice your opposition to the “gay marriage” bill.  Call the Springfield Capitol Switchboard at 217-782-2000.  Find you elected officials HERE.

We already know the ramifications of legalized homosexual “marriage” from other states like Massachusetts:

• Religious liberty and freedom of conscience (i.e., the freedom to oppose homosexuality) will be repressed by the state in the name of “gay rights”; Illinois has already experienced this under our “Civil Unions” law [see the case of the Walders’ bed-and-breakfast in Paxton, IL].  Despite the current bill being amended to protect churches and religious institutions, business owners — even devout Christians — who cater to weddings (such as banquet hall owners and photographers) could be forced to use their facilities or expertise to celebrate homosexual “marriages”;
• Liberal teachers, especially in public schools, will be emboldened to promote homosexual relationships to students in the classroom; homosexual teachers will be given a platform to discuss their “marriages” and to model homosexuality as normal, natural and good to students. Parents will have a harder time stopping the promotion of homosexuality in schools;
• Homosexual “sex ed” will gain ground in Illinois schools. Under the radical egalitarian idea that all relationships are morally “equal” and worthy of marriage, “safer gay sex” will be taught non-judgmentally alongside (normal) heterosexual sex. “Abstinence until marriage” (which regrettably is not the norm but only the ideal for most Illinois health classrooms) would apply to homosexual- and bisexual- as well as “straight” students — despite the reality that all homosexual sex is inherently immoral.  High-risk and unnatural practices like anal sex will be mainstreamed in our schools. (Could teaching the truth that sex between men is linked disproportionately to HIV and various sexually-transmitted diseases lead to charges of “anti-gay discrimination”?) And deviant lesbian sex will be taught for girls who in the future might “marry” a woman.
• Businessmen will be forced to recognize and subsidize their employees’ immoral same-sex “marriages”; a form of this is already happening under Illinois’ “Civil Unions” law;
• Society will be corrupted as unequal things are treated as equal; children will be further confused as the law (which is a teacher, as the saying goes) creates a Brave New Morality that officially “weds” sinful, unnatural and changeable behavior to the noble and life-sustaining institution of marriage;
• Homosexual activists will be energized to use the homosexual “marriage” law to pressure citizens to approve of their lifestyle and step up their crusade to stigmatize, demonize and discredit pro-family Christians and moral opponents of homosexuality.  Groups like AFTAH that embrace wholesome, godly morality will be vilified as “hateful and bigoted.” And, as we have witnessed in Massachusetts, the push for ever more extreme “LGBT rights” would be propelled by enactment of “same-sex marriage” — including “transgender” activism in schools.
• Legalized homosexual “marriage” will help “normalize” homosexual adoption, thus consigning greater numbers of innocent children to be raised in households that are motherless or fatherless by design.

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AFTAH Interviews Lobbyist Ralph Rivera on Threat of Homosexual ‘Marriage’ Bill in Illinois

Original post: http://americansfortruth.com/2013/02/11/aftah-interviews-ralph-rivera-on-threat-of-homosexual-marriage-in-illinois/

[NOTE: this interview occurred BEFORE the Illinois homosexual “marriage” bill, SB10, was amended prior to passage Feb. 14. The amended bill precludes churches and religious institutions from being forced to host homosexual “marriage” celebrations in their building. However, this amendment applies only to explicitly religious institutions; Christian- and other moral-minded business-owners could still be forced to host homosexual “marriage” ceremonies and related celebrations under the bill despite their deeply-felt opposition to “gay marriage.” — Peter LaBarbera]

This interview [click HERE to listen] with Illinois pro-family lobbyist Ralph Rivera was conducted on February 4, 2013. Rivera is a lobbyist for the Illinois Family Institute – which is sponsoring a Defend Marriage Lobby Day against the homosexual “marriage” bill in Springfield on Wednesday, Feb. 20th. Along with AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and co-host John Kirkwood (of Grace Gospel Fellowship church), Rivera discusses the pro-homosexual-”marriage” bill looming in the state’s General Assembly. (The Illinois Senate is reportedly slated for a floor vote on the bill on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.)

Rivera explains the bill’s threat to religious liberty — e.g., how in its original draft (likely to be amended) it would force churches and religious institutions that rent their facilities to the public to host homosexual “weddings.” There is also a discussion of how legalized “gay marriage” effectively forces pro-homosexual ”lessons” into public schools. In addition, the three discuss the Boy Scouts of America’s proposed change allowing openly homosexual Scoutmasters and Scouts. Rivera is also a longtime pro-life lobbyist for Illinois Citizens for Life.

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 to load.)  OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

2-4-13, Ralph Rivera

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Help AFTAH Stand for TRUTH: Make a Tax-Exempt Gift Today!

AFTAH will never back down or be intimidated by the intolerant and hateful (and anti-Christian”) “Gay” Lobby. Your gifts help us carry out our critical mission.

All gifts to Americans For Truth are fully tax-deductible according to the IRS.  To give online, go to: www.americansfortruth.com/donate/. Or send your regular-mail donation to:

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PO Box 5522
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Join the Monthly “Truth Team”: Please consider becoming a monthly “Truth Team” donor to AFTAH by pledging a monthly gift to AFTAH of $25, $50, $100, $250 or whatever you can.  Sign up online at: www.americansfortruth.com/donate/ or e-mail us and we’ll help you set up a monthly giving plan that suits your needs: americansfortruth@gmail.com.

This interview [click HERE to listen] with Illinois pro-family lobbyist Ralph Rivera was conducted on February 4, 2013. Rivera is a lobbyist for the Illinois Family Institute — which is sponsoring a Defend Marriage Lobby Day against the homsoexual “marriage” bill in Sprinfield on Wednesday, Feb. 20th. Along with AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and co-host John Kirkwood (of Grace Gospel Fellowship church), Rivera discusses the pro-homosexual-“marriage” bill looming in the state’s General Assembly. (The Illinois Senate is reportedly slated for a floor vote on the bill on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.)

Rivera explains the bill’s threat to religious liberty — e.g., how in its original draft (likely to be amended) it would force churches and religious institutions that rent their facilities to the public to host homosexual “weddings.” There is also a discussion of how legalized “gay marriage” effectively forces pro-homosexual “lessons” into public schools. In addition, the three discuss the Boy Scouts of America’s proposed change allowing openly homosexual Scoutmasters and Scouts. Rivera is also a longtime pro-life lobbyist for Illinois Citizens for Life.

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 to load.)  OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

2-4-13, Ralph Rivera

Justice Anthony Kennedy

Gary Bauer of the Campaign for Working Families PAC wrote the following in his “End of Day” newsletter December 10, 2012:

High Court To Decide Meaning Of Marriage

Late Friday afternoon, the Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments in two cases dealing with the meaning of marriage. From the cases selected, it appears as though the justices want to tackle the issue from both the state and federal perspective.

One comes from New York and challenges the constitutionality of the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act. The second case stems from a challenge to California’s voter-approved initiative Proposition 8, which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

It is difficult to predict how the court will rule in either case. Some conservatives are cautiously optimistic about the Proposition 8 case, believing that the justices will find striking down a popularly-enacted law on something as basic as the meaning of marriage to be an affront to the right of self-government and the foundation of our republican form of government.

I’m not holding my breath. The Supreme Court is split with four reliable liberals, four generally conservative justices and one moderate, swing vote — Justice Anthony Kennedy. While Justice Kennedy sided with conservatives in the Obamacare decision, he has a long history of siding with the court’s liberals when it comes to abortion and homosexual rights.

For example, Justice Kennedy wrote the majority opinion in Romer v. Evans, which struck down a popularly-enacted ballot initiative in Colorado preventing special legal protection based solely on homosexual behavior [see text of Colorado Amendment 2 in footnote 2 HERE]. Justice Kennedy also wrote the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down state laws against sodomy.

Here is the latest manifestation of America’s descent into decadence and godlessness. What right do West Point and all the military academies have to teach young men and women integrity and right from wrong when they now are celebrating sexual immorality on such a grand scale? And yet Rep. Paul Ryan (echoing his pro-“gay” Republican running mate, Mitt Romney) said it would be a big mistake for the GOP to revisit the homosexuals-in-the-military issue (i.e., reinstate a homosexual exclusion policy).

Are we heading toward a bipartisan push in favor of Big Homosexuality — for which the revolutionary redefinition of marriage is but one goal? And where does that leave Christians and all moral-minded citizens who put loyalty to their Creator and sexual sanity above party politics? We’ve heard a lot about the “Fiscal Cliff,” but America is also dangling off the Moral Cliff. Too bad few governing and cultural elites seem to care enough to try and rescue us from going over it. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

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FoxNews reports:

First same-sex marriage being celebrated Saturday at West Point’s Cadet Chapel

Published December 01, 2012, FoxNews.com

The first same-sex marriage at West Point’s Cadet Chapel will be celebrated Saturday – when a military veteran and her partner exchange vows roughly one year after President Obama ended the military policy banning openly gay people from serving in the military.

The ceremony will take place in the Military Academy’s Cadet Chapel between Brenda Sue Fulton and Penelope Dara Gnesin. Fulton is a military veteran and spokeswoman for Outserve – an advocacy group for actively serving gay, lesbian and bisexual military personnel, reported first by USA Today.

West Point hosted its first same-sex marriage last weekend, but it was a private ceremony at a smaller campus venue.