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Must Read: Author Robert Reilly is leading the intellectual campaign for the pro-family to return to principle in confronting the homosexual activist juggernaut. Reilly is keynoter at two upcoming AFTAH banquets, Oct. 17 in Chicago and Nov. 21 in Washington, D.C. More information HERE. Special Gift Opportunity: Make a $100 gift to AFTAH and receive Reilly’s book “Making Gay Okay” or your choice of several other outstanding resources; more info HERE.
Truth…
“For homosexual couples, the marital act is physically impossible – the pieces don’t fit – and the attempt to imitate it through sodomy is incapable in any circumstances of generating new life. One thing that same-sex couples all share is a unique disability to express either the unitive or procreative essence of conjugal relations. For these reasons, among many others, common law has held through the centuries that marriage can be only between a man and a woman….
“If sodomy is wrong, then it cannot be the basis of marriage.”— Robert Reilly, author, “Making Gay Okay”
…vs. Error:
“Our position on the constitutional issue [of homosexual ‘marriage’] was thus entirely distinct from,and did not take sides on, the social policy issue. Indeed, in my initial appearance in the District Court, I stated that if the tables were turned – if California’s voters had adopted gay marriage, as the voters of several states now have – I would be no less willing to defend their right to make that decision too.” — Charles Cooper, lead “pro-family” attorney defending Proposition 8, California’s statewide amendment preserving marriage as solely between a man and a woman — passed by voters in 2008 but struck down by (homosexual) District Judge Vaughn Walker in 2010, whose ruling was allowed to stand by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013.
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AFTAH Dinner -Banquet Sat., Oct. 17, 2015 featuring Robert Reilly: More info and sign up HERE
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Folks, below is an excellent column by Robert Reilly–who is the keynote speaker at both AFTAH banquets, Sat., Oct. 17 in Chicago (Arlington Heights, IL) and Sat., Nov. 21 in Washington, DC (Vienna, VA). Reilly ably lays out the compromises and weakness in the pro-family legal strategy that helped pave the way for the imposition of homosexual “marriage” by the courts, culminating in the Supreme Court’s unconstitutional Obergefell ruling.
Note: Special Gift Opportunity: Make a $100 gift to AFTAH and receive Reilly’s book “Making Gay Okay” or your choice of several other outstanding resources [more info HERE]. I am reading this superb book — and learning a lot. I highly recommend that you do, also. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
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Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Goes Against the ‘Laws of Nature and Nature’s God’
By Robert R. Reilly | June 9, 2015 |
Why have the pro-natural family forces been losing in court? Intentionally or not, Judge Richard Posner explained the reason in a 7th Circuit Court ruling (Sept. 4, 2014), in which he decided against the Indiana and Wisconsin laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman:
“The state [Wisconsin] does not mention Justice Alito’s invocation [in the Windsor case] of a moral case against same-sex marriage, when he states in his dissent that ‘others explain the basis for the institution in more philosophical terms. They argue that marriage is essentially the solemnizing of a comprehensive, exclusive, permanent union that is intrinsically ordered to producing new life, even if it does not always do so.’ [U.S. v. Windsor, 133 S.Ct. 2675, 2718 (2013).] That is a moral argument for limiting marriage to heterosexuals. The state does not mention the argument because as we said, it mounts no moral arguments against same-sex marriage.” Baskin v. Bogan, 766 F.3d 648, 669 (7thCir. 2014) (emphasis added).
While Justice Alito recognizes that there is a moral argument for limiting marriage to heterosexuals, it was not only the State of Wisconsin that failed to make such a case. Neither have the States of Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, or Tennessee in Obergefell, the decisive case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. [Editor: On June 26, 2015, the Court ruled 5-4 that homosexual “marriage” is a constitutional right.] I believe that this is one of the key reasons that the pro-natural family position has been losing in most of the cases thus far.
With the moral foundation missing, an air of unreality pervades the federal court system. Let us see how unreal by looking at a couple of examples. When invalidating Oregon’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage (May 19, 2014), U.S. District Judge Michael McShanewrote in his opinion,
“I believe that if we can look for a moment past gender and sexuality, we can see in these [same-sex] plaintiffs nothing more or less than our own families. Families who we would expect our constitution to protect, if not exalt, in equal measure.” Geiger v. Kitzhaber, 994 F. Supp. 2d 1128, 1147 (D. Or. 2014).
This is an extraordinary remark. What Judge McShane calls “gender and sexuality” is the only means by which families are generated. Since families come from parents, you cannot look past parents and still have a family – because there would be no family there. Homosexual acts cannot generate families; therefore, their “families” cannot be the same. If there are children present, we may be sure that both parents of the children are not present in that family. That is a lot to look past.
The case against sodomy: How to use reason and natural law to argue against homosexual acts and ‘gay marriage’
Explaining Why Homosexual Behavior Is Wrong: Robert Reilly, author of ‘Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything,’ will speak at AFTAH’s annual dinner-banquet Saturday, October 17th at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL. Sign up online HERE. Tickets are $20/person or $200 for a Table of 10. Send a check with “AFTAH Banquet” on the memo line to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. For a printable PDF color flier of the event, click HERE.
What: Americans For Truth About Homosexuality’s (AFTAH) annual dinner-banquet fund-raiser
Who: Keynote speaker: Robert Reilly, author, ‘Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything’ [order it HERE or on Amazon]. Reilly served as a Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan and was the Director of the Voice of America.
When: Saturday, October 17, 2015, 6:00 PM Central; doors open at 5:30.
Where: Christian Liberty Academy, 502 W. Euclid Ave., Arlington Heights, IL 60004. Map HERE.
Cost: Only $20 per person. Sponsor a Table of 10 for just $200. Or sponsor 5 attendees for $100. Send check made out to “AFTAH” to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. Or sign up online using our safe credit card form (check the box for Banquet Registration or to sign up to sponsor a Table of 10).
PDF Flier: For a printable PDF color flier on the Oct. 17 event, click HERE.
UPDATE: Stellar pro-family advocate Linda Harvey of Mission America (and a WND.com columnist) will also be speaking at the AFTAH banquet Saturday, Oct. 17!)
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Second AFTAH Banquet in Wash., DC on Nov. 21: Americans For Truth will be hosting Robert Reilly for a second dinner-banquet in the Washington, D.C. area on Saturday, Nov. 21. Stay tuned for more details.
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Crafting a Principled Strategy: At a recent speaking appearance in Chicago, Reilly explained how the dominant pro-family movement strategy of the last decade of focusing on a positive defense of natural marriage and consciously avoiding discussing homosexuality is “the losing strategy. That is how we lost.” Reilly continued:
“The entire issue is based on the morality or immorality of sodomy. And once you’re no longer willing to address that issue or if you concede that issue, you have lost, and you’ll get rolled on the religious freedom issue as well.”
Amen. It is such clear and principled thinking that sets Reilly apart from many pro-family leaders. We live in bizarre times in which even some who profess to be “conservatives” are making the radical case for “marriage” based on the sexual perversion (and sin) of homosexuality. Shame on them for debasing conservatism and Christianity all at once. But I am greatly encouraged that Reilly’s well-reasoned approach is beginning to gain ground as we endeavor to rebuild the foundation for an aggressive defense of Truth on this vexing issue. We greatly look forward to Bob’s presentation October 17: please mark your calendars and tell your friends! This article below appeared in many online publications, including CNS News. – Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Email: americansfortruth@gmail.com; Phone: 312-324-3787
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Below is an excellent column by Robert Reilly that lays out the compromise in the pro-family legal strategy that helped pave the way for the imposition of homosexual “marriage” by the courts, culminating in the Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling:
Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ Goes Against the ‘Laws of Nature and Nature’s God’
By Robert R. Reilly | June 9, 2015 |
Why have the pro-natural family forces been losing in court? Intentionally or not, Judge Richard Posner explained the reason in a 7th Circuit Court ruling (Sept. 4, 2014), in which he decided against the Indiana and Wisconsin laws restricting marriage to a man and a woman:
“The state [Wisconsin] does not mention Justice Alito’s invocation [in the Windsor case] of a moral case against same-sex marriage, when he states in his dissent that ‘others explain the basis for the institution in more philosophical terms. They argue that marriage is essentially the solemnizing of a comprehensive, exclusive, permanent union that is intrinsically ordered to producing new life, even if it does not always do so.’ [U.S. v. Windsor, 133 S.Ct. 2675, 2718 (2013).] That is a moral argument for limiting marriage to heterosexuals. The state does not mention the argument because as we said, it mounts no moral arguments against same-sex marriage.” Baskin v. Bogan, 766 F.3d 648, 669 (7thCir. 2014) (emphasis added).
While Justice Alito recognizes that there is a moral argument for limiting marriage to heterosexuals, it was not only the State of Wisconsin that failed to make such a case. Neither have the States of Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, or Tennessee in Obergefell, the decisive case now before the U.S. Supreme Court. I believe that this is one of the key reasons that the pro-natural family position has been losing in most of the cases thus far.
Fox News host dumps on Kentucky clerk; Kincaid questions “Rule of Law” assertions–including by Donald Trump
Fox News’ Shep Smith Joins Kim Davis-haters on the Left: see his comments in the video below at the 8:00-min. mark, and at 12:45. To see Peter LaBarbera’s in-depth 2013 report on Fox News’ growing pro-homosexual bias. go HERE.
Folks, I appeared last week (Sept. 4, 2015) as a guest on America’s Survival’s Roku show with my friend Cliff Kincaid–who does yeoman’s work in exposing the freedom-threatening homosexualist agenda [see America’s Survival’s website HERE and the AS report I wrote in 2013 about Fox News’ pro-homosexual bias HERE]. Please note the rally in support of Kim Davis today (Sept. 8) at 3:00 PM Eastern Time at the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, KY. Please share this video. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; @Peter LaBarbera; americansfortruth@gmail.com.
Subject breakdown: In the 41-minute program we discussed:
4:00 – Kincaid and Peter LaBarbera (PL) on how the Supreme Court itself violates the “Rule of Law,” most recently with its anti-Constitutional Obergefell ruling;
7:00 – Background on Kim Davis case and rally on her behalf today (Sept. 8) at 3;00 ET at the Carter Co. Detention Center in Grayson, KY
8:00 – Shep Smith’s comments on Fox News disparaging Kim Davis and her past life (without mentioning her Christian conversion four years ago (shows Fox clip);
9:45 – PL on the Left as the “New Pharisees” — with their harsh judgment of Davis and her past sins;
12;45 – Christians like racists? More on Shep Smith: his comments on Fox News comparing Christians seeking exemptions to pro-homosexual laws to southern, pro-segregationists seeking Civil Rights exemptions: (shows second Fox clip) … [more time breakouts follow after jump and beneath video]:
Sen. Cruz: “The religious liberty threat is real. They are coming for each of us, and Kim Davis is only the first.”
Folks, this is a wonderful and enlightening exchange between talk show host and author Mark Levin and GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz on the situation of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused post-Obergefell to issue official homosexual “marriage” licenses under her name due to her Christian beliefs. Davis was jailed yesterday and faces likely stiff penalties, if not extended jail time. This interview was recorded yesterday, September 3, 2015. Levin eviscerates the “rule of law” argument frame advanced by the Left and even many “conservatives” who do not seem to be willing to admit that the Supreme Court of the United States itself declared it above the “rule of law” by taking the issue of marriage away from the people. (Kentucky citizens voted by a whopping 75 percent in favor of a “one man/one woman” constitutional amendment in 2004.) — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Late yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court declined to extend the temporary stay of a federal court order involving Rowan County Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis. The federal court previously ordered Kim Davis to issue marriage licenses to the plaintiffs who filed suit against her. Liberty Counsel represents Kim Davis and appealed that order to the Court of Appeals. The lower court order was temporarily stayed until August 31, and, while the appeal is still pending, the stay of the order is no longer in effect. In light of these developments, Kim Davis released the following statement:
I have worked in the Rowan County Clerk’s office for 27 years as a Deputy Clerk and was honored to be elected as the Clerk in November 2014, and took office in January 2015. I love my job and the people of Rowan County. I have never lived any place other than Rowan County. Some people have said I should resign, but I have done my job well. This year we are on track to generate a surplus for the county of 1.5 million dollars.
In addition to my desire to serve the people of Rowan County, I owe my life to Jesus Christ who loves me and gave His life for me. Following the death of my godly mother-in-law over four years ago, I went to church to fulfill her dying wish. There I heard a message of grace and forgiveness and surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. I am not perfect. No one is. But I am forgiven and I love my Lord and must be obedient to Him and to the Word of God.
I never imagined a day like this would come, where I would be asked to violate a central teaching of Scripture and of Jesus Himself regarding marriage. To issue a marriage license which conflicts with God’s definition of marriage, with my name affixed to the certificate, would violate my conscience. It is not a light issue for me. It is a Heaven or Hell decision. For me it is a decision of obedience. I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will. To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God’s Word. It is a matter of religious liberty, which is protected under the First Amendment, the Kentucky Constitution, and in the Kentucky Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Our history is filled with accommodations for people’s religious freedom and conscience. I want to continue to perform my duties, but I also am requesting what our Founders envisioned – that conscience and religious freedom would be protected. That is all I am asking. I never sought to be in this position, and I would much rather not have been placed in this position. I have received death threats from people who do not know me. I harbor nothing against them. I was elected by the people to serve as the County Clerk. I intend to continue to serve the people of Rowan County, but I cannot violate my conscience.
Lively calls SPLC’s labeling of pro-family organizations as “Hate Groups” a “tactic of psychological manipulation”
Folks, I had a wonderful discussion with Scott Lively and Pastor John Kirkwood last evening–even though it was cut short by a tornado warning. Here is the Livestream video, which runs about an hour and seven minutes. In the video, Scott Lively of DefendTheFamily.com is at left, John Kirkwood, pastor of Grace Gospel Fellowship Church is center, and yours truly is at right. Go to the 23-minute mark in the video where Lively describes the five stages of the incremental homosexual activist advance in societies: 1) Tolerance; 2) Acceptance; 3) Celebration; 4) “Forced participation in gay culture”; and 5) Punishment of dissenters. Go to around the 34-minute mark for a discussion on the spurious leftist charge of “hate” against pro-family Christians who oppose the LGBT agenda. Thanks to Grace Gospel for hosting our event and to all who came out on a rainy Tuesday night to educate themselves on the rise of “gay” power and what it means for liberty in America.–Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; @PeterLaBarbera
Hated for Speaking Truth: Pro-family advocate Scott is being sued by leftists for “crimes against humanity” for educating and advising Ugandans on how to fight the aggressive and intolerant homosexual activist lobby. AFTAH’s 2011 banquet suffered a brick attack by pro-LGBT leftists who wanted to “shut down” the event because Lively was speaking. Read about the 2011 brick attack HERE.
Hey all, Scott Lively, who is perhaps the most *hated* and persecuted Western pro-family leader on the homosexual issue, is coming to Chicagoland tomorrow (Tuesday, August 18) for an informal presentation and Q & A on the LGBT agenda, post-Obergefell. The event is free. Lively will discuss the frivolous leftist lawsuit against him in which he is charge with–get this–*Crimes Against Humanity.* The event is at Grace Gospel Fellowship Church, pastored by my friend John Kirkwood. It starts at 7:00 PM Central Time and light snacks and refreshments will be served. Grace Gospel is in Bensenville, IL, just north of I-290 on Rt. 83. Address: 4 North 220 (Frontage Rd.), Bensenville, IL 60106. Call 312-324-3787 or email AFTAH at americansfortruth@gmail.com for more info. This will be Livestreamed to view live online Tues, Aug 18 at 7 PM Central here: http://livestream.com/inthearena/scotusfallout. See also this Eventbrite notice of the event.
NOTE: Americans For Truth followers will remember that in 2011, AFTAH’s 2011 banquet suffered a brick attack by pro-LGBT leftists who wanted to “shut down” the event because Lively was speaking. Read about it HERE.
New law explicitly denies conscience protections for small business owners; LGBT Lobby not appeased — demands full ENDA-type legislation for Indiana
Appeasement Emboldens ‘Gay’ Lobby: Graphic for homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign demands more pro-homosexual legislation in Indiana following the Republican-led legislature’s and Gov. Mick Pence’s capitulation negating the state’s Religious Freedom law. Click on HRC.org graphic above to enlarge.
By Peter LaBarbera
In a stunning, politically-correct turnaround following a week of LGBT protests and media and business opposition, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence yesterday signed into law a pro-homosexual legislative “fix” of the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)–effectively turning it into Indiana’s first statewide homosexual “rights” law.
The language of the revised RFRA crafted by Indiana’s Republican House and Senate leaders and signed into law by Gov. Pence stipulates that the new RFRA “does not authorize a provider to refuse to offer or provide services, facilities, use of public accommodation, goods, employment, or housing” to any Indiana citizen on the basis of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”–in addition to the usual criteria such as race, sex and disability. [See the full language HERE.]
When asked specifically at a press conference yesterday if the revised RFRA legislation could be used to defend the besieged owners of an Indiana pizza shop who told a reporter that theoretically they would not serve a homosexual “wedding,” Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma said:
“We can unequivocally say that RFRA cannot be used to discriminate against anyone.”
The law still protects churches and religious, non-profit organizations from being forced to participate in homosexual “weddings”–but not everyday small businessmen like the owners of the Indianapolis cookie stand “Just Cookies.” In 2012, the Christian owners of Just Cookies declined on principle to make “rainbow cookies” for a homosexual student group at Purdue University-Indianapolis. “Gay’ activists led a campaign against the company using Indianapolis’ “sexual orientation” statute; ultimately the owners settled with the city without paying damages. [To read about other conscience victims of the homosexual agenda, see this WND Whistleblower article by the author.]
