By Peter LaBarbera

Update on the “sniper” story: an investigator with the Rapid City, S.D., police department has contacted Americans For Truth and told us that South Dakota “gay” activist Barry Wick will not be prosecuted for his “Snipers, take note” comment against this writer, posted on lesbian Pam Spaulding’s blog, because the threat was “too vague.” We have received and accepted a heartfelt apology from Mr. Wick.

Yesterday, I was asked by a suburban Chicago newspaper to comment on former NBA star Tim Hardaway’s comment, “I hate gay people.” I said that what Hardaway said was wrong (he has since apologized): we have always condemned hatred and un-Christian messages like “Rev.” Fred Phelps “God Hates Fags” signs — although of course it is perfectly acceptable to oppose homosexuality.

And Hardaway does have a point about homosexuals in the locker room: we don’t let men shower and dress in women’s locker rooms, so shouldn’t men who define themselves as sexually attracted to other men be relegated to an alternative space? Ditto for lesbians: parents of athletic daughters should be concerned about the presence of lesbian coaches and girls open about their same-sex desires in female locker rooms.

I told the reporter that Hardaway’s comments will only play to the liberal caricature of Christians and religious people who oppose homosexuality on principle as “haters.”

Here’s the problem: the same media and liberals who rush to condemn Hardaway’s comments look the other way when homosexual activists like Pam Spaulding (who runs the “Pam’s House Blend” blog) spew abject hatred against Christians or anyone who speaks out against homosexual behavior. As my friend and former AFTAH Corporate Outreach Director Matt Barber describes in a column below, you don’t have to search very hard on Spaulding’s website to find evidence of her anti-Christian bigotry and hate-mongering.

And yet Duke University lauds Spaulding’s website as “fun” and “snappy.” Can you imagine Duke or any university promoting a “conservative” or religious website that engaged in regular, mean and ugly putdowns of homosexuals? Pam is the online “gay” equivalent of Phelps and his “God Hates Fags” campaign, so why is an institution of “higher learning” that ostensibly advocates “tolerance” promoting her brand of hatred?

Click HERE to write Duke University President Richard Brodhead (or call him at 919-684-2424) about Duke’s promotion of hateful lesbian and Duke employee Pam Spaulding’s anti-Christian website. Politely ask for an official apology for promoting anti-religious bigotry by touting her blog.

The NBA punished Hardaway for his remarks. Yet Duke U. rewards Spaulding with accolades despite her rank bigotry against Christians. (Memo to Pam: try making your points without mocking religion or resorting to sophomoric name-calling. Hate is a two-way street.)

Fact is, Spaulding is far from alone: there are countless examples of hateful homosexual attacks against Christians, like the wicked depiction of my friend and Maine Christian pro-family leader Mike Heath’s wife Paulie below. Yet the same media who fall over themselves in the sprint to condemn “anti-gay hate” show little interest in exposing acts of anti-Christian bigotry by homosexuals. Maybe that’s because most journalists fundamentally agree with the “gay” activist agenda and don’t want to do anything to harm its image–which reporting the truth certainly would.

Conversely, these days many in the media and Hollywood are applying the “hate” (or “homophobe”) label to almost anything that does not support the homosexual activist point of view.

The worst part about the liberals’ hypocritical double-standard on “hate” is that it actually contributes to escalating anti-Christian bigotry in our culture. Tim Hardaway will be blackballed for life unless he grovels in repentance — the press will make sure of that. Meanwhile, homosexual haters like Pam Spaulding are encouraged by the media’s agenda-driven silence.

A Maine homosexual activist posted the crude, digitally-altered graphic above,
of pro-family leader Mike Heath’s lovely wife, Christian songwriter Paulie Heath,
on the Amazon.com website.

P.S. Oh, I almost forgot: here’s a real photo of Paulie Heath, whom you can book for a concert at your church or women’s retreat by clicking HERE:

Matt Barber’s CWA column:

Hate Bloggers, Death Threats and Apologies Abound
By J. Matt Barber, published by Concerned Women for America Feb. 13

Media outlets have given the story fairly wide coverage. Presidential candidate and former Senator John Edwards (D- North Carolina) recently named two leftist, anti-Christian bloggers to high profile positions with his campaign. [They subsequently resigned.] …

But another story, with perhaps more serious implications, has gone largely unreported by the mainstream media.

Last week, Concerned Women for America (CWA) broke the news about an apparent threat to the life of pro-family advocate Peter LaBarbera made by a commenter on lesbian activist Pam Spaulding’s anti-Christian site Pam’s House Blend.

Spaulding is an information technology manager with Duke University Press, and her employer appears quite proud of its blustering left-wing blogger. Duke Press has even publicly praised and promoted her blog activities, calling them a “mixture of snappy prose, funny postings and serious commentary.”

So, just for fun, let’s see if we can’t yuck it up a bit with Duke University. Let’s take a look at some of Spaulding’s “snappy” and “funny” musings:

On her blog — among other things – Spaulding regularly mocks both Christ and Christians by sarcastically referring to Jesus as “jeebus.” She refers to Christians as both the “Am Taliban” (for American Taliban) and “bible beaters.” She’s doctored photos of the pope, dressing him in drag and women’s makeup, apparently implying that he’s a cross-dressing closet homosexual. Spaulding has likened a well-respected black New Jersey pastor to cult leader and mass murderer Jim Jones, and she has managed to ridicule both Christmas and pro-lifers in one fell swoop with a post titled, “Oh Fetus tree, Oh Fetus tree.”

Side splitting, isn’t it?

And if you think that’s funny, this’ll make you collapse in gales of laughter:

In what was, at the very least, an apparent attempt to intimidate and frighten Americans for Truth president Peter LaBarbera, who is married with children, someone on House Blend published his home address in a January 13, 2007, thread. Shortly thereafter, someone identified as “Barry G. Wick” suggested that “snipers take note” of LaBarbera’s address. Wick also suggested that shooting LaBarbera would amount to an act of self defense and stated that, “[LaBarbera] and others like him ought to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what future awaits them from a cadre of selected defenders willing to give up everything in order to protect the lives of gay and lesbian citizens.”

Spaulding and other members of her blog so frequently foment hatred toward Christians that it’s no real surprise that one of her posts culminated in this chilling and ostensibly illegal threat to LaBarbera’s life.

Soon after CWA broke the story, Spaulding issued a public apology to LaBarbera and removed the threatening language from her site. She has purportedly banned Wick from her blog. Spaulding indicated that she was unaware of the post, although the threat had been posted for nearly three weeks. LaBarbera was gracious enough to take her at her word and has accepted her apology.

But Spaulding should apologize further.

She should apologize to the millions of Christians around the world whom she mocks and bashes on a daily basis.

She should apologize to pro-family leaders like LaBarbera, Dr. James Dobson, Beverly LaHaye and others whom she unfairly belittles and needlessly berates.

But she probably won’t.

And since one can reasonably infer that Duke University Press has placed its stamp of approval on Spaulding’s anti-Christian tirades, perhaps it’s appropriate for them to apologize on her behalf – that is, if they don’t actually share her backward beliefs.

But don’t hold your breath.

We’ve all seen how collectively stingy Duke University staff can be with apologies. Remember the ad the lynch mob – er – faculty hastily took out condemning the Duke Lacrosse team members accused of rape? They rendered judgment before the ink was dry on the arrest warrant but arrogantly refused to apologize even after it became abundantly clear that the accused would likely be exonerated.

Still, if Duke’s stubborn liberal pride won’t allow them to apologize for enabling, if not endorsing, Spaulding’s hateful screeds, then at the very least Duke University President Richard H. Brodhead will surely denounce the threat made to LaBarbera’s life on the very blog of which Duke is so proud.

It’s a noxious paradox, really. The left loves to pay lip service to the rhetoric of tolerance and diversity, while their own bigotry is betrayed by hateful and intolerant blather such as that which pollutes the cyber-pages of Pam’s House Blend.

And they’re not saying “sorry” for it.

But someone is apologizing.

Last Wednesday, February 7, South Dakota homosexual activist Barry G. Wick faxed a letter to CWA’s Washington D.C. headquarters admitting that he was the author of the threatening House Blend comments. Wick issued what appeared to be a heartfelt apology to LaBarbera and requested that CWA pass along his sincere regrets to the Christian community. Again, LaBarbera has graciously accepted the apology and says that he has forgiven Wick.

We are all sinners – every one. Christians are commanded to forgive others as we pray the Father will forgive us. However, even in forgiveness actions have consequences. We are a nation of laws, and when those laws are violated, there is a legal process that should and must take place.

Objectively speaking, a threat to the life of another is a very serious offense, even if it’s subjectively made in jest. It must always be treated as a bona fide threat. LaBarbera has shared that when he learned of what appeared to be an imminent threat to his person; he contacted the FBI and other appropriate law enforcement agencies.

Federal law is clear. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 875 (c) states: “Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”

The legal process is in motion, and as with all serious matters of this type, our unique system of justice will determine the outcome.

In the meantime, the very Christians who are the subject of those insidious threats, hateful words, and intolerant acts of omission will – in LaBarbera’s own words – be praying for “Spaulding, Barry Wick, and all those whose embrace of homosexuality has led them to be consumed by hatred toward Christians and others who defend natural sexuality and marriage.”

Matt Barber is one of the “like-minded men” with Concerned Women for America. He is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law and serves as CWA’s policy director for cultural issues.

We found this post by conservative blogger Clayton Cramer most useful in explaining the “unhinged” component of homosexual militancy (emphasis added):

Why There Are No Comments On My Blog

Pam Spaulding, a lesbian blogger, posted something about Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, which is run by Peter LaBarbera. Like many blogs, Pam’s blog allows readers to add comments–which soon included Peter LaBarbera’s home address, and a suggestion that the park across the street would be a good place for a sniper.

Comments on blogs can either be moderated (which ends up taking a lot of a blogger’s time) or unmoderated (in which case, the blogger may not be aware of what’s being said in the comments). Once informed, Pam Spaulding removed these comments and emphasized that this was not acceptable behavior.

That’s why I have never turned commenting on in my blog. Who needs the aggravation of letting unhinged idiots post trash like that (and worse) in the comments?

I can’t say that I am surprised by what happened on Pam Spaulding’s blog, however. Over the roughly twenty years that I have been using the Internet to engage in political discussion, I have expressed myself strongly (sometimes even a little too strongly) about a very large number of controversial issues. There is one, and only one group of political activists that have ever made harassing phone calls to me (repeated calls at 6:00 AM with silence at the other end), made lewd phone calls to my children (who fortunately, were small enough to be confused rather than shocked), tried to get me fired from a job, or threatened my safety with threats of violence.

Guess which group that was. Not leftists. Not gun control activists. No Islamists. Not Communists. Not labor unionists. Not history professors.  Not environmentalists. Homosexual activists are the only group that has engaged in these tactics in response to my political free speech.

Obviously, not all homosexuals–or even all homosexual activists–have engaged in these tactics. But part of why I have joined the ranks of those who think that homosexuality reflects something terribly broken is because there is no other group whose activists become so unhinged in response to criticism that they engaged in these tactics. I have never felt at risk because of my political activity–until the unrelenting campaign of harassment started in the early 1990s, and I started to regularly carry a gun because of it.

Americans For Truth (and Concerned Women for America) received the following apology from South Dakota homosexual activist Barry Wick, author or the menacing “sniper” comments against AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera that were posted on lesbian activist Pam Spaulding’s website. After CWA issued a national press release Tuesday about Wick’s comments, Spaulding removed them, claiming that she did not know they were there. More than a few friends have observed that it strains credulity that a techno-savvy activist who meticulously monitors Americans For Truth’s website — in search of examples of alleged “hate” to post on her blog — was somehow unaware that a violence-encouraging post against AFTAH founder Peter LaBarbera was sitting on her own site for three weeks.

The penchant of Spaulding, a Duke University employee, for mean-spirited jabs at ex-“gays” and Christian conservatives — whom she calls “AmTaliban” for “American Taliban” — places her among the most prolific putdown artists in a leftist blogosphere that specializes in bigoted and nasty name-calling. (Click HERE for a good write-up by former Washington Times investigative reporter George Archibald.) We’ll have more on that later, as well as further developments on this story. 

Following is Mr. Wick’s apology, which we accept: 

To Mr. Peter LaBarbera c/o Concerned Women of America … February 7, 2007 RE: Perceived Threat on Pam’s House Blend Blog

 

 

Dear Mr. LaBarbera,

 

I sincerely apologize for what may have seemed like a real threat on your person that I wrote on Pam’s House Blend. There is no sincere threat and I know of no sincere threat in existence from others. I am responsible for the hyperbolic language I used in an atmosphere of verbal pinching…unfortunately, my choice of language was shameful and not intended to do any real harm nor ever to give you the impression that I or others truly wanted to harm anyone. What I thought might be verbal pinching….really was far more and I apologize.

 

My language was over the top and I can understand how concerned you and your family and friends may have been. While we share opposing viewpoints on issues that affect our American culture, I have always stood behind my words and claimed responsibility for them. I was very wrong in this case and have always obeyed the laws of our state and the nation in expressing my viewpoints. There had been some good-natured joking about a very hurtful song posted on that website…and thinking my words would also be taken as so much hyperbole…well, they were not. As a new member of Ms. Spaulding\’s blog community, I got carried away with the atmosphere. I shall not return there.

 

We live in America. A land governed by law. We have differences about what the civil law ought to provide it’s citizens….but we are in agreement….that violence in any form is not the answer. I, too, have been threatened in my activist work of past years. I knew there was no serious substance to them and did not report them. You have used your vast power to swat a fly…and as that fly I feel swatted. I apologize to your wife and family for any fears they may have had. There was never any danger and I stand apologetic and humbled by my misadventurous writing style that has made a wrong turn. Please accept this as a sincere apology on all levels and that I hope this letter will put an end to who is responsible.

 

I heard your thoughts that perhaps the person writing the words was not a real person. Sadly, I am real…the words were wrong and were not taken in a hyperbolic, humorous context. Such “manifestos” are of a period that no longer exists in American social action. Further, I apologize to CWA for having to use its airtime and resources to tell this story to its audience. Nobody in the “gay” community would ever take what I said seriously. Trust me, any friends I may have made by my writing have now deserted me. I hope CWA will report this letter and its true sincerity to the same audience. I have truly supported non-violence in the gay community and continue to do so to this day.

 

If you have an question about my sincerity, feel free to call me at my home number below…anytime to hear these words from my mouth. As a part of the actions I am taking today to assure that I shall not run afoul of my poor creative writings, I have resigned from Pam’s House Blend and apologized to her for violating her rules. I am sincerely apologizing to you and your family. And I sincere apologize to anyone who thought my words were in any way a true reflection of my past actions or future actions nor are they reflective of everyone I know in the gay community. They are not. At 55 years old, I should know better. And this incident of my own creation has taught me another life lesson. I, too, am the father of three children who are now providing me grandchildren (four). I always taught them to accept responsibility when they did something wrong. I was wrong…and what I wrote was not truly intended to frighten or reflect my deepest feelings.

 

Please accept my apologies. I can appreciate that you might think I am a radical. Perhaps more in past years. Certainly not now and certainly not what the words may have appeared to represent. I humbly ask your forgiveness.

 

In All Sincerity, Barry G. Wick [address and phone number given]

In our e-mail version of this story, I mistakenly reported that there were a “series of [pro-violence] posts” on Pam Spaulding’s, when I meant to say “comments.” I confess that I am still learning all the blogging lingo. There was only one controversial POST in question (which we saw) advocating violence; that post contained several violence-endorsing COMMENTS (by Barry Wick) in the overall thread. I apologize for the error — PL

Lesbian activist Pam Spaulding, creator of the “Pam’s House Blend” blog, sent me the following e-mail note at 11:36 CST stating that she did not know that the violence-justifying posts against me were on her blog. She has removed those posts, for which we are grateful. At Americans For Truth, we believe that although our disagreements with pro-homosexual activists are great, we can and should debate the issue of homosexuality with civility, and without resorting to name-calling. — Peter LaBarbera

Here is Spaulding’s note:

Peter,

That string of comments referred to as threats in the CWA piece [“CWA: Pro-Family Leader’s Life Threatened on ‘Gay’ Website”] clearly violates the community standards of the blog, and they have been promptly deleted once I was alerted. Those participating in that subthread have been notified as well.

     I have never advocated for threatening physical harm to anyone, as I have been on the receiving end of the same treatment, along with having my home and phone information published. We may be on the opposite sides of the fence on most matters, but on this we can agree — our families (whether you regard mine as such or not) have a right to be safe.

     I will also place a post on the blog to that effect.

The following news release was issued this morning by Concerned Women for America. Needless to say, neither I nor Americans For Truth will be intimidated by such hateful threats, but we ask you: imagine if the situation were reversed and a Christian leader allowed a web post threatening violence against a homosexual activist spokesman to remain live and active on a “pro-family” for weeks on end. In addition to facing potential “hate crimes” prosecution, he’d surely be ostracized in the pro-family and faith communities. And rightly so.

At the time of this writing, the link advocating and justifying violence against me remained live on lesbian Pam Spaulding’s site [Spaulding has removed the posts from her blog, and said in a letter to me that she was unaware that the thread of posts advocating violence were there]. Please pray for Spaulding, “Barry Wick,” and all those whose embrace of homosexuality has led them to be consumed by hatred toward Christians and others who defend natural sexuality and marriage. — Peter LaBarbera

CWA: Pro-Family Leader’s Life Threatened on “Gay” Web Site

Lesbian activist Pam Spaulding’s popular weblog Pam’s House Blend is known for its outrageous and controversial content. In addition to promoting anti-Christian bigotry, the North Carolina-based Web activist’s favorite pastime appears to be smearing pro-family leader and Americans for Truth president Peter LaBarbera with bizarre and hateful accusations and insults. However, House Blend’s typically intolerant and obscene content may have recently shifted from the absurd to the criminally violent.

In what was, at the very least, an apparent attempt to intimidate and frighten LaBarbera, who is married with children, “House Blend” published his home address in a January 13, 2007, thread titled, “Saturday this and that.” Shortly thereafter, someone identified as “Barry G. Wick” posted the following comments: “It’s across from a park in an area with cul de sacs. I’d bet it’s a residence … and across from a park. Snipers take note.” (emphasis ours)

“Wick” later seemed to suggest that shooting LaBarbera would amount to an act of self-defense: “Self-defense for gay folks isn’t PC, is it? No, we have to be sure that we’re victims all the time. … When we start standing up for ourselves, we lose all the status of an under class. I refuse to be part of an underclass. I’m equal. And I’m gonna use any language, even outrageous language, to get my point across. … I’m a citizen … equal, proud, and willing to defend my way of life with my life. …”

Later in the same thread “Wick” made his true intent clear: “If I were Azerbaijani and living in Russia right now, I’d want to advocate violence against skinheads … [LaBarbera] and others like him ought to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what future awaits them from a cadre of selected defenders willing to give up everything in order to protect the lives of gay and lesbian citizens. The greatest thing ever to happen to the [Martin Luther King] movement was the Black Panthers. Americans were shocked by an open display of firearms and Black Pride … Pushing back verbally … or with selected action isn’t dishonorable, it’s necessary.”

LaBarbera indicated that he has been in touch with both the FBI and the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office. He’s anticipating a full criminal investigation. “I’m a big boy. It’s not so much that I’m worried about myself,” said LaBarbera, “but the effect this could have on my wife and children … that has me extremely upset.”

Concerned Women for America is deeply disturbed by this apparent threat to Peter LaBarbera’s life. Matt Barber, CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues said, “This is nothing short of cyber-terrorism. There should be a thorough criminal investigation, and if it’s determined that a crime has occurred, the perpetrators should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” As of the time of this press release [Tuesday morning, Feb. 7], the thread in question was still posted on Spaulding’s website.

A quote from GLSEN’s founder and executive director Kevin Jennings — the same GLSEN which designated this week (Jan 22-26, 2007) as No Name Calling Week, an opportunity for homosexual activists to influence your children.

TAKE ACTION — Make your school administrators aware of the origins of No Name Calling Week and of Kevin Jennings’ comments which reveal his character and (in)sincerity about tolerance/diversity…and then demand that GLSEN be refused access to students in your community.

Excerpted from When Silence Would Have Been Golden, by Peter LaBarbera, published April 10, 2006, by Concerned Women for America:

GLSEN’S JENNINGS: !&%#! THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT!
Addressing a church audience on March 20, 2000 in New York City — just days before “Fistgate” — GLSEN Executive Director Kevin Jennings offered a stinging (and quite intolerant) assessment of how to deal with religious conservatives:

Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded [pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we’ll pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] … over to our side. That’s really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit — … I’m trying to find a way to say this. I’m trying not to say, ‘[F—] ’em!’ which is what I want to say, because I don’t care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!⁹

It should be noted that GLSEN and Jennings make heavy use of the words “respect” and “tolerance” in their public rhetoric and in descriptions of their programs.¹⁰

Continue reading at CWA…

By Peter LaBarbera

When it comes to chutzpah, homosexual activists have it in spades. They work their lavender tushes off revolutionizing the age-old Judeo-Christian definitions of marriage and family; fight for “gay/straight” clubs in middle- and high schools, and homosexuality-affirming lessons for all students–even toddlers; lobby for open homosexuality in the armed forces; oppose marriage-preference adoption laws based on the absurd proposition that a child having two “gay daddies” is no worse off than one having a mother and a father; make outrageous claims that esteemed historical figures like Abe Lincoln were “gay”; and radically reinterpret the Bible to change homosexuality from an abomination to a “gift from God.”

Then they turn around and ridicule the idea that there is a “gay agenda.”

Here’s an entry from lesbian blogger Pam Spaulding:

“The Homosexual Agenda is an elusive document. We’ve been looking around for a copy for quite some time; the distribution plan is so secret that it’s almost like we need a queer Indiana Jones to hunt the master copy down. The various anti-gay forces are certain that we all have a copy and are coordinating a attack to achieve world domination.” –Pam Spaulding

Memo to Pam: you don’t have to risk being chased by a giant boulder in the Amazon to find a copy of that elusive agenda; just click this link for the 1972 Gay Rights Platform. Note the last two demands under “States” in the 1972 document: “Repeal all laws governing the age of sexual consent” and “Repeal all legislative provisions that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit.”

Or try this link for the 1987 (Homosexual) “March on Washington.” No agenda here, other than the calls for:

• “The government should provide protection from discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, public accommodations and education just as protection is provided on race, creed, color, sex, or national origin”;
• “Anti-homophobic curriculum in the schools”;
• “The government should ensure all public education programs include programs designed to combat lesbian/gay prejudice … Institutions that discriminate against lesbian and gay people should be denied tax-exempt status and federal funding.”
• “A massive [federal] AIDS education and prevention program that is explicit, culturally sensitive, lesbian and gay affirming and sex positive”;
• “Public and private institutions should support parenting by lesbian or gay couples”;
• All people must have access to free abortions and contraceptives on demand regardless of age.” (Strangely, abortion advocacy has long been part of the homosexual activist agenda.)

Read the rest of this article »

Earlier this week Michael Medved noted that one “tolerant” homosexual who wrote on the Garden Guy website said the Farber children should be sodomized.  Absolutely appalling.

Excerpted from Firm’s Anti-gay E-mail Sparks Online Fury, published Nov 9, 2006, by Reuters:

A U.S. landscaping firm has been inundated with hate mail…

The forum on Garden Guy’s Web site has received 26 pages of postings since the e-mail was made public, many of them criticizing the owners’ stance and urging a boycott. One accused the company of “hate and discrimination.”

Garden Guy co-owner Sabrina Farber said her family had also received verbal attacks and murder threats.

Continue reading at Reuters…