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.
State Rep. Greg Harris (pictured left) plans to introduce legislation today to permit same-sex couples to get married. Although four states recognize civil unions among gays, only Massachusetts provides for gay marriages.
I’ve been doing this job too long. I can remember when leftist activists were screaming about how there was no agenda, and there was especially no effort underway to persuade society to accept sodomy-based “marriage.” Those lies started to become muted when Vermont used their “sexual orientation” law to force a new concept on civilized society called “civil unions.” That is another euphemism for sodomy-based “marriage.” Massachusetts, of course, followed soon after by discovering that the puritan Christian John Adams actually wrote sodomy-based “marriage” into the Commonwealth’s constitution. Imagine that. No … don’t.
