“Our decision today significantly advances the civil rights of gays and lesbians. We have decided that our state constitution guarantees that every statutory right and benefit conferred the heterosexual couples from civil marriage must be made available to committed same-sex couples.

“Now the legislature must determine whether to alter the long accepted definition of marriage. The great engine for social change in this country has always been the democratic process. Although courts can ensure equal treatment, they cannot guarantee social acceptance, which must come through the evolving ethos of a maturing society. Plaintiffs request does not end here. Their next appeal must be to their fellow citizens, whose voices are heard through their popularly elected representatives.”

In the back row, left to right:

• Justice John E. Wallace (joined the majority opinion), nominated by secretly homosexual Governor James E. McGreevey
• Justice James R. Zazzali (joined the minority opinion), nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman
• Justice Barry T. Albin (joined the majority opinion), nominated by secretly homosexual Governor James E. McGreevey
• Justice Roberto A. Rivera-Soto (joined the majority opinion), nominated by secretly homosexual Governor James E. McGreevey

In the front row, left to right:

• Justice Virginia Long (joined the minority opinion), nominated to serve on the Supreme Court by Governor Christine Todd Whitman
• Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz (joined the minority opinion), nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman and re-nominated to Chief Justice by secretly homosexual Governor James McGreevey; she retired the day after this decision
• Justice Jaynee LaVecchia (joined the majority opinion), nominated by Governor Christine Todd Whitman

I think you will agree that there is a huge double-standard in the way the media covers victims, “hate crimes” and news in general. Some victims are Politically Correct; others are not. The liberal media sensationalized the murder of homosexual Matthew Shepard, which was shamelessly exploited by “gay” groups to promote national “hate crimes” legislation. Meanwhile, when a deranged homosexual man murders a Chicago Catholic and mother of four, Mary Stachowicz, it goes largely uncovered. Shepard is a household name, but try asking a friend or co-worker if they’ve ever heard of Mary Stachowicz and you’ll likely get a “Mary who?” in response. (Or do a Google search comparing the two victims’ names and see how many stories come up.)

Now the public defender for Mary’s murderer, Nicholas Gutierrez, is arguing that Mary was the aggressor, saying she became enraged to the point of violence over his homosexual lifestyle. I trust that this appeal to ugly anti-Christian bigotry – the legal equivalent of spitting on Mary’s grave – will not sway the jury. Think of what Mary’s husband Jerry, four kids and extended family and friends went through yesterday having to listen to this slander from her murderer’s Public Defender. I was at the trial and saw the stocky, roughly six-foot-tall Gutierrez in the courtroom: how ridiculous to think he was threatened by a 51-year-old woman who was known for her religious devotion!

Now imagine how differently this would have been reported had it been a 51-year-old Chicago lesbian, respected in her community, who was stabbed and beaten and raped, then stuffed in a crawl space by a crazed straight man. It’s simply unthinkable that the media would not lavish coverage on such a case.

Today’s online Chicago Sun-Times headline about the Gutierrez murder trial was, “Defense: Killing Payback for Gay Taunts.” It should have been: “Prosecutor Calls Gay Killer of Catholic Mother of Four a “Monster,” Cites DNA Evidence of Rape.” But at least the Sun-Times covered the case (I saw nothing on the Tribune’s website). – Peter LaBarbera

TAKE ACTION – Call or write your local media and ask them to cover the murder trial of Nicholas Gutierrez, who killed Mary Stachowicz, with the same interest that they covered the trial of the Matthew Shepard’s murderers. Here is the contact info for the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times:

AN AMERICANS FOR TRUTH PRESS RELEASE

Sun-Times leads story with outrageous “anti-homophobe” defense as most media ignore trial

CHICAGO—Cook Co. Assistant State’s Attorney Jim McKay yesterday described (homosexual) Chicago man Nicholas Gutierrez’s “ferocious” 2002 murder of a pious, 51-year-old Catholic mother of four, Mary Stachowicz—saying he also raped Mary in addition to stabbing, strangling and beating her, then stuffed her bloody body in a crawl space under the floor of his apartment.

“There is a monster in the courtroom today,” McKay said, describing how Gutierrez stabbed Stachowicz so many times that he bent the tip of his hunting knife. Gutierrez then allegedly wrapped her body in sheets and covered her head in a plastic bag before hiding her, as Mary’s family and friends searched frantically for her for three days.

After McKay laid out the state’s case, including finding Gutierrez’s DNA in Stachowicz’s vagina and anus, Gutierrez’s public defender, Crystal Marchigiani, claimed that it was Stachowicz who attacked Gutierrez: “It happened because she could not leave him alone in his [homosexual] lifestyle.”

Marchigiani said that on the day of her death, November 13, 2002, Stachowicz confronted Gutierrez at the Sikorsky Funeral Home where Mary worked and where Gutierrez once was employed. (He lived in an apartment above the funeral home with his male friend, Ray.) She said Mary angrily pressed Gutierrez with the question, “Why do you sleep with boys?” and then followed Gutierrez upstairs to his room before physically attacking him.

All the while, the stocky Gutierrez, who appeared to be about six feet tall, sat in the courtroom. One of Mary Stachowicz’s sisters left the room in disgust after hearing Marchigiani launch her shocking defense.

Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera responded: “The Gutierrez defense team’s Politically Correct courtroom ploy ought to be called the ‘Anti-Homophobe Panic Defense.’ Marchigiani’s is an ugly attempt to exploit the liberal caricature of Christians who oppose homosexuality as crazed haters with a penchant for aggression.

“So here we see a new defense tactic: stoking the flames of anti-Christian bigotry to save a ‘gay’ murderer from the punishment he deserves,” LaBarbera said.

The Gutierrez trial continues today at 11:00 AM in Room 700 of the Criminal Court Building, 2600 S. California Ave., in Chicago.

In its small story about the Gutierrez murder trial, the Chicago Sun-Times ran with this headline: “Defense: Killing Payback for Gay Taunts.”

The following is excerpted from Defense: Killing Payback for Gay Taunts (‘She could not leave him alone’), by Stefano Esposito, published Oct 27, 2006, in Chicago Sun-Times:

Nicholas Gutierrez killed a 51-year-old mother of four and church volunteer only after she beat and tormented him because he was gay, Gutierrez’s attorney told a Cook County jury Thursday.

“It happened because she could not leave him alone in his lifestyle,” attorney Crystal H. Marchigiani said in opening statements…

Continue reading in Chicago Sun-Times…

This excerpt is from Trial Begins in Funeral Home Slaying, published Oct 27, 2006, in Chicago Tribune:

Assistant Public Defender Crystal H. Marchigiani told jurors that Stachowicz, a mother of four and a church volunteer, instigated the attack by following Gutierrez upstairs and bullying herself into his apartment.

Continue reading in Chicago Tribune…

Who was Mary Stachowicz? Was she a bully, filled with hatred? Read this verbatim excerpt from Chapter 16 of A Mother’s Plea: Journey into the Light, by Father Anthony Bus, published 2005 by Marian Press:

Murder or Martyred? The Death of Mary Stachowicz
The Flame in Her Heart

Mary (Stachowicz) was a graceful and compassionate woman. She was strong-willed but humble. She was without malice. Her faith in Jesus Christ, her love for the Virgin Mary, and her defense of the Catholic faith and Catholic spirituality were simply integral to her personality …Concern for the faith of her family was the flame that perpetually burned in her heart, and that fire spread well beyond the walls of her home. Her only agenda was to make Jesus and the Church known and loved.

By Allyson Smith
Published Dec 4, 2002, by Concerned Women for America

“I really don’t feel sorry for her. She paid a very steep price for being an arrogant religious fascist. Too bad for her.” – “Iris,” in a posting on the ACLU Online Forum.

“Quite frankly, if anyone in this case was being ‘persecuted’ it was Mr. Gutierrez. Unfortunately for the victim this was a lesson that she learned too hard and too late. Maybe this will give pause to other people who similarly try to ‘help’ homosexuals.” – “Silence Dogood,” on ACLU Online Forum.

Excerpt from New Jersy Supreme Court syllabus:

“Denying committed same-sex couples the financial and social benefits and privileges given to their married heterosexual counterparts bears no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose. The Court holds that under the equal protection guarantee of Article I, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, committed same-sex couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes. The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to same-sex couples whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left to the democratic process.”

Four justices joined the majority opinion. Take no heart, because the other three justices joined the minority opinion calling for FULL homosexual “marriage.” That’s 7-0 for marriage as God ordained it.

New Jersey’s highest court has ordered legislators to institute state-honored homosexual “marriage” or “civil union” within 180 days.

Righteousness exalts a nation,
but sin is a disgrace to any people.
— Proverbs 14:34

Indeed, today’s decision is a disgrace to our nation.

From Senior Counsel Glen Lavy at Alliance Defense Fund:

“If marriage can mean anything, then marriage means nothing. This is a wake-up call for people who believe that marriage doesn’t need constitutional protection. The court was right to conclude there is no fundamental right to same-sex ‘marriage,’ but to characterize marriage as just another option along with other ‘unions’ makes marriage meaningless. It’s critical that people vote for marriage amendments like those in Arizona, Virginia, and Wisconsin, which prevent a court from giving same-sex couples marriage in everything but name only.”

Excerpted from Youth Summit Promotes Gay-Straight School Clubs, by Tracy Dell’Angela, published October 22, 2006, in Chicago Tribune:

…[High school senior Leroy] Kirk, 17, attended the Youth Leadership Summit on Saturday looking for advice on how to make a gay-tolerance club work at his South Lawndale neighborhood school [Farragut, pictured at right].

…The Summit, at the Youth Pride Center on 637 S. Dearborn St., was attended by more than 50 students from the Chicago area. It was sponsored by Creating Safe Schools for Illinois, a group formerly affiliated with the national Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

The workshops offered ideas for students launching gay-tolerant school groups and trying to expand existing ones. These ideas included surveys about homophobia, movie nights, social networking Web sites and “queer dances and yearbooks.”

The organizers say the summit is a chance for student advocates to share successes and struggles.

Acire Roche, youth program coordinator for Safe Schools, said her goal is to reach out to schools that have never considered forming a Gay Straight Alliance. In the past, the organization waited for students or teachers to initiate a club at a school, and the group would act as an advocate…

Roche said she hopes to expand the group’s focus beyond Chicago. She e-mails and calls school administrators to ask how they address issues of diversity for gay and lesbian youth.

“Some schools would say, `We don’t have any gay kids here,'” she said. `And I would say, `Why don’t you have a support group, just in case you do?'”

Continue reading in Chicago Tribune…

Excerpted from For Gill, It’s Not About the Money, by Myung Oak Kim And Burt Hubbard, published Oct 23, 2006, in Rocky Mountain News:

…Tim Gill, the 53-year-old founder of the desktop software firm Quark, became a force in Colorado politics two years ago when he and three other wealthy residents spent $2 million to help install a Democratic majority in both houses of the state legislature for the first time in decades.

This year, Gill has dropped almost $5 million so far on state election campaigns – more than any other individual in Colorado.

…”I have never seen in Colorado politics in the 30-some odd years where I’ve been active . . . any individual involved to the degree that Tim Gill is,” said political consultant Katy Atkinson, a registered Republican who works with both sides of the aisle on ballot measures.

“Should he choose to, he can shape any part of Colorado public policy he wants to.”

Gill also is a player on the national stage, funneling more than $2 million into mostly Democratic causes, including the Democracy Alliance, a new group made up of dozens of the country’s wealthiest donors who are lavishing money on think tanks and organizations to counter similar groups established years ago by conservatives.

All of this is on top of Gill’s considerable philanthropy. Gill and his 12-year-old Gill Foundation have spent more than $80 million on gay and lesbian causes and on other organizations friendly to their gay workers, including the Pikes Peak Library Foundation, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and Public Broadcasting of Colorado.

And all of this is just the beginning, according to Gill’s political adviser Ted Trimpa.

“Tim is in it for the long haul,” said Trimpa, a partner at the high-profile law firm Brownstein Hyatt & Farber. “What we’re talking about is strategic philanthropy and strategic politics.”…

Homosexual activist Rick Garcia of Equality Illinois is losing it. Garcia, who I learned from this piece is not a native of Illinois but moved here from St. Louis to promote homosexual “rights,” called a Chicago sex club (bathhouse) where men go for anonymous sexual encounters with other men a “health club.” (Rick says he doesn’t know what goes on in there–right.) He also called me a sex-obsessed “freak” who will get a “tongue lashing” on judgment day.

Suffice it to say that Garcia’s health standards are wanting, and that as a practicing homosexual who calls himself a Catholic yet wars against the sexual teachings of his own Church (he called Chicago Cardinal Francis George a “bigot”), he might want to contemplate his own coming judgment day rather than worry about mine. — Peter LaBarbera, Naperville, Illinois

The following is excerpted the article by Paige Winfield entitled Their Only Common Ground: Strong Opinions, published October 22, 2006, in The Naperville Sun:

…LaBarbera, director of Naperville-based Americans for Truth, says that homosexuality is unnatural, dangerous and changeable. Garcia, director of public policy for Equality Illinois, says it is natural, safe and unchangeable.

According to Garcia, all LaBarbera does is “attack and spread lies about gay people” as he “distorts the message of Christianity.”

But LaBarbera says he rejects all hatred and violence against homosexuals while maintaining his belief that homosexual behavior is immoral. “Rick is saying we are all about hate,” LaBarbera said. “It’s just a disagreement about behavior. What he can’t understand is that we are opposed to the behavior, and we believe Rick is a little bit obsessed about having everybody accept the behavior.”

…LaBarbera criticizes Garcia for accepting money donated to Equality Illinois by Steamworks – a private men’s bathhouse in Chicago – which he says is a place filled with unsafe sexual behavior.

“Those are the places where people contract dangerous diseases,” LaBarbera said. “I think if Rick really cared about gay men, he would want to close that place down.”

Calling LaBarbera a “freak obsessed with sex,” Garcia said Steamworks is just one of many businesses from which Equality Illinois accepts money and said he does not know what goes on inside the club. He said it is more dangerous for gays to remain closeted out of fear than for them to spend time in bathhouses like Steamworks.

“I find it amazing that (Peter) is so concerned about a private health club,” Garcia said. “He is certainly no one to criticize, when he opposes distribution of condoms and safe-sex education in schools.”

…Garcia thinks he knows what awaits LaBarbera.

“I can hardly wait for judgment day to come for Peter LaBarbera, because he’s going to get a tongue-lashing like never before,” Garcia said.

Continue reading in The Naperville Sun…