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“Sexual Orientation”/”Gender Identity” and the Law
AFTAH republishes this column by our friend Bryan Fischer from the outstanding website Renew America; to learn more about R.A., click HERE. Americans are indebted to Judge Roy Moore for attempting to stop arrogant judicial supremacists from imposing homosexual so-called “marriage” on the citizens of Alabama and those in so many other states who have been disenfranchised on this critical issue. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at “Focal Point”
A federal judge’s ruling is not a “law.” It is a “ruling.” So, for example, when people refer to Roe v. Wade as “the law of the land,” they are simply mistaken.
A “law” is something enacted by the elected representatives of the people (or by the people directly through referendum) and signed by the chief executive. A judge’s “ruling” is not therefore a “law.” Judges have no authority whatsoever to make law. They can issue rulings, but the power to make law is flatly prohibited to them.
This is clear from the first words in the the first article of the Constitution. “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”
That is “all,” as in “every last little single bit,” of the power to make law has been vested in Congress. That means no legislative power whatsoever has been granted to the judiciary. That is “no” legislative power as in zip, zilch, nada.
The New York Times makes a typical and constitutionally illiterate gaffe in today’s edition, on a piece on Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s directive to probate judges in Alabama to refuse to issue wedding licenses based on what Alabama state law still refers to as “deviate sexual intercouse.”
In Alabama, United States District Court Judge Callie V. S. Granade issued a ruling – not a “law” you will note – overturning the state’s marriage amendment, which was passed with 81% of the vote in 2006. Thus this tyrannical judge in one fell swoop pulverized the voting rights of 697,591 Alabamians.
This judge, acting like a black-robed despot, has ordered Alabama to begin issuing same-sex licenses as of today (February 9). Judge Moore is rightly and constitutionally saying not so fast.
‘Gays’ Bully Church: Attendees at Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco were harassed and assaulted by homosexual activist protesters as they attended a Sunday evening service in 1993. Read about it in this Conservapedia account.
“The day of the riot was the day Reverend Louis Sheldon, of the Traditional Values Coalition, was a guest speaker. Only the church’s membership and regular attenders were notified of the service, through the church’s bulletin. No public notice or invitation was made in regards to the guest speaker. However, the September 16, 1993 edition of the [homosexual newspaper] Bay Area Reporter, the meeting was made public in a front page article using inflammatory language…The church received telephone calls prior to [Rev.] Sheldon’s arrival demanding that he should not come and threatening to disrupt the service. In addition, two people visited the church and told a church employee that the church could not have…Sheldon as a guest speaker at the church and that they were going to stop it from happening.”– Conservapedia article, “Hamilton Square Baptist Church Riot”
What’s past is prologue. The video below offers a glimpse into a September 19, 1993 political mob-attack against the Hamilton Square Baptist Church in downtown San Francisco in which angry homosexual activists including ACT UP militants, outraged over an invited Sunday night speaker, defaced the church building, vandalized its property, pounded on the doors of the church as the evening service was going on–and even assaulted churchgoers, frightening young children.
Long before there was a serious national debate over homosexuality-based “marriage,” there was a phenomenon that many have since nicknamed “homo-fascism”–essentially the organized and often vicious LGBT harassment of those who openly oppose out-and-proud homosexualism. The neo-totalitarian assumption underlying homo-fascist aggression is that critics of homosexuality (and now transgenderism) are mere “haters” and “bigots” who effectively do not deserve or possess the same freedom to defend and organize around their beliefs as “gay” activists have to advance their agenda.
Homo-fascism is an outgrowth of homosexual activist power–which is greatest in major cities and “gay” Meccas like San Francisco. Ironically it resorts to the very same “bullying” that homosexual activists routinely condemn–and which they have manipulated rhetorically to great effect to promote homosexualist programs and ideology in schools. (Note that this writer has also used the term homo-communist–since the most oppressive attempts at thought-control in modern times have come from the Left–but that has not caught on like homo-fascist. Other conservative slang-terms mocking homosexual activist bullying and intolerance are: Gay-KK and the Gay-stapo.)
Rainbow Aggression: Homosexual activists and rioters raised a “rainbow flag” symbolizing “gay” liberation up the flag pole of Hamilton Square Baptist Church–as if on conquered territory. See just after the 6:00 mark in the CBN video report on the 1993 anti-Christian LGBT riot.
One of the things that is fascinating in this broadcast by CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) reporter Richard Hunt is how even after fanatical LGBT activists terrorized HSBC churchgoers and vandalized the Church–to the point of verbally assaulting churchgoing ladies and raising a “Rainbow Flag” up the church flag post while police apparently stood by and did nothing–they still managed to portray themselves as victims. Note also how, just like today, LGBT militants resorted to wild exaggerations–e.g., alleging that Christians opposed the homosexual agenda really aim to commit “violence” and even a “holocaust” against “gays”–to justify their strong-arm tactics against the Church and, in this case, pro-family leader Rev. Lou Sheldon.
That is a cynical, political lie, but also note the more direct falsehoods used to stoke the San Francisco leftists’ collective outrage: an apparent “gay” militant spits on Sheldon–CBN caught the despicable act on camera [start at about 4:50 of the video]–as Sheldon was being escorted back to his seat, or possibly out of City Hall, after testifying. Then, as the militant himself is ejected by police, “gay” activists are heard catcalling that the spitter is innocent (“Can we pick out Christians to arrest for no reason?!”) as they turned his deserved expulsion into more cries of homosexual victimhood. Unfortunately, cameras are not usually on hand to document the dirty, ends-justify-the-means tactics of LGBTQueer militants.
“Hamilton Square Baptist Church riot in San Francisco on the date of September 19, 1993 in which a angry group of male homosexuals and lesbians vandalized church property, assaulted church members, terrorized church congregants, screamed profanity, threw rocks, harassed and scared children, and disrupted a church service.”
Please share these links and the video below about Islam and homosexuality…
Homosexual activists and their fellow travelers certainly are deceived to believe Christians are hateful for telling them the truth about the sinful acts they engage in. Christians want persons caught up in homosexual practice to repent and turn away from sexual sin, so they can make it into heaven. Islam doesn’t have that same love in its heart and concern for the person’s soul. Islam doesn’t understand the concept of repentance and the grace of Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
How can persons caught up in homosexual practice not see the clear difference between Islam and Christianity? That last thing a Christian wants is anyone to die before that have come to the Lord. Yet homosexual activists excoriate anyone who does not accept their same-sex “marriage” lie. Now the real face of hate shows itself in Islam, and barely a peep from the LGBTists. Homosexual activists and their sympathizers just don’t get it: we Christians are NOT their enemy…
This video was posted by MRC-TV [click HERE]. Here is the link for the UK Daily Mail article on the barbaric “death penalty,” including stoning, in Syria: [click HERE]. And HERE is a useful article from “Answering Islam” on the difference between Islam and Christianity on homosexuality.
[Note from AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera: The Answering Islam author’s section on anti-sodomy laws, at the end of his paper, is a bit shallow; AFTAH has long opposed draconian penalties on this issue, but we no more support removing anti-sodomy laws from the books than we would anti-adultery laws. As the saying goes, “the law is a teacher”–and the very fact that Western anti-sodomy laws have produced nothing close to the present barbarity we are witnessing in the Middle East testifies to the humaneness of the Christian approach toward those practicing homosexual sin (and other sins) compared to the approach of Muslim sharia law.]
Following is an important opinion piece by our friend Gina Miller providing background about a court case that poses a direct threat to Americans’ freedom. The pro-homosexual Left–in this case the well-heeled “hate” manipulators at Southern Poverty Law Center–are attempting to use the courts to shut down ex-“gay” therapists–who help men and women overcome unwanted same-sex attractions. (Next they will be going after ex-“gay” ministries and church- or religiously-affiliated counselors.) Leftists are totalitarians at heart, as more and more they move to squelch dissent on the “gay” issue (in the name of “equality” and “protecting” people, of course–liberals know how to package their tyranny). This column first ran about a year ago in Renew America, an excellent website for patriots. Please do all you can to help JONAH and Chuck LiMandri’s Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, as literally is liberty are on the line in this case. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
As we continue to watch insanity reign in our nation on far too many levels, yet another activist federal judge, an Obama appointee who apparently does not know the difference between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, has overruled the will of the people in the State of Virginia and declared its ban on same-sex “marriage” to be “unconstitutional.” So continues the warped, vicious assault on truth, reason, the family and our freedoms.
We also have an example of what a Godless, morally relativistic university system produces. A third-year law student at Yale has written an opinion piece published on Wednesday in the New York Times. Jacob Victor’s column titled, “Ending ‘Gay Conversion’ for Good,” demonstrates the standard, leftist talking-point lies used against those who help people overcome unwanted same-sex attraction.
His piece begins:
Therapy programs that purport to “convert” lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender kids have caused immeasurable harm since they became prominent in the 1970s. Rigorous studies have shown again and again that efforts to change young people’s sexual orientation not only fail, but are also linked to suicidal behavior, depression, anxiety, drug use and risky sexual behavior.
These are lies. I am not aware of any therapists who guarantee conversion, any kind of therapists. When sin has a powerful hold on someone, it’s never easy to let it go, but it is possible. Countless people have escaped the grip of homosexuality and have gone on to live normal lives. To say that change from homosexuality is not possible is to lie.
Did America’s “conservative network” violate its anchor Bret Baier’s religious rights in forcing Legatus pullout?
Did Fox News violate anchor Bret Baier’s religious rights by pressing him to pull out as a speaker at the Catholic Legatus summit? Go to 23:40 mark in the video below. Read HERE about how Baier confirmed that Fox “requested” he withdraw as a speaker. And go HERE for Peter LaBarbera’s in-depth report for America’s Survival on Fox News’ escalating pro-homosexual bias,
America’s Survival TV led by veteran conservative media observer Cliff Kincad interviewed AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera January 21, 2015 about Fox News “requesting” that anchor Bret Baier, a Catholic, pull out as a speaker from a Jan. 28-29 conference by the Catholic group Legatus. [See AFTAH stories HERE and HERE.] Note at about the 24:00 mark how Jerry Kenney raises the specter of whether Fox violated Baier’s religious rights, citing a potential Title VII violation under the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)-enforced code. Here is AS’s write-up:
Published on YouTube Jan 24, 2015
The pressure to conform to the left-wing homosexual agenda has scored a direct hit on the Fox News Channel. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth discusses the scandal surrounding Bret Baier’s forced withdrawal from a Catholic conference. Jerry Kenney and Cliff Kincaid join Peter LaBarbera to discuss whether Bret Baier’s rights to free speech and religious expression were violated by his corporate bosses. Can a legal case be brought against Fox News?
LaBarbera to decathlete: “Biological men make really bad women” — as another role model embraces the LGBTQueer dark side
[Jesus said:] “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.'” (Mark 10:6)
[There is a total of 13 graphics in this piece: WARNING: offensive images]
RESOURCE: Helpful Christian website on Transgender Issues: www.SexChangeRegret.com (by ex-transsexual Walt Heyer)
__________________________
By Peter LaBarbera
I was 14 in 1976 when Bruce Jenner became first American to win Olympic gold in the Decathlon–and the title of world’s best (amateur) athlete–so here is the triumphant picture I will always have of Jenner in my mind:
For those middle aged like me, remember Jenner’s conquering images on the cover of Wheaties boxes?
And so you can imagine my shock–and that of millions like me who grew up watching the masculine Jenner’s physical feats–that he is reportedly on his way to becoming a transgender “woman.” For the record, no matter what the LGBT-brainwashed media lemmings say, Jenner will ALWAYS be a “he.” He can never become a “woman.” The bottom line is: Biological males make really bad “women,” and vice versa. Anyway, the tabloid magazine In Touch Weekly got tired of waiting for Jenner’s “transgender coming out” and jumped the gun by putting this femmy, photoshopped version of Jenner on its cover:
This was over the top, but who can blame the tabloids for going nuts on the Jenner “transgender” story? Who can blame them for seizing on the Nature-defying insanity of transgenderism– a prime example of mankind’s antics being “stranger than fiction,” as the saying goes. And as for the Left, just know that if you publicly dismiss all this gender-bending as so much decadence and nonsense, be careful as you might be labeled a “transphobe.” (The LGBTQueer movement fought to depathologize homosexuality and gender confusion; now they work to pathologize normalcy and its defenders.)
No Justice: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is hardly impartial on the issue of homosexuality-based “marriage’ (just as she isn’t on abortion). According to AFA, Ginsburg has “officiated” at five counterfeit same-sex “weddings.” Justice Elena Kagan has also performed sodomy-based “marriage” rituals. AFA says both “activist” justices should recuse themselves from SCOTUS cases on the issue.
American Family Association) Press Release
Friday, January 16, 2015
Kagan and Ginsburg: Recuse Yourselves!
American Family Association Says Supreme Court Justices Should Step Down on SCOTUS Marriage Cases
[Note: AFTAH has added quote marks around the word “marriage”–as in same-sex “marriage”–in all non-quotation references to the term in the original release–to preserve the natural, age-old understanding of the word.]
TUPELO, Miss.—The issue of same-sex “marriage” in America has divided the country this past year, with state, district and federal courts issuing ruling after ruling.
In light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement that it will hear the issue, American Family Association (AFA, www.afa.net) says Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg should recuse themselves from making any same-sex “marriage” decisions because they have both conducted same-sex marriage ceremonies.
“Both of these justices’ personal and private actions that actively endorse gay marriage clearly indicate how they would vote on same-sex marriage cases before the Supreme Court,” said AFA President Tim Wildmon. “Congress has directed that federal judicial officers must disqualify themselves from hearing cases in specified circumstances. Both Kagan and Ginsburg have not only been partial to same-sex marriage but they have also proven themselves to be activists in favor of it. In order to ensure the Court’s integrity and impartiality, both should recuse themselves from same-sex marriage cases. Congress has an obligation to Americans to see that members of the Supreme Court are held to the highest standards of integrity. The law demands it, and the people deserve it.”
AFA sent an Action Alert to its one million-plus supporters, asking them to write a letter to their members of Congress, urging them to remind members of the nation’s highest court of their charge to maintain impartiality. Title 28, Part I, Chapter 21, Section 455 of the U.S. Code titled “Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge,” states that “Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”
Kagan performed a September 21, 2014, same-sex “marriage” ceremony for her former law clerk and his partner in Maryland. And Ginsburg performed a same-sex “marriage” ceremony at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., in August 2013.
OneNewsNow.com, AFA’s news service, also reported that Ginsburg has officiated at least five same-sex “marriage” ceremonies.
Folks, I know we’re three weeks into 2015, but these videos get my award for the smartest pro-family activism of 2014. Congrats to Theodore Shoebat–the son of ex-radical-Muslim-turned-Christian Walid Shoebat–for exposing the hypocrisy of homosexual activists, or at least those who would force Christian and moral-minded small businessmen to violate their conscience in the name of “gay equality.” Watch it on YouTube HERE.
Shoebat asks pro-homosexual bakeries to make anti-homosexual “marriage” cakes (that say, “Gay Marriage Is Wrong”) and watch what happens. And for the record, AFTAH completely supports the right of bakers of any political or religious persuasion to refuse to bake cakes that convey ideas with which they disagree. It’s called Freedom. Of course, that includes Christian, Orthodox Jewish or Muslim bakers who are asked to celebrate homo-sexual immorality (e.g., “Gay Pride”) and counterfeit, sodomy-based “marriage.” This is Part 1, and Part 2 follows after the jump; they were published December 12, 2014.–Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH.org; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera