So we don’t have free speech, after all? Leviticus 18:22 banned in Big Apple

Rev. Kristopher Okwedy, a Nigerian immigrant, thought he would have the freedom to proclaim Biblical truth about homosexuality in the “the land of the free and home of the brave,” but alas, New York City politicians banned his billboard (left). Judge Sonia Sotomayor joined a Second Circuit order that denied Okwedy’s free speech. The ruling was obviously hostile to religion despite the Court’s claim otherwise. 

________________________

American Family Association Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 26, 2009

SOTOMAYOR: It’s okay for Government to ridicule Holy Bible

In 2003, Judge Sonia Sotomayor joined a Second Circuit order that excused government hostility toward religion.  In 2000, Rev. Kristopher Okwedy and Keyword Ministries, Inc. –– a Christian Church –– put up a billboard sign quoting a verse of the Holy Bible, Leviticus 18:22, that says, “Thou shall not lie with a male as with a female –– it is an abomination.”  The sign included the postscript, “I AM YOUR CREATOR.”  After three days and much public outcry, Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari called the display “mean spirited” and said the Bible verse “conveys an atmosphere of intolerance which is not welcome in our Borough.”  He then attempted to have the sign removed or covered up.

Staver: “Same-sex ‘marriage’ agenda on a collision course with freedom”

Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel (right) says the New Hampshire House vote “is clear evidence that the end game is to force clergy and religious institutions to not just accept, but to celebrate and participate in same-sex ‘marriages.’”

Liberty Counsel issued the following press release today; we added the quote marks around “marriage,” as in same-sex “marriage,” as part of our ongoing attempt to preserve the real meaning of words against the semantic onslaught of pro-homosexuality activists:

__________________________________

May 21, 2009, Liberty Counsel

Manchester, NH – By a vote of 188-186, the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted down a same-sex “marriage” bill because it contained a religious liberty protection clause. The state Senate had previously passed the bill along party lines by a vote of 14-10. Governor George Lynch, who is opposed to same-sex ‘marriage,’ said he would veto the bill unless it contained a religious liberty protection amendment. The amendment was added to the House version of the bill, and that is where it met opposition by an openly homosexual member of the House, who lobbied against the bill because of the amendment.

TAKE ACTION: Call your U.S. Representative and Senators at 202-224-3121 and urge them to OPPOSE H.R. 1913, the federal “Thought Crimes” (“Hate Crimes”) bill, which is likely to be passed out of the House Judiciary Committee today. You can also find your representatives at www.congress.org.

“Passage of ‘hate crimes’ legislation would place the behaviorally driven and fluid concepts of ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ on an equal footing with legitimate, neutral and immutable ‘suspect class’ characteristics such as skin color or a person’s true gender. This creates both a sociopolitical and legal environment wherein traditional sexual morality officially becomes the new racism.” — Matt Barber

By Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel

Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) have quietly re-introduced the federal thought crimes bill, H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. As has proved to be true in both Europe and Canada, this Orwellian piece of legislation is the direct precursor to freedom killing and speech chilling “hate speech” laws. It represents a thinly veiled effort to ultimately silence – under penalty of law – morally, medically and biblically based opposition to the homosexual lifestyle. The bill is expected to be marked up Wednesday before the full House Judiciary Committee.

Under the 14th Amendment, victims of violent crime are currently afforded equal protection under the law regardless of sexual preference or proclivity. If passed, H.R. 1913 will change all that.  It overtly and, most likely, unconstitutionally discriminates against millions of Americans by granting federally preferred status, time and resources to individuals who define their identity based upon aberrant sexual behaviors (i.e., “gay” and lesbian “sexual orientation” or cross-dressing “gender identity”).

Besen Expands Definition of “Bigotry”: “Gay” militant Wayne Besen — who targets former homosexuals for harassment disguised as activism (see below) — told FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly last night that he considers opposition to same-sex “marriage” to be “bigotry” (See YouTube at end of piece below.) Homosexual activists for decades have labeled religious and moral conservatives as “haters” — and a proposed pro-homosexual federal “hate crimes” law would create the basis for their biased, anti-Christian viewpoint affecting federal prosecutions. In other countries, “hate crimes” laws have presaged “hate speech” codes that directly punish Christian speech opposing homosexuality or Islamic radicalism. TAKE ACTION: call your Congressman and Senators to oppose “Thought Crimes” legislation, H.R. 1913: 202-224-3121 or www.congress.org.

_________________________________________

The following release was sent out by PFOX April 7:

Contact:  Greg Quinlan, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX); PFOX@pfox.org

Gays Hating Ex-Gays

Hate Crimes Bill Introduced in Congress

A commentary by ex-gay Greg Quinlan

Washington D.C. – April 7, 2009/ What happens when ex-gays dare to come out of the closet?  When I helped staff the exhibit booth for the Ex-Gay Educators Caucus at the National Education Association conference in June 2006, Wayne Besen, the former spokesperson for the gay Human Rights Campaign, approached our booth and began to insult us for having the audacity to live as heterosexuals.  He took photos of our booth for his ex-gay bashing website which targets the ex-gay community for ridicule and harassment.  Mr. Besen and gay rights organizations do not believe ex-gays are entitled to the same rights and respect that gays currently enjoy.  They picket ex-gay conferences and protest vigorously against ex-gay equal access.

A profile in corporate cowardice … 

‘Gay’ Legal Bullies Rewarded: new homosexual dating website, “Compatible Partners” — which was created as part of a legal settlement after eHarmony founder Neil Clark Warren chose to capitulate to a homosexual activist’s harassment lawsuit in New Jersey. Will eHarmony’s sellout inspire other acts of Christian and corporate cowardice?

Folks, we’ve written before on how eHarmony.com and its founder, Neil Clark Warren, failed the test in defending their (and our) religious liberties when they caved in to a homosexual activist’s harassment lawsuit last year. Now I hope that eHarmony.com pays a price for its capitulation, which hopefully will not spawn other acts of corporate cowardice. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” said abolitionist Wendell Phillips, and creating “civil rights” based on human wrongs (homosexuality and gender confusion) naturally undermines our First Amendment freedoms.

Even lesbian Georgetown law professor Chai Feldblum is honest enough to admit that the battle between “gay rights” and your freedom to act on your moral beliefs is a “zero-sum” game. Of course, Prof. Feldblum thinks homosexual “rights” usually should come out on top. (And speaking of capitulations, what’s up with a “Catholic” school employing a lesbian activist attorney who thinks “rights” based on homo- and transsexuality trump religious freedoms, anyway?)

As a pro-marriage guy who believes that true masculinity is bound up in being a good husband and father — not in sexual conquests and certainly not in homosexuality — I’m all for matchmaking (although my matchmaking attempts for others have been duds so far). I realize that singles are looking for something that works, and eHarmony has been successful in this regard, but I hope that principled single men and women will at least consider using an alternative dating company; here’s one that has remained Christian in focus: www.christiancafe.com.

Help Kevin McCoy stop West Virgnia ENDA bills

The following is a legislative alert from my friend Kevin McCoy, presidet of West Virginia Family Foundation and state director of the American Family Association of West Virginia. Kevin is the leading activist in West Virginia fighting against the imposition of homosexual “superior rights” in that state. (We argue that so-called “gay rights” go beyond mere “special rights” because many homosexual activists now claim that such aberrant-sex-based “rights” supersede traditional citizens’ First Amendment liberties, including freedom of association based on faith/moral beliefs.)

I’ve worked with Kevin for more than a decade and he is one of the most effective and hardest working pro-family advocates I have ever met. Give me 100 Kevin McCoys and America is a far different nation (I’m not exaggerating)! You can read about some of Kevin’s and WVFF’s accomplishments HERE. If you are a West Virginia resident — or even if you aren’t — please consider sending WVFF a donation to continue their outstanding work defending life, marriage and the traditional family. Thank you. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.com

_______________________________________________

Americans For Truth about Homosexuality
Press Release

February 12, 2009
Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; americansfortruth@comcast.net

NAPERVILLE, Illinois – Americans For Truth (AFTAH) President Peter LaBarbera today urged Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele not to promote the divisive agenda of the homosexual activist group ‘Log Cabin Republicans’ – which has just 20,000 members nationwide — at the expense of the huge, grassroots pro-family conservative GOP base.

AFTAH is encouraging Republicans and pro-family citizens nationwide to contact Steele and the RNC to urge them not to sell out the conservative GOP platform by courting an organization that works to undermine tradition marriage and supports anti-religious, pro-homosexual special-rights legislation.  (AFTAH is also launching a parallel effort encouraging pro-life and pro-family Democrats to appeal to their Party to stop promoting a “Culture of Death” agenda.) Steele can be reached at:

Office of RNC Chairman Michael Steele
Phone: 202-863-8700;
E-mail: Chairman@gop.com;
RNC (www.gop.com): 202-863-8500

“Michael Steele and the GOP need to do the math: it is foolish and impractical to risk alienating millions of pro-family, pro-life, conservative grassroots Republicans to appease a tiny homosexual special interest group with fewer members than the population of Liberal, Kansas,” LaBarbera said. “If the Republican Party is to turn itself around, it must reach out aggressively to real, pro-family minorities like Steele himself — not homosexual activists whose agenda would restrict our precious religious and First Amendment freedoms by using the government to promote aberrant sexual lifestyles.”

“We are leaders in what is good and right and just in this country,” boasts “gay” leader of group that presents “leather leadership” award to homosexual pornographer

See our adjoining story: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Talks of ‘Moral Leadership’ while Honoring Homosexual S&M Pornographer

Rea Carey of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force says her movement shows “moral leadership” to the nation — even as the Task Force presented its “Leather Leadership Award” to a homosexual pornographer. The Task Force’s “Creating Change” conference in Denver ran supportive workshops on: transsexuality; prostitution (“sex workers’ rights”), “polyamory/nonmonogamy”; and – most disturbing – pushing a “sexual freedom” (read: sexual license) agenda on youth.

Dear AFTAH Reader,

If you are reading this website, you are seriously concerned about the homosexual activist agenda.  So I have an assignment for you.  Please print out the enclosed “State of the Movement” speech by the Rea Carey, the new executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and read it all the way through (it’s about 8 printed pages with my introduction).  Now, why would a Christian pro-family organization send out a speech by a radical homosexual activist?  Because we need to know what our Culture War enemies are saying and this speech is very instructive for OUR cause of defending traditional morality and marriage in America.

If you can’t find time to read the whole “Creating Change” speech, at least read the parts of it that we have bolded below.  Note how Ms. Carey talks about “moral leadership” even as the Task Force gave its ‘Leather Leadership Award” to a hard-core homosexual pornographer at the same “Creating Change” conference.  (Talk about chutzpah!)  And note also how she refers to the Bush administration as the “Evil Empire” – Ronald Reagan’s famous description of expansionist Soviet Communism – just as Iraqi citizens were preparing to vote in another free election made possible by the U.S. liberation of their country from the grip of dictator Saddam Hussein.  Nobody lies like the Left, yet the liberal media rarely challenge groups like the Task Force on their many falsehoods and slanders.