Liberty Counsel

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August 3, 2007

Judge Forces Idaho To Fund Estrogen Treatment for Man Who Thinks He Is A Woman 

Boise, ID – Federal district Judge Mikel Williams ruled on Friday that the Idaho Department of Correction must provide an inmate with estrogen therapy. The judge will consider continuing treatment when the issue goes to trial. The inmate believes that he is a woman trapped in a man’s body. The man, who castrated himself using a disposable razor blade while in prison, demanded female hormone therapy. He also changed his name from Randall Gammett to Jenniffer Spencer. The man is serving a 10-year sentence for escape and possession of a stolen car.

After prison officials refused estrogen therapy, but instead offered testosterone therapy to replace the hormones lost to castration, the inmate sued, alleging he was subjected to cruel and unusual punishment and other constitutional violations.

State officials said the inmate was in prison for several years before demanding treatment. In 2004, he survived an attempted suicide. Two months later he tried to castrate himself, failing in the first attempt but later succeeding. He was diagnosed with an unspecified sexual disorder and bipolar disorder.

Liberty Counsel is a nationwide legal organization with experience in litigation of transsexual legal issues. In June 2004, Liberty Counsel won a case on behalf of a Florida woman against the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which represented a woman who, after watching an MTV program and so-called “sex reassignment surgery,” changed her name from Margo to Michael, began testosterone treatment, and then had a total mastectomy and hysterectomy. This person then wanted to be considered “male” for purposes of Florida’s marriage laws. Although a trial court judge wrote an 809-page opinion claiming that gender is primarily a “state of mind,” Liberty Counsel got the ruling overturned on appeal. The appeals court ruled that “the common meaning of male and female . . . [refers] to immutable traits determined at birth.”

Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “Hormones and plastic surgery do not change a person’s sex, which is an immutable trait fixed at birth. Plastic surgery and hormone treatment to alter a person’s sexual appearance is no more warranted than is liposuction for an anorexic. The state should not be compelled to fund so-called sex reassignment surgery, especially when such treatment is not widely accepted, is experimental, and has not been shown to resolve the disturbed mental behavior.”

Fox News reports the following:

Deductive Reasoning

 

A 63-year-old Boston resident is suing the IRS because it is refusing to allow a $25,000 deduction — for a sex-change operation.

 

Rhiannon O’Donnabhain was a married father of three — when he underwent the operation at age 57. The IRS rejected the write-off — saying the tax code does not allow deductions for cosmetic surgery unless it is medically necessary. O’Donnabhain says the surgery follows a medical diagnosis of gender identity disorder, and advocates say it should be treated like other medical procedures. They say the IRS ruling is motivated by politics and prejudice.

 

O’Donnabhain’s case could set a precedent for the up to 2,000 people a year who undergo sex-change surgery in the U.S.

 

—FOX News Channel’s Martin Hill contributed to this report.

Do Chicago homosexuals have special rights to go nude in public and bully critics?

  Topless transsexual bares his (presumably hormone-induced) breasts, blocked out in this photo, at Chicago’s homosexual “pride” parade on Sunday. The “man” rode exposed like this for blocks going down Broadway Avenue atop the “Hamburger Mary’s” float. The crowd lining the streets cheered him/her on.

The following are firsthand accounts from two Christians who passed out Gospel tracts and preached at Chicago’s “Gay Pride” parade Sunday in the “Boystown” section of the city. I witnessed plenty of tolerance at the parade for all sorts of debauchery — such as one pink-haired (biologically male) transsexual who bared his (presumably female-hormone-induced) breasts as he rode block after block on atop a float (see photo above) — but little for a Biblical message against sin.

Sadly, some churches and synagogues marched in the “pride” parade, effectively blaspheming the Creator they purport to serve. The word for that is ‘shame,’ not ‘pride.’

The first testimony below is from Americans For Truth volunteer Dan Musick, who did not street-preach but passed out several hundred tracts containing former homosexual Steve Bennett’s testimony, titled, “I WAS Gay.” (Tracts can be ordered through Steve’s ministry at http://www.sbministries.org/tracts.html.)

The second testimony is from Joe Christopherson, who met Dan while street preaching at the parade. Together, they encountered trouble after the parade had concluded and people were milling about in “Boystown.” We’ll have more firsthand reports on the Chicago and New York City “gay pride” parades in future posts. As you read this, imagine the liberal media’s outrage — all four major local Chicago TV stations fielded floats in the parade — and that of “gay” activists had two homosexuals been assaulted and humiliated in the same manner. — Peter LaBarbera

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Dan Musick’s testimony:

I went to the parade armed with 500+ tracts and my camera. My prayer was for God to show me what He wanted me to do. Before the parade I passed out some tracts. At the parade I took lots of pictures and video, and passed out a few tracts. The sidewalk and area behind the barriers was packed.

After the parade there was a steady flow of crowd traffic so I started passing out the “I Was Gay” tracts. I did this for about an hour, and passed out about 300. Many ended up on the sidewalk.

I experienced every form of mockery you could imagine, but only from one or two at a time at the most. At one point two lesbians were circling me and warning others not to take my tracts. One tore up a tract and threw it at me. Another knocked the tracts out of my hand.

By Fran Eaton, Illinois Review

At the risk of sounding like a real ogre and with all pause, I’m going to have to give a thumbs down to this weekend’s box office hit, “Shrek the Third.”

The lovable Shrek debuted the third in a series this weekend, and while the big guy is taking unfair hits for American children’s skyrocketing obesity problem, there was another issue raised in the movie that I’ve seen no one yet address.

For me, it wasn’t the monstrous size of the lead character Shrek that was the problem with this newest release. Shrek and his sweet wife Fiona are what’s right with the story. They are large positive role models of common sense, compassion and honesty in a bizarre world of revengeful, evil fairy tale characters.

Shrek’s personal dilemma of overcoming the fears of becoming a father for the first time endears us all the more to the big guy. The ending is happy and prolife, which is great for kids and their fathers to see.

Shrek’s not the problem. It’s the awkward inclusion of a travestite and the uselessness of the character himself (herself?) in the story that is troubling.

Right in the midst of a warm “traditional family” setting, the film writers place a man dressed as a woman in with Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White (the good gals). The crossdressing character simply doesn’t make sense, except as a ploy to desensitize children and parents to transgenders.

Homosexual activists now are careful to not only use the term “LGBTs” as a unit, they are more boldly now declaring lesbians-gays-bisexuals-transgenders as a unit pushing together as one for civil rights. Those confused about their sexual roles are pushing for equal rights to be free to publicly demonstrate their odd sexual behavior. For transgenders, appearing to be a different sex in public is their particular turn on. We need to understand that acceptance of this sexual behavior is just another step moving our world toward sexual chaos.

It’s disturbing there’s not more outcry about this sly tactic being used in a movie made for children. But I suppose after being reminded recently of Jerry Falwell’s concern about the Teletubbies characters’ sexual orientations and the post-heaven going ridicule and hatred those who dare to question LGBTs tactics are likely to endure in the mainstream media after their passing, some have shyed away from publicly tackling the topic. That’s understandable.

But well-meaning parents who plan to take their kids to see a movie that grossed $122 million in the opening weekend should be aware . . . it’s the subtlety of the movie makers’ agenda to desensitize that could be more harmful to your children than encouraging them to eat sugary cereals in the morning.

Fran Eaton is editor of Illinois Review, a conservative blog.

Americans For Truth Exclusive 

Editor’s note: the following firsthand report tells of an invasion of women’s privacy by a male “transgender” activist using the ladies restroom in Maryland — as the state’s pro-family movement was fighting legislation granting rights based on homosexuality. Neither Galladora nor Fortlage can recall the year of the incident, but it was between 1999 and 2001, when Maryland’s legislature passed a “sexual orientation” nondiscrimination bill, later signed into law by the state’s Democratic governor, Parris Glendening.

When a society raises gender confusion (men in dresses) and its cousin, homosexuality, to the level of “civil rights,” it’s time to recognize that this nation is in a state of moral decline unheard of in our history. –– Peter LaBarbera

TAKE ACTION:  If enacted into law, The Employment NonDiscrimination Act (ENDA, H.R. 2015) and the federal “hate crimes” bill, H.R. 1592 (recently passed by the House), would be the first time that “gender identity rights” are recognized in federal law. This would usher in a new wave of persecution for people opposed to homosexuality and gender confusion of the sort described below. Call your senators (202-224-3121; www.congress.org/) – and the White House (202-456-1111) –– to oppose H.R. 1592, and call all of your federal elected officials to oppose the ENDA bill.
 
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By Bunny Galladora

The hearing room of the Judicial Committee in Annapolis, Maryland, was overflowing with all sorts of unusual looking people hours before the hearing on a bill to add “sexual orientation” to the list of protected categories was to begin. It would be a very long day. After many people had testified giving their various positions on the issue, the Judicial Committee took a break.

Conrae Fortlage and I left the hearing room to “freshen up” in the ladies’ restroom.  When it came time to wash our hands, I finished quickly and waited for Conrae inside the bathroom by the door, a few steps away. Conrae lingered slowly, applying lipstick and fiddling with her hair. She seemed to be staring in the mirror for an unusual amount of time. I paid little attention to the person dressed in a purple ladies pants suit with a white blouse standing next to Conrae — or to Conrae’s behavior which was out of character for her, but instead my thoughts were on the testimony I would be giving soon.

As we left the ladies’ room, the door shutting behind us, Conrae began to tell me that the person standing beside her in the bathroom was actually a man. Conrae said she first noticed that the person was unusually tall for a woman, then, while looking in the mirror, she had focused on his unusually large Adam’s apple — and other features normally found in a male. She noticed that the person was wearing a woman’s wig.

Below is the homosexual magazine OUT‘s list of its “Power 50” of influential homosexuals. OUT calls it “our first annual ranking of the homos who really make the world go round. These are queers you don’t want to mess with.the 50 most influential homosexuals in America.” (PC language lesson 101: they can use words like “homos” and “queers”; we can’t.)

We are intrigued by the fact that the same movement that once cried out for “privacy” and “to be left alone” feels free to publicly declare people’s homosexuality for them (Anderson Cooper, No. 2, and Jodie Foster, No. 43). On the other hand, if OUT is right, it might explain Cooper’s bias in his reporting on the homosexual issue: in a recent interview that the CNN host did with pro and con advocates on a “gay parenting” story, he blatantly favored the “gay” side in his questioning.

Regardless of whether Cooper practices homosexuality, as a professional he should be completely even-handed in his treatment of this controversial moral question. So, by the way, should the New York Times — Gay Mafia (No. 7) or no Gay Mafia. — Peter LaBarbera

1. David Geffen
2. Anderson Cooper
3. Ellen DeGeneres
4. Tim Gill
5. Barney Frank
6. Rosie O’Donnell
7. The New York Times Gay Mafia: Richard Berke, Ben Brantley, Frank Bruni, Stuart Elliott, Adam Nagourney, Stefano Tonchi, and Eric Wilson
8. Marc Jacobs
9. Andrew Tobias
10. Brian Graden
11. Jann Wenner
12. Andrew Sullivan
13. Suze Orman
14. Joe Solmonese
15. Fred Hochberg
16. Christine Quinn
17. Perez Hilton
18. Scott Rudin
19. John Aravosis
20. Sheila Kuehl
21. James B. Stewart
22. Nick Denton
23. Tom Ford
24. Nate Berkus
25. Adam Moss
26. Jim Nelson
27. Lorri L. Jean
28. Adam Rose
29. Annie Leibovitz
30. Simon Halls and Stephen Huvane
31. Bryan Lourd
32. Bryan Singer
33. Jonathan Burnham
34. Brian Swardstrom
35. Robert Greenblatt
36. Chi Chi LaRue
37. Dan Mathews
38. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan
39. Ingrid Sischy
40. Marc Cherry
41. Carolyn Strauss
42. Irshad Manji
43. Jodie Foster
44. Christine Vachon
45. André Leon Talley
46. Hilary Rosen
47. Matthew Marks
48. Benny Medina
49. Mitchell Gold
50. David Kuhn

THIS ARTICLE IS OBSOLETE: there is no reliable published list of schools participating in the Day of Silence in 2009. For more information, go to Illinois Family Institute’s website at www.illinoisfamily.org.

My friend Linda Harvey of Mission America has done so much over the years to educate parents across America about the homosexual (GLBT: gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) activist agenda in schools. Below is Linda’s compilation of potential (likely?) middle and high schools participating in the GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) “Day of Silence” on Wed., April 18th.

Check the list below or check Mission America’s updated online list of schools, understanding that it is NOT a comprehensive list because the other side no longer widely publicizes which schools are taking part, as it did in years past.– Peter LaBarbera

Linda writes:

Parents: Here’s something you can do about the pro-homosexual Day of Silence

Protect your kids — keep them at home!

Boycott the DAY of SILENCE!

Parents: Keep your kids home if your school is officially holding, or benignly allowing, this pro-homosexual event.

Scheduled for April 18, some schools are observing it on other days, so check with your local school. Ask your child also–they probably know!

From the information we have based on current homosexual clubs as well as past Day of Silence participation and school homosexual activism, the following schools are those participating.

(Note: If we have listed a school in error, we apologize, and will issue a correction immediately. Please e-mail us with your correction, at editor@missionamerica.com.)

This is the list as of late afternoon, Tuesday, March 28. GO TO MISSION AMERICA’s WEBSITE (www.missionamerica.com) TO SEE THE UPDATED LIST.

Schools removed from this 2007 posting …

From the “Queer Texas” website:

The Queer Texas Conference is an action-oriented, 3 day-long educational gathering of youth and students from across Texas…The conference will be held at the University of Texas at Austin April 13-15.

Workshops include:

The Drag King Workshop — Curious about drag kings? Who isn’t? Come and learn a little about the drag king community, our performance, and our politics. Then we’ll demo the basics of binding, packing, applying facial hair, and strutting your stuff – and you’ll have a chance to try it yourself! All genders welcome.

The Gender, Race, and Hip-Hop Workshop will screen segments of Byron Hurt’s new documentary film Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes that explores the director’s love of hip-hop culture and his simultaneous conflict with its marketing of hyper-masculine images of men of color, violence, materialism, homophobia, and misogyny. Using an intersectional approach,the workshop highlights the complicated connections between race, class, and gender in media and the larger American culture. Interactive role playing and skits challenge workshop participants to explore their own racialized and gendered stereotypes, followed by an open dialogue about ways to challenge these structures through petitions, targeted letter writing campaigns, and public education.

Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Caucus — This workshop will be an exploration of participants’ experiences with the language they use to talk about their gender experience, the longings in their lives, and their search and successes in finding legitimacy. Language is a powerful force in our lives. Finding the language that accurately describes our gender experiences can be difficult. Longing is a natural part of life. Giving voice to those longings can be a compelling way to find the means to fulfill them. Legitimacy is something many of us strive for in our families, in our communities, and in the world-at-large.

Among the speakers:  Tyrone Hanley of the Nov 2006 “Creating Change” panel on sex workers…which is probably fitting since, sadly, many “transgender” young people are relegated to prostitution in order to survive.  Is this the life into which our schools ought to direct confused and vulnerable young people?