By Peter LaBarbera

Homosexual Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) pushes counterfeit “marriage.”

Well, we’ve been warning you that the homosexual movement wants to make Illinois the “Massachusetts of the Midwest.” Now it’s official. The state’s only “openly gay” representative, Greg Harris (D-Chicago), has submitted a bill to legalize “same-sex marriage” in the Land of Lincoln. Harris sneakily calls his bill the “Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act” –– despite evidence from Massachusetts that legal “gay marriage” leads to stepped-up discrimination against religious institutions opposed to homosexuality.

TAKE ACTION: If you are an Illinois resident, call your state representative and state senator and politely urge them to:

• OPPOSE HB 1615, the radical redefinition of marriage proposed by new homosexual State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago); click HERE to find your legislators (the page works best if you know your 9-digit zip), and click HERE to view the bill, which would strip out the common-sense prohibition in Illinois law against marriages “between two individuals of the same sex.” You can call the Illinois Capitol Switchboard at 217-782-2000.
• SUPPORT HJRCA 1, the pro-traditional-marriage constitutional amendment offered by State Rep. Dave Reis (R) –– which has languished in the IL General Assembly for years due to the Democrats’ subservience to the state’s powerful “gay” lobby. (In Illinois, a constitutional amendment requires a three-fifths vote by the legislature, followed by a three-fifths popular vote.)

Also, please consider making a financial gift to Protect Marriage Illinois (PMI). We don’t normally solicit funds for other organizations, but PMI urgently needs your help as it gears up for another petition drive to place a pro-traditional marriage advisory question on the 2008 Illinois ballot. PMI’s ballot measure would enable Illinois voters to call on the General Assembly to pass a constitutional Marriage Protection Amendment (like Reis’ amendment above). Make your check out to Protect Marriage Illinois and send it to: PMI, PO Box 419, Wheaton, IL 60189; or go to PMI’s website and click the “Make a Donation” button. (Gifts to PMI are not tax-deductible.)

Background
Homosexual activists, being mostly on the Left, know how politics works: they will strive to gradually build support for legalizing “gay marriage” in Illinois even if it takes decades. This is what they did before finally passing a pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” bill (which also covers the gender-confused) in Illinois in 2005.

Conservatives and people of faith, too, have to learn to think long-term. We must retain the goal of repealing all “sexual orientation” laws –– in Illinois and across the nation –– since they are incompatible with the basic American freedoms of religion, conscience and association. And we must act to protect marriage as between a man and a woman at the state and federal constitutional levels.

In his odd legislative biography, Rep. Harris –– who replaced another homosexual Chicago Democrat –– states, almost proudly, that he is the “only openly gay member of the Legislature and openly a person with AIDS.” (Please read this interesting first-hand testimonial about Harris’ sad life and pray for him if you are so moved.)

Indeed, behavior that runs contrary to nature carries a heavy physical price. When “gay” activists talk about “marriage equality,” we should answer: same-sex relationships do not deserve to be treated as “equal” to marriage because they are not — far from it. True marriage serves society and mankind by ordering the sexes and producing future generations and providing stable, mother-father homes for children.

Conversely, society has no stake in legalizing “gay marriage,” which would reward unhealthy and changeable behavior and have such ill side-effects as facilitating intentionally fatherless or motherless homosexual adoptions.

Giving immoral homosexual relationships all the rights and benefits of marriage also sends a terrible message to young people, and certainly will lead to Christians and religious people being punished for “anti-gay” discrimination. A homosexual “marriage” or “civil union” law would be a huge stepping stone toward forcing small businesses –– even religiously-owned ones such as day care centers –– to provide marital-type benefits to homosexual employees even if they oppose subsidizing that lifestyle.

And how long will it be before a church or pastor is sued for refusing to perform a marriage ceremony for a homosexual couple — HB 1615’s title notwithstanding?

We must do all we can to shore up real marriage by encouraging citizens to value it more and by making divorces tougher to get. Radically redefining marriage to include homosexuality would only erode this great institution further.

TAKE ACTION — First, contact IL State Rep Greg Harris
and express your opposition to this legislation.

Then contact your own representative and ask them to OPPOSE this bill.
You can find your legislator’s contact information HERE.

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Excerpted from Lawmaker: Legalize Gay Marriages, by Doug Finke, published Feb 22, 2007, by PJ Star:

State Rep. plans to introduce bill aiming to equalize rights

A Chicago Democrat wants Illinois to be the second state to legalize gay marriages.

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.

“It would extend the same rights and obligations of marriage to same-sex couples in Illinois as are previously enjoyed, or not enjoyed, by heterosexual couples,” Harris said. “If you look at recent polls … people of Illinois very thoroughly understand that same-sex couples deserve the same rights and benefits” as heterosexual couples.

David Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, disagreed…

Harris, who is gay and represents a district with a large homosexual population, acknowledged that pushing for legalized gay marriages rather than civil unions will be controversial.

“It is undoubtedly true that the word marriage is a very emotionally charged term, so there may have to be some negotiations on that,” he said. “From my community, we believe we should have the full, equal rights as our heterosexual siblings to marry who we choose, and we should call it marriage. We should not call it civil union.”

Continue reading at PJ Star…

Where was Judy Baar Topinka on Wednesday evening?

High Risk Gallery

Log Cabin Republicans

and

Coup De Gras Catering

***

Cordially invite you to meet and talk with Illinois’ next Governor…

Judy Baar Topinka

***

Tonight!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

8:00pm to 8:45pm

***

High Risk Gallery

1113 West Belmont-Chicago, Illinois

The event is free and open to the public.

For further event information, please contact High Risk Gallery at (773) 296-6974 or www.highriskgallery.com.

***

There will be a VIP Reception Fundraiser before the Meet and Greet event including

Cocktails & Hors D’oeuvres

6:00pm-7:30pm

***

Benefactor: $100 per person

Friend: $50 per person

Please make checks payable to Citizens for Topinka.

Paid for by Citizens for Judy Baar Topinka. A copy of our report filed with the State Board of Elections is, or will be, available for purchase from the State Board of Elections, Springfield, IL. Contributions, or gifts, to the organization are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

Click on these links to see photos of Judy Baar Topinka at other 2006 Log Cabin events:

• At the Log Cabin Republicans Judy Baar Topinka Chicagoland Golf Outing
• At the Log Cabin Republicans Market Days Meet & Greet with Judy Baar Topinka

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…

Excerpted from Illinois Pro-Homosexual Groups Launch Counterfeit “Marriage” Project, by Peter LaBarbera and Dave Smith, published Sept 13, 2006, by Illinois Family Institute

Illinois Family Institute has been warning you for a long time that pro-homosexual forces in the state would be pushing hard to legalize counterfeit “marriage”–even as they disingenuously argue that a statewide marriage amendment is not necessary because “Illinois already has a marriage law on the books.”

Well, now they have formally begun their dubious crusade to overturn that law: a coalition of pro-homosexual activist groups, including Equality Illinois, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU of Illinois, will soon be launching a statewide campaign under the name “Equal Marriage Illinois” project–a misguided rip-off of Protect Marriage Illinois.

Equal Marriage Illinois (EMI) “has been building alliances in communities statewide, and has received terrific pro bono creative work from ad agency Young & Rubicam,” according to an e-newsletter from the homosexual lobby group Equality Illinois. (To give feedback to Young & Rubicam for their promotion of counterfeit “marriage,” call their Chicago branch office at 312-596-3000.)

The campaign is a statewide “public information and dialogue campaign focusing attention on the core issues of justice and family at the center of the marriage equality debate,” according to Equality Illinois.

In other words, you’re about to be hit with a slick PR campaign to radically twist the age-old definition of marriage, in the nice-sounding name of “equality.” This latest move by the state’s rich and powerful (yet tiny in numbers) homosexual lobby only proves our point: we MUST enact a Marriage Protection Amendment, as 20 states already have, and seven more likely will this fall.

Continue reading at IFI…