Contact:
Peter LaBarbera (630) 717-7631
Linda Harvey (614) 442-7998

CHICAGO, Ill. —Today, World AIDS Day, a coalition of pro-family and Christian leaders is asking “Purpose-Driven Life” author Rick Warren to address head-on the issue of homosexuality and “gay” promiscuity as prime contributors to the spread of HIV in the United States, as Warren leads a “Global AIDS Summit” at his Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.

The “AIDS Truth Coalition” is asking Warren and other leaders in the AIDS-fighting community — including the new U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Mark Dybul (who identifies as “gay”) — to call for the closure of all commercial homosexual bathhouses and sex clubs to help slow down the disease’s spread in the United States.

“While Christians and churches mobilize to fight the HIV pandemic on far away continents, let us not neglect the major catalyst for AIDS here in the United States of America: homosexual promiscuity, tolerated and encouraged by pro-‘gay,’ ‘safer-sex’ advocates,” said Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans For Truth and member of the AIDS Truth Coalition. “It’s time to acknowledge the pink elephant in the room: fighting AIDS without talking against homosexuality is like fighting lung cancer without talking against smoking.”

Noting that the response of “politically correct AIDS organizations” is to distribute condoms, even at homosexual bathhouses, LaBarbera said, “Passing out condoms at sex clubs designed specifically to facilitate men having reckless, anonymous sex with other men is preposterous. Wouldn’t it make more sense to mobilize all government agencies — federal, state and local — to close down these disease-spreading centers to save men’s lives?”

Even homosexual leaders are “reclaiming” the link between homosexuality and HIV/AIDS. Lorri Jean, CEO of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, which recently launched an ad campaign built around the message, “HIV is a Gay Disease. Own it. End it,” said:

“In Los Angeles County, gay and bisexual men make up less than 7% of the population but account for more than 75% of the people living with HIV/AIDS … The men in our community continue to get infected at an alarming rate, continue to get sick, and continue to die. Most alarmingly, a new generation of young gay men has grown up accepting the epidemic as a community norm. That must change.”

Linda Harvey, president of Mission America, said: “We call on Rick Warren to get real about HIV and AIDS in this country. Males having sex with other males is the single largest cause of HIV in the U.S. Will Warren get to the heart of what’s really at stake here? Will he say, flat out, that people who are practicing homosexuality need to get out of that lifestyle? Will he tell his millions of followers that being an open and unrepentant homosexual is incompatible with the Gospel?”

Harvey said even more critical is the need to strongly direct youth away from homosexuality, and encouraged him to work for the closure of homosexual school clubs that lead students to embrace unhealthy “gay” and “transgender” identities.

“The Saddleback Church web site says they believe that ‘the Bible is God’s perfect guidebook for living;’” said Harvey. “Scripture calls homosexuality an ‘abomination,’ and the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 describes how homosexual sex is an affront to God’s beautiful creation. The outcome of unnatural sex is the death of thousands of people in this country. We ask Pastor Warren to step out courageously and call for an end to the misguided endorsement of homosexuality and ‘gay marriage’ (and its twin, ‘civil unions’) by those in positions of influence.

San Diego Christian activist and former homosexual James Hartline issued the following statement:

While Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church is doing a noble service for the people of Africa by holding a global summit on AIDS, I must ponder in my mind where pastors like Rick Warren were those many years when I was struggling to get out of homosexuality. For thirty years, I struggled with homosexuality and it was not until I was finally infected with AIDS at a homosexual bathhouse in San Diego, California that the physical consequences of that sin finally began to lead me away from that destructive lifestyle.

Like me, hundreds of thousands of young men have been infected in the death chambers of the gay bathhouses in California and across America. Sadly, most of them are now dead from the HIV that they caught in these establishments. … It is noble that Rick Warren cares so much for the Africans living 10,000 miles away from his church who are infected with AIDS. It is tragic, though, that he and others like him have not spoken out forcefully against the holocaust of homosexuality and the dozens of bathhouses in California where so many men are getting sick and dying. Not to mention the millions of families that are forced to pay for the financial costs of caring for all of those sick and dying from homosexuality and the gay bathhouses where they were infected with AIDS.

Stephen Bennett, a man who once engaged in the homosexual lifestyle for over 11 years and is now happily married to his wife of 13 years and father of the couple’s two children, said:

“The spread of HIV and AIDS worldwide CAN come to an end ONLY when the promotion, acceptance and tolerance of homosexuality worldwide comes to an end. Pastor Rick Warren knows that truth—yet does he have the courage to proclaim that? Warren chose the noble battle to end HIV and AIDS. Well, homosexuality is a big part of that package. Rick Warren should make it his ‘purpose’ in his ‘driven life’ to drive home the truth about the destructive and deadly alliance between homosexuality, HIV and AIDS. To do anything less is hopeless, ‘purposeless’ and simply a waste of time.”

All members of the AIDS Truth Coalition said the Bush administration sent the wrong signal about fighting AIDS when Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice officially “blessed” the homosexual relationship of Mark Dybul, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, at his swearing-in ceremony Oct. 10. With the First Lady present, Ms. Rice publicly recognized Dybul’s male partner, Jason Claire, and referred to Claire’s mother as Dybul’s “mother-in-law,” thus radically redefining the family and helping to mainstream homosexual behavior.

The following pro-family leaders and organizations are part of the HIV Truth Coalition:

Peter LaBarbera, Americans for Truth

Linda Harvey, Mission America

James Hartline, James Hartline Report

Phil Burress, Citizens for Community Values

Brian Camenker, Mass Resistance

Sandy Rios, Culture Campaign

Michael Heath, Christian Civic League of Maine

David Smith, Illinois Family Institute

Stephen J. Bennett, Stephen Bennett Ministries Worldwide

Dr. Vic Eliason, VCY America Radio Network

Randy Thomasson, Campaign for Children & Families

Diane Gramley, American Family Association of Pennsylvania

Joe Glover, Family Policy Network

Cathie Adams, Texas Eagle Forum

Anthony Verdugo, Christian Family Coalition

Christopher Long, Ohio Christian Alliance

By Peter LaBarbera

Christians are called “haters,” “bigots,” “homophobes,” and worse simply for proclaiming God’s Word to homosexuals (for the best defense of Christian orthodoxy on homosexuality, see Rob Gagnon’s brilliant website). As believers, our most fervent hope and prayer is that those tempted to embrace homosexual attractions would recognize that they are not inherently “gay” and find spiritual healing and salvation through the resurrected Christ — an intent which, while offensive to those not inclined to hear, cannot fairly be described as “hatred.”

Many men and women who once considered themselves “gay” or “lesbian” have embraced the path of change and overcome the pull of homosexuality in their lives. See Stephen Bennett’s heartwarming story HERE and Linda Jernigan’s wonderful testimony HERE. Some people have changed through secular therapy (see NARTH’s website), but it seems the more typical story in the United States is people overcoming homosexuality with the help of God through Jesus Christ.

Perhaps the citation below of a radical Islamic book’s prescription for treating homosexuals (dropping them from a building and then stoning them) will shed light on the superiority of Biblical “tough love” (oppose sinful behavior while extending forgiveness through Christ). We at Americans For Truth condemn in no uncertain terms all violence and hatred directed at homosexuals. The same God who rescues people from bondage to any number of sinful inclinations can rescue those who are caught up in homosexuality–and has countless times, despite the vain efforts of fanatical “gay” activists like Wayne Besen who strive to show that “sexual orientation” (an unbiblical construct) is unchangeable.

While contemplating what this Islamic book recommends, consider also the contemptuous and ridiculous statement of Rosie O’Donnell, who said on ABC’s The View on the anniversary of 9/11:

“Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam…”

——————————

The following is excerpted from Official OK with Islamic law in Netherlands, published Sept 13, 2006, by WorldNet Daily:

…As WND reported in 2004, [Netherlands’ Justice Minister Piet Hein] Donner hasn’t always been open to every aspect of Muslim culture.

He joined with [Dutch Integration Minister Rita] Verdonk in banning a Muslim book [”The Way of the Muslim”] distributed by the Dutch Lel Tawheed mosque condoning the stoning of homosexuals, female circumcision and the beating of wives.

“Gay people should be thrown head first off high buildings and if not killed on hitting the ground, they should be then stoned to death,” says a book titled “The Way of the Muslim.”

Continue reading at WorldNet Daily…