Will “gay” militants sacrifice Brett VanAsdlen to advance their agenda?

TAKE ACTION: 1) E-mail or call Champaign Co., Illinois State’s Attorney Julia Rietz and ask her to drop the government’s one-sided felony “hate crimes” prosecution against 18-year-old student-athlete Brett VanAsdlen. Email: jrietz1@gmail.com or statesatty@co.champaign.il.us

2) Listen to CWA’s online audio interview on the trumped-up VanAsdlen “hate crime” case with AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera, Bob Knight of the Culture and Media Institute and CWA’s Matt Barber. Click HERE for the AFTAH link or HERE to listen online:

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By Peter LaBarbera

I sent homosexual activist blogger Tim Kincaid this note after reading his latest fulmination on the pages of Box Turtle Bulletin (the first paragraph of which we’ve reprinted below):

“[T]hanks for your nasty little piece on [Box Turtle Bulletin], Tim. Par for the course. The issue isn’t David Duke (whose website I only saw for the first time Friday) or Ted Pike (no, I wouldn’t use the phrase “Jewish media” [as Pike does]) but whether this kid, [Brett VanAsdlen], is being railroaded. If you called me a “breeder” and then we got in an argument ending in you pushing me down (perhaps after I aggressively got in your face after you hurled your insult), NO, I definitely would not want you to face a felony “hate crimes” charge. It’s ridiculous — especially if accounts are true that the prosecution has already dropped the aggravated battery charge [against VanAsdlen].”

I cited Ted Pike in my original article on this case because, as one who has crusaded against “hate crimes” laws, Pike was the first to bring the VanAsdlen story to national attention (in a mass email) — not because I agree with the thrust of his website (or Duke’s). Like most evangelicals, I abhor anti-Semitism and in fact am quite the hawk on defending Israel. I also decry racism and, of course, white nationalism, “white pride,” etc.

In their continuing effort to steal the legacy of the real civil rights movement, homosexual activists and their allies posit an analogy between racism and “homophobia” — their smear term of choice to denigrate traditionalists. It is a deeply flawed comparison: what does unchangeable skin color and ethnicity have to do with aberrant, immoral and changeable sexual behavior?

Nothing, unless you can produce an ex-African American.

Moreover, the homosexualists are in the uncomfortable position of making actual descendants of slaves — like Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church and ex-lesbian Janet Boynes (pictured at right) — the target of their opprobrium. Men and women of color (like Crystal Dixon, a Black woman who recently was suspended from the University of Toledo after publicly making points similar to these) are mere “religious anti-gay bigots,” according to the homo-fundamentalists’ warped formulations.

AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera interviewed by the Brazilian magazine Enfoque Gospel.

You can read my extended interview with the Brazilian Christian magazine Enfoque Gospel HERE IN ENGLISH, or HERE IN PORTUGUESE on the Enfoque Gospel website. The English version is found on the blog of Brazilian pro-family hero Julio Severo, who is himself a target of pro-homosexual activists in that great South American nation.

Click here to read Gay Christian Movement Watch’s short interview with Severo. — Peter LaBarbera

Will Soulforce founder and homosexual activist Mel White, pictured here with lover Gary Nixon, accuse Joel Osteen (right) of “spiritual violence” if Osteen’s Lakewood Church chooses not to enter into a “dialogue” over homosexuality?

Folks, the irony of this latest Soulforce gimmick is that most of these mega-church pastors (Harry Jackson being the key exception) are not known for confronting the homosexual agenda. For example, Bill Hybels’ Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL, did not even participate in the Protect Marriage Illinois (www.protectmarriageillinois.org) referendum campaign in 2006. But Soulforce’s activism may force them to take a more public stand on this seeming ‘special sin’ that has its own well-funded and extremely powerful lobby. Targeted churches with contact pages are listed below the press release. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

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News Release

Americans For Truth
www.americansfortruth.org

May 9, 2008

Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; americansfortruth@comcast.net

Americans For Truth Condemns Soulforce’s Politicized ‘Dialogue’ with Mega-Churches

NAPERVILLE, Illinois — Americans For Truth President Peter LaBarbera today accused the homosexual activist group Soulforce of “politicizing Sunday worship” to further its anti-biblical agenda — by calling for (quasi-forced) “dialogue’ with mega-churches like Joel Osteen’s and Rick Warren’s “at the point of a potential protest.”

Soulforce is leading an activist event called the “American Family Outing” in which they seek “peaceful dialogue” (on their terms) with Lakewood and five other mega-churches across the country each Sunday between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. This Sunday they are targeting Osteen’s Lakewood Church in Houston.

LaBarbera issued the following statement on Soulforce’s American Family Outing gimmick:

“In a letter to Lakewood Church, Soulforce claims that its proposed ‘dialogue’ is designed to ‘lift up the conversation about faith, family and homosexuality to a national level and bring a new tenor of respect to the issue.’ The truth is that Soulforce is trying to convince Bible-believing churches that their Scriptural teachings against this particular sexual sin are wrong.

“You don’t achieve good-faith dialogue by announcing that you will be arriving at a church on a specified Sunday with ‘several dozen’ homosexual-led families. In the same way, Soulforce sent homosexual activists demanding ‘dialogue’ to Christian colleges: those that refused were hit with media-hyped protests.

“It is no more appropriate to ‘dialogue’ over homosexuality than it is to dialogue over any other sin. What if a traveling band of incest advocates – or perhaps a Gossipers’ Task Force — announced that it would be arriving at Lakewood Church on Mother’s Day demanding ‘dialogue’ about their special interest? This is pro-‘gay’ political theater, nothing more.

“Soulforce and its allies (including Peggy Campolo, wife of Tony Campolo) claim they are ‘deeply committed to respect for the authority of Biblical teachings.’ That is not true, as evidenced by Soulforce’s twisting of Scripture to advance the notion that homosexual behavior is acceptable. Soulforce founder Mel White has recklessly accused Christian pro-family leaders who defend Biblical orthodoxy of ‘spiritual violence’ –– playing to the vicious caricature of traditionalists as violent ‘homophobes.’

“Christians don’t negotiate with God over homosexuality or any sin. Rather, we reach out with truth in love to people with the hopeful Gospel message that God can help them overcome any sin, including homosexuality, through faith in Jesus Christ.”

TARGETED MEGA-CHURCHES AND THEIR CONTACT PAGES:

Lakewood Church, Houston, TX (Rev. Joel Osteen)

The Potter’s House, Dallas, TX (Bishop T.D. Jakes)

Hope Christian Church, Beltsville, MD (Bishop Harry Jackson)

New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Lithonia, GA (Bishop Eddie Long):

Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL (Rev. Bill Hybels): (write to info@willowcreek.org)

Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA (Dr. Rick Warren): (write to info@saddleback.net)

Congratulations to the Thomas More Law Center, AFA of Michigan and all the pro-family groups, legislators, citizens, and churches in Michigan for successfully defending marriage in your state!

LANSING, Mich. (Catholic News Agency), May 8, 2008 — The Michigan General Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages also blocks Michigan governments and state universities from offering “domestic partnership” benefits for homosexual couples. Click HERE to read the Michigan Supreme Court ruling.

The Marriage Protection Amendment was approved by nearly sixty percent of voters in 2004. Considered the broadest of the 11 state marriage amendments barring same-sex marriage, the language of the Michigan amendment says “…the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.”

The Michigan ACLU, representing the AFL-CIO homosexual activist group National Pride at Work, had challenged the application of the law as based in Attorney General Mike Cox’s interpretation of the amendment.

The Michigan court’s 5-2 decision did not rule on whether government employment benefits can be offered to homosexual partners on some broader basis also available to other employees. Some local governments and universities have attempted to maintain present benefits by amending the eligibility requirements.

“The people of Michigan have constitutionally protected marriage as exclusively the union of one man and one woman, period, and that includes prohibiting the recognition of homosexual relationships as equal or similar to marriage for any purpose, including offering spousal-type benefits to the homosexual partners of government employees,” said Gary Glenn, one of the co-authors of the Marriage Protection Amendment and head of the American Family Association of Michigan.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, praised the decision, saying, “The Michigan Supreme Court courageously upheld the will of the people.”

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12591

Related news release from Thomas More Law Center: “TMLC Praises Michigan Atty General Cox for Defending Marriage Amendment; Blasts Gov and Universities”

NOTE: In AFTAH’s email version of this story, we erroneously cited the “firing” of Crystal Dixon. She has been suspended only and we apologize for the mistake.

The Open Letter below (emphasis added) is simply too informative not to pass on. Rob Gagnon is one of the world’s leading authorities on homosexuality and the Bible; Having heard him speak, I highly commend him as a visiting speaker at your church, synagogue or place of worship. The pro-homosexual theological revisionists — you know, the ones who make outlandish claims like that David and Jonathan in the Old Testament were “gay lovers” — are afraid to debate Rob. No wonder. You can learn more about Prof. Gagnon’s important work at www.robgagnon.net. — Peter LaBarbera
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Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Professor Rob Gagnon’s open letter to the President of the University of Toledo, who suspended Ms. Crystal Dixon, Associate Vice President of Human Resources at the University, for rejecting an equation of homosexuality with ethnicity

(WND news story at www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=63459; Lifesite story at www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050605.html).

“I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are ‘civil rights victims.’ Here’s why. I cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a black woman.” — Crystal Dixon

TAKE ACTION: Read this letter, send it to all your friends and associates to educate them on the homosexual issue, and contact University of Toledo President Lloyd Jacobs (UTPresident@utoledo.edu) at: President Dr. Lloyd A. Jacobs, University Hall, Room 3500, Phone: 419.530.2211; Fax: 419.530.4984

From: Robert Gagnon (rgagnon@pts.edu)

Sent: Tue 5/6/2008 5:04 PM

Dear [U. of Toledo] President Jacobs,

I have read of your action in connection with Ms. Crystal Dixon, Associate Vice President of Human Resources at the University of Toledo (www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=63459). Your suspension of Ms. Dixon for rejecting an equation of homosexuality with ethnicity constitutes, in my view, a gross injustice and an expression of the very intolerance that you claim to abhor. It is also predicated on a lack of knowledge and, as such, an abundance of prejudice.

Ms. Dixon is absolutely right that sexual orientation is not akin to race or sex. Unlike a homosexual orientation, race and sex are 100% congenitally predetermined, cannot be fundamentally changed in their essence by cultural influences, and are not a primary or direct desire for behavior that is incompatible with embodied structures.

Brett VanAsdlen

WorldNetDaily in its story, “Teen facing ‘hate crime’ count over spat,” picks up on our story yesterday on the “hate crimes” prosecution of Parkland College student-athlete Brett VanAsdlen. Click HERE to TAKE ACTION on this case. From the WND story:

Rona Lee VanAsdlen told WND in an interview today that she’s been asked by legal counsel not to talk about the specifics of the case.

But she said the case is a trial for the family.

“We’re just getting persecuted here, I guess, and we have to fight,” she said. “I just ask for prayers. My son will really have to fight and prove his innocence.”

She identified the state’s “hate crimes” as the problem.

“This would never have even been an event if this was another heterosexual male and he had a conflict with, and that’s just unfair,” she said. “I am a conservative Christian, and my son is. All we are doing is asking for prayers and support from people that may be opposed to this sort of thing happening.

“This has just uprooted our whole life, and I don’t know that it’ll ever be the same. I don’t know that, even if everything is dropped, that it’ll ever be the same,” she said.

Selective prosecution illustrates danger of ‘hate crimes’ laws

Brett VanAsdlen

TAKE ACTION: 1) Urge Champaign County, Illinois State’s Attorney Julia Rietz (phone: 217-384-3733) to drop the government’s one-sided felony “hate crimes” prosecution against 18-year-old student-athlete Brett VanAsdlen — based on the inconsistent and likely exaggerated claims of Steven Velasquez, a homosexual University of Illinois (U of I) student who may have initiated physical contact with VanAsdlen. Already, Brett is being smeared as violent “gay-basher” by Velasquez and pro-homosexual activists in the media. Pray for Brett and his family.

2) Call or write WCIA-3 TV, the local CBS affiliate, and urge them to be fair in their coverage of this unfortunate story. Call (217) 373-3650 and ask for Producer Nancy Foreman. WCIA reporter Amanda Evans has led the TV coverage of the story, but her reporting appears to heavily favor Velasquez. It is wrong to smear the reputation of young man by airing all the accusations against him without presenting the other side of the story.

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By Peter LaBarbera

CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, Illinois — Two young men — one homosexual, one heterosexual — tell very different stories about an argument that occurred late on a Friday night (April 11) in this college town, but only one — the straight student-athlete — faces a felony “hate crime” conviction with a maximum penalty of up to three years in prison.

Brett VanAsdlen faces a Class 4 felony hate crime after originally being charged with aggravated battery following an incident in which he pushed 20-year-old homosexual University of Illinois student Steven Velasquez to the ground. The critical question is: why did he push Velasquez and who was aggressor? VanAsdlen’s family says it was Velasquez who — after Brett made a comment about Velasquez and his homosexual partner — first “got in Brett’s face,” to which Brett responded by pushing Velasquez away. Velasquez claims that Brett attacked him unprovoked because of his homosexuality.

You can read and watch WCIA-TV’s initial, one-sided account of the incident featuring an interview with Velasquez HERE — which set the tone for those seeking to portray VanAsdlen as a violent hate criminal.

By Stephen Black and Chris Morrison

Chris Morrison of First Stone Ministries credits Sally Kern with lovingly and graciously helping him in his walk out of homosexuality.

Folks, one of the temptations for Christians looking for new approaches to the homosexual issue is to assert or imply that they possess more Christian love for people involved in homosexual behavior — or that they are being more Christ-like — than other Christians who take a strong, principled stand against the “gay” activist agenda. We deal with such condescension all the time here at Americans For Truth, even though I would be the first to admit that I do not love sinners nearly as I ought, according to Christ’s dictates.

In our view, some Christians unfairly piled on following the “gay”-led assault on Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern, echoing homosexual activist criticisms of her without taking the time to get to know this fine woman and her motivations. I put Grove City College’s Warren Throckmorton — who snidely lectured Kern on the Golden Rule on his blog (“Maybe gays are having a hard time with the love thing when they are considered a worse threat than terrorists. Go figure.”) — in this camp. (We’ll have our own questions for Warren and his unorthodox ideas in future posts.)

What I discovered in defending Sally was that she is nothing like the evil, bigoted caricature that homosexual activists, led by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, sought to create in their web-driven campaign to destroy her. Sally actually has a wonderful Christian heart — but those who know her best, such as Stephen Black and Chris Morrison of First Stone Ministries, both former homosexuals, understood that all along, as this beautiful essay testifies. — Peter LaBarbera

The Untold Story about Rep. Sally Kern

by Stephen Black and Chris Morrison from First Stone Ministries

The Untold Story of Irony
Washington’s political gay elitists with the Victory Fund edited Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern’s comments from a closed door meeting given in a January speech of this year. They edited down the comments to what they considered the most inflammatory sound bites. Their cunning plan was to upload the edited comments to YouTube in hopes of enraging gay people and their supporters. This plan, they thought, would further the “Victory Fund” gay political cause and bring in funds for their political machine. Over and over they emphasize that Rep. Kern’s speech demonstrated hatred towards gays. What they failed to mention – or include in the sound bites – is the truth, that Rep. Sally Kern said we must love the homosexual. Her message was not about bashing gays. The mainstream liberal media outlets seem to be unconcerned about what was been left out, and unmotivated to seek the whole story, responded predictably. They thrive on bad news and smear tactics of conservatives, so they picked up the story immediately and replayed the inflammatory comments. The story was worldwide overnight! Sally Kern was labeled hateful, bigoted, anti-gay, an evil homophobe and so many other names that are so vile, I cannot repeat.