Americans For Truth About Homosexuality

News Release

March 10, 2011; contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; americansfortruth@gmail.com

LaBarbera: Schools Can Stop Bullying without Promoting Homosexuality or Gender Confusion

[NOTE: This is a corrected version of a similar news release sent out earlier today.]

Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (www.aftah.org), warned that a White House “Bullying Prevention Summit” today may promote a pro-homosexuality agenda in schools in the guise of stopping cruelty between students.

“Schools administrators and teachers must ensure a safe and protective learning environment for all students, but they can do so without injecting divisive ‘sexual orientation’ and radical ‘transgender’ politics into the classroom,” LaBarbera said. “There is a real danger that ‘anti-bullying’ policies will be used to curtail any speech in schools critical of homosexuality, and create curricula that discriminate against religious students who believe homosexual behavior is morally wrong.”

President Obama has invited pro-homosexual activists from GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) and other pro-LGBT groups to the summit.

LaBarbera also opposes a federal bill, the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA)—supported by Senate Democrats and lone Republican Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) – as “a Trojan Horse that would push politically correct agendas about homosexuality and ‘transgenderism’ in schools in the name of stopping bullying.”

Greg Quinlan

Here is Part Two of my radio interview [click HERE to listen] with Greg Quinlan, president of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays) and a speaker at next month’s Truth Academy co-sponsored by Americans For Truth About Homsexuality and Mission America (April 1-2, in Columbus, Ohio). This pre-recorded interview aired March 5, 2011. Quinlan walked away from homosexuality years ago and now helps others do the same. He also testifies across the nation (most recently in Maryland) against legalizing homosexual “marriage” and other LGBT activist agenda goals. You’ll want to listen to the interview for Greg’s informed answers to some common pro-homosexual objections to idea of leaving homosexuality (ex-“gays”). For example, he responds to those who say, “I prayed for God to remove my homosexuality and he didn’t answer my prayer.” (He stresses that homosexual strugglers who are committed to change can do so.)

Greg calls homosexuality a “wounding” — i.e., it develops as a maladaption to trauma, abuse or emotional wounds in a person’s life.  Of course, as a very public former homosexual and one-time “gay” activist, Greg has been targeted by hateful LGBT militants like “Truth Win’s Out” founder Wayne Besen (who derides people trying to — as he mockingly puts it — “pray away the gay”). Today’s young people (and the rest of us) are inundated with “gay”-positive messages that glorify sin and undermine God’s Word. What a blessing it would be to expose a young person to the Truth Academy to hear Greg’s uplifting story in person. RSVP or make inquiries at americansfortruth@gmail.com. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file. Left click once on the link below to play. (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

3-5-11, Greg Quinlan

This is the first of a three-part interview with ex-gay Greg Quinlan [click HERE to listen], president of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays” and a consultant to the New Jersey Family Policy Council. This was pre-recorded and aired Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011. Greg describes his rocky childhood, his angry and unloving father, and his seduction into homosexual acts in his teen years. (Quinlan says nobody is “born gay,” and cites the shoddy research behind this canard.) He tells how he got involved as a volunteer for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the original name of the homosexual lobby group Human Rights Campaign. Greg also recalls how he saw many of his “gay” friends die of HIV/AIDS, which added to his growing doubts about his sexual lifestyle. He also comments on President Obama’s decision not to fully defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

Quinlan is a speaker at AFTAH’s and Mission America’s upcoming Truth Academy in Columbus, OH, April 1-2 [go HERE for details], which has the theme: “The ‘Hate’ Labeling of Christians— Why it’s Happening and What We Can Do.”

HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file. Left click once on the link below to play. (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

2-26-11, Greg Quinlan

“Civil Unions” law cynically named “Religious Freedom Protection Act” now used to force Christians to violate their moral conscience

Jim and Beth Walder and their five children. The Walder's, owners of a Paxton, Illinois bed and breakfast, believe homosexuality is sinful and do not allow "civil union" ceremonies to be held at their establishment. Because of that they now potentially face years of litigation after a homosexual activist couple filed a legal complaint againt them with state authorities.

Dear AFTAH Readers,

On Tuesday, March 1, I and an AFTAH volunteer visited Jim Walder, who with his wife Beth is owner of the Timber Creek Bed & Breakfast [e-mail: info@timbercreekbb.com] in Paxton, Illinois and the latest victim of the homosexualist legal-political agenda in the United  States. Below is an article by my friend Laurie Higgins of Illinois Family Institute about how Walder and another Illinois bed & breakfast owner are being sued by a homosexual activist couple because they will not allow a same-sex “civil union” ceremony to be held at their establishments.

The well-financed, big-city “gay” agenda is rolling into small town USA, and it will crush religious freedom in its path if it is not defeated. Paxton is a quiet farming community in central Illinois with a population of 4,600 — and here it is embroiled in the “culture war” battle of our day: whether homosexuals’ supposed “right” to have their sexual lifestyle and relationships affirmed supersedes moral-minded citizens’ First Amendment right to disagree with sexual immorality. (And their right to live out their beliefs: freedoms for beliefs that must be kept “personal and private” and that cannot be acted upon are not real freedoms.)

Here’s the bitter irony: the law being used by the homosexual couple attempting to force Walder and all Illinois B&B owners to allow homosexual “union” ceremonies on their property was named the “Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act.” It doesn’t get much more cynical and dishonest than that; no wonder Americans don’t trust politicians.

Walder is being represented by Alliance Defense Fund, and he is not doing interviews at this time, but his disturbing case classically illustrates why “sexual orientation” laws — especially combined with “civil union” or “gay marriage” laws — are so dangerous to our God-given liberties, and why they must be repealed. Legal “rights” based on changeable, aberrant and unhealthly sexual misbehavior (sin) are destined to collide with genuine First Amendment liberties, which are rooted not in government but in God Himself.

Illinois' Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed the ironically named "Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act" into law Jan. 31. Photo: Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth.

As Gary Glenn correctly said in my recent interview with him — confirmed by homosexual legal activist and Obama appointee Chai Feldblum below — pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” laws naturally discriminate against people of faith. A few weeks ago, Jim and Beth Walder hadn’t given that much thought. Now they and their family (see photo below) are living out this painful reality caused by modern secular liberalism. All who cherish religious freedom and American liberty must stand with the Walder’s. AFTAH will closely follow this story. God bless you. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org; copy me with your encouraging notes to Jim and Beth at americansfortruth@gmail.com.

TAKE ACTION:

1. Please pray for the Walder’s;
2. Send Jim and Beth a note of encouragement (info@timbercreekbb.com) and pass this article on to your friends and family. Better yet, stay a night or two at the Timber Creek Bed & Breakfast in Paxton (it is wonderful and comes highly recommended);
3. Write or call Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and urge her to respect the Walders’ freedoms of religion and association; and
4. Inside llinois: call your Illinois state representative and senator (217-782-2000) and educate them on the Walder’s victimization at the hands of aggressive “gay” activists, and urge them to REPEAL both the Illinois “sexual orientation” law and the “civil unions” law — each of which was passed in a lame-duck session and signed into law by Democratic governors. Outside Illinois: call your federal, state and local representatives and urge them to oppose ALL homosexuality-based “sexual orientation” legislation because the evidence is in: these laws will destroy religious freedom in America.

Hey, if Barack Obama, the “Anointed One,” decides that DOMA (signed into law by Bill Clinton) is unconstitutional, then shouldn’t that be good enough for the rest of America? What an outrageous act of presumption by our pro-homosexual ‘Panderer-in-Chief.’ Then again, this is a man who took it upon himself to dismiss as “obscure” the Bible’s clear condemnation of homosexual practice –referring to Romans 1:26-27, which describes homosexual male and lesbian sex as “shameful lusts.” And if Obama can so easily overturn God and Scripture on the issue of homosexuality, then what are a few insignificant things like Congress, the Constitution and the rule of law to stand in his way in taking down DOMA? Thankfully, the “audacious” president is not The Law and there are plenty of patriots in Congress and across the land who won’t stand for this perversion of justice. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

TAKE ACTION: Call your U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 or 202-225-3121 and urge them to defend the Defense of Marriage Act that President Obama is working to undermine.

Our friends  at Liberty Counsel write:

Obama Betrays America By Refusing to Defend the Defense of Marriage Act

www.LC.org, Feb. 23, 2011

Today President Barack Obama instructed the U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, and the Department of Justice to cease defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act. This is outrageous and unthinkable that the President would abandon the defense of marriage. He has betrayed the American people by his refusal to defend the federal law that affirms what many courts upheld as constitutional, namely, that marriage is between one man and one woman.

Read the rest of this article »

Gay Liberation Network activists marched in front of Catholic Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago Sunday morning, chanting against the church's supposed "hate." Pro-perversion militants like the GLN classify church opposition to homosexuality as "religious-motivated bigotry."

Following is an account by Renew America writer Matt Abbott of AFTAH’s silent “counter-protest” against the radical Gay Liberation Network’s outrageous protest Sunday, February 13, 2011, directly in front of Holy Name Cathedral in downtown Chicago. Homosexual activists chanted against the supposed “hate” of Cardinal Francis George — a preposterous accusation given George’s soft-spoken manner. Of course, the mere defense — any defense — of historic church beliefs proscribing homosexual conduct is enough to earn one the “hate” label from the likes of GLN.

Following the article is George’s statement about the GLN protest, and then a reply by the Gay Liberation Network. We must all stand together to defend against the aggressive secular “gay” assault on marriage and the Judeo-Christian values that have served America well as the foundation of our freedoms. If you still believe that hard-core homosexual activists as represented by GLN actually respect the Church and the right of people to disagree with their sinful yet changeable lifestyle, it’s time for you to wake up and start defending Marriage, Truth — and your religious liberty to live out your faith. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

TAKE ACTION: Thank Card. Frances George for his and the Catholic Church’s defense of marriage — and strong stance against recently passed “civil unions” legislation in Illinois. You can write him at archbishop@archchicago.org [see contact page HERE]. Or call the Office of the Archbishop at 312-534-8230 (hit #4).

Democratic “hate speech”? What if someone made a vicious public comment like this against a homosexual activist?

In a podcast, Democrat Joe DiSano, a host on the Michigan political podcast "Two Guys Named Joe," said he hoped Republicans would go over to pro-family advocate Gary Glenn's headquarters and "beat the hell out of this guy" with a sock full of quarters.

Gary Glenn of American Farmily Association of Michigan

Part Three of our interview [click HERE to listen] with Gary Glenn of AFA of Michigan. We play some audio from a hateful podcast (Oct. 29, 2010) by “Two Guys Named Joe” — Michigan political consultants Democrat Joe DiSano and Republican Joe Munem. In a discussion railing against Glenn for exposing a homosexual Republican candidate’s pro-“gay” record (using radio ads quoting pro-homosexual sources), the Democrat, DiSano, gets so worked up that he says: “I would hope the Republicans would go over to Midland [Mich.] where he lives, take a whole bunch of quarters in a sock and beat the hell out of this guy.”  Glenn notes that had he said the same about, say, a homosexual activist, there would be a huge outcry. (Surely he’d be accused of committing a “hate crime.”) AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and Glenn discuss the immense health risks associated with practicing homosexuality, and the absurd idea — fostered by the Southern Poverty Law Center (which has cynically labelled both AFTAH and AFA “hate groups”) — that educating the public about this is “hateful.” [See Part Two of Glenn interview HERE and Part One HERE.]

HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file. Left click once on the link below to play. (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

2-12-11, Gary Glenn

This is Part 2 [click HERE to listen] of our 4-part interview with Gary Glenn, president of American Family Association of Michigan [see Part 1 HERE]. It was pre-taped and aired Feb. 6, 2011. AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and Glenn discussed how “sexual orientation” laws are inherently discriminatory against people of faith and anyone who opposes homosexuality. Glenn ticks off case after case of Christians and moral organzations like the Boy Scouts being victimized by pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” laws. Glenn also holds a mini radio “Truth Academy” on the proper mindset for pro-family work — urging activists not to use defensive language that suits the Homosexual Lobby’s debate frame but rather to put homosexual activists on the defensive by “telling the truth” that the “homosexual agenda itself discriminates against people.” Glenn and LaBarbera agree that the idea of “civil unions” as a supposed compromise is a non-starter — noting how the concept was regarded as “radical” in Vermont just a few years ago, while today leading liberal elites easily jump from backing “civil unions” to “gay marriage.”  Glenn also discusses school bullying laws, urging an approach that protects ALL students without “segregating” them by singling out “sexual orientation.” 

HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file. Left click once on the link below to play. (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment or two to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show.

2-5-11, Gary Glenn