NOTE: below I write that “Homosexuality is not special and it should be treated like any other sexual sin.” I should add that most sexual sinners — indeed, most sinners in general — do not define themselves by their besetting sin nor seek special legal protections based on their embrace of it. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

See related AFTAH article: “Focus on the Family Clarifies Position, Opposes Homosexual Judicial Nominees”

___________________________________

News Release – Americans For Truth

April 15, 2010; Contact: Peter LaBarbera: 630-717-7631; AmericansForTruth@comcast.net

LaBarbera Commends Focus for Clarifying Its Principled Opposition to Homosexual Judges

Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), issued the following statement in response to Focus on the Family’s clarification that it would not support a homosexual nominee to the Supreme Court:

Focus on the Family has wisely corrected statements by two of its staffers who stated last year that the “sexual orientation” of judicial nominees – i.e., their homosexuality – would not disqualify them to sit on the nation’s highest court. Focus had been privately correcting those comments after Gary Glenn of AFA-Michigan criticized Focus’ “moral retreat” on homosexuality. Focus’ new position – first reported by AFTAH – is biblically sound because it focuses on behavior as helping to define a judge’s character. Said Focus’ Tom Minnery:

“It has been reported that we would not oppose any U.S. Supreme Court nominee over their ‘sexual orientation.’ Our Judicial Analyst [Bruce Hausknecht] made a statement to this effect in an interview with The Plum Line. To be honest, this is one of those conversations we’d like to ‘do over.’ We can assure you that we recognize that homosexual behavior is a sin and does not reflect God’s created intent and desire for humanity. Further, we at Focus do affirm that character and moral rectitude should be key considerations in appointing members of the judiciary, especially in the case of the highest court in the land. Sexual behavior–be it heterosexual or homosexual–certainly lies at the heart of personal morality.”

Americans For Truth, like other pro-family groups that honor the authority of Scripture, believes that homosexuality is best understood not as an “identity” but as a behavior – one that is wrong, destructive, and unnatural. Thankfully, homosexual conduct also is changeable (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), as evinced by the countless former homosexual men and ex-lesbians living happy lives.

Supposed “gay” identity is a modern construct that undermines moral truth and people’s responsibility for their own conduct. Men and women (proudly) practicing homosexuality often are driven to justify their errant lifestyle. Even those practicing homosexuality in secret often work to promote its acceptance.

"Autumn" Sandeen, here pictured in a skirt, is a man who left his wife and family to pursue his twisted "transgender" dream of living as a "woman." The federal ENDA bill would create employment rights based on such gender confusion in all 50 states. ENDA's expansive definition of "gender identity" nondiscrimination, would likely force companies to build "transgender" restrooms to protect women from having to share a restroom with men pretending to be women.

“GENDER IDENTITY- The term ‘gender identity’ means the gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.” — definition of “Gender Identity” in the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)

Haven’t we learned as a nation about the danger of Washington’s “one size fits all” legislation to “fix” nonexistent “crises”? The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) [H.R. 3017, S.B. 1584] – which would federalize homosexuality-, bisexuality-, and transsexuality-based special protections in the workplace — is one such bill. AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera appeared as a guest today on the WVCY program “Crosstalk” to discuss ENDA, which could soon come to the House floor for a vote. (Lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) said action on the bill could come soon after the Easter recess.)

From the Crosstalk website:

ENDA and Religious Freedom

Date:    April 08, 2010
Host:    Jim Schneider
Guest:    Peter LaBarbera, [AFTAH]

Listen:    RealAudio | Windows Media | MP3 | Order Tape or CD

Peter LaBarbera is the President of Americans for Truth, a group dedicated to exposing the homosexual activist agenda.

The effort to force certain aspects of “change” on Americans continues. This time the “change” is being attempted through legislation known as ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (HR-3017 & SB-1584).

ENDA would force businesses in all 50 states with 15 or more employees (part- or full-time) to avoid discrimination of potential job candidates or current employees due to their gender identity.

“Rather than taking the biblical ‘love the sinner, hate the sin’ approach to sexual immorality, these false prophets preach counterfeit Christianity, devoid of the faith’s core tenet: redemption.”–Matt Barber on Fred Phelps of “God Hates Fags” notoriety

"Rev." Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church clan are taking their twisted "God Hates Fags" to soldiers' funerals.

Folks, long before Fred Phelps started picketing soldiers’ funerals and “thanking God for IEDs” [improvised explosive devices], his ugly “God Hates Fags” message was proving to be a boon to the Homosexual Lobby and to liberal reporters working to make Christians look like kooks.

Do Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church have a “right” to stage their demented protests at servicemen’s funerals? The Supreme Court will decide. Last night on The O’Reilly Factor, I thought Ann Coulter was very persuasive when she noted that courts have blocked “free speech” rights for pro-life counselors in “bubble zones” surrounding abortion clinics — so why not protect grieving families of soldiers who died for our country?!

Personally, although I accept that there are good people and First Amendment-lovers on the other side of this issue, I would put this in a similar class with rejecting the supposed “free speech right” to burn the American flag. Having sad that, it would be foolhardy to ignore that there are plenty of homosexual activists and leftists who seriously would love to see the government censor all speech opposing homosexuality.

Let me echo Matt Barber’s observation about the Hard Left: with all their name-calling and nasty smears of religious opponents, pro-homosexual militants like Joe Jervis (of the blog “Joe.My.God.“); Pam Spaulding, the “Jeebus”-[Jesus]-hating lesbian and creator of the “Pam’s House Blend” blog; Rachel Maddow with her crude and cruel “Teabagger” rants, and Wayne (“Anything But Straight”) Besen, proud creator of the “Porno Pete” slur directed at yours truly, have more in common with Fred than they’d ever admit. — Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth

ACTION STEP: To make a donation to the father of slain Lt. Cpl. Michael Snyder, Al Snyder, who is battling the Westboro Baptist Church clan in court after his son’s funeral was protested by Phelps, go HERE.

Matt Barber, AFTAH Board Member, writes after the jump (some links were added that were not in the original piece):

Can the risen Son of God help people overcome homosexuality?

Michael Glatze

Former homosexual and onetime “gay youth” activist Michael Glatze will be the guest on the Americans For Truth Hour at our new time tonight, Saturday, April 3rd at 11:00 PM to midnight Central Time on WYLL (AM-1160 in Chicagoland). The show will stream beginning at 11:00 PM at www.wyll.com. Part Two of the Glatze interview will air Saturday, April 10.

The weekly “Americans For Truth Hour” features an in-depth interview with a front-line activist in the  “culture wars.”  WYLL is a 50,000 watt station that covers Chicagoland and reaches into lower Wisconsin and northwest Indiana. Glatze’s bold exodus from the homosexual lifestyle and the “GLBT” (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgnder) movement was widely heralded in pro-family and conservative circles. Homosexual activists predictably became critics, as did fellow travelers like Grove City College professor Warren Throckmorton — who once proclaimed that homosexuals could change their “orientation” but now curiously finds himself opposing men like Glatze — especially those with testimonies like his of radical transformation. (Yes, Warren, ex-gays DO EXIST…. Read the new LifesiteNews story on the Grove City professor HERE.)

Glatze has embraced a Biblical worldview and approaches the homosexual issue from that Christian perspective. See his thoughts on change (and Throckmorton) HERE. You can read Glatze’s blog HERE.

San Francisco drag queen “Sisters'” “Hunky Jesus” contest mocks Resurrection — on Easter Sunday

By Peter LaBarbera

Truth is often stranger than fiction these days in Politically Correct America, thanks to the Anti-Christian, Libertine Left:

Every Easter Sunday in San Francisco, the twisted drag queen group "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" hosts a blasphemous "Hunky Jesus" contest mocking the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In three days, in what has become a sick, blasphemous Easter Sunday ritual in San Francisco, America’s “gay” Mecca, a group of homosexual drag queens — posing as mock nuns and calling themselves the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” — will sponsor the “Hunky Jesus” contest in a city park. Scantily-clad homosexual men and cross-dressing, queer “Sisters” with gaudy, painted faces will mock the Resurrection of Christ on an outdoor stage, as crude “homoerotic” jokes fly and the crowd roars with laughter. Last year’s winner: “Brokeback Jesus.” … I wish this were an April Fool’s Day joke…but it’s not. [To watch a “Hunky Jesus” contest on YouTube, go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4fyiucdHyA&feature=related#]

An Episcopal Bishop, V. Gene Robinson — “V” stands for Vicky; his parents wanted a girl — travels the country using his once-respected church office to promote the sin of homosexuality. He does this in the name of “Christianity,” of course. Yes, Vicky Gene – who left his wife and family to pursue a “gay” lifestyle with another man — knows better than God. He believes “monogamous gay relationships” are a good thing and argues that poor Apostle Paul just didn’t understand all that we sophisticated, modern-day Westerners know about “sexual orientation.” The Episcopal Church has also approved its first avowedly lesbian bishop, “Rev.” Mary Glasspool — Chapter One of the New Testament Book of Romans be damned. … I wish this were an April Fool’s Day joke…but it’s not.

The state of Maine is on the verge of implementing “rights” for “transgender” students to use opposite-sex restrooms in schools — following the passage of a homosexual/transgender law. Grade school boys who think they’re “girls” would be able to use the girls’ restrooms…. I wish this were an April Fool’s Day joke (and so do Maine’s parents)…but it’s not.

Anything it takes: Truth Wins Out writer Evan Hurst slanders Mission America's Linda Harvey (above) -- and ALL Bible-believing Christians -- as "anti-Semitic at their core."

UPDATE: Evan Hurst of Truth Wins Out has issued a clarification in which he says he was mistaken to use the word “all” in his online statement: “Then again, all fundamentalist Christians are anti-semitic at their core, considering the fact that they actually believe their apocalyptical horseshit.”

Try as I might, I don’t think I could ever match the hatred that flows so naturally from the fingertips of “Truth Wins Out” (TWO) writer Evan Hurst. Granted, Hurst has a tall order rising to the Hate Quotient set by his boss and all-around Bad Boy of Buggery, Wayne Besen, but he’s really working hard to match Besen’s bluster. (By the way, Besen, who founded TWO, was an easy winner of AFTAH’s debut, 2009 “Gay Grinch of the Year” contest but due to unresolved copyright issues we never announced the winner; belated congrats, Wayne.)

Here’s Hurst turning a rant against my friend and Mission America founder Linda Harvey (and pro-family veteran Scott Lively) into a general attack on ALL Bible-believing Christians as “anti-Semitic.” Note the bold portion (our emphasis) in this comment found in the post, “TWO Exclusive: Linda Harvey’s Extremism On Display In Michigan”:

[Comment] # 14. Oh, and Linda, “Holocaust revisionism” does not only apply to direct anti-semitism. Of course, it could be argued that Scott Lively is anti-semitic since he co-opts the Holocaust in order to lie about gay people, to satisfy whatever mental illness he suffers from. In fact, yes, now that I think of it, his work IS anti-semitism, because it belittles the reality of the Holocaust in order to score points. And by supporting him, you are supporting that strain of anti-semitism.

(Then again, all fundamentalist Christians are anti-semitic at their core, considering the fact that they actually believe their apocalyptical horseshit.)

And you just parrot right along with it, because you’re too virulent to see that if your Jesus was here, he’d probably lay you out like the Pharisee you are.

Comment by Evan Hurst — March 29, 2010 @ 11:35 pm

My first impulse is to report Hurst and Truth Wins Out at once to the SPLC as bona fide haters for propounding such an obvious falsehood, but something tells me my complaint might get lost in the bureaucracy over there.

It’s easy to blame nasty and intolerant blog comments on crazed readers; after all, it’s soooo hard to keep track of each and every reader comment, we are told. But it’s much harder to explain away  “virulent” irrationality when the author is … one of your own writers! Surely Hurst is not unaware of the fact that the “fundamentalist” Christians he so obviously despises are historically a bastion of support for the State of Israel. (Probably just a cover for their internalized anti-Semitism, just as Christian conservatives’ opposition to homosexuality is a cover for their internalized homophobia.) Oh well. Something’s winning out over at TWO, but it’s not the “truth.” — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org

“When you say that your organization is no more hateful than the Catholic church, we have a rare point of agreement. You are both haters.” — Bob Schwartz, Gay Liberation Network

The Catholic Church should also be on the "hate" list, says Bob Schwartz of the Gay Liberation Network.

Bob Schwartz, a leader of the Gay Liberation Network, a Marxist “direct action” group that reportedly lobbied the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to mislabel Americans For Truth as a “hate” website, sent the e-mail below to AFTAH through our website. Schwartz describes himself as a Trotskyist (after Bolshevik Leon Trotsky, who advocated worldwide communist revolution before being assassinated by a Soviet agent in Mexico in 1940). Communists have such a long and storied history defending human rights and individual rights and dignity, you know.

Note that you don’t have to agree with the Catholic Church’s handing of its homosexual/pedophile crisis (most Catholics I know do not) to see the absurdity of labeling the church a “hater” because it defends traditional sexual morality and natural marriage between a man and a woman. The folly of the SPLC’s expanding “hate” dragnet is that it threatens to engulf all religious/moral opposition to homosexuality. Indeed, it would be revealing to query the top 25 “GLBT” activist across the nation and ask them if they would also label, as Matt Barber pokes fun HERE, the following as “hate groups”: Family Research Council, AFA, the Roman Catholic Church, Focus on the Family, the Southern Baptist Convention and ADF. (I posed the question to one young “gay” activist, Alex Blaze, HERE, and received no response.)

[Homosexual activists] Wayne Besen/Evan Hurst/Joe Jervis/Jeremy Hooper/Rea Carey/[insert GLBT activist here]: take up the challenge!

Yes, we’re all “haters” now (except the likes of Schwartz, despite his bully tactics and GLN’s ugly, anti-Christian bigotry). And just like ObamaCare is padding the rolls of the IRS to keep Americans in “compliance” with government “health” mandates, perhaps the SPLC needs an infusion of Obama stimulus funds to expand its already large staff and huge budget to accommodate its “reporting” on the ever-expanding “hate” network.

SPLC co-founder Morris Dees once fought the Klan. Now his group targets pro-family Christians opposed to homosexual activism. The SPLC, lobbied by a pro-Communist homosexual organization, labeled AFTAH a "hate site."

Click HERE to listen to an interview by Concerned Women for America’s Martha Kleder with Matt Barber, a Board Member of AFTAH and Liberty Council’s Director of Cultural Affairs. CWA writes (links added):

Reports surfaced this week about Democrat lawmakers receiving threatening phone calls following the vote on health care reform. Interestingly, those news reports mentioned the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which is noted for “tracking and exposing the activities of hate groups.” Also this week the SPLC named Americans for Truth about Homosexuality a hate group. With more on this overstep by SPLC and the wanton use of the term “hate” is Matt Barber, Director of Cultural Affairs for both the Liberty Counsel and Liberty Alliance Action.  Listen | Download