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A relatively new person on the victim list is Julea Ward, a graduate student at Eastern Michigan University’s (EMU) School of Counseling who was expelled from the program because she said that as a counselor she could not affirm a client’s homosexual relationship due to her belief in Jesus Christ and biblical morality. Ward is being helped by Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a Christian legal defense group. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.org. This is an ADF video:
Pro-family forces prevailed on Nov. 3 in the state of Maine to preserve traditional marriage –– for now –– and praise God for that. Yet the Stand for Marriage Maine campaign ceded some precious ground in the process and threw long-time family activists under the bus instead of working with them as they could have.
Christian policy professionals all across the country were aghast after watching the last-minute TV ad by SMM, which said this:
Abandoning traditional marriage entails real consequences, yet we want to be tolerant of gays. Maine’s Domestic Partnership laws provide substantial legal protection for gay couples. Any problems remaining can be addressed without dismantling traditional marriage. It’s possible to support the civil rights of all citizens and protect traditional marriage at the same time.
This is a huge concession to the hopes and aspirations of “gay” activists. Are there indeed “rights” that need to be accorded to the behavior of homosexuality? No self-respecting Christian would take this position. This paves the way for the pseudo-marriage of “domestic partnerships.” The big question is: Why did “conservatives” do this?
MassResistance reports: A Massachusetts man was fired from a national retail corporation because of his traditional beliefs on same-sex marriage. Peter Vadala was formally dismissed from his job as second deputy manager of the Brookstone store at Boston’s Logan Airport on August 12, 2009, after a supervisor reported him to Human Resources regarding an incident two days earlier. Story continues under video, which was shot by our friends at MassResistance:
As Peter described the incident (see video above), he came to work on August 10 and began his day normally. A female manager from another store was in the store and began talking to Peter about her upcoming marriage. When Peter asked “where is he taking you for the honeymoon,” she corrected him and said she was not getting married to “he” but to another woman.
Folks, here is a statement by Mike Heath (left), my good friend and former executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, on the passage Tuesday of Question 1, which repudiated Maine’s homosexual “marriage” law. It’s no mystery why the Stand For Marriage Maine folks worked to distance themselves from Mike. (That’s another sad story.) He’s a bit too, well … biblically principled for their compromising approach. We’ll have much more on Heath, Maine politics and the homosexual agenda on these pages. — Peter LaBarbera, www.aftah.com
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Heath, who is also Board Chairman of AFTAH, writes on his blog:
Righteousness prevails
There’s lots of disappointed people today. Not just in Maine, but all across America. Maine was supposed to become the first state to endorse homosexual marriage on a statewide ballot. It didn’t happen, thank God.
It was close, but they’ve always been close. Ever since I helped start the debate about using referendums to stop the queer political movement in 1991 its been close. We realized then that the politicians would be incapable of halting the slide toward the full legal endorsement of sex outside of marriage. We believed that the people would do the right thing.
Christians PROMOTING homosexual relationships and “gay civil rights”? Above is a frame from the Stand for Marriage Maine TV ad “It’s Possible,” effectively endorsing the state’s “domestic partnership” law and “civil rights” based on homosexuality. See controversial text of ad below, and view the full ad HERE.
I agree with my good friend Matt Barber, who is also a Board Member of Americans For Truth in addition to his important work at Liberty Counsel. It is not ethical nor good strategy for the “pro-family” movement to promote one evil and public-policy disaster (changeable and sinful behavior as a government-backed “civil right”) to fight another (homosexual “marriage”). Yet that is precisely what the Yes on 1 campaign’s pro-domestic partnership ad called “It’s Possible” did. [Click HERE for AFTAH’s election story.] Here again is the text of that misguided Yes on 1 ad used in Maine:
‘Abandoning traditional marriage entails real consequences, yet we want to be tolerant of gays. Maine’s Domestic Partnership laws provide substantial legal protection for gay couples. Any problems remaining can be addressed without dismantling traditional marriage. It’s possible to support the civil rights of all citizens and protect traditional marriage at the same time.’
We who claim to follow God are lacking in integrity if we promote the normalization of homosexuality as part of some (perhaps well-intentioned) utilitarian plan to ostensibly “save” traditional marriage. Indeed, the irony of the ad text above is that progressive concessions on “domestic partnership” and “civil unions” legislation will, in fact, dismantletraditional marriage. Yes on 1 PR consultant Frank Schubert’s compromising spin will pave the way for disaster in the pro-family movement, as it undermines our greatest strength: our commitment to the truth. It’s time to reject Political Correctness and get back to basics in the pro-family movement. — Peter LaBarbera, www.americansfortruth.org
Add Maine to the List: Homosexual "marriage" activists lost in Maine, while pro-family advocates debate the best tactics to oppose counterfeit "marriage" and all aspects of the homosexual agenda.
Tuesday was a mixed bag for pro-family citizens concerned about the homosexual agenda. Here are the main election stories surrounding homosexuality that we are following:
“Gay marriage” goes down to defeat in Maine — Congratulations to all who supported the effort to preserve traditional marriage in Maine! Despite a massive effort by outside homosexual activist groups to influence the vote, a homosexual “marriage” bill went down to defeat in Maine through a “People’s Veto” — whereby voters can reject a law by plebiscite. The YES on 1 lead was inching up in the late hours Tuesday and early morning. At 2:00 AM EST, with 87% of the precincts tallied, the Bangor Daily News reported that the “YES” vote to repeal Maine’s new “gay marriage” law was ahead by about 52.75 to 47.25%. In the final days of the campaign, Americans For Truth and MassResistance worked with Maine pro-family stalwart Paul Madore of the Maine Grassroots Coalition to educate citizens on the role of outside radical homosexual groups in the “NO” campaign. Madore ran a print ad featuring Brian Camenker’s popular article, “What Same-Sex ‘Marriage’ has Done to Massachusetts”; it reached 500,000 Mainers. And Madore’s press conference last Wednesday — though curiously disavowed by the pro-traditional-marriage “Yes on 1” group, Stand For Marriage Maine (SFFM) — received wide media coverage. That, combined with some hard-hitting ads by SFMM targeting the promotion of “homosexual marriage” in Maine schools, may have tipped the balance against the “gay marriage” law.
The NGLTF boasts HERE how they helped mobilize grassroots activists to pass homosexual “marriage” in the Maine legislature, and then how they stepped up their grassroots and monetary assistance in an attempt to defeat Question 1, a ballot measure to be decided today. If Question 1 passes — i.e., a YES vote — it would repudiate the “gay marriage” legislation signed into law by Gov. John Baldacci (D).
Pro-homosexual activist Jesse Connolly (right) — campaign manager for the Maine pro-“same-sex-‘marriage'” effort “No on 1”— issued two complete fabrications about me, after I represented AFTAH at a pro-traditional-marriage press conference held Wednesday at the Maine capitol in Augusta:
“And they [referring to leaders of the pro-traditional-marriage group ‘Stand For Marriage’] can’t stand behind Peter LaBarbera, who has attacked Ben & Jerry’s, supported rescinding women’s right to vote and believes we should return to the Old Testament where gay people were stoned…..”
Connolly’s assertions are false and absurd. As to the “stoning” accusation, AFTAH embraces orthodox Christian teachings on this matter: we have always condemned violence and true hatred against homosexuals. For example, in this 2006 AFTAH article, “Stoning homosexuals: which is the real voice of hatred?, I noted the stark contrast between Christians — who hope for practicing homosexuals to repent of their sin, accept Christ’s forgiveness, and leave the lifestyle — and radical Muslims, who favor draconian, violent punishments against homosexuals (yes, even including stoning, which would commence only after the violator is pushed off a “high building”).
This outstanding piece by my good friend Linda Harvey of 
Folks, here is a statement by Mike Heath (left), my good friend and former executive director of the 
Highlighting Outside ‘Gay’ Extremism in Maine: Thanks to our opponents, we have an 
