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From the book, The Gay Gospel: How Pro-Gay Advocates Misread the Bible, by Joe Dallas (Harvest House Publishers, 2007). To order The Gay Gospel ($14) or other Biblically-oriented resources by Joe revolving around sexual purity, go to his website at www.joedallas.com.
Note that Joe’s life as a former homosexual gives the lie to the second tactical approach of the aggressive “gay Christian” movement, which he discusses below:
As the gay Christian movement continued finding allies in churches and secular circles, it also continued to follow the trends of the larger gay-rights movement. And the gay-rights movement’s most noticeable trend, from the mid-1980s into the 1990s, was aggression.
The AIDS epidemic, in full bloom by the mid ’80s, fueled a strident form of gay activism. Groups such as the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), Queer Nation, and the Lesbian Avengers caught the public’s eye as they staged boisterous demonstrations and invaded churches and corporations they considered to be “enemies.”
The gay Christian movement did not take long to develop its own style of aggression. Fundamental to its identity were two beliefs: Homosexuality is not unbiblical; and homosexuals can’t change, even if they want to. …
Homosexual “conservative” pundit Andrew Sullivan wrote sympathetically aboug “gay” male couples’ ‘understanding of the need for extramarital [sexual] outlets” and suggested such “honesty” and “flexibility” could “undoubtedly help strengthen and inform many heterosexual bonds.”
____________________________
Emphasis in bold is added to all quotations below:
‘Extramarital Outlets’ and Homosexual ‘Monogamy’
“The mutual nurturing and sexual expressiveness of many lesbian relationships, the solidity and space of many adult gay male relationships, are qualities sometimes lacking in more rote, heterosexual couplings.”
–Andrew Sullivan, Virtually Normal: An Argument about Homosexuality, p. 202, (1995)
“Some of this is unavailable to the male-female union: there is more likely to be greater understanding of the need for extramarital outlets between two men than between a man and a woman; and again, the lack of children gives gay couples greater freedom. Their failures entail fewer consequences for others. But something of the gay’s relationship’s necessary honesty, its flexibility, and its equality could undoubtedly help strengthen and inform many heterosexual bonds.”
–Andrew Sullivan, Virtually Normal, pp. 202-03.
Radically Alter an ‘Archaic Institution’
“A middle ground might be to fight for same-sex marriage and its benefits and then, once granted, redefine the institution of marriage completely, to demand the right to marry not as a way of adhering to society’s moral codes but rather to debunk a myth and radically alter an archaic institution.”
–Michelangelo Signorile, “Bridal Wave,” OUT magazine, December/January 1994, p. 161.
Ending Marriage’s ‘Sexist Trappings’
“[E]nlarging the [marital] concept to embrace same-sex couples would necessarily transform it into something new….Extending the right to marry to gay people — that is, abolishing the traditional gender requirements of marriage — can be one of the means, perhaps the principal one, through which the institution divests itself of the sexist trappings of the past.”
–the late homosexual activist Tom Stoddard, quoted in Roberta Achtenberg, et al, “Approaching 2000: Meeting the Challenges to San Francisco’s Families,” The Final Report of the Mayor’s Task Force on Family Policy, City and County of San Francisco, June 13, 1990, p.1.
Transform the Definition of Family
“[Legalizing “same-sex marriage”] is also a chance to wholly transform the definition of family in American culture. It is the final tool with which to dismantle all sodomy statutes, get education about homosexuality and AIDS into public schools, and, in short, usher in a sea change in how society views and treats us.”
–Michelangelo Signorile, “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do,” OUT magazine, May 1996, p. 30.
‘Being Queer Means Transforming the Very Fabric of Society’
“Being queer is more than setting up house, sleeping with a person of the same gender, and seeking state approval for doing so. … Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family, and in the process, transforming the very fabric of society. … As a lesbian, I am fundamentally different from non-lesbian women. …In arguing for the right to legal marriage, lesbians and gay men would be forced to claim that we are just like heterosexual couples, have the same goals and purposes, and vow to structure our lives similarly. … We must keep our eyes on the goals of providing true alternatives to marriage and of radically reordering society’s view of reality.”
–Paula Ettelbrick, “Since When Is Marriage a Path to Liberation?” in William Rubenstein, ed., Lesbians, Gay Men and the Law (New York: The New Press, 1993), pp. 401-405.
New Gay Model:Monogamy Not Essential for Marriage
“Gay life, like black culture, might even provide models and materials for rethinking family life and improving family law. I will now chart some ways in which this might be so — in particular drawing on the distinctive experience and ideals of gay male couples.
“Take sex. Traditionally, a commitment to monogamy — to the extent that it was not simply an adjunct of property law, a vehicle for guaranteeing property rights and succession — was the chief mode of sacrifice imposed upon or adopted by married couples as a means of showing their sacred valuing of their relation. But gay men have realized that while couples may choose to restrict sexual activity in order to show their love for each other, it is not necessary for this purpose; there are many other ways to manifest and ritualize commitment. And so monogamy (it appears) is not an essential component of love and marriage. The authors of “The Male Couple” found that:
[T]he majority of [gay male] couples, and all of the couples together for longer than five years, were not continuously sexually exclusive with each other. Although many had long periods of sexual exclusivity, it was not the ongoing expectation for most. We found that gay men expect mutual emotional dependability with their partners [but also believe] that relationship fidelity transcends concerns about sexuality and exclusivity.
Both because marital sacrifices must be voluntary to be meaningful and because sexual exclusivity is not essential to marital commitment, the law should not impose monogamy on married couples. And indeed, half the states have decriminalized adultery.
–Homosexual academic Richard D. Mohr, The Case for Gay Marriage, 9 NOTRE DAME J.L. ETHICS & PUB. POLICY 215, 233 (1995)
Churches: Homophobic, Antiquated Backwaters
“We can undermine the moral authority of homophobic churches by portraying them as antiquated backwaters, badly out of step with the times and with the latest findings in psychology. Against the mighty pull of institutional religion, one must set up the mightier draw of science and public opinion…. Such an unholy alliance has worked well against churches before, on such topics as divorce and abortion.”
–Marshall K. Kirk and Erastes Pill, “The Overhauling of Straight America,” homosexual magazine The Guide, November 1987.
Make Anti-Gays Look Nasty
“We intend to make the anti-gays look so nasty that average Americans will want to disassociate themselves from such types.”
–Marshall K. Kirk and Erastes Pill, “The Overhauling of Straight America,” The Guide (homosexual) magazine, November 1987.
NOTE: we have already received many responses to this item that was e-mailed out by AFTAH on New Year’s Eve. We will be posting some of these responses:
Please read the letter below, which we received Saturday from a 14-year-old atheist boy who hates Americans For Truth. Nothing makes my heart grieve more than a confused young person rejecting God and embracing an unnatural sexual identity (“gayness”) built around ungodly behavior that up until a few decades ago was viewed as so immoral that it wasn’t even discussed in public. I don’t know Joe, but I can safely say that his tragic life choice was made easier by the organized homosexual movement. This is the saddest end result of “gay pride” — corrupting the hearts and minds of young people and helping to put them in grave physical, emotional and spiritual danger:
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The following message was sent from the Americans for Truth Website: From: Joe [name withheld] Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2007 10:52 AM To:americansfortruth@comcast.net Subject: [AFT Web Site] Homosexuality.
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To put it bluntly, I probably hate you more than anything else in the world. Like many others, I believe you have the moral equivalent of a modern-day KKK: hating people for being different and having opposing beliefs. I am a liberal, gay, atheistic 14 year old boy, and I believe I have more morals than you. You are a disgrace to humanity. I\’m sorry that I am being so childish in my \”argument\” which is turning out like hate mail, but I just cannot put in words how much I disagree with you. Homosexuals should have rights because they are humans, capable of thinking logically and making decisions, just like you and me. And why does what other people do sexually concern you at all? I want you to tell me, from a non-religious standpoint, exactly how homosexuals are hurting you? Because if they are not negatively affecting you in any way (which is what a suspect) then you should have no problem with them. Most of America knows the truth about homosexuality, which is that it is a preference, not a choice, just like a favorite food to put it in simple terms. You like it, because it pleases you, not because you choose to like a certain food. I\’m sorry that this message has stretched so long, and I would like a reply and a rebuttal to my claims. USING LOGIC, not religion. -Joe [————-] ________________________
I have yet to respond to young Joe, but let us all pray for him. If you would like to send a message to Joe, send it to AFTAH at americansfortruth@comcast.net, and I will pass it on to him. But I won’t be relaying any notes from our homosexual activist detractors, for it looks like Joe is getting enough bad advice already from the “gay” side.
I hope and pray that the God whom Joe rejects will intervene in his life to take him off this course that can only lead to destruction: “There is a way that seems right to a man [or in this case, a boy], but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 16:25) Yes, there is a “culture war,” and a spiritual one, and lives hang in the balance.
Charlene Cothran/David Parker AFTAH BANQUET VIDEO Is Finally Available!
Excellent teaching tool for young people who are being brainwashed to accept homosexuality!
The AFTAH Banquet Videos are finally available and will be shipped ASAP! To order a complete DVD (or CD) set of both ex-lesbian Charlene Cothran’s and parental rights hero David Parker’s outstanding talks, make an online donation of at least $25 postpaid to Americans For Truth (http://americansfortruth.com/donate/). Please use the online form at https://americansfortruth.nozonenet.com/donate/cc.php to specify your order. You can substitute an audio CD but you must request this specifically. To order by regular mail, send your check or money order specifying “2007 Banquet DVD” (or CD) to: Americans For Truth, P.O. Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522.
Bulk Orders available: 2 for $40; 3 for $55; 4 for $70; add $10 for each additional DVD or contact us at americansfortruth@comcast.net (or 630-717-7631) for large bulk order pricing.
Click HERE to listen to WYLL-Chicago talk show host and Culture Campaign President Sandy Rios’ interview with Bob Knight of the Culture and Media Institute. The two discuss the City of Philadelphia’s decision — spurred on by homosexual City Solicitor Romulo Diaz Jr. — to evict the Philadelphia Scouts “Cradle of Liberty Council” unless the Scouts came up with $200,000 rent money for an historic city building that THEY donated to the city. Homosexual activists have pressured the city’s leaders to force the Scouts to submit to the city’s pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” nondiscrimination law, or lose their symbolic $1 per year lease to the city.
The famous Beaux Arts style building was built and paid for by the Scouts, and turned over to the city with the understanding that the Scouts would be allowed to remain in it rent-free “in perpetuity.”
City solicitor Romulo L. Diaz Jr. gave Philadelphia’s “Cradle of Liberty Council” of the Scouts until Monday this week to renounce their policy. The Cradle of Liberty Council is the largest Scouts council in Pennsylvania, and is the third largest in the entire Boy Scouts of America. The “City of Brotherly Love” has told the Scouts they have until June 1 to vacate their historic building.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2000 said the Boy Scouts were a private organisation who had the right to bar anyone they chose from their ranks. But the city of Philadelphia has a policy that no organisation that “discriminates” may receive public subsidies and City Council is backing Diaz’s interpretation of the law.
Diaz, an open and practising homosexual, told a local radio interviewer he would begin looking for a new tenant for the building immediately.
The pressure started in 2003 when then, mayor of Philadelphia, John F. Street, started coming under pressure from homosexual activists, powerful in local politics, to force the Scouts to accept homosexuality, claiming that their refusal violated the city’s 1982 “fair practices” law.
Mark Chilutti, a member of the Cradle of Liberty Council executive board said, “We’re ignoring the deadline. It was the least bad option we have.”
DiversityInc magazine co-founder Luke Visconti (lvisconti@diversityinc.com) showed his own (modern) bigotry and disrespect for people of faith by comparing Americans For Truth president Peter LaBarbera to a 19th Century Christian slavery advocate because LaBarbera opposes homosexuality and pro-homosexual corporate policies. The strongly pro-“gay” DiversityInc disinvited the AFTAH founder to a “Religion in the Workplace” panel discussion after pro-homosexual panelists threatened to boycott the discussion if LaBarbera was allowed to participate.
By Peter LaBarbera
Dear Christian or morality advocate who opposes homosexuality:
Did you know that in the eyes of some liberal, pro-homosexual advocates, you are the moral equivalent of the KKK? Actually, this is nothing new: radical “gay” activists have been making this absurd and hateful analogy for years. This is why I tell religious people all the time: disabuse yourself of the idea that homosexual activists and their liberal fellow travelers “respect” your faith or your right to live it out in the public square. They don’t; they despise your Bible-centered morality, and are quite willing to demonize you for it.
Increasingly, the liberals’ contempt for Christians and religious traditionalists is “out of the closet,” even as they continue with their hollow pleas for ‘tolerance’ and ‘diversity.’
I sent the following note to DiversityInc Executive Editor Barbara Frankel, in response to a column by Luke Visconti, co-founder of DiversityInc, explaining why they were justified in disinviting me to their “Religion in the Workplace” panel discussion. Essentially Visconti’s argument is this: “There is no need to balance human rights,” especially since I [and by extension, other pro-family leaders opposed to homosexuality] am the moral equivalent of slavery advocates.
Frankel and DiversityInc did allow me a full-page column to express my disappointment with their decision to drop Americans For Truth from their panel (see below), to which Visconti was responding.
Visconti’s column cites a 19th Century pastor who used the Bible to justify slavery, and claimed that I am his modern-day equivalent. He also cites the Ku Klux, fascism and other evil or misguided causes which were defended by Christian leaders. (We apologize but the DiversityInc site is having problems so we are not able to provide excerpts of his column at this time.)
In response to my incredulous question to Ms. Frankel — “As an opponent of homosexuality, I am the moral equivalent of a slavery advocate?” — Visconti wrote me:
To answer your question: Yes.
There’s one point on which I agree with you: The discussion should have been in person. I appreciate you taking the offer of writing the column.
Here is my note to Frankel:
Barbara, so that’s it?… As an opponent of homosexuality, I am the moral equivalent of a slavery advocate? I shudder at the arrogance — and insulting bigotry — of your “white guy” founder, Luke Visconti [Visconti has a column in his magazine called, “Ask the White Guy”]. I suppose my African-American friends who agree with me on marriage and sexuality issues are also to be compared with slavery advocates?
The following is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) speech to the homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign, at HRC’s annual dinner in Washington, D.C., on October 6, 2007. Speaker Pelosi was awarded the 2007 National Equality Award by HRC, which is the largest homosexual activist group in the world. Under the video screen are some excerpts of Pelosi’s speech, taken from homosexual activist John Aravosis’ Americablog. Aravosis’ transcript is not wholly accurate; we will work on providing an exact transcript of the speech:
Excerpts from Pelosi speech at Human Rights Campaign (HRC) banquet:
“It is a special honor to receive this recognition from HRC and a personal joy to receive it from Jim Hormel.
“Thank you as well to Joe Solmonese for leading the way and defending the rights of the entire GLBT community. I will display this award with great pride so that everyone knows that HRC and all of you have a friend in the Speaker’s office. …
[Salute to HRC]
“Tonight, we join together in our nation’s capital to celebrate the accomplishments and the courage of the Human Rights Campaign.
“More than 700,000 voices strong, HRC is the prime mover for GLBT rights across America and an inspiration for millions more.
“When Jim Hormel and many other courageous Americans built the foundations of what would become HRC, our struggle for justice was in its early stages. But our cause for justice would not be denied.
“For being a powerful and positive counterbalance to the voices of hate – and for being the hope and salvation of millions of Americans – thank you, HRC.
[Condemns Federal Marriage Amendment]
“As we strive to work in a bipartisan way, we must also recognize the difference a Democratic Congress makes.
“In the previous Congress, we fought back cynical attempts to enshrine discrimination into the Constitution and defeated the Federal Marriage Amendment.
“In a Democratic Congress, unlike previous Congresses, malicious measures intended to divide the American people or to undermine the rights of the GLBT community are off the table.
…
“Instead, our Democratic Congress has a positive agenda.
[Transgender-Inclusive Hate Crimes Bill]
…
“This past May, the House passed Chairman John Conyers’ legislation protecting Americans against violence based on sexual orientation, race, religion, gender, national origin, disability, or gender identity.
“Some doubted that we could pass a hate crime bill if it included protections for transgender Americans.
“But [lesbian Democrat] Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin would not be denied.
“Representatives Baldwin and [homosexual Massachusetts Democrat] Barney Frank fought for a fully inclusive bill. HRC rallied support. And with 237 votes, the House passed hate crimes legislation.
“Just last week, the Senate followed suit with a strong bipartisan vote. Thank you, Harry Reid.
“After 15 long years, we will – for the first time – put this bipartisan hate crimes legislation on the President’s desk. …
[Wants Transgender-Inclusive ENDA]
“As members and supporters of HRC, you understand that it is truly historic that the House of Representatives will soon pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
“The tremendous progress we have would not have been possible without the great leadership of Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts [D]. With his brilliance, his wit and legislative skill, he persevered in bringing ENDA before the Congress.
“America is a great and wealthy country, but we cannot afford to squander the talents of any of our citizens, nor should we.
“We all benefit if everyone gets a chance to work hard, and support their families.
“Yet today, in more than 30 states you can be fired for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
“That is wrong. Federal action is needed, and it is long overdue.
“I strongly believe that transgender individuals deserve the same rights and the same protections as any other Americans and will work to see that ENDA also protects their rights.
“In a few weeks, the House will be voting on ENDA. And those who oppose us will be lobbying on the Hill and working to defeat any version of ENDA. We cannot allow the forces of discrimination succeed.
“Barney Frank, Tammy Baldwin and others will do the inside maneuvering. But we cannot succeed without outside mobilization. Working together, we will mobilize, and educate. Each and every one of us must take personal responsibility for passing the strongest possible ENDA – one vote at a time.
“History teaches us that progress on civil rights is never easy. But justice is inevitable. It’s about time.
“Many saw the 1957 Civil Rights Act as not having done enough, but it helped lay the groundwork for the great Civil Rights Act that followed.
“On the occasion of receiving the HRC Equality Award, I give you my commitment as Speaker of the House that I will fight for the most inclusive ENDA possible so that our nation’s laws are in harmony with our nation’s ideals.
[Praises San Francisco’s ‘Tolerance’]
“I accept this honor tonight on behalf of the many members of Congress who stand with HRC, not because it is popular in their districts, but because it is right.
“I also accept this award on behalf of my constituents in San Francisco.
“People always say it is easy for me to take these votes and be for these issues because San Francisco is so tolerant.
“It is not about tolerance. It is about the respect we have for each other. It is about the pride we take in our community.
“That sentiment is now spreading across America. And it is happening thanks to the work of the Human Rights Campaign – and each and every one of you. …
“May God Bless you, and May God Bless the America.”