| Home | About | Issues | Resources | Join Our Email List | Savage Hate | Donate | Contact |
An Open Letter to the Deniers of Ex-Gay Reparative Therapy
January 5th, 2018
John McCartney has been proclaiming the truth about homosexuality and abortion in the Chicago area for decades.
The following open letter was published late last month (in print only) by my friend and longtime pro-life and pro-family advocate, John McCartney. For decades, John has reached out locally in the Chicago area with the truth on two critically important cultural issues: the defense of unborn life and opposition to the homosexual (LGBTQ) agenda. With his steadfastness and reasonable, winsome approach he is a model for morality advocates everywhere. And he never quits–doing more as an octogenarian to defend truth in the public square in a single month than most people do in a lifetime.
For the uninitiated, “Reparative Therapy” is talk therapy designed to help people overcome and manage unwanted homosexual desires, aka “same-sex attractions” (SSA). Many people like David Pickup and Christopher Doyle, have been helped by such “ex-gay” therapy [see my LifeSiteNews piece on the late RT pioneer, Joe Nicolosi]. Nevertheless, LGBTQ ideologues are now heavily invested in demonizing and discrediting the practice, usually by “focusing on the failures,” i.e., people who claim to be harmed or abused by Reparative Therapy. (This in itself is strange, as John alludes to in his letter: in what other area of life–say, people overcoming drug addiction or obesity–do we focus only on the failures as opposed to the heart-warming successes of struggling people who got professional or ministerial help?)
In a seismic assault on liberty, RT for minors has been banned in nine states and the District of Columbia, according to this pro-LGBTQ website. (Interestingly, three governors who signed anti-RT bills into law were Republicans–Chris Christie (New Jersey), Susana Martinez (New Mexico) and Bruce Rauner (Illinois).) Yet it is important to remember that many people who have overcome the strong pull of homosexual impulses in their life, like Stephen Black, did not rely solely on RT-like counseling, and credit God with all or at least a big part of their transformation.
No matter to the neo-totalitarian Left, which is hellbent on destroying the practice and the freedom of people–even childhood victims of homosexual predators–to pursue healthy change away from homosexuality. Note that one method LGBTQ activists and their media echo chamber use to smear Reparative Therapy is to mislabel it as “conversion therapy.” That sounds more menacing and plays to the Left’s anti-Christian prejudices, making RT sound like some sinister cult. It also befits the LGBTQ activist narrative of portraying homosexuality as innate (inherent), thereby unchangeable, and “gays” as perpetual victims. Kudos to John McCartney for rebutting the LGBTQ lies and biased media groupthink. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera – americansfortruth@gmail.com
P.S. Special Book Offer: Regarding McCartney’s proper assessment that homosexuality is NOT a normal variant of human sexual behavior, I recommend the thoroughly-documented, 600-page Mass Resistance book, “Health Hazards of Homosexuality,” which we are making available through AFTAH for $20 postpaid. Order online here with your gift of at least $20 [note your book order in the comments box], or send your check to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522, noting the book order.]
Links and some explanatory notes have been added to this printed Open Letter:
_____________________________________________
An Open Letter to the Deniers of Reparative Therapy
By John McCartney
For years, “gay” activists have waged a disinformation campaign against reparative therapy (RT), a service available to the those with unwanted same-sex attraction (SSA). It got national attention decades ago when, using it, [sexologists] Masters & Johnson relieved 60 percent of such persons from SSA. Such therapy consists of conversation between a therapist and a client seeking the source of this unwelcome felling. That there is a source is attested to by the fact that there is no replicated study supporting the born-that-way argument. Anti-RT activists advance assertions that warrant scrutiny, assertions in addition to born-that-way, such as:
- SSA is not a disorder, i.e., a divergence from nature. In support, they cite the 1973 removal of homosexuality from the [American Psychiatric Association’s] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders II at a meeting that made a travesty of psychiatric deliberation by politics and the ever-present threat of 1971-type disruptions [Editor’s note: see this “pro-LGBTQ psychiatric site, which notes: “There were a series of dramatic encounters between activists and psychiatrists at the annual meetings of the APA between 1970 and 1972.” Also see psychiatrist Dr Ronald Bayer’s book, Homosexuality and American Psychiatry: The Politics of Diagnosis, which documents how “gay” militants bullied and harassed psychiatrists leading up to the APA vote depathologizing homosexuality.] In a subsequent referendum, psychiatrists without experience with homosexuality were polled; their votes outweighed the votes of psychiatrists who did have it. Psychiatrists with such clinical experience in counseling clients with SSA were marginalized in the proceedings.
The late Dr. Robert Spitzer, who equivocated on whether people could leave homosexuality (a supposed “orientation”) behind. See this compelling article on Spitzer, who once declared in a letter, based on his observations: “In homosexuality…something’s not working.”
- Dr. Robert Spitzer, who quarterbacked the 1973 removal of homosexuality as a mental disorder (with a narrow exception), retracted his 2003 endorsement of RT, which he made after listening to the self-reports of 200 men and women for whom RT worked. Spitzer, after ten years, was convinced by “gay” activists that he really didn’t know what he once knew, that his endorsement was putting homosexuals in jeopardy, and that self-reporting of change was unreliable, even though he had expertise evaluating it. The [then] 80-year-old psychiatrist yielded to the same intense lobbying that his fellow psychiatrists did in the 1973 “scientific” [APA] meeting–to truth’s detriment.
- The assertion that the showcased dozen or so victims of unqualified counselors constituted proof that RT doesn’t work and is often harmful is as unreasonable as asserting that Alcoholics Anonymous is a failure because it has only a 40 percent success rate.
Read the rest of this article »
Rabbis Blast Trump Re-nomination of LGBTQ Activist Chai Feldblum to EEOC
January 3rd, 2018
Excerpted from Breitbart.com. Also, to read an excellent background report on Feldblum by Family Research Council senior fellow Peter Sprigg, go HERE:
A coalition of rabbis is criticizing the Trump administration for re-nominating radical sexual identity activist Chai Feldblum to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), the largest rabbinic public policy organization in America, observes in a press release sent to Breitbart News that Feldblum, the architect of former President Barack Obama’s radical LGBT agenda, “cast the deciding vote when the EEOC termed it ‘unlawful sex discrimination’ to limit locker and shower facilities to those of a single biological gender, and has consistently shown a disregard for religious rights.”As Obama’s most liberal gender ideology activist, Feldblum has said that whenever LGBT issues conflict with religious liberty and private property rights, religious liberty and private rights should lose.
The coalition notes that, in 2012, Feldblum was a member of the EEOC “when the US Supreme Court unanimously rejected its position, which Chief Justice John Roberts characterized as claiming ‘that the Religion Clauses have nothing to say about a religious organization’s freedom to select its own ministers.’”
“Feldblum has been truly unfriendly to accommodation of religious views,” said Eastern Regional Vice President of the CJV Rabbi Steven Pruzansky in the press statement. “The decision to renew her nomination seems jarringly discordant with the Trump Administration’s overall support for religious liberty.”
Jesus Christ – The Incomparable One
January 2nd, 2018
“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Folks, before the Christmas season is fully behind us, we are pleased to share this wonderful piece by the late Joe Sobran, courtesy of Fran Griffin and her Fitzgerald Griffin Foundation, which works to preserve Sobran’s brilliant legacy (see info at bottom). — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Jesus Christ – The Incomparable One
By Joe Sobran
Griffin Internet Syndicate, 6/4/2009
Jesus was far from being an old man when his earthly life ended. He was probably well under 40, roughly the age of Mozart, who died at 35, as his genius was still approaching its unimaginable peak.
By contrast, nobody thinks of Jesus as having died prematurely, as if he had been killed before his teaching had been fully developed, and as if it might have ripened into something more profound and interesting had his life span been longer. There is about his life a sense of completeness; he had done what he had come to achieve. At the very end, he said, “It is consummated.” He had foretold his own death and resurrection.
The Jesus Seminar, a liberal group that includes theologians as well as the director of Robocop, has tried to distinguish between authentic and inauthentic sayings of Jesus in the four Gospels; but nobody has ventured to suggest what he might have said if only he had survived another 10 years or so. Those Gospels do seem to indicate the fulfillment of a mission, don’t they?
It is, of course, impossible for anyone to invent a single saying worthy of Jesus. Much easier to coin a phrase worthy of a human genius like Shakespeare! “Heaven and earth shall pass away,” Jesus said, “but my words shall not pass away.” Once we have heard those words, they become part of us. They seem so familiar that we may think they are trite, but they are not. They are eternally new, even when we have heard them all our lives, and they always reward meditation on them.
Some day when you have nothing better to do, try improving on the Lord’s Prayer. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Don’t all religions agree on that? No. In most religions — see the Iliad, the Koran, and the Psalms, for example — it is normal to pray for revenge. Forgiving and praying for one’s enemies are among the hardest duties of a Christian. Being “nice” is far from the same thing as being a Christian; after all, Jesus was not tortured to death for urging good manners on his disciples.
Read the rest of this article »
AFTAH Never ‘Moves On’ from Telling the Politically Incorrect Truth About Homosexuality
January 1st, 2018
Leftist haters … hate AFTAH: Hard-left groups like “People for the American Way” despise AFTAH and castigate its president, Peter LaBarbera, whenever he publicly criticizes the homosexual activist agenda. Here PFAW’s “Right Wing Watch” expresses dismay that LaBarbera is speaking out against “Star Wars” for featuring a character who models a deviant homosexual identity. See above PFAW link HERE and PFAW’s “RWW” link containing hundreds of its “Peter LaBarbera” entries HERE. Help support AFTAH by giving safely online HERE. Click on image to enlarge.
Special Note from AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera:
I hope you had a Merry Christmas and are enjoying a Happy New Year as we enter 2018 with all its challenges and opportunities!
AFTAH (Americans For Truth About Homosexuality) defends the simple truth that homosexual behaviors are wrong, unnatural, and are not the basis for one’s identity, nor positive “rights” in the law.
Throughout 2017, I represented AFTAH as a guest on dozens of conservative Christian radio talk shows to expose and confront the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) agenda. Here is a sample of programs (with links) on which I appeared this year:
* VCY America: Based in Milwaukee, it reaches several States in the Midwest, Middle America and the South. AFTAH appears regularly on VCY America “Crosstalk” to discuss the overarching LGBTQ agenda. The LGBTQ media and leftist activists did not appreciate my criticism on a September 26 WVCY interview of “Star Wars'” inclusion of a character modelling homosexual sin as normal.
* Janet Mefferd Show: Janet—one of the smartest talkers and thinkers in Christian media—regularly relies on AFTAH as a “go to” source in explaining the “gay” and “transgender” onslaught on America. I appeared frequently on both her individual show as well her AFR (American Family Radio) show. Here is a Nov. 4 “Janet Mefferd Live” radio broadcast interview in which I discuss the Human Rights Campaign’s rigged “Corporate Equality Index.”
* AFA “One News Now”: AFTAH is also regularly featured on this excellent American Family Association news source. In this July 20 ONN story, I responded to homosexual mega-funder Tim Gill, who said he wants to “punish the wicked,” referring to pro-family conservatives. LaBarbera told ONN: “Tim Gill is a bigot and he’s an intolerant bigot at that … He wants to squelch dissent; he wants to squelch the very Judeo/Christian values that help make our country great. But all Tim Gill’s millions or billions or whatever he has cannot eradicate God’s truth. The Bible stands true yesterday, today, and forever.”
* Linda Harvey Show: On Dec. 16, I was interviewed by my friend and pro-family advocate Linda Harvey on the connection between homosexuality and pedophilia, in the wake of the Hollywood ongoing sex-abuse scandal. Go to this link and scroll down to 12/16/17, “Homosexuality and the Predator Issue.”
* Chaps Klingenschmitt Show: Chaps (Gordon) Klingenschmitt of the Pray in Jesus Name Project interviewed me about the intriguing case of “gay conservative” Milo Yiannoupoulos. Watch the Skype interview HERE.
In 2017, I also spoke out in public against homosexualism, which usually inspires some form of pro-LGBTQ censorship these days. In October, the Wisconsin Christian News sponsors of my recent speech “Exposing the LGBTQ Agenda” were directly censored by both Office Max (Office Depot) and Facebook. [See main AFTAH story HERE.]
Through our ongoing media outreach and our website, AFTAH over the last three decades has educated many millions of people all over the world about the campaign to “mainstream” homosexuality—which is now getting a tremendous push from Corporate America.
[Please Help Us: To help AFTAH continue in its mission to tell the politically incorrect Truth About Homosexuality, give safely online HERE or send your gift to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522.]
In addition, AFTAH is highly engaged on Twitter, where we are one of the most visible opponents of “gay” ideology, and on Facebook, which recently “de-published” our page, amidst other acts of censorship over the year. Speaking “truth to power,” in a moral sense, is what we do, and we do it joyfully even as we are hated and despised by lost souls in the grip of sin, leftist propaganda and sexual confusion.
Amazing Stephen Black testimony: AFTAH banquet
Stephen Black addresses Americans For Truth “Teach-in.” Black received the AFTAH “American Truth Teller Award” for 2017. Click HERE to watch the entire banquet on video. Help support AFTAH by giving safely online HERE.
In October we had a successful banquet featuring ex-“gay” Stephen Black. Stephen offered compelling testimony in defense of the Christian view of homosexuality and shared the harrowing story of how as a young boy, he’d been molested twice by men with a homosexual problem. Two other ex-“gay” men also shared their riveting personal stories of coming out of homosexuality.
I was thrilled to present Stephen with a $1,000 check and the “American Truth-Teller Award” for 2017. Honoring defenders of Truth and changed lives through Jesus Christ is what we’re all about. (Support Stephen’s First Stone Ministries HERE.)
Stephen’s entire banquet and “teach-in” presentation, joined by several other leading pro-family activists, can be viewed HERE (or click the “Stephen Black” box on the right side of the AFTAH website).
Dirtiest word in America: Morality
The M-Word—Morality—is now one of the “dirtiest” words in modern America. Biblical sexual morality has been under withering assault in the United States for decades—think of the abject filth, vulgarity and soft-core porn that have become staples of modern movies. The abomination of homosexuality (that’s how God sees it: as detestable) is now widely treated as merely another form of “love.”
“Love is love,” went the simplistic, pro-LGBTQ slogan, echoed by Obama and countless others after our corrupt Supreme Court ushered in legal homosexual “marriage” in 2015. This is how dumbed-down American culture has become!
Indeed, post-Christian America today is just a shadow of her moral and spiritual past self, but the Truth, like Christ Jesus, does not change (Hebrews 13:8). That is why AFTAH exists. We are unswervingly dedicated to holding up God’s Truth in a (Western) world stubbornly bent on the redefining sex and gender roles to justify people’s sins.
A lot of conservatives are sort of “embarrassed” over the whole question of sexual morality, and especially homosexuality, as they rationalize in their own minds why the fight against “Big Gay Inc” is passé or no longer worthwhile. We’ve all seen it: tiny sellouts in which a “conservative” pundit pay lip service to some aspect of the LGBTQ agenda, usually “same-sex marriage.”
Not us. We at AFTAH count it as a joy and a privilege to stand with God against secular lies and wickedness in the culture, although it does get lonely and frustrating. Let’s face it: nobody likes being smeared as a “hater” and a “bigot” day after day—which is why so many Christians and conservatives, intimidated and beaten down by the vocal Left, give up on defending truth regarding LGBTQ issues.
AFTAH never “moves on” – while GOP praises “gay Republicans”
But I say, “Man up!” (You, too, ladies!) For goodness’ sake, name-calling and vicious insults are a small price to pay for serving God in a dying culture, and we do so proudly at Americans for Truth. AFTAH is the principled, Christian conscience of the pro-family movement against the “homosexual agenda” (notice how rarely that phrase is used anymore). We never bow down to political correctness or political partisanship, even if that means getting criticized or ignored by fellow conservatives who have made their own accommodation with “gay Republicans” or “gay rights” in general. (Many conservatives just “go silent” and no longer engage the issue of homosexuality.)
Fox News contributor and Townhall editor Guy Benson considers himself a “gay Christian.” Will “conservatism” embrace a GOP version of the LGBTQ sexual sin movement?
Perhaps the Republican National Committee, which recently celebrated the 40-year anniversary of the homosexual group Log Cabin Republicans, would consider that Romans 1 in the Bible contains no “GOP exception” as it describes society’s godless descent into sexual sin and idolatry.
At AFTAH, we never stop calling for the overturning of the Supreme Court’s outrageous 2015 Obergefell ruling imposing homosexuality-based “marriage” on the nation, even though it seems most Republicans and conservatives have given up on that goal, too. “Kvetch and Retreat,” as Rabbi Mayer Schiller wisely put it, is the modus operandi of conservatives, especially when it comes to sexual morality. This grieves my heart.
In contrast, the pro-homosexual Left—purveyors of lies and at war with God’s wholesome values—is perpetually on offense. Meanwhile, we who claim to possess absolute Truth stumble on defense. Shame.
Read the rest of this article »
VIDEO: ‘Activist Mommy’ on Jack Phillips Wedding Cake Case – Homosexual Couple Are the Real Bullies
December 17th, 2017
Freedom in the Balance: Will the Government of the United States of America force people of faith like Jack Phillips to use their talents and privately-owned business to honor and serve “marriages” based on immoral homosexual behavior? Click to enlarge. Photo: Alliance Defending Freedom.
Folks, here is a neat video on the Jack Phillips Supreme Court case by Elizabeth Johnston, the “Activist Mommy” despised by the Left because she is an effective and fearless Christian, conservative truth-teller. It strikes me as un-American that our simple freedom as citizens of this nation, founded on religious liberty, to associate with whomever we want and publicly live by our moral and spiritual beliefs now hangs by the thread of the whims of a few Supreme Court Justices.
All eyes are on Justice Anthony Kennedy, who, though appointed by Ronald Reagan, has earned hero status on the pro-LGBTQ Left for his consistent, pro-homosexual record on the Court. Where will Kennedy, who authored the God- and Constitution-defying 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision imposing counterfeit “same-sex marriage” on all 50 states, come down on Phillips’ conscience-based refusal to participate through his cake shop in the celebration of disordered homosexual “weddings”? [Read the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s superb dissent on Obergefell HERE.]
Social conservatives warned that legalizing so-called “same-sex marriage” would result in escalating State and cultural oppression against religious people and institutions–ironically, in the name of “civil rights,” “diversity,” and “equality.” Now that is happening with horrific consequences for principled Christians like Phillips and Barronelle Stutzman. The media- and Democratic Party-enabled “Gay” Revolution has advanced to the point where it is now working to effectively criminalize faithful Christians and other moral dissenters by preposterously comparing them to racist bigots and treating them accordingly.
The leading legal crusader for homosexual “marriage,” Evan Wolfson, said, “I’m not in this just to change the law. It’s about changing society.” Indeed. Now the question is: are we going to let the pro-LGBTQ Lobby and the Government destroy our First Amendment liberties in the service of a godless, radical egalitarian agenda that regards the public expression of biblical faithfulness as just one more component of “anti-gay discrimination”? We’ll see, but to say that a lot rides on this case would be an understatement. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
VIDEO: Homosexual Agenda Speech by Peter LaBarbera that Office Depot and Facebook Refused to Promote
December 3rd, 2017
Big Brother Facebook: The above is an Oct. 16, 2017 screenshot of Wisconsin Christian News publisher Rob Pue’s Facebook administrator’s page (circle added), for an Oct. 16 “Exposing the Homosexual Agenda” speech by AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera. Note the in the circled portion: zero “People Reached,” zero “Post Engagements,” and $0.00 Spent of $200.00″ for the ostensible promotional “boost.” On Oct. 11, Pue signed up for $200.00 in Facebook promotional ads for the event. But after initially “accepting” the ad, Facebook never actually promoted the event, as you can see by comparing it to the Facebook paid promotions below it for previous WCN events (one reaching 2,172 people and the other 7,299). Pue was not charged by Facebook for the “Homosexual Agenda” speech ad because such”boosts” are paid for based on views that derive from the ads. Click on graphic to enlarge.
Folks, here is the Facebook video from my recent speech (October 16, 2017) at the Wisconsin Christian News‘ headquarters in Marshfield, Wisconsin. As you can see in the video and read here, WCN publisher Rob Pue encountered one politically correct obstacle after another in attempting to publicize the speech. First, the local Office Max (Office Depot) refused to print a poster for the ad (see photo below), despite the fact that Pue had printed many similar event posters at the same store over the years. Office Max managers relented after negative publicity and apologized to Pue.
Then, days before the even,, Pue thought he was buying ads on Facebook to advertise the speech, but discovered that, even after the social media giant initially had “approved” his ad for the “Exposing the Homosexual Agenda” speech, the ads never ran! (See photo above.)
All of these shenanigans should remind us that the pro-LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) revolution is propped up by liberal enablers who are so afraid of a free and fair debate about homosexuality, transgenderism and other perversions masquerading as “rights” that they are forced to shut down opposing views, through the law if necessary. I give credit to pro-family warrior Pue for persevering through all the “progressive” attempts at thought control. In that respect he is a model for us all. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
The photo below shows Wisconsin Christian News publisher Rob Pue holding the poster advertising LaBarbera’s “Exposing the Homosexual Agenda” speech–the same poster that the local Marshfield, WI Office Max initially refused to print, saying it violated the company’s nondiscrimination policies.
Wisconsin Christian News publisher Rob Pue holding the poster for the Oct. 16 “Exposing the Homosexual Agenda” speech–the identical poster that the local Office Max (Office Depot) in Marshfield, WI refused to print for ideological reasons. The same store has printed many similar posters for Pue and WCN over the years.
WATCH: Full AFTAH Banquet Video Featuring Ex-Gay and Homosexual Predator Victim Stephen Black
November 10th, 2017Former “gay” Stephen Black addresses Americans For Truth “Teach-in” Oct. 20. Black said he grew up feeling “shame” after twice being molested as a boy by adult homosexual male predators. AFTAH presented Black with its 2017 American Truth Teller Award. Black runs First Stone Ministries in Oklahoma City and is Board Chairman of Restored Hope Ministries. Click on photo to enlarge.
The following videos cover the full Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) banquet and Teach-in, held October 20-21, 2017 at Grace For Life Bible Church in Naperville, Illinois. Our featured speaker was Stephen Black, who shares from his experience as an ex-“gay” man who was twice victimized as a boy by homosexual adult male sex predators–yet whose life was radically transformed by a relationship with Jesus Christ. Stephen, who has become a good friend, is the author of Freedom Realized: Freedom from Homosexuality & Living a Life Free From Labels.
[Special Double-Resource Offer to Help AFTAH: receive Stephen Black’s book “Freedom Realized” PLUS a 2-DVD set of the entire 2017 AFTAH conference for your gift to AFTAH of $40 or more (postpaid). Give online or send your check to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. Or order the book alone for $20 postpaid or the 2-DVD video set alone for $25 postpaid.]
Black is executive director of First Stone Ministries in Oklahoma City and Board Chairman of Restored Hope Network–two wonderful Christian ministries that reach out to the “sexually broken” from a biblical perspective. His testimony and others at the conference are a reminder of the politically incorrect truth that homosexuality can be overcome as in person’s life, and that Jesus Christ is alive and still in the life-transforming business.
Like all AFTAH banquets and educational events, this was a tremendous time of learning as our speakers–each a truth warrior in his or her own right–confronted the myths and lies of the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) lobby. Stephen’s love for Jesus and his call for obedience in the Church to the gospel of Christ alone was compelling, but please take the time to watch all five videos below. And please share them far and wide to educate your network of friends. And to help us, if you are able, please support Americans for Truth with your donations, perhaps with our Special Offer below. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
This story contains all videos from the conference. We will isolate out separate portions of the conference in forthcoming posts.
____________________________________________
Here are some introductory teaching remarks opening night by my pastor and our host, Grace for Life Bible Church pastor Steve Schroeder (Video 1 of 5):
The following are my (Peter LaBarbera’s) opening remarks Oct. 20, followed by Stephen Black’s banquet night “overview” presentation (Video 2 of 5):
Here is the opening of the Saturday Teach-in, including remarks by LaBarbera. Black, who received the 2017 AFTAH American Truth-Teller Award the previous night, comes to the stage at the 29:00 mark (Video 3 of 5):
In this segment, two men who came out of homosexuality, Darren and Jeff, share their testimonies. Note the cruelties growing up faced by Darren and the sexual abuse and family dysfunction (and the miracle!) in Jeff’s story. Stephen Black then gives his final presentation (Video 4 of 5):
The AFTAH Teach-in ended with this expert panel discussion and Q-and-A. The speakers include (left to right): Stephen Black, First Stone Ministries; Denise Shick of Help 4 Families Ministry, who gave harrowing testimony about life as a girl growing up with her “transgender” father; Diane Gramley of American Family Association of Pennsylvania and Laurie Higgins of Illinois Family Institute (who preferred not to be shown on camera) – (Video 5 of 5):
[Special Offer to Help AFTAH: receive Stephen Black’s book “Freedom Realized” PLUS a 2-DVD set of the entire 2017 AFTAH conference for your gift to AFTAH of $40 or more (postpaid). Give online or send your check to: AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522. Or order the book alone for $20 postpaid or the video set alone for $25 postpaid.]
Wisconsin Office Max Refuses to Print Poster Advertising LaBarbera Speech Exposing ‘Homosexual Agenda’
November 1st, 2017Company now says it would print poster, and that Wisconsin store “misinterpreted” guidelines
Silencing Dissent: This is the Wisconsin Christian News flier that an Office Max in Marshfield, WI refused to print, presumably because it violates the corporation’s anti-“hate” policy.
UPDATE Nov. 8: An Office Depot (Office Max) corporate executive called Wisconsin Christian News publisher Rob Pue to profusely apologize for the Marshfield, WI Office Max store’s refusal to print the poster (at right) for WCN’s “Exposing the Homosexual Agenda” speech by Peter LaBarbera Nov. 16. However, Pue has received no formal written apology from Office Depot, and no assertions that anti-Christian discrimination of this sort will not occur again.
People who contacted Office Depot’s corporate headquarters to complain about the Marshfield, WI incident received a variation of a letter stating the following from Office Depot:
“Office Depot is aware of this situation and it has been addressed. A representative of the company previously contacted the customer to explain that the decision to decline to print the order was made by an associate who misinterpreted our policy regarding the types of items that we will print.
“When reviewed at the corporate level, it was determined that the order did not violate the policy and our representative contacted the customer to apologize. We also offered to complete the order in question, or provide a future order at no cost.
“Store leadership has also re-trained the associates at that location to ensure that our customers have a positive experience in the future.”
AFTAH contacted the Marshfield Office Max Nov. 6 and was told by Print Supervisor Jeffry Costigan that he would now print the identical poster (above) that he and the store had previously rejected.
Said Pue, who is still considering legal action: “While I DID receive a phone call from a man at corporate headquarters, and while he DID apologize for the incident, he ALSO told me he would be emailing me immediately a formal apology, and statement indicating that Office Max/Depot will NOT discriminate against Christians (specifically) in the future. To date, I have received nothing in writing.”
— PL
Best Contact Info for Office Depot (Office Max): we heard from someone who called Office Max’s (Office Depot’s) HQ and this is the best way to reach them: call 561-438-4800, then hit Option #2. From there, hit “0” and ask for the “Executive Consumer Relations Department” and you will be able to leave them a detailed voicemail message.–PL
TAKE ACTION: contact Office Depot (Office Max): National HQ [see “Update” above]: 1) online contact page; 2) 800-GO-DEPOT (800-463-3768); 3) Local Marshfield, WI Office Max store: 715-389-8820.
Note from AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera:
Folks, add this story to your “Intolerant Gay Activists” file. An Office Max in Marshfield, Wisconsin has refused to print a flier submitted by Wisconsin Christian News (WCN) advertising my upcoming speech on the “homosexual agenda” November 16.
WCN publisher Rob Pue Pue created a poster for the event with a (LGBTQ activist) “rainbow flag” covered by the words, “The Homosexual Agenda EXPOSED!” and submitted it Oct. 25 to his local Office Max, which had printed many fliers for him in the past, for various conservative cultural events. He also submitted a Veterans Day poster for printing.
Initially “Eric” from Office Max sent Pue an email saying that they could “definitely” print both posters and that they would be ready by 10:00 AM the next day. But that morning (Oct. 26), Pue instead received another email from Store Manager Jeff Schweiger informing him that while the store could print the veterans poster, “we are unable to print the first print” advertising LaBarbera’s speech.
When Pue inquired as to why the poster could not be printed, he received another email, this time from Print Supervisor Jeffry Costigan, which read:
Good morning Rob,
Unfortunately we will not be able to print the contents of the poster for Peter Labarbera.
The contents of the poster falls under the prohibited guidelines of our company’s Duplication procedures.
We will be able to print the second request for the Veterans poster.
Pue then requested the Office Max (owned by Office Depot) “prohibited guidelines” policy but instead of sending him the “prohibited guidelines” he had previously cited, Costigan simply replied:
Dear Mr. Pue,
I stand by the decision not to duplicate your material.
If you have anymore questions, I request that you contact OfficeMax at 1-800-GoDepot.Again thank you for your understanding.
Jeffry A. Costigan
Print Supervisor| Office Depot, Inc.
1629 N. Central Ave, | Marshfield, WI. 54449
Tel: (715) 389-8820 | ods06637cpc@officedepot.com
Pue is now weighing possible legal action against Office Max (Office Depot), which has previously been in the news for refusing to print a pro-life flyer. In 2015, a Chicago-area Office Max refused “to make 500 copies of a flyer featuring a pro-life prayer—that calls for the conversion of Planned Parenthood—that was written by a Catholic priest,” CNS News reported.
The company relented but stood by its right to refuse print jobs based on its “hate” policy prohibiting “the copying of ‘hate material’ that advocates for the persecution of groups of people, regardless of the reason.”
Pue told AFTAH, “By refusing to do the job, Office Max proved my point, that there is a homosexual agenda. There is no ‘hate’ in that poster, and our speaker is not about ‘hate’ but Christian love and truth.”
Pue and LaBarbera appeared as guest Wednesday on the VCY America program “Crosstalk,” which reaches several states, to discuss the Office Max rejection of the Wisconsin Christian News poster.
Americans For Truth
P.O. Box 340743
Columbus, OH 43234
