On the Down Low: Black Men at the Bathhouse With Girlfriends at Home

Once again we renew our call for the closure of all sex clubs and bathhouses, which as, this article shows, are helping to victimize straight spouses who are unaware of their partner’s secret perversions.– Peter LaBarbera

The following is excerpted from Double Lives on the Down Low, by Benoit Denizet-Lewis, published Aug 3, 2003, by The New York Times Magazine:

…In its upper stories, the Flex bathhouse in Cleveland feels like a squash club for backslapping businessmen. There’s a large gym with free weights and exercise machines on the third floor. In the common area, on the main floor, men in towels lounge on couches and watch CNN on big-screen TV’s.In the basement, the mood is different: the TV’s are tuned to porn, and the dimly lighted hallways buzz with sexual energy. A naked black man reclines on a sling in a room called ”the dungeon play area.” Along a hallway lined with lockers, black men eye each other as they walk by in towels. In small rooms nearby, some men are having sex. Others are napping.

There are two bathhouses in Cleveland. On the city’s predominantly white West Side, Club Cleveland — which opened in 1965 and recently settled into a modern 15,000-square-foot space — attracts many white and openly gay men. Flex is on the East Side, and it serves a mostly black and Hispanic clientele, many of whom don’t consider themselves gay…

Today, while there are black men who are openly gay, it seems that the majority of those having sex with men still lead secret lives, products of a black culture that deems masculinity and fatherhood as a black man’s primary responsibility — and homosexuality as a white man’s perversion. And while Flex now offers baskets of condoms and lubricant, Wallace says that many of the club’s patrons still don’t use them.

Wallace ticks off the grim statistics: blacks make up only 12 percent of the population in America, but they account for half of all new reported H.I.V. infections. While intravenous drug use is a large part of the problem, experts say that the leading cause of H.I.V. in black men is homosexual sex (some of which takes place in prison, where blacks disproportionately outnumber whites). According to the Centers for Disease Control, one-third of young urban black men who have sex with men in this country are H.I.V.-positive, and 90 percent of those are unaware of their infection…

Many of the men at Flex tonight — and many of the black men I met these past months in Cleveland, Atlanta, Florida, New York and Boston — are on the Down Low, or on the DL, as they more often call it. Most date or marry women and engage sexually with men they meet only in anonymous settings like bathhouses and parks or through the Internet. Many of these men are young and from the inner city, where they live in a hypermasculine ”thug” culture. Other DL men form romantic relationships with men and may even be peripheral participants in mainstream gay culture, all unknown to their colleagues and families. Most DL men identify themselves not as gay or bisexual but first and foremost as black. To them, as to many blacks, that equates to being inherently masculine.

DL culture has grown, in recent years, out of the shadows and developed its own contemporary institutions, for those who know where to look: Web sites, Internet chat rooms, private parties and special nights at clubs. Over the same period, Down Low culture has come to the attention of alarmed public health officials, some of whom regard men on the DL as an infectious bridge spreading H.I.V. to unsuspecting wives and girlfriends. In 2001, almost two-thirds of women in the United States who found out they had AIDS were black.

With no wives or girlfriends around, Flex is a safe place for men on the DL to let down their guards. There aren’t many white men here either (I’m one of them), and that’s often the norm for DL parties and clubs.

Continue reading at The Balm in Gilead…

Posted in Bathhouses, Down Low, News, Physical Health, Public Sex in Your Neighborhood?

Newsflash for Rick Garcia: “Gay” Sex Happens at “Gay” Bathhouses

Remember when Rick Garcia of Equality Illinois told the Naperville Sun that he didn’t know what goes on in Steamworks (a Chicago homosexual bathhouse)? Maybe this story and the one above on the “down low” will help him understand:

It’s no secret that gay bathhouses are associated with gay sex, said Earl Pike, executive director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland.

And studies show that bathhouse users are more likely to test positive for HIV than other gay men.

– Excerpted from Bathhouse Image Worries Cleveland Gay Leadership, by Robert L. Smith, published Jun 2, 2006, by The Plain Dealer

If Garcia genuinely desires to “defend and protect” homosexual men, he should join Americans for Truth in calling for the city of Chicago to SHUT DOWN THE BATHHOUSE.

Posted in Bathhouses, News, Physical Health

Cliff Kincaid: Homosexuality & Pedophilia

From Homosexuality & Pedophilia, by Cliff Kincaid, published Nov 2, 2006, by Accuracy in Media:

In connection with media coverage of the Mark Foley sex scandal, the pro-homosexual media enforcers have been attempting to refute the idea that there is any connection between homosexuality and pedophilia. Yet Foley targeted young boys. This is something you are not supposed to write or talk about because it undermines the cause of homosexual rights.

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth says, “…isn’t it telling most of the tiny number of homosexual male U.S. Congressmen have been caught in sex scandals-remember Barney Frank, who let his male lover, a hustler, run a prostitution ring out of his D.C. apartment? And Massachusetts Rep. Gerry Studds, who had sex with a 17-year-old boy and then turned his back on fellow House Members during the censure vote against him? And Bob Bauman, who in 1980 was charged with soliciting a 16-year-old boy for sex?”

Adding it up, LaBarbera says, “Let’s see: three homosexual Congressmen involved in sexual seductions of minor boys-ages 16, 17, and 17 (Foley). And yet homosexual activists ridicule anyone who suggests there is a predatory or pedophilic component to male homosexuality…”

On October 2, when the supposed right-wing Fox News Channel aired a “debate” on the matter of the Foley scandal, the two sides were represented by liberal Democrat Bob Beckel, who got caught in a prostitution scandal, and lesbian Republican Tammy Bruce.

“Being homosexual has nothing to do with attraction to children,” declared Bruce. “I agree. I agree,” Beckel said.

Posted in AFT In the News, Candidates & Elected Officials, FOX News, Homosexual Pedophilia & Pederasty, Log Cabin Republicans, News

The “Sisters” Are Out of the Parish, but Not Everyone Seems Pleased

A letter to Allyson Smith and Americans for Truth…

From: Nick B
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 10:47 AM
To: americansfortruth@comcast.net
Subject: [AFT Web Site] What’s wrong with you?

The following message was sent from the Americans for Truth Web site:

I learned this morning that you people have gotten the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence kicked out of our local church. Why do you want to prevent organizations that serve the homeless, hungry, and sick from getting the help they so desperately need. The Sisters raise alot of money that is all given back to the community. You have stopped this. Why? Are you really filled with so much hate that you have no room for Christ’s love? You aren’t going to give one dime to help any of these people- to feed them, house them,heal them. Neither will the local Catholic Archdiocese. You all are false prophets who use Christ’s name to hurt others. You are the devil for trying to get people to deny the creation that God made them. You seek to hurt people that you deem lower than you- that is the work of the devil. If you feel better when you harm others that is on you. But don’t hurt others in the name of Christ. A Real Christian

Allyson Smith’s eloquent response…

Dear Nick B.,

Thank you for writing to Americans for Truth. It’s good to hear from you.

However, I’m afraid you have gotten your facts wrong. Neither I nor Americans for Truth got the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence “kicked out” of Most Holy Redeemer parish in San Francisco’s homosexual Castro district. We did not stop the bingo games; the San Francisco Archdiocese did. Your quarrel is with them.

After learning of the games from another source, I as a faithful Catholic simply wrote an open letter to pastor Stephen Meriwether, with a copy to the Archdiocese, demanding the games be stopped because they make a mockery of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ Who died to save sinners, including me and all homosexuals, and because they flout authentic Catholic doctrine which declares that homosexual acts are acts of deep depravity. I am not the only person who did so. Orthodox Catholics from throughout the United States
contacted the Archdiocese after learning of this situation.

You are also off-base in assuming that Americans for Truth wants to prevent organizations from serving the homeless, hungry, and sick — yes, including those who are sick with HIV/AIDS due to their own personal, preventable behaviors. But there are other ways to help such people than by holding sexualized bingo games in a Catholic parish hall with men who dress up in drag nun costumes and give away pornographic DVD and sex toy prizes.

In April 2005, I prayed at the hospice bedside and witnessed the holy death of a former homosexual friend who died of the AIDS scourge. The difference in his case is that he amended his life and sought forgiveness from Jesus Christ for his former sinful life before he passed away. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence not only refuse to repent; they parade their sin openly in “gay pride” events and other venues, including Most Holy Redeemer parish.

Jesus Christ forgave the woman caught in adultery, but he also told her to go and sin no more. (John 8:3-11). He offers the same forgiveness to all, if we will take Him up on His invitation to turn away from iniquity. All of us are sinners. No one is higher or lower than anyone else in that respect, because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

“Real Christians” recognize sodomy as an egregious sin that destroys individual lives and entire societies. Real Christians turn away from homosexuality and refuse to condone, rationalize, or abet it. I pray you will do the same.

Allyson Smith

Posted in A - What does the Bible say about homosexuality?, AFT In the News, Catholic, News, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Dr. Rob Gagnon: Jack Rogers’s Flawed Use of Analogical Reasoning in Jesus, the Bible, & Homosexuality

Our friend, Dr. Rob Gagnon, Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, has a new article up online:

Jack Rogers’s Flawed Use of Analogical Reasoning in Jesus, the Bible, & Homosexuality.

Dr. Gagnon is arguably the foremost theologian on the issue of homosexuality and the Bible; his books and articles are an invaluable resource. This installment is his fifth in a series of critiques on Jack Rogers’s book, Jesus, the Bible, & Homosexuality. A few of the points he covers in this article are:

• Why slavery and the role of women are poor analogies to homosexuality
• Refuting the claim of a pattern of misusing the Bible to justify oppression
• Rogers’s misguided remarks about promiscuity and homosexuality
• Is homosexuality advocacy threatening?

Posted in A - What does the Bible say about homosexuality?, News, Presbyterian Church

Does Your Local PTA Promote Homosexuality?

TAKE ACTION – Look at this notice from a suburban Chicago school district‘s PTA (Indian Prairie Parents’ Council) who will be hosting Anna Marie Weselak to promote “an inclusive PTA” – by which they mean a parent-teacher association that embraces homosexuality.

Do you know what’s going on with your school’s PTA? If not, find out!

You may also wish to read our corresponding post from Regina Griggs of PFOX, entitled PTA: Peril for Parents? The opening paragraph contains vitally important information for all parents:

Do the initials “PTA” bring to mind innocuous parent-teacher meetings and parent-student school projects? Think again. The national Parent Teacher Association, fondly known as PTA, is under the leadership of chief executive officer Warlene Gary. Ms. Gary previously served as the National Education Association’s human rights director and that school union’s liaison to gay interest groups.

Posted in News, PTA

Employee of State-Funded “Gay” Youth Outreach Group Posts Mock Ad Calling Lt Gov Healey a “Raging Bull-Dyke”

From our good friends at MassResistance…

A prominent staff member of a high-profile gay “youth outreach” organization that works closely with several state agencies and distributes literature in public schools across the state has posted a video of himself dressed in drag depicting Lt. Governor Kerry Healy as a lesbian.

Mark Snyder is office manager at Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth. He has testified at the State House for BAGLY on behalf of the expansion of homosexual programs in the public schools. BAGLY works closely with number of state agencies including the Massachusetts Department of Education and the Governor’s Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth, and the Governor’s Task Force on Hate Crimes, is linked to from various government websites, and has apparently received state funding for several years.

In the video (WATCH IT ONLINE HERE), which Snyder posted and linked on his web site, appears to be a mock political ad, where Snyder, dressed in drag, says:

“Hi, I’m Kerry Healy and I have a message for the voters of Massachusetts. My opponents may try to paint me as one-dimensional but in fact I have a varied personality. Did you know that I’m a raging bull-dyke? I don’t just make muffins. I eat muff. I’m Kerry Healy and I approved this message.”

“If these are the people working with state agencies to counsel our children, then we’ve got some huge problems in the Massachusetts government,” said Brian Camenker, director of MassResistance. “When are people going to wake up? This is not just incredibly outrageous, it’s really pretty sick. And when is the Boston media going to take this seriously, instead of ignoring it?”

“Is anyone going to ask why people like this are being allowed to interact with children, and why these groups are involved with our government?” added Camenker.

A main focus of BAGLY is “transgenderism“. Much of its materials and activities revolve around encouraging kids to explore dressing up and acting like the opposite sex, and ultimately considering medical procedures to “become” the opposite sex, by having female breasts and male sex organs surgically removed and by taking various hormones. (The executive director of the group is an openly transsexual “male-to-female”.)

Posted in 04 - Gender Confusion (Transgender), Activists, BAGLY (Massachusetts), Candidates & Elected Officials, Gender 'Fluidity' (Confusion), GLBTQ Targeting Youth and Schools, Homosexual Hate Speech, News

San Francisco Archdiocese Evicts Twisted “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence”

Excerpted from the website of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence:

“The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Inc.

is a leading-edge Order of queer nuns.”

ANUNCEMENTS (sic)

REVIVAL Bingo Loses Its Lease
On Tuesday 31 October, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were informed that we could no longer rent Ellard Hall by the Parish Council President, Nick Andrade. This was both a shock and a surprise as we have worked very closely with Most Holy Redeemer Church to provide fundraising services for both the Church and other beneficiaries.

REVIVAL Bingo has been cancelled for both November and December. If you have already purchased tickets, your money will be refunded to you. read more »

WHY DID BINGO LOSE ITS LEASE?
At this time, we do not have any information on why we lost our lease. We ask that you be fair and kind to members of the Church and hold no hard feelings to them or their congregation. We want to thank you for your support and look forward to bringing back Bingo as soon as possible for both the players and the revenue it generates for our beneficiaries.

Our official statement regarding this unexpected cancellation of our lease as follows:

SAN FRANCISCO, 31 October 2006 — The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are stunned and deeply saddened by the Archdiocese of San Francisco’s abrupt cancellation of their lease for Ellard Hall, the location of their charitable monthly bingo fundraising event.

The Sisters want to apologize to the organizations that depend on our support, including the AIDS Emergency Fund and the Positive Resource Center. Both of these worthy organizations were to be the recipients of this week’s proceeds, however due to today’s decision by the Archdiocese, we will no longer be able to hold bingo. The Sisters would also like to apologize to the SFPD Pride Foundation, UCSF AIDS Health Project, Saint James Infirmary and Tenderloin Tessies Holiday Feed, all of whom were scheduled to be beneficiaries for future bingos. And, of course, the Sisters extend our apologies and regrets to the many players who purchased tickets and were anticipating many more joyous evenings of fundraising.

The primary mission of The Sisters is involvement in and support of the local community. This includes working with and supporting many local community organizations whose ability to serve their constituency is dependent on contributions from charitable groups like the Sisters. Without the thousands of dollars raised by the consistently sold-out monthly bingo event, their services may be cut at a time when charitable giving is more critical than ever.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence believe that our commitment to giving is in alignment with the philosophy of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which represents a cross-section of the San Francisco population. It is unfortunate and extremely disappointing that this appears not to be the case, and that our shared values cannot overcome our differences of opinion when it comes to how we serve the community.

We at Americans for Truth are grateful to the Archdiocese of San Francisco for promptly terminating this arrangement.

Posted in AFT In the News, Catholic, News, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence