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Matt Barber Column – What if ‘Gays’ Were Forced to Serve Westboro Baptist Haters?
September 7th, 2013Matt Barber turns tables on ‘homofascists’ who put bakery out of business
Sweet Cakes by Melissa owners Melissa and Aaron Klein — born-again Christians — were forced to shut down their storefront business in Gresham, Oregon after a lesbian couple sued them for refusing to make a cake for their “wedding.” Said Aaron “I don’t want to help somebody celebrate a commitment to a lifetime of sin.”
First published by WND.com, September 6, 2013
By J. Matt Barber
At least Oregon is applying its anti-discrimination laws evenhandedly. Interesting story out of Gresham: The Oregonian is reporting that Bruce Bottoms – a homosexual baker and owner of “Cakes By Cupcakes” – has been charged with anti-Christian discrimination by the Oregon Ministry of Human Rights (OMHR). Mr. Bottoms and his partner, Lance Limpkowski, recently declined to bake a cake for the notoriously anti-”gay” Westboro Baptist Church (WBC). As a result, they’ve been forced to shut down their business.
It seems that, in another tired attempt to be provocative, representatives from the attention-starved WBC demanded that Bottoms and Limpkowski bake a cake for a Westboro fundraiser with the group’s trademark slogan, “God Hates Fags,” emblazed in rainbow frosting across the top. Mr. Bottoms, who reportedly moonlights as a part-time blogger for the homosexual activist “Human Rights Campaign,” was understandably appalled. He refused.
“Look, I’ll serve anybody, Christian or otherwise,” said Bottoms. “I just refuse to bake a cake that endorses an ideology that I find obscene. If Westboro came in and asked me to bake a birthday cake with the words ‘Happy 120th, Papa Freddy,’ it’d be my pleasure,” he said. “I didn’t decline to bake the cake because the customers defined themselves as ‘Christian’; I refused because nobody should be forced to lend their talents to endorse – whether directly or indirectly – a message or event that they find repugnant.”
Tolerance Enforcement Commissioner Brad Avakian disagreed: “We are committed to a fair and thorough investigation to determine whether there’s substantial evidence of unlawful discrimination,” he told the Oregonian. “The goal is never to shut down a business. The goal is to rehabilitate. For those who do violate the law, we want them to learn from that experience and have a good, successful business in Oregon. Everybody is entitled to their own beliefs, but that doesn’t mean that folks have the right to discriminate,” he said.
Meanwhile, churches and Christian groups across America organized a boycott of Cakes By Cupcakes, picketing the business and threatening to target other businesses that associated with Bottoms and Limpkowski. The two men have additionally reported multiple death threats, with one Presbyterian preacher leaving a voicemail: “Die bigots! You anti-Christian haters need to keep your Christophobia to yourselves!” he said.
Just kidding.
Sort of.
Although the “Cakes By Cupcakes” incident didn’t actually happen, something quite similar is happening across America. It’s a photo negative of the above scenario, but it’s equally absurd. Homosexual activists and “progressive” government officials are targeting Christian business owners – true Christians, not hateful Wesboro-types – for real anti-Christian discrimination.
‘Gay’-Manufactured “Hate”: This note was posted by Sweet Cakes owners Aaron and Melissa Klein on their Facebook page September 6, 2013. Click on graphic to enlarge
And they’re doing it in the name of “non-discrimination.”
Todd Starnes of Fox News reports: “A family-owned Christian bakery, under investigation for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, has been forced to close its doors after a vicious boycott by militant homosexual activists.
“Sweet Cakes By Melissa posted a message on its Facebook page alerting customers that their Gresham, Ore., retail store would be shut down after months of harassment from pro-gay marriage forces.
“‘Better is a poor man who walks in integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways,’ read a posting from Proverbs on the bakery’s Facebook page.”
“It’s a sad day for Christian business owners, and it’s a sad day for the First Amendment,” owner Aaron Klein told Starnes. “The LGBT attacks are the reason we are shutting down the shop. They have killed our business through mob tactics.”
“Last January, Aaron and Melissa Klein made national headlines when they refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple.
“Klein tells me he has nothing against homosexuals,” reports Starnes, “but because of their religious faith, the family simply cannot take part in gay wedding events.
“‘I believe marriage is between a man and a woman,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to help somebody celebrate a commitment to a lifetime of sin.’”
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LaBarbera Responds to Bill May’s Claim in Mercator Interview that ‘Gay Marriage’ Debate Is ‘Not About Homosexuality at All’
September 6th, 2013Below is adapted from my response to William May of Catholics for the Common Good, who told Mercator.net (an excellent resource) that the same-sex “marriage” debate is “not about homosexuality at all.” May is to be commended for his work defending marriage, but I’m afraid he hurts the larger pro-family cause by denying the obvious: that the LGBT push to mainstream homosexuality is behind the aggressive push to radically redefine marriage. Over the years I have observed that the “guilt” is pretty much on one side of this debate — ironically, the side that testifies to absolute truth. Homosexual activists have skillfully manipulated that misplaced guilt to lobby successfully for homosexuals in the military, pro-LGBT programs in schools, “special rights” (so-called nondiscrimination) laws, and other dubious agendas. May’s full interview with Mercator is reprinted below my comment. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Rarely have I read something as ridiculous as William May’s comment that the national debate over same-sex “marriage” is “not about homosexuality at all.” The ONLY reason we are radically redefining marriage is the aggressive (and successful) advocacy of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) movement — aided increasingly by sympathetic liberals and libertarians (and activist judges). It is not only disingenuous to assert otherwise — it is simply untrue. Do you want to know why we are losing this debate? Because people like May, perhaps well-meaning, are riddled with guilt for doing the right thing. Homosexual activists (uh-oh, I uttered the “H-word”) selfishly aim to redefine “marriage” for their MAIN purpose: winning (even forcing via the State) approval of their aberrant lifestyle.
I can think of no other cultural debate in which such obvious truths are so often denied out of a politically correct fear of being labeled a bigot. (And we all know the most virulent bigots are anti-Christian homosexual activists.) Get over it. We don’t hate people but we oppose homosexual conduct as immoral, unhealthy, unnatural and –the best news of all, as proved by the existence of many ex-“gays” — changeable. (I know dozens of former homosexuals.) Funny how those who are on the side of attaching the noble institution of marriage to a sin — see the Catholic Church’s teachings on homosexuality — do not shy away from asserting that this is all about GAY rights.
PS. Faithful and compassionate Christians must NEVER encourage or sanction homosexual relationships, which are — another hard truth here — essentially the domestication of disordered and sinful behavior, hence destructive to the souls of those involved. — Peter LaBarbera, 9-6-13
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Scott Lively’s Fact Sheet on Uganda and Homosexuality
September 5th, 2013
Click on the above graphic to go to a printable PDF of Scott Lively’s “Fact Sheet on Uganda.”
Click on the link below or the graphic at right for a PDF “Fact Sheet on Uganda and Homosexuality,” by pro-family advocate Scott Lively — who has been sued by the Ugandan homosexual group SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda) — working with the far-left American group Center for Constitutional Rights — for “Crimes Against Humanity” for his Christian advocacy in that African nation. We’ve also reprinted the Fact Sheet below (after the jump).
Scott Lively – Uganda Fact Sheet–PDF link
Scott Lively
Few people in the world have been lied about and demonized by homosexual activists as much as Lively. This Fact Sheet is merely the beginning of what must become a comprehensive effort to set the record straight. Clearly, the nefarious goal the CCR and its leftist/LGBT comrades in its legal harassment of Lively is to intimidate pro-family advocates everywhere from speaking out against the aggressive homosexual-bisexual-transgender agenda. In the Left’s playbook, the ends justify the means — but even for the Hard Left, charging a decent, Christian man like Scott Lively with “Crimes Against Humanity” — for his public advocacy — is beyond outrageous. In fact, it is evil and profoundly un-American. And yet, Clinton-nominated federal District Judge Michael Ponsor has allowed the SMUG lawsuit to proceed. We will be following this case closely. Please pray for Scott Lively. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
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LISTEN: AFTAH Interviews John Stemberger – Founder of Wholesome Alternative to the Boy Scouts – Part Two
September 4th, 2013Stemberger says senior BSA official admitted to him that new “gay” policy “will increase boy-on-boy sexual contact.”
John Stemberger has overseen the formation of a new, wholesome alternative to the Boy Scouts of America — which sold out to the immoral homosexual activist agenda by opening its membership to boys who openly identify as “gay.” Stemberger founded OnMyHonor.net.
Here is Part Two of AFTAH’s interview with “On My Honor” founder and CEO, John Stemberger [click HERE to listen], who is also President and General Counsel of the Florida Family Policy Council. We apologize for the delays (due to technical issues) in publishing this interview, which was recorded August 15, 2013. Stemberger discusses On My Honor’s upcoming inaugural 2013 National Leadership Convention in Nashville (Sept. 6-7) — where this new wholesome alternative to the (now pro-homosexual) Boy Scouts of America will unveil its new name and logo. The convention is sold out but you can follow the proceedings online for $24 via a live streaming connection (go HERE). Stemberger compares the new organization’s policies to the BSA’s (which he says is slated to lose 200,000-400,000 members). He notes that the BSA has still not issued a policy on “how it’s going to tent” openly homosexual boys (i.e., in camping trips) [listen at 11:28]. He says that one of the highest-ranking officials in the Boy Scout organization admitted to him privately: “This [the BSA’s new pro-“gay” policy] will increase boy-on-boy sexual contact” [listen at 12:20]. Stemberger also discusses his previous work in Florida leading the successful campaign to pass an amendment preserving marriage as one-man, one-woman. And Stemberger addresses the recent Supreme Court decisions affecting the marriage debate.
HOW TO LISTEN: This is an mp3 file, supported in most operating systems by Windows Media Player, Quick Time and/or I-Tunes. Real Player is not supported and there may be difficulty when attempting to listen with it. Left click once on the link below to play. (Please be patient, depending upon the speed of your internet connection it may take a moment to load.) OR right click the link then “save target as” to download the whole show:
Video: One-time ‘Gay’ Michael Glatze on Becoming Whole in Jesus Christ
August 30th, 2013Here’s a wonderful video by Christian pastor Michael Glatze, who overcame the shallow “gay” lifestyle to become whole in Jesus Christ. (He lived a decade in the homosexual life, and at one time was a rising “gay” activist.) I encourage you to watch the entire 20-minute video. But if you are impatient, about halfway through the video, Glatze states, “Homosexuality is not something you need to do…It is not necessary for you to become gay.” Here is a website on the “Romans Road” explanation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To reach Michael, write michaeleglatze@gmail.com. Watch this on YouTube HERE. You can also listen to AFTAH’s (two-part) radio interview with Glatze in 2010 HERE.
AFR Talker and FOX News Contributor Sandy Rios to Keynote AFTAH Dinner-Banquet Nov. 16
August 27th, 2013
Sandy Rios is one of the few reliable socially conservative “Contributors” at FOX News. For a printable PDF flier for AFTAH’s Nov. 16 banquet, click HERE.
We at AFTAH are very excited to have Chicago’s longtime and beloved Christian talk show host, Sandy Rios, as the keynote speaker at our annual Americans For Truth dinner-banquet Saturday, Nov. 16. Please save the date. [For a printable PDF flier for the banquet, click HERE.]
As always, it will be hosted by our good friends at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, Illinois. We are again making it very affordable to attend: just $20 per person in advance or $25 at the door, so please help us by telling your network of family and friends about it. Better yet, buy a table of 10 for just $200!
WHO: Sandy Rios [www.SandyRios.com], Host, “Sandy Rios in the Morning,” AFR Talk (American Family Association’s talk radio network); FOX News Contributor; longtime Christian talk show host on Chicago’s WYLL Radio; vice president of Family-Pac Federal; and former president of Concerned Women for America;
WHAT: Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) annual fundraising dinner-banquet.
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 16; doors open at 5:30 PM. Dinner served at 6:30
WHERE: Christian Liberty Academy, 502 W Euclid Ave., Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004 (2 miles east of IL-53 N.; take the East Euclid Ave. exit).
COST: $20/person in advance (to be paid online or received by regular mail by Nov. 14, 2013); $25 at the door. Sponsor a table of 10 for only $200! PAY ONLINE: at www.aftah.com/donate/ [check the “Individual Banquet Registration” box on the Donate Page Form];
REGULAR MAIL: send your check for $20/person to AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522 (put “Banquet” in memo line).
RSVP/More Information: Write Brad Wallace at connops@yahoo.com. Call us at 312-324-3787 or e-mail him at americansfortruth@gmail.com.
To go to a printable PDF flier of this event, click on this link: AFTAH Banquet PDF Flier_2013-Sandy-Rios-FINAL
COLUMN: Homosexual Activists Bully Ex-‘Gay’ Donnie McClurkin
August 26th, 2013By Rev. Dr. Clenard H. Childress, Jr.
Donnie McClurkin overcame the pull of homosexuality after being molested as an 8-year-old boy by his pedophile uncle: “The seed of perversion was planted through that molestation,” he said. Now McClurkin is the victim of “gay” activist “bullies” who fear his powerful testimony, says Rev. Childress. See McClurkin’s story at http://ex-gaytruth.com/encyclopedia/donnie-mcclurkin/.
Nationwide (August 26, 2013) Reprinted from BlackNews.com — The hijacking of the Civil Rights Movement by homosexual activists took a quantum leap with the barring of Donnie McClurkin from the Martin Luther King Concert celebration. Such a strategic strike by the LBGT Lobby could not have happened without the compliance of the normal House Negroes of the Democrat Party, who also profit from the plight of African-Americans. This has become typical of Democrat administrations. African-Americans must take complete notice of the fact that the voice of the Black Community was completely disregarded for a few disgruntled homosexual activists. Mayor Vincent Gray, of Washington, D.C., due to pressure from the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender lobby, requested internationally known gospel singer, and Senior Pastor of Perfecting Faith Church, of Freeport, New York, be banned from performing. Mayor Gray, and undoubtedly the White House, all agreed.
It is a sad day for the church, especially for the Black Church, for let us realize, this move was executed after careful consideration of the possible repercussions. Their assessment? The Black Church will remain complacent, will more than likely abandon their brother, and go away, with little objection. Such assessments can be made due to the Black Church, and most of its members’ ungodly alliance with the Democrat Party, who now dictates to them who can perform at concerts, and who cannot. Please for one minute don’t think that Mayor Gray didn’t receive a call from the oval office affirming the request of the LGBT insisting that Donnie McClurkin not perform. I might also add, we should not think for a second that Barack Obama, who will be speaking at the Lincoln Memorial next Wednesday, could not have intervened on the behalf of Donnie McClurkin, but refused. The president could have mirrored Martin Luther King’s response to the insistence of the gay agenda being in the platform, by Bayard Rustin [a homosexual] in 1963, which resulted in Rustin leaving the movement. When Martin L. King spoke at the Lincoln Memorial, he stood strong to his moral convictions; the President doesn’t have the same moral convictions as Martin, and in comparison, they are miles apart, and thus you have the expulsion of Donnie McClurkin from the performance. It is clear to one and all, the homosexual agenda trumps the Black Church in urban communities. Regina Griggs of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays) made a very valid and crucial observation stating:
“Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy cited public ‘animus’ against gays as a reason to strike down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, yet gay rights groups promote hatred against former homosexuals,” said Griggs. “As shown with Donnie McClurkin, ex-gays are the most powerless and discriminated against minority in America today. At the behest of gay activists, the black mayor of a major urban city removed an African-American from a civil rights event despite the protests of local black ministers. Respecting the lives of people like Donnie, who have decided to change, and including them in the conversation, is part of building a tolerant society.”
The Machiavellian tactics of the homosexual activists is clearly seen here. They speak tolerance and acceptance, yet they attack, bully, and punish those with whom they disagree.
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Gov. Christie Undermines Parental Rights and Truth by Signing Bill Banning Reparative Therapy for Minors, Claiming Homosexuality Is Innate and Not a Sin
August 21st, 2013
Chris Christie sided with homosexual activism over parental rights in signing into a law a bill banning reparative therapy for minors in New Jersey.
AFTAH News Release; contact: Peter LaBarbera: 312-324-3787; americansfortruth@gmail.com
August 21, 2013
CHICAGO—Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH.org), said today that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie succumbed to homosexual activist propaganda and myths in signing into law a bill that bans professional counselors in the Garden State “from attempting to change a minor’s sexual orientation.”
LaBarbera made the following points regarding Republican Christie siding with the “Big Gay Government” agenda by banning parents from helping their children overcome the destructive pull of homosexuality:
1) Christie cited the pro-“gay” American Psychological Association in claiming that efforts to change sexual orientation “can pose critical health risks” to children. But he strangely did not mention the existence of successful, happy former homosexuals. Nor did he acknowledge the widely-available data pointing to the myriad health risks associated with homosexual behavior itself – such as the rising HIV risk among “young men who have sex with men.”
2) Pro-family advocates call the New Jersey law – like a similar California law – a “Jerry Sandusky” law because it could ban parents from specifically seeking reparative therapy for their child even if the child was molested by a homosexual pedophile (the law’s language is ambiguous on this point [see comments following this blog post by pro-homosexual “evangelical” professor Warren Throckmorton]. Sadly, many “gay” men like CNN’s Don Lemon and MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts do not acknowledge the causative link between their molestation as boys by homosexual predators and their subsequent embrace of a deviant “gay” identity.
3) Lies and calculated LGBT disinformation have muddled the debate and confused the public over the issue of homosexuality and the potential for ex-“gay” change. Falsehoods often are repeated by the liberal media, such as AP’s report of the Christie bill-signing, which stated: “Lawmakers heard horror stories from some during hearings on the ban, including Brielle Goldani of Toms River, who testified she underwent electric shocks and was given drugs to induce vomiting after being sent to an Ohio camp at age 14 to become straight.” (Associated Press report, Politico, Aug. 20)
The problem is Goldani was lying, as was confirmed by Christopher Doyle, himself a successful ex-“gay” who counsels people to overcome unwanted homosexual desires. Doyle tried to track down the “Ohio camp” but discovered that it never existed. Needless to say, Doyle’s clarification did not garner near the attention of Goldani’s horrific yet spurious testimonial tale.
4) Christie is misinformed in claiming that homosexuals are “born gay”: efforts to confirm “born gay” junk science have failed — e.g., the much-heralded studies by homosexual-activist researchers Dean Hamer (1993) and Simon LeVay (1992) could not be replicated. (See www.mygenes.co.nz; Hamer, author of a media-touted “gay gene” study, now makes gay-advocacy documentaries.) Nevertheless, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) cunningly includes the word “innate” in its “Stylebook” definition of “sexual orientation,” as revealed in the author’s report on pro-homosexual media bias for America’s Survival. (The NLGJA also collaborates with homosexual gadfly Wayne Besen, hater of “ex-gays” and creator of the “Pray the Gay Away” polemical smear.) Homosexual activists and liberals often fall back on the convenient “born gay” myth as a way of avoiding the reality that homosexuality – primarily environmentally influenced — is about immoral, unhealthy, and changeable behavior.
5) Christie’s statement (relying on his “born gay” belief) that homosexuality is not a sin is not only a repudiation of his own Catholic teachings on homosexuality. It is also a craven capitulation to the secular political correctness of this age that celebrates homosexuality and extreme gender confusion as “civil rights.”
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