JUDGE SAYS NO TO CAMPUS CENSORS: AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera being arrested at the University of Regina last April. Yesterday, Saskatchewan Provincial Judge MaryLynne Beaton rejected the university’s claim that a peaceful protest at U-R against abortion and sodomy somehow interfered with students’ education. Canadian pro-family advocate Bill Whatcott–who with LaBarbera was arrested on a “Mischief” charge–says he will return to the camps to disseminate biblical truth.

“I find that the purpose of (their) attending the University of Regina was to communicate information and their actions were passive and non-aggressive,” Judge Beaton wrote. “The university’s response was disproportionate to the peaceful distribution of flyers.” [page 14, decision]

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Saskatchewan Provincial Court Judge Marylynne Beaton ruled yesterday that AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera and Canadian pro-family advocate Bill Whatcott are not guilty of criminal “mischief” after being arrested and jailed April 14, 2014 after peacefully protesting and disseminating factual literature at the University of Regina–against the wishes of school administrators.

In the 27-page decision, available HERE, Judge Beaton relied heavily on Whatcott’s claim under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms that he had a right to disseminate his religious views–and rejected the notion put forth by the prosecution that the two pro-family activists disrupted the educational mission of U-Regina.

Below is YouTube of a Regina Leader Post audio-story with Whatcott’s reaction to the decision, and beneath that the print report by the Leader-Post. You can go to Whatcott’s website HERE, and beneath that an excerpt the Leader-Post’s story on the decision.

Said LaBarbera in response to the ruling:

“I am gratified by Judge Beaton’s well-reasoned decision, and I congratulate my friend Bill Whatcott for once again leading the way in challenging Canada to live up to her ideals of liberty and freedom of conscience. It is preposterous in a country that claims to be free to criminalize dissenting speech at a public university. Yet this is what University of Regina administrators sought to do by cowardly attempting to banish Bill Whatcott and me from their campus. In the process they dishonored their students–who deserved better than clumsy attempts at censorship justified by condescending and odious appeals to ‘protect’ them from ‘hate.’

“Hopefully, this ruling will open up the door to a resurgence of true tolerance and freedom in Canada. The Left in Canada, as in the United States, does not want debate but rather control. They fear unfettered exposure to moral truth and compelling facts about homosexuality–hence their campaign to silence Christians and others who speak out against sexual immorality and gender rebellion.

“The very fact that I was detained and searched at length twice by Border police upon entering Canada–merely because I and AFTAH espouse historic, biblical, Judeo-Christian teachings on homosexuality–reflects escalating ‘thought tyranny’ and anti-intellectualism in Canada which, if allowed to take root, will only lead to more rigid repression against believers in this great land.”

More coming from AFTAH on this story; here is Whatcott’s reaction [order his book “Born in a Graveyard” HERE]:

Will ‘Intolerance’ Prevail in Canada? Chris Brookes of “Intolerance Free Weyburn” and his wife led a campaign to lobby Canadian government officials to block AFTAH president Peter LaBarbera’s entry into Canada. On Thursday evening, Canadian customs officials issued a preliminary denial of entry to LaBarbera, who is scheduled to give a speech at a pro-life conference in Weyburn, Saskatchewan Saturday. LaBarbera is appealing the decision today. Photo: Chris Brookes’ Twitter account.

[UPDATE FROM PETER LaBARBERA: Yesterday I wrote the reply below to Regina, Saskatchewan Archbishop Daniel Bohan’s statement about my scheduled presentation at a pro-life conference in Canada. That evening, I flew from Chicago to Regina. Upon deplaning, as I passed through Customs, I was delayed for further questioning by an official with the Canada Border Services Agency. Obviously, I had been flagged as a result of a campaign by the leftist group “Intolerance Free Weyburn,” which is specifically lobbying the Canadian government to deny my entry into Canada as the alleged purveyor of “hate'” [See this AFTAH report on their lobby effort to deny me entry into Canada, and this previous report on the group’s attempt to have me removed as a speaker at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association (SPLA) conference April 11-12.]

After questioning me about the purpose of my scheduled presentation at the SPLA event; rifling through my luggage, which contained numerous books and literature related to homosexuality (pro and con); examining the contents of my laptop and my cell phone; playing a DVD of my speech Wednesday at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio; and critically viewing AFTAH’s website–a preliminary decision was made to deny my entrance into Canada on the basis that my speech at the SPLA would violate Canada’s “Hate Propaganda” law (essentially the potential for “public incitement of hatred” against a group of people based on their “sexual orientation”). The Orwellian experience at Customs dragged on for more than three hours as a formal document was issued outlining my denial of entry under Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (citing the Hate Propaganda code). Finally, after 1:00 A.M., I was released pending my appeal of the decision today (Friday). My passport was seized until I arrive back at Customs today at noon for my appeal before a “Minister’s Delegate Review.”– Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH] 

NOTE: We have posted letters supportive of LaBarbera speaking at the pro-life conference in Saskatchewan by American pro-life/pro-family advocates Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League [click HERE] and Mary Anne Hackett of Catholic Citizens of Illinois [click HERE]. We will try to post some of the other letters of support–including one from a homosexual man in the U.K.–as soon as possible.]

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The following is the April 10 reply by Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), to a letter to Catholics by Archbishop Daniel Bohan, Archdiocese of Regina:

I believe that Archbishop Bohan felt the need to issue a letter that specifically mentions me due to the local controversy that has been instigated by a liberal group that, ironically, has spread much false and derogatory information about me. Many Catholic leaders in the United States, including pro-life hero Joe Scheidler of Pro-Life Action League, have come to my defense–and are deeply opposed to Intolerance Free Weyburn’s (intolerant) efforts to “ban” me from speaking in Canada. I have great respect for the full array of Catholic instuction on the issue of homosexuality, and quote from Catholic teachings all the time. I wish more Catholics knew and honored these teachings–including that no faithful Catholic can support same-sex “marriage” or laws and policies putting adoption by homosexual-led households on a par with adoption by mother-father households.

As an evangelical Christian, I believe that all people, including homosexuals, must be treated with respect and the grace of Christ. As a sinner myself, I am no “better” than the man or woman engaged in homosexual sin. We all need the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. I adhere to the universal philosophy shared by so many who follow Christ: “Love the sinner. Hate the sin,” In fact, if I truly lacked compassion and hated homosexuals as my detractors falsely and maliciously claim, I would not have been invited to speak by the leaders of the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association. Lastly, it has become clear in recent years that OPPONENTS of the homosexual activist agenda have become frequent victims of “unjust discrimination.” In fact, in the lead up to the SPLA convention, one of Archbishop Bohan’s own parishioners, Bill Whatcott, was turned away from service by the owner of Southeastern Computer Solutions in Weyburn–because Whatcott adheres to the historic Judeo-Christian moral understanding of homosexual acts as sinful. Such anti-Christian bigotry and discrimination will be one of the topics of my talk Saturday.

Sincerely in Christ

Peter LaBarbera

President,

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH.org)

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The following is the letter sent out by Archbishop Daniel Bohan, Archdiocese of Regina:

Crude effort to block pro-family speech in Canada not unlike GLAAD/SPLC crusade to censor pro-family voices opposed to homosexuality in media

“I would like for him to be turned away from our border….Peter LaBarbera should not be allowed to enter our country. His sole purpose of entering Canada is to spread his message of hate and intolerance.”–Bailey Ashton Brookes, Intolerance Free Weyburn, in a public letter to Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Steven Blaney

“Tolerance,” Canadian Style: Canadian pro-life and pro-family activist Bill Whatcott poses for photo with adversary and anti-“intolerance” activist Bailey Ashton Brookes, who is lobbying the State to keep AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera out of Saskatchewan, Canada, where he is scheduled to give a talk Oct. 11-12.

By Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

Folks, below is the verbatim copy of a Facebook letter by “Intolerance Free Weyburn” [Saskatchewan] activist Bailey Ashton Brookes. She is urging others to write Steven Blaney, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, to bar my entry into Canada, where I am scheduled as a speaker at the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association (SPLA) conference in Weyburn, October 11-12. [see original AFTAH story HERE; see letters by Joe Scheidler and Mary Anne Hackett defending me as a speaker].

“I would like for him to be turned away from our border,” Brookes writes.

Despite the Left’s history of censorship and totalitarianism, I am a bit taken aback to be the target of such an outrageous attempt to intimidate SPLA’s leaders into jettisoning me as a speaker–and then lobbying the State to ban me as a supposed purveyor of “hate.”

It’s one thing to write and poke fun at the “pro-Gay Thought Police,” and quite another to be in its crosshairs.

Here we have an object lesson on the inevitable end-result of political correctness–in the form of leftist “thought control” fused with State power. For years now, the far-left-biased Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has maliciously smeared my group, AFTAH, as well as dozens of other pro-family organizations like American Family Association and Family Research Council as “hate groups.” Then fellow travelers on the Left, led by LGBT activists, circulate the SPLC’s lie as if it is some kind of authoritative evidence that AFTAH and this writer are truly “hateful.”

In Canada, bereft of a First Amendment, mischievous “progressives” can cause more trouble faster than in the U.S., by citing legal bans on “hate speech” that have been upheld by the country’s highest court. Canadian Bill Whatcott, a brave pro-life and pro-family activist who will be speaking at the conference  next week, has been victimized by such “hate speech” prosecutions. So have many good Canadians like Stephen Boissoin, who have been dragged through preposterous “human rights tribunals” merely because they voiced opposition to the Sin of Sodom.

SPLC smears go worldwide

SPLC’s One-Sided “Hate” Scam: Remember this leftist brick attack on AFTAH’s banquet in 2011? The Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network (GLN) publicly refused to condemn it–demonstrating actual hatred. Yet the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has never labelled GLN–or any homosexual organization–a “hate group,” while slandering dozens of pro-family organizations like AFTAH with that false smear. The words on the paver brick thrown through the glass doors of the Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL, refer to AFTAH banquet speaker and honoree Scott Lively.

The SPLC’s corruption and radical pro-homosexual bias is illustrated by the fact that it has never designated an LGBT organization as a “hate group.” In fact, the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network (GLN), which took great pride in “reporting” AFTAH to the SPLC as a potential “hate group,” later publicly refused to condemn a brick attack against the school, Christian Liberty Academy, that hosted our 2011 banquet! [See AFTAH original story on the pro-homosexual brick attack.]

That’s real hate as opposed to ideologically-defined “hate.” Yet the SPLC has yet to designate GLN as a “hate group.” The good news is that many Americans and pundits finally are seeing through the SPLC’s “hate” scam.

Most activists on the Left are not as brazen as Ms. Brookes and her husband in pressing the censor card, but these two “morality-phobic” individuals are merely applying a more extreme and crass version of the pro-LGBT Left’s hardball tactics. Homosexual activist groups like GLAAD (formerly the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)–working with others like the SPLC–continually and falsely equate opposition to homosexuality with “hate.” They also throw around the ominous-sounding charge of “homophobia”–implying that their opponents are filled with irrational fear as opposed to disagreeing with immoral and unhealthy sexual behavior.

Then this Coalition on the Left pressures the media not to give a voice to the haters, homophobes and bigots. In recent years, they have expanded their crusade to include the enemy of “religious-based bigotry.” In their pride, they possess little regard for the sincerity and motives of Christians and others who genuinely seek to defend God’s moral order (“righteousness” in the Bible)–while holding out the hope of healthy change as personified by the many men and women who have left homosexuality (“gayness”) behind.

Since these illogical arguments and self-serving tactics can easily be defeated by pro-family advocates, pro-LGBT militants would rather just shut groups like AFTAH down in the Public Square. Endlessly playing their “anti-hate” card, they plead with the media to stop including the “other side” in their stories–stoking the ridiculous notion that no legitimate opposition to homosexualism (“gay rights”) exists. I’m afraid this is how countless cowed and ill-informed Western journalists think about homosexuality today. The arrogance and injustice of deciding for everyone what supposedly constitutes “hate,” “intolerance” and appropriate arguments in this Culture War debate apparently is lost on these liberal Speech Police and their media accomplices.

Pro-life leader Joe Scheidler

Folks, I’ve taken the extraordinary step of asking some pro-life and pro-family leaders and friends to vouch for me in the face of a leftist attempt to dislodge me as a speaker at the upcoming Saskatchewan Pro-Life Association event April 11-12. [See AFTAH story HERE.] The following note is from Joe Scheidler, one of my personal heroes and the founder of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League. Scheidler’s “Truth Tours” featuring placards with photos of unborn babies victimized by what the liberals call “choice” have educated countless tens of thousands of people across America as to the murderous reality of abortion-on-demand.

Thanks to Joe and all the wonderful leaders and advocates who have come to my defense regarding the Canada trip. The Left is whipping up hysteria in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, and sadly more than a few pro-lifers are confused about the false charge of “hate” leveled against me. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

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Joe Scheider writes:

I called the Saskatchewan Pro-Life Assn. and told Loraine what a great guy Peter is and that we have worked with him over the years and that being picketed by a bunch of homosexuals will bring publicity to his talk and to get word to the people in charge to greet him with open arms.  She said she’d pass on my message of support. They have been getting lots of calls, letters, e-mails, etc. Best.-Joe

Yours for Life,

Joseph M. Scheidler
National Director
Pro-Life Action League
Phone: (773) 777-2900
Website: http://prolifeaction.org
Facebook: http://facebook.com/prolifeaction