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Don’t be misled into thinking that this bill bans only professional counselors from trying to alter same-sex attractions. It goes well beyond that.
Robert Gagnon. For more pro-family (and pro-freedom) resources on AB 2943, go HERE. Also see SaveCalifornia.com. See Gagnon’s excellent website at RobGagnon.net.
The biggest effort at book-banning, the banning of counseling services and church conferences, the banning of academic courses, and a general banning of free speech in the history of the United States is well underway in California. This is reminiscent of when Southern states in the pre-Civil War era banned any literature suggesting that slavery might not be a good thing; what we are fighting now is slavery to same-sex attractions and gender dysphoria.
The bill in question is California Assembly Bill 2943. It would treat as a criminal violation of the state’s consumer fraud act “the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer” that consists of “advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual.” Don’t be misled into thinking that this bill bans only professional counselors from trying to alter same-sex attractions. It goes well beyond that.
“Orientation change” can be as innocuous as stating at a paid conference that homosexual and transgender desire can be overcome (not necessarily eliminated) by the Spirit of Jesus. Or even complying with an attendee’s request for prayer that the Spirit of God empower the attendee not to succumb to the power of same-sex attractions.
That’s not all. More than “orientation change” is at issue, for the bill expressly states:
‘Sexual orientation change efforts’ means any practices that seek to change an individual’s sexual orientation. This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex.
Did you catch the part that says: “This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions,” not just orientation change? You cannot treat homosexual expression or transgenderism as the product of disordered desires.
America Corrupts the World: Even under Trump, the American Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica flies the LGBTQ-activist “rainbow flag” under Old Glory. But Jamaicans know that immoral “gay-” and “transgender” “rights” inherently destroy real freedoms. Photo: Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, June 2017.
Folks, the following column was published Sunday in the Jamaica Gleaner. It is written by Shirley Richards, a wise Christian advocate for genuine rights and moral truth whom I had the privilege of meeting in Jamaica when I spoke there in 2013. Below Richards ably explains the difference between genuine rights based on a moral philosophy, rooted in timeless Judeo-Christian truth–and counterfeit “gay/transgender rights,” which “compete with, and undermine, fundamental human rights and freedoms.”
Smart Jamaicans–and peoples all over the world–are trying to learn from the USA’s and the West’s failed experiment of creating sodomy-based “rights,” which became the foundation for the modern Western abomination of “same-sex marriage.” Meanwhile, the United States and other decadent Western nations–and leftist organizations like the George Soros-funded Human Rights Watch–are pressuring Jamaica and many other nations to join our illicit “rights” revolution.
At right is a current photo of the American Embassy in Kingston, flying the LGBT “rainbow flag” (as it did under Obama)–thereby telegraphing to this small nation that, even under Trump, we will use our immense political and economic power to “persuade” them to embrace a system of newfangled legal “rights” that inherently destroys liberty. Let’s hope we don’t prevail, and that Donald Trump gets America out of the business of exporting the immoral, anti-Christian LGBT “rights” revolution. — @Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth; see my LifeSiteNews articles here.
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Majority view on gay rights must have sway
By Shirley Richards
Published in Jamaica Gleaner, June 11, 2017
In an article written by Dr. Carolyn Gomes published [in the Jamaica Gleaner] on Sunday, May 28, 2017, she stated, in relation to the development of the [Jamaican] Charter of Rights: “The Parliament, however, appears to be timid. It has not acted on the recommendation to ensure that all citizens are protected from discrimination on the basis of disability, health status, if they speak Patois, have a mental illness, or are different in sexual orientation and gender identity.”
These were recommendations made by various interest groups. They were debated by the joint select committee of Parliament on the Charter of Rights (Constitutional Amendment) Bill and decisions were made to accept or reject accordingly.
The Parliament had then, and still does have, a responsibility to allow for citizens to make submissions, but there was, and still is, the corresponding responsibility to sift submissions and to decide which ones are in the best interests of the country. Parliament must examine all the relevant studies and data. They must also have an understanding of the impact of these decisions on the country both now and in time to come and be satisfied that such decisions are in fact for the good of the country.
In determining what is in the “best interests” of the country, they cannot afford to disregard the voice of the people. Specifically, the members of the House of Representatives are there to represent the people, not to foist their own viewpoints on the people, a point Justice Minister Delroy Chuck, as a member of said House, may do well to remember. As the late [First Premier of Jamaica] Norman Manley, QC, said on the occasion of the passage of the 1962 [Jamaican] Constitution:
“As a politician, sir, I would be the first person to acclaim every instance in which the public succeeds in having their way … for we, sir, are their servants and are here to execute their will.”
Non-discrimination
As it relates to the issue of “sexual orientation”, the joint select committee (1999-2001) debated the request by the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays to protect ‘sexual orientation’ as grounds for non-discrimination. The committee expressly decided not to protect this term. The committee was concerned about the impact of such a term on the institution of marriage and on parenting.
Garry Ingraham is executive director of the Love and Truth Network, based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Folks, we introduce a new writer for AFTAH, Garry Ingraham, who “came out”–of the homosexual lifestyle–and now leads the sexual wholeness ministry Love and Truth Network. Garry is also a Board Member of Restored Hope Network, an umbrella group of ex-“gay” ministries, member churches and Christian counselors across the nation. Here Garry comments on a LifeSiteNews article about American Psychological Association (APA) researcher (and LGBTQ activist) Dr. Lisa Diamond’s determination that “sexual orientation” is fluid — and that homosexual advocates should stop promoting the “born that way” myth. Please consider supporting Garry’s important work HERE. And sign up for the outstanding LifeSiteNews’ daily updates HERE. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
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By Garry Ingraham, first published on Facebook Oct. 7, 2016
As a former gay-identified man and bartender at a gay bar, who concluded that “there has to be more to life than this”, I know from personal experience that sexuality and attractions are fluid and can be changed over time. I’ve also known hundreds of others who are on the same journey toward Christ – out of homosexuality and a life dominated by sexual & relational brokenness.
Finally, in the attached article we have an intellectually and scientifically accurate statement from the APA about what many people have known all along…People can and do change their sexual attractions. These are not hard wired… Check out the article below-
Whether or not someone desires to change is up to them, but the right to change or seek help to overcome unwanted LGBT attractions and desires has come under legal attack — all for the sake of political correctness and an ideological crusade — based on the false narrative of the immutability of LGBT desires and sexual attraction.
“I’m allowed to be exactly who I am, and I don’t have to apologize or make excuses why I’m different. I can’t deny I was married. I can’t deny I have children. But I’ve moved forward now and I’ve gone back to being a child. I don’t want to be an adult now, and I live my life like I couldn’t when I was in school.”–Paul Wolscht, 52-year-old man with seven children who believes he’s a 6-year-old girl, “Stefonknee”
Folks, my son introduced me to Steven Crowder YouTube videos, and Crowder is spot on with this video response to a 52-year-old Canadian man, Paul (“Stefonknee”) Wolscht, who abandoned his wife and seven children a few years ago to embrace a “transgender” identity as a six-year-old “girl.” This pathetic story is astonishingly creepy and wicked at the same time. Crowder is right: this guy is mentally disturbed–but I do believe that he’d still be with his family if he did not have his “transgender” activist enablers egging on his delusion.
To say that Wolscht is self-absorbed might be the understatement of all time. As a Transgender Project website video on Wolscht’s story shows, several years ago his own children expressed their anger and embarrassment in letters to him about his wanting to be a “girl” (see photo below). No matter–he continued to pursue his twisted alter ego–and was encouraged in his “gender identity” by his new “progressive” friends including an LGBTQ “church.” Then he wonders why his desperate wife Maria fears that their kids would be “corrupted” by him living with them?! … [More comments and photos after the video and the jump:]
Much evil has come out of the LGBTQueer revolution, and many victims have been left in its wake–like Maria and her seven children. Does your heart not ache like mine in thinking about the suffering of Mrs. Wolscht and what these poor children have gone through after their dad embraced this sick, freakish “identity”? This is a form of child abuse–and everyone who supports Wolscht in his delusion is complicit.
In a forthcoming article I will discuss the parallels of me-centered transgenderism and me-centered homosexuality. One thing they share is the idea that creating one’s own fictional reality–a distorted “identity” or “orientation” at odds with reason, God’s creation and objectively observed Nature–somehow justifies one’s actions. Since LGBTQ activists and their “progressive” allies demand that we “respect” the ever-expanding array of “gender identities,” are we obligated to respect Wolscht’s little-girl identity–his own specialized, subjective “truth”? The thing about godless moral relativism is that there is no bottom to its depravity because–to paraphrase the “progressive” pope–who are we to judge? — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; @PeterLaBarbera
Houston’s lesbian mayor put her pro-homosexuality politics above the rule of law.
“The homosexual political movement is a hate movement that discriminates against Christians….It is absurd to base minority status upon a person’s chosen behavior.”–Dr. Steven Hotze, Campaign For Houston
The following was released Friday by Conservative Republicans of Texas and the Campaign For Houston:. To read the Texas Supreme Court ruling, go HERE.
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July 24, 2015
For immediate release:
Contact Jeff Yates, Campaign for Houston: (832) 545-7644
Texas Supreme Court Decides in Favor of Houston Voters Mayor Parker’s (Un)Equal Rights Ordinance To Be Voted On In November
The Texas Supreme Court ruled today that “the legislative power reserved to the people of Houston is not being honored. The City Council is directed to comply with its duties, as specified in the City Charter, that arise when the City Secretary certifies that a referendum petition has a sufficient number of valid signatures. Any enforcement of the [Equal Rights] ordinance will be suspended…If the City Council does not repeal the ordinance by August 24, 2014, then by that date the City Council must order that the ordinance be put to popular vote during the November 2015 election.” In Re Jared Woodfill, Texas Supreme Court, No. 14-0667, p. 11-12 (July 24, 2016)
This means that unless the Houston City Council repeals the ordinance, the citizens of Houston will have the right to vote on Mayor Parker’s personal, liberal, pro-homosexual agenda this November.
“He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous, “peoples will curse him, nations will abhor him, but to those who rebuke the wicked will be delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.” (Proverbs 24:24–25)
Last year, Houston’s lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, and the Houston City Council passed an ordinance that violates religious freedom of businesses and individuals, grants minority status to those who choose to participate in homosexual activities and allows men, if they claim to be transgender or feel like they are a woman that day, to use women’s public restrooms and locker rooms. This is the reason that the ordinance was known as the ‘Sexual Predator Protection Act’ by the opponents of the ordinance.
The Houston City Charter requires only 17,169 signatures [to repeal an ordinance or put it up to a popular vote]. Almost 55,000 signatures were collected on petitions to allow the people an opportunity to vote on this very important issue. Anna Russell, the City Secretary, certified that there were adequate signatures but Parker refused to accept them.
“Mayor Parker arrogantly ignored the will of the people and the city charter, and unlawfully rejected the petitions,” said Dr. Steven Hotze, President of Campaign for Houston.
Jared Woodfill, Steven Hotze, M.D., Rev. F.N. Williams, Sr. and Rev. Max Williams then filed suit against Parker,Woodfill v Parker. During the course of the litigation, Mayor Parker issued subpoenas to several pastors who were not parties to the litigation, ordering them to turn over all communications regarding the ordinance, the mayor, homosexuality, and other related topics, including sermons regarding these topics.
After a month of trial, Democrat Judge Robert Schaffer ruled in favor of the city and against the people, denying Houstonians an opportunity to vote on this issue. Fortunately, the Texas Supreme Court quickly reviewed Judge Schaffer’s decision and concluded he was wrong and that Mayor Parker had broken the law. Despite Mayor Parker’s efforts to keep her personal, pro-homosexual agenda from the people, Houstonians will now have an opportunity to vote on this ordinance in November.
LGBT Activist Mocks the Lord: above is a Tweet sent out just before Christmas by influential Indiana “gay” activist Bil Browning. Secular leftists mock Christians and the Christian faith by referring to Jesus Christ as “Jeebus.” AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera responded on Twitter to Browning’s bigotry. See full Twitter exchange HERE.
“If government can compel a Christian or Orthodox Jewish businessman to participate in a ceremony that attaches sinful homosexuality to “marriage,” then the State can compel ANY American citizen or institution to violate ANY of their cherished beliefs. That is the essence of tyranny.”
In the wake of a pro-LGBT, media-driven campaign against Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), Gov. Mike Pence and leaders of the Indiana legislature are backtracking to appease the liberal political mob that has cynically recast the law as the “License to Discriminate.”
Good people everywhere are now intimidated from speaking plain truths about the homosexual-bisexual-transgender agenda. Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is not. The distortions and media hype attacking Indiana’s religious freedom law are obfuscating some key fundamentals in this debate. It is not the purpose here to dig into the “legaleze” about the law (for that, see this Reason.com piece) but rather to expose the core hypocrisy of pro-LGBT progressives on “discrimination.”
Homosexual activists and their sycophants in the media (e.g., CNN’s homosexual anchor/activist Don Lemon) are cunningly building upon their distortions of the RFRA to demand a pro-homosexual special-rights law in the Hoosier State.
It would be the cruelest of ironies if the media-driven backlash against Indiana’s religious freedom law were used to push through a statewide “gay rights” law in Indiana. Such pro-homosexual laws and corporate policies have been the engine driving PRO-LGBT DISCRIMINATION against people of faith for decades—all in the sweet-sounding name of “equality.” For example, the “gay” movement’s bullying of the Boy Scouts of America began with a lawsuit that relied upon New Jersey’s pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” law.
The pro-family movement has long referred to so-called nondiscrimination laws based on “sexual orientation” and ”gender identity” as “special rights” because genuine civil rights are not based on disordered, immoral sexual behavior and gender confusion. These Orwellian laws and corporate policies actually foment discrimination in the name of “non-discrimination.” That’s liberalism for you.
Our cherished American freedoms come ultimately from God, as recognized by our national charter, the Declaration of Independence, which appeals to “Nature and Nature’s God.” Homosexual behavior–which cannot produce life–is against both. Witness the grossly disproportionate STD rates linked to “men who have sex with men.”
It is ludicrous to posit “civil rights” based on homosexuality and gender rebellion as “constitutional.” But it is downright un-American to argue—as many LGBT activists do—that in a nation founded by people fleeing religious oppression, “rights” based on sexual sin should trump Americans’ freedom to uphold biblical sexual morality and real marriage between a man and a woman.
The LGBT Lobby and the media have raised the issue of potential discrimination in Indiana. Let’s talk about discrimination.
With the rise of “gay power” in the West has come an abundance of victims of pro-homosexual Political Correctness. All over the world, Christians and moral-minded citizens have been victimized by a liberal, elitist pro-homosexual orthodoxy that increasingly brooks no dissent. The media have trivialized the zero-sum conflict between “gay rights” and freedom of conscience as being merely about wedding cake bakers–but the escalating “LGBTyranny” goes far beyond that:
I have two observations about this excellent piece by my friend, Barbwire.com founder, and AFTAH Board Member Matt Barber: 1) I wish all Christians could possess Matt’s resolve in defending Truth; and 2) only a tiny minority of believers understand what is coming down the pike, persecution-wise, from the combination of treating homosexuality as a “civil right” and the court-imposed legalization of “gay marriage.” This is Big Government imposing immorality on us all, and we must fight it with great vigilance. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH.org
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The Coming Christian Revolt
By Matt Barber, July 21, 2014
From behind a smoking sniper rifle high atop his ivory tower peers the secular “progressive.” He surveys his many victims, strewn across the American landscape below and mockingly sneers, “War on Christianity? What war on Christianity?”
He then resumes shooting, all the while insisting that those uncooperative Christians who scatter for cover behind the Word of God and the U.S. Constitution somehow suffer from a “persecution complex” (the baker, the photographer, the florist, the innkeeper, the Christian school administrator, etc.).
Though there are many, it is plain for all to see that abortion and “sexual liberation” remain the two principal theaters in the ongoing culture war battlefront.
To fully advance the causes of radical feminism, abortion-on-demand, unfettered sexual license, gay marriage and the like, the pagan left must do away with religious free exercise altogether. Under the guise of “anti-discrimination,” Christians today face discrimination at unprecedented levels.
Let’s see if we can make this abundantly clear. Christians, true Christians—regenerate, Bible-believing Christians who strive their level best to maintain fidelity to the word of God and honor His commands—will not—indeed cannot—participate in, approve of, facilitate or encourage certain behaviors deemed by the Holy Scriptures to be immoral or sinful.
