HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS
DESTROYING FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes from:
http://americansfortruth.com/2014/02/28/gay-rights-vs-religious-liberty-wnd-report-documents-victims-of-homosexual-agenda/:
http://americansfortruth.com/2014/02/28/gay-rights-vs-religious-liberty-wnd-report-documents-victims-of-homosexual-agenda/:
‘Gay Rights’ vs. Religious Liberty: WND WhistleblowerReport Documents Victims of Homosexual Agenda
The list of “Victims of Homosexualism” continues to grow; little media sympathy for lives damaged by politically incorrect (pro-gay) “discrimination”
Crystal Dixon was fired by University of Toledo in 2008 after writing a column critical of comparing “homosexual rights” to the noble Black civil rights movement.
Folks, conservative and Christian pro-family advocates should avoid the pitfall of viewing the “gay rights” cultural battle narrowly, as merely between those whose work relates to the wedding business (bakers, photographers, etc.)–and homosexual militants trying to force them to participate in their same-sex “marriages.” That’s part of it, of course, but as you can see from this in-depth report I wrote for WND’s October 2013 Whistleblowermagazine, the crisis goes far deeper than that, and it predates cultural fights over homosexual “marriage.” Below I have added photos and a few updates to the original article, which itself wasrepublished by WND.com in November.
Since this report came out, other Christians like Coach Dave Daubenmire have become victims and targets of pro-homosexual bigotry and discrimination. Like those below, Coach Dave was smeared as a “hater,” “homophobe” and “bigot.” (We’re all painfully familiar with such vicious name-calling by “gay” activists–which is tolerated and often echoed by the compliant media.) Shame on us if we allow special “rights” based on a changeable, destructive sexual sin to displace our inalienable rights and liberties as Americans. God bless you. – Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; e-mail: americansfortruth@gmail.com.
Please help circulate this report, and write Brad Wallace at AFTAH (connops@yahoo.com) if you would like a hard copy of it.
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First appeared in Whistleblower Magazine, Oct. 2013:
‘GAY’ POWER VS. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Exclusive: Peter LaBarbera on how homosexual ‘rights’ is destroying freedom of conscience
WND Editor’s note: This column is part of Whistleblower magazine’s blockbuster issue, “THE NEW SEXUAL REVOLUTION: How the ‘gay rights’ movement has become a Trojan Horse for totalitarianism.”
By Peter LaBarbera
“The legal struggle for queer rights will one day be a struggle between freedom of religion versus sexual orientation.” – Canadian lesbian lawyer Barbara Finlay, quoted by columnist John Leo and Janet Folger (Porter), The Criminalization of Christianity
There is a war between homosexual “rights” and Americans’ religious and First Amendment freedoms – and the “gay” activists are winning.
The “zero-sum game” is how homosexual activist law professor and Obama EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) appointee Chai Feldblum describes the legal battles between modern “rights” based on homosexual “orientation” (read: behavior) and the traditional American principle of religious liberty.
“Gays win, Christians lose,” Feldblum said, predicting homosexuals would win most of the legal contests. She is proving to be correct, as the news for Americans with traditional values gets worse by the year, due to rapidly escalating homosexual and transgender activist power in the legal, cultural, political and corporate arenas.
Following is a summary of cases involving battles between religious and moral freedom and homosexual activism. Some involve legal cases, others involve people who suffered privately for speaking out against the “gay” agenda. Others involve children whose rights (such as girls’ right to privacy) are violated in the name of “LGBT equality.”
In a sense, this could be called a list of the “Victims of Homosexualism”–that is, organized homosexuality. Though not comprehensive, its sheer scope illustrates what pro-family veterans have long known – but which the “gay”-cheerleading media fail to report as a major story: that “rights” based on homosexuality and gender confusion (“transgenderism”) cannot coexist with religious liberty.
First, a few observations:
- These victims of escalating “Gay Tyranny” in America are not all tied to the question of homosexual “marriage.” Indeed, well before “gay marriage” came on the scene as a “mainstream” issue, pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” laws and corporate pro-LGBT policies were victimizing and punishing Christians and other moral opponents of homosexuality. And those laws are invariably used to argue for homosexuality-based “marriage.” The homosexualist agenda moves ahead incrementally, but “sexual orientation” laws and policies – and their philosophical presupposition that homosexuality is about innate “identity” (“who you are”) rather than changeable, wrong and aberrant behaviors (“what you do”) – is the foundation for the entire far-reaching LGBT agenda.
- The most prominent example of the inherently discriminatory nature of pro-”gay” nondiscrimination laws (predating the entire homosexual “marriage” debate) is the Boy Scouts of America, who were initially challenged in 1990 by homosexual James Dale under a then-new “sexual orientation nondiscrimination” law in New Jersey. Ultimately, in 2000, the Dale case found its way to theU.S. Supreme Court, where the Scouts narrowly won their right not to have homosexual scoutmasters and members – only to toss away the fruits of their victory 13 years later by changing their rules under corporate pressure to allow openly homosexual Boy Scouts. (The Scouts still ban adult, openly homosexual scoutmasters, but pro-family experts predict that this prohibition will crumble – under continued “gay” activist pressure – now that the Scouts have sacrificed the moral principle that they had fought years to defend.)
The pro-homosexual (and pro-atheist) legal war against the Boy Scouts of America was made possible by a “sexual orientation” law in New Jersey. - It should also be recognized that oppression comes in many forms and from many quarters. Once professional institutions like the American Bar Association, American Association of Pediatrics and American Counseling Association adopt pro-LGBT “sexual orientation” codes, these policies become the basis for discriminating against people of faith.
- These cases involve mostly higher-profile “victims.” What does not make the following list are everyday small businesspeople who, under an array of pro-homosexual laws and policies, are forced to effectively subsidize sexual behavior they regard as immoral. Thus, in a “gay marriage” state or in a big city with “sexual orientation” laws, business owners – much like the wedding cake makers below – are forced by the heavy hand of government to treat homosexually “married” or partnered employees as they would their normally married workers.
- Also, countless employees and students have been forced to endure “gay tolerance” and pro-LGBT “diversity” programs that promote ideas with which they strongly disagree – a form of “soft tyranny” that most moral-minded employees have come to accept as the price of working in a big corporation. As is shown below, those who rock the politically correct boat invite persecution.
- Lastly, note the irony that several of the victims below are black. [The late] Pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Wash., (a former NFL player who appears occasionally on the “Rush Limbaugh Show”) says, “Don’t compare your sin to my skin.” (Hutcherson is black.) Yet that is precisely what the expanding web of “sexual orientation” laws, executive orders and rulings from liberal judges is doing. By mandating “gay” (and transgender) tolerance as a basic, modern American value, the law and politically-correct U.S. corporations are rapidly making opposition to homosexuality and gender confusion anathema – even banning it – thus relegating Christians and defenders of historic Judeo-Christian moral truths to second-class, pariah status.
Following are summaries of some modern American “Victims of Homosexualism”:
- California law allow boys in girls showers and restrooms: A radical new California law hailed by LGBT activists for “protecting transgender youth” will allow male students to use female restrooms and female locker rooms and shower facilities in California schools. AB 1266 violates the privacy rights of opposite-sex students in the name of transgender “equality.” Asks the pro-family Capitol Resource Institute: “What about the right to privacy of a junior high school girl wanting to go to the bathroom and having some privacy, or after PE showering and having to worry about being in the locker room with a boy?” AB 1266 also allows biologically born boys to play on girls’ sports teams (as long as they perceive their “gender” to be female). The bill is part of the escalating LGBT agenda to erase natural male-female gender differences and to accept the identity claims of gender-confused “trans’ advocates at face value. For example, pro-transgender activist Zach Ford of the liberal Think Progress had this to say in response to the law’s critics: “What many of these groups and individuals refuse to accept is that transgender youth are the same gender as their counterparts; they just happen to be trans.” Opponents plan to go to referendum to reverse the transgender law.
- Christian photographers lose in New Mexico Supreme Court: If a unanimous decision against them by the New Mexico Supreme Court is not overturned, Christian photographers Jon and Elaine Huguenin – and countless other small businesses – will be required by the government to use their business to participate in – and thus help celebrate – homosexual “marriages.” In 2006, two lesbians sued the Huguenins under New Mexico’s “sexual orientation” law because they declined to take photos at the lesbians’ “commitment ceremony.” Elaine Huguenin later said, “The message a same-sex ceremony communicates is not one I believe.” In an Aug. 23, 2013, decision upholding a previous decision against the Christian photographers, the New Mexico high court ruled that the Huguenins – indeed any businessperson who interacts with the public – cannot refuse to do business with homosexuals. Interestingly, at least one pro-homosexual-”marriage” group, the libertarian CATO Institute, working with “gay” legal activist Dale Carpenter, submitted an amicus brief defending the Huegenins’ right to their own creative expression.
Elaine Huguenin and her husband Jon were fined $6,000 simply for declining to take photos at a lesbian “commitment ceremony” because it violated their Christian faith. - Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (New Jersey): In 2007, two lesbians,Harriet Bernstein and Luisa Paster, decided they wanted to hold their “commitment ceremony” at the boardwalk pavilion of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association– which describes itself as “God’s Square Mile at the Jersey Shore.” The Methodist-run Ocean Grove is overtly Christian and plays host to many Christian ministry gatherings. The New Jersey Department of Civil Rights ruled against Ocean Grove on “discrimination” grounds, but the lesbians sought no punitive damages. Much like the Catholic adoption agencies pushed into closure by pro-homosexual policies (see below), Ocean Grove pulled out of the wedding-hosting business so as not to be forced to become a part of celebrating homosexual unions condemned by the Bible.
- Hawaiian B&B forced to “accommodate” lesbians despite owner’s religious objections: As WORLD magazine reported in April 16, 2013: “Two Southern California lesbians have won their legal battle against a Christian bed and breakfast owner in Hawaii. … The Hawaii First Circuit Court judge ruled on April 11 that the owner of Aloha Bed & Breakfast violated state law when she told Taeko Bufford and Diane Cervellishe was not comfortable having them stay together in her home because of her religious beliefs. … According to the ruling, the bed and breakfast violated the state public accommodations law [barring discrimination based on 'sexual orientation'] and is ordered, from now on, to provide a room to any same-sex couple that wishes stay there.”
- Illinois Christian B&B owner faces lawsuit after telling “gay” activists, “We will never host same-sex civil unions”: Jim and Beth Walder own a beautiful bed-and-breakfast in Paxton, Ill., just outside Champaign, home to the University of Illinois. But their lives were forever changed when, on Feb. 15, 2011, homosexual activist Todd Wathen – anticipating enactment of Illinois “civil unions” law – sent them an email: “Do you plan on doing same sex civil unions starting June 1st?” Jim Walder wrote back: “No. We only do Weddings.” After more back-and-forth, Walder even sent Wathen an email imploring him to consider what God says about his homosexual lifestyle:
I know you don’t want to hear this, but I thought I would send along a couple of verses in Romans 1 detailing how the Creator of the Universe looks at the gay lifestyle. It’s not [too] late to change your behavior. He is loving and kind and ready to forgive all men their trespasses, including me.
But far from wanting to change his own behavior, Todd Walthen instead was preparing to use the power of the State – specifically Illinois’ “Human Rights Act” – to change Walder’s. The homosexual activist’s ACLU-assisted court filing reads: “As a result of Respondent’s violation of the Act, Complainant has suffered substantial mental and emotional distress as well as the stigmatizing injury and deprivation of personal dignity that accompanies denials of equal access to places of public accommodation.” Walthen seeks monetary damages, attorneys’ fees and “an order directing [the Walders] to cease and desist from any violation” of the homosexual-affirming Human Rights Act. - Wildflower Inn in Vermont >pays settlement to lesbians and shuts down wedding reception business: The American Civil Liberties Union teamed up with the Vermont Human Rights Commission to win a settlement in August 2012 by which theWildflower Inn in Lyndonville, Vt., agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty to two lesbians. Ming Linsley and Kate Baker were told (apparently by mistake) that the inn would not host their lesbian “wedding” reception. (They found another venue for their ceremony.) The settlement also requires the inn’s owners to place $20,000 in a charitable trust for the lesbians. The Huffington Post reports “the inn also agreed it would no longer host weddings and their receptions.” In 2005, the inn had agreed it would hold homosexual “wedding” receptions but in doing so would make clear its religious opposition to such celebrations. “All families should feel welcome at any resort that’s open to the public,” Linsley said in a statement.
- “Sweet Cakes” Bakery shuts down in Oregon after refusing to bake for “gay wedding”: Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of “Sweet Cakes by Melissa” bakery in Gresham, Ore., became the targets of a state investigation, a “gay” boycott and some vicious attacks after they declined to make a “wedding” cake for two lesbians in January 2013. The Kleins ultimately decided to shut down their storefront operation to evade potential prosecution. Homosexual activists targeted the Kleins’ distributors, sent hateful messages to the couple and sought to portray them as hypocritical, anti-gay bigots. One activist even created a fake Facebook account for Sweet Cakes that portrayed the Kleins as racists. The couple will still sell baked goods, but only from their home.
“Sweet Cakes by Melissa” bakery owners Melissa and Aaron Klein were harassed by homosexual activists and the State of Oregon–and ultimately driven to close down their storefront operation–because they refused as Christians to bake a cake for a lesbian “wedding” in 2013.
Following are other cases involving wedding cake makers, florists and banquet halls who refused to allow their businesses to be used for the celebration of homosexual “marriages”:
- Just Cookies (Indiana): In 2012, owners of this cookie stand in the Indianapolis City Market refused to fill a special order by phone for “rainbow cookies” for a Purdue University-Indianapolis “gay” student group. Liberal activists charged “discrimination” under the city’s “sexual orientation” law and sought to pressure the market to drop its lease for Just Cookies. They failed, and the owners ultimately settled with the city (without paying damages) over violating the “gay”-affirming nondiscrimination code.
- Masterpiece Cakes (Colorado): The Colorado attorney general has filed a formal complaint against this bakery for refusing – on religious grounds – to make a “gay” wedding cake.
- Victoria’s Cake Cottage (Iowa): Owner Victoria Childress refuses to provide a wedding cake for a homosexual couple out of “convictions for their lifestyle.”
- Fleur Cakes (Oregon): Another Oregon bakery joins Sweet Cakes in refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
- Arlene’s Flowers (Washington): As the liberal Think Progress reports: “Washington florist Barronelle Stutzman refused to provide the flowers for the wedding of a same-sex couple who had long frequented her shop because of her ‘relationship with Jesus Christ.’ She now faces two lawsuits:one from the couple, and one from the state attorney generalfor violating state law.”
- Liberty Ridge Farm (New York): The business refuses to allow its property to be rented out for a lesbian “wedding.”
- All Occasion Party Place (Texas): A Fort Worth venue refuses, out of the owners’ loyalty to their religious beliefs, to rent out a banquet hall for a homosexual “wedding” reception.
- Craig James fired by Fox Sports Southwest after GOP debate tape shows him expressing Christian beliefs in opposition to homosexual “marriage” (September 2013): In a 2012 Republican primary debate for U.S. senator in Texas, former football star Craig James in answering a question said homosexuality is a choice and that homosexuals will have to answer to the Lord for the sin of homosexual “marriage.” The existence of that debate video apparently was enough to get James fired within weeks of being hired by Fox Sports Southwest as a college football analyst. A Fox spokesman told the Dallas Morning News, “We just asked ourselves how Craig’s statements would play in our human resources department. … He couldn’t say those things here.” James says he was fired over his religious beliefs, and his case has parallels with Allstate’s 2005 firing of Matt Barber (see below).
- Should a Christian T-shirt maker be forced to make “gay pride” apparel? Hands On Originals says no (Kentucky): A Christian-owned T-shirt company (Hands On Originals) ran afoul of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Human Rights Commission when it refused to print “gay pride” designs for a local homosexual group, the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO). If the case cannot be settled, the next phase is a “public hearing” in which the government commission represents GLSO against Hands On, which is being defended by Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF attorney Jim Campbell says, “Americans in the marketplace should not be subject to legal attacks simply for abiding by their beliefs. … The Constitution prohibits the government from forcing business owners to promote messages they disagree with.” Another local T-shirt company donated 500 T-shirts to GLSO with the “gay pride” message they wanted – showing that the homosexual activist group could easily have sought out and ordered them from a company whose owners are not opposed to celebrating homosexual relationships.
- Dr. Angela McCaskill (Gallaudet University, Maryland) learns that “diversity” apparently does not include supporting traditional marriage: In another stunning example of pro-homosexual intolerance, McCaskill – chief diversity officer and the “first deaf African-American female to earn a Ph.D. from Gallaudet University” (as her university bio states) – was suspended and put on paid leave after it was discovered she signed a petition to put same-sex “marriage” up for a statewide referendum in 2012. The case of McCaskill – who had worked 20 years at Gallaudet – gained wide coverage and sympathy even among liberals who support homosexual “marriage.” McCaskill was reinstated at the historic university in January of 2013.
Dr. Angela McCaskill was suspended by Gallaudet University after she signed a petition to place a pro-traditional marriage amendment on the ballot in Maryland. After widespread protests she was later reinstated. - Eastern Michigan University settles case with Julea Ward, a Christian who was kicked out of counseling program for opposing homosexuality:EMU had informed Julea Ward, who as a Christian did not wish to affirm the homosexual lifestyle in counseling, that she could only stay in the university’s graduate counseling program if she agreed to undergo a pro-homosexual “remediation” program. (Notably, EMU cited pro-homosexual standards set by the American Counseling Association to justify its actions taken against Ward.) When Ward, who is black, refused, she was booted. That did not sit well with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which in a December 2012 opinion written by Judge Jeffrey Sutton stated, “Tolerance is a two-way street. Otherwise, the rule mandates orthodoxy, not anti-discrimination.” Rather than appeal the case, EMU settled with Ward and her ADF attorneys, paying her $75,000 – while stubbornly asserting that “the resolution of the lawsuit leaves the University’s policies, programs and curricular requirements intact.”On a positive note, in 2010 Michigan’s House passed the “Julea Ward Freedom of Conscience Act,” which forbids public colleges and universities from discriminating against or disciplining students participating in counseling, social work and psychology programs “because the student refuses to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the student, if the student refers the client to a counselor who will provide the counseling or services.”
- Jennifer Keeton loses counseling school challenge at Augusta State: In a case similar to Ward’s, a Georgia court has dismissed a lawsuit by a former counseling student who was ordered by Augusta State University to complete remedial training after expressing her anti-gay views.Jennifer Keeton sued ASU in 2010 after faculty members told her she couldn’t complete the degree program if she did not complete a remediation plan, which included attending diversity workshops, reading articles about counseling lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and submitting monthly writing assignments.
- Christian Legal Society loses right to disallow homosexual members at UC-Hastings: Can a public university treat a Christian organization unlike other campus groups because it upholds the Bible’s standard against homosexuality? In a 5-4 ruling in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court said yes, upholding U-C Hastings College of Law’sdenial of official recognition to the Christian Legal Society. CLS requires all its members to forswear “unrepentant participation in or advocacy of a sexually immoral lifestyle” (sex outside marriage). Gregory Baylor, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, which defended CLS, cautioned that the Supreme Court ruling focused only on a narrow portion of UC-Hastings’ policy – that all student groups must adhere to the same nondiscrimination policy. “The court did not adjudicate whether the application of nondiscrimination policies to a religious student group is constitutional,” Baylor said.
- Freedom to procure pro-heterosexual change therapy loses in California and New Jersey: In two big hits against liberty and parental rights, California and New Jersey have enacted laws banning the seeking of “reparative therapy” for minors. The California law, SB 1172, survived a court challenge by the Christian legal group Liberty Counsel. It reads: “Under no circumstances shall a mental health provider engage in sexual orientation change efforts with a patient under 18 years of age, regardless of the willingness of a patient, patient’s parent, guardian, conservator, or other person to authorize such efforts.” Critics of both measures are calling them “Jerry Sandusky laws” because they would ban youth (and their parents) from seeking explicitly pro-heterosexual therapy even for minors who have been sexually molested by a homosexual predator. (Many admitted “gay” adults such as CNN anchor Don Lemon testify to having been homosexually molested as children.)In New Jersey, the anti-reparative-therapy law was passed even after an LGBT activist who testified in support of the bill was exposed for telling grotesque lies about the existence of abusive ex-gay conversion camps in Ohio – which never existed. Strangely, those who are adamantly “pro-choice” on abortion are “anti-choice” when it comes to the freedom of people to pursue a life apart from homosexuality. See next item.
- SPLC lawyers target JONAH, a Jewish group that helps men and women overcome homosexuality:In addition to legislation, the pro-LGBT left is using lawsuits as part of its campaign to put “ex-gay” and pro-change therapists out of business. The well-funded Southern Poverty Law Center is suing purveyors of “reparative therapy” – pro-heterosexual-change therapy for men and women with unwanted same-sex attractions. The SPLC’s first target is JONAH, Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality. In announcing its case against JONAH, the SPLC claimed in 2012, “The lawsuit describes how the underlying premise of conversion therapy – that a person can ‘convert’ to heterosexuality – has no basis in scientific fact.” However, JONAH has helped people overcome or manage homosexual desires – and examples of men and women who once considered themselves “gay” or “lesbian” abound. Here are just a few of the public “ex-gays” (and for every one of these there are perhaps thousands who do not advertise their former homosexual identity): Frank Worthen; Greg Quinlan; Stephen Black; Charlene Cothran; Dennis Jernigan; Yvette Cantu Schneider; Linda Jernigan; Christopher Yuan; Rosaria Butterfield; Michael Glatze; Anne Paulk and Andrew Franklin.The war against “ex-gays” and pro-heterosexual change efforts for youth – perhaps more than any other recent action by the homosexual activist lobby – reveals its inherent totalitarianism. The same activists who refuse to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence that homosexual behavior is unhealthy – e.g., a CDC report on 2011 data found that 94-95 percent of all HIV cases among boys and young men ages 13-24 were linked to homosexual sex – are now crusading to stop young people from pursuing ex-”gay” change. Chuck Limandri – the pro-family attorney who in 2009 helped San Diego firefighters win a lawsuit against their city after being forced to participate in San Diego’s highly sexualized “gay pride” parade – said regarding the SPLC’s lawsuit:
SPLC is grotesquely misusing consumer fraud laws to try to shut down counseling services to Jews with same-sex attractions, and to intimidate other therapists, ministries and service providers across the country. … Individuals with same-sex attraction have a right to seek counseling to live their lives as they choose. It is a matter of self-determination.
For the record, this is the same SPLC that has smeared numerous pro-family groups – such as Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, Family Research Council and American Family Association – as “hate groups” on a par with racist and anti-Semitic groups like Aryan Nation and the KKK. (See next item). - Family Research Council shooter Floyd Corkins – who relied on SPLC “Hate Map” – gets 25 years for attempted mass-murder: If it weren’t for the heroics ofLeo Johnson, homosexual activist Floyd Corkins might have committed mass murder when he stormed the Family Research Council’s Washington, D.C., headquarters in 2012. (Corkins found FRC listed on an online “hate map” published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which lists FRC and various other pro-family organizations as “hate groups” because they oppose the homosexual activist agenda.) Corkins had planned to shoot as many FRC staffers as possible and then jam a Chick-fil-A sandwich in the mouths of his victims, but Johnson wrestled his gun away from him, getting shot in the arm in the scuffle. Incredibly, pro-homosexual activists led by the SPLC continue to smear FRC as a “hate group” despite the near-massacre that almost transpired partially as a result of that defamatory “hate group” classification.
Homosexual activist Floyd Corkins planned to massacre employees of the Family Research Council at FRC’s Washington, D.C. headquarters–and stuff his victims’ mouths with Chick-fil-A sandwiches. Corkins targeted FRC based on their inclusion on the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center’s spurious “hate group” list. - SPLC and feds pressure Minnesota school district to affirm homosexuality: The Obama administration’s Department of Justice teamed up with the far-left SPLC and another homosexual activist group to pressure the Anoka-Hennepin School District, outside of Minneapolis, to jettison its “neutrality” policy on homosexuality and replace it with a pro-homosexual policy – ostensibly to combat “anti-gay bullying.” A propaganda campaign was waged against the school district, portraying conservatives as hateful bigots and grossly exaggerating the number of allegedly homosexual students who committed suicide. Anoka-Hennepin buckled in the face of the immense resources stacked against it – both the SPLC and the U.S. Department of Justice. Pro-family advocates fear the DOJ-SPLC campaign against the Minnesota school district will become a blueprint for similar federal actions against school districts that do not wish to affirm homosexuality among students.
- Black woman in Chicago drummed out of Roosevelt College’s Master’s Degree Education program for voicing politically incorrect views on homosexuality: Ms.Gillian John-Charles is a single mom, a mathematics teacher and an African American who had been enrolled in Roosevelt University’s EdD program since 2009. In October 2010, in a class discussion led by a liberal professor who apparently had an ideological axe to grind, John-Charles said she does not believe homosexuals are born “gay.” As the professor’s mistreatment against her escalated, she describes in a legal complaint how he bullied her by falsely accusing her of having a “negative and disparaging” view of gay people – though she stated clearly in class that, as a teacher, she treats all her students with the same respect without regard to “sexual orientation.” Within a year of the initial classroom incident, John-Charles was expelled from the doctoral program, citing unsatisfactory academic performance (despite her 3.51 GPA). She is now contemplating formal litigation against Roosevelt University.
- California homosexual lawmaker targets nonprofit status of ‘anti-gay’ organizations: Democratic homosexual lawmaker Ricardo Lara is working hard to win passage of landmark legislation, SB 323, that would deny tax-exempt status in California to any nonprofit youth organization that “discriminates” against homosexuals or transgenders. This is an ominous piece of legislation for the pro-family movement because it shows that “gay” activists are unafraid to use the tax code to punish organizations (and people) that disagree with their agenda.
- Proposed San Antonio law intended to ban Christians from serving in government if they had ever demonstrated “bias” against homosexuals: A newly enacted “sexual orientation nondiscrimination” law in San Antonio takes the potential oppression arising from pro-LGBT laws to new lows. The law – which was modified several times to appease critics – included in one iteration language that would bar Christians or moral foes of homosexual “marriage” from ever getting a job in San Antonio government: “No person shall be appointed to a position if the City Council finds that such person has, prior to such proposed appointment, engaged in discrimination or demonstrated a bias, by work or deed, against any person, group, or organization on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age, or disability.” What is stunning is that such language would even be introduced when less stringent “sexual orientation” laws like New Jersey’s and New Mexico’s have already been used to punish moral-minded youth organizations like the Boy Scouts and private businesses run by Christians.
- Portland bar owner fined $400,000 for excluding transsexual men who were using the women’s restroom: Chris Penner, owner of the Twilight Room Annexbar in Portland, was recently fined $400,000 under the Oregon Equality Act for banning several “transgender” (biological) males from his establishment. The men – who would dress as the women they were pretending to be – were alienating other customers by using the women’s restroom. According to the state complaint against Penner, he left a message with one of the “transgenders” saying that: “People think that a) We’re a tranny bar or b) We’re a gay bar. We are neither. People are not coming because they just don’t want to be here on a Friday night now.” The Seattle Times reports that eleven people – who apparently call themselves the “T-girls” – “will get the money, with awards ranging from $20,00 to 50,000.”
- Massachusetts judge allows international “Crimes Against Humanity” lawsuit to proceed against Christian advocate and pastor Scott Lively: In one of the most frightening cases advanced by aggressive homosexualists, U.S. District JudgeMichael Ponsor has allowed a left-wing harassment lawsuit accusing veteran pro-family advocate Scott Lively of “crimes against humanity” to proceed in his U.S. court. For years, homosexual militants have spread lies about Lively’s work in Uganda, where he and several other Christians spoke against the threat of homosexual activism in that largely Christian nation. He was accused of being the mastermind behind a draconian Ugandan bill whose provisions he did not even ultimately support. Lively rarely bothered to answer the “gay” lies, in part because they were so absurd. A Ugandan homosexual activist group, SMUG (Sexual Minorities Uganda) teamed up with a notorious leftist American group, the Center for Constitutional Rights (which also defends accused Islamic terrorists held by the United States in Guantanamo Bay) to sue Lively under theAlien Tort Statute. The case is preposterous, but could drain resources from Lively and intimidate other Christians from speaking out against homosexuality, here in America and abroad. Says Lively: “I am being judged according to a European legal standard in my own federal court system for speech that is 100 percent protected in both America and Uganda. … This case has enormous implications for First Amendment rights here at home and abroad, for the supremacy of our Constitution over foreign law, for Christian values under international law, and for the future power of homosexual activists to crush anyone who stands in the way of their global agenda.”
Scott Lively is being sued by left-wing activists for “Crimes Against Humanity” for speaking as a Christian pro-family advocate in Uganda. - Matt Barber, fired by Allstate for opposing ‘gay’ agenda, now a pro-family leader: In 2005, Matt Barber was fired by Allstate Insurance Company for allegedly using a company laptop to write a column against homosexuality (which violated Allstate’s “diversity” standards). Barber sued Allstate and ultimately settled the case. Though not vengeful, Barber did get back at Allstate, in a way: He is now a popular conservative writer and is associate dean of the Liberty University School of Law, as well as vice president of Liberty Counsel Action. [Barber also recently launched the conservative news site, Barbwire.net.]
- Catholic Church shuts down adoption agencies in Massachusetts and Illinois due to pro-homosexual laws: In Illinois, a tragic casualty of state’s “civil union” law was the closure of the Catholic Church’s adoption program in Chicago. Catholics oppose adoption by homosexuals. This followed a similar story in Massachusetts, in which the Catholic Church shut down a successful adoption agency following the state supreme court’s imposition of “gay marriage” – rather than being forced to place children in homosexual-led households.
- Judge dismisses Crystal Dixon case (University of Toledo, Ohio): Dixon was a University of Toledo human resources employee who was fired in 2008 after writing column critical of “homosexual rights.” A black Christian, she argued that those choosing to embrace a homosexual lifestyle are not “civil rights victims.” In December 2012, a federal judge dismissed her lawsuit. Dixon reportedly is appealing to the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- The Shedds lose a business after a homosexual boycott (Kentucky): Back in 1995, David Shedd was fired from his position as president of a lucrative Miller Beer distributorship in Louisville, Ky. – after homosexual activists launched a successful boycott against the company. Their beef? David’s wife, Donna, was involved with the local affiliate of Eagle Forum, which is headed up by conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly and is strongly pro-life and pro-traditional-marriage.
Peter LaBarbera, formerly a journalist for the Washington Times, is the founder and president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, online at AFTAH.com.
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March 4, 2014
"It's about liberty, not fake rights"
By Gina Miller
EXCERPT:
"Cutting through the lies and distortions of the Left, we can see that this all boils down to liberty versus tyranny. You don't have a right to force me to violate my conscience by affirming your sinful behavior with the work of my hands, period! Homosexual activists and others who oppose measures to protect freedom of conscience, religion and association are, wittingly or not, on the side of tyranny."
