Indiana Gov. Pence Should Start Talking About PRO-Homosexual ‘Discrimination’ and Liberal Bigotry Against Christians
SEE: http://americansfortruth.com/2015/04/01/indiana-gov-pence-should-start-talking-about-pro-homosexual-discrimination-and-liberal-bigotry-against-christians/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
“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.”
By Peter LaBarbera; Twitter:@PeterLaBarbera
Contact: 312-324-3787;americansfortruth@gmail.com
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:
- People are losing their jobs or being denied entry into their desired profession (e.g., counseling) because they espouse truth that homosexual behavior is immoral. Allstate Insurance Co. fired Christian Matt Barber (founder of Barbwire.com and an AFTAH Board Member) after he wrote a column—on his own time—critical of the militant “gay” agenda.
- Christian students have been denied entry into college counseling programs simply because their conscience does not permit them to affirm homosexual relationships. In the United States today you are more likely to be punished or fired for OPPOSING homosexuality than you are for “being gay.” (Meanwhile, many corporations and colleges—egged on by the “gay” lobby–are now engaging in pro-homosexual Affirmative Action—giving special preference to homosexuals. So much for LGBT victimhood.)
- Homosexual activists have successfully lobbied for laws in California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia that BAN minors with unwanted same-sex attractions from pursuing healthy, heterosexual change through therapy. The leftists at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) are using their bevy of lawyers to sue a tiny Jewish ex-“gay” group called JONAH–to drive them out of business. The LGBT activists’ animus toward EX-homosexuals belies their phony rhetoric touting “diversity” and “inclusion.”
- In the name of transgender “rights,” “non-discrimination” laws are allowing biological men to use public women’s restrooms, and boys to use girls restrooms and locker rooms in schools. Thus women and girls are losing their safe spaces and their right to privacy.
- Homosexual activists and the Religious Left are demanding that even Catholic schools hire (or not fire) openly homosexual and even “gay-married” teachers whose lifestyles defy historic Catholic teachings.
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.
Disagreeing morally with homosexuality is not “bigotry,” “hate” or “animus.” Since when did sodomy—which has been taboo for centuries; is condemned unequivocally in Scripture; and is defined by American wordsmith Noah Webster as “a crime against nature”—become sacrosanct?
Legalized homosexual “marriage” is a grave moral evil and an unprecedented sign of decadence in the West. It is the right and duty of every true Christian to oppose it. But no small business owner—whether religious or not–should be compelled to participate in a same-sex “wedding” that not only glorifies homosexual sin but often does it in God’s name.
Liberals and homosexual activists love to cry “Bigot!” but there is plenty of anti-Christian bigotry on their side: see this nasty Tweet by influential Indiana LGBT activist Bil Browning mocking “Jeebus” (Jesus Christ) and this article about the National LGBTQ Task Force celebrating a documentary about a play that portrays Christ as “gay” and the one-time homosexual lover of Judas.
Politically speaking, it seems bigotry is OK as long as it advances the “progressive” agenda to impose mandatory acceptance of homosexuality and gender confusion on everyone.
_____________________________________________________________________
"Republican Ruse? Indiana “Religious Freedom” Law Bait and Switch":
EXCERPT:
Passed by the GOP-controlled Indiana legislature and signed by Pence Thursday evening, the law has perhaps been mischaracterized by some. CNN claims it offers “protections based on sexual orientation” for the first time in Indiana’s history. Yet it seems that American Thinker is correct in stating that with the amendment, “the law in essence has become meaningless.” It appears that the Indiana Republicans — rattled by the politically correct backlash but wanting to pacify social conservatives — just wanted to pass something bearing the name “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”
Note that government outlaws discrimination only against “protected classes” (read: privileged classes), which leaves other classes unprotected and creates unequal treatment under the law. In other words, perhaps you can’t discriminate against homosexuals, but Republicans, libertarians, gun owners, pro-lifers, and most other groups are fair game.
________________________________________________________________
"Indiana Pizzeria Closed, Owners Threatened for Opposing Same-Sex Marriage":
EXCERPT:
A small-town Indiana pizzeria has been forced to close its doors, and its owners’ lives have been threatened — all because a local television station decided to drum up a story where none existed.
The trouble began when South Bend TV stationWBND sent reporter Alyssa Marino out into the wilds of the Hoosier State to get people’s reactions to the state’s recently enacted Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) that, despite the fact that it is practically the same as existing statutes in several other states and at the federal level, has drawn the ire of the allegedly tolerant cultural Left.
That news organization plastered “Restaurant denies some service to same-sex couples” across the bottom of the screen during Marino’s report. But nowhere in the report is it alleged that Memories Pizza has denied service to anyone. Indeed, Marino stated that the O’Connors told her “if a gay couple or a couple belonging to another religion stepped into their restaurant to eat, they would never deny them service” — though she saved that for the very end of her report.
The only service denial mentioned in the entire story was a purely hypothetical and unlikely situation almost surely brought up by Marino, not the O’Connors: a request to cater a same-sex wedding reception.
“If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no,” Crystal O’Connor said. Marino later tweeted that the O’Connors had “never been asked to cater a same-sex wedding.”
CRYSTAL O'CONNOR SPEAKS TO FOX NEWS:
MEMORIES PIZZA SHOP WILL RE-OPEN:
_______________________________________________________
"Hundreds of Thousands in Donations Pour in for Pizzeria Forced to Close Over Biblical Marriage Beliefs":
SEE: http://christiannews.net/2015/04/03/hundreds-of-thousands-in-donations-pour-in-for-pizzeria-forced-to-close-over-biblical-marriage-beliefs/; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
by Heather Clark:
WALKERTON, Ind. – Hundreds of thousands in donations have poured in out of a show of support to a pizzeria that was forced to close after it faced arson and death threats by homosexual activists and advocates simply for expressing their biblical beliefs on marriage when asked by a local news station.
The matter began when reporter Alyssa Marino of ABC 57 News in South Bend set out to interview area business owners about their reaction to the controversy over the recently signed Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Among the businesses that she visited was Memories Pizza in Walkerton, a place that is decorated with crosses and quotes from Scripture, and begins each morning with prayer.
The establishment had never turned anyone away, nor were there any complaints about the pizzeria, and owner Crystal O’Connor explained to Marino that if a homosexual couple or someone of another religion came to eat there, Memories Pizza would never deny them service.
“I just walked into their shop and asked how they feel,” Marino explained on Twitter. “They’ve never been asked to cater a same-sex wedding.”
However, one sentence in O’Connor’s response was highlighted in Marino’s report, as she stated that because of her Christian beliefs, she would have to draw the line at same-sex weddings, which some Christians believe would be a form of participation.
“If a gay couple was to come in—like say, they wanted us to provide them pizzas for a wedding, we would have to say ‘no,'” O’Connor replied in response to Marino’s question.
“We are a Christian establishment,” she said. “We’re not discriminating against anyone. That’s just our belief and anyone has the right to believe in anything.”
Marino soon published an online report with the angle of “RFRA: Michiana business wouldn’t cater a gay wedding,” and the nighttime television report read “Restaurant denies some services to same-sex couples.”
The story quickly went viral, and homosexual activists and advocates lashed out at O’Connor and Memories Pizza. Yelp was flooded with hundreds of negative reviews and vulgar photographs, and those angry about O’Connor’s response left messages on Facebook wishing bodily harm and death to the business owner. Marino soon published an online report with the angle of “RFRA: Michiana business wouldn’t cater a gay wedding,” and the nighttime television report read “Restaurant denies some services to same-sex couples.”
“I pray to God all of you get food poisoning!” one commenter named Alex Ollmedo wrote.
“I pray your store burns to the ground with your family in it,” another named Jeff Green lashed out.
Police were called in when Jessica Dooley, a coach at an Elkhart County high school, Tweeted, “Who’s going to Walkerton with me to burn down Memories Pizza?”
Dooley was suspended without pay, and prosecutors are reviewing the matter as they consider whether to press criminal charges.
Police have also been patroling the business due to ongoing threats, and told ABC News that the patrols “will go on as long as threats continue to be made.”
The pizzeria soon closed shop and the O’Connor family went into hiding, fearing for their lives. O’Connor told reporters that her family was even considering leaving the state. She said that she the business was providing the funds for her to pay her rent, and that the matter could now harm her personally.
“I don’t know if we will re-open, or if we can—if it’s safe to re-open,” she told reporters. “We’re in hiding basically, staying in the house.”
As a result, Lawrence Jones of The Blaze launched a GoFundMe page on Wednesday to help “relieve the financial loss endured by the proprietors’ stand for faith.” With an initial goal of raising $200,000 for the business, supporters of Memories Pizza from across the country flooded the page with donations, and the fundraising effort far exceeded its goal within just 24 hours.
As of press time, just two days after the page was launched, over $711,000 have been raised in support of the O’Connor’s religious rights, with over 24,000 donors participating in the effort. The GoFundMe page has been shared over 64,000 times.
“We are with you Memories Pizza. Stand strong against the haters,” one commenter named Rand Foreman wrote on the pizzeria’s Facebook page.
“I am so sorry that your family business is experiencing such hatred and bigotry,” wrote another named Colleen Swan. “Yes, you are being discriminated against for standing up for your beliefs. The ‘tolerant’ are showing so much intolerance and spreading hatred and division. Relationships will never improve this way. Bullying Christians is no better than bullying the LGBT community.”
Yelp also suggested to the Huffington Post that it may remove the hundreds of reviews posted against Memories Pizza for irrelevance.
“Non-germane, media-fueled reviews typically violate our Content Guidelines,” the unidentified spokesperson stated. “One of these deals with relevance. For example, reviews aren’t the place for rants about a business’s employment practices, political ideologies, extraordinary circumstances, or other matters that don’t address the core of the consumer experience.”
_____________________________________________________________
District Statement on Jessica Dooley
On March 31, Jessica Dooley, a Concord High School athletic coach stepped outside that boundary, when on her Twitter feed she advocated for the burning down of a business located in neighboring St. Joseph County. That feed is followed by many Concord High School students, including athletes on her teams. Ms. Dooley admitted making this statement and she was suspended without pay pending the completion of Concord Community Schools’ investigation. Law enforcement authorities are also investigating this matter.
The promotion of illegal and violent conduct by one of its employees is a serious matter that Concord Community Schools must address and appropriately discipline."
_______________________________________________________________
FROM: http://gopthedailydose.com/2015/04/02/watch-high-school-coach-suspended-after-threatening-to-burn-down-christian-owned-pizzeria/
_______________________________________________________________
FROM: http://gopthedailydose.com/2015/04/02/watch-high-school-coach-suspended-after-threatening-to-burn-down-christian-owned-pizzeria/
________________________________________________________________
