ICELAND A MODEL TO AMERICA OF PROGRESSIVE LGBT TOLERANCE? ONLY IF YOU HIDE THE TRUTH BEHIND AND "SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW"!
We previously reported in two of our posts about the reasons we no longer recommended Joseph Farah's World Net Daily as a reliable source of "Christian News" and we explained why here:
http://ratherexposethem.blogspot.com/2013/02/pjtn-proclaiming-justice-to-nations.html.
http://ratherexposethem.blogspot.com/2013/02/world-net-daily-no-longer-recommended.html.
Joseph Farah, WND Editor in Chief
Gina Miller
We now have a commentary from Gina Miller of Renew America, "Iceland is a homosexual role model for America?",
http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/miller/130716, exposing a writer from World Net Daily named Ellen Ratner who published an article titled
"Let's Move Beyond Gay Bashing",
http://www.wnd.com/2013/07/lets-move-beyond-gay-bashing/,
the latter being about the alleged benefits of tolerance for the gay lifestyle in Iceland as an example to the rest of the world and America.
Ellen Ratner
Excerpted quote from Ratner's article:
"Iceland is a pretty progressive country by anyone’s evaluation. Some readers will write me emails and say it is socialist. Not quite. It is very capitalist, but it does have education and health insurance for all. Surprisingly, there is no separation of church and state. There is freedom of religion, but the official church is the “Evangelical Lutheran Church,” and the government supports it. Gay and lesbians can and do get married there."
Excerpted quotes from Miller's article:
"She doesn't actually cite instances of anyone "bashing" homosexuals, so I'm left to guess that by "bashing," she simply means vocal or active opposition to the militant homosexual movement's agenda. That agenda includes the destruction of the meaning of marriage and the trampling of the freedom of speech, association and religion of Christians and any others who oppose it."
"No, we are not doing homosexuals any favors by moving to embrace their sinful, self-destructive behavior. Encouraging homosexuals in their sin does them no good, and a nation that moves to force the mainstream acceptance of such deviancy will pay a terrible price for it. We can already see the awful results of the imposition of same-sex "marriage" on Massachusetts."
Therefore, let us prove that Ratner is "progressively" delirious:
See: Mass Resistance for their timeline and bullet point list of the progression of homosexual depravity and its effects on Massachusetts, etc.:
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/marriage/effects_of_ssm_2012/index.html, and/or
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/marriage/effects_of_ssm_2012/SSM_Mass_2012.pdf
(distributable printable copy).
See full text below unedited:
Brian Camenker
What same-sex "marriage" has done to Massachusetts
It's far worse than most people realize
by Brian Camenker
October 2008 Updated June 2012
Anyone who thinks that same-sex “marriage” is a benign eccentricity which won’t affect
the average person should consider what it has done to Massachusetts since 2004.
It’s become a hammer to force the acceptance and normalization of homosexuality on
everyone. The slippery slope is real. New radical demands never cease. What has
happened in the last several years is truly frightening.
On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court announced its
Goodridge opinion, declaring that it was unconstitutional not to allow same-sex “marriage.”
Six months later, despite public outrage, homosexual “weddings” began to take place.
And that was just the beginning . . .
The public schools
The homosexual “marriage” onslaught in public schools across the state started soon after
the November 2003 court ruling.
At my own children's high school there was a school-wide assembly to celebrate
same-sex “marriage” in early December 2003. It featured an array of speakers,
including teachers at the school who announced that they would be “marrying” their
same-sex partners and starting families, either through adoption or artificial
insemination. Literature on same-sex marriage – how it is now a normal part of society –
was handed out to the students.
Within months it was brought into the middle schools. In September 2004, an 8th grade
teacher in Brookline, Mass., told National Public Radio that the marriage ruling
had opened up the door for teaching homosexuality. “In my mind, I know that, ‘OK, this
is legal now.' If somebody wants to challenge me, I'll say, ‘Give me a break. It's legal
now,'” she told NPR. She added that she now discusses gay sex with her students as
explicitly as she desires. For example, she said she tells the kids that lesbians can have
vaginal intercourse using sex toys.
By the following year it was in elementary school curricula – with hostility toward
parents who disagreed. Kindergartners in Lexington, Mass. were given copies of a
picture book, Who’s in a Family?, telling them that same-sex couples are just another
kind of family, just like their own parents. When David Parker – parent of a kindergartner
– calmly refused to leave a school meeting unless officials agreed to notify him when
discussing homosexuality or transgenderism with his son, the school had him arrested
and jailed overnight.
The next year, second graders at the same school were read a book, King and
King, about two men who fall in love and marry each other, ending with a picture of
them kissing. When parents Robb and Robin Wirthlin complained, they were told that the
school had no obligation to notify them or allow them to opt their child out.
In 2007 a federal judge ruled that because of “gay marriage” in Massachusetts,
parents have no rights regarding the teaching of homosexual relationships in schools.
The previous year the Parkers and Wirthlins had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit
to force the schools to notify parents and allow them to opt out their elementary school
children when homosexual-related subjects were taught. The federal judge dismissed the
case. The appeals judges later upheld the first judge’s ruling that because same-sex
marriage is legal in Massachusetts, the school actually had a duty to normalize homosexual relationships to children; and schools have no obligation to notify parents or let them opt
out their children. Acceptance of homosexuality had become a matter of good citizenship!
Think about that: Because same-sex marriage is “legal,” federal judges have ruled that the
schools now have a duty to portray homosexual relationships as normal to children, despite
what parents think or believe! The judges also allowed the school to overrule the
Massachusetts parental notification law on this issue, with the claim that homosexuality or
same-sex marriages are not“human sexuality issues” (to which the law refers).
School libraries have also radically changed. School libraries across the state, from
elementary school to high school, now have expanding shelves of books to normalize
homosexual behavior and “lifestyle” in the minds of kids, some of them quite explicit and
even pornographic. Parents’ complaints are ignored or met with hostility.
A large, slick hardcover book celebrating Massachusetts homosexual marriages
began to appearin many school libraries across the state. Titled Courting Equality,
it was supplied to schools by a major homosexual activist organization. Its apparent
purpose was to teach kids that “gay marriage” was a great civil rights victory.
It has become commonplace in Massachusetts schools for teachers to display
photos of their same-sex “spouses” and occasionally bring their “spouses” to
school functions. At one point, both high schools in my own town had principals who
were “married” to their same-sex partners who came to school and were introduced to
the students.
“Gay days” in schools are considered necessary to fight “intolerance” against same
sex relationships. Hundreds of high schools and even middle schools across the state
now hold “gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender days.” In my own town, a school
committee member announced that combating “homophobia” was now a top priority.
The schools not only “celebrate” homosexual marriage, but have moved beyond to
promote other behaviors such as cross-dressing and transsexuality.
As a result, many more children in Massachusetts appear to be self-identifying as
“gay.” According to the Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey, given to students
in high schools across the state, between 2005 and 2009 both the percentage of kids
“identifying as gay” and who had same-sex contact rose by approximately 50%.
Although this bi-annual survey is unscientific and largely unreliable, it still shows a
disturbing trend among those students who chose to answer the estions in this way.
(At a minimum, it implies that these answers are being encouraged.)
Once homosexuality is normalized, all boundaries begin to come down. The
schools have already moved on to normalizing transgenderism (including cross-dressing
and sex changes). The state-funded Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgender Youth, which goes into schools with homosexual and transgender
programs and activities for children, includes prominent activists who are transsexuals.
In 2006 a cross-dressing man undergoing a sex-change operation was brought
into a third-grade class in Newton to teach the children that there are now “different
kinds of families.” School officials told a mother that her complaints to the principal were
considered “inappropriate behavior”! She ended up removing her child from the school.
Public health
The Commissioner of the Mass. Dept. of Public Health, who is "married" to
another man, told a crowd of kids at the state-sponsored Youth Pride event in 2007 that
it’s “wonderful being gay” and he wants to make sure there’s enough HIV testing
available for all of them.
The STD test required to obtain a marriage license was eliminated five months after
same-sex “marriages” began in Massachusetts, by a bill quietly signed by Gov. Mitt
Romney. This was despite an increase in syphilis cases and other STDs in homosexual
men in Massachusetts at the time (according to the Mass. Dept. of Public Health).
In recent years state funding for HIV/AIDS programs has gone up considerably in
Massachusetts, along with the proportion of homosexual-related cases. According
to the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health, even though the total number of new
HIV/AIDS diagnoses has declined, the proportion caused by male homosexual behavior
rose by over 30% from 2000-2009. Thus, for the last several years the state has
budgeted $30-$35 million per year for these programs. This dwarfs spending on any
other viral disease that we are aware of.
A hideously obscene booklet on “gay” practices created by health officials was
given out in a high school. Citing “the right to marry” as one of the “important
challenges” in a place where “it’s a great time to be gay,” the Mass. Dept. of Public
Health helped the AIDS Action Committee produce The Little Black Book: Queer in the
21st Century. It was given to teens at Brookline High School on April 30, 2005. Among
other things, it gives “tips” to boys on how to perform oral sex on other males,
masturbate other males, and how to “safely” have someone urinate on you for sexual
pleasure. It even included a directory of bars in Boston where young men meet for
anonymous sex.
Hospitals
Because of the purported necessity to cater to “LGBT health” issues, nearly every
major Boston hospital has become an active supporter of the radical homosexual
movement. This includes marching in the “Gay Pride” parades, holding homosexual
events, and putting on numerous “gay health”-related seminars. This is one of the most
disturbing things that’s happened since “gay marriage” became “legal.”
A major Boston hospital threatened to fire a physician when he objected to its
promotion of homosexual behavior. In 2011 a prominent physician at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center in Boston – a large Harvard-affiliated hospital – objected to
the hospital being involved with “Gay Pride” activities. He also pointed out to his
superiors the medical health risks of homosexuality, and said that he and others at the
hospital considered homosexual acts to be unnatural and immoral. The hospital then
threatened to fire him, telling him that same-sex marriage is “legal” and that his
comments constituted “harassment and discrimination.” After a “hearing” he was allowed
to keep his job, but was told to apologize and to keep his opinions on these matters to
himself.
In 2012 the Boston Medical Center purchased a prominent full-color ad (full page,
inside cover) in the Boston Gay Pride guide book. The content? The entire ad
promoted the hospital’s STD and AIDS clinics for the “pride” participants – particularly its
screening services for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, hepatitis, and HIV.
Domestic violence
Every year more state money goes to deal with the high incidence of homosexual
domestic violence. Since “gay marriage” began, Massachusetts has one of the highest
proportions of homosexuals living as couples in the country. Given the extremely
dysfunctional nature of homosexual relationships, the Massachusetts Legislature has felt
the need to spend more and more money to deal with that problem. “Gay domestic
violence programs” have also become a major lobbying push in the State House by the
homosexual group MassEquality. This year it comprises a considerable portion of a $5.5
million state budget item (according to MassEquality). This is up from $100,000
budgeted in 2007.
“Gay domestic partner violence” literature (funded by the state) is now distributed
at virtually every public homosexual event – including to children at “Youth Pride”
events, GLSEN conferences, “gay straight alliance” high school clubs – and especially at
the various events and parades during “Gay Pride” week.
It has become such a problem that a public candlelight vigil in downtown Boston
is held every year by a coalition of Massachusetts homosexual groups “to remember
victims of recent LGBT intimate partner violence, and to raise awareness of this
important community issue.”
Business and employment
All insurance in Massachusetts must now recognize same-sex “married” couples in
their coverage. This includes auto insurance, health insurance, life insurance, etc.
Businesses must recognize same-sex “married” couples in all their benefits,
activities, etc., regarding both employees and customers.
People can now get fired from their jobs for expressing religious objections to
same-sex “marriage.” In 2009, a deputy manager at a Brookstone store in Boston was
fired from his job for mentioning his belief to another manager who had kept bringing up
the subject with him that day. Brookstone’s letter of termination (quoted on local TV
news) said his comment was “inappropriate” because “in the State of Massachusetts,
same-sex marriage is legal.”
The wedding industry is required to serve the homosexual community if
requested. Wedding photographers, halls, caterers, etc., must accept same-sex
marriage events or be held liable for discrimination.
Businesses are often “tested” for tolerance by homosexual activists. Groups of
homosexual activists go into restaurants or bars and publicly kiss and fondle each other
to test whether the establishment demonstrates sufficient “equality” — now that
homosexual marriage is “legal.” Then they report “tolerance violators” to authorities, and
businesses can be fined and punished. In fact, more and more overt displays of
homosexual affection are seen in public places across the state to reinforce "marriage equality."
Legal profession and judicial system
The Massachusetts Bar Exam now tests lawyers on their knowledge of same-sex
marriage "law." In 2007, a Boston man failed the Massachusetts bar exam because he
refused to answer a question about homosexual marriage.
In many firms, lawyers in Massachusetts practicing family law must now attend
seminars on homosexual "marriage." Issues regarding homosexual “families” are now
firmly entrenched in the Massachusetts legal system. In addition, there are now several
homosexual judges overseeing the Massachusetts family courts.
In 2011 the Governor appointed Barbara Lenk, a “married” lesbian activist, to be a
state Supreme Court Justice. She has said that the interpretation of law “evolves and develops” because “minority groups [e.g., homosexuals] see certain things differently
based on their own experiences.”
Adoption and birth certificates
In the year after the “gay marriage” ruling, the state’s adoption and foster care
workers went through a massive indoctrination on “LGBT youth awareness.” This
included employees and managers at the Mass. Dept. of Social Services. These
sessions were run by the radical National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (which once
awarded a “Leather Leadership Award” to the owner of a pornographic video company).
The emphasis was that those working with children must be trained that homosexuality
(and transgenderism) are normal. At one session, the trainer announced that the new
motto is, “To tolerate is an assault; you have to accept” this behavior.
Homosexual “married” couples can now demand to be allowed to adopt children –
through any agency. In 2006 Catholic Charities decided to abandon handling adoptions
rather submit to regulations requiring them to allow homosexuals to adopt the children in
their care.
Adoption agencies have said that 40% of their adoptions are to homosexual
couples. Anecdotal reports also indicate that many adoption agencies now favor
homosexuals over normal couples.
In 2006 the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS) honored two men
“married” to each other as their “Parents of the Year.” The men had adopted a baby
through DSS (against the wishes of the baby’s birth parents). According to news reports,
the day after that adoption was final, DSS approached the men about adopting a second
child.
The state-funded Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) has been
pushing “GLBT” family formation and holds “adoption parties” where homosexual
couples have been encouraged to attend (along with others) and see “available” children
in person. MARE places prominent ads in GLBT publications.
Birth certificates in Massachusetts have been changed from “mother” and
“father” to “mother/parent” and “father/parent.” Two men or two women can now be
listed as the “parents” on birth certificates! Homosexuals who adopt can revise
children’s’ existing birth certificates.
A court ruled in 2012 that if a child is “born of a same-sex marriage,” there is no
need for adoption by a non-biological parent. Thus, they would both be the listed as
the “parents” on the child’s birth certificate, without any formal proceedings necessary.
(The other biological parent is not noted on the official birth certificate.)
Government mandates
Marriage licenses and certificates in Massachusetts now have “Party A” and
“Party B” instead of “husband” and “wife.” Imagine having a marriage license like
that.
In 2004, Governor Mitt Romney ordered Justices of the Peace to perform
homosexual marriages when requested or be fired. Several Justices of the Peace
immediately decided to resign. That order still stands. Also Town Clerks were forced by
the Governor’s office to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
In 2008 Massachusetts changed the state Medicare laws to include homosexual
“married” couples in the coverage.
The public square
Since gay “marriage” began, public “Gay Pride” events have become more
prominent in the public square. There are more politicians and corporations
participating, and even police organizations take part. And the envelope gets pushed
further and further. For example: the annual profane “Dyke March” through downtown
Boston, and the 2008 “transgender” parade in Northampton that included bare-chested
women who have had their breasts surgically removed (so they could “become” men).
Governor Patrick even marched with his 17-year-old “out lesbian” daughter in the 2008
Boston Pride event, right behind a sadomasochist “leather” group brandishing a black and
blue flag, lashes and chains!
Churches being harassed
Churches and religious people have been demonized, harassed and threatened – with no
punishment for the perpetrators. Since the “gay marriage” ruling, those who publicly
disagree with “gay marriage” or the normalcy of homosexuality – or hold events promoting
traditional beliefs – are targets of militant retribution by homosexual activists. Police and
public officials have shown no interest in stopping this. We are not aware of a single
homosexual activist arrested (or charged with any “hate crime”) for disrupting a religious
event or threatening and harassing people at a church. For example:
In 2012 someone threatened to burn down a Catholic Church in Acushnet which
posted the words “Two men are friends, not spouses” on its outdoor sign. The
church immediately received a flood of profane phone calls. At least one person
threatened to burn down the church. An activist nailed a sign to church’s fence saying,
“Spread love not hate.” Activists staged a protest outside of the Sunday Mass to
intimidate parishioners with a sign saying, “It is legal for two men or women to be
spouses.” Neither the police nor the District Attorney pursued the threats as a hate crime
or other offense.
In 2010 a Catholic elementary school balked at letting a lesbian couple enroll their
son. As a result, the school was excoriated in the media and even by the local liberal
state representative as “discriminatory.” The privately-run Catholic Schools Foundation
then threatened to withhold funding to the school unless it relented. The Archdiocese
eventually backed down and the school reversed its policy.
In 2009 angry homosexual activists terrorized the Park Street Church in Boston
while it was holding an ex-gay religious training session inside. They demonstrated next
to the doors and windows with signs, screaming homosexual slogans. One of them held
a bullhorn against the window outside the meeting, bellowing at the participants inside.
Police did nothing to stop them, even though they were standing inside the historic
cemetery adjacent to the church.
In 2006 dozens of screaming homosexual activists drowned out the speakers at
an outdoor pro-marriage rally in Worcester organized by Catholic Vote, yelling “Bigots”
and disgusting chants. Police did not stop them, even though the rally had a permit.
When one of the rioters rushed the stage and started shouting, a rally organizer tried to
lead her to the side. She subsequently sued that organizer for assault! He went through
a four-day trial and was acquitted by a jury. But no charges were filed against any of the rioters.
In 2006 a group of homosexual activists with signs taunted and screamed at
people entering and leaving the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in downtown
Boston, which was holding a nationally televised pro-marriage event inside.
In 2005 hundreds of homosexual activists terrorized the Tremont Temple Baptist
Church with makeshift coffins, screaming obscenities through loudspeakers as - 7 -
the national pro-family group Focus on the Family held a religious conference inside.
The crowd was so threatening that attendees could not leave the church for the lunch
break. The Boston riot police stood in front of the church doors, but did nothing to
disperse the protesters who were also completely blocking the street.
The media
The Boston media regularly features articles and news stories using homosexual
“married” couples where regular married couples would normally be used. It’s “equal,”
they insist, so there must be no difference in how marriage is portrayed. Also, the
newspaper advice columns now deal with homosexual "marriage" issues – and how to
properly accept it.
A number of news reporters and TV anchors are “out” homosexuals (at least one
openly “married”) who march in the “Gay Pride” parades and publicly participate in other
homosexual events.
Politics
A climate of fear has kept politicians at all levels from disagreeing with or
criticizing same-sex marriage since it became “legal.” Public officials are afraid of
being accused of wanting to “take away rights.” Those who support traditional marriage
rarely discuss it publicly. And this fear has expanded to suppress any meaningful debate
on all homosexual related issues. Additionally, it has brought a feeling of intimidation
among pro-family people across the state.
The Massachusetts Republican establishment has become arguably the most
“pro-gay marriage” GOP in America. The state GOP House and Senate leaders now
both publicly support “gay marriage,” as did the recent Mass. GOP candidates for
Governor and Lt. Governor. GOP candidates for office are told not even to discuss it.
In April 2009, the Chairman of the Mass. Republican Party told a homosexual
newspaper that the GOP would no longer oppose “gay marriage.” Then Chairman
Jennifer Nassour, interviewed on the front page of Bay Windows, assured the gay
community that the state GOP would “steer clear of social” issues such as “opposition to
same-sex marriage and abortion.” The newly elected chairman, Bob Maginn, does not
talk about the issue.
Every Massachusetts state-wide elected official and member of Congress (but
one) now publicly supports “gay marriage.” The one (apparent) holdout, Republican
US Senator Scott Brown, strenuously avoids the issue, saying that it’s “settled law” and not
worth fighting over.
Rule of law
Same-sex “marriage” came to Massachusetts through a radical court’s narrow
ruling. Because of that, there is an often depressing sense of helplessness that
pervades this issue. The marriage statute was never changed, and it has been
convincingly argued that the whole process was in violation of the state constitution. The
Governor simply went along. And the Legislature acted to block popular votes on two
separate constitutional amendments protecting marriage, after sufficient signatures had
been gathered for each. The rule of law seems further lost with every new outrage
imposed on the people.
Even the Massachusetts Law Library (online) shows no law legalizing same-sex
marriage, only a court opinion. It is a dangerous precedent to allow such sweeping
judicial activism to stand as law, enabling everything that has followed from it. It should
serve as a warning to states across the country.
In conclusion
Same-sex “marriage” hangs over society, hammering citizens with the force of law. Once it gets
a foothold, society becomes more oppressive. Unfortunately, it was imposed on the people of
Massachusetts through a combination of radical, arrogant judges and pitifully cowardly
politicians. The homosexual movement has used that combination to its continued advantage
around the country.
It’s pretty clear that this radical movement is obsessed with marriage not because large
numbers of homosexuals actually want to marry each other. A small percentage actually
“marry.” (In fact, over the last several months, the Sunday Boston Globe’s marriage section
hasn’t had any photos of homosexual marriages; at first it was full of them.) Research shows
that homosexuals’ relationships are fundamentally dysfunctional on many levels, and real
“marriage” as we know it isn’t something they can achieve, or even truly desire.
The push for “gay marriage” is really is about putting the legal stamp of approval on
homosexuality and forcing its acceptance on (otherwise unwilling) citizens and our social, political,
and commercial institutions.
To the rest of America: You've been forewarned.
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