Videos showing naked men graphically sodomizing one another - included as “resource material” in an “anti-bullying” initiative for Vancouver’s schools - are “really inappropriate,” says a trustee.
Trustee Ken Denike’s criticism of the Out in Schools program (OIS) comes after parents complained that Burnaby schools were duped into supporting it as an “anti-bullying” initiative when in fact the program is nothing other than a “scam” by “sex activists” to “sexualize students” and “lure” them into “homosexualist culture.”
“I thought it was really inappropriate, especially for a 13-year-old,” Denike told QMI Agency, referring to material from the Health Initiative for Men (HIM) website that was listed as a “youth resource” in the Out In Schools booklet.
Canadian School Trustee Balks as Gay Anti-Bullying Material Exposes Children to Gay Porn
Audio: Ken Withrow on Efforts to Shut Down Illinois' Religious Foster Care Agencies
Ken Withrow of the Evangelical Child and Family Agency on Moody Radio explaining how Illinois Religious Foster Care Agencies are being forced to stop helping kids by the state's civil unions law:
NRO on NY Clerk Rose Marie Belforti's Being Within Her Rights
MarriageADA just posted video of her telling her story.
National Review's Brian Bolduc interviews an Alliance Defense Fund attorney about her rights, and about facts of life in a small New York state town:
[Rose Marie] Belforti isn’t picking which laws to enforce, she’s merely changing how she enforces them, says Holly Carmichael, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, which will assist Belforti in the event of litigation. Carmichael notes that in a New York Times article on the controversy, Katie Carmichael (no relation) complains, “To have her basically telling us to get in the back of the line is just not acceptable.”
“They were actually just asked to stand in line,” Carmichael quips. Because Belforti requires all couples — heterosexual and homosexual — to make appointments with a deputy to receive their licenses, Carmichael argues she’s well within the law. “Perhaps they just don’t understand that in small towns you can’t get exactly what you want when you come in,” Carmichael says.
MercatorNet: The "National Conflict of Enormous Proportions" Is Not Coming. It Is Here.
Sheila Liaugminas writes at MercatorNet:
Policies of the federal government under the Obama administration have ignited a blaze of concerns about fundamental religious liberties in America.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan, president of the US bishops conference, wrote a letter to the president recently.
The Administration’s assault on DOMA [Defense of Marriage Act], Archbishop Dolan said, will “precipitate a national conflict between Church and State of enormous proportions and to the detriment of both institutions.”
“Will”…?
... Archbishop Dolan was offering a statesman-like presumption of goodwill in warning that if this course is continued, it “will” result in a national conflict. Because it actually has.
[Bishop Lori has] warned that the “institutional conscience” of religious hospitals and similar establishments is being threatened at high levels – as are the conscience rights of individuals in “clutch situations” like filling prescriptions or issuing marriage licenses.
“Their rights are being trampled upon,” said Bishop Lori.
The "national conflict of enormous proportions" is not coming. It is here.
New Bishops Committee Responds to Religious Liberty Threats
Joan Frawley Desmond in the National Catholic Register:
"Seeking to fortify the Church’s response to the “erosion of freedom of religion in America,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has formed an Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty. The new committee will be headed by Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport.
... The subcommittee will have two full-time staff member at the USCCB, a lawyer “expert in the area of religious freedom law, and a lobbyist who will handle both religious liberty and marriage issues,” according to the press release.
In his letter, the archbishop noted that the former USCCB president, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, had sent private letters to President Obama on religious liberty in the context of redefining marriage and that none of those letters received a response."
Focus on the Family's Jim Daly to NYTimes: "Let's Not Speak of 'Hate'"
Jim Daly, President of Focus on the Family, writes to the New York Times:
Some same-sex marriage activists have abandoned reasoned arguments for emotional epithets in trying to win converts to their cause.
You report that a gay man from Seattle started a petition “asking Microsoft to end its association with what he called ‘hate groups.’ ” “Hate” is far too big a word to be thrown around with such little discretion. It imputes a sinister motive to what is a deeply held belief that God’s design for human sexuality lies within the lifelong context of one-man, one-woman marriage.
We who hold these views are accustomed to having our beliefs challenged. Should this effort to intimidate us continue, though, we may not be able to speak about these matters at all.
America has a long tradition of turning disagreements into debates, not denigration. Let’s be strong enough to keep it that way.
URGENT: Your signature is needed to Stop SB 48!
Dear Marriage Supporter,
I just received an urgent email from the Stop SB 48 campaign. They do not yet have enough signatures to qualify the Stop SB 48 referendum for the ballot, and it is essential that you sign and send your petition in today. Here’s the message directly from Stop SB 48. Please read it and do whatever you can to help this important effort.
We need almost 505,000 valid signatures, and many more than that to give us a margin for signatures that will be rejected.
Today we do not have enough signatures. (Our opponents have reported that we have the signatures, even giving numbers.) If we had to turn in today, we failed.
But we have until next Tuesday to get the signatures we need. Some will be mailed by Friday in regular mail. Others will need to be sent by UPS or Federal Express on Monday for delivery the next day.
We have the time to make this a success, but every person reading this note needs to help.
This is truly the last chance. If you haven’t yet signed the petition, please do it immediately and make sure your petitions are postmarked by tomorrow. And if you can, please collect signatures at church this Sunday and FedEx your petitions to the campaign offices for delivery on Tuesday morning.
Go to www.StopSB48.com to download petitions, instructions and all the information needed to make this effort a success in these final hours.
Thank you for your support of this historic effort.
Faithfully,
Brian S. Brown
Treasurer
NOM California PAC
National Public Radio on NOM's New Chairman John Eastman
We missed this in our previous summary of media coverage:
Press Release: New York Town Clerks Lose Jobs for Defending Marriage
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 6, 2011
CONTACT: Mary Beth Hutchins or Elizabeth Ray (703-683-5004)
Town clerks forced to choose between their jobs and their convictions
WASHINGTON –The Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance (MADA) is releasing three videos with town clerks in New York State who have faced discrimination for their belief in one man-one woman marriage.
Ruth Sheldon, Laura Fotusky and Rose Marie Belforti have all been town clerks in various New York towns for several years, with part of their duties including signing marriage license applications. With the New York legislature voting to enact same-sex marriage in the state, these women, who support traditional marriage, faced religious discrimination for their refusal to sign same-sex marriage licenses.
Sheldon and Fotusky have quit their jobs, both citing the threat of lawsuits against the town and their strong conviction about marriage as reasons why they could not continue in their roles. Belforti is currently striving to keep her job by finding a way to not be forced to sign same-sex marriage licenses. All three women are examples of why MADA was established: to create a supportive community for those who have been threatened for standing for marriage.
"These three public servants love their communities and the people in them, and they also happen to be women of faith," said Maggie Gallagher, board member of the National Organization for Marriage, the parent group of MADA. "It would be easy to accommodate these clerks--by letting another employee sign same-sex marriage licenses--instead gay marriage advocates are applauding the idea they should be forced to choose between their faith and their jobs. What good purpose is served by needlessly forcing Ruth, Laura and Rose Marie out of a job they love after serving their community well for years?"
"Decent, loving, law-abiding citizens should not lose their jobs because they believe marriage is the union of husband and wife."
Video interviews can be seen by visiting:
- ROSE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-BQSP95Tpw
- LAURA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ak7Hjd5ojts
- RUTH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KG9otgfguQ
For more information on the new Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance, go to www.marriageADA.org.
To schedule an interview with Maggie Gallagher, please contact Mary Beth Hutchins, [email protected], x.105 or Elizabeth Ray, [email protected], x.130 at 703-683-5004.
###
NOM Values Voter Guide to Presidential Primaries, NOM Marriage News, October 6, 2011
My Dear Friends,
Sarah Palin says no. Chris Christie says no.
The GOP presidential field now appears to be closed—just in time for the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC.
Just in time for the summit, NOM has teamed up with the Susan B. Anthony List to produce a pro-life, pro-marriage values voter guide for the presidential candidates who have promised to speak at what has become the premier annual political gathering for social conservatives.
What will Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum do for marriage if we trust them with the gift of our own vote?
Four of these candidates have signed the NOM Marriage Pledge: Bachmann, Perry, Romney and Santorum. We know what these candidates, as president, will do: support a federal marriage amendment, appoint not only pro-marriage justices but also a pro-marriage attorney general, vigorously defend DOMA in court, appoint a presidential commission to investigate the growing number of threats to the livelihood and property of people who support our marriage tradition, and give back to the people of DC their right to vote on marriage.
But we also tracked down the public positions on each of these commitments of the candidates who refused to sign NOM's Marriage Pledge.
The results may surprise you.
Did you know, for example, that Herman Cain actually opposes a federal marriage amendment? (So does Ron Paul.) So far, his remarks on that issue have gotten none of the attention focused on Gov. Rick Perry when he made a stray "states' rights" comment about gay marriage in New York.
Cain's comments on a federal marriage amendment have not always been crystal clear and consistent. I personally hope that means he is in the process of "evolving" on the issue, as the campaign moves forward.
You can read the SBA List/NOM Values Voter Guide here.
One thing is certain: There is going to be a huge contrast between whomever becomes the GOP's nominee and President Obama on marriage.
With your help, we will be in a position to make it clear to politicians in both parties that being pro-marriage is not just the right side—it's the winning side, too!
Also in Washington, DC: John Boehner has once again shown leadership in re-committing to the defense of DOMA. And to the critics who complain about the cost, he also has the right answer: Deduct the cost of the lawyers' bill from the budget of the Justice Department. If the Justice Department were doing its job and defending the law, no outside lawyer would be necessary!
Click here to thank John Boehner for his hard work defending marriage!
Meanwhile our own brilliant lawyer, Prof. John Eastman, is making news for taking over as NOM's new Chairman of the Board.
NOM's new billboard campaign in New York is holding politicians accountable who betray their constituents values.
Another day, another politician to hold accountable!
Some things are truly bigger than parties, bigger than politics. Marriage is one of those things. Government did not invent marriage, God did, and He knew what He was doing!
The human heart knows the difference between real and counterfeit truth.
Down in Mexico City the same group which pushed through a bill authorizing same-sex marriage is now behind a measure that would create another oxymoron: "temporary marriage."
A "commitment" of as little as two years would be considered a marriage.
You probably know that NOM's founding Chairman of the board, Princeton Prof. Robby George, has warned that once government accepts the idea that two men can be a marriage, most of the other core features of marriage in our tradition become hard to justify: Why only two people, why not polygamy? Why sexual fidelity? Why can't sisters qualify for marriage?
But even that great intellectual genius didn't predict that the next step (at least in Mexico City) would be to try to rip away from under marriage another of its features: even the ghost of the ideal of permanence.
Every day confirms the importance of the work you make possible here at NOM: defending our marriage tradition and defending, as well, the people who stand up for it!
Here's the latest video from NOM's new Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance:
It shows interviews with three marriage clerks in New York who were told by gay marriage advocates that they must choose between their faith and their job.
They've shown enormous courage under fire; may God grant them the ultimate victory.
Thank you for all that you've done to make all our victories for marriage possible.
Faithfully,
Brian S. Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage
P.S. Can you help in the fight to defend marriage? Whether you can give $20 or $200, know that you are making a difference. You are making certain that your voice and your values are heard!
The Passing of Steve Jobs
NOM has had its issues with Apple and Steve Jobs. But the passing of what, by any standards, is a great man, is not the time for hashing out issues.
When I was young, Steve Jobs was also young. Now he is gone.
Others are better qualified to eulogize his achievements. I was struck in the publicity surrounding his death by the attention paid to Steve's complicated family background.
He was born to two political science graduate students in 1955 who gave him up for adoption. They did not abort him, and they gave him a family that Steve Jobs insisted was his real parents.
His father, a high school dropout, seems to have been an enormous influence on him.
He reconnected as an adult with his biological family members through his sister Mona Simpson, who is a nationally acclaimed novelist.
He is by his own account (and he was very chary of sharing personal information) close to his sister. Their similarities caused him to re-evaluate the importance of biology.
His connection to his father--not his biofather--may have also lead to his determined failure to reconnect with his biological father.
Many ways to intersect with this complicated story. His living biological father spoke to the press in August in what is clearly a desperate (and failed) attempt to get Steve Jobs to communicate.
A lot of pathos. No clear conclusions. But somehow biology does matter:
“This might sound strange, though, but I am not prepared, even if either of us was on our deathbed, to pick up the phone to call him,” Jandali told the newspaper. “Steve will have to do that as the Syrian pride in me does not want him ever to think I am after his fortune. I am not. I have my own money. What I don’t have is my son ... and that saddens me.”
We cannot explain to ourselves why, but it does.
Joel Osteen to Piers Morgan: 200 Years From Now Scripture Will Still Say the Same Thing
Piers Morgan resumes his favorite line of questioning towards anyone who follows a traditional understanding of the bible. Here's how televangelist Joel Osteen handles it:
NC Same-Sex "We Do" Campaign Proves Why Marriage Amendment Necessary
Gay activists in North Carolina are helping prove the point of the Marriage Amendment, so episodes like this don't turn into lawsuits which threaten to overturn the state's laws:
A gay rights group launched a campaign Monday in Asheville that seeks to go beyond opposition to a May referendum question on constitutionally barring same-sex marriage by targeting current state law that already forbids such unions.
The Campaign for Southern Equality kicked off its "We Do" effort by having three same-sex couples unsuccessfully attempt to obtain marriage licenses from the Buncombe County Register of Deeds. Organizers and participants know they'll be denied the licenses, since North Carolina state law already forbids same-sex couples from marrying.
... "I think it makes our case why we need an amendment," [Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the North Carolina Values Coalition] said. "When people see that, they're going to be concerned and they're going to take it as a sign of aggression on the part of people who advocate for same-sex marriage." --Associated Press
6th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments in Julie Ward Case, Grad Student Expelled for Religious Beliefs on Homosexuality
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Tuesday heard oral arguments in the appeal of a former Eastern Michigan University graduate student who was expelled over her refusal to counsel a homosexual patient. The Christian Post has background:
Julie Ward enrolled in a counseling practicum course at EMU in 2009 in order to fulfill the requirements for her graduate degree. A few credits shy of finishing her degree, she was assigned a potential client who was seeking assistance regarding a homosexual relationship. However, as a Christian, Ward felt her values and beliefs on homosexuality and extra-marital affairs would not allow her to counsel the patient.[...] Consistent with ethical and professional standards on patient referral, Ward was advised to assign the patient to another counselor. But that’s when her trouble began.
Soon thereafter, Ward was informed the only way she could remain in the program was if she agreed to undergo a “remediation” program, with the sole purpose to help her “see the error of her ways” and change her “belief system,” as it related to homosexual relationships. After Ward refused, a disciplinary hearing was held, whereby an EMU faculty denigrated Ward’s Christian beliefs, leading another faculty member to ask Ward if she viewed her “brand” of Christianity as “superior” to that of other Christians. As a result of the hearing, Ward was dismissed from the counseling program and after appealing to the dean of the College of Education, her expulsion was upheld.
DEADLINE EXTENDED! Last Chance to Help Stop SB 48!
Dear Marriage Supporter,
Last chance! The petition deadline for Stop SB 48 has been extended to October 10th.
All petitions must be received in the Stop SB 48 offices by Monday, October 10. If you haven’t yet submitted your petitions, please do it right away!
The volunteers at Stop SB 48 are giving Californians a critically important opportunity to decide what is taught to your school-age children. Unless we all come together to stop it, SB 48 – signed into law by Governor Brown earlier this year -- would force schools to teach students (even kindergartners!) about homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism as part of a social science curriculum.
It takes a little over 500,000 valid signatures to put SB48 on the ballot, and StopSB48.com reports they are getting closer every day as bags of signed petitions are pouring in to the Stop SB 48 offices.
Please click on the button below and follow the instructions to print and sign the petition right away, and then return it to StopSB48 campaign offices immediately.
Please visit StopSB48.com right now to get started:
-
Click here to download the petition (make sure Page Scaling is set to "none" when you print the petition)
- Click here to download instructions
-
Sign the petition
-
Ask 5 friends to sign the petition
-
Return the signed petitions to Stop SB 48, 660 J Street, Suite 250, Sacramento, CA 95814 by October 10th.
Please do whatever you can today to help spread the word. Forward this email to family and friends. Even take petitions with you to church on Sunday -- just be sure to get all petitions to the Stop SB 46 offices in Sacramento by Monday!
Thank you for your support of this historic effort.
Faithfully,
Brian S. Brown
Treasurer
NOM California PAC
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