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Activism
Disney/ABC
pushes television boundaries
The Walt Disney Company continues to push the homosexual agenda
through its ABC television network, as well as seeking new ways
to promote immoral content in future endeavors.
On January 19, ABC aired In Style Celebrity Weddings, a special
described on the network’s Web site as "an intimate look
at the year’s most exciting celebrity weddings and the love
stories that inspired them."
Among the nuptial celebrations captured by the special: the "wedding"
of lesbian pop rocker Melissa Etheridge and her actress lover, Tammy
Lynn Michaels.
The ceremony had all the trappings of a traditional wedding –
minus, of course, a groom, although Etheridge did her best, dressed
in a jacket and slacks. "With this ring I thee wed," Etheridge
is heard to say on camera to Michaels, and when the clergyman is
finished, he pronounces them "beloved wives."
Beyond homosexuality, however, Disney/ABC seems intent on adding
new shows that promise to further pollute the airwaves. Shock jock
Howard Stern will be hosting a prime-time interview special this
spring, according to the New York Post.
Stern is already infamous for his pornographic radio program and
late-night television show on the E! Entertainment network –
also partially owned by Disney. The Post said Stern’s interviews
will delve into guests’ sexual and bathroom habits.
Also coming to network TV courtesy of ABC: a new drama called Doing
It, which will focus on the sexual escapades of three teenage boys.
More ‘gay’ days at theme park
As if the first major weekend of the traditional summer vacation
season wasn’t enough, now homosexuals also intend to fill up
Walt Disney World on Father’s Day weekend.
According to Cybercast News Service, the Family Pride Coalition
has announced that it has designated Father’s Day weekend as
a celebration for "LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender)
parents and their families."
Aimee Gelnaw, executive director for the coalition, said, "Disney
has been a wonderful support in the planning of a very special and
exciting weekend for our families."
The event will take place two weeks after tens of thousands of homosexuals
are expected to surge into the theme park for the annual "Gay
Days at Disney" celebration.
Managers leaving Movie Gallery
More store managers are speaking out against a national video chain’s
practice of offering hard-core sex movies. Randy Sharp, director
of special projects for AFA, said Movie Gallery, the third largest
video rental chain in the country, is losing store managers who
are quitting rather than be party to renting and selling pornographic
movies.
He said one former manager has suggested that the company is guilty
of interstate porn trafficking. "We feel this is something
that perhaps the Postal Service and other carriers should investigate,"
Sharp said. "Are they transporting obscene materials for Movie
Gallery?"
Sharp said on the website www.StopMovieGalleryPorn.com, another
former manager, a woman, told of being sexually harassed in the
store by male customers because of the back-room porn.
For three years AFA has been asking supporters to boycott Movie
Gallery.
Community slams porn store’s door
Selling allegedly obscene material is a felony in Louisiana, and
one parish has gone on record saying smut is not welcome within
its borders.
A jury in Ruston, Louisiana, found Dan Sasha Birman, owner and operator
of Fantasy Video in Ruston, guilty of violating state obscenity
laws. Birman was convicted of selling sexually explicit material
to undercover state troopers in April 2003.
Birman, 23, avoided jail time by agreeing to seven stipulations
set forth in court. Among them were immediately closing Fantasy
Video and agreeing to stay out of the porn business.
Lincoln District Attorney Bob Levy said the jury "set the community
standard where we believed it should have been all along –
that this community does not accept hard-core graphic pornography
of the type sold by the defendant."
During the trial, jurors were shown two extremely explicit hardcore
videos sold to the troopers. Many jurors either turned their eyes
away, bowed their heads or closed their eyes during the most explicit
scenes.
"Absolutely sickening. It made me sick to my stomach,"
said 19-year-old Louisiana Tech University student Lindsi Liles,
who sat in on the proceedings to observe how a trial is run. "I
wasn’t surprised that you could buy things like that at an
adult video store, but I was surprised at how graphic and close
up the scenes were. To me, it’s definitely obscene; it crosses
the line."
The store opened in Ruston in February 2003. Birman also owned a
similar store in Delhi, Louisiana, and district attorneys there
may seek to have the Delhi store closed, too.
Ruston resident Keith Boydstun told AFA he was elated to see the
store closed. "There were a lot of prayers and a prayer walk
to defeat this porn shop," Boydstun wrote to AFA. "We
got the state police, sheriff’s office and our D.A. (Levy)
involved to enforce our local decency laws. [It just goes to show]
what a community can do to battle the pornography issue plaguing
our nation."
The Ruston Daily Leader, 12/5/03; The News Star (Monroe, LA) , 12/5/03;
The Shreveport Times, 12/4/03
EDUCATION
Parental
rights denied in California
Do parents have the right to know if their children are being taught
about sex in school by outsiders? In California, state Democrats
in the legislature said no.
Concerned about the tendency of some public schools to bring in
outside sex educators unannounced, Republicans sponsored a bill,
AB 950, which would have simply required school officials to notify
parents in advance. Parents could then decide whether or not they
wanted their children to participate.
The bill said: "If comprehensive sexual health education or
HIV/AIDS prevention education will be taught by outside consultants,
or if an assembly will be held to deliver comprehensive sexual health
education or HIV/AIDS prevention," then parents must be notified.
But Democrats, led by lesbian assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg (D-Los
Angeles), killed the bill in committee, stinging pro-family groups.
"Children belong to their parents, not to the state,"
said Randy Thomasson, executive director of Campaign for California
Families, which supported the measure. "It’s outrageous
for Democrat politicians to claim they support parents but then
vote to reject parental rights."
Outside organizations who opposed AB 950 included liberal groups
such as the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood Federation
of America, and the California branch of the National Organization
for Women.
www.savecalifornia.com, 1/7/04; www.cnsnews.com, 1/8/04
Liberal
profs suppress opposing views
A new study reaffirms what conservatives have been saying for years
about the political ideologies of university professors in the classroom.
The Washington-based Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) recently
conducted a study of college men and women between the ages of 18
and 24. More than one-third of respondents report their professors
to be either very liberal or somewhat liberal. Only 13% of students
consider their professors to be conservative.
According to the study, almost a third of students say they have
been forced to take a philosophical position they were uncomfortable
with for an assignment. IWF’s campus program manager, Kristen
Richardson, said the survey also reveals a certain level of intimidation
among students with liberal professors.
"While we all know that the majority of professors tend to
be liberal," Robinson said, "it seems to be having an
effect on classroom participation." The result, she said, is
that students who disagree with a professor’s point of view
"shy away" from speaking up in class when they know that
their view is different from the professor’s.
AgapePress, 1/21/04
Conservatives
on campus fight back
While college campuses have been a haven for liberal activists for
40 years, conservatives are beginning to fight for their rights
to a "fair and balanced education."
For example, students at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania
won a first-round battle in their lawsuit to protect what they believe
are the free-speech rights of conservatives on campus. At issue
was the university’s controversial student conduct code, which
some students feared could be used to silence conservative opinion.
U.S. District Judge John Jones III issued a preliminary injunction
barring that school from enforcing portions of the conduct code,
allowing the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE),
a civil liberties group representing two conservative students at
Shippensburg, to continue its lawsuit targeting the code.
In his decision, Jones called harassment and discrimination policies
at Shippensburg University "speech codes," indicating
that he believed FIRE would succeed at trial with its lawsuit against
the school.
Meanwhile, conservative students at the University of Texas have
launched a "watch list" of liberal professors at the college
who use courses to advance their own political ideologies.
Convinced they are not "receiving a fair and balanced education,"
members of the university’s chapter of Young Conservatives
of Texas have put together the list. According to a spokesman for
the group, the list provides students with information about any
professors who use the classroom as a launching pad for their own
political crusades.
Students at Colorado’s Metro State College of Denver are also
attempting to expose what they called "overbearing liberalism"
on their campus. Senior George Culpepper, a conservative, has even
filed a formal complaint against one of his professors, while other
conservatives are protesting what they see as "left-wing propaganda"
on the campus.
In a related matter, the Colorado State Assembly was scheduled to
consider legislation aimed at combating political bias at state
institutions of higher learning – the first bill of its kind
in the nation.
AgapePress, 9/11/03, 11/12/03, 1/7/04
FAMILY
Polygamy
ban challenged in Utah
When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas’ sodomy law in
last summer’s Lawrence v. Texas ruling, conservatives
warned that the repercussions would be felt for years to come.
It didn’t take that long: A civil rights attorney in Utah is
challenging that state’s ban on polygamy. The lawsuit said
the refusal of clerks in Salt Lake County to grant a marriage license
to a man who was already married runs afoul of the Lawrence
ruling.
The Supreme Court held in its decision that the state of Texas could
not ban sodomy because the government had no business regulating
the sexual behavior of consenting adults. On that basis, the Utah
attorney said the state should not be able to prevent consenting
adults from establishing polygamous marriages.
In at least two other cases involving convictions for bigamy and
sex with minors, attorneys have cited the Lawrence decision, asking
that convictions be tossed out.
AP, 1/13/04; AgapePress, 1/13/04
HOMOSEXUALITY
STDs
growing among homosexuals
Several alarming studies reveal that rates of AIDS and syphilis
are all escalating within the homosexual community, stumping public
health officials who have been trying to promote "safe sex"
for almost 20 years.
For AIDS – the deadliest of the sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs) – the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
has found that cases among homosexual and bisexual men jumped 17%
over the last three years.
However, infection rates for syphilis among "gay" men
in the nation’s large cities are also rising; and the Gay and
Lesbian Medical Association warned in December that more than 50%
of homosexual and bisexual men are susceptible to contracting hepatitis
A and hepatitis B through various forms of sexual contact.
Explanations for the increases invariably arrive at the same starting
place: an increasing number of homosexual men are abandoning "safe
sex" practices. Some homosexuals are no longer as fearful of
AIDS because of new drug cocktails that prolong lives after infection.
Still others say they are simply tired of using condoms.
The Internet also appears to be providing an easy conduit through
which homosexual men can meet with each other for casual sex. In
fact, several recent studies have linked the Internet to the explosion
of syphilis cases among homosexual men in San Francisco. While 13%
of "gay" men infected with syphilis in 2000 said they
had met sex partners online, in 2003 the number had increased to
44% of the total.
Of course, the Internet’s ability to serve as a meeting place
for casual sex partners exists because homosexual men often gravitate
to big cities in the first place – where they can quickly hook
up. According to Gay.com, researchers in San Francisco found that
the customary places for homosexual men to find sex partners were
the Internet (33%), bars (21%), bathhouses (13%), sex clubs (13%)
and adult bookstores (6%).
It should not be surprising, then, that large urban areas appear
to be the breeding grounds for STDs. According to the National Youth
Advocacy Coalition (NYAC), more than half of AIDS cases in the U.S.
are located in the 15 largest cities. Alarmingly, the NYAC data
showed that more than 10% of young "gay" men in major
cities were already infected with AIDS.
www.family.org, 11/24/03; Gay.com, 11/26/03, 12/1/03, 12/5/03; 12/18/03
Rose
Parade will feature ‘gay’ families
Next year’s Tournament of Roses parade has an appealing-sounding
theme – but families may want to rethink any plans they have
to watch the extravaganza in person or on television.
According to the Associated Press, the annual pageant on New Year’s
Day 2005 will carry the theme "Celebrate Family." According
to David M. Davis, president of the Tournament of Roses Association,
the theme is meant to celebrate all kinds of families – including
homosexual couples with children.
The Web site for the Tournament of Roses neglects to mention that
aspect of the celebration, simply saying the parade will include
"magnificent floral floats, spirited marching bands, and talented
equestrian units."
Davis told the press, "I’m not going to judge anybody’s
lifestyle. We don’t have any prejudice or bias."
Rev. Susan Russell, assistant rector of All Saints Episcopal Church
in San Pedro, told AP that the inclusiveness is welcome because
it is "an opportunity for us to tell the good news about how
many varieties and different kinds of families we celebrate."
The rector says she is "all for mom and apple pie too, but
some of our families have two moms."
Russell chairs the Bishop’s Commission on Gay & Lesbian
Ministry for the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles.
AgapePress, 1/20/04
Massachusetts
homosexual marriage controversy heats up
Voters in Massachusetts want the issue of same-sex marriage to come
up for a democratic vote, instead of being forced on the state by
judges, a new survey found.
A Zogby International poll, released in early January, showed that
69% of adults in Massachusetts want the issue of "gay"
marriage to be decided in a referendum.
The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled in November that
same-sex marriages must be legalized in that state, and gave the
legislature only six months to comply.
However, a representative of a pro-family coalition – which
includes the Massachusetts Family Institute and the Massachusetts
Catholic Conference – said the state’s highest court should
"issue a stay of judgment until the Legislature and the people
democratically decide what course to take with respect to marriage."
In February the Massachusetts legislature was scheduled to consider
whether or not to place before the people a constitutional amendment
limiting marriage to the traditional model. However, even if that
measure were passed by the legislature, citizens could not vote
until November 2006 at the earliest – well beyond the arbitrary
date set by the court.
The Zogby poll indicated that such an amendment would have a good
chance of passing: 52% said they believed that marriage should be
restricted to one man and one woman, while 42% said homosexuals
should be allowed to legally wed.
USA Today, 1/13/04; www.family.org, 1/7/04
Majority
rejects same-sex marriage
A New York Times/CBS News poll found strong support across the country
for a constitutional amendment which would preserve marriage as
being between one man and one woman. Such a measure would short-circuit
the push by homosexuals who want to legalize same-sex marriage through
the courts.
The poll revealed that 55% of Americans support the idea that the
traditional concept of marriage should be preserved via an amendment,
while 40% were opposed.
Even more Americans appear to be adverse to the idea of same-sex
marriage itself: 61% of respondents to the survey registered their
opposition to "gay" marriage, while only 34% supported
it.
On a related issue, 54% said they were against the idea of civil
unions – which grant many of the legal benefits of marriage
without actually sanctioning homosexual marriage – while 39%
were favorable.
New York Times, 12/21/03
CBS’s homosexual ‘married’ couple
splits
Symptomatic of the often impermanent nature of homosexual relationships,
one of the most famous "married" homosexual couples has
announced that they’ve split up.
Less than a month after they won the CBS reality show The Amazing
Race, Reichen Lehmkuhl and Chip Arndt told The Advocate, a magazine
targeted to the homosexual community, they had broken up.
Lehmkuhl and Arndt said that they had wanted to push the idea that
they were married when they agreed to participate on The Amazing
Race. CBS certainly got in the act, repeatedly describing the pair
as a "married couple" in their promotional spots for the
series.
Lehmkuhl said, "And when the Christian right reacted to it,
[a CBS representative] came out and said, ‘They’re gay,
and they’re married. What’s the problem?’ That was
CBS’s statement. CBS stood behind us. That was groundbreaking,
brave and right."
"What’s the problem?" said AFA President Tim Wildmon.
"The problem is that this couple was not married. It doesn’t
make it true just because CBS says it’s true."
As for the couple’s subsequent breakup, Wildmon noted that
homosexual relationships are notoriously unstable and often short-lived.
A study in the Netherlands, published in the journal AIDS, found
that the "committed" relationships of homosexual men last
an average of 18 months.
In fact, Lehmkuhl and Arndt, who told The Advocate that they had
gotten "married" in February 2002, lasted about that long
– announcing to the magazine in October 2003 that they had
already parted company.
The Advocate, 10/28/03; The Washington Times, 7/11/03
PRO-LIFE
Pastor
gives voice to the unborn
Pastor Vince Lozano awakened at 2:30 a.m. on January 22, 2003, the
30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U. S. Supreme Court
decision that made abortion on demand legal across the country.
He spent the next few early morning hours praying for our nation
and for the unborn. Out of that experience, Lozano wrote A Message
From the Unborn, in which he gives a voice to the unborn child.
With poetry and photographs, Lozano’s book has the impact of
a tiny voice crying out, "I want to live!" It’s a
small volume – only 32 pages – but can have great inpact
when it finds its way into the right hands. The author believes
it can help change the hearts of mothers, doctors, and government
officials.
When the author and his wife Susan took a copy of the book to one
acquaintance, the lady started reading the book, then began crying
uncontrollably. She then told them that she was almost 40 years
old and pregnant. Earlier that day, her doctor had brought her the
list of abortion clinics she had requested. She had already made
her choice – abortion. She said that A Message From the
Unborn made her realize her baby was alive, and she could not
get an abortion.
"One life saved, one heart changed and millions more to go!"
said Lozano. "A Message From the Unborn has a purpose, and
we witnessed that purpose firsthand."
AFA President Tim Wildmon said, "Reading this little book is
a moving experience. It’s more than poetry – it really
makes you ‘hear’ the unborn child. I’m sure many
lives will be saved because of Rev. Lozano’s obedience to God’s
call."
Lozano points out that every 30 minutes, an unborn baby is killed
in the United States, and he says the cry of the unborn is "a
cry that society has chosen to ignore, yet it echoes throughout
the corridors of heaven and touches the heart of God."
"The book would be a cherished gift for anyone who values the
life of the unborn child," said Wildmon.
Editor’s Note: For more on Lozano’s writing and
speaking ministry: P.O. Box 136937, Fort Worth, TX 76136, or call
817-966-0441. For his book, send $4.95 plus $1 shipping.
RELIGION
ECUSA
conservatives plan ‘realignment’
This past summer, when liberal leaders in the Episcopal Church USA
(ECUSA) consecrated openly homosexual Gene Robinson as bishop of
New Hampshire, they said protesting conservatives would eventually
quiet down and everything would return to normal.
They were wrong. Conservatives within ECUSA, the 2.3-million-member
American branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, have forged
a new alliance that may change the very face of Anglicanism in this
country.
The worldwide Anglican community has some 77 million adherents,
but the bishops in nations throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America
– who oversee 50 million Anglicans – have condemned the
ECUSA’s consecration of the homosexual bishop. In December,
for example, Anglican leaders in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia,
Singapore, Vietnam, Laos and Nepal formally cut ties with the ECUSA.
In November, under the leadership of the American Anglican Council
(AAC), ECUSA conservatives responded to the Robinson decision by
creating the "Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes,"
which was formally established in a subsequent January meeting.
According to an AAC strategy letter that was leaked to the press,
conservatives plan as their "ultimate goal" the "realignment
of Anglicanism on North American soil," which will be "committed
to biblical faith and values, and driven by Gospel mission."
The first step in that process would be to move quickly in helping
conservative Episcopal churches transfer "parish oversight
across geographical diocesan boundaries to an orthodox bishop."
"Realignment is real, it’s here, and it’s now,"
said Rev. David C. Anderson, who will serve as president and CEO
of the newly-created Network.
Whatever intermediate steps are taken, however, the AAC letter said,
"We believe in the end this [realignment] should be a ‘replacement’
jurisdiction with confessional standards, maintaining the historic
faith of our Communion, closely aligned with the majority of world
Anglicanism …."
Some liberals within the ECUSA reacted angrily when the letter was
leaked, but Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, senior fellow at The Anglican
Communion Institute, expressed his surprise. After all, he said,
"the basic outline of this ‘strategy’ has been public
for some months, largely because it represents" what worldwide
Anglican leaders proposed at a London meeting in October.
That October meeting established a timetable, Radner said, for the
larger Anglican Communion "to withdraw its recognition of those
bishops who consented to Robinson’s election, participated
in his consecration, or supported the local option resolutions regarding
same-sex blessings; it also calls on the Communion to maintain its
recognition of those bishops and others who opposed these measures
as the legitimate representatives of the Episcopal Church …."
Radner added: "The process for deciding who is ‘the real
Episcopal Church’ is well underway."
One potential stumbling block, however, is that currently the Network
does not represent a large group: only 12 of the ECUSA’s 110
dioceses are participating.
www.foxnews.com, 1/21/04; www.anglicancommuniondioceses.org, 1/19/04;
USA Today, 1/12/04; Associated Press, 12/17/03; Gay.com, 12/4/03,
12/17/03
Net
users seeking more religion info
More than a third of all Americans who are connected to the Internet
have used it to access religious and spiritual information, a recent
Pew Research Center study shows. Moreover, there has been a significant
increase in the daily use of the Internet to access religious information.
This compares with 40% of American Internet users who have searched
the Web for political information, and 66% who have sought health
and medical data. But, while the number of these last two search
categories increased 57% and 59% respectively between March 2000
and November 2002, what researchers call "religion surfers"
almost doubled in number over the same period, from 18 million to
35 million – an increase of 94%
The growth appears to be only slightly linked to the September 11,
2001, attack on the United States. An earlier Pew poll accounted
for the "bounce," or heavy upturn in religious interest
following the attack. The most recent research found that not only
has the interest in religion held since September 11, but it increased
25% during the subsequent 15 months.
The poll found Internet users between the ages of 18 and 29 to be
the least interested in searching out religious material (24%),
while those age 30-49 were the most interested (33%).
Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, 1/6/04
Teaching
Islam in school OK’d by court
A federal judge has upheld the constitutionality of an intensive
three-week course in California public schools that teaches students
how to follow Islam.
U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton has ruled that Excelsior Elementary
School in Byron, California, is not acting unconstitutionally when
it requires students to choose a Muslim name, read from the Koran
(the holy book of Islam), pray to Allah, and simulate worship activities
related to the Five Pillars of Islam. In order to receive a good
grade, students are required to give assent to such statements as,
‘The Koran is God’s third revelation that was revealed
to the Prophet Mohammad,’ and the Koran is God’s word
as revealed to Prophet Mohammad through the Archangel Gabriel.
The Thomas More Law Center sued the school on behalf of several
Christian students and their parents. Thomas More’s chief counsel
Richard Thompson said he was astounded by the ruling.
"Where the mere mention of God when it relates to the Christian
faith has been held unconstitutional," Thompson says, "this
federal judge has ruled that there is no violation of the Constitution
when it comes to teaching the Islamic faith in the simulation mode
that they’re in, because it is ‘entertaining and effective.’"
Thompson is appealing the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals.
AgapePress, 12/22/03
Federal
court says Decalogue must go
In December the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, in a
2-1 decision, a lower court ruling that said the Ten Commandments
cannot appear on government-owned property even when they are surrounded
by other legal and historical documents.
The lawsuits were brought against three Kentucky counties by seven
individuals and the American Civil Liberties Union, who alleged
that the counties had erected displays of the Ten Commandments in
violation of the First Amendment. The displays consisted of framed
copies of the Ten Commandments (surrounded by other legal and historical
documents) in the county courthouses of McCreary and Pulaski Counties,
as well as in the schools of the Harlan County School District.
In finding the historical displays unconstitutional, the court said
"a reasonable observer of the displays cannot connect the Ten
Commandments with a unifying historical or cultural theme that is
also secular."
CORRECTIONS
In the January 2004 AFA Journal, Daniel Helminiak was identified
as a Catholic priest, when in reality he left the priesthood after
coming out as a homosexual.
In the Nov/Dec 2003 AFA Journal, television writer and producer
David Kelley is erroneously identified as a "self-proclaimed
homosexual."
Our thanks to the alert readers who called these mistakes to our
attention!
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