Last week, Mayor Jim Naugle issued a public apology on the steps of City Hall that has created an outrage in Fort Lauderdale.
He apologized for underestimating the problem of men having sex with each other in public restrooms, and urged people to call police to complain when they came upon it.
Since sex in public is illegal, the outrage that followed is both frightening and unbelievable.
The Fort Lauderdale newspaper, The Sun-Sentinel, joined the homosexual community attacking the mayor for his stand against the lawbreakers, using the term “homosexual” instead of gay, his apology to “the children and parents of our community” for “not being aware of the problem” and for telling the truth about homosexual activities in the city.
The problem? A website about “cruising for sex” directs people to two city parks. Although the mayor asks, “responsible members of the homosexual community” to work with him to get those public parks off the website, they instead have organized and are attacking the mayor and demanding his resignation.
There is much to know about this, so I am giving you links to two different Sun-Sentinel stories. I think you should take three minutes or so and read them.
Clearly, the homosexual agenda is not about benefits and a live-and-let-live philosophy. It is an aggressive, perverted appetite for more and more.
Whether it is the lesbian gangs or the predatory nature of lawbreaking in Fort Lauderdale, or the tireless attempt to normalize homosexuality through public education and the legislature, the response is always the same. When exposed – attack. Call those who disagree, bigots.
I thought it was right for a mayor to take a stand against illegal public sex. Instead of asking whether the laws against such activities should be obeyed, the newspaper, which is a pawn for the local homosexual community, is asking if the mayor should resign.
Mayor Naugle has also come under attack for saying, “Dr. D. James Kennedy is a great man.”
Thank God, Seattle and other Washington communities have not gotten to that point – yet.
Have they?
Fort Lauderdale is a result of a continuing accumulation of power – political and economic by the homosexual community.
It has been said that Washington State is seen as a leader in homosexual’s rights.
The question then would be how far are the citizens of this state willing to go down this path?
Ronald Reagan once said, “A state is nothing more than a reflection of its citizens.”
_________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Most everyone is aware that Atlanta Falcon’s quarterback Michael Vick appeared in court yesterday – his trial is scheduled for November 26th. He is charged with, “helping to run a brutal dog-fighting ring in Southeastern Virginia.” (Washington Post).
The Washington Post is reporting that several hundred animal rights demonstrators almost shut down a section of downtown Richmond, holding pictures of bloody dogs and signs such as, “Mike Vick makes us sick.”
More than 20 television satellite trucks packed the streets and ESPN paid people to stand in line for them to be sure they got a seat in the court.
This whole thing makes most of us sick. I, like most of you, grew up having a dog. I loved each one of them and I have always believed they loved me as well.
It’s easy to understand the outrage, if these charges are true.
What I don’t understand, though, is what seems to be a paradox in this matter.
Dogs, as pets, are like part of the family. No wonder there is such frenzy in Richmond, but are people not as important as pets?
There have been millions of abortions in America. Where is the outrage? Where is the frenzy? They are human beings, created in the image and likeness of God that are pulled from mother’s womb and disposed of in garbage containers. Some are within a few weeks of birth.
Heritage House has the statistics. Take a look at the numbers. And weep. Or become outraged. Or both.
In a related story, a pharmacy owner and two pharmacists have sued Washington State over a new regulation that requires the sale of emergency contraception; also know as the “morning after pill.” (Read story).
Governor Gregoire had pressured the state board of Pharmacy to adopt it. She, of course, stands behind it.
The plaintiffs said their civil rights are being violated because the state is forcing them into “choosing between their livelihoods and their deeply help religious and moral beliefs.”
I know the Stormans, one of the plaintiffs who own Ralph’s Thriftway in Olympia. They are honest, God-fearing people who have served their community for years.
So, there is outrage toward the abuse of dogs, while there is passion – perhaps outrage toward the idea of halting the steady advancement of abortion and its subsidiaries.
God help us.
_____________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
It happens. And it is happening with more frequency.
A school teacher at Montgomery County, Maryland’s Thomas S Wootton High School, has said that a group that supports people trying to leave homosexuality is, “like the KKK but only in the form of religion.”
The teacher wrote an email, using a school-issued email account, telling parents of PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays) that she was upset about their distributing fliers to students even though the parents were in compliance with school policy. In fact, she was so upset that she said, “Stay out of our schools and leave our children alone.”
Our schools?
Our children?
So much for “tolerance.”
Montgomery County public school district is introducing a pro-gay curriculum in all its middle and high schools this fall.
The teacher also happens to be the co-sponsor of the high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance Club.
The new curriculum describes homosexuality as “innate” and exposes kids to propaganda like this statement, “It took a while for me to figure out that I was a bi-sexual. I’ve had great relationships with men and women.” Copies of the curriculum are posted at Citizens For a Responsible Curriculum.
You might want to check out what these folks are doing in their school district and do something similar in yours.
Parents simply must take charge in their local schools.
Public schools, in too many cases, are becoming, “The new parent.”
Gay activists always deny these kinds of situations or simply try to tag them as rare. Unfortunately, they are becoming more frequent.
Michelle Turner, spokeswoman for the coalition called Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC) said, “They are essentially telling the kids that unless they accept homosexuality, there is something wrong with them.” Turner, a mother of six kids with two of them in the school district said, “These kids have no ability to voice their objection. These lessons are so tightly scripted; there is really no discussion that is permitted to take place.”
These parents received some bad news just last month. The Maryland State Board of Education denied their appeal, ruling that the district’s controversial lesson plans do not violate the law because, “Teaching tolerance of diversity is a civic value” with a secular purpose.
So, the message is clear.
Anything taught in the name of “tolerance” trumps parental rights and free speech and religious freedom rights.
Tolerance is a guise for secularist, homosexual activists to re-engineer society. And there is not a more fertile ground than with your children in public school.
While tolerance rules in the classroom, intolerance rules in the main lobby of the school where school personnel set-up trash cans with PFOX’s name on them, encouraging kids to throw the PFOX fliers in the trash.
And what was the message on the flier? It encouraged kids who were struggling with same-sex attractions that change is possible.
Clearly, there is a desire on the part of the school to indoctrinate the kids.
Turner said, “People need to start asking questions and realize their child is sitting in a classroom for six hours a day, and what they are being exposed to in that classroom is impacting their thinking and their beliefs.”
Do you know what your child is hearing in his or her classroom?
The teaching and training of children is the responsibility of the parents – take responsibility.
_________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Dishonest politicians is not a new idea. In fact, books have been written and movies made about the subject. Those folks don’t like accountability.
However, there are good, honest, truthful public servants as well. We all know some of them. But sometimes our elected officials say one thing, but do something else.
Representative Mike Pence, R-Ind. decided to see where his colleagues really stood on abortion. Last week he offered an amendment to the U.S. House Appropriations bill that funds the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, that would have prohibited tax dollars from funding Planned Parenthood.
The vote and some of the explanations were pretty telling. I’ll come back to that in a moment.
But, it got me thinking about some of our elected officials in Washington State. What if we, say, put an initiative before the House and/or Senate that would require our elected officials to vote yes or no (or be absent or abstain) affirming DOMA? Senators Murray, Moeller, and others have made it clear that they are not interested in “faux” marriage for homosexuals, (domestic partners, civil unions and the like); they want the real thing – just like the heterosexuals. I wonder who else would go on the record voting for homosexual marriage along with these folks?
Most of us know there are some real champions of traditional – one man, one woman marriage in our legislature. And most of us know who they are. But what about those folks in-between?
That may be worth pursuing.
The amendment that Rep. Pence offered was defeated 189-231, with 21 Republicans voting against Pence.
Among those opposing the amendment was Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia. He’s the former Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
As homosexuals lined up today to register as “domestic partners,” the celebratory attitude displayed in the Governor’s office a while back when she signed the bill into law seems to have changed.
Gregoire, with hands in the air, declared the day a victory. The benefits that homosexuals had been denied were now provided – or are they?
It seems the message changed from that day forward and has now become a mantra.
“No,” they say, “we didn’t want faux marriage, we want the real thing.”
Ed Murray is quoted by Rachel La Corte of the Associated Press, “When it comes to gay and lesbian issues, change is coming at the state level." David Ammons, of the AP, says that according to Murray, the gay community isn’t much interested in civil unions as a next step; they are going for full marriage equality. Equal Rights Washington echoes that sentiment. They say an interim step would only serve to detract from the ultimate goal.
There is nothing much that is new in that. That’s what they always say – and they mean it.
I was, however, surprised and disappointed at the comment of one former Christian lobbyist told the AP he thought it “looks like a losing battle.” (Click here to read story).
I agree with him that there is a culture shift but I do not agree that, “The likelihood of a turnaround is very remote.”
If God’s people pray and humble themselves, God promises to heal their land.
This is truly a watershed time in this state. Washington will either join Massachusetts as a leader in homosexual endorsement or we will decide to take a position to uphold and affirm the most important societal building block in human history – the family, built around marriage between one man and one woman.
I personally do not believe this is a losing cause. In fact, Faith & Freedom is holding strategy meetings across the state, confirming at least eight rallies with David Barton to remind people of our God Heritage, holding our first youth leadership retreat this coming November and will be working to remove certain state legislators that we feel are vulnerable in their district.
We are prepared to mount an extensive voter registration campaign leading up to the 2008 elections.
And most importantly, we believe that God will help us. We also believe that thousands of citizens across the state will continue to join in as well.
While we may be experiencing, “gay times” at the moment, it will only last for a season.
I sincerely believe God will honor the prayer and actions of His people in this regard and we will see the tide turn.
Thank you for standing with us.
God bless you.
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
The Gay And Liesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has apparently threatened to sue a Tennessee TV station for airing a report on lesbian gangs attacking students.
Focus on the Family was told by the station manager that they had agreed to rewrite some of the story, but that still did not satisfy the activists.
We also spoke to the station and from what I heard, airing the story was not a pleasant experience.
There has actually been a blacklash against some of the reporters at the Memphis station from members of the homosexual community.
The story featured an interview with Shelby County Gang Unit specialist, Beverly Cobb, who said, "Girls are being attacked in high school bathrooms by members of a gang called GTO or 'Gays Taking Over.'"
Cobb said in the television story that,"They are forcing themselves on our young girls in all our schools."
Other similar stories are being reported in a number of other cities.
Peter LaBarbara, with Americans For Truth, said the station manager told him the group definitely did not want the story to run.
Both WPTY in Memphis and the Fox News program, The O'Reilly Factor carried the report.
Rod Wheeler, who is an experienced police detective, told O'Reilly there is a growing concern about lesbians "recuriting kids as young as 10 years, in a lot of the schools in the communities across the country".
Deputy Beverly Cobb told WPTY TV that lesbian gang members, "will sodomize {with sex toys} and will force {young school girls} to do all sexual acts."
The WPTY report included a long list of Memphis area schools where such incidents were documented.
Cobb said the gang members carry weapons and , "they will use them quicker than any male that I've come upon."
Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth said that pro-homosexual influences have so permeated many media organizations that the "gay" promoters are accustom to having only their side reported.
Homosexual activists have influenced news reports in recent years by providing journalists with new definitions of various words and phrases. Major news groups such as The New York Times and even the Associated Press have adopted some of those demands.
GLAAD'S own documentation says the AP tells it's writers, "to avoid references to 'sexual preference' or to a 'gay or alternative life style'. " It also says The New York Times tells its writers to "avoid" the term "admitted homosexual" because that "suggests criminality or shame." They are also told, according to GLAAD, to avoid the term "gay rights" because, "advocates for gay issues are concerned that the term may invite resentment by implying 'special rights' that are denied to other citizens. Instead the phrase 'equal rights' or 'civil rights' should be used'." Also, The New York Times writers are not to use "sexual preference" because it, "carries the disputed implication that sexuality is a matter of choice."
There is much more in their story that I don't even want to go into.
My point is simply this: Here is a story affecting inner city schools, not only in Memphis, but in other cities as well, and the gay activists are trying to kill the story.
If there was unbiased reporting, this story would have been huge.
These lesbian gang activities are well-documented in many cities and according to the police reports that I have read, are sick and would be, for the most part, inappropriate to even mention in this blog. In fact repulsive.
Yet, they are systematically passed over by the mainstream media.
This, in my opinion, is Orwellian.
_________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Gay veterans met in Seattle yesterday. This was the latest stop on a national tour urging repeal of the military’s, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay civil rights organization, sponsored the event.
They said their objective is to make the policy a priority issue in the 2008 presidential election.
What struck me was their take on the policy in regard to national security. They say in some of their literature that, “This discriminatory policy hurts the military readiness and national security while putting American soldiers fighting overseas at risk.”
In fact, the lengthy findings by Congress state, among other things, that there is no constitutional rights to serve in the military (2), military life is fundamentally different from civilian life (3), the prohibition against homosexual conduct is a long-standing element of military law that continues to be necessary in the unique circumstances of military services (13) and the presence in the armed forces of persons who demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability (15).
Once again, homosexual activists are attempting to re-engineer the norm.
It appears that in cooperation with the military, congress did their homework and arrived at this policy as a compromise to the ban on homosexuals in the military. President Bill Clinton agreed and signed it.
As is often the case, it was not seen as an accommodating compromise, but rather a step toward the ultimate goal. This same storyline plays out in the marriage debate in Washington State with Domestic Partnerships being seen as a step toward gay marriage even thought it was not presented that way.
If the military and Congress and the President felt it was good policy, it seems unwise to be conducting a social experiment when our national security is on the line.
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
Last week a Hindu chaplain from Reno, Nevada gave the opening prayer in the U.S. Senate.
Rajan Zed told the Las Vegas Sun that in his prayer he would likely include references to the ancient Hindu scriptures. And he delivered. (See CNN Video).
Thousands of calls, letters and email to the Senate leadership asking them to reconsider were ignored. Protestors were escorted from the chamber as the first Hindu prayer was offered – the first ever at the Senate since it was formed in 1789.
David Barton, the leading Christian historian in America, is questioning why the U.S. Government is seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god. Barton points out that since Hindus worship multiple gods; the prayer was completely outside the American paradigm, flying in the face of the American motto, “One nation under God.”
You have to wonder what Harry Reid and the Democratic Senate leadership were thinking. Barton says, given the fact that Hindus represent a very tiny constituency of the American public, you must ask what was the message and why is that message needed?
He said, “This is not a religion that has produced great things in the world. You look at India, you look at Nepal – there’s persecution going on in both of these countries that is gendered by the religious belief that is present there, and Hindu dominates in both of those countries.”
Barton also said that he knows of at least seven cases where Christians have lost their bid to express their own faith in a public prayer.
I find it interesting that under our First Amendment Zed enjoys freedom in this country that Christians do not enjoy in his home country. Why does Harry Reid and the Senate leadership find it necessary to offer a prayer to the myriad gods of Hinduism, when the God of the Bible has blessed America in such generous ways?
Prayer to the God of the Bible began on June 28, 1787 when the Constitutional Convention was at a standstill. Eighty-one-year-old Benjamin Franklin stood and said,
“I’ve lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probably that an empire can rise without His aid? We’ve been assured in the sacred writings that unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.”
No one can legitimately challenge the fact that the God America refers to in the pledge, our national motto and other places is the monotheistic God of the Jewish and Christian faith, yet the present leadership in our legislature once again is attempting to lead us away from this God and His principles that have provided blessing and prosperity for this country.
God help us.
________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
APA -- Reviewing 10-year-old policy on gay counseling
While taking the last couple of weeks off to vacation with my family, I tried to take a break from most of the news stories; however, a couple of them caught my attention.
The American Psychological Association (APA) is revisiting its 10-year-old policy on counseling gays and lesbians.
While this exercise of review could have easily been lost in the sea of conferences and meetings that are typically held this time of year, fortunately it was not. It was not lost to the gay-rights activists who saw the review as another opportunity nor to a number of Christian leaders, counselors and religious organizations who see the review as a blatant move to advance the gay agenda.
The disingenuous way the review panel was seated is almost unbelievable.
Five out of six people chosen for the review task force are committed gay–affirmative activists who are openly hostile to the reality that individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction can be helped.
The six people chosen include Dr. Judith M. Glassgold, a board member of the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy and Dr. Jack Dreshcher, a gay activist psychiatrist who strongly opposes reparative therapy for gays. Another member, Dr. A. Beckstead is openly skeptical of reorientation therapy and Dr. Roger L. Worthington received an award in 2001 from the LGBT Resource Center at the University of Missouri for “speaking up and out and often regarding LGBT issues.”
And these gays will decide if gays can receive counseling if they want to change?
This is a case of the foxes guarding the hen house.
The findings of this task force are already predetermined, much like several of Washington State gay-rights laws were given predetermination by legislators and committees even before hearings were held in Olympia.
It’s interesting that these folks proclaim themselves as open-minded and committed to diversity and choice, yet once again, their diversity has boundaries, open-mindedness only includes the predetermined outcome and choice is only for those who make the correct choice according to the activists.
The current APA policy currently opposes any counseling that treats homosexuality as a mental illness, but does not explicitly denounce reparative therapy.
Fortunately, a number of Christian and religious leaders, including the Southern Baptist Convention and Focus on the Family, have written a letter to the APA expressing their concern that the task force’s proposals would not properly accommodate gays and lesbians whose religious beliefs condemn gay sex. They said, “We believe that psychologists should assist clients to develop lives that they value, even if that means they decline to identify as homosexual.”
Jody Huckaby, PFLAG executive director, said that reparative therapy has been particularly harmful for young gays whose parents insist on trying to change their sexual orientation. This, of course, from the folks who actively recruit young children under the guise of sex education.
There is no evidence that homosexuality is anything other than a choice. While it may be influenced by conducive social environments, it is a choice.
The task force’s preliminary report will probably be submitted by December.
What do you think? Is homosexuality chosen or inherited?
As we prepare to celebrate our Independence tomorrow, it’s good to look back at what has made America the great nation that we are.
James Russell Lowell was asked by the French historian Francois Guizot, “How long will the American Republic endure?”
Lowell replied, “As long as the ideas of the men who founded it remain dominant.”
In recent years, it has become vogue for secularists to declare, and in some cases textbooks have been revised to reflect, that the Fathers of our country were not Christian or religious people at all, but were deists, atheists, or secularists. Some have even suggested that several of our Founders were more addicted to the French Enlightenment philosophy than they were to Christianity.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Of the fifty-five men who wrote and signed the U.S. Constitution in 1787, all but three were members of one of the established Christian communions. Twenty-nine were Anglicans, sixteen to eighteen were Calvinists, two Methodists, two Lutherans, two Roman Catholics, one lapsed Quaker and sometimes Anglican and Dr. Franklin, who said he was a deist, but attended every kind of Christian worship service, called for public prayer and contributed to all the Christian denominations.
The United States was founded on more biblical principles than any nation in history and therein is the secret to America’s greatness.
Those principles originally permeated our educational system, courts, public life, religious life and economic system producing what President Reagan called, “traditional values.”
The religious symbols one sees in Washington D.C. gives testimony to what our Founders really believed. There are at least forty-five biblical quotations and Christian symbols or references. Both the Capitol building and the Supreme Court building have reference to God.
I would highly recommend that you read, Rediscovering God in America by Newt Gingrich. It is available in our bookstore. It is a reflection on the role of faith in our nation’s history and future.
The late Francis Schaeffer described early America as a country that held a “Christian consensus.” But what is that and how did it impact the nation?
Christianity is not a passive faith that occupies only a person’s theological speculations. It involves everything he does and that way of life had so permeated this young nation by the time we declared our Independence that it extended its influence to every area, including the fields of law, government, morality, marriage, and business. There was a great deal of consensus on basic Christian principles and almost universal agreement on appropriate cultural-moral values. That cultural consensus is apparent to anyone who will examine the historical facts.
America was not founded as a “Christina nation,” but was seen as such because its Founding Fathers were either Christians or had been influenced throughout their entire lives by the Christina consensus that surrounded them.
As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day tomorrow, let us also remember that those principles are the insurance of continual greatness and blessing.
_____________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
For years the Netherlands has been touted as the most liberal and progressive nation in the world.
Secular progressives have consistently used the Netherlands as a model to say, “See, the Netherlands allows same-sex marriage or euthanasia or abortion on demand or legalized prostitution,” or whatever they happen to be advocating for, and the country has not fallen apart – they’re doing just fine.
But they are not doing fine. In fact, the country is deeply fractured socially, and they are looking to Christian leadership to help them search for their identity.
The Washington Post carried the story a while back and The Seattle Times carried it a week ago yesterday. In the story, Dutch seek to rein in vice, they are reporting that the effort to rein in the Netherlands’ famed social liberties is not limited to a small, newly empowered Christian Union Party, which holds two of sixteen ministries in the coalition government formed this year. The article says increasingly politicians from the more center-left Labor Party are among the most outspoken proponents of closing some brothels and marijuana shops. W.B. Kranendonk, editor of an orthodox Christian newspaper says, “People in high political circles are saying it can’t be good to have a society so liberal that everything is allowed.”
Frank de Wolf, a Labor Party member says, “There is not only a different mood among our people and politicians but there are different problems now.”
I strongly encourage you to read the story. Frank de Wolf also says, “In the past we looked at legal prostitution as a woman’s liberation issue, now it’s looked at as exploitation.”
Although the national mood is swinging toward a rediscovery of identity and a return to more conservative Christian morality and law, there are those who are strongly opposed to any changes.
I sincerely hope that the lessons of the Netherlands and Rome and a number of other societies of the past will not be lost to America and Washington State.
It is true that we are not where the Netherlands are socially – yet. But the philosophy and ideology that is driving government, particularly in Washington State, is the bus that can get you there.
___________________ Gary Randall President Faith & Freedom
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