What if I told you that a community of American citizens who are defined by a set of subjective, self-disclosed, and self-defined characteristics and personal behaviors have designated at least 163 days of the calendar year to national and international observances honoring their choices? What if I also told you that the group made up only a fraction of the U.S. population? What would you think?

You would probably have two questions: who are these people and what gives?

“These people” are members of the LGBTQ+ syndicate and we’re right in the middle of their annual “LGBT Pride Month.” If you think 30 days of celebrating anal sex, leather bondage, gender confusion, self-mutilation, sadomasochism and other expressions of sexual anarchy might seem like more than enough, you’re wrong. They’re only halfway through the year and you’ve already missed:

Aromantic Awareness Week, Bisexual Health Awareness Month, Day of Silence, Harvey Milk Day, International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, International Non-Binary People’s Day, International Stand Up to Bullying Day, International Transgender Day of Visibility, Lesbian Visibility Day, National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, National GLBT Health Awareness Week, No Name-Calling Week, Pan Visibility Day, Pulse Night of Remembrance and Zero Discrimination Day.

Although you probably weren’t aware of these observances, don’t worry. There’s plenty more for you to engage with. Beginning at the end of June with the Stonewall Riots Anniversary, the rest of the year offers:

Ally Week, Asexuality Awareness Week, Bisexual Awareness Week, Celebrate Bisexuality Day, International Drag Day, International Lesbian Day, International Non-Binary People’s Day, Intersex Awareness Day, Intersex Day of Remembrance (or Intersex Solidarity Day), LGBT History Month, National Coming Out Day, Pan Pride Day, Spirit Day (annual LGBTQ awareness day), Trans Parent Day, Transgender Awareness Week, Transgender Day of Remembrance and World AIDS Day.

The only month not represented by any of these annual observances is August, which is kind of like a seventh inning stretch (only longer). After all, you’ve got to take some time off from all that observing!

A couple of the observances are understandable. International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Pulse Night of Remembrance honor the homosexual victims of both events, none of whom deserved losing their lives to madmen.

But the rest? The most curious thing about all this is the inverse relationship of their minority status with their complete domination of the Gregorian calendar. Eleven million people have staked a claim to 45% of available days which seems, I don’t know, excessive. Imagine some version of the 10-member Glee Club appearing on every other page of the high school yearbook. For comparison, the nine largest world religions representing 5.5 billion people (or about 80 percent of the world’s population) observe 138 days combined. Christianity, the largest of the nine with 2.4 billion followers, only observes 12 days.

What gives?

A quick analysis reveals four main themes behind the designated LBGTQ+ observances: 1) to raise awareness, 2) to prevent bullying, 3) to honor select people or events and 4) to celebrate. If we break down the 35 observances I cite by theme, here’s what we find (some observances have multiple themes):

This tells us “what gives.” The majority of these observances (28 of 35) are to “raise awareness” and to “prevent bullying,” which account for 95 percent of designated days (156 of 163). The LGBTQ+ community is extremely concerned about educating the rest of us about their proclivities and suppressing any kind of bullying.

I will be the first to say that no one, including members of the LGBTQ+ community, should be bullied. Bullying is cruel and unloving, no matter the reason. “‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’” says Jesus. The only problem with the anti-bullying initiative is that none of those days make a clear and explicit distinction between bullying and moral disapproval. While bullying does happen and should be opposed, one wishes that the LGBTQ+ folks would heed their own advice and stop bullying people like Jack Phillips, Barronelle Stutzman, or Aaron and Melissa Klein.

As far as being “educated” or having my “awareness” raised, does anyone seriously think that we need more awareness of the LGBTQ+ crowd? They are represented in music, film, television, advertising, sports, science, federal government, state government, city government, the military, business, education, children’s programming, legal mandates, law enforcement, dedicated parades and, as of this writing, we have an openly gay (and “married”) man running for president of the United States.

It may be true that back in the 1960s, people who called the LGBTQ+ community home were an obscure minority. But that’s no longer true. What is true is that the over-indulgence of the queer-all-year calendar is no longer just about becoming visible, but about pushing an agenda. In fact, that’s what it’s been all along.

The LGBTQ+ movement isn’t just “educating” us; it is indoctrinating us. It isn’t just opposing bullying; it’s demanding no resistance at all. The 163 days are 163 days of impressions being made on you, your children and our society. It’s how advertising works.

“Because of this repeated ‘nudging’ effect, advertising achieves best results on market share when it maintains a continuous presence and a sufficient weight relative to competition. (We also know this to be largely true because brands, on average, gain or lose share of market when their ‘share of voice’ becomes larger or smaller.)”

As further evidence, in their 1989 book, “After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90’s,” Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen wrote, “Thus propagandistic advertising can depict all opponents of the gay movement as homophobic bigots who are ‘not Christian’ and the propaganda can further show them homosexuals as being criticized, hated and shunned…” (p. 152-153). Madsen earned “a doctorate in politics from Harvard and was an expert on public persuasion tactics and social marketing.”

The more impressions you receive, the more inclined you are to choose the advertised product over a competitor’s. In this case, the “competitor” is the Church. For example, Chai Feldblum, a lesbian and leading gay rights activist, a former law professor at Georgetown University, and an Obama-era appointee who served almost nine years as the Commissioner of the EEOC, said during an interview in 2006 that she was “having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win,” when religious and sexual liberties competed.

Fifteen years ago Albert Mohler, Jr., wrote,

“There can be no doubt that Christianity represents the greatest obstacle to the normalization of homosexual behavior. It cannot be otherwise, because of the clear biblical teachings concerning the inherent sinfulness of homosexuality in all forms, and the normativity of heterosexual marriage.”

If you are a believer and you (or your children) participate in any of these so-called “Pride” observances, you have been seduced by a lie. Refuse to participate any longer and “be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16).

No group needs 163 days of recognition. It’s all propaganda, part of a master plan for the LGBTQ+ consortium to acquire more power, pressure society into approving sexual anarchy and, ultimately, to destroy the Church.

IFI Fall Banquet with Franklin Graham!
We are excited to announce that at this year’s IFI banquet, our keynote speaker will be none other than Rev. Franklin Graham, President & CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christian evangelist & missionary. This year’s event will be at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Nov. 1st.

Learn more HERE.

The rise of the LGBTQ movement has turned the tables in American culture. Say anything even mildly critical of LGBTQs and it can cost you your livelihood. But while it’s powerful, the LGBTQ movement is also the most sensitive social movement in the country.

Somewhere along the way, the month of June was designated Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride month. Friends, we must beware the perversion that boasts in this kind of pride.

Still, it is celebrated all over the country by governments, businesses, etc. The colors of the rainbow are used to signify the LGBTQ movement. Parades commemorating it go on in many places. There is no question that the LGBTQ movement is mainstream America now.

In fact, this group has power that exceeds its numbers. It has been generally accepted for decades that the LGBTQ group represents 2.7% of the population. If you mix in Millennials, that percentage goes to 4.5%, according to Gallup.

Whatever the percentage is, this group has banded together to become one of the most powerful political forces in our time. They control the entertainment industry as well, allowing for only positive portrayals on television and movies. And despite being only 4.5% of the population, on prime-time television nearly 9% of all characters are LGBTQ. No other group can command such treatment.

The rise of the LGBTQ movement has turned the tables in American culture. Before the 1990s, homosexuality was generally considered abnormal. Certainly not something to be proud of. It was seen as shameful. My, how the times have changed. Today the only ones shamed are those who dare speak out in favor of traditional moral roles of men and women. Say anything even mildly critical of LGBTQs and it can cost you your livelihood.

Remember back in 2014 when a man named Michael Sam was selected in the NFL draft? Because he was the first openly gay player drafted, the media made a big deal out of it. When he was drafted, the mouth-to-mouth kiss with his boyfriend was shown on ESPN live.

A day after this happened, I read the following on a website:

“Miami Dolphins defensive back Don Jones tweeted ‘omg’ and ‘horrible’ in reaction to the ESPN video and then was swiftly fined an undisclosed amount and suspended from team activities until he completed ‘sensitivity training.’ Jones subsequently deleted the tweets, made his Twitter account private, and issued a public apology to Sam, calling his biased comments about the gay player ‘inappropriate.'”

This is what I mean by costing a person his or her livelihood if you say anything critical about homosexuality. A Miami Dolphins player said what millions of Americans were thinking and he was fined, suspended, and sent to educational “training.”

The LGBTQ movement, while powerful, is also the most sensitive social movement in the country. Make any indication of disapproval and you get labeled a “bigot” or a “hater” and publicly shamed. It’s really scary for a lot of Americans who are forced to attend corporate “diversity training,” which is code for force-feeding the LGBTQ agenda on them.

The truth is the LGBTQ activists have basically conquered the Western world. The only thing they lack is shutting down the Christian church, which still believes that homosexuality is a sin because the Bible teaches as much. Read Romans, Chapter 1.

The Scripture says this behavior is unnatural, immoral, and unhealthy. Christian or not, everyone pretty much knows this, even if they are afraid to say so publicly. God made male for female sexually. As for the transgendered, they have serious issues that cause them profound confusion. It’s really tragic.

While Bruce Jenner may think he is a woman, the rest of us should not be told we must pretend Bruce Jenner is a woman or else we hate Bruce Jenner.

Related to this entire issue, I urge you to be aware of the “Equality Act” legislation now pending in the U.S. Congress. I don’t have space for all the details here, but if passed by Congress it would force the LGBTQ agenda on all Americans using the full power of federal government.

It’s an extremely dangerous piece of legislation. Democrats have already passed it in the House; but at least for now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to block it in that body. And President Donald Trump has vowed to veto it should it ever make it to his desk.

But be watchful, friends. Call your two senators and insist that they vote “no” on the so-called “Equality Act.” The pride that produced it is really nothing to boast about.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to our U.S. Senators to urge him/her to oppose the federal Equality Act (H.R. 5) which seeks to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections for an individual’s perceived sex, “sexual orientation,” or “gender identity.” If you know the name of your local official, you can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask the operator to connect you with his/her office to leave a message.

A few weeks ago, I shared the findings of an extensive national survey conducted by the Barna Group covering religious freedom, religious monuments and displays.

They have passed along the internals of another large national poll looking at attitudes toward sexual orientation, gender identity and religious freedom.

These results are timely given the U.S. Supreme Court’s move this week to scold the Oregon Court of Appeals for imposing a $135,000 fine on Aaron and Melissa Klein, a Christian couple who owned a bakery and did not want to participate in a homosexual wedding.

The Kleins lost their life savings and were forced to shut down their business because of the conflict over their religious beliefs. They were also the victims of vandalism, threats, and public harassment.

The U.S. Supreme Court is asking the state to review their actions in light of a ruling involving a similar situation in Colorado where the nation’s highest court found that baker Jack Phillips’s 1^st Amendment rights were violated by the Colorado Equal Rights Commission.

While people’s views on homosexuality and gender are clearly in a fluid state, U.S. adults overall are against radical changes being made to accommodate LGBTQ demands and expectations.  Most adults do not want the government punishing people of faith, especially Christians, for following their beliefs, and most do not want the government to impose standards of belief or behavior simply to appease LGBTQ desires.  They want the government to remain neutral in its dealings with religion.

Here are a few of the findings from this March 2019 survey:

• The highest response to any question or statement, with 84% agreement, was “Each law must respect every citizen’s freedoms, no matter who they are.”

• Three out of four adults (77%) agreed that the government should remain neutral when it comes to religion, it should not be in the business of deciding whose faith is or is not acceptable because such decisions amount to discrimination against people of faith.

• Seven out of ten (72%) of adults agree that the government punishing individuals for living out their deeply-held religious beliefs is a form of discrimination.

• Two out of three adults (65%) disagreed that the government should have the right to ban personal, gender specific pronouns such as him, her, his, hers, male or female and to punish people using those terms.

• Sixty-four percent (64%) agreed that the vast majority of Christians and other people of faith who believe homosexuality is wrong do not hate gay and lesbian people.

• Six out of ten adults (60%) agreed that laws that punish people who hold traditional views on gender identity and sexual orientation with fines, censorship or jail are unjustly discriminatory.

• Sixty-one percent (61%) of adults agree that there are only two genders – male and female – not a range of genders

• Nearly six out of ten adults (59%) said that state governments should not have the legal authority to force Christian-owned businesses to close if the business chooses to not serve a same-sex wedding or event.

• Roughly the same portion (58%) agreed that there is no reason to single out and punish adoption providers who believe that the best home for a child includes a father and a mother.

• Surprisingly, only half (51%) say that it is not appropriate for a biological male who now identifies as a female to compete in women’s sporting events.

People seem the most agitated by the possibility of the government cracking down on people simply because they hold to traditional views on sexuality, or because they use traditional language to communicate about homosexual issues and gender.

The pollsters note that a large share of people hold opinions on matters that they do not feel strongly about, so under pressure, it is possible that their views could be changed to a different position.  What was once not even an issue for public discussion has become a morass of feelings, facts, and beliefs that many do not know how to resolve.

This article was originally published at AFA of Indiana.

Written by Michael Foust

The U.S. Supreme Court handed religious liberty advocates a victory Monday when it vacated a lower court’s opinion that had ordered a Christian baker to design a cake for a same-sex wedding.

At issue was a ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals that upheld a state decision forcing Aaron and Melissa Klein to pay a $135,000 penalty after they refused to design a cake celebrating a wedding for a lesbian couple. The Kleins eventually closed their business, known as “Sweet Cakes by Melissa.”

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday issued a one-paragraph order vacating the judgment and sending it back down to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

“The petition for a writ of certiorari is granted. The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded to the Court of Appeals of Oregon for further consideration in light of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Comm’n,” the unsigned order read.

Masterpiece was a 2018 ruling in which the Supreme Court sided with a Colorado baker who refused to design a wedding cake for a gay couple. Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy ruled the Colorado Civil Rights Commission demonstrated hostility toward religion when it ordered bakery owner Jack Phillips to design the cake.

The Kleins are represented by First Liberty Institute.

“This is a victory for Aaron and Melissa Klein and for religious liberty for all Americans,” said Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of First Liberty. “The Constitution protects speech, popular or not, from condemnation by the government. The message from the Court is clear, government hostility toward religious Americans will not be tolerated.”

First Liberty had hoped the Supreme Court would hear oral arguments and expand on its Masterpiece decision. The high court, though, punted on that decision.

First Liberty filed suit after the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) ruled the Kleins had violated a law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. The BOLI also handed down a $135,000 penalty. The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled against the Kleins, and the Oregon Supreme Court declined to take the case.

“The State of Oregon drove Melissa and Aaron Klein out of the custom-cake business and hit them with a $135,000 penalty, because the Kleins could not in good conscience employ their artistic talents to express a message celebrating a same-sex wedding ritual,” First Liberty’s petition to the U.S. Supreme Court read.

The Kleins “opened and operated” their baker as an expression of their Christian faith,” the petition said. Further, they believe “God instituted marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

They served all customers “regardless of sexual orientation.” They even had sold a cake to one of the lesbian complainants in the case for her mother’s marriage to a man. But they could not, the petition said, create a cake celebrating a same-sex wedding.

“The Kleins created these cakes, in part, because they wanted to celebrate weddings between one man and one woman,” the petition said. “The Kleins do not believe that other types of interpersonal unions are marriages, and they believe it is sinful to celebrate them as such.”

The state’s order violated the First Amendment, the First Liberty petition argued.

“Unless this Court enforces the First Amendment,” the petition said, “similar cases will continue to arise, as creative entrepreneurs are compelled, under the guise of public accommodations statutes, to participate in same-sex marriage rituals that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs, or – as the Kleins did – to sacrifice their livelihood.”

The Thomas More Society, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Cato Institute were among the groups that asked the Supreme Court to side with the Kleins. The attorneys general for 11 states also issued a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Kleins. Those states were Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia.

This article originally posted on ChristianHeadlines.com

Macy’s was once a symbol of wholesome American fun with its Thanksgiving Parades and visits with Santa Claus, immortalized years ago in the classic movie Miracle on 34^th Street. But this month the department store chain is busy promoting the debauchery associated with “LGBT pride” and pushing the new all-American tradition of encouraging children to interact with perverted drag queens.

Macy’s has been promoting “LGBT” activism for a while, undeterred by periodic protests from pro-family groups. This is the 10^th year for the chain’s annual “Pride + Joy” campaign and its June festivities for “Pride Month” are now on a scale similar to that of patriotic and holiday celebrations. With flags of its own, the “LGBT” movement has rapidly gained ground in the mainstream, thanks in no small part to the growing number of corporate and civic allies eager to outdo each other in the race to see who can be the most ingratiating toward the queer lobby. Apparently not wanting to be left behind by Target or any other store, Macy’s created a full calendar of special events for this month.

On Saturday, June 22, the flagship store in New York City in Herald Square will host a Drag Queen Story Hour. “Bring the whole family for a reading circle and sing along with the queens at this feel-good event!” reads the calendar posting. Macy’s on State Street in downtown Chicago will hold a “Pride” celebration this coming Saturday, June 15, to “celebrate family, friends and community” and offer “treats, performances by drag queens and more!”

Macy’s stores in Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, San Francisco, Minnesota, and Columbus, Ohio, are also holding “Pride” events this month. The chain is participating in “Pride” parades and festivals across the county and selling “Pride”-themed merchandise at more than 150 stores and online at macys.com. The New York City location earlier this month had a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new “Pride” shop within the department store. Macy’s boasts that the Manhattan store is “beaming with Pride as it lights up the night in rainbow colors every evening in June.”

This past November, “LGBT” activists celebrated when the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade featured a same-sex kiss between two actresses participating in the parade. Not everyone saw it as a sign of progress. “Macy’s has sexualized and lesbianized Thanksgiving in its iconic kids’ parade,” wrote conservative writer Rod Dreher.

Other once family-friendly companies are also stepping up efforts to push the “LGBT” agenda, including Disney, which held its first “Pride” parade at its theme park in Paris on June 1. In writing about the parade, the “LGBT” publication Out Magazine called Mickey and Minnie Mouse allies and described them sporting “brand new Pride looks, riding by in a car covered in rainbows.” For years, Disney has held unofficial gay events at its theme parks.

As “Pride” events have grown in size and begun touting themselves as family-friendly—making them even more vile—Christians have become more befuddled about how to react. It should be obvious to Christians that they shouldn’t join in the festivities, but some need reminders like that found in Dr. Michael Brown‘s recent piece, “Why I Do Not Celebrate Gay Pride.”

Even worse, some supposedly conservative Christians publicly endorse attending “Pride” events. In evangelical Protestant and Catholic circles, there’s a growing “gay but celibate” movement that encourages Christians with homosexual attractions to openly and unashamedly identify as gay and which allows for keeping one foot in the gay world so long as one does not act on same-sex desires. Last year, lesbian Catholic writer and Revoice conference speaker Eve Tushnet wrote in Patheos:

I was at the Pride parade this weekend. I have all kinds of issues with contemporary Pride celebrations but here is the thing: I know Christians, believers seeking to live obediently, who feel freed at Pride in a way they never feel in church. In so many of our churches, gay people’s shame is treated as a proof of their orthodoxy or personal holiness… I don’t feel especially liberated by Pride, but that is because I was never imprisoned in the ways that my friends have been. I’m always aware of the ways in which my faith makes me an outsider there. But my friends, who share my faith in spite of much greater suffering at the hands of Christians, feel liberated at Pride because it is a place where being gay does not separate you from others, but connects you to them. Being in a space where everyone is gay and just rejoicing in our community, flinging beads (I do love the beads), being gay in a million different ways, makes you see that being gay can mean community instead of silence, solidarity instead of judgment, beauty instead of barrenness, welcome instead of suspicion, and joy instead of despair.

Department stores bedecking “LGBT” depravity with rainbows and glitter and selling it to kids as well as adults deserve to feel the heat of righteous anger. But when Christians get this confused and compromised, they’re a lot less likely to send the right message.

IFI Banquet Speaker Announced!
We are excited to announce that at this year’s IFI banquet, our keynote speaker will be none other than Rev. Franklin Graham, President & CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Christian evangelist & missionary. This year’s event will be at the Tinley Park Convention Center on Nov. 1st.

Learn more HERE.

Macy’s was once a symbol of wholesome American fun with its Thanksgiving Parades and visits with Santa Claus, immortalized years ago in the classic movie “Miracle on 34th Street.” But this month the department store chain is busy promoting the debauchery associated with LGBT Pride and pushing the new all-American tradition of encouraging children to interact with perverted drag queens.

Macy’s has been promoting LGBT activism for a while, undeterred by periodic protests from pro-family groups. This is the 10^th year for the chain’s annual “Pride + Joy” campaign and its June festivities for Pride Month are now on a scale similar to that of patriotic and holiday celebrations. With flags of its own, the LGBT movement has rapidly gained ground in the mainstream, thanks in no small part to the growing number of corporate and civic allies eager to outdo each other in the race to see who can be the most ingratiating toward the queer lobby. Apparently not wanting to be left behind by Target or any other store, Macy’s created a full calendar of special events for this month.

On Saturday, June 22, the flagship store in New York City in Herald Square will host a Drag Queen Story Hour. “Bring the whole family for a reading circle and sing along with the queens at this feel-good event!” reads the calendar posting. Macy’s in downtown Chicago on State Street will hold a Pride celebration this coming Saturday, June 15, to “celebrate family, friends and community” and offer “treats, performances by drag queens and more!”

Macy’s stores in Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, San Francisco, Minnesota, and Columbus, Ohio, are also holding Pride events this month. The chain is participating in Pride parades and festivals across the county and selling Pride-themed merchandise at more than 150 stores and online at macys.com. The New York City location earlier this month had a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new Pride shop within the department store. Macy’s boasts that the Manhattan store is “beaming with Pride as it lights up the night in rainbow colors every evening in June.”

This past November, LGBT activists celebrated when the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade featured a same-sex kiss between two actresses participating in the parade. Not everyone saw it as a sign of progress. “Macy’s has sexualized and lesbianized Thanksgiving in its iconic kids’ parade,” wrote conservative writer Rod Dreher.

Other once family-friendly companies are also stepping up efforts to push the LGBT agenda, including Disney, which held its first Pride parade at its theme park in Paris on June 1. In writing about the parade, the LGBT publication Out Magazine called Mickey and Minnie Mouse allies and described them sporting “brand new Pride looks, riding by in a car covered in rainbows.” For years, Disney has held unofficial gay events at its theme parks.

As Pride events have grown in size and begun touting themselves as family friendly – making them even more vile – Christians have become more befuddled about how to react. It should be obvious to Christians that they shouldn’t join in the festivities, but some need reminders like that found in Michael Brown’s recent piece, “Why I Do Not Celebrate Gay Pride.”

Even worse, some supposedly conservative Christians publicly endorse attending Pride events. In evangelical Protestant and Catholic circles, there’s a growing “gay but celibate” movement that encourages Christians with homosexual attractions to openly and unashamedly identify as gay and which allows for keeping one foot in the gay world so long as one does not act on same-sex desires. Last year, lesbian Catholic writer and Revoice conference speaker Eve Tushnet wrote in Patheos:

I was at the Pride parade this weekend. I have all kinds of issues with contemporary Pride celebrations but here is the thing: I know Christians, believers seeking to live obediently, who feel freed at Pride in a way they never feel in church. In so many of our churches, gay people’s shame is treated as a proof of their orthodoxy or personal holiness… I don’t feel especially liberated by Pride, but that is because I was never imprisoned in the ways that my friends have been. I’m always aware of the ways in which my faith makes me an outsider there. But my friends, who share my faith in spite of much greater suffering at the hands of Christians, feel liberated at Pride because it is a place where being gay does not separate you from others, but connects you to them. Being in a space where everyone is gay and just rejoicing in our community, flinging beads (I do love the beads), being gay in a million different ways, makes you see that being gay can mean community instead of silence, solidarity instead of judgment, beauty instead of barrenness, welcome instead of suspicion, and joy instead of despair.

Department stores bedecking LGBT depravity with rainbows and glitter and selling it to kids as well as adults deserve to feel the heat of righteous anger. But when Christians get this confused and compromised, they’re a lot less likely to send the right message.

Snatching Body Parts

Barbarous body snatchers calling themselves “doctors” don’t harvest just the parts of recently killed tiny humans. They also harvest them even while tiny humans yet live. One such “doctor” is Jörg C. Gerlach about whose work in harvesting livers from babies between 18-22 weeks gestation David Daleiden wrote in an essay published by the Washington Examiner on June 7 and excerpted here:

The abortions… were performed by routine medical induction; the labor was induced by local prostaglandin administration…. To a medical certainty, a 5-month-old fetus aborted intact by labor induction is alive at the time of delivery. Feticides such as digoxin cannot be used in a harvesting case, and the whole point of the Gerlach protocol is to obtain fresh, live, clean liver cells for transplantation minimizing time without circulation. In other words, these babies either died when they were “submerged” in bags for transport, or after their bodies were cut open to harvest their livers.

Do all those “nasty” shouting women in pink hats have anything to say about the bodily autonomy and integrity of those humans whose livers were snatched while they yet lived?

Thankfully, the Trump Administration is prohibiting scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from “obtaining new tissue samples from elective abortions.” It is a limited prohibition that still allows for the acquisition of new tissue from elective abortions for research projects that are conducted outside the NIH but use NIH grants, but it’s movement in the right direction.

Target

Target is going for broke in its quest to promote sexual perversion and offend conservative families, many of whom stopped shopping at Target when Target made women’s restrooms available to men who pretend to be women (and, therefore, available to predators who pretend to be men who pretend to be women). Now families can’t go because Target has made homoeroticism-as-identity and cross-dressing-as-identity its central, eye-popping focus. While the co-ed restroom policy was easy to conceal from young children, the pro-“LGBT” propaganda is unavoidable.

Target description: “Whether you’re hitting the beach or throwing a Pride pool party, you’ll do it in comfortable, colorful style with these Rainbow Check Pride Swim Trunks from Evolve Products. These gender-inclusive swim trunks feature a white background decorated with an allover checkered rainbow print — providing you with a vibrant look that helps you showcase your pride in style. These rainbow check trunks are finished off with an elastic waistband and drawstring closure; simply throw them on with a solid tee or a rainbow tank for a fun look that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community.”

Let’s hope and pray Target goes broke.

Bishop Paprocki

On June 6, Catholic canon lawyer Bishop Thomas John Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, citing canon law, issued a public decree that says,

Due to their leadership roles in promoting the evil of abortion by facilitating the passage of Senate Bill 25 this legislative session and House Bill 40 in 2017, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton have been barred from receiving Holy Communion in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois…. In addition, Illinois Catholic lawmakers who voted for either of these abortion bills are not to present themselves to receive Holy Communion.

Catholic bishops in every diocese in the country should do likewise regarding any purportedly Catholic lawmakers who support abortion.

Bishop Tobin

On June 1, Bishop Thomas Tobin tweeted this truthful tweet:

A reminder that Catholics should not support or attend LGBTQ “Pride Month” events held in June. They promote a culture and encourage activities that are contrary to Catholic faith and morals. They are especially harmful for children.

A tweet like this should be both unremarkable and ubiquitous. Every Christian leader, whether Catholic or Protestant, should be posting such an exhortation/admonition annually on their social media platforms, on their church websites and in their church bulletins.

Tobin caught such flak that he issued a wholly unnecessary and partially regrettable explanation of his tweet. Here are the regrettable parts:

I regret that my comments yesterday about Pride Month have turned out to be so… offensive to some, especially the gay community….  Individuals with same-sex attraction are… our brothers and sisters. I will be praying for a rebirth of… respect in our very diverse community.

Christians should not regret that biblical truth offends. The Bible teaches that “for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,’ and ‘A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.’”

It is, of course, true that many who experience same-sex attraction are our brothers and sisters in Christ, but those who act on those feelings and affirm them as righteousness are not, because being a brother and sister in Christ requires that “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Bishop Tobin prays for a rebirth of respect. The word “respect” means to hold something in esteem. Christians must hold persons in esteem because all persons are created in the image and likeness of God. But Christians must not respect all the feelings, beliefs, and actions of all persons. I wish Bishop Tobin had made clear exactly what he hopes Christians should hold in esteem.

I also wish Bishop Tobin and all other Christians would refrain from using terminology created or redefined by Leftists to embody untruthful ideas and advance an ideology that harms individuals and society. In other words, don’t use, for example, “gay,” “transgender,” “transwoman,” or incorrect pronouns. Language matters. That why “progressives” demand we use the terms they invent or redefine. As George Orwell wrote, “… if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”

Final thoughts

If every theologically orthodox pastor, priest, and lay person would speak up boldly in defense of right sexual, Leftists would be unable to oppress Christians in the ways they seek to do. In a fascistic effort to silence the expression of beliefs sexual anarchists don’t like, they now seek to render Christians unable to speak freely, exercise their religion freely, associate freely, or to be employed.

What happens if those men and women who form the tip of the spear in battling the single greatest threat to the First Amendment have no forces backing them up? They are destroyed and then too are those they sought to protect.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

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The theory that people are “born gay” has been used to argue that sexual orientation is similar to race—that “gay is the new black.” Based largely on this premise, the proposed “Equality Act,” which is currently under consideration in Congress, would treat sexual orientation exactly like race under federal civil rights laws. But is it true that sexual orientation is determined at (or before) birth?

The biological purpose of sex is reproduction, and natural sexual reproduction only occurs in opposite-sex relationships. So in one sense, everyone who is born with a normal reproductive system is physiologically “oriented” toward heterosexuality at birth.

However, this fundamental physical reality does not define what people today call “sexual orientation.” Sexual orientation involves a mix of sexual attractions, behaviors, and self-identification. Surveys about sexuality have shown that these three elements of sexual orientation are not always consistent with each other, and not always stable over time. There are also significant differences between male and female sexuality. This complexity and variability makes it somewhat difficult to even define “sexual orientation”—let alone declare that it is inborn.

As I demonstrated in a recent paper for Family Research Council, studies based on four large, population-based, longitudinal data sets drawn from such surveys all demonstrate that significant change in each of the elements of sexual orientation is possible. In one survey of “same-sex attracted respondents,” up to 38% of men and 53% of women “changed to heterosexuality” in only a six-year period. Even scholar Lisa Diamond (who herself identifies as a lesbian) has declared that “it is not scientifically accurate to describe same-sex sexual orientation as a uniformly immutable trait.” New research within the last month has reinforced this finding that “sexual orientation is fluid.”

This is not to say that people “choose” their sexual orientation. People have a choice regarding their behaviors and how they self-identify, but sexual attractions are generally not a choice. When the question is posed whether some people are “born gay,” the real question is, “Are some people oriented from birth toward homosexual attractions?”

In the early 1990s, there was great hope in some circles that a “gay gene” would be found that would prove homosexuality to be fixed and determined genetically. This enterprise has proved to be a notable failure. Even the American Psychological Association—which is very supportive of the LGBT movement—has conceded:

There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors.

There may be some limited genetic influence on the development of same-sex attractions—but there is a significant difference between a trait being genetically influenced and genetically determined. Studies of identical twins show that when one twin is homosexual, the other (genetically identical) twin is usually not homosexual. This disproves the idea of homosexuality as a fixed, genetically determined trait.

Some researchers have suggested non-genetic biological theories for the origin of same-sex attractions, such as hormonal influences or intra-uterine experiences. For example, it has been reported that men with more older brothers are more likely to be homosexual, and it has been speculated that this could relate to a biological effect in the mother’s womb. No such effect has has ever been demonstrated, though, and critics have argued that a psychological explanation can account for this data as well as a biological one.

Most researchers prior to the 1970’s believed, as many still do today, that homosexual attractions are primarily a developmental result of childhood experiences. There are some patterns that appear frequently in the life histories of those with same-sex attractions. These include poor bonding with the same-sex parent or peers, or having been a victim of child sexual abuse.

Even some people who self-identify as gay are rejecting the idea that they were “born that way”—and the defensiveness of the implicit argument that “I’m only like this because I can’t help it.” Columbia University sociologist Shamus Khan laments that “biologists, social activists and scholars have not just tolerated a fiction, but in many instances propagated it”—giving credence to “a false idol of bad science.”

The “born gay” theory lacks scientific credibility, and it—and policies premised on it, such as the Equality Act—should be abandoned.

Peter Sprigg is a Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.

On Thursday Heidi Stevens, the Chicago Tribune’s foolish lifestyle writer, wrote in glowing terms about a noxious new Gillette razor ad that features “trans” -activist “Samson” Bonkabantu Brown, a young woman who pretends to be a young man, getting a face-shaving tutorial from her father. Stevens views the science-denying ad that implicitly affirms the chemical sterilization and surgical mutilation of children as evolutionary, helpful, and powerful. And here I thought we were supposed to love our bodies just as they are.

On the very same day, arts and entertainment writer (the Trib uses the words “arts” and “entertainment” very loosely) Steve Johnson did his level best to intellectualize, sanitize, and elevate a perverse new art exhibit titled “About Face: Stonewall, Revolt and new Queer Art,” describing it as an “ambitious…. Sweeping survey of queer art curated with an eye toward the transgendered, the intersectional, the ways in which sexuality is being more widely recognized as fluid and complex rather than binary and rigid.” Maybe if he had tried just a wee bit harder, he could have packed in a tad more “progressive” jargon.

It’s a bit unclear what Johnson means when he refers to sexuality. If he’s referring to hardwired biological sex, then it remains stubbornly “binary and rigid” no matter what “trans”-alchemists are widely pretending, er I mean, “recognizing.”

If, however, he’s referring to “sexual orientation” or sexual appetites, he’s right. They’re fluid and complex—not binary or rigid. Due to the fall of man, the sexual appetites of men and women are diverse, fluid, complex, malformed, misshapen, misdirected, misoriented, and disordered by all sorts of environmental and biological factors. It’s been dogmatic homosexuals who have tried to convince the world that “sexual orientation” is (relatively) binary (i.e., heterosexual or homosexual) and rigid. Scripture has long informed those with eyes to see and ears to hear that sexual appetites are fluid. Remember reading about incest, homosexuality, cross-dressing, and bestiality? Remember reading that there’s nothing new under the sun? Remember reading that “such were some of you”?

The exhibit’s curator, Jonathan David Katz, has had a remarkable career proselytizing for sodomy. According to Wikipedia, Katz is the former executive coordinator of the Larry Kramer Initiative for Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale University, former chair of the Department of Lesbian and Gay studies at the City College of San Francisco, first tenured faculty in gay and lesbian studies in the United States, founder of the Harvey Milk Institute (the largest queer studies institute in the world named in honor of the despicable ephebophile Harvey Milk), co-founder of Queer Nation in San Francisco, and first artistic director of the National Queer Arts Festival in San Francisco.

To quote Howlin’ Wolf, Great Googly Moogly!

Our culture has become debauched enough that Katz is bold enough to admit that “for a lot of queer people, the goal was never to create a separate and polar gay community… that stood in opposition to straightness. Rather, the goal was to get rid of sexuality as a defining term of human difference.” Word to queer people, if by “sexuality” you mean, biological sex, your goal is quixotic and futile. Biological sex is the most fixed defining term of difference within the sexually dimorphic humans species. If by “sexuality,” you mean homoeroticism, your goal is equally quixotic and futile. Though you may be able to fool some people–perhaps even many people–into believing homoerotic acts are moral, you will never be able to fool all of them because truths about sexual morality are written on men’s and women’s hearts.

Here are some details Johnson offers about the exhibit:

“Chicago imagist icon Roger Brown is represented here, including transgressive paintings depicting ‘the relationship between a youth and an adult man, in which the younger partner is hardly a victim.’” (This is likely the painting, which you can zoom in on to read the captions.)

“Colombian artist Carlos Motta shows himself naked in a video* [warning: full frontal nudity], dangling in an upside-down crucifix position, moaning in seeming pain, or is it pleasure?”

“In one, walk-in work called ‘Self Service,’ you’ll find a wooden sex toy mounted on a bathroom wall between metal grab bars…. If a visitor was not previously familiar with the range of male genitalia, this show will fix that.”

“Joan E. Biren’s photographs on display depict an early lesbian collective at work; there’s a… 1977 image of a topless woman sawing wood.”

“A highlight of the show is the top-floor suite of Jerome Caja works, paintings mostly in nail polish on, seemingly, whatever material was on hand for the late San Francisco artist…. The miniature works…. confront Catholic…  iconography and drag queen tropes.” [If you’re curious about Caja, here’s his website, and here’s just one of his miniature works (obscenity warning): “Bozo Picks a Boyfriend”]

*Carlos Motta says this about Requiem: Mondo Invertito: “REQUIEM is based on a queer interpretation of the stories of the death and resurrection of Christ in an attempt to question their effect on the sustained exclusion of queer bodies and lives…. featuring bondage artists Stafano Laforgia and Andrea Ropes and Carlos Motta.”

Remember when kids would read newspapers for “current events” school assignments? Ah, those were the good old days. Now our newspapers should be wrapped in brown paper and sold in creepy stores in creepy urban neighborhoods frequented by creepy men in stained trench coats.

Steve Johnson and the Chicago Tribune should be ashamed, but shame is so yesterday.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Tribune-Promotes-Destructive-Deviance.mp3

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The U.S. House of Representatives just passed the disastrous and dishonestly titled Equality Act that if passed into law will not merely gut First Amendment protections but effectively ban Christianity and any other religions that teach that homoerotic acts and cross-sex impersonation are immoral.

This proposal (H.R. 5) passed Friday afternoon by a vote of 236 to 173 (with 23 not voting). The Illinois Congressional delegation voted along party lines. Congressman Darrin LaHood (R-Peoria) was absent but has told us that he was a “no” vote.

Here are the 8 traitorous U.S. House Republicans who voted with the Democrats in favor of the faux-equality act: Reps. Susan Brooks (Ind.), Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) Will Hurd (Texas), John Katko (N.Y.), Tom Reed (N.Y.), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and Greg Walden (Ore.).

They sold their souls and our religious liberty, assembly rights, and speech rights for a mess of pottage in the form of their re-election bids. Either self-serving desire to preserve their position was their motivation, or they have no understanding of either equality or the differences between conditions like race and sex and conditions like homoeroticism and opposite-sex impersonation.

The National Review exposes how radical and dangerous the Equality Act is:

Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Virginia, has been a longtime supporter of same-sex marriage…. Laycock has also been a longtime supporter of enacting a federal gay-rights non-discrimination law, but he doesn’t support the Equality Act, a bill just approved by the House of Representatives that would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, because it would “crush” conscientious objectors.

“It goes very far to stamp out religious exemptions,” Laycock tells National Review in an email. “It regulates religious non-profits. And then it says that [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act] does not apply to any claim under the Equality Act. This would be the first time Congress has limited the reach of RFRA. This is not a good-faith attempt to reconcile competing interests. It is an attempt by one side to grab all the disputed territory and to crush the other side….” Laycock says that religious schools would probably be viewed as “public accommodations” under the Equality Act even if they refuse all federal funding.”

If passed and signed into law, the Equality Act would require that federal law recognize disordered subjective feelings and deviant behaviors as protected characteristics. Federal law would absurdly recognize homoeroticism and cross-sex masquerading as conditions that must be treated like race and biological sex, which are objective, 100 percent heritable conditions that are in all cases immutable, and carry no behavioral implications.

Once the law is enjoined to protect two groups based on their subjective, internal sexual feelings and volitional sexual behaviors, we open a Pandora’s Box of evils that will inevitably result in conflicts between the spanking new legal rights of those who embrace sexual deviance as “identity” and 1. the First Amendment rights of those who reject sexual deviance, 2. the moral right of businesses to require restrooms, locker rooms, and showers to correspond to biological sex, 3. the right of businesses to fire or refuse to hire a person who chooses to masquerade as the opposite sex, and 4. the right of public schools to fire or to refuse to hire a person who chooses to impersonate the opposite sex.

Thomas Donnelly–aka “Giselle”

There is nothing intrinsically unjust about treating people differently based on their volitional choices. There is nothing unjust about treating biological women as different from biological men who impersonate women. And it is manifestly just and proper for an organization or business to fire people like Thomas Donnelly (see photo), a defense and national security Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and BDSM aficionado who now masquerades as a woman named “Giselle.”

Just as the legal prohibition of discrimination based on homoerotic feelings and acts conflicts with the legal prohibition of religious discrimination, so will the legal prohibition of discrimination based on feelings about maleness and femaleness and acts related to those feelings set in motion conflicts with prohibitions of religious and sex discrimination. It is morally and intellectually untenable that subjective feelings and volitional acts supersede both biological sex and religion as a protected class.

Pastor and theologian Doug Wilson makes clear the totalizing and totalitarian impulses and goals of LGB and T activists (a schism among whom is growing):

[T]he sexual revolutionaries are not interested in anything shy of total and complete victory.

And that is what the faux-equality act is about: total and complete victory over theologically orthodox Christians, which necessarily means eradicating their freedom to speak freely, assemble/associate, and exercise their religion.

Dr. Robert A. J. Gagnon, Professor of Theology at Houston Baptist University, provides a troubling list of effects that will ensue from the passage of the pernicious Equality Act—which speaking in the strident voice of cultural regressives, Dr. Gagnon facetiously calls the “Get the Homophobic and Transphobic Bigots Act.” According to Dr. Gagnon, the faux-equality act will mandate:

1.) Nationwide “LGBTQ” indoctrination in school curricula and in workplaces, where you and your children will regularly learn and relearn that anyone who is not a cheerleader for all things “gay” and “transgender” is a hateful, ignorant, and indecent bigot who has no place in society (note that Christian teachers in public schools will be forced not only to listen to such presentations but also to make them for students).

2.) State social services to take your children away from you if you oppose your child’s “right” to transition to a person of the other sex or enter homosexual sexual relationships.

3.) Affirmative-action hiring of people who identify as “transgender” and “gay” throughout industry and academia.

4.) Speech that embraces the faux gender identity of “transgenders” under penalty of fines and imprisonment.

5.) “Transgender female” (i.e., male) access to female restrooms, showers, locker rooms, dressing rooms, shelters, dormitories, and sports.

6.) Use of all commercial talents (photographers, artists, bakers, wedding planners, printers, etc.), including forced speech (lettering, messages) to promote transgenderism and homosexual intercourse, under pain of fines and imprisonment.

7.) The firing of white-collar employees who express any religious or secular views deemed “hateful” by “LGBTQ” radicals, even if that view is expressed outside the workplace, say (for example) in social media.

8.) Loss of federal financial aid, science grants, and ultimately accreditation for Christian colleges and universities that maintain “discriminatory” policies toward LGBTQ behavior and relationships, whatever short-term, bait-and-switch exemption is offered to get the bill passed.

9.) Doctors and Catholic hospitals to perform “sex-change” operations on children and to treat all “trans” patients not as their real biological sex but as the sex that they pretend to be.

10.) Law enforcement agencies, courts, and medical research studies to categorize “trans-persons” by their pretend sex.

11.) Censorship, with punitive penalties imposed if at all possible, on all speech and publications that make homosexual and transgender persons “feel unsafe” (essentially all speech critical of homosexual intercourse and transgenderism).

Just slapping the word “equality” onto legislation does not transform it magically into something good or make it about equality. The Equality Act—like the ERA—is not about equality. The Equality Act—like the ERA–serves the tyrannical interests of the “LGBTQQAP” community. And both will be used to deny the rights of women and Christians.

You have been amply warned. Now, do something.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to our U.S. Senators to urge him/her to oppose the federal Equality Act (H.R. 5) which seeks to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections for an individual’s perceived sex, “sexual orientation,” or “gender identity.” If you know the name of your local official, you can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask the operator to connect you with his/her office to leave a message.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

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Hoosiers know that our own Mike Pence is one of the best orators in Washington, DC. It was no surprise to hear the positive reviews the Vice President received from his commencement speech at Liberty University on Saturday. If you have not read about this, you can watch his outstanding address HERE.

The Vice President warned the graduates of America’s largest Christian university that if they live out their faith in a Biblically consistent manner, persecution is to be expected. This is a truth every discerning Christian should understand today. As Christ said in John 15:20, “A servant is not greater than his master.  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.”

Here is one of Pence’s comments:

“Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs.  So, as you go about your daily life, just be ready.  Because you’re going to be asked not just to tolerate things that violate your faith; you’re going to be asked to endorse them.  You’re going to be asked to bow down to the idols of the popular culture. . .”

His words are prophetic.   This week, the U.S. House is expected to vote on H.R. 5, the misnamed “Equality Act.”

The American Family Association has warned, “The deceptive “Equality Act” is a religious liberty wrecking ball.”

It would be hard to imagine a more anti-freedom bill than this one. This legislation would allow the government to discriminate against people of faith, bypassing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and forcing people to violate their consciences or face the full weight of state punishment.  I have often said that LGBT stands for “Let’s Get Behind Tyranny.”   H.R. 5 is proof of where the sexual anarchy agenda is going.

Here are just a few of the many problems H.R. 5 could cause if enacted:

• H.R. 5 would force Christian schools, ministries and churches to change their employment policies that are aligned with traditional teachings on sex, gender, and human sexuality.

• H.R. 5 would force many faith-based organizations to pay for abortion in their health care plans by creating a right to demand abortion coverage from health care providers.

• H.R. 5 would harm faith-based charities, such as adoption agencies, that believe in natural marriage and strive to place foster or adoptive children with a mother and father.

• H.R. 5 would embolden those in Indiana who have been attempting to destroy our school voucher system by undermining the teachings of Christian schools on sexual behavior that have employment policies consistent with those beliefs.

• H.R. 5 threatens the privacy and safety of women and children by forcing genderless bathrooms and showers upon sporting facilities, parks, rest areas and other public amenities.   

Your US Representative needs to hear from you today.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to your U.S. Representative to ask him/her to oppose the federal Equality Act (H.R. 5) which seeks to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections for an individuals perceived sex, sexual orientation and gender identity. If you know the name of your local official, you can also call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask the operator to connect you with his/her office to leave a message.

This article was originally published by AFA of Indiana.

Written by Rey Flores

For most children, there are few things as fun as story time. Whether it’s at home, school or the local library, children listen attentively to fantastic stories of kings, dragons, and furry animals. Sadly, story time has now become indoctrination time.

For those who may not know, a drag queen is a man–usually homosexual–who likes to dress up in garish makeup and tacky, revealing women’s clothing. Not so long ago, drag queen performances would be something you’d have to seek out in the seediest of nightclubs in major cities. Today, one need look no further than the local, friendly public library–you know, the same place where kids used to go to check out books or seek assistance with their homework. Many of our publicly funded libraries have been taken over by radical pro-homosexual leftists who believe they are doing our children a service by supposedly teaching them “tolerance” and “diversity.”

These drag queen story hours have been around for a few years now, and therein lies the problem. Why are we as God-fearing taxpayers allowing these abominations to take place in our communities? (Laurie Higgins first wrote about this in 2017.) Many of these drag queens dress in provocative clothing which are scandalous enough to an audience of adults, let alone small children. They read propaganda masquerading as picture books, like “Sparkle Boy” or “My Princess Boy,” encouraging children to rebel from their God-given gender roles.

Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) has become a pet cause among liberals who have bought into the Godless culture. They’ll readily take their toddlers and children to these library-hosted events as readily as they take their kids to homosexual pride parades. There’s even a DQSH Facebook page where they describe their story as follows:

Drag Queen Story Hour is just what it sounds like: local drag queens reading stories to children. Created by Michelle Tea and RADAR Productions in San Francisco, DQSH now happens in SF, LA, New York, and beyond! Drag Queen Story Hour captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity in childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. In spaces like this, kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish, and where dress-up is real.

A San Francisco librarian who seems to equate moral disapproval with bullying:

Drag Queen Story Hour is a wonderful program that helps to bring acceptance of diversity to our communities. At the most recent DQSH at The Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Memorial Branch Library, the presenter, Black Benatar, read “My Princess Boy,” by Cheryl Kilodavis. When she finished reading, she asked the children (about 40 of them), ‘If you met a Princess Boy, would you make fun of him?’ and all the children said, ‘No!’ Then she asked them if they would ask him to play with them, and they all said, “Yes!” I had tears in my eyes, it was so beautiful and moving. This program is more important than ever.

These librarians believe the practice of cross-dressing is wonderful when, in reality, it’s the opposite. Adults have no business normalizing sexual perversity to children and no business using taxpayer funds–which include their salaries–to promote their controversial views.

It’s not surprising that these kinds of events are becoming more mainstream. On ABC a few months back, the nationally-televised morning program hosted a 10-year-old drag queen. The hosts and studio audience applauded in approval. This same boy posed for a homosexual magazine recently with an adult male drag queen who only wore his wig and makeup for the shoot. Again, the same boy surfaced in an online video, dancing at a nightclub, with adult homosexual men were tucking dollar bills in the boy’s outfit. It was a new low for American society.

It’s the classic frog in a pot of water for our kids. The forces of evil are turning the heat up little by little until our kids’ souls are boiled alive. All decent community members, including parents and community leaders, are obligated to take action to stop this kind of molestation of our once-respectable, taxpayer-funded public education institutions.

Our children and young people are being slowly brainwashed by the weaponized radical left. Their weapons of choice used to be mainstream movies, television, music, and advertising, but today the most dangerous places for children (after their mother’s womb) are their local public schools and now their neighborhood public libraries.

Please let us know if your local library is hosting such events. Perhaps if we have enough parents protesting these inappropriate “story hours,” we can put a stop to them once and for all.

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Recently, another purportedly Christian child welfare agency abandoned its commitments to Christ by agreeing to place children in the homes of people who affirm that which God detests. Faced with an ACLU lawsuit, Bethany Christian Services (BCS) in Michigan has agreed to place children for fostering and adoption in the homes of unrepentant homosexuals, who will provide to these children “the counsel of the wicked.” In so doing, BCS—the largest Christian foster and adoption agency in the country—has granted unto Caesar that which belongs to God. BCS follows in the sullied footsteps of its affiliate in Philadelphia and Illinois’ Lutheran Child and Family Services (LCFS). BCS should now remove “Christian” from its name.

BCS laughably claims they “are focused on demonstrating the love of Jesus Christ by serving children in need,” ignoring the inconvenient truth that the love of Jesus Christ is inseparable from his holiness. Does any theologically orthodox Christian believe Jesus would have placed orphans in the homes of unrepentant homosexuals who believe homosexual acts are pleasing to God? What do BCS and LCFS think families headed by homosexuals will teach their children about homosexual acts and marriage—which is a picture of Christ and his bride, the church? And what do BCS and LCFS think the implications of those beliefs for both the temporal and eternal lives of children are?

Lesbian Dana Nessel, Michigan’s recently-elected attorney general, tweeted her thanks to BCS. Such appreciation from the morally challenged Nessel should tell BCS they made the wrong decision. Nessel is infamous for her a vulgar campaign ad that said,

So when you’re choosing Michigan’s next attorney general. Ask yourself this: Who can you trust most not to show you their penis in a professional setting? Is it the candidate who doesn’t have a penis? I’d say so.

What kind of civics lesson did this teach children?

The deeply troubling trend of Christians jettisoning homosexual practice as a disqualifying criterion for child placement continues apace. This month, Katy Faust, founder and director of the wonderful children’s rights organization Them Before Us, posted a YouTube video in which she argues that hard-to-place children should be placed in the homes of homosexuals. Her claim raises some important questions:

• Would Ms. Faust’s position pertain if the adopting parents were two brothers in a consensual incestuous relationship or if the parents were five people of various sexes in a polyamorous relationship?

• What criteria does Ms. Faust use when evaluating the suitability of a home?

• Is there any type of adult relationship that is so intrinsically disordered and God-dishonoring that no truly Christian organization should place children in the care of those in such relationships?

• Is it wrong to place children in the homes of people who affirm wickedness as righteousness and who will teach their children body- and soul-destroying lies as truth?

• If the homes of self-identified homosexuals are suitable homes for hard-to-place children, wouldn’t they be suitable homes for any and all other children?

It is not solely the idea promulgated in this video that is problematic. It’s also the source. Since Faust is conservative and justifiably well-respected among conservatives for her commitment to the needs and rights of children, her support for placement of children in foundationally-disordered homes will carry significant weight among conservatives.

In researching this topic, I came across a story I missed when homosexual news outlets were reporting it in 2010. It’s a story they cast as a grievous injustice perpetrated by Lutheran Child and Family Services. The alleged grievous injustice was that LCFS declined to place a 15-year-old self-identified homosexual boy in the home of homosexual couple Matt Nalett (then 33) and Fred Steinhauer (then 64) (pictured to the right).

The now 72-year-old Steinhauer posts photos on his FB page of shirtless young men in their underwear. Steinhauer’s most recent FB post is an ad from a company called Nasty Pig that was founded 20 years ago by two homosexual men and geared toward homosexuals. The company’s founders describe Nasty Pigs as “a trailblazing brand that makes hot clothes that get you laid.” The ad Steinhauer posted shows only the chest and crotch of a shirtless man wearing a jockstrap.

On his Facebook page, Nalett recently posted a doctored photo of the Crown Fountain in Millennium Park that showed a naked man urinating.

Today LCFS would place a 15-year-old self-identified homosexual boy in the care of such a couple, and many Americans would cheer such a placement as a manifestation of social justice and evidence of progress.

Last summer in June 2018, the Chicago Tribune published a heartstrings-tugging profile of Bill Guest, a 40-year-old, unemployed homosexual man who lives at home with his parents and yet was able to procure a baby through an organization called Family Source Consultants that matched him up with a surrogate who chose him specifically because he’s homosexual (Guest and his daughter pictured to the right).

Family Source Consultants describes itself as “a leading authority in third party reproductive services” that “matches and facilitates Gestational Surrogacy and Egg Donation arrangements in the United States and Internationally” and “is pleased to assist individuals and couples of all… sexual orientations.”

No longer does American society believe what Obama once believed and proclaimed on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. He and virtually all other Americans once believed that mothers and fathers are essential to fulfilling children’s intrinsic needs and rights. Sadly, society no longer recognizes, respects, or protects children’s rights. Instead society slavishly serves the disordered, selfish desires of adults.

“Progressives” argue that only the number of parents is critical—not their biological sex, but they rarely if ever explain how they arrive at that number. Conservatives can explain why. The number two derives from the sexual dimorphism of the human species. Dismissing as irrelevant the natural way new humans come into being, Leftists simply assert that two is the magic number for an ideal home. For them, the source of that number poses an intellectual stickywicket they prefer to avoid.

As we move from a country shaped historically by a biblically-informed worldview to one opposed to values informed by theological orthodoxy and informed by the exaltation of absolute autonomy, moral relativism, and the sexual revolution, children suffer.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/GayAdoptions.mp3

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The open secret is no secret anymore. The tragedy is being uncovered for the world to see. As headlines now announce, “Sexual abuse scandal rocks the Boy Scouts of America as it is revealed ‘more than 12,000 members were victims of perpetrators who will soon be revealed in ‘perversion files’.”

This is shocking and terribly painful. But it is not surprising in the least. It has been reported for years that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) was covering up this sexual scandal, whether by hook or by crook. As reported by the LA Times in January, 2015, “Settlement in sex abuse case keeps Scouts’ ‘perversion files’ closed.”

Now, at last, this horrific story is coming to the light of day.

But who can calculate the damage that was done? How much emotional blood does the BSA have on its hands? How many lives have been marred or even destroyed?

But this is only the beginning of the travesty.

Not only has the BSA allegedly covered up thousands of cases of sexual abuse of children, but while this was going on, the BSA actively opened the door to gay scouts and even gay scout leaders. It’s as if they were inviting the complete implosion of their organization.

And they did so at the expense of vulnerable children, some of whom have been scarred for life.

Think about that for a minute.

Back in 2015, I wrote, “As of July 13^th, ‘the executive committee of the Boy Scouts of America has unanimously approved a resolution that would end the organization’s blanket ban on gay adult leaders,’ allowing individual scout troops to set their own policy.

“This is nothing less than moral suicide for the Boy Scouts of America.”

And it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out. Just some decency, mixed with common sense, would have been more than enough.

For example, we hear all too many reports about female school teachers having sex with their teenaged male students. There’s a male-female, heterosexual chemistry that can be dangerous, which is why we constantly set protective boundaries to do our best to avoid abuse.

That’s why we don’t have heterosexual, female scout leaders working alone with male scout troops or heterosexual, male scout leaders working alone with female scout troops. And that’s one reason why, for decades, the BSA would not allow openly homosexual scouts.

To do so would create an environment that could make other boys uncomfortable. It would also create an environment that could lead to potential sexual abuse, as in a 17-year-old homosexual boy seducing a 14-year-old scout mate.

But all that had to change in the name of equality and tolerance.

Forget about all the straight boys (meaning, at least 95 percent of them). No, a potentially unsafe and uncomfortable environment must be created for all of them to make the less than 5 percent feel welcomed.

And remember: the BSA voted to do this while knowing about thousands of cases of male-on-male sexual abuse.

Yet even this was not enough.

Instead, there had to be a push for openly gay scout leaders.

To protest was to be a bigot. To raise caution was to be a homophobe.

And so, the BSA took one more fatal step, allowing for openly gay scout leaders, virtually guaranteeing more instances of the sexual abuse of children.

Only God knows how many BSA executives are culpable for voting for this change.

In my 2015 article, I wrote: “The very same webpage referencing the ‘Perversion Files’ is replete with other headlines, including: ‘Boy Scouts failed to report abuser’ (Oct. 29, 2011); ‘Boy Scout files reveal repeat child abuse by sexual predators’ (Aug. 5, 2012); ‘Top executives did not report suspected Scout abuse cases, files show’ (Dec. 30, 2012); ‘Men tell of sexual abuse by scoutmaster decades ago’ (Oct. 20, 2012); ‘Boy Scouts’ opposition to background checks let pedophiles in’ (Dec. 2, 2012); and ‘Release of Scouts’ files reveals decades of abuse’ (Oct. 19, 2012).”

And, I asked, “Why in the world would you want to swing the door wide open to men whom you know are attracted to males? . . . It’s not a matter of hating gays. It’s a matter of loving children.”

The good news is that the perversion and abuse is being exposed. The bad news is that the damage and destruction is incredibly widespread. Who knows how many other stories have still not been told (or, perhaps, never will be told because of guilt or shame or suicide)?

If you have (or had) a child in the BSA, I encourage you to do two things.

First, have a talk with your son (or sons) and ask them with love and tenderness to tell you the truth about any sexual abuse they experienced or witnessed. If they have a story to tell, it should be added to the current lawsuit. And, of course, see if your kids need professional counseling because of the trauma they suffered.

Second, get your boys out of the BSA today. There are other (safe!) alternatives available, like Trail Life. If none are available in your area, perhaps you can help start a new branch.

As for the BSA, I do not say, R.I.P.

Rather, as you are going down for the count, look into the eyes of the children (many of whom are now adults) whose lives you have knowingly destroyed. Look into their parents’ eyes as well.

And live with that.

This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.

The God-rejecting, science-denying, incoherent “trans” ideology lurches on destroying lives, aided and abetted by ignorant people like Illinois’ Governor J.B. Pritzker who is using an administrative rule to force Illinoisans to pay for “gender reassignment” surgery and risky cross-sex hormone-doping through Medicaid.

The term “gender reassignment surgery” is absurd. Physicians do not “reassign” or “confirm” gender. Nor do they reassign, confirm, or change a person’s sex. The surgery Pritzker seeks to make taxpayers fund in this morally and fiscally bankrupt state is surgery that mutilates healthy bodies in order to enable those who suffer from gender dysphoria to pass as the sex they are not and never can be. Such medical malpractice is lucrative for surgeons and pharmaceutical companies but grievously harmful to its victims. Forcing Illinoisans to subsidize it is a social, political, and moral injustice.

At the same time, however, more and more brave souls are emerging on the cultural scene to fight back against the heart-, mind-, and body-destroying “trans” ideology often at great personal cost.

The number of men and women “detransitioning” grows, and they’re trying to warn others through websites like Sex Change Regret and Pique Resilience Project about the numerous problems—intellectual, moral, social, political, and medical—that are integral to the “trans” ideology.

Conservative and “progressive” women—including self-identifying lesbians—have created an organization called Hands Across the Aisle to oppose the implementation of “gender identity theory” through legislation and to prevent the sexual integration of women’s activities and private spaces.

“Gender-critical” radical feminists like Kara Dansky and lesbians Sheila Jeffreys and Julia Beck (who was kicked off of a Boston “LGBT” commission for her belief that only women can be lesbians and for her refusal to use female pronouns when referring to a male rapist who pretends to be a woman) are speaking out.

The Heritage Foundation has held two panel discussions that included lesbians, radical feminists, conservative Christians, and a man who formerly identified as a woman, all who share in common unstinting critiques of the “trans” ideology. (To watch them, click here  and here)

Scholars like Lisa Littman, Lisa Marchiano, Heather Brunskell-Evans, and Rebecca Reilly Cooper are dissecting the “trans” ideology, exposing its weaknesses.

And websites like 4thWaveNow and Transgender Trend, both started by parents of children caught up in the darkness and delusion of the “trans” ideology, are helping each other and the public at large better understand the dangers posed by the wholesale cultural embrace of the “trans” madness, including the embrace of it by medical and mental health communities, which now results in surgeons performing double mastectomies on 13-year-old girls and castrating 16- and 17-year-old boys.

The newest organization to emerge on the scene is The Kelsey Coalition, “a national group of parents whose transgender-identifying children have been harmed by physicians, therapists, and clinics throughout the US.” The Kelsey Coalition is calling for the term “gender identity” to be removed from the Equality Act and from what are called “conversion therapy bans,” which unjustifiably ban conventional counseling protocols.

The Kelsey Coalition has also mounted a critically important campaign to stop an unethical, ideology-driven five-year study of gender-dysphoric minors funded by taxpayers through a $5.7 million grant from  the National Institutes of Health (NIH)to four “gender” clinics—including one at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago headed up by HIV-positive homosexual pediatrician Dr. Robert Garofalo. A profile of Garofalo—who started Lurie’s gender clinic with a huge donation from J.B. Pritker’s male cousin who masquerades as a woman—in Chicago Magazine at the start of the NIH study makes this disturbing claim:

For now Garofalo’s treatments have to be seen as a radical form of medical improvisation.

This study, begun in 2015, uses children as lab rats to study the effects of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormone-doping on minors. The Kelsey Coalition’s press release states the following:

This NIH study is a five-year observational experiment in which children are treated with powerful drugs to treat a non-medical condition. The basis for inclusion in the study is little more than a child’s self-identification as transgender. There is no control group….

Young children in the study are given puberty-blocking drugs; older children, cross-sex hormones. There is neither FDA approval, nor a single safety study, to support the use of these medications by healthy children and adolescents. According to Dr. Michael Laidlaw, medical consultant to the Coalition,” These drugs will radically alter their endocrine systems, impact sexual function, and fertility, while putting them at increased risk of developing other serious medical health conditions.”

… “In 2017, the protocol was changed mid-study: the minimum age for cross-sex hormone inclusion was decreased from age thirteen to age eight. According to the 2018 progress report, 19 children have been recruited into the new 8-12 year-old cohort.”

The Kelsey Coalition contends this trial is unethical and violates laws protecting human subjects.

Through this study, taxpayers are subsidizing unethical science experiments on children as young as 8 years old.

We’re paying for quack doctors to suppress or prevent puberty, which irrevocably alters formative adolescent social experiences, making it unlikely that children will ever reclaim a proper and true sexual identity:

The impact on sexuality has not yet been studied, but the restriction of sexual appetite brought about by blockers may prevent the adolescent from having age-appropriate socio-sexual experiences.

We’re paying for the cross-sex hormone doping of minors that is supported by zero research assuring its long-term safety and which leaves children permanently sterile.

While forging ahead in its support for this medical barbarism, UnitedHealthcare Oxford ironically states that,

Clinical evidence supporting the use of GnRH analogs [puberty blockers] for the treatment of gender dysphoria is limited and lacks long-term safety data. Statistically robust randomized controlled trials are needed to address the issue of whether the benefits outweigh the clinical risk in its use.

Medical professionals believe cross-sex hormones may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, blood clots, and cancer. And they believe puberty-blockers may have deleterious effects on bone and neurological development.

Remarkably, even here in the moral and intellectual darkness that engulfs our once great state, glimmers of light offer hope to beleaguered Illinoisans. Two courageous lawmakers are taking bold public stands against the “trans” madness.

State Representative Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) announced he will be sponsoring legislation to block Pritzker’s outrageous plan to force taxpayers through Medicaid to fund medical interventions that disrupt healthy biological processes and mutilate healthy anatomy. And State Representative Tom Morrison (R-Palatine) has sponsored legislation (HB 3515) to ban chemical and surgical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors.

Tragically, there are few lawmakers at the state or national level who have the courage and wisdom to take on the “trans” ideology that wreaks havoc on the bodies and minds of men, women, and children; on families; and on the body politic. Illinoisans should support these two courageous and principled lawmakers in every way possible.

Yes, opposition to the “trans” ideology grows but not nearly fast enough. While most Christians lay low to avoid the trials God has promised us and commanded us to count as joy, the “trans” ideology lays waste to the lives and bodies of people for whom we should be willing to lay down our lives.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to Governor Pritzker’s office to let his administration know that you disagree with the misuse of taxpayer funds for Medicaid so-called “gender reassignment” surgeries.  You can also voice your opinion by phone at (217) 782-6830 or (312) 814-2121.

Listen to this article read by Laurie:

https://staging.illinoisfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/JB_Pride.mp3

A bold voice for pro-family values in Illinois!

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