Today's Cultural Warfare Update
May. 13th, 2005 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdItem 11 ("Investigate Homosexual Influence in Public Schools") is particularly worth tracking, and quite frankly, disturbing, if it passes.
Washington Post article on FDA's handling of Plan B and their subservience to "evangelical conservative" sermons;
Nebraska's local DOMA struck down; Focus on the Family calls again for an anti-gay Federal amendment;
Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney to veto stem-cell research bill over "cloning" issues;
James Dobson judicial opinion column in the Boston Globe;
Today's Family News in Focus repeats an earlier story about Kraft sponsouring the Gay Games - apparently there's quite the fundamentalist call-in spew screaming at Kraft for promoting the "homosexual agenda" - part of the continued attempt to marginalise gayfolk out of economic existence;
Concerned Women for America action item, again, on judicial nominees - there are several others as well, I'm only pulling this one, but they're all over the place;
CWA attacks Dear Abby's "false information" about gayfolk, claims all studies that don't agree that homosexuality is an addictive perversion are politically motivated and "bad" studies;
ARIZONA readers: "Protect Marriage Arizona Coalition" and CWA are launching their anti-marriage amendment signature drive - please let anyone you know in Arizona know;
CWA's Robert Knight talks about how marriage rights would inevitably lead to the criminalisation of Christianity;
American Family Association links through to nogaymarriage.com, which is a Congressionally-targeted petition drive against marriage rights;
Southern Baptist Convention to consider resolution calling for all Southern Baptists to investigate local schools for gay-friendly or tolerant attitudes, organisations, programmes, or clubs, and demand that they be shut down - gay/straight alliance clubs appear to be a primary target;
Traditional Values Coalition demands, again, a federal anti-marriage amendment;
Traditional Values Coalition anti-marriage-rights amendment in California defeated along party lines (all Republicans for) - announce plans to form anti-marriage initiative, targeted for 2006.
----- 1 -----
Memo May Have Swayed Plan B Ruling
FDA Received 'Minority Report' From Conservative Doctor on Panel
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 12, 2005; Page A02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051101812.html
Soon after the Food and Drug Administration overruled its advisory panel last year and rejected an application to make an emergency contraceptive more easily available, critics of the agency said it had ignored scientific evidence and yielded to pressure from social conservatives.
The agency denied the charge, but an outspoken evangelical conservative doctor on the panel subsequently acknowledged in a previously unreported public sermon that he was asked to write a memo to the FDA commissioner soon after the panel voted 23 to 4 in favor of over-the-counter sales of the contraceptive, called Plan B. He said he believes his memo played a central role in the rejection of that recommendation.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Judge Strikes Down Nebraska DOMA
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
SUMMARY: Decision spotlights need for a federal marriage
amendment.
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0036529.cfm
A federal judge today struck down Nebraska's Defense of
Marriage Amendment (DOMA) -- a constitutional provision
limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon, the
first of its kind, underscores the need for the Marriage
Protection Amendment, which would place the definition of
marriage beyond the reach of federal courts.
Nebraska Family First Executive Director Dave Bydalek said
the judge held that the DOMA law violated the due process
rights of homosexuals because it bars them from seeking
gay marriage or civil unions. The ruling effectively voids
the protection of marriage in Nebraska.
"Beyond that," he said, "I think it's another example of a
federal judge substituting his judgment for the
overwhelming will of the people of Nebraska."
The DOMA -- Initiative 416, which not only limited
marriage to one man and one woman, but also barred civil
unions -- passed in 2000.
Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, who called the
decision wrong and flawed, said it has "monumental
implications" for marriage.
"This decision is unbelievably broad," he said. "It says
that a law that prohibits marriage to same-sex couples is
unconstitutional as a violation of free association, equal
rights, and even a bill of attainder -- which means, he is
saying, that any law which preserves marriage as between
one man and one woman is actually a punishment against
homosexuals because of their sexuality."
Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson
agreed, saying he hopes it will be the spark that ignites
the Senate to push forward with a constitutional amendment
protecting marriage.
"Federal protection of marriage is more necessary now than
ever before," he said. "Those who have argued that the
definition of marriage is a states' rights issue have
nowhere to hide. Defense of marriage acts are not
sufficient. Either marriage will be enshrined in the U.S.
Constitution, or we will see an untenable patchwork of
marriage definitions."
Byron Babione, an attorney with the Alliance Defense
Fund's Marriage Litigation Center, said the case came
about because a group of lesbian and gay couples sued the
state of Nebraska, contending the DOMA prevented "lesbian,
gay and bisexual people from using the ordinary political
process to seek important legal protections that all other
Nebraskans already have."
The judge's decision, in fact, relied upon Romer v. Evans,
a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down
Colorado's Amendment 2 ban on special rights for
homosexuals.
In that decision, justices held that homosexuals could not
be deprived of the general protection of the laws or the
ability to participate in the political process.
Babione said that is simply not the effect the Nebraska
law would have.
"In fact, (homosexuals) did participate in the political
process, along with same-sex marriage proponents, and they
lost," he said. "What this judge is saying is they should
be able to participate in the political process until they
win."
Forty states have DOMAs, but Bydalek said Nebraska's is
slightly different in that it explicitly prohibits
same-sex couples from marrying or receiving marriage-like
benefits.
The Nebraska case, he said, is not over by a long shot.
"Absolutely, it will be appealed," Bydalek said. "It will
go to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. We feel that we
have presented a compelling enough case and a good enough
record in the case that we are hopeful the 8th Circuit
will undo what the district court did."
TAKE ACTION: The best way to spread the word about the
need for the Marriage Protection Amendment is to write a
letter to the editor of your local newspaper. We've
created a letter-writing "wizard" to help you put your
thoughts together -- you can select a few pre-written
paragraphs and have your letter ready to send in minutes.
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0036527.cfm
----- 3 -----
Focus on the Family
Gov. Refuses to Put Signature on Stem-cell Law
May 12, 2005
[No URL; received in email]
Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney will not sign a stem-cell bill
approved by Bay State lawmakers unless it is amended to
ban human cloning, The Associated Press reported.
The law would allow what proponents euphemistically call
"therapeutic cloning" -- a process in which scientists
clone human embryos in order to harvest stem cells. The
human embryos are always destroyed in the process, ending
a life at its earliest stage.
"Human cloning for any purpose -- whether for research or
reproduction -- is ethically wrong," Romney told lawmakers
Thursday. "Once cloning occurs, a human life is set in
motion."
While supporters of embryonic stem-cell research claim
therapeutic cloning could lead to the treatment and cure
of many diseases, pro-life opponents object to cloning
humans, even tiny ones, for the purpose of destruction.
Lawmakers can decide to adopt the governor's counsel or
return the bill to his desk without the recommended
changes. Romney can then either veto the bill or allow it
to become law without his signature. The bill was
approved by more than the two-thirds majority needed to
override a veto.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: To learn more about the important
differences between life-destroying embryonic stem-cell
research and non-controversial adult stem-cell research,
please visit the Focus on Social Issues Web site.
http://www.family.org/cforum/fosi/bioethics/facts/a0035420.cfm
----- 4 -----
Vote 'em up or down
By James C. Dobson | May 11, 2005
Special for the Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/05/11/vote_em_up_or_down/
IT'S A SAD fact that this week we are commemorating the four-year anniversary of the nominations of Priscilla Owen and Terrence Boyle to be judges on our federal circuit courts. It took less time for America to defeat both Germany and Japan in World War II than it's taken to have one simple up-or-down vote on the current crop of filibustered judges.
What is occurring in the US Senate is shameful and insulting to the American people. Democrats have set up an unprecedented blockade to deny President Bush's constitutional authority to appoint judges who share his philosophy. Like schoolyard bullies, Senators Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, and Edward M. Kennedy, among others, have threatened to shut down the Senate if they don't get their way. They have also confused the electorate with an array of smoke and mirrors.
The real issues are not about Senate rules, traditions, or even the good reputations of these nominees who are mercilessly slandered and demonized for political gain. What is at stake is the Supreme Court, and whether the justices who are appointed to it will interpret the law and not create it. What is also on the line is the increasing reliance by the court not on the Constitution or legal precedent but on international public opinion.
Liberal sentiment in Western Europe and Canada has nothing to do with the interpretation of American law, but that is what Justice Anthony Kennedy and his colleagues are imposing on us. New appointees to the court must understand that we are governed by a rule of law, not by the vagaries of foreign opinion polls.
To obscure their hidden motives, Senators Schumer, Reid, Kennedy, et al., attack the reputations and beliefs of highly qualified conservative nominees as being ''out of the mainstream." It is ''slash and burn" politics at its worst. Consider Judge Janice Rogers Brown, for example. She's an African-American, the daughter of an Alabama sharecropper, and a California Supreme Court justice who won reelection in that liberal state with 76 percent of the vote. How can a jurist who wins by a landslide in California be condemned as too extremist to serve?
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Family News in Focus
Friday, May 13, 2005
Focus on the Family
Terry Phillips
* Nebraska U.S. District Judge rules Amendment protecting traditional man-woman marriage unconstitutional.
1. "A federal judge has thrown out Nebraska's marriage amendment." (Amendment?) Nebraska decision based on the 1996 ruling throwing out Amendment 2, that gayfolk couldn't be excluded from the political process, as Amendment 2 did. "It's no longer enough to have mere legislation to protect marriage... instead, a Federal marriage amendment is in order." "Activist courts are making that amendment desperately needed." "At this point, a Federal marriage protection amendment has yet to leave the starting gate."
* Democrat party has new advisor telling them how to talk about family values and faith
4. "After losing the majority... Democratic leaders are starting to talk more about family vaules and faith issues." "When they say pro-family, clearly they're using that phrase to sell their typical liberal agenda, including same sex marriage, abortion on demand, and this trend in recent years of pushing faith out of the public square." Targets Reverend Jim Wallace, "whose political beliefs trump biblical values." "When you hear faith talk from the left, it's time to put on discerning ears."
* Christian television daily reaches millions of Middle Eastern Muslims, making some converts
6. 2-3 million viewers a day. "The results is quite a few new Christians." "We have about six to seven viewers across the region, with a core viewer[ship] of around three million..."
* Government website caves under pressure from gay activists
3. "after a radical homosexual group said the changes were biased and inaccurate." "Good old-fashioned arm-twisting going on." HHS "appears to have caved into pressure from a gay activist organisation." Changed "alternative lifestyle" to include gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual people. "The site also pointed parents to therapists that shared their own values," which is to say, conversion therapy pushers. "This could be seen as a ... victory for pro-gay activists making to make the gay lifestyle look more normal."
* Kraft Foods is sponsoring next year's Gay Games - Olympics for homosexuals
2. American Family Association is calling for boycott, urging contacts to Kraft - "it certainly isn't beneficial for our society or our culture... shouldn't appear to be endorsing a dangerous lifestyle."
* Liberal Congressmen say Corporation for Public Broadcasting's plan to hire conservatives to balance current lean to the left may violate law
5. Kenneth Tomlinson "trying to take the liberal bias" out of CPB. "The law specifies the programming must be politically neutral."
----- 6 -----
Every American Has a Stake in Judicial Confirmations 5/13/2005
By Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel
Even if you don’t live in one of the states suffering a shortage of federal judges, you still have a stake in judicial confirmations.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8111/LEGAL/judges/index.htm
This is something Democrats and Republicans should worry about. Whatever part of the nation you’re from, your rights are protected in the federal judiciary if there is [sic] true checks and balances. Your rights are protected in our national government in the United States Senate if there are true checks and balances. What they’re trying to do is destroy it in both places. We should never allow that to happen. -- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill, May 9, 2005
Whether President Bush’s outstanding nominees to the 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeal are confirmed affects directly the people in 24 states who live in their jurisdiction. Those states are Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, California, Arizona, Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
These Republican senators claim to be undecided and do not represent anyone in the affected states: Hagel of Nebraska, Lugar of Indiana, Specter of Pennsylvania, Snowe and Collins of Maine, and Sununu of New Hampshire. The only states affected are represented by these undecided Republican senators: Murkowski of Alaska, Smith of Oregon, Warner of Virginia and McCain of Arizona. Yet, the actions of all these senators affect all Americans.
For example, none of Sen. Chaffee’s 1 million constituents in Rhode Island are directly affected because none of the judges are nominated to the 1st Circuit; but approximately 165 million people outside Rhode Island are affected.
The only thing correct in Sen. Leahy’s statement is that “whatever part of the nation you’re from,” you are affected by “the federal judiciary.” This is why we’re urging all Americans to call the Republican senators who have yet to support Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist’s commitment to restore the historic confirmation process. Ask them to stop the phony filibusters and allow the majority of senators, those who want to vote, to vote.
What’s happening now is just a prelude to the fireworks when the president has the opportunity to nominate a justice(s) to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unless the obstructionist filibustering of judicial nominees is stopped now, it will no doubt be used then. And that will affect all 296 million of us.
Take Action:
Call your U.S. senators to tell them to stop the phony filibusters, and vote! Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.
----- 7 -----
The Trouble With Dear Abby’s Advice
5/12/2005
Concerned Women for America
Dear Abby, the nationally syndicated advice column, continues to spread false information on homosexuality, even going so far as to tell people that they are trapped in that lifestyle forever. Bob Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute has more. Click here to listen.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8127/CWA/family/index.htm
"Dear Abby; in a recent column, you advised a mother of a girl who had confided that she's a homosexual and wants to come out, that homosexuality has nothing to do with parenting and everything to do with genetics. You need to retract that statement. If you do not publically retract that error, I will know you're a mouthpiece for the homosexual and lesbian crowd. That letter was sent by Leonard, from Lynchburg. ... What was Dear Abby's answer? Well, I"m afraid it was disappointing yet again... Jean Phillips... has been promoting the homosexual agenda even more vigourously than her mother did. She's been siting bad studies, she's been sending people to gay activist groups... and her answer to this woman... 'Dear Leonard, if I did not believe with all my heart that what I wrote is true, I wouldn't have put my thoughts on paper. Homosexuality is simply a variant of sexual orientation.' Of course, that'd be news to God, and all major religious groups." Lots of continuing to mock any study that says homosexuality isn't evil. "Every few months, one of these studies pops up." Talks about the smell study. "Looked at the study and it was worthless." "They're doing this because they're doing a drumbeat" "That's part of their political drive." Claims the recent study on scent "doesn't prove anything." Compares the hormone reaction to "addiction on pornography... or cigarettes, or alcohol." "That seems more like it's an addiction association rather than any genetic" component." Dr. Satinover is a big proponent of the "homosexuality is an addictive behaviour" line. "This bad science is all over the press - where are the good studies?" "If I may say so, CWA has a good paper, 'Born or Bred,' it goes over all the other studies... you name it, it's in there."
----- 8 -----
MARRIAGE AMENDEMENT INITIATIVE
5/12/2005
Concerned Women for America
Arizona chapter
http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=8129&department=FIELD&categoryid=family
May 17, 2005 is the launch announcement for the Marriage Amendment Initiative in the State of Arizona. You will have the chance to be a part of history! Arizona will begin the process of allowing the PEOPLE TO DECIDE whether to preserve the institution of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, or leave it open to being changed by a few activist judges. WE NEED YOU! We need lots of citizens to show up on May 17th in Tucson, Phoenix and Flagstaff at the press conferences. Here's the details:
TUCSON: 11:00am Faith Community Church (parking lot)_ 2551 W. Orange Grve Rd. (Aprox. 2 miles east of I-10. Use the Organge Grove exit)
PHOENIX: 11:00am State Capitol - Senate Lawn 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix
FLAGSTAFF: 3:30pm Lamb of God Bible Church- parking lot 2615 E. 7th Avenue, Flagstaff
The Protect Marriage Arizona Coalition NEEDS YOU to help gather 184,000 valid signatures to place this amendment on the ballot for the 2006 elections.
THANK YOU!
----- 9 -----
CFI Director Knight Speaks in North Carolina
5/12/2005
Concerned Women for America
‘The Battle Belongs to the Lord’
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8122/CFI/family/index.htm
Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America’s (CWA’s) Culture & Family Institute, spoke at the North Carolina State Marriage Amendment Rally at the state Capitol in Raleigh on May 10.
Mr. Knight was there to support an amendment protecting marriage sponsored by Sens. Jim Forrester (R) and Fred Smith (R). Sen. Forrester’s wife, Mary Frances Forrester, is CWA of North Carolina’s legislative director, and she led CWA volunteers in their lobbying efforts right after the rally.
Knight met with legislators beforehand, spoke to a group of pastors, and then addressed the gathering of several hundred people on the Capitol Mall, along with speakers from several other national and state organizations.
Here are some excerpts from Mr. Knight’s address:
Thank you all for coming out here today.
Can you sense that something is happening all around the country? This is about more than marriage; it’s about restoring God’s plan for sexuality and for making sure that our governments do not put their stamp of approval on wrongful sexual behavior.
Eighteen states already have voted for constitutional amendments protecting marriage, and the average “yes” vote has been 70 percent.
The drive for one-sex "marriage" didn’t start with the judges in Massachusetts and their radical redefinition of marriage. It began well before that with the creation of new language.
A lot of people misunderstand the term “sexual orientation,” thinking that it seems like a neutral description of anyone’s sexual desires. But it was invented in the 1970s by homosexual activists as a radical challenge to the Christian worldview. In essence, “sexual orientation” says you are born with certain desires, cannot change them, are therefore entitled to act on these desires, and this condition is just like skin color or ethnicity, thereby making it a civil right category to be enforced against others who disagree.
Contrast this with the Christian message, which is that we are all sinners in need of a Savior who offers us redemption. “Sexual orientation,” quite simply, says that we are fine the way we are and don’t need God. This is a terrible lie, and it traps people in sin instead of giving them hope for a better life.
This battle is not about tolerance. It’s about fighting intolerance against traditional morality. Homosexuals deserve to know the truth that God loves them and wants the best for them, too.
Our battle is about preserving freedom for our children and our grandchildren. If the homosexual agenda is enacted, we will see the criminalization of Christianity in a few short years. It is already happening in Canada and Sweden, and we now have seen it in Philadelphia, where 11 Christians were arrested and jailed for preaching the Gospel at a public park during a homosexual street festival last October. Five of them were bound over and charged with three felonies and five misdemeanors with a total possible sentence of 47 years in prison.
This hung over their heads for months until a fair-minded judge finally saw a videotape of the event and ruled that there had been no criminal activity. But here is the most chilling part. The prosecutor recounted how the Christians preached the Gospel, and he called it “hate speech.” It was the first time I can recall that in an American courtroom, the Gospel itself was described as “hate speech.” This should send a chill down the backs of all freedom-loving Americans.
This is a spiritual battle as well as a political battle. We need to tell the truth in love, and we need to call on God every time we engage in this fight. If we don’t, we won’t do it right. So we should pray before each encounter, and let God fight the battle. The battle belongs to the Lord!
May God bless you, and may God bless North Carolina.
----- 10 -----
American Family Association
LInkthrough to
NoGayMarriage.com
http://www.nogaymarriage.com/
Please Help Preserve the Traditional
Judeo-Christian Institution of Marriage
Last year, we presented the U.S. Senate with over 2,000,000 petitions of support for the Marriage Protection Amendment. But despite over- whelming public support for the Constitutional amendment, liberals in the Senate filibustered and would not allow a vote on the amendment.
Please sign the petition to the 109th Congress even if you previously signed one to the 108th Congress. AFA will present the petitions to members of Congress.
A Petition to Members of the 109th Congress
Activist liberal judges are intent on destroying the institution of marriage as being between one man and one woman. I urge you to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman only.
This is a defining moment in history. It is time for members of Congress to take a stand for traditional marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Christian awareness
Rubrique : General, Tradition | May 12th, 2005
Novopress
‘Investigate Homosexual Influence in Public Schools’
http://am.novopress.info/index.php?p=585
Under the guise of promoting tolerance, safety, diversity, and multiculturalism, a growing number of government schools are influencing our children to regard homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle and silencing those within the schools who disagree.
In order to make Christian parents and pastors more aware of the aggressive homosexual activism being sponsored by many public schools, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr., a prominent Southern Baptist lecturer, preacher, and author of The Ever-Loving Truth, and Bruce N. Shortt, co-sponsor of the 2004 Christian Education Resolution and author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, have submitted a resolution addressing homosexuality and the public schools for consideration at the SBC’s 2005 Annual Meeting.
The resolution encourages every SBC church to investigate whether the school district in which it is located has either a homosexual club or any curriculum or program that attempts to influence children to accept homosexual behavior as a legitimate lifestyle. If the school district has any of these, the resolution urges churches to inform parents of this fact and encourage them to remove their children from the district’s schools immediately.
The Baucham-Shortt resolution also: (a) commends Christians working in government schools, (b) asks Baptists to make a greater effort to provide and support Christian educational alternatives to government schools, especially for the benefit of children from low income and single parent families, © calls upon Baptists to pray for homosexuals, and (d) rebukes homosexual activists for slandering minorities by claiming that homosexual behavior has any authentic connection with the civil rights movement.
Dr. Baucham believes it is urgent that Christian parents become better informed: “I am convinced that if government schools had to recruit students by sending out brochures outlining the academic, moral, and spiritual aspects of their curriculum, most Baptists would throw it in the trash without a second thought. However, when these schools can hide behind stealth phrases like tolerance, safe schools, multiculturalism, and safer sex, parents are often unaware of the dangers lurking beneath the surface. Moreover, parents who speak up are often branded as narrow-minded bigots with outdated values. This resolution is an effort to shine the light of truth in the dark corners of our schools and force our brethren to take a long, hard, honest look at what we have tolerated for far too long.”
[More at URL - it has support from CWA, and other organisations you've heard of]
----- 12 -----
Rev Sheldon:“The state of Nebraska and the people must rise up...”
Printer Friendly Page
Federal Judge Overturns Constitutional Amendment Protecting Marriage
http://www.christian-underground.com/archive/read.php?sid=1596
For Immediate Release
May 13, 2005
Contact: Amy Skeen
(202) 547-8570
Washington, DC – “The decision of a federal judge to overturn a marriage protection amendment in Nebraska shows clearly why we need a federal marriage protection amendment,” said TVC Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon today. “The judge’s irrational decision strikes at the very heart of the democratic process.”
ev. Sheldon is reacting to news that federal district judge Joseph Bataillon has ruled that the state’s constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage is unconstitutional. The amendment was passed by 70% of the voters in 2000.
“It appears we now only have two branches of government in this nation: the ACLU and leftist federal judges who impose their undemocratic views upon an unwilling public,” said Rev. Sheldon. “This decision is a dangerous one and it cannot stand. Our Founding Fathers carefully devised a system of checks and balances for the federal government—and no federal judge should have the legal authority to overturn a voter-passed amendment to a state constitution!”
Rev. Sheldon asks: “Are the American people now forbidden to amend their own state constitutions unless the ACLU or a leftist federal judge decides? Will a federal judge rule that Congress can’t amend the U.S. Constitution to protect marriage? How far will this insanity be allowed to go?”
Rev. Sheldon continued: “This decision must be overturned. It provides Congress with a clear mandate to pass a federal marriage protection amendment that bans homosexual marriage, civil unions, and any other arrangement that gives marriage benefits to same-sex couples.
“The state of Nebraska and the people must rise up and demand that this decision be overturned on appeal,” said Sheldon.
----- 13 -----
Liberals In California Legislature Reject TVC Marriage Amendment
Traditional Values Coalition
May 13, 2005
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2273
May 12, 2005 – The Marriage Protection Amendments proposed by the Traditional Values Coalition were rejected in California Assembly and Senate committees on May 10th. The vote was along party lines.
The amendments, ACA 3 and SCA 1 will define marriage as a one-man, one-woman union and ban civil unions or domestic partnerships that confer marriage benefits upon homosexual couples.
The amendments were authored by Assemblyman Ray Haynes (R-Murrieta) and in the Senate by Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside).
Rev. Sheldon noted: “It was imperative that we introduce a constitutional amendment to fully protect marriage and do the ‘due diligence’ of having a hearing on this legislation. We did not expect the Democrats to cooperate because we knew it would be defeated on a party line vote.”
TVC Lobbyist and Legislative Analyst Ben Lopez says: “The state legislature has decided that they know better than the people of California when it comes to marriage.
“They had an opportunity to rectify their mistake in passing a same-sex marriage bill [A.B. 19] two weeks ago and instead, they chose to slap the people in the face and force homosexual marriage upon California.”
Lopez says this latest slap in the face at California voters is energizing pro-family groups. He is convinced they will meet soon behind closed doors to get behind a constitutional amendment to be put on the ballot as an initiative “so the people can take back their legislature and so the will of the people can be respected.”
He expects this constitutional amendment initiative to be on the ballot in June of 2006 or November 2006.
Washington Post article on FDA's handling of Plan B and their subservience to "evangelical conservative" sermons;
Nebraska's local DOMA struck down; Focus on the Family calls again for an anti-gay Federal amendment;
Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney to veto stem-cell research bill over "cloning" issues;
James Dobson judicial opinion column in the Boston Globe;
Today's Family News in Focus repeats an earlier story about Kraft sponsouring the Gay Games - apparently there's quite the fundamentalist call-in spew screaming at Kraft for promoting the "homosexual agenda" - part of the continued attempt to marginalise gayfolk out of economic existence;
Concerned Women for America action item, again, on judicial nominees - there are several others as well, I'm only pulling this one, but they're all over the place;
CWA attacks Dear Abby's "false information" about gayfolk, claims all studies that don't agree that homosexuality is an addictive perversion are politically motivated and "bad" studies;
ARIZONA readers: "Protect Marriage Arizona Coalition" and CWA are launching their anti-marriage amendment signature drive - please let anyone you know in Arizona know;
CWA's Robert Knight talks about how marriage rights would inevitably lead to the criminalisation of Christianity;
American Family Association links through to nogaymarriage.com, which is a Congressionally-targeted petition drive against marriage rights;
Southern Baptist Convention to consider resolution calling for all Southern Baptists to investigate local schools for gay-friendly or tolerant attitudes, organisations, programmes, or clubs, and demand that they be shut down - gay/straight alliance clubs appear to be a primary target;
Traditional Values Coalition demands, again, a federal anti-marriage amendment;
Traditional Values Coalition anti-marriage-rights amendment in California defeated along party lines (all Republicans for) - announce plans to form anti-marriage initiative, targeted for 2006.
----- 1 -----
Memo May Have Swayed Plan B Ruling
FDA Received 'Minority Report' From Conservative Doctor on Panel
By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 12, 2005; Page A02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051101812.html
Soon after the Food and Drug Administration overruled its advisory panel last year and rejected an application to make an emergency contraceptive more easily available, critics of the agency said it had ignored scientific evidence and yielded to pressure from social conservatives.
The agency denied the charge, but an outspoken evangelical conservative doctor on the panel subsequently acknowledged in a previously unreported public sermon that he was asked to write a memo to the FDA commissioner soon after the panel voted 23 to 4 in favor of over-the-counter sales of the contraceptive, called Plan B. He said he believes his memo played a central role in the rejection of that recommendation.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Judge Strikes Down Nebraska DOMA
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
SUMMARY: Decision spotlights need for a federal marriage
amendment.
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0036529.cfm
A federal judge today struck down Nebraska's Defense of
Marriage Amendment (DOMA) -- a constitutional provision
limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon, the
first of its kind, underscores the need for the Marriage
Protection Amendment, which would place the definition of
marriage beyond the reach of federal courts.
Nebraska Family First Executive Director Dave Bydalek said
the judge held that the DOMA law violated the due process
rights of homosexuals because it bars them from seeking
gay marriage or civil unions. The ruling effectively voids
the protection of marriage in Nebraska.
"Beyond that," he said, "I think it's another example of a
federal judge substituting his judgment for the
overwhelming will of the people of Nebraska."
The DOMA -- Initiative 416, which not only limited
marriage to one man and one woman, but also barred civil
unions -- passed in 2000.
Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, who called the
decision wrong and flawed, said it has "monumental
implications" for marriage.
"This decision is unbelievably broad," he said. "It says
that a law that prohibits marriage to same-sex couples is
unconstitutional as a violation of free association, equal
rights, and even a bill of attainder -- which means, he is
saying, that any law which preserves marriage as between
one man and one woman is actually a punishment against
homosexuals because of their sexuality."
Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James C. Dobson
agreed, saying he hopes it will be the spark that ignites
the Senate to push forward with a constitutional amendment
protecting marriage.
"Federal protection of marriage is more necessary now than
ever before," he said. "Those who have argued that the
definition of marriage is a states' rights issue have
nowhere to hide. Defense of marriage acts are not
sufficient. Either marriage will be enshrined in the U.S.
Constitution, or we will see an untenable patchwork of
marriage definitions."
Byron Babione, an attorney with the Alliance Defense
Fund's Marriage Litigation Center, said the case came
about because a group of lesbian and gay couples sued the
state of Nebraska, contending the DOMA prevented "lesbian,
gay and bisexual people from using the ordinary political
process to seek important legal protections that all other
Nebraskans already have."
The judge's decision, in fact, relied upon Romer v. Evans,
a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down
Colorado's Amendment 2 ban on special rights for
homosexuals.
In that decision, justices held that homosexuals could not
be deprived of the general protection of the laws or the
ability to participate in the political process.
Babione said that is simply not the effect the Nebraska
law would have.
"In fact, (homosexuals) did participate in the political
process, along with same-sex marriage proponents, and they
lost," he said. "What this judge is saying is they should
be able to participate in the political process until they
win."
Forty states have DOMAs, but Bydalek said Nebraska's is
slightly different in that it explicitly prohibits
same-sex couples from marrying or receiving marriage-like
benefits.
The Nebraska case, he said, is not over by a long shot.
"Absolutely, it will be appealed," Bydalek said. "It will
go to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. We feel that we
have presented a compelling enough case and a good enough
record in the case that we are hopeful the 8th Circuit
will undo what the district court did."
TAKE ACTION: The best way to spread the word about the
need for the Marriage Protection Amendment is to write a
letter to the editor of your local newspaper. We've
created a letter-writing "wizard" to help you put your
thoughts together -- you can select a few pre-written
paragraphs and have your letter ready to send in minutes.
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0036527.cfm
----- 3 -----
Focus on the Family
Gov. Refuses to Put Signature on Stem-cell Law
May 12, 2005
[No URL; received in email]
Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney will not sign a stem-cell bill
approved by Bay State lawmakers unless it is amended to
ban human cloning, The Associated Press reported.
The law would allow what proponents euphemistically call
"therapeutic cloning" -- a process in which scientists
clone human embryos in order to harvest stem cells. The
human embryos are always destroyed in the process, ending
a life at its earliest stage.
"Human cloning for any purpose -- whether for research or
reproduction -- is ethically wrong," Romney told lawmakers
Thursday. "Once cloning occurs, a human life is set in
motion."
While supporters of embryonic stem-cell research claim
therapeutic cloning could lead to the treatment and cure
of many diseases, pro-life opponents object to cloning
humans, even tiny ones, for the purpose of destruction.
Lawmakers can decide to adopt the governor's counsel or
return the bill to his desk without the recommended
changes. Romney can then either veto the bill or allow it
to become law without his signature. The bill was
approved by more than the two-thirds majority needed to
override a veto.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: To learn more about the important
differences between life-destroying embryonic stem-cell
research and non-controversial adult stem-cell research,
please visit the Focus on Social Issues Web site.
http://www.family.org/cforum/fosi/bioethics/facts/a0035420.cfm
----- 4 -----
Vote 'em up or down
By James C. Dobson | May 11, 2005
Special for the Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/05/11/vote_em_up_or_down/
IT'S A SAD fact that this week we are commemorating the four-year anniversary of the nominations of Priscilla Owen and Terrence Boyle to be judges on our federal circuit courts. It took less time for America to defeat both Germany and Japan in World War II than it's taken to have one simple up-or-down vote on the current crop of filibustered judges.
What is occurring in the US Senate is shameful and insulting to the American people. Democrats have set up an unprecedented blockade to deny President Bush's constitutional authority to appoint judges who share his philosophy. Like schoolyard bullies, Senators Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, and Edward M. Kennedy, among others, have threatened to shut down the Senate if they don't get their way. They have also confused the electorate with an array of smoke and mirrors.
The real issues are not about Senate rules, traditions, or even the good reputations of these nominees who are mercilessly slandered and demonized for political gain. What is at stake is the Supreme Court, and whether the justices who are appointed to it will interpret the law and not create it. What is also on the line is the increasing reliance by the court not on the Constitution or legal precedent but on international public opinion.
Liberal sentiment in Western Europe and Canada has nothing to do with the interpretation of American law, but that is what Justice Anthony Kennedy and his colleagues are imposing on us. New appointees to the court must understand that we are governed by a rule of law, not by the vagaries of foreign opinion polls.
To obscure their hidden motives, Senators Schumer, Reid, Kennedy, et al., attack the reputations and beliefs of highly qualified conservative nominees as being ''out of the mainstream." It is ''slash and burn" politics at its worst. Consider Judge Janice Rogers Brown, for example. She's an African-American, the daughter of an Alabama sharecropper, and a California Supreme Court justice who won reelection in that liberal state with 76 percent of the vote. How can a jurist who wins by a landslide in California be condemned as too extremist to serve?
[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Family News in Focus
Friday, May 13, 2005
Focus on the Family
Terry Phillips
* Nebraska U.S. District Judge rules Amendment protecting traditional man-woman marriage unconstitutional.
1. "A federal judge has thrown out Nebraska's marriage amendment." (Amendment?) Nebraska decision based on the 1996 ruling throwing out Amendment 2, that gayfolk couldn't be excluded from the political process, as Amendment 2 did. "It's no longer enough to have mere legislation to protect marriage... instead, a Federal marriage amendment is in order." "Activist courts are making that amendment desperately needed." "At this point, a Federal marriage protection amendment has yet to leave the starting gate."
* Democrat party has new advisor telling them how to talk about family values and faith
4. "After losing the majority... Democratic leaders are starting to talk more about family vaules and faith issues." "When they say pro-family, clearly they're using that phrase to sell their typical liberal agenda, including same sex marriage, abortion on demand, and this trend in recent years of pushing faith out of the public square." Targets Reverend Jim Wallace, "whose political beliefs trump biblical values." "When you hear faith talk from the left, it's time to put on discerning ears."
* Christian television daily reaches millions of Middle Eastern Muslims, making some converts
6. 2-3 million viewers a day. "The results is quite a few new Christians." "We have about six to seven viewers across the region, with a core viewer[ship] of around three million..."
* Government website caves under pressure from gay activists
3. "after a radical homosexual group said the changes were biased and inaccurate." "Good old-fashioned arm-twisting going on." HHS "appears to have caved into pressure from a gay activist organisation." Changed "alternative lifestyle" to include gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual people. "The site also pointed parents to therapists that shared their own values," which is to say, conversion therapy pushers. "This could be seen as a ... victory for pro-gay activists making to make the gay lifestyle look more normal."
* Kraft Foods is sponsoring next year's Gay Games - Olympics for homosexuals
2. American Family Association is calling for boycott, urging contacts to Kraft - "it certainly isn't beneficial for our society or our culture... shouldn't appear to be endorsing a dangerous lifestyle."
* Liberal Congressmen say Corporation for Public Broadcasting's plan to hire conservatives to balance current lean to the left may violate law
5. Kenneth Tomlinson "trying to take the liberal bias" out of CPB. "The law specifies the programming must be politically neutral."
----- 6 -----
Every American Has a Stake in Judicial Confirmations 5/13/2005
By Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel
Even if you don’t live in one of the states suffering a shortage of federal judges, you still have a stake in judicial confirmations.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8111/LEGAL/judges/index.htm
This is something Democrats and Republicans should worry about. Whatever part of the nation you’re from, your rights are protected in the federal judiciary if there is [sic] true checks and balances. Your rights are protected in our national government in the United States Senate if there are true checks and balances. What they’re trying to do is destroy it in both places. We should never allow that to happen. -- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill, May 9, 2005
Whether President Bush’s outstanding nominees to the 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th and D.C. Circuit Courts of Appeal are confirmed affects directly the people in 24 states who live in their jurisdiction. Those states are Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, California, Arizona, Hawaii, Alaska, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, the District of Columbia, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
These Republican senators claim to be undecided and do not represent anyone in the affected states: Hagel of Nebraska, Lugar of Indiana, Specter of Pennsylvania, Snowe and Collins of Maine, and Sununu of New Hampshire. The only states affected are represented by these undecided Republican senators: Murkowski of Alaska, Smith of Oregon, Warner of Virginia and McCain of Arizona. Yet, the actions of all these senators affect all Americans.
For example, none of Sen. Chaffee’s 1 million constituents in Rhode Island are directly affected because none of the judges are nominated to the 1st Circuit; but approximately 165 million people outside Rhode Island are affected.
The only thing correct in Sen. Leahy’s statement is that “whatever part of the nation you’re from,” you are affected by “the federal judiciary.” This is why we’re urging all Americans to call the Republican senators who have yet to support Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist’s commitment to restore the historic confirmation process. Ask them to stop the phony filibusters and allow the majority of senators, those who want to vote, to vote.
What’s happening now is just a prelude to the fireworks when the president has the opportunity to nominate a justice(s) to the U.S. Supreme Court. Unless the obstructionist filibustering of judicial nominees is stopped now, it will no doubt be used then. And that will affect all 296 million of us.
Take Action:
Call your U.S. senators to tell them to stop the phony filibusters, and vote! Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121.
----- 7 -----
The Trouble With Dear Abby’s Advice
5/12/2005
Concerned Women for America
Dear Abby, the nationally syndicated advice column, continues to spread false information on homosexuality, even going so far as to tell people that they are trapped in that lifestyle forever. Bob Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute has more. Click here to listen.
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8127/CWA/family/index.htm
"Dear Abby; in a recent column, you advised a mother of a girl who had confided that she's a homosexual and wants to come out, that homosexuality has nothing to do with parenting and everything to do with genetics. You need to retract that statement. If you do not publically retract that error, I will know you're a mouthpiece for the homosexual and lesbian crowd. That letter was sent by Leonard, from Lynchburg. ... What was Dear Abby's answer? Well, I"m afraid it was disappointing yet again... Jean Phillips... has been promoting the homosexual agenda even more vigourously than her mother did. She's been siting bad studies, she's been sending people to gay activist groups... and her answer to this woman... 'Dear Leonard, if I did not believe with all my heart that what I wrote is true, I wouldn't have put my thoughts on paper. Homosexuality is simply a variant of sexual orientation.' Of course, that'd be news to God, and all major religious groups." Lots of continuing to mock any study that says homosexuality isn't evil. "Every few months, one of these studies pops up." Talks about the smell study. "Looked at the study and it was worthless." "They're doing this because they're doing a drumbeat" "That's part of their political drive." Claims the recent study on scent "doesn't prove anything." Compares the hormone reaction to "addiction on pornography... or cigarettes, or alcohol." "That seems more like it's an addiction association rather than any genetic" component." Dr. Satinover is a big proponent of the "homosexuality is an addictive behaviour" line. "This bad science is all over the press - where are the good studies?" "If I may say so, CWA has a good paper, 'Born or Bred,' it goes over all the other studies... you name it, it's in there."
----- 8 -----
MARRIAGE AMENDEMENT INITIATIVE
5/12/2005
Concerned Women for America
Arizona chapter
http://www.cwfa.org/articledisplay.asp?id=8129&department=FIELD&categoryid=family
May 17, 2005 is the launch announcement for the Marriage Amendment Initiative in the State of Arizona. You will have the chance to be a part of history! Arizona will begin the process of allowing the PEOPLE TO DECIDE whether to preserve the institution of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, or leave it open to being changed by a few activist judges. WE NEED YOU! We need lots of citizens to show up on May 17th in Tucson, Phoenix and Flagstaff at the press conferences. Here's the details:
TUCSON: 11:00am Faith Community Church (parking lot)_ 2551 W. Orange Grve Rd. (Aprox. 2 miles east of I-10. Use the Organge Grove exit)
PHOENIX: 11:00am State Capitol - Senate Lawn 1700 W. Washington, Phoenix
FLAGSTAFF: 3:30pm Lamb of God Bible Church- parking lot 2615 E. 7th Avenue, Flagstaff
The Protect Marriage Arizona Coalition NEEDS YOU to help gather 184,000 valid signatures to place this amendment on the ballot for the 2006 elections.
THANK YOU!
----- 9 -----
CFI Director Knight Speaks in North Carolina
5/12/2005
Concerned Women for America
‘The Battle Belongs to the Lord’
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/8122/CFI/family/index.htm
Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America’s (CWA’s) Culture & Family Institute, spoke at the North Carolina State Marriage Amendment Rally at the state Capitol in Raleigh on May 10.
Mr. Knight was there to support an amendment protecting marriage sponsored by Sens. Jim Forrester (R) and Fred Smith (R). Sen. Forrester’s wife, Mary Frances Forrester, is CWA of North Carolina’s legislative director, and she led CWA volunteers in their lobbying efforts right after the rally.
Knight met with legislators beforehand, spoke to a group of pastors, and then addressed the gathering of several hundred people on the Capitol Mall, along with speakers from several other national and state organizations.
Here are some excerpts from Mr. Knight’s address:
Thank you all for coming out here today.
Can you sense that something is happening all around the country? This is about more than marriage; it’s about restoring God’s plan for sexuality and for making sure that our governments do not put their stamp of approval on wrongful sexual behavior.
Eighteen states already have voted for constitutional amendments protecting marriage, and the average “yes” vote has been 70 percent.
The drive for one-sex "marriage" didn’t start with the judges in Massachusetts and their radical redefinition of marriage. It began well before that with the creation of new language.
A lot of people misunderstand the term “sexual orientation,” thinking that it seems like a neutral description of anyone’s sexual desires. But it was invented in the 1970s by homosexual activists as a radical challenge to the Christian worldview. In essence, “sexual orientation” says you are born with certain desires, cannot change them, are therefore entitled to act on these desires, and this condition is just like skin color or ethnicity, thereby making it a civil right category to be enforced against others who disagree.
Contrast this with the Christian message, which is that we are all sinners in need of a Savior who offers us redemption. “Sexual orientation,” quite simply, says that we are fine the way we are and don’t need God. This is a terrible lie, and it traps people in sin instead of giving them hope for a better life.
This battle is not about tolerance. It’s about fighting intolerance against traditional morality. Homosexuals deserve to know the truth that God loves them and wants the best for them, too.
Our battle is about preserving freedom for our children and our grandchildren. If the homosexual agenda is enacted, we will see the criminalization of Christianity in a few short years. It is already happening in Canada and Sweden, and we now have seen it in Philadelphia, where 11 Christians were arrested and jailed for preaching the Gospel at a public park during a homosexual street festival last October. Five of them were bound over and charged with three felonies and five misdemeanors with a total possible sentence of 47 years in prison.
This hung over their heads for months until a fair-minded judge finally saw a videotape of the event and ruled that there had been no criminal activity. But here is the most chilling part. The prosecutor recounted how the Christians preached the Gospel, and he called it “hate speech.” It was the first time I can recall that in an American courtroom, the Gospel itself was described as “hate speech.” This should send a chill down the backs of all freedom-loving Americans.
This is a spiritual battle as well as a political battle. We need to tell the truth in love, and we need to call on God every time we engage in this fight. If we don’t, we won’t do it right. So we should pray before each encounter, and let God fight the battle. The battle belongs to the Lord!
May God bless you, and may God bless North Carolina.
----- 10 -----
American Family Association
LInkthrough to
NoGayMarriage.com
http://www.nogaymarriage.com/
Please Help Preserve the Traditional
Judeo-Christian Institution of Marriage
Last year, we presented the U.S. Senate with over 2,000,000 petitions of support for the Marriage Protection Amendment. But despite over- whelming public support for the Constitutional amendment, liberals in the Senate filibustered and would not allow a vote on the amendment.
Please sign the petition to the 109th Congress even if you previously signed one to the 108th Congress. AFA will present the petitions to members of Congress.
A Petition to Members of the 109th Congress
Activist liberal judges are intent on destroying the institution of marriage as being between one man and one woman. I urge you to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman only.
This is a defining moment in history. It is time for members of Congress to take a stand for traditional marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Christian awareness
Rubrique : General, Tradition | May 12th, 2005
Novopress
‘Investigate Homosexual Influence in Public Schools’
http://am.novopress.info/index.php?p=585
Under the guise of promoting tolerance, safety, diversity, and multiculturalism, a growing number of government schools are influencing our children to regard homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle and silencing those within the schools who disagree.
In order to make Christian parents and pastors more aware of the aggressive homosexual activism being sponsored by many public schools, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr., a prominent Southern Baptist lecturer, preacher, and author of The Ever-Loving Truth, and Bruce N. Shortt, co-sponsor of the 2004 Christian Education Resolution and author of The Harsh Truth About Public Schools, have submitted a resolution addressing homosexuality and the public schools for consideration at the SBC’s 2005 Annual Meeting.
The resolution encourages every SBC church to investigate whether the school district in which it is located has either a homosexual club or any curriculum or program that attempts to influence children to accept homosexual behavior as a legitimate lifestyle. If the school district has any of these, the resolution urges churches to inform parents of this fact and encourage them to remove their children from the district’s schools immediately.
The Baucham-Shortt resolution also: (a) commends Christians working in government schools, (b) asks Baptists to make a greater effort to provide and support Christian educational alternatives to government schools, especially for the benefit of children from low income and single parent families, © calls upon Baptists to pray for homosexuals, and (d) rebukes homosexual activists for slandering minorities by claiming that homosexual behavior has any authentic connection with the civil rights movement.
Dr. Baucham believes it is urgent that Christian parents become better informed: “I am convinced that if government schools had to recruit students by sending out brochures outlining the academic, moral, and spiritual aspects of their curriculum, most Baptists would throw it in the trash without a second thought. However, when these schools can hide behind stealth phrases like tolerance, safe schools, multiculturalism, and safer sex, parents are often unaware of the dangers lurking beneath the surface. Moreover, parents who speak up are often branded as narrow-minded bigots with outdated values. This resolution is an effort to shine the light of truth in the dark corners of our schools and force our brethren to take a long, hard, honest look at what we have tolerated for far too long.”
[More at URL - it has support from CWA, and other organisations you've heard of]
----- 12 -----
Rev Sheldon:“The state of Nebraska and the people must rise up...”
Printer Friendly Page
Federal Judge Overturns Constitutional Amendment Protecting Marriage
http://www.christian-underground.com/archive/read.php?sid=1596
For Immediate Release
May 13, 2005
Contact: Amy Skeen
(202) 547-8570
Washington, DC – “The decision of a federal judge to overturn a marriage protection amendment in Nebraska shows clearly why we need a federal marriage protection amendment,” said TVC Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon today. “The judge’s irrational decision strikes at the very heart of the democratic process.”
ev. Sheldon is reacting to news that federal district judge Joseph Bataillon has ruled that the state’s constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage is unconstitutional. The amendment was passed by 70% of the voters in 2000.
“It appears we now only have two branches of government in this nation: the ACLU and leftist federal judges who impose their undemocratic views upon an unwilling public,” said Rev. Sheldon. “This decision is a dangerous one and it cannot stand. Our Founding Fathers carefully devised a system of checks and balances for the federal government—and no federal judge should have the legal authority to overturn a voter-passed amendment to a state constitution!”
Rev. Sheldon asks: “Are the American people now forbidden to amend their own state constitutions unless the ACLU or a leftist federal judge decides? Will a federal judge rule that Congress can’t amend the U.S. Constitution to protect marriage? How far will this insanity be allowed to go?”
Rev. Sheldon continued: “This decision must be overturned. It provides Congress with a clear mandate to pass a federal marriage protection amendment that bans homosexual marriage, civil unions, and any other arrangement that gives marriage benefits to same-sex couples.
“The state of Nebraska and the people must rise up and demand that this decision be overturned on appeal,” said Sheldon.
----- 13 -----
Liberals In California Legislature Reject TVC Marriage Amendment
Traditional Values Coalition
May 13, 2005
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/modules.php?sid=2273
May 12, 2005 – The Marriage Protection Amendments proposed by the Traditional Values Coalition were rejected in California Assembly and Senate committees on May 10th. The vote was along party lines.
The amendments, ACA 3 and SCA 1 will define marriage as a one-man, one-woman union and ban civil unions or domestic partnerships that confer marriage benefits upon homosexual couples.
The amendments were authored by Assemblyman Ray Haynes (R-Murrieta) and in the Senate by Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside).
Rev. Sheldon noted: “It was imperative that we introduce a constitutional amendment to fully protect marriage and do the ‘due diligence’ of having a hearing on this legislation. We did not expect the Democrats to cooperate because we knew it would be defeated on a party line vote.”
TVC Lobbyist and Legislative Analyst Ben Lopez says: “The state legislature has decided that they know better than the people of California when it comes to marriage.
“They had an opportunity to rectify their mistake in passing a same-sex marriage bill [A.B. 19] two weeks ago and instead, they chose to slap the people in the face and force homosexual marriage upon California.”
Lopez says this latest slap in the face at California voters is energizing pro-family groups. He is convinced they will meet soon behind closed doors to get behind a constitutional amendment to be put on the ballot as an initiative “so the people can take back their legislature and so the will of the people can be respected.”
He expects this constitutional amendment initiative to be on the ballot in June of 2006 or November 2006.
