Today's Cultural Warfare Update
Mar. 10th, 2007 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdAll kinds of stuff in today's update; key elements include the Faith and Freedom Network and Focus on the Family condemning "medically correct" data in sex education because science is too lefty; there's also a bunch of stuff about the Newt Gingrich interview with James Dobson and the continuing attacks on John Edwards as gay (which he's not; he's got three kids and has been married for a few decades) and/or "womanly," which - given the picture of Edwards as a Breck Girl in an old ad is clearly intended to carry "cross-dresser" baggage. I have to winder if a Guilani supporters are involved, given that there are actual pictures of Guilani at fundraisers in drag, and hamming it up with Donald Trump.
There's also a big upsurge in theocon-called action items. Those are always noted by ACTION ITEM. I kind of presume that opposition groups call in and do the opposite of the theocon requests.
Anyway, here's today's news.
Hullabaloo gets vaguely culture-war-coverage-ish with James Dobson's radio lovefest with former Speaker Newt Gingrich, comparing and contrasting Dobson on Clinton and Dobson on Gingrich; I include it here because it has extensive quotes from James Dobson, with reasonable context;
Here's the Focus on the Family promo for the Dobson-Gingrich interview;
Meanwhile, in Florida, there's a counter-protest in support of the city manager fired - against city policy, even - for undergoing gender reassignment;
The, how can I put this? Faggotisation? of John Edwards continues, this time courtesy Rush Limbaugh, who says he could be "our first woman president";
More Dobson-on-Clinton, this via a nicely cached Google retrieval;
"Mormonism — That’s So Gay";
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against Colorado house bill to allow gay people to adopt;
Focus on the Family complains that science programmes aren't giving doctorates to creationist students trying to study creationism as an "alternative to evolution," spins it as religious oppression - "This issue of peer review and peer pressure -- it's real. Political correctness reigns on the campus, and Christianity is definitely not politically correct." No, the problem is that creationism isn't factually correct;
Focus on the Family story about how men are hurt by not being able to control whether a woman gets an abortion;
Citizen Magazine article promoting the New Life Church and lauding its hard-line stance against GBLT people, particularly after the Ted Haggard scandal;
Focus on the Family condemns evangelical groups pushing for action on global warming;
FotF condemns New Mexico legislation allowing stem-cell research on leftover embryos intended to be discarded after fertility treatments;
Mississippi abortion ban - comprehensive except for rape or life of the mother, no health exemption - to be signed into law by Gov. Haley Barbour; it's a "trigger law" that won't take effect unless Roe v. Wade is overturned;
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against California assisted-suicide law;
FotF "Illinois Professor Refuses to Issue Grade to Christian Student" - after she implied legal action against him for downgrading a grade on a "faith-based" paper about therapy for "post-abortion syndrome," which is something the theocons made up;
Connecticut considering bill mandating "MySpace age checks" before people can post profiles, thus eliminating 90% of the MySpace audience base;
New Hampshire repeals "pro-life parential notification law"; Focus on the Family is unhappy about it;
FotF unhappy that Wisconsin has turned down abstinence-education funds from the Feds;
FotF ACTION ITEM against Washington State bill (SB 5297) considering a bill stopping abstinence-only - abstinence can still be taught, but can't be the only thing taught, and it also requires information be medically accurate; theocons locally are pissed off;
FotF writing about their state-level "Family Policy Councils" which create "judicial voter guides"; we've seen these here, but Washington State isn't specifically listed;
FotF ACTION ITEM against "subversion of marriage" bills in Maine and New Mexico; the Maine bill would "bar clergymen from signing marriage licenses"; the New Mexico bills in question are domestic partnership bills;
Faith and Freedom Network condemns "medically correct" sex-education bill in Washington State, issues ACTION ITEM against; also condemn scientific peer review because, and I am quoting as always, "the journals are controlled by far left secularist organizations that do not allow the abstinence people to publish";
Faith and Freedom Network condemns the Enlightenment (by implication), as part of an attempt to describe the American Founding Fathers as confirmed fundamentalist evangelicals. Note that modern fundamentalism wasn't even invented until the late 19th and early 20th century, over 100 years later;
Faith and Freedom Network condemns domestic partnership benefits vote, and is "reviewing the viable options of response," which I suspect means, "figuring out whether to sue";
Focus on the Family drools over the prospect of a John Paul Stevens retirement or death, talks about the need for Chief Executive Bush to nominate a social conservative to overturn Roe v. Wade;
FotF unhappy at Iowa passing a stem-cell research bill, calling it a "cloning bill";
New York Catholic Conference condemns stem-cell research funding bill in New York State;
FotF condemns Washington State domestic partnership bill, calls for state initiative to ban DP benefits;
FotF condemns Georgia law for not specifically refusing to recognise adoptions by same-sex partners; reports on a court case where a woman's custody rights were upheld by a Georgia court involving a lesbian couple who had split up;
James Dobson op-ed in the Rocky Mountain News condemning same-sex parents, defending his quoting of researchers who say that he is specifically and misrepresenting their research; his response continues to be, 'am not';
Focus on the Family unhappy with New Hampshire bills recognising domestic partnerships;
Focus on the Family happy with advancement of "Ky. Fetal-Pain Bill."
----- 1 -----
The Screaming Minority
Friday, March 09, 2007
Hullabaloo
by digby
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/screaming-minority-by-digby-i-hope-that.html
I hope that nobody gets the idea that Newt Gingrich's comments to James Dobson exposing him as a rank hypocrite are going to mean anything to the Christian Right. They have proven that they are remarkably flexible when it comes to the personal morality of Republican leaders. If they repent for what they've done, they are forgiven, no harm no foul. (See most recently, Mark Foley.)
When it comes to Democrats, you have a very, very different story.
Here's Dobson in September of 1999:
As with many Christians around the country, Shirley and I have been in prayer for our leaders in government who must deal with the fallout from this scandal. They will need great wisdom and discernment in the days ahead. Our most serious concern, however, is not with those in Washington; it is with the American people. What has alarmed me throughout this episode has been the willingness of my fellow citizens to rationalize the President’s behavior even after they suspected, and later knew, that he was lying. Because the economy is strong, millions of people have said infidelity in the Oval Office is just a private affair--something between himself and Hillary. We heard it time and again during those months: “As long as Mr. Clinton is doing a good job, it’s nobody’s business what he does with his personal life.”
That disregard for morality is profoundly disturbing to me. Although sexual affairs have occurred often in high places, the public has never approved of such misconduct. But today, the rules by which behavior is governed appear to have been rewritten specifically for Mr. Clinton.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Gingrich Tells Dobson He's 'Sought God's Forgiveness'
Focus on the Family
March 7, 2007
[Received in email - no URL]
Former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told Dr. James C. Dobson he has “gotten on (his) knees and sought God’s forgiveness” for his moral failings.
In a two-part installment of Dr. Dobson’s international radio program airing Thursday and Friday, Gingrich also discusses his new book, Rediscovering God in America, and the rising threat of radical Islam to the West.
On day two of the program, Dr. Dobson compares the attitudes of today’s Muslim radicals to the actions of the Nazis in the 1930s -- a hatred of Jews and a desire for hegemony and domination.
“It bothers me,” he says, “that many of our leaders don’t seem to get that – Republicans and Democrats.”
Gingrich agrees, noting that “there are 15- to 25-year-old men who are willing to die as long as they kill you.”
“It’s a warrior culture,” he adds. “That has been true historically for 6,000 or 7,000 years.”
[ http://listen.family.org/daily/A000000371.cfm ]
[More at URL]
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350 rally to protest city manager's ouster
The Largo official, fired last week over plans for a sex change, says the support is overwhelming.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published March 7, 2007
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/07/Tampabay/350_rally_to_protest_.shtml
LARGO - They stood 350 strong in the grass outside City Hall on Tuesday morning, united by faith.
They held signs, saying "Justice," "Compassion" and "Love," as well as these:
Some Baptists need their hearts examined.
Jesus wasn't the Terminator.'
[...]
They were there to support Steve Stanton, who was fired from his job as city manager by the City Commission after disclosing that he is going to undergo gender-reassignment surgery.
The 30-minute rally drew more than a dozen clerics from churches and synagogues around the Tampa Bay area.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
New Winger Attack: John Edwards Could Be Our "First Woman President"
By Eric Kleefeld
Election Central
Long URL elided
It looks as if Ann Coulter's "faggot" insult of John Edwards has set the tone for a new right-wing taunt: That John Edwards could become our "First Woman President." Check out this screen grab of Rush Limbaugh pushing the new smear:
[...]
RUSH: try this headline. Ann Coulter, if you're out there listening, listen to this headline from the New York Sun today: "Could John Edwards Become the First Woman President?" It's by John Gerstein in the New York Sun...
[...]
Rush's diatribe above was inspired by an article yesterday in the conservative New York Sun entitled, "Could Edwards Become First Woman President?." The artice quoted abortion rights activist and Edwards backer Kate Michelman saying that Edwards "understands the reality of women's lives." The Sun then suggested that her praise for Edwards on women's issues is "provoking debate" that Edwards may soon lay claim to the title of "First Woman President," and to attack Michelman and the Edwards campaign for pushing such an argument. The kicker: Neither Michelman nor the Edwards camp were ever quoted actually making any such point.
Nevertheless, Rush picked up on the article and said:
----- 5 -----
Dr. Dobson's Study
Focus on the Family
September 1998
Long Google cache URL elided
Dear Friends:
Greetings to you all. Shirley and I have been visiting the historic city of Boston for the past few weeks while working on a new book called Coming Home. I’ll tell you more about that at Christmastime. We have loved being together and are particularly grateful to God for His healing touch after my illness. Toward the end of our trip, however, we were shocked and dismayed by the admission of the President’s affair with “that woman — Miss Lewinsky” — which brought humiliation on himself, his family and our nation. Millions of words have been written and spoken about that sordid story, which I have chosen not to address during these past seven months. But now I want to express some passionate views that are on my heart.
As with many Christians around the country, Shirley and I have been in prayer for our leaders in government who must deal with the fallout from this scandal. They will need great wisdom and discernment in the days ahead. Our most serious concern, however, is not with those in Washington; it is with the American people. What has alarmed me throughout this episode has been the willingness of my fellow citizens to rationalize the President’s behavior even after they suspected, and later knew, that he was lying. Because the economy is strong, millions of people have said infidelity in the Oval Office is just a private affair--something between himself and Hillary. We heard it time and again during those months: “As long as Mr. Clinton is doing a good job, it’s nobody’s business what he does with his personal life.”
That disregard for morality is profoundly disturbing to me. Although sexual affairs have occurred often in high places, the public has never approved of such misconduct. But today, the rules by which behavior is governed appear to have been rewritten specifically for Mr. Clinton. We now know that this 50-year-old man had sexual relations repeatedly and brazenly in the White House, with a woman 27 years his junior. Then he spoke on national television while shaking his finger at the camera, and denied ever having a sexual relationship with Miss Lewinsky. He was the most powerful man in the world and she was a starry-eyed intern. That situation would not have been tolerated in any other setting — ever. And yet the apologists for the President have said endlessly, “It’s just about sex,” as though cheating on your wife was of no particular significance. But the majority of the American people replied, “I support the President.”
[More at URL]
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Mormonism — That’s So Gay
Posted by Garance under Uncategorized
March 3, 2007
http://thegarance.com/archives/174
Ann Coulter’s vile decision to call John Edwards a “faggot” after being praised by G.O.P. presidential candidate Mitt Romney actually seemed pretty sophisticated intra-conservative politics to me, since, according to a reporter for a conservative publication, the new joke making the rounds at the Conservative Political Action Conference was:
“Mormonism — that’s so gay!”
Aggressive heterosexuality is Romney’s defense against his years leading gay-friendly Massachusetts, and also against the taint of sexual non-conformity his Mormon religion still carries. Polygamy and homosexuality have been so routinely condemned in tandem by conservatives over the past decade that the two now seem forever combined in their thinking. Recall Rick Santorum’s contention that:
“if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy”
[More at URL]
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Colorado Legislature Considers Gay Adoption
Family advocates gear up for a fight.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
3-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004079.cfm
Liberal Colorado lawmakers unveiled a bill Tuesday that would allow homosexual couples to adopt children.
House Bill 1330, sponsored by House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, would also include cohabiting couples and relatives of unwed mothers.
"It's about parental responsibility and protecting our kids and providing them with the most economically stable homes they can have," she told the Rocky Mountain News.
But Jim Pfaff, president of Colorado Family Action, said the legislation exploits single parents in order to promote homosexual adoption.
"All the high-minded discussion of 'protecting children' and 'parental responsibility' is merely a smokescreen for the true intent of this legislation: paving the way for homosexual adoption," he said.
[...]
Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director of issue analysis for Focus on the Family Action, said implementing gay adoption in Colorado would advance a broader political agenda to mainstream and normalize homosexual behavior.
"If we are truly concerned about the needs of children, we should not consider policies that increase the likelihood that children will grow up without a mother or father," she said.
[...]
TAKE ACTION
Coloradans should contact their state lawmakers and ask them to oppose HB 1330.
If you are a CitizenLink Daily Update subscriber, click on the blue "Take Action" button in the e-mail to be automatically logged in to our Action Center. You can find contact information there. Otherwise, click on this link.
[More at URL]
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Christian Scholars Face Opposition When Studying Origins
University faculties take a dim view of alternatives to evolution.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
3-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004080.cfm
Christian students seeking to study human origins are facing discrimination at many colleges and universities. Experts say Darwin's Theory of Evolution has such a lock on faculty members, few Christians who take a different point of view are getting through advanced degree programs.
Last year, Bryan Leonard, an Ohio State University graduate student, was preparing to defend his doctoral dissertation on the merits of teaching alternatives to evolution. But his dissertation was pulled. University officials determined he was subjecting students in his research to something harmful.
[...]
John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research, said Leonard's experience is not an anomaly.
"There's a closed system there," he told Family News in Focus. "This issue of peer review and peer pressure -- it's real. Political correctness reigns on the campus, and Christianity is definitely not politically correct."
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
College Men Psychologically Affected by Abortion
Many call it the worst day.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
3-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004081.cfm
A UCLA psychiatrist has noted that many college-aged men she's counseled appear to have been impacted by abortion.
Dr. Miriam Grossman noticed a significant number of young men reported a sleeping disorder. She began asking whether they had participated in an abortion. Most said "Yes."
"I had a young man a few weeks ago who was very surprised that I was asking him," she said. "But, he did say, 'Yeah, about a month ago my girlfriend had an abortion. It was a whole big story, and he was pretty upset about it."
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Principle Trumps Personality
by Tom Minnery
Focus on the Family
http://www.citizenlink.org/citizenMag/A000003986.cfm
A few miles up the road from our Focus headquarters in Colorado Springs is a huge church whose broad blue dome dominates the landscape. This is New Life Church , with 14,000 members, and every one of them has been stunned by the sudden loss of their beloved pastor, the church founder, Ted Haggard.
Ted was dismissed by the church overseers, and placed in a program of restoration, following a revelation by a homosexual prostitute that he and Ted had been having a sexual relationship.
The prostitute revealed all this on a Denver radio talk show a week before Election Day, and the story electrified the front pages of the state's newspapers for days. It was a shock to churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike.
[...]
I've thought a lot about that and here is my conclusion. The pastor may have been a hypocrite, but the church was not. The revelation against him was made on a Wednesday, the board of overseers investigated on Thursday and Friday, and were dissatisfied with the pastor's answers. He was dismissed on Saturday and the congregation was told on Sunday. The following Tuesday was the election.
[...]
In this age of infinite tolerance, when elite society tolerates everyone's “lifestyle” and wishes only to “celebrate diversity,” this rock-solid stand for morality made a deep impression on the public, I believe, and not often do people see this. From President Clinton's evasions about Monica, all the way back to the Watergate era, when President Nixon's spokesman could suddenly declare certain statements “no longer operative,” we have grown accustomed to the bob and the weave, to the guiltless admission and the non-fat confession.
[More at URL]
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Dr. Dobson, Evangelical Leaders
Challenge Global-Warming Rhetoric
Letter urges National Association of Evangelicals to restrain its D.C spokesman.
Received March 2, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
In a letter to the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), James C. Dobson, Ph.D., chairman of Focus on the Family Action, joined other pro-family leaders in urging the NAE to refrain from taking a position on the controversial and divisive topic of global warming and other issues.
NAE official Richard Cizik, who works in the group’s Washington, D.C., office, has told the media it’s indisputable that human activity has contributed to global warming and has encouraged evangelicals to make it a top issue. On other occasions, he's said evangelicals “must confront population control.”
“We ask,” Dobson and the others wrote, “how is population control going to be achieved, if not by promoting abortion, the distribution of condoms to the young and even by infanticide in China and elsewhere? Is this where Richard Cizik would lead us?”
To demonstrate that not all evangelicals are on board with global-warming alarmism, the letter references a statement by the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance that challenges common assumptions about global warming.
[More at URL]
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N.M. Advances Embryonic Stem-Cell Legislation
Focus on the Family
3-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004101.cfm
The New Mexico Senate narrowly passed a bill Thursday to allow research on human embryos, KOB-TV reported.
The bill now heads to the House.
"These are embryos that are either going to be frozen or discarded," said Republican Sen. John Ryan. "Doctors tell me that this research can occur on those embryos."
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Pro-Life Trigger Law Heads to Mississippi Governor
Focus on the Family
3-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004102.cfm
Lawmakers in the Magnolia State sent the governor pro-life legislation on Thursday that includes an abortion trigger law, an ultrasound provision and a parental-involvement clause, The Associated Press reported.
Under the bill, abortion would become illegal if the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade is overturned. It provides an exception for rape or if the life of the mother is at risk.
[More at URL]
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Oregon's Assisted-Suicide Law Draws Attention
With California and Vermont in a race to legalize assisted suicide, all eyes are focused on the only state where it's already legal.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
3-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004106.cfm
Oregon published statistics Thursday for the ninth time since voters there approved physician-assisted suicide.
In 2006, physicians prescribed death for 46 people, according to the Oregon Department of Public Health. The numbers are rising.
All told, 292 have killed themselves with the help of doctors since the law took effect in 1998. Nearly 400 others obtained lethal drugs but did not use them -- if you believe the statistics.
But Wesley Smith, who opposes euthanasia, warned that the statistics can't be trusted because they depend on self-reporting by doctors.
"We really don’t know what the numbers are," he added. "They even say that the accuracy of their report depends on the accuracy of the information they receive. And there is no way to investigate if something wrong is taking place."
[...]
"They now use the term 'aid-in-dying.' They call physician-assisted suicide, 'physician aid in dying' or PAD -- so physicians now 'induce PAD,' " he said.
"It is playing word games with what is really going on to allow a physician to help kill a patient and pretend that is not what's going on."
Dr. Charles Bentz, president of the Physicians for Compassionate Care Foundation, said pro-death advocates threatened the Department of Human Services with litigation if the state continued to use the word "suicide."
The name change is actually part of the pro-death movement's two-part agenda.
[...]
TAKE ACTION
If you live in California, please contact your lawmakers and ask them to oppose the assisted-suicide bill. To find out who your lawmakers are -- and for talking points on the legislation -- please see the California Family Council Web site.
[More at URL]
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Illinois Professor Refuses to Issue Grade to Christian Student
Focus on the Family
3-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004097.cfm
Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) intervened after a professor at Southern Illinois University refused to grade the paper of a Christian student.
Christine Mize, a social work graduate student, had to create an eight-week therapy program based on a topic of her choice.
She chose to create a therapy model for women who suffer from post-abortion syndrome and told her professor, Laura Drueth Zeman, that the recovery portion would be faith-based. Drueth Zeman told Mize that she would downgrade the paper if it included a faith-based element.
Mize handed in her paper without the contested section, but also provided the professor with legal information to avoid any such misunderstandings in the future.
Amy Smith, litigation counsel for ADF, said Drueth Zeman has had the paper since December and has refused to issue a grade -- leaving Mize, a 4.0 student, with an incomplete in a class required for graduation.
[More at URL]
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Connecticut Wants Mandatory MySpace Age Check
Focus on the Family
3-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004098.cfm
A bill proposed by Connecticut lawmakers and backed by the state attorney general would require social-networking sites including MySpace.com to obtain parental consent before minors can post profiles, The Associated Press reported.
MySpace.com currently relies on the user to specify an age. Under the proposal, such sites would be required to verify that age and obtain parental permission for minors.
[More at URL]
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New Hampshire Representatives Vote Against Parents' Rights
Focus on the Family
3-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004100.cfm
The New Hampshire House voted Wednesday to repeal a pro-life parental-notification law that's been tied up in a legal challenge since it passed in 2003, LifeNews.com reported.
Abortion advocates filed suit, because the law does not include an exception to let teens get a judicial waiver. That would allow them to skip telling their parents before getting an abortion.
Rep. Fran Wendelboe introduced an amendment that would have fixed that.
[More at URL]
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Wisconsin Rejects Abstinence Funds
Governor prefers comprehensive sex ed.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
3-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004094.cfm
Wisconsin's governor has turned down $600,000 for abstinence education.
Gov. Jim Doyle objected to the federal requirement that the money only be used to teach the benefits of abstinence until marriage. Stephanie Marquis, Doyle's spokeswoman, said the governor wants to also teach kids about condoms.
"With our state (and) other states turning down the money," she said, "we’re hoping that it also sends a very clear message that we want to also be talking about how to prevent adolescent pregnancy.”
Wisconsin joins four other states that have rejected abstinence funds: California, Pennsylvania, Maine and New Jersey.
[More at URL]
----- 18 -----
State Abstinence Programs Under Attack
Washington state Senate votes for Planned Parenthood pleasing curriculum.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
03-08-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004096.cfm
Lawmakers in several states have launched an offensive to eliminate abstinence-only education. That campaign has advanced furthest in Washington.
The state Senate there passed a bill on Wednesday, 30-19, that will mandate all public schools teach Planned Parenthood-endorsed sex-ed curriculum that's used in Seattle schools.
"We're just sick about it," Sen. Val Stevens told CitizenLink. "It's probably the worst piece of legislation that we've passed in the 15 years I've been in the Legislature."
The measure would specifically ban local districts from teaching the value of purity.
"The bill will eliminate the opportunity for the schools to teach abstinence education, unless they also present the 'medically correct' -- as it is being called -- curriculum that will be developed by the state superintendent of public instruction," said Stevens, a Republican from Arlington.
[...]
Benn said a federally mandated curriculum would likely mandate discussion of birth control and homosexuality.
TAKE ACTION
If you live in the state of Washington, please contact your representative and insist that he or she vote against Senate Bill 5297.
For help in contacting your lawmakers, please visit the CitizenLink Action Center.
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Putting Judges to a Vote
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
by Bruce Hausknecht, J.D.
http://citizenlink.org/citizenMag/A000003995.cfm
Public accountability is on the rise among state judges who never had reason before to care what voters thought of their philosophy.
Voters in certain states cast their ballots last November with greater confidence than ever before, especially in their assessment of judges seeking office.
Those citizens had the benefit of judicial voter guides created and distributed by family policy councils (FPCs)—state-level allies of Focus on the Family Action, a non-profit, non-tax-deductible cultural action organization chaired by Dr. James C. Dobson.
The FPCs first sent questionnaires to each of the candidates, and then published the results in hard copy form or on a Web site. The level of success varied by state, depending on the newness of the voter guide effort and the type of judicial elections involved, according to several FPC leaders interviewed by Citizen . Although more voter education on the importance of state judges may be needed, overall voter awareness and demand for such information appears to be gaining momentum.
[More at URL]
----- 20 -----
Two States Consider Subversion of Marriage
Bills in Maine and New Mexico would bar clergy from signing marriage licenses and remove mention of brides and grooms.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
3-5-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004063.cfm
The Maine Legislature is considering a bill that would bar clergymen from signing marriage licenses. And lawmakers in New Mexico will soon vote on domestic partnerships in the Land of Enchantment.
Michael Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, told CitizenLink only a justice of the peace, a lawyer, a judge or a notary public would be able to sign marriage licenses, but not clergymen.
"I think it's an insane, absurd bill," Heath said. "I can't even believe we're wasting time talking about it. It's stupid."
Still Heath said Mainers need to contact legislators about the bill, which hasn't yet passed the committee level, just in case.
In New Mexico, meanwhile, lawmakers are poised to pass much more sinister legislation that would change the state's marriage laws in preparation for legalizing domestic partnerships.
Mona Passignano, state issues analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said SB 1003 would amend marriage licenses in New Mexico.
"It would remove the words 'bride' and 'groom,' from the marriage license; instead it would say 'Applicant 1' for the bride and 'Applicant 2’ for the groom," Passignano said. "Later on, the word 'male' is replaced by 'Applicant 1' and the word 'female' is replaced by 'Applicant 2.' "
The bill would also strip out any mention of "the holy bonds of matrimony" in the current law -- and replace it with "marriage."
New Mexico State Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, said there is only one reason why the changes are being sought.
"This is [domestic partnerships]," Espinoza said. "We've got to fight -- for our kids, for the future generation. What Christians do not understand is, give me one generation of your children, and I will show you the future of your nation."
In fact, Passignano said there are three domestic-partnership bills moving fast through the New Mexico Legislature.
HB 603 would give domestic partners the same rights as spouses – in child custody, divorce, and property disputes.
HB 15 would require insurance carriers to offer health benefits to domestic partners if an employer asks for them.
The third, SB 502, would change retiree health care to include domestic partners.
State Sen. Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque, opposes making domestic partnerships legal. He said its proponents are making a full-court press in the Senate, since there are only 12 days left this session.
Boitano said he was pressured by lobbyists to approve domestic partnership just prior to speaking with CitizenLink.
"The case that they are making is that things are changing," he said. "It's absolutely true. The world today is much different than the world 50 years ago or 100 years ago. But there are certain things that don't change -- the order in the universe doesn't change . . . and the science of social structures doesn't. The family is the basis and the foundation of our society and it is just not appropriate to compare domestic partners to married couples."
Passignano, meanwhile, said gay activists have been forthright in saying that pushing for domestic partnerships is just a stepping stone for gay marriage.
"And they are setting the stage for domestic partnerships in the state of New Mexico," she said. "The scary thing is New Mexico is one the few states that doesn't even have a DOMA law, a defense of marriage act, on the books. So this state is very, very vulnerable on this issue."
TAKE ACTION:
If you reside in Maine or New Mexico, log into the CitizenLink Action Center to contact your lawmakers. In New Mexico, ask lawmakers to oppose SB 1003, HB 603, HB 15 and SB 502. In Maine, ask lawmakers to oppose the bill banning clergy from marriage licenses.
If you don't yet have a CitizenLink account, you can create one easily here.
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"Big Brother Olympia On Steriods"
Faith and Freedom Network
Friday, March 09, 2007
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2007/03/big-brother-olympia-on-steriods.html
Senator Tim Sheldon (D) told me this morning that the Senate passage of Sex-Ed Bill SB 5297 this week was, “big brother Olympia on steroids.” As you can imagine, a good number of Republicans agreed, but in the end, there were not enough Senators who care about the kids.
Senator Val Stevens (R) told me this morning that, “If this bill becomes law, I would recommend that parents carefully reconsider allowing their child to be influenced by a system that is sending a double message.”
Senate Bill 5297 eliminates the opportunity for schools to teach abstinence education, unless they present the “medically correct” curriculum that will be developed by the state superintendent of public instruction. The “medically correct” sex-ed will be Planned Parenthood endorsed curriculum like that used in the Seattle schools.
[...]
Here’s how it works. In order to be medically and scientifically accurate, it must be verified and supported (in its research) by peer review. Abstinence education can not get into peer review journals because the journals are controlled by far left secularist organizations that do not allow the abstinence people to publish. Thus eliminating abstinence-only education.
[...]
SB 5297 will now go before the House of Representatives for consideration.
This is a time when we must speak.
Please call and write your State Representatives and ask them to vote against SB 5297. Click here for contact information regarding Washington State Representatives. Legislative Hotline: 1.800.562.6000.
Also, be sure to vote on our new poll. I have been told that many legislators pay attention to the Faith & Freedom poll numbers. Click here to go to the poll.
[More at URL]
----- 22 -----
Faith and the Founders
Faith and Freedom Network
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2007/03/faith-and-founders.html
Whether you are reading some of the posts on this website or simply listening to conversation on a college campus, it doesn't take long before you hear the "free thinkers," secular humanists or atheists begin their mantra about how "secular" and deist our Founders were in their beliefs. Or worse yet, sometimes we hear that our Founders were actually followers of the French Enlightenment Movement.
This, of course, is standard fare in too many high school and college classrooms. And when people who have been educated to believe this are confronted with the Founders actual quotes and speeches, they attack the messenger.
[More at URL]
----- 23 -----
Washington Lawmakers move toward gay marriage
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Faith and Freedom Network
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2007/03/washington-lawmakers-move-toward-gay.html
Today Washington State Senate passed a measure by a 28 to 19 vote that will allow Domestic Partnerships.
Voting was as follows: 3/1/2007
Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Brandland, Brown, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Haugen, Hobbs, Jacobsen, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, Murray, Oemig, Poulsen, Prentice, Pridemore, Regala, Rockefeller, Spanel, Tom, and Weinstein .
Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Carrell, Clements, Delvin, Hargrove, Hatfield, Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, McCaslin, Morton, Parlette, Rasmussen, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli Absent: Excused: Senators Pflug and Shin
The following is the text from a press release sent out by Faith & Freedom today.
________________
Gary Randall, President of Faith & Freedom said, “By passing the domestic partnership bill today, the Washington Legislature has chosen a path toward gay marriage.”
Senator Ed Murray, Rep. Jim Moeller, and other sponsors of the bill have made it clear to both the press and the public that the ultimate prize is “marriage equality” – or gay marriage.
Randall said, “I think a number of legislators who are not comfortable with voting for gay marriage chose this vote as an alternative. Unfortunately, rather than a helpful compromise, this decision will most likely prove to be an enabling step toward same-sex marriage, as we are seeing in New Jersey.” Randall also said, “As this plays out over the next year or so, some lawmakers may find themselves at odds with their constitutes, in that a majority of Washington citizens do not favor gay marriage.”
Jon Russell, Senior Field Director and lobbyist said, “I think the bill is inherently discriminatory because it extends benefits to homosexuals and elderly unmarried couples living together while excluding many other classes of relationships.”
Faith & Freedom is reviewing the viable options of response.
----- 24 -----
Showdown Ahead
Can social conservatives emerge victorious while liberal Democrats remain in control of the U.S. Senate?
by John Paulton
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family Action
March 2007
http://citizenlink.org/citizenMag/A000003993.cfm
All political eyes are on John Paul Stevens these days. For months, the 86-year-old Supreme Court Justice has been the subject of speculation. First, there were rumors of ill health. Then came surprising reports that the Court's longest-serving liberal wants to resign his seat while a Republican holds the White House, out of a sense of loyalty to the man who nominated him—the late President Gerald Ford. Current speculation is that a Stevens resignation could come this summer, after the Court has concluded its current term.
Even if a Stevens vacancy does not happen this year, the odds are that the next Supreme Court opening will result from a liberal vacating his or her seat. The average age of the four conservative jurists is 59, while the average age of the remaining justices is 73. Should one of the liberal seats open up while President Bush is still in office, the political battle for the ages would begin. After all, if one of the liberal justices were to be replaced with one who recognizes a constitutional duty to interpret rather than create the law, there is a strong chance that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision could be overturned, sending control over abortion back to the states.
That reality has the Left apoplectic. As the Roberts and Alito confirmation battles revealed, most liberals view abortion as the one right that must be protected above all others—and that means holding on to the courts at all cost.
But many other critical matters are at stake as well. The definition of marriage, religious freedom, school choice, property rights and national security are among the many issues in which activist, left-leaning courts have held sway. While adding a fifth conservative to the Court wouldn't change things overnight, the eventual impact could be breathtaking. It's no wonder that the battle lines are drawn.
[More at URL]
----- 25 -----
Iowa Gov. Signs Cloning Bill
Focus on the Family
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004045.cfm
A bill that will allow scientists to clone human embryonic life then kill it in the name of science was signed by Iowa Gov. Chet Culver on Thursday, LifeNews.com reported.
The bill repeals a prior ban on such destructive research.
Culver said the repeal paves the way in the "search for lifesaving cures for diseases."
[More at URL]
----- 26 -----
N.Y. Governor Wants State-Funded Destructive Embryonic Stem-Cell Research
Focus on the Family
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004048.cfm
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has proposed legislation that would designate hundreds of millions in state funds for research on human embryos, LifeNews.com reported.
Richard Barnes, director of the New York Catholic Conference, testified before Senate and House committees considering the bill.
"The governor's stem-cell research proposal," he said, "is devoid of any moral consideration whatsoever for the living human embryos who will be subject to experimentation and destruction."
[More at URL]
----- 27 -----
Domestic Partnerships Looming in Washington State
Focus on the Family
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004049.cfm
The Washington State Senate approved a bill Thursday that would grant same-sex couples the right to enter domestic partnerships. The legislation is expected to easily pass in the House, The Seattle Times reported.
The bill would extend most of the benefits of marriage to gay and lesbian couples, though gay-advocacy groups say it is just a step toward the ultimate goal.
"We'll keep coming back and keep telling the story and hope people go, 'Geez, let's just get it over with -- let's pass marriage," said Democratic Sen. Ed Murray.
Republican Sen. Val Stevens is opposed to the legislation.
[...]
Sonja Swiatkiewicz, director of issue response for Focus on the Family Action, said Stevens is right.
"Though Washington has a Defense of Marriage statute, it's clear that marriage will remain vulnerable in the Evergreen State until the people have the chance to preserve traditional marriage at the ballot box."
[More at URL]
----- 28 -----
Ga. Court Refuses Gay Adoption Challenge
Ex-partner of same-sex couple will keep parental standing.
Focus on the Family
from staff reports
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004050.cfm
Georgia's State Supreme Court will not hear an appeal to a decision granting child-custody rights to a lesbian's former partner.
The case involves a woman allowed to adopt her same-sex partner's biological child. When the relationship dissolved two years later, a custody battle ensued. Georgia state law did not provide answers, so a lower court allowed the adoption to stand.
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said gay-advocacy groups are celebrating the state's lack of clarity surrounding the issue.
"They got their foot in the door with the original adoption decree," he said, "and they figure that once they get that foot in the door it’s easy to keep marching forward."
[More at URL]
----- 29 -----
Children Need Both a Mother and a Father
Dr. Dobson won't back down on what's best for children, no matter how noisily gay activists complain.
by James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Focus on the Family
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004052.cfm
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following op-ed by James C. Dobson, Ph.D., chairman and founder of Focus on the Family, first appeared in the Rocky Mountain News on Feb. 28.
In December of last year, I received a request from Time magazine asking me to address the issue of Mary Cheney's decision to have a baby with her lesbian partner, Heather Poe. I complied, and my commentary was published in the magazine's Dec. 18 issue.
Although the statement was entirely respectful to Cheney and Poe, I did express my strong opinion that children need both a mother and a father, and that the preponderance of behavioral research supports that belief. From that point forward, I have been subjected to a barrage of criticism and insults from homosexual activists, including two lesbian protesters who came to the door of our organization last week demanding a retraction. The Rocky Mountain News reported their unexpected visit, but to its credit, has now given me an opportunity to reply.
[More at URL]
----- 30 -----
New Hampshire Considers Civil Unions
Focus on the Family
3-1-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004033.cfm
The New Hampshire Legislature will consider two bills that would give same-sex couples the rights of marriage, the Nashua Telegraph reported.
HB 431 would create civil unions for same-sex couples, giving them the rights and privileges of marriage. HB 235 would mandate the state to recognize out-of-state gay marriage.
[More at URL]
----- 31 -----
Ky. Fetal-Pain Bill Advances
Focus on the Family
3-1-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004034.cfm
The Kentucky Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation Wednesday that would require abortionists to tell women that a preborn child may feel pain during an abortion, The Associated Press reported.
[More at URL]
There's also a big upsurge in theocon-called action items. Those are always noted by ACTION ITEM. I kind of presume that opposition groups call in and do the opposite of the theocon requests.
Anyway, here's today's news.
Hullabaloo gets vaguely culture-war-coverage-ish with James Dobson's radio lovefest with former Speaker Newt Gingrich, comparing and contrasting Dobson on Clinton and Dobson on Gingrich; I include it here because it has extensive quotes from James Dobson, with reasonable context;
Here's the Focus on the Family promo for the Dobson-Gingrich interview;
Meanwhile, in Florida, there's a counter-protest in support of the city manager fired - against city policy, even - for undergoing gender reassignment;
The, how can I put this? Faggotisation? of John Edwards continues, this time courtesy Rush Limbaugh, who says he could be "our first woman president";
More Dobson-on-Clinton, this via a nicely cached Google retrieval;
"Mormonism — That’s So Gay";
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against Colorado house bill to allow gay people to adopt;
Focus on the Family complains that science programmes aren't giving doctorates to creationist students trying to study creationism as an "alternative to evolution," spins it as religious oppression - "This issue of peer review and peer pressure -- it's real. Political correctness reigns on the campus, and Christianity is definitely not politically correct." No, the problem is that creationism isn't factually correct;
Focus on the Family story about how men are hurt by not being able to control whether a woman gets an abortion;
Citizen Magazine article promoting the New Life Church and lauding its hard-line stance against GBLT people, particularly after the Ted Haggard scandal;
Focus on the Family condemns evangelical groups pushing for action on global warming;
FotF condemns New Mexico legislation allowing stem-cell research on leftover embryos intended to be discarded after fertility treatments;
Mississippi abortion ban - comprehensive except for rape or life of the mother, no health exemption - to be signed into law by Gov. Haley Barbour; it's a "trigger law" that won't take effect unless Roe v. Wade is overturned;
Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM against California assisted-suicide law;
FotF "Illinois Professor Refuses to Issue Grade to Christian Student" - after she implied legal action against him for downgrading a grade on a "faith-based" paper about therapy for "post-abortion syndrome," which is something the theocons made up;
Connecticut considering bill mandating "MySpace age checks" before people can post profiles, thus eliminating 90% of the MySpace audience base;
New Hampshire repeals "pro-life parential notification law"; Focus on the Family is unhappy about it;
FotF unhappy that Wisconsin has turned down abstinence-education funds from the Feds;
FotF ACTION ITEM against Washington State bill (SB 5297) considering a bill stopping abstinence-only - abstinence can still be taught, but can't be the only thing taught, and it also requires information be medically accurate; theocons locally are pissed off;
FotF writing about their state-level "Family Policy Councils" which create "judicial voter guides"; we've seen these here, but Washington State isn't specifically listed;
FotF ACTION ITEM against "subversion of marriage" bills in Maine and New Mexico; the Maine bill would "bar clergymen from signing marriage licenses"; the New Mexico bills in question are domestic partnership bills;
Faith and Freedom Network condemns "medically correct" sex-education bill in Washington State, issues ACTION ITEM against; also condemn scientific peer review because, and I am quoting as always, "the journals are controlled by far left secularist organizations that do not allow the abstinence people to publish";
Faith and Freedom Network condemns the Enlightenment (by implication), as part of an attempt to describe the American Founding Fathers as confirmed fundamentalist evangelicals. Note that modern fundamentalism wasn't even invented until the late 19th and early 20th century, over 100 years later;
Faith and Freedom Network condemns domestic partnership benefits vote, and is "reviewing the viable options of response," which I suspect means, "figuring out whether to sue";
Focus on the Family drools over the prospect of a John Paul Stevens retirement or death, talks about the need for Chief Executive Bush to nominate a social conservative to overturn Roe v. Wade;
FotF unhappy at Iowa passing a stem-cell research bill, calling it a "cloning bill";
New York Catholic Conference condemns stem-cell research funding bill in New York State;
FotF condemns Washington State domestic partnership bill, calls for state initiative to ban DP benefits;
FotF condemns Georgia law for not specifically refusing to recognise adoptions by same-sex partners; reports on a court case where a woman's custody rights were upheld by a Georgia court involving a lesbian couple who had split up;
James Dobson op-ed in the Rocky Mountain News condemning same-sex parents, defending his quoting of researchers who say that he is specifically and misrepresenting their research; his response continues to be, 'am not';
Focus on the Family unhappy with New Hampshire bills recognising domestic partnerships;
Focus on the Family happy with advancement of "Ky. Fetal-Pain Bill."
----- 1 -----
The Screaming Minority
Friday, March 09, 2007
Hullabaloo
by digby
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/screaming-minority-by-digby-i-hope-that.html
I hope that nobody gets the idea that Newt Gingrich's comments to James Dobson exposing him as a rank hypocrite are going to mean anything to the Christian Right. They have proven that they are remarkably flexible when it comes to the personal morality of Republican leaders. If they repent for what they've done, they are forgiven, no harm no foul. (See most recently, Mark Foley.)
When it comes to Democrats, you have a very, very different story.
Here's Dobson in September of 1999:
As with many Christians around the country, Shirley and I have been in prayer for our leaders in government who must deal with the fallout from this scandal. They will need great wisdom and discernment in the days ahead. Our most serious concern, however, is not with those in Washington; it is with the American people. What has alarmed me throughout this episode has been the willingness of my fellow citizens to rationalize the President’s behavior even after they suspected, and later knew, that he was lying. Because the economy is strong, millions of people have said infidelity in the Oval Office is just a private affair--something between himself and Hillary. We heard it time and again during those months: “As long as Mr. Clinton is doing a good job, it’s nobody’s business what he does with his personal life.”
That disregard for morality is profoundly disturbing to me. Although sexual affairs have occurred often in high places, the public has never approved of such misconduct. But today, the rules by which behavior is governed appear to have been rewritten specifically for Mr. Clinton.
[More at URL]
----- 2 -----
Gingrich Tells Dobson He's 'Sought God's Forgiveness'
Focus on the Family
March 7, 2007
[Received in email - no URL]
Former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich told Dr. James C. Dobson he has “gotten on (his) knees and sought God’s forgiveness” for his moral failings.
In a two-part installment of Dr. Dobson’s international radio program airing Thursday and Friday, Gingrich also discusses his new book, Rediscovering God in America, and the rising threat of radical Islam to the West.
On day two of the program, Dr. Dobson compares the attitudes of today’s Muslim radicals to the actions of the Nazis in the 1930s -- a hatred of Jews and a desire for hegemony and domination.
“It bothers me,” he says, “that many of our leaders don’t seem to get that – Republicans and Democrats.”
Gingrich agrees, noting that “there are 15- to 25-year-old men who are willing to die as long as they kill you.”
“It’s a warrior culture,” he adds. “That has been true historically for 6,000 or 7,000 years.”
[ http://listen.family.org/daily/A000000371.cfm ]
[More at URL]
----- 3 -----
350 rally to protest city manager's ouster
The Largo official, fired last week over plans for a sex change, says the support is overwhelming.
By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published March 7, 2007
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/07/Tampabay/350_rally_to_protest_.shtml
LARGO - They stood 350 strong in the grass outside City Hall on Tuesday morning, united by faith.
They held signs, saying "Justice," "Compassion" and "Love," as well as these:
Some Baptists need their hearts examined.
Jesus wasn't the Terminator.'
[...]
They were there to support Steve Stanton, who was fired from his job as city manager by the City Commission after disclosing that he is going to undergo gender-reassignment surgery.
The 30-minute rally drew more than a dozen clerics from churches and synagogues around the Tampa Bay area.
[More at URL]
----- 4 -----
New Winger Attack: John Edwards Could Be Our "First Woman President"
By Eric Kleefeld
Election Central
Long URL elided
It looks as if Ann Coulter's "faggot" insult of John Edwards has set the tone for a new right-wing taunt: That John Edwards could become our "First Woman President." Check out this screen grab of Rush Limbaugh pushing the new smear:
[...]
RUSH: try this headline. Ann Coulter, if you're out there listening, listen to this headline from the New York Sun today: "Could John Edwards Become the First Woman President?" It's by John Gerstein in the New York Sun...
[...]
Rush's diatribe above was inspired by an article yesterday in the conservative New York Sun entitled, "Could Edwards Become First Woman President?." The artice quoted abortion rights activist and Edwards backer Kate Michelman saying that Edwards "understands the reality of women's lives." The Sun then suggested that her praise for Edwards on women's issues is "provoking debate" that Edwards may soon lay claim to the title of "First Woman President," and to attack Michelman and the Edwards campaign for pushing such an argument. The kicker: Neither Michelman nor the Edwards camp were ever quoted actually making any such point.
Nevertheless, Rush picked up on the article and said:
So John Edwards is on tap now, according to one of the nation's largest abortion rights supporters to become the first woman president in the United States — and, of course, the barrier is down. The first black president, Bill Clinton. That barrier is broken. Sometimes all you can do is laugh at these people. Speaking of the Breck Girl...[More at URL]
----- 5 -----
Dr. Dobson's Study
Focus on the Family
September 1998
Long Google cache URL elided
Dear Friends:
Greetings to you all. Shirley and I have been visiting the historic city of Boston for the past few weeks while working on a new book called Coming Home. I’ll tell you more about that at Christmastime. We have loved being together and are particularly grateful to God for His healing touch after my illness. Toward the end of our trip, however, we were shocked and dismayed by the admission of the President’s affair with “that woman — Miss Lewinsky” — which brought humiliation on himself, his family and our nation. Millions of words have been written and spoken about that sordid story, which I have chosen not to address during these past seven months. But now I want to express some passionate views that are on my heart.
As with many Christians around the country, Shirley and I have been in prayer for our leaders in government who must deal with the fallout from this scandal. They will need great wisdom and discernment in the days ahead. Our most serious concern, however, is not with those in Washington; it is with the American people. What has alarmed me throughout this episode has been the willingness of my fellow citizens to rationalize the President’s behavior even after they suspected, and later knew, that he was lying. Because the economy is strong, millions of people have said infidelity in the Oval Office is just a private affair--something between himself and Hillary. We heard it time and again during those months: “As long as Mr. Clinton is doing a good job, it’s nobody’s business what he does with his personal life.”
That disregard for morality is profoundly disturbing to me. Although sexual affairs have occurred often in high places, the public has never approved of such misconduct. But today, the rules by which behavior is governed appear to have been rewritten specifically for Mr. Clinton. We now know that this 50-year-old man had sexual relations repeatedly and brazenly in the White House, with a woman 27 years his junior. Then he spoke on national television while shaking his finger at the camera, and denied ever having a sexual relationship with Miss Lewinsky. He was the most powerful man in the world and she was a starry-eyed intern. That situation would not have been tolerated in any other setting — ever. And yet the apologists for the President have said endlessly, “It’s just about sex,” as though cheating on your wife was of no particular significance. But the majority of the American people replied, “I support the President.”
[More at URL]
----- 6 -----
Mormonism — That’s So Gay
Posted by Garance under Uncategorized
March 3, 2007
http://thegarance.com/archives/174
Ann Coulter’s vile decision to call John Edwards a “faggot” after being praised by G.O.P. presidential candidate Mitt Romney actually seemed pretty sophisticated intra-conservative politics to me, since, according to a reporter for a conservative publication, the new joke making the rounds at the Conservative Political Action Conference was:
“Mormonism — that’s so gay!”
Aggressive heterosexuality is Romney’s defense against his years leading gay-friendly Massachusetts, and also against the taint of sexual non-conformity his Mormon religion still carries. Polygamy and homosexuality have been so routinely condemned in tandem by conservatives over the past decade that the two now seem forever combined in their thinking. Recall Rick Santorum’s contention that:
“if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy”
[More at URL]
----- 7 -----
Colorado Legislature Considers Gay Adoption
Family advocates gear up for a fight.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
3-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004079.cfm
Liberal Colorado lawmakers unveiled a bill Tuesday that would allow homosexual couples to adopt children.
House Bill 1330, sponsored by House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, would also include cohabiting couples and relatives of unwed mothers.
"It's about parental responsibility and protecting our kids and providing them with the most economically stable homes they can have," she told the Rocky Mountain News.
But Jim Pfaff, president of Colorado Family Action, said the legislation exploits single parents in order to promote homosexual adoption.
"All the high-minded discussion of 'protecting children' and 'parental responsibility' is merely a smokescreen for the true intent of this legislation: paving the way for homosexual adoption," he said.
[...]
Carrie Gordon Earll, senior director of issue analysis for Focus on the Family Action, said implementing gay adoption in Colorado would advance a broader political agenda to mainstream and normalize homosexual behavior.
"If we are truly concerned about the needs of children, we should not consider policies that increase the likelihood that children will grow up without a mother or father," she said.
[...]
TAKE ACTION
Coloradans should contact their state lawmakers and ask them to oppose HB 1330.
If you are a CitizenLink Daily Update subscriber, click on the blue "Take Action" button in the e-mail to be automatically logged in to our Action Center. You can find contact information there. Otherwise, click on this link.
[More at URL]
----- 8 -----
Christian Scholars Face Opposition When Studying Origins
University faculties take a dim view of alternatives to evolution.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
3-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004080.cfm
Christian students seeking to study human origins are facing discrimination at many colleges and universities. Experts say Darwin's Theory of Evolution has such a lock on faculty members, few Christians who take a different point of view are getting through advanced degree programs.
Last year, Bryan Leonard, an Ohio State University graduate student, was preparing to defend his doctoral dissertation on the merits of teaching alternatives to evolution. But his dissertation was pulled. University officials determined he was subjecting students in his research to something harmful.
[...]
John Morris, president of the Institute for Creation Research, said Leonard's experience is not an anomaly.
"There's a closed system there," he told Family News in Focus. "This issue of peer review and peer pressure -- it's real. Political correctness reigns on the campus, and Christianity is definitely not politically correct."
[More at URL]
----- 9 -----
College Men Psychologically Affected by Abortion
Many call it the worst day.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
3-7-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004081.cfm
A UCLA psychiatrist has noted that many college-aged men she's counseled appear to have been impacted by abortion.
Dr. Miriam Grossman noticed a significant number of young men reported a sleeping disorder. She began asking whether they had participated in an abortion. Most said "Yes."
"I had a young man a few weeks ago who was very surprised that I was asking him," she said. "But, he did say, 'Yeah, about a month ago my girlfriend had an abortion. It was a whole big story, and he was pretty upset about it."
[More at URL]
----- 10 -----
Principle Trumps Personality
by Tom Minnery
Focus on the Family
http://www.citizenlink.org/citizenMag/A000003986.cfm
A few miles up the road from our Focus headquarters in Colorado Springs is a huge church whose broad blue dome dominates the landscape. This is New Life Church , with 14,000 members, and every one of them has been stunned by the sudden loss of their beloved pastor, the church founder, Ted Haggard.
Ted was dismissed by the church overseers, and placed in a program of restoration, following a revelation by a homosexual prostitute that he and Ted had been having a sexual relationship.
The prostitute revealed all this on a Denver radio talk show a week before Election Day, and the story electrified the front pages of the state's newspapers for days. It was a shock to churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike.
[...]
I've thought a lot about that and here is my conclusion. The pastor may have been a hypocrite, but the church was not. The revelation against him was made on a Wednesday, the board of overseers investigated on Thursday and Friday, and were dissatisfied with the pastor's answers. He was dismissed on Saturday and the congregation was told on Sunday. The following Tuesday was the election.
[...]
In this age of infinite tolerance, when elite society tolerates everyone's “lifestyle” and wishes only to “celebrate diversity,” this rock-solid stand for morality made a deep impression on the public, I believe, and not often do people see this. From President Clinton's evasions about Monica, all the way back to the Watergate era, when President Nixon's spokesman could suddenly declare certain statements “no longer operative,” we have grown accustomed to the bob and the weave, to the guiltless admission and the non-fat confession.
[More at URL]
----- 11 -----
Dr. Dobson, Evangelical Leaders
Challenge Global-Warming Rhetoric
Letter urges National Association of Evangelicals to restrain its D.C spokesman.
Received March 2, 2007
[Received in email; no URL]
In a letter to the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), James C. Dobson, Ph.D., chairman of Focus on the Family Action, joined other pro-family leaders in urging the NAE to refrain from taking a position on the controversial and divisive topic of global warming and other issues.
NAE official Richard Cizik, who works in the group’s Washington, D.C., office, has told the media it’s indisputable that human activity has contributed to global warming and has encouraged evangelicals to make it a top issue. On other occasions, he's said evangelicals “must confront population control.”
“We ask,” Dobson and the others wrote, “how is population control going to be achieved, if not by promoting abortion, the distribution of condoms to the young and even by infanticide in China and elsewhere? Is this where Richard Cizik would lead us?”
To demonstrate that not all evangelicals are on board with global-warming alarmism, the letter references a statement by the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance that challenges common assumptions about global warming.
[More at URL]
----- 12 -----
N.M. Advances Embryonic Stem-Cell Legislation
Focus on the Family
3-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004101.cfm
The New Mexico Senate narrowly passed a bill Thursday to allow research on human embryos, KOB-TV reported.
The bill now heads to the House.
"These are embryos that are either going to be frozen or discarded," said Republican Sen. John Ryan. "Doctors tell me that this research can occur on those embryos."
[More at URL]
----- 13 -----
Pro-Life Trigger Law Heads to Mississippi Governor
Focus on the Family
3-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004102.cfm
Lawmakers in the Magnolia State sent the governor pro-life legislation on Thursday that includes an abortion trigger law, an ultrasound provision and a parental-involvement clause, The Associated Press reported.
Under the bill, abortion would become illegal if the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade is overturned. It provides an exception for rape or if the life of the mother is at risk.
[More at URL]
----- 14 -----
Oregon's Assisted-Suicide Law Draws Attention
With California and Vermont in a race to legalize assisted suicide, all eyes are focused on the only state where it's already legal.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
3-9-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004106.cfm
Oregon published statistics Thursday for the ninth time since voters there approved physician-assisted suicide.
In 2006, physicians prescribed death for 46 people, according to the Oregon Department of Public Health. The numbers are rising.
All told, 292 have killed themselves with the help of doctors since the law took effect in 1998. Nearly 400 others obtained lethal drugs but did not use them -- if you believe the statistics.
But Wesley Smith, who opposes euthanasia, warned that the statistics can't be trusted because they depend on self-reporting by doctors.
"We really don’t know what the numbers are," he added. "They even say that the accuracy of their report depends on the accuracy of the information they receive. And there is no way to investigate if something wrong is taking place."
[...]
"They now use the term 'aid-in-dying.' They call physician-assisted suicide, 'physician aid in dying' or PAD -- so physicians now 'induce PAD,' " he said.
"It is playing word games with what is really going on to allow a physician to help kill a patient and pretend that is not what's going on."
Dr. Charles Bentz, president of the Physicians for Compassionate Care Foundation, said pro-death advocates threatened the Department of Human Services with litigation if the state continued to use the word "suicide."
The name change is actually part of the pro-death movement's two-part agenda.
[...]
TAKE ACTION
If you live in California, please contact your lawmakers and ask them to oppose the assisted-suicide bill. To find out who your lawmakers are -- and for talking points on the legislation -- please see the California Family Council Web site.
[More at URL]
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Illinois Professor Refuses to Issue Grade to Christian Student
Focus on the Family
3-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004097.cfm
Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) intervened after a professor at Southern Illinois University refused to grade the paper of a Christian student.
Christine Mize, a social work graduate student, had to create an eight-week therapy program based on a topic of her choice.
She chose to create a therapy model for women who suffer from post-abortion syndrome and told her professor, Laura Drueth Zeman, that the recovery portion would be faith-based. Drueth Zeman told Mize that she would downgrade the paper if it included a faith-based element.
Mize handed in her paper without the contested section, but also provided the professor with legal information to avoid any such misunderstandings in the future.
Amy Smith, litigation counsel for ADF, said Drueth Zeman has had the paper since December and has refused to issue a grade -- leaving Mize, a 4.0 student, with an incomplete in a class required for graduation.
[More at URL]
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Connecticut Wants Mandatory MySpace Age Check
Focus on the Family
3-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004098.cfm
A bill proposed by Connecticut lawmakers and backed by the state attorney general would require social-networking sites including MySpace.com to obtain parental consent before minors can post profiles, The Associated Press reported.
MySpace.com currently relies on the user to specify an age. Under the proposal, such sites would be required to verify that age and obtain parental permission for minors.
[More at URL]
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New Hampshire Representatives Vote Against Parents' Rights
Focus on the Family
3-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004100.cfm
The New Hampshire House voted Wednesday to repeal a pro-life parental-notification law that's been tied up in a legal challenge since it passed in 2003, LifeNews.com reported.
Abortion advocates filed suit, because the law does not include an exception to let teens get a judicial waiver. That would allow them to skip telling their parents before getting an abortion.
Rep. Fran Wendelboe introduced an amendment that would have fixed that.
[More at URL]
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Wisconsin Rejects Abstinence Funds
Governor prefers comprehensive sex ed.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
3-8-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004094.cfm
Wisconsin's governor has turned down $600,000 for abstinence education.
Gov. Jim Doyle objected to the federal requirement that the money only be used to teach the benefits of abstinence until marriage. Stephanie Marquis, Doyle's spokeswoman, said the governor wants to also teach kids about condoms.
"With our state (and) other states turning down the money," she said, "we’re hoping that it also sends a very clear message that we want to also be talking about how to prevent adolescent pregnancy.”
Wisconsin joins four other states that have rejected abstinence funds: California, Pennsylvania, Maine and New Jersey.
[More at URL]
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State Abstinence Programs Under Attack
Washington state Senate votes for Planned Parenthood pleasing curriculum.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
03-08-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004096.cfm
Lawmakers in several states have launched an offensive to eliminate abstinence-only education. That campaign has advanced furthest in Washington.
The state Senate there passed a bill on Wednesday, 30-19, that will mandate all public schools teach Planned Parenthood-endorsed sex-ed curriculum that's used in Seattle schools.
"We're just sick about it," Sen. Val Stevens told CitizenLink. "It's probably the worst piece of legislation that we've passed in the 15 years I've been in the Legislature."
The measure would specifically ban local districts from teaching the value of purity.
"The bill will eliminate the opportunity for the schools to teach abstinence education, unless they also present the 'medically correct' -- as it is being called -- curriculum that will be developed by the state superintendent of public instruction," said Stevens, a Republican from Arlington.
[...]
Benn said a federally mandated curriculum would likely mandate discussion of birth control and homosexuality.
TAKE ACTION
If you live in the state of Washington, please contact your representative and insist that he or she vote against Senate Bill 5297.
For help in contacting your lawmakers, please visit the CitizenLink Action Center.
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Putting Judges to a Vote
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family
by Bruce Hausknecht, J.D.
http://citizenlink.org/citizenMag/A000003995.cfm
Public accountability is on the rise among state judges who never had reason before to care what voters thought of their philosophy.
Voters in certain states cast their ballots last November with greater confidence than ever before, especially in their assessment of judges seeking office.
Those citizens had the benefit of judicial voter guides created and distributed by family policy councils (FPCs)—state-level allies of Focus on the Family Action, a non-profit, non-tax-deductible cultural action organization chaired by Dr. James C. Dobson.
The FPCs first sent questionnaires to each of the candidates, and then published the results in hard copy form or on a Web site. The level of success varied by state, depending on the newness of the voter guide effort and the type of judicial elections involved, according to several FPC leaders interviewed by Citizen . Although more voter education on the importance of state judges may be needed, overall voter awareness and demand for such information appears to be gaining momentum.
[More at URL]
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Two States Consider Subversion of Marriage
Bills in Maine and New Mexico would bar clergy from signing marriage licenses and remove mention of brides and grooms.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
3-5-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004063.cfm
The Maine Legislature is considering a bill that would bar clergymen from signing marriage licenses. And lawmakers in New Mexico will soon vote on domestic partnerships in the Land of Enchantment.
Michael Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, told CitizenLink only a justice of the peace, a lawyer, a judge or a notary public would be able to sign marriage licenses, but not clergymen.
"I think it's an insane, absurd bill," Heath said. "I can't even believe we're wasting time talking about it. It's stupid."
Still Heath said Mainers need to contact legislators about the bill, which hasn't yet passed the committee level, just in case.
In New Mexico, meanwhile, lawmakers are poised to pass much more sinister legislation that would change the state's marriage laws in preparation for legalizing domestic partnerships.
Mona Passignano, state issues analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said SB 1003 would amend marriage licenses in New Mexico.
"It would remove the words 'bride' and 'groom,' from the marriage license; instead it would say 'Applicant 1' for the bride and 'Applicant 2’ for the groom," Passignano said. "Later on, the word 'male' is replaced by 'Applicant 1' and the word 'female' is replaced by 'Applicant 2.' "
The bill would also strip out any mention of "the holy bonds of matrimony" in the current law -- and replace it with "marriage."
New Mexico State Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, said there is only one reason why the changes are being sought.
"This is [domestic partnerships]," Espinoza said. "We've got to fight -- for our kids, for the future generation. What Christians do not understand is, give me one generation of your children, and I will show you the future of your nation."
In fact, Passignano said there are three domestic-partnership bills moving fast through the New Mexico Legislature.
HB 603 would give domestic partners the same rights as spouses – in child custody, divorce, and property disputes.
HB 15 would require insurance carriers to offer health benefits to domestic partners if an employer asks for them.
The third, SB 502, would change retiree health care to include domestic partners.
State Sen. Mark Boitano, R-Albuquerque, opposes making domestic partnerships legal. He said its proponents are making a full-court press in the Senate, since there are only 12 days left this session.
Boitano said he was pressured by lobbyists to approve domestic partnership just prior to speaking with CitizenLink.
"The case that they are making is that things are changing," he said. "It's absolutely true. The world today is much different than the world 50 years ago or 100 years ago. But there are certain things that don't change -- the order in the universe doesn't change . . . and the science of social structures doesn't. The family is the basis and the foundation of our society and it is just not appropriate to compare domestic partners to married couples."
Passignano, meanwhile, said gay activists have been forthright in saying that pushing for domestic partnerships is just a stepping stone for gay marriage.
"And they are setting the stage for domestic partnerships in the state of New Mexico," she said. "The scary thing is New Mexico is one the few states that doesn't even have a DOMA law, a defense of marriage act, on the books. So this state is very, very vulnerable on this issue."
TAKE ACTION:
If you reside in Maine or New Mexico, log into the CitizenLink Action Center to contact your lawmakers. In New Mexico, ask lawmakers to oppose SB 1003, HB 603, HB 15 and SB 502. In Maine, ask lawmakers to oppose the bill banning clergy from marriage licenses.
If you don't yet have a CitizenLink account, you can create one easily here.
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"Big Brother Olympia On Steriods"
Faith and Freedom Network
Friday, March 09, 2007
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2007/03/big-brother-olympia-on-steriods.html
Senator Tim Sheldon (D) told me this morning that the Senate passage of Sex-Ed Bill SB 5297 this week was, “big brother Olympia on steroids.” As you can imagine, a good number of Republicans agreed, but in the end, there were not enough Senators who care about the kids.
Senator Val Stevens (R) told me this morning that, “If this bill becomes law, I would recommend that parents carefully reconsider allowing their child to be influenced by a system that is sending a double message.”
Senate Bill 5297 eliminates the opportunity for schools to teach abstinence education, unless they present the “medically correct” curriculum that will be developed by the state superintendent of public instruction. The “medically correct” sex-ed will be Planned Parenthood endorsed curriculum like that used in the Seattle schools.
[...]
Here’s how it works. In order to be medically and scientifically accurate, it must be verified and supported (in its research) by peer review. Abstinence education can not get into peer review journals because the journals are controlled by far left secularist organizations that do not allow the abstinence people to publish. Thus eliminating abstinence-only education.
[...]
SB 5297 will now go before the House of Representatives for consideration.
This is a time when we must speak.
Please call and write your State Representatives and ask them to vote against SB 5297. Click here for contact information regarding Washington State Representatives. Legislative Hotline: 1.800.562.6000.
Also, be sure to vote on our new poll. I have been told that many legislators pay attention to the Faith & Freedom poll numbers. Click here to go to the poll.
[More at URL]
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Faith and the Founders
Faith and Freedom Network
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2007/03/faith-and-founders.html
Whether you are reading some of the posts on this website or simply listening to conversation on a college campus, it doesn't take long before you hear the "free thinkers," secular humanists or atheists begin their mantra about how "secular" and deist our Founders were in their beliefs. Or worse yet, sometimes we hear that our Founders were actually followers of the French Enlightenment Movement.
This, of course, is standard fare in too many high school and college classrooms. And when people who have been educated to believe this are confronted with the Founders actual quotes and speeches, they attack the messenger.
[More at URL]
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Washington Lawmakers move toward gay marriage
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Faith and Freedom Network
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2007/03/washington-lawmakers-move-toward-gay.html
Today Washington State Senate passed a measure by a 28 to 19 vote that will allow Domestic Partnerships.
Voting was as follows: 3/1/2007
Voting Yea: Senators Berkey, Brandland, Brown, Eide, Fairley, Franklin, Fraser, Haugen, Hobbs, Jacobsen, Kastama, Kauffman, Keiser, Kilmer, Kline, Kohl-Welles, Marr, McAuliffe, Murray, Oemig, Poulsen, Prentice, Pridemore, Regala, Rockefeller, Spanel, Tom, and Weinstein .
Voting Nay: Senators Benton, Carrell, Clements, Delvin, Hargrove, Hatfield, Hewitt, Holmquist, Honeyford, McCaslin, Morton, Parlette, Rasmussen, Roach, Schoesler, Sheldon, Stevens, Swecker, and Zarelli Absent: Excused: Senators Pflug and Shin
The following is the text from a press release sent out by Faith & Freedom today.
________________
Gary Randall, President of Faith & Freedom said, “By passing the domestic partnership bill today, the Washington Legislature has chosen a path toward gay marriage.”
Senator Ed Murray, Rep. Jim Moeller, and other sponsors of the bill have made it clear to both the press and the public that the ultimate prize is “marriage equality” – or gay marriage.
Randall said, “I think a number of legislators who are not comfortable with voting for gay marriage chose this vote as an alternative. Unfortunately, rather than a helpful compromise, this decision will most likely prove to be an enabling step toward same-sex marriage, as we are seeing in New Jersey.” Randall also said, “As this plays out over the next year or so, some lawmakers may find themselves at odds with their constitutes, in that a majority of Washington citizens do not favor gay marriage.”
Jon Russell, Senior Field Director and lobbyist said, “I think the bill is inherently discriminatory because it extends benefits to homosexuals and elderly unmarried couples living together while excluding many other classes of relationships.”
Faith & Freedom is reviewing the viable options of response.
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Showdown Ahead
Can social conservatives emerge victorious while liberal Democrats remain in control of the U.S. Senate?
by John Paulton
Citizen Magazine
Focus on the Family Action
March 2007
http://citizenlink.org/citizenMag/A000003993.cfm
All political eyes are on John Paul Stevens these days. For months, the 86-year-old Supreme Court Justice has been the subject of speculation. First, there were rumors of ill health. Then came surprising reports that the Court's longest-serving liberal wants to resign his seat while a Republican holds the White House, out of a sense of loyalty to the man who nominated him—the late President Gerald Ford. Current speculation is that a Stevens resignation could come this summer, after the Court has concluded its current term.
Even if a Stevens vacancy does not happen this year, the odds are that the next Supreme Court opening will result from a liberal vacating his or her seat. The average age of the four conservative jurists is 59, while the average age of the remaining justices is 73. Should one of the liberal seats open up while President Bush is still in office, the political battle for the ages would begin. After all, if one of the liberal justices were to be replaced with one who recognizes a constitutional duty to interpret rather than create the law, there is a strong chance that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision could be overturned, sending control over abortion back to the states.
That reality has the Left apoplectic. As the Roberts and Alito confirmation battles revealed, most liberals view abortion as the one right that must be protected above all others—and that means holding on to the courts at all cost.
But many other critical matters are at stake as well. The definition of marriage, religious freedom, school choice, property rights and national security are among the many issues in which activist, left-leaning courts have held sway. While adding a fifth conservative to the Court wouldn't change things overnight, the eventual impact could be breathtaking. It's no wonder that the battle lines are drawn.
[More at URL]
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Iowa Gov. Signs Cloning Bill
Focus on the Family
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004045.cfm
A bill that will allow scientists to clone human embryonic life then kill it in the name of science was signed by Iowa Gov. Chet Culver on Thursday, LifeNews.com reported.
The bill repeals a prior ban on such destructive research.
Culver said the repeal paves the way in the "search for lifesaving cures for diseases."
[More at URL]
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N.Y. Governor Wants State-Funded Destructive Embryonic Stem-Cell Research
Focus on the Family
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004048.cfm
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has proposed legislation that would designate hundreds of millions in state funds for research on human embryos, LifeNews.com reported.
Richard Barnes, director of the New York Catholic Conference, testified before Senate and House committees considering the bill.
"The governor's stem-cell research proposal," he said, "is devoid of any moral consideration whatsoever for the living human embryos who will be subject to experimentation and destruction."
[More at URL]
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Domestic Partnerships Looming in Washington State
Focus on the Family
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004049.cfm
The Washington State Senate approved a bill Thursday that would grant same-sex couples the right to enter domestic partnerships. The legislation is expected to easily pass in the House, The Seattle Times reported.
The bill would extend most of the benefits of marriage to gay and lesbian couples, though gay-advocacy groups say it is just a step toward the ultimate goal.
"We'll keep coming back and keep telling the story and hope people go, 'Geez, let's just get it over with -- let's pass marriage," said Democratic Sen. Ed Murray.
Republican Sen. Val Stevens is opposed to the legislation.
[...]
Sonja Swiatkiewicz, director of issue response for Focus on the Family Action, said Stevens is right.
"Though Washington has a Defense of Marriage statute, it's clear that marriage will remain vulnerable in the Evergreen State until the people have the chance to preserve traditional marriage at the ballot box."
[More at URL]
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Ga. Court Refuses Gay Adoption Challenge
Ex-partner of same-sex couple will keep parental standing.
Focus on the Family
from staff reports
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLNews/A000004050.cfm
Georgia's State Supreme Court will not hear an appeal to a decision granting child-custody rights to a lesbian's former partner.
The case involves a woman allowed to adopt her same-sex partner's biological child. When the relationship dissolved two years later, a custody battle ensued. Georgia state law did not provide answers, so a lower court allowed the adoption to stand.
Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said gay-advocacy groups are celebrating the state's lack of clarity surrounding the issue.
"They got their foot in the door with the original adoption decree," he said, "and they figure that once they get that foot in the door it’s easy to keep marching forward."
[More at URL]
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Children Need Both a Mother and a Father
Dr. Dobson won't back down on what's best for children, no matter how noisily gay activists complain.
by James C. Dobson, Ph.D.
Focus on the Family
3-2-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLtopstories/A000004052.cfm
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following op-ed by James C. Dobson, Ph.D., chairman and founder of Focus on the Family, first appeared in the Rocky Mountain News on Feb. 28.
In December of last year, I received a request from Time magazine asking me to address the issue of Mary Cheney's decision to have a baby with her lesbian partner, Heather Poe. I complied, and my commentary was published in the magazine's Dec. 18 issue.
Although the statement was entirely respectful to Cheney and Poe, I did express my strong opinion that children need both a mother and a father, and that the preponderance of behavioral research supports that belief. From that point forward, I have been subjected to a barrage of criticism and insults from homosexual activists, including two lesbian protesters who came to the door of our organization last week demanding a retraction. The Rocky Mountain News reported their unexpected visit, but to its credit, has now given me an opportunity to reply.
[More at URL]
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New Hampshire Considers Civil Unions
Focus on the Family
3-1-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004033.cfm
The New Hampshire Legislature will consider two bills that would give same-sex couples the rights of marriage, the Nashua Telegraph reported.
HB 431 would create civil unions for same-sex couples, giving them the rights and privileges of marriage. HB 235 would mandate the state to recognize out-of-state gay marriage.
[More at URL]
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Ky. Fetal-Pain Bill Advances
Focus on the Family
3-1-2007
http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004034.cfm
The Kentucky Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation Wednesday that would require abortionists to tell women that a preborn child may feel pain during an abortion, The Associated Press reported.
[More at URL]
