August 2007 Archives

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) got an earful of "tolerance" at the Arlington County Fair in Virginia last week. They were faced with a barrage of verbal abuse, and one man was reportedly assaulted by a gay activist.

"They accused this young man of hiding his feelings," PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs explained. "They walked by him and hit him in the back -- attacked him."

PFOX set up a display to offer hope to people dealing with unwanted same-sex attractions, but two gay activists objected to the message of hope.

"They told us that we had no right to be there.  That we were nothing but a group of religious bigots," Griggs told Family News in Focus. "And that the right to free speech doesn't apply to former homosexuals."

Officers kicked the gay activists out of the fair and encouraged the PFOX volunteer to press charges, but he chose not to.

A Colorado Springs, Colo., elementary school has banned playground tag in what might be a growing trend.

"It caused a lot of conflict on the playground," said Cindy Fesgen, assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus. Some children apparently complained they were harassed or chased against their will.

Nationally, several other schools have banned tag and other games because of accidents and arguments, according to The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. Conn Iggulden, co-author of The Dangerous Book for Boys, said it's not a good trend, especially for boys.

"The whole 'health and safety' overprotective culture isn't doing our sons any favors," Iggulden said in an Amazon.com interview. "Boys need to learn about risk. They need to fall off things occasionally, or -- and this is the important bit -- they'll take worse risks on their own. If we do away with challenging playgrounds and cancel school trips for fear of being sued, we don't end up with safer boys -- we end up with them walking on train tracks."

A grand jury that resulted from a citizen petition drive has indicted several Kansas City, Kan., businesses on obscenity and drug charges.

The Wyandotte County grand jury indicted owners of a tobacco shop on two misdemeanor counts of promoting obscenity and one felony and one misdemeanor charge related to drug paraphernalia. A convenience store was charged with a misdemeanor obscenity count, and another store received one drug paraphernalia count, according to The Associated Press.

The petition drive seeking a grand jury investigation was organized by the area chapter of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families.

Daniel Weiss, senior analyst for media and sexuality at Focus on the Family Action, called the indictments a citizen victory in the absence of aggressive law enforcement.

"Citizens have no way of establishing their community standards unless something like this is done," he said. "The dearth of law enforcement locally and across the nation really comes down to citizens not voicing their outrage and not making their district attorneys and their police chiefs aware of how much these crimes impact the community. This example in Kansas should demonstrate the power and the importance of speaking up."

In a speech at the National Press Club, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said missing fathers contribute to poverty and government should do what it can to bring them back into the home.

Bloomberg proposed withholding tax refunds from deadbeat dads, increasing participation in the Earned Income Tax Credit and doing away with the marriage penalty tax.

Gerald Prante, a staff economist at the Tax Foundation, said the mayor's proposals make good economic sense.

"The Earned Income Tax Credit is probably one of the most highly defended anti-poverty methods in the tax system," he told Family News in Focus.

And, Prante added, eliminating the marriage penalty could encourage couples to stay together.

"Two single people living together -- say a single mom and a single dad, say they have the same kid -- they would be better off in some cases in filing separate returns than getting married."

Glenn Stanton, senior analyst for Marriage & Sexuality with Focus on the Family Action, said government is not the best entity to address the problem of fathers leaving families in poverty, but he said Bloomberg's proposed incentives are a step in the right direction -- although he said it will take more than a tax break to get them home. And he emphasized that research shows cohabiting does not produce the benefits of marriage.

"Only 10 percent of children living with a married mother and a father lived in poverty. Those numbers skyrocket when a child is living with his own mother and father who aren't married," he said. "What's the difference between those? It's simply, as some people like to call it, 'a mere piece of paper,' a marriage license. But that marriage license really does matter and makes a dramatic difference -- between 10 percent and 28 percent -- in the poverty level for children."

County Judge Robert Hanson decided Thursday that he will make the laws for Iowa. He struck down the state's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional and ordered Polk County to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Roger J. Kuhle, an assistant county attorney, argued the issue is not for a judge to decide. The county, home to state capital Des Moines, is expected to appeal the ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Dr. James C. Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family Action, called it another example of a judge legislating from the bench.

"Once again, we see an activist judge handing liberal activists what they have not been able to achieve legislatively or at the ballot box: government sanctioning of same-sex marriage," he said. "This purely political ruling proves yet again that nothing short of a federal marriage-protection amendment is sufficient to preserve one-man, one-woman marriage in our nation.

"By striking down Iowa's DOMA, Judge Robert Hanson has shown he believes the desires of adults should trump what's best for children. His ruling represents social engineering at its worst."

Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit, Varnum v. Brien, on behalf of six homosexual couples in Polk County District Court on Dec. 13, 2005.

"Sadly, little consideration seems to be given to the next generation of children," said Jenny Tyree, associate marriage analyst for Focus Action. "One judicial decision could change the definition of marriage for every Iowan and deprive more children of either a mother or a father."

The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1996 forbidding the sale of sexually explicit material on military bases, but it turns out the military uses a lenient definition of what constitutes such material.

When family advocates got wind that the law wasn't being followed, Pat Trueman of the Alliance Defense Fund said they immediately took action. 

"About 40 pro-family leaders sent a letter to (Defense) Secretary Gates asking that he enforce the law," he told Family News in Focus.

This week the letter was answered. Instead of pulling the material off of shelves, the Defense Department declared that about 10 titles -- including Playboy and Penthouse -- did not meet the definition of sexually explicit and would continue to be sold.

A lesbian priest is one of five finalists for bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, despite the worldwide Anglican Communion's demand that the U.S. branch pledge to stop consecrating openly homosexual bishops by Sept. 30.

If elected Nov. 10, the Rev. Tracey Lind, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, would be the second Episcopal bishop living with a same-sex partner, according to The Associated Press. New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who has a male partner, was consecrated in 2003, pushing the Anglican Communion to the brink of schism.

"It's an action that says Chicago really doesn't care what the rest of the Anglican Communion says," Bishop James Stanton of Dallas, a leader of the opposition to homosexual bishops, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The fact that yet another openly homosexual candidate is being considered for the office of bishop in an Episcopal diocese is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg, according to Caleb H. Price, research analyst with Focus on the Family.
 
"The Episcopal Church has bowed down before the god of diversity," Price said. "In fact, it's almost impossible for a straight white man to get into an Episcopal seminary these days, and the ranks of the clergy are filled with self-identified homosexuals. It's only a matter of time before any number of avowed homosexuals will rise to the rank of bishop."

Illinois tax dollars now will fund life-destroying embryonic stem-cell research as well as human-cloning research, thanks to a bill signed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday.

The bill's sponsors said they would seek to secure millions in funding over the next few months, the Chicago Tribune reports. The governor has used his executive authority to provide $15 million in grants during the last two years without legislative approval. The measure makes those grants a part of state law.

"Taxpayers should pay close attention to this bill since it allows their money to be used for unsafe and clinically unpromising experiments," said Dawn Vargo, associate bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action.
 
"This bill uses word games to mislead the public into thinking that it will ban human cloning, when in fact it allows it."

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against a Christian club that is seeking to start up at a Seattle high school.

Truth Bible Club has been trying to gain recognition since 2001, but has been blocked because of its Christian code of conduct.

Officials at Kentridge High School have called the club discriminatory because its name excludes other religions, and its bylaws require voting members to sign a statement espousing the Bible.

Robert Tyler, of Advocates for Faith and Freedom, said the school's argument doesn't hold up.

"It is discriminatory, but there's nothing wrong with discrimination in the right context," he told Family News in Focus. "For example you have the boys basketball team and the girls basketball team."

Nate Kellum, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), pointed out the school's double standard: other clubs are granted the freedom to associate with whomever they please -- including the school's Gay Straight Alliance.

"It's really incredible that these groups are allowed to identify themselves according to membership," he said, "but Truth is forced to compromise who they are -- they are forced to compromise their message."

Kellum added that ADF is prepared to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if that's what it takes for Truth Bible Club to gain recognition.

During his campaign for governor last year, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said he was opposed to the expansion of gambling. Now, it appears he's changing his tune.

Crist's office is in negotiations with the Seminole Indians to allow the expansion of gambling on reservations in Florida. "The governor is viewing gambling as a quick fix to the longer-term issues involved with the current budget crisis," according to Florida Family Action, which is associated with Focus on the Family.

Chad Hills, analyst for gambling research and policy at Focus on the Family Action, said: "Citizens should be outraged that Governor Crist gave a silly-putty promise to the people of Florida about gambling expansion. Money and meeting the budget are obviously more important to Governor Crist than the well-being of Florida families and keeping his word.

"Will this be one more example of a flip-flop governor blinded by Indian gambling money?" Hills asked. "People in Florida should take action and call Governor Crist today."

TAKE ACTION
If you live in Florida, contact the governor by phone or e-mail and urge him to keep his promise to curb gambling expansion. Call (850) 488-7146 or send e-mail to Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com.

Administrators at a Colorado High School are defendants in a federal lawsuit over their disciplining of a valedictorian for speaking of her faith in Jesus Christ in her graduation remarks.

Liberty Counsel filed suit in U.S. District Court in Denver against Lewis-Palmer School District on behalf of Erica Corder, a 2006 graduate of Lewis-Palmer High School who was reprimanded for "immature" comments and forced to apologize publicly.

Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, said valedictorians have every right to express a religious viewpoint, and school officials have no business threatening to withhold diplomas, as they did with Erica.

Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said school officials were guilty of "unconscionable" discrimination.

"Not only must Christians suffer from government censorship of religious views while 'anything goes' for other forms of speech, but now we are being publicly humiliated into apologizing for expressing our views," Hausknecht said. "What the school has done here is not just offensive to the First Amendment, but offensive to Christians in particular, who seem to be the only group that suffers from these particular suppressions. That's incomprehensible, given that religious speech ought to be the most cherished and protected category of speech we have."

U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith today delayed until at least Sept. 10 the enforcement of a new Missouri law regulating abortion clinics. The law, which would require clinics in Kansas City and Columbia to upgrade their facilities, was scheduled to take effect Tuesday.

At a hearing last week, Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri Inc., testified that should the law be enforced, the clinics would have to end abortion services because of the high cost of upgrading the clinics, The Kansas City Star reported.

Under the new law, abortion clinics must meet standards required of ambulatory surgical centers. That includes staff training, sterilization and the design of operating and recovery rooms if a clinic performs at least five abortions a month or any second- or third-trimester abortions.

"It's not too much to require Planned Parenthood to meet basic standards of medical care to make women's health a priority," said Dawn Vargo, associate bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "Their apparent unwillingness to do this calls into question their claim to care about women."

Evangelical Christians have radically different priorities from the rest of the country about the challenges the U.S. must confront in the next 10 years. According to a Barna poll, that's especially true concerning global warming alarmism.

Only about a third of evangelicals gave global warming "top priority" status. They rated the issue lower than any of the other 80 groups in the survey. Topping the priority list for evangelicals was the health of churches.

Stuart Shepard, managing editor of CitizenLink, who is also a meteorologist, said major news outlets are largely to blame for the hype.

"If people get their information from the mainstream media, they're only hearing one side of this," he told Family News in Focus. "There are top scientists and researchers who are skeptical of the outrageous claims about global warming and they make some solid science-based arguments, but you'd never know it from the evening news."

He said Focus on the Family Action has been strongly encouraging evangelicals to not allow global warming alarmism to become a defining or a dividing issue.

"Most evangelicals do not and should not see this as an issue that would rise to the level of evangelism, the sanctity of life, and the protection of marriage and religious liberty."

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said the poll doesn't mean evangelicals are not interested in taking care of the planet.

"Despite what the media may want to project upon evangelicals," he said, "they understand that if we, as a nation, get the spiritual issues right and build strong marriages and families -- most of the other problems will be solved."