Exodus: Live Out Loud

Survey Shows Churches Split on Homosexuality

From OneNewsNow:

A new survey finds that Americans are split almost evenly over perceptions of homosexual behavior as either sinful or acceptable to God.

LifeWay Research, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, surveyed 1,201 adults in April to determine their attitudes about homosexuality. Forty-eight percent responded that homosexual behavior is sinful, but 45 percent said that it is not -- basically a statistical tie when the margin of error is taken into account.

Rev. Rob Schenck of Faith and Action in Washington, DC, says the U.S. needs a spiritual awakening as it moves in the direction of what he calls "a European-like secularism."

"... [This] is a spiritual problem that requires a spiritual solution," he continues. "But there is a little bit more to it than that because we see the problem in the church, as well as outside the church."

Read the whole article >>

Megachurches Begin to Respond

From The Christian Post:

Jay Bakker, a big supporter of a pro-gay group, met privately with Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church to talk about faith and sexuality issues and to ultimately gain the support of the megapastor.

Son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jay and a group of gays and lesbians attended one of Lakewood Church's Sunday worship services in an effort to change the influential pastor's view on gays and lesbians. At the end, Osteen did not affirm homosexuality.

It was the first of six megachurch stops in a pro-gay campaign called The American Family Outing – a collaboration between Soulforce, COLAGE, National Black Justice Coalition, and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches. Some 30 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) persons and supporters took their national campaign to the country's largest church on Mother's Day to create dialogue around LGBT issues with members of the megachurch.

Read the entire article >>

Demonstrators Harass Christian Youth in Germany

From The Local:

A traditional Christian youth festival in Germany faced unprecedented disruptions by leftists who hacked the gathering's website, interrupted speeches and threw beer bottles at visitors, organizers said on Tuesday.

Christival, a periodical gathering of Protestant Christian youth in Germany founded in 1976, was meant to be a chance for likeminded young people to meet up and celebrate their faith.

But thousands of attendees at this year’s festival in the northern city of Bremen found themselves under siege by leftist extremists determined to protest what they saw as Christian intolerance to homosexuality and abortion.

“There have never been disruptions of this kind in the entire history of the event,” Christival spokesman Steve Volke told The Local on Tuesday. “They tried to storm the festival area. They threw beer bottles at participants. The whole five days of the festival there was always something happening.”

...“The mood was stirred up beforehand that it was a festival against homosexuality and abortion,” said Volke. “But it was two seminars out of 230 – and complete nonsense to call it a fundamentalist Christian youth gathering.”

Read the whole article >>

Alan Chambers in New Man Magazine

New Man: You struggled with same-sex attraction yourself. Did that experience lead you to the ministry you’re in today?

 

Alan Chambers: Definitely. When I was growing up the only thing you ever heard about from the Bible regarding homosexuals was that they don’t inherit the kingdom of God. That’s the one thing that rings in my head from childhood. So when I found out that there was a local Exodus ministry, that there was help for people like me, I jumped at it.

 

New Man: So years later you have come back to be the president of Exodus?

 

Chambers: Yes, I’m the president of Exodus. Really from the time I was 18 until now—I’m 36—I’ve never left the ministry. I started out as someone who was participating and someone who needed help and then I was a volunteer, than on staff at a local ministry and worked through the ranks and to where I am now.

 

New Man: Your ministry is inherently controversial. You have been interviewed by a number of news outlets and you’re unapologetic about trying to change homosexuals. What is your response to someone who says, “They can’t change”?

 

Chambers: Well my first response is that we don’t change people. I want to be very clear about that. We are people who simply point to the truth and Scripture, to the truth of our testimonies and to the grace of a God who promises He’ll free anyone who submits his will to His Lordship. It will be different for different people. I know a lot of people that didn’t experience a change in their feelings. They didn’t experience the same freedom I did, which is sometimes hard to understand.

Read the whole interview >>

Exodus Representatives Participate in Documentary Screening

"For the Bible Tells Me So," a documentary about Christian families who were faced with a homosexual child, and ultimately grew to embrace their homosexuality, was presented at an open screening at Stetson University last week. The screening was followed by a discussion panel featuring the film's director, Daniel Karslake. Among the other panelists were Mike Ensley of Exodus Youth and Dr. Julie Hamilton, a professional counselor affiliated with Exodus.

From the Daytona Beach News-Journal Online:

Overall, the movie won praise from both the conservative and liberal panel members.

"I loved that the core of it was families' stories," said Mike Ensley, a counselor with Exodus Ministries, which helps youth wanting to overcome homosexuality.

The documentary focuses on five Christian families coming to terms with a gay son or daughter. Just released on DVD, it's becoming a popular movie for church screenings, said filmmaker Daniel Karslake...

...Dissenting about some of the movie's science was Julie Harren Hamilton, a Palm Beach psychologist and president-elect of the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, which helps clients change their sexual orientation.

She disputed the suggestion that homosexuality is simply genetic, arguing that the causes are more complicated.

Karslake, the filmmaker, defended his research but agreed with Hamilton that everyone should study the issues for themselves and draw their own conclusions.

UK Couple Told they are "Unsuitable" Foster Parents

From Daily Mail:

They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 20 vulnerable children.

But Eunice and Owen Johns have been forced to abandon their good work because they refuse to tell children as young as ten that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle.

To do so, they say, would go against their Christian beliefs.

The devastated couple withdrew an application to their council to continue as foster carers after being told they must condone homosexuality to adhere to gay rights laws.

Read the whole article >>

GSA Network Board Member Resigns Amid Pornography Allegations

From Family News in Focus:

by Steve Jordahl

Peter Robertson resigned from the board of GSA Network, California’s largest organizer of school clubs that support gay teens, when it was discovered that he is also a pornographer. It appears he recruited young subjects during his tenure.

Mike Ensley was 17 and living in the gay lifestyle when Robertson asked him to pose nude.

“He identified himself as a photographer and just introduced himself as a friend, basically, and told me what he did and expressed interest in taking photographs.”

When Ensley said he was underage, Robertson asked him to call when he turned 18. Ensley has come out of the gay lifestyle and now works for Exodus International. He was astonished to see Roberson’s name on the Board of GSA Network.

Read the whole article >>

UK Christians Forced Out of Foster Care by Gay Agenda

From LifeSite:

By Hilary White
CHARD, UK, October 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Christian couple in Somerset, UK, have been told by child services that they would be required to take teenaged foster children to homosexual support groups and teach the children placed in their care that homosexuality is normal. When the couple told officials at social services that it would violate their conscience to do so, the eleven year-old boy who had been placed with them was removed.

Somerset Council officials cited the recently passed Sexual Orientation Regulations when they decided that people who open their homes to children in need, must also discuss same-sex relationships and promote homosexuality as normal and “equal”.

Vincent and Pauline Matherick have looked after twenty-eight children since 2001 with an untarnished record as care givers. When the couple first started fostering, they took in young single mothers and their babies, but have recently had mostly primary school aged children. They told the Daily Telegraph that officials with the Somerset Council had told them that if a child in their care showed signs of interest in homosexuality, they would be expected to encourage them by taking them to a homosexual support group.

Vincent Matherick, a minister at the South Chard Christian Church and a primary school governor, told the Telegraph, “They were saying that we had to be prepared to talk about sexuality with 11 year-olds, which I don’t think is appropriate anyway...

Read the article >>

Truth & Tolerance DVD Promo

In the two short months since its release, Exodus Youth's DVD resource Truth & Tolerance has become one of our top-selling resources. We've recently put together this promotional video clip for YouTube. Check it out!

Christian Post Reports on "Allies, Too"

From The Christian Post:

Ally Week is promoted by Gay-Straight Alliance clubs in high schools nationwide for the purpose of a safer school environment. The national week was launched last year to create allies to put an end to anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. Exodus Youth, however, announced the new "Allies, Too" movement to support the same effort of safer schools but for Christian students...

At the launch of Ally Week last year, conservative Christian group the American Family Association had criticized it as a "doorway" for Gay-Straight Alliance clubs to recruit fellow students.

Victoria Cobb, executive director of the Family Foundation of Virginia had called the campaign an "assault on our values by the homosexual community through our public schools."

While concerns were raised among Christian groups and parents, "Allies, Too" was newly formed this year to call Christian students to be an ally too during the week (Oct. 15-21) and speak out in solidarity with the goal of making schools safe while still taking a stand for God's design for sexuality. As thousands of Christian students will have the chance to show the love of Christ to their peers, the campaign will seek to create a harassment-free place for students regardless of beliefs or backgrounds.

Read the Full Article >>

Exodus Youth Announces "Allies, Too" Campaign

This October 15-21, Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs in high schools across the US are promoting an event called “Ally Week,” in which they encourage non-LGBT-identifying teens to pledge their support for making schools safe for LGBT students.

Here at Exodus Youth, we want schools to be a safe and harassment-free place for all students, and we know that millions of Christian students share the same desire. While Ally Week is meant to have this effect, the pledge involved requires students to promise to “actively support safer school efforts” promoted by GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), which often involve policies and ethics which conflict with Christian beliefs concerning sexuality. This can leave many Christian students feeling as though they must choose between holding to their beliefs and looking like a bully.

Still, the fact that our beliefs are different doesn’t mean we can’t work together for safer schools for everyone. So, Exodus Youth is creating the Allies, Too campaign, in which Christian students can voice their support for safer schools without compromising their faith in God’s Word!

Similar to Ally Week, the Allies, Too campaign provides students with pledge cards they can distribute and sign to show their commitment to making their school a safe and tolerant place, without necessarily agreeing with all the values and behaviors promoted by GLSEN. Exodus Youth is also providing various resources for Christian students can use to educate their clubs and youth groups about issues concerning sexuality, and to reach out to their LGBT-identified peers with the Gospel.

Get your youth groups and Christian clubs involved in this special opportunity to show that Truth can be spoken in Love!

Nancy Heche Writes Her Memoir

                

I have gotten to know Nancy over the past year or so as we have seen each other at Love Won Out and other conferences.  She is a sweet lady with a great big heart.  She is making the media circuit over the recent release of her new book featured in this post The Truth Comes Out.

The Chicago Sun Times reporter, Leslie Baldacci, wrote an article

Cleaning the Closet: Heche's Mom Publishes Memoir that gives a good overview of the book.  The article slants a bit but in general appears to be fair after my first read-through.

From the article:

 

What are the chances that three out of four women in a single family would each write memoirs?

 

That depends on the family. The Heche family has experienced enough dysfunction to produce three volumes so far.

 

Actress Anne Heche (Call Me Crazy, 2003) and her older sister, Susan Bergman, (Anonymity, 1994) told their stories about their upbringing with father Don, a devout Christian and closet homosexual who, after 25 years of marriage, died of AIDS in 1983.
 

 

Now their mother, Nancy Heche, a Chicagoan, psychotherapist and part-time college professor, has constructed her own memoir as she spreads the fundamentalist Christian message that people don't have to be gay.

 

Heche won't use the word "accept" when it comes to homosexuality, and she can't yet say she has "forgiven" her husband. But she has, she says, turned her anger and resentment toward homosexuality into a position of love and respect.
 

I am proud of Nancy for sharing her side of the story and the humility to live out a transparent journey.

Appeals Court Declares Parenthood Unconstitutional, Group Says

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200511/CUL20051103b.html

"A new ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is prompting cries of judicial activism.

On Wednesday the court dismissed a lawsuit brought by California parents who were outraged over a sex survey given to public school students in the first, third and fifth grades.

Among other things, the survey administered by the Palmdale School District asked children if they ever thought about having sex or touching other people's "private parts" and whether they could "stop thinking about having sex."- Susan Jones, CNSNews.com Senior Editor, Nov. 3, 2005

Daughter of Homosexual Dad Hopes to Share Her Saga with North America

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/152005c.asp

Dawn Stefanowicz the daughter of a gay man who died of AIDS ten years ago has been trying to tell her story of growing up the child of a homosexual. She has put her name forward to testify before the government but has not been called. She says the media has done a very poor job of presenting all the facts in this situation and that many Canadians fear reprisal if they speak out against gay marriage.  "Scientific data and negative personal experiences related to this issue that are obviously relevant -- they're ignored, they're not discussed," she says.

Same-Sex Marriage: Not in Kids' Interest

http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=71299

Christian leaders in Spain and Canada voiced concern about the approval of allowing same sex couples or singles to adopt children. Siting a study by NARTH they stated: ""Because the relationship of a man and woman committed in a marriage is the strongest core of the family, and because the family is the most vital unit in society, we run great risks in tinkering with the definition of marriage and the family,"

Gay detective finds support instead of bias

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-bc-nj--gaydetective1212dec12,0,5970872.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer

December 12, 2004, 3:21 PM EST

WAYNE, N.J. -- A few months ago, during a debate over whether government workers should get benefits for same-sex partners, Passaic County Sheriff's Department Detective Cpl. Douglas Laverty revealed that he is gay _ something he had kept secret from even close friends.

In the ultra-macho culture of law enforcement, he feared the worst: harassment, discrimination or worse. Instead, what he found was acceptance and support. And he wants people to know he's grateful.

Boy torn over his gender

http://www.hsconnect.com/index.asp

The Steubenville Herald-Star
Sunday, September 12, 2004

STEUBENVILLE - The Jefferson County Common Pleas Court is in the process of deciding whether allowing a male child to live as a female is a real-life experience or an experiment.

A Jefferson County woman and her ex-husband, who lives in Colliers, are involved in a custody battle for their 9-year-old son, who currently resides with his mother. At the heart of the custody case is the boy's desire to wear women's clothing, at least when he is with his mother.

The boy's mother has taken the child to a couple of doctors, who diagnosed him with Gender Identity Disorder. Then, the boy's father also took him to a different doctor, who did not diagnose him with the disorder.

GID is a disorder in which a male or female exhibits characteristics of, insists they are and enjoys the activities of the opposite sex. To be diagnosed with GID, a person must exhibit four of five main criteria listed by the Harry Benjamin Study, the benchmark of GID studies.

Common Pleas Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. heard the testimony Friday of the mother, doctors chosen by the mother, other parents with transgender children and a video depicting the boy exhibiting girl behavior.

The father's attorney, Domenick Frank, said the mother identified her son as having GID by Internet research, three years before seeking medical advice. The mother also said she told the boy, before seeking medical advice, he could someday become a girl.

"I love my child and want my child to be happy," said the mother. "He never decided to be a girl. It comes from inside."

The mother tried to enroll the child as a transgender in a Niles, Ohio, school, but the court stopped that action when the father found out and filed a change of custody motion. This is also when the court ordered the boy to be dressed as a boy and referred to as such.

Loving Your Gay Son

http://www.cbn.com/LivingTheLife/Features/DrLindaHelps/index.asp

DR. LINDA HELPS

By Linda S. Mintle, Ph.D.

When he tells you he's gay, don't go away. How should Christian parents handle the news?

Dr Linda Helps - More than 20 years have passed since the American Psychological Association changed its view on homosexuality. Christians still believe the lifestyle is spiritually and morally wrong. Consequently, Christian parents have a difficult time handling the news that a child is gay or lesbian. Many are devastated by the revelation.

Christian parents often fear they’ll be ostracized by their peers or seen as parent failures. Many don’t know how to approach their children and cut off their relationships. But gay sons and lesbian daughters still need parental love even when they don’t have approval for the lifestyles.

I talked to a dad not too long ago who said he couldn’t talk or even look at his gay son. Consequently he’d been avoiding him for over six months. He kept thinking about his son with another man and couldn’t stomach the thought. He asked, “Why should I talk to him? He’s living a life the Bible says is an abomination.”

My answer was simple, “He’s your son. He’s a person and he still needs a dad.”

W.V. Court to Hear Lesbian Custody Case

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040904/ap_on_re_us/brf_gay_parents_1

Fri Sep 3,11:10 PM ET

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The West Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether state law recognizes the parental rights of same-sex partners.

Tina Burch is appealing for custody of the 4-year-old son of her lesbian partner, Christina D. Smarr, who died in a 2002 car accident. Within hours of Smarr's death, Smarr's brothers-in-law took the child from Burch and handed him over to his grandparents.

A lower court ruled in December that state law does not give a homosexual the right to win legal guardianship of a former partner's child; Burch appealed.

On Thursday, the state high court agreed to hear the case, and voted 3-2 to grant Burch temporary custody.

Burch is arguing state law allows for custody to be awarded to a child's psychological parent. The grandparents say they do not believe Burch was their daughter's lesbian lover; the lower court judge acknowledged the couple lived together in a same-sex relationship.

LWO in Minneapolis: Conference on Homosexuality to Present Truth About Change

US NEWSWIRE - http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=35080 -
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - Focus on the Family will present its Love Won Out conference in Minneapolis Sept. 18 to counter the media-saturating message that homosexuality is inborn and unchangeable. The one-day event, led primarily by those who have left homosexuality themselves, is designed to educate and equip attendees on the issues surrounding homosexuality and provide hope for those struggling -- and those whose loved ones struggle -- with unwanted same-sex attractions.

Who Needs Parents?

http://www.city-journal.org/html/eon_08_12_04td.html

Britain’s latest effort to undermine the family | 12 August 2004

Last week, the British Department of Health, with the blessing of the “ethicists” of the British Medical Association, decreed that girls under 16 may—and indeed should—have abortions without their parents’ knowledge. The girls, health officials reason, have the capacity to decide for themselves whether abortion is right for them; and if they decide it is, they also have the right to medical confidentiality.

No one seemed to notice that this decree stood in stark contradiction to the legal age of consent for sexual relations, which remains 16. According to current law, every pregnancy to a girl under 16 results from a crime, for which men still occasionally go to prison. The law sets the age of consent at 16 because it assumes that until that age most children do not have sufficient maturity to enter sexual relations, with all their emotional and social complexity and consequences. Children under 16, in short, still need some protection.....

Here we see the real purpose of this ruling. It is not to serve the interests of the girls who have the abortions but to undermine the family still further—to end it as the primary locus of responsibility for the socialization of children. After all, if girls under 16 were truly “autonomous,” to use the cant word favored by contemporary bioethicists, why should any adult be told about her abortion? Nearly a decade and a half after the downfall of the Soviet Union, therefore, the British state wants to replace parents with itself, to insinuate its agents into the most intimate aspects of the life of its citizens. Parents are the great obstacles to this goal. And at a time when health officials can make such a ruling, the number of people on the public payroll is of course rising inexorably.

The Fallout: When a Spouse Comes Out

MSNBC - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5709442/site/newsweek/ -
As Cathy Morton watched Gov. James McGreevey's televised confession last week, she felt drawn to his wife, Dina, who stood at his side with a pained half smile frozen on her face. "I've been there," says Morton, who says she discovered her husband cruising gay Web sites five years ago.

Black Group To Debate 'Gay' Marriage at Town Hall July 22

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnw/20040715/pl_usnw/black_group_to_debate__gay__marriage_at_town_hall_july_22__forum_will_explore_impact_on_black_families119_xml

; Forum Will Explore Impact On Black Families

LOS ANGELES, July 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- BOND, the Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, will host a town hall meeting on "Same-Sex Marriage and the Impact on Black Families" and the Federal Marriage Amendment on Thursday, July 22, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. PST. The event will be held at the BOND headquarters, 6146 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. (S.E. Corner of Pico and La Cienega).

Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND says, "Homosexual marriage is not about family, it's not about love, it's not about civil-rights, it's about sex -- nothing else. You cannot get love from a homosexual relationship. Two men and two women living together do not make up a family. A family consists of one man, a woman and children."

Patrick Rooney, columnist for The Washington Dispatch, agrees. He believes, "Homosexual marriage is an abomination before God and a perversion before man."

Homosexual activists see it differently, "Marriage is a bond between two people that love one another albeit gender, orientation, race, color, or any other label, "says Reverend Elder Claude E. Bowen, Unity Fellowship Church. Gay activist Valerie Wagner agrees. She says, "It's unconscionable that black folks, given our struggle for equal rights, would support legalized discrimination against any group."

ADULT CHILDREN SPEAK OUT ABOUT SAME-SEX PARENTS

This is an excellent opportunity for the children of same sex parents who have not considered it to have been the ideal situation to speak their hearts on this issue. I am very grateful to Bronagh "Cassidy" for speaking up about this. I have seen stories from children of same sex attracted parents telling how wonderful their childhoods were... but those stories bring to mind a group of same sex attracted young men who were at my house for a support group get together. I asked them how many of them would, if given the opportunity, trade their family arrangement (one man/one woman) for two of either.. I will never forget the look of horror on their faces.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=115&ncid=742&e=6&u=/ucmg/20040706/cm_ucmg/adultchildrenspeakoutaboutsamesexparents

Tue Jul 6, 7:59 PM ET

By Maggie Gallagher

It was the TV pictures that first got to Bronagh Cassidy. Same-sex couples marrying in San Francisco: "They were so proud of themselves. And then they had these little children with them." Cassidy, a 27-year-old married mother of two, sighs. "Something inside of me wants to be able to help those kids, because I know they are going to have problems."

Sound ignorant, maybe even bigoted? This week, as the Senate is expected to begin debate on a constitutional amendment to protect marriage, many voices will try to convince you that people like Cassidy are, as Cheryl Jacque, head of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, put it in a recent letter, "hate-filled people who will stop at nothing to achieve their discriminatory, offensive goals."

But Cassidy knows better: She is one of the first generation of "gayby boom" babies, raised by two moms. Adult children of same-sex parents are rare. I recently came across Cassidy's story by accident, after she e-mailed a friend of mine who is a family scholar.

Back in 1976, Cassidy's mom had a religious ceremony with a woman named Pat. To make Cassidy, they did artificial insemination at home, mixing the sperm of two gay friends "to make sure nobody would ever know who the father was," says Cassidy. (That was in the days before widespread DNA testing.) The two women stayed together for 16 years, until Pat died. Three years later, Cassidy's mother married a man.

Your Sexual Legacy as a Dad

http://www.newmanmag.com/online/articledisplay.pl?ArticleID=9301
Sexcess - Keys to Purity and Passion
Your Sexual Legacy

Fathers are ultimately responsible for their sons' sexual development. It takes more than one talk--it takes honesty, courage and positive role-modeling.
By Douglas Weiss,Ph.D.

Your son looks to you as a model in every area of his life. Have you ever considered whether or not you are modeling healthy sexuality for him?
I have spent countless hours counseling men whose fathers' sexual role-modeling was either absent or, worse still, destructive. The absent role model never discusses sexuality with his son. He doesn't know what to say about it, so he says nothing and hopes for the best.

This Christian role model has to be honest with other adult men about any lust issues in his life. He responsibly blocks the Internet, and he monitors TV and media intake for himself and his family. He is emotionally connected to his son enough so that they can talk about sex. This father is a good, general role model for male sexuality.

Dad: A Girl's First Glimpse of God's Love

http://www.newmanmag.com/article.php?sid=542&mode=thread&order=0
Posted on Tuesday, June 15 @ 09:15:21

It was Father's Day 1975, and I was just 5 months old, living in Long Island, New York. My dad was celebrating his first Father's Day.

That morning, he decided to let my mom sleep in and took care of me when I awoke. With only a few months of fatherhood under his belt, he didn't have the whole coordination thing down for such tricky tasks as changing a diaper and heating up a bottle at the same time.

So, he placed me on the diaper-changing table, while in an adjacent room in the tiny second-floor, dormer apartment he ran to take my bottle out of the boiling pot of water on the stove. Since I hadn't perfected the art of rolling over yet, he thought he would quickly run to get the bottle.

Well, I pulled off my first "surprise" that day and decided to roll over in that instant. My dad was in the other room, and he heard the ensuing thud, along with my mom and the startled landlord downstairs, Mrs. Cusumano, as I rolled off the diaper-changing table and plunged below to the carpeted floor, crying but unharmed.

Till this day I tease my dad about that first Father's Day. But even though his first Father's Day got off to a rocky start, my dad sure did make up for it the rest of my life in so many ways.

Whether it was running beside me as I rode a two-wheeler for the first time, building a dollhouse for me in our damp basement night after night for months, flying kites together, editing my English papers, helping me collect bugs for a school science project, praying for my sister and me every morning before we left the house for school or imparting in me a love for reading the spiritual classics and writing, he always made me feel like I was important to him.

And, till this day, even with him living more than 1,000 miles away, he's always just a cell-phone call away and never seems too busy for a pep talk or a prayer or for remembering me on Valentine's Day by asking a close friend of mine to buy roses and candy for me in his absence.

No dad is perfect, and I'm sure if you ask my dad what he coulda, shoulda, woulda done differently, he would be the first to admit his shortcomings. But, despite his flaws, God still used my dad to show me some of my first glimpses of what my heavenly Father is like.

Data Says Kids Better Off with Mom and Dad

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/7/12004d.asp

By AFA Journal
July 1, 2004

(AgapePress) - An examination of the latest data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that, from a purely economic standpoint, children do better if they are living with both their mother and father.

“The householders in married-couple families had higher proportions in the labor force, they owned their own home, and they were not living in poverty -- all good signs for the children living in these families,” said Terry Lugaila, a statistician with the Census Bureau.

The study, titled “Children and the Households They Live In: 2000” [PDF], states that “children living in married-couple families had the lowest poverty rates,” far less than the children living in homes headed only by a father or only by a mother.

“Children in mother-only family groups were almost five times as likely to be in poverty as those in married-couple family groups [39 percent and 8 percent, respectively],” the Census Bureau report stated.

American College of Pediatricians Opposed to American Academy of Pediatrics Report

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnw/20040616/pl_usnw/american_college_of_pediatricians_opposed_to_american_academy_of_pediatrics_report110_xml

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn., June 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a statement by the American College of Pediatricians, regarding its opposition to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, "Sexual Orientation and Adolescents":

The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) takes strong exception to the current clinical report: "Sexual Orientation and Adolescents" (Pediatrics, June 2004) by Barbara L. Frankowski, MD, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). This report is written in a politically correct fashion and its words hide the reality of the problem.

This being so, we would do a disservice to the health and well being of children and their families if we failed to respond. It is indeed a critical time for both science and society, with this report as well as other proposals being presented in an attempt to inappropriately redefine family and its constituent parts.

For every woman, this is required reading

www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-dsrabin3825684jun01,0,1630326.story?coll=ny-health-headlines

For every woman, this is required reading

Roni Rabin

June 1, 2004

There's a new book girlfriends have got to read.

It's a page-turner, but it's a hard book. Author J.L. King has gotten death threats because it's made people so angry.

He uses the book, "On the Down Low" (Broadway Books, 2004), to inform the world that he sleeps with both men and women - and that there's a subculture of black men just like him, guys who look and act straight but also have sex with men and are living "on the down low."

They're all at risk for contracting AIDS.

What's worse: They put their girlfriends and wives at risk every day.

J.L. King's story helps explain why women of color are being infected with HIV in record numbers. AIDS stopped being a gay white men's disease a long time ago. Statewide, one- third of those living with HIV are female. On Long Island, 45 percent are women.

But here's the real shock: Almost three-quarters of the infected women are black or Hispanic. Only 25 percent are white, according to state figures that exclude New York City. Sixty percent are African-American. In the city, only 6.5 percent of HIV-positive women are white - 66 percent are African-American and 26 percent are Latina.

National Coalition Comments on MTV's Plans for A Gay Entertainment Network

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnw/20040528/pl_usnw/national_coalition_comments_on_mtv_s_plans_for_a_gay_entertainment_network116_xml

I am constantly amazed at the amount of double speak that is used to confuse the issue of homosexuality. I watch Dr. Phil and others like him, and hear them counsel parents about their toxic emotional effect on their kids concerning issues like divorce, drugs, suicide, and obesity. I hear them say that children or adults with those issues should look inside themselves and take charge of unhealthy behaviors. Then I hear them say to gays and parents with gay children that they should realize they were "born that way." Insinuating that environment and early childhood trauma have nothing to do with sexual identity. I hear them say that gay persons should accept their sexuality and stop trying to overcome this profoundly unhealthy experience. What are they thinking? Parents must know the world their kids are growing up in. Parents must be pro-active when it comes to the input that society and especially media have on their kids. -NSB

CINCINNATI, May 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- MTV's recent announcement that it plans to launch a network aimed primarily at lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender viewers underscores the reason parents should be able to choose the contents of their basic cable package. The advertiser-supported network, named LOGO, will be offered to cable customers in their basic cable package, giving parents no choice whether or not the content enters their home.

"A channel devoted entirely to promoting the homosexual agenda is in direct opposition to the values many parents seek to instill in their children," noted Rick Schatz, president and CEO of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families. "Consumers deserve the ability to choose whether or not they want to pay for such a channel in their home."

Be Careful, Little Eyes ...

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/192004c.asp

Children's Books Aren't Always Sweet and Cuddly; Parents Should Pay Close Attention in Libraries, Bookstores
Feature by Jason Collum
May 19, 2004

(AgapePress) - Olivia Hartsell loves having her parents read to her. The Wilmington, North Carolina, first-grader has begun taking advantage of the school library, bringing home books she chooses.

One book Olivia chose in March, though, set off a firestorm of debate when her parents, Michael and Tonya Hartsell, demanded the book be taken off the shelves at Freeman Elementary School library. The book: King & King, a tale of how a prince searches through a troupe of eligible potential princesses before he finds his true love -- another prince, whom he ultimately "marries."

Homosexuality, bestiality, horror and suicide are topics cropping up in works targeted at children. It's enough that one parent, who works for a major national bookstore chain, has launched a website to educate parents about certain books that, while they may seem innocent and are intended for children, really deserve a stern review from parents first.

The website, ParentsAware.net, is in its beginning stages. It has several sections, including pages of young and teen reader books that are recommended and those to be avoided.

Battle between gay father and his ex-wife could set legal precedent in Idaho

KBCI-TV - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4898059/ -
Boise, ID - "I was treated or held to a different standard because I was a homosexual." Or so claims Theron McGriff the father of two young girls, fighting his ex-wife because he wants to have joint custody visitation rights with his children while his gay partner resides in the same home.

"Gender Study" Victim Boy Raised as a Girl Commits Suicide

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/may/04051010.html

WINNIPEG, May 10, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - David Reimer committed suicide last week at the age of 38. Reimer's parents, after a botched circumcision, were convinced by a Johns Hopkins gender studies specialist to raise the boy as a girl. Dr. John Money believed that gender was a learned trait, and wanted to prove his theory with an ideal test subject: David was one of a set of identical twins. He was started on female hormone injections and raised as Brenda.

David's mother, Janet Reimer, said that he would still be alive had it not been for the gender experiment. She blames the doctor for talking them into the sex-change. She described his life: "They wouldn't let him use the boys' washroom or the girls. He had to go in the back alley," she said.

At the age of 14, he was told of his true gender identity, at which time he rebelled, and lived as a boy. He eventually married and became a stepfather to three children.

Polyamorists want rights too

http://www.drthrockmorton.com/article.asp?id=71

Warren Throckmorton, PhD
May 10, 2004

After the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s decision requiring Massachusetts to recognize gay marriage, I wrote a column called, "The Binary Nature of Marriage: The Point of Two." Based on the logic of the Massachusetts’ court, I reasoned if the male-female union is no longer vital to the legal definition of marriage then nothing is sacred about the number two, as in a couple. Many of my critics protested that no one would seriously or legally consider eroding the binary nature of marriage. Well, I think I can safely write, “I told you so” next to that column. The more-than-two crowd is not even waiting until gay marriage is institutionalized to begin looking for their place at the altar. Wait and see: the chapel is going to get crowded.

In a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, reporter Don Lattin wrote about a group called the Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness (UUPA). Mr. Lattin described the polyamorist movement as “another front in the liberal crusade to expand the definition of marriage and family in America.” Expand is an apt word. According to UUPA, polyamory is “the philosophy and practice of loving or relating intimately to more than one other person at a time with honesty and integrity.''

Focus on the Family Dismisses Notion that Parents Shouldn't Teach Kids about Abstinence

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnw/20040510/pl_usnw/focus_on_the_family_denounces_planned_parenthood_report__dismisses_as__pure_propaganda__notion_that_parents_shouldn_t_teach_kid

Mon May 10,12:22 PM ET

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Focus on the Family today dismissed as "pure propaganda" a new report from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America that concludes parents are only qualified to teach their children about sex if their instruction includes an endorsement of condom use.

The report -- "Parents' Beliefs About Condoms and Oral Contraceptives: Are They Medically Accurate?" -- was released May 4 by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), described by Focus on the Family Abstinence Department Manager Linda Klepacki as "Planned Parenthood's respectable, scientific-appearing alter ego."

"AGI gets its marching orders from Planned Parenthood, so it isn't surprising that this report, like all AGI reports, toes the Planned Parenthood 'safe-sex' line," Klepacki said. "It is pure propaganda, an all-out assault on parents. In essence it says parents are incapable of teaching their kids the facts of life without Planned Parenthood's help. That's just plain arrogant."

The (New) Parent Trap

BOSTON GLOBE - http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2004/05/09/the_new_parent_trap/ -
With Massachusetts on the brink of making history by becoming the first state to allow gays to legally marry, the parents of many gay couples find themselves torn between the love for their children and a traditional view of marriage.

How Gay Can A Dad Be?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/04/national/main615354.shtml

BOISE, Idaho, May 4, 2004


(AP) Homosexuality should be no more of a factor when determining child custody than a health condition like epilepsy, the attorney for a gay father argued before the Idaho Supreme Court on Monday.

Theron McGriff of Idaho Falls appealed to the high court after a magistrate ruled in 2002 that he could no longer see his two daughters if he lived with his partner of many years.

"We feel it would be especially inappropriate for the court to get involved in the gender of Theron's partner," said Richard Hearn, representing McGriff. "There is no evidence that this had any impact on the children."

In 1938, Hearn said, the Idaho Supreme Court found that a mother could not be denied custody because she remarried three weeks after her divorce, though at the time such behavior was stigmatized. The court made a similar ruling when presented with a parent suffering seizures from epilepsy, Hearn said.

Idaho High Court Takes Up Gay Dad's Case

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040504/ap_on_re_us/gay_dad_1

Mon May 3,11:41 PM ET

By REBECCA BOONE, Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho - Homosexuality should be no more of a factor when determining child custody than a health condition like epilepsy, the attorney for a gay father argued before the Idaho Supreme Court on Monday.

Theron McGriff of Idaho Falls appealed to the high court after a magistrate ruled in 2002 that he could no longer see his two daughters if he lived with his partner of many years.

"We feel it would be especially inappropriate for the court to get involved in the gender of Theron's partner," said Richard Hearn, representing McGriff. "There is no evidence that this had any impact on the children."

Liberal Government Hypocritical on Same-sex Parenting

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04042803.html

OTTAWA, April 28, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The media recently reported that the Justice Department has completed a summary of studies that allegedly indicate that there are no differences between children of heterosexual and homosexual parents. This was in response to the Liberal government's recent support of same-sex marriage in the courts.

REAL Women Canada points out that by taking this position the Liberal government contradicts the position it took only one year ago at the Ontario Court of Appeal when it argued against the constitutionality of same-sex marriages.

To corroborate its arguments against same-sex marriages in the Ontario appeal case, the federal Attorney General submitted in evidence an affidavit by Sociology Professor Stephen Nock of the University of Virginia, Associate Editor of the "Journal of Marriage, and the Family and Social Science Research." According to his affidavit, Professor Nock concluded that studies supporting homosexual parenting were based on unreliable research and flawed methodology, and, as a result, provided a very tenuous basis on which to set public policy.

New UCLA study offers no support for homosexuality being hard-wired

http://www.truthcomesout.com/ucla_study.html

Dr. Warren Throckmorton

“This new UCLA study offers nothing for those who believe homosexuality is hard-wired by one’s genes,” said Warren Throckmorton, PhD of Grove City College. On Monday, Reuters reported that a team of researchers at UCLA had conducted research demonstrating that homosexuality was not subject to choice but rather due to the influence of genetics on the brain. “All this study really suggests is that genes may play a role in creating the differences in male and female brains. This study has nothing to do with the formation of a cultural sexual orientation.”

Throckmorton further noted that the study was of the brains of mice and there is considerable difficulty in generalizing between the brains of mice and men. In the study there was no relationship studied between the hypothesized male and female mice brains and later sexual behavior. “Any suggestion that this study of mice supports the genetic, “hard-wired” theory of human sexual orientation is pure speculation.”

Throckmorton also noted that the idea that the brains of men and women are different is hardly new. “We’ve known for a long time that male and female brains vary on several dimensions,” Throckmorton said. However, this study advances another set of hypotheses about the causes of this differentiation.

Young Activists to Capitol Hill: 'My Voice Counts'

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnw/20040422/pl_usnw/young_activists_to_capitol_hill___my_voice_counts___young_people_to_lobby_for_honest_sex_education_on__youth_national_advocacy_

Young People to Lobby for Honest Sex Education on 'Youth National Advocacy Day'
Thu Apr 22, 1:26 PM ET

WASHINGTON, April 22 /U.S. Newswire/ -- On Monday, April 26, 2004, over 80 youth from 15 states across the country will travel to Capitol Hill for the Youth National Advocacy Day in support of comprehensive sex education -- education that provides information about abstinence and contraception, including condoms.

"Our government has to get real about teens and sex," said Kayley Harrington, a student at American University who will participate in visits with Reps. Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein. "We must all embrace a realistic, comprehensive approach to sex education that discusses the realities of young people's lives. Some are sexually active, some are not. Any sex education program should address their health care needs."

Standing in the way of this common sense approach to sex education is the current administration's support for abstinence- only-until-marriage programs -- programs that promote a 'Just Say No' approach while censoring any information on the health benefits of condoms. In his new budget, President Bush (news - web sites) doubles federal funding for these programs even though recent evaluations from states, including Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Arizona, show these programs ineffective.

Viacom's Nickelodeon To Run Pro-Homosexual Show Without Corporate Sponsors

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/apr/04041310.html

Children specifically targeted - "Parents can't trust Nickelodeon any longer"
WASHINGTON, April 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Traditional Values Coalition has learned that in an attempt to stop the haemorrhage of negative press and to pre-empt losing sponsors, Nickelodeon will be airing its controversial Nick News program on homosexual parenting/families commercial-free.

Nickelodeon has come under fire from the U.S. Traditional Values Coalition and other pro-family groups for its production of a children's show that will promote homosexuality. The show was taped on June 5, 2003. It featured homosexual activist Rosie O'Donnell, pro-homosexual host Linda Ellerbee, a homosexual principal, and a homosexual New York fireman. "The show was also supposed to have presented a conservative Christian perspective, but the program was badly skewed in favor of homosexuality," said TVC's Executive Director Andrea Lafferty.

Bob Knight Points to 'King and King' to Warn Parents of Homosexual Agenda in Schools

http://new.christianpost.com/dbase.php?cat=education&id=306

In response to a recent controversy over a children’s book about two gay princes, Bob Knight with the Culture and Family Institute is delivering a wake-up call to parents nationwide to be alert for the agenda homosexual advocates may have indoctrinating schools with books like King and King (Tricycle Press, 2002) which send out pro-gay messages.

Gay Parenting Experiment: Want To Participate?

www.drthrockmorton.com/article.asp?id=56

Warren Throckmorton, PhD
March 19, 2004

How’s this for a deal? “Wanted: millions of children to participate in a social science experiment. Young children preferred. Once engaged in the experiment there is no opportunity to withdraw. There may be long term problems for certain participants although the extent of any potential risk cannot be predicted at this time. The researchers cannot be held liable for any negative outcomes.”

Parenting and sexual orientation

Friends/colleagues:

For Immediate Release - Feb. 19, 2004
I have posted a new article on the website that is the first in a series
of occasional research reviews concerning studies and topics of current
interest. This article concerning parenting and sexual orientation is
newsworthy in that it analyzes a study that at first glance appears to
support the idea that parents do not influence the sexual preferences of
children. However, upon reanalysis, the opposite finding is more likely.
Here is the link: http://www.drthrockmorton.com/article.asp?id=39

Warren Throckmorton, PhD
Grove City, PA
http://www.drthrockmorton.com

Appeals court to rehear gay parent case

The Tennessean, February 10, 2004
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/04/02/46724637.shtml?Element_ID=46724637
Appeals court to rehear gay parent case
By Anita Wadhwani, Staff Writer
A divorce case involving a father who had been sentenced to jail time for telling his son he is gay is now back in court.

Fremont mom unlikely gay activist

The Argus, February 2, 2004
http://www.theargusonline.com/Stories/0,1413,83~1971~1930279,00.html
Fremont mom unlikely gay activist
By Sandhya Somashekhar, Staff Writer