Exodus: Live Out Loud

California Marriage Bill Supporter Assaulted

From Protect Marriage:

In a violent display of intolerance, an opponent of Proposition 8 attacked and seriously injured a man who was volunteering on Sunday for the initiative to define marriage as between and a man and a woman.   

Prop. 8 supporter, Jose Nunez, 37, was brutally assaulted while waiting to distribute yard signs to other supporters of the initiative after church services at the St. Stanislaus Parish in Modesto.   

The assailant grabbed about 75 signs and yelled at Nunez accusingly, “What do you have against gays!”  Although Nunez replied that he had nothing against gays, he was attacked anyway.  The assailant punched Nunez in the left eye and ran off with the signs.   

Nunez, his eye dripping with blood, walked into a building on church grounds where a fellow parishoner called 911.  Police and paramedics responded to the scene. 

Nunez, who suffered a bloody eye, serious wounds to his face, and a scratch to his knee, was rushed by ambulance to a local hospital where he received 16 stitches under his eye.

Read the whole article >>

School Rejects Christian Books

From NBC-4 of Maryland:

A group of high school students that wants the Fairfax County School System to allow library books that offer a Christian perspective on homosexuality demonstrated Thursday.

The students said they are asking that their viewpoint gets the chance to sit on bookshelves and be read.

Dozens of students from throughout Fairfax County gathered at West Springfield High School. They said that they tried to donate books that promote an evangelical Christian perspective on homosexuality to their schools but were turned away.A schools spokesman said the books were rejected because of school system regulations. Among other things, the books were not age appropriate and there were no reviews of the books.

"We collected reviews for all of the books, multiple reviews, presented them to the librarian, and honestly, she didn't even look at them," said South County Secondary School student Ashley Traficant.

Read the entire article >>

South African Church Must Apologize to Former Music Teacher

From IOL:

It is expected that music teacher, Johan Strydom, will on Thursday receive a formal apology from the Dutch Reformed Church in Moreleta Park for terminating his contract because he was a practising homosexual.

The Pretoria High Court last month ordered that the church had to unconditionally apologise to Strydom and pay him about R87 000 in damages and loss of pay.

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European Activists Call for Police to Punish "Anti-Gay" Comments

From Our Kingdom:

The Prime Minister has sent a response  to the 15,700 people who petitioned him to reprimand DUP MP Iris Robinson following her claim that members of the LGBT community should seek a cure...

...the complaints submitted to the police following Robinson's remarks must be dealt with forcefully. Thus far, there has been no response. I cannot imagine why it takes so long to establish whether these remarks qualify as “inciting hatred or arousing fear.”

Northern Ireland, ironically, has stronger anti-hate crime legislation than other UK regions. Government introduced it because of “increases in recorded incidents involving victims defined by their sexual orientation.”  The police should now decide whether her remarks arouse fear in the LGBT community, in light of comments like this:

"I feel threatened, abused, insulted and fearful because Mrs Robinson compared homosexuality to child abuse which is illegal and, I believe, grossly offensive and fundamentally wrong.”

Read the entire article >>

Man Sues Publishers Over Bible Verses

From CitizenLink:

A Michigan man is suing Zondervan Publishing and Thomas Nelson Publishing, claiming biblical references to homosexuality as a sin violate his constitutional rights and have caused him emotional pain and mental instability.

Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, is seeking $60 million from Zondervan and $10 million from Thomas Nelson, The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press reported. He is representing himself in both claims.

Fowler claims the Bible has made him an outcast and contributed to physical discomfort and periods of "demoralization, chaos and bewilderment."

"As frivolous as this case may sound, it's an indicator of where the homosexual agenda is headed," said Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action. "Ten years from now, this type of case won't be humorous at all; we'll see organizations like the ACLU dedicating resources to them because such 'language' will no longer be considered protected speech.

"Sweden, Canada and the U.K. are already prosecuting religious speech as 'hate' speech, as it relates to the biblical view of homosexuality."

Pro-Gay Censorship Law Crops Up in Colorado

From WorldNetDaily:

A new Colorado law is helping homosexual activists achieve their goal of forcing Christians to teach biblical condemnation of homosexuality only behind the closed doors of their sanctuaries.

The as-yet untested state law promotes sexual identity "perception" to the level of skin color under state discrimination laws.

Some opponents are calling it a "bona fide censorship law," and top analysts for Focus on the Family, the Christian publishing and broadcast powerhouse, are expressing concern over the "mischief" they expect to follow the signing by As WND reported, Ritter, a Democrat, struck gender-specific restrooms and locker rooms statewide when he signed the plan into law in May.

The law makes it illegal to deny a person access to public accommodations, including restrooms and locker rooms, based on gender identity or the "perception" of gender identity.

"Who would have believed that the Colorado state legislature and its governor would have made it fully legal for men to enter and use women's restrooms and locker-room facilities without notice or explanation?" said James Dobson, founder of Focus.

Read the whole article >>

Canadian Pastor Fined; Christians Banned from Voicing Biblical Opposition

From WorldNetDaily:

A Canadian tribunal ordered a Christian pastor to renounce his faith and never again express moral opposition to homosexuality, according to a new report.

In a decision dated May 30 in the penalty phase of the quasi-judicial proceedings run by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal, evangelical pastor Stephen Boisson was banned from expressing his biblical perspective of homosexuality and ordered to pay $5,000 for "damages for pain and suffering" as well as apologize to the activist who complained of being hurt...

"In this case there is no specific individual who can be compensated as there is no direct victim who has come forward," [lawyer Lori G. Andreachuk] wrote.

However, that did not stop her from ordering the payment anyway.

And as for the future, she wrote:

"Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. shall cease publishing in newspapers, by e-mail, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the Internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals. Further, they shall not and are prohibited from making disparaging remarks in the future about … Lund or … Lund's witnesses relating to their involvement in this complaint. Further, all disparaging remarks versus homosexuals are directed to be removed from current Web sites and publications of Mr. Boissoin and The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc..."

Read the whole article >>

Randy Thomas on California's Gay Marriage Ruling

Exodus Executive Vice President Randy Thomas responds on his blog to the historic ruling by the California Supreme Court overturning a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage:

Exodus has been on record as opposing the redefinition of marriage, the use of hate crimes legislation to suppress freedom of conscience and religious liberty as well as ENDA­, the corporate version of hate crimes. ENDA is another example of the state forcing a state sanctioned sexual morality at the expense of religious liberty.

Exodus has only been involved in these public policy battles for the past five years and while we have very strong beliefs, I think it is a mistake for Christians to believe that Joe Solomnese, a gay identified man in charge of the HRC (largest gay lobby in the world) wants to proverbially burn Christians at the stake.  While he has been dismissive of my life and testimony, I choose not to be dismissive of his because I once believed as he does.  My only desire was to live in a homosexual relationship.

Read Randy's blog post >>

UK Amendment Retains Protections of Free Speech... Just Barely

From LifeSite:

MPs at Westminster voted on Tuesday night to remove protections for freedom of speech from a "hate crimes" bill, but a vote in the House of Lords retained the wording. In a vote of 338 to 136, the House of Commons agreed with homosexual activists who wanted wording removed that would have allowed Christians and others who objected to homosexual behaviour to preach Christian sexual morality in public without fear of prosecution.

Peers in the House of Lords, however, voted today to retain an amendment that allows religious people to claim freedom of religious expression when charged with "inciting hatred". The House of Commons was forced to let the wording remain in the bill due to time constraints.

The amendment says, "For the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred."

Read the entire article >>

UK Couple Wins Back Right to Foster

From the Telegraph:

A couple who were rejected as foster parents after they refused to condone homosexuality have won their battle to apply to be carers.

Derby city council blocked an application from Eunice and Owen Johns to   provide respite care for under-10s after they admitted they could never tell   a child that being homosexual was acceptable.

However, the authority has backed down after the Johns, both devout   Christians, threatened to seek a judicial review.

The couple, who have four grown-up children of their own, were celebrating on   Sunday after learning by letter that they can resume the application process.

Read the entire article >>