Exodus: Live Out Loud

What does it mean to be human?

www.breakpoint.org

"The issue of what it means to be human also applies to same-sex
"marriage." It raises the whole issue of gender and embodiment.
Increasingly gender is not connected to our bodies, sex is not connected
with marriage or childbearing, and parenthood is a separate enterprise
from a man and a woman getting married. Once that happens, we've entered
a brave new world where a biblical understanding of what it means to be
human is completely fragmented. The next step is to produce children in
an assembly line in a factory. And parents-party A and party B-will have
no connection to the process"

Chuck Colson- Breakpoint- July 30, 2004

Hollywood Liberals Say Most Americans Agree With Them

All of my life I have been reminded that "pride goeth before a fall" apparently many hollywood liberals are not familiar with that quote or maybe their ego's have inflated to the point that remembering scripture, logical thinking, good advice, and the basics of knowledge [ie reading more than your own press releases] have slipped into the abyss of liberal dogma. In case any hollywood types happen to be reading this I would like to remind you that current polls state that 62% of Americans still do not agree with you on gay marriage, as well as many other liberal issues. -nkb

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200407/CUL20040730c.html

By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
July 30, 2004

Boston (CNSNews.com) - Hollywood celebrities attending the Democratic National Convention in Boston this week declared that an overwhelming majority of Americans agree with their liberal political views.

Actor and producer Rob Reiner, best known for playing "Meathead" on television's "All in the Family," said that on just about every issue, Americans support liberalism.

"If you look at the country in general, more people agree with the progressive positions than with the conservative positions," Reiner told CNSNews.com on Wednesday.

"Go down the issues and see where the general public stands on a particular issue -- whether it's education or the environment or health care -- I think most of the time you will see people falling down on the progressive side," Reiner said.

Reiner said that conservatives' use of social "wedge issues" and their mastery of the media have given them a disproportionate success rate with their policies.

Dear Readers

I apologize for the shortness of the synopsis this week. It seems the DNC has taken up all the news this week so I will see you all on Monday - NKB

Campaign shows America that homosexuals can change.

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/6046/CFI/family/index.htm

Exodus Launches Hefty Ad in L. A. Times 7/29/2004
By Kara Carlson

Exodus International recently released its second ad in a $200,000 campaign for overcoming homosexuality.

Randy Thomas, Exodus communications director, appears in the full-page ad of last Friday’s (July 23) Los Angeles Times. The ad is one of four in Exodus’ “Question and Answer” Campaign “challenging mainstream America to question homosexuality and encouraging the Church to provide the answer,” according to Exodus President Alan Chambers.

In the ad, Randy Thomas discusses his search for affirmation and trust. “It took an old friend to see past the mask I was wearing, to help me finally face the doubts and scars I’d been avoiding,” he says. “He showed me the irony of how my ‘mask’ was the very thing keeping me from genuine male intimacy.” Thomas no longer practices homosexuality and says he hopes one day for marriage and children.

Exodus launched the campaign in the July 8 Cincinnati Enquirer with an ad focusing on Chambers and his wife, Leslie. Subsequent ads will feature Mike Haley, director of gender issues for Focus on the Family, and his wife Angie. The couples tell their stories about walking away from homosexuality and about the significance and meaning of marriage. Gender issues analyst Melissa Fryrear, also of Focus on the Family, will appear in the campaign detailing her own story as a single woman leaving homosexuality.

Democratic Party platform set to push homosexual agenda in America

www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=18775

Jul 29, 2004
By Erin Curry
BOSTON (BP)--Though the homosexual agenda was not showcased during prime-time hours at the Democratic National Convention, it did make its way into the party's platform and onto the convention floor through a leading homosexual activist's remarks in pre-prime-time hours.

The Democratic platform states in part, "We support full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation and seek equal responsibilities, benefits, and protections for these families."

The platform also places the Democrats on record as opposing the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment.

"In our country, marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years, and we believe it should continue to be defined there," the platform states. "We repudiate President Bush's divisive effort to politicize the Constitution by pursuing a 'Federal Marriage Amendment.' Our goal is to bring Americans together, not drive them apart."

Cheryl Jacques, president and executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest homosexual rights organization, addressed the delegates July 29 during the 6 p.m. time slot.

Jacques, who served in the Massachusetts Senate for more than a decade, began by mentioning her partner, Jennifer, and their "beautiful twin boys, Timmy and Tommy." She then said that the United States was founded in "a revolution against tyranny" -- a revolution that "has transformed into an evolution of progress."

Focus on the Family Experts Say Decision Makes 'Lab Animals' of Children

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnw/20040729/pl_usnw/apa_s_endorsement_of_gay_marriage_an_attack_on_families__focus_on_the_family_experts_say_decision_makes__lab_animals__of_childr

APA's Endorsement of Gay Marriage an Attack on Families;
Thu Jul 29, 3:49 PM ET

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., July 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Focus on the Family harshly criticized the American Psychological Association's endorsement of gay marriage and homosexual adoption today, saying the policy represents an attack on the traditional family for which the association should be ashamed.

"The APA's decision to endorse same-sex marriage flies in the face of logic, science and the historical experience of every culture on the face of the planet," said Dr. James C. Dobson, a psychologist and the chairman of Focus on the Family. "Let's be clear: What we're talking about here is intentionally creating hundreds of thousands of motherless and fatherless families, permanently depriving little boys of a father and little girls of a mother."

Glenn Stanton, Focus on the Family's senior research analyst for marriage and sexuality, echoed Dobson's concerns.

"This policy will subject generations of children to the status of lab animals in a vast, untested social experiment with the family. No one can say that is compassionate," Stanton explained. "Study after study has found that boys and girls not raised by both their mother and father are much more likely to, among other things, suffer abuse, perform poorly in school, suffer lower levels of mental and physical health and wind up in trouble with the law."

The Whims of Unelected Jurists

http://www.crosswalk.com/news

July 29, 2004

The Whims of Unelected Jurists
—Michael Medved

During recent Senate debate over the Federal Marriage Amendment, advocates of governmental endorsement of same sex unions used a dishonest slogan to appeal to conservatives. "Leave it to the states!" said supporters of gay marriage--ignoring the fact that Congressional passage of the amendment would have done precisely that!

Under our system of government, the Congress can only propose an amendment to the Constitution--but state legislatures make the ultimate decision on whether or not it becomes law. Three quarters of those legislatures--representing 38 of the 50 states--must endorse an amendment to make it the law of the land.

Sex changes are not effective, say researchers

Guardian - http://society.guardian.co.uk/mentalhealth/story/0,8150,1272093,00.html
There is no conclusive evidence that sex change operations improve the lives of transsexuals, with many people remaining severely distressed and even suicidal after the operation, according to a medical review conducted exclusively for Guardian Weekend tomorrow.

Spotlight kept off same-sex marriage

www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/10161016p-11081762c.html

By Laura Mecoy -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, July 28, 2004
BOSTON - San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is so popular among Democratic National Convention delegates that tickets to a party honoring him Tuesday night were virtually unobtainable.
Even California's Democratic Party chairman had to personally appeal to Newsom for an invitation for his daughter.

But for all his cachet among the party's elite, most Americans watching the Democratic convention won't get to see the 36-year-old mayor who catapulted onto the national stage by granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples in February.

"I can only imagine if I spoke, what an opportunity that would be for Fox News" to criticize the Democrats, Newsom said.

As the Democrats meet in the only state in the nation where gay marriage is legal, party leaders are keeping Newsom and the issue of same-sex weddings out of the spotlight to avoid alienating swing voters in critical battleground states.

When The Truth Doesn't Support Your Agenda -- Try Sarcasm

I have noticed that many writers rely heavily on sarcasm.. in fact it seems to be the favored form of "comedy" these days. I am guilty of using it myself, unfortunately. However, since I was taught the true meaning of sarcasm [To Tear Flesh] I am trying to avoid it. The following article shows the degree to which a reasonably intelligent person will sink in order to defend his own agenda. A person who was probably hired to report the news not make it up. When faced with honesty that he could not refute and which did not line up with his personal viewpoint he chose sarcasm. If you notice he makes light of Randy Thomas' testimony of recovery, but says nothing to disprove what Randy says. The issue of homosexuality is serious. People are dying.... SO PLEASE! Just the Facts Man! - NKB.

www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lopez28jul28,1,5860296.column?coll=la-util-news-local

July 28, 2004
Steve Lopez:
Points West
Randy Is Just Dandy -- or Is He?

Nearly 200 readers complained to The Times about a full-page ad last week in which a guy named Randy said he'd been cured of homosexuality, thanks to a group called Exodus.

"Shame on you," wrote one reader, saying the ad spit in the faces of gays. Another reader wondered how The Times could accept money to spread hatred.

This, of course, is a very sensitive matter. That's why the newspaper called on its advertising standards department, which wrote the following in response to angry readers:

"Advocacy ads must meet our advertising standards and communicate their points of view legally and responsibly. This particular ad met those requirements."

No word on what those "advertising standards" might be. But what would you expect from an outfit that rakes in bazillions of dollars from brassiere ads?

As a 1st Amendment issue, I think people ought to be able to say what they wish and be judged by their words. But before I get back to the ad in question, here's a little background on Exodus:

The Florida-based group was inspired nearly 30 years ago in Anaheim by charismatic Christian leaders who declared homosexuality a sin.