LGBTQ: Forcing Us to Embrace Evil Destructive Lies

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Someone asked, “What is behind the LGBTQ agenda?” The goal of LGBTQ enforcers is to forcibly normalize their lifestyle in the minds of the 97% of the population that is not LGBTQ. This is why we are bombarded with the LBGTQ lifestyle inserted into everything. Why are major corporations making the promotion of LGBTQ which are less than 3% of the population their top priority? 

A Disney theme park TV ad featured two homosexual couples with children without showing a single heterosexual couple. Why is Disney so intent on appeasing this minute less than 3% of their market?

Converse launched a new line of shoes celebrating the LGBTQ lifestyle. The star of Converse’s depraved marketing campaign is an 11 year old drag queen. Converse says their campaign shows the power of expressing one’s true self. That is a lie. Converse is encouraging children to live a lie, rather than embrace who they truly are. Converse is engaged in child abuse. 

Pure and simple. Lord help us.

Those in the LGBTQ lifestyle appear angry at and in rebellion against God; the God of Christianity. If you notice, everything LGBTQ enforcers advocate is in direct contradiction of God’s original plan for family, marriage, gender and Christian principles and values. It is not a coincidence that God’s symbol of the rainbow has been hijacked to represent a behavior which God says is an abomination. (Leviticus 20:13)

LGBTQ enforcers demand that we affirm their lifestyle to soften their nagging guilt. This is why LGBTQ enforcers have infiltrated public education beginning in preschool to teach our kids that their lifestyle is normal and even superior to heterosexuality. 

My wife Mary said, “You know they will attack you for saying they feel guilty.” The Bible says they feel guilty until God gives them over to a reprobate mind. (Romans 1:28)

We all have LGBTQ family and friends whom we love. Since liberal activists on the Supreme Court, in essence, made same-sex marriage the law of the land, our acceptance and tolerance is no longer good enough. With an iron-fist, LGBTQ enforcers are using government to demand that we affirm their lifestyle against our conscience and religious beliefs. Clearly, those in the LBGTQ lifestyle feel guilty. Therefore, they must force us to say they are normal to make them feel better about themselves.

Countless studies confirm that the LGBTQ lifestyle is not normal; usually related to childhood trauma.

A homosexual friend said he loved his dad dearly. When he was a child, he awoke every morning at 3am to have breakfast with his dad before he went to work. One morning his dad scolded him telling him not to wake up. His dad simply did not want him tired for school. But to my friend, it was a profound rejection. My friend said from that day forward, he never woke up at 3am again. I could hear the pain in my friend’s voice. Over the years, I witnessed my friend suffer; always seeking love from unattainable men. I helped him recover from a suicide attempt over a man who rejected him.

One of my aunts had 5 sons by two fathers. Neither of the fathers participated in the boys’ lives. They lived in the projects on government welfare. I did sleepovers at my cousins’ home. Even though I was a little kid, I could feel that they envied me for having my dad living with us; my mom and 4 younger siblings. My cousins’ home had a sadness, an air of hopelessness, poverty and depression. I felt sorry for them.

Their mother was bitter and brutal. I saw her beat the two sons she disliked with pots, her fist and even a baseball bat. She treated her youngest son horribly. He and I were around ten years old when I watched her repeatedly pound him with her fist. He was so use to being brutalized that he did not cry until well into his beating. He became homosexual and died young of AIDS.

Her eldest son was amazing, assuming the role of father to his brothers. He worked his way through college and became extremely successful. Embracing homosexuality, he died of AIDS around age 40.

I believe growing up in that household contributed to my aunt’s two sons’ homosexuality.

Islam advocates executing homosexuals. So why have LGBTQ activists launched war on Christians rather that Muslims? LGBTQ enforcers target Christian businesses to force them to service same sex weddings against their religious convictions. And yet, LGBTQ enforcers stay clear of Muslim bakeries, flower shops and wedding photographers. Logically, shouldn’t LGBTQ enforcers be on the warpath against Muslim businesses rather than Christians?

God calls the homosexual lifestyle an abomination, but does not advocate killing them. God said with loving kindness have I drawn thee. (Jeremiah 31:3) So why do LGBTQ enforcers despise Christians while expressing support for Muslims?

We are becoming increasingly pressured to stop speaking truth and forced to embrace evil destructive lies. A woman told me her adult children are seriously questioning her sanity for supporting Trump and for not supporting Planned Parenthood, man-made climate change and the LBGTQ agenda.

I stand strong that God is on our side and in control. The roots of evil are shallow. We stand on a rock-solid foundation of righteousness and truth. Our job is to simply continue spreading truth and fighting the good fight for what is right. Rest in Christ and trust that all is well.

VIDEO: The Vortex — Bullying From the Left

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TRANSCRIPT

So as many of you know, Church Militant was in Philadelphia last Friday to cover the pro-life response to the bullying of young girls and old women by Pennsylvania state lawmaker Brian Sims.

The event was a smashing success. Over a thousand enthusiastic, prayerful and determined pro-lifers showed up to say we aren’t going to take it anymore. Before the event, we were wondering if this was going to be a watershed-type moment for the pro-life movement.

But not just the pro-life movement, the whole socially, politically and theologically conservative world in the U.S. culture.

Ever since the rise of Barack Obama, these people have been on their heels, being accused of being bigots and haters and racists — of being white supremacists and toxic males and Nazis and heirs of white privilege and every other imaginable distortion of reality you could come up with.

Obama himself coalesced all this, drew together all these various camps into a political force meant to completely overhaul and re-fashion America.

All you have to do is just recall some telling lines — dog whistles, as the Left likes to say — to his group of racist, bigoted, anti-Christian followers who are legion.

Remember, “We are the change we have been waiting for.”

Again, “America is no longer a Christian nation.”

And of course, “They cling to guns or religion.”

Why the Left hates white males so much is because of what this particular demographic represents, and that is simply an America where Christian morality is the norm — no murdering of children in the name of women’s rights, no sanctioning of sodomy in the name of LGBT rights, no absence of borders in the name of illegal immigrants’ rights.

Those so-called rights do not exist either in natural law or moral law.

But they have been created out of thin air in legislative law which has been accomplished through lies and media propaganda and intimidation — yes, intimidation. It’s this point that makes the Friday Philly rally so incredibly important.

It was put together very last minute simply through social media messaging from Lila Rose of Live Action; Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood director; and Matt Walsh, a leading Catholic voice in the world of social media.

For a thousand people to simply show up at the drop of a hat, and Church Militant to scramble resources on very little notice, says a lot about how all this was viewed in anticipation.

Quick aside: Shout out and thank you to the private donors who made Church Militant’s trip on very short notice possible — high airfares, costly lodging and all that; thank you.

There was an air at the rally of this is it. This is an example of the type of bullying and being relegated to the back of the bus that we will not stand for anymore.

Planned Parenthood, the abortion industry giant, kills more children in America every year than any other child murdering outfit. And they have muscled their way into that position with lies — big, giant lies.

And they keep that position through lies and intimidation. For example, when we were shooting prior to the rally, getting footage of the setup, this Planned Parenthood death-scort tried to intimidate me.

I was inches away from their front gate and fence shooting and she told me I had to back away. I said, “Why? For what?” Then, of course, came the lie and intimidation.

She said, “You aren’t allowed to be here.” Straight up, I told her to shut up. I was on public property — the sidewalk — and could do whatever I pleased.

Then another pro-life woman piped up after hearing me and said yeah, “Exactly, they care about a gate more than a child.”

Anyone who has ever stood in front of these abortuaries knows the harassment, intimidation, lies and so forth that these killers inflict on pro-lifers.

They intimidate and lie on the outside to protect and deflect from butchery that goes on in the inside and in politicians like Obama and his crowd — which is the Democratic Party — they have found their champion.

Immoral, savage, killers who worship consequence-free sex, who will do anything to destroy Christian morality in America, including demonize an entire population. This is the real reason they have become completely deranged by the appearance of Donald Trump on the political stage.

Donald Trump’s version of America is one which rejects their new America, which isn’t really America at all.

He flat-out calls them out on their lies and domination of the media, of the culture and the political machinery through which they have perverted the nation.

And they hate his guts for it. But he tells them to go essentially “drop dead.” That America will be great again, meaning their view of America, as the killing fields of the abortion industry must be rejected.

That population which supports Trump’s vision of America has been intimidated and cowered by the elites for too long. And something was sparked in that community watching the off-the-hook-homosexual Brian Sims verbally beat up pro-life teenage girls and an elderly woman.

Many pro-lifers have personalities that are passive and appear to be meek and gentle and so forth. That reality has been exploited by the Left for too long. They have viewed us as doormats who will accept their bullying as part of “turning the other cheek” or whatever they imagine.

Friday said no way, not anymore. We are drawing a line in the sand. We are at war, and it is a battle to the death.

Friday in Philly launched a new phase of the movement — not just to take back the lives of children being dismembered, but to take back a nation being ripped apart by the evil of the Left.

Pray and fight; faith and good works.

EDITORS NOTE: This Church Militant video is republished with permission.

VIDEO: Pro-Abortion Legislator’s Bullying Led to a Massive Pro-Life Rally in Philadelphia

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That is Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims, a self-described “LGBTQ activist” and apparently a cowardly bully.

Last weekend, Representative Sims recorded himself harassing Pro-Life demonstrators outside a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood clinic. According to The Daily Wire, he also offered a $100 bribe to whoever would expose the personal information of three teenage girls praying outside the clinic.

However, instead of being cowed into silence, over 1,000 Pro-Life activists returned to the same street corner in Philadelphia less than a week later in response to Sims’s bullying tactics. The rally was organized by The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh who spoke alongside Unplanned’s Abby Johnson and Live Action founder Lila Rose.

You can watch the entire rally in the video below:

Not surprisingly, Representative Sims was nowhere to be found. But Matt Walsh did recognize his contributions to the rally:

Matt Walsh

✔@MattWalshBlog

HUGE thanks to @BrianSimsPA for making this happen. We couldn’t have done it without him.

Will you send a special “thank you” to Brian Sims as well? Let’s send a note to Planned Parenthood’s corporate supporters and ask why they align their companies with pro-abortion bullies. Use our research and choose one of the corporations on our resource page here. Each link has the contact information for each company where you can let them know we stand against Planned Parenthood.

Help us continue holding corporations and non-profits accountable for their activism by becoming a 2ndVote Member today!

EDITORS NOTE: This 2ndVote column with video is republished with permission.

California’s Sex Ed Guidelines Suggest Asking Kindergartners What Gender They Identify As

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“It’s pornography.” That’s how one mom described California’s new guidelines for sex ed.

Patricia Reyes, who spoke up Wednesday during a hearing in Sacramento, can’t fathom sending her children to school to learn about things that would be embarrassing for most of us to say out loud—let alone teach to elementary students.

“If this continues, I’m not sending them to school,” she said.

And she won’t be the only one.

Hundreds of parents protested the new framework Wednesday—which includes everything from lessons in self-pleasure to transgenderism.

As CBN pointed out, the guidelines even go so far as to encourage kindergarteners to think about whether they might identify with another gender.

Are you kidding? At that age, they don’t even know what gender is. The goal, officials say, is to create “an environment that is inclusive and challenges binary concepts about gender.”

Of course, the state Board of Education wouldn’t admit that. Instead, President Linda Darling-Hammond said, “We’re on a careful trajectory here not to be introducing things as though they are endorsed in some way.”

That’s interesting, since LGBT activists are tripping over themselves to tell California what a wonderful job they’ve done. And, as we all know, their goal isn’t to just “introduce things.” So many want to indoctrinate and recruit—and nothing short of that will suffice.

At one point, CBN notes, the state was considering cartoon drawings of genitalia for 5-year-olds and material for the older kids on bondage and homosexual acts.

“An earlier draft of the guidelines also suggested high schoolers read the book: ‘S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Sexuality Guide to Get You Through Your Teens and Twenties.’”

After enough protest, these requirements were dropped.

But there’s still more than enough content to outrage parents—like the opt-out policy, which is allowed for portions—but not the LGBT lessons. That, most families have argued at various meetings, is a direct attack on parental authority.

“Now we’re teaching kids how to have a robust sex life? Not everything under the sun needs to be taught to our kids, with no moral judgment,” California Family Council’s Greg Burt, told The Sacramento Bee.

And the anger over the state’s curriculum isn’t just anecdotal. Stephanie Yates, founder of Informed Parents of California, says 20,000 people have joined the group since she created it last year.

And what about the teachers? They don’t want to send these messages any more than parents want their kids to hear them.

“Teachers are afraid they will be forced to teach concepts that go against their conscience, and use non-binary terms or else they could lose their jobs,” said Brenda Lebsack, who works for Santa Ana Unified.

Some of you may roll your eyes and dismiss this as “just California.” Don’t be fooled. This same extremism is coming to a classroom near you—and parents need to be equipped and ready to mobilize like these families have.

This sex ed countermovement in California is a testament to the involvement of a lot of moms and dads, teachers, and churches. As bad as some of these guidelines are, they would have been a lot worse if Californians hadn’t been actively engaged.

Make sure you are. For advice, check out the Family Research Council’s “A Parent’s Guide to the Transgender Movement in Education.”

RELATED ARTICLES:

LGBT ‘equality’ laws lose their foundation: Evidence shows sexual orientation can change

Department of Defense on Why Those with “Gender Dysphoria” Are Disqualified from Military Service

The Sexual Revolution and sex abuse scandals: A Protestant take on Pope Benedict’s letter

EDITORS NOTE: This FRC column is republished with permission.

Liberals Break the Facts Machine

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) just learned what a garbage disposal is, but she says it’s American men who don’t know anything about plumbing! In a pair of incoherent tweets Tuesday night, the former bartender blasts the new abortion limits in Georgia by arguing that “Most of the men writing these bills don’t know the first thing about a woman’s body.” But maybe the real problem is that some Democrats don’t know the first thing about reading the bills she’s talking about!

What the LIFE Act does and what abortion extremists say it does are two very different things. Like a lot of far-Left radicals, Ocasio-Cortez is running around social media insisting that Georgia’s new law bans abortion before a woman even knows she’s pregnant. “It’s relatively common for a woman to have a late period [and] not be pregnant,” she argues. “So this is a backdoor ban.” But if a woman isn’t pregnant, how is anyone denying her an abortion? Either Ocasio-Cortez is confused, or Democrats are calling this an attack on women who aren’t even expecting!

“I don’t think you understand how these bills work,” Lila Rose politely tweeted back. “They ban abortion after the baby’s heartbeat can be heard by an ultrasound, which is around six weeks.” Of course, in this new House majority, it’s impossible to know whether Democrats are just criticizing bills they didn’t bother to read — or they’re intentionally trying to mislead people. Either way, Lila points out, “A lot of women support these life-saving laws. Myself included. You should join us.” Then, in a subtle jab at Ocasio-Cortez’s earlier comment, she posted, “Glad some of ‘the men’ are on board, too.”

Still, Ocasio-Cortez keeps firing. “There are a TON of ways this law ignores basic biology.” But if biology is where Democrats want to debate this bill, they’re already on shaky ground. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) party has spent the better part of the last 10 years ignoring “basic biology.” It’s almost comical. Liberals call us anti-science when we’re the ones who believe what research says about gender, conception, the environment, and creation. The Left, meanwhile, is so confused about basic biology that it doesn’t even know which bathroom to use!

And Democrats probably shouldn’t be lecturing anyone about science when CNN is airing interviews with New York leaders who don’t even think babies are human. On “Cuomo Prime Time,” the network actually gave a platform to a woman who told viewers, “When a woman gets pregnant, that is not a human being inside of her.” Oh really? What is it then — a banana nut loaf? According to Christine Quinn, the former speaker of the city’s council, it’s “a part of her body.” Rick Santorum, who was also in on the conversation, couldn’t believe it. “So the baby is their property and they can do whatever they want to it? They can maim the baby or torture the baby?”

Quinn got angry and shot back that Santorum was “spinning fake stories.” “You’re so desperate here,” she said. But I think the award for desperation was already doled out when Christine made it sound like children were a foreign object that just magically turns into a baby at birth. Obviously, none of this is new. Democrats are famous for dehumanizing the unborn. Back in 2012, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) famously said abortions didn’t kill children. “We’re not dealing with human beings at this point” — a soundbite he probably learned from Planned Parenthood, who built an entire empire on the philosophy that the less women know, the better.

But along came the ultrasound machine — and keeping women in the dark got a lot more difficult for Democrats and their pals in the abortion industry. Now women have a rebuttal to Planned Parenthood who insists, “That’s not a baby.”

Thanks to science, both parents are more aware of how intensely human their children are. Of course, Ocasio-Cortez would probably say it’s sexist to acknowledge that babies even have a father. But like it or not, there are tens of millions of men in this country who aren’t going to be silenced just because Democrats want to shame them with phony gender baiting. The truly courageous ones — like Governor Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) — aren’t protecting the unborn because they’re men. They’re protecting the unborn because it’s the right thing to do. And right and wrong has never cared about people’s chromosomes, no matter what liberals say.

Tony Perkins’ Washington Update is written with the aid of FRC senior writers.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Free at Last! Asia Bibi Touches down in Canada

The Democrats’ Moral Minority

EDITORS NOTE: This FRC column is republished with permission.

Should We Panic over the Measles Outbreaks?

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In general, it is not a good idea to panic about anything. The panic itself often causes more harm than the original threat.

Crisis situations, real or contrived, lead to new intrusive laws that the public would never accept otherwise. We supposedly cherish freedom, but if we believe that the world will end if we don’t act NOW, then we may clamor for the government to save us. Cynical politicians bent on increasing their power never let a crisis go to waste.

Something like the Green New Deal—the end of our comfortable, prosperous lifestyle—takes a truly apocalyptic threat. But to eliminate our freedom to decline a medical treatment, the threat that “millions will die” of measles is evidently enough. Or if not millions (most older people had measles and recovered fully), a few especially vulnerable children, who can’t be vaccinated themselves, might catch measles and die.

There are several hundred cases of measles nationwide, more than in 2014, and bills are being pushed through state legislatures to eliminate all but very narrow exemptions to the 60 shots now mandated for school attendance.

In New York City, people are receiving summonses based on Mayor Bill de Blasio’s emergency order. Everybody, adult or child, who lives in four ZIP code areas must get an MMR shot or prove immunity, or face the prospect of a $1,000 fine ($2,000 if you don’t appear as ordered). Your religious exemption is overridden. The threat of 6 months in prison and the prospect of forcible vaccination were removed before a hearing on a lawsuit brought by five mothers. The judge dismissed the case.

Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said that the purpose of the fines is not to punish but to encourage more people to proclaim the message that vaccines are safe and effective. Get it? If you say something to avoid a fine, that makes it true.

It’s about the need for herd immunity, they say. We need a 95 percent vaccination rate for herd immunity to measles. With only 91 percent or so we are having outbreaks! If we could just vaccinate another 4 or 5 percent!

Mayor De Blasio has a point about vaccinating everyone. Adults are getting measles because their shots have worn off. It is likely that we have survived for decades with a large part of the adult population vaccinated—but not immune. So where do the mandates stop?

Outbreaks have occurred in populations with a near-100 percent vaccination rate. Was it vaccine failure? Or was the vaccine not refrigerated properly? Or was a claimed outbreak real? One in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was called off when a special test, a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed a vaccine-strain measles virus rather than a wild-strain measles virus. Some 5 percent of vaccinees may get an illness that looks like measles, but it is just a “vaccine reaction.” Can they shed live virus? Yes. Should you keep your immunocompromised child away from recently vaccinated people? Just asking.

Like all medical treatments, vaccines are neither 100 percent effective, nor 100 percent safe. Read the FDA-required, FDA-approved package inserts. Arizona defeated a law that would have required making these available to parents in obtaining informed consent. (You can get them on the internet.) Vaccine Court has paid out about $4 billion in damages—recently for two children with severe brain damage from encephalopathy (that’s brain inflammation) after a fight lasting about 15 years. Just incidentally, they had an autism diagnosis also. Parents bring their severely injured children to hearings. You won’t see these children on tv, only pictures of babies with measles. No “fear-mongering” allowed about “rare,” possibly coincidental problems from vaccines.

There are trade-offs with vaccines: risks and benefits. But in the panic about measles, the right to give or withhold informed consent—fundamental in medical ethics as well as U.S. and international law—is being sacrificed. And so is free speech. The AMA wants to censor “anti-vaccine” information on social media. I happened on a factual article by investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, but was not able to retweet it because it had been removed.

The threat of infectious diseases is real and increasing. We need more robust public health measures, better vaccines, and improved public knowledge and awareness. Deploying vaccine police and shutting down debate will erode trust in health authorities and physicians, although more people may get their shots. But such heavy-handed measures will not defeat the enemy—measles and worse diseases.

PODCAST: Ex-Gay Pastor’s Counseling of Those Questioning Their Sexuality Could Be at Risk With Equality Act

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Ken Williams represents what some activists say is impossible: Previously gay, he’s now married to a woman and has kids. He says God has helped him change. Williams now works at a church and counsels people who face their own unwanted sexual attractions—but some say his work should be illegal. Read our interview, posted below, or listen on the podcast:

We also cover these stories:

  • Democrats are beginning the process to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt.
  • Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is proposing a national gun licensing program.
  • Hillary Clinton is saying the 2016 election was “stolen” from her.

The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at letters@dailysignal.com. Enjoy the show!

Katrina Trinko: Joining us is Ken Williams, a Christian pastor from California, and a man who once lived a gay lifestyle, but now councils those who want to leave it. Ken, thanks for joining us.

Ken Williams: Thank you for having me.

Trinko: You once lived as a gay man. Can you tell us a bit about that lifestyle?

Williams: Actually, I didn’t actually live as a gay man. I was not out and publicly living that lifestyle. I just was struggling every hour of every day with same-sex attraction, which for me was unwanted. And then I had several different experiences and a relationship for a period of time that was homosexual.

Daniel Davis: And at what stage of your life was that? Around college or after? In your 20s?

Williams: No, that was teens and into college. Yes.

Trinko: So why did you decide to abandon that way of life?

Williams: I never wanted that way of life. I never wanted to have sex with men. That’s just the only people I was sexually attracted to. That probably doesn’t seem like it makes any sense. But that’s pretty common actually.

We don’t really plan our sexual desires. We find ourselves with our sexual desires. And when I found myself with mine at, I don’t know, 13 or 14 years old, I realized to my shock one day, “Wow, I’m not like the other boys. I’m sexually attracted to the boys. I feel like I’m more like one of the girls.”

Eventually, over time, I succumbed to some of my temptations. But that wasn’t in alignment with what I personally wanted. It wasn’t in alignment with my faith or my understanding of what I felt like God was calling me to. It’s just where I found myself.

Trinko: And it’s striking that you’ve mentioned a few times now that wasn’t something you wanted. And why did you not want it? You mentioned your faith, but obviously, a lot of people have decided that they have an understanding of Christianity that does allow it. So why do you think that didn’t change your mind?

Williams: I just had conviction. Whenever I would move in a direction or if I would undress a man with my eyes, or if I looked at porn or something like that, I felt I was violating my conscience. And I wanted to have the family scenario. I loved my family and was really close to them and so I wanted to one day have my own wife, have my own children, all of that.

It was just for multiple reasons I didn’t want that. I had this gaping hole inside for masculinity and, at least in my case, it felt like I was trying to fill what was missing in me with someone else.

I had a lot of self-hatred going on, so I just really wanted it to delete me and replace me with the better looking, more impressive male guy that I looked up to. So it was very co-dependent and really unhealthy.

Trinko: Ken, you mentioned that you are married, which I think probably surprises a lot of people. Can you tell us about how you met your wife and how she came to peace with your past?

Williams: Yeah, sure. I met my wife at the church that we were both going to in a group of young people that got together periodically. What had happened to me there, that had never happened to me before, was … well, I had respected plenty of women before, but this time it turned into, “Wow, I really kind of keep looking at you.”

She was sitting across the way. She had long hair, she was playing with her hair, and she had this sparkly belt on, and I kept needing to look at her. I realized, “Wait a minute, I’ve never done this before. What’s going on?”

I realized I profoundly respected her because I had known her for a year, and I loved how I felt when I was around her. But this time, it crossed the threshold of actually becoming more intense than just a friendship.

I thought, “Wow, OK.” I just started spending more time with her, and eventually just wanted to ask her out. I got up the gumption to ask her out by text message, very courageous.

Trinko: Oh, come on.

Williams: Yes, not the proudest part of my story. But anyway, she gave the multiple choice answer back that I wanted, and I took her out on a date.

I take her to this nice restaurant. As I sit down, she’s about to sit down, she says, “You know, I’m going to run to the restroom.” She walks over, taps my shoulder to say, “Hey, I’m going to the restroom.” I know it sounds weird, but she touched my shoulder and electricity shot from my shoulder down to my toes, back and forth a few times, and I was like, “What is going on?”

Basically, I just fell in love with her. I fell in love with her. I developed sexual attraction for her. In the early days, I had some attraction to men still as well, but nobody was captivating my heart, or my attention, like she was.

We got married within a year of that. I’ve never once, I’m just being graphic, but it’s real, I’ve never once fantasized about another man in our entire marriage. We have a great sex life. We have four children, twins. We had four kids in less than four years, which to the listening audience, please spread your kids out more than that because you could lose your mind.

But I love being a family man. I love my wife and my kids. I’m living, really, somebody else’s life is what it feels like, and I’m loving it. I have quite a few friends that share my same story.

But if I can answer your secondary question, how was it for her? I tell people, too, it’s like, “Hey, people need to know in marriage what they’re buying.” Within a month of dating her, I felt like, “OK, we’ve been going out enough now that she needs to really know who I really am, and where I’ve been.”

We were spending a weekend together, Thanksgiving, at her parents’ house, but a few days prior to that we had taken a trip together. On the trip, I thought, “Oh, maybe this is the time.”

So I opened up to her and said, “Hey, FYI, I’ve dealt with this in my life, and here’s what it looked like.” And she said, “Oh, okay,” and she acted like it was no problem at all. She said, “Hey, can we pull over, I’m going to use the restroom.” Another restroom story.

She pops into the restroom, while I’m filling up with gas, and I didn’t know it, but she was having a full on panic attack in there. She was like, “Oh my gosh, God, what am I going to do?” She’s like, “God, help me, because I love this guy, but I don’t know what to do with this.”

She felt like, I don’t know what everybody’s faith journey is like here listening, but she felt like God very clearly just relayed to her, “Hey, don’t look at him that way, because I don’t.” Because I really wasn’t that person anymore. She thought, “Wow, OK.” So she endeavored to go that direction.

We had talks in the coming weeks about it, she needed to kind of process it. She’d say, “Well, what about this or what about that?” It kind of came down to, I said, “Hey listen, I’ve told you everything,” and I said, “Everything I just told you, there are five people in my life, close friends of mine, pastors of mine, they all know all of this story, and they all are present in my life.” So they’re aware of who I’m hanging out with, who I’m not.

I said, “You are welcome to talk to any of my friends,” that kind of thing. And I said, “You know, the reality is, any of us could fall to all kinds of temptations in life.”

And I said, “At the end of the day, you’re just taking a risk that I’m going to put God ahead of every other relationship, and I’m going to be true to my faith in God, which means that I would be faithful in marriage.” I said, “All I know to tell you is, I will endeavor to always put God first and you next, and at the end of day it’s a risk, but I hope you’ll choose me.”

She did, so that was 13 years ago in August.

Davis: Wow. … There’s so much hope there for people who might find themselves just trapped. There’s a category there that people today don’t seem to make room for, which is that you might develop a certain attraction. It seems like your attraction, maybe you can explain this—

Williams: Mmhmm.

Davis: … was for her specifically, not just for the female gender.

Williams: That’s true.

Davis: Is that the case?

Williams: It did start that way for sure, yeah.

As we’ve gone further through marriage, and I’ve continued to work on my own heart and being part of that men’s purity group, where I feel like I’m constantly getting better as a man and taking more responsibility for my life and just, I don’t know, continuing to grow.

Actually, my sexuality has as well, and I actually have some attraction now for other women as well, and it’s like I really am not trying to increase any, I don’t really need any, but that’s …

A lot of my friends that I know that share my similar experience, it becomes kind of fluid that way, as far as your understanding of yourself and of your sexual desires, they can shift. Even the APA will tell you that, that there can be a shift in sexual desires. So contrary to popular opinion, they can shift both ways.

Trinko: Actually, it’s funny you mention that because I was reading an advice column on Slate recently, where someone wrote in and said they had been a lesbian in their 20s and 30s, but now they were only attracted to men.

I don’t believe this person was religious, or they didn’t present themselves as religious, and they said, I feel really embarrassed to come out as straight. How do I do this?

Williams: Yes. My ministry partner, Elizabeth, at first was humiliated, she said, when she started having sexual desires for her husband because so much of her identity had been staked on being a lesbian feminist. She’s a brilliant lady, she had a master’s degree in theology and all this, and was an out and proud lesbian Christian. She was out in her seminary.

Her theology was such that she did not have any problem theologically, but she started having some experiences at church and with God that just led her away from that.

She was humiliated to one day discover, “I’m sexually attracted to this guy. What is going on here?” Because so much of her reputation was staked on her being a lesbian and a feminist. She had to figure out who she was all over again, and now she’s been married to that man for 14 years, and she’s no longer humiliated. She loves him.

Yeah, change is possible. If you’re a person of faith, it’s like all things are possible is in the Bible. I don’t know why we’ve removed this one area from being in reach of God.

Davis: You said you had a whole lack of sense of masculinity, or desire to be connected to other sorts of masculinity. Did you have that growing up? Were you close with your dad or another man who could kind of mentor you?

Williams: That was a challenge for me in my childhood. My dad loved me a time, but for whatever reason, we had trouble connecting deeply. He traveled quite a bit. My mom was more my same type of personality so she was easier to talk to.

I actually remember forming some judgments internally as a child, like, “Oh, women are better than men,” because when I would be at church, I would see the women stereotypically were standing around talking about God together, where the men were talking about football.

Not that there’s anything wrong with football and of course, that was a very short sighted, limited perspective as a child. I’m sure that the men had great faith as well, but I just drew some conclusions as a child that sent me in a way of saying, “I don’t really actually want men. I disapprove of masculinity.” But then I found myself, as I grew, craving masculinity because I had pushed it away.

Trinko: So you are now a pastor and you counsel, my understanding is, a lot of people in issues of sexuality. Can you tell us a little bit about how you approach that?

Williams: Yes. Really the only people that come to me for consulting are wanting to deal with same-sex attraction that’s unwanted or they are wanting to leave homosexuality behind. So I wouldn’t be qualified to help people that wanted to embrace it because I don’t have any experience with that.

But it’s interesting. There are all kinds of trigger points for people. I find that a very common characteristic is that there was some kind of a breakdown normally in childhood with their sense of intimacy, of love and belonging.

You heard some of that even in the story I told you about myself. I didn’t feel I was deeply valued or known really by anyone and certainly not by other males. So there can be all kinds of things. …

It’s not politically correct to say it, but it’s very common that sexual abuse is a part of the background of people who experience same-sex attraction. It’s definitely not 100% of the time, but it’s over 50% and that definitely bears out in the people that I minister to as well.

Davis: So if you have one individual who experiences these desires that they don’t want, how would you approach counseling them?

Williams: We try to ascertain, “OK, did something happen in your childhood? Let’s see if there was a moment. Do you remember when you first started experiencing these feelings?” Because that also happens for some adults as well, that’s a thing now.

I know a lady who didn’t deal with any same-sex attraction until she was in her 40s and then experienced it then.

So, “Did you have something traumatic happen? Did you form a judgment? Do you have any unforgiveness?” Can sometimes be a factor, which therefore kind of separated you from a person or people group. “Did you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend situation that went south on you and you were traumatized by that?”

There can be so many different different ways. We look for pain in there and we just try to connect them to a loving God that has grace for them exactly where they are. Loves them extravagantly right where they are, but also loves them enough to want to take them deeper into his presence and to an understanding of who they actually are.

Trinko: So would you consider what you do conversion therapy?

Williams: No. And I know over 100 people that have left homosexuality and I don’t know a single one of them that has ever experienced what people would say is conversion therapy, and they don’t know of anyone who has either.

It’s this term that gets used in culture that all of us with life experience, we don’t even know what you’re talking about. That didn’t happen to us. And in the movies that are out there, it’s very unfounded. So I have some things happen that were harmful to people. I’m sure that there are some cases out there, but I don’t personally know of any.

What’s so common though is people are confused about their identity or their sexuality. They go and they talk it out with a counselor, and the counselor helps them figure out what they want to go toward and leads them that direction … follows what they’re wanting to pursue and helps them go that direction.

So I know tons of people who have been so helped by things that could be labeled as conversion therapy that were merely a person talking with the counselor and figuring out, “Why do I feel the way that I do?”

Davis: There’s a bill in Congress here that you’ve been active in speaking on, the Equality Act, that would have a pretty sizable effect on the kinds of services that you offer, the counseling. Tell us about that.

Williams: If we’re going to call something the Equality Act, it sure would be great if it felt equal to all people. And so LGBTQ, the Q stands for queer or questioning. Well, questioning, OK, let’s take that. So if someone’s questioning their sexual identity, shouldn’t they be able to consider going down multiple paths if they’re questioning?

If we’re going to make it equal and fair, to remove from the table only the kind of therapy that would help a person walk away from homosexuality, how is that equal? How is that fair? How is that allowing someone to really question?

It’s basically elevating one viewpoint that says that all sexual fluidity must head in the direction of homosexuality. You’re not able to flow back another direction. And that’s just not fair. Any rational person can realize we must leave all of the options on the table if we’re going to be equal.

Trinko: Have you had any LGBT activists attack you for doing this kind of counseling? And if so, why do you think there’s such concern on the LGBT movement’s part that this counseling exists?

Williams: Yeah, great question. Yes, I’ve had death threats. I’ve had heinous things said. There’re a lot of really inappropriate things that definitely we’ve experienced, me and my ministry partner, Elizabeth Woning.

But I’ll tell you why I believe that exists out there. I think some of the responsibility does belong to culture and even to the church that for so long gay people were not loved well. I’m just being honest here.

For so long and in Christian circles it was this is the mandate, “Gay people are detestable. They’re going to hell. They’re terrible,” or whatever. And there wasn’t any offering for, “OK, wait a minute, God loves you and he wants to help you.”It was just, “You shouldn’t be who you are,” and that can’t be God first of all. And who wants to behave that way?

So I feel some of what we’re experiencing today is a reaction from a society that was holding expectations of people without helping loving them into what that expectation might be.

I so regret that that happened, but the way to fix it now is for all of us to be loving of people without necessarily agreeing. I mean, I don’t agree with my wife 100% but I love her.

We’ve got to now have a culture that allows people to make decisions for themselves. Still has standards for the truth, but we love people no matter where they are. And that’s got to work on both sides.

Davis: So there have been some notable ex-gays who have … done counseling and left the lifestyle but then returned to it. And sort of in the media that’s kind of looked at as, “Well, obviously, this counseling doesn’t work.” How would you respond to those claims?

Williams: I’m sure that with any area of counseling or people dealing with any life situation, there’s a desistance or however you would say it. There’re people that revert back to a previous way of living. There again that should be their right.

Of course, from my personal viewpoint, that’s sad for me because I feel they were probably on a direction, a pathway that was going to be very fulfilling for them. But something happened or it could be a lot of things happen in our lives. I don’t know what actually happened to cause them to go back in a previous direction, but we only tend to hear about the fantastic stories, don’t we?

What you don’t hear is all of the other stories of, “Well, I didn’t return back to that.” Those people just kind of go off into their lives and they maybe have a family and grow old together. Those aren’t as fantastic as the, “Oh, look, somebody that it didn’t work for them.” Like, “Yeah, OK. It didn’t for a percentage, but what about all the other people that it did?”

Trinko: You briefly mentioned pornography and I was wondering what do you think about the role of pornography in our current culture?

We know that there’re a lot of Americans who regularly view it, but we don’t really know that much about how it affects people. Do you see pornography playing a role in the kind of work that you do and affecting people?

Williams: Oh my goodness, absolutely. I know what it’s like to be addicted to pornography. I was addicted to gay porn for whole seasons of time and I have not dealt with porn at all in 15 years. So thank God that is no longer a part of my life.

It is very damaging. It’s damaging to culture in general, at a very basal level. Because what it does is it steals your voice. It steals your passion. It puts men in particular into passivity because you’re basically medicating … Very often people addicted to porn are medicating emotional wounds, disappointments. They’re not dealing with life head-on anymore.

Instead, they’re going to a quick hit of chemicals across their brain to make themselves feel better and they get very disempowered, very passive, not leading their families any longer. The fallout from porn we haven’t even been able to completely grapple with yet. But it’s immense.

I know this for one reason because I’ve been one of the leaders of a men’s purity group at my church for 10 years. We have 200 to 250 men every Monday night that gather and porn is just an issue for most of them. And if you can get them off of porn for three weeks, they come back, it’s like their present. They can think more clearly. They start leading their families again. They feel so good about themselves. I could talk about this for a long time. I feel very strongly.

Davis: Wow. We’re coming up on the month of June pretty soon, which the LGBT movement considers to be Pride Month. As we approach June, what would you say are the most helpful ways for us to engage those in that movement?

Williams: Yeah, thanks. We need to consider our relational capital that we have with another person before we speak. So if it’s somebody I don’t even know, I have no business going up and telling them how to raise their children or whether they should be smoking or not or what I think about their sexuality. That just doesn’t work well when you just do a drive-by comment.

So people that are in our lives though that we might actually have a conversation with I say, “Hey, in my experience of homosexuality, so often it’s a search for self, self-love,” and a search to just to be known and valued, like I shared earlier.

So I encourage people, “Hey, before you try to have any kind of conversation about whether they should quit alcohol addiction or anything else really, put more deposits into the person, then you’re taking withdrawals, a lot more. And really try to find common ground with them. Try to be the person in their life that they feel knows them more deeply than anybody else.” Strive for that.

Let them be heard, seen, valued, so that now you have relational capital and then maybe you will have an opportunity at some point to say, “Hey, tell me,”—questions, first of all, are great instead of commands. Who wants to be told what to do?

So questions about, “Hey, so let’s talk. We haven’t talked in a while. So you’re in a relationship with another woman. Tell me about that. How have you always felt that way?” … That’s just a good counselor.

Any counselor or even a consultant would come in with questions instead of their own expectations. So I think we really should do the same. Just be really loving and relational and then maybe you’d have an opportunity to share whatever’s on your heart for the person.

Trinko: OK. Well, Ken Williams, thanks so much for being on with us.

Williams: Thank you. It’s an honor. I appreciate it.

Trinko: And is there anywhere that people can find your work or reach out to you?

Williams: Yeah, absolutely. You can go to equippedtolove.com for our ministry. And then also if you just want to track along with all of the people who have left homosexuality and are having different testimonies there, you can follow us on Instagram at changedmvmt.

Trinko: OK. Thanks so much.

Williams: Thank you.

COMMENTARY BY

Katrina Trinko

Katrina Trinko is editor-in-chief of The Daily Signal and co-host of The Daily Signal Podcast. Send an email to Katrina. Twitter: .

Daniel Davis

Daniel Davis is the commentary editor of The Daily Signal and co-host of The Daily Signal podcast. Send an email to Daniel. Twitter: 

Dear Readers:

With the recent conservative victories related to tax cuts, the Supreme Court, and other major issues, it is easy to become complacent.

However, the liberal Left is not backing down. They are rallying supporters to advance their agenda, moving this nation further from the vision of our founding fathers.

If we are to continue to bring this nation back to our founding principles of limited government and fiscal conservatism, we need to come together as a group of likeminded conservatives.

This is the mission of The Heritage Foundation. We want to continue to develop and present conservative solutions to the nation’s toughest problems. And we cannot do this alone.

We are looking for a select few conservatives to become a Heritage Foundation member. With your membership, you’ll qualify for all associated benefits and you’ll help keep our nation great for future generations.

ACTIVATE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission.

Ignorance, Fear and LGBTQ

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Mary and I met with several black relatives for dinner at a restaurant in Baltimore. The jovial conversation drifted to politics. I was stunned that they know nothing about several important political issues. Because they only watch mainstream media, my relatives are either misinformed or uninformed.

For example: My relatives have never heard of Sharia Law. When I explained the tyranny of Sharia and how leftists are promoting it in America, my relatives were shocked. Overwhelmed, a relative said, “I’ve heard enough. Can we change the subject?”

The second thing that disturbed me was my relatives’ intense fear of pushing back against LGBTQ indoctrination that is impacting their lives. As I said, these are not political people. And yet, they know they had better not get caught opposing LGBTQ activists forcefully infiltrating every aspect of our lives; from public education to entertainment to Sunday morning worship.

A relative said her two granddaughters told her about a picture posted on the internet by their cousin. Their cousin is a girl who posted a picture of her kissing her girlfriend. All these kids are in elementary school. Disturbed, my relative asked her son, her granddaughter’s father, about the picture. He begged his mom not to say anything about the picture. He feared that disapproving of their cousin kissing her girlfriend could lead to him being deemed an unfit parent and losing custody of his daughters.

Another relative said his two little granddaughters were painting their fingernails. Having a little fun, he bent his hand femininely and said, “Paint my nails too.” The little girls immediately turned stone-faced. They said, “That’s not funny Pop-pop. It’s not right to make fun of them like that.” My relative was taken aback by how upset his granddaughters were with him. He did not know that kids are taught beginning in pre-k that homosexuality is superior to heterosexuality. 

Another relative chimed in about a visit at his adult daughter’s home. His granddaughter looked beautiful in her gown for a formal high school event. He was shocked when her date arrived. It was a girl wearing a tuxedo. He thought this was terrible but hid his feelings, fearful of offending his daughter and granddaughter. He knew they would think he was an old-fashion, out-of-date hater if he showed any sign of disapproval.

Folks, LGBTQ activists’ domination of our culture has come a long ways from the days when they claimed they only wanted tolerance. Today, they demand that we bend a knee in total submission and approval of their lifestyle in education, entertainment media and even Christian churches. LGBTQ activists are aggressively seeking to ban the Bible, declaring it bigoted hate speech. LGBTQ activists seek to make it illegal to counsel those who wish to transition from LGBTQ lifestyles. 

Leftists are thrilled about “Corpus Christi” which is a blasphemous movie in which Jesus and his disciples are portrayed as homosexuals. And yet, leftists are demanding that public schools forbid students from drawing pictures of Mohammad because Sharia law says to do so is blasphemy. 

My late dad, Dr Rev Lloyd E Marcus said homosexuals were coming out of the closet and forcing us who believe the Bible into the closet. Truer words were never spoken.

Years ago, I wrote an article about how LGBTQ activists were aggressively seeking to infiltrate and take-down Christian institutions like the Boy Scouts of America. Tragically, LGBTQ activists have transformed the Boy Scouts away from its Christian founding, principles and values. Everything I stated in that article was 100% true. Shockingly, Christians, conservatives and Republicans who usually agree with me backed away from me. My article was branded “mean-spirited” and “anti-Christian”.

At that time, I was Chairman of a PAC which helped to elect conservative candidates. LGBTQ activists attacked our candidate, demanding that they disassociate from this “hater”, Lloyd Marcus. My employer warned that if the bad press intensified, he would be forced to request my resignation. This was my first time personally experiencing the wrath and punishment of LGBTQ activists, simply because I warned people about their mission to bully us into submission.

The surprising intensity of the LGBTQ attacks, reporters chasing me down and sticking microphones in my face, scared me. I could not give a rat’s derriere about what leftists think of me. I had to fight off feelings of guilt as I witnessed LGBTQ enforcers attacking everyone associated with me.

My wife Mary and I prayed about the situation. My wife is awesome. Mary said, “You must spread truth without fear of man.” Life has taught us that while my paycheck came from my employer, God is the true source of our financial security. The heated attacks over my LGBTQ/Boy Scouts article faded away. I was not fired.

However, another of my controversial articles sparked tension between my employer and me. Mary and I concluded that I must be free to write as I am led by God. I resigned from my position as chairman of the PAC.

For years, leftists have accused me of being a black “Uncle Tom sellout” highly paid by the Republican Party. This is not true. Quitting my position as chairman of a PAC was a serious financial decision; an act of faith. God is faithful and has sustained us. Praise God!

I left our family gathering at the restaurant feeling a bit disturbed that my relatives were so politically clueless and so fearful of attempting to stop LGBTQ activists from forcing their anti-Christian agenda down the throats of our children. Still, I am determined to continue spreading the truth and standing up for what is right. God is the source of my strength.

On a positive note, my wife Mary is a crab-cake snob. The crab-cakes at Romano’s restaurant were excellent.

RELATED VIDEO: Drag Queen Showdown – Bill Finley.

Yemeni Man gets Prison Time for Extortion Plot Involving a Child Bride

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This story has been in my queue for a couple of weeks and am finally getting to it.

What is so galling about the news is that our law enforcement has spent time and (our) money to investigate a crime and now incarcerate a man for something that has nothing to do with us.

We apparently ‘welcomed’ a Yemeni family to live in the Buffalo, NY area who brought all of their cultural/religious baggage to America (and even went ‘home’ for awhile) and we get to straighten out the mess the ‘new Americans’ created.

By the way, Yemen is one of the countries now on Trump’s so-called Muslim ban list!

I first saw this short press announcement at the U.S. Justice Department website and then looked for more news.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Yousef Goba, 45, of Yemen, who was convicted of making extortionate threats to harm and kidnap a minor, was sentenced to serve 41 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Lynch, who handled the case, stated that between February 2015 and April 2015, Goba contacted an individual who resided in Western New York (the victim) through both telephone and text messages. During those communications, Goba threatened to kidnap and injure the victim’s minor child. The minor child went to Yemen with her mother in September 2013. While in Yemen, the minor child, her mother, and siblings lived with Goba for a period of time. When the mother wanted to move from Goba’s residence, the defendant refused to let the minor child leave and threatened that he would have the minor child marry a Yemeni man, if money was not paid to him. On April 8, 2015, during a call recorded by the FBI, Goba demanded that the victim pay him $11,000 as well as money for other expenses for the release of the minor child.

I checked around and found this story from Buffalo News that includes additional information….

….including the fact that Goba is the brother of a Yemeni man convicted on terrorism charges right after 9/11.

Child extortion plot stretching from Lackawanna to Yemen sends man to prison

The girl’s mother, who has since divorced her husband and remarried, took the children to Yemen in September 2013 to live temporarily so the father could save money while working here. [And, we are expected to believe that?—ed]

The following summer, after spending time with the father’s family in Yemen, the mother and children moved in with Goba. When they tried to leave, the defendant allowed the mother and other children to depart, but not the girl, the prosecution maintains. [So this woman moves in with a man not her relative, but the brother of a convicted Islamic terrorist?—ed]

The government also claims Goba threatened to marry off the girl to a Yemeni national willing to pay for her, and that Goba sent the father a photo of the girl pointing to a wedding cake and a second picture of her with a ring on her finger.

In pleading to extortion, Goba said he was just trying to get the father to reimburse him for the money he spent providing for the family while they lived with him in Yemen. He was arrested in New York City in 2015 as he returned to the United States.

Goba is the brother of Lackawanna Six member Yahya Goba, but sources said there appears to be no connection between Goba’s case and his brother’s involvement with the Lackawanna Six.

More here.

Again, why not just leave Yemenis in Yemen?

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Massachusetts Doctor Charged with Paying Teen for Sex

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EDITORS NOTE: This Frauds, Crooks and Criminals column is republished with permission.

Republican-Run Florida Is Pushing Vaping Ban?

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As of this writing, the Florida Legislature is considering bills that would prohibit adult Floridians over the age of 18 from purchasing non-combustible nicotine products or nicotine dispensing products (“vapors”). The legislation may include an artificial definition of these products as “tobacco.”  Such a move would be in error.

As conservatives, we demand that government’s intrusions upon our lives be as small as possible. Yes, government has a bona fide role in ensuring the health, morale, welfare, and safety of the people, but such an intervention in this case would do neither.

During the late twentieth century, government played an active role in discouraging cigarette smoking.  This campaign was met with resistance from those who believed that it was not government’s role to meddle in their lives. Nevertheless, in that campaign there was direct and incontrovertible evidence that smoking was intimately tied with lung cancer, not only for the smoker, but for those who secondarily inhaled the smoke. In the end, most agreed, because of the incontrovertible, causative correlation between cigarette smoking and cancer, both its regulation and the active discouragement of its use was an appropriate role for government.

In the case of vaping, no such correlation exists.

The tars that plague cigarette smoke are not present in vaping products, nullifying the cancer links. Additionally, the American Cancer Society has stated that that giving up combustible cigarettes is the single most important thing a smoker can do to improve her health, even it if she accomplishes this goal by using e-cigarettes.

Additionally, Moffitt Cancer Center’s Thomas Brandon, PhD., Director of Moffitt’s Tobacco Research and Intervention program in Tampa, Fla., stated on February 28, 2018, that “…e-cigarettes represent the most important change in the landscape of tobacco use [in decades]” and encouraged society to harness this change “to maximize the public health benefit from it.”

Somehow, the discussion regarding e-cigarettes and government’s role in regulating it has gone wildly wrong. Here we do not have a product, as best as science can tell, that is killing people, but one that may be helping them and even saving lives. We have a product that stands unlinked to cancer and may serve as a needed substitute for another that is. For the Florida legislature to consider banning the sale of these products absent the causative link present in smokable and chewable tobacco (and perhaps even representing a net societal benefit) is a clear example of an overstep of government’s proper role.

Yes, there are many who find e-cigarette vapors annoying, but a local annoyance is no reason for government to step in. Rather, it is up to business-owners and individuals to regulate themselves.

Florida ought to avoid policy changes that would inhibit adults from exercising their freedom to access vaping products known to have health benefits and devoid of proven, life-threatening consequences relied on by many, including member of our military, to kick the smoking habit.

The Florida legislature to reject this invitation to excessively intrude into the lives of its citizens.

EDITORS NOTE: This Revolutionary Act column is republished with permission.

Supreme Court to Hear Cases Involving Firings of Gay, Transgender Employees

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The Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear three cases centered on whether federal law against discrimination in employment applies to sexual orientation and gender identity.

After hearing Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, the high court will decide whether the words “because of … sex,” found in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, also forbid employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. The court consolidated Bostock with a similar case, Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda.

The high court also will hear arguments in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission before ruling on whether Title VII as worded bars discrimination against transgender individuals.

Title VII specifically prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It does not mention lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender Americans.

Lower federal courts came to conflicting decisions in Bostock, in which a child welfare worker said he was fired for being gay, and Zarda, in which a sky-diving instructor argued the same.

The Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit decided that Title VII doesn’t prohibit “discharge for homosexuality,” while the New York-based 2nd Circuit ruled for the instructor, saying that discrimination based on sexual orientation “is motivated, at least in part, by sex and is thus a subset of sex discrimination.”

In Harris Funeral Homes, a funeral director in Michigan was fired by the family-owned business after disclosing a transition from man to woman, which also involved dressing as a woman.

The Cincinnati-based Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit sided with the employee, concluding: “Discrimination ‘because of sex’ inherently includes discrimination against employees because of a change in their sex.”

While many liberals see the Supreme Court as poised to restrict LGBT rights, conservatives argue that federal law doesn’t go as far as activists claim.

“There is a reason why, for the past 25 years, activists have tried to legislatively amend federal civil rights law to include ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity.’ That reason is simple: because it doesn’t include those categories,” Heritage Foundation scholar Ryan T. Anderson said, adding:

Courts should not do what activists have failed to do: Redefine ‘sex’ to mean ‘sexual orientation and gender identity.’ Doing so not only gets the law wrong, it also has serious negative consequences for women’s equality, safety, and privacy.

The Christian legal aid group Alliance Defending Freedom last fall petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the funeral home case, arguing that only Congress may rewrite a federal statute to allow a male employee who identifies as female to dress in women’s clothing in violation of a company dress code.

Although a federal district judge decided in the employer’s favor, on appeal the 6th Circuit sided with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the agency’s lawsuit against Harris Funeral Homes, and Alliance Defending Freedom hopes to reverse that outcome at the high court.

“Neither government agencies nor the courts have authority to rewrite federal law by replacing ‘sex’ with ‘gender identity’—a change with widespread consequences for everyone,” John Bursch, the organization’s vice president of appellate advocacy, said.

“Businesses have the right to rely on what the law is—not what government agencies want it to be—when they create and enforce employment policies,” Bursch said.

COLUMN BY

Ken McIntyre

Ken McIntyre, a 30-year veteran of national and local newspapers, serves as senior editor at The Daily Signal and The Heritage Foundation’s Marilyn and Fred Guardabassi Fellow in Media and Public Policy Studies. Send an email to Ken. Twitter: @KenMac55.

RELATED ARTICLE: Thousands of Boy Scout Leaders Face New Child Sex Allegations; Names Expected to Be Released Tuesday | NBC New York

Dear Readers:

With the recent conservative victories related to tax cuts, the Supreme Court, and other major issues, it is easy to become complacent.

However, the liberal Left is not backing down. They are rallying supporters to advance their agenda, moving this nation further from the vision of our founding fathers.

If we are to continue to bring this nation back to our founding principles of limited government and fiscal conservatism, we need to come together as a group of likeminded conservatives.

This is the mission of The Heritage Foundation. We want to continue to develop and present conservative solutions to the nation’s toughest problems. And we cannot do this alone.

We are looking for a select few conservatives to become a Heritage Foundation member. With your membership, you’ll qualify for all associated benefits and you’ll help keep our nation great for future generations.

ACTIVATE YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Signal column is republished with permission.

Bank of America’s over $50,000 in Contributions to Planned Parenthood Itemized

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Planned Parenthood organizations received at least $51,830 from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation in 2017. The foundation’s IRS Form 990 shows contributions made to 4o different Planned Parenthood affiliates.

Will you help us expose Bank of America’s support for Planned Parenthood’s abortion business? Click here to share our Action Alert, and then sign 2ndVote’s petition asking Bank of America to STOP all funding for the abortion giant.

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England $50.00
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England $500.00
Planned Parenthood of Southern New England $350.00
Planned Parenthood of Southern New England $100.00
Planned Parenthood of Southern New England $50.00
Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan New Jersey $100.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $3,655.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $1,200.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $3,795.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $275.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $325.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $100.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $3,756.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $2,485.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $875.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $265.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $225.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $25.00
Planned Parenthood of Delaware $250.00
Planned Parenthood Carol Whitehill Moses Center $3,000.00
Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio $200.00
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota $100.00
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast $750.00
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast $600.00
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast $25.00
Planned Parenthood Arizona $125.00
Planned Parenthood Arizona $100.00
Planned Parenthood Arizona $50.00
Planned Parenthood Arizona $50.00
Planned Parenthood Los Angeles $100.00
Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest $500.00
Planned Parenthood Shasta Diablo $650.00
Planned Parenthood Shasta Diablo $3,000.00
Planned Parenthood of the Columbia Willamette $250.00
Planned Parenthood of League of Massachusetts $200.00
Planned Parenthood of League of Massachusetts $200.00
Planned Parenthood of League of Massachusetts $250.00
Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central and Southern New Jersey $100.00
Planned Parenthood of Northern, Central and Southern New Jersey $50.00
Planned Parenthood of New York City $200.00
Planned Parenthood of New York City $300.00
Planned Parenthood of New York City $500.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $500.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $1,706.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $250.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $150.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $75.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $25.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $50.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $250.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $50.00
Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic $500.00
Planned Parenthood of Nassau County $200.00
Planned Parenthood of the Mid-Hudson Valley $75.00
Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania $1,180.00
Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania $375.00
Planned Parenthood Keystone $50.00
Planned Parenthood Keystone $350.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $1,375.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $4,358.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $25.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $200.00
Planned Parenthood Federation of America $25.00
Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, DC $300.00
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic $950.00
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic $25.00
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic $100.00
Planned Parenthood South Atlantic $100.00
Planned Parenthood of Pasco $500.00
Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida $50.00
Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida $50.00
Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky $375.00
Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky $100.00
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland $500.00
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin $2,000.00
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin $1,035.00
Planned Parenthood of Illinois $50.00
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region & Southwest Missouri $50.00
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region & Southwest Missouri $50.00
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region & Southwest Missouri $75.00
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region & Southwest Missouri $75.00
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region & Southwest Missouri $50.00
Planned Parenthood Great Plains $50.00
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas $30.00
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas $50.00
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas $30.00
Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood $1,000.00
Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood $100.00
Planned Parenthood Salt Lake Health Center $300.00
Planned Parenthood of the Pacific $50.00
Planned Parenthood of California Central Coast $25.00
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte $150.00
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte $50.00
Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands $500.00
Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands $1,000.00
Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands $500.00
Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho $35.00
Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho $75.00

More information on Bank of America’s activism can be found here.

Help us continue providing resources like this and educating conservative shoppers by becoming a 2ndVote Member today!

RELATED ARTICLE: Court Rules President Trump Can Defund Planned Parenthood, Will Cut Almost $60 Million in Taxpayer Funding

Pro-Abortion Snobbery

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David Carlin: What factors divide pro-life from pro-choice Americans? Mostly, it’s the difference between humility and arrogance.

This column is about abortion, but it will take a moment or two to get to the point.  Please bear with me.

If ever there was an obvious example of fallacious reasoning, it’s this: “I am rich, and you are not.  Therefore I’m right, and you’re wrong.”

What could be more stupid than an argument along these lines?  And yet this is precisely the reasoning that has been used, century after century, by those in the higher classes to dismiss complaints made by persons from the lower classes.  This is the reasoning that permitted lords of the manor to dismiss complaints by serfs, slaveholders to dismiss complaints by slaves, mill-owners to dismiss complaints by factory hands, etc.

In a society that places great value on wealth (and what society does not place great value on wealth?), rich people cannot help but feel that they are superior people: not just superior in wealth, but superior in almost every way.  And if you are superior in almost every way, then you must be superior in judgment.

If it happens, then, that a person from the lower classes disagrees with you, it becomes obvious – does it not? – that you must be right and the other must be wrong.

Your rightness and his wrongness are so obvious, in fact, that there really is no need for you (the rich person) to examine the other fellow’s case.  Save yourself time and trouble by dismissing it from the get-go as unworthy of consideration.

And don’t waste a lot of time trying to explain to the other fellow why he’s wrong. Out of a noblesse oblige kind of courtesy, you might offer him a brief explanation; but when you see (as you soon will) that he doesn’t buy it, move on to something else.

And now to abortion.  Considered on purely intellectual merits, the anti-abortion argument is vastly superior to the pro-abortion argument.  The anti-abortion or pro-life side argues that the entity that gets killed in an abortion is a human being, a tiny human being that grows less tiny every day.

And what else could it be if not a human being?  It is not a dog or a monkey or a fish or an elm tree.  The pro-abortion side has no counter-argument that comes even close to refuting the anti-abortion case.  The best the pro-abortion side can come up with are mindless slogans like “a woman’s right to choose” or “a woman’s right to control her own body” or “if you don’t like abortion, don’t have one.”

*

This last is my favorite stupid argument.  It is strictly parallel to, “If you don’t like slavery, don’t own a slave.”

And yet, despite the obvious superiority of the anti-abortion argument, hardly ever is a pro-abortion person persuaded.  Why is this?

The answer, I think, can be found in the social class differences between pro-life and pro-abortion people.  The heart of the pro-abortion movement is found among men and women of the upper-middle classes: people who have (or soon will have when they finish college and get a few years older) good educations, good jobs, good cars, good houses, good food, good wine, high incomes, millions in assets, many important social and political connections, a cosmopolitan outlook, etc.

Given contemporary American standards, they are superior people.  They may not be superior according to the standards that prevailed in Plato’s Academy, or in ancient Sparta, or in the monasteries of St. Benedict, or in the Shaker communities. But they are without question “superior” according to present-day American standards.

By contrast, the heart of the pro-life movement is found among women from the lower-middle classes: persons with educations and incomes that are barely adequate in today’s high-price society; persons who lack the millions, the high culture, the good connections, etc.

These women tend to be religious; they tend to have more children than does the average American woman (and certainly more than does the typical pro-abortion activist); they tend to be sexually un-liberated – so much so that many of them (and this is truly shocking from a contemporary point of view) have had sexual relations with only one man, their husband.  According to present-day standards, these women are definitely inferior.

It will be pointed out that my ideas of the typical pro-life and pro-abortion person are stereotypes.  Of course. But stereotypes are often enough more or less accurate.

In any case, the typical pro-abortion activist, instead of taking seriously the arguments presented by the pro-life movement, says to herself or himself: “I am rich and well-educated, I own a handsome house or condo and a fine automobile, I am thin and athletic, and I am blessed with excellent taste when it comes to coffee, wine, food, furniture, music, movies, works of art, etc.  In short, I am a superior person.  The world is fortunate to have people like me in it.”

“And so, that anti-choice woman standing over there – whose education is limited, whose income is modest, whose house is small and unattractive and in the wrong neighborhood, whose body is unshapely and somewhat overweight, whose taste is appallingly vulgar – when she tells me that I am wrong about abortion, I would laugh at her if I didn’t pity her.  What could be more preposterous than to think that an inferior person like her might be right and a superior person like myself might be wrong?”

These “superior” people, let us remember, are the people who control the “command posts” of American culture. Which is to say that they are dominant in a number of our leading institutions: the mainstream journalistic media, the entertainment industry, our best colleges and universities, and one of our two great political parties.

They shape the public mind, especially the mind of younger generations.  If they won’t listen to reason (which they won’t), do we have any grounds to be hopeful for the long-run success of the pro-life movement?

Yes.  But I’ve run out of time (and space) today. More to come next time.

COLUMN BY

David Carlin

David Carlin is a professor of sociology and philosophy at the Community College of Rhode Island, and the author of The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America.

RELATED ARTICLE: How State ‘Birthday Abortions’ Bills Stack Up to Federal Restrictions

EDITORS NOTE: This Catholic Thing column is republished with permission. © 2019 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

VIDEO: Archbishop Joseph Kurtz on opposition to changes in the Civil Rights Act

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EWTN on Apr 9, 2019 published the below commentary with video.

Archbishop Joseph Kurtz of Louisville tells me why Church leaders are against proposed changes to the Civil Rights Act that would include recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity. See the full interview on EWTN News Nightly with Lauren Ashburn.

Hoaxes, Scams, and Your Medical Care

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Preview:

  • Hoaxes and scams have been dominating the news lately. We have a marginally known actor faking a hate crime supposedly to raise his Hollywood profile.
  • The scandal about Hollywood and other elites buying their children’s way into top-rated universities really hit home.
  • Now we continue to have a slew of healthcare hoaxes: corporate stakeholders, legislators, and government agencies promise everything and have no accountability for their failure to keep their promises.
  • The opioid crisis is an example of the unintended consequences of intervention by oversight agencies not directly involved in patient care.
  • Central control is not a good idea. Period. Do not believe the hoax perpetrated by the ruling class who will never have to live by their own rules. It is highly unlikely that Venezuela’s President Maduro is starving along with his people.

Hoaxes and scams have been dominating the news lately. We have a marginally known actor faking a hate crime supposedly to raise his Hollywood profile. His attempt to claw his way to the middle could have resulted in race riots, injury, and death. His punishment? All charges dropped.

The scandal about Hollywood and other elites buying their children’s way into top-rated universities really hit home. I remember when I had tutored some recent Vietnamese immigrants for a debate contest to win a scholarship for college. I could only hope that their hard work was rewarded and not wiped away by special favors bestowed on the “haves.”

Now we continue to have a slew of healthcare hoaxes: corporate stakeholders, legislators, and government agencies promise everything and have no accountability for their failure to keep their promises.

Take the large health systems’ claim that hospital consolidation and buying up physician practices would benefit consumers with cheaper prices from coordinated services and other unspecified savings. A major study of California hospital mergers found just the opposite. The analysis showed that the price of an average hospital admission went up as much as 54 percent. When the large hospital systems bought doctors’ groups, the prices rose even more. There was as much as a 70 percent increase in prices of medical services in geographic areas with minimal competition. This finding seems obvious to any of us who has the choice of shopping at Walmart or Target or Costco.

Logic aside, some legislators believe that having the government take over medical care would solve our access and cost problems. Single payer means no competition whatsoever. The single payer plans (H.R. 1384 and S. 1804) that abolish private insurance leave patients with an empty choice. Patients can contract with a physician to pay cash for government medical services covered by the government. But if the physician contracts for such services he cannot be part of the government program for any patient for 2 years. Realistically, these single payer bills make it financially unfeasible for physicians to privately contract with patients. Thus, only well-heeled patients, along with independently wealthy doctors, can buy their way out of the system.

There are variations on the theme of government involvement that allow buy-ins to Medicare, Medicaid, or iterations of the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. All of these all have the same defect: expanding the government healthcare monopoly.

The opioid crisis is an example of the unintended consequences of intervention by oversight agencies not directly involved in patient care. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), now the Joint Commission, a nonprofit organization that accredits more than 20,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the U.S, is for all practical purposes a government surrogate. In 2001, JCAHO declared that pain was the “5th vital sign” that had to be addressed or face consequences. The Federation of American Medical Boards told physicians that “in the course of treatment,” large doses of opioids were just fine. Moreover, Medicare has a hospital payment formula that relies on patient satisfaction surveys. If the patients are satisfied, including being so zoned out on opiates that they can’t taste the bad food, the hospital is paid more. The hospital is penalized for a bad rating.

And now to deal with the opiate issue, the government has issued guidelines that have been found to be harmful to some patients. One-size-fits-all restrictions have caused physicians to fear being flagged as over-prescribers by the medical board. Consequently, some physicians are tapering patients off opioids more quickly than they would ideally like. And in the public eye patients have been transformed from objects of compassion to criminal drug addicts.

Individualized medical care must not be reserved for the chosen few. Patients need physicians who are empathetic, thorough, and not married to a medical cookbook written by disinterested third parties. Perhaps this is why Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones chose to have his heart surgery in the U.S. and not with his British homeland’s National Health Service.

Central control is not a good idea. Period. Do not believe the hoax perpetrated by the ruling class who will never have to live by their own rules. It is highly unlikely that Venezuela’s President Maduro is starving along with his people.

Copyright © 2024 DrRichSwier.com LLC. A Florida Cooperation. All rights reserved. The DrRichSwier.com is a not-for-profit news forum for intelligent Conservative commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own. Republishing of columns on this website requires the permission of both the author and editor. For more information contact: drswier@gmail.com.