SoL NEWS LINKS
Evangelicals can "safely" associate with Glen Beck. Read the OneNewsNow article by pastor Dr. Jim Garlow, of the Skyline Wesleyan Church in San Diego. 9/2/2010
You won't believe the snide comments. Glenn Beck's reliance on the Spirit of the Lord disrespected by Olbermann, et al. Watch the MSNBC video. 9/1/2010
Parents and youth support sexual abstinence. Read the Citizen Link artricle about the federal gov't report that was suppressed. 8/31/2010
Same-Sex Marriage Judge Finds That a Child Has Neither a Need Nor a Right to a Mother. Read the CNSnews report. For a good information on the need for real parents, read Dr. Dean Byrd's paper on Gender Complementarity. 8/11/2010
Biased judge rules against Prop 8. Read Tim Wildmon's article. 8/20/2010
Unbelievable! Sears sells soft porn posters on its web site. Warning! Graphic images! Read the AFA report. See the Sears poster pages. Send an email to Sears public relations. 8/3/2010
"Gay" pastors now allowed by Evangelical Lutheran Church. Read the One News Now article. 7/25/2010
Sex for kindergartners! Helena MT school board considering radical sex education curriculum. Read the FoxNews report. Read the actual curriculum. See pages 45-50, 54-55 in the curriculum. 7/14/2010
Ty Mansfield, author of Deseret Book's In Quiet Desperation, got married in May 2010. The most famous LDS "gay"man married a woman. Read the Queerty blog post. Read the Affirmation article. 7/10/2010
Jesus' name not allowed in North Carolina Legislature. Read the LifeSiteNews article about the Pastor fired for ending a prayer in the name of Jesus. 7/10/2010
Federal judge in Mass. declares DOMA "gay marriage" ban to be unconstitutional. Read the Fox News article. 7/10/2010
Want an example of the bad that will happen if ENDA passes? Read Peter LaBarbera's AFTAH article about the "gay" pride parade in Delaware. 6/7/2010
Stephen & Janice Graham were guest hosts on K-Talk radio and discussed proposed revision to Utah's sex education statute. Also, they discussed a forthcoming book, Chased by an Elephant: The Gospel Truth About Today's Stampeding Sexuality. Click here to listen to the podcast. 1-23-2010
A 4-year-old boy thinks he's a girl and the parents go along with it! Watch the sad 2-minute Advocate video. 5/16/2010
Planned Parenthood has prepared a booklet aimed at young people with HIV ancouraging them to continue sexual activity. It was distributed to Girl Scouts and a United Nations conference. Read the booklet. Read the WND article. 3/20/2010
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth questions Christians who accept homosexuality. Read the AFT article. 3/17/2010
Census to count self-identified "gay" couples as" married." Read the CNSNews report. 3/17/2010
L.A. college student's class speech called "hateful propaganda" by professor. Read the OneNewsNow report. 3/16/2010
"Gay" and bisexual men have 40-80 times higher incidence of HIV/AIDS than general populatoin. Read the government CDC report. 3/15/2010
Christians forbidden to hold church meetings in private home. Gilbert AZ ordinance allows other group meetings in home, but singles out religious meetings. 7-member church not allowed to meet. Read the WND article. 3/15/2010
Utah Legislature refuses to pass dangerous liberalization of sex education law. The proposed bill was sponsored by Planned Parenthood and the PTA. Read the Deseret News article. 2/27/2010
FRC President Tony Perkins was dis-invited from a prayer luncheon speach at Andrews Airforce Base after speaking out against homosexuality. Read the Washington Times article. Read the American Family Association blog post by Bryan Fischer. 2/27/2010
Brit Hume Testitfies of Christ and Christianity on Fox News. Click here to see the original comment. Click here to see his elaboration on The O'Reilly Factor. 1/7/2010
American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert had several TV appearances cancelled after a homosexual exhibition during a performance on the AMA broadcast. Read the LA Times article. 12/4/2009
United Nations report says children are the cause of climate change. Read the Mercatornet article. 11/25/2009
Phony "expert" claims lesbians make better parents. Read the Mercatornet.com article. 11/25/2009
British citizens are losing religious freedoms. Watch the CBN 5-minute video. 11/20/2009
Homosexualist intimidate Catholic parish to cancel series about homosexuality. Read the LifeSiteNews.com article. 11/20/2009
Liberty Journal blog has good short patriotic videos. We recommend "A Republic," "Cartoon from the Past," and "Thomas Paine." Click here to watch the videos. 11/3/2009
SoL's Stephen Graham attended a town hall meeting in Murray Utah about a proposal to expand Utah's sex education law. Click here to see Graham on channel 4's coverage. 8/27/2009
Early teen homosexuality is encouraged in a new propaganda piece. Read the New York Times article. 10/2/2009
Public support for "gay marriage" has dropped. Maggie Gallagher suggests that Carrie Prejean has has been part of the reason for the decline. Read the Coalition for Marriage & the Family article. 9/26/2009
1 Million + people rally in DC on 912. Watch the YouTube video. 9/27/2009
Parents in CA are suing their school District over mandatory gay-affirming classes for k-5 students. Read the Fox News article. 9/27/2009
Gay/Bi men are 50 times more likely to have HIV. Read the Washington Blade article. Warning! This is found on a gay website, but it is worth reading. You will also learn of the Obama administration's efforts in acceptance of the gay lifestyle.
9/2/2009
Senator Ted Kennedy was a major factor in the defeat of the pro-marriage amendment in Mass. He was for homosexual rights, gay "marriage" and for abortion. This is the man for whom churches and others lowered their flag to half staff. Read the Mass Resistance article. 9/2/2009
A new U.N. Report Advocates Teaching Masturbation to 5-year-olds. Read the FoxNews report. 8/27/2009
Homosexual activists held a 2nd "kiss-in" at the LDS Church headquarters July 19. Read the SL Tribune article. 7/20/2009
Stephen Graham was Host on K-Talk radio on June 6, 2009. His guest was Jared Law, founder of the 912 Project Network. Listen to the 45-minute program. 6/8/2009
Stephen Graham was interviewed by Fox13's Katy Carlyle about Gov. Huntsman's appointment as ambassador to China, and what it would mean to the "gay" agenda in Utah. Watch the Fox 13 news segment. 5/17/2009.
Sad day for America. President Obama issues proclamation making June 2009 national GLBT pride month. Read the proclamation here. You can send an email to the President by clicking here. 6/1/2009
SoL defends God, Religion, Freedom, and Family. Now PBS is attacking the first three. PBS is considering revoking the affiliation of television stations who broadcast religious programs. That means KBYU and other stations owned by religious organizations could lose their affiliations. Read the News Busters article. Read the Deseret News article. Read the Washington Post article. 5/21/2009
Stephen Graham was interviewed by KSL-TV's John Daley about comments supporting traditional values and decrying homosexual practise and activism. See the KSL feature. (Graham is on at about the 5 minute mark). 2/20/2009
Janene Garofalo calls tea party attendees racists with mental illness. Watch the YouTube video. 4/21/2009
Peter LaBarbera exposes media deference for gay agenda. Read the AFTAH article. 4/21/2009
Miss California loses Miss USA crown for speaking her religious beliefs that marriage is only between man and woman. Read the Citizen Link article. 4/21/2009
Doctor touts adult stem cell research on Oprah. Watch the citizenlink.com report. 4/7/2009
UK parents urged to avoid morality when teaching kids about sex. Read the Timesonline article. 3/9/2009
Mark Kastleman has written an excellent article about teaching kids about sex with God as the basis. Read the article. 3/9/2009
Unbelievable. British National Health Service article says homosexuality is normal and healthy. Read item #11 on the article. 3/9/2009
Free Speech Victory. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 today in favor of Pleasant Grove, Utah's right to display the Ten Commandments and exclude other monuments. Read the Christian Science Monitor report. 2/25/2009.
SoL's Stephen Graham was interviewed on by Katy Carlyle on Salt Lake's Fox13 news following the protest rally and march against the LDS Church involvment in CA Proposition 8. Click here to see the Fox13 news report by Katy Carlyle. Click here to see the entire Stephen Graham interview. 11/8/2008
Pres. Obama has U.S. in support of U.N. effort to defend homosexuality. Read the report on pro-gay website. 2/22/2009
Unbelievable . . . United Nations official says family breakdown is "triumph" for "human rights." Read the WCF article. 2/5/2009
Minister explains the difference between sexual activity and love. Read Reverend Perryman's article. 12/21/2008
An 11-year-old student in Hattiesburg, Mississippi wrote an assigned poem about Christmas but received a deduction for using the name of Jesus in the poem. Read the ADF news release. 12/18/1008
UK teen girl banned from wearing chastity ring at school. Read the Daily Mail article. 12/6/2008
Moscow mayor tells the truth, links homosexual behavior to AIDS, prohibits spread of their views. Read the Reuters report. 12/5/2008
Washington DC Metro allows anti-God ads on 200 buses at Christmas season. Read the MyFoxDC article. 12/3/2008
Anti-God sign posted next to Nativity Scene at Washington state capitol. Read the Seattle Times article. Call Governor Gregoire to complain: 360-902-4111. 12/3/2008
LDS Church, attacked for supporting Prop 8, defended by editorials and religious leaders. Read the National Reveiw editorial. Also read Rabbi Schiffrin's article. 11/28/2008
Newt Gingrich denounced "gay and secular fascism on O'Reilly Factor. Read the NewsMax article. 11/14/2008.
Homosexual rioters attack old lady in Palm Springs, shouting and stomping on her cross. Watch the unbelievable KPSP TV video. 11/10/2008
SoL's Stephen Graham was interviewed on by Katy Carlyle on Salt Lake's Fox13 news following the Affirmatin press conference mentioned in the news link below. Click here to see the Fox13 news report by Katy Carlyle. Click here to see the entire Stephen Graham interview. 8/16/2008
"Gay" talk show host opposes "gay marriage." Read the Newsmax article. 10/27/2008
Good news! McDonald's agrees to stop supporting activist homosexual movement. Read the WND report. 10/25/2008
Yes on 8 sends letter to CA state board of ed about lies in 'NO' ad. Read the article. 10/22/2008
School holds surprise 'Gay' Day for kindergarteners. Parents not notified. Read the WND article. 10/22/2008
CA teachers union gives $1M to defeat prop 8. Watch the Sacramento News10 feature. 19/29/2008
Unbelievable . . . UK police instructed not to interfere with public gay sex. Read the Lifesitenews.com article. 10/20/2008
Mass. parents have no say in their children's education. U.S. Supreme Court rejects Parker appeal. Read the MassResistance article. 10/11/2008
What will your children be taught in school if "gay marriage" becomes law? Watch the FRC video. 10/11/2008
Bride and Groom to be restored to CA marriage licenses. Read the ADF article. 10/11/2008
Good ads for Prop 8 in CA. Watch the YesOn8 videos. 10/11/2008
First Graders Taken to SF City Hall for Gay Marriage. Read the article about how children are indoctrinated in schools. 10/11/2008
Good resources for information on how to learn about and help pass California Proposition 8. Click here. 10/11/2008
Gay day at Disneyland? Read the sorry details in the Advocate article. 10/11/2008
Want the truth about "gay marriage?" Read Joe Kort's blog in Psychology Today. 10/11/2008
Proof of negative effects of the movement against traditional marriage. Calfornia Newlyweds File Suit Seeking Recognition as "Bride" and "Groom," Not "Party A" and "Party B." Read the PJI news release. 10/4/2008
Senior Episcopal Bishops in California came out in favor of so-called same-sex marriage on Sept. 10. Read Albert Mohler's blog about the unbelievable statement which completely ignores scriptural prohibitions of homosexuality. 9/18/2008
What happens if California Proposition 8 fails? Read Glen Greener's article in Meridian Magazine. 9/18/2008
BYU law professor Lynn Wardle gave a great talk on defending traditional marriage at Campus Education Week. He also said we all must actively take a stand, regardless of the name-calling and intimidation we will suffer. Read the Deseret News article. 8/24/2008
Homosexuality is harmful to the health of people involved in it. The Gay & Lesbian Health Association lists the top 10 medical concerns. Click here for the top 10 concerns for men. Click here for the top 10 concerns for women. 8/19/2008
National media encourage youth to choose homosexuality. Read the Washington Post article sympathetic to a 15-year-old, and blaming local authorities for not supporting him. 8/19/2008
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has recently published a document on its website. Entitled "The Divine Institution of Marriage," it lays out the Church's position on marriage in conjuction with its support of the California marrriage amendment movement. Read the document on the Church's website. 8/19/2008
Affirmation, an apostate group pushing LDS Church acceptance of homosexuality and so-called "gay marriage" in the temple, is holding a press conference Aug. 11 to complain about cancellation of a meeting with LDS Family Services reps. Read the Deseret News article. Also read Affirmations article about what they want the Church to do. Here is an excerpt from the Affirmation article: "Will the Church someday accept gay men and women in full fellowship?
Absolutely — one day. We are children of loving Heavenly Parents who have blessed us with the amazing gift of being gay and we will have our place in the kingdom." 8/9/2008
The word is spreading about what Planned Parenthood is really up to. Take a look at what they are promoting to our youth. 8/2/2008
SoL exercises first amendment right of free speech at American Fork Library after high school principal cancels after-hours PTA meeting. See the TV coverage. Read articles from the Deseret News, Daily Herald and Salt Lake Tribune. 4/1/2008
Watch this 1961 police video about homosexuality and compare society's attitude then and now. Thanks to Nedd Kareiva of www.stoptheaclu.org for telling us about it. Religious liberty loses when homosexual agenda becomes law. Read the CitizenLink article. 7/30/2008
Lesbian experimentation encouraged in YouTube music video. Watch the YouTube video. 7/24/2008
Homsexual activists infiltrate South Carolina government. Read the OneNewsNow article. 7/20/2008
Good News! Census Bureau respects marriage by only counting opposite-sex couples as married. Same-sex couples will be counted as "unmarried partners." Read the CitizenLink article. 7/15/2008
18 Teenage girls pregnant in Massachusetts high school. Read the Time Magazine article. Watch the Fox News video. 6/23/3008
LDS Church Officials Urge California Members to Support Marriage Amendment. Read the Deseret News article. 6/23/2008
California Supreme Court overturns the will of the people. Says so-called same-sex marriage is ok in Cal. Read the ADF collection of coverage. 6/15/2008
9th Circuit Chief Judge has pornography on his website. Read the L.A. Times article about the man who is presiding over a pornography case. 6/11/2008
Students in KY school district forbidden to say they think homosexuality is wrong. Can be expelled for speaking their beliefs. Read the WND article. 5/1/2008
Canadian religious group fined for firing homosexual employee. Fine assessed by government agency after the group enforced an agreement to abstain from sexual immortality. Read the AFA article. 5/2/2008
Ben Stein's movie "Expelled" takes 5th place in per-theater revenue in its first weekend. We recommend that everyone go see it. Read the CL article. 4/21/2008
Family Watch International has an excellent paper on the use of junk science to support same-sex parenting. Read the article here. 4/11/2008
Utah alternative paper goes after SoL and PTA. As ususal, facts are misrepresented. Read the Hits and Misses blurb. Read the blog article. 4/6/2008
McDonald's CEO Announces the fast-food giant will put its resources behind gay and lesbian businesses. Read the shocking AFA article. 4/8/2008
Cal. appeals court rules that parents have no right to home school their children. Read the APA article. 3/24/2008
Colorado school allows sexually confused 8-year-old boy to attend dressed and treated as a girl. Read the WND article. 3/24/2008
Rhode Island Supreme Court refuses to give divorce to gay couple married in Mass. Read the BP article. 3/24/2008
Dr. John Diggs writes about the health risks of homosexual sex. Read the CERC article. 3/24/2008
The International Journal of Epidemiology reports the life expectancy of men involved in homosexuality is up to 20 years shorter than the general population. Read the IJE article. 3/24/2008
Read Dr. A. Dean Byrd's recent NARTH article on changes in the American Psychological Association's (APA) position on homosexuality. 3/24/2008
Leader of national "gay" group admits HIV/AIDS is a homosexual disease. Read the CWFA news release. Listen to the 20-minute CWFA podcast.
2/16/2008You will be shocked about what you see on a terrible website that is encouraging sex among teens. You can inform yourself about what is being pushed in our society by going to The Midwest Teen Sex Show. Warning! The videos and other information on the site are inappropriate for non-adults. 2/11/2008
An 8-year old boy is allowed to attend school as a girl. Special restrooms are being made for this mixed-up kid. Read the WND story about political correctness gone crazy. 2/12/2008
You should know that "No Name-calling Week" is scheduled for Jan. 21-25, 2008. Dreamed up by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN), this is an “anti-bullying” push, which sounds fine, until you learn that it includes approving of homosexuality as a “cure” for school bullying! We urge you to call your school and learn if they are allowing this sneaky indoctrination. Tell them what you think about such manipulation and endorsement of high-risk behavior. And that you expect them to not allow, or cancel, its observance. Read the 2005 NARTH article. 12/29/2007
Gender Confusion accomodated at a Maine elementary school. Local man protests a boy being allowed to use the girls' restroom. Read the World Net Daily article. 12/19/2007
Michael Farris dispels myths about our nation's founding fathers. Listen to the CWFA audio report. 11/28/2007
Christmas is under fire again. Bob Knight explains. Listen to the CWFA audio report. 11/28/2007
David Barton talks about religious freedom. Listen to the CWFA audio report. 11/28/2007
Thanksgiving called a "time of mourning" by Seattle school district. Read the WND article. 11/28/2007
Donor transmits AIDS to four in Chicago. Donated organ pool at risk. Read the NY Times article. Read the Chicago Tribune article. Read the Associated Press article. 11/13/2007.
'Transgender' Bus Driver /Restroom Case Tossed By Federal Court. Read the TVC article about Traditional values and common sense being upheld in court. 11/13/2007
China bans the Bible at 2008 Olympics! Athletes not allowed to bring Bible with them to Beijing. Read the CNA story. 11/07/2007
PFOX responds to Maryland Montgomery County Commission's move to pass bill forbidding discrimination based on "gender identity." Read Regina Grigg's letter. 11/7/2007
7th Circuit rules in favor of free religious speech. Read the WND article about the appeals court ruling against a school that implemented a policy forbidding students to speak their religious beliefs against homosexuality. 11/2/2007
People ask us at SoL why we focus on homosexuality so much. Read our SoL Voice #13. We also found an article by J. Matt Barber of Concerned Women for America which answers this question beautifully. Also, read the AFT article about our right to stand against homosexual activism. 10/31/2007
We recently saw Star Parker speak in Washington DC. She was great! Read her excellent article about Barak Obama and intolerance by the homosexual activist movement. 10/31/2007
Good News! CA Middle School reverses course, cancels cross-dressing day. Read the Pacific Justice Institute news release. 10/30/2007
Gov. Schwarzenegger signed two radical pro-homosexuality school bills — very bad news for California, and the nation. Read the Americans for Truth article. 10/18/2007
Michael Glatze, former leader in the homosexual movement, was interviewed by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi of NARTH , about how he left that lifestyle. Click here to read the interview. 10/17/2007
Dr. Neil Whitehead has produced a slide show that shows "gays" and "lesbians" are not born that way. It goes along with his lecture, but you can follow it well enough by just viewing the slides. Click here to see the slide show. See Dr. Whitehead's web site here. 9/24/2007.
Check out Choice 4 Truth, a project of Mission America. We recommend you sign up for their highly informative quarterly newsletter. 9/16/07
We like the article by Bob Lonsberry on the proper role of Christianity. Click here to read the article on Bob's website. 9/14/2007
Stephen Graham was guest host again on The Unspoken Word radio program, hosted by Steven Rinehart on K-Talk. Listen to the program, and see Steven Rinehart's website for more information. 8/25/2007
Abraham Lincoln gave the Cooper Union Address in 1860 challenging the Southern States' inappropriate justification of slavery. Change a few words and you find an amazing parallel to the activist homosexual movement's arugments for acceptance of homosexuality. Click here to read an excerpt from that speech. 8/25/2997
Read this good article by David J. Stoddard about the response he received to his article about so-called "Gay Marriage." 9/4/2007
Stephen Graham was guest on The Unspoken Word radio program, hosted by Steven Rinehart on K-Talk. Listen to the program, and see Steven Rinehart's website for more information. 8/11/2007
Read Dave Daubenmire's stirring article on why and how to get personally involved in defending our traditional, Godly values. From NewsWithViews.
8/11/2007 Patrick Henry's famous speech, "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" is inspiring. Click here to listen to a 9-minute dramatic reading from www.librivox.org. 8/3/2007
Daily Herald Shows Contempt for Traditional Values. The Provo Daily Herald called and asked for a statement from us here at SoL, regarding a country singer who posed for this month's issue of Playgirl magazine and performed July 24 at the family-oreiented SCERA outdoor theater. They then wrote an editorial denigrating our stand for traditional values. We asked them to publish an op-ed from us. After a series emails, they won't publish our op-ed unless we rewrite it and abandon our central points. Click here to read the whole story. 7/22/2007
Who could've imagined this? Immigration of homosexual partners. Don't be fooled--it's not about immigration or love or family. It's about getting homosexuality, etc. publicly legitimized. See the O'Reilly Factor segment. Read the sympathetic L.A. Times article. 7/22/2007
Dr. A. Dean Byrd has written a review exposing the homosexual activism in Carol Lynn Pearson's new book, in which she opposes LDS church doctrine. Read his important review of No More Goodbyes on the FairLDS website. 7/19/2007
Michael Glatze, well-known former leader in homosexual activism, has abandoned homosexuality. Read his WND article and Dr. Warren Throckmorton's report of his interview with Glatze. 7/10/2007
Violent lesbian and gay gangs recruit youth, attack, rape and terrorize. Watch the 3-minute O'Reilly Factor video segment and read the AFT article. 6/25/2007
A Report falsely showing that homosexual adoption is as effective as married-couple adoption was released in 2006. Read The Pearcy Report and the WND article that expose the homosexual activist who authored the report and the homosexual organizations who funded it. 7/10/2007
Gay Straight Alliance Network News promotes sex-toy workshop for youth. Read the awful truth as reported by Calif. Catholic Daily. 6/25/2007
California passed SB71 in 2004. This terrible law dictates the teaching of gender issues and sexual orientation, and does not allow parents to take their kids out of class for that indoctrination. Read the fact sheet produced by the GSAnetwork. Also, the fact sheet for AB537 prohibits discrimination by gender identity. Read the first paragraph. You may want to call your local CA legislator and talk to them. 7/10/2007
Presidential candidate John Edwards' wife Elizabeth supports so-called gay marriage in San Francisco speech. Read the ONN article. 7/10/2007
Promiscuous sex and drug use encouraged to Boulder High School students in a mandatory assembly. Click here to view a 5-minute segment from the Bill O'Reilly TV show. This is the sexual agenda for kids EXPOSED. 5/25/2007
"Gender-neutral" restrooms to be installed in Salt Lake Community College. Read the Globe article transcribed by Cory Seegmiller. 5/24/2007 ABC's Diane Sawyer trashes reparative therapy on "Good Morning America." Uses the story of one unsuccessful woman as support. Click here to read. 5/10/2007
Read an article, "Campaign Targets ‘Religion-Based Bigotry Against Gay People’" from CNSnews.com about a homosexual advocacy group launching a "Call to Courage" tour to "educate Americans about the misuse of religious teachings to discriminate and isolate gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people." 5/9/2007
National PTA includes ad by pro-gay group in its "Our Children" magazine. Bountiful High PTA writes letter of protest. Click here to read the Deseret News article. 5/3/2007
A disturbing video, "It's Elementary," shows pro-homosexual teachers and administrators how to indoctrinate elementary school children to accept homosexuality. Click here to see clips from the video. Click here to read the AFT article. 5/3/2007
Chicago gay street fair sponsored by the Howard Brown Health Center, distributes unbelievably graphic flier teaching teenage boys how to engage in homosexual perversions. Click here to read the Americans For Truth article. 5/3/2007
Disney expands its Fairy Tale Weddings to include homosexual couples, even though "gay marriage" is illegal. Read the Reuters article. To contact the Walt Disney Company and share your feelings on this issue, click here. 5/3/2007.
Polish leaders bravely speak out against acceptance of homosexuality. Click here to read the Breitbart report. Then the European Union condemns Polish leaders for their stand. Read the EU document. 5/1/2007
Read an article by K.B. Napier about the lack of substance in homosexuality. And read more than a dozen other articles by Napier by clicking here. 3/31/2007
General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has come under fire from homosexual activist groups and the national media for saying that homosexual acts are immoral.. He's also receiving support from conservative groups. Click here to read about it and learn what you can do to offer support. 3/17/2007
Good news! Stephen Graham was on the Steven Rinehart "Unspoken Word" radio show. Steven is a great guy and it was a wonderful chance to get the truth on the air. Click here to listen to the radio program. 3/10/2007
KSL-TV interviewed Stephen Graham about a bill proposing changes to Utah's education statute. The Governor subsequently signed the bill into law. Click here to see the TV report. 3/8/2007
Read the excellent article by Kevin McCullough on Townhall.com about repentance and redemption, called "Why Christians Embrace 'Gay' Porn Stars. 3/11/200
OneNewsNow.com reports that a Cal. school which had taken "God" out a parents' yearbook add to their son has agreed to allow it after all. Read the article here. 3/7/2007
APA report says young girls are being sexualized by our culture. One of their sources of information is SIECUS, a GLBT and anything-goes sex advocacy group. Read what their Sexuality Education Guidelines want to teach your children, starting in kindergarten. Read their homosexual propaganda in a "families are talking" newsletter. 2/22/2007
Theo Hobson discusses the credibility loss as churches embrace homosexuality. 2/19/2007
Why sexuality is so important to the church. Read the article in Albert Mohler's blog. 2/18/2007
Maine school teaches 'transgenderism.' Read the OneNewsNow article. 2/18/2007
The homosexual activist group Soulforce Equality Ride is making another annual U. S. tour and heading to BYU and BYU Idaho, but, unlike last year's visit, this year they will be denied access to the campus. Read more.
2/6/2007 Sundance Film Festival featured a film promoting religious acceptance of homosexuality. It was listed in a news article entitled "Sundance Films Fit for Families." Click here to read the description of "For The Bible Tells Me So." 2/4/2007
Read Andrew Vachss' article on how our language is being subtly changed. 1/29/2007
Excellent article by Gregory Koukl on Tolerance and Intolerance. Read it in Townhall. 1/29/2007
Improprieties Alleged in Maine Gay Youth Organization. Read the Morning Star newspaper article. 1/25/2007
Read the LifeSiteNews article about the new homosexual discrimination law in Great Britain. 1/24/2007
The National Education Association, the union to which 90+% of America's teachers belong, is determined to indoctrinate teachers and students to embrace homosexuality and the like. Read the NEA GLBT website page (the statistics are "engineered" to make their point). Read the 36-page NEA GLBT Guide, which, among other things, vilifies "heterosexism" as the belief that heterosexual relationships are preferred as natural and normal. Take a look at the NEA's SafeZone poster, decrying heterosexism, etc. 1/2/2006
Read an excellent talk by Dr. Victor Cline, "Treatment and Healing from Pornographic and Sexual Addictions." From the 2000 Families Under Fire Conference. 1/2/2007.
Don't miss this wonderful speech, "The Very Root of Christian Doctrine," by Thomas B. Griffith.Click here 12/15/2006
A great essay from the Howard Center publication "The Family in America." The Limitless Possibility of Limits: How Boundaries Safeguard Freedom and Family. 12/15/2006
Reality triumphs over insanity. Read about New York's birth certificate debacle. 12/15/06.
Scotland NHS forbids nurses' use of "mum" and "dad". Read the article. 12/15/2006
Read Albert Mohler's comments about moral relativism and Mary Cheney. 12/13/2006 Gay 'Marriage' in Israel: Worse than Holocaust - Will Cause Terrorism Warns Rabbi Levin. read the LifeSite article. 11/21/2006
Break free of sexual sin. We found a wonderful Christ-based web site called www.mysecret.tv where people can anonymously confess adultery, porn addiction, homosexuality, etc. – the first step in overcoming. Click on their resources button and you can view a great 30 min. talk by recovered sex addict Craig Groeschel called “Pornography and Lust” about how people get hooked and how they can repent and be healed. 10/31/2006
Homosexuals are 12 times more likely than heterosexuals to abuse children. Homosexuals (vastly outnumbered by heterosexuals) are responsible for one third of all reported child sex offenses. Family Research Council makes this unpopular connection in this enlightening study you won’t hear in the prestige media. Read the report. 10/31/2006
Listen to a segment of the Michael Medved radio show where he interviews twice-married, father, and now gay former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey about his new gay-affirming book. We noted with dismay McGreevey’s repeated references urging “young kids” and “children” to be honest and “find and own their personal truth,” by coming out as gay, a great example of the Gay Elite insidiously sexualizing, targeting, and indoctrinating youth. He said his repression of his lifelong gayness caused pain for his loved ones, meaning, we suppose, his ex-wives and children. Reality check: if he hadn’t “repressed his gayness” he wouldn’t have any loved ones on which to inflict this pain. Click here to listen and choose show #108.10/28/2006
"Homophobia is a slogan of intimidation." Read the Catholic Church's strong stance against homosexuality in the Priesthood dating from 810 A.D. 10/20/2006
Concerned about the Foley fiasco? Read the World Net Daily column "The Truth About Gay Pedophilia." 10/10/2006
Maryland school sued for not letting 7th grade girl read the Bible at lunch. Read the CNS article. Then read the WND article about Islam being taught in Oregon schools. 10/10/2006
Episcopal Diocese may quit performing marriages. Read the Boston Globe article. 10/9/2006
A new document entitled "Marriage and the Public Good: Ten Principles," from the Witherspoon Institute, is now available online. Read the Weekly Standard article "Beyond Gay Marriage," then read the Witherspoon document. 9/14/06
A Massachusetts government agency has named a "married" homosexual couple "Parents of the Year". From Mass Resistance. 8/10/2006 Read Maggie Gallagher's column, "The Trouble With Men." It echoes Janice's Voice column, "Arming Prince Charming." 8/9/2006
Read about Canadian activists trying have the government shut down pro-family and traditional values websites. 7/31/2006
Sheldon Kinsel, of United Families International, wrote an excellent op-ed piece on flaws in same-sex marriage arguments. Read it in the Tribune. 6/20/06.
Read a letter to the editor printed in the Daily Herald. More and more right-thinking people are beginning to pay attention and speak out. 6/18/06
SLF interviewed on KSRR. Hear the 28-minute podcast. 6/16/2006
Read the NEA's resolution on "Diversity." See B-8. Includes sexual orientation, gender identity, civil unions. 6/16/2006
David Parker's 7-year-old son attacked at Massachusetts elementary school. Read the LifeSite article. 6/16/2006
D.C. official fired for expressing religious beliefs. Click here to read the FRC article. 6/16/2006
Read a Guest Opinion piece on The DaVinci Code by Camille Turpin. 6/13/2006
SLF's effort to get the Lone Peak High student newspaper to stop publishing illegal articles was covered by Agape Press on June 6, 2006. Read SLF's Op-ed response, "Teen's articles on sex disease unfit to print" printed in the Daily Herald, June 5, 2005. We answer the editorial from last week.Provo Daily Herald Editorial attacks SLF position defending student and parental rights, and demanding adherence to state law in public schools. Read the editorial. Read the details below. 5/28/2006
Front Page News! SLF Charges Utah high school newspaper with breaking state law. Read the SLF news release, front pageProvo Daily Herald and Deseret Morning News articles. Read the November opinion piece, the May article and the May opinion piece. 5/25/2006
Universities holding separate graduation ceremonies for Homosexuals. Read the article from Agape Press. 5/25/2006
Read two important articles by Janice Clouse, of CWA, whom we met in L.A. recently. “How to Talk to Your Child About Sex: The Sex Pyramid” and “Another Hit at Abstinence.” 5/16/2006
NEW! Maggie Gallagher’s excellent May 15, 2006 report, “Banned in Boston, The Coming Conflict Between Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty,” in which 10 top scholars from both sides predict that sexual liberty is bound to subvert freedom of religion.Click here to read the National Review article. Email you Senators at www.rcm.org to let them know you care about this issue. 5/16/2006
You won't believe what's happenning in Massachusetts with Mitt Romney's Governor's Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth. Click here to read Article 8's report. 5/12/06
Check this outstanding website, wallbuilders.com, with its spring 2006 newsletter "Good News from the Front Lines of the Culture War." 4/22/2006
Shocking reality check on the moral state of our high schools by Albert Mohler. Read his commentary. Listen to his radio show. 4/15/2006
Change from homosexuality possible. Listen to Albert Mohler on his radio program. See our Get Informed page. 4/5/2006
Interesting article about a hard won battle by a Traditional Values Club at a Michigan high school. 4/3/2006
Catholic charities of Boston and San Francisco refuse to participate in gay adoptions. Read the Boston Globe Article about Boston. Read the Catholic News and Family Research Council articles about San Francisco. 3/25/2006
Want to see the flipside of Brokeback Mountain? Everyone should read this powerful article by Ronald G. Lee exposing the truth about homosexuality. We've added it to our Get Informed page. 3/24/2006
Listen to a podcast chat with Steve and Janice of SLF.
School decides to cancel diversity day rather than
include viewpoint of Christians and former homosexuals. Read Liberty Counsel's article.3/20/06
Unbelievable what is happening in our nation's oldest universities. Read the article by Agape Press. 3/9/2006.
The Salt Lake Tribune published an SLF editorial on Sunday, February 26, 2006. Read the op-ed piece here on our website, or read it from the Tribune.
SLF op-ed article published by Provo Daily Herald. Gay-straight alliance clubs not allowed under anticipated new Utah law. Read the SLF op-ed piece here on our website, or Read it from the Feb. 22, 2006 Provo Daily Herald.
Hear two excellent Albert Mohler programs. "The Cuddle-Puddle at American High Schools" and "Can Homosexuals Change?"
SLF on Salt Lake City radio station KUTR, AM 820. Janice and Drew Graham were interviewed about our book, My Darling from the Lions, on the Dr. Liz Hale show Friday, Jan. 27, at 10:00 a.m. Hear the podcast of the show. 33 minutes. 1/27/2006.
Listen to KSL's Doug Wright, 1/12/06, show on which our friend Ken Cromar challenges Doug's support of pro-homosexual movie "Brokeback Mountain." 32 min. Read Ken's research document on the dangers of the homosexual lifestyle. 1/19/2006
Steve Graham visits Utah state legislature. Read about it on our "What We're Up To" page. 1/18/2006
Pro"gay" club propaganda on KSL radio. The Doug Wright Show, 12/15/05, was slanted toward acceptance of GSAs in Utah schools, despite a call from Dr. Richard Wilkins. Listen to the 36-minute show. 12/31/2005
"Brokeback Mountain," the movie celebrating "gay" cowboys, received unexpected positive reviews from Doug Wright on KSL Radio's Movie Show and Jeff Vice at the Deseret Morning News. To read and hear the reviews, click here. 12/31/2005
Homosexual advocacy in Lone Peak High School newspaper. This hits home. Our daughter Elise was assigned by her Journalism class teacher to write the "con" side of two opinion pieces on the issue of GSA clubs in schools. The person who wrote the "pro" piece wrote a homosexual advocacy propaganda piece, which is against our state law. Read both articles. 11/30/2005
Learn about Gay-Straight Alliance clubs and how to prevent them. We have prepared 3 files of useful information regarding the homosexual activist movement's plans to indoctrinate our youth. Homosexual agenda handouts presented to Provo School Board (Word, WordPerfect, pdf). Legal Liability of schools (pdf only). Narth Homosexual Advocacy Groups & Your School (pdf only). Print and use any materials you find helpful. 11/5/2005
Read archived News Links.
Listen to archived podcasts and audio. |
Read SoL Voice articles.
A Monumental Day:
SoL’s Report on Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally in Washington D. C.
August 28, 2010 
Steve flew in Thursday and on Saturday he and I left our daughter’s house in Maryland (where I have been staying for a month helping with her 10-month-old triplets) at seven a.m. Emily drove us to the metro station nearby and before we got out of her van we saw people obviously doing the same thing we were doing: heading for Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally at the National Mall. “Where are you from?” Steve asked nearly everyone we came close to and we heard Delaware, Missouri, Ohio, Connecticut, Arkansas. Everyone was so surprised we had come all the way from Utah. When asked if we drove or flew, Steve quipped, “We pushed our handcarts.” “What’s a handcart?” somebody undertoned, embarrassed. A Texas group with matching red t-shirts stepped on board, their leader rousting us all with a stentorian, “Anybody here going to the rally?” There was a feeling of unity and gratitude and excitement in the air. People offered each other seats, introduced themselves, spoke with the strangers sitting alongside them of things close to their hearts.
Steve and I remarked to each other that we had no way of knowing how many people would show up. But it was obvious when there was standing room only on the Metro ten stops out three hours before the rally was to start, that the crowd was going to be overwhelming. It took us a while just to get on the escalator to exit the Smithsonian Metro station. Everywhere people were talking, smiling, patient and willing to help each other.
I have never been anywhere with so many people gathered in one place. They just kept coming in never-ending parades. I was grateful it was not nearly as hot and humid as it had been earlier in the week. Steve and I walked past the Washington Monument, down the lawn, past the World War II Memorial, and got as close as we could to the Lincoln Memorial where the speakers and performers would stand. This ended up being on the north side of the Reflecting Pool three quarters of the way toward the World War II Memorial on the side under some trees. From here we couldn’t see the actual set-up, but had a good view of the last of six JumboTtrons. We could see across the Pool and back toward the Washington Monument. The place was suffused with color and movement, every empty space filling in. We set up our chairs among some others and relaxed. Two hours to go. As more people came along those of us already situated squeezed closer together to make yet another spot.
And there were all kinds of people. As we waited for the rally to start I looked around me and saw a pretty lady in a sun dress, a well-coifed grandma with hair as white as her jeans, a Viet Nam vet with a long gray ponytail, a business man in metal-rimmed glasses and khaki shorts, a southern belle in a sunbonnet, three teenage boys in baseball caps, a round-bellied guy in a Hawaiian shirt, a black woman with a gold camera on her wrist, a young couple in love, a little girl in a yellow shirt with pig tails sitting on her father’s shoulders, an Asian woman under a bright orange umbrella, a lady in black short-shorts with pick hearts munching popcorn with her husband, a heavy lady with a fanny pack passing around a bag for trash, a young woman in cropped jeans pinning a small jeweled American flag on her navy shirt, a retired couple reading the paper side-by-side in polka-dotted camp chairs, and families, families everywhere.
“There’s a sea of people everywhere you look,” said someone near.
“Still coming,” said another.
What I didn’t see was a single sign (Glenn asked that there be no signs), a single bit of stray trash, or a single act of rudeness. “Don’t let me get in your way,” a lady said to me. Courtesy and good spirits abounded. Just as the rally was set to begin at 10, a large flock of Canadian geese in perfect V-formation suddenly appeared and flew low, straight over the middle of the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial. All eyes looked up and everyone clapped, then people wiped their eyes under their sunglasses. The Greeks believed birds were a good omen, too.
We were treated to a recording of the Tabernacle Choir singing, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and a slide show of cities and states all across the USA. People clapped when they recognized their homes. As a woman belted the National Anthem I watched a great big man, trembling with tears, wipe his face with the palms of his two big hands.
Glenn Beck wasted no time in setting the tone for the rally. It was to be a revival of American religiosity, of love of God and country. And everyone there, as far as I could see, was on the exact same page. Beck’s announcement, “Today, this country is turning back to God,” was met with rousing applause. He gave a short sketch of the first colonists, adding, “The first thing they did was pray,” and so this is what we did, too. The prayer was all about our nation’s need to repent. It was all about Christ the Redeemer.
It struck me that here we were, living in a time when the very freedoms we were at that moment so freely exercising, heartened and emboldened by our sheer numbers, are being threatened by our own government. Among other things, was Glenn Beck peaceably defying leadership gone astray? I think so, as were we all. It is difficult to express how glorious it was to participle in this gathering, in this prayer, and to say amen to these words, in this place, at this time in America’s history.
The program for the rally continued with an inspiring multi-faceted tribute to the military’s Special Operations Warrior Foundation. This was followed by a speech by Sarah Palin who said there is no “transforming America,” only “restoring America.” Glenn Beck announced that there would be Faith, Hope, and Charity merit awards which were then introduced with inspiring speeches and presented to veteran Texas pastor C.L. Jackson, Christian baseball player Albert Pujols, and businessman and philanthropist John Huntsman Sr. Alveda King, niece of Martin Luther King, then gave a speech about unity for the sake of honor to rebuild America. Dr. Harry Jackson spoke using lots of scriptures, including Romans 8:28. We heard phrases such as “we are one human family” and “the procreation foundation of marriage,” and “our nations’s moral deficiency will be healed when prayer is once again welcome in public arenas and schools,” and “America must pray that God will forgive us of our sins.” About this time Steve and I looked behind us and saw that people were filling in the lawn all the way to the Washington Monument.
Glenn Beck took up the last portion of the three hours. “Advance or perish,” he said. “God is the answer and always has been.” “Trust in the Lord.” “Look forward.” “Look to people who are honest and have integrity.” “Our values and principles must unite us.”
He talked about how Americans have explored west, up in space, down in the ocean, and must now explore within ourselves.
He spoke of how he has been called a “fearmonger.” To this he said, “On the Titanic, the man who said, ‘It’s an iceberg!” was not a fearmonger. He was warning the people on the ship.”
He reiterated his forty-day challenge:
1. Pray on your knees and profess God (and let your children see your praying).
2. Tell the truth (even when it is going to hurt you) in your own life and expect it from others.
3. Connect with your spouse and children because charity begins at home.
Following are some more of the highlights of his talk from my notes:
Does the American experience expand or end with us?
The words inscribed at the top of the Washington Monument are Laus Deo (Praise be to God). He said that the Founders’ idea was that to really share truth, we must embed it in our monuments.
Find out what you truly believe. Quoted Thomas Jefferson: “Question with boldness even the existence of God; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear.” (I looked across the way and saw a lady mouthing these words.)
Realize who God is and who you are. Great benefits and awesome responsibilities will come with this knowledge. You will no longer have a choice in many things.
His favorite line in the Declaration of Independence is “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”
Washington gave up the life he wanted (to be a surveyor) to do God’s will.
The truth will set you free (after it has made you miserable).
Go to God individually first.
We have to be on God’s side, not him on our side.
Need support of good spouse, families, friends.
We must insist that our churches stand for what we know to be true, universal, eternal.
Churches have fallen asleep. We need a black robed regiment (ministers that preach freedom).
(At this point there were 250 people arm-in-arm standing behind Glenn representing that many different denominations.)
All agree that God is the answer.
Is the next George Washington in this crowd? Our goal must be to raise the next great monument.
We can wallow in our mistakes or learn from the past and ask for redemption.
A tenor, accompanied by bagpipes, sang Amazing Grace. I looked around and saw people singing along and weeping.
The rally lasted three hours. Afterwards, during some afterglow vocal performances, many people ate the picnic lunches they had brought, sat on the lawns enjoying the day, or toured the mall. Steve and I did a little of all three. We even caught a glimpse of Al Sharpton’s “protest march,” but I couldn’t for the life of me understand what they could possibly be protesting. It couldn’t have been a racial thing because there were a great many black people performing and speaking and getting awards at Glenn’s rally.
Speaking of monuments, I think every American sixth grader should visit our nation’s capitol. It should be part of the curriculum. I find myself wondering, Why was I not told of these magnificent stone monuments engraved with reminders of God and the highest human virtues? Whey was I not taught to recite the resplendent sentence that appears above the 19-foot tall bronze statue of Thomas Jefferson? Why didn’t I learn that the building of the monolithic Washington Monument was halted during the Civil War? Why was I not encouraged to consider with reverence the significance of the Lincoln Memorial while seeing its white marble set against a navy blue, star-studded night sky as a child? How are we to be a nation of what Samuel Adams called “experienced patriots” whom our country stands in need of “to prevent its ruin” if we are not schooled in our country’s foundations? And what better way to begin to become those experienced patriots than to see with our own eyes these beautiful massive monuments imbedded with noble truths and built to stand forever?
This wonderful rally put me in mind of some things one of my heroes, Robert Bork, wrote in his 1997 book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah. I will end with some cogent quotes.
“Perhaps the most promising development in our time is the rise of an energetic, optimistic, and politically sophisticated religious conservatism. It may prove more powerful than merely political or economic conservatism because religious conservatism’s objectives are cultural and moral as well.”
“Because it is a grass roots movement, the new religious conservatism can alter the culture both by electing local officials and school boards (which have greater effect on culture than do national politicians), and by setting a moral tone in opposition to today’s liberal relativism.”
“We may be witnessing a religious revival, another awakening.”
“It remains to be seen whether intellectual orthodoxy can stand firm against the current of radical individualism and radical egalitarianism.”
“Victory over modern liberalism will require a robust self-confidence about the worth of traditional values that the relativism of modern liberalism has already seriously damaged.”
We certainly saw a robust confidence in God’s timeless standard of goodness in a big way on that monumental day. It seems America is waking up. Hallelujah.
-Janice Graham
Postscript to Sol’s Report on Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally,
“A Monumental Day”:
I Demand a Recount!
I am no expert at estimating the sizes of crowds, but some of the numbers I am hearing from newspeople and such are ridiculously low. Let me repeat: Steve and I got to the mall two hours early amidst a stream of people getting on the Metro ten stops out. Even then, the closest we could get to the Lincoln Memorial was about 100 yards from the World War II Memorial– that’s on the other end of the Reflecting Pool. I never even saw Glenn Beck or any of the speakers or performers in person. I only saw them on a JumboTron, the last one of six extending from the Lincoln Memorial, and the sound came about two seconds after the words were spoken. I repeat, there were so many people we could not get close enough to see anything in person and we were so far away the words we heard in no way matched up with what we were seeing. And compared to the entire crowd which extended all the way to the Washington Memorial and fanned way out across the path under the trees on the sides of the entire length of the Reflecting Pool, we felt we had primo seats, there were so very many more people behind us. A friend said she was stuck behind the Lincoln Memorial and didn’t get to see or hear a single thing. I would venture to say that most people there could not see anything; I don’t know how far people were able to hear. The thing was, we were all so eager and happy and grateful to be there, to be exercising our freedoms, and to be among such an overwhelming crowd of like-minded citizens.
I think the lies the newspeople are saying are making those of us who were there pretty angry. We came from all over the country at our own expense. How dishonest and hurtful to pretend that even a single one of us was not there.
There were a reported 250,000 people at Martin Luther King’s famous speech. According to photos of the King speech, the crowd extended halfway up the Reflecting Pool. Take a look at one of those photo. Now look at photos of the crowd at the rally last Saturday. You make your own estimation according to these photos.
People must be having terrible problems with Glenn Beck’s rally because they are out and out lying about the numbers. They don’t want America to know what a HUGE success it was. This is a mistake because a nice-sized chunk of America was actually THERE.
-Janice Graham
Helena or Hell: School Administrators or Child Sex Abusers?
July 15, 2010
Warning: This article contains offensive material quoted from the K-12 Health Enhancement Curriculum proposed by the Helena Public Schools Board of Trustees.
Under the guise of “informing students so they can make better decisions,” school administrators in the small town of Helena, Montana (pop. 29,000) have proposed a sex education curriculum for ages 5 and up that would, well, blow your mind. We submit that it isn’t about safety at all; it’s just an excuse to spread to kids perverse and radical extremist ideas about sex and sexuality. It certainly is filling the parents and grandparents in Helena with outrage, and rightly so. Radio Host Mark Levin said,“ They have NAMBLA-ized the school system in Montana, for God’s sake!” (NAMBLA is the perverse North American Man/Boy Love Association which promotes pedophilia.)
The grade-specific goals of this “K-12 Health Enhancement Curriculum” are simply sickening. Some of the concepts here, aimed at school children, written down in ink, are so graphic and perverted that we shudder to quote them here. In other words, we decent adults are loathe to name the very concepts these sex-crazed adults are planning to teach to children! Aside from the blatant promotion of homosexuality/sodomy which is treated as on equal terms with normal sex and sexuality and is never warned against as physically dangerous, even the concepts that sound reasonable are totally inappropriate and are obviously excuses for initiating innocent children into all manner of sex and sexuality with the proper values conspicuously absent.
Here are just a few examples. Kindergartners, age 5, will graphically learn “to identify . . . child sexual abuse.”(page 23) (Our guess is that they do not include adults graphically teaching kindergartners all about child sexual abuse as child sexual abuse, which it most certainly is.) Fourth graders, age 9, will learn in stunning detail “what abstinence means.” (page 8)(Our guess is that they will teach what abstinence means by teaching their ideas of what sex is, that is, if you are abstinent you don’t do this, this, this, etc. quite yet, but it’s all perfectly fine to do when you’re ready. As if children have the wisdom to know when they’re “ready.”)
At its core this “curriculum” brings to mind the child sex abuse horrors in the 1976 movie Sybil starring Sally Field and Joanne Woodward. Who could forget that disturbing film? Maybe we need to get brave and watch it again to remind ourselves that when human sexuality is misused or exploited, people, especially children, are horrifically harmed. Based on a true story, it portrays a tortured young woman with Multiple Personality Disorder (no less than 16 personalities), a severe mental illness caused by ghastly sexual abuses perpetrated on her as a little girl by her incredibly deranged mother. Putting aside our modesty and nausea, for the sake of children, we quote directly from this curriculum:
Concept for fifth graders(age 10): “Understand that sexual intercourse includes but is not limited to vaginal, oral, or anal penetration.” (page 45)
Concept for sixth graders (age 11): “Understand that sexual intercourse includes but is not limited to vaginal, oral, or anal penetration; using the penis, fingers, tongue or objects.” (page 45)
These “school administrators” should be run out of town. Only those who are perversely obsessed with sex themselves would want to introduce these sadistic ideas to children, in school, no less. It makes you wonder if Dr. Bruce Messinger, the Superintendent of Helena Public Schools, is a sick porn addict (the unspeakably depraved hardcore kind, including gay and child porn). Where else would he come up with these ideas? And why else would he support them? Crazy people don’t realize they are crazy. And the sexually perverse cannot seem to stay away from children in one way or another. In this case they’re just getting more and more clever about it, placing themselves in positions of trust, and calling their predatory proclivities new names. The Helena Public School Board of Trustees is just like the gentle churchperson, uncle, or neighbor that no one ever suspected of being a child abuser.
This is not just about government trampling parental rights. Ironically, parents are now called upon to protect their children’s eyes, ears, and minds from adults in positions of trust and authority. To concerned parents in Helena, and probably everywhere else, we say: Get rid of these nefarious administrators and run for school board yourselves. Otherwise, take your kids out of school. Nevermind the three R’s; school is becoming a playground for perverts.
Again we quote Tammy Bruce, “I believe this grab for children by the sexually confused adults of the Gay Elite represents the most serious problem facing our culture today.”
-- Tammy Bruce, The Death of Right and Wrong, 2003
See the Fox News article at: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/07/14/helena-montana-considers-sex-ed-for-kindergarteners/
Read the proposed curriculum at: http://www.helena.k12.mt.us/images/documents/curriculum/HealthCurriculum/K12FinalHealth.pdf
You can contact Dr. Bruce Messinger,
Helena School District
55 South Rodney, Helena, MT 59601
Phone: (406) 324-2000 Fax: (406) 324-2022
bmessinger@helena.k12.mt.us
Why Should You Read Chased by an Elephant?
Take our
Quiz
June 20, 2010
In Surprised by Joy C. S. Lewis wrote about "the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited. You must find out why it went out of date," he said, "was it ever refuted (and if so by whom, where and how conclusively) or did it merely die away as fashions do? If the latter, this tells us nothing about its truth or falsehood. From seeing this one passes to the realization that our age is also ‘a period,’ and certainly has, like all periods, its own characteristic illusions. They are likeliest to lurk in those wide-spread assumptions which are so ingrained in the age that no one dares to attack or feels it necessary to defend them.
"We are living in our own period with its own stark illusions. Our complacent, prosperous, techno-society has allowed God and His demands (i.e. traditional values) to be diluted and all but washed away in every public arena. Though it may be too little too late for a national retrenchment, for the sake of individual families and youth we at the Standard of Liberty are daring to attack some of the false and fashionable assumptions of our time. Just like Lewis said, these false assumptions are so ingrained that no one has to defend them anymore; people are just accepting them. But the truth is, if these bad trends, such as unneeded abortion, pornography, promiscuity, adultery, and homosexuality, were thought through and exposed, they would have no logical defense. To put it bluntly, these ideas and the practices that go with them, are terribly depraved. And yet, many of us are giving in to them by degrees through misinformation and intimidation, and in doing so are failing in our obligation to teach correct principles to the rising generation. Our appealing new book, Chased by an Elephant, The Gospel Truth About Today’s Stampeding Sexuality, outlines plain and precious truths that are rapidly sinking out of sight.
Take this quiz to determine to see if you and your family could benefit from our new book. Do your best to answer yes or no to the following questions:
Do you cringe even a little at the idea of absolute truths?
Do you believe men and women are interchangeable?
Do you think important ideal traditional gender roles are outdated?
Do you believe there are more human sexes than two: male and female?
Do you believe that healthy people have no control over their sexual thoughts and urges?
Do you wonder if or believe that individuals are born gay?
Do you support government legitimization of homosexuality?
Do you think individuals who declare they are the opposite sex their bodies and genes indicate should be publicly acknowledged and supported?
Do you think two people of the same sex can legitimately participate in the institution of marriage?
Do you believe that single parenting can be ideal and should be encouraged and legitimized?
Do you think that gay parenting can be ideal and should be publicly supported
?Do you think government should invent and give special rights, privileges, and protections to those who participate in same-sex sex and other alternatives to married monogamous heterosexuality?
Do you believe that homosexual behavior can be healthy and wholesome?
Do you agree with children being taught that gay is good in schools?
Do you have no problem with schools and others organizations aimed at teens supplying condoms, encouraging sexual activity, and encouraging/performing illegal abortion on minors without parental consent?
Do you support the idea of these organizations using public funds?
Do you support needless abortion as a female’s right?
Do you think that schools and government should override the rights of parents to teach their children about sex and sexuality?
Do you believe the Bible does not condemn sexual relations between people of the same sex?
Do you think that Christians should fall in with the culture concerning gay rights, at least to some degree?
Do you believe churches, church schools, and other church entities should be punished in some way for upholding their doctrines by openly speaking, teaching, or publishing against homosexuality, homosexual behavior, same-sex marriage, and gay parenting?
Do you support the government (laws, policies, judgments) favoring sexual freedom over religious freedom?
Do you feel that traditional Christianity in schools and government is at all out of place?
Do you believe that America’s Founding Fathers were motivated by greed and power?
Do you believe the Constitution to be a living document subject to casual and unwritten additions and interpretations in accordance with present culture, the sexual movement and other radical ideologies, special interest groups, or vocal minorities?
Do you think the idea of conspiracies (i.e. secret combinations) is alarmist fiction and those who believe in them are kooks and fanatics?
Do you believe Christ to be less of the demanding God and essential divine Redeemer of the Bible and Book of Mormon, and more of a philosophical and sociological leader that can fit nicely into our new, more peaceful and compassionate age?
Do you believe it is impossible to hate the sin and love the sinner?
Do you think you and/or others have pretty much "arrived" because of personal/family/church commitment/success/service, and therefore are not particularly needful of the grace of Christ’s Atonement?
Do you feel any hesitancy, discomfort, or lack of knowledge in talking with your children about their developing sexuality, God’s law of chastity, applying basic gospel principles, pornography, homosexuality, current events in our oversexed culture, etc.?
If you felt that any of the above questions deserved even a weak "yes," or if you felt unprepared to answer any of the questions at all, our Christ-centered book, Chased by an Elephant, the Gospel Truth about Today’s Stampeding Sexuality, can help. It is up to us in our particular time, with its particular illusions, to continually reject false principles and steer ourselves, our families, and our neighbors toward Christ, truth, and reality.
In fact, every family needs the information Chased contains. Readers are calling this book "wonderful," "essential," "enlightening and informative," "unthreatening," "highly readable and applicable," and ordering copies for their grown children busy raising young families. Click here to read glowing endorsements from a variety of professionals and experts. Order your copy from us now for $12.95 and free shipping. Order two or more and get them for $10.00 each and free shipping. Click here to order.
FYI, we have a publisher for another version of this book for the general Christian audience, (rather than just the LDS audience). It will be called Wild Elephant, the Gospel Truth about Today’s Stampeding Sexuality, coming in the early fall.
--Janice Graham
Author Janice Graham is available for interviews, speaking engagements, and book signings. Call her at 801- 830-8417 or publisher Stephen Graham at 801-830-8418.
Chased by an Elephant Now Available
June 7, 2010
The Standard of Liberty Foundation is pleased to announce the release of Chased by an Elephant, The Gospel Truth about Today’s Stampeding Sexuality by Janice Barrett Graham at Tidal Wave Books. LDS families will find that this appealing book, with its foundation on basic gospel principles, can open dialogue on important, sensitive, neglected, politically-charged, and constantly misrepresented topics. Graham employs images of overgrown jungles, wild elephants, and a young Tarzan and Jane to shed the light of truth on the reality of male and female, proper gender roles, the law of chastity, and God-given human sexuality.
Kieth Merrill, writer and director of Legacy and The Testaments, calls this book “a MUST READ for LDS parents, church leaders, and teens.” “It has the potential to make an elephant-sized difference,” says expert Dr. A. Dean Byrd. “There is no other book as engaging on sexual manners,” says Dawn Stefanowicz, author of Out From Under: The Impact of Homosexual Parenting. “Teen pregnancy, STIs, and emotional heartache due to extra-marital sexual activity do not strike those who embrace chastity. . . . this book successfully guides [LDS] parents in imparting this virtue to their children,” says pediatrician Michelle A. Cretella, Chair of the Committee on Adolescent Sexuality. “In a time when sexual propaganda is directed at children, adolescents, and young people . . . . parents need this book. Their children need this information,” says Gayle Ruzicka, President of Utah Eagle Forum.
Author Janice Barrett Graham says, “To borrow a statement from C. S. Lewis, I wrote the book because this is ‘a subject that badly needed ventilating and the healthy view defending.’ Civilized people know that sexuality is serious business; if misused, somebody will get hurt. I am particularly dismayed at the lack of concern our culture and society at large show for its young in this area at such a time. We seem to stand idly by as children and teens are bombarded by bad information in schools and media and targeted and exploited by addicting internet pornography and organizations such as Planned Parenthood and GLSEN. In our licentious world where the sexual impulse is given preposterous emphasis, exemption, and privilege, the rising generation will not know the healthy, correct, and responsible attitudes to claim toward their developing sexual feelings unless knowing and caring adults (preferably parents) intentionally teach them. We adults give in to squeamishness or intimidation at the expense of young people’s agency, health, well-being, and future. For their sake, it’s high time to take a strong stand against destructive societal trends and for God’s unchanging boundaries for human sexuality. I certainly hope there will be many more and better faith-promoting books written on this subject.
”Chased by an Elephant (12.95) is now available to order on line at tidalwavebooks.com (free shipping), or amazon.com, through your bookstore, and soon in stores. Reviews can be posted on amazon and sent to sgraham@tidalwavebooks.com. Author Janice Graham is available for interviews, speaking engagements, and book signings. Call 801- 830-8417 or 801-830-8418. See this website for more information on runaway sexuality in our culture today.
The Grab for Children
April 11, 2010
The well-being of young people has been on my mind a great deal. It’s no surprise . I’ve been working hard on my new book for LDS families to use with their kids age 10 and up, Chased by an Elephant , the gospel truth about today’s stampeding sexuality, which is in the final stage and will be in print before the month is out. As I’ve chosen every word and every sentence and every chapter, as I’ve gathered hundreds of references, as I’ve worked with experts and artists and editors, my anxious thoughts have been, parents have to know this, They have to teach it to their children. How will they know the truth in this bizarre, misguided world unless we teach them?
I was enjoying a Saturday off concerning the book, having left it in the hands of final proofreaders, when my husband Steve ran across the news that the annual “Queer Prom” was being held at the Salt Lake City Library at 8 p.m. that night, sponsored by the Utah [Gay] Pride Center. When he mentioned that 14 to 20- year-olds were the age group invited, he had my full attention. Since when are there dances, gay or straight, for both minors and adults? To make it worse, this was not a traditional prom. A traditional prom is based not on sexuality but on traditional gender roles, kids modeling male/female pairing off in a social setting. This particular dance was being held solely based not on nature and tradition but on the attendees’ anomalistic ideas about gender, sexuality, and sex. Images of 14, 15, and 16-year-olds flashed in my mind. Just kids. Immature, inexperienced, kids, not grown up by any stretch of the imagination.
First I called the Salt Lake City Library. No help at all. Then the police department to see if
anything illegal was going on. (No, because there would be no alcohol.) It was Saturday so there was no one at the Mayor’s office. I left a message. Then I called the Gay Pride Center. I talked to a receptionist who said she wasn’t “at liberty” to discuss the prom. I asked her why she wasn’t allowed to express her opinion and she got flustered. The only option I was given was to leave a message on a machine. A while later, Lily Rodriguez, the HIV Prevention Coordinator, who told me she was heavily involved with the youth and youth programs at Utah Pride Center, called me back.
We here at SoL don’t usually engage homosexual activists, but the thought of minor teens being exposed to perverse adult sexuality filled me with righteous indignation. We had a lively discussion. I thought it was bizarre how she insisted the prom and their other youth programs there at the Center were not about sex or sexuality, but making friends, while at the same time she has no problem encouraging kids to embrace alternative sexual identities. (Is it possible that she might actually believe that a person’s sexual identity has nothing to do with his sexuality, as if being gay is like being left-handed. just a harmless niche to fit into? If so, she is delusional. Hello. It’s about sex. That’s all it’s about. Kids know it. Everybody knows it.) She got very upset when I mentioned that male homosexual behavior includes sodomy which the human body does not safely accommodate (condom or not), which causes all manner of chronic health problems and spreads diseases. Her prudish reaction seemed doubly strange since she is the HIV Prevention Counselor and ought to be an expert on this very topic. She finally lashed out that heterosexuals engage in sodomy, too, and I said that decent people certainly do not. (She really wasn’t comfortable with the distasteful word sodomy. I guess she prefers to call it anal sex.) Her main argument in favor of the Queer Prom was that “gay” kids get teased at school. She had countless “studies” off the top of her head to prove her point. I say, who needs studies to know that kids are teased in junior high for any and everything? One of my sons had thick glasses and got punched regularly. My other son was the target of a group of mean girls who sent him anonymous love letters, threatened with swirlies, told at a Church youth activity that he didn’t have the “equipment” to fill a jock strap, and one snowy day got brutally whitewashed by two bullies in the presence of his first girl friend. A daughter endured an 8th grade class the target of the some nasty boys’ endless lewd comments. And that’s just a few off the top of my head. Luckily, my kids didn’t know about Utah Pride Center youth programs where peer abuse is used as fuel for the homosexual agenda.
I asked Ms. Rodriguez if 14-year-olds might be dancing with 20-year-olds at the prom. She said, yes, that was a possibility, but that they had hired policemen and chaperones who made sure there was no “heavy making out.” (From this I gather that light making out between adults and children is acceptable.) She said they had never had any problems with minors being molested or seduced or leaving the dance with adults which left me wondering how she could know that with any certainty at all. Anybody minding the rest rooms?
Steve and I sent out a news release and took a drive to the Salt Lake City Library. No, protesting is not our style, we told the reporter from Channel 4 who called after we sent out the news release. (Maybe he was hoping to liven up his story.) It was an otherwise lovely evening and we sat a distance away on the amphitheater steps and observed for about an hour and a half. It looked to us like about 400 people attended the event.
The first thing we noticed was that in the big courtyard outside the entrance the kids were being asked by several, well-distributed, official-looking adults with badges and clip boards to fill out a lengthy survey. At this point they were not asked their age, nor did they show identification. Many of them sat down and poured over the survey for up to an hour before going into the building. More on that later. The next thing we noticed was that there were indeed many very young teens attending the dance. We saw what looked like same sex junior high kids holding hands and skipping to the entrance, taking photos of each other with their cell phones. It seemed to us that the youngest kids were dressed most normally, and that the older the attendees looked, the more outrageously they dressed. A masquerade ball comes to mind. We saw one male adult attendee milling around and introducing himself where the kids were filling out their surveys. He wore 6-inch platform women’s strappy heels, a spaghetti-strap short black flowy dress, continually adjusted his falsies and flourished a big Japanese fan. He was one of several very old looking 20-year-olds, more like 30. (I asked a young girl who was sitting next to her emaciated friend who was dressed like Minnie Mouse, complete with mouse ears – how’s that . . . a girl in Mickey Mouse ears and a man in drag at the same dance?) what the survey was about and she answered matter-of-factly with a sweet young voice and smile, “It’s just asking about our schools and discrimination and stuff.” Steve and I realized that this dance was not just to provide “a safe place to make friends” as Ms. Rodriguez indicated. It was to gather sexuality-based data from trusting kids in order to support and further their agenda.
We asked for a survey and brought one home. On the front page it explains that the survey is about finding out “how common offensive and hate-based language” and “other types of harrassment” are at their school. It gives them the name of a worker who is present at the dance whom they can talk to privately about “their experiences in school, particularly experience of feeling unsafe or being harrassed.” Ms. Rodrigez failed to mention this 15-page survey that asked underage kids explicit questions about sexuality, leading them to label themselves some alternative sexual orientation. They were to circle one of these seven (!) choices: “Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer, Questioning, Straight/Heterosexual, and Other.”
Other? They may mean transgender or transexual, but what about orientations toward bestiality and pedophelia ? If an attendee put one or more of those down on the blank line provided next to “Other, please write in your response” would the Center treat those sexual orientations with tolerance and respect, too? (Ms. Rodrigues did admit to me that she believes in some degree of right and wrong. Evidently, the Utah Pride Center is the new moral authority for human sex and sexuality.)
The survey also asked explicit questions about the attendees’ sexual behaviors:
“In the past six months, have you had anal sex without a condom?”
“In the past six months, have you had vaginal sex without a condom (or other safer sex barrier)?” “In the past six months, have you had oral sex without a condom or dental dam?”
(You may wonder if they ever tell kids that sex is actually only safe between a faithful married husband and wife. The answer is undoubtedly no.)
The last page informs the kids that they have become activists: “YOU ARE FABULOUS! From this survey, we will combine everyone’s answers and share the information with important organizations, including schools. This will help bring more support to LGBTQ youth in Utah. By participating in this survey you have helped to strengthen support to LGBTQ youth! Thank you!”
It seems Ms. Rodriguez misrepresented this event, and we found this out without even going inside the building.
The reporter from Channel 4, with a quizzical, rather condescending look on his face, asked us why we were so concerned about something that was legal. My answer was that there are plenty of things our society allows that are not good or right or healthy, such as adultery, pornography, needless abortion, publicizing one’s perverse sexual orientation, and exposing children to sexual material, propaganda, and adults who feel few or no limitations on their sexual behavior. Too many people are forgetting that decent people are also free to stand against these things. In fact, we are obligated.
In my conversation with Lily Rodriguez she added that the Center also welcomes what they call “questioning” youth, those who are uncertain about their sexual preferences. I asked her if the adult “counselors” (she told me she works with youth every day) ever mention to a “questioning” young person that they may not be “gay” at all, (just young, bored, hormonal, confused, preoccupied, addicted to porn, depressed, rejected, heartbroken, sexually abused, etc.) and she changed the subject. Well, I’m questioning Utah Pride Center. It’s about time somebody questioned this problematic organization. What business do these sexual activists have messing with young kids? And the hackneyed answer, “parents aren’t doing their job” is no defense. There is no excuse for sexual activists exploiting other people’s children. It’s just none of their business.
Queer Prom, a place to find new friends? Perhaps, but its main purposes are to further the activist agenda by suggesting and gathering self-serving information to fuel propaganda and support legislation, by throwing kids together with adult gays, and by encouraging younger and younger kids to experiment, label themselves something other than heterosexual, and become activists themselves.
As Tammy Bruce (a self-determined lesbian herself) said, “I believe this grab for children by the sexually confused adults of the Gay Elite represents the most serious problem facing our culture today.” (The Death of Right and Wrong, 2003).
Watch for my new book!
-Janice Graham
Following is the news release we sent out.
Both Adults and Children Invited to Attend “Queer Prom” at Salt Lake City Library
Standard of Liberty
Contact: Stephen Graham, 801-830-8418, www.standardofliberty.org
Standard of Liberty (SoL) has learned that the Salt Lake City has authorized a “Queer Prom” held at the Salt Lake City Library, and has done so for several years. This year’s prom is being held tonight (April 10, 2010), from 8 p.m. to midnight. Young people ages 14 to 20 are invited. The theme, chosen by the youth organizers at the Utah Pride Center is “I’m Coming Out.” The main concern SoL has is with the age range. While 18 to 20-year-olds are legally adults, 14, 15, 16, and 17-year-olds are minors. The prom puts vulnerable children into a romantic pairing-off situation on equal footing with adults.
Lily Rodriguez at Utah Pride Center assured Janice Graham of the Standard of Liberty that hired policemen and adult chaperones would be making sure there was no “heavy making out.” When asked if a 14-year-old could possibly be dancing with a 20-year-old, she replied in the affirmative, adding that the atmosphere was only “social” and not sexual.
Because traditional high school dances and proms are understood as events which place opposite sexes in a somewhat romantic setting, SoL cannot help wondering why Rodriguez insisted that youth come to the Queer Prom to make friends rather than to experience physical attraction. If so, why have a dance where couples pair off and engage in full body contact, as in, dance?
Rodriguez did admit to Graham that it was possible that 20-year-olds would dance with 14-year-olds at the prom. This situation points out the danger of a great difference in maturity, and possibly sexual experience, between ninth graders and adults of college age.
SoL calculates that, with homosexuals estimated at 2 per cent of the population, homosexual child sexual abuse is 23 times more prevalent than heterosexual child sexual abuse (see traditionalvalues.org/urban/one.php (Freund, K. “Pedophilia and Heterosexuality vs. Homosexuality,” Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 1984; 10:193-200)). SoL is concerned with the often sexually preoccupied and predatory nature of homosexual behavior, for instance, older males initiating younger males, another term for which could be pedophelia.
SoL submits that there is no such thing as a “gay” child or teen, and that organizations like Utah Gay Pride purposely targets confused and vulnerable youth and encourages them to label themselves the fabricated “gay” identity. The use of same-sex pornography is often involved in this decision. Rodriguez’s only defending argument was that “gay” teens are bullied and rejected., causing suicidality. Graham’s reply was that many children are teased and rejected by their peers for countless reasons, but healthy children do not become suicidal merely because they are not accepted by everybody. They keep working at growing up and dealing with real life. Dr. A. Dean Byrd points out, “Studies repeatedly demonstrate that each year a young person postpones labeling themselves as “homosexual” reduces the likelihood of suicidal attempts by 20 %. (Remafedi, J. A. Farrow, R.W. Deisher, “Risk Factors for Attempted Suicide in Gay and Bisexual Youth,” Pediatrics, 87, 1991: 869-875.)
Whether this were a gay or straight prom, it seems grossly irresponsible of the city of Salt Lake and of Utah Pride Center to allow and organize events that throw children with adults together as equally mature in an obviously romantic setting. Rodriguez assured Graham that minors and adults leaving the dance together has never been a problem, but SoL wonders how she can accurately make this statement.
SoL notes from their web site that Utah Gay Pride Center has many planned events for 14 to 20-year-olds, including movie nights, ice cream parties, barbecues, and tubing where they “learn how to be healthy and powerful young gay/bi men by talking about safe sex and healthy relationships.” It sounds to SoL like the Center is promoting sexual behavior for young teens, not just dancing.
SoL concedes that perhaps Rodriquez, along with many others, is an unwitting product of indoctrination (for the most part she conversed in memorized talking points), buying into the gay victim mentality which she has been taught trumps all sense of propriety.
SoL believes that gay-affirming groups and organizations that target minors are at the worst, predatory, and at the least, misguided.
–Stephen Graham
Standard of Liberty is an LDS-oriented educational foundation which exists to raise awareness of radical sexual movements overrunning America's Christian-moral-cultural life and to inspire the public will, families, and individuals to counteract these trends.
Please note: Our view of homosexuality and the like does not include rejection or condemnation of individuals, nor is it about acceptance and praise for unnatural and unhealthy sexual identification and behaviors. We promote hope and help in preventing, understanding, and overcoming sexual problems.
Utah Liberalized Sex Education Bill
Dies Silent Death
February 27, 2010
We want to report to you on the positive outcome of the misguided effort to liberalize Utah’s sex education law. The short story is that the bill died in committee. The Utah State PTA and Planned Parenthood had worked with legislators to write the bill. Planned Parenthood even sent an email calling it their bill and declaring victory. One of our friends sent us a copy of the email and you can read it here. We sent out an email encouraging all of you to call the members of the education committee and ask them to vote against the bill. After our email was sent out, we received emails and phone calls from PTA officers telling us how wrong we were, and that we should let them correct our understanding. We declined, and watched support for the bill erode as people found out what the bill really was about. Apparently many of you called and wrote, along with others from various groups. We hear that the legislators on the committee were flooded with calls, letters and emails over the weekend of Feb. 19-21. Some even went to the committee members’ homes to talk to them in person.
When the education committee met on February 22, the sponsor of the bill had prepared a new bill as a substitute for his original bill. Apparently he had received so much flak about it that he felt he needed to rewrite it. He presented the substitute bill for a motion to consider it in the committee, but not one of the legislators on the committee would even move that they take it up. No Republican or Democrat would look at the bill. The chairman of the committee, after eight minutes of silence, seeing no motion to take up the bill, then called for a motion to adjourn. He finally got that motion and the hearing was adjourned. Those on our side rejoiced. Those on the sex education liberalization side sat in stunned silence.
Afterward, we were told by some of the legislators on the committee that because of the overwhelming opposition to the bill they had received in calls and letters, they dared not vote for it. So, when the substitute bill was proposed, they just didn’t let it be heard. And that was that.
You can read the Deseret News article which reported on the hearing. If you wish, you may call committee members and thank them for letting the bill die. You can find their phone numbers on the email we sent, or in the article right below the Tony Perkins report.
Our thanks to all who took the time to call or write.
-Stephen Graham
Now, here’s another story you should know about.
Tony Perkins Dis-invited to Give Patriotic Speech at Air Base Luncheon
Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Counsel, was invited to give a patriotic talk to a voluntary prayer luncheon at Andrews Air Force Base. In another speech Perkins had expressed support for the current law which makes homosexuals ineligible for service in the military. After being told of that speech, the Andrews Air base chaplains’ office rescinded the invitation for Perkins to speak. They said his ideas were incompatible for military members who serve the President, and that some who had planned to attend were “uncomfortable.” So, now if you speak in favor of existing law which supports traditional sexual morality and happens to be opposed by the President, you are uninvited to speak at a voluntary prayer luncheon. Read the Washington Times article. Also, you can read the AFA blog post by Bryan Fischer. Some say they are going to contact the Andrews Air Force Base public relations office to complain, call for an investigation, and to demand that Tony Perkins be re-invited to speak. If you wish to make your voice heard you can call the base operator at 301-981-1110 and ask for public affairs. They will take your call and report your concerns.
Sex Education Amendments bill liberalizes Utah's sex education law
February 6, 2010
If you live in Utah, here’s something you can do to support traditional moral values being taught in our schools. Call the members of the Senate Education Committee and ask them to vote against the bill S.B. 54, Health Education Amendments.Utah’s current sex education law requires school districts to teach an abstinence-based or abstinence-only curriculum. Teachers are not allowed to get into details of contraception or sexual techniques, nor advocate homosexuality.You should know Utah is in 45th place for teen pregnancies (it would be 49th place if they didn’t count married teens, such as 19-year-olds) and 50th place for sexually transmitted diseases among teens. But you wouldn’t it know from listening to the bill’s supporters, who say we are in a crisis situation relative to teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. What the bill does is require all school districts in Utah to provide "comprehensive" sex education. Beware of the word comprehensive; it means they teach all types of sex as morally equivalent, including homosexuality. It also means your children will be taught all about sexuality and contraception. The especially bad part of the bill is the devious opt-out provision. That means students will automatically be taught the comprehensive sex curriculum unless parents sign a document to opt their students out of the teaching. School administrators know that most parents won’t opt out, so they are pretty confident they will be able to indoctrinate most students in their liberal sexual ideologies. This bill essentially throws out our current law which supports traditional moral values. Click here to read the text of the bill.
Listed below are the members of the Senate Education Committee. We urge you to call one or all and ask them to vote against S.B. 54, Health Education Amendments. The phone number for the Senate is (801) 538-1035. Just call and ask for the Senator by name and they will connect you to his or her office.
Sen. Curtis S. Bramble, Chair
Sen. Margaret Dayton
Sen. Brent H. Goodfellow
Sen. Lyle W. Hillyard
Sen. Scott K. Jenkins
Sen. Karen W. Morgan
Sen. Howard A. Stephenson
Experience shows that phone calls from constituents are effective in influencing some legislators’ votes. So, please make that call and let your voice be heard.
--Stephen Graham
Stephen & Janice Graham on K-Talk Radio
Stephen & Janice Graham discussed the proposed revision of Utah's sex education statute, and their next book, Chased by an Elephant: The Gospel Truth About Today's Stampeding Sexuality. Click here to listen to the 40-minute podcast of the 1-23-2010 radio program
Salt Lake City Anti-discrimination Ordinance Is A Step On The Slippery Slope
For immediate release. November 11, 2009
Stephen Graham, President of Standard of Liberty, released the following statement on the Salt Lake City Anti-discrimination ordinance passed by the city council on November 10, 2009.
"Standard of Liberty opposes the new Salt Lake City anti-discrimination ordinance It is misguided and just plain wrong. It essentially adds “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the list of the usual items upon which unlawful discrimination decisions are based.
They say it’s not about the gays and lesbians, but it actually is, or they would not have used the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” A city committee "studied" and “found” that only one group was being discriminated against - GLBT. So, yes it is about the gays and lesbians. The committee was looking for examples of discrimination based on people’s sexuality, and sure enough, they found what they were looking for. And “fairness” demanded that the discrimination be remedied.
“Sexual orientation” and “Gender Identity” are bogus concepts. They were only recently devised to legitimize perverse sexual inclinations and activities and make them equivalent to God-given, proper sexuality. They say everyone has a “sexual orientation”and a “gender identity.” But to accept that idea is to accept the idea that any approach to sexuality is normal and natural, that there are any number of sexual approaches, that nothing is inappropriate, and that there is no ideal sexuality. Anything that provides the slightest accommodation and encouragement of sexuality gone wrong is detrimental to the people involved and to society as a whole.
This is indeed a slippery slope. To pass this ordinance is governmental recognition, acceptance, accommodation and protection of an extortion of appropriate sexuality that has been recognized and understood as perverse for millenia. Only in the last few decades has homosexualism made progress in overturning the understanding of the ages. After this ordinance is in place for a time will come pressure to give governmental and societal recognition to those involved in perverse sexual relationships - civil unions or domestic partnerships or whatever name they choose. After that comes the push to just go ahead and give those relationships marriage-like societal and governmental advantages - even though they do not benefit society. The benefit that marriage provides civil society is the reason for encouraging marriage by giving advantages to those involved in marriage. Then, when we're used to those marriage-like relationships, they will insist that all such relationships should be included in marriage. So, yes the new ordinance is a step down the slippery slope in the subverting of our culture. To say it is not a threat to marriage is to deny the facts and to ignore the ulterior motives of homosexualists.
It is not a matter of rights. It’s a matter of right vs. wrong. There is no constitutional right to a specific home or a specific job. This may sound harsh, but there is actually no right to have a roof over your head, nor is there a right to work without being discriminated against. Discrimination happens all the time in housing and employment. If one wants a particular house, but can’t afford it, or doesn’t have the proper credit rating, for example, the seller won’t let the buyer have the house. That’s discrimination. The buyer doesn’t have the right to that house, so he goes and finds another one. A person’s job may require that they wear a certain style of clothing in the place of business, say casual business clothes. But what if the person prefers to wear jeans and a t-shirt? That’s discrimination. If he doesn’t like the dress code, he can find another job. He doesn’t have a right to that job. But sexual activists want to have their way, and think they do have a right to anything they want, solely based on the sex they practice. There is no guarantee of happiness, only the right to pursue happiness. Things may not work out the way you want; life is tough. So, toughen up and get on with it.
The federal government has decided that unlawful discrimination involves race, color, religion, sex and national origin. If Salt Lake City wants everyone to be protected from discrimination, then say “everyone,” don’t single out sexuality as a basis for your protection. By doing so you are actually admitting that you aren’t about everyone, only those of a particular sexuality.
No one of natural male-female sexual attraction would ever complain of being discriminated against in housing or employment. Only one who is blatantly activist about their sexual perversions would ever publicly disclose matters concerning their private sexual activities.
People suffering from GLBT troubles do not need governmental accommodation and special protections, they need help in overcoming their flawed sexual propensities. Neither homosexuality, bisexualism, multigenderism, transgenderism, nor any -ism perversion of appropriate sexuality should ever be the basis of special protections by the government. They should be encouraged to get help.
As Judge Robert Bork has said, when incompatible ideas compete in society, one will be favored and one will be harmed. The Salt Lake City mayor and city council have not done the great good they were proclaiming the new ordinance will accomplish. They have actually done great harm. Standard of Liberty calls on them to rescind the ordinance, and also calls on the state legislature to resist the inevitable pressure to follow Salt Lake City's actions."
--Stephen Graham, sgraham@standardofliberty.org
Dr. Dan Reviews No Going Back
No Going Back
By Jonathan Langford, Zarahelma Books (2009)
Reviewed by Daniel E. Byrne, Ph. D.
October 15, 2009
This book was forwarded to me for review. The endorsers, none of whom appear to have any credentials in human sexuality, child or gender development include: Gerald Argetsinger, associate professor of performing arts, Rochester Institute of Technology, former artistic director of the LDS Church's Hill Cumorah Pageant; Ty Mansfield coauthor of In Quiet Desperation:Understanding the Challenge of Same-GenderAttraction (Deseret Book, 2004); William Morris, founder of the Mormon arts and culture blog A Motley Vision; Linda Hunter Adams, former director of the BYU Humanities Publications Center, past president of the Association of Mormon Letters; Clark Draney, associate professor of English, College of Southern Idaho; Rex Goode, social worker and webmaster for Latter-Day Sexual Recovery; Thomas F. Rogers, playwright and BYU professor emeritus; Steven C Walker, BYU English professor.
After a careful reading of the book, I decided that it was not deserving of a formal review because it was not the "realistic novel" purported by the publisher--not even close to the claimed "mirror" needed by society. Rather the book is a political treatise, which seems based on the author’s ideology, an ideology tainted with gay activism directed at children and adolescents.
"Gay" children and adolescents do not exist---only frightened children who experience gender confusion. Even labeling children "gay" sexualizes them---an egregious error in the grandest proportion. Further, good science has determined that such labels lead to sexual experiences as well as depression and suicidality.
Both the author and the publisher seem as unsophisticated in what science can and cannot say about homosexuality as they are steeped in gay activism as highlighted by framing the entire book around GSA school clubs (which are instigated by GLSEN) and the rhetoric of PFLAG.
What is even more disturbing is that this assault on children is viewed as some kind of compassion as they (the author and publisher) seem to solicit parents and church leaders as their accomplices. What mother would tease her gender-confused son with notions that he might bring a boyfriend home? What bishop would encourage or permit a 15 year-old boy who has had sexual involvement with another boy and who has engaged in masturbation and homosexual pornography to "counsel" with a 12 year-old, gender-confused young boy? And alone!
And the publisher's agenda? The publisher thinks that the Church's stand on homosexuality places it "in future danger of being ruined just like it would have been ruined had we continued with polygamy." The homosexuality-polygamy analogy has never worked, and frankly it's a bit worn. Still, the publisher feels a need to admonish the Brethren. He concludes, "On gay issues, we need to take as soft an approach as we can without losing our identity."
Certainly, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, is anything but soft--it's a bold statement for all to hear on the importance of gender and the proper role of sexuality in the lives of all of God's children.
Perhaps the best way to review this book is to allow the quotes to speak for themselves.
Therefore, below I have cited quotes directly from the book with a few comments in parentheses. In addition, I have bolded selected quotes to highlight the author/publisher's activist agenda.
Page 1, first sentence: “Paul had no intention of telling Chad that he was gay.” (Paul is an adolescent! No adolescent knows who he or she is. Everything is fluid, especially sexuality.)
Page 2. “Paul had absolutely had no romantic feelings about Chad.”
Page 4. “Shut up, you faggot!” Chad roared.” (Such statements are dispersed throughout the book to set up the homophobia argument.)
Page 7. “Paul’s a fag. My best friend is a faggot. So what are you gonna do about it?”
Page 11. “A lot of gays say they’re born that way. I don’t know. I can’t believe God would create someone gay. But then, I can’t believe that God would create someone handicapped or psychopathic, either.” (This makes a case for the born-that-way argument by first creating a question and then adding "evidence" that does not support the question. It's not so dissimilar from the same-sex marriage argument where an individual will say that marriage should be between a man and a woman but same-sex couples should be allowed to be married, too!)
Page 13. “Dad, I’m gay.” “Dad, I got a girl pregnant.” “Dad, I blew up a school.”
Page 33. “Let’s look it up in For the Strength of Youth” bit. You know, just to make sure I knew, absolutely one hundred percent, that having sex with guys is not allowed.”
Page 37. “But you do get crushes on boys …” “Mom! Just some of the guys at school, okay . . . “ You want to surprise your mom when you bring home your first boy friend.”
Page 38. “But when I’m lonely and wish there was some one I could be with to make the loneliness go away, it’s guys that I think about.” (This is a classical case of a young boy who is struggling with gender issues--not sexual ones. He is concerned about gender---what it means to be a boy.)
Page 40. “Paul, blushing, admitted that he’d noticed some boys were cute back in seventh grade. He had not realized what it meant, though, until eighth grade health class.” (His eighth grade health class interpreted his attractions for him with a questionaire?) “Maybe she should have stayed together with Frank. Having a dad in the home might have helped. As soon as she thought it though, her mind rebelled. That’s not theway it works, Barbara you know that.”
“Paul would have a hard life. A lot of things he said he wanted---mission, family, activity in the Church---would be possible only if he could ignore some of his own deepest instincts.” (Such statements are typically made to engender sympathy while at the same time, making a case for homosexuality being hard-wired, i. e., "deepest instincts.")
Page 43. “You totally should come to GSA. It’s all about tolerance, which is a goodthing." (GSA is not about tolerance---it's about indoctrination---clearly observable throughout this book.)
Page 47. “Somehow, Paul had wound up on the committee to do posters about AIDS statistics and safe behavior.” (Where sexual behavior is concerned, there is no such thing as "safe" behavior—the only safe behavior is abstinence.)
Page 48. “…couple of pen pals he’d picked up at a gay-teen website.”
Page 49. “He was gay and they were gay---or rather, some were gay and the rest were gay-friendly.”
Page 50. “Girls think it’s a compliment when a boy thinks they’re cute, even if it’s not someone they want to go out with. I don’t see why guys can’t treat it the same way.”
Page 51. “Apparently one of the club leaders had a list of gay-related events in the Portland area… Paul felt more comfortable jumping in this time…he was a member of the group… Paul felt so good about GSA that he decided it would be a good time to let his mom know. So that evening at the dinner, he introduced the topic…it’s okay mom. Nobody knows I’m gay.” (Inviting an adolescent who is experiencing gender confusion to participate in gay-related events is inexcusable.)
Page 61. “ Reading about depression and suicide rates, the risk of AIDs, and other challenges facing gay teens…the reality of having a gay son had not sunk in.”
“Barbara flipped over the brochure. On the back was stamped an announcement for a local support group for parents, family and friends of gays and lesbians. I guess if they have a club at school for supporting gay kids, it makes sense that they’d have organizations for family members as well.”
Page 68. “Paul liked going to GSA. He liked the people---well a lot of them any way… And Paul had something in common with them, or a lot of them, at least---being gay. He liked being around other people who shared that part of himself, even if they didn’t know he was that way.” (Gay is a part of who he is?)
Page 77. Regarding the PFLAG group, “…seemed to be talking about ways that homosexuals and lesbians could be accepted better by society. No one seemed to have a problem with the idea that their children were that way…”
Page 81. “But I do know what it is like to have a son-in-law, someone I have come to love like my son call me in tears to say that he’s gay and he and my daughter will be getting a divorce because he can’t live a lie anymore.”
Page 83. “Yeah, sure he’s gay. Big deal.”
Page 92. “The world’s full of gay people… Portland is full of gay people. Sometimes it seems like half the people I work with are gay people…”
Page 95. “So I guess it’s a sign of equality that there’s a gay dating reality program on TV. So we should be happy about it.”
Page 102. “Paul squeezed lightly and felt Jake’s arm tighten in response. Slowly, the other boy lowered his forehead until it was resting against Paul’s shoulder. Feeling Jake tremble against him, Paul experienced a sudden surge of---affection, or maybe protectiveness—toward him.
It wasn’t until then that Paul noticed his own erection. It didn’t seem to him that what he was feeling had very much to do with sex, though. Instead, it just seemed like a natural side effect of being close to someone. Another boy…”
Page 105. “You’re gay—you want a boyfriend, don’t you?”(Blatant propaganda.)
Page 106. “Denying who you are. Trying not to be gay when you are gay.” (Blatant propaganda.)
Page 108. “The way I see it marriage is this kind of a bargain. Guys get sex, and womenget help raising kids.”
“So why do you come to GSA anyway, if you think you’re so much better than all the other gay kids there?”
“But you think being gay is wrong and everyone else should pretend they aren’t gay the way you are trying to do.”
Page 108.“As for why I came to GSA---At first it was because I was curious, and because you dragged me out. I kept on coming because you’re my friends.”(This section could be labeled the seduction of young men by GSA's. A young gender confused, curious boy is dragged to GSA and finds "friends," who encourage him to accept a gay identity--such labels encourage acting out--and an older boy does the initiation into the world of homosexual behavior.)
Page 112. “Fine. Anyway, welcome to the warm and confidential enfolding arms of GSA, as Ms. Allington never fails to remind us. You planning to come out to the whole school?’
“So you are really gay.”
“I don’t think anybody’s asked me that before. Well, except my mother, when I told her,”
“How did she take it?”
“She was great. Even started teasing me about cute boys.”
Page 113.“Whatever floats your boat. It’s like…some gay guys are cross-dressers. You know, they like to dress up like girls. …But hell it’s their thing, so whatever…” (Misguided tolerance—whatever makes you feel good.)
Page 114. “So GSA helps you feel more comfortable with who you are.”
“Yeah. The non-Mormon parts at least. It’s a relief, getting to spend time around people where I am not a weirdo, just because I’m attracted to guys.”
Page 115.“If the damn faggots would just keep their dicks out of each other’s butts therewouldn’t be any AIDs.”(pornographic, shock value—building a case for homophobia.)
“Geez you are ignorant.”
Page 117. “There is a word for people like you….homophobic.”
Page 118. “I thought I had this really cool, tolerant friend. But I don’t. He was just faking it.”(The message is, if you do not accept everything I do, then you can’t accept me.)
Page 119. “I don’t care about character development either. Just so long as the guys are hot.”
Page 120. “You asked one time what I get out of GSA. It’s this kind of thing. Being able to sit around and talk about, you know which guys I think are hot, just like its normal.”
(A purpose of a school club?)
Page 124. “And what did you expect, when you agreed to look at porn with Jared?”
Page 126. “Bit by bit, the story came out” (the beginning of the grooming process).
Page 127. How Paul had started spending time with Jared, a junior he’d met in the gay-straight club at school….they’d been over at Jared’s house, looking at some pictures of hot guys…then he asked if I wanted to look at some porn…and things had proceeded from there…had hands gone underneath clothes? Um, yeah. Had the other boy’s hands touched Paul’s sex organs? Yes. Had it happened again?
Yeah. “
Page 128. “Yeah, I think it’s going to happen again.”
“And suddenly in his mind’s eye [Richard the bishop] he saw a different scene. Paul, head still down shaking the bishop’s hand and walking out of his office. Paul going into the house where he and his mother lived. Paul opening the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, pouring pills from a bottle into his open hand, swallowing again and again…” (A misinformed bishop misses the notion that such behavior is associated with labeling.)
Page 133.“I did stuff with Jared, that guy from GSA….”Geez Paul! What the fuh—I mean, why the hell did you do that”…’Cause I was dumb. And horny.”
Page 135. “At one point Jared had stuck his hands down Paul’s pants. He worried for a minute that he might have gone too far, but the other boy hadn’t objected.”
Page 143. “To her surprise, she realized that the two of them being together in a closed room didn’t bother her. I guess I really do know that Paul isn’t going to turn my son gay.”(More "evidence" for biology---individuals can’t be influenced to engage in homosexual activity—that’s just the way they are?)
Page 144. “Look, you don’t have any friends that’re gay besides the people you know in GSA, right?”
Page 148. “GSA isn’t just about being gay. It’s just…a group that’s about treating people right. Like putting a stop to bullying, and not disrespecting other people just because they’re different.”
Page 158. “Students who participate are silent all day to protest the silencing of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people.”
Page 160. “The church tells me I can’t be happy if I do stuff with other guys. Most of the people of GSA would say I can’t be happy unless I follow my feelings.”
“He tried not to think about it, but that stuff had felt really, really good while it was happening.”(The author fails to understand that a physiological response to sexual stimulation simply means that your body is working; it makes no judgement on the behavior.)
Page 165. “ … Barbara supposed that as a Mormon, she ought to be horrified by the thought of two men or two women marrying. Really, though, she found it hard to work up much indignation about the issue . . . it really didn’t seem any stranger than teenagers with eyebrow piercings and blue hair… Part of her was simply happy that gays would have the opportunity to be in relationships that were acknowledged by society.” (Homosexual behavior is not really a moral issue---it’s kind of like blue hair and eyebrow piercings?)
Page 167. “Over the years, Richard [the bishop] had become convinced---from his observations and from hearing some gays talk about their relationships—that there was real, true love in some homosexual relationships.” (The bishop might want to read from "True to the Faith"---where The First Presidency declares that homosexuality "distorts loving relationships and prevents people from receiving blessings that can be found in family life and the saving ordinances of the gospel.")
Page 168. “”And we can truly see the signs of the times and the hold that Satan has upon the people, just like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.”
“Really, Trevor you need to get at least one guy interested in you before you start fantasizing about orgies.”
Page 176. “…Paul had learned how to navigate through gym showers and getting dressed without letting his gaze---or his mind---linger on the naked bodies around him.”
Page 185. “It’s one thing to accept and be sympathetic about the boy’s efforts to live a gospel life….It’s another thing to accept homosexuality itself…homosexuality is a perversion. The more space and sympathy we give it, the more we treat it like a normal part of everyday life, something you can talk about openly in a club at high school no less, the more ground we yield up to Satan You don’t go any good to your young man if you water down the message of the Lord and his prophets and the scriptures on the subject.”
Page 186. (The bishop ignores the above counsel from his father-in-law, reasoning that the young man “didn’t need to hear that he was evil or wrong or perverted.")
Page 195. “It’s all about tolerance and acceptance, speaking out so other people don’t have to suffer in silence.” (No, it’s about indoctrination. It’s about intimidating those with whom you disagree. It’s about acceptance of a lifestyle.)
Page 197. “Everyone thinks about the times their own group was persecuted. No one likes to admit that persecution happens to other groups as well. At least, not to groups they don’t like.” (Another assault on the Church with a comparison between the early days of the Church's persecution and the "acceptance of homosexuality.")
“Everyone who claims to be participating in the Day of Silence will receive a zero for class participation today if I see you talking here or anywhere else in the school.” (Forcing the Day of Silence and persecuting those who do not follow some preconceived expectation.)
Page 201. “…Mrs. Alder seemed offended that most of them weren’t observing the Day of Silence. She spent the whole time talking about persecution and intolerance and AIDS and how homosexuals had been an oppressed minority in Western Civilization.”
Page 217. “…I know that’s the way I am, and I know it’s probably not going to change in this life.” (More propaganda---the message is “you are born gay.”)
Page 218. “I think we are all concerned about this choice you’re making to please your family and your church by trying to change who you are.” (The message is “you are born gay.”)
Page 221. “Yeah! Paul’s such a perfect Mormon, he doesn’t want to get involved. Doesn’t want everyone to know that he’s a faggot too, just like he was telling us at GSA two weeks ago.”
Page 233. “So what about fags? Gays, I mean? Are they allowed to serve missions?”
“Whether someone is attracted to other males or to females is irrelevant, if they’re worthy to go on a mission.”
Page 246. “Not that I’m certain I’ll be able to get married anyway. What with being gay and all.”
Page 247. “Patriarchal blessing….no mention of kids or being married.”
“It’s a fag couple I see… don’t bend over he’ll…”
Page 260. “So what’s this about you being homosexual?...Hesitantly, Paul admitted that he was attracted to guys…But I am committed to following my church’s teaching. That means not living a homosexual lifestyle…but you are part of the gay-straight club at school….That isn’t about being homosexual. It’s about being tolerant.” (The beginning of an attack on the Boy Scouts.)
Page 261. “…horrible campout when he was thirteen and had gotten diarrhea. He’d run out of underpants and Chad had loaned him an extra pair. Later, he’d found out that Chad wasn’t wearing any himself. When Paul called him a pervert, he shrugged, ‘I kind of like it,’ he’d said. Maybe I’ll go like this from now on.”
“You don’t think people’ll think is weird for a seventh grader to be stripping in the bathroom? People can see under the stalls, you know. And what if someone sees you carrying your underpants around in your backpack?”
Page 262. “They didn’t pass me…Cause I’m known to be a homosexual. That makes me a bad example of Boy Scout values.”(Continuing attack on the Boy Scouts).
Page 262. “”I’m not a good example of the Boy Scouts. Because people know I’m gay and because I was involved with the GSA.”
Page 266. “The scout oath says that boys have a duty to be physically strong mentally awake, and morally straight. Boy Scouts of America takes the position that being morally straight means not homosexual. That’s a position the Mormon Church has always supported. Seems pretty odd for a Mormon to be asking for an exception to that rule.” (An attack on both the Boy Scouts and the Mormon Church.)
Page 268. “They didn’t want me. Just because I am attracted to guys.”
Page 269. “I am like ten seconds from calling the paramedics if you don’t hand over that fuh---that damn pill bottle.”
Page 271. A 12 year-old boy is now introduced and he tells the bishop, “I’m gay…like Paul.” The boy had read “For the Strength of Youth and the part about same-gender attraction.”
In response to the bishop’s inquiry “What makes you think you might be same-gender attracted,” the 12-year old boy responds, “”I—um, get all horny when I see boys who aren’t wearing shirts and stuff, like when we play shirts and skins with capture the flag. Or when I go swimming. And I think about boys when, I uh …masturbate.”
Page 275. “Ever since that day in second grade when he came home talking about how cute one of the other boys was, and then we got a note from the teacher asking us to explain to him that most boys don’t like to be kissed by other boys.” (More propaganda for being born homosexual.)
“Is there…any kind of treatment the Church offers, to help people with same-gender attraction?”
Page 276.” Not really, no. LDS Family Services sometimes offers counseling for people dealing with same-sex attraction, but there is no specific program endorsed by the Church.”
(The bishop decides to have Paul talk to the 12-year old boy about same-gender attraction!)
Page 281. The 12-year old boy admits to Paul, “…I mean, here I already kinda had a crush on you and everything.”
“And I really don’t want my friends to hate me or to get beat up and killed like that guy I Wyoming…”
Page 286.”The other boy seemed nervous. ‘I’m not gay. I don’t have anything against gays. But I’m uh, having enough problems without everyone thinking I’m gay on top of it. So I’d really appreciate it if you, like, wouldn’t sit by me, okay.”
“Speaking of Jose did you hear about him?...I guess he went to some kind of religious camp over the summer. First week back, he shows up at GSA and says that all us fags are going to hell.”
Page 288. “And he seemed generally…listless. Subdued. Almost like he’d been before starting the antidepressants.”
Page 289. “If Paul was still in GSA, they could be a support system for him. But he is not.” (The GSA has done enough damage to Paul with their "support.")
“It was ironic. He’d quit GSA because of his commitment as a member of the Church. But now apparently he wasn’t welcome among the other kids his age at church either.”
Page 291. “ I would have told the missionary committee that you’ve overcome great challenges to be able to serve a mission. I would have said you were one of the most spiritually aware young men I’ve had the privilege to know. I would have mentioned your sense of humor and the way you have of making other people feel at ease…I would have said that I’d be proud to consider you my son.”
Page 296. “I hate them. I hate them for what they did. I hate them for making it so Paul couldn’t stand to live here anymore.”
This political treatise is neither about nor for children. Rather, it appears that adults are trying to recapture memories from their own childhoods, narratives that are laced with activism disguised as compassion. Such pornographic images as noted in many of the bolded statements are not statements from children: they are statements from adults who sexualize children. The author and publisher are horrifically misinformed---children are not gay---gender development is just that---gender development. Nothing is fixed in children or adolescents--especially sexuality is not fixed. And children are NOT homophobic!
Though distress in a child's life can indeed be problematic, such distress, unless it is extreme and repetitive, does not lead to depression and suicide but labeling does. Research has demonstrated that each year that an adolescent postpones the gay label reduces suicidal attempts by 20%, and the labeling comes from GSA clubs---under the banner of tolerance.
Interestingly enough, the book describes a near-case book study of the development of homosexuality in a boy. From the father-absent boy, to a father-surrogate bishop who cannot even provide resources to a young man, to overinvolved women---a mother who encourages her gender-confused son to have "boy friends," to the mother-surrogate GSA advisor and teacher who insist that this young boy come out of the closet and admit he's gay and participate in a day of silence. And the peer abuse is horrible. Such relationships have been repeatedly documented in the scientific literature as risk factors for the development of homosexual attractions.
Does Paul have homosexual attractions because he's hardwired to be gay or do his attractions, with the help of his "friends" cause him to label himself gay? There is no evidence that homosexuality is hardwired.
The adults in this book need as much help as does Paul. This young man is confused about his gender development---which is typical for many young men, particularly those who are fatherless, either physically or emotionally fatherless. A father or caring male surrogate would be a valuable resource in helping this young man navigate developmental milestones.
The message of hope and help is lost on both the author and the publisher. Both seem ignorant about what it means to be a boy---gender development. Perhaps their own developmental experiences have blinded them to the spiritual truth found in The Family Proclamation that "Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."
Hopefully, the activism in this book will not go unrecognized. The not-so-disguised attacks on the Boy Scouts, on the Church, and on individuals who disagree with homosexuality are blatant. And the notion that there are no resources to help with children who struggle with gender issues is simply a lie.
The author and the publisher should feel a sense of shame for this assault on children. Labeling a little one "gay"is nothing short of child abuse---spiritual child abuse. There is not only hope and help for children who struggle with gender identity issues but the outcomes are very positive (Zucker, Bradley, Rekers and others.)
The book is reminiscent of the days of Korihor. One author boldly stated of our times: Korihor is not only back, but this time he has a printing press. Such seems to be the case with this book.
Dr.. Dan is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a medical/social scientist and a licensed mental health professional. You may submit questions by sending an email to Dr.Dan@standardofliberty.org.
To comment on this review and read SoL's review go to our SoL Blog.
Capturing Children's Minds
Candi Cushman, Focus on the Family Education Analyst
Click here to link to the comment on Focus on the Family website.
Can we really afford to teach the next generation that there is nothing distinctive or beneficial about having a mother and a father?
What better way to capture a child’s imagination than with a heart-warming story about cute, fuzzy little animals?
That’s the latest tactic homosexual-advocacy groups are using in their efforts to reach the youngest minds in our public school system.
Whether it’s stories about penguins, guinea pigs or even elephants, they’ve figured out how to use fun anecdotes about animals to familiarize children as young as preschool with the idea of homosexuality and gay "marriage."
After all, they know if they can capture the hearts and minds of the young, they can permanently change the culture.
Take, for instance, what’s happening to parents in Alameda, Calif. Despite the fact that the state’s highest court upheld Prop. 8 — a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman — the school board brazenly mandated a pro-gay curriculum for elementary kids. It told parents they cannot opt their kids out of this teaching — even if it contradicts their most deeply held religious convictions. Or even if they happen to think their kids are too young to psychologically handle sexual topics.
The curriculum defines family as “a group of people living together and functioning as a single household.” First-graders are introduced to this concept through a storybook called "Who’s in a Family?" featuring images of same-sex couples interspersed with pictures of animals, including an all-male elephant herd depicted as another type of family. In the second grade, the kids will listen to "And Tango Makes Three," a story about two male penguins who supposedly fall in love and hatch a baby chick.
But let’s think carefully about this. Can we really afford to teach the next generation that there is nothing distinctive or particularly beneficial about having a mother and a father? That a family is nothing more than a group of individuals — no more unique than a herd of elephants in the jungle?
Haven’t we already reaped enough of the consequences of cheapening the value of the traditional family and of man-woman marriage in this society?
But the latest news is that we’ve moved beyond penguins to guinea pigs: There’s a new book cropping up in elementary classrooms called "Uncle Bobby’s Wedding." For kids as young as 4, the book shows two male guinea pigs wearing bow ties, celebrating their "wedding."
And if you assume this is just a problem in California, think again. The nation’s largest homosexual-advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign, is piloting a pro-gay curriculum, “Welcoming Schools,” in several elementary classrooms across the land. It radically redefines the meaning of marriage and family.
The Obama administration has just appointed one of the nation’s most radical gay activists — Kevin Jennings, founder of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network — to a senior staff position in the U.S. Department of Education. So expect this sort of thing to be coming soon to a school near you.
So what can we do about it? It’s much easier to be proactive and protect your local schools than it is to get something out once it’s inside the system. So the first thing we can do is learn lessons from recent events in Alameda and elsewhere in the nation about what red flags to look for:
Lesson 1: Watch out for school programs with innocent-sounding titles like “family diversity,” “safe schools” or “tolerance.” Many of these programs contain homosexuality components. By categorizing pro-gay teaching within a subject like “family diversity” or “social justice,” school officials often try to skirt parental control. They argue that since this teaching is categorized as a social issue — and not labeled as sex education — they no longer have to give parents prior notice and/or the ability to exempt their children from the class. You have the right to ask to see lesson plans. And if you find there’s a problem, don’t be afraid to mobilize other parents to take action.
Lesson 2: Beware of so-called anti-discrimination or anti-bullying laws that spell out special categories like “sexual orientation” or “gender identity.” In Alameda, the school board used such provisions to justify an end-run around the state’s marriage laws. Despite what gay activists claim, your school doesn’t have to add these sexualized categories. It’s possible to implement a strong anti-bullying policy that prohibits any harassment against any child for any reason, without adding special categories that politicize and sexualize the school environment.
Lesson 3: Make your voice heard! As a parent and/or taxpaying community citizen, you have more of a vested interest in what happens in your local public schools than special-interest groups do. Don’t be afraid to speak up. Focus on the Family has made it easy for you to do so through TrueTolerance.org.
The site is filled with information from national legal experts, examples of pro-gay lesson plans that cross the line and fact-based counterpoints to the one-sided messages gay-advocacy groups frequently give public school officials. Much of this is compiled into a professional packet that you can e-mail to your school officials from the “Take Action” section of the True Tolerance site.
An estimated 90 percent of school-age children are in public schools. If we care about the future of this country, we can’t afford to turn a blind eye to what’s happening in those schools. So let’s speak up — while there’s still time to do something about it.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about True Tolerance.
Watch a special Turn Signal video report on gay-activist Kevin Jennings, who has been named to a senior staff position in the Department of Education.
--Published with permission of Focus on the Family, Sept 26, 2009.
Let Your Voice Be Heard
August 30, 2009
Last week I received an email and a phone call telling me about a Town Hall Meeting being held the next day by Utah State Representative Lynn Hemingway to garner public support for his bill that would liberalize Utah’s sex-education curriculum. His proposed changes would open the door to condom demonstrations and other things not appropriate in a classroom of minors, including discussions of homosexual sex (sodomy).
I did some internet research, printed some documentation, rearranged my schedule and attended the meeting, which was also attended by the local press and TV, along with about 30 other people. I got to the library early and was there when the Channel 4 reporter Mark Zinni arrived. I introduced myself and he interviewed me for 1-2 minutes. Click here to see me on Channel 4's coverage.
When the meeting started, I learned it was actually sponsored by the local Planned Parenthood (PP) office. Their spokesman conducted the meeting. She stated that there is empirical evidence that abstinence education has been an utter failure wherever it has been tried, using Utah state’s teen pregnancy statistic as her local proof. She also said comprehensive sex education (their name for the new program they want in the schools) has been highly successful in reducing pregnancy and new cases of STIs (sexually transmitted infections, what we used to call venereal diseases and later called STDs, sexually transmitted diseases, which I guess they were uncomfortable calling diseases, hence the latest politically correct acronym STIs). She turned the time over to Rep. Hemingway. He indicated the pregnancy statistic, along with one indicating an increase in clamydia, were proof that we needed to be giving our children more sex information through the schools. He said parents would be able to opt their children out of the explicit sexuality and contraception discussions, but that there were just too many kids who needed this sexual information, and that teachers would be able to volunteer graphic sex talk as well as respond to questions. Hemingway told of families where both parents worked 2 or 3 jobs, who, when they got home were just too tired to talk to their kids about sex. PP spoke up, indicating that, yes, many parents are just not doing their job, so we need to have this expansion of information in the schools. She also said PP is the largest provider of sexual counseling services in the state, and all because parents aren’t doing their job. I learned they had worked with Rep. Hemingway in drafting the proposed bill, modeled after one they claim to be highly successful in North Carolina. Hemingway then indicated he was there for community input and invited comment.
One young woman told of how she just couldn’t talk to her parents and was so very grateful for having someone like PP to talk to, and would have loved to be able to talk to her teacher. A mother told of children coming home talking about the sex stuff they learned in class, which was the first the mother had heard of it, and would have taken her kids out of the class had she known what was to be discussed. She would rather there were no sex education in schools at all. Another protested the term “protected sex,” saying even “protected sex” is not safe. One local PTA officer said she thought the statistics might be skewed by a recent influx of people from California, who already had the diseases, or were pregnant.
And so it went until I felt I should make my thoughts known. I am paraphrasing, but here is what I said:
My name is Stephen Graham and I am the father of 7 children, and also represent the Standard of Liberty Foundation with more than 7,000 like-minded people on our mailing list. I am reminded of something attributed to Mark Twain, who said no one is safe when the legislature is in session. It seems that sometimes legislators sponsor bills because they feel obligated to do something, anything. I seems that you feel like this: what kind of legislator am I if I don’t legislate? Well, if there is no compelling need for a piece of legislation, then don’t propose it. We already have too many laws on the books. So, first I would say your bill is unnecessary. If girls are getting sexually transmitted diseases, it is not for lack of education. It is primarily the fault of living in our sex-saturated culture. We don’t need your bill, and we don’t need to liberalize our state sex education law. In fact, I agree with this lady, and would rather have no sex education in our schools at all.
Here in my hand I have empirical evidence that abstinence-based education has met with outstanding success. I also hold in my hand empirical evidence that so-called comprehensive sex education has been an utter failure, being responsible for increased rates of promiscuity, sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy. So, your resort to empirical evidence is not persuasive, because I can show as much evidence on my side as you can on yours.
I have heard several stories showing why your comprehensive sex education is needed. This is called anecdotal evidence. Again, I can match you story for story on why expanded sex education is not needed. So, your resort to anecdotal evidence is not persuasive. I would hate to think you would have us revise the law for the whole state based on just a few stories of kids who don’t want to talk to their parents.
It has also been stated that this bill is much needed because some parents fail to talk to their children about sex. Your resort to the we-have-to-do-it-because-the-parents-won’t argument is your weakest point. And I think the most dangerous. If you follow that logic of having the government or the school provide for everything that some parents don’t do, there is no end to what the government or school will do. They will find justification for meddling in every aspect of our lives, as the federal government is attempting to do right now with the energy tax and health care legislation, among others. So, your resort to having the school talk explicit sex to children because parents aren’t is not persuasive.
If your arguments are not persuasive, then we obviously don’t need the bill. But if we can’t resort to those unpersuasive arguments, then where do we resort to find justification for this or any proposed law? We resort to the community who is to be affected by the law. In this case it is a state law, so our resort should be to the people of the state. What are the desires, beliefs, and values of the citizens of the state? You say you at PP are the largest provider of sexual counseling in the state. I say you are out of step with the values of the people of the state. Rep. Hemingway, I think you will find that what you are proposing here is also not in keeping with the values of the citizens. I am sure you will find that majority of the people hold to traditional morality, and that they would rather have time-tested, God-based values as the foundation of their laws on which our culture is built.
So, we don’t need your bill, and I hope you won’t file it. If it is filed, I hope it dies in the committee. Thank you.
As I say, that is a paraphrase, but the points made are valid. If you ever get into a discussion and your adversary resorts to using any of the 3 methods just discussed: Empirical evidence, anecdotal evidence, failure of responsible parties to perform perfectly; if you find yourself in that situation, then try using the refutations discussed above. You should be able to neutralize their points, and make good points of your own from your traditional, God-based, time-tested values. Another thought is that when your adversary makes a statement which sounds like justification of their stance, it will invariably turn out to be not true. And you can say just that. “That is not true.” They will then resort to one of a number of fall-back positions. The will say, “Well everyone knows that . . .”, “It is a known fact that . . ,” “It was reported on TV ( on the radio, in the newspaper) that . . .” The answer to all these is, “That is not true.” Then ask them to provide support for their statements. They will not be able to do so. Then you can make your statement of truth and not be on the defensive. You want to stay on topic and not let them distract you with meaningless sidetrack arguments.
Here’s one more point. When you hear of meetings or gatherings, attend and speak up. It is right and good to stand for your beliefs and values. If we sit back and quietly watch while others have their way with our community, country, and culture, one day we will wake up and be horrified at what we find.
--Stephen Graham
Ravi Zacharias Speaks on Finding Truth in a Morally Falling Society
June 21, 2009
We came across this speech given by Christian minister Ravi Zacharias and really liked it. In it he says the process of secularization, pluralization, and privatization have contributed
to a morally falling society. He counters this reality with the truth of
the Scriptures: We are not orphaned in this world, for God has created us with
dignity and invites us to worship and serve Him. Listen to part 1, part 2 and part 3.
912 Project Network founder Jared Law
Stephen Graham's guest on K-Talk Radio
Stephen Graham was host on K-Talk radio on Saturday, June 6, 2009. His guest was Jared Law, founder of the 912 Project Network. On the show Law discussed the 9 Principles and 12 Values at the basis of the 912 movement. Also, The 5000-year Leap, by W. Cleon Skousen was discussed. The very interesting radio program can be heard on this SoL website.
Obama declares June 'LGBT Pride Month'
Jody Brown and Allie Martin - OneNewsNow - 6/2/2009
In a presidential proclamation on the White House website, Barack Obama has lauded what he calls "the determination and dedication" of the LGBT movement by proclaiming June as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month."
"The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress," Obama states in the official proclamation, "but there is more to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect."
The proclamation, released on Monday, credits the LGBT movement with being a factor in more Americans who ascribe to those groups "living their lives openly today than ever before."
The president also takes pride in being the first U.S. chief executive to appoint "openly LGBT" candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an administration.
He uses the proclamation to emphasize LGBT-related initiatives that he intends to pursue in the future -- both domestically and internationally.
"I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexual around the world," he states. "Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans."
Among those measures he lists "hate crimes" laws, civil unions, discrimination in the workplace, adoption rights, and ending the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy "in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security."
Presidential pandering
Pro-family activist says Peter LaBarbera it is sad, but not surprising, that President Obama has chosen to issue a proclamation celebrating homosexuality. The president of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality says Obama is pandering to homosexual political activists.
"Homosexuality is nothing to be proud of -- bottom line," says LaBarbera. "The fact is people have left the lifestyle, people have overcome homosexuality [with God's help] -- I think that's something to be proud of...."
Click here to read the rest of the OneNewsNow story.
PBS weighs religious content on stations like KBYU
Janice Peterson - Daily herald - 19 May 2009
PROVO -- The national Public Broadcasting Service is reviewing its membership policies on religious content for its PBS affiliates, and an upcoming vote on the issue could affect the standing of stations like KBYU.
Jan McNamara, director of corporate communications for PBS, said the Station Services Committee of the PBS board is currently reviewing core policies for its members, namely the mandate that stations must provide a nonsectarian, nonpolitical and noncommercial educational service.
"This is language that has been in our core membership policies at least since 1985," McNamara said.
Feedback has been sought from member stations on just what defines these three qualities, and a vote will be taken June 16 after the committee makes a recommendation on the membership policies, she said.
The final vote could affect a handful of PBS affiliates including KBYU, which frequently runs devotionals from Brigham Young University and other programs related to the LDS Church, along with shows like "Arthur" and "Curious George." How any station will be affected, officials could not say. McNamara said it is unclear if a station will lose its PBS affiliation because of religious programming. It will all depend on the feedback from member stations and the final vote in June.
However, McNamara said the policy review is more about keeping up with the times, as different ways to give programming to users have emerged. Internet use is more prevalent now, as are multicasts from stations. The review is mainly taking place because one hasn't been done since 1997, she said.
McNamara pointed out that the PBS board is made up of mostly general managers from member stations, so those voting will have some insight on how stations are running. In the end, the six to 10 PBS affiliates that run religious broadcasts may not be at serious risk of losing affiliation, she said.
"As a membership organization, our priority is always to work with our stations," she said.
Brigham Young University spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said she would hesitate to speculate on the fate of KBYU with PBS. However, she said officials have been aware of the issue for some time and are confident the station will continue to offer "educational and uplifting" programming.
Click here to read the rest of the Daily Herald article.
See more articles on this topic in our News Links in the left column.
Standard of Libety Responds to Marie Osmond Statement
May 10, 2009. It's not about civil rights. It's about what's right. Parents have to care more about reality than political correctness. True love for a child would be to help them understand where these feelings went wrong, to encourage them to reject this harmful life style, to guide them toward repentance. Homosexual conduct is another way kids test their parents' strength and beliefs. In this licentious culture youth are easily lured into experimentation, and once you're in to homosexuality, there's a huge amount of gay affirmation.Think of it this way: should parents give in to a tobacco, alcohol, or drug addiction? You love them enough to risk their disapproval while helping, hoping and praying the ultimate best for them. Please read our "The Only Good Choice."
We also remind you of books in the works:
Captain of My Soul -- a young man's true story of choosing to overcome homosexuality
Chased by an Elephant -- the gospel truth about today's stampeding sexuality for tweens.
These books contain essential information for preventing or overcoming wrong ideas about sexuality.
Miss California USA Loses Crown after Defending Marriage
by Jennifer Mesko, editor. May 5, 2009
'It's not about being politically correct. For me, it was being biblically correct.'
Miss California USA Carrie Prejean said she knew she'd lost the Miss USA crown as soon as she spoke in favor of one-man, one-woman marriage.
During Sunday night's Miss USA telecast, Prejean was asked whether other states should follow Vermont's lead in legislating same-sex "marriage."
"In my family, I … believe marriage should be between a man and a woman," she said. "No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."
Prejean later told NBC: "I knew at that moment, after I'd answered the question, I knew that I was not going to win because of my answer — because I had spoken from my heart, from my beliefs, and for my God."
Even Donald Trump, who co-owns the pageant, said her answer "probably did cost her the crown." Prejean finished as first runner-up to Miss North Carolina.
Perez Hilton, a gay-activist blogger, was the judge who posed the question to Prejean. He called it the "worst answer in pageant history" and called Miss California profane names.
"That is not the kind of woman I want to be Miss USA," he told MSNBC. "Miss USA should represent all Americans. And with her answer, she instantly was divisive and alienated millions."
Interestingly, tens of millions of Americans in 30 states — including California — have passed constitutional amendments to protect the definition of marriage.
"The majority of California’s voters — more than 7 million people — voted to protect traditional marriage," Ron Prentice, chairman of California's ProtectMarriage.com, told Fox News. "And we congratulate Miss California for her conviction to speak her beliefs."
Hilton apologized Monday for his comments, but today said he stands by what he said.
Keith Lewis, who runs the Miss California competition, also lashed out: “I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss California believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman. … Religious beliefs have no place in politics in the Miss California family.”
Prejean said she would give the same answer again.
"Bottom line is, I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman," she told NBC. "It's not about being politically correct. For me, it was being biblically correct.
"I wouldn't change a thing."
See the Citizen Link article on their website.
Standard of Liberty Calls for Justice and Equal Treatment from the Utah Senate: Reinstate Senator Buttars to the Senate Judiciary Committee or remove Scott McCoy from that same committee
The Standard of Liberty sent the following letter February 23, 2009, to all members of the Utah State Senate, including Senate President Michael Waddoups, who stripped Senator Chris Buttars of his chairmanship on 2 committees as a result of his free speech remarks against homosexuality.
An Open Letter to the Utah State Senate from the Standard of Liberty
To Utah State Senators,
Your stated reasons for removing duly elected Senator Buttars from the Senate Judiciary Committee are unacceptable. Based on Constitutionally-guaranteed rights, we call on you to reinstate Senator Buttars to his former position as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Failing that, we at the Standard of Liberty call for at least the same accommodation that has been given to Equality Utah: We call on you to remove the outspoken, openly "gay" Senator, Scott McCoy, from the Senate Judiciary Committee also.
Senator McCoy’s shamelessness about his self-identification as "gay"and his crafty efforts to legitimize and celebrate lawless and unlimited sexuality through government action, such as his insidious Common Ground initiative, make his influence in the Senate dangerous, discriminatory, and hurtful. His mockery of traditional sexual morality and his intolerance of the free exercise of religion are extremely offensive to us at the Standard of Liberty and to most Utahns. We noted with alarm that Senator McCoy was one of the officiators at the highly uncivil anti-Mormon protest near Temple Square Nov. 7, 2008 following the passing of Proposition 8 in California.
Suffice it to say that Senator McCoy's view is as offensive to the Standard of Liberty as Senator Buttars is to Equality Utah. Senator McCoy’s sexual ideology is a vehement denunciation of God’s laws as stated in the Bible, therefore we believe his world view to be anti-God. To be just, if you remove a Senator with strong "anti-gay" views from this committee, you must remove a Senator with strong anti-God views.
We trust you will act with integrity, come what may. Persecution of religious people because of pressure from a noisy, licentious group is intolerable in our free, God-based society. Perhaps it hasn’t been noticed that when special treatment is given to "gays" (who do not constitute a legally protected minority in Utah), everyone else is discriminated against.Sincerely,
Stephen and Janice Graham
Standard of Liberty
Standard of Liberty Calls on Utah State Senate to not sanction Sen. Chris Buttars.
The Standard of Liberty sent the following letter February 19, 2009, to all members of the Utah State Senate, who were deciding what to do to Senator Chris Buttars for his remarks against homosexuality.
Dear Senator,
We are dismayed that there is any thought at all of punishing Utah State Senator Buttars for speaking the truth based on his traditional and Biblical religious values. He was merely exercising his Constitutional rights of free speech and relgion. And most of your constituents share his views that homosexuality is blight on society. Will we be punished too somehow if we exercise our right to speak freely against this vice? This development is really quite frightening. We believe and have seen how homosexuality and the homosexual activist movement are harmful, especially to youth. Such reckless and self-destructive behavior deserves no legal legitimization. If you punish Senator Buttars, you are playing into the homosexual agenda to silence the opposition, i.e. traditional values and Christianity. The politically correct double standard going on is incredible. Gays are congratulated for calling religious people all sorts of derogatory names, while religious people are punished for telling the truth.
As Newt Gengrich recently said, “I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. For that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite of what you're taught in Sunday school. I think when the left, when the radicals lost the vote in California [prop 8], they are determined to impose their will on this country no matter what the popular opinion, no matter what the law of the land. You've watched them, for example, in Massachusetts, basically drive the Catholic Church out of running adoption services, drive Catholic hospitals out of offering any services, because [the radicals] impose secular rules that are fundamentally … sinful from the standpoint of the church."
Yours truly,
Stephen and Janice Graham
Standard of Liberty
The SoLVoice
December 6, 2008
Two Lists
A sexually immoral society . . .
1. is unnaturally preoccupied with sex and sexuality and produces sex addicts
2. separates the sex act from marriage and reproduction and sexualizes any and everyone
3. censors and changes definitions of words that refer to ideal gender roles and sexuality
4. blurs, mocks, and discounts the natural biological roles of male and female
5. seeks to obliterate the transcendent purpose and meaning of marriage
6. considers pre-marital abstinence and total marital fidelity impossible and puritanical
7. redefines the biological family as any group of people
8. reverses the negative stigma for sex outside marriage
9. chooses commercialism and tolerance over wholesome community standards
10. allows billion-dollar, 24/7 pornography through mass communication
11. softens or obliterates punishments for sexual predators
12. is inundated with extreme and perverse sexual crimes causing great fear
13. puts greed, pleasure, technology, and politics before public health and safety
14. is indecent, hedonistic, sadistic, and dangerous in public places
15. despises posterity and limits, sexualizes, exploits, abuses, damages, and kills its young
16. discounts, mocks, and vilifies religion
17. gives individual sexual freedom preference over constitutional religious freedom
18. silences speech and publications about sexual morality and sexual sin
19. spreads casual, extreme, and unnatural sexuality to children through schools and media
20. models to the rising generation that sexuality carries no dangers or responsibilities
21. silences warnings of the health risks of promiscuous and unnatural sex
22. discounts and usurps the authority and rights of parents
23. gives the state the job of instilling a new set of values in the rising generation
24. produces a new kind of “church” that waters down age-old religious doctrines in order to embrace sexual sin
25. is full of broken lives, broken homes, and damaged children who grow up angry, sexually confused, faithless, overstimulated, bored, arrogant, and unprepared for personal, family, and civic responsibilities
A sexually moral society . . .
1. puts sex and sexuality in its proper place
2. inseparably connects love, marriage, sexual desires, and reproductive responsibilities
3. conserves its language and definitions referring to ideal gender roles and sexuality
4. supports and encourages natural biological gender roles and sexuality
5. upholds the traditional purposes of marriage with an interest in human posterity
6. considers pre-marital abstinence and total marital fidelity the ideal for human sexuality
7. conserves the traditional biological family as the ideal
8. maintains the negative stigma for sex outside marriage
9. chooses wholesome community standards over commercialism and sleaze
10. does not allow the exploitation of human sexuality for any reason
11. creates and enforces strict laws punishing sexual predators
12. is safe and its people have little or no fear of sexual criminals
13. puts public health and safety before greed, pleasure, technology, and politics
14. is safe and appropriate for people of all ages in public places
15. values posterity and protects its young in all stages of development
16. respects and defends churches as socially beneficial institutions
17. gives constitutional freedoms preference over individual sexual freedom
18. speaks and publishes freely about God’s timeless standard for human sexual conduct
19. teaches abstinence to youth through schools and media
20. makes sure its youth knows that sexuality comes with serious limits and responsibilities
21. makes public the very real physical and emotional dangers of unlimited sex
22. highly respects parental authority and rights
23. supports parents as they rear their children to be responsible people
24. maintains, values, and supports orthodox churches which boldly spread the word of God
25. is full of strong, responsible, humble, striving adults, and homes where children grow up prepared for marriage and family and ready to pass on their religious faith and values
-Janice Graham
The SoLVoice
December 4, 2008
Hardened Hearts?
More blatant and public anti-Christmas, anti-God messages are popping up this year, sponsored and funded by atheist activists. For example, on 200 Washington D.C. Metro buses (inside, on the sides, and on the backs) are signs printed in bright green and red text decorated with festive snowflakes, the words, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’sake." We can’t resist picking this presumptuous mockery apart. When used in this idiom, the word goodness is a euphemism for God, so what they are doing is using God to deny God, i.e., "Why believe in God? Just be good for God’s sake." One wonders where they think goodness comes from. But the intent to blaspheme our Creator and denigrate religion is loud and clear. You can call the Washington D.C. Metro customer assistance line with your comments or complaints at 202-637-1328.
Another example is the poster sitting next to a nativity display and Christmas tree in Washington State’s capitol building which reads, "At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."
Not only is this completely over the top and unnecessarily in-your-face, but the wording of this poster is curiously reminiscent of the protestations of the famous Anti-Christ Korihor, who sought to overthrow the doctrine of Christ, recorded in Alma 30 which took place in 74 B.C. The supposedly enlightened arguments of modern secularlists are the same old stuff. Among Korihors’s premises were: there is no God,, men fare according to their own genius and strength in this life, there are no crimes or sins, there is no need for redemption, belief in God is a mental derangement of frenzied minds that comes of foolish handed-down traditions, and religious people are bound down under a foolish and vain hope. Korihor, with his clever talk, led many of the people of God astray before he was struck deaf and dumb and wrote a confession that the devil had deceived him and taught him what pleasing lies to say. His treachery was published throughout the land and the people repented.
It’s curious to us that similar forms of the metaphor, "hardened hearts" used in the poster, are used in the New Testament, and over and over in The Book of Mormon. For instance, the phrases "hardness of your hearts," "hearts have waxed hard," "they hardened their hearts," "harden not your hearts," etc., occur several times even in a single chapter such as Alma 12. You might say these literary phrases are common in the scriptures but not commonly used in today’s everyday language. It seems strange that these professed atheists employ religious words and phrases. Indeed, they use God’s words describing those who have turned away from God to describe those who worship God.
You can call Washington State’s Governor Gregoire who gave permission for the poster at 360-902-4111 to voice your concerns. Evidently they’re getting a lot of calls today, thanks to Bill O’Reilly.
In A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Scrooge’s nephew reminds us we must not separate Christmas from "the veneration due to its sacred name and origin." And now in the streets of our nation’s capitol and in government buildings we are calling Christmas "Winter Solstice" and proclaiming there is no God.
In the soft-hearted words of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!"
--Stephen & Janice Graham
The SoLVoice
November 28, 2008
Traditional Freedoms Threatened and Lost:
(Only a few years ago these types of events were happening in Europe and Canada. The following true events have occurred recently in America. Events like these tend to set precedents for similar treatment. We are convinced that the general public is unaware of the following developments. It is essential that our citizenry realize this is happening in order to preserve freedom.)
The CA Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a marriage law passed by a majority vote.
After a free election passing CA Prop. 8 sexual activists held angry rallies at churches from New York to LA. That same week many churches were vandalized.
A Sacramento man was forced to resign from his job over his support for Prop 8 in CA.
An elderly Palm Springs woman was silenced, harassed, spit on, and had her property (a cross) purposely destroyed by sexual activists.
A Methodist retreat center in New Jersey lost its tax exempt status for refusing to accommodate a lesbian couple ceremony.
The San Francisco city council condemned a Catholic cardinal’s opposition to homosexual adoption calling it "hateful and discriminatory rhetoric."
A Kentucky faith-based children’s home was sued by a lesbian after it terminated her employment there.
A director of the Washington D.C. transit board was fired by the Maryland governor for saying he thought homosexuality was wrong on a cable TV show.
A Christian couple with a photography business was fined over $6,000 by the New Mexico Human Rights Commission for declining to provide services for a lesbian couple’s ceremony.
The CA Supreme Court issued a ruling requiring two doctors to provide artificial insemination services to a lesbian despite their religious convictions.
A Massachusetts father was arrested when he insisted he be notified when his kindergartner was going to be taught about homosexuality in a public school so he could opt out. The U. S. Supreme Court tossed out his case.
The CA legislature passed a law forbidding the use of the words mother and father in public school texts and classrooms.
California businesses owned by private citizens who supported Proposition 8 have been targeted and boycotted.
Against its will, a Virginia video production company was ordered by a county Human Rights Commission to duplicate two pro-homosexual films.
Catholic Bed & Breakfast owners were charged with discrimination by Vermont's Human Rights Commission for refusing to host a lesbian civil union ceremony because of their beliefs about marriage.
After 100 years in business, Catholic Charities chose to cease adoption services when Massachusetts authorities required them to place children with gay couples.
Envelopes containing a suspicious white powder (which turned out to be harmless) were mailed to Mormon temples in Salt Lake City and Los Angeles following the passage of Proposition 8 in California.
The Boy Scouts in Philadelphia and San Diego have been removed from their historically-provided, public-owned facilities for refusing to accommodate homosexual leaders.
A 21-year Idaho employee was fired because he posted scriptures about sexual immorality in his cubicle.
Unruly, screaming gay activists shut down a speaker, author of, The Born Gay Hoax at Smith College, MA. No arrests were made and the police ordered the invited speaker to leave.
A national symposium on religion and reparative therapy for unwanted homosexuality planned for the American Psychiatric Association’s annual spring meeting was cancelled after gay groups threatened to protest.
The vice president for human resources at the Univ. of Toledo was fired after she wrote an op-ed piece in a local newspaper which stated her belief that sexual orientation is not the same as race.
A website was created to identify and shame members of the LDS church who backed Prop 8.
A Utah TV program about successful therapy for overcoming unwanted homosexuality was cancelled at the last minute when pressure was exerted on the station and owners.
A Christian church in Michigan was picketed and infiltrated by gay anarchist protesters. Inside the church they pulled fire alarms, acted out, shouted at and forced their flyers on parishioners, and stormed the pulpit with a rainbow-colored flag.
A man was forced to resign as director of the Los Angeles Film Festival for supporting Proposition 8.
E-Harmony, which had only provided dating services to opposite-sex couples, was forced by the state of New Jersey and threat of lawsuit, to provide same-sex dating services, including providing 6 months of free services to the first 10,000 gay subscribers.
A copy of The Book of Mormon, a book of sacred scripture to members of the LDS Church, was burned on the steps of a Mormon temple in Denver.
There are calls for the boycotting of Cinemark Theaters, because the CEO of the theater chain supported Proposition 8.
An 11-year-old student in Hattiesburg, Mississippi wrote an assigned poem about Christmas but received a deduction for using the name of Jesus in the poem.
A Panama City, FL woman was ordered to greet customers with "Happy Holidays." When she asked to be allowed to say "Merry Christmas," explaining she didn't believe in secularizing Christmas, she was fired on the spot. The owner even called the police to escort her off the premises.
*After being invited to pay to participate in a Salt Lake City bookstore’s advertizing mailer campaign and receiving approval of its flyer, a small publishing company wishing to promote its book about overcoming homosexuality was turned down. The book, previously purchased by the bookstore, was subsequently removed from the bookstore shelves and database.
*At the last minute a radio program cancelled an interview with the author of a book about healing from homosexuality.
*In Utah Valley a long-planned PTA meeting about the gay movement and pornography was unexpectedly cancelled at the last minute by the high school principal via email to every parent.
*After being invited to write an op-ed piece about homosexuality, a newspaper repeatedly required the writer to edit the content. Even though the writer complied with each request, the paper ultimately refused to publish the piece, calling the writer overzealous and homophobic.
*After a reporter taped hour-long separate interviews on camera with a person who was healed from homosexual tendencies and his clinical therapist, the TV station refused to air the interviews, saying the topic was too controversial.
*experienced firsthand by members of the Standard of Liberty Foundation
The above are real-life examples of freedoms of speech and religion being suppressed and punished in favor of social and legal protection of unlimited sexuality. Obviously, this can never be an agree-to-disagree or win-win situation. Recently Newt Gingrich said: "I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion . . . [If you are a religious person] you have to confront the fact that the secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are . . . the opposite of what you were taught in Sunday School. They are determined to impose their will on this country no matter what the popular opinion, no matter what the law of the land." (From the Bill O’Reilly TV show, Fox News, Nov. 14, 2008)
(See www.silencingchristians.com for more.)
The SoLVoice
November 9, 2008
Lawless Sexual Revolutionists Protest the Mormon Church
In our opinion, the local newspaper did a poor job reporting the gay protest last night near the Salt Lake Temple. The Standard of Liberty was there and this is our take on what really went on.
In our estimation, the number that showed up was greatly exaggerated. It looked like about 1,000 people, not “3,500.” And also contrary to the reporting, the protest was not what we’d call “peaceful.”
Frankly, we saw a bunch of people acting like spoiled teenagers having a tantrum, publically blaming the LDS Church for getting involved and depriving them of legitimization. Steve even overheard two protestors, young men, commenting on how “this was going to be great, a huge party.” Evidently, to the lawless and licentious, showing up at the site of a sacred edifice to make a scene mocking and denigrating people’s deeply-held religious beliefs is a party.
These are people who don’t care what the majority voted for. They don’t care what the inspired Constitution says. They don’t care what God, the holy scriptures, history, and the accumulated wisdom of the world has to teach us. They think they are above it all when what they have really done is sunk to humanity’s basest, unthinking instincts. And they arrogantly presume they have the right to bring everybody down with them.
The protestors held outrageous signs such as, “Religion Sucks,” “Read My Lips: No More Mrs. Nice Gay,” LDS (with a swastika for the S), Are Us Jews Next?”, “Mormons, Once Persecuted, Now Persecutors,” No More Nonprophet,” “No More Temple Sealings,” “Mormons Breed Hate,” “Shame on the LDS Church,” “Stop Temple Weddings,” “Revoke Tax Exemption,” and more. One of the speakers pointed his finger at the Church Office Building and yelled, “We’re calling you out and we’re putting you on notice!” Other speakers entreated the crowd to be respectful, but angry signs, shouts, and actions showed utter contempt for this advice. (Lest you think this was a group of fringe radicals, you should know that speakers included former Salt Lake City mayor, Rocky Anderson, and three current openly gay Utah legislators.) The group was highly disrespectful of the God-given, Constitutionally-protected freedoms of others. It was an ugly, profane, uncivilized, and tragically accurate portrait of a group of humanity that has turned its back on truth, reality, and health.
What we saw this group do was what they themselves spend so much time railing against: intolerance and bigotry, only it was aimed toward the Mormon Church and religion in general. The presumptuous chant “Tax the Church!” rang through the street. A small counter protest group showed up yelling, “You’re intolerant! The people voted! We’re still a democracy!” A shouting match ensued. In the middle of this insanity Steve change a flat tire of a car belonging to two ladies who had a bottle thrown at them. As they stopped the car it ran over the broken glass and punctured the tire. “Why should they be mad at us when we just happened to be on the road driving by?” they wondered. Peaceful demonstration? No way.
Why all the animosity and intimidation toward the LDS Church on the heels of the passing of California’s Proposition 8? We estimate there are 400,000 potential LDS voters in California. Over 5 million Californians voted for Proposition 8. Mormon voters comprised only 8 % of the passing vote. Yes, LDS financial involvement and grassroots efforts surely encouraged a number of nonMormon voters, but not only were there many, many more who feel the same way without any encouragement, there was nothing out of order here. The Mormon effort was an exercise of First Ammendment rights to free speech and free exercise of religion. All Americans should know that the 1950s law about churches being prohibited from supporting individual political candidates does not apply here. Churches are perfectly free to involve themselves in political issues. All the anger and hatred we witnessed was in reality aimed toward God and His laws for human sexuality. It was a case of “kill the messenger.”
The sexual revolution has made unbelievable progress in the public arena and will not stop its efforts. Opposition seems only to the anger and resolve. But this in no way means we should refrain from opposing it. It means we should step up our opposition. Do we give up because those who seek to harm our society and our youth gain strength? No, we regroup, refine or change our strategy, and continue the fight.
Which will be upheld: individual sexual freedom or religious freedom? That is the big question.
As we’ve said, one will be preferred and the other harmed. Given the depth of feeling on both sides, the two cannot peacefully co-exist.
By the way, Mormons are a smaller minority than gays if you believe their admittedly inflated 10% number or even the more accurate 2 % number. According to Wikipedia, there are 1.3 million gays in California alone. In that case, gays outnumber Mormons 2 to 1 in that state. Evidently, gays’ outspoken demands for protected “minority status” does not apply to the even smaller Mormon minority.
As Latter-day Saints, we repeat our 11th Article of Faith: We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege [of worshiping God according to their conscience], let them worship how, where, and what they may. In other words, this is America. We have the right to worship God as we see fit.
Recent activities of the gay movement have exposed what this group is really about. It hates civilization. It hates morality. It hates responsibility. It hates democracy. It hates Christianity. It hates God.
-Janice Graham
The SoLVoice
October 24, 2008
A Mother’s Crusade
For those who don’t quite "get" the Standard of Liberty Foundation, who have encouraged us to put our energies elsewhere, or who wish we would go away altogether, here’s a point of view they may not have considered. A mother’s point of view.
I am like the mother whose child was killed by a drunk driver who now calls public attention to the dangers of drunk driving. I am like the mother whose child’s young life was ruined by drugs who now speaks out against the destruction caused by our drug culture. I am like the mother who as a teen was convinced to abort her unborn child and who now lobbies against Planned Parenthood. I am like these mothers, only my crusade concerns not the dangers of alcohol, not the dangers of drugs, not the dangers of nationally funded abortion pushers, but the dangers of out-of-bounds sex. I am the mother whose child’s youth and innocence were destroyed by internet pornography and whose ideas about healthy sexuality were twisted by clever and manipulative on-line predators. If he hadn’t sought professional help, unlearned the lies, and turned to the Lord, we most certainly would have lost our son to sexual addiction and some "alternate sexual orientation." I am a mother whose child was harmed, and mothers whose children are harmed have a strong natural instinct to prevent the same thing happening to any other child.
Society, which exists to keep its populace, especially its most vulnerable people – children – safe, is letting us down. While it’s supposed to do its part to protect us and our families from evils, instead it increasingly protects the evils. So I have become one mother who now writes about the dangers to children, youth, families, and society of unregulated and unlimited sex and sexuality. Incredibly, it seems that most of the noble institutions which possess the lion’s share of societal support and influence and money seemed to have turned this job entirely over to homey types like me, to do-it-yourself web sites like ours, and to self-publishing efforts like our own Tidal Wave Books. Indeed, some who are supposedly on our side even seem to find us a bit of an embarrassment. George Gilder in Men and Marriage wrote,"Even to some conservatives, some of these conservative family and religious "forces seem crude: too passionate, too fundamental, too cultic, too lower middle class . . ." (Add too politically incorrect, too vocal, too negative, too upsetting, too intolerant, too zealous, to this list.) But Gilder goes to on assure us that however unsophisticated we appear, the spiritual and moral capital we possess is essential. He’s right. It’s essential. Every half-way decent mother knows that.
I have said that I am a mother of a young son who was hurt by readily available same sex pornography, unspeakably vile gay chat rooms, and male sexual predators. So I don’t mind in the least being called "anti-gay," if by that is meant I am against our culture-makers (that’s anybody with any influence at all over society) allowing sex and sexuality to run rampant over the limits of health, nature, and God’s laws with no thought for the safety and well-being of minors and society as a whole. Who can argue that sex, along with alcohol, drugs, and abortion, is not a serious thing? Who can argue that children and youth are not vulnerable to being influenced by the pervasive technological oversexed culture we live in? And yet, there are those who make these arguments. If serious things aren’t faced with honesty and regulated by virtue, someone’s going to get hurt. Failing to continually shout out the numerous emotional, physical, and spiritual risks of pornography, promiscuity, and phony sexual behaviors is unconscionable. Failing to continually correct the lie that any and all sexual desires are inherent and unchangeable is reprehensible. Failing to continually teach the rising generation that there is only one good, right, and healthy way to channel human sexuality is outrageous. For those who think they are keeping all the commandments, how about the one that commands us "to bring up your children in light and truth" found in Doctrine and Covenants 93:36-37,40?
I understand that sex is private and that many good people react with squeamishness when the subject becomes public. I understand many are offended or frightened of offending others. I also understand that tremendous social, financial, and who knows what other pressures come into play. But we have to get over our squeamishness and our offendedness and our fear of offending. We have to care more about our standing with God than our standing among men or anything else. For instance, Latter-day Saints have made covenants, and we have to be ready to sacrifice whatever is necessary to keep those covenants. Remember, all it takes for evil to go forward is for good people to do nothing, to go about their business feeling nothing, thinking nothing, saying nothing, teaching nothing about the evils that surround us.
Try telling the mothers I described above, whose vulnerable children were harmed by social travesties, that their efforts are wrong or futile.
Try telling them to put their energy in some other random direction. Such comments would be highly insensitive, intolerant, and insulting. I have received such comments.
To the base and debauched who seek to cover their sins, or who put money or social position or public approval of sinful adult pleasures above the innocence and safety of our young, I say: Don’t mess with this mom.
-Janice Graham
The SoLVoice
October 11, 2008
Marriage Amendments and Beyond
We have been asked to explain what’s happening in California with Proposition 8. In the year 2000, the voters of California by a more than 60 % margin approved Proposition 22 which defined marriage in California as a union only between a man and a woman. In 2008, the California state supreme court ruled that the law initiated by Prop 22 was unconstitutional and that legal marriage was now available to same sex couples as well as opposite sex couples. As a result, supporters of traditional marriage quickly organized a petition drive to put a proposition on the 2008 ballot that would amend the CA constitution to define marriage as only between a man and woman (there is nothing in the constitution that states this) in order to reverse this decision and preclude future similar judgments. The reasoning behind this move is that once a constitutional amendment has been adopted, courts have no power to reverse it. Enough signatures were collected to initiate Prop. 8, and it will be on the CA ballot this November 4th.
Because this is a moral issue, as was Prop 22, the LDS Church has been very involved in advancing the passage of this amendment. It has given Prop 8 substantial financial support and instructed local leaders to call members to positions that involve visits, canvassing, phone calling, and electronic communications. It has organized satellite broadcast meetings regarding this proposition including the one held Oct. 8 throughout church buildings in California, along with a few chapels in Utah Valley for student voters attending BYU and UVU, educating on the importance of passing this proposition and encouraging members to do whatever they can to help (see Deseret News article and www.preservingmarriage.org).
Incidentally, Connecticut, which on October 10, 2008 made same-sex marriage legal, our third state in the union to do so, is in trouble. It does not have in place an initiative process as California does. It will be much more difficult to create a marriage amendment.
Here at the Standard of Liberty, there is no question that if we lived in California we would vote for Proposition 8 and do all we could to help it pass. We’re thankful that great efforts have been organized to encourage its passing. We urge our subscribers to become educated and do what they can to help.
That said, we would like to challenge our readers to think beyond marriage amendments. C. S. Lewis wrote, “Wherever any precept of traditional morality is simply challenged to produce its credentials, as though the burden of proof lay on it, we have taken the wrong position.” Our culture is so far gone that in the public arena we have given up basic standards (such as sexual purity) and concern for the welfare of souls. Instead we have taken an extremely defensive position about the most self-evident of realities: that marriage is instituted for opposite sexes and carries with it a profound interest in the well-being of the rising generation.
It seems that government, the last hold-out for an orderly society, is failing us when it comes to restraints on sexuality, a foundation on the reality of male and female, and the traditional conjugal family as its foundation. As Midge Dector said, this struggle is not about "gay rights" but about bringing the whole house down, meaning our way of life as we know it. It’s about getting rid of God and His laws on a cultural scale. (For an eye-opening read revealing what "gay marriage" is really about see the Joe Kort blog entry on www.psychologytoday.com.)
While marriage amendments may help prevent a ripple effect that could endanger the free practice of religion which is guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution, we must remember that, as Aristotle pointed out, governments and courts are run by people, and the attributes of people are what make up governments and courts. In other words, a marriage amendment won’t accomplish what we perhaps hope it will. It isn’t just our laws that need our attention, it’s our culture. A licentious culture, including its bad judges, will trump good laws, whether they are old or new. We saw this in Lawrence v. Texas. Sodomy laws existed, but were not enforced, so courts saw no problem in casting them aside, and in doing so homosexual sex was tacitly legitimized. We saw this in California when even though a state law was voted on and passed (Proposition 22 ) to protect traditional marriage, bad judges overruled it. And now an amendment to California’s constitution (Prop. 8) will be voted on in November as a desperate attempt to permanently reverse that court decision. For months, money and human resources have poured in from both sides. It’s a huge issue and a dramatic example of a culture at war. Two world views are engaged in political combat. But no matter which worldview wins out in the battle for Prop 8 in California, (it’s supposed to be very close) and in other inevitable future state battles, there will have been no substantive change in our increasingly Godless culture.
While citizens rise up to protect marriage in the governmental arena, there seems to be no such significant battle for traditional values occurring in the cultural arena (unless you count web sites and publications such as ours which are few and far between). For instance, many churches and conservative organizations have lately given up speaking out against alternative sexual orientations and behaviors in fear of being labeled anti-human rights. Instead, they have opted to shift their focus to preserving marriage. This is like putting a Bandaid on a growing internal cancer. It is our hedonistic culture that brought us to this political impasse in the first place. The culture war has been all but won by the enemies of traditional sexual morality, the safety of children, the rights of parents, and religious freedom. It has been all but won through our anti-traditional values education systems and media. The wisdom of the ages and the laws of God are being thrown out like yesterday’s garbage in favor of radical organized sexual permissiveness in the name of “identity” and “rights.” Misinformation, fear, and intimidation are tactics that have been used to condition and silence truth and goodness.
One characteristic of war is that it can change directions at any time. If we care about the rising generation, it we care that all will not be lost, we need an overall offensive strategy rather than only last-minute defensive tactics that overlook the general layout. Robert Bork, in Slouching Towards Gomorrah, sounds like a Book of Mormon prophet, when he writes that our only hope to save our way of life is a grass roots revival of true religiosity (that’s putting God and His laws at the center of our lives) and a resurgence of the public will to change our culture’s direction back toward traditional morality. This means refusing to be distracted by cosmetic fixes and facing up to reality and the extremity in which we find ourselves as a culture. This means throwing off pride and complacency, repenting and seeking the Lord’s Spirit to teach and guide us. It means rejecting the popular philosophies of men without rationalization and despite fear of what others may think of us or do to us. It means teaching our children and grandchildren what to value and what to reject and how to feel the Spirit in a culture that has become past feeling. It means speaking out in our families, churches, neighborhoods, and communities, and running for local offices. (Bork points out that a local school board has more influence over culture than national politicians.) It means contributing and encouraging cultural excellence and goodness in all areas, including education, art, and entertainment, with the objective of conserving what is good and rejecting what it bad. This is the sacred responsibility of any ordered human society.
The cultural juggernaut we are experiencing is nothing new. The battle between good and evil has been the great topic of the accumulated wisdom of the world. It has been the substance of the lives of the most fearless and God-fearing of reformers, revolutionaries, and prophets. It is a primary theme in the timeless word of God. The biggest question is not who will win or lose that battle in the end – that is in the Lord’s hands – but on whose side we will place our minds and hearts and efforts, not just in a voting booth but in our everyday lives.
-Janice Graham
Standard of Liberty received a lot of response to Camille Turpin's review of Stephanie Meyer's book Breaking Dawn, including the following email note:
"Thank you very much for this warning about Breaking Dawn! Would you or the reviewer be so kind as to identify half a dozen passages in the book where these false and treacherous ideas are manifest? My wife and I are thinking of spending some time with our daughters citing such passages and identifying the false ideas in them. (But we don't want to have to read the whole book to find these passages.) In other words, we feel this would be a helpful learning experience for our daughters--who have already read the book--so they will get better at identifying these false notions on their own. Thanks." --A Reader (name withheld)
We got the same request from a number of people, so we asked Camille Turpin to prepare references for her list of wrong ideas in the books. Below is the list she sent us. We are sure you will find it helpful in discussions with your family. Also, Camille Turpin and Standard of Liberty were referenced in the August 24 Salt Lake Tribune. Click here to read the Tribune article.
--Stephen Graham
A list of wrong ideas about love and sex that are presented in the Twilight series. References to books and pages are included.
- Dangerous people are sexy (Twilight pg 190/Entire Series)
- Love should be enduring no matter how unhealthy or dangerous it is for you (Twilight/Entire Series—Edward agrees to turn Bella into a vampire so they can be young together forever)
- Some people think it's not a good idea to have sex before marriage, but it's fun to see how far you can go before you cross the line (Eclipse—Edward wants to wait until they are married to have sex, but Bella wants to do it before then. Edward insists he is trying to protect her virtue—which she laughs at—but they are having this conversation on a bed which he has provided while he kisses her neck and puts her leg over him)
- If you use self-control, you can go really far before actually having intercourse (Eclipse/Entire Series—Bella and Edward are constantly trying to push how far they can go physically before he is out of control, which means he may kill her at any moment.)
- Even if you think premarital sex is wrong, sleeping together and sneaking around behind a parent's back is ok (Twilight/Entire Series—Edward spends each night in Bella’s room, listening with supernatural hearing to her father in the next room to make sure he won’t come in.)
- Parents don't know what's good for you in terms of love. (Bella’s mother is very critical of youthful love/marriage because she is divorced. Bella treats her as though she is a child who needs to be taken care of. Bella’s father does not like Edward, but Bella continues to see him anyway.)
- Marriage is something to be feared, and which may ruin your enjoyment of sex. (Eclipse—Bella wants to have sex before they are married because she hates the idea of marriage and wishes they could just have a physical commitment. He wants to wait until after she is a vampire because it could be dangerous for her. She refuses and only agrees to wait until marriage as long as she gets a real honeymoon while she’s human. She constantly complains about marriage—see BD Chapter 1.)
- Sexual intercourse is the best part of love, marriage, and human life. (BD page 482—“Our time on the island had been the epitome of my human life. The very best of it. I’d been so ready to string along my human time, just to hold on to what I had with him for a little while longer. Because the physical part wasn’t going to be the same ever again.”)
- If sex is good, it will probably be violent. (BD Chapter 5 and 6. Edward bites pillows, shreds clothing, creates bruises all over Bella’s body, and breaks headboards apart. He tries not to do it again, but Bella convinces him to and downplays her injuries.)
- If sex is violent, it will not hurt you as long as you are really into it. (Bella does not notice the destroyed pillows or her bruised body until she wakes up the next morning. Pg. 89)
- The more violent and out of control the sex is, the better it is. You might destroy things, but that just means it was great. (Bella has dreams about sex after Edward refuses to do it again until she is a vampire. She wakes up and convinces him to do it—page 106-107. He destroys a headboard and they joke about it. Later on they decide to do it again and make a joke about destroying the headboard again—page 117.)
- In a perfect world, we would desire and be able to have intercourse all night long, and wish it would go on longer. The best possible scenario would be for our bodies to never wear out and for our desire to be constant. (BD page 482-483)
- Sex is more enjoyable if our partner's body is perfect (BD page 482). If you really love your partner, you won't mind if they are in love with someone else too, or that they want them around all the time (Bella loves her “best friend” Jacob, and desires him physically in New Moon and Eclipse. Jacob is desperately in love with Bella. Edward brings Jacob to Bella and lets them have a dance at their wedding, and then allows him to hang around afterward). In fact, if you really love them, you won't mind if they have sexual intercourse with someone else (Edward, thinking their baby is dangerous and should be aborted, asks Jacob to tell Bella they could have a physical relationship so Bella could have less dangerous children—BD page 180, 181).
- Sometimes people might desire a child to be their mate. It's innocent as long as they don't act on it till they are older (Werewolves often “imprint” on another person, meaning they have found their mate and cannot control whether they want that person or not. Jacob “imprints” on Bella’s half-human infant).
- When you love someone, you desire them physically every moment of your life. You will have to distract yourself with daily life in order to keep your mind off of sex, but it always there, in the background, and can be turned on at any moment, blocking out everything else (Bella is constantly losing concentration and forgetting totally about her child when she looks at Edward and thinks about sex BD page 487).
- It is normal and good to picture a person you love naked before you are married (BD page 349).
- As long as the actual motions of sexual intercourse are not described in detail, it is ok to write and read about a physical relationship between a married man and woman--including where they are, what they are wearing, how long it went on, the positions they end up in, that certain motions of their bodies will stimulate sexual desire, and how they felt during the process (BD chapters 5 and 6, and especially page 481-485).
- If you really desire your partner, you might tear each other's clothes off, destroying them in the process (BD page 481).
- You have absolutely no control over who you love and how long you love them. Once you find that person, it is easy to love them and you will do anything for them. If you really love each other, you won't have any real problems (Entire Series—imprinting idea, Jacob and Edward are willing to risk their lives several times over for Bella, and in BD after they are married Bella and Edward never have a single argument or hardship. Their entire life is a happy honeymoon with a perfect child.)
- The pain of losing someone you love is so painful that death is better in comparison. If you really love them, you'll never ever get over losing them. (This idea is expressed several times mostly in New Moon and BD. Edward is going to kill himself when he thinks Bella is dead. Bella wishes she were dead after Edward leaves her, Jacob wants to kill Edward if Bella dies and Edward makes sure he promises to do it, etc.)
- Sexy people are tall, muscular, perfect. Normal people just seem so childish. (Bella doesn’t take highschool boys seriously, and is only in love with vampires and werewolves who are superhumanly strong, tall, hot or cold, etc.)
- Sexual intercourse is the most important part of marriage. (Again see BD 482 and subsequent vampire life.)
Thanks to Camille Turpin for the following review of Breaking Dawn, Stephanie Meyer’s fourth in the extremely popular Twilight Series published by Little, Brown. To read the entire review, click here. On this page we offer excerpts including Turpin’s list of wrong and harmful ideas introduced in the series. Please note that the initial printing of this fourth book was 3.7 million copies and over 1.3 million copies sold on the first day.
Meyer is LDS, in her early thirties, married with children, and is a BYU graduate (1997). The vampire series has a teenage girl as its main character and is wildly popular with all ages of girls and women from age 9 to 50, including Latter-day Saints. Mothers and daughters read the books repeatedly. The series has a huge fan base which includes parties/book signings, retail merchandise, and hundreds of internet groups, one with 50,000 and another with 20,000 members.
Turpin, is LDS, 30, married with children, graduated from BYU in English (editing), and interned at BYU’s scholarly publishing arms, FARMS and BYU Studies. She has edited 4 published books, and reads over 50 books a year of various genres.
Book Review: What’s Broken about Breaking Dawn
by Camille Turpin
I was a big Twilight fan. It was fun. It was fluffy. It was a nice change from all the heavy stuff I usually read. And the author was LDS. But as the series progressed I became more and more disenchanted. Then came the last book in the series, Breaking Dawn in which the main characters, a human and a vampire, get married.
I could write all day about the things I didn’t like about this novel– it was poorly written to say the least – but those are the flaws that make me merely roll my eyes. What makes me angry is the sneaky sex stuff, disguised as a contemporary teen romance/fantasy/ vampire story. That’s why I’m now a Twi-hater. All I could think while I was reading the last two in the series were two questions I often ask myself when presented with something I want to read/watch but I’m not sure I should: What good can come of it? And what bad can come of it? At the very best, the good that can come of the Twilight series is the idea that young people can wait until marriage to experience physical sexual intimacy. At the worst, it introduces girls and women of every age to edge-of-the-cliff sexual “morality” and unhealthy, extreme, and twisted ideas about sex, marriage, and motherhood. To illustrate, I made the following list of wrong and harmful ideas presented in the Twilight series.
* Dangerous people are sexy.
* Love should be enduring no matter how unhealthy or dangerous it is for you.
* Some people think it's not a good idea to have sex before marriage, but it's fun to see how far you can go before you cross the line.
* If you use self-control, you can go really far before actually having intercourse.
* Even if you think premarital sex is wrong, sleeping together and sneaking around behind a parent's back is okay.
* Parents don't know what's good for you in terms of love.
* Marriage is something to be feared and may ruin your enjoyment of sex.
* Sexual intercourse is the best part of love, marriage, and human life.
* If sex is good it will probably be violent.
* If sex is violent it will not permanently hurt you as long as you are really into it.
* The more violent and out of control the sex is, the better it is. If you really desire your partner, you might tear each other's clothes off, destroying them in the process. You might destroy furniture, too, and hurt each other, but that just means it was great. (In Breaking Dawn Edward tears clothes, rips apart pillows with his teeth and destroys furniture during sex. Bella wakes up with bruises all over her body.)
* In a perfect world, we would desire and be able to have intercourse all night long, and wish it would go on longer. The best possible scenario would be for our bodies to never wear out and for our desire to be constant.
* Sex is more enjoyable if our partner's body is perfect. (Edward has a perfect body.)
* If you really love your partner, you won't mind if they are in love with someone else too, or that they want them around all the time. In fact, if you really love them, you won't mind if they have sexual intercourse with someone else. (Edward, the vampire husband, suggests that Bella, his wife, have relations with Jacob, the werewolf.)
* Sometimes people might desire an infant to be their mate. It's innocent as long as they don't act on it until they are older. (The werewolf “imprints” himself on Bella’s baby, meaning the baby is his eternal mate.)
* When you love someone, you desire them physically every moment of your life. You will have to distract yourself with daily life in order to keep your mind off of sex, but it’s always there, in the background, and can be turned on at any moment, blocking out everything else.
* It is normal and good to picture a person you love naked before you are married.
* As long as the actual motions of sexual intercourse are not described in detail, it is okay to write and read about a physical relationship between a married man and woman--including where they are, what they are wearing, how long it went on, the positions they end up in, that certain motions of their bodies which stimulate sexual desire, and how they felt during the process.
* You have absolutely no control over who you love and how long you love them. Once you find that person, it is easy to love them and you will do anything for them. If you really love each other, you won't have any real problems.
* The pain of losing someone you love is so painful that death is better in comparison. If you really love them, you'll never ever get over losing them.
* Sexy people are tall, muscular, perfect. Normal people just seem so childish.
* Sexual intercourse is the most important part of marriage.
Here are some additional disturbing events and images in Breaking Dawn.
* The heroine/mother drinks blood while pregnant and her baby drinks blood from a bottle.
* Pregnancy is portrayed as horrific, involving the fetus breaking the mother’s ribs and pelvis, giving her huge bruises on her abdomen, and the baby sucking the life out of her from within.
* In the childbirth scene the mother vomits blood and is ripped open by her vampire husband’s teeth, the baby bites the mother immediately after birth, the mother dies in the process of the birth, and the vampire bites and licks her body back to life.
* Vampires gather from all over the world to save the vampire/human baby, and the heroine/mother and hero/father do not mind that the other vampires are drinking human blood and murdering the local population. In this book vampires are not ghouls and devils but superior beings.
I heard somewhere that Stephanie Meyer had concerns that this last book in her series had content that was too mature for some of her fans and tried to have a warning put on the book, but the publisher wouldn’t allow it. Please. As if a warning would have kept 11-year-olds from reading Breaking Dawn after they had been so cleverly hooked with three previous books. When you begin a series for young people, you have a moral obligation to keep it geared toward young people. We can only surmise that somewhere along the line Stephanie Meyer, our own wildly successful LDS author, sold out. Everybody knows sex sells.
-Camille Turpin
To read the entire review click here.
SoL response:
Like Flannery O'Connor said, "I am not afraid that this book will be controversial. I am afraid that it will not be controversial." She also wrote, "The two worst sins of bad taste in fiction are pornography and sentimentality. One is too much sex and the other too much sentiment. You have to have enough of either to prove your point but no more . . . it's when sex and scurrility are used for their own sakes that it is in bad taste.”
G. K. Chesterson wrote, "Good literature tells us the mind of one man; but bad literature may tell us the mind of many men. A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. It does much more than that, it tells us the truth about its readers and oddly enough, it tells us this all the more the more cynical and immoral be the motive of its manufacture. The more dishonest a book is as a book the more honest it is as a public document."
Given our oversexed culture, we are all in danger of being conditioned into thinking that preoccupation with sex and selfish, unhealthy, extreme, and bizarre ideas about sex are all okay, even praiseworthy. After all, we learn from Oprah and Dr. Laura that pornography can spice up a marriage. This book is a perfect example of being very cleverly taken in bit by bit. These ideas are not harmless. Anything other than kind, loving, wholesome, healthy relations between husband and wife, where husband and wife are focused on their love for each other rather than on sex for its own sake, is unchaste, to put it mildly.
Please look for our new book coming soon, Chased by an Elephant, the gospel truth about today’s stampeding sexuality, for LDS families. Sad to say, Meyer's book series is a made-to-order representation of that stampede.
-Janice Graham
The SoLVoice
July 26, 2008
My Conversation about Homosexuality with a Student Journalist at Brigham Young University,
and My Rejected Articles
by Stephen Graham
By way of introduction, a while back, after submitting a piece to a publication called BYU Political Review calling for articles, I received an email requesting a meeting. I met with two young men in the Harold B. Lee Library on campus. They told me it was an intriguing topic but they had some concerns. The following is my recollection of an interesting and revealing conversation which my wife wrote down the very day it took place. (She says I’m pretty good at remembering conversations.) It was mostly with one of the students who was more vocal than the other. Make of this what you will. To us, it is representative of the attitude some Church members hold concerning sexual immorality and how it relates to lawful marriage and temple covenants. Unfortunately, such people are caught up in popular philosophies that sound attractive and foster complacency. And even more unfortunately, many of this group are in positions relating to publication and communication such as those I dealt with during this entire interaction.
Student: I see you mean well and I support your right to pursue what you believe in. But I completely disagree with your point of view. Still, if you can give me an article more about people who struggle with same sex attraction rather than the homosexual agenda in our culture, I think I can get it published. But I have one caveat.
Steve: Sure, I could do that. What’s your caveat?
Student: I would put a statement at the beginning of your article saying that I, or we, as the editors, disagree with the point of view of the following article.
Steve: Well, then I’m not interested. If you put that at the beginning of my article it would prejudice people against it before they even read it.
Student: All right. I’ll drop it.
Steve: Okay. Now, tell me about your disagreement with my point of view.
Student: I know lots of people who are gay. Many of my friends are gay. I have a sister who is a lesbian. One of my friends who’s gay has been so mistreated. He’s been disowned by his family, treated disrespectfully by his bishop, and has contemplated suicide. In fact, he says he’s been suicidal for years.
I believe there are many orientations of affection. Men are attracted to men, women are attracted to women, men and women are attracted to each other, and people fall anywhere in between.
Steve: Oh, you’re talking about the sexuality “spectrum” Kinsey came up with in the 1940s. I don’t believe there is any good healthy sexual orientation other than the one prescribed by God’s laws, man and woman being attracted to each other. Anything else is just spoiled sexuality.
Student: Well, I believe people are born with their attractions and tendencies. I think people’s varying attractions for one another are all part of God’s plan for us on this earth.
Steve: How do you know that they’re born with it?
Student. They said they were.
Steve: So there’s no objective test for homosexuality. It’s all based on a person’s self-identification. It’s the way they feel so they say they’re gay.
Student: Well, yeah. A person feels attracted to a person of the same sex so they decide that they must be gay.
Steve: Yeah, a lot of people say, ‘I’ve been gay for as long as I can remember, in fact, I was born gay.’ The fact is, none of us remembers our feelings at birth, so none of us can say we were born gay. . .
But I’m concerned about what you’ve just told me about your friend, how he’s been suicidal for years.
Student: You’re concerned?
Steve: Well, yes! If you say your friend has been suicidal for years I’m concerned, and I would hope that you are, too, that he might carry that out. If you care about your friend, the very first thing you should do is try to convince him to get into therapy as soon as possible. Because if someone says they are suicidal, something is wrong and they need some treatment. A person who wants to kill himself is not in his right mind. There’s something there, depression or some other emotional or mental illness. When people with homosexuality are suicidal it’s not because their church or society does accept or approve of their sexual preferences. People kill themselves because something is terribly wrong in their head. So, they need help.
Student: Well, I think aversion therapy and reparative therapy ought to be outlawed. I know a number of people who have tried to change and they were happier when they quit trying to change than they were while they were trying to change.
Steve: Aversion therapy doesn’t sound good to me either, but as regards to reparative therapy, what’s wrong with fixing something that’s broken? There are thousands of people who have successfully changed their thought patterns concerning sexuality as a result of therapy. And the research has shown that the more highly motivated people are the more likely they are to succeed.
As far the as the Church is concerned, we make a distinction between acting out with the physical body and just having the thoughts, feelings, desires, fantasies, etc. As members of the Church if we do something with our bodies that’s identified as a sin, we can be disciplined or lose our membership. However, there’s no Church discipline involved for what goes on inside us, in our minds and in our hearts. But as followers of Christ, that doesn’t excuse us.
I want to remind you of what Jesus said, ‘If a man looks upon a woman to lust after her, he has committed adultery with her already in his heart.’ The same goes for homosexual desires. The same principle applies. If a man is lusting after another man, or a woman after another woman, they’ve committed the sin already in their hearts.
Student: I don’t think same sex attractions, feelings, thoughts, and desires can be sinful.
Steve: Well, I just go back to what Jesus said.
Student: I’m not sure we understand the scriptures when it comes to homosexuality.
Steve: Look, the end goal of male homosexuality is sodomy. That’s what the fantasies come down to. Like the scriptures say, men lying with men.
Student: Some heterosexuals do that, too.
Steve: That certainly doesn’t make it right, does it? The human body does not safely accommodate it.
Student: Well, same sex attraction is about love. And there’s a whole lot more to love than just sex.
Steve: All right, let’s talk about attractions. You two guys are attracted to one another, but it’s not a sexual attraction. When two males are attracted to one another and it’s not sexual or romantic, it’s something else such as simple admiration, friendship, or family. So then let’s take a look at homosexual attraction, or same sex sexual attraction. What makes it different than what you have here? The only difference is not love, but sex, which for men with men means sodomy.
Help me understand what you mean by saying that love between two people of the same sex involves more than sexual activity. Aren’t you talking about friendship then? As we’ve said, two people of the same sex can have friendship without sex. What constitutes romantic same sex attraction apart from sexual activity?
Student: Well, you want to be with them, you want the best for them, and things like that.
Steve: Yes and that’s called friendship. But what does romantic mean?
Student: (no comment)
Steve: It seems to mean you want to be with them, you want the best for them, and you also want to touch, kiss, hold one another. It that right?
Student: (no comment)
Steve: If that’s all part of romantic homosexual attraction, then my question is, to what end? Where are you headed with this relationship? If you, a man, are in love with a girl and you want to hug and kiss and hold her, and marry her, what is the next thing that occurs? When you get married you immediately begin a sexual relationship as well. Before you get married there is a desire for that sexual relationship. You hold off until marriage because you love and respect her and God says you can’t do it until you’re married. But the desire is there. And the result is sexual intimacy. For the male homosexual romantic relationship, that means sodomy.
Students: Well, yeah, there’s no denying that people love to have sex. I’m sure my sister has really great sex with her lesbian partner.
Steve: Would you like for your sister to overcome that lesbian attraction she has? Do you hope that someday she’ll renounce that or leave that lifestyle”
Student: I guess that would be up to her, but she says that’s just the way she is, so it’s not something she could choose not to be.
Steve: Okay, so let’s say, for the sake of your argument, that your sister is naturally and irretrievably lesbian. Do you think she should be able to or allowed to marry her same sex partner?
Student: Yes, I think she should be able to get married.
Steve: All right, if you believe that, then do you believe the Church should perform same sex marriages, and marry her to her partner?
Student: Yes, I think they should.
Steve: Well then, if you think that, do you think she should be able to be sealed to her lesbian partner in the temple?
Student: That’s where I kind of flinch.
Steve: Wait. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t flinch. If your sister should be able to marry outside the temple, she should be able to be sealed inside the temple.
Student: I know. It causes me a lot of thought.
Steve: It shouldn’t cause you any thought. You’ve just got to decide. It is right or wrong? Look, let’s take the eternal view. Sealing in the temple is performed to what end? Do you agree with me that we’re sealed in the temple in anticipation of gaining our exaltation?
Student: Yes.
Steve: Then, again I ask you, if two men or two women are to be sealed to one another in the temple, I want to know what the hoped for outcome of this union is.
Students: (Blank stares)
Steve: We’re taught that Heavenly Father’s work and glory is our immortality and exaltation. But what is it that He offers us in this state of exaltation? I’ll tell you. It’s eternal increase. So, you tell me how two men or two women have any increase. It’s contrary to everything we’re taught about what Heavenly Father has in store for us.
So here’s the point. Women sexually attracted to each other and men sexually attracted to each other is outside God’s plan for us. And we’re living in a world that’s extremely dangerous when it comes to personal religious beliefs. There could come a time when a law is passed in our country that requires churches to perform marriages for any two people who present themselves to be married, whatever their gender. If that kind of law ever gets passed in our country, will the Church have to perform those marriages?
Students: Yes, I guess so.
Steve: Will the Church want to perform those as sealings in the temple?
Students: No.
Steve: So, hypothetically speaking, the Church will say, we’ll have to do these same sex marriages because the law requires us to do it just like we do for opposite sex couples. So we’ll do them in the Relief Society rooms. And we’ll continue sealing opposite sex couples in the temple.
Now, as soon as the Church performs one of those same sex marriages in the Relief Society room of a chapel, what will happen? Somebody will file a law suit saying that the Church is discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation by not allowing same sex couples to be sealed in the temple like everyone else. The word will spread and the homosexual activists across the country and the world will sue the Church, perhaps out of existence.
And so, brethren, it’s an extremely dangerous world for us. That’s why at the Standard of Liberty we keep track of what’s going on. To think same sex attraction is harmless and innocuous is to deny the facts. You have to think these things through.
Well, it’s been interesting to talk with you. I’ll get my article to you soon.
After being told to shorten, tone down, depoliticize, and then repoliticize my article over a period of three months, and after being given a number of the same type of excuses and delays we’ve received from other media, the final revision was summarily rejected for publication by BYU Political Review. Here are the two proper length depoliticized and repoliticized articles I submitted, neither of which was published.
Homosexuality, Before and After
There’s a movie called Before and After. In it a family goes through such a tremendous ordeal with their teenage son that it is never the same again. My son had just turned 19 when he confessed an involvement with unwanted homosexuality. He sought help. What he learned in therapy made perfect sense to him. He began to heal. He replaced old thought patterns with new. He humbly and sincerely repented. We all learned about truth, about our Savior’s offer of redemption, and about being steadfast in Christ, and none of us have ever been the same.
When homosexual attractions occur, there is always a before. Julie Harren-Hamilton, a clinical therapist, submits that homosexual attraction is the product of two things: temperament plus environment. By temperament she means the certain qualities we have due to genes, brain wiring, and prenatal conditions. By environment she means the gender identity, sense of masculinity/ femininity, and attitudes toward sex and sexuality we learn from parents, peers, and experiences. While temperament may cause susceptibility, temperament alone will not cause homosexuality. Homosexuality is often a symptom of deeper unmet needs.
As Latter-day Saints, when confronted with homosexual attraction in oneself or someone for whom we have a stewardship, we are obligated to discover what has occurred to derail Heavenly Father’s plan in this instance. Here are some specific questions we should ask, taking into account individual temperament:
Was there gender identity confusion? Were there sufficient models for developing proper masculinity/femininity? Has there been peer abuse, parental abuse or neglect? Why the preoccupation with sex? Is masturbation occurring? Has there been sexual molestation or abuse? What role has pornography played? Has there been same sex sexual experimentation? Who has the person been communicating and associating with? What were the influences in developing these attitudes and ideas?
Once these questions have been answered, roots and causes begin to fall into place. Except in the case of mental illness which must be treated for its own sake, from here reorienting from homosexuality is a matter of forsaking old associations, habits, and thought patterns, and learning new ones.
This is not to say that the process of rooting out and overcoming homosexuality is easy or quick, especially once a person has been deeply involved, whether emotionally, mentally or physically. Overcoming homosexuality can be quite painful and difficult, and will take some time. But the pain, difficulty, and length of any task has nothing to do with the rightness of it. This is when our infinite potential as children of God and our reliance on the Savior come in. Rather than blaming others for one’s unhappiness, rather than disparaging or giving up on reparative therapy, rather than adopting a permanent homosexual identity and consigning oneself to celibacy, rather than breaking sacred covenants, rather than wresting the scriptures to justify these choices, there is another option. It is to utilize agency, take responsibility for one’s own health and progress, turn to Christ, and seek the Spirit.
To those sincerely struggling against homosexual attractions we say don't give up. It is now, while you have your body, that the greatest spiritual progress can be made. If you are discouraged, it may be that you don't need to try harder, just differently. You need to know you are loved and valued by Heavenly Father apart from what you think, feel, and do. His love never varies. Your immeasurable worth as a child of God is a given. Pray always about this truth and the Spirit will confirm it. This is the best place to start.
To friends and family we say don’t give in. Love the person all the same but do not accept their self-identification as homosexual. It’s very important to discourage the “gay” label. Encourage reparative therapy and repentance when appropriate and if the person is ready and willing. Never falter in the conviction that same sex sexual attraction can and should be overcome. The family is the best support group there is.
When homosexuality occurs, according to reality and truth, we know there is a before, and we know there can be an after.notes:
See Julie Harren-Hamilton, www.homosexuality101.com .
For more information see www.standardofliberty.org .
For help in overcoming unwanted homosexuality call Dr. Jeff Robinson at 801.318.9528.
The New Homosexuality
Not long ago those few who engaged in homosexual behavior kept it private. Everybody, including the people practicing it, knew it was a deviance from rightness, normalcy, and good health. With the sexual revolution of the 60s, the practice spread. In the 80s the world found out homosexual behaviors could be deadly. Incredibly, a few decades later, notwithstanding the health risks that continue and multiply, it is perceived as anything from innocuous to highly fashionable to God-given. It is excused in polite family company, softened by church leaders, lewdly paraded in our city streets, awarded in the media and academy, protected in our public policies and courts, and taught to our children in public schools.We can trace this evolution to “The Overhauling of Straight American,” a.k.a. “the homosexual bible,” a 1987 manifesto which outlined a master plan. Main points include: “Step 1: Talk about gays and gayness as often and as loudly as possible. Step 2: Portray gays as victims. Step 3: Give protectors a just cause. Step 4: Make gays look good. Step 5: Make the victimizers look bad. Step 6: Solicit funds.” A thick book, After the Ball, followed in 1989. There was nothing true or virtuous here, only propaganda meant to manipulate the public’s emotions for the purpose of winning societal sympathy and acceptance for unspeakably bad behavior. As to their success, don’t many now perceive “gays” as special, discriminated against, bullied, a minority deserving special treatment and unimagined privileges such as gay marriage? Don’t many people believe homosexuality is inborn without the benefit of scientific proof? Don’t a growing number of LDS believe those afflicted with SSA live lives of quiet desperation? Yes, and generally, these are all great deceptions. When it comes to sexual proclivities, if a person is healthy he is not any kind of victim. We choose our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Every healthy person has the power to choose, and to alter, his thoughts and feelings. You won’t hear this is in the news: a new study tracking reparative therapy for those with unwanted homosexual tendencies reports high success rates (Jones and Yarhouse, 2007). Enter: Michael Glatze. Michael was the founder of a magazine for young, “gay” males. The magazine won great praise and awards. He himself lived the lifestyle for 16 years. Recently, he decided he wanted out and got religion – the LDS religion. And now he’s trying to undo some of the damage he did. He’s also being threatened and persecuted by people who were once his friends. He said, “Homosexuality, delivered to young minds, is by its very nature pornographic. It destroys impressionable minds and confuses their developing sexuality.” And “Homosexuality prevents us from finding our true self within. We cannot see the truth when we are blinded by homosexuality.” And “Now I know that homosexuality is lust and pornography wrapped into one. I’ll never let anybody try to convince me otherwise, no matter how slick their tongues or how sad their story. I have seen it. I know that truth.” He says that people are not homosexuals; they are heterosexuals with a homosexual problem. He reveals the truth that homosexuality is “completely a fabrication.”Please note that this article is not about sins of the flesh but about something C. S. Lewis called much worse: spiritual sin, the sin of deception which is at the heart of the gay movement. Homosexuality is being portrayed as normal, inevitable, brave, honest, healthy, even tasteful and refined, when it is just the opposite of all of these. The deception being practiced on the world concerning the nature of homosexuality, where it affects children and youth especially, is the worst thing about it. Because of this clever deception, we are blinded to the fact that the homosexual movement is an attempt to replace God and His laws and enslave young people by exploiting the sexual instinct through pornography and propaganda. The homosexual movement, which we are now excusing, embracing, dignifying, celebrating, protecting, and preferring, is a means to a much more diabolical end. Sir John David Michaelis in 1814 said, “If [sodomy] once begins to prevail, not only will boys be easily corrupted by adults, but also by other boys, nor will it ever cease; more especially as it must thus soon lose all its shamefulness and infamy and become fashionable and the national taste; and then . . . the national weakness . . . Whoever, therefore, wishes to ruin a nation, has only to get this vice introduced; for it is extremely difficult to extirpate it where it has once taken root because it can be propagated with much secrecy . . . and when we perceive that it has once got a footing in any country, however powerful and flourishing, we may venture as politicians to predict that the foundation of its future decline is laid .”There is nothing new about homosexual behavior. What’s new is good people’s almost unwitting embrace of it.
-Stephen Graham
APA's New Pamphlet on Homosexuality
De-emphasizes the Biological Argument, Supports
a Client's Right to Self-Determination
The APA has now begun to acknowledge what most scientists have long known:
that a bio-psycho-social model of causation best fits the data.
A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D., MBA, MPH
March 6, 2008 - In 1998, the American Psychological Association (APA) published a brochure titled "Answers to Your Questions about Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality."This particular document was ostensibly published to provide definitive answers about homosexuality. However, few of the assertions made in the brochure could find any basis in psychological science. Clearly a document anchored more in activism than in empiricism, the brochure was simply a demonstration of how far APA had strayed from science, and how much it had capitulated to activism.The newest APA brochure, which appears to be an update of the older one, is titled, "Answers to Your Questions for a Better Understanding of Sexual Orientation & Homosexuality."Though both brochures have strong activist overtones (both were created with "editorial assistance from the APA Committee on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns"), the newer document is more reflective of science and more consistent with the ethicality of psychological care.Consider the following statement from the first document:
"There is considerable recent evidence to suggest that biology, including genetic or inborn hormonal factors, play a significant role in a person's sexuality."
That statement was omitted from the current document and replaced with the following:
"There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay or lesbian orientation. Although much research has examined the possible genetic, hormonal, developmental, social, and cultural influences on sexual orientation, no findings have emerged that permit scientists to conclude that sexual orientation is determined by any particular factor or factors. Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles..."
Although there is no mention of the research that influenced this new position statement, it is clear that efforts to "prove" that homosexuality is simply a biological fait accompli have failed. The activist researchers themselves have reluctantly reached that conclusion. There is no gay gene. There is no simple biological pathway to homosexuality. Byne and Parsons, and Friedman and Downey, were correct: a bio-psycho-social model best fits the data.
Click here to read the rest of this article on the NARTH website
SoL’s FAQ – and the short answers
Here are questions we are frequently asked about SoL
Q: Why do you call yourselves the Standard of Liberty when you focus on homosexuality?
A: The “gay” movement is inhibiting the safety, freedom, and prosperity of America. Q: Isn’t societal acceptance of homosexuality a sign of progress and enlightenment?
A: No. Homosexuality is an ancient practice that signals a civilization’s demise.
Q: You say homosexuality is physically harmful. How?
A: Homosexual sex (sodomy), causes chronic illnesses and life-threatening disease (HIV/AIDS), shortening life by an average of 20 years. The human body is simply not made for this behavior. In addition, adopting the “gay” identity often masks dangerous psychological problems that need attention.
Q: Doesn’t heterosexual sex carry the same physical risks as homosexual sex?
A: No, none, if there is abstinence before marriage, and fidelity and healthy, normal sexual intercourse in marriage.
Q: Isn’t homosexuality just another kind of love?
A: No. If there is love present, it has taken a wrong turn by including sexual lust. People who love each other do not risk each other’s health and well-being. The only healthy and appropriate love between same sexes is nonsexual, such as in friendships and families.
Q: Isn’t great love, loyalty, and affection between two people of the same sex a sign of homosexuality?
A: No. This ridiculous and hurtful idea is now being trumped up about famous people, posthumously. It’s disgraceful to attempt to turn such pure love into sexual lust. Such love between friends warrants great service and sacrifice. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Q: Isn’t it hateful and intolerant to oppose homosexuality?
A: No. It’s actually compassionate and charitable to oppose things that are harmful to individuals and society.
Q: Aren’t you disrespecting “gays” as human beings?
A: No. It is certain sexual ideas and behaviors that are not worthy of respect.
Q: Aren’t followers of Christ supposed to “judge not that ye be not judged?”
A: Out of context. This scripture (Matt. 7:1, Luke 6:37, 3 Nephi 14:1) is about condemning specific persons while overlooking our own faults. We at SoL judge principles, not people. All people make judgments on principles every day.
Q: Isn’t it hurtful to “gays” to call homosexuality a sin and an abomination?
A: Yes, these words may hurt. But these are God’s words. The truth often hurts before it heals.
Q: Why do you put the word “gay” in quotes?
A: Because the word used to mean something else – merry, playful, as in gaiety – and was adopted by activists to attempt to give homosexuality an immutable identity and make it appear to be something attractive, wholesome, and good. It is a fabricated corruption of the language.
Q: Has public opinion changed concerning homosexuality?
A: Yes. Due to systematic introduction of homosexual propaganda, pro-“gay” public policies and court decisions, the public is increasingly accepting of same sex sexuality in addition to and in preparation for the breaking down of all other sexual boundaries.
Q: Are you “the self-appointed moral police,” as some have said?
A: No. It is God who appoints all who will to stand for objective principles of truth and goodness. Our detractors are self-appointed, pushing an arbitrary, self-serving, and ultimately non-benevolent set of rules.
Q: Why do you focus on the cultural and political homosexual agenda?
A: It threatens freedoms, indoctrinates youth, harms people, and weakens the nation.
Q: Why don’t you focus more on understanding and helping individuals struggling with SSA?
A: That is the job of individuals, professional therapists, church leaders, and families.
Q: Shouldn’t we accept a young person as “gay” so he won’t become suicidal?
A: No. Actually, “the risk of suicide decreases by 20 % for each year that a young person delays homosexual or bisexual self-labeling.” (Remafedi, Farrow, and Deisher, 1991.)
Q: Isn’t the high rate of gay suicides due to societal nonacceptance?
A: No. There is a huge mainstream support system for homosexuality today. Suicide is caused by mental/emotional illness, of which homosexuality may only be a part.
Q: Isn’t “gay” who they are?
A: No. Humans are biologically heterosexual. Homosexuality is normal sexuality gone awry.
Q: What causes SSA?
A: Temperament plus environment. It won’t happen without environmental factors. As our society has become more and more “gay”-affirming, more and more vulnerable young people are being lured into homosexuality. (See Homosexuality 101, Julie Harren-Hamilton)
Q: Do you think homosexuality is a conscious choice?
A: No for some - it’s a developmental disorder. Yes for others – it’s trendy and rebellious. Or it’s a combination of those. But unless a person is mentally ill, it’s always a choice to live it out. It’s definitely a choice to publically self-identify as “gay.”
Q: Why in the world would anybody choose to be “gay” (as in public identification and lifestyle)?
A: Men especially choose the lifestyle because it’s about sex. Sexual thoughts, feelings, and acts are pleasurable and exciting. The objective of the “gay” lifestyle is easy, quick, shallow, fake sex with no strings attached. Like drugs, sex is often a person’s escape from responsibility, the pain of unmet needs, insecurity, guilt, etc.
Q: Is homosexuality really a public trend?
A: Yes. The idea that “gay” is bold, good, cool, natural, normal, progressive, etc., is celebrated on our public streets, in our schools and universities, in our news and entertainment media, and in everyday social interactions especially among young people. Hugely-funded “gay” lobbies and organizations are esteemed and pandered to in public and political arenas. There are companies, publishers, TV and radio stations, awards, bars, clubs, retail stores, cruises, resorts, and tourist destinations all over the country and world which showcase and cater especially to this segment of the population. America’s cities entice and accommodate “gays” as tourists with brochures, welcoming statements from mayors, and maps to “gay” hot spots.
Q: Is there really a "gay agenda" and who is behind it?
A: Yes there is a "gay agenda." Read Matt Barber's article on CWA website. Pushing the agenda are a number of groups: HRC, SIECUS, GLAAD, GSA, PFLAG are just a few. See the list on Wikipedia. Also see After the Ball and "Overhauling Straight America," which laid out the plan they have been following.
Q: What if they can’t help it?
A: Unless people are severely mentally ill, they can choose how to think, feel, and act. They can avoid situations, seek help, and learn to change old thought patterns.
Q: If it’s so risky, why do people stay in the lifestyle?
A: Several reasons. Once involved, many often continue to act out in order to justify their choices. Sex is exciting and addictive. It masks pain. Often drugs such as crystal meth are used during sex binges which gives a false sense of invulnerability. And the health risks involved often add to the excitement. In fact, among many “gays” those with HIV are held in high esteem. It’s a dark, dangerous sub-culture that is misrepresented, winked at, and guarded in denial and secrecy.
Q: Is there really recruitment of young people going on?
A: Yes. Both “gay” individuals and the “gay” movement wish to attract youth for personal, political, and financial reasons. Youth is attractive. Young people are consumers and future customers. They will become voters. They hold the future in their hands. Because “gays” do not reproduce, they must recruit in order to justify and multiply. Children and young people are vulnerable and easy for adults to entice. Media, government, public school systems, and even the national PTA, have become notoriously conditioned and sympathetic, sometimes unwittingly, to the “gay” cause. Historically, any group out to change and control society specifically targets and indoctrinates children on a cultural and state scale.
Q: What do you mean by “gay” propaganda?
A: Any written, spoken, or otherwise produced material promoting homosexuality and the like as victimized, funny, hip, normal, benign, healthy, genetic, immutable, good, praiseworthy, equal to heterosexuality, or preferable. Such material is commonplace in all facets of our society today.
Q: Do you discriminate against “gays”?
A: No, if they keep their sexual proclivities strictly to themselves. Yes, if they push their agenda on others. For instance, we do not want them parading the streets, pressuring leaders, given special rights and protections, celebrated in schools and media, or influencing children. It is all decent people’s obligation to discriminate against individuals, behaviors, movements, and ideas that are false or dangerous to general health, safety and freedom. We discriminate all the time, such as when we prohibit smoking in public places, take drunks of the highways, put criminals in prisons, and oppose tyrants.
Q: Can “gays” change?
A: Yes. People are living proof.
Q: Doesn’t reparative therapy harm people?
A: No. People attempting to change are not harmed.
Q: How many really change from unwanted homosexuality?
A: A new study reports a 38% success rate. An additional 29% had made progress and were committed to continuing their efforts. That’s a combined total of 67% experiencing success. (Jones and Yarhouse, 2007) In the mental heath profession, this rate of success is considered very high.
Q: What are some factors that best ensure change from unwanted homosexuality?
A: Humility, sincere commitment, forsaking related associations and influences, the right kind of therapy, belief in God and holy scripture, faith in Christ, support from family, friends, and church leaders.
Q: How do we know if a person has really overcome SSA?
A: He says so and his life shows it. (This is also how we know a person has SSA.)
Q: Why don’t we hear more from ex-“gays?”
A: Most want to forget this part of their past and move on with their lives. And, due to pro-“gay” societal conditioning, the idea that ex-“gays” exist is strongly resisted, discounted, mocked, and silenced.
Q: Why is the idea of change from homosexuality marginalized?
A: The truth would expose “gayness” as sick and wrong, and bankrupt a powerful cultural/political movement.
Q: Why are some churches denying Biblical doctrine in favor of homosexuality?
A: Fear, intimidation, misinformation, and self-interest. Hate crimes bills if passed would threaten their existence and they don’t want to appear “intolerant.”
Q. Do you believe churches should accept open“gays” in full fellowship?
A: No. For their own good such individuals should be tough-loved, invited to repent, offered resources and therapy, and disciplined appropriately, just as others who stray from God’s laws. Of course, everyone should be encouraged to attend church and welcomed at meetings.
Q: Should even those privately struggling with SSA, who have not “acted out,” be chastened, offered help and correction, and held accountable by the church?
A: Yes. The church should be concerned with the person’s soul. People with this problem have become involved in perverse and sinful lust to the detriment of their eternal salvation.
Q: Why do you put “acting out” in quotes?
A: Some mistakenly think homosexual behavior entails only sodomy. But same sex sexual attraction often involves a gamut of acting out, including preoccupation with sex, masturbation, fantasizing or lust, pornography, and sinful associations such as gay clubs, internet chat rooms, telephone sex, cross dressing, flirting, dating, and cruising. All these are mental and physical choices and acts.
Q: What does SoL hope to accomplish?
A: Educate about the gay movement and prevention/overcoming of homosexuality out of love for God, reliance on Christ, and an eternal perspective on the worth of souls.
Q: How is SoL’s message received?
A: Many ways: with agreement, gratitude, relief, hope, incredulity, squeamishness, apathy, criticism, ridicule, anger, name-calling, threats.
Q: How do you react to negative responses?
A: If we feel criticisms or concerns are intelligent and sincere, we respectfully offer more information. If not, we just thank them for sharing their feelings.
Guest Editorial--by W. Scott Barrett
December 29, 2007
WHO?
Some years ago on the Mary Tyler Moore show they had a segment where Lou Grant's wife decided to leave him and their marriage of some years. It was a sign of the times. She says: "I am sorry Lou, but I was very young when I married you and did not know much. I want to go out on my own now and find out Who I really am..." What nonsense. By leaving for such a fatuous reason she was proving who she really was - a fair weather, uncommitted spouse who instead of being loyal, faithful, and enduring, has decided to pursue another wholly selfish path.
We often hear people say "I want to find out who I really am.." as if there was some magic formula that established identity for each of us. The fact is that each of us is born the son or daughter of our parents. We have unlimited possibilities. Some of what we are will be determined by our upbringing and our innate personality, but we are not born with an identity that cannot be changed by our thinking and our conduct. Many have had poor parenting and bad upbringing only to overcome it by their thinking and conduct. The contrary is also true. This is based on personal choice and conduct. We can change. That is the central message of Christ - whatever you are now you can change for the better. We are after all, what our thinking and conduct makes us. "As a man thinketh, so is he." "The thought is the father of the act." We can change our thinking and control it such that our conduct will improve for the better.
Too often, giving in to an identity that we have created for ourselves by our thinking and our conduct is an easy excuse for the criminal, the unfaithful, the immoral and the uncommitted. We all tend to justify ourselves and what we do in our own minds. Thus, bad conduct can be justified by simply saying to ones self -"Well that is just the way I am. Maybe I was born that way. I cannot change it because other forces have determined the way I conduct myself." This is the devil speaking. There will be no repentance or change of conduct so long as we give in to the false premise that we have an identity that cannot be changed.
So let us not forget WHO we are. The product of good teaching, good example, and good thinking on our part. That identity is a product of how we live and have lived; how we think and have thought; how we act and have acted. You are in control and do not let anyone tell you otherwise.
-W. Scott Barrett
The SoLVoice
For Those Who Struggle with SSA –
don’t pray harder, pray differently
November 18, 2007
We have been told that some Latter-day Saints sincerely struggling with homosexual attractions have prayed unceasingly for relief and yet their prayers have gone unanswered. Sadly, these individuals, deciding their efforts are futile, fall into a hopeless state, become advocates for the homosexual orientation, and/or give in further to their homosexual thoughts, feelings, and acts.Such individuals have undoubtedly prayed hard. But perhaps they could pray differently. Especially when we are under a lot of stress, it is easy to fall into habits of prayer that are not beneficial to us in the long run. We go on and on about our temptations and problems, describing them, feeling them, identifying with them, internalizing them, while pleading with Heavenly Father to take them away. In this way we may feel we’ve done our duty by praying, but in reality we’ve given our agency away and haven’t made progress. What we’ve done is focus on the weakness and actually affirmed it in our minds. It’s like trying to diet while praying all day about your favorite foods, which never works. Such prayer is focused on one’s own desires rather than seeking out God’s will. Chances are, there will be no significant progress in overcoming same sex sexual attraction by this temporal approach to prayer. I submit that while prayer is generally a good thing, there are better ways to pray. The following is a sample prayer offered by a purely hypothetical struggler against SSA. (I know every situation can be different, but the same principles apply.) Click here to read the remainder of this article.
Book Review: Out From Under, The Impact of Homosexual Parenting
by Dawn Stefanowicz
The subjugated child voice of Dawn Stefanowicz is no longer silenced. It speaks freely  and, by some act of grace, has evolved into a beautiful, intelligent, mature voice, emboldened by a pressing concern for others similarly impacted and softened by an astounding ability to forgive and cherish those who exploited, neglected, and abused her. I read Out From Under in one sitting, my mouth hanging open in astonishment. A line from another book came forcefully to mind: "In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness."
Stefanowicz invites us into her experience with a symbolic image and event. Represented on the book’s cover is the image: a little girl sitting alone on the far end of a rickety pier, the horizon across the lake darkened with mountains and clouds. In her introduction she describes the event: it is summertime and her father asks her to come with him to the end of the pier, but she instinctively hesitates. The "inky blue lake" is deep, the "old wooden pier" is weathered. She writes, "It would be one thing to walk out there with a father who loved me unconditionally and could be depended on to protect me, but more and more I am coming to understand that this is not the kind of father I have." When she sees the camera in his hand, she realizes he just wants to take a picture. He waves her out to the farthest spot, snaps the shot, then turns without a word and walks away, leaving her alone in "this precarious place to which he’s invited" her. So begins the story of an incredible life.
Click here to read the remainder of this article.
This is a review of a new book by Carol Lynn Pearson,
No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons Around our Gay Loved Ones
Review of No More Goodbyes
by A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D., MBA, MPH
The advertisement in part reads, "Looking for Stories From or About Gay Members of Religious Families...the tragic and unnecessary goodbyes that arise from family alienation, ill-fated marriages based on unrealistic expectations of change and suicide."
No writer, even of book reviews, can completely disengage from his or her worldview. Most writers don't (though perhaps they should) offer a window into their worldviews so readers can factor those perspectives into what they read.
So here is my attempt, if you will, to offer that window into my worldview. I was raised in a large Buddhist, Southern Baptist family. Both of my parents exerted influences, somewhat complementary, on me.From my mother, I learned the value of sadness in the true Buddhist tradition, sadness which one seeks as a positive emotion, an emotion that will help deal with the losses in life.From my father, I learned that there were certain truths that were discovered, not constructed--they were truths that emerged from the Divine--it didn't matter whether or not you agreed with the truths: they just were.One of the truths that I learned from my father was the importance of grace in our lives. He always said that grace would take us the last mile of the way. The discovery of grace in my own life has validated this truth. This truth was the most important discovery in my life's journey, and perhaps made me vulnerable to the gospel when it came to my door.When I was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ, I embraced it without exception or reservation. I believed the Joseph Smith Story because I, too, had discovered the truth. The truths of the gospel found, and continue to find, their way into my daily life whether it is lecturing at the medical school, preparing a scientific article for publication, or teaching a Sunday School class. I suspect these truths will also find their way into this review. And I offer no apologies.Another disclosure that I need to make is that I know Carol Lynn Pearson--at a distance, primarily through Gerald (her husband), members of her family and through what she has written.I first became acquainted with Pearson in the fall of 1969. My future wife, who was Chair of Cultural Events in her dorm at BYU, had invited Pearson to speak. I had read Pearson's first book, and dearly loved her poem, The Lesson, "Yes, my fretting, frowning child..." The poem resonated with me, was the source of much inspiration, and continues to be so even to this day. This book which included this poem and others was titled Beginnings, and was published 1967. I was quite excited to meet the author of this favorite poem.Pearson was very gracious, but I really don't remember what she talked about. I talked to her briefly and she signed a copy of her book for my wife to be. But I was left with one impression: Carol Lynn Pearson had a sadness which my mother had taught me to recognize in myself and others.I was better acquainted with Gerald. I met him in the late sixties during a time when many struggled with drug problems. Gerald worked with a group (in fact the group was called The Group) of such young men in the basement of the Provo Tabernacle. I was a young psychology student at the time.I had a few talks with Gerald. His heart seemed unusually good, but there was something about him that tended to "hide in broad daylight." Outwardly, he appeared confident but in personal conversations, he seemed preoccupied and insecure. He seemed very interested in those men who struggled with homosexuality.Finally, I am a psychologist--university educated and board licensed. I am well into my fourth decade of practice, research and teaching. Initially, as a newly minted psychologist, I worked with men who struggled with homosexuality because no one else would. Later in my career, I worked with these men because I wanted to.
Two Books
As I read Pearson's book, I felt that I was actually reading two books. The "first book" (referring to the first reading of the book) focused on the very difficult times that men and women who struggle with the issues of homosexuality face. Some indeed have been rejected by family and friends and find solace in the gay community. And some do suffer from a variety of psychological problems such as anxiety and depression. Some even take their own lives.But fortunately things are getting better. We are a tolerant society. The Mormon community especially has become very tolerant, in fact so tolerant that in an Ensign article, Elder Oaks expressed concerned about unlimited tolerance. He noted that "Love and tolerance are incomplete unless they are accompanied by a concern for truth and a commitment to the unity God has commanded of his servants." He further noted that "Carried to an undisciplined excess, love and tolerance can produce indifference to truth and justice, and opposition to unity."As well, Elder Packer concluded, "The word tolerance is also invoked as though it overrules everything else. Tolerance may be a virtue, but it is not the commanding one. There is a difference between what one is and what one does. What one is may deserve unlimited tolerance, what one does, only a measured amount. A virtue when pressed to the extreme may turn into a vice."As we look around us, we can surely witness evidence for the turning of tolerance from virtue to vice, particularly in areas involving sexuality such as cohabitation, promiscuity, pornography and homosexuality. In fact, the slippery slope of unlimited tolerance expressed by Alexander Pope seems truer each day. Indeed, "we first endure, then pity, then embrace."Certainly, the advice and counsel from two of the Lord's Anointed is worth considering when dealing with issues such as those associated with homosexuality, particularly when accompanied by the abundance of scientific evidence associated with the consequences of homosexual activities.In my first reading of her book, I noted that Pearson counsels family members to maintain contact with and to love their children. She urges family members to get to know their children and to value them. Story after story was heart wrenching (some, even tragic) in their messages--each, in some fashion or another, stressed the importance of Christ-like love.I take no issues with these sentiments. In fact, I can think of no one who would.However, noticeably lacking was a discussion or even mention of men and women who had traveled other routes, who had managed to make different choices about their homosexual challenges and are happy. These are the men and women who have been able to eliminate or diminish homosexual attractions and have made lasting changes in their lives. These men and women were given no place in Pearson's book, as if they did not exist or their stories had no merit. Such individuals are many. I know hundreds of them; they DO exist. They serve as Church leaders at almost every level. Many attribute their success to the gospel and its resources. I know these men because I assisted them on their journey out of homosexuality. Some of them were even Gerald's friends. They are the quiet heroes whose stories are often written under pseudonyms because they do not want attention brought to themselves or their families. But these men and women are very much present in every walk of life.So this is my review of the first book: Well written, a plea for compassion for those who suffer, but woefully biased against those who have successfully made their way out of homosexuality, to the point of Pearson actually excluding them. Had Pearson been more balanced and had she included narratives of those who had successfully navigated out of homosexuality, the book would have been a more important and valued resource. For Pearson to achieve this balance now, she would have to write another book and would need to advertise differently for stories, perhaps even in a venue other than Sunstone. The advertisement might read: "Left Homosexuality? Looking for Stories of Those Who Have, and How Their Faith Tradition Was Helpful."I should note that some of Pearson's facts are incorrect. For example, contrary to her claim, Allen Gundry (whose name she misspelled) never served as Head of the Department of Homosexual Concerns in LDS Social Services (now called LDS Family Services). There has never been such a department. Allen never conducted any research. I supervised Allen for a number of years. The only data Allen ever collected was under my supervision and offered evidence that a significant number of men he treated had been sexually abused as children.In addition, David Hardy, whose letter to Elder Packer was excerpted in the book, never served on the Board of Evergreen International. I served on Evergreen's Board, and recently asked David Pruden, the current Executive Director, about David Hardy's alleged service on his board. Mr. Pruden's response was: "At no time has David Hardy ever served on the Board of Trustees of Evergreen International. He has never attended any Board meeting nor was he ever invited to do so...Several years ago Mr. Hardy made the statement in an article in the Salt Lake Tribune that he once served on the Board of Evergreen International. I contacted Mr. Hardy and challenged his statement. I reminded him that as an attorney he clearly understood fiduciary responsibility of Board members and reminded him that alluding to the idea that he had ever assumed such responsibility was unethical if not illegal. He apologized for the misunderstanding and the matter was dropped by Evergreen International. If this mischaracterization continues it concerns me very much."Such errors, even if they result from Pearson's carelessness, detract from the credibility of her book. As any good writer knows, such misinformation calls into question the legitimacy of the book's entirety and questions the motives of the author.A second reading of Pearson's book was like reading an entirely different manuscript and was quite disturbing.
Click here to read the remainder of this article on the FairLDS website.
The SoLVoice
You Know, For Kids
September 19, 2007
As we entered the high school I saw a boy with a red curly hair walk by. I suppose he was at least 14 but he looked very young for a high school student – undeveloped physically and unsophisticated socially. Just a child really. The traits of the boy particularly struck me because my husband Steve and I were visiting the school in order to attend a PTA meeting to present information about the homosexual agenda for schools, an agenda that had wormed its way into our own “world class” Utah Valley high school by way of a pro-gay article in the school newspaper. This young boy, along with the other 2,000 minors at this school, had become an unwitting target of perverse sexual propaganda.
The PTA president that year was a woman I was well-acquainted with. Our families had interacted in church and school events for decades. Although her first reaction to our concern was to wholeheartedly invite us to speak at the next PTA meeting, something had gone wrong in the meantime. My first shock came when she had a board member call and uninvite us to the meeting. Thinking there must be some mistake I called her. There was no mistake. In addition, she denied ever scheduling us to give the 20-minute presentation she had suggested a month or so before. Obviously, someone had gotten to her, probably the school administration who had treated our concerns at best casually and at worst with veiled contempt. I finally convinced her to give us five minutes.
That PTA meeting marked a new low for me in our battle to conserve public traditional morality. Even though we sat ourselves at the conference table, we were completely ignored for 90 minutes, except to be offered cookies and milk as they were passed. The big issues discussed were student attendance and how delicious the cookies were, where they came from, what they were made of, etc. Oh, and how the disc jockey at the most recent dance had shown inappropriate videos not up to the standards of the school. It seemed the meeting was about to close when an old friend of mine I’d know for 30 years timidly piped up: Didn’t the Grahams have a presentation? At this, the president seemed to become frightened, turned to the assistant principal and whispered in his ear. After this private little consultation the assistant principal nodded and we were given our five minutes. Make of that what you will, but I wondered, since when does the PTA take its morals and values marching orders from the school administration?
Click here to read the remainder of this article.
The SoLVoice
Cause to Mourn, Cause to Rejoice
May 6, 2007
In light of recent events occurring in our community that we have left to the newspapers to report, the direction we are headed is ever more obvious. That direction is wholesale acceptance of homosexuality. High profile organizations thought of as highly conservative and based on traditional moral values, such as schools and churches, have opened their doors to the idea that some people are irrefutably and permanently self-determined as “gay” with no medical proof or certificate possible or required, and that undefined and unlimited alternative “sexual orientations” deserve recognition, dignity, and respect. One argument in favor of this doctrine of inclusiveness is that these are regular people, just like you and me, which argument conveniently winks at the fact that, although they may appear normal and function normally in all other ways, these are people with risky and perverse sexual ideas, inclinations, and behaviors, many of whom wish to push these harmful ideas on the rest of us.
Sadly, people of all ages (think children) who have labeled themselves as homosexual (etc.) and are now being taken seriously by those around them then feel justified, even trapped, in their own perverse self-diagnosis. Popular culture would have us believe any old attitudes a person may adopt toward sex are innate and immutable, and yet many honest “gay” people today admit that their sexual feelings are fluid. By giving in whether by degrees or in one fell swoop to this fashionable evil we all become accomplices in its perpetuation and the disease and destruction it causes. As one experienced professional in this field put it, officially embracing the “gay orientation” is “a prescription for disaster,” for individuals and for society.
As usual, definitions when it comes to sexual orientation are being conveniently overlooked. We have been conditioned into being tolerant of people’s self-imposed sexual labels, forgetting that these labels coordinate with extreme, abnormal, and dangerous thoughts, feelings, words, postures, activities, and sex acts. As we hasten to accept and dignify these alternate “sexual orientations,” while still insisting that “acting out” on them is wrong, we dismiss the many behaviors short of physical homosexual contact that are inevitably attached to them. Examples are participation in gay activist organizations and public events (gay pride), gay internet chat rooms, gay dating, gay clubs, and cross-dressing. All of these will now evidently be allowed in places you would least imagine.
The real truth is that if a person has adopted the gay identity and is demanding respect for it he is already acting out. And why would he not continue to act out in all other possible ways after the powers that be have legitimized his inclinations? Now that society has accepted homosexuality, watch these people come out of the woodwork. Watch them become more and more emboldened. Watch them openly influence and encourage children and young people towards unlimited and perverse sexual ideas and experimentation. Watch this evil explode in places you thought safe and be promoted by people you thought God-fearing. Watch it open a pandora’s box of unimagined, seemingly unrelated terrors.
In an effort to appease indefatigable activists and appear tolerant and enlightened, and in order to protect political, financial, and social concerns (to name a few reasons), America has given up her culture and compromised her moral values and religious beliefs. We wish parents godspeed in teaching cleanliness and virtue to their children in a society that has embraced as wholesome, normal, and natural, even within its schools and churches, aberrant types of “sexual identities” that are anything but clean and virtuous. We cannot accept the “sexual orientation” without accepting the behaviors, all the behaviors, that actually define it. We pray for Christian churches as they attempt to teach the doctrines of the creation, the fall, sin and redemption in a society that conducts itself as if none of these exist.
The cause to rejoice? The Lord must surely come soon, and believers have a clear opportunity to prepare themselves.
-Janice Graham
Gay Propaganda
- Deception from Start to Finish
By K. B. Napier. Posted on SoL 5/3/2007
In the original Pinocchio story, two very suspicious characters duped
him into going with them to a town offering all kinds of earthly
delights. He swallowed the bait, hook, line and sinker!
After a while of sampling those delights, Pinocchio slowly saw the reality behind what was going on. The glittering prizes proved to be shoddy and perverse. Kicking himself for his stupidity, he got rid of the myth and all was eventually well.
Today, naïve Pinocchio clones are everywhere. But, it seems, they can’t separate reality from myth. The worst social disruption and myth-making today is in the hands of gay activists. Their influence is vast and seemingly unstoppable… but who has bothered to check-out their claims?
Without doubt, gay activists are now master scenery manufacturers. They are making a whole town out of wood and string, in their attempt to get everyone on their side. Those they dupe are usually highly intelligent and in positions of influence. But, for all that, they are nothing but Pinocchios, duped by what they see and hear. They have been told things by gays – but have not looked behind the scenery. If they did, they would be shocked to find an empty space!
Click here to read the remainder of this article.
The SoLVoice
New 2007 LDS Church Manual Condemns
Pornography and Homosexuality
 Here are some excerpts from the new Priesthood/Relief Society manual for 2007:
Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball
Chapter 17: The Law of Chastity, 178
"The early apostles and prophets mention numerous sins that were reprehensible to them. Many of them were sexual sins—adultery, being without natural affection, lustfulness, infidelity, incontinence, filthy communications, impurity, inordinate affection, fornication. They included all sexual relations outside marriage—petting, sex perversion, masturbation, and preoccupation with sex in one’s thoughts and talking. Included are every hidden and secret sin and all unholy and impure thoughts and practices."
"If one has [homosexual] desires and tendencies, he overcomes them the same as if he had the urge toward petting or fornication or adultery. The Lord condemns and forbids this practice with a vigor equal to his condemnation of adultery and other such sex acts. … Again, contrary to the belief and statement of many people, this [practice], like fornication, is overcomable and forgivable, but again, only upon a deep and abiding repentance, which means total abandonment and complete transformation of thought and act. The fact that some governments and some churches and numerous corrupted individuals have tried to reduce such behavior from criminal offense to personal privilege does not change the nature nor the seriousness of the practice. Good men, wise men, God-fearing men everywhere still denounce the practice as being unworthy of sons and daughters of God; and Christ’s church denounces it and condemns it. … This heinous homosexual sin is of the ages. Many cities and civilizations have gone out of existence because of it."
"Beware of the devil’s trick of making evil seem good by giving it a label that conceals its character. Just such a device is the rationalization that lust is love."
"But there are false teachers everywhere, using speech and pornographic literature, magazines, radio, TV, street talk—spreading damnable heresies which break down moral standards, and this to gratify the lust of the flesh."
"When we see the depravity of numerous people of our own society in their determination to force upon people vulgar presentations, filthy communications, unnatural practices, we wonder, has Satan reached forth with his wicked, evil hand to pull into his forces the people of this earth? Do we not have enough good people left to stamp out the evil which threatens our world? Why do we continue to compromise with evil and why do we continue to tolerate sin?"
"We hope that our parents and leaders will not tolerate pornography. It is really garbage, but today is peddled as normal and satisfactory food. … There is a link between pornography and the low, sexual drives and perversions."
"It is ridiculous to imply that pornography has no effect."
"Do not be lulled into inaction by the pornographic profiteers who say that to remove obscenity is to deny people the rights of free choice. Do not let them masquerade licentiousness as liberty."
"Precious souls are at stake—souls that are near and dear to each of us. Parents and leaders should safeguard children and youth against immoral influences."
"Unchastity is the great demon of the day. Like an octopus, it fastens its tentacles upon one. There are many paths that lead youth to these defilements."
Where Are They?
– why we aren't hearing from those who have changed from homosexuality
December 15, 2006
“Where are they? Where are they?” This question was recently asked on a highly advertized local TV news special report, “Married, Gay, Mormon,” by a man who left his wife and children to live a homosexual lifestyle. He was challenging the idea that homosexuality can be changed. If it can, he said, we should be hearing from people in the LDS community who have done it. He’s right that we aren’t hearing from them. But he says it’s because they do not exist, and that’s where he’s wrong.
Having been through this nightmare several years ago with our son who chose to correct wrong thinking and overcome same sex sexual attraction with faith and professional therapy, and seeing the need to share this essential good news, I think we are qualified to answer this man’s question. Click here to read the remainder of this article.
Have You Been Conditioned? -- take our quiz
October 28, 2006
The sexual revolution has infiltrated American culture through science, law, entertainment, education systems and churches very rapidly by way of our technology-driven culture without substantive resistance. To find out if you have been conditioned to accept sexual revolutionist ideologies take the following quiz. Please take your time. These statements are meant to evoke serious reflection and stimulate awareness. Read each of these 10 statements carefully and answer with True, False, or Unsure.1. Science has found a gay gene proving that homosexuality is inborn like race or eye color.
2. You can pretty well tell a person (of any age) is gay by their interests and mannerisms.
3. Homosexual behaviors are generally as healthy and harmless as heterosexual behaviors.
4. There is no “gay agenda.” The gay rights movement is only about protection of a minority.
5. Same-sex parents can offer children everything opposite-sex parents can.
6. There is no significant link between pornography and homosexuality.
7. The National Education Association (NEA) and the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) support and promote teaching traditional sexual morality.
8. In 1973 the APA (American Psychological Association) unitedly removed homosexuality from its manual of disorders as a result of scientific research.
9. All those who take a stand against homosexuality are at least one of the following: religious zealots, intolerant, bigoted, ignorant, hateful, dangerous, homophobic.
10. In the world of professional psychology, modern reparative therapy for those truly desiring to overcome unwanted homosexual tendencies is highly unsuccessful.
Click here to read the remainder of this article.
Tear Down This Wall
– claiming our right to religious freedom
October 23, 2006
Picture this. A Wisconsin Catholic Bishop named Robert Morlino produces a brochure called “Marriage Matters” and distributes them to his parishioners as an encouragement to vote in defense of traditional marriage. The next thing he knows, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has complained to the Elections Board accusing the Diocese of “electioneering” and demanding the church to register with the board and disclose financial information. What is wrong with this picture?Robert Morlino himself said it best. “The Church does not support individual candidates or parties. This does not mean that when important issues arise, the church will remain quiet while the truths of the dignity of the human person and of Christ are being threatened. The Church and her members have a moral responsibility to engage the culture and political world in which we live. To claim I must pay a fee and report to the state about my teaching activities in Catholic venues blatantly violates [the right] to the free exercise of religion.” There is a movement afoot in our country based on a false precept repeated and used in the courts so often that religious people are being intimidated into silence on matters of legislation, public policy, law, and politics. That false precept is that there should be “a wall of separation between church and state,” a phrase not found anywhere in the Constitution.
Click here to read the remainder of this article.
The Only Good Choice
– what parents should do when confronted with youth homosexuality
September 14, 2006
I’m writing this because a friend knocked on my door the other day, and I’ve heard stories like hers one time too many. Sitting at my kitchen table she told me she knew of an 18-year-old who had just “come out” to his LDS family. They found his closet plastered with posters of mostly nude males. The family was in shock. My friend wanted some resources to give them. I gave her a small stack of books, among them 7 Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child by Scott Lively, pointing out the last chapter, “What To Do When It’s ‘Too Late.’”
Wrote expert Dr. Charles Socarides, “Announcements like this that our kids have suddenly decided they’re gay amount to a kind of murder of the family. Parents can’t imagine things that are worse. It’s something like a premature Alzheimer’s disease; there’s no more real communication, no more sharing of experience, now, or ever. Some great parents can say that this is okay. But, deep down, they know they are deluding themselves. This can mean the end of hopes and dreams for their kids – that they will some day experience the extreme joys that have been repeated over and over again since civilization began, that they will become parents. And make them grandparents. To know that this isn’t going to happen – well, it’s a sadness.”
Click here to read the remainder of this article.
Read more SoL Voice articles. |
To some, telling the truth doesn't matter. Consider the following statement made by a prominent member of the American Psychological Association and published by the Harvard University Press: "...it may be that for now, the safest way to advocate for lesbian/gay/bisexual rights is to keep propagating a deterministic model: sexual minorities are born that way and can never be otherwise. If this is an easier route to acceptance (which may in fact be the case), is it really so bad that it is inaccurate?"
--From Article on APA's new pamphlet on homosexuality by Dr. A. Dean Byrd
As a physician, it is my duty to assess behaviors for their impact on health and wellbeing. When something is beneficial, such as exercise, good nutrition, or adequate sleep, it is my duty to recommend it. Likewise, when something is harmful, such as smoking, overeating, alcohol or drug abuse, and homosexual sex, it is my duty to discourage it.
--John Diggs, CRC
Perhaps the British playwright, self-identified secularist atheist Pat Condell, is indeed correct: "Political correctness is like a drug that we just can't stop injecting, even though we know it's going to kill us."
--From Article on APA's new pamphlet on homosexuality by Dr. A. Dean Byrd
Paul McHugh, a former director of the department of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, notes that the transgendered patients he has come to know were no happier after sex-change surgery than before. He writes in "The Mind Has Mountains": "I concluded that to provide a surgical alteration to the body of these unfortunate people was to collaborate with a mental disorder rather than to treat it."I used to approve of homosexuality, but changed my mind when I got more information, not less. The truth is, homosexuality itself is hateful. It hates the natural human body and spirit, and opposes truth at every level. It fights gender integrity as marvelously designed by God. It "uglifies" a person, preventing the full blossom of natual beauty as a young male or female. it it a dead-end affection, fruitless, never creating new life. All who enter it will be plagued by troubled spirits, anxious thoughts, unsatisfied desires, and insecurity, including separation from God and hostility and suspicion toward those who try to warn them. It is rebellion at a deep level against who you really are. It is a poison in any human life and it is poison in schools.
--Linda Harvey, Mission America, 2008
A passage [Winston Churchill] penned as the First World War was about to end reads: "In war, resolution. In defeat, defiance. In victory, magnanimity. In peace, good will." This is a sentiment which all those in public life should learn by heart. It encapsulates the lessons of history better than entire books.
--Paul Johnson, in Imprimis, 2008
[Certain school] programs assume that homosexuality as a behavior is something worthy of respect and defense. It's not. Let's get it out of kids' lives.
--Linda Harvey, Mission America, 2008
Opposition to evil is motivated by love for our neighbor, and our neighbor's child.
--Sonja Dalton, Choice 4 Truth, 2008
If this teaching [of the Church against homosexuality] is no longer applicable, why should young people believe that anything we say is morally binding?
--Dale O'Leary, author of One Man, One Woman
My fear was that if hate crime legislation comes in, many Christians, and many churches, will stop preaching the full Gospel of Jesus Christ. And sure enough, that's what happened.
--Canadian Minister Tristan Emmanuel
Homosexuality and Christianity are clearly incompatible. Thankfully, homosexuals can leave the lifestyle behind, with God’s help. Struggling with sinful temptations is one thing — we all do — but embracing them as an “identity” or inherent nature is quite another.
--Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
Why are so many people of faith riddled with guilt in opposing a sin-based movement that threatens everybody’s religious and First Amendment freedoms? Perhaps it’s because many Christians, far from “hating gays,” as the trendy accusation goes, are intimidated by the liberal media and no longer agree with their Creator that homosexual acts are an egregiously sexual sin.
--Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
A particularly heavy focus on the sin of homosexuality by “Christians as a whole” is not at all gratuitous. There is such emphasis, not because we intentionally and specifically chose to target this particular sin, but rather, because strident moral relativists demand that, in contrast to the other sins you address, the sin of homosexuality not only be “tolerated,” but celebrated. That’s what the euphemistic slogan, “celebrate diversity,” supposes.
--J. Matt Barber, CWFA
The very firm response by defenders of Biblical truth to the homosexual lobby’s relentless assault on our nation’s Judeo-Christian tradition is indeed a defensive reaction, not an act of aggression. [M]ost of us would prefer not to even imagine [homosexual behavior], much less struggle to defend against its wholesale promotion. But regrettably, our hand has been forced.
--J. Matt Barber, CWFA
[W]e find ourselves — back against the ropes — in a fight we did not pick, struggling in a culture war we did not ask for. It’s a clash of worldviews . . . Make no mistake; the sin of homosexuality is the bunker-buster bomb in this war against morality.
--J. Matt Barber, CWFA
Love . . . does not mean that we indulge sinful behavior and call it good. True love does not facilitate immorality, it takes it to task.
--J. Matt Barber, CWFA
"You have to understand that the motivation of the gay community is validation. They want to be approved. They want people to say, 'It's okay that you're gay' . . .
--Luke Montgomery, homosexual activist
"Being queer is mort than setting up house, sleeping with a person of the same gender, and seeking state approval for doing so . . . Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family, and in the process, transforming the very fabric of society . . . We must keep our eyes on the goal . . . of radically reordering society's views of reality."
--Paula Ettlebrick, Intl. Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Comm.
Until you have challenged the prevailing wisdom you have no idea how nasty people can be.
--Timothy Ball
Every aspect of life and freedom as we know it will be diluted by the liberal agenda of the homosexual movement.
--Carol Soelberg, 1/2007
"A culture obsessed with technology will come to value personal convenience above almost all else, and ours does."
--Robert Bork
" We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
--John Adams
"Make no mistake, two irreconcilable agendas are at war. Where do you stand in this great divide?"
--Dr. Ronnie D. Floyd
“We may safely study and learn about the theories and philosophies of man, but if they contradict the plan of redemption . . . do not buy into them as truth. If you do, you may. . . have your testimony repossessed. Your respect for moral agency may go with it and you will end up with nothing.”
-- Boyd K. Packer, 1996
"Given the number and cultural strength of those who now serve the Devil, what should those who would serve God and man do? The challenges are easy to identify: men and women must preserve the holiness of their homes, must reminisce with each other about battles won and lost, and must be a humanizing link to earlier generations."
--David Beresford
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
--William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"
Limits [of normal matrimony] were well understood by our Victorian ancestors. They understood the emasculating effect of profligacy. A libertine is not a strong man: he is an effete slave to his passions, often taking advantage of [others].
--David Beresford
"Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature."
--President James A. Garfield
"The Church and her members have a moral responsibility to engage the culture and political world in which we live. . . The right to redefine marriage is not [an] authentic human right." -Wisconsin Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino
There are at least three dangers that threaten the Church within, and the authorities need to awaken to the fact that the people should be warned unceasingly against them. As I see these, they are flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity. But the third subject mentioned--personal purity, is perhaps of greater importance than either of the other two.
-- LDS President Joseph F. Smith
C. S. Lewis put it, "Wherever any precept of traditional morality is simply challenged [by the world] to produce its credentials, as though the burden of proof lay on it, we [the world] have taken the wrong position."
Cal Thomas has said, “That a president of the United States would feel compelled, for whatever reason, to make a public statement that marriage should be reserved for men and women is a leading indicator of the moral state of the union. . . . He may as well have stated the equally obvious that the sun rises in the east.”
"Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictate of reason and justice without constraint."
--Alexander Hamilton
No idea has been more destructive of happiness, no philosophy has produced more sorrow, more heartbreak and mischief; no idea has done more to destroy the family than the idea that we are not the offspring of God, only advanced animals, compelled to yield to every carnal urge.
--Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, May 1992
"Take courage to renew that battle which . . . [your] forefathers began, so that truth and justice and mercy and all the humane and Christian values may not be extinguished from the land."
--Abraham Lincoln
“My message to the homosexual is: We love you. Come and struggle with us against sin. Don’t give in to it.”
-- Rev. Andrew Aquino
Joe Dallas reminds us that confrontation is not enough to change a heart. “The heart, having been hardened through deception or rebellion or both, has to be softened. And that is the work of God alone. Ours is simply to speak the truth.”
Said C. S. Lewis, "Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal." And "Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness.""It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. Religion and virtue are the only foundations . . . of republicanism and of all free governments."
--John Adams
“Certainly if any person ought to interfere in political matters, it should be those whose minds and judgments are influenced by correct principles – religious as well as political. Otherwise those persons professing religion would have to be governed by those who make no professions; be subject to their rule, have the law and word of God trampled under foot, and become as wicked as Sodom. The cause of humanity, the cause of justice, the cause of freedom, the cause of patriotism, and the cause of God requires us to use our endeavors to put in righteous rulers.”
--LDS President John Taylor, 1808-1887
‘Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts, and all the world will soften toward him, and be ready to help him; let him put away his weakly and sickly thoughts, and lo! opportunities will spring up on every hand to aid his strong resolves; let him encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down to wretchedness and shame.”
--James Allen, c. 1904
"When [my wife and I] were married there were no such phrases in common use such as 'women’s Lib' and 'politically correct'. There was no premarital agreement whereby I was required to do half of the housework. We instinctively knew what we wanted – a home and a family in which I would be the breadwinner and she would be the homemaker. When children came along they were cherished and welcomed. We are quite different yet have meshed well in providing a good home. There were always family meals together and lots of family activities. One of the greatest tributes we have received and one we value very highly is our children telling us that they had a happy childhood. I have been blessed to have a mate who has filled her traditional role well and continues to be a source of friendship, support, and happiness to me and all the extended family."
--W. Scott Barrett (1925-)
"All healthy men, ancient and modern, know there is a certain fury in sex that we cannot afford to inflame, and that a certain mystery and awe must ever surround it if we are to remain sane."
--G.K Chesterton (1874-1936)
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest expression every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
-- Martin Luther (1483-1546)
“There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there’s never more than one.”
--C. S. Lewis,
That Hideous Strength, 1946
“Even supposing that each of us can, if he wishes, effectively avert the eye and stop the ear (which, in truth, we cannot), what is commonly read and seen and heard and done intrudes upon us all, want it or not.”
--Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren, Paris Adult Theater I v. Slaton, 1973
“The tide of evil flows. Today it has become a veritable flood. Most of us, living somewhat sheltered lives, have little idea of the vast dimensions of it. Billions of dollars are involved for those who pour out pornography, for those who peddle lasciviousness, for those who deal in perversion, in sex and violence. God give us the strength, the wisdom, the faith, the courage as citizens to stand in opposition to these and to let our voices be heard in defense of those virtues which, when practiced in the past, made men and nations strong, and which, when neglected, brought them to decay.”
--Gordon B. Hinckley,
“In Opposition to Evil,”
Ensign, Sept. 2004
“It is far more important that we react effectively against immorality and evil in our communities which threatens the morals and the very lives of our children.”
--N. Eldon Tanner,
Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, Deseret Book, 1973
“Ten per cent is not enough. Recruit, recruit, recruit.”
-- Donna Minkowitz,
“gay” activist, 1992
“If we reflect on the dreadful consequences of sodomy to the state, and on the extent to which this abominable vice may be secretly carried on and spread; we cannot, on the principles of sound policy, consider the punishment as too severe. For if it once begins to prevail, not only will boys be easily corrupted by adults, but also by other boys, nor will it ever cease; more especially as it must thus soon lose all its shamefulness and infamy and become fashionable and the national taste; and then . . . national weakness, for which all remedies are ineffectual, most inevitably follow; not perhaps in the first generation, but certainly in the course of the third or fourth . . . To these evils may be added yet another, viz. that the constitutions of those men who submit to this degradation are, if not always, yet very often, totally destroyed, though in a different way from what is the result of whoredom. Whoever, therefore, wishes to ruin a nation, has only to get this vice introduced; for it is extremely difficult to extirpate it where it has once taken root because it can be propagated with much secrecy . . . and when we perceive that it has once got a footing in any country, however powerful and flourishing, we may venture as politicians to predict that the foundation of its future decline is laid and that after some hundred years it will no longer be the same . . . powerful country it is at the present.”
--Sir John David Michaelis, 1814
“The number one issue for the family today is the homosexual activist agenda.”
--Dr. James Dobson, 2002
“I believe this grab for children by the sexually confused adults of the Gay Elite represents the most serious problem facing our culture today.”
-- Tammy Bruce, The Death of Right and Wrong, 2003
“It is a wicked, wicked world in which we live and in which our children must find their way. Challenges of pornography, gender confusion, immorality, child abuse, drug addiction, and all the rest are everywhere. There is no way to escape from their influence. Some are led by curiosity into temptation, then in experimentation, and some become trapped in addiction. They lose hope. The adversary harvests his crop and binds them down. Satan is the deceiver, the destroyer, but his is a temporary victory. The angels of the devil convince some that they are born to a life from which they cannot escape and are compelled to live in sin. The most wicked of lies is that they cannot change and repent and that they will not be forgiven. That cannot be true. They have forgotten the Atonement of Christ.”
--Boyd K. Packer, May 2006
A health text for high school freshmen in Massachusetts suggests, “Testing your ability to function sexually and give pleasure to another person may be less threatening in your early teens with people of your own sex. . . . You may come to the conclusion that growing up means rejecting the values of your parents.”
--from an Alliance Defense Fund publication, 2006
“The term tolerance has now become code for acceptance of homosexual behavior and rejection of Judeo-Christian sexual ethics.”
--Alan Sears, 2006
“Pornography [addiction] has become a huge, huge issue . . . most often [for] males from the ages of 11 on up . . . [spanning] all cultures, religions, and classes. With the advent of the Internet . . . the average age of initially viewing pornography is 5 years old . . . ‘We tell people that if you don’t get this problem taken care of, it’ll kill you.’”
--Lexie Kite quoting Dr. Matthew Hedelius, The Herald Journal, 2006
“There comes a time when the general defilement of a society becomes so great that the rising generation is put under undue pressure and cannot be said to have a fair choice between the way of light and the way of darkness. When such a point is reached, the cup of iniquity is full, and the established order that has passed the point of no return and neither can nor will change its ways must be removed physically and forcibly if necessary from the earth, whether by war, plague, famine, or upheavals of nature.”
--Hugh Nibley, 1985
|
"Is it not high time for the people of this country explicitly to declare, whether they will be freemen or slaves? It is an important question which ought to be decided. It concerns us more than any thing in this life. The salvation of our souls is interested in the event: for wherever tyranny is established, Immorality of every kind comes in like a torrent. It is in the Interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public liberty of a people are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven, they cannot subsist separately; and therefore they rise and fall together. For this reason, it is always observable, that those who are combined to destroy the people's liberties practice every art to poison their morals. How greatly then does it concern us, at all events, to put a stop to the progress of tyranny."
--Samuel Adams
The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams
“The truth does not care if it is questioned; the truth can always stand up to questioning. I have found that only the false fights back, retaliates, and attacks. The truth might defend itself, though it does not really need to. But liars trying to defend their lies get mean and dirty.”
-- Larry Winget
Shut Up, Stop Whining & Get A Life
I fear that, as conditions worsen, many will react to the failures of too much government by calling for even more government. Then there will be more and more lifeboats launched because fewer and fewer citizens know how to swim. Unlike some pendulums, political pendulums do not swing back automatically; they must be pushed. History is full of instances when people have waited in vain for pendulums to swing back.
--Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Insights from My Life (1976)
[The gay lifestyle] is anathema to our country, our morality, and the debauchery of our young people. . . We are dealing with the equivalent of a moral takeover of the country that has as its bedrock a belief in G-d and His promise for humanity. They don't want civil rights! What they desire is quasi Gay/Lesbian hegemony, where a huge "bookburning," reminiscent of the Nazis, will purge any remnants of the "Christian, White, mainstream America" that has given ALL AMERICANS the most profound scope of freedom, liberty, and justice that Mankind has yet to experience.
--Rabbi Nachum Shifrin, We Are All Mormons. 11/2008
When the majority of the people become like sheep, who will tolerate intolerance rather than make a fuss, then there is no limit to how far any group will go.
--Thomas Sowell, 11-20-2008
“I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. For that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite of what you're taught in Sunday school. I think when the left, when the radicals lost the vote in California, they are determined to impose their will on this country no matter what the popular opinion, no matter what the law of the land. You've watched them, for example, in Massachusetts, basically drive the Catholic Church out of running adoption services, drive Catholic hospitals out of offering any services, because [the radicals] impose secular rules that are fundamentally … sinful from the standpoint of the church.”
--Newt Gingrich, 11-14-2008 on The O'Reilly Factor
I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds in wickedness and depravity that which surrounds us now.
--Elder Boyd K. Packer, Feb 2004 talk to CES educators
. . . tolerance, without limit, could lead to spineless permissiveness . . . Real love for the sinner may compel courageous confrontation—not acquiescence! Real love does not support self-destructing behavior.
--Elder Russell M. Nelson in April 1994 General Conference
. . . if the normalizers have their way, and it becomes criminal to give any social or legal preference to reproductively productive patterns of marriage and family, why would any rational person give their allegiance to such a community, such a legal system, such a state or nation?
-Orson Scott Card in Mormon Life, Deseret News
“The word 'marriage' has long been understood across many cultures as the cooperative union of male and female with a vital interest in the next generation,”
--Jenny Tyree, associate marriage analyst for Focus on the Family Action. 7/15/08
When observing the “modern liberal in verbal action”… ask a cogent relevant question … they almost always will:
01. Refuse to answer “yes or no”
02. Get louder and talk faster or mock the questioner
03. Point at other bad behavior to excuse their bad behavior (this is in vogue now)
04. Topic-shift (often after being presented data on the current topic)
05. Start the “victim” litany
06. Talk or write non-stop to prevent further inquiry (a string of fact less assertions)
07. Feign anger or surprise that ‘the questioner would stoop so low, etc”
08. Claim it’s personal or under investigation so they can’t comment
09. State firmly that “you don’t understand” (aka you are stupid)
10. Present a distracting joke to trivialize the subject
--Doug Schexnayder in Conservative Crawfish 3/21/08