GAY TRUTH

In the latest and most egregious example of attempted government overreach, California legislators have proposed a bill that would dictate what pastors preach from the pulpit. Specifically, “Assembly Concurrent Resolution 99 calls on ‘counselors, pastors, religious workers, educators’ and institutions with ‘great moral influence’ to stop perpetuating the idea that something is wrong with LGBT identities or sexual behavior. ACR 99 also condemns attempts to change unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion as ‘unethical,’ ‘harmful,’ and leading to high rates of suicide.” Put another way, these legislators are telling pastors and spiritual leaders to throw out the Bible, disregard the Lord’s will, ignore the testimony of thousands of ex-gays, and conform to extreme political correctness — or else. Stand Against and Defy This is one of the most frontal attacks on our religious freedoms in memory (or, perhaps, in our nation’s history). And it confirms what I have said for the ...

A recent UK court decision upheld the decision of University authorities to remove a student, Felix Ngole, from a post-graduate Social Work course, because of views he had expressed in a public social media forum about the Bible’s view on homosexuality. In my opinion the decision is a shocking breach of principles governing both religious freedom and freedom of speech, and should be over-turned as soon as possible. For Australian readers, it is also a salutary reminder that when the law on marriage changes, it becomes harder to protect religious and other freedoms. The decision,  Ngole, R (On the Application Of) v University of Sheffield  [2017] EWHC 2669 (Admin) (27 October 2017), was an application for judicial review of an administrative decision made by the Appeals Committee of the University of Sheffield Senate, on appeal from a disciplinary decision (made by a “Fitness to Practice” committee in the Department of Sociological Studies) to in effect expel Mr Ngol...

Speaking thirty years ago, Attorney General Meese warned that “there are ideas which have gained influence in some parts of our society, particularly in some important and sophisticated areas that are opposed to religious freedom and freedom in general. In some areas there are some people that have espoused a hostility to religion that must be recognized for what it is, and expressly countered.” [1] Those were prophetic words, prescient in their clarity and foresight. The ideas of which Mr. Meese warned have only gained ground in the last thirty years, and now with astounding velocity. A revolution in morality now seeks not only to subvert marriage, but also to redefine it, and thus to undermine an essential foundation of human dignity , flourishing, and freedom. Religious liberty is under direct threat. During oral arguments in the Obergefell case, the Solicitor General of the United States served notice before the Supreme Court that the liberties of religious institutions wi...

An Iowa pastor, saying the government needs to stop "meddling in religious affairs," is at odds with the state over a law focused on sexual orientation and gender identity that he says hinders his First Amendment right to teach on matters of sexuality. "The state of Iowa is not the self-appointed pope of all churches," Cary Gordon, pastor of Cornerstone World Outreach, a nondenominational church with around 900 members in Sioux City, Iowa, told The Daily Signal. An Iowa Civil Rights Commission brochure on sexual orientation and gender identity says churches are places of public accommodation and generally are not exempt from the law, according to First Liberty Institute, a legal organization that defends religious freedom and represents Gordon's church. The brochure says the Iowa Civil Rights Act, Iowa Code Chapter 216, "was expanded to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes." The change took effect in July 2007...

Liberty Counsel filed a motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit filed by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) against Pastor Scott Lively, in which SMUG seeks to silence and impose significant financial penalties against Lively for speech about homosexuality in Uganda. The motion contains 198 pages of facts and legal argument. In the suit, SMUG alleges that Lively committed "crimes against humanity" in violation of "international law"—akin to genocide and war crimes—by simply sharing his biblical views on homosexuality during three visits to Uganda in 2002 and 2009. The suit makes the sensational claim that Lively's visits were part of a "conspiracy" to "persecute" the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) population of Uganda. SMUG alleged Lively orchestrated rampant "discrimination" and even violence against the LGBTI community, leading to the death of SMUG leader David Kato. Four years, 100 hours of depositions, a...

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s plan to change the legal definition of “parent” to recognize homosexual couples could harm their IVF-conceived children, warns a trio of child advocates. Wynne announced   at the end of May   that the Liberals will introduce legislation in the fall to ensure “equal treatment of LGBTQ-plus families,” including changing regulations for birth certificates. But in doing so, the premier must also ensure that children of same-sex couples, “obviously” conceived through IVF, can find information on their “progenitors” — the donors of the egg or sperm that brought them into existence, point out Julie Guichon, Barry Stevens and Diane Allen in a June 6 commentary in the   Globe and Mail . Otherwise, the government will be putting the rights of LGBTQ parents before those of their children, asserted Guichon, assistant professor at the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine, Stevens, a filmmaker conceived through an anonymous sperm...