[Active-l] (NEWS) Today's Cultural Warfare Update

[Dara (R'ykandar Korra'ti)]

According to a long letter posted on LJ Seattle (  
http://community.livejournal.com/seattle/3579972.html ), it appears  
that the Grays Harbour student vote is a little more interesting than I  
first thought - according to the poster's message, the vote is supposed  
to be _only on the technical merits of the charter_, and _not_ a vote  
over whether you like or dislike the club or its purpose. So the  
senator in question - a fundamentalist now being supported by the Faith  
and Freedom Network (  
http://www.faithandfreedom.us/weblog/2006/05/college-student-is- 
ridiculed-because.html ) and, according to the post, the local  
Republican party - voted _not_ on the charter merits, but because she  
thinks GBLT people are evil and paedophiles and homosexuality is a sin.

Anyway, I don't have any action on this, nor do I think there really  
needs to be any, but it is interesting that this is continuing to pop  
around. I wouldn't be entirely surprised to see it be tossed around by  
the fundamentalist media next week, if it's a slow week otherwise.

Focus on the Family news article and ACTION ITEM to support  
anti-marriage-rights amendments in seven states, also supports an  
effort to overturn Massachusetts's same-sex marriages via initiative;  
the article compares marriage rights to Soviet Communism under  
Brezhnev; ACTION ITEM is also to write in to support the Federal  
anti-marriage amendment;

Focus on the Family ACTION ITEM to join the anti-marriage-rights  
postcard campaign;

Focus on the Family pushes "ex-gay" group P-FOX, which is attempting to  
get "ex-gay" materials into school systems as the "truth about  
homosexuality";

FotF Newsbrief on Georgia judge still not ruling on a challenge to  
Georgia anti-marriage initiative;

Kansas legislature considering anti-abortion materials be introduced in  
schools as part of the curriculum;

I don't actually care much about this case and I think it's unfortunate  
that the initiative to donate the land was overturned as  
unconstitutional, but they're up in arms, so: Mt. Soledad Cross ordered  
taken down by California judge as an unconstitutional endorsement of  
religion by the state;

American Family Association condemns Eastern University's refusal to  
let Repent America distribute anti-gay literature on campus while the  
Soulforce Equity Ride group was visiting;

AFA/Agape Press's version of the Focus on the Family story about the  
Navy chaplain who disobeyed orders; he claims the order was illegal;  
they, at least, acknowledge the Navy's assertion that he disobeyed  
orders and relate how.


----- 1 -----
State Marriage Amendment Efforts Underway
A battle in Massachusetts is the first of many to be waged this year.
by Pete Winn, associate editor
Focus on the Family
May 5, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0040375.cfm

Pro-family attorneys were in Boston Thursday arguing that Massachusetts  
residents have a right to vote on a referendum to define marriage as  
between one man and one woman.

Jordan Lorence, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, defended  
the proposed state constitutional amendment before the Massachusetts  
Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) — a bit of irony that wasn't lost on the  
constitutional attorney.

[...]

If approved by voters, the measure would trump the SJC's 2003 ruling  
forcing gay marriage on the commonwealth. But getting to the ballot is  
a major hurdle, according to Mona Passignano, state issues analyst for  
Focus on the Family Action.

Massachusetts, she said, has a very long and complicated amendment  
process. The very earliest voters could see this measure on the ballot  
— if at all — is 2008.

[...]

Lorence, who said the arguments he made were largely technical, told  
CitizenLink that those leading the battle to preserve marriage have to  
face a bigger problem surrounding the marriage question — something he  
called "the Brezhnev factor."

"Leonid Brezhnev, when he was head of the Soviet Union, had the idea  
that communism was the most advanced form of government that a nation  
could have," he explained, "so that once a nation became communist it  
wasn't going to revert back to what he called 'lower' forms of  
government.

"Of course, that has been proven immensely false with the liberation of  
the Eastern bloc and the Soviet Union itself from communist rule."

Lorence said gay activists seem to approach same-sex marriage the same  
way Brezhnev approached communism.

[...]

What’s more, state marriage amendments have already qualified for the  
ballot this year in seven more states. Others are pending.

"Alabama will vote in June," Passignano said, "and the other six states  
— South Carolina, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and  
Wisconsin — will vote in November. Two other states are still working  
on their petition drives for the November ballot: Colorado and  
Arizona."

[...]

TAKE ACTION:
If you live in Alabama, South Carolina, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee,  
Virginia or Wisconsin, please examine the proposed ballot questions  
when they are published.

Nationwide, everyone's help is needed to make sure the federal Marriage  
Protection Amendment passes Congress. To learn what's at stake — and  
for help in contacting your lawmakers — please see the CitizenLink  
Action Center.

[More at URL]


----- 2 -----
Religious Leaders Call for Marriage Protection
Open letter asks Congress to constitutionally define marriage as one  
man and one woman.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 5, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040378.cfm

The Senate is scheduled to begin debate on the federal Marriage  
Protection Amendment (MPA) on June 6, and 43 religious leaders have  
signed an open letter expressing their support.

"As leaders in our nation's religious communities," the letter reads,  
"We . . . call for a constitutional amendment to establish . . .  
marriage as the exclusive union of one man and one woman."

Those signing the letter included Dr. James Dobson, founder and  
chairman of Focus on the Family Action and Chuck Colson of Prison  
Fellowship.

[...]

TAKE ACTION:
You can download and print out MPA postcards on the CitizenLink Action  
Center.


----- 3 -----
Students Challenged to Share the Truth About Homosexuality
Campaign emphasizes that change is possible.
from staff reports
Focus on the Family
May 5, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/news/a0040377.cfm

As an effort to combat the onslaught of pro-gay message in the nation's  
public schools, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (P-FOX) is launching a  
campaign to get schools to share the message that change is possible.

Melissa Fryrear, a gender issues analyst at Focus on the Family,  
recalls how she became involved in a lesbian relationship when she was  
a sophomore in high school.

"(I) definitely was questioning my sexual and my gender identity," she  
said.

But she never heard that there was another option, that she could leave  
homosexuality behind.

[More at URL]


----- 4 -----
Georgia: Judge Has Yet to Rule on Marriage Protection Suit
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 5, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040380.cfm

Fifteen months after hearing oral arguments, Judge Constance Russell  
has not issued a decision in a lawsuit challenging the  
constitutionality of a 2004 voter-approved amendment defining marriage  
as one man and one woman, The Southern Voice reported.

Georgia voters overwhelmingly passed the amendment — with 76 percent  
voting in favor — but gay activists issued a challenge claiming the  
amendment was invalid because it violated the single-subject rule. That  
rule says any proposition presented to voters can only ask one  
question.

[More at URL]


----- 5 -----
Kansas: Legislation Would Educate Kids About Abortion
Focus on the Family
Newsbriefs
May 5, 2006

http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0040379.cfm

High-school students in Kansas will have to learn details about  
abortion if language added to an education bill makes it through the  
Legislature, LifeNews reported.

Under the measure, which is currently stalled in the House, students  
would hear about fetal development, see pictures of preborn babies and  
learn about the medical risks associated with an abortion procedure.  
Students would also learn about the pain a baby feels during an  
abortion.

[More at URL]


----- 6 -----
Latest Ruling Could Spell End of Long Legal Battle Over Mt. Soledad  
Cross
Calif. Activist Calling on President Bush to Intervene to Save It
By Allie Martin and Jody Brown
May 5, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/52006a.asp

(AgapePress) - A Christian activist in Southern California says it's  
time for the Chief Executive to get involved in a years-long legal  
scuffle involving a mountaintop cross in a San Diego park.

U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson has ordered the city of San Diego  
to remove the Mt. Soledad cross within 90 days or face a fine of $5,000  
a day. The 29-foot cross has stood on Mt. Soledad as the centerpiece of  
a war memorial on city-owned land since 1954. But in 1989 atheist Paul  
Paulson sued the city, claiming the cross violated the so-called  
"separation of church and state" principle.

[More at URL]


----- 7 -----
Repent America Questions Eastern University's Welcome of Homosexual  
Activists
By Jim Brown
American Family Association/Agape Press
May 5, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/52006b.asp

(AgapePress) - The leader of a Philadelphia-based Christian group says  
a private Christian university in Pennsylvania seems to be embracing  
homosexuality, and he believes the school is on the verge of abandoning  
the very biblical principles on which it was founded.

Recently the group Soulforce brought its "Equality Ride" bus tour to  
the campus of Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. The  
intention of the homosexual group's tour was to "confront" colleges  
that bar homosexual students from enrollment.

While the young homosexual activists were on the Eastern campus,  
members of the group Repent America (RA) attempted to pass out  
literature to students regarding what the Bible says about  
homosexuality. University officials, however, ordered the Christian  
group to leave the premises.

[More at URL]


----- 8 -----
U.S. Navy and Chaplain Differ Over Basis for Charges
By Chad Groening
American Family Association/Agape Press
May 5, 2006

http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/5/afa/52006c.asp

(AgapePress) - An evangelical Navy chaplain says he is facing a  
possible court-martial for disobeying what he believes was an unlawful  
order. The Navy, however, is challenging Lieutenant Gordon  
Klingenshmitt's account of why he's facing the possibility of such a  
serious charge.

Chaplain Klingenshmitt says the U.S. Navy is trying to punish him for  
what he did on Lafayette Square near the White House on March 30. He  
says he faces disciplinary action for praying in the name of Jesus  
while in uniform outside a chapel setting.

"The new SECNAV instruction authorizes commanding officers to punish  
chaplains for disobeying orders if they pray in Jesus' name outside of  
a chapel," Klingenshmitt shares. "So that's what I'm being charged with  
-- willful disobedience of what they say is a lawful order. I say it's  
an unlawful order."

[More at URL]


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