Prayer, Prayer, and MORE Prayer

Engaging Pervasive Myths With Science

Introduction

Born Gay? Fact or Fiction?

Ask any of your gay-affirming friends, colleagues or family members – whether or not they themselves are gay or transgender – why it is that they’ve come to support gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) political goals and most will tell you that it’s because they’ve come around to the view that gay and transgender people are born this way (and will always be this way, and thus “this is who they are to their core”) and, as such, should be entitled to “equality” in every sense of the word.

Equality in marriage. Equality in adoption rights. Equality as a protected class in the law, in the schools and the workplace. Even equality in the church or synagogue.

Indeed, those who unreservedly support the GLBT political and social agenda see the issue as one of civil rights. Their reasoning is based on the notion that GLBT people did not “choose” their feelings and attractions (in the sense one can choose the clothes they wear, or the car they drive) and therefore they can’t be expected to steward their impulses heterosexually or otherwise contemplate attempting to alter their sexual feelings or gender identity. It is who they are. The essence of their being. It’s no different than the racial and gender-based civil rights struggles of the 1960s and beyond.

In short, as one surveys the history of the gay and transgender rights movement, it’s clear that the breathtaking speed in which this small group of dedicated activists has taken over and radically changed the cultural landscape in a few short decades hinges largely on the widespread acceptance of the view that people are “born gay” (thus this is “who they are”) and that they cannot change their sexual orientation.

The problem with this understanding of sexuality is that it’s simply not true. It’s a pervasive myth that has gone virtually unchallenged by those who have come to accept it as true. And not only does the “born gay” myth remain critically unexamined by the media, academia, elected leaders, many clergy of all stripes and a significant percentage of rank and file Americans, there are now court decisions coming through the legal arena and laws being passed by legislatures that penalize those who dare to disagree with the “born gay” dogma.

House of Cards

But dare to disagree we must. The fact of the matter is that sexual orientation and “gender identity” have been shown in many cases to be surprisingly fluid and not the innate and unchangeable attributes that activists claim. Given this, attempts by GLBT activists and their allies to uncritically equate their cause with the just cause of racial and gender discrimination from the civil rights era must be challenged at every turn.

By doing so, we will reveal that the myth that people are “born gay” or “born transgender” forms the basis for a GLBT-affirming worldview which is, in actuality, a house of cards. And when this undergirding card is removed, the whole movement falls flat and is seen for the unstable structure it is.

Action Steps:

But how do we do this? How can concerned citizens take action and pull out the card that will encourage others to reexamine their worldview about sexuality and gender identity? How can those of us who truly care about those who are caught in the trap of a gay or transgender identity begin to stand up and unrelentingly speak the truth – no matter what the negative consequences may be?

Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Educate yourself and others.

Despite the fact that the major mental health associations and the politically correct (meaning, liberal and left-aligned) elites in the media, Hollywood, academia and beyond are loath to present data on the topics of homosexuality and transgenderism in a fair and balanced way, there are many resources available to become familiar with. And you can take the initiative to organize teams of like-minded and concerned citizens like yourself to explore in greater depth these resources together – perhaps meeting on a weekly or monthly basis to discuss the materials and brainstorm ways to winsomely raise objections to the dominant cultural view that sexual orientation and transgenderism are immutable and unchangeable traits in your local community.

Some of the resources, books and websites you should study include:

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND THERAPY OF HOMOSEXUALITY (NARTH)

www.narth.com

1-888-364-4744

MY GENES MADE ME DO IT!

Dr. Neil Whitehead

http://mygenes.co.nz/download.htm

and

http://www.amazon.com/My-Genes-Made-Me-Do/dp/1563841657

101 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

Mike Haley

http://www.amazon.com/Frequently-Asked-Questions-About-Homosexuality/dp/...

HOMOSEXUALITY: THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE CHURCH’S

MORAL DEBATE

Dr. Stanton L. Jones and Dr. Mark A. Yarhouse

http://www.amazon.com/Homosexuality-Scientific-Research-Churchs-Debate/d...

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE POLITICS OF TRUTH

Jeffrey Satinover, M.D.

http://www.amazon.com/Homosexuality-Politics-Truth-Jeffrey-Satinover/dp/...

EX-GAYS? A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF RELIGIOUSLY MEDIATED CHANGE IN SEXUAL ORIENTATION

Dr. Stanton L Jones and Dr. Mark A. Yarhouse

http://www.amazon.com/Ex-Gays-Longitudinal-Religiously-Mediated-Orientat...

THE GAY GOSPEL? HOW PRO-GAY ADVOCATES MISREAD THE BIBLE

Joe Dallas

http://www.amazon.com/Gay-Gospel-Pro-Gay-Advocates-Misread/dp/0736918345

THE COMPLETE CHRISTIAN GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING HOMOSEXUALITY: A BIBLICAL AND COMPASSIONATE RESPONSE TO SAME-SEX ATTRACTION

Joe Dallas and Nancy Heche, eds.

http://www.christianbook.com/the-complete-christian-guide-understanding-...

GOD’S GRACE AND THE HOMOSEXUAL NEXT DOOR: REACHING THE HEART OF THE GAY MEN AND WOMEN IN YOUR WORLD

Alan Chambers

http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Grace-Homosexual-Next-Door/dp/0736916911

HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE CHRISTIAN: A GUIDE FOR PARENTS, PASTORS, AND FRIENDS

Mark A. Yarhouse

http://www.amazon.com/Homosexuality-Christian-Parents-Pastors-Friends/dp...

2. Equip Yourself and Others to Winsomely Present the Truth

Given that the dominant view in our politically correct culture unquestioningly affirms and celebrates homosexuality and transgenderism, you will have to learn how to winsomely and effectively present the truth about sexual orientation and gender identity to key audiences not only in your local community, but also at the state and national levels.

This involves connecting with, supporting and donating to local, state and national groups that are actively engaged in the cultural battle over homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism. By signing up for e-mail communications and action alerts, reading articles on their websites, and tracking the movement of the legislative bills and legal cases presently under consideration, you and your fellow concerned citizens can learn how to best counter the “born gay” myth and cause others to rethink their views on the matter.

Ultimately, the goal is to challenge the politically correct thinking on sexual orientation and transgenderism by developing talking points that can be shaped in various ways (letters, phone calls, e-mails, letters-to-the-editor, op-ed pieces, columns, interviews, etc.) that will challenge media outlets, school administrators, non-profit, business and corporate leaders, lawmakers, and GLBT-affirming religious organizations to consider another viewpoint on these topics.

Some of the groups that are doing work in this arena include:

Alliance Defense Fund

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/

Liberty Counsel

www.lc.org

Pacific Justice Institute

http://pacificjustice.org/

American Center for Law and Justice

www.aclj.org

Thomas More Law Center

www.thomasmore.org

Focus on the Family

www.focusonthefamily.com

CitizenLink and state affiliates

http://www.citizenlink.com/

Family Research Council and state affiliates

www.frc.org

American Family Association and state affiliates

www.afa.net

Concerned Women for America

www.cwfa.org

True Tolerance

http://www.truetolerance.org/

Mission America

http://www.missionamerica.com/

Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX)

www.pfox.org

3. Donate to Groups That Are Standing for Truth

Few concerned citizens realize just how wealthy, powerful and influential the homosexual and transgender political lobbies are in the United States and abroad. Whether at the local, state, national or international levels, thousands of advocacy groups promote the normalization of homosexuality and transgenderism in every arena of society. Indeed, there is a wildly disproportionate discrepancy between the staff sizes and economic resources devoted to the GLBT cause in comparison to those defending the traditional viewpoint on the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.

By one non-comprehensive estimate, the leading several dozen homosexual and transgender activist groups and political action committees boasted an annual collective budget in 2010 in the neighborhood of more than $400 million in the United States – employing more than 800 staff devoted solely to the advancement of this particular set of issues in the culture.

Compare this to the meager staff and resources devoted exclusively to defending the traditional view of homosexuality and transgenderism and it is truly – and undeniably – a David versus Goliath battle. For example, it is generously estimated that the total number of staff who exclusively specialized in the articulation of the traditional perspective on sexuality and gender in the political arena in 2010 to number less than 10 individuals.

Given this, it is incumbent upon citizens concerned about the advancement of the homosexual and transgender agenda in the United States to step up to the plate and donate to the various groups that are presently engaging in the battle on these topics. A list of some of these groups is found here.

4. Form Alliances Within Your Community

One of the most significant strategies that homosexual and transgender activists have employed in order to achieve their political goals has been through the formation of alliances with like-minded groups and organizations. For example, GLBT activists have made no secret of their intention to encourage heterosexual allies to carry their water for them in the political and cultural arena.

Likewise, citizens who are concerned about the advancement of the GLBT political agenda in their communities should take every opportunity to form relationships and strategic alliances with other like-minded groups and organizations. A cord with three strands is infinitely stronger and more capable of pulling a heavier load than a single strand.

Possible groups to consider forming alliances with might include civic groups, parents groups, political cause groups, churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious or philosophically based organizations.

And given the effort on the part of GLBT activists to hitch their wagon to the civil rights star, it is particularly important to discerningly reach out to leaders in ethnic minority communities and religious groups who understand that the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity are not even remotely comparable to the struggle for civil rights that African Americans and others have faced.

Indeed, as revealed in the voting patterns in California’s Proposition 8 battle over same-sex marriage in 2008, approximately 70% of African Americans clearly understood that sexual orientation is simply not the same thing as race – voting to define marriage in that state’s constitution as the union of one man and one woman. Similarly, an multi-racial alliance headed by an African American pastor and an Hispanic pastor galvanized the voters of Colorado in 2006 to both amend the state’s constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, while simultaneously rejecting a homosexual civil unions initiative.

Given this, there will undoubtedly be any number of minority group leaders in your local community with whom you and your fellow concerned citizens can work with on resisting the advance of the GLBT agenda by countering the “born gay” myth while showing that race and sexual orientation are not comparable. And at the state and national levels, you can draw upon the writings and activist leadership of African American leaders such as Bernice King, Ken Hutcherson, Star Parker, and Bishop Harry Jackson, who have publicly taken the stand that equating sexual orientation to race is erroneous.

5. Reach Out to Former Homosexuals and Groups That Help People with Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions

As a citizen who is concerned about the advancement of homosexuality and transgenderism in the culture, one of the most important actions steps you can take is to get to know people who have walked away from a homosexual or transgender identity and chosen to steward their sexuality in alignment with their deeply held values and ethics. By reaching out to this seemingly hidden community, you will quickly see that there are many people who experience unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion and desire assistance from religious groups and/or mental health professionals in order to live in accordance with their values. And you will be an encouragement to a group of people and their counselors who are among the most reviled and politically incorrect in America today.

The fact that people can and do change their sexual orientation is the Achilles Heel of the GLBT activist movement. To the degree that you are able to support the “ex-gay” community by partnering with ministries and counselors who walk alongside those coming out from homosexuality and transgenderism, you strategically help to expose the truth that people are not “born gay” and bring down the GLBT activist house of cards.

Some of the groups doing work in this area include:

Restored Hope Network

https://www.restoredhopenetwork.org/

JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing)

http://jonahweb.org

Evergreen International (Latter-Day Saints)

http://www.evergreeninternational.org/

Courage (Roman Catholic)

www.couragerc.net

Transforming Congregations

http://transcong.org

One By One (Presbyterian Church – USA)

http://www.oneby1.org

Homosexuals Anonymous

www.ha-fs.org

More Action Steps:

Check out the websites above and connect with a local group that ministers to those with unwanted same-sex attractions. Sign-up to get their newsletters and find out if there are any upcoming conferences in your area and make plans to attend. Get to know the local ministry leaders and find out if there is a way your church or synagogue can partner with them – either financially or otherwise.

Make it a point to get to know men and women who have walked away from a homosexual or transgender identity, or who have struggled, or continue to struggle in this area.

Find out if there are local mental health practitioners who help those with unwanted same-sex attractions in your area. Get to know them and ask if there are ways you can support and encourage them in their efforts within their state and national professional groups and licensure/certification boards to ensure that clients continue to have the right to autonomy and that they, as professionals, have the right to continue practicing sexual orientation change therapies.

Media / Hollywood / Film / Television / Entertainment Media

Introduction

Even though radio, television and print media professionals are ethically called to report their stories without bias in a fair and balanced way, this is rarely the case nowadays when it comes to coverage of issues involving homosexuality, gender, and transgenderism.

In fact, the results of numerous studies and polls show that in many major media markets the percentage of reporters who adhere to politically left-leaning viewpoints – including support for homosexual and transgender “rights” – consistently rates at more than ninety percent.

Given the overwhelming level of pro-GLBT bias held by professional media elites in America, it’s no wonder that there has been a sea-change in cultural attitudes resulting in the widespread acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism in the span of a few short decades.

And with numerous gay and transgender media activist organizations in existence – whose sole purpose is to monitor media coverage of their issues and pounce at a moment’s notice when the pro-GLBT activist agenda’s talking points are not reflexively regurgitated – we can easily see that a politically correct climate of fear and retribution has been instituted when it comes to coverage on gay and transgender issues in the press.

But as citizens concerned about the advance of the pro-GLBT agenda in every area of society, you must not be cowed into inaction by a media that uncritically accepts GLBT activist talking points in their zeal to tell sympathetic stories and come to the aid of the supposedly defenseless victims that gay and transgender individuals have so successfully been portrayed to be.

Indeed, given the media’s ability to influence popular opinion, they must be challenged at every turn to uphold their professional calling and give equal time to both sides of the story.

As with the news media, the American television and movie industry is overwhelmingly sympathetic to the GLBT political agenda and rarely hesitates to promote it in their story lines. Today, there are even television channels exclusively devoted to airing GLBT-themed content – something virtually unimaginable a few short years ago.

And not only do many movies and prime time major network and cable television programs unquestioningly trumpet the talking points of the GLBT activist agenda, some actively mock and denigrate the traditional and biblical viewpoints on homosexuality and transgenderism and viciously attack those who have chosen to walk away from a gay or transgender self-identity.

So much for “tolerance” and “diversity”!

And just to make sure that the entertainment media elites do not stray from the politically correct dogma celebrating homosexual, bisexual, and transgender behavior and identity, there’s even a well-funded GLBT activist group called GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates Against Defamation) which closely monitors the programming content of the network channels – producing an Orwellian-sounding annual network responsibility index which rates each on the degree to which they have included positively portrayed GLBT characters and story lines. And woe to those channels which fail the grade.

Thus, marching in lockstep with the media elites, the American entertainment industry has played a very significant role in helping to change societal attitudes toward homosexual and transgender behavior and identity – and in a very short span of years.

Action Steps:

There are many ways that concerned citizens can encourage local, state and national media influencers to provide fair and balanced coverage to topics like homosexuality and transgenderism.

Given the entertainment industry’s ability to influence popular opinion, it must be challenged at every turn to present story lines that reflect a broader range of views on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism – including the widely held traditional and biblical views.

Here are a few ideas to consider for both individual and collective action:

• Commit yourself to the goal of always treating with dignity and respect those who hold to the GLBT activist viewpoint.
• Pledge to winsomely and graciously coordinate, educate, agitate, articulate and illuminate the truth about the negative effects to the traditional family, marriage and children in societies that embrace the political goals of the GLBT agenda.
• Monitor local, state and national radio, television and newspaper/web stories and respond when coverage is unfair, unbalanced or overtly and uncritically biased in favor of the GLBT activist agenda. Also monitor television programs and movies and contact the network and film production executives when traditional and/or biblical views on homosexuality and transgenderism are maligned, mischaracterized, misunderstood or distorted. One easy way to track the extent of GLBT-themed content in the entertainment industry is to become familiar with the GLAAD website – in particular their entertainment media section and the “TV Gayed” tab which offers a daily listing of every show in which GLBT program content is to be aired.
• Politely point out media coverage imbalances and GLBT-celebrating entertainment media biases and request that equal time be devoted to differing viewpoints on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism. Specifically, track the percentage of each story that is devoted to the GLBT-affirming perspective compared to a differing viewpoint on the goals of the GLBT activist agenda. For example, if a newspaper or web-based story on a particular topic has 20 paragraphs of copy sympathetic to the pro-GLBT perspective, and 5 paragraphs that could be described as neutral, and only 1 paragraph presenting an opposing viewpoint, quantify this discrepancy and contact the executive management of the publication to let them know. Remind entertainment media executives that the majority of Americans remain uncomfortable with a celebratory treatment of these topics – particularly during prime time or daytime television when children are more likely to tune in – and that you and your fellow concerned citizens will switch channels and stop buying movie tickets if the situation is not properly remedied.
• Similarly, if a two-minute television story devotes all but ten seconds of its coverage to a view that affirms and normalizes homosexuality and/or transgenderism, point out this imbalance to the executive management of the station through the means of e-mails, letters, and phone calls. Let the executives know that you, as a media consumer, expect coverage to be fair and balanced and that you and your fellow activists will switch channels if the present imbalance is not properly addressed.
• Form community action groups with other like-minded concerned citizens to coordinate telephone call-in and e-mail/letter-writing campaigns to radio and television station managers, network television and movie industry executives, executive producers, and individual reporters – as well as to editors and publishers of newspapers and websites and blog writers. Post comments on websites and participate in discussion threads. Remember that your efforts will be more effective if each letter or phone call is personalized and individualized – rather than a mass-produced and distributed communication that can be more easily dismissed as inauthentic.
• Develop general and specific talking points to help guide your individual and collective efforts to highlight the pro-GLBT bias in media stories and request more balanced coverage in the future. Here, you can plug in to the materials and resources offered by local, state and national pro-family groups as well as these groups that monitor media coverage of these issues:
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• Educate corporate advertisers sympathetic to a pro-family perspective about the imbalanced and biased media coverage on these topics. When appropriate, encourage them to pull their advertising from media outlets, networks and programs that persist in presenting biased and unbalanced coverage related to the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism, as well as GLBT-celebrating story lines and distorted treatment of the traditional and/or biblical perspective on these. Also, when appropriate, be prepared to participate in boycotts of media outlets that refuse to tell both sides of the story, and network programs and movies that are particularly disrespectful of the traditional and biblical views on these subjects – as well as boycotts of the businesses and corporations that support them with their advertising dollars.
• Cultivate positive relationships with newspaper editorial board staff, television and radio station owners, managers and producers, reporters and writers. If possible, schedule face-to-face meetings to introduce yourself and your fellow concerned citizens, explain your concerns about media bias in this regard, and offer to help them provide more balanced coverage. Publicly commend them when they respond favorably and take steps to offer more balanced coverage on the topics of homosexuality and transgenderism. Also publicly commend entertainment media executives when they respond favorably to your concerns and take steps to respectfully and accurately present the traditional and/or biblical viewpoint on these topics.
• Identify and cultivate pro-family media spokespersons of high personal character, integrity and moral standing that can be offered to media outlets as articulate and winsome sources for an alternative viewpoint to the pro-GLBT side of the story. Educate and equip them for the task at hand, including specialized training for media interviews. Prepare them for the likelihood of an unrelenting attack from the GLBT activist community which will seek to distort the pro-family message and undermine the credibility of the spokesperson at every turn.
• While some of the most compelling and persuasive spokespeople on this issue may be individuals who have walked away from a homosexual or transgender identity, keep in mind that some ex-gays and ex-gay ministry leaders may not feel comfortable speaking openly to the media about politicized issues because they feel that their primary mission of outreach to those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions could become compromised by doing so. Nevertheless, get to know the leaders of your local ministry and ask out about their willingness to speak to the media if called upon to do so.
• Develop general and specific talking points to help guide your individual and collective efforts to highlight the GLBT activist bias in the entertainment media and request more balanced treatment of the topics in the future. Here, you can plug in to the materials and resources offered by local, state and national pro-family groups as well as these groups that monitor media coverage of these issues:
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• Those who have Internet and web skills can create a website to educate and equip concerned citizens about the media and entertainment industry’s overwhelmingly politically correct position on the topics of homosexuality and transgenderism – and the accompanying hostility toward a traditional and/or biblical view on the subjects – and make it easy for them to take action through the means of constituent action alerts targeted to local, state and national media executives, as well as television and film industry executives.
• Identify and cultivate a community of artists and writers who are favorably disposed to developing traditional and/or biblical story lines on the topics of sexual orientation, marriage and biological sex. Find out what ways that these groups can be supported and encouraged to employ their creative talents, gifts and calling to advance the life-giving and beautiful story line of the Creator’s purpose and design for human sex and sexuality.
• Encourage entertainment media executives to fairly and accurately tell the stories of those individuals among us who have walked away from a homosexual or transgender self-identity and/or chosen to steward their sexuality and/or gender identity in alignment with their values and convictions. Get to know the leaders of local ministries and mental health professionals that help people with unwanted same-sex attraction and gender confusion and point entertainment media executives toward speaker’s bureaus for these respective groups so that the compelling stories of these overcomers may be told.

Semantics / Lexicon / Terminology / War of the Words / Words Have Power

Introduction

When it comes to any campaign to sway public opinion, it is well known that the one who defines the terms, defines the debate. And if there’s one thing the GLBT activist community is good at, it’s reframing the issues and redefining terms to suit their political agenda. This strategy was laid out by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen in their 1989 public relations playbook, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer it Fear and Hatred of Gay in the 90s, and has been followed to the letter by America’s gay activist organizations ever since.

Specifically, GLBT activist leadership has mastered the art of redefining the words associated with homosexuality and transgenderism to be more euphemistic, neutral and emotional, and less graphic, offensive, and threatening to the average American who would normally be inclined to have serious reservations about the topics.

A key component in this strategy to reframe the arguments and win the public relations battle has been the enlistment of academia, the media and other opinion-influencing elites to unquestioningly adopt the GLBT lexicon and, thus, get them to carry the bulk of the load in terms of changing the way people think about the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism.

There’s even a GLBT activist organization within the media ranks called the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association which has developed a “stylebook” of preferred terms and usage for the media to follow as they write their stories.

And if this isn’t Orwellian enough, there is even a Rapid Response Task Force in place to punish the offenders in the event that a journalist or other media player fails to get the memo on the politically correct wording and usage of their preferred terms – as dictated by the GLBT activists themselves.

Given this situation, what can citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda do to offer a counterpoint to this Orwellian double-speak that distorts terminology with the express goal to propagandize and change public opinion?

In some cases the prevailing words are relatively acceptable and there is no need to quibble because the train has long since left the station and any sustained effort to reframe the issue is met with raised eyebrows and perhaps accusations of paranoia, and may actually serve to alienate those we seek to persuade. But in other cases, concerned citizens must not cede ground and allow certain words to be reframed. Thus, when an unacceptable and inaccurate word usage has already been adopted, we must work hard to overturn the usage by offering more accurate and balanced alternatives – along with reasoned explanations as to why the reframed term is unacceptable, and why your option is more reasonable and acceptable.

Action Steps:

Here is a list of a few terms that are frequently used by GLBT activists that merit push back on the part of citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda:

Gay / Lesbian vs. Homosexual

When the homosexual activist community successfully convinced the media to shift from usage of the term “homosexual” to the more benign terms “gay” and “lesbian,” they reframed what had been a more clinically and behaviorally oriented term to one that spoke to the essence of one’s identity. While in many circumstances it is probably not worth the effort to re-stigmatize the behavior by insisting upon using the term “homosexual” over “gay/lesbian,” this is an instance where even more accurate terminology should be called for by both proponents of homosexuality and transgenderism as well as those who oppose the advance of the GLBT political agenda.

Specifically, given that there is no valid or replicable evidence that sexual orientation is an unchangeable trait, it is more correct to speak in terms of “self-identity” as opposed to “being gay” or “being lesbian.”

Suggested alternatives: gay-identified; lesbian-identified; self-identified gay/lesbian; person who experiences same-sex attraction (SSA); person who is same-sex attracted; person who experiences same-sex temptations; living homosexually.

Behavior vs. Identity

As discussed above, a key strategy of the GLBT activist community over the past several decades has been to shift the focus from sexual behavior to sexual identity. This reframing of “what one does” – and its accompanying “ick factor” – to “who one is” has been perhaps the single most effective factor in bringing out the widespread acceptance of homosexuality and transgenderism we now see in American culture. All debates, arguments, questions, answers, campaigns, terms, phrases, etc. stem from this single socio-cultural foundation.

However, when it comes to the full spectrum of legislation at the local, state and national levels that seeks to carve out protected class status (meaning a group of people who may not be discriminated against or harassed due to a specific factor) for those who self-identity as either homosexual, bisexual or transgender – laws which jeopardize our American freedoms to religious liberty and freedom of conscience – many legal defense groups recommend that those who oppose the advance of the GLBT political agenda make every effort to refocus the issue on behavior and avoid terminology which emphasizes identity (for more on the attempt to separate behavior from identity, see A Queer Thing Happened to America, Chapter Eleven).

For more information in this regard, contact the Alliance Defense Fund and other legal defense groups on how best to strategically frame the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism depending on the context.

Suggested terminology: when referring to GLBT activists and their allies, use “advocates of homosexual behavior,” “advocates of transgender behavior,” etc.

Homosexuality vs. Same-Sex Attraction

While using the term “homosexuality” is acceptable in many circumstances, unless it is distinguished by the more nuanced term “homosexual behavior,” it is often associated with the concept of a core, unchangeable identity. As discussed above, the goal of emphasizing identity over behavior has long been the goal of the GLBT activist community.

However, given that many men and women may experience same-sex sexual attraction during a season of their lives – but never self-identify as gay or lesbian or choose to “come out” publicly or even embrace the goals of the homosexual political agenda – it is helpful in many circumstances to use the term “same-sex attraction” over the term “homosexuality.” The bottom line is that people who experience same-sex attraction may or may not self-identify as gay or lesbian. And they will not necessarily see themselves as homosexual either. Being sensitive to this distinction may be helpful in certain circumstances, particularly when referring to people who struggle with same-sex attractions and have chosen to seek help overcoming the situation – and steward their sexuality in alignment with their value system and ethical beliefs/constructs.

Suggested alternatives: people who experience same-sex attractions (SSA); people who struggle with SSA; strugglers; overcomers; same-sex strugglers; people who experience unwanted same-sex attractions.

Former Homosexual vs. Ex-Gay

There are countless individuals from all over the world who, for generations, have made – and are making – the personal decision to not embrace their same-sex attractions and/or to not self-identify as gay or lesbian. For some, this decision has been based on a strongly held religious or moral conviction that homosexual behavior was outside the bounds of their faith’s teaching. For others, the decision may have been undertaken more by cultural or familial considerations. For still others, faith convictions play no role in the decision.

Whatever the circumstances, it can be challenging to know how best to refer to people who have walked away from a gay or lesbian self-identity, or who are choosing to steward their sexuality in alignment with their values despite widespread and intense cultural pressure to fully embrace a gay identity.

Complicating this politically incorrect decision is the overt hostility, derision and mockery that these individuals face from GLBT activists and their allies who, despite their own vociferous demands for “tolerance” and “diversity,” refuse to extend the same tolerance for the diversity represented by those who choose to not embrace a gay self-identity.

Although the terms “former homosexual” and “ex-gay” do, indeed, speak to the lives of some individuals who once embraced a gay or lesbian self-identity, they don’t apply to those who experience same-sex attraction but never self-identified as gay or lesbian, nor embraced a gay political identity. Moreover, some who have walked away from their gay identities and embraced the process of sexual orientation change sometimes find that they may experience SSA from time to time and feel caught in between two worlds.

Suggested terms: Given these nuances, some people who have chosen to walk away from a gay self-identity are beginning to adopt the term “post-gay” to refer to themselves. Others refer to themselves as “same-sex strugglers” or “overcomers” or as persons embracing the biblical or traditional sexual ethic. Whatever the case, getting to know people in this situation is highly encouraged. Ask them what term they prefer and be respectful of their preference on this sensitive topic.

Pro-gay vs. Anti-gay

Those who advocate for homosexual behavior frequently label those who hold to a traditional or biblical viewpoint on sexuality as being “anti-gay,” or worse. Of course, the use of this “anti” label is intended to shame, silence and stifle any and all opposing viewpoints when it comes to the discussion of homosexuality in the public square. The implication is that to be “against” (“anti”) something is negative and bad, whereas to be “for” (“pro”) something is positive and good.

Given that the media have uncritically marched in lock-step with the demands of GLBT activists and their allies to slap the label “anti-gay” on anyone who disagrees with the GLBT political agenda, how can concerned citizens push back from this polarizing paradigm and reframe discussions more fairly and accurately?

Suggested alternatives to pro-gay: homosexualist; pansexualist; advocates of homosexual behavior; advocates of homosexual and ‘transgender’ behavior; gay-normalizing.

Suggested alternatives to anti-gay: traditionalists; those promoting a biblical sexual ethic; those promoting a traditional sexual ethic.

Gender vs. Sex

Historically, the term “sex” referred to the two sexes – either male or female – whereas the term “gender” was typically used in the context of distinguishing noun types and other parts of speech in many languages. For example, there are two genders in Spanish – masculine and feminine – while German has three – masculine, feminine and neuter. And while older forms of English formerly employed gender, today gender distinctions in English nouns have fallen out of usage almost entirely, except for the very occasional instance when one might refer to a ship as a “she.”

These long-held distinctions between the terms “gender” and “sex” started to blur in the 1960s in the context of the sexual revolution and the feminist movement, which sought to obliterate all distinctions between the sexes – claiming that male and female were alike in virtually every respect and equally interchangeable in nearly every circumstance. While this ideology was never true in the first place, there’s been plenty of valid research in the meantime to substantiate that there are, indeed, significant differences between the two sexes.

Couple this ideological blurring of terms with the fact that the last several decades have seen Americans increasingly uncomfortable using the term “sex” – meaning male and female – in part because the term has also increasingly come to mean “sexual intercourse.” Given these trends, the term “sex” has been ripe to be reframed away from its historical meaning of male and female and be replaced with the notion of “gender.”

This evolution in usage wouldn’t necessarily be a great cause for concern were it not for the fact that there is now a political agenda tied to the usage of the term “gender.” Indeed, gender activists today are seeking to radically deconstruct the concept of gender away from the binary paradigm of male and female. In its place they argue that “gender” exists on a spectrum and that there are an infinite number of possible “genders” – above and beyond the two sexes. Quite ironically, while they insist that sexual orientation cannot be changed, they claim that sex/gender can be changed! And they have introduced the concept of “gender identity and/or expression” into laws and allowing for the creation of protected class status – on par with race and national origin – based on what is fundamentally a feelings-based and subjective self-identity.

Given the cultural stakes associated with the politically correct agenda to deconstruct the objective and unchangeable reality of sex – male and female – into the subjective, perception-based concept of “gender,” it is imperative that citizens who are concerned about the advance of the homosexualist and transgender agenda not cede the historical meaning of sex. We should use the term “biological sex” and not “gender” when what we are referring to is male and female.

Suggested alternative to “gender”: sex, biological sex.

Reparative / Conversion Therapy vs. Sexual Reorientation Therapy (SRT)/ Gender Affirmative Therapy / Reorientation Therapy

There are various approaches available to those who seek professional or pastoral help with their unwanted same-sex attractions. Despite this, advocates for homosexual behavior frequently – and derisively – lump all approaches under the term “reparative therapy” (RT). While RT is a legitimate and helpful therapeutic approach used by some mental health practitioners to assist some clients with unwanted same-sex attractions, it is not the only model.

Beyond this, the somewhat broader category of “conversion therapy” is sometimes also used dismissively by GLBT activists and their allies to refer to certain mental health approaches used by practitioners who seek to assist clients with unwanted SSA.

Despite these attempts to marginalize not only the practitioners who serve in this field but also the clients who experience unwanted SSA and desire to exercise their right to self-determination, there remains strong demand in the mental health field for the various therapeutic approaches methods available to assist those who seek to change their sexual orientation.

Suggested alternative: the broadest and most appropriate way to refer to this field of mental health practice is neither “reparative therapy” or “conversion therapy,” but rather “sexual reorientation therapy” (SRT). SRT can include any of the various mental health and/or pastoral approaches used to address unwanted same-sex attraction for those who want help in this area.

Cure / Change vs. Stewardship

Even though mental health professionals and ministry leaders who assist clients with unwanted SSA do not use the term “cure” when referring to sexual orientation change efforts, GLBT activists and their allies often misleadingly use the term in an attempt to mischaracterize the field and malign those who choose not to embrace a homosexual identity.

In addition, those who advocate for homosexual behavior also frequently mischaracterize what is meant when those with unwanted SSA talk about sexual orientation change. Here, GLBT activists and their allies charge that anything less than complete sexual orientation change from homosexual to heterosexual is evidence that all Sexual Reorientation Therapies are invalid and unworthy of consideration or merit. Using this therapeutic standard, one may as well abandon all schools of therapy and avoid trying to treat any issue if results/outcomes are not 100% positive or 180 degree turns. Some may respond “but homosexuality is different,” but if that is their claim, then that’s a different argument; obviously, those seeking treatment begin with foundations about homosexuality that are totally contrary to those asserted by gay activists. If homosexuality was indeed different, then therapy need not be attended to begin with!

However, these efforts to reframe the issue to suit the purposes of the GLBT activist political agenda amount to nothing more than straw man arguments and are particularly disrespectful in the sense that the individuals who experience unwanted same-sex attraction aren’t allowed to define for themselves the goals they are pursuing when it comes to sexual orientation change.

Given that even the American Psychiatric Association agrees that clients have a right to self-determination and personal autonomy, it is clear that individuals have the right to choose to steward their sexuality in alignment with their ethics and values.

Suggested alternative: use the term “stewardship” whenever possible in discussing the issue of sexual orientation change efforts.

For more information:

NARTH

www.narth.com

Can Gays Really Change? A Review of the Jones and Yarhouse Study on Ex-Gays

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/can-gays-really-change-a-review-of-th...

What Do We Mean When We Talk About Change?

http://70.32.105.83/2010/06/what-do-we-mean-when-we-talk-about-change/

The Gender Agenda: Redefining Equality

Dale O'Leary

http://www.amazon.com/Gender-Agenda-Redefining-Equality/dp/1563841223

Theology / Denominations

Introduction

During the last 50 years, the cultural shift toward increased acceptance and celebration of homosexual and transgender behavior has roughly paralleled an increase in the acceptance of a revisionist theology in both Christianity and Judaism which teaches that homosexual and transgender behavior are no longer understood to be sinful and immoral. The degree to which people see homosexuality and transgenderism as not being sinful correlates directly to the degree to which they embrace the GLBT political agenda.

More specifically, whether one comes from a religious background or not, for many who now support the GLBT political agenda, the decisive factor in bringing them around to this point has been exposure to some facet of this pro-gay revisionist theology which asserts that the Bible really isn’t a reliable or trustworthy guide on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism.

So, if one believes that there’s nothing morally wrong with homosexuality or transgenderism, he or she is more likely to support contentious cultural issues like same-sex marriage and other GLBT political goals at the local, state and national levels. Conversely, if one believes that Scripture is clear about homosexual and transgender behavior being sinful and outside of God’s plan for human sexuality, he or she is less likely they are to support GLBT demands in the legislative and judicial arenas.

And this shift in religious views was exactly what the gay activist authors of After the Ball: How America Will Overcome Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s said would have to occur before any real gains in the political arena could be achieved. Indeed, GLBT activist leaders have long said that conservative and traditional faith views – whether Christian, Jewish, Muslim or any other faith background – represent the biggest obstacle to the normalization of homosexuality and transgenderism in the culture.

Given this, it is no surprise that there has been an unrelentingly persistent and well-orchestrated full court press within many Christian and Jewish denominations to overhaul the age-old biblically orthodox teaching on human sex and sexuality and replace it with the revisionist doctrine. Starting in the seminaries, and then inculcating every level of hierarchy down to the lay level, the pro-GLBT revisionist theology has brought about significant division and strife in many denominations – to the point of accomplishing a virtual takeover of some groups like the United Church of Christ, The Episcopal Church, and several streams of Judaism, including Reform.

And more recently at the lay level, there are well-funded and highly propagandized campaigns with clearly stated political goals being launched by GLBT activists in an effort to change the theological belief systems of various denominations on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism. Believe Out Loud is one such group.

Clearly, GLBT activists and their allies see the theological front as foundational for achieving their broad-sweeping political goals to normalize homosexual and transgender behavior in every arena of society. And if it’s this important to them, the theological front should be equally important to those citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT agenda in the culture.

So whether or not you hold to a faith commitment, what can concerned citizens do to turn the tide and one-by-one persuade your fellow citizens that homosexual and transgender behaviors – and their enshrinement into protected class status in the law – are not advantageous to the individuals involved or to the society at large?

Action Steps:

• One of the most important steps you can take is to educate yourself about the underlying claims of the pro-GLBT revisionist theology and learn to winsomely and gracefully counter their arguments. Listed below are a number of excellent resources that you and your group of fellow citizen activists can dig into and thoroughly digest.
• If you belong to a particular religious affiliation or faith tradition, get involved in your denomination’s decision-making bodies and take steps to influence the outcomes of the ongoing debates over the degree to which homosexual and transgender behaviors and self-identity are embraced and celebrated. This may include committees, task forces, parish vestries, diocesan conventions, archdiocesan meetings, national conventions, presbyteries, councils, wards, stakes, etc. Various denomination-based resources are listed below.
• Become acquainted with local ministries and pastoral counseling professionals who assist those within denominational structures with unwanted same-sex attractions. Invite ministry leaders or others who have walked out of a homosexual or transgender identity to share their personal stories and testimonies with denominational groups.
• Approach denominational seminaries to develop courses or seminars for inclusion in their curricula in order that pastors, priests, rabbis and other clerical or ministerial graduates are familiar with the revisionist theology and are well versed in not only rebutting its claims, but also winsomely defending a biblically orthodox view on human sex and sexuality. Exposure to the revisionist theology on the part of seminary graduates will also enable them to better minister to those in their congregations that struggle with issues involving sexual and relational brokenness.
• If your denominational seminaries do not have resident experts in this specialized area of study, suggested experts in this arena include Dr. Robert A.J. Gagnon, Dr. Stanton R. Jones, Dr. Michael L. Brown, Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr., Joe Dallas, and others (see resource list below).

Educational Resources

THE GAY GOSPEL? HOW PRO-GAY ADVOCATES MISREAD THE BIBLE

Joe Dallas (Harvest House)

http://family.christianbook.com/gospel-pro-advocates-misread-the-bible/j...

One of the leading resources on rebutting the pro-gay revisionist theology, this book describes the rise of the gay rights movement in the United States and shows how pro-gay theology came of age in this context. Specifically, Dallas outlines pro-gay “social justice” arguments, general religious arguments, hermeneutical approaches and scriptural arguments – offering invaluable insights in how to lovingly confront this false doctrine.

THE BIBLE AND HOMOSEXUAL PRACTICE: TEXTS AND HERMENEUTICS

Robert A.J. Gagnon (Abingdon Press)

http://family.christianbook.com/the-bible-and-homosexual-practice/robert...

One of the most authoritative and thorough analyses to date of the biblical texts relating to homosexuality. Gagnon’s strong and clearly articulated argument establishes that the Bible unanimously defines same-sex intercourse as sin. Considered to be a brilliant, original and highly important work, no person concerned with responding to pro-gay revisionist theology can afford to ignore this book. Gagnon also offers ongoing articles at his website: www.robgagnon.net

HOMOSEXUALITY: CONTEMPORARY CLAIMS EXAMINED IN LIGHT OF THE BIBLE AND OTHER ANCIENT LITERATURE AND LAW

James B. DeYoung (Kregel Publications)

http://family.christianbook.com/homosexuality-james-deyoung/978082542492...

In this book, DeYoung interacts with those today who advocate for Christian and societal acceptance of homosexuality. The author examines their pro-gay positions honestly, and answers them based on sound reasoning and a thorough review of the ancient source materials. A must read for those who desire to respond in love and compassion to those who have embraced pro-gay revisionist theology.

SLAVES, WOMEN & HOMOSEXUALS: EXPLORING THE HERMENEUTICS OF CULTURAL ANALYSIS

William J. Webb (InterVarsity Press)

http://family.christianbook.com/slaves-homosexuals-exploring-hermeneutic...

This book successfully walks the reader through the interpretive maze that accompanies the relevant biblical texts in each of these challenging areas as well as others. Webb’s goal is to not only discuss how these groups are to be seen in light of Scripture, but to make a case for a “redemptive movement” hermeneutical approach to reading, understanding and applying these texts. Specifically, he considers 18 criteria through which these divisive and confusing texts should be evaluated. With respect to homosexuality, Webb rigorously and persuasively demonstrates that the biblical Christian sexual ethic cannot embrace pro-gay revisionist arguments which call for the approval of casual and/or covenant homosexual expression.

“What Does the Bible Really Say: A Response to ‘Pro-Gay’ Theology”

Focus on the Family

http://family.christianbook.com/responding-theology-does-bible-really-bo...

This Love Won Out booklet focuses on the issue of pro-gay theology and the idea of the "Christian" homosexual It answers the arguments of pro-gay theologians point by point, offering solid biblical refutation of their misinterpretation of Scripture. It also directly addresses Christians who struggle with homosexual feelings and the biblical response of the Church to homosexuality.

HOMOSEXUALITY: THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE CHURCH’S MORAL DEBATE

Dr. Stanton L. Jones and Dr. Mark A. Yarhouse (InterVarsity Press)

http://family.christianbook.com/homosexuality-scientific-research-church...

Christians are ignorant about scientific studies of homosexuality. Few understand the appropriate role of these studies in the church's ongoing moral debate. This brilliant book provides common sense, reasoned analysis and biblical wisdom for Christians who seek understanding of this inflammatory issue.

Other helpful resources

THE COMPLETE CHRISTIAN GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING HOMOSEXUALITY: A BIBLICAL AND COMPASSIONATE RESPONSE TO SAME-SEX ATTRACTION

Joe Dallas and Nancy Heche (Harvest House Publishers)

http://family.christianbook.com/the-complete-christian-guide-understandi...

WELCOMING BUT NOT AFFIRMING: AN EVANGELICAL RESPONSE TO HOMOSEXUALITY

Stanley J. Grenz (Westminster John Knox Press)

http://family.christianbook.com/welcoming-not-affirming-evangelical-resp...

LIGHT IN THE CLOSET: TORAH, HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE POWER TO CHANGE

Arthur Goldberg

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Closet-Torah-Homosexuality-Change/dp/0963147897

OUT OF ORDER: HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE BIBLE AND THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST

Donald J. Wold

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Out-Order-Homosexuality-Bible-Ancient/dp/0801021146

DVD – Dr. Brown’s 5-DVD series:

CAN YOU BE GAY AND CHRISTIAN? A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO HOMOSEXUALITY Michael L Brown, Ph.D.

• Are We Using the Bible to Sanction Anti-Homosexual Prejudice?
• Is There Such a Thing as "Ex-Gay"?
• Was Jesus Tolerant?
• Christian Response to Homosexuality: A Dialogue Between Mr. Harry Knox, Director of Faith and Religion of the Human Rights Campaign, and Dr. Michael L. Brown
• Ministering to the Gay and Lesbian Community

http://askdrbrown.org/resources/store?page=shop.product_details&flypage=...

A STUDY GUIDE AND RESPONSE TO: MEL WHITE’S “WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS – AND DOESN’T SAY – ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

Dr. Stanton L. Jones

www.wheaton.edu/CACE/resources/booklets/StanJonesResponsetoMelWhite.pdf

Dr. Robert Gagnon

www.robgagnon.net

Articles

Pro-Gay Revisionist Theology: Did God Really Say…?

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/pro-gay-revisionist-theology-did-god-...

Answering Pro-Gay Revisionist Theology: Talking Points

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/answering-pro-gay-revisionist-theolog...

Pro-Gay Revisionist Theology: An Overview

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/pro-gay-revisionist-theology-an-overv...

Responding to Pro-Gay Theology: General Religious Arguments

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/responding-to-pro-gay-theology-genera...

Answering Newsweek on Same-Sex Marriage and the Bible

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/answering-newsweek-on-same-sex-marria...

Denominational / Ministry Resources

Episcopalian / Anglican

American Anglican Council

http://www.americananglican.org/

TWO SEXES, ONE FLESH: WHY THE CHURCH CANNOT BLESS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Stephen F. Noll

http://www.stephenswitness.org/search/label/Two%20Sexes%20One%20Flesh

Jewish

JONAH (Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing)

http://jonahweb.org

Latter-Day Saints (Mormon)

Evergreen International

http://www.evergreeninternational.org/

Lutheran

Lutheran Core

www.lutherancore.org

THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE 2009 ELCA DECISIONS

http://www.lcms.org/graphics/assets/media/Office%20of%20the%20President/...

Methodist

Transforming Congregations

http://transcong.org

Presbyterian

One By One (Presbyterian Church – USA)

http://www.oneby1.org

THE BOND THAT BREAKS: WILL HOMOSEXUALITY SPLIT THE CHURCH

Don Williams

http://www.amazon.com/Bond-That-Breaks-Homosexuality-Church/dp/0830706682

THE SAME SEX CONTROVERSY: DEFENDING AND CLARIFYING THE BIBLE’S MESSAGE ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY

James R. White and Jeffrey D Neill

http://www.amazon.com/Same-Sex-Controversy-Clarifying-Homosexuality/dp/0...

Roman Catholic

Courage

www.couragerc.net

THEOLOGY OF THE BODY FOR BEGINNERS

Christopher West

http://www.amazon.com/Theology-Body-Beginners-Christopher-West/dp/193264...

Southern Baptist

Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

www.erlc.org

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

www.albertmohler.com – search for “homosexuality” to find articles and blogs from a theological perspective.

Homosexuality and the Bible: Twisting the Truth

http://www.christianpost.com/news/homosexuality-and-the-bible151twisting...

Homosexuality in Theological Perspective – parts 1 – 2 – 3 – 4

http://www.christianpost.com/news/homosexuality-in-theological-perspecti...

Non-Denominational / Ministry Resources

Restored Hope Network

http://www.restoredhopenetwork.com/

GOD’S GRACE AND THE HOMOSEXUAL NEXT DOOR: REACHING THE HEART OF THE GAY MEN AND WOMEN IN YOUR WORLD

Alan Chambers (Harvest House)

http://family.christianbook.com/grace-homosexual-reaching-heart-women-wo...

With the increasing acceptance of same-sex attraction in our culture, many Christians are caught in the crossfire of sounding too harsh or too accommodating. Churches are also at a crossroads. How can they effectively reach out to homosexuals without compromising what the Bible says about same-sex intimacy? Chambers and his colleagues offer practical and biblical insights on how both individuals and churches can become a haven for men and women who struggle with same-sex attractions.

Homosexuals Anonymous

www.ha-fs.org

Institute for Religion and Democracy

http://www.theird.org/

Engaging the Mental Health Field: APAs, Counseling and Unwanted SSA

Introduction

While the mental health field spans a number of related and sometimes competing disciplines including psychiatry, psychology, counseling, social work, and others, the primary driving force in the profession in terms of developing a classification for what, exactly, is a mental disorder has long been the American Psychiatric Association (APA). And while the need for a system to classify mental disorders has been clear throughout the history of medicine, there has been little agreement on which disorders should be included, nor on the optimal method for the organizing the classification system, or nomenclature.

Indeed, there have been many nomenclatures over the centuries. In the USA, the first classification systems for mental illness date back to the 1840 census and were driven by the need to collect statistics. By the 1880 census, there were 7 categories of mental illness. Various professional groups worked together between 1917 and 1952, including the Veteran’s Administration and the U.S. Army, to develop a nationally acceptable psychiatric nomenclature that would be incorporated into the 1st edition of the American Medical Association’s Standard Classified Nomenclature of Disease. Concurrently, the World Health Organization began to develop its own International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

Since 1952, however, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the APA has been the “bible” for the mental health field when it comes to the classification and treatment of mental disorders. And the DSM has undergone successive revisions during the past 60 years, with the latest edition – the DSM-V – scheduled for official release in 2013.

While the three primary sources for APA’s diagnostic categories were historically anchored in clinical case knowledge of practicing mental health professionals and, increasingly, scientific research findings, each successive revision of the DSM has seen greater involvement by outside advocacy and consumer groups – to the point that in some circumstances, vociferous special interest group opinion has contradicted and overridden scientific research findings and clinical case knowledge.

Nowhere has the situation of special interest group political advocacy – at the expense of clinical case experience and scientific research – been more evident than with the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism (Gender Identity Disorder, or GID). Dating back to the late-1960s, homosexual activists within and without the APA began a series of coordinated protests and disruptions of various professional conferences and decision-making bodies to lobby for the removal of homosexuality as a mental disorder from the DSM. By 1973, sufficient political pressure had been mounted to where the APA voted to largely declassify homosexual behavior and orientation as a mental disorder – paving the way for the legitimization of homosexuality throughout the culture.

Some forty years later, a similar scenario is unfolding over the topic of transgenderism – with an unprecedented level of transgender rights advocacy group involvement arguing for the removal of GID as a mental disorder in the upcoming edition of the DSM-V.

For citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda, it is important to understand not only the far-reaching cultural consequences that result from the declassification of homosexuality, but also its impact on issues like personal autonomy, client self-determination, religious freedom, and academic freedom – including the unrestrained and unhindered ability to pursue the truth in science and research.

In short, when homosexuality was declassified as a mental health disorder in the 1970s, the decision resulted in the imposition of a politically correct professional orthodoxy within the mental health field that, in effect, halted nearly all serious and intellectually honest scientific inquiry and research into the origins and treatment of same-sex attraction – while simultaneously marginalizing both the therapists who practice sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) as well as the clients who seek assistance with unwanted same-sex attractions.

Worse, this orthodoxy has moved from the professional realm to the political realm – with not only the APA, but also the various other mental health trade guilds passing all manner of official position statements in favor of GLBT political goals, irrespective of whether the issues intersected with their professional sphere of expertise.

Cumulatively, the ultimate effect of these actions has been to create a political climate in which dissenting viewpoints are not allowed and GLBT activists and their allies can claim that all the major mental health associations agree that homosexuality is normal and efforts to help people who seek sexual orientation change are harmful and should be banned.

The problem with this is that it’s simply not true. To the limited degree that well designed and unbiased scientific inquiry has been allowed to take place in recent years, studies indicate – on balance – that highly motivated people can and do change their sexual orientation, and that efforts to undergo change are not generally harmful.

Fortunately, some cracks are starting to show in both the rank-and-file membership of the mental health groups as well as their leadership. Many brave mental health practitioners and researchers are starting to question the totalitarian nature of the GLBT activist elites and their allies who have taken control of the decision-making apparatuses of the groups. They see that credibility of the organizations has been called into question by the heavy-handedness of this prevailing politically correct orthodoxy which inhibits and restricts legitimate scientific inquiry into the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism.

It is here – at this very point where the mental health field is seriously questioning the degree to which it has lost its professional credibility due to the activist stances taken by the various groups on behalf of GLBT activism – that citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda can step up and make a difference.

Action Steps:

How can concerned citizens who truly care about the mental health and physical well-being of those who experience unwanted SSA or gender identity confusion stand up and winsomely speak the truth to those in the mental health field at the local, state and national levels?

Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Educate yourself and others.
2. Despite the fact that the major mental health associations and the politically correct elites who run them are reluctant to embrace the tenets of academic freedom, personal autonomy and client self-determination – lest they face the wrath of the GLBT activist community within and outside their ranks – there are more and more voices coming forward to call the field into account on these issues. As such, there are many resources available to you. You can take the initiative to organize groups of fellow like-minded concerned citizens to explore these resources in greater depth together – perhaps meeting on a weekly or monthly basis to discuss the materials and brainstorm ways to winsomely raise objections to the dominant orthodoxy which stifles dissenting viewpoints.
3. Some of the resources, books and websites you should study include:
4. DESTRUCTIVE TRENDS IN MENTAL HEALTH: THE WELL INTENTIONED PATH TO HARM
   
   Rogers H. Wright, Nicolas A. Cummings editors
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Destructive-Trends-Mental-Health-Intentioned/dp/04...
5. See also this book review of Destructive Trends in Mental Health, by A. Dean Byrd:
   
   http://narth.com/docs/destructive.html
6. HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE POLITICS OF TRUTH
   
   Jeffrey Satinover, M.D. (Baker Book House)
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Homosexuality-Politics-Truth-Jeffrey-Satinover/dp/...
7. HOMOSEXUALITY: THE USE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN THE CHURCH’S MORAL DEBATE
   
   Dr. Stanton L. Jones and Dr. Mark A. Yarhouse (InterVarsity Press)
   
   http://family.christianbook.com/homosexuality-scientific-research-church...
8. EX-GAYS? A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF RELIGIOUSLY MEDIATED CHANGE IN SEXUAL ORIENTATION
   
   Dr. Stanton L Jones and Dr. Mark A. Yarhouse
   
   http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=2846
   
   and
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Ex-Gays-Longitudinal-Religiously-Mediated-Orientat...
9. National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)
   
   www.narth.com
10. NARTH publications and articles of interest:
11. What Research Shows: NARTH's Response to the American Psychological Associations Claims on Homosexuality
    
    http://narth.com/docs/pressjournal.html
12. The Trojan Couch: How the Mental Health Guilds Allow Medical Diagnostics, Scientific Research and Jurisprudence to be Subverted in Lockstep with the Political Aims of Their Gay Sub-Components
    
    Dr. Jeffrey Satinover
    
    http://narth.com/docs/press13.html
    
    and
    
    "The Trojan Couch: How the Mental Health Guilds Allow Medical Diagnostics, Scientific Research and Jurisprudence to be Subverted in Lockstep with the Political Aims of Their Gay Sub-Components."
13. When Activism When Activism Masquerades as Science: Potential Consequences of Recent APA Resolutions
    
    Dean Byrd
    
    http://narth.com/docs/masquerades.html
14. When Dissent is Stifled: The Same-Sex Marriage and Right-to-Treatment Debates
    
    Lynn D. Wardle, J.D.
    
    http://narth.com/docs/wardle.html
15. CitizenLink
    
    www.citizenlink.org
16. CitizenLink articles of interest:
17. What Does the Research Show About Homosexuality?
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/what-does-the-research-show-about-hom...
18. Study: Sexual Orientation Can Be Changed
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/2009/07/citizenlink-new-study-sexual-orientat...
19. Can Gays Really Change: A Review of the Jones and Yarhouse Study on Ex-Gays
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/can-gays-really-change-a-review-of-th...
20. Researchers Says Sexual Orientation Can Change
    
    http://70.32.105.83/2007/09/citizenlink-researchers-say-sexual-orientati...
21. Counseling for Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions: Talking Points
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/counseling-for-unwanted-same-sex-attr...
22. Special Report: Mixed Findings on Homosexuality Still Produces Politically Leaning Outcome
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/08/special-report-mixed-findings-on-homo...
23. Psychologists Show Change in Orientation is Not Harmful
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/2009/08/citizenlink-psychologists-show-change...
24. New APA Report on Treatment of Homosexuality
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/what-does-the-research-show-about-hom...
25. Donate to Groups That Stand for Academic Freedom and Client Rights to Self-Determination.
26. Few concerned citizens realize just how powerful and influential the homosexual and transgender political lobbies are within the various mental health professional groups.
27. Given this, it is incumbent upon citizens concerned about the advancement of the homosexual and transgender agenda in the United States to step up to the plate and donate to the various groups that are presently engaging in the battle on these topics. A list of some of these groups is found here. NARTH and ADF in particular.
28. Reach Out to Former Homosexuals, Therapists and Groups That Help People with Unwanted Same-Sex Attractions and Gender Identity Confusion
29. In recent years the mental health field has reluctantly reaffirmed its professional ethical commitments to client self-determination and personal autonomy for those seeking assistance for unwanted same-sex attractions from therapists and other mental health practitioners. Indeed, several attempts at the state and national levels to ban Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) – and declare such attempts to be harmful – have failed after vigorous debate. However, it is likely that GLBT activists within the organizations will maintain their political pressure to ban therapeutic approaches that seek to assist individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions.
30. See, for example, California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) Rejects Ethics Proposal to Ban Reorientation Therapies.
    
    http://narth.com/2011/02/the-california-association-of-marriage-and-fami...
31. Despite this, as a citizen who is concerned about the advancement of homosexuality and transgenderism in the culture, one of the most important actions steps you can take is to get to know people who have walked away from a homosexual or transgender identity and chosen to steward their sexuality in alignment with their deeply held values and ethics.
32. By reaching out to this seemingly hidden community, you will quickly see that there are many people who experience unwanted same-sex attraction or gender confusion and desire assistance from religious groups and/or mental health professionals in order to live in accordance with their values and belief systems. And you will be an encouragement to a group of people and their counselors who are among the most reviled and politically incorrect in America today.
33. Check out the websites listed in Section 2 and connect with local groups that assist those with unwanted same-sex attractions. Sign-up to get their newsletters and find out if there are any upcoming conferences in your area and make plans to attend. Get to know the local leaders and find out if there is a way you can partner with them – financially or otherwise.
34. Find out if there are local mental health practitioners who help those with unwanted same-sex attractions in your area. Get to know them and ask if there are ways you can support and encourage them in their efforts within their respective state and national professional groups and licensure/certification boards to ensure that clients continue to have the right to self-determination and that they, as professionals, have the right to continue practicing sexual orientation change therapies.
35. Other Action Steps:
36. Encourage bright students who hold to a traditional and/or religiously held point of view on human sex and sexuality to enter into the mental health profession and not be deterred from the politically correct climate that currently prevails on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism.
37. Demand fair and balanced media coverage of Sexual Orientation Change Efforts.
38. See, for example, NARTH Urges Media To Accurately Report On Reparative Therapy,
    
    http://narth.com/docs/press14.html.

The Battle in Education: Schools and Universities

Introduction

History has long shown that capturing the hearts and minds of young people is foundational to the success of any revolution – cultural, political or otherwise. One clear example of this can be found with the sexual revolution, which began on university campuses in the 1960s and radiated outward through every arena of the culture.

Building upon the broader sexual revolution, GLBT activists and their allies have long known that the key to achieving their political goals lies with taking over the American educational system and indoctrinating the next generation into their revolutionary worldview on sexual orientation and gender identity. Thus, schools and universities have been targeted as primary battlegrounds from which to launch the assault on the long-held cultural consensus and traditional understanding of homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder – and change the hearts and minds of America’s youth on these topics.

In order to do this, the chief strategy has been to usurp parental authority and teaching on these challenging subjects while the children are in school – to the degree possible and at every grade level. Then, upon entering college, any remnant of traditionalist views held by students on the morality of homosexual and transgender behavior and identity are further undermined through an unrelenting and one-sided exposure to GLBT activist dogmas as enshrined in the identity group politics of the “multicultural” curricula.

The end result is that by the time most students graduate from college, they have been well schooled in the culture of “tolerance” and “diversity” and are fully ready, willing and able to serve as “allies” in the civil rights battle to further the GLBT political agenda.

This stunning and revolutionary shift toward widespread acceptance of homosexual and transgender behavior and identity among young people has occurred in the span of less than two decades. Tactics used by GLBT activists and their allies in the battle to change student opinion have spanned every facet of the educational system – from teachers and their unions, to library resources and curricular materials, to student groups and political activism alliances designed to give voice and visibility to GLBT individuals while simultaneously stifling all differing viewpoints in the school and university setting.

For example, state and national level teachers unions and professional education groups like the National Education Association (NEA) are largely controlled by pro-GLBT elites who show little interest in representing the full diversity of their members’ views on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism. Thus, even though large pluralities – or even outright majorities in many states – of teachers hold to conservative and traditional views on these challenging topics, state and national unions and education associations nevertheless continue to churn out position statements in favor of GLBT political goals, while simultaneously funneling membership dues to support ideologically driven GLBT political causes. All this, while differing viewpoints are suppressed and GLBT-identified teachers and administrators are regularly encouraged to “come out” publicly to their students and use their leadership positions in the academic setting to promote GLBT political causes.

At the curricular level, school and university libraries are fully stocked with books and other resources which promote views that seek to normalize homosexual and transgender behavior and identity – even down to the kindergarten level. Professional groups like the American Library Association routinely pass position statements in favor of GLBT political goals – while taking actions that impede the inclusion of books and resources that offer alternative and/or traditional viewpoints on the topics.

Meanwhile, under the guise of multiculturalism, tolerance and diversity, well-resourced teaching units that promote homosexual and transgender behavior and identity are developed for mandated inclusion in curricular materials in the context of nearly every subject matter topic imaginable – including sex education, history, math, science, reading, social studies, music, literature and art.

In contrast, books and resources that tell the stories of former homosexual and transgender individuals or that offer conservative viewpoints on homosexuality or Gender Identity Disorder are banned from school and university libraries and excluded from recommended reading lists by teachers and professors.

At the student level, well-staffed and multi-million dollar GLBT activist groups like the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) promote and otherwise sponsor a wide variety of groups, activities, campaigns and events that call for the normalization of homosexual and transgender behavior and identity in the school and university setting and seek to make “allies” out of straight students in their political causes. These activities and campaigns include the “Respect Awards,” national “No Name-Calling Week,” “Ally Week,” “Claim Your Rights” campaign, “Safe Space” kits, webinars, and advocacy for the passage of state and national “Safe School” laws, which attempt to deal with the issue of bullying in the school setting.

Beyond these projects, GLSEN promotes two very high profile activities. One is an annual event called the “Day of Silence,” which encourages both teachers and students to disrupt the school learning environment by refusing to speak in class for a whole day in order to show solidarity with GLBT students who are said to be “silenced.” The other is the sponsorship of some 4,000 Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) in high school, middle school and even elementary schools across the nation.

In the legislative arena, GLBT activists and their allies have made great strides in recent years at the local, state and national levels advocating for the passage of enumerated “anti-bullying” legislation in the schools, which enshrines “sexual orientation” and in some cases “gender identity” as protected classes and jeopardizes religious freedom and freedom of speech and conscience in certain contexts.

Finally, in the executive branch at the federal level, the Obama Administration appointed the controversial GLBT activist and founder of GLSEN, Kevin Jennings, to a high-ranking position within the United States Department of Education – over the well-founded objections by conservative groups, and others. To learn more about Jennings and his revolutionary views, check out Radical Rulers: The White House Elites Who Are Pushing America Towards Socialism by Robert W. Knight.

In short, what we now face in many parts of America is something akin to a monolithic GLBT indoctrination complex in American education – one in which viewpoint discrimination flourishes against those who hold to traditional values on the topics of homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder. Yet, for as swift and stunning as the successes of this GLBT juggernaut have been in recent years, citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda can nevertheless take many steps at the local, state and national levels to turn back the tide and restore sanity and age-appropriate balance – within the rightful context of local parental authority – to the way that these challenging topics are treated in the school and university settings.

Here are some ideas to help you and your fellow concerned citizens get started:

Action Steps:

1. Educate yourself and others.
2. One of the most important steps you can take is to educate yourself about the advance of the GLBT political agenda in American schools and universities. There are numerous books, resources and groups with which you should familiarize yourself, including keeping up with what GLBT advocacy groups are doing, and tracking local, state and national legislation that seeks to normalize homosexual and transgender behavior and identity in the schools and universities.
3. As you connect with these groups, sign up for their e-newsletters, learn to navigate their websites, read everything you can, and form groups with like-minded citizens to brainstorm ways to turn what you’ve learned into concrete action at the local, state and national levels.
4. As suggested in other sections of this website, it is important that you learn to gracefully and winsomely speak the truth about the individual and broader cultural impact of the normalization of homosexual and transgender behavior and identity. Given the importance that the GLBT activist community has placed on changing the hearts and minds of the next generation about these issues, it is critical for concerned citizens to learn to lovingly discuss the devastating consequences to our youth should the GLBT political agenda be fully implemented.
5. Here are some books, resources, and websites to become familiar with:
6. The Diversity Myth: Multiculturalism and Political Intolerance on Campus
   
   David O. Sacks and Peter A. Thiel
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Diversity-Myth-David-Sacks/dp/0945999763
7. True Tolerance
   
   www.truetolerance.org
8. Day of Dialogue (held annually in April, formerly known as the Day of Truth)
   
   www.dayofdialogue.com
   
   and
   
   Friday Five video on the Day of Dialogue
   
   http://www.citizenlink.com/2011/03/friday-five-candi-cushman-on-the-day-...
9. CitizenLink
   
   www.citizenlink.com
   
   and
   
   http://www.citizenlink.com/analysis/education/
10. Family Research Council
    
    www.frc.org
11. Pro-Homosexual Activism in the Schools
    
    Peter Sprigg
    
    http://www.frc.org/onepagers/pro-homosexual-activism-in-the-schools
12. Alliance Defense Fund (ADF)
    
    www.alliancedefensefund.org
13. Student Rights – Fast Facts
    
    http://dayofdialogue.com/2011/01/fast-facts-about-students-rights/
14. ADF pieces on student rights
    
    http://dayofdialogue.com/know-your-rights/
15. ADF Resources
    
    http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/MakeADifference/Detail/4236#issues
16. ADF University Resources
    
    http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/MakeADifference/Detail/4236#projects
17. Liberty Counsel
    
    The Truth about Sexual Orientation and Youth
    
    www.lc.org
18. Citizens for Community Values
    
    The Legal Liability Associated with Homosexuality Education in Public Schools
    
    http://www.ccv.org/issues/homosexuality/public-education/
19. National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)
    
    NARTH Response to “Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth”
    
    http://www.narth.com/docs/narthresponse.html
20. American College of Pediatricians
    
    www.acpeds.org
21. Attention: School Superintendents
    
    http://factsaboutyouth.com/posts/attention-school-superintendents/
22. Letter to School Officials
    
    http://factsaboutyouth.com/posts/letter-to-school-officials/
23. What You Should Know
    
    http://factsaboutyouth.com/posts/what-you-should-know-about-sexual-orien...
24. On the Promotion of Homosexuality in the Schools
    
    http://factsaboutyouth.com/posts/on-the-promotion-of-homosexuality-in-th...
25. Rebuttals to Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth
    
    http://factsaboutyouth.com/posts/rebuttals-to-just-the-facts-about-sexua...
26. Bullying
    
    http://factsaboutyouth.com/posts/bullying/
27. Mission America
    
    www.missionamerica.com
    
    and
    
    www.truthatschools.org
28. Illinois Family Institute
    
    Division of School Advocacy
    
    www.illinoisfamily.org
29. Day of Silence Walkout
    
    http://illinoisfamily.org/news/contentview.asp?c=35175
30. Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX)
    
    www.pfox.org
31. PFOX Resources for the schools
    
    http://pfox.org/schools.html
32. National Education Association (NEA)
    
    NEA Conservative Educators Caucus
    
    www.nea.org
33. Ex-Gay Caucus at the NEA
    
    www.nea-exgay.org
34. State-level Family Policy Councils (FPCs)
    
    Contact CitizenLink for your state FPC
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/state-groups/
35. Engage Your Community and School:
36. Here, you and your fellow concerned citizens are encouraged to study the resources and websites listed above in order to develop talking points with which you can begin to engage others on these important issues. These talking points can be organized to form the foundation for letters-to-the-editor for local, state and national newspapers and other media websites, columns, op-ed pieces, and blogs – particularly when only one side of the story is being told or the viewpoints of those who hold to traditional values on homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder are denigrated, dismissed or discriminated against in the school or university setting.
37. Other Action Steps:

• Get to know your local school administrators and teachers. Find out what’s happening in your local schools and attend your local school board meetings and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meetings. Step up to the plate and become a leader in your local parent-teacher groups.
• Concerned citizens should annually request a detailed description of the content of and materials used during professional development days/events (e.g. Institute days, late-arrival days, summer workshops, conferences). Administrations are providing professional development "opportunities" that promote "diversity," anti-bullying training, "teaching for social justice." Teachers are attending workshops and conferences that teach teachers how to affirm homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder through curricula. And teachers are speaking at these conferences. All of this mischief is concealed from and funded by taxpayers. Occasionally, schools will share rhetorically skillful, ambiguous blurbs in the local press about a teacher attending or speaking at a conference, but there's never enough information to make an informed judgment about the appropriateness of the workshop, conference, Institute Day activities etc.
• If administrations are uncooperative, community members should use Freedom of Information Act requests to access that information.
• Parents should ask that their school boards write policy that requires teachers who present resources that espouse views--either implicitly or explicitly--on controversial topics to present resources that espouse dissenting views and to spend equivalent amounts of time studying such resources. So, if a teacher has students spend two weeks studying The Laramie Project, he or she would have to have students spend two weeks studying essays by Robert George and Anthony Esolen.
• Parents of elementary and middle school students should contact their children's teachers in August, telling them that under no circumstances are their children to be exposed to any resources or activities (picture books, anti-bullying resources, films etc) that mention homosexuality or Gender Identity Disorder. They should ask the teacher/s to respond in writing that they will honor that request. If they won't, then ask for a teacher change.
• Parents of high school students should contact their students teachers and tell them that under no circumstances are their children to be exposed to any resources that mention homosexuality or Gender Identity Disorder unless the teacher spends equal time having students study the work of scholars who hold opposing viewpoints.
• Parents should notify schools that they will homeschool their children on the topics of bullying and sex-ed.
• Community members should search their school libraries from the comfort of their homes, using the search terms "sexual orientation," "homosexuality," "gay," "lesbian," and "transgender." They will discover that all of the resources written from a single perspective, will be liberal. They should then ask the school to correct the imbalance. When the librarian cites Collection Development Policies--which are essentially de facto censorship policies--community members should point them to the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom or this article: http://www.illinoisfamily.org/informed/contentview.asp?c=35054
• Run for the local school board. Better yet, coordinate a slate of like-minded concerned citizen candidates to run as a team and win election to your local school board. Get involved with your state-level board of education – particularly on issues involving teaching guidelines and mandated curricula on topics involving human sex and sexuality.
• Discuss with your local and state school administrators your concerns about viewpoint discrimination in the schools and request that both sides of the debate on homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder be allowed into the school and university settings.
• Forge positive and enduring relationships with school- and university-affiliated student religious groups that hold to a traditional biblical view on homosexual and transgender identity and behavior. Encourage them to invite former homosexual and transgendered individuals and other speakers to share their stories on campus and present alternative viewpoints to the dominant GLBT political views.
• In the university setting, work with legal defense groups like ADF to lay the groundwork for former homosexual and transgender individuals to start their own officially recognized student groups on campus.
• Teachers: if you are a member of the NEA and/or a state-level affiliate, join the Conservative Educator Caucus and the Ex-Gay Caucus of these organizations. If these caucuses don’t exist in your state-level organization, find out what steps are involved to form a new caucus and schedule caucus meetings at the organization’s annual conferences and conventions. Beyond this, take proactive steps to get more involved at the committee levels of these groups and run for positions of leadership. Committees that work on the curriculum development and educational programs at the annual conventions are particularly influential groups within the hierarchy of these professional associations. Get involved and take back the decision-making machinery of the groups to which you belong.
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• Donate books, resources and other materials that offer an opposing viewpoint or tell the stories of former homosexual and transgender people to your local school and university libraries. Develop talking points and a media strategy to highlight viewpoint discrimination if the books and resources you donate are rejected. Check out these CitizenLink articles for more information:
• Six Tips For Donating Books To Your Public Libraries
  
  http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/09/six-tips-for-donating-books-to-your-p...
• Banned Books
  
  http://www.citizenlink.com/banned-books/
• Standing for True Diversity in Public Libraries
  
  http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/responding-to-banned-books-week/
• Students Challenge Library Policies, Ask For Equal Viewpoint Representation
  
  http://www.citizenlink.com/2008/10/citizenlink-students-challenge-librar...

The Battle for First Freedoms: Religion and Speech

Introduction

While the implementation of every legislative and policy goal of GLBT activists at the local, state and national levels has yet to be fully realized, preliminary indications are that the impact of this radical agenda will touch virtually every aspect of daily life.

Indeed, when such foundational concepts as gender, sexuality, marriage and family are deconstructed and untethered from their historic and traditional meanings, the inevitable changes that result are truly revolutionary. From the workplace to the schools; from pronouns used to describe transgender people and the words used to talk about spouses and family structures; from mandates concerning the use of public restrooms, lockers and changing areas; to what our children see on television and at the movies; no stone will be left unturned when the GLBT political agenda is fully enshrined in every facet of the culture.

Yet perhaps the greatest – and least discussed – impact in America will be upon our deeply cherished “first freedoms” of speech and religious liberty as put forth in the Bill of Rights in the United States Constitution. With each passing year, we see that when the GLBT political juggernaut comes head to head with the First Amendment, more often than not gay and transgender rights wins while freedom of religion and speech loses.

Thus, the way the battle is currently formulated it’s a “zero-sum” game – with one winner and one loser. And although GLBT activists are reluctant to admit it publicly, this is exactly the way they want it to be. In short, GLBT activists and their allies see conservative and traditional religious views about homosexual and transgender behavior to be the problem. As such, religious views and free speech on the subjects must be marginalized, or eliminated, at every turn – through the law, by court decisions, by executive order.

Given this mentality, it’s no surprise that the evidence in current law and court cases increasingly points to the erosion of American religious liberty and freedom of speech at the hands of the GLBT political agenda. One particularly concerning bellweather comes from countries where “hate crimes” laws have been expanded to encompass what is known as “hate speech.” Similar trends are taking place here in the United States with existing hate crimes laws that seek to enhance punishment for crimes based on the thoughts that a criminal may have toward a victim who may belong to a protected class, including sexual orientation and gender identity.

Indeed, GLBT activists and their allies have made it perfectly clear that they will tolerate no dissenting viewpoints and that homosexuality and transgenderism are to not only be tolerated, but protected, embraced, sanctioned and celebrated throughout not only every arena of the culture, but more importantly, in policy and laws at the local, state and national levels.

The bottom line is that the state is increasingly taking sides in this hotly contested cultural debate and affirming one viewpoint over the other. And in taking sides, the state must inevitably use its full weight to punish those with differing viewpoints to one degree or another. And with no “safe harbor” available to those who hold views that run counter to the prevailing GLBT-affirming orthodoxy, our American first freedoms of religion and speech – upon which this great nation was founded – are under grave threat.

Yet it is upon the notion of forming a “safe harbor” – offering safety and shelter for those who hold dissenting viewpoints on the issues of homosexual and transgender behavior and identity – that perhaps a functional common ground can be achieved in our increasingly pluralistic American society. Here, conversations with rank-and-file gay- and transgender-identified people reveal that the GLBT community is not in monolithic agreement with the political goals of its activist leadership and that many don’t fully realize the patently un-American and totalitarian nature of the logical ends to the GLBT political agenda.

Under most circumstances in America, public policy and laws only go to the point that public opinion will allow on any given issue. Thus, for citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda, it is time to winsomely engage the hearts and minds of our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and even GLBT-identified individuals about the threat that these policies pose to our deeply cherished rights to religious liberty and freedom of speech.

Here, we must expose the nature of the current “zero-sum” equation – with one winner and one loser – and argue for the formation of a true “safe harbor” where all viewpoints are equally assured of protection in the marketplace of ideas in our increasingly pluralistic and secular culture.

Action Steps:

Here are some ideas to help you and your fellow concerned citizens get started:

1. Educate Yourself on the Issues
2. One of the most important steps you can take is to educate yourself about the threat to religious liberty and freedom of speech posed by the GLBT political agenda in America. Fortunately, in recent years, a number of outstanding legal groups that hold to a conservative and traditional viewpoint on the issues of homosexual and transgender behavior and identity have stepped into the legal arena to defend the first freedoms guaranteed to all Americans in the United States Constitution.
3. Whether the cases involve free speech and religious liberty issues in the school and university setting; hate crimes laws; non-discrimination laws in the employment and public accommodations arenas; homosexual parenting, custody and adoption; the recognition of same-sex relationships through domestic partnerships, civil unions or same-sex marriage; homosexuality and transgenderism in the military; or any number of other issues; you and your fellow like-minded concerned citizens should connect with these legal groups and track the legal cases they are working on.
4. As you connect with these groups, sign up for their e-newsletters, learn to navigate their websites, read everything you can on the present threat to religious liberty and freedom of speech, and form groups with like-minded citizens to brainstorm ways to turn what you’ve learned into concrete action at the local, state and national levels.
5. Alliance Defense Fund
   
   http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/ReligiousFreedom
6. CitizenLink
   
   http://www.citizenlink.com/analysis/religious-liberties/
7. Family Research Council (FRC)
   
   http://www.frc.org/religion-culture
8. State-level Family Policy Councils (FPCs)
   
   Contact CitizenLink for your state FPC
   
   http://www.citizenlink.com/state-groups/
9. National Organization for Marriage (NOM)
   
   www.nationformarriage.org
10. American Civil Rights Union (ACRU)
    
    www.theacru.org
11. Concerned Women for America (CWA)
    
    http://www.cwfa.org/category.asp?name=freedom
12. American Family Association (AFA)
    
    www.afa.net
13. Liberty Counsel
    
    www.lc.org
14. Heritage Foundation
    
    www.heritage.org
15. Equip Yourself to Winsomely Engage Others
16. Here, you and your fellow concerned citizens are encouraged to study the websites listed above in order to develop talking points with which you can begin to engage others on the threat to religious liberty and freedom of speech posed by the advance of the GLBT political agenda. These talking points can be organized to form the foundation for letters-to-the-editor for local, state and national newspapers and other media websites, columns, op-ed pieces, blogs and call-ins to radio talk shows/programs.
17. Other Action Steps:
18. Elections matter. To the degree that those who hold to a traditional viewpoint on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism can be elected to local, state and national offices in the legislative and executive branches of government, much of the GLBT political agenda can be stopped. And given that the judicial branch is also based on election results, citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda should fully participate in the electoral process by educating themselves about the candidates through voter guides and other venues and voting in such a way as to ensure that activist GLBT-normalizing judges, legislators and executives are not elected to decision-making positions of influence and power. Here, connecting with your state Family Policy Council (see above) can be particularly helpful.
19. Donate to legal groups and state and national organizations fighting to protect your first freedom rights. The legal costs to defend Americans whose religious liberty and freedom of speech have been undermined by the impact of the GLBT political and judicial agenda is high. If those who hold to a traditional viewpoint on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism aren’t able to mount the best defense possible, then the battle will surely be lost.
20. Encourage bright young conservatives and those who hold to traditional and/or religiously held viewpoints on these issues to enter law school and make an impact by working with one of the legal defense groups. For example, the Alliance Defense Fund trains hundreds of allied attorneys annually to engage the battle at a local level, and they also sponsor the Blackstone Legal Fellowship – bringing together some of the brightest young legal talent every summer to gain invaluable vision, wisdom, experience and training for the defense of our first freedoms upon completion of law school.
21. Help to educate your pastor, rabbi or other clergy members about their ability to speak about these important electoral issues in a religious setting. While there is a great deal of fear and misinformation surrounding this area in the law on the part of clergy, there are many excellent resources available from the groups listed above that clearly spell out the legal parameters.

Confronting the GLBT Political Agenda in the Legislative and Judicial Arenas

Introduction

The battle to fully implement the GLBT political agenda at the local, state and federal levels is being fiercely contested in legislatures and courtrooms around the country. Wealthy, well-staffed, well-organized and powerful GLBT lobbying groups are engaged like never before in the business of influencing lawmakers to sponsor and proactively promote their special interest legislation – while simultaneously mounting legal challenges through the court system to overturn existing laws, policies or state constitutional amendments which stand in the way of achieving their goal to normalize homosexual and transgender behavior and identity in every arena of American life.

And if their political goals can’t be accomplished legislatively or through judicial fiat, the GLBT activist leadership routinely does an end-run around the legislative process and prevails upon members of the executive branch of government to institute their agenda through executive orders when and where possible.

Key to the success of the GLBT strategy over the last several decades has been an incremental approach to achieving their goals. For example, what started out as agitation for domestic partner registries at the municipal level evolved into the recognition of domestic partnerships at the state levels, which then led to the adoption of reciprocal beneficiary laws in some jurisdictions or civil unions in others – with the latter being currently leveraged into same-sex “marriage” in a some states.

With respect to the particular issue of same-sex “marriage,” another key tactic in the battle is to not allow the people to directly vote on the issue if at all possible. This is due to the fact that a majority of Americans – even in left-leaning states – continue to hold reservations about the push to redefine the institution of marriage away from its traditional and historic definition as one man and one woman. Indeed, in every state where the issue has been put to a vote in the form of a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, the GLBT call to “equality” has failed.

Despite these occasional setbacks – much like the “drip, drip, drip” of Chinese water torture – the pressure to pass GLBT-normalizing bills into law continues unabated, with no let up of pressure on legislators. The onslaught is constant. The goal is to normalize homosexuality and transgenderism in every arena of the law – and thus force the culture to not simply tolerate these conditions, but rather, to embrace and celebrate them at every turn.

And while the GLBT activist mantra may be “equality, tolerance, fairness, etc,” in reality the goal is to carve out protected class status (meaning to make it illegal to “discriminate” or “harass” someone based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity and/or expression”), so that these categories are unassailable – with differing viewpoints stifled and/or punished, depending on the context.

Thus, while the GLBT activist community is presently pushing forward on any number of legislative goals at the local, state and federal levels (including tax regulation reform, expansion of COBRA benefits, funding for HIV/AIDS programs and “safer sex” initiatives, anti-bullying and “safe schools,” family and medical leave, student non-discrimination, GLBT immigration, and more; see http://www.hrc.org/laws_and_elections/4732.htm), the three most important current legislative battles are the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the passage of same-sex “marriage” at both the state and national levels, the passage of the strategically named federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), and the implementation of the repeal of the military policy known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). Listed below are a number of resources and websites that offer more details about each of these critical issues.

And while these three major fronts are where the legislative and judicial battle is presently being fought, the same-sex “marriage” issue is the one upon which everything else hinges. If DOMA is either repealed or overturned in the courts, the 31 state constitutional amendments protecting the traditional definition of marriage will be rendered meaningless and, in effect, same-sex “marriage” will have been foisted upon the whole nation in one fell swoop. And if DOMA is repealed or overturned, then all the other ancillary legislative goals involving tax codes, inheritance rights, homosexual adoption and parenting, beneficiaries, hospital visitation and immigration issues will fall into line and quickly become moot.

Certainly even just a few short years ago, the prospect of same-sex “marriage” being in place in the United States was thought to be highly unlikely, if not impossible. Even homosexual activists did not have the issue on their radar screen – so remote was the possibility of passage. However, as other countries gradually passed same-sex “marriage” laws, and state supreme courts in the United States forced states to adopt it by judicial fiat, the push to leverage a redefinition of the institution of marriage has gained momentum in the span of less than 10 years.

However, the battle is not yet lost. The fact of the matter is that when the American people do get the opportunity to vote on the issue, the traditional definition of marriage has consistently been reaffirmed. And although the repeal of DADT is currently under implementation, it is still possible to stop the federal ENDA from becoming law. It is on these points – and others – that citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda can step forward and take both individual and collective action.

Action Steps:

Here are some ideas to help you and your fellow concerned citizens get started:

1. Educate Yourself on the Issues
2. One of the most important steps you can take is to educate yourself about the current legislative goals championed by GLBT activist groups and their allies – as well as the related legal cases working their way through the courts. Fortunately, there are a number of organizations based in Washington, DC, and around the country which are actively involved in tracking these issues at the local, state and federal levels from a traditional pro-family perspective and educating lawmakers and the public about the detrimental impact that the various GLBT-normalizing legislative and policy proposals will have on this generation and generations to come. Once traditional sexual morality has been redefined, the stability that the family structure brings to society and children eventually disintegrates.
3. There are also many well-reasoned books dealing with the issue of same-sex “marriage” – offering viewpoints and arguments in favor of the traditional understanding of the institution of marriage that are rarely afforded fair and balanced treatment in the media.
4. You and your fellow like-minded concerned citizens should connect with these groups and begin to educate yourselves about the key issues currently under consideration in your state and federal legislative bodies as well as throughout the court system.
5. As you connect with these groups, sign up for their e-newsletters, learn to navigate their websites, read everything you can on the goals of the GLBT activist groups to redefine sexuality, marriage and family as they seek to simultaneously create protected class status for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity and/or expression” and suppress alternative viewpoints on these important topics. Form groups and alliances with fellow like-minded citizens to brainstorm ways to turn what you’ve learned into concrete action at the local, state and national levels.
6. Books and resources:
7. CORRECT, NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT: HOW SAME-SEX MARRIAGE HURTS EVERYONE
   
   Frank Turek
   
   http://family.christianbook.com/correct-not-politically-marriage-hurts-e...
8. MARRIAGE: THE ROCK ON WHICH THE FAMILY IS BUILT, 2nd Edition
   
   William May
   
   http://family.christianbook.com/marriage-which-family-built-2nd-edition/...
9. MARRIAGE ON TRIAL: THE CASE AGAINST SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND PARENTING
   
   Glenn T. Stanton and Dr. Bill Maier
   
   http://family.christianbook.com/marriage-trial-case-against-same-parenti...
10. MARRIAGE UNDER FIRE
    
    Dr. James Dobson
    
    http://family.christianbook.com/marriage-under-fire-pack/james-dobson/pd...
11. SAME SEX MARRIAGE: IS IT REALLY THE SAME?
    
    Mark Christopher
    
    http://family.christianbook.com/same-sex-marriage-it-really-the/mark-chr...
12. SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: PUTTING EVERY HOUSEHOLD AT RISK
    
    Mathew D. Staver
    
    http://family.christianbook.com/same-marriage-putting-every-household-ri...
13. THEOLOGY OF THE BODY FOR BEGINNERS
    
    Christopher West
    
    http://www.amazon.com/Theology-Body-Beginners-Christopher-West/dp/193264...
14. THE TRUTH ABOUT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: 6 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WHAT'S REALLY AT STAKE
    
    Erwin W. Lutzer
    
    http://family.christianbook.com/about-marriage-things-whats-really-stake...
15. WHAT'S WRONG WITH SAME-SEX MARRIAGE?
    
    D. James Kennedy and Jerry Newcombe
    
    http://family.christianbook.com/whats-wrong-with-same-sex-marriage/d-ken...
    
    OUTRAGE: HOW GAY ACTIVISTS AND LIBERAL JUDGES ARE TRASHING DEMOCRACY TO REDEFINE MARRIAGE
    
    Peter Sprigg
    
    http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=BK04H01
16. THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE
    
    David Blankenhron
    
    http://www.amazon.com/Future-Marriage-David-Blankenhorn/dp/1594030812
17. THE MEANING OF MARRIAGE: FAMILY, STATE, MARKET, AND MORALS
    
    Edited by Robert P. George and Jean Bethke Elshtain
    
    http://www.amazon.com/Meaning-Marriage-Family-Market-Morals/dp/1890626643
18. Organizations and websites:
19. Alliance Defense Fund
    
    http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/ReligiousFreedom
20. CitizenLink
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/analysis/religious-liberties/
21. Family Research Council (FRC)
    
    http://www.frc.org/religion-culture
22. State-level Family Policy Councils (FPCs)
    
    Contact CitizenLink for your state FPC
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/state-groups/
23. National Organization for Marriage (NOM)
    
    www.nationformarriage.org
24. Center for Military Readiness
    
    http://cmrlink.org/
25. American Civil Rights Union (ACRU)
    
    www.theacru.org
26. Concerned Women for America (CWA)
    
    http://www.cwfa.org/category.asp?name=freedom
27. American Family Association (AFA)
    
    www.afa.net
28. Liberty Counsel
    
    www.lc.org
29. Heritage Foundation
    
    www.heritage.org
30. Pacific Justice Institute
    
    http://pacificjustice.org/
31. American Center for Law and Justice
    
    www.aclj.org
32. Thomas More Law Center
    
    www.thomasmore.org
33. Equip Yourself to Winsomely Engage Others
34. Here, you and your fellow concerned citizens are encouraged to study the websites listed above in order to develop talking points with which you can begin to engage others on the threat to American culture and freedom posed by the advance of the GLBT political and judicial activist agenda. These talking points can be organized to form the foundation for letters-to-the-editor for local, state and national newspapers and other media websites, columns, op-ed pieces, blogs and call-ins to radio talk shows/programs.
35. On the issue of same-sex “marriage” and the repeal of DOMA:
36. Fact Sheet on the Defense of Marriage Act
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/2011/02/fact-sheet-on-the-defense-of-marriage...
37. On the issue of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA):
38. ENDA
    
    http://www.citizenlink.com/enda/
39. On the issue of open homosexuality in the military and the repeal of the DADT policy:
40. Center for Military Readiness
    
    http://cmrlink.org/
41. Monitor the Websites of the Leading GLBT Political Organizations
42. While there are hundreds of GLBT activist groups at the local, state and national levels involved in public policy advocacy, there are several leading national groups in particular which should be monitored by those citizens who are concerned about the advance of the homosexualist and transgender agenda in America. Beyond these groups, find out which groups are operating in your state and track their legislative priorities.
43. Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
    
    www.hrc.org
44. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)
    
    www.thetaskforce.org
45. Freedom to Marry
    
    www.freedomtomarry.org
46. Other Action Steps:
47. Elections matter. To the degree that those who hold to a traditional viewpoint on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism can be elected to local, state and national offices in the legislative and executive branches of government, much of the GLBT political agenda can be stopped. And given that the judicial branch is also based on election results, citizens who are concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda should fully participate in the electoral process by educating themselves about the candidates through voter guides and other venues and voting in such a way as to ensure that activist GLBT-normalizing judges, legislators and executives are not elected to decision-making positions of influence and power. Here, connecting with your state Family Policy Council (see above) can be particularly helpful.
48. Donate to legal groups and state and national organizations fighting to defend a traditional and historic understanding of the issues of sexuality, gender identity, marriage and family. The battlefield is presently very much a “David and Goliath” scenario – with an overwhelmingly powerful, wealthy and influential GLBT lobby, supported by the full weight of the media and academic and cultural elites versus a handful of politically incorrect and widely mocked groups that hold to traditional and historic sexual values. The disparity of resources available to advocate for and/or defend the traditional viewpoint is great, and to the degree that you and your fellow concerned citizens are able to contribute to the good work being done to make our case in the public square, it is both much-needed and greatly appreciated.
49. Help to educate your pastor, rabbi or other clergy members about their ability to speak about these important legislative and judicial issues in a religious setting. While there is a great deal of fear and misinformation surrounding this area in the law on the part of clergy, there are many excellent resources available from the groups listed above that clearly spell out the legal parameters.

Local Activism

Under Construction!

Engaging Corporate America

Introduction

As Big Business Goes, So Goes America

It is no secret that one of the key strategies employed by homosexual and transgender activists and their allies to bring about widespread cultural change and societal acceptance of their policy goals centers on Corporate America.

Specifically, GLBT activists and their allies have understood well that corporate executives often wield far greater power than state and local officials to create the social changes they seek. And recognizing that corporate leaders can enact new policies with the approval of only a few board members – rather than millions of voters – GLBT activists have devoted significant resources to enlist companies in their battle plan to redefine traditional marriage and family values and silence all opposing viewpoints to their agenda.

As a result, the past two decades have seen a dizzying acceleration in the number of major corporate players stepping up to the plate to embrace GLBT-normalizing demands. In short, GLBT activists have strategically targeted Fortune 500 companies and applied unrelenting pressure to force them to radically redefine gender and the family because they know that there’s truth in the adage “as big business goes, so goes America.”

So while on a strategic level GLBT activists determined that Corporate America would be the engine by which their social goals could most directly be achieved, from a tactical perspective, they have taken an incremental approach under the mantra of “diversity” to win over corporate executives and convert them into pro-GLBT advocates through the following steps:

• Establish a GLBT employee resource group within the corporate structure.
• Demand that the company include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity and/or expression” as categories in the corporate Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policy.
• Use the inclusion of these protected class statuses in the corporate policy as leverage to obtain employee benefits for domestic partners or same-sex “spouses” (depending on whether or not the state recognizes same-sex relationships in one form or another).
• Demand corporate support for GLBT organizations, community events and political causes.
• Silence or punish opposition to homosexual or transgender behavior and identity or GLBT social goals within the company.

Clearly, the employer’s adoption of a domestic partner benefit policy is the key goal. Once this is in place, those employees who disagree with the prevailing politically correct view concerning homosexual and transgender behavior and identity no longer have the right to express themselves within the context of corporate “diversity” – even if their opposition is based upon a deeply held religious conviction, which, ironically, is often also normally covered under the corporate EEO policy.

Here, some corporations have enacted “zero-tolerance” and “safe-space” policies that actively function as “hate speech police” within the corporate environment – discriminating against employees who hold viewpoints that differ from the politically correct orthodoxy. As such, even top-producing employees have been fired for expressing viewpoints deemed “homophobic” or “transphobic” or “negative” regarding homosexuality and transgenderism. Ironically, rather than making the workplace safe for all employees, such GLBT-oriented policies actually create a hostile work environment for those who hold to traditional values and cause division and uncertainly – resulting in the loss of “top talent” from companies.

In an effort to educate you about this cultural sea-change, here are some resources, websites, talking points and action steps to help you become better equipped to engage Corporate America as a consumer and citizen concerned about the advance of the GLBT political agenda:

Alliance Defense Fund

http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/

and

http://www.corporateresourcecouncil.org/

Focus on the Family

www.focusonthefamily.com

CitizenLink and state affiliates

http://www.citizenlink.com/

Family Research Council and state affiliates

www.frc.org

American Family Association and state affiliates

www.afa.net

Concerned Women for America

www.cwfa.org

Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX)

www.pfox.org

Talking Points

Let the corporate titans hear your views:

“You need to know that while you may be proud that the Human Rights Campaign and other GLBT activist groups honor your company, at the same time you’re offending us – and we are a significantly larger market share of your business than even the GLBT community.”

"It's disconcerting to see major corporate players like your company lose business from family-minded consumers by elevating organizations which seek to normalize homosexuality and trangenderism while simultaneously dismantling the institution of marriage."

Action Steps:

1. Everyone has favorite stores they frequent.
3. Make a list of the companies you patronize and visit their corporate websites. Virtually every company today has a website detailing their corporate policies on employment, diversity training, worker benefits, charitable contributions and community outreach.
4. After gathering and analyzing the information about each company’s support for the GLBT political agenda, make a decision with your family and fellow concerned activists about whether you can continue to support the company in light of their corporate support for GLBT political issues that undermine traditional values.
5. Keep in mind that sometimes it’s best to give feedback to a corporation you do business with rather than simply to stop patronizing them without telling them why.
6. Write letters to top management including the CEO, President, Founder, and Chairman of the Board expressing your concerns about their support and promotion of the GLBT political agenda.
7. Some points to include in your letters:

• Request that their corporate policy takes a neutral position in the culture war. However, if they insist on donating to GLBT activist groups that undermine the values and worldviews of the majority of their customer base, demand that they donate equally to groups that hold to traditional viewpoints on the issues of homosexuality and transgenderism.
• Point out that by embracing the radical agenda to deconstruct gender and redefine marriage and the family, their corporate policy is like the tail wagging the dog. Specifically, reiterate that the market share they stand to lose by alienating those who hold to traditional values on GLBT issues is many times larger than the GLBT community – despite how powerful, vocal and influential it is.

Impacting the Health/Medical Arena

Introduction

If we care about and love GLBT-identified people, we must tell them the truth about the health and medical consequences strongly associated with homosexual, bisexual and transgender behavior and identity. Tragically, data from nearly every measure of health and well-being indicate that the numerically small GLBT community is negatively impacted to a highly disproportionate degree when compared to other groups.

For citizens who are concerned about the mental and physical health and welfare of individuals who participate in homosexual, bisexual or transgender behavior, there are a number of resources and websites available with which to familiarize yourself in order to became as educated as possible about the health and medical issues impacting this community. And to the degree that you are educated, you can become better equipped to work with other concerned citizens to begin to make an impact that will save individual lives, protect families and strengthen the moral fiber of your community.

Here are some organizations, resources and websites to get you started:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

www.cdc.gov

and

http://www.cdc.gov/std/default.htm

CitizenLink

www.citizenlink.com

and

The Risk-Taking Behavior of the Gay Party Male

http://www.citizenlink.com/2011/03/%e2%80%9cthe-risk-taking-behavior-of-...

and

CDC Finds 1 in 5 Urban Gay Men Infected with HIV: Ministries Respond

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/09/cdc-finds-1-in-5-urban-gay-men-infect...

and

STD Quick Facts

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/std-quick-facts/

and

HIV-AIDS Quick Facts

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/hiv-aids-quick-facts/

and

Condom Quick Facts

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/condom-quick-facts/

Oral Sex Quick Facts

http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/06/oral-sex-quick-facts/

Family Research Council (FRC)

www.frc.org

and

The Negative Health Effects of Homosexuality

http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS01B1

Getting It Straight: What the Research Shows about Homosexuality

Peter Sprigg and Timothy Dailey (an FRC publication)

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Straight-Research-Shows-Homosexuality/dp/1...

He Intends Victory

www.heintendsvictory.org

HIV Care Link

www.hivcarelink.org

The Medical Institute

www.medinstitute.org

National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)

www.narth.com

and

Medical Issues

http://narth.com/main-issues/medical-issues/

and

Homosexuality and Mental Health Problems

http://www.narth.com/docs/whitehead.html

ACPEDS Facts About Youth

http://www.acpeds.org/Facts-About-Youth-website.html

Action Steps:

1. Educate yourself about the wide variety of mental and physical health issues negatively impacting those who participate in homosexual, bisexual and transgender behaviors. Realize that on the physical health side of the topic, there are a number of sexually transmitted infections or other health concerns which may carry with it a unique set of political issues beyond the epidemiological challenges. This is particularly the case when it comes to funding for research, treatment and prevention efforts in the realm of HIV/AIDS. Also keep in mind that the CDC data and statistics are updated annually.
2. Be aware that you will likely be wading into politically correct and sometimes theologically charged areas of contention. For example, you and your fellow concerned citizens may find yourself differing on topics like what constitutes “safe” sex, the efficacy and morality of condoms, approaches to education and prevention (e.g. abstinence versus other approaches), etc.
3. Monitor the federal website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regularly to track the national, state and local trends involving sexually transmitted diseases and other public health threats. Based on these statistics, develop talking points to share with local media to raise awareness about the current trends.
4. Form alliances with local doctors and other professionals in the public and private health sectors who work with populations that are impacted by sexually transmitted infections and related infectious diseases.
5. Equip yourself and others to reach out in love and compassion to those who are impacted by HIV/AIDS through acts of service, without getting into the politics of the disease to the degree possible. Volunteer with your local HIV/AIDS service provider and contribute to food banks, sign up to run errands for those who are incapacitated, drive people to doctor’s appointments, and more.