Roundup of anti-LGBT activities 10/3/2018

News Roundup

GayCityNews reported Sept. 27 that the U.S. State Department is ending recognition of foreign domestic partners on visas beginning Oct. 1. Employees of international organizations who are in the U.S. on G-4 visas were able to have their domestic partners with them on derivative G-4 visas. UN-GLOBE, the United Nations LGBTQ group, alerted U.N. employees that these couples are now required to be legally married in order to obtain the derivative visas for partners. The rule is the same for opposite-sex couples, but many same-sex couples are not legally able to marry in their home countries. The U.N. is advising LGBTQ employees in New York with same-sex partners to marry in New York in order to maintain the visas.

Foreign domestic partners of diplomats and U.N. officials posted in the U.S. must show the State Department proof of marriage by Dec. 31 or leave the country within 30 days. Domestic partners of diplomats and U.N. officials based abroad will have to show they’re married in order to enter the country on a diplomatic visa.

This latest policy, the U.S. Mission to the U.N. wrote in a July 12 note to U.N.-based delegations, states that “same-sex spouses of U.S. diplomats now enjoy the same rights and benefits as opposite-sex spouses,” according to Foreign Policy. The Mission portrayed the decision as bringing its international visa practices in line with current U.S. policy.

According to a tweet by former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, however, the policy is “needlessly cruel & bigoted,” noting that “only 12% of UN member states allow same-sex marriage.”

ThinkProgress reported Sept. 26 that Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) launched a campaign called “Keep Kids First” along with Family Research Council* (FRC), Heritage Foundation, Focus on the Family and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. The campaign works to allow adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples who seek to adopt or foster children.

GayStarNews reported Sept. 23 that two religious organizations filed a lawsuit against the Lafayette, Louisiana, Consolidated Government over the Lafayette Public Library’s scheduled “Drag Queen Story Time,” scheduled for Oct. 6.

The organizations, according to KATC.com, are Warriors for Christ and Special Forces of Liberty. Leading the lawsuit is anti-LGBT activist Mark “Chris” Sevier, who has filed several anti-LGBT lawsuits and motions in various states, including a motion in Florida in which he claimed he should have the right to marry his computer, since same-sex couples “have the right to marry their object of sexual desire.” Sevier was accused of stalking country star John Rich and sending him numerous emails despite a restraining order. He was also accused of stalking a 17-year-old girl in Nashville.

According to the Daily Beast, Sevier has a warrant out for his arrest in Tennessee for failure to appear at a criminal contempt proceeding and he also allegedly failed to pay child support and violated a restraining order by communicating with his former wife. The restraining order stems from his arrest in Texas in 2011 for assaulting his father-in-law over visitation rights for his son.

In the complaint filed Sept. 18, Sevier is referred to as one of the plaintiffs and, among other title claims, as a “self-identified objectophile.” (Objectophiles are people who develop emotional and/or romantic attractions to specific inanimate objects or structures.)

The Chicago Tribune reported Sept. 22 that the Rev. Paul Kalchik of Avondale’s Resurrection Catholic Church was removed from his role as head of the church. Kalchik burned a rainbow banner that once hung in the church on church grounds after he led seven parishioners in a prayer of exorcism.

The Tennessean reported Sept. 20 that a U.S. Court of Appeals decision says that the city of Nashville violated the First Amendment rights of anti-LGBT preachers at a 2015 Pride festival. The decision, filed Sept. 19, reverses the district court’s ruling in the case, in which preachers John McGlone and Jeremy Peters filed a lawsuit in April 2016 that asserted their freedom of speech was violated when they were made to leave the sidewalk in front of the park where the festival occurred. McGlone and Peters were using bullhorns and amplification equipment to protest homosexuality at the Pride festival when an off-duty Metro Nashville Police officer employed by a private security firm for the festival told them to leave the sidewalk or be arrested.

From the Groups

Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity Training Institute

Alliance for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity Training Institute (ATCSI; formerly the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, NARTH) will hold a training institute Oct. 5-6 in Orlando. Billed as a “two day clinical training,” the event includes panels and speakers. ATSCI claims to be “committed to protecting the rights of clients with unwanted same-sex attractions to pursue change as well as the rights of clinicians to provide such psychological care.”

This year’s plenary luncheon speaker is John Stemberger, president of the anti-LGBT Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC). Stemberger was chairman of the campaign to amend Florida’s Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman (adopted in 2008). He has referred to “the pathology of homosexuality” and said that same-sex foster parenting should be barred. The FFPC website has an entire page devoted to “leaving the gay lifestyle” that includes links to organizations that engage in the harmful and pseudoscientific practice of ex-gay therapy.

The conference schedule also includes Paul Sullins as keynote speaker, an anti-LGBT researcher and priest who traffics in pseudoscience in attempts to paint same-sex parents and parenting as dangerous to children, a harmful trope the anti-LGBT right has been pushing for years. Sullins retired from his position as professor of sociology at the Catholic University of America and now is affiliated with the Ruth Institute* and serves as a board member for the Center for Family and Human Rights* (known popularly as C-Fam).

ATSCI claims that it harbors no ill will toward LGBT people, but also claims that there are “increased physical and psychological risks associated with homosexual behavior.”

Americans for Truth about Homosexuality

Americans for Truth about Homosexuality* (AFTAH) reported on its website Sept. 17 that its website was shut down for more than two weeks beginning Aug. 24 after a “convicted homosexual sex offender” threatened a lawsuit against FirstLight Fiber, the internet service provider for AFTAH’s web hosting company. The man who threatened the lawsuit claimed his mugshot photo was copyrighted material, the AFTAH site stated.

The same man was allegedly responsible for the website of MassResistance* also being taken down for a few days toward the end of September (see below).

American Vision

American Vision* (headed by Gary Demar) announced Sept. 28 on its website that it’s now accepting Bitcoin. It stated further, “Our case against the federal reserve system, monetary inflation, and fractional reserve banking stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the tradition of Austrian economics, only expressed from the more explicit perspectives of Christian ethics.” Cryptocurrency, the post went on, “is here to stay” and as a generality, “should be celebrated and embraced by all lovers of liberty.”

Another anti-LGBT group, World Congress of Families* (WCF), announced this past April on its website that it, too, will accept anonymous donations of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.

Center for Family and Human Rights

The Center for Family and Human Rights* (C-Fam) posted on its blogsite “Turtle Bay and Beyond” Sept. 28 urging President Trump to withdraw the U.S. from supporting the “radical group of UN [United Nations] member states known as the ‘LGBT Core Group,’” which Stefano Gennarini, the blog’s author, claims is “committed to subverting human right law to promote LGBT rights.” The LGBT Core group “promotes the whole panoply of LGBT rights that LGBT groups clamor for, including homosexual marriage as a way to end discrimination!” Gennarini says, “This is simply untenable” and claims that the group’s “very existence … undermines sovereignty and international law.”

The LGBT (also LGBTI, with the I indicating “intersex”) Core Group is composed of U.N. member states and civil society organizations in an informal cross-sectional group that was established in 2008 to ensure SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity) issues on the U.N. agenda; to promote coordination and strategizing across the Global North and South; and to raise awareness of human rights violations against LGBTI people. The group is currently chaired by Argentina and the Netherlands.

Family Research Council

Family Research Council* (FRC) announced Sept. 22 via email that its action arm, FRC Action, has rolled out its Values Bus, which will travel to a dozen states between now and Election Day (Nov. 6). The states listed are California, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

The tour kicked off at the FRC-sponsored Values Voters Summit, held Sept. 21-23 in Washington, D.C. Tony Perkins, FRC president, held a press conference Sept. 22 to announce the tour.

Perkins said that the tour and a Nov. 4 national simulcast from Charis Bible College in Woodland Park, Colorado, called “The Event” will mobilize voters to take a stand “for the values that made America a great nation.” He then cited issues “at stake” in the election, including “religious freedom, sanctity of life, the family, and limited government.”

“The Event” is a 90-minute simulcast on Sunday, Nov. 4, in which “millions” will gather “to Pray, to Vote, to Stand For the Sake of America,” according to the website. Speakers include Perkins, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Alliance Defending Freedom* (ADF) president Michael Farris and Andrew Wommack of Andrew Wommack Ministries.

FRC Action’s Values Bus has toured during prior election years, including 2016, 2013, and 2012.

Tony Perkins also hosts a weekday radio show, “Washington Watch.” Guests from Sept. 6-28 included:

• Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.)
• Sheriff Chuck Jenkins (Frederick County, Maryland)
• Jared Pingleton (clinical director, Association of Christian Counselors)
• Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)
• Kayleigh McEnany (spokesperson, RNC)
• Ken Canfield (founder, National Association for Grandparenting)
• Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)
• Ed Whelan (president, Ethics and Public Policy Center)
• Todd Starnes (Fox News)
• Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.)
• D.C. McAllister (contributor, PJ Media and Daily Wire)
• House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.)
• Lt. Gov. Dan Forest (R-N.C.)
• Franklin Graham (president and CEO, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)
• Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.)
• Gregory Wrightstone (author)
• Lt. Col. Oliver North, Ret. (president, National Rifle Association)
• Jason Benham (author, speaker, entrepreneur)
• Frank Wolf (distinguished senior fellow, 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative)
• Luther Harrison (vice president, North American Ministries, Samaritan’s Purse)
• John Sullivan (producer of film Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer)
• Alonzo Rachel (actor, Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer)
• Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.)
• Kristina Wong (Breitbart News)
• Gary LeBlanc (founder, Mercy Chefs)
• Brad Wilcox (visiting scholar, American Enterprise Institute)
• Vice President Mike Pence
• Sam Brownback (Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom)
• Bob Fu (founder and president, China Aid)
• Ken Klukowski (senior counsel and director of strategic affairs, First Liberty Institute)
• Joel Rosenberg (founder, Joshua Fund)
• Jon Scruggs (senior counsel, ADF)
• Jack Phillips (owner, Masterpiece Cakeshop)
• Sidney Powell (former assistant U.S. attorney and appellate section chief, western and northern districts of Texas)
• Gordon Chang (author)
• Rich Noyes (director, Media Research Center)
• Elizabeth Johnston (“Activist Mommy”)

MassResistance

MassResistance* (MR) reported on its website Sept. 26 that its website was taken down Sept. 20 by its web hosting company, HostGator, after complaints from a “homosexual activist — a convicted sex offender.” MR also claimed that it has moved its site to a web hosting company “run by a fearless Christian.” That company, according to the blog, is Altha Technologies in Maine. MR attempted to link this event to “the beginnings of a larger wave of website takedowns by the Left and particularly the LGBT movement.”

Reintegrative Therapy Association

Joseph Nicolosi Jr., the son of the late Joseph Nicolosi, an architect of the modern anti-LGBT “ex-gay” industry, has training seminars listed on the Reintegrative Therapy Association’s website coming up in Orlando, Florida (Oct. 6); Hungary (October 26-28); Spain (November, date TBD); and Mexico City (December, date TBD). Nicolosi is the association’s founder, and the website claims that reintegrative therapy “is entirely separate” from conversion therapy (which purports to change LGB people to heterosexual people). Reintegrative therapy, the website states, “uses established, evidence-based interventions, the same interventions used by other clinics throughout the world to treat trauma and addiction.” As the dynamics are resolved, it further claims, “the client’s sexuality can sometimes change on its own.”

Pacific Justice Institute

Pacific Justice Institute* (PJI) has opened offices in Seattle, Washington, and Salem, Oregon. PJI president Brad Dacus announced Aug. 4 in his radio show, “The Dacus Report,” that the organization had expanded to Salem but was looking for a place to house its Seattle office. In a Sept. 13 press release, he announced that the Seattle office was open. In the Aug. 4 radio show, Dacus noted that for the first time, PJI has established a presence throughout the entire West Coast, and that the organization is looking to expand into “blue areas.” PJI wants “to paratroop into these communities — these dark blue communities — that have been so intolerant, so oppressive of people of the Christian faith” in schools, city councils and the workplace, Dacus said.

PJI also sent out an email Oct. 1 warning parents about the dangers of LGBT history month. In the email, Dacus says, “I need to alert you to something very disturbing — but something every parent should take precautions about.” In years past, Dacus continues, “We’ve warned you about some of the dark and disturbing people, and blatant political propaganda, associated with this event.”

Dacus then claims:

We have heartfelt compassion for those who struggle with gender and sexual confusion. Our concern is with this new approach to history that overemphasizes sex, misinterprets historical evidence, elevates obscure figures solely because of their sexuality, and even goes so far as to promote dangerous, destructive, and even sacrilegious behavior.

United Families International

United Families International* sent an email out Sept. 18 warning about “the transgender agenda threatening your children” and linked gender-nonconforming children to transgender children by incorrectly citing a statistic that suggests that 85-90 percent of kids who experience gender dysphoria grow out of it. The statistic comes from a 1995 study dealing with 45 gender-nonconforming children who aligned with their sex assigned at birth, not transgender children.

The email also linked to an article posted on the anti-trans site 4thWaveNow (started by anti-trans parents) by psychologist Ray Blanchard, who is known for a claiming that transgender women are either extremely effeminate gay men or men who derive sexual arousal from wearing women’s clothing (“autogynephilia”) and J. Michael Bailey, a professor at Northwestern University who promotes Blanchard’s theory in his own work. Northwestern canceled its popular human sexuality course, taught by Bailey, in 2011 because of an optional after-hour discussion of kinks and fetishes that involved a live demonstration in which a woman undressed in front of the class and was penetrated and brought to orgasm with a sex toy.

World Congress of Families

World Congress of Families* (WCF) will hold its next World Congress in Verona, Italy, March 29-31, 2019. According to the International Organization for the Family website (IOF is the parent organization of WCF), the deputy prime minister of Italy and “other key Italian officials” invited WCF to meet in Verona. In a fundraising email sent out Sept. 30 by IOF/WCF president Brian Brown, he is currently on his way to Verona “to lay the groundwork for the next World Congress of Families.”