Gays Rights Activists to Protest “Academy” Encouraging Youth to Hate Gays

On August 4th a group which calls itself Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is hosting a banquet / lecture to kick off what they call an “academy” to “train young people (as well as older pro-family advocates) how to answer ‘gay’ activist misinformation and fight the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda.”

Call to protest!!

Who:Gay Liberation Network (GLN),
What: Has initiated a 5:30 PM, August 4 protest against AFTAH’s opening banquet lecture
Where: At AFTAH’s headquarters, 25W560 Geneva Road, Carol Stream, IL.

For Immediate Release – July 23, 2010
For Information – Bob Schwartz, Gay Liberation Network,
Andy Thayer, Gay Liberation Network: LGBTliberation@aol.com

Gays to Protest “Academy” Encouraging Youth to Hate Gays

Carol Stream, IL — On August 4th a group which calls itself Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is hosting a banquet / lecture to kick off what they call an “academy” to “train young people (as well as older pro-family advocates) how to answer ‘gay’ activist misinformation and fight the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda.”

Advocates for legal equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people (LGBTs) counter that the gathering is aimed at promoting continued legal and social discrimination against gays, and worse, aims to promote this bigotry among young people.

“AFTAH has a long history of telling lies about LGBT people and recently was designated a ‘hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center,” said Bob Schwartz of the Gay Liberation Network (GLN), the group which has initiated a 5:30 PM, August 4 protest against AFTAH’s opening banquet lecture at their headquarters, 25W560 Geneva Road, Carol Stream, IL. Joining GLN in the protest will be DuPage NOW, Woodstock/McHenry County PFLAG and La Voz de los de Abajo.

“Using typical far-right scare rhetoric about gays, AFTAH’s literature about their forthcoming ‘academy’ calls the LGBT rights movement ‘destructive to America’ and invites people to donate money to fund scholarships for people as young as 14-years-old to attend their event,” said Schwartz. “What they are really trying to do is inculcate the next generation with a religious, sectarian-based hatred of gays.”

“Particularly in difficult economic times, it is vital that opponents of discrimination remain vigilant and forthrightly oppose any attempts to scapegoat any group for the failings of society,” said GLN co-founder Andy Thayer. “Youth should not be taught to hate their peers and thus fuel the cycle of self-loathing, depression and suicide which too many LGBT youth experience. Bigotry must be vocally and publicly opposed, especially when haters like AFTAH try to recruit young people.”

Recently AFTAH announced that one of the “instructors” at its forthcoming event will be Cliff Kincaid, who has been a vocal proponent of a notorious Ugandan bill which not only would proscribe the death penalty for gays, but also imprisonment non-gays who fail to report the gay people whom they know.

“With the inclusion of a ‘kill the gays’ spokesperson like Kincaid, the AFTAH youth academy is an attempt to legitimize a set of politics so vile that even leading figures on the religious right have felt compelled to condemn them,” said Schwartz. “If AFTAH’s Executive Director Peter LaBarbera were just a lone kook, then I would say just ignore him. But to say that would be to ignore the fact that LaBarbera was the leading proponent of two attempts to get anti-gay referenda on the Illinois state ballot.”

“Harvey Milk and other pro-equality activists defeated Anita Bryant and her anti-gay referenda a generation ago not by ignoring, but by highlighting and making infamous her anti-gay bigotry,” said Thayer. “This is what needs to be done against LaBarbera, and which is why we have called this August 4th protest. Learning from the failed, polite campaigns to defeat California’s anti-gay Proposition 8 and Maine’s Question 1, we must instead loudly highlight the bigotry of our opponents as Milk and others did, and thus politically marginalize them.”

For more information about the August 4th protest, email the Gay Liberation Network at LGBTliberation@aol.com

Gay Liberation Network: Freedom-to-Marry Valentine’s Day Report, Pics & Video

Gay Liberation Network: Freedom-to-Marry Valentine’s Day Report, Pics & Video

Photo from Gay Liberation Network

From Chicago IndyMedia

February 14, 2010 — About 100 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) rights activists chose Valentine’s Day to picket Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral to draw attention to the Catholic hierarchy’s continued opposition to equal rights both within the church and in society at large.

For video of the protest, sponsored by the Gay Liberation Network (GLN), is available on Facebook

A particular focus of the protest was Chicago’s Cardinal George, who has worked tirelessly ― albeit from behind the scenes ― to block our path to full legal equality:

ü Blocking same sex-marriage and/or civil unions in Illinois.

ü Attempting to kill LGBT inclusion as a protected class in the Illinois Human Rights Act. In other words, he opposed gays’ equal access to jobs, housing and access to public accommodations.

ü He and other Catholic bishops circulated petitions in a failed effort to force an anti-gay advisory referendum on marriage.

ü As head of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, George has directed that tens of thousands be spent promoting the anti-gay Proposition 8 in California.

ü And just last week, the Huffington Post reported that “Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago denounced a D.C.-area ministry that describes itself as ‘gay-positive’ and seeks to build bridges between gays and the Church.”

ü Congressman Gutierrez’s office recently told a GLN representative that opposition from the Catholic Church, presumably directed by Cardinal George, was the reason that all LGBT protections were stripped from the current immigration reform bill he’s sponsoring.

The anti-civil rights posture of the current Pope was also highlighted:

ü His blasting of equal rights legislation for women and gays in Britain ahead of his visit there this fall

ü His rehabilitation of the Holocaust-denying bishop, Richard Williamson

ü As a former member of the Hitler Youth, his move to bestow sainthood on the WWII Pope Pius XII, who did nothing to oppose the Holocaust of 9 million Jews, gays, Gypsies and others.

ü His labeling Lesbians and Gays as “intrinsically disordered,” thus dehumanizing us. Dehumanization is the first step towards making it publicly acceptable to hate a group, opening the door to discrimination and violence.

Most present-day gay leaders – with the honorable exception of Britain’s Peter Tatchell – have taken a pass on highlighting and demonstrating against religious leaders’ opposition to our equality.

In doing so, they ignore the lessons of how we have won LGBT victories in the past, and why we suffered critical defeats like California’s Proposition 8 and Maine’s Question 1.

Key to the historic victories over gay-haters Anita Bryant and Dr. Laura Schlessinger was our community making them the issue – relentlessly pounding them for their anti-gay bigotry, quoting their hateful statements, labeling them as vile bigots, and thus “peeling off” their soft supporters. Once they lost that support, they no longer had power over us, or the ability to influence referenda, legislation and court decisions.

In contrast, when anti-gay campaigners including Catholic leaders successfully promoted Proposition 8 and Question 1, they took the battle to us, relentlessly labeling us as child molesters in a manner very reminiscent of Anita Bryant. And we remained punching bags. Our “leaders” didn’t strike back, labeling the anti-gay leaders as bigots and haters. And we lost.

After the pivotal Proposition 8 defeat, many LGBT commentators vowed that we must learn the lessons of that defeat and not repeat them in Maine and elsewhere. Unfortunately, by taking a pass on highlighting anti-gay haters and making them the issue, they are failing to learn the lessons of the campaign against Anita Bryant, a campaign that was undertaken and won under far more difficult conditions.

Sponsored by The Gay Liberation Network

Gays Calls for Freedom to Marry Day Picket of Holy Name Cathedral

From our friends at the Gay Liberation Network

Gays Calls for Freedom to Marry Day Picket of Holy Name Cathedral

At 10:30 AM on Freedom-to-Marry Day 2010 – Sunday, February 14, Valentine’s Day – the Gay Liberation Network (GLN) will host an informational picket of Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral, 735 N. State Street, to highlight the role the Church’s leadership has played in promoting inequality.

“In opposition to the desires of millions of lay Catholics for simple justice for all, the hierarchy of the Catholic Church has long aligned itself with, and often led, the forces of hate and bigotry opposing equal rights for gays and women,” said GLN co-founder Andy Thayer.

“For many years the Catholic leadership has attempted to fly under the radar screen with its opposition to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. A key secret to their success has been their stealthiness, ironically often assisted by gay rights ‘leaders.’ These ‘leaders,’ not trusting rank-and-file Catholics to be fair and too worried about hurting their fundraising base with well-connected and wealthy Catholics, are too cowardly to call out Catholic leaders for promoting hate and discrimination.”

As a local example, Chicago’s Catholic leader Cardinal Francis George has worked tirelessly — albeit from behind the scenes — to block our path to full legal equality. George attempted to kill LGBT inclusion as a protected class in the Illinois Human Rights Act, which now protects us from housing and employment discrimination. He and other Catholic bishops circulated petitions in a failed effort to force an advisory referendum on “gay marriage,” and George is the head of the national Conference of Catholic Bishops which spent big bucks backing Prop 8 hate in California. Back in Illinois, George is working hard today to block same sex-marriage and/or civil unions.

But Cardinal George is no lone voice in the wilderness. He is joined by almost the entire hierarchy of the Catholic Church whose record of activism against gay equality is long and sordid:

** Speaking of the current pope, the Associated Press reported that “Benedict, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, spearheaded a Vatican campaign against same-sex unions in 2003, issuing guidelines for Catholic politicians to oppose laws granting legal rights to gay couples when he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” Associated Press, 6/6/05

** The Portland, Maine Archdiocese gathered more than a quarter of the funds recently used to defeat marriage equality in Maine. In addition, Marc Mutty, the chair of the principal statewide organization in Maine that fueled anti-gay discrimination there, was the Portland Archdiocese’s head spokesperson until taking a leave of absence from his job to spearhead the successful effort to rob gays and lesbians of their equal marriage rights.

** The Catholic fraternal organization Knights of Columbus bankrolled California’s anti-gay Proposition 8 to the tune of over $1 million.

** As California’s East Bay Express noted about newly-minted Oakland Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, “What almost no one knows is that without Bishop Sal, gay men and lesbians would almost surely still be able to get married today. As an auxiliary bishop in San Diego, Cordileone played an indispensable role in conceiving, funding, organizing, and ultimately winning the campaign to pass Proposition 8. It was Bishop Sal and a small group of Catholic leaders who decided that they had to amend the state constitution. It was Bishop Sal who found the first major donor and flushed the fledgling campaign with cash. It was Bishop Sal who personally brought in the organization that took the lead on the petition drive. And it was Bishop Sal who coordinated the Catholic effort with evangelical churches around the state. Bishop Sal even helped craft the campaign’s rhetorical strategy, sitting in on focus groups to hone the message of Proposition 8. “

While Catholic leaders decry any attempts to label them as haters and bigots, their own scapegoating statements tell a very different story about their true feelings:

** Former pope Karol Wotija, aka John Paul II, condemned gay foster parents for doing “violence” to children. He called us “disordered,” and “against the natural law.” He railed against civil marriage equality for all same-sex couples whether Catholic or not, condemning our civil marriage contract as an act “against God,” and proclaimed defeating marriage equality his “primary task” for 2005.

** In a 2005 pastoral letter read in every church in the diocese of Calgary, Alberta, Bishop Frederick Henry called on his flock to stamp out same-sex marriage. “Since homosexuality, adultery, prostitution and pornography undermine the foundations of the family, the basis of society, then the State must use its coercive power to proscribe or curtail them in the interests of the common good.” (365Gay.com)

** In an end-of year address in 2008, the current pope, George Ratzinger (aka Benedict XVI), said that the existence of gay people threatens humanity as much as the destruction of rainforests and that “blurring” genders through acceptance of transgender people would kill off the human race.

** Beginning in 1986, Ratzinger wrote a series of church documents that branded sexually active gays as “evil,” told church officials to kick Dignity chapters off church property and even warned Catholic lawmakers that voting in favor of gay-rights legislation is “gravely immoral” because “the approval or legalization of evil is something far different from the toleration of evil.” (Deb Price, Detroit News)

** Ratzinger has disparaged lesbian and gay couples as engaging in “pseudo-matrimonies by people of the same sex.”

** Bishop Cordileone has called same-sex marriage a Satanic plot: “The ultimate attack of the Evil One is the attack on marriage.”

** In 2007 Chicago’s Cardinal George wrote that same-sex behavior “brings people’s salvation into jeopardy” in a column for the Archdiocese of Chicago newspaper.

“When haters garb themselves in clerical robes, their statements and activities must be exposed,” said Thayer. “The Gay Liberation Network encourages all people of good will, regardless of faith background, to join us on Sunday, February 14 in front of Chicago’s Holy Name Cathedral.”

For more information, email LGBTliberation@aol.com or visit www.GayLiberation.net

VICTORY over “Kill Gays, Kill Blacks” Bad Metal Band!

The Gay Liberation Network is an amazing group, and their latest and greatest is getting a stupid racist and homophobic “Black Metal” band called “Evil Incarnate” engagement cancelled.

We took a look at EI and they look like the type of band that appeals to angry 13 yr olds to piss off their mom and dad with silly superstitious mythical satanic imagery, which is idiotic, but not the issue.

The issue is their lyrics call for the mass genocide of gay and black peoples, which is no, not okay!

The report from GLN:

White Star Night Club CANCELS
Performance by Neo-Nazi Band “Evil Incarnate”!

CHICAGO — Yesterday the promoter of a multi-band show scheduled for this Saturday at the west side White Star Night Club confirmed with the Gay Liberation Network (GLN) that he has canceled the performance by neo-Nazi band “Evil Incarnate.”

In response, GLN thanked White Star management for “agreeing not to provide a venue for a group that calls for the murder of African Americans and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans people.” In the lyrics of its song, “Killer of Faggots,” Evil Incarnate boasted:

N—-r lovers and faggots
Bullets in your head
N—-r lovers and faggots
Now your [sic] dead

Luftwaffa nazi arial assault
Pounding from air never to halt
Flak 88’s and panzer divisions
Bombing the faggots into oblivion

(repeat)
Bombing the n—-rs into oblivion

The song was recently released on a compilation CD entitled “Smashing Rainbows” on the “Fetch the Rope Albums” label.

“Our thanks go not only to White Star management, but to the many in the community who called them to inform them of the situation, and to our partners in this protest, Anti-Racist Action,” said GLN co-found Andy Thayer. “Activism – getting involved in your community – has once again won an important pro-gay victory.”

“I myself am Mexican,” said concert promoter Renato Brierio. “I don’t appreciate that kind of racist or anti-homosexual b.s.”

“I have removed EVIL INCARNATE from the Festival, they have officially announced that they are NOT playing this fest. Their ideology … DOES NOT represent the views and opinions of ANYONE at White Star or any of the other bands.”

Brierio told GLN that Evil Incarnate members had tried to divert the concerns he relayed to them about their “kill gays, kill blacks” lyrics by saying that the song was 20 years old. When he learned that the song was part of a months-old compilation CD called “Smashing Rainbows” on the “Fetch the Rope Records” label, he concluded that they were lying to him.

“They say one thing and then they do another.”

But if they’re willing to call for the deaths of whole groups of people, what’s a little lying on top of that?

GOOD WORK GLN!

Time To Fire Homophobic Cop Richard Fiorito

ALERT!! THIS THURSDAY NIGHT 11/19/09

The Next Step to Stopping Anti-LGBT Cop Officer Fiorito

Chicago Cop Richard Fiorito Misuses His Power As A Cop To Attack Gay Community

This Thursday night, November 19th, is an excellent opportunity for CHICAGO residents to send a message in person to the top Chicago Police Department brass about their allowing anti-gay cop Officer Richard Fiorito to remain employed by the City of Chicago.

7 PM, Thursday, Nov. 19 In front of Chicago Police Headquarters
3510 S. Michigan Avenue
Just a few blocks east of the “35th Street“ Red Line el station (ample street parking is available too)

At 7:30 PM residents will go inside to attend the Police Board meeting. It begins with a half hour or so of formal business, followed by the public comment section. In order to speak in this section, you must call the Board at 312.742.4194 before 4 PM at least a day in advance.

The full story:

BEWARE:Homophobic Chicago Police Officer Richard Fiorito
We reported last month about the growing number of FALSE DUI’s charges being brought foward against the gay community by this “bad cop”. Members of the Gay Liberation Network and attorneys for over 35 people falsely arrested by a Town Hall District police officer, released police videotape showing that the officer trumped up the bogus charges.

The officer – Richard Fiorito. Known to harrass the gay community in and around Boystown. Will arrest you, even if you are NOT drunk and can pass the road tests!

This past week, 15 MORE plantiffs have filed suits against this allegedly anti-gay cop.

Fiorito has been placed on desk duty since the charges were first issued in early October. 16 more plaintiffs recently joined the case with the original 21, leading the total to 37 lawsuits against the officer. All testimony from Fiorito in any of these pending DUI cases will be on hold until internal investigations from the Cook County State Attorney’s Office and Independent Police Review Authority are complete.

Cook County State Attorney Anita Alvarez has now dismissed all pending Fiorito DUI casses, against the victims. Attorney JOn Erickson says, “My clients are elated Alvarez is finally doing the right thing and dismissing these cases, but will not rest until she indicts him for his crimes.”

Like that will happen!

Report Back From the GLN Protest Against Peter LaBarbera

We posted the protest call for this action and here is the report back from Andy Thayer

GLN Protest against Peter La Barbara 10/24/09

Protesters from a local Gay / Straight Alliance, the local Congregational Church, the Chicago Coalition of Welcoming Churches and the Gay Liberation Network picketed the annual banquet of Peter LaBarbera’s “Americans for Truth [sic] About Homosexuality” in Arlington Heights, IL Saturday night.

We felt it was important to label LaBarbera and his guest speaker Matt Barber as “bigots,” because they not only oppose different sexual orientations and gender identities per se, they also oppose our equal housing rights, job opportunities and access to public accommodations. They are bigots, full stop, and the more that the public sees them as such, the less likely LaBarbera, et al are going to get the mass public hearing that they crave.

It’s also important to note that “Americans for Truth’s” bigotry is confined not simply to LGBT people. Peter LaBarbera, for example, was a prime supporter of the many failed campaigns by Peter Oberweis, a man widely condemned for his anti-immigrant anti-Latino biases. In an earlier incarnation, LaBarbera was an operative with “Concerned Women for America,” an anti-women’s rights group, and before that he was a “reporter” for the far-right Washington Times newspaper, a creature of the creepie Rev. Sun Myung Moon cult.

Four hi-res pics from our protest are attached and free for your use.

Andy Thayer
Gay Liberation Network
www.GayLiberation.net

Protest Call! Against “Illinois’s #1 Hater of Gays”

Gay Liberation Network (GLN) has called for a protest against what it calls “Illinois’s #1 Hater of Gays”!
At 6:30 PM this Saturday night, October 24th!
Peter LaBarbera, the man behind Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, is having his annual benefit and protesters will gather outside the Christian Liberty Academy, 502 W. Euclid Avenue, Arlington Heights, IL to express their First Amendment-based opposition.

Peter LaBarbera

GLN notes that Peter LaBarbera not only opposes equal rights for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender people (LGBT), but has spent literally decades fighting against equal rights:

– as a former reporter for the right-wing “Mooney” paper The Washington Times of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon cult

– as an operative with Concerned Women for America, a group dedicated to opposing equal rights for women

– as Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute, an outfit which was at one time labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center

– as one of the few, core supporters of multiple campaigns by far-right politician Jim Oberweis, whose campaigns were widely viewed as scapegoating Latino immigrants

– as one of the few, core supporters of the U.S. Senate campaign of Alan Keyes, a campaign that was so unhinged in its far-right rhetoric that future President Barack Obama rode to a record 70%+ victory to win the seat

– and now with his Americans for Truth About Homosexuality.

“With his breathless ‘undercover’ reports about Chicago’s International Mr. Leather and other events, LaBarbera’s obsession about gay sex has become legendary in political circles,” said GLN’s Andy Thayer. “His ‘activism’ would be laughable if it wasn’t also dangerous — LaBarbera was the principal proponent of the two failed attempts to get anti-gay initiatives on the Illinois ballot.”

GLN notes that LaBarbera has not only served as front-man for a series of far-right causes, his own statements have matched:

*** Appearing last year on the far-right Matt Barber program with luny-right legislator Rep. Sally “homosexuals are worse than terrorism” Kern of Oklahoma, he said that the gay lobby “threatens America and threatens children.”

*** Addressing the increasing pogromist atmosphere against LGBT people in Uganda, he said “At AFTAH, we preach Christian mercy and have denounced Talibanesque capital punishment for homosexuals in countries like Iran. But we also believe that if states and localities here in America (and governments abroad) wish to ban sodomy, they have every right to do so…” So Talibanesque laws are apparently okay, it’s just the punishment that is considered a bit extreme.

*** Talking about John Berry, the head of the federal government’s Office of Personnel Management, he said “So, what we have is sort of a subversive — if you could call it that — homosexual activist, and now he’s going to have an even much more visible and powerful role at OPM, which is a very powerful job in Washington.”

The Gay Liberation Network (www.GayLiberation.net) is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to winning equal rights and liberation for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgendered people through street protests and other direct involvement in social and political issues.

For Information: Bob Schwartz, Gay Liberation Network Rufnel@aol.com

Andy Thayer, Gay Liberation Network, LGBTliberation@aol.com, www.GayLiberation.net

Protest Madness Outside Fancy HRC/Obama Dinner

From DC Indymedia:

RANTING BORN-AGAIN NUTCAKE COMES OUT AT BOISTEROUS PROTEST; ADMONISHES CROWD TO “STOP FISTING EACH OTHER”

Anti-Gay counter protesters... and a counter-counter protester?

Granted, it wasn’t exactly a “perfect storm”, but it was a pretty good storm, well worth the price of admission if only for the satisfaction of seeing a gang of cops being faced down by some people picketing on a public sidewalk who actually had a frickin’ permit, f’cripesake.

Sharing a kiss in front of bigoted homophobes

A diverse range of opinions were on hand outside the Convention Center Saturday evening on the occasion of the Human Rights (a.k.a. “Human Whites”) Campaign’s annual banquet, which this year featured as its headline speaker US President and Nobel Idol Winner Barack Obama, a leader with a record of zero campaign promises kept so far for gay/lesbian/bi/trans citizens.

Don't Tread On Moi!

“Operation Rescue” founder and domestic terrorist Randall Terry was there with the usual posse, but without the usual over-the-top street theater, only Randall himself giving us what can only be described as a rant that was “phoned in” compared to the God Hates Fags-type characters who taunted and insulted picketers with far more conviction and gusto further down the sidewalk from him.

WSQT Guerilla Radio has an audio report

Mike Flugennock’s video can be seen here

The rest of Wespennest’s photo set can be seen here