Homosexuality

Contents

• 1 Attack On 1st Amendment

  • 1.1 Forced to Photograph a Gay Wedding

  • 1.2 Forced to Design Cakes for Gay Weddings

• 2 Evidence Against Genetic Inheritance

  • 2.1 Gallup Polling

  • 2.2 Former Homosexuals

  • 2.3 Link to Sexual Abuse

    • 2.3.1 2012 Studies

    • 2.3.2 2011 Studies

    • 2.3.3 2008 Studies

    • 2.3.4 2005 Studies

    • 2.3.5 2002 Studies

    • 2.3.6 1998 Studies

    • 2.3.7 1994 Studies

    • 2.3.8 1992 Studies

    • 2.3.9 1991 Studies

  • 2.4 In Nature?

• 3 The Biblical View

  • 3.1 Is It Wrong?

  • 3.2 Not About Hatred or Being Better

  • 3.3 All Guilty of Sexual Sins

  • 3.4 Repentance and Turning

  • 3.5 Conclusion

• 4 Westboro

  • 4.1 Left-Wing Democrats

  • 4.2 A Law Firm Disguised As A Church

  • 4.3 Protests

    • 4.3.1 Groups

    • 4.3.2 Victims of Massacres/Disasters

    • 4.3.3 Celebrities

• 5 No-Fault Divorce

• 6 References

 

What this has ultimately come down to is forcing Americans to adopt an immoral standard of morality when it comes to marriage. Otherwise the Gay Rights movement would merely seek to remove government control of marriage, rather than attempting to force their definition on the millions of U.S. Christians who disagree while pushing gay hate crimes laws that sue Christian business owners that don't want to participate in actions which violate their beliefs. When put to a vote, even in the most liberal states, gay marriage has failed almost every time.[1]

 

In California for example, voters decided on both Proposition 22 (2000) and Proposition 8 (2008) that marriage should be defined as between a man and a woman, but 6 judges overturned the will of 4 million voters, and forced California students to be taught about gay role models in classrooms.[2] That a top priority of the Gay Rights movement is forcing students to be taught about gay role models shows their agenda is forcibly indoctrinating others with their beliefs, and using the courts to tyrannically legislate apart from the process of democracy and Bill of Rights.[3]

 

Attack On 1st Amendment

 

This is ultimately not about equal rights, for homosexuals already have the same rights as everyone else, to vote and marry the opposite sex. It is about attacking the rights of Christians using hate crime laws, so that they can force everyone to change their moral beliefs. For all that the left yells about forcing beliefs on others, they themselves are the ones most guilty of doing so.[4]

 

“That to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency is a dangerous fallacy which at once destroys all religious liberty because he being of course judge of that tendency will make his opinions the rule of judgment and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own

-Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom

 

Forced to Photograph a Gay Wedding

 

A photographer, Elaine Huguenin, was sued after refusing to photograph a lesbian wedding in 2006 by Vanessa Willock. As pointed out by Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention,

 

"At issue is the fundamental question of whether the state can pretend to be a god over the conscience. No one is seeking to outlaw photographers from working at same-sex marriage or civil union ceremonies. At issue is whether these persons will be forced by the coercive power of the state to participate in something they believe to be sinful." The Washington Post's David Bernstein points out that this is similar to forcing an atheist to photograph a Jewish circumcision ceremony.[5]

“In 2006, Vanessa Willock sent an email to several wedding photographers in New Mexico asking if they would be willing to photograph her same-sex "commitment ceremony." (New Mexico did not redefine marriage to include same-sex couples until December 2013.) 'This is a same-gender ceremony. If you are open to helping us celebrate our day we'd like to receive pricing information,' the email stated. Elaine Huguenin informed Willock via email, 'We do not photograph same-sex weddings, but again, thanks for checking out our site! Have a great day.' In court testimony, Huguenin made clear that she would serve the couple in other contexts. She was not declining to serve gays. She was declining to serve gay weddings because she believed that doing so would be in violation of her religious beliefs. Huguenin had also previously declined service to clients who asked her to photograph nude images and violent images.
-Napp Nazworth, The Christian Post[6]”

 

Justice David Bosson tyrannically decreed in the case that the Huguenins "now are compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives. Though the rule of law requires it, the result is sobering. It will no doubt leave a tangible mark on the Huguenins and others of similar views."[7] This was not discrimination, the Hugeinins were willing to provide portrait photographs to anyone, it was photographing gay weddings that specifically violated their beliefs, and they had objected in the past to photographing similarly indecent actions such as nudity, violence, and polygamy.[8]

 

Forced to Design Cakes for Gay Weddings

 

Jack Phillips, owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, has always been willing to sell homosexuals birthday cakes, cupcakes, brownies, or anything else in his shop, but draws the line at designing wedding cakes where he would have to draw two male names on the cake or put two male figurines on top of the cake. So when Charlie Craig and David Mullins asked him to design such a cake for their wedding he refused, citing his Christian beliefs - resulting in their lawsuit to try and force him to make a cake that would violate what he believed. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys argue that this is not about discrimination but whether government can force someone to say something that they don't want to say in violation of the First Amendment.[9]

 

“ACLU attorney Amanda Goad, who heads up the organization’s LBGT group, heralded the ruling. 'Religious freedom is undoubtedly an important American value, but so is the right to be treated equally under the law free from discrimination,' she said in a statement.

No, my dear. Religious freedom is a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT...

'Everyone who shops in our stores and conducts business in our state should be treated with equality and dignity,' attorney Paula Greisen said in an ACLU of Colorado statement. 'That’s what this ruling was about.'

No ma’am, it was not. That ruling was about bullying – bullying Christians.

'There’s a collision between religious liberty and the gay rights movement,' Martin told me. 'This collision is coming to the forefront almost every day. Somebody is losing their liberty, their job or both.'

-Todd Starnes, FOX News[10]

 

Colorado's Civil Rights Commission has since ordered the baker to change his store policies and force his staff to attend training sessions on sexual orientation discrimination, submitting quarterly reports showing he hasn't turned away gay customers.[10]

 

Evidence Against Genetic Inheritance

Gallup Polling

 

Gallup polling very strongly shows that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, not genetically inherited. An October 2012 Gallup poll revealed that those ages 18 to 29 are twice as likely as those 30 to 49 to identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transexual (LGBT), 6.4% to 3.2%, and over three times as likely as those ages 65 or older. (6.4% to 1.9%) Furthermore, of those ages 18 to 29, women are almost twice as likely as men to identify as LGBT, 8.3% to 4.6%.[11] This is very striking evidence showing homosexuality is a trend more popular among youth than previous generations, and more popular among young women than young men.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Former Homosexuals

 

Another strong evidence that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice, not genetic, is the fact that there are those who stop being homosexual. The most notable case would be Michael Glatze, one of the leaders of the Gay Rights movement before announcing in July 2007 that he was no longer gay.[12] Yet another example would be Christopher Doyle, leader of Voice for the Voiceless who states of Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE) that "Our goal is not to change gays, but to offer an alternative for those who believe they are inherently heterosexual and experience unwanted homosexual feelings."[13]

 

“Often times, the issues that clients work through include painful trauma from the same gender (parent/peers) such as rejection, not feeling wanted, not fitting in, bullying, and feeling inferior because of their gender non-conforming behavior and interests. When clients work through those issues in therapy and experience acceptance and intimacy in non-sexual relationships with heterosexual friends (males with males/females with females), the desire for sex with the same gender gradually decreases as they begin to understand what they are really looking for, emotional connection with the same gender, not sex. When that emotional intimacy is experienced, it’s amazing to the client, because they have rarely or never experienced it before! Over time, emotional fulfillment with same gender friends takes the place of sexual eroticism, and having now bonded with the same gender, opposite sex attractions begin to emerge.

-Christopher Doyle[13]

 

 

The existence of ex-gays has revealed a disconnect between the claims of tolerance and reality. As pointed out by Linda Jernigan, another ex-gay, "The conversions of alcoholics, drug addicts, gamblers, fornicators, porn addicts, and adulterers are never disputed or challenged. When someone exits homosexuality, however, they are not merely challenged; they are maligned and rejected as liars from the community that preaches acceptance and tolerance. While the homosexual community accepts the transformation from heterosexuality to homosexuality as truthful and morally legitimate, they reject any transformation in the other direction and the value of chastity for those who never experience heterosexual attraction."

 

Link to Sexual Abuse

 

Numerous studies document the fact that homosexuals are much more likely to have been abused as children, a fact that does not fit well with a purely biological origin, suggesting instead that circumstances play a role. The following is a list of studies that have documented this:

 

2012 Studies

• Childhood Sexual Abuse and Adult Sexual Identity Formation: Intersection of Gender, Race, and Sexual Orientation (freely readable online)[14]

2011 Studies

• Sexual Victimization and Health-Related Indicators Among Sexual Minority Men (freely readable online)[15]

• A Model of Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Young Gay and Bisexual Men: Longitudinal Associations of Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Sexual Abuse, and the Coming-Out Process (freely readable online)[16]

• The Prevalence of Sexual Assault Against People Who Identify as Gay, Lesbian, or Bisexual in the United States: A Systematic Review(freely readable online)[17]

2008 Studies

• Disparities in Child Abuse Victimization in Lesbian, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Women in the Nurses' Health Study II [18]

2005 Studies

• Victimization Over the Life Span: A Comparison of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Siblings[19]

2002 Studies

• AIDS-Related Risk Among Adolescent Males Who Have Sex With Males, Females, or Both: Evidence From a Statewide Survey (freely readable online)[20]

1998 Studies

• Childhood Sexual Abuse and HIV Risk-Taking Behavior Among Gay and Bisexual Men[21]

1994 Studies

• Emotional, Behavioral, & HIV Risks Associated with Sexual Abuse Among Adult Homosexual and Bisexual Men[22]

1992 Studies

• A Review of the Long-Term Effects of Child Sexual Abuse[23]

1991 Studies

• A Review of the Short-Term Effects of Child Sexual Abuse[24]

 

In Nature?

 

Despite efforts to use homosexuality in nature to argue that homosexuality is a natural phenomenon, in actuality homosexuality has been induced in nature and within humans specifically by scientists using drugs which imitate male and female hormones, androgen and estrogen respectively.

 

“These results may or may not apply to humans, of course, but some researchers have investigated human females who were 'androgenized' in the womb because of drugs given to their mothers to prevent miscarriage. By and large, the results of these studies are similar to the experimental studies-androgenized human females show similar patterns of higher aggression. Some scholars take these results to indicate that biological differences between males and females are responsible for the male-female difference in aggression; others suggest that even these results are not conclusive because females who get more androgen show generally disturbed metabolic systems, and general metabolic disturbance may itself increase aggressiveness. Furthermore, androgen-injected females may look more like males because they develop male-like genitals; therefore, they may be treated like males.
-Carol R. Ember, Melvin Ember, and Peter N. Peregrine, Anthropology: Fourteenth Edition[25]”

 

Mankind's genetic tampering increasingly appears to be the reason for homosexuality in nature. Scientists deliberately manipulate newt pheromones to introduce homosexuality in nature, as one example.[26] Over the past 70 years unnatural estrogen-imitating chemicals and pesticides have been introduced into nature through industrial, agricultural, and chemical companies which mimic female pheromones. Thus ironically, even if there is a genetic cause for homosexuality, it is an unnatural one caused by scientific tampering with hormones.

 

“A xenoestrogen is a synthetic form of estrogen, and it is found in a lot more things than just plastic. Xenoestrogens are also found in pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, household chemicals, dry cleaning chemicals, body creams, shampoos, soaps, and even commercial meats that come from animals that are pumped full of estrogen-laden drugs. In other words, they are pretty much everywhere. The term xenoestrogen simply means 'foreign estrogen' or 'estrogen mimicker.' Once introduced in the body, xenoestrogens try to fool the body into thinking they are natural estrogens, but they are far from it. The accumulations of these xenoestrogens quickly create hormonal imbalances and endocrine system disruption. The end result can be felt all the way from mood swings, weight gain and depression to full blown cancer. In the last 70 years, xenoestrogens have not only found their way into products that we use every day, but alarmingly, traces of xenoestrogens are found in food containers or even food itself. This allows these synthetic compounds a direct path into our body via our unsuspecting mouths.
-Brad King, TotalHealth Magazine[27]”

 

The most prominent xenoestrogen, diethylstilbestrol (DES), was created in 1938 and from 1940-71 was given to as many as 5-10 million people in the United States by the USDA under the mistaken belief it would prevent miscarriages.[28] It was also distributed in Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands.[29] The FDA continued to approve diethylstilbestrol for estrogen-replacement therapy until the late 1980s.[30] It is now known that DES causes serious health problems including breast cancer, vaginal and cervical cancer, clear cell cancer, testical cysts, premature births, and infertility.[31]

 

“That synthetic chemicals in the environment can wreak havoc on the endocrine system of animals is irrefutable when considering aquatic species. Exposure from pesticide runoff, industrial waste, and oral contraceptives in effluent of water treatment plants are the primary sources, with fish, amphibians and aquatic reptiles literally swimming in the stuff, and illustrating the price with abnormal genitalia, increased incidences of intrasex individuals, and infertility.
-Margaret M. McCarthy, American Physiological Society[32]”

 

Studies have shown that those taking diethylstilbestrol have increased likelihood of homosexuality.[33] Xenoestrogens have

been shown to produce homosexual urges in snakes by confusing genders through smell.[34] Estrogen has also been shown to alter gender preference in quail and chicken as well.[35]

 

“A new study finds that both drugs and genetic manipulation can turn the homosexual behavior of fruit flies on and off within a matter of hours. While the genetic finding supports the thinking that homosexuality is hard-wired, the drug finding surprisingly suggests it's not that simple. In fact, homosexuality in the fruit flies seems to be regulated by how they interpret the scent of another... In the new work, University of Illinois at Chicago researcher David Featherstone and coworkers discovered a gene in fruit flies they call 'genderblind,' or GB. A mutation in GB turns flies bisexual. GB transports the neurotransmitter glutamate to brain cells. Altering levels of glutamate change the strength of nerve cell junctions, called synapses, which play a key role in human and animal behavior. Post-doctoral researcher Yael Grosjean found that all male fruit flies with a mutation in their GB gene courted other males.
-Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience[36]”

 

Xenoestrogens are used in Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)[37] which is used to treat 'Gender Dysphoria' / 'Gender Identity Disorder.'[38] In essence, estrogen-imitating chemicals are used to change the sexual characteristics of those who aren't happy with the gender they are born with. HRT has also been used extensively to treat menopause symptoms with Menopausal Hormone Therapy (MHT), but restraint is now being urged given the discovery that introduction of foreign estrogen causes cancer.[39] Like their counterparts xenoestrogens, xenoandrogens (which imitate the male hormone, testosterone) likewise cause reproductive disorders and occur in persistent organic pollutants (POPs).[40] Part of the debate over homosexuality involves whether taxpayers should be required to pay for others' Gender Reassignment surgeries.[41]

 

The Biblical View

Is It Wrong?

 

The Bible makes very clear that homosexuality is wrong, both in the Old and New Testaments. And contrary to popular belief

Jesus does briefly address it also in Matthew 11:8 and Luke 7:25, using the Greek word malakos which the KJV there translates soft, but translates as "effeminate" in 1 Corinthians 6:9.

 

Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves thatrecompence of their error which was meet.

 

Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

 

1 Corinthians 6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

 

1 Timothy 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

 

Not About Hatred or Being Better

 

Biblically everyone is sinful before God, rather than singling out homosexuals, the Bible states that everyone is guilty before God and worthy of death.

 

Romans 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

 

Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

 

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

All Guilty of Sexual Sins

 

As Christians we believe everyone has been guilty of similar sins, and that homosexuality is just one of a number of wrong sexual actions grouped together as fornication.

 

Romans 2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
 

1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

 

Others include divorce, adultery, incest, bestiality, lusting after others in one's heart, and prostitution. Even excessive sexual lust in general seems to be wrong regardless of gender (1 Thessalonians 4:3-7, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20).

 

Matthew 19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

 

Leviticus 18:6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.

 

Leviticus 18:23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.

 

Matthew 5:27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

 

1 Corinthians 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

 

Lust and fleshly desires are contrasted with walking in the Spirit.

 

Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
 

1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

 

 

Repentance and Turning

 

The Gospel of Salvation is that all must turn from their wrong actions to follow God's will, not just some, but all. Christianity at its heart is not about denying guilt, but admitting it, one cannot repent if they don't accept they have done what is wrong. Christianity is about a lifetime of repentance, attempting to admit wrong actions and forsake them to follow God. We are ultimately called to judge ourselves first. Repentance means not only sorrow for wrong actions but turning from them, changing and doing works befitting repentance.

 

Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

 

1 Corinthians 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

 

Luke 13:1 There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
2 And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
4 Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

 

Acts 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

 

John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

 

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reapcorruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

 

Christianity is all about admitting our guilt, trusting in Jesus, and asking Jesus to save us through His sacrifice on our behalf on the cross.

 

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

 

Romans 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

 

Conclusion

 

For Christians, this is not about considering one group worse than others, simply about forsaking wrong actions, including homosexuality, in order to follow God and holiness. Homosexuality is just one of many wicked sins to be repented of, Biblically.

 

Westboro

 

Left-Wing Democrats

 

For all that Westboro gets portrayed as conservative and Christian, it is actually a left-wing Democrat organization unaffiliated with and denounced by major Christian organizations such as the Baptist World Alliance and Southern Baptist Convention.It is unaffiliated with all Baptist and Christian organizations, and the two largest Baptist denominations, the Baptist World Alliance and the Southern Baptist Convention, have denounced Westboro.[42]

 

Fred Phelps, the church's founder, has run six times in Democrat primary elections. The Westboro Church assisted Al Gore's Kansas campaign in 1988 and provided rooms for his campaign workers. Fred Phelps Jr. was a Gore delegate to the 1988 Democratic National Convention[43] and invited to the first Clinton-Gore inauguration in 1993 as a result.[44]

 

• In 1990, Phelps Sr. ran for Governor of Kansas in the Democratic primary election and received 6.7% of the vote.[44]

• In 1994, Fred Phelps Sr. ran for Governor in the Democratic primary election and received 5,300 votes.[45]

• In 1998, Fred Phelps Sr. ran for Governor in the Democratic primary election and received 14.7% of the vote.[46]

• In 1992, Fred Phelps Sr. ran for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary election and received 30.8% of the ballots cast.[44]

• In 1993, Fred Phelps Sr. ran for Topeka mayor in the Democratic primary election and received 1.8% of the ballots cast.[47]

• In 1997, Fred Phelps Sr. ran for Topeka mayor in the Democratic primary election.

 

A Law Firm Disguised As A Church

 

Westboro Baptist Church consists of a family of lawyers working for the Phelps Chartered Law Firm who reap massive monetary awards from suing communities that try to keep their offensive protests out, under the First Amendment.[48] Fred Phelps graduated from Washburn University School of Law in Topeka in 1962[43] and designed his church/family as a giant law firm used to sue those angry enough to retaliate against the "church" or to bar its offensive activities from their communities. Eleven of Phelps' thirteen children are lawyers. All five of the attorneys for the Phelps Chartered Law Firm, which Fred Phelps founded in 1964, are his children.[48] The firm is located at 1414 S.W. Topeka Blvd. in Topeka, Kansas.[49] As of 2001, at least 14 of Westboro's 22 adult members had law degrees.[50]

 

Protests

 

Westboro does not just protest funerals of homosexuals but massacre victims, celebrities, and anything else that will get them media attention. Westboro first began picketing in 1991[50] and has protested or otherwise targeted the following:

 

Groups

 

• Homosexuals, including Matthew Shepard[51], Ellen DeGeneres, and Diane Whipple.[52]

• Jews.[53]

• The Catholic Pope[54] and the Catholic Church.[55]

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons)[43] and the funeral of Gordon B. Hinckley its former president.[52]

• Islam and Muslims.[43]

• The Ku Klux Klan.[55]

• The nations of Sweden, Canada, and Ireland.[43]

• Joseph Estabrook Elementary School in Massachusetts.[43]

 

Victims of Massacres/Disasters

• Funerals for victims of 9/11.[53]

• Funerals for victims of the Virginia Tech massacre.[52]

• Funerals for victims of the Westroads Mall massacre.[52]

• Funerals for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.[43]

• Funerals for U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan[53] including Spc. Edward Myers.[52]

• Funerals for the 17 soldiers killed aboard the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.[55]

• Funerals for Amish schoolgirls murdered in Pennsylvania.[53]

• Funerals for victims who died when the I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapsed.[52]

• Funerals for AIDS victims[53] including Kevin Oldham.[52]

• Funerals for Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims.[56]

• Funeral for Canadian bus victim Tim McLean.[57]

 

Celebrities

 

• Billy Graham.[52]

• Santa Claus.[55]

• Musicians, including Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Sonny Bono,[53] Frank Sinatra,[55] Heath Ledger,[52] Taylor Swift,[58] Vince Gill, Kesha, and Blake Shelton.[59]

• Actors and television personalities, including Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Fred Rogers, Jerry Falwell,[43] and Cory Monteith.[60]

• Political figures, including Bob Dole, Bill Clinton's mother[53], Ronald Reagan, Princess Diana, Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, former Senator David Norris,[43] Coretta Scott King,[52]Topeka Mayor James McClinton, and Princess Madeleine of Sweden.[52]

• Reggie White.[43]

 

No-Fault Divorce

 

A favorite claim of gay rights advocates is that because divorce allows short marriages that there is no sanctity of marriage as is. However, this ignores the fact that no-fault divorce allowing divorce for any reason or no reason did not exist until the 1970s.[61] What is more, no-fault divorce, like the Gay Rights movement, began in California in 1969, same time, same place.[62] This is, in other words, the second time that the definition of marriage has been changed, and the last time it caused single mothers[63] and broken homes following false promises that changes to marriage would not harm society.

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References

1. Kliff, Sarah (2012, May 9). Have Ballot Initiatives Undermined Gay Marriage? The Washington Post.

2. Timeline of California's Prop 8 (2014, July 25). NBC Los Angeles.
   Gay Marriage (2008, October 21). WhatYouOughtToKnow.com.

3. Grossman, Cathy Lynn (2011, July 13). Calif. Gay 'Role Model' Bill Sparks Battle. USA Today.
   California Might Honor Gays In Textbooks (2006, May 12). Associated Press.
   California Gov Signs Landmark Law to Teach Gay History. (2011, July 14). FOX News.

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5. Bernstein, David (2014, April 8). Is Refusing to Photograph a Gay Marriage Properly Considered Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation? The Washington Post.

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