| April 16, 2009 “Faith organizations and individuals who view homosexuality as sinful and refuse to provide services to gay people are losing a growing number of legal battles that they say are costing them their religious freedom. The lawsuits have resulted from states and communities that have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. …Some legal analysts suggest that religious groups that do not support gay rights might lose their tax exemptions because of their politically unpopular views. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University who supports same-sex marriage, said the Bob Jones (tax exemption) ruling ‘puts us on a slippery slope that inevitably takes us to the point where we punish religious groups because of their religious views.’” ——————————- WASHINGTON POST
Washington, D.C.
April 10, 2009 Faith groups increasingly lose gay rights fights
by Jacqueline L. Salmon, Washington Post Staff Writer Faith organizations and individuals who view homosexuality as sinful and refuse to provide services to gay people are losing a growing number of legal battles that they say are costing them their religious freedom.
The lawsuits have resulted from states and communities that have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation. Those laws have created a clash between the right to be free from discrimination and the right to freedom of religion, religious groups said, with faith losing. They point to what they say are ominous recent examples: – A Christian photographer was forced by the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission to pay $6,637 in attorney’s costs after she refused to photograph a gay couple’s commitment ceremony. – A psychologist in Georgia was fired after she declined for religious reasons to counsel a lesbian about her relationship. – Christian fertility doctors in California who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian patient were barred by the state Supreme Court from invoking their religious beliefs in refusing treatment. – A Christian student group was not recognized at a University of California law school because it denies membership to anyone practicing sex outside of traditional marriage. “It really is all about religious liberty for us,” said Scott Hoffman, chief administrative officer of a New Jersey Methodist group, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which lost a property tax exemption after it declined to allow its beachside pavilion to be used for a same-sex union ceremony.
“The protection to not be forced to do something that is against deeply held religious principles.” But gay groups and liberal legal scholars say they are prevailing because an individual’s religious views about homosexuality cannot be used to violate gays’ right to equal treatment under the law. “We are not required to pay the price for other people’s religious views about us,” said Jennifer Pizer, director of the Marriage Project for Lambda Legal, a gay rights legal advocacy group. Twelve states now offer some form of same-sex marriage or same-sex partner recognition. Twenty states — including Maryland — and more than 180 cities and counties, including the District, ban discrimination against gays, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group. Virginia bans it against state employees. These laws generally offer some type of exemption to religious entities when hiring employees. But some groups are working to expand that exemption to include commercial businesses to protect owners and their employees when exercising their religious views. Gay rights groups said they do not object to making faith groups’ religious jobs exempt from the discrimination laws but that offering services to the public is different. “In their role as a participant in the marketplace, they are being required to do that in a non-discriminatory way,” said Brian Moulton, Human Rights Campaign senior counsel. Battles are increasingly including private businesses. Last August, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of Guadalupe Benitez, who is a lesbian, when she sued the North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group after doctors said their religious beliefs prevented them from artificially inseminating her. “We were devastated,” said Benitez, 37, who has been with partner Joanne Clark for almost two decades. Sexual orientation “should never have been an issue,” she said. “The issue was that I had a medical condition.” The court ruled that North Coast Women’s Care did not have a free-speech right or a religious exemption from the state antidiscrimination law. Sometimes, organizations that don’t wish to serve gays give in rather than go to court. The online dating site eHarmony agreed to provide gay and lesbian matchmaking services to settle a complaint by a gay New Jersey man accusing it of discrimination. The new site, CompatiblePartners.net, started Tuesday. The site eHarmony, founded by evangelical psychologist Neil Clark Warren, does not provide a same-sex option. Warren said his research into successful relationships did not include same-sex couples. Company attorneys said that it settled because of the unpredictable nature of litigation and that New Jersey’s attorney general did not find that eHarmony had violated the state’s anti-discrimination law. “People seem to say that if you enter the world of commerce, you lose all your First Amendment rights” to free exercise of religion, said Jordan Lorence, senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization that has represented several businesses. “They . . . have become nothing more than vending machines, and the government can dictate the conditions under which they dispense their goods and services.” Even when groups opposing homosexuality have prevailed in court, they have gone on to face other setbacks. The Boy Scouts of America won a lawsuit in 2000 because it did not allow openly gay Scouts or Scout leaders. Since then, some private charities have refused to support the Scouts, and some local governments have yanked free use of facilities and other benefits. In Philadelphia, the city is demanding that the Scouts pay $200,000 in annual rent for a building that they had been using rent-free. The dispute is in court. Some scholars also point to Bob Jones University, which lost its tax exemption over a ban on interracial dating and marriage among students, even though it claimed that those beliefs were religiously grounded. Some legal analysts suggest that religious groups that do not support gay rights might lose their tax exemptions because of their politically unpopular views. Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University who supports same-sex marriage, said the Bob Jones ruling “puts us on a slippery slope that inevitably takes us to the point where we punish religious groups because of their religious views.” Both sides predict more litigation as gay rights bump up against strong religious beliefs. Marc Stern, general counsel for American Jewish Congress, said: “When you have a change that is as dramatic as has happened in the last 10 to 15 years with regards to attitudes toward homosexuality, it’s inevitable it’s going to reverberate in dozens of places in the law that you’re never going to be able to foresee.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/09/AR2009040904063.html April 16, 2009 Dear AFA-Michigan supporter, Under pressure from multiple sources on and off campus, Central Michigan University’s student newspaper Friday morning published — on page two of its on-campus print version — a three-sentence retraction of the false report included in its story regarding my visit to the campus this past Tuesday night. In response to my phone discussion today with student editor-in-chief Jacob May, pointing out that their ethical obligation to correct their false report extended beyond the confines of the CMU campus, he later in the day added the retraction to the CM Life website at the top of the Wednesday story which falsely reported that “many groups” had accused me of being “anti-Semitic.” (In fact, no group has ever made such an accusation.) Here’s the retraction: “Editor’s note: Because of an editing error in Wednesday’s edition of Central Michigan Life, this article originally included uncorroborated remarks alleging that American Family Association (of Michigan) President Gary Glenn was ‘anti-Semitic.’ This is incorrect. Central Michigan Life regrets publishing this error.” http://media.www.cm-life.com/media/storage/paper906/news/2009/04/08/News/Hundreds.Protest.Conservative.Speaker-3701563.shtml What CM Life terms an “editing error” was in fact the now former managing editor’s insertion of the false allegation into the story after the reporter had turned it in for publication; thus, the reporter — under whose name the false information was published without his prior knowledge — joined us in demanding it be removed. Jacob advised me that the managing editor guilty of this “error” has been fired, as first reported yesterday by the Campus Conservatives group which invited me to speak…see their news release below. However, still having not fully learned their lesson, CM Life editors as of this moment have let remain on their website the “corrected” version of Wednesday’s story, which merely diverts what they now admit was a false attack on me personally to an equally unsubstantiated attack on the national AFA organization — again, without citing any accuser by name or identifying any factual sources or substance for the slur. Thus, what originally read — “Glenn also denied any allegations of being anti-Semitic, which many groups have accused him of.” — now reads instead — “…which some people have accused the national AFA of being.” Folks, this student newspaper is funded and operated by your tax dollars. If you’d like to join us in demanding that CM Life remove all “anti-Semitic” slurs from their story — a subject which, by the way, had nothing whatsoever to do with the topic on which I spoke Tuesday night — please join us in contacting the CMU president’s office as follows: Phone: (989) 774-3131
E-mail: president@cmich.edu Thanks as always for your support! 
Gary Glenn, President
American Family Association of Michigan
989-835-7978 ————————————————————– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, contact:
Dennis Lennox, CMU Campus Conservatives MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — The managing editor of Central Michigan University’s student newspaper was fired for falsifying accusations that libeled Michigan’s leading traditional values spokesman. Garrett Ellison had changed a piece after the reporter turned it in for publishing in Wednesday’s edition of Central Michigan Life. His changes claimed American Family Association of Michigan President Gary Glenn was an anti-Semite. The thrice-weekly newspaper is retracting the story and issuing a full apology in Friday’s edition. Glenn was at CMU to speak during a Campus Conservatives meeting. He is the author of the 2004 constitutional amendment that enshrined traditional marriage in the Michigan Constitution. “This is a victory for conservatives, who have been oppressed for years at CMU,” said Campus Conservatives spokesman Dennis Lennox. “One has to wonder how many other utter falsehoods have been published.” Lennox has also called for the firing of another editor, Caitlin Foyt, who attacked Glenn on Twitter calling him “homophobic” and “anti-semitic (sic).” Foyt, who is bisexual, according to her Facebook profile, has been previously banned from writing about Campus Conservatives because of her biases. “As a taxpayer-funded newspaper, Central Michigan Life has an obligation to be objective and impartial,” said Lennox. “Students need to know they can trust the school newspaper.” ### ————- Letter to CMU newspaper by Rabbi Glenn Harris,
Congregation Shema Yisrael, Bloomfield Hills To the Editor (Central Michigan Life), There is a thing called libel. It consists of putting falsehood to print. It potentially carries criminal charges. Joe Borlik authored an article (“Hundreds protest conservative speaker: Group closes meeting in response to demonstrations” April 8, 2009), in which he commented about American Family Association (of Michigan) President Gary Glenn, and I quote: “Glenn also denied any allegations of being anti-Semitic, which many groups have accused him of (italics mine). He said the mission statement of his organization has always been to promote Judeo-Christian values.” Unless Mr. Borlik’s is intentionally sabotaging any future career in journalism, I call on him to either provide the organizations, names and dates of the alleged allegations of anti-Semitism against Mr. Glenn (and they must be verifiably dated prior to 4/8/09), or else retract his statement in writing, with appropriate apologies to your constituency and to Mr. Glenn. I am all for free speech, but I have a particular disdain for false accusation, particularly when it is memorialized in print. I have known Mr. Glenn for the better part of a decade, and this man has not a shred of anti-Semitism in him. Sincerely, Rabbi Glenn Harris
Congregation Shema Yisrael
Bloomfield Hills, MI
(248) 593-5150 —————————— E-mail message from Joe Borlik, the student reporter under whose
byline the false CM-Life report was published (highlights added): Gary Glenn, I apologize if you were unhappy with the article and I will forward this to the managing editor. But I would like you to know that when I wrote the article in the newsroom I never wrote that “many groups have accused you of being anti-semetic.” If I had wrote that I would have said which groups accused you of such allogations. It is not like I wrote it and it instantly went into print. It was edited by three editors after it was written and one of them must have added that in. Once again I apologize. Joe Borlik
Central Michigan Life
(616) 405-3578 April 11, 2009 Note: we’ve demanded a retraction of the flatly false allegation included in this story that “many groups have accused (Gary Glenn) of” being anti-Semitic. No group has ever made such an accusation. If you’d like to join us in that demand, or otherwise express support for AFA-Michigan’s stand for traditional Judeo-Christian values, please e-mail the CMU student newspaper at:
studentlife@cm-life.com “Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association in Michigan, was greeted by about 200 protesters when he arrived to speak with the (Central Michigan University) Campus Conservatives Tuesday night. …The AFA is strongly opposed to laws allowing gay marriage. Glenn is the (co-)author of Proposal 2, which in 2004 called for marriage to be defined in Michigan as between a man and a woman. …Glenn spoke on the importance of traditional marriage and said the majority of Americans, including two thirds of blacks and more than 50 percent of Democrats agree that marriage should be between a man and a women. …According to Glenn, an Oxford University study suggests that college-aged gay men will die eight to 20 years earlier than straight men, and that gay people are more likely to experience domestic violence, a life-threatening disease and premature death.” —————————————
CENTRAL MICHIGAN LIFE
Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, Michigan
April 8, 2009 Hundreds protest conservative speaker
Group closes meeting in response to demonstrations by Joe Borlik Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association in Michigan, was greeted by about 200 protesters when he arrived to speak with the Campus Conservatives Tuesday night. The crowd, which waited behind the metal gate across the street from the Bovee University Center harmoniously chanted “Gay, straight, black, white, marriage is a civil right,” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, homophobia’s got to go.” Signs were printed with statements like “hate is not a family value,” and “you don’t have the balls to be queer.” The AFA is strongly opposed to laws allowing gay marriage. Glenn is the author of Proposal 2, which in 2004 called for marriage to be defined in Michigan as between a man and a woman. “I wanted to send a message to Gary Glenn and the organization he represents that we won’t represent hate on campus,” said Tennessee senior Ben Dotson. “He has the right to freedom of speech, but we have the right to take a stand against the bigotry he stands for.” Many of the protesters heard about the event from a Facebook event that was created by Dotson on Monday. Several officers with the Central Michigan University Police were on hand, presumably for crowd control. In response to the protest, Campus Conservatives decided to close the meeting to the general public. “Tonight is just for us because we don’t want people coming in and attacking him,” said Hart sophomore and Campus Conservatives president Bryant Greiner. Many protesters waited outside the University Center Isabella Room where Glenn spoke to make their presence heard. Glenn was prepared for the crowd who awaiting his arrival after seeing the protest scheduled on Facebook. “It’s the first time I’ve ever had my own Facebook (page),” he said. “They preach tolerance and diversity, yet if they had it their way, I wouldn’t be here.” Glenn spoke on the importance of traditional marriage and said the majority of Americans, including two thirds of blacks and more than 50 percent of Democrats agree that marriage should be between a man and a women. He also said that people who preach love and diversity can sometimes be the most hateful and intolerant people. Glenn also denied any allegations of being anti-Semitic, which many groups have accused him of. He said the mission statement of his organization has always been to promote Judeo-Christian values. According to Glenn, an Oxford University study suggests that college-aged gay men will die eight to 20 years earlier than straight men, and that gay people are more likely to experience domestic violence, a life-threatening disease and premature death. At 6:30 p.m., a half hour before the protest was scheduled to begin, Campus Conservatives sent out a press release to media entitled “Radical bullies try silencing Campus Conservatives meeting.” The statement read that “radical activists from the fringe of the political spectrum are threatening to disrupt tonight’s meeting.” Journalism professor Timothy Boudreau, adviser to the Campus Conservatives, said he wished Glenn’s speech would have been open to the public. “I find it ironic and profoundly disappointing that on a night when they preached the value of free expression, they closed the door on opposing points of view,” he said. April 11, 2009 “The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday morning struck down a state law restricting marriage to one man and one woman… As gay rights groups across the country hail the ruling, opponents are not as happy. Gary Glenn, the president of the American Family Association of Michigan, opposed the ruling.
‘Activist judges in Iowa proved once again today how right the American Family Association of Michigan was to call for a preemptive Marriage Protection Amendment constitutionally securing the definition of one-man, one-woman marriage in our state, and how right the people of Michigan were to overwhelmingly approve it,’ he said. ‘Homosexual activists will of course now parade counterfeit ‘marriages’ through the streets of Des Moines for a while, as they did in California, but eventually the people of Iowa will have a chance to vote on the issue, and the result will be the same there as in Michigan and 29 other states.’” ———————————————– MICHIGAN MESSENGER
Lansing, Michigan
April 3, 2009 Michigan gay rights advocates praise
Iowa’s same-sex marriage court ruling
by Todd A. Heywood The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday morning struck down a state law restricting marriage to one man and one woman, and many Michigan residents are hailing the ruling that makes the Hawkeye State the first in the Midwest to OK same-sex marriage. However, the case will have little direct impact on Michigan. “This is a great opinion,” said Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan’s Gay Lesbian Project. “This was a unanimous decision from Iowa’s Supreme Court and the first time we have a favorable opinion in the Midwest.” “While the ruling itself is significant, the reasoning behind the unanimous decision is insightful, fair, and thorough,” said Julie Nemecek, co-director of Michigan Equality, a Lansing-based LBGT rights organization. “It’s a different scenario there,” Kaplan said. “Iowa doesn’t have a constitutional amendment like we do. Its civil rights laws cover LGBT people, and the make-up of its Supreme Court is different than what we have here. We’d have to repeal our constitutional amendment, replace several justices on the Michigan Supreme Court before we’d be able to see a decision like this here.” Michigan voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2004 that banned gay marriage and other same-sex unions. Still, Kaplan said, other states can look to Iowa’s ruling. “I think it sets a good template for states that are similarly situated to Iowa (in terms of laws, courts, etc.), and we may see more developments in marriage equality in the Midwest (possibly a successful challenge in Illinois in the future) — so that the successes are not just limited to the coasts.” As gay rights groups across the country hail the ruling, opponents are not as happy. Gary Glenn, the president of the American Family Association of Michigan, opposed the ruling. “Activist judges in Iowa proved once again today how right the American Family Association of Michigan was to call for a preemptive Marriage Protection Amendment constitutionally securing the definition of one-man, one-woman marriage in our state, and how right the people of Michigan were to overwhelmingly approve it,” he said. “Homosexual activists will of course now parade counterfeit ‘marriages’ through the streets of Des Moines for a while, as they did in California, but eventually the people of Iowa will have a chance to vote on the issue, and the result will be the same there as in Michigan and 29 other states.” According to Lynda Waddington over at Michigan Messenger’s sibling site, The Iowa Independent, state law there does not have any residency requirements for marriage. This means same-sex couples could begin going to the Hawkeye State to get married, as was seen last year when California legalized same-sex marriage. The Iowa Supreme Court judges are appointed by the governor, approved by the state Senate, then serve one year. At the end of the year they face a judicial retention election. http://michiganmessenger.com/16081/michigan-gay-rights-advocates-react-to-iowa-same-sex-marriage-court-ruling April 10, 2009 “The coalition of (homosexual activist) groups supporting the (so-called ‘anti-bullying’) bill and the lobbying efforts have ‘postponed’ indefinitely the event. …Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, sent out a gleeful email late Friday afternoon declaring victory, ‘AFA-Michigan has so effectively exposed and discredited the Triangle Foundation’s past Trojan Horse “bullying” legislation that homosexual activists still trying to ride that dead horse have been reduced to attacking Triangle for being smart enough to jump off in midstream.’” ————————————- MICHIGAN MESSENGER
Lansing, Michigan
March 23, 2009 Anti-bullying forces delay statewide lobby day
by Todd A. Heywood On Wednesday, hundreds of parents, educators and youth were expected to flood the halls of the state Capitol to urge law makers to pass Matt’s Safe School Law– a series of bills designed to address bullying in Michigan schools. However my colleague, Jessica Carrerras, at Between the Lines, has learned the coalition of groups supporting the bill and the lobbying efforts have “postponed” indefinitely the event. The Safe Schools Coalition is made up of various groups, including social workers and LGBT groups. As we have recently reported, the LGBT goups have been barking at each other over a piece of compromise legislation which would remove enumeration– a list of protected classes. Sources at Triangle Foundation, an LGBT group pushing for the compromise legislation, told Carrerras this postponement had nothing to do with the ongoing schism in the community.
Triangle Foundation Executive Director Alicia Skillman maintains that the decision to postpone is not tied in any way to the arguments that have taken place. “It’s been an ongoing discussion in the safe schools coalition,” she said.
But Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, sent out a gleeful email late Friday afternoon declaring victory.
AFA-Michigan has so effectively exposed and discredited the Triangle Foundation’s past Trojan Horse “bullying” legislation that homosexual activists still trying to ride that dead horse have been reduced to attacking Triangle for being smart enough to jump off in midstream.
Glenn and his group have opposed the legislation for years, arguing it would create special rights for the gay community. You can read our earlier coverage on this issue here, here and here.
http://michiganmessenger.com:80/15129/anti-bullying-forces-delay-statewide-lobby-day |
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