FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sun., June 22, 2008
CONTACT: Gary Glenn 989-835-7978

Women complain doctor told them marriage
is only between one man, one woman

Traditional marriage group praises Spectrum doc for
telling lesbian couple the truth, spiritually and legally

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The American Family Association of Michigan Sunday praised a west Michigan doctor accused by a lesbian couple of so-called “discrimination” by telling them during a recent office visit that marriage consists only of a spiritual and legal union of one man and one woman.

The Triangle Foundation, a Detroit-based homosexual activist group that supports radically redefining marriage in Michigan to include homosexual couples, ramped up the rhetoric this weekend by accusing the physician — an as yet unnamed employee of Spectrum Health South Pavilion Urgent Care Center in Grand Rapids — of “spiritual violence” against the lesbian couple, who say they were “married” during the last two years in Canada, where marriage has already been redefined by activist judges.

(See “Same-sex couple complain about Spectrum doctor’s comments,” Grand Rapids Press:
http://blog.mlive.com/…)

AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn, Midland, noted that Michigan voters in 2004 overwhelmingly approved a Marriage Protection Amendment to the state constitution, which he co-authored.

“First, we commend the physician for telling these two women the simple truth, that under God’s law as well as the laws and constitution of the state of Michigan, marriage is in fact only between one man and one woman, regardless of what activist judges in some other country or state have to say about it,” Glenn said.

“Second, we urge Spectrum and the Grand Rapids area news media not to play along with homosexual activists’ obviously manufactured melodrama and political propaganda ploy,” Glenn said.

“A doctor dared express his opinion to two adult women who were and are completely free to disagree with him, and free to simply tell him so,” Glenn said. “Instead, they’re collaborating with a homosexual activist group trying to manufacture yet another melodrama of hurt feelings and alleged ‘discrimination’ to portray individuals who engage in homosexual behavior as ‘victims’ in the news media, in hopes of winning public sympathy for their aggressive agenda to legalize so-called homosexual ‘marriage’ in Michigan.”

“Third, it would be unprofessional for a physician not to question a homosexual couple about their lifestyle given the seriously increased personal and public health risks associated with homosexual behavior,” Glenn said. “In response, a truly compassionate doctor, or Christian, or community that truly cares about the health and well-being of others will discourage rather than enable or affirm medically harmful and self-destructive behavior.”

He cited multiple medical studies indicating increased health risks among women who have sex with other women:

* Homosexual women are more than twice as likely as women involved in normal heterosexual activity to be overweight or obese, which puts them at greater risk for obesity-related health problems and death from diabetes, heart disease, and other ailments, according to study of almost 6,000 women by Boston University School of Public Health published last year in the American Journal of Public Health. http://www.news.com.au:80/dailytel…

* Homosexual women have “a significantly higher prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (associated with pelvic inflammatory disease), hepatitis C, and HIV risk behaviors compared to” normal heterosexual women, according to a study of 1,408 lesbian and bisexual women by the Sexual Health Unit at Alice Springs Hospital in Australia, published in the October 2003 issue of the Journal of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The same study found higher rates of “high-risk behaviors, including drug use,” smoking tobacco, and that “hepatitis B was also more common” among lesbian women. http://www.curvemag.com/Detailed/13.html

* “Lesbians and bisexual women are more promiscuous than straight women,” being four times more likely than heterosexual women to report having had “more than 50 sex partners” in their lifetimes, “six times more likely to inject drugs, and…significantly more at risk from hepatitis B and C,” according to the Australian study, as reported by The Guardian, a mainstream secular newspaper in London. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/oct/24/3

* The Medical Institute of Sexual Health reported that “women who have sex with women are at significantly increased risk of bacterial vaginosis, breast cancer and ovarian cancer than are heterosexual women.” MISH also found “significantly higher percentages of homosexual men and women abuse drugs, alcohol and tobacco than do heterosexuals.” (Medical Institute of Sexual Health: www.medinstitute.org, Executive Summary, “Health Implications Associated with Homosexuality,” 1999)

* The National LGBT Cancer Network reports: “The U.S. government listed (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender) people as one of six population groups experiencing health disparities in this country, meaning that the burden of disease is not evenly distributed, but falls most heavily on these groups. In fact, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting that LGBT people have a substantially greater risk of developing cancer than the general population.” http://www.cancer-network.org/info.php

* Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE), a cancer victim research and advocacy group, reports: “(T)here is a body of evidence suggesting that lesbians have a dense cluster of risk factors, significantly raising their risk of developing breast, ovarian and other cancers. Research shows, for example, that lesbians have higher rates of obesity and lower rates of childbearing before age 30, increasing the risks for both breast and ovarian cancer.” http://www.facingourrisk.org/risk_management/breast_and_ovarian_cancer.html

* “(T)he National Cancer Institute announced that lesbians have a two- to threefold higher lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. Suzanne Haynes, an epidemiologist and former chief of the health education section of the National Cancer Institute, took known risk factors and looked to see if they occurred more among lesbians and found that they did. It was partly bad habits—overweight lesbians drinking and smoking too much—and partly science: Interruptions of the body’s estrogen production, which can be brought about by bearing children or taking the pill, are believed to decrease the risk of cervical and breast cancer.” http://www.villagevoice.com/people/0552,hunter,71342,24.html

* Compared to heterosexual women, females who engage in homosexual behavior are four times more likely to have suffered a substance use disorder, 2.4 times more likely to have suffered mood disorders, and twice as likely to have suffered two or more mental disorders during their lifetimes, according to a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2001. “The findings support the assumption that people with same-sex sexual behavior are at greater risk for psychiatric disorders,” the study reported.
http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/58/1/85

# # #

ONE NEWS NOW
Tupelo, Mississippi
June 11, 2008

School silences one, but not the other
by Charlie Butts

A pro-family advocate believes school officials erred in their attempts to censor student speeches at graduation ceremonies in Park Township, Michigan.

Valedictorian Jed Grooters was warned not to make biblical references in his speech and complied, but class president Andrew Webster did cite scripture. Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan contends school attorneys were wrong in demanding separation of church and state, and he bases that belief on an appeals court ruling.

“‘The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state,” Glenn points out. “And the [court’s] decision went further and called the ACLU’s repeated references to the so-called separation of church and state as ‘extra-constitutional and tiresome,’” he notes.

6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals: http://www.afamichigan.org/2005/1…

Glenn explains that Webster “picked up the mantle” denied Grooters and referred to the Bible in his speech. Webster received a standing ovation at the conclusion of the speech.

“We are proud of these two high school seniors,” says Glenn. “[We are proud] for their commitment, their faithfulness to the Lord, and their unwillingness to be muzzled when it comes to testifying to the role [Jesus] has played in their lives.”

The Michigan family advocate believes Christian legal organizations are standing in line to help either student, if necessary.

http://www.onenewsnow.com…

American Family Association of Michigan President Gary Glenn testified before the Royal Oak City Commission in March, urging commissioners to adopt an ordinance requiring the the installation of pornography-blocking software on all computers in the city’s public library. View Glenn’s testimony here: http://www.afamichigan.org/2008/04/02/afa-michigan-urges-royal-oak-to-filter-internet-porn-at-city-library

AFA-Michigan urges you to contact your local library and/or city officials to urge them to follow Royal Oak’s example…see below.

DAILY TRIBUNE
Royal Oak, Michigan
May 20, 2008

Library forced to use filters
Commission passes law limiting
Internet access to pornography

By Catherine Kavanaugh
Daily Tribune Staff Writer

ROYAL OAK– The public library will get filtering devices on all but one of the computers used by adults following passage Monday of an ordinance aimed at restricting Internet access.

In a 4-3 vote, the City Commission mandated the installation of software technology designed to block adult computer users from viewing Web sites with obscene material.

The Royal Oak Public Library has always filtered computers in its children’s department. The February arrest of a man who allegedly looked at child pornography in the adult computer lab resurrected the debate of filtering those terminals, too.

City Commissioners Michael Andrzejak, Terry Drinkwine, Stephen Miller and Chuck Semchena backed the ordinance. They said they want to provide maximum protection to library patrons and employees who could walk by a computer screen showing pornography and anyone who wouldn’t want to share the facility with someone looking for that kind of information.

“I believe there’s a danger from people willing to commit these crimes not only at home in private but in a public place,” Semchena said.

Semchena also said he was looking for a reason to change his vote but doesn’t think the steps taken by the Library Board of Trustees, such as requiring adults to show identification before using a computer, go far enough.

“I think you did some good work but it doesn’t rise to that level for me,” Semchena told library board members who attended the commission meeting.

Drinkwine complimented the board for its stricter ID policy, which has significantly reduced demand for computer time, according to library officials.

“You have to wonder why that it is,” Drinkwine said.

If the filters end up blocking access to legitimate research, too, the commission can reconsider the ordinance, Drinkwine added.

“It’s not something we can’t revisit if you prove it is totally unworkable,” he told the library board. “The only way we will know is to put it into practice and see how it shakes out.”

Mayor James Ellison and City Commissioner Carlo Ginotti and Gary Lelito said they don’t think the ordinance is necessary. No filters block all pornography and the devices can prevent people from going to useful Web sites dealing with health issues, such as sexually transmitted diseases.

“You can’t protect yourself from a chainsaw by taking away 50 percent of its teeth,” Ellison said. “A filter might cut out some of what is out there but it can’t filter all of it.”

The mayor said he prefers filtering patrons with ID checks and constant staff monitoring, which the library does, instead of filtering Internet content.

“I think the library board has the situation under control,” Ellison said just before the vote. “But the ordinance will pass. We will filter our computers and go from there. I wish it wasn’t happening but it’s not the end of the world.”

Ordinances go into effect 10 days after passage. David Palmer, the library board chairman, said the volunteer group will act as quickly as it can to comply.

“We have a directive and we will move ahead with it,” Palmer said.

Frank Houston, another member, said the library board has looked at filters offered by five companies and is leaning toward a device called WebBlocker, which stops access to Web page addresses in dozens of content categories.

One computer must be left unfiltered for Royal Oak to comply with the Michigan Library Privacy Act, which was amended in 1999 to strike a balance between respecting the free speech and privacy of adults while protecting children from obscene material.

Royal Oak could be the first city in Michigan to pass an ordinance forcing the library board to install filters, according to a spokesperson with the Michigan Municipal League. Other libraries leave only one terminal unfiltered as a matter of policy.

In his opposition to the ordinance, Ginotti said, “The worst way to fix a problem is to legislate it.”

However, Andrzejak said he hasn’t heard any public outcry in the cities where public libraries filter computers to the maximum level allowed by state law.

“I’ve been involved in this discussion going back a decade when I was on the library board and advocated for filters,” Andrzejak said. “…I’m not a holy roller. I’m not a liberal. I’m a man in the middle and I think this is right for the community.”

http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/052008/loc_localn04.shtml

“The people of Michigan have constitutionally protected marriage as exclusively the union of one man and one woman, period, and that includes prohibiting the recognition of homosexual relationships as equal or similar to marriage for any purpose, including offering spousal-type benefits to the homosexual partners of government employees,” said Gary Glenn, one of the co-authors of the Marriage Protection Amendment and head of the American Family Association of Michigan.

CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY
Denver, Colorado
May 8, 2008

Michigan court rules that marriage law
bans same-sex partnership benefits

Lansing, Mich. (CNA) — The Michigan General Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages also blocks Michigan governments and state universities from offering “domestic partnership” benefits for homosexual couples.

The Marriage Protection Amendment was approved by nearly sixty percent of voters in 2004. Considered the broadest of the 11 state marriage amendments barring same-sex marriage, the language of the Michigan amendment says “…the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.”

The Michigan ACLU, representing the AFL-CIO homosexual activist group National Pride at Work, had challenged the application of the law as based in Attorney General Mike Cox’s interpretation of the amendment.

The Michigan court’s 5-2 decision did not rule on whether government employment benefits can be offered to homosexual partners on some broader basis also available to other employees. Some local governments and universities have attempted to maintain present benefits by amending the eligibility requirements.

“The people of Michigan have constitutionally protected marriage as exclusively the union of one man and one woman, period, and that includes prohibiting the recognition of homosexual relationships as equal or similar to marriage for any purpose, including offering spousal-type benefits to the homosexual partners of government employees,” said Gary Glenn, one of the co-authors of the Marriage Protection Amendment and head of the American Family Association of Michigan.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, praised the decision, saying, “The Michigan Supreme Court courageously upheld the will of the people.”
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12591

“Gay rights advocates said the (Michigan Supreme Court) ruling is devastating but also are confident that public-sector employers have successfully rewritten or will revise their benefit plans so same-sex partners can keep getting health care. …

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said last year that he didn’t anticipate further suits on the issue. But he said Wednesday: ‘You never say never.’ Glenn, who co-wrote the (Marriage Protection Amendment), said the legality of the new policies depends on whether they’re written broadly enough to cover many other unmarried employees.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lansing, Michigan
May 7, 2008

Michigan high court says gay
partners can’t get health benefits

by David Eggert
The Associated Press

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a voter-approved ban against gay marriage also prevents governments and state universities from recognizing domestic partnerships to provide health insurance to the partners of gay workers.

The 5-2 decision affects up to 20 universities, community colleges, school districts and governments in Michigan with policies covering at least 375 gay couples.

Gay rights advocates said the ruling is devastating but also are confident that public-sector employers have successfully rewritten or will revise their benefit plans so same-sex partners can keep getting health care.

The constitutional amendment, which passed 59 percent to 41 percent in November 2004, says the union between a man and woman is the only agreement recognized as a marriage “or similar union for any purpose.”

The majority ruled that while marriages and domestic partnerships aren’t identical, they are similar because they’re the only relationships in Michigan defined in terms of gender and lack of a close blood connection. Voters “hardly could have made their intentions clearer,” Justice Stephen Markman wrote, citing the law’s “for any purpose” language.

He was joined by Chief Justice Clifford Taylor and Justices Maura Corrigan, Elizabeth Weaver and Robert Young Jr.

Dissenting Justices Marilyn Kelly and Michael Cavanagh countered that statements made by backers of the measure before the election suggest they only intended to prohibit gay marriage, not take away employment benefits. The dissent also noted that gay partners who qualify for health care aren’t given other benefits of marriage — equal rights to property, for instance.

“It is an odd notion to find that a union that shares only one of the hundreds of benefits that a marriage provides is a union similar to marriage,” Kelly wrote.

The ruling is believed to be one of the first from a state high court interpreting the scope of measures barring gay marriage. Alaska courts went the other way, ruling that it’s unconstitutional to deny benefits. Ohio courts found that domestic violence laws don’t conflict with a ban on gay marriage.

But numerous states have yet to grapple with how their gay marriage bans apply to same-sex partner benefits.

At least 27 states have passed constitutional bans, mostly since 2004 in response to gay marriages being performed in Massachusetts. At least 18 of those states, including Michigan, have broader amendments that also prohibit the recognition of civil unions or same-sex partnerships.

“It’s a sad day in Michigan when we decide which children and which families are valuable enough to cover,” said Tom Patrick, 50, who gets health insurance through his partner, Dennis Patrick, a professor at Eastern Michigan University. The couple from Washtenaw County’s Superior Township has adopted four children and has a foster child, one with a developmental disability. Tom Patrick works part-time to care for the kids and said it would hurt the family to have to pay for his benefits out of pocket.

The Patricks joined 20 other gay couples and filed a lawsuit in 2005 when Republican Attorney General Mike Cox interpreted Michigan’s measure as making unconstitutional same-sex benefits at the city of Kalamazoo and elsewhere.

Sixteen plaintiffs worked for employers who offered same-sex benefits. Another five were employed by the state, which in 2004 agreed to start providing same-sex benefits but delayed them until courts could clear up their legality. Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration is reviewing the ruling.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, which represented the couples, called the decision “flawed and unfortunate.” It pledged to work with public employers to write “neutral” policies ensuring employees’ partners don’t lose health coverage, but also expressed uneasiness and warned that gays will have to go through more hoops.

New policies no longer acknowledge domestic partnerships but make sure “other qualified adults,” including gay partners, are eligible for medical and dental care. The adults have to live together for a certain amount of time, be unmarried, share finances and be unrelated.

“The university believes all current benefit offerings are in full compliance with Michigan law,” University of Michigan spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said.

It remains to be seen whether the revised policies will be challenged in court.

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said last year that he didn’t anticipate further suits on the issue. But he said Wednesday: “You never say never.”

Glenn, who co-wrote the 2004 measure, said the legality of the new policies depends on whether they’re written broadly enough to cover many other unmarried employees.

The ACLU is weighing whether a federal lawsuit is warranted, while Cox applauded the decision.

The dissent argued that the ballot committee sponsoring the gay marriage ban consistently assured voters that the initiative was only about protecting marriage.

But the majority said other supporters and even opponents of the amendment said ahead of time that benefits would be prohibited by the amendment.

“The role of this Court is not to determine who said what about the amendment before it was ratified, or to speculate about how these statements may have influenced voters,” Markman wrote. “Instead, our responsibility is, as it has always been in matters of constitutional interpretation, to determine the meaning of the amendment’s actual language.”

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-53/121017504644810.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

Dear AFA-Michigan supporter,

Here’s additional testimony to AFA-Michigan’s effectiveness in providing a voice for traditional family values in the mainstream news media. Earlker this week, we issued a news release which resulted in the following story broadcast by and appearing on the website of WNEM-TV Channel 5 in Saginaw.

One of the most telling measures of AFA-Michigan’s effectiveness is how professional homosexual activists react when they realize their propaganda message no longer enjoys a monopoly in mainstream media news coverage. Please note immediately following the WNEM-TV story below a commentary written by Sean Kosofsky of the homosexual activist group Triangle Foundation, posted today on his online blog. At the end, Kosofsky urges homosexual acitivists to contact WNEM-TV to protest their factually accurate coverage.

As always, thank you for your continued support, which makes all that we do possible!

Gary Glenn, President
American Family Association of Michigan
www.AFAMichigan.org

WNEM-TV
Saginaw, Michigan
April 24, 2008

“Day Of Silence” has parents, group upset

American Family Association of Michigan
urging parents to keep kids home from school

SAGINAW, Mich. — A statewide family values organization is urging parents to keep their children home from school if their school is among those planning to allow a national homosexual activist group’s scheduled protest Friday to protest the treatment of gay teens.

Earlier this week, TV-5 broke the story of how students across Michigan, including Clare High School, are planning Friday to protest bullying, especially when it comes against kids leading alternative lifestyles.

Participating students will not talk or participate in class discussions during the school day.

The American Family Association of Michigan, which proposed and co-authored a Marriage Protection Amendment approved by voters in 2004, said its national affiliate has contacted tens of thousands of parents and grandparents statewide, urging them to “stage a protest of their own, using their public school tax dollars,” association President Gary Glenn said Wednesday.

“Many parents and grandparents are displeased that their local school is being used by a national homosexual activist group to stage a protest promoting and enabling sexual activity that poses a severe threat to children’s health,” Glenn said.

“If school officials are willing to allow the normal education process to be disrupted for the sake of promoting immoral and unhealthy behavior, one way parents can express their displeasure is by refusing to expose their children to that message.”

For more information on the two organizations promoting the event and boycotting it, visit GLSEN and AFA.

Mission America, a national organization that monitors homosexual activists’ activities in public schools, including the so-called “Day of Silence,” lists the following schools in Michigan that are reported by GLSEN or other sources to be sponsoring or supporting the protest or allowing students to refuse to participate in normal classroom activities:

ACADEMY OF FLINT
ARTS ACADEMY IN THE WOODS
ATHENS HIGH SCHOOL
BATH HIGH SCHOOL
BERKLEY HIGH SCHOOL
BLACK RIVER HIGH SCHOOL
BLOOMFIELD HILLS ANDOVER HIGH SCHOOL
CANTON HIGH SCHOOL
CESAR CHAVEZ ACADEMY
CITY MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL
CLARE HIGH SCHOOL
COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL
CRANBROOK KINGSWOOD SCHOOL
CRESTON HIGH SCHOOL
DEWITT HIGH SCHOOL
DEXTER HIGH SCHOOL
EAST GRAND RAPIDS HIGH SCHOOL
EAST KENTWOOD HIGH SCHOOL
EAST LANSING HIGH SCHOOL
EASTERN HIGH SCHOOL
EVERETT HIGH SCHOOL
FARMINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
FRUITPORT HIGH SCHOOL
GREENHILLS SCHOOL
GREENVILLE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
GROSSE POINTE SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL
GULL LAKE HIGH SCHOOL
WYLIE E.GROVES HIGH SCHOOL
HASLETT HIGH SCHOOL
HAZEL PARK HIGH SCHOOL
HOLLAND HIGH SCHOOL
HURON HIGH SCHOOL –Ann Arbor
INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY
JACKSON HIGH SCHOOL
KALAMAZOO CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL
KENOWA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL
KELLOGGSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL
LAKEVIEW HIGH SCHOOL–Battle Creek
L’ANSE CREUSE HIGH SCHOOL
LANSING SEXTON HIGH SCHOOL
LAPEER WEST SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
LOY NORRIX HIGH SCHOOL
MATTAWAN HIGH SCHOOL
MONA SHORES HIGH SCHOOL
NORTH FARMINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
OAK PARK HIGH SCHOOL
OKEMOS HIGH SCHOOL
PINCKNEY COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL
PIONEER HIGH SCHOOL
PLAINWELL HIGH SCHOOL
PLYMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL
RIVER ROUGE HIGH SCHOOL
THE ROEPER CITY AND COUNTRY UPPER SCHOOL
ROGERS HIGH SCHOOL
ROYAL OAK HIGH SCHOOL
SALEM HIGH SCHOOL
SALINE HIGH SCHOOL
TAWAS AREA HIGH SCHOOL
WEST OTTAWA HIGH SCHOOL
WYOMING PARK HIGH SCHOOL

————————————————–

BLOG O’ QUEER
Detroit, Michigan
April 25, 2008

Horrible coverage of Day of Silence in Michigan

by Sean Kosofsky, Director of Policy
The Triangle Foundation

WNEM has run one of the worst stories I have seen in recent years on LGBT (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender) issues by using insensitive and inflammatory terms to cover the Day of Silence today..

First, the headline is pure AFA propaganda. Then referring to the AFA as a “family values” organization is a flat out lie. Then they referred to gays and lesbians as living an “alternative lifestyle” and referred (to) us as “homosexuals.” They also keep referring to DOS as a protest, as if there will demonstrations occurring in schools. The AFA lies in the piece by saying they have contacted tens of thousands of parents in MI. They have no such list in MI. If they mean they are reaching parents through the meda (sic).

They also ran no response to Gary Glenn of the AFA. It is completely biased coverage. They basically ran the press release of AFA.

Contact them at:

WNEM-TV
Building C, Suite D
55409 Gateway Centre
Flint, MI 48507
Phone: 810-232-3900
Newsroom: 810-234-5607
Email Ian Rubin
ian.rubin@wnem.com

AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn testified before the Royal Oak City Commission, urging commissioners to protect families and children by blocking Internet access to pornographic material on the city library’s computers. The issue arose after a man was arrested at the Royal Oak Public Library in February for using a library computer to access child pornography. The city commission then heard testimony from a library board member and library director before unanimously approving a resolution instructing the library to block Internet porn access. The library board is still dragging its feet, and AFA-Michigan is urging commissioners to adopt an ordinance or city charter amendment requiring Internet pornography filters.

(Fast forward to 24:30 of the video for Glenn’s six-minute testimony, and to 34:08 for an additional hour and fifteen minutes of further testimony and discussion on the issue.)

MICHIGAN INFORMATION AND RESEARCH SERVICE
The State Capitol
Lansing, Michigan
April 1, 2008

Senators: AFA-Michigan not bullying on bills

The American Family Association of Michigan (AFAM) is crowing that two GOP senators have yanked their sponsorship of anti-bullying legislation, issuing joint press releases with Sens. Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) and Valde Garcia (R-Howell).

HB 4162 and HB 4091 passed the lower chamber last year and have been sitting in the Senate Education Committee ever since, but a Capitol rally last week brought the bills back to the forefront. There’s also SB 107 sponsored by Sen. Glenn Anderson (D-Westland), but proponents say they’re focused on the House bills.

AFAM blasted a lobby day event put on by the Safe Schools Coalition on Wednesday pushing “Matt’s Safe School Law,” named after Matt Epling, an East Lansing eighth-grader who took his own life in 2002 after severe hazing incidents.

School districts would have six months to adopt an anti-bullying policy or face potential future action by the Legislature (”Bullying Bills Primed For Movement,” 3/13/07).

AFAM President Gary Glenn blasts the legislation as promoting the “homosexual agenda” by including gender identity and homosexuality as personal characteristics a person could not be bullied for. But Sean Kosofsky, policy director for the gay rights group the Triangle Foundation, said the House bills don’t have a list of protected groups.

In an e-mailed release Wednesday morning, Glenn accused the Triangle Foundation of instituting a dress code for the lobby day, which attracted more than 100 people, including Michigan State Police Director Peter Munoz.

Glenn unleashed a response that raised the ire of the Triangle Foundation: “In the sad reality of enabling emotional trauma and delusion that comprises their stock in trade,” Glenn said, “it is not a joking matter to wonder if the Triangle Foundation’s wardrobe instructions will further traumatize or inhibit the emotionally disturbed men who claim they’re really women, who had every serious intent of wearing a dress to the state Capitol and using the women’s restrooms while they’re there. Is the Triangle Foundation asking ‘lobbying day’ participants to go back into the closet for mere political expedience?”

Kosofsky retorted: “There’s no dress code for our lobby day. We’ve had people with Mohawks and people in jeans and T-shirts. It’s come as you are. …This is the politics of distraction. That’s why they bring up cross-dressing and women’s restrooms. … The AFAM isn’t a pro-family organization. They’re a hate group.”

AFAM issued a press release announcing Garcia had dropped his support for SB 0107 four hours later on Wednesday. A similar release with Richardville followed on Friday. But the senators stress AFAM didn’t bully them into retracting their support.

“The AFAM had concerns, but they didn’t pressure me to change my mind,” Garcia said. “They’re just now getting involved…I always had concerns.”

“That’s not the reason I do things,” Richardville told MIRS. Anderson concurred that he didn’t believe his colleagues had caved to AFAM, saying he held them both in “high regard.”

Garcia said he became more aware of problems with the bill after he signed on last year. Furthermore, he points out neither have technically withdrawn their names because that can’t happen until legislation comes before the Senate. Anderson said Garcia had told him of his decision. He stressed they’re “still in the process of working out differences.”

Kosofsky said it’s moot. The focus is on getting the House bills passed, which have more updated language than Anderson’s bill. He described Garcia’s and Richardville’s actions as “disheartening,” but felt confident they’d sign on to the final legislation.

“Gary Glenn is manufacturing dissent where there’s not any,” he said.

Garcia and Richardville said they were concerned about bullying as a problem, but did not want to protect specific classes of people based on sex, race, sexual orientation, etc. It’s the same argument used against hate crime legislation — a crime’s a crime, so it’s no different to attack someone even if race, for instance, is a motivating factor.

Richardville notes sexual orientation is included, but factors like “physical size, what part of the city kids live in and what their clothes look like” are not. He would like to see a more general anti-bullying bill. “Everyone should be protected,” Richardville said, “not just certain classes.”

Garcia agrees that “inadvertently, you leave something out, someone out.”
Glenn calls the legislation a “Trojan horse.”

“(It) would have no real effect on bullying but is being backed by homosexual activist groups who hope to use legitimate public concern about student safety as a ruse to establish — for the first time ever, anywhere in Michigan law — special ‘protected class’ status based on homosexual behavior and cross-dressing,” Glenn claims.

Richardville said he’s not interested in championing anyone’s “agenda.”

Anderson said he’s received several e-mails from people “who don’t believe some people should be protected. I believe all children should. (Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) students should not be in fear.”

He also said AFAM is using the bill as a fundraiser and to motivate its base. He said it’s “fanning bigotry across the state, anxiety across the state.”

“Unfortunately, we’re talking about school kids here,” Anderson said. “It’s difficult to express how I feel about someone using that to raise money when not all children are afforded a safe environment to learn.”

Richardville said he doesn’t doubt that gay students — and those perceived as gay — face bullying at school.

“I don’t espouse that lifestyle, but there are students figuring those things out. I just don’t think we should spell things out (in legislation),” Richardville said. “That’s not my agenda item.”

He condemns “radical” groups that use hate speech, like the Kansas Westboro Baptist Church’s “God hates fags” campaign. Richardville said he views issues through a Christian lens in which you “love the sinner, but hate the sin.”

Richardville said after talking with Education Chair Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland), he believes taking out the specific groups will make it easier to pass the bill. Anderson said he’s willing to compromise and remains optimistic.

“If you try to get everything, you won’t get everything,” Richardville said.

http://www.mirsnews.com

“Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, which is opposed to the measures, said he doesn’t think all 20 of (the bill’s) co-sponsors would vote for the bill if it came to the Senate floor… Much of the controversy regarding the bills hinges on a requirement that, while local school districts would have to have some form of anti-bullying policy, they would be encouraged to adopt a model policy drafted by the state Department of Education (that)…includes protections for students bullied because of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

Glenn called that provision a ruse to establish ’special “protected class” status based on homosexual behavior and cross-dressing.’ Advocates were dealt another blow Wednesday when Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Howell, who had originally signed on as a co-sponsor for the bill, said he would not vote for it should it reach the Senate floor.”

LANSING STATE JOURNAL
Lansing, Michigan
March 27, 2008

Anti-bullying bills advocates
“optimistic” at Capitol rally

“Matt’s Safe School Law” stalls

by Derek Wallbank

Concerns over whether anti-bullying legislation would give homosexual and transgendered students protected status appear to have stalled the measure in the state Senate.

The legislation is “Matt’s Safe School Law,” a two-bill package that would require local schools to adopt rules prohibiting bullying.

The bills are named after Matt Epling, an East Lansing teenager who killed himself in 2002 after a school hazing incident.

The bills passed the House in March 2007 and have languished in the Senate Education Committee ever since.

Rallying for support

On Wednesday, Matt’s father, Kevin Epling, and about 150 other anti-bullying activists gathered in the Capitol rotunda to rally support for the law.

“I’m optimistic,” Epling said of the bills’ chances. “I have to be optimistic or I wouldn’t be doing this.”

Twenty of 36 senators have co-sponsored the legislation, enough to pass it by majority vote.

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, which is opposed to the measures, said he doesn’t think all 20 of those co-sponsors would vote for the bill if it came to the Senate floor, but said his group isn’t taking any chances.

“The easiest way to make sure this doesn’t pass is to make sure it doesn’t come up for a vote,” Glenn said.

Similar bills have been offered since 1999, though none have been signed into law.

Liz Boyd, spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said the governor will sign the bill into law if it passes the Senate.

State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said the bill would be especially useful because it would get communities talking about bullying.

“First of all, it gets us out of denial to pretend this isn’t a problem. It is,” Flanagan said.

Committee Chair Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, could not be reached for comment.

Model policy

Much of the controversy regarding the bills hinges on a requirement that, while local school districts would have to have some form of anti-bullying policy, they would be encouraged to adopt a model policy drafted by the state Department of Education.

That policy already exists and it includes protections for students bullied because of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.

Glenn called that provision a ruse to establish “special ‘protected class’ status based on homosexual behavior and cross-dressing.”

Advocates were dealt another blow Wednesday when Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Howell, who had originally signed on as a co-sponsor for the bill, said he would not vote for it should it reach the Senate floor.

“I want to stop bullying, but I don’t want a laundry list,” Garcia said of the state’s list of protected students.
“Rather than be specific about it, let’s just focus on bullied persons.”

Work will continue

Despite the setback, advocates said they would continue pressing the issue.

“I was kind of told to go home back in 2003,” Epling said, adding that he hopes a bullying bill will pass this year.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080327/NEWS04/803270346/1005/news

Triangle Foundation urges dress code Wed. at Capitol

Homosexual activist groups don’t want to
be “recognized” as homosexual activists

Family group: What don’t they want lawmakers to see?

LANSING — A who’s who of Michigan homosexual activist groups will convene at the state Capitol Wednesday to push legislation that a statewide family values organization calls a Trojan Horse bill only masquerading as protection against bullying in public schools.

The American Family Association of Michigan says the legislation would have no actual effect on student safety, but would set the precedent of creating — for the first time anywhere in Michigan law — special “protected class” status based on so-called “sexual orientation” (homosexual behavior) and “gender identity and expression” (cross-dressing).

“Obviously sensitive to the waning political prospects of their now thoroughly exposed Trojan Horse strategy, homosexual activists apparently hope it might help if they take their masquerade tactic one step further, this time literally so,” said AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn of Midland.

Glenn pointed to the website of the Triangle Foundation, a homosexual activist group based in Detroit. Denying any attempt to “censor who we are,” the Triangle website Tuesday posted an online dress code urging those planning to participate in Wednesday’s “Safe Schools Lobbying Day” not to wear clothing or costumes by which they might be “recognized” or “labeled” as involved in the homosexual lifestyle or cross-dressing.

“What is it that homosexual activists don’t want Michigan lawmakers to see?” Glenn asked.

“In the sad reality of enabling emotional trauma and delusion that comprises their stock in trade,” Glenn said, “it is not a joking matter to wonder if the Triangle Foundation’s wardrobe instructions will further traumatize or inhibit the emotionally disturbed men who claim they’re really women, who had every serious intent of wearing a dress to the state Capitol and using the women’s restrooms while they’re there. Is the Triangle Foundation asking ‘lobbying day’ participants to go back into the closet for mere political expedience?”

According to Triangle’s website, Wednesday’s “lobbying day” is sponsored by the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, Michigan Equality (a Lansing “gay rights” group), the Human Rights Campaign (purportedly the largest national “gay rights” group), ACLU-Michigan (which represents “gay rights” groups in court), the American Friends Services Committee’s Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Issues Program, Affirmations (a “gay and lesbian” community center in Ferndale), the Coalition for Adoption Rights for Everyone (which lobbies for “gay” adoption rights), the National Organization of Women-Michigan, and, of course, the Triangle Foundation.

“All these groups have something obviously in common,” Glenn observed. “But Triangle doesn’t want the people representing all these lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender activist groups to be ‘recognized’ or ‘labeled’ as a lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender activist group.”

The “lobbying day” dress code appeared Tuesday on Triangle’s website as follows:

“Due to the importance and sensitivity of this day, we ask that those planning to attend reflect their views and opinions in their dialogs (sic) with individuals and not with their attire. Items that may be a sign of your status as Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender or ally could distract from the message of the day. This legislation is for safe schools for all students, including those in our community. Lansing should recognize us as equal residents and not label us as Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender. We hope that you understand our request and accept that this is not an attempt to censor who we are, but to allow us to be seen as concerned citizens first.” http://www.tri.org/ssld.html

“Homosexual activists are trying to disguise who they are,” Glenn said, “just as they’re trying to disguise the real agenda behind this Trojan Horse ‘bullying’ legislation.”

“Since homosexual activists and their political allies oppose language that would simply protect all children from all bullying for all reasons, it’s clear that their real agenda is to use legitimate concern over student safety to sneak special rights based on homosexual behavior and cross-dressing into Michigan law for the first time,” he said. “And then to use that as a precedent to add special rights and protected status based on that unhealthy behavior to Michigan’s civil rights and hate crime laws, threatening the religious freedom and free speech rights of individuals and organizations who oppose homosexual activists’ political agenda.”

Last year, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, attempted to amend the legislation to strike language segregating students into special “protected class” categories — including, for the first time ever in Michigan law, “sexual orientation” and “gender identity and expression” — and replace it with language prohibiting all bullying against all students for all reasons.”
http://www.gophouse.com/readarticle.asp?id=4231&District=98

House Democrats refused to even allow a vote on that amendment. The legislation was passed a year ago by the House and has since languished in the state Senate.

The Michigan Association of School Boards warns members not to include “sexual” orientation in school harassment or bullying policies: “Bill Scharffe, director of bylaw and policy services for the Michigan Association of School Boards, advises local districts not to include the term “sexual orientation” in their anti-harassment policies. ‘Schools need to be very careful with that,’ he said, noting that neither federal nor state civil rights laws consider people of a particular sexual orientation a protected class. He added that literal interpretation of ’sexual orientation’ could include people who gravitate toward any sort of sexual activity, including that with animals, children and corpses.” (The Oakland Press, March 13, 2005: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/031305/edu_20050313006.shtml)

The Lansing State Journal editorially opposes the so-called “bullying” legislation: “A state law isn’t going to make school hallways bully free. …The most recent bills already have cleared the House and are awaiting action by the Senate. Their prospects are uncertain, though, as Republicans and ‘family values’ advocates are protesting the inclusion of ’sexual orientation’ as one of the characteristics specifically mentioned in the bills. Michigan isn’t going to benefit right now from a battle over which characteristics deserve protection from bullies. It’s divisive and unnecessary. …Whenever the Legislature has taken up the bullying issue, the impression left is that local school districts and boards lack the interest to act. How can that be? …Do state lawmakers really think that school boards don’t care about protecting schoolchildren; that lawmakers in the state Capitol have a better grip on hallway happenings than parents and community members?” (April 17, 2007)

The Grand Rapids Press editorially opposes the so-called “bullying” legislation: “Proposed legislation in Lansing that would require schools to adopt a policy that prohibits bullying and harassment is well-intentioned but unnecessary. Lawmakers should reject it. Schools already have policies to combat bullying and effectively deal with those perpetrators who assault, harass or intimidate other students. …The Senate should realize the bully matter isn’t being overlooked by schools. Educators don’t need the state to take control.” (April 4, 2007)

“Hundreds of educators, students and community members are expected to descend upon the State Capitol next week to demand the Senate pass a comprehensive bill aimed at stopping bullying in schools. …’The future of this bill is in the hands of Senate leaders,’ said Sean Kosofsky, policy director of the Triangle Foundation, an anti-violence and (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender) advocacy group in Detroit. ‘Governor Granholm has said that if it passes, she will sign it.’ …The inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in the bills has fired up family advocacy groups like the American Family Association of Michigan. During last year’s lobby event, AFA Michigan’s Gary Glenn was sending faxes condemning the bills and calling on the Legislature to kill the final bill.”

MICHIGAN MESSENGER
Lansing, Michigan
March 20, 2008

Anti-bullying forces to descend on Capitol to get Senate to pass bill
by: Todd A. Heywood

LANSING — Hundreds of educators, students and community members are expected to descend upon the State Capitol next week to demand the Senate pass a comprehensive bill aimed at stopping bullying in schools. The bill passed the state House a year ago, but has since languished in the Senate awaiting a hearing.

The event will happen Wednesday, March 26, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Capitol. The bill, Matt’s Safe School Law, would require school districts to create and report to the state an anti-bullying policy. Some oppose the bill because it includes a list of protected categories, including sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. The bill is named for Matt Epling, an East Lansing Schools student who committed suicide as a result of harassment and bullying.

“I think if you are going to make a statement on bullying, you don’t make special classes of students,” said State Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R-Holland, chair of the Senate Education Committee. “Bullying is a symptom of a larger problem.” Kuipers said he is working on substitute bills that would address the bigger problems behind bullying. “It is a lack of respect for others,” Kuipers said of the root of the problem. “They (students) are not being taught the proper way to deal with others.” Kuipers said his substitute bills would cause a bigger discussion about what he called “character education.” “In the context of that character discussion, there will be some discussion on bullying.”

The new bills are currently being redrafted and he expects them to be taken up after the Senate’s two-week spring break, which begins on next Friday. He said he has meetings with Lobby Day participants that day. Asked if he would attend the Lobby Day event, Kuiper said: “No. I wasn’t invited.” Organizer’s of Wednesday’s Lobby Day hope to push the Senate to hold hearings on Matt’s Safe Schools law. “Make no mistake, the Senate is a much different battlefield than the House because of party affiliation and individuals involved in letting legislation move or not,” said Derek Smiertka, executive director of Michigan Equality, a statewide LGBT rights organization.

“The future of this bill is in the hands of Senate leaders,” said Sean Kosofsky, policy director of the Triangle Foundation, an anti-violence and LGBT advocacy group in Detroit. “Governor Granholm has said that if it passes, she will sign it. We have the broadest possible coalition pushing this bill. We think it’s the best possible compromise to keep everyone pleased.” The House version of the bill passed last March during the Safe Schools Lobby Day although the vote had been unanticipated by Lobby Day organizers. Organizers had expected a vote three weeks after the Lobby Day. Instead they were presented with a substitute bill that required school districts to adopt an anti-bullying policy similar to the model policy passed in September 2006 by the State Board of Education. The model policy includes a list of protected categories, based on things like sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

The inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in the bills has fired up family advocacy groups like the American Family Association of Michigan. During last year’s lobby event, AFA Michigan’s Gary Glenn was sending faxes condemning the bills and calling on the Legislature to kill the final bill.

http://www.michiganmessenger.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=E00C93EDA1E192A2D233F788FBFC0AEB?diaryId=1015

“Gary Glenn, director of the American Family Association of Michigan, told the Michigan Messenger: ‘The ideal that’s in every child’s best interests is to have both a mother and a father. Selfishly denying a child one or the other on purpose, by whatever means, is obviously not in the child’s best interest. Obviously, being able to harvest male sperm cells from a woman’s bone marrow doesn’t make her a father, which every boy needs and deserves, any more than harvesting unfertilized eggs from a man’s bone marrow will make him the mother that every little girl needs.’”

MICHIGAN MESSENGER
Lansing, Michigan
February 28, 2008

New stem cell controversy: Harvest
sperm from woman, eggs from man
by Ed Brayton

Just when new developments hold out the promise of doing embryonic stem cell research without any destruction of embryos, a new research study has rekindled another fierce controversy over the ethical uses of such research.

Researchers in the UK and Brazil have announced that they believe it will be possible in the future to use adult stem cells from a woman to produce sperm cells and to use adult stem cells from a man to produce eggs with their own DNA. If that becomes a reality, it would allow gay or lesbian couples to produce their own 100 percent biological offspring. Currently, it is possible for a female couple to reproduce using an egg from one of them and sperm from another male, or for male couples to reproduce by inseminating a surrogate mother, but only one of the couple in each case is a biological parent to the child.

This announcement has caused something of an uproar, particularly in conservative Christian circles. Gary Glenn, director of the American Family Association of Michigan, told the Michigan Messenger: “The ideal that’s in every child’s best interests is to have both a mother and a father. Selfishly denying a child one or the other on purpose, by whatever means, is obviously not in the child’s best interest. Obviously, being able to harvest male sperm cells from a woman’s bone marrow doesn’t make her a father, which every boy needs and deserves, any more than harvesting unfertilized eggs from a man’s bone marrow will make him the mother that every little girl needs.”

Ed Rivet of Right to Life of Michigan argues that such research is evidence that scientists must be restrained by society, saying: “We can’t as a society presume that science will properly monitor itself or regulate itself. There will always be scientists that will cross whatever ethical lines we draw. We as a society do have an important obligation to provide oversight to the scientific community.”

But in this case, the scientific community seems highly skeptical of the feasibility of such research even before getting to the ethical questions.

The research team at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK has so far managed to coax stem cells from mouse embryos to become sperm stem cells, or spermatogonium. These cells contain two sets of chromosomes, not one, and have to go through a complex series of cell divisions in order to become actual sperm cells capable of fertilizing an ovum. So far the researchers have only managed to use a combination of vitamins and chemicals to induce the first two divisions, not all the other divisions needed.

Reed Cartwright, a Ph.D. geneticist at North Carolina State University, told the Michigan Messenger that he has doubts that they will even be able to reach the point of a viable sperm cell:

I don’t think it will be feasible at all with cell culture technology. It’s wishful thinking to propose that a solution of “chemicals and vitamins” will be enough to replicate the complex adaptations that our bodies have to produce and nurture perfectly healthy, mature sperm and eggs. This technology will probably become feasible only after “artificial organ” technology is functional, but it will still have difficulties even then.

And even if they do manage to overcome those difficulties, Cartwright points out, the real problems come after fertilization and implantation, where the interaction of mother and father genomes has been finely honed by millions of years of evolution to work in concert with one another:

“The major problem in my opinion is getting the genes of the artificial gamete to properly imprint. Our reproductive biology is the result of millions of years of evolution to balance the different needs of fathers and mothers while maintaining compatibility and offspring viability. There are hundreds of genes in a human body that get turned off or on based on whether they are inherited from Dad or Mom; this is called imprinting. Failures in getting the correct imprinting pattern have been linked to diseases such as cancer, schizophrenia, and autism. You may be able to produce mature sperm from a female cell line, but you might be unable to set the correct “Dad” imprinting on the sperm cell, and any resulting child will have two “Mom” imprinting patterns, which is not healthy. This is probably the major reason why the mice in the Newcastle experiment have health problems.”

The genetics of reproduction is enormously complex, as is the crucial interplay of different genes. There are genes in the maternal DNA that must be turned off or on by other genes in the paternal DNA, and vice versa. Absent those regulatory genes, the whole process of recombination and imprinting may become hopelessly distorted. Cartwright notes that the unique danger here is that the researchers “are trying to turn those adult cells into something that runs counter to their biology and evolutionary history.”

http://www.michiganmessenger.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=924

The author of this article for the liberal Michigan Messenger is also a reporter for Between the Lines, a homosexual activist newsmagazine in Detroit…

“‘Gary Glenn is certainly no Christian and has no compassion for his fellow man and should be ashamed of himself for using these comments to further marginalize gay people. Leave it to Gary to manipulate and distract people with this kind of ugly bigotry. I want to know if he has ever lifted his finger in his life to help solve the AIDS crisis,’ (homosexual activist and lobbyist Sean) Kosofsky continued. …’I don’t think Gary Glenn or the AFA have any compassion for people living with HIV/AIDS. They have no interest in public health, even though they claim to.”

MICHIGAN MESSENGER
Lansing, Michigan
February 14, 2008

“Gay disease” comment proves
homosexuality is risky, family group says

by Todd A. Heywood

The conservative American Family Association (AFA) of Michigan says a gay activist’s remark that HIV/AIDS is a “gay disease” is further proof that homosexuality is a dangerous lifestyle.

In an address last Friday before the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Creating Change Conference in Detroit, the group’s leader, Matt Foreman, said, “We cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease. We have to own up to that and face up to that.”

In response Gary Glenn, who leads the AFA, said in a press release: “Before whatever dose of truth serum somebody slipped him wears off, Foreman should also publicly accept responsibility for professionally promoting a lifestyle that’s medically associated with a dramatically higher risk of domestic violence, mental illness, substance abuse, eating disorders, life-threatening diseases such as AIDS, cancer and hepatitis, and premature death by up to 20 years.”

Glenn and his allies have long opposed civil rights for lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender Michiganians, claiming that the “homosexual life style” is dangerous. The studies Glenn has often cited have been consistently rebutted or shown to be blatantly misused, however. For instance, the claim that LGBT relationships have a higher incidence of domestic violence is based on a misreading of a book on the subject. The book’s authors have written numerous letters to Glenn and others saying their book has been misused and mischaracterized.

In his press release, Glenn said he and his allies would continue to spread the word that HIV/AIDS is part of a dangerous lifestyle. “The only difference is we will now quote Matt Foreman and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in truthfully characterizing HIV infection in the U.S. as a predominantly homosexual-related disease,” he said, “and challenge Michigan’s Triangle Foundation or any other homosexual activist group to dispute that characterization.”

The Triangle Foundation is a Detroit-based anti-violence and LGBT rights organizations for Michigan. The group’s director of policy, Sean Kosofsky, said Glenn was “predictable” in sending out the press release.

“It is so predictable that Gary Glenn would misinterpret a serious national conversation about a plague and public-health nightmare, the mismanagement of the AIDS crisis, and turn it into an opportunity to shame a minority,” Kosofsky said. “Gary Glenn is certainly no Christian and has no compassion for his fellow man and should be ashamed of himself for using these comments to further marginalize gay people. Leave it to Gary to manipulate and distract people with this kind of ugly bigotry.

“I want to know if he has ever lifted his finger in his life to help solve the AIDS crisis,” Kosofsky continued. “My hunch is I know the answer to that. I don’t think Gary Glenn or the AFA have any compassion for people living with HIV/AIDS. They have no interest in public health, even though they claim to.”

Calls to Glenn were not returned.

http://www.michiganmessenger.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=863

CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA
Washington, D.C., February 14, 2008

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force admits HIV is a “gay disease”

The outgoing president of the National Gay and Lesbian Task force has shaken the homosexual activist movement with his startling admission that HIV/AIDS is predominantly a homosexual problem.

Matt Barber, CWA’s Policy Director for Cultural Issues and Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, discuss this move which, if followed, could more effectively direct AIDS prevention efforts.

Click here to listen: http://www.cwfa.org/play.asp?id=cw20080214a