URGENT

Dear AFA-Michigan supporter,

Please read the news release below, then please call Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop today and insist that he not allow House Bills 6340 and 6341 to come up for a vote in the state Senate.
Sen. Mike Bishop —- 517-373-2417
E-mail: http://www.senate.michigan.gov/ima_form.asp?name=COMMENT12&form_path=e:/webforms/rep

Thanks for your prayers and your faithful support and action. We must be prepared to stand strong in the years ahead.

Thanks as always for your support!

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thurs., Nov. 13, 2008
CONTACT: Gary Glenn 989-835-7978

Family values group criticizes Michigan
House passage of “hate crime” bill

“Divisive and discriminatory” bill violates
equal justice under law, group says

LANSING, Mich. — A statewide family values group late Thursday criticized the Michigan House of Representatives for approving legislation that would provide more severe prison sentences for crimes against certain individuals based on their membership in special “protected class” categories.

Gary Glenn, Midland, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, labeled the legislation “divisive and discriminatory.”

“All citizens should receive equal protection under the law,” Glenn said, “a principle this legislation clearly violates when it provides that a criminal who attacks a small child or a pregnant mom or a senior citizen should be punished less severely than someone who assaults a grown man, solely because that grown man engages in homosexual activity.”

“Because it segregates victims of crime into specially protected categories based on behavioral characteristics such as homosexual behavior or cross-dressing, then doles out more severe sentences for attacking someone in one of those special categories, it sends the discriminatory message that some individuals are worthy of greater protection by society than others,” Glenn said. “Someone who attacks your 75-year old grandmother might get six months in jail, but under this bill, would get a harsher and longer prison sentence for attacking a 25-year old man just because he engages in homosexual behavior.”

Glenn said his group will urge the state Senate to reject the bill.

“We will ask Michigan families to join us in urging the state Senate to stop this divisive and discriminatory legislation that also threatens religious free speech rights, that has already been used in other states to prosecute citizens merely for publicly expressing their religious conviction that homosexual behavior is wrong,” he said.

Glenn cited the arrest in 2005 of a multi-racial group of Christians — including a 75-year old African-American grandmother — who were arrested in Philadelphia and prosecuted under that state’s “hate crime” law merely for reading Bible verses on a public street during a “gay pride” festival. http://www.stophatecrimesnow.com

“Consistent with their attempts to silence critics of the homosexual agenda through fear and intimidation tactics such as disrupting church services in Lansing,” he said, “homosexual activists would similarly use this new law if enacted to try to suppress the religious free speech rights of their critics here in Michigan.”

Glenn pointed to a news release earlier this year in which the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force suggested that he and Cardinal Adam Maida — because they publicly supported a Marriage Protection Amendment to the state constitution — should be held responsible as accessories to the falsely alleged beating death of a homosexual man in Detroit. “It is appalling hypocrisy for these forces to pretend that their venomous words and organizing have no connection to the plague of hate violence against gay people, including the murder of Mr. Anthos,” NGLTF said. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,65356.shtml

Detroit police and the Wayne County Coroner’s office later announced there was no evidence of any assault and that the man died of a head injury resulting from a fall caused by arthritic paralysis of his neck.

# # #

We commend the stand by these local pastors in Hamtramck, led by Rev. Andrew Wesley, a long-time AFA-Michigan supporter. So-called “gay rights” ordinances where adopted have been used to discriminate against and punish Catholic Charities, the Boy Scouts, the Salvation Army and other groups and individuals who refuse to endorse homosexual behavior and cross-dressing.

“The priests at Hamtramck’s three Catholic churches are urging voters to reject an anti-discrimination ordinance that includes legal protection for gays. …In a joint written statement, the priests said ‘the proposed ordinance does not provide new protection for anyone in Hamtramck, except that it gives new rights that would protect homosexual and lesbian behavior, expression and attire.’”

DETROIT FREE PRESS
Detroit, Michigan
October 2, 2008

Priests urge rejection of anti-discrimination ordinance
by Cecil Angel, Free Press Staff Writer

The priests at Hamtramck’s three Catholic churches are urging voters to reject an antidiscrimination ordinance that includes legal protection for gays.
“We have to keep the morals and have the regular families and bring up children according to God’s law,” the Rev. Miroshaw Frankowski, pastor of St. Florian Catholic Church, said Wednesday. “Keep it the way it was from the beginning.”

In a joint written statement, the priests said “the proposed ordinance does not provide new protection for anyone in Hamtramck, except that it gives new rights that would protect homosexual and lesbian behavior, expression and attire.”

Supporters have said the ordinance simply ensures all residents are protected under the law and demonstrates compassionate governance.

The Hamtramck City Council passed the ordinance in June, but opponents gathered enough signatures to place it on the Nov. 4 ballot in hopes of appealing it. The ordinance prohibits discrimination in housing, employment and city contracting for several groups, but its inclusion of gays and transgendered people has stirred up controversy.

“We feel that this proposal goes against the rights of straight people,” the Rev. Andrew Wesley, pastor of St. Ladislaus Catholic Church, said Wednesday.

The Rev. Bogdan Milosz, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, also said he opposes the ordinance but declined to say more because he was ill.

Wesley said he has written about the issue in the parish bulletin and spoken with members after mass. “Nobody’s under any obligation to vote one way or another,” Wesley said.

A group Wesley cofounded called Hamtramck Citizens Voting No to “Special Rights” Discrimination will host a rally from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Oct. 12 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 9632 Conant St.

Akm Rahman, one of group’s founders, said the ordinance poses what he calls a “dangerous threat” to the city.

http://www.freep.com:80/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081002/NEWS02/810020379

URGENT

Dear AFA-Michigan supporter,

Please read the news release below. Then, please contact West Ottawa Schools Superintendent Patricia Koeze and urge her to reverse her attempt to force a Christian high school senior and valedictorian to either remove references to the Bible from his valedictory speech or not be allowed to speak at all.

Even if you can’t reach Supt. Koeze live, please leave a message.

Supt. Patricia Koeze
Phone: 616-738-5700
E-mail: KoezeP@westottawa.net

Thanks as always for your support!

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sat., June 7, 2008
CONTACT: Gary Glenn 989-835-7978

Family group: Holland schools violate Constitution
by censoring Christian valedictorian’s “life lesson”

Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals: “The First Amendment does
not demand a wall of separation between church and state.”

HOLLAND, Mich. — West Ottawa Public Schools Superintendent Patricia Koeze’s censorship of a Christian high school senior’s valedictory address — planned for graduation ceremonies Sunday — is a “clear, outrageous, and unconstitutional violation of the student’s First Amendment free speech rights,” a statewide family values group said Saturday.

The American Family Association of Michigan blasted Koeze’s censorship of planned remarks by West Ottawa High School valedictorian Jed Grooters, who included quotations from the New Testament book of Corinthians. AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn, Midland, said Koeze’s action “is a clear case of unconstitutional discrimination based on the content of the student’s speech, propped up by some obviously very poor legal advice from the school district’s attorneys.”

“Since the U.S. Supreme Court long ago prohibited school officials from unconstitutionally
forcing students to surrender their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse door,” Glenn said, “Supt. Koeze’s heavy-handed intolerance and discrimination toward this student’s expression of his Christian worldview is an engraved invitation for a First Amendment free speech lawsuit against the school system for which local taxpayers would have to foot the bill for attorneys fees and damages.”

The Grand Rapids Press Saturday reported that Grooters — a 4.0 GPA student and eight-time varsity athlete who won the sportsmanship award in three different varsity sports this year — was asked by school officials to give a valedictory address Sunday talking about a “life lesson” he wished to share with fellow students.
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2…

But upon submitting a draft of his speech to school officials, Grooters was told he would not be allowed to speak unless he removed his speech’s references to the Bible. The student refused, and the matter was referred to Koeze.

According to the Press, Koeze labeled Grooters’ comments “a religious speech” and insisted that allowing him to present it during the school’s graduation ceremonies would violate the so-called “separation of church and state.”

Glenn said the federal Appeals Court which acts on all federal court decisions originating in Michigan has ruled exactly opposite of Koeze’s faulty interpretation of the First Amendment.

He cited a April 2006 case in which the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals — by a vote of 19 to 5 — upheld a three-judge panel of the court’s earlier rejection of the American Civil Liberties Union’s claim that a Kentucky courthouse violated the First Amendment by displaying a copy of the Ten Commandments found in the Old Testament of the Bible.
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions…

In its ruling, the Sixth Circuit went beyond the specifics of the Kentucky case, issuing a broad statement of the Constitution’s original intent, dramatically declaring that religious speech is protected by, not at odds with, the First Amendment.

“The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state,” the three-judge panel had unanimously ruled in December 2005 in an opinion authored by Senior Judge Richard Suhrheinrich of Williamston, a graduate of Michigan State University-Detroit College of Law and a full-time faculty member at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing.

The Suhrheinrich-authored decision further characterized the American Civil Liberties Union’s repeated references to the so-called “separation of church and state” as “extra-constitutional” and “tiresome.”

See page 13 of the Court of Appeals panel’s December 2005 decision: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions…

“To quote the same Appeals Court that will eventually rule on any free speech lawsuit that
results if Supt. Koeze continues to censor Jed Grooters’ quotation of the Bible, the superintendent’s false claim that the First Amendment requires her to do so is both ‘extra-constitutional’ and ‘tiresome,’” Glenn said. “In fact, the First Amendment requires school officials to both respect and allow Jed to fully practice his First Amendment free speech rights.”

Glenn said if the school district refuses to back off its unconstitutional censorship of Grooters’ speech Sunday, “Christian legal defense foundations across the country will be waiting in line to provide free legal representation to this courageous, principled young man and his family.”

“The question Supt. Koeze and West Ottawa school board members should ponder is how school district taxpayers are likely to feel about being forced to pay attorneys fees and damages when the federal courts reject her blatant violation of Jeb Grooters’ First Amendment free speech rights,” he said.

The American Family Association of Michigan’s mission is to promote and defend traditional Judeo-Christian family values, Glenn said.

# # #

Dear AFA-Michigan supporter,

The Triangle Foundation, Michigan Equality, Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, and other homosexual activist groups are urging individuals involved in the homosexual lifestyle to contact their state senator this Wednesday to urge support for homosexual activists’ Trojan Horse “bullying” bills.

As one state legislator observed to me over the phone this past weekend, these so-called “bullying” bills have nothing to do with bullying. In fact, homosexual activists and their Democrat allies in the state House of Representatives opposed language that would have simply prohibited all bullying against all students for all reasons. (See Midland Daily News: http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18143125&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472542&rfi=6)

The real agenda behind this Trojan Horse legislation is to establish — for the first time ever, anywhere in Michigan law — special “protected class” status on the basis of homosexual behavior and cross-dressing; in this case, public school students who engage in such behavior.

Homosexual activists hope to use legitimate concern about student safety as a subterfuge to sneak special rights based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity and expression” into law for the first time, then use that as precedent for inserting special protection for such behavior into Michigan’s “hate crime” and “civil rights” laws. And as it has in other countries and cities that have already created special status based on homosexual behavior, that will pose a direct threat to your religious freedom and free speech rights.

Even the Michigan Association of School Boards has warned school boards about the legal hazards of creating special rights and protections based on so-called “sexual orientation.”

As the Oakland Press reported:

“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.”

Please help AFA-Michigan stop this dangerous precedent-setting “gay rights” legislation:

1. Please click here to find your state Senator: http://senate.michigan.gov

2. Please send your Senator an e-mail urging him to vote against homosexual activists’ so-called “bullying” legislation. Specifically, urge him to vote against Senate Bill 107 and House Bills 4091 and 4162.

3. Please also e-mail Senate Education Committee Chairman Wayne Kuipers and urge him not to even schedule these “bullying” bills for consideration. E-mail: senwkuipers@senate.michigan.gov

4. Finally, please make the largest tax-deductible contribution you can today to the American Family Association of Michigan to make sure we have the resources to continue to stand guard for you and your family.

Contribute online: https://www.campaigncontribution.com/version6/process/info.asp?id=1700&jid=

Contribute by mail:
AFA-Michigan
PO Box 1904
Midland, Michigan 48641

We deeply appreciate your support!

God bless and keep you strong…

Gary Glenn, President
AFA-Michigan

Dear AFA-Michigan supporter,

Paste these e-mail addresses for the school board into the “to” line of your e-mail:

PDosenberry@mtpleasant.edzone.net; LMcBride@mtpleasant.edzone.net; DBriggs@mtpleasant.edzone.net; RDoneth@mtpleasant.edzone.net; GNewland@mtpleasant.edzone.net; BAlford@mtpleasant.edzone.net; EHarris@mtpleasant.edzone.net

Thank you for your support, which is deeply appreciated, and…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Gary Glenn, President
American Family Association of Michigan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Fri., Nov. 30, 2007
CONTACT: Gary Glenn 989-835-7978
Pam Dosenberry 989-773-7995
President, Mt. Pleasant School Board

Traditional values group says recognizing
Christmas in schools is fully constitutional

Mount Pleasant schools urged to drop Christmas censorship policy

School calendar lists day off for “Good Friday” but calls Christmas vacation “winter break”

MT. PLEASANT, Mich. — A statewide traditional values organization headquartered in mid-Michigan is accusing the Mount Pleasant Public Schools of censorship over a reported policy prohibiting any mention in school of the words “Christmas” or “nativity” or “Santa.”

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, located in Midland, Friday wrote President Pam Dosenberry and other members of the Mt. Pleasant Public Schools Board of Education, urging them to drop the Christmas censorship policy.

“This censorship policy may be politically correct,” Glenn wrote, “but it is not constitutionally required or correct, and it raises the obvious and much broader question of whether the school district’s enforcement of a policy censoring any mention of Christmas is violating the constitutionally-protected free speech rights of students and faculty.”

“The American Family Association of Michigan urges Mt. Pleasant Public Schools to drop its ‘politically correct’ censorship policy,” Glenn wrote, “and allow students and faculty to both recognize and even celebrate the Christmas holiday at school, a right clearly protected by the Constitution and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court so long as no student who may object is required to participate.”

The school district’s Christmas censorship policy gained notoriety worldwide this week when United Press International Wednesday published the following report:

“Organizers of a Mt. Pleasant, Mich., festival have taken ‘Christmas’ out of the celebration’s name to allow them to advertise the event in schools. The town’s Dickens Christmas Festival has been renamed the Dickens Holiday Festival to allow the city to offset its small advertising budget by placing fliers in schools. …’We changed the name this year for the schools because we wanted to advertise in the school brochures, and the schools have a list of words you can’t use like Santa, Christmas and Nativity,’ Downtown Development Coordinator Michelle Sponseller said. ‘So (we) did a brochure for the schools and we took those words out. But we have a brochure we did for the public and the word Christmas is still in it.’” http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/11/28/festival_drops_christmas_from_title/4447

Glenn said that among the school district’s policies and administrative procedures published in full on the district’s web site, he could find no formal written policy that prohibits the use of certain words at school. He said he spoke Friday to school Superintendent Joe Pius, who confirmed that it is an informal rather than written policy by which the district does not allow material that makes reference to “Christmas” to be distributed to students but does allow material that uses the word “holiday.”

(more…)

Michigan Republicans Joe Knollenberg, Thad McCotter, and Candice Miller voted in favor of Barney Frank’s federal homosexual “rights” legislation, which House Republican Leader John Boehner says will weaken state and federal laws protecting marriage. (See statement below)

Joe Knollenberg 248-851-1366
Thad McCotter 734-632-0314 or 248-685-9495
Candice Miller 586-997-5010

House Republican leader: ENDA bill will be boon to
trial lawyers, weaken state and federal marriage laws

Washington, Nov. 7, 2007 – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement opposing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA):
“There is no doubt that this legislation will lead to endless, excessive litigation that will further bog down our courts at a high cost to employers, workers, and taxpayers. For example, the bill purports to protect workers based on their ‘perceived’ sexual orientation – a highly subjective concept that is bound to tie the legal system in knots. Congress would be well-served to focus on ways to reduce the amount of frivolous lawsuits, not compound the problem by adding new, obscure ways for trial lawyers to game the system.

“This legislation also drastically weakens religious freedom in the workplace and puts activist judges in the position of imposing same-sex marriage and civil union laws on states. Simply by using ENDA as the basis of their decisions, just as state Supreme Courts have done with state-level ENDA laws in the past,– liberal judges will be empowered under this legislation to single-handedly undermine state and federal marriage laws across the country. I’Â’m disappointed that the Majority turned back a straightforward proposal offered by House Republicans to protect state and federal marriage laws from being overturned, modified, or restricted by activist judges as a result of this deeply flawed legislation.”
http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=78178

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wed., Nov. 7, 2007

CONTACT: Gary Glenn – 989-835-7978
Joe Knollenberg – 248-851-1366
Thad McCotter – 34-632-0314 or 248-685-9495
Candice Miller – 586-997-5010

Michigan Republicans Joe Knollenberg, Thad McCotter, Candice Miller support federal homosexual “rights” legislation

Three GOPers side with Barney Frank, ignore White House warning that
bill threatens religious freedom and validates homosexual “marriage”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Michigan Congressional Republicans Joe Knollenberg, Thad McCotter, and Candice Miller were among 35 GOP House members nationally who joined Democrats and homosexual activist groups Wednesday in supporting Rep. Barney Frank’s federal homosexual “rights” legislation, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 235 to 184.
“Joe Knollenberg, Thad McCotter, and Candace Miller sided with homosexual activist groups and liberal Democrats like Barney Frank to support legislation that threatens religious freedom, gives federal recognition to homosexual marriage, and discriminates against individuals, business owners, and organizations who believe homosexual behavior is wrong,” said Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan.

“By voting with Barney Frank and homosexual activist groups, they ignored warnings by the White House, rejected the Republican Party platform, and thumbed their nose at the people of Michigan, who overwhelmingly voted to constitutionally protect marriage as only between one man and one woman,” Glenn said.

“We urge Michigan families to hold Knollenberg, McCotter, and Miller accountable for helping Barney Frank pass legislation that would — for the first time in federal law — grant recognition to so-called homosexual ‘marriage’ and create special rights based on sexual behavior.”

(more…)

Dear AFA-Michigan supporter,

Homosexual activists could not make their intentions any clearer. A new British law expressly seeks to criminalize and prosecute pastors and pro-family advocates who publicly criticize homosexual behavior as accessories to crimes committed by a third party.

Gary Glenn, President
American Family Association of Michigan

“The legislation…will make criminals of those who express their views in ways that could lead to the bullying or harassment of gays. The maximum sentence is longer than the average of around five years handed to rapists. …The new law aims to catch those who do not explicitly call for attacks or discrimination against homosexuals, as this is covered by existing incitement laws. Instead, police will be allowed to pursue those who create an ‘atmosphere or climate’ in which hatred or bullying can be fostered. …The final decision over who has ‘crossed the line’ will rest with the police.”

DAILY MAIL
London, England
October 8, 2007

New law means anti-gay comments could lead to seven years in jail
by Steve Doughty and James Slack

Stirring up hatred against homosexuals is to become a serious crime punishable with a seven-year jail sentence under a law announced last night.

The legislation – similar to laws already in force outlawing persecution on religious or racial grounds – will make criminals of those who express their views in ways that could lead to the bullying or harassment of gays.

The maximum sentence is longer than the average of around five years handed to rapists.

The announcement widened the rift between opposing supporters of freedom of speech and gay rights.

Christian groups condemned it as “a law to allow Christiansto be locked up for what they believe”.

But the gay pressure group Stonewall said those who disapprove of homosexuals would have nothing to fear from the law if they express their views in a manner that is “temperate” and “polite”.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw told MPs the gay harassment law will be included as an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill currently going before Parliament, though ministers have yet to decide the wording.

Mr Straw said: “It is a measure of how far we have come as a society in the last ten years that we are now appalled by hatred and invective directed at people on the basis of their sexuality.

“It is time for the law to recognise this.”

He raised the prospect of extending the law to cover to “transgendered” people and the disabled.

The new law aims to catch those who do not explicitly call for attacks or discrimination against homosexuals, as this is covered by existing incitement laws.

Instead, police will be allowed to pursue those who create an “atmosphere or climate” in which hatred or bullying can be fostered. Officials said it would not prohibit criticism of gay, lesbian and bisexual people or joke-telling.

The final decision over who has “crossed the line” will rest with the police.

Criminal legislation on gay harassment follows the recent Sexual Orientation Regulations which make discrimination against gays an offence against civil law.

Last night a CofE spokesman said: “We will be scrutinising any legislation to ensure that it safeguards the safety and rights of minorities without jeopardising wider concerns for freedom of expression, including the expression of religious faith.”

But Stonewall chief Ben Summerskill said: “We are crystal clear that this is not about constraining anyone from expressing their religious views in a temperate way.

“It is about preventing people from inciting hatred, whether through the lyrics of rap musicians or Muslim organisations which hand out leaflets saying that all homosexuals are paedophiles.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=486452&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

Dear AFA-Michigan supporter,

As always, thanks for your support.

Gary Glenn, President
American Family Association of Michigan

ENDA (H.R. 2015) could enshrine “sexual orientation” in federal law

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) H.R. 2015 is likely to be voted on this week in the U.S. House. ENDA is aimed at providing heightened protections for a particular sexual behavior- homosexuality. It would grant special consideration on the basis of “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” that would not be extended to other employees in the workplace. That could spell trouble for Christian business owners, churches and faith-based groups. Proponents of the bill quickly point to “religious exemptions” in the bill, but most agree that it is a sham.

Here is more information about ENDA H.R. 2015 from our friends at the Family Research Council:

* ENDA affords special protection to a group that is not disadvantaged.
* The issue is not job discrimination: It is whether private businesses will be forced by law to accommodate homosexual activists’ attempts to legitimize homosexual behavior.
* The first “religious exemption” clause is very narrow and offers no clear protection to church-related businesses: Religious schools or charitable organizations, religious bookstores, or any business affiliated with a church or denomination fall outside this narrow definition, and could presumably be required to hire homosexual applicants.
* The second “religious exemption” clause fails to offer protection for all hiring by church-related organizations or businesses. The position of a teacher of religion at a church-related school would be exempt, but, e.g., that of a biology teacher would not. Thus, most of the teachers and staff at a religious school would be covered by ENDA, which means that the church would be forced to hire homosexual applicants for such positions-despite the fact that their lifestyle would be in direct opposition to the religious beliefs of the organization or company.
* It is unlikely that the “religious exemption” included in the bill would survive court challenge: Institutions that could be targeted include religious summer camps, the Boy Scouts, Christian bookstores, religious publishing houses, religious television and radio stations, and any business with fifteen or more employees.
* ENDA violates employers’ and employees’ Constitutional freedoms of religion, speech and association. The proposed legislation would prohibit employers from taking their most deeply held beliefs into account when making hiring, management, and promotion decisions. This would pose an unprecedented intrusion by the federal government into people’s lives.
* ENDA would approvingly bring private behavior considered immoral by many into the public square. By declaring that all sexual preferences are equally valid, ENDA would change national policy supporting marriage and family.

Take Action

Clearly, this is an enormous threat to the freedom of religion and also places unfair burdens on businesses, which should be allowed to make employment decisions based on their religious convictions and business needs.

Urgent! Click here to contact your U.S. Representative. Ask him or her to oppose the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007 (ENDA) H.R. 2015.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sat., June 2, 2007
CONTACT: Gary Glenn, Midland – 989-835-7978
Tom McMillin – 248-505-7500

Family values group to fly banner over June 3rd homosexual Motor City “Pride” event

FERNDALE, Mi. — Tens of thousands of individuals involved in the homosexual lifestyle can look heavenward on Sunday, June 3, for a message of hope during the opening ceremonies of Motor City Pride, a Ferndale street festival intended to celebrate homosexual “pride” and promote a political agenda that seeks special rights and legal status for those who engage in homosexual behavior.

The American Family Association of Michigan, a statewide family values organization that characterizes homosexual behavior as wrong and a threat to public health, has hired an aerial advertising company to fly over the event in downtown Ferndale with a banner that reads, “JESUS CHRIST: HOPE FOR HOMOSEXUALS.COM”. Weather permitting, the banner will be flown over West 9 Mile Road from approximately 1:45 pm to 2:15 pm Sunday.

AFA-Michigan President Gary Glenn, co-author of the Marriage Protection Amendment overwhelmingly approved by Michigan voters in 2004, said the group hopes to encourage “even one person among the tens of thousands of poor souls ensnared in this self-destructive lifestyle that homosexual behavior can be abandoned and overcome, as many others have done before them.”

“True Christian compassion does not involve enabling, encouraging, or legitimizing behavior that puts other people’s spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical lives and health at risk,” Glenn said. “The only truly compassionate response, if we truly care for each others’ souls and health and well-being, is to discourage homosexual behavior and offer individuals hope and help in finding a way out.”

The banner points to www.HopeforHomosexuals.com, a Christian web site that provides personal testimonials and other information about “thousands of ex-gays…(who) have now ‘come out’ of homosexuality to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.”

Glenn cited the recent high-profile example of Charlene Cothran, for three decades a prominent lesbian activist in Atlanta who published Venus, an award-winning magazine which focused on African-Americans involved in the homosexual lifestyle.

Cothran wrote in the March issue of Venus: “Over the past 29 years of my life I have been an aggressive, creative and strategic supporter of gay and lesbian issues…(and)…publisher of a 13 year old periodical which targets Black gays and lesbians …But now, I must come out of the closet again. I have recently experienced the power of change that came over me once I completely surrendered to the teachings of Jesus Christ. As a believer of the word of God, I fully accept and have always known that same-sex relationships are not what God intended for us. …I do know that there is someone, possibly reading this very article, who is tired and unhappy living this way. Someone, in your heart of hearts, is searching for a way out, but you just can’t seem to break free on your own. I am speaking to my gay and lesbian brothers and sisters who want real peace; the kind you’ve heard about, sung about, read about.”
http://www.venusmagazine.org/cover_story.html

The Hope for Homosexuals web site includes links to Christian ministries and counseling services in Michigan — including two in metro Detroit — that are staffed by individuals who have abandoned the homosexual lifestyle and assist others in doing so.

Healing Choices, Canton
www.healingchoices.us
Carlton Quattlebaum 734-397 4700

Reconciliation Ministries, Roseville
www.recmin.org
Dan Hitz 586-739-5114

Corduroy Stone, Lansing
www.corduroystone.com
Mike Jones 517-371-1353

Vital Signs, Traverse City
Sara Stargardt 231-947-7645

Glenn said the banner’s purpose “is to offer spiritual hope and help to families and individuals who are involved in self-destructive behavior that not only has spiritual consequences, but which medical science associates with a dramatically higher incidence of domestic violence, mental illness, substance abuse, eating disorders, life-threatening such as AIDS, cancer, and hepatitis, and premature death by up to 20 years.”

“For example, since homosexual behavior among males is by 3-to-1 the single largest cause of AIDS cases in metro Detroit, it’s a fact that helping men escape the homosexual lifestyle altogether is unquestionably the single most effective way to prevent the spread of this deadly disease,” Glenn said.

“Homosexual activists browbeat society to be ‘politically correct’ and ignore the fact that this deadly disease is overwhelmingly a result of homosexual behavior,” he said. “To save lives, society must instead have the moral courage to be scientifically correct and rational about homosexual behavior and AIDS, just as we are about the scientific fact that smoking tobacco causes cancer.”

According to the Michigan Department of Public Health:

* Over 61 percent of AIDS cases in the metro Detroit area are the result of male homosexual behavior: 55.5 percent involving men who were infected by the disease through sexual contact with other men, and another 5.7 percent who were engaged in both homosexual behavior and injecting drugs.

* Twenty percent of AIDS cases in metro Detroit are the result of injecting drugs without involvement in homosexual activity.

* Only 16 percent of AIDS cases in metro Detroit are the result of transmission through heterosexual activity, only 1.6 percent involve babies who acquired the disease from their mothers at birth, and only one percent involve exposure to infected blood.

A Canadian study published in 1997 by Oxford University’s International Journal of Epidemiology reported that “life expectancy at age 20 years for gay and bisexual men is 8 to 20 years less than for all men. If the same pattern of mortality were to continue, we estimate that nearly half of gay and bisexual men currently aged 20 years will not reach their 65th birthday.”

* “Modelling the impact of HIV disease on mortality in gay and bisexual men,” International Journal of Epidemiology, Oxford University, 1997 at: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/…

* Also cited by Canadian Medical Association Journal, Jan. 2000, at: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/162/1/21#SEC3

# # #

Thanks to all who responded to the recent Detroit News editorial defending Saginaw Valley State University’s presentation of a homosexual-themed play featuring full frontal male nudity, all at taxpayers’ expense. The following letters to the editor were published Monday, unanimously objecting to the use of tax dollars to violate Michigan’s “indecent exposure” law on the campus of a state-funded institution.

Gary Glenn
AFA-Michigan

DETROIT NEWS
Detroit, Michigan
May 21, 2007

(Letters to the Editor)

Don’t back indecent exposure
Full frontal nudity is not just a lot of “derrieres and buttocks” as The Detroit News so poetically states (”Don’t punish state colleges for ‘Angels’ play,” May 14). It’s indecent exposure. Is that phrase still in your vocabulary or has it been thrown out along with morality, and ethics?
Carolyn Rowe – Grayling

Degradation won’t aid jobs
How is tax funding for the showing of obscene plays at state universities going to fuel economic recovery? The devastating effects of porn and obscenity are all too clear. The dehumanization, enslavement and degradation of fellow human beings can ultimately never bring about economic prosperity. Reason and logic which are supposed to be important themes at universities also depart.
Mrs. Leeta von Buelow – Dexter

No frontal nudity subsidy
The play didn’t just show a few “bottoms.” It featured full frontal nudity. That is immoral, and I don’t appreciate my tax dollars paying for that filth. Enough is enough! I’m getting sick and tired of colleges thinking they can do whatever they want. That’s being immoral with my tax dollars. If a play were presented of a “conservative” nature, I’m sure the story would be much different.
Get your priorities in order.
Rosemary McKnight – Ortonville

Fund schools or play?
The editorial omits the charge that “Angels in America” displayed full frontal male nudity. Remarks by the director of the play beforehand further indicate that he knowingly flouted the tastes of the public as well as the laws.
Why should taxpayers pay for this, particularly when our Legislature is wondering how to balance the budget? Shall we deprive public school children of needed funds so that Saginaw Valley State University can stage frontal nudity? I don’t think so.
Richard Alan – Detroit

Dwelling on sex
Yes, it is damaging to our society to have such plays in our universities as “Angels in America.” If it were not damaging, we would have had them before now for our students and faculty.
We know that dwelling on the sexual side of life a great deal of our time puts us on the sexual path to much play and too much adultery and sex outside of marriage.
Mary S. Vaughan – Taylor

How far do ‘rights’ extend?
I noticed in the editorial defending the “right” of Saginaw Valley State University to produce “Angels in America” that The News neglected to note that the play contained full frontal male nudity. Wonder if the newspaper would be so quick to defend the university if it chose to do a play with a “Christian” theme?
Judy Duff – Muskegon

Free speech not involved
If someone wants to fund porn, I may not like it, but at least it isn’t tax dollars. “Angels” at Saginaw Valley State University involves the use of our tax dollars and is not freedom of speech.
Dale Munk – East Lansing

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070521/OPINION01/705210319/1008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, April 2, 2007
CONTACT: Gary Glenn 989-835-7978

“No Evidence an Assault Occurred,” Detroit police say

Group Offers $5,000 Reward for Testimony
on Conspiracy to File False Police Report

Police Urged to Investigate Complicity in False Accusation

DETROIT — A Michigan family values organization falsely accused by a national homosexual activist group of inciting an elderly Detroit man’s alleged “murder” Monday renewed its call for Detroit police to investigate who may have been complicit in the filing of a false police report after a coroner’s report revealed that 72-year old Andrew Anthos died of an accidental fall caused by a degenerative disease.

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, Monday announced that to assist such an investigation, the group will pay a $5,000 reward for information resulting in the arrest and conviction of any individual or individuals who encouraged or assisted Anthos in filing what official evidence now indicates was a false police report.

“The county coroner’s findings have already exposed and discredited homosexual activists’ plans to exploit and use this poor man’s death to promote their divisive political agenda,” Glenn said.

“Now we hope our reward will help secure testimony against the Triangle Foundation or whoever it was that persuaded an elderly dying man suffering from mental illness, after he initially told police he didn’t know how he’d been hurt, to change his story a week later and file a false police report accusing an African-American man of attacking him for ‘being gay,’” Glenn said.

Glenn calls for apology from national homosexual group

“Now that police and the county coroner report that Mr. Anthos died of a degenerative disease,” Glenn said, “Matt Foreman of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force — if he has a conscience — will issue an immediate public apology for falsely and maliciously accusing Cardinal Maida of the Archdiocese of Detroit and the American Family Association of Michigan of being responsible for Mr. Anthos’ accidental death.”

Foreman in a Feb. 23rd statement blamed Anthos’ death on “the homophobic rants of Gary Glenn of the American Family Association of Michigan” and “an ugly campaign led by Cardinal Adam Maida to ‘protect marriage’ by writing anti-gay discrimination into (Michigan’s) constitution.”

“It is appalling hypocrisy,” Foreman said, “for (Glenn and Maida) to pretend that their venomous words and organizing have no connection to the plague of hate violence against gay people, including the murder of Mr. Anthos.” http://www.tri.org/violence/pdfs/taskforce.pdf

Student prosecuted for false “hate crime” report in Idaho

Glenn cited a similar situation in Idaho in which a Boise State University student is currently facing criminal charges for filing a false police report alleging that he was also attacked for “being gay.”

The BSU student newspaper in January reported that the Boise city prosecutor “has filed a summons for a BSU student accused of making up an account of an anti-gay assault on the BSU campus. Authorities announced that Alex ‘A.J.’ McGillis, 20, of Boise must appear in court on charges…relat(ing) to a false report McGillis made to police…According to police reports, McGillis initially claimed a white male struck him from behind with an object while using anti-gay expletives.” http://media.www.arbiteronline.com/media/storage/…

Anthos told an almost identical story in his altered police report a week after initially telling police he didn’t know how he’d been hurt, claiming an African-American male struck him from behind with an object while using anti-gay expletives.

Glenn said such fabricated “hate crime” reports are “part of homosexual activists’ manipulative propaganda campaign to promote outrageous legislation under which a criminal would receive a more severe prison sentence for attacking a grown man who’s involved in homosexual activity than he’d get for attacking a pregnant mom or senior citizen or small child.”

“Mr. Anthos’ accidental death was a tragedy to his family and friends because he was a human being, no more so or less so because at some time in his life he may have engaged in homosexual activity,” Glenn said. “Had he or anyone else actually been physically attacked, the assailant should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, not punished any more or less severely based on the victim’s sexual activity.”

Background information

-The Detroit Free Press reported Thursday: “Initially, Anthos told police he did not know what happened to him, police said. But about a week later, he told police he was struck from behind after someone called out, asking him if he was gay.” http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070329/NEWS01/703290305/1003

-The Associated Press reported Thursday: “‘There’s no evidence that an assault occurred,’ police spokesman James Tate said Wednesday. …’They determined that he died of natural causes,’ Tate told The Detroit News.” http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/news-42/1175135083210020.xml&storylist=newsmichigan

-The Associated Press reported March 21st: “(Cousin Athena) Fedenis said Anthos, who received state disability payments, was diagnosed with mental illness in the 1950s.” http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6259907&nav=0Rce

# # #

Please read our news release below, then contact your state Senator and urge him to oppose HB 4162 and its Senate counterpart SB 0107.

Thanks for your support!

Gary Glenn, President
American Family Association of Michigan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, March 28, 2007
CONTACT: Gary Glenn – 989-835-7978

Family group: House Dems try to deceive voters, hide “gay rights” push from public on bullying bill

LANSING – A statewide family values organization Wednesday accused Democrats in the Michigan House of Representatives of trying to deceive voters after a purported “anti-bullying” bill was amended to create special “protected class” status on the basis of homosexual behavior and cross-dressing — but hide from clear public view the language doing so — while refusing to even allow a recorded vote on language simply protecting all students from bullying and harassment regardless of motivation. The House then approved House Bill 4162 on a near-party line vote of 59-to-50.

Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan, said “House Democrats proved today that their real motivation is a political payoff to billionaire Jon Stryker and other homosexual activists who demand that Michigan create special protections and legal rights specifically for individuals who engage in homosexual behavior.”

The original language of HB 4162 expressly segregated students into categories based on personal or behaviorial characteristics, then doled out protection based on a student’s falling into one of the segregated categories which included so-called “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.”

However, after hearing last week from thousands of citizens who opposed the creation of special protection based on homosexual behavior, House supporters of the bill Wednesday deceptively removed the original language that would have openly and expressly created the segregated “protected class” categories, replacing it with language that has the exact same effect by giving the power of law to a Michigan State Board of Education model bullying policy that itself segregates students into the same categories, including based on homosexual behavior and cross-dressing. (See paragraph two of the MSBE model policy here)

Glenn said the Democrats’ amendment “proves that they’re still trying to push Jon Stryker and other homosexual activists’ political agenda but now realize that agenda is not popularly supported and are trying to hide it from public view.”

(more…)