Church Mandated To Rent Facility For Same-Sex Ceremonies

We seem to be in an age of increasing government mandates that strike at the very core of the freedom of religion. The HHS Mandate in just one example of government mandates that disregard freedom of religion. The latest example comes from Hutchinson, Kansas, a small town northwest of Wichita. If the Hutchinson Human Relations Commission has its way, churches will be mandated to rent out their facilities for same-sex “marriage” ceremonies.

It started back in November, 2011, when a group called the Kansas Equality Commission asked Hutchinson to add the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to its non-discrimination ordinance. The Mayor asked the Hutchinson Human Relations Commission to study the idea and report back to the town within 90 days on its findings. The Human Relations Commission did study the issue and is recommending that the terms be added to the non-discrimination ordinance. In the process, it put together a document entitled an FAQ sheet. The sheet describes the practical effect of what would happen if these terms are added to the ordinance. Some of the more chilling aspects of the change include requiring employers and places of public accommodation to allow people to use whatever restroom fits their “gender identity” at the time. The proposed changes define “gender identity” as “a gender-related identity, appearance, expression or behavior of a person, regardless of the person’s assigned sex at birth.” What this means is that an employer or a business owner must allow a male to use the women’s restroom if he has the “appearance” or expresses the “behavior” of a female. But the proposed change to the ordinance doesn’t stop there. In the FAQ sheet, the Hutchinson Human Relations Commission states, “For example, if a church has a parish hall that they rent out to the general public, they could not discriminate against a gay couple who want to rent the building for a party. If the church only rents the building to their parishioners, they can continue to do so.” The proposed change in the ordinance would mandate the churches rent out their facilities for same-sex “marriage” ceremonies or homosexual-themed parties. Let me state this very simply – if this proposed change happens to the Hutchinson ordinance, mandating that churches rent their facilities out to people or groups that violate their sincerely held religious beliefs is patently unconstitutional. And ADF would represent any church that is faced with such overreach and unconstitutional mandate by the government. There is a battle raging between sexual liberty and religious freedom and there are those in our government who believe that in this conflict, religious freedom should always lose. The Church must remain vigilant and stand to protect the right for it to live according to its religious beliefs. It is unconstitutional for Hutchinson or any government to mandate conduct that forces a church to act in violation of its religious beliefs. We hope that Hutchinson will see that the Constitution already mandates religious freedom and that mandate trumps the one they are proposing. http://blog.speakupmovement.org/church/religious-freedom/churches-in-kansas-may-be-mandated-to-rent-their-facilities-for-same-sex-marriage-ceremonies/

Their Own Words: Kevin Jennings

Yesterday I sorted through some of the controversy surrounding the "Safe School Czar" Kevin Jennings¹. FOX and other talking heads have now connected the dots and are railing against his comments supporting gay activist Henry Hay and lack of reporting underage gay sex. I personally feel his agenda of teaching gay tolerance as early as kindergarten should face much more scrutiny and controversy.

We can look to the Progressive playground in California to review and understand their agenda, goals and what this government intends for the nation. From the DVD "It's Elementary: Talking about Gay Issues in Schools"², to the Pro-Gay pledges ³, Gay Day, Coming Out Day -- even a mandatory gay tolerance program in Alomeda California: all of this is underway or old news.

Last month I posted the quotes and exerts from interviews with Cass Sunstein ⁴, one of the czars under attack, so it's only fitting to allow Mr. Jennings to speak for himself - in his own words.

“It’s not about how you feel about gay people, it’s about making sure all of our students achieve.” - NEA interview⁵

You may read or hear how Jennings is hostile towards religion based on these comments from his memoir:

"God…had done nothing but cause me pain and anguish through His inaction and malevolence throughout my childhood. … What had he done for me, other than make me feel shame and guilt? Squat. Screw you, buddy — I don’t need you around anymore, I decided."
(Discussing his feelings as a gay teen, frustrated with God)

Stop there, most would agree, but he went on a few sentances later: “Decades passed before I opened a Bible again" and Jennings goes into serving as a board member on the Union Theological Seminary in New York.

But he's no role model:

"I got stoned more often and went out to the beach at Bellows, overlooking Honolulu Harbor and the lights of the city, to drink with my buddies on Friday and Saturday nights, spending hours watching the planes take off and land at the airport, which is actually quite fascinating when you are drunk and stoned." - 2007 autobiography, page 103, "Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir", discussing his high school years in Hawaii in the early 1980s.

Great role model for our school kids.

March 20, 2000 in a speech to Marble Collegiate Church (New York):

"Twenty percent of people are hard-core fair-minded [pro-homosexual] people. Twenty percent are hard-core [anti-homosexual] bigots. We need to ignore the hard-core bigots, get more of the hard-core fair-minded people to speak up, and we'll pull that 60 percent [of people in the middle] … over to our side. That's really what I think our strategy has to be. We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit — … I'm trying to find a way to say this. I'm trying not to say, '[F---] 'em!' which is what I want to say, because I don't care what they think! [audience laughter] Drop dead!"

Days later...

Massachusetts Departments of Health and Education led a youth workshop titled "What They Didn't Tell You about Queer Sex & Sexuality in Health Class" - it was in 2000 and hence been dubbed "Fistgate" and is NOT for the meek.

PLEASE BE WARNED THAT THIS IS RATHER INTENSE, GROSS DESCRIPTION



Children as young as 12 (it was promoted to be for ages 14 to 21) were instructed by adults (Massachusetts State employees or members of Jennings' group GLSEN) how to perform a range of dangerous and perverted homosexual sex acts.

One of those State Officials: "Fisting [forcing one's entire hand into another person's rectum or vagina] often gets a bad rap....[It's] an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with...[and] to put you into an exploratory mode."

So, the founder of this organization GLSEN praised a gay activist Harry Hay, a communist and NAMBLA supporter. He has pushed the pro-homosexual agenda with their own brand of bigotry and hatred. I'm going to credit him that he's admitted to error in judgment by NOT reported the homosexual underage sex, but I'm not convinced that he'd changed.

Endorsing a book and supporting a movement as controversial as mandatory gay tolerance in public schools, as early as kindergarten, is NOT mainstream. Safe schools for homosexuality is NOT the mainstream interpretation of safety in schools. The czars are outside of the scrutiny of fellow cabinet members.

We need to be honest here and admit that we, as a society, have been passive and lazy, and NOW realize that the czars need to go. Fire them, defund them and prohibit this circumvention of the constitution by calling and writing our representatives.

1. http://brandon7221.blogspot.com/2009/10/kevin-jennings-next-czar-to-go.html

2. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19357474


3. http://jonathanturley.org/2008/11/01/coming-out-day-california-kindergarten-teacher-has-kids-sign-pro-gay-pledge-cards/

4. http://brandon7221.blogspot.com/2009/09/their-own-words-cass-sunstein.html

5. http://www.nea.org/tools/30428.htm

Image from: http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/story/steve_foley/2009/10/02/harry_hay_nambla_and_obama_s_safe_schools_czar




http://www.bookwormroom.com/2009/09/28/one-small-victory/3

http://www.cultureandfamily.org/articledisplay.asp?id=2580&department=CFI&categoryid=papers#ref