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Joel Osteen: God Accepts Everyone Including Homosexuals (+video)

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

God “absolutely” approves of everyone — including homosexuals — declared one of America’s most well-known evangelical pastors.

The Houston megapastor and best-selling author Joel Osteen, whose followers include the likes of Cher and Oprah Winfrey, is hitting the talk-show circuit to promote his new book, “Break Out! 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life.”

Osteen, the very visible face of Lakewood Church in Houston since 1999, talked to the Huffington Post about his thoughts on prayer, the pope and the homosexual lifestyle.

HuffPo Live host Josh Zepps quoted from Osteen’s new book: “It doesn’t matter who likes you or who doesn’t like you, all that matters is God likes you. He accepts you, he approves of you.”

Zepps followed up by asking if that included homosexuals

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‘If Gays Don’t Like It, they Can Choose Another Pasta’: Barilla Pasta Faces Global Boycott after Chairman Says Brand Would Never Feature a Homosexual Family in Its Ads

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Photo Credit: Daily Mail

Photo Credit: Daily Mail

Campaigners have called for a boycott of Barilla, the world’s biggest pasta maker, after the company said they would never feature gay people in their advertisements.

Company chairman Guido Barilla provoked outrage when he said that his idea of the ‘traditional families’ where the woman played a central part was ‘sacred’.

If gay people didn’t like it they could eat another brand of pasta, he said.

He said: ‘I would never do a commercial with a homosexual family, not for lack of respect, but because I don’t think we are like them.

‘Ours is a traditional family where the woman has a fundamental role.‘

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Prop. 8 Players Join Bid to Repeal Transgender Law

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

An effort to overturn a new law allowing transgender students to choose which school restrooms they use and whether to play boys or girls sports got a boost Friday when a major player in the passage of California’s now-defunct same-sex marriage ban threw its support behind the campaign.

The National Organization for Marriage announced it was working with another conservative group, the Capitol Resource Institute, to repeal the law at the ballot box. The marriage group provided early fundraising and organizing for the 2008 ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriages, known as Proposition 8.

Opponents of the transgender student law have until Nov. 8 to gather the signatures of 504,760 registered voters needed to place a referendum on the November 2014 ballot to nullify the statute.

The National Organization for Marriage is encouraging its members to help circulate petitions and to give money that could be used to hire professional signature-gatherers.

The political strategist who ran the successful Proposition 8 campaign, Frank Schubert, has signed on to manage the referendum campaign. Noting that no one has ever qualified a referendum in California using only volunteers, Schubert said “it’s a virtual certainty” the campaign will hire paid petition-circulators to supplement work already going on at churches statewide.

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Middle School Teacher Disciplined After Showing Gay Rights Rap Video in Class

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Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Photo Credit: Wikimedia

A North Carolina teacher was disciplined for showing a music video supporting gay rights to a middle school class last week.

The Taylorsville Times reported Alexander County Schools Associate Superintendent Dr. Jeff Peal said the teacher is back to work this week but showed “an inappropriate video…outside the bounds of the curriculum” that merited “disciplinary action.”

The rap video was Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ “Same Love,” which was written in collaboration with Seattle-based singer-songwriter Mary Lambert. It appeared on Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ debut album “The Heist” in 2012.

Here’s the full music video (content warning — some strong language):

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At RNC Event, Speaker Says African Americans Have Taken a Back Seat to Gays, Immigrants

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Photo Credit: Washington Post

Photo Credit: Washington Post

The Republican National Committee commemorated the 50th anniversary of the March of Washington and Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech with a luncheon Monday.

The most rousing speech of the luncheon came from Bob Woodson, the head of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprises. Woodson criticized black leaders over Trayvon Martin, the black Florida teen who was shot to death by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was acquitted in Martin’s death. Woodson, who is black, said groups including gays and immigrants have been prioritized over poor black people in American society.

“Everybody has come in front of them on the bus — gays, immigrants, women, environmentalists,” Woodson said. “You never hear any talk about the conditions confronting poor blacks and poor people in general.”

Woodson also criticized the “moral traitors” who mourned the death of Martin but not Chris Lane, the Australian baseball player who prosecutors allege was shot to death in Oklahoma by three boys, two whom are black.

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Alaska May Make Gay Partners ‘Family’

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Photo Credit: Wonderlane

Photo Credit: Wonderlane

The Alaska State Personnel Board is considering including same-sex partners of state employees in the definition of “immediate family” for purposes of leave.

A proposed change in rules also would allow state employees to take leave due to a serious health condition of a same-sex partner.

Same-sex marriage is not legal in Alaska because of a state constitutional amendment. Nancy Sutch, a deputy director within the state Division of Personnel and Labor Relations, said by email that the proposed change in rules stems from a recent review of a 2005 Alaska Supreme Court decision.

That decision, in a case over health insurance and other benefits, found it is unconstitutional to offer valuable benefits to the spouses of public employees but not to same-sex domestic partners.

Sutch said the proposed regulations will set out requirements that are similar to those for insurance coverage, which have been in effect since 2006. Fuller descriptions of the proposed changes were not immediately available.

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Texas Councilwoman Under Fire After Secret Recording of Her Slamming Homosexuality as “Disgusting” is Leaked to Media (+video)

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Photo Credit: San Antonio Express-News

Photo Credit: San Antonio Express-News

LGBT activists are calling for the resignation of a Texas city councilwoman after a secret recording capturing her making several anti-gay remarks was leaked to the media late Thursday night.

Gathering on the steps of City Hall on Friday afternoon, angered activists said comments made by council member Elisa Chan were hurtful and clamored for her immediate resignation, according to the Current.

“I was sad—after our talks, to know what was really in her heart…[And that sadness] turned to anger,” Dan Graney, co-chair of the Community Alliance for a United San Antonio reportedly said. “Now, she really needs to step down from council.”

On Thursday night, the San Antonio Express-News published on their website a secret recording of Chan revealing her views on homosexuality. The recording, which captures the council member calling gay individuals “disgusting,” in a May 21 meeting, was provided to the local news outlet by one of her now former aides.

“She’s let down so much of her constituency, we hope she’d resign,” a reportedly emotional Lauryn Farris, president of San Antonio Gender Association and a board member of the Transgender Education Network of Texas-Alamo Region, said.

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Judge Allows International Law to Trump US Constitution’s First Amendment Right to Criticize Homosexuality

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

An anti-gay pastor takes on Uganda and Russia

By Alexis Okeowo.

On Wednesday, Ugandan L.G.B.T. activists heard news that was exciting even though they had assumed it was inevitable: U.S. District Court Judge Michael Ponsor said that a lawsuit brought by Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) against the anti-gay American pastor Scott Lively over his involvement in the effort to persecute gay people in Uganda can move forward. (Ponsor ruled against Lively’s motion to dismiss the suit.) The activists launched the case last year after months of collecting evidence of Lively’s anti-gay teachings over several of his trips to Uganda since 2002, and of his influence on the conception of the country’s “Kill the Gays” bill.

SMUG is being represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, of New York, and the suit is based on the Alien Tort Statute, which allows foreigners to file civil lawsuits against Americans for violations of international law. I spent much of last year with Frank Mugisha, who leads SMUG, and wrote about him for the magazine in December. “We want to name and shame the people spreading homophobia here,” Mugisha told me.

Read more from this story HERE.

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Judge: foreigners can sue U.S. pastor over sermons

By Bob Unruh.

[T]he ruling from Judge Michael Posner in a case brought by Sexual Minorities Uganda against Pastor Scott Lively of Abiding Truth Ministries could … establish that an international consensus disavowing long-held biblical standards could trump the U.S. Constitution.

SMUG alleges Lively must be punished for criticizing homosexuality, calling his speech a “crime against humanity” in violation of “international law”…

[Lively’s attorney said:] “We are disappointed with the decision because we believe SMUG’s claims are firmly foreclosed, not only by the First Amendment right to free speech, but also by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kiobel, which eliminated Alien Tort Statute claims for events that allegedly occurred in foreign nations”…

The judge took nearly 80 pages to say that he thought the allegations by SMUG were substantive and needed to be adjudicated.

He sided with the “gays” in his first paragraph, explaining that while SMUG is made up of groups “that advocate for the fair and equal treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people,” Lively is an “American citizen residing in Springfield, Mass., who, according to the complaint, holds himself out to be an expert on what he terms the ‘gay movement.’”

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School Children to be Fed ‘Gay-Promoting’ Lessons

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

An organization that promotes homosexuality is distributing DVDs to each primary school in Scotland to teach “alternative families” to young children.

The project is paid for by funds from a national lottery, which boasts of spending millions of dollars to give people a better chance in life, make communities safe, create more sustainable services and make people healthier.

A report from the Christian Institute said Stonewall Scotland, a pro-homosexual organization, has been given almost $20,000 from the Awards for All scheme run by the lottery.

The funding will be used to pay for DVDs that celebrate same-sex duos, and they will be delivered to primary schools across the nation.

“There is a key difference between acknowledging the existence of different family types on the one hand and positively promoting them in the classroom on the other,” said Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust.

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Air Force Base Hosts Drag Queens

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsMilitary personnel at the Los Angeles Air Force Base were treated to a Diversity Day musical performance featuring three individuals dressed in drag. The performance sparked outrage among some airmen who called the performance “totally offensive and inappropriate.”

The Diversity Day celebration featured a speech by Brigadier General Tammy Smith and included booths representing and honoring a number of ethnic heritages as well as an LGBT booth.

The airman said he was troubled when three individuals dressed in drag began performing on the air base.

Photographs of the event show an individual wearing a giant wig performing to a sparse crowd underneath the American flag. It’s unclear whether the individuals in high heels and form-fitting dresses are members of the Air Force.

Read more from this story HERE.