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| Michael Heath |
Yesterday the League learned that certain public school teachers in Massachusetts were “strongly advised” to wear a rainbow ribbon in support of “National Coming-out Day.” One teacher commented that he believed that if he refused to wear the ribbon he might lose his job. Imagine if teachers had been required to wear yellow “Support the Troops” ribbons! The ACLU would never let us forget it. Coercing someone into wearing a banner, ribbon, or badge in support of a cause with which he disagrees is profoundly un-American. I might even say it reeks of totalitarianism.
It is time to expose the gay rights movement for what it really is. As happened in the McCarthy hearings in the fifties, the power to threaten and intimidate, if left unchecked, will grow and multiply until decent people are at last forced to stand up and say, “This far, and no farther!” What we have in our nation today is McCarthyism in reverse, as the backers of the homosexual rights movement have risen to key positions of power within our institutions. All those who refuse to accept homosexuality as normal are smeared as “bigoted” and “intolerant.” My recent experiences on college campuses have made it clear to me that homosexuals are not a persecuted minority, as they are eager to have us believe. Rather, they and their allies on the left now hold the reigns of power in government, the media, and in academia, and it is the good men and women of America who are marginalized and discriminated against.
Let me make one thing absolutely clear. This cannot be allowed to continue. It is totally unacceptable for homosexual “relationships” to be taught in our schools as normal. They are not normal. Every statistic pertaining to health, crime, and longevity bears this out. Yet we are told to turn a blind eye to this obvious truth. Were it not for the power of the “homosexual rights movement” and its backers within government, the media, and in academia, this would never be tolerated.
We have received reports that the University of Maine at Farmington allows homosexual couples to share dorm rooms, but excludes married couples and men and women who wish to live together. If true, this is a glaring abuse of power, and a clear case of discrimination.
After delivering my speech at the University of Maine at Farmington, a speech based on Christian principles and Christian truth, an irate woman, a professor I believe, approached me, and in a loud voice told me that I was “scum ... a pig… a monster pig.”
This was no isolated incident. Anyone brave enough to challenge the power of the homosexual rights movement routinely meets with intimidation and abuse. Our experience at the Christian Civic League has been the same. On one occasion our website was replaced with pornography and obscenities. On another occasion, the sign outside our headquarters was smeared with red paint, an upside down cross, and the word “666.” On another occasion, a pro-family activist received a bomb threat, forcing his young children and his wife to stand outside in the snow while a police bomb squad searched his house.
Such tactics are meant to force the opponents of “gay rights” into silence. But I for one will not be silent. Today, I am taking this opportunity to warn all the people of Maine about the true nature of the “homosexual rights movement.” It is not a movement to protect the rights of a persecuted minority. It is a movement run on behalf of a small minority who seek to impose their mistaken beliefs about marriage, sexuality, and the family on the rest of society. If necessary, they will use coercion and intimidation to achieve their ends. For this reason alone, the homosexual rights movement is a danger to society.
I am therefore calling on all fair-minded people to join with me in opposing the homosexual rights movement in Maine, a movement which enjoys the favor and protection of elites within the media, the corporate world, and in government, as it carries on its work of demoralization and destruction. Nothing less than the survival of marriage and the family is at stake, and I call on all Mainers to rise to the occasion. – Michael S. Heath
