Retail giant Target Corporation has positioned itself in the middle of the Culture War by paying homage to the Gay/transgender Agenda in announcing that men are welcome in women's restrooms and fitting rooms in all stores. With the possibility of millions of customers vowing to boycott Target, the corporation faces a decision: Whom to serve?
Customers say:
“Why do you insist on overly accommodating a group that is so small and forgetting the rest of us?”
“I’m not shopping at Target anymore. I’ll give another store my business that doesn’t allow men in women’s restrooms.”
An online petition by the American Family Association calling for a boycott of Target reached more than 650,000 signatures early Tuesday morning and was growing by the minute. It was created in response to a statement on Target’s website last Tuesday stating that individuals could use the retail giant’s bathrooms and fitting rooms that correspond with their gender identities.
[The petition] also suggests that the retail chain should include a “unisex bathroom” for “transgendered customers.”
The petition started by the American Family Association on Wednesday raises concerns that Target's inclusive stance on transgender rights encourages sexual predators and puts women and young girls in danger, because "a man can simply say he 'feels like a woman today' and enter the women's restroom."
"This is the best response we’ve ever had this quick," says AFA President Tim Wildmon, attributing the protest's viral nature to the fact that "everybody knows who Target is, and it’s an easy-to-understand issue."
Wildmon says Target stands "to lose a lot of customers who won't come back." But Target is standing by its policy.
On AFA's website, President Tim Wildmon said the boycott has resonated with consumers.
"Target's harmful policy poses a danger to women and children. Predators and voyeurs would take advantage of the policy to prey on those who are vulnerable. It's clear now that many customers agree. Target shoppers are leaving their allegiance to the store behind - and by the thousands every hour. No store can withstand that sort of loss."
"We want to make it very clear that AFA does not believe the transgender community poses this danger to the wider public," Wildmon writes. "Rather, this misguided and reckless policy provides a possible gateway for predators who are out there."
Last year, Target announced it was moving away from gender-specific signs in its stores. For example, removing the use of pink or blue to guide parents in the children's sections.
“Corporate America must stop bullying people who disagree with the radical left agenda to remake society into their progressive image,” AFA President Tim Wildmon said in a statement. “#BoycottTarget has resonated with Americans.
Wildmon said Target should find a “unisex compromise” to its current policy of allowing people to use bathrooms and changing facilities according to gender identity.
“A boycott, and customers leaving the store in droves, will cost even more,” Wildmon said. “If Target is truly committed to a solid policy that’s good for business—for everyone—and if they’re truly committed to the transgender community, the company will spend the money for a unisex compromise. Anything else smacks of an agenda-driven publicity stunt that stands in complete disregard for people who reject the policy.”
Christian students at East Wilkes High School in Ronda, North Carolina walked out to demonstrate God's disapproval of the Gay Agenda "Day of Silence" — when public schools across America indoctrinate students with deviant sexual behavior.
“If they can press up on the young people in our schools to be quiet and be silenced for a whole day of school, surely to God, we as God’s people can lift up our voices to an almighty God.” -- Rev. Curtis Ponder, Maple Springs Baptist Church, Ronda, NC
“We’ve got slammed for hating on homosexuals and that’s not true, God loves everyone. We think homosexuality is wrong, which in our beliefs, it is. But, it’s not the people, it’s the lifestyle.” -- Ben Calloway, freshman
About 100 people joined in, on the outskirts of the East Wilkes High School campus in Ronda, including students from the school.
“A gang of youth that walked out of class, walked out of school, to show their support and to show their love of their God,” said Curtis Ponder, pastor of the Maple Springs Baptist Church in Ronda.
The discussion and prayer continued for about 15 minutes, with Ponder saying that was the amount of time allotted to the students by East Wilkes Principal Jodi Weatherman.
“My heart and my intentions of being here today is not controversial, it’s not a show of anything mean, anything lewd,” Ponder said.
Parents at Windmere Ranch Middle School in San Ramon, California [a suburb of San Francisco], have launched an online petition against the school's LGBT acceptance week, which is scheduled to begin Monday, April 11.
The petition adds that the parents "are not against the LGBTQ" but there are a number of concerns with the acceptance week that have not been addressed.
The petition further explains that the parents want to be assured that the lessons being taught during LGBT acceptance week will not include "condemnation for differing religious values or practices."
The parents fear that the school will use LGBT acceptance week as an outlet to indoctrinate their children.
The media entirely missed about 2,000 Catholics quietly surrounding Planned Parenthood in Stapleton, Colorado ten days ago with Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila leading a Eucharistic procession seven times around the murderous clinic praying for mothers, unborn children, and people who work there.
“Silence is an essential part of the procession as we unite our voices with those who have been silenced by abortion.” -- Father Scott Bailey
The many enthusiastic pro-lifers who joined the procession began to pour into the street as the event began, according to the report. Karna Swanson, communications director for the archdiocese, said the turn-out was much larger than they expected.
“We were honestly expecting 500-800 people,” Swanson said. “Three times that number showed up. This provided a bit of a challenge for us logistically, as 1,800 people don’t exactly fit on the sidewalk of a city block.”
Swanson continued, “We wanted to make sure everyone who wanted to participate could, but we also didn’t want to give any reason for the police department to shut the event down.” Fortunately, local off-duty police were there to ensure the crowd didn’t impede traffic, according to the report.
“It was truly a moment of grace, a moment of blessing, a moment of praying to our Lord that hearts may be changed,” Archbishop Aquila said. “It was wonderful to see how many turned out today.”
To ensure the sacred nature of the Eucharistic procession, the archdiocesan liturgy office set the tone for the event and organized the logistics of the transferring the Eucharist to the site, in addition to providing prayer books for those in attendance.
Seminarians from St. John Vianney Theological Seminary led the people in the hymns and prayers each time the procession passed around the building. They also assisted with crowd management.
Families with young children were well-represented in the crowd, as well as religious sisters. The Nashville Dominicans, the Sisters of Life and the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo were all present. Dozens of seminarians were on hand from both of the seminaries of Denver, as well as many members of the clergy.
The people of the Caribbean nation of the Dominican Republic are demanding that President Obama recall U.S. Ambassador James "Wally" Brewster because, after two years, they're fed up with the diplomat's Gay Agenda, including his new homosexual Chamber of Commerce. Subsequent to his recent visit to a local school with his "husband" Bob Satawake, Dominican teachers raised calls to bar him from access to children.
“I believe that one of my duties as ambassador is to help advance the tolerance of and respect for marginalized groups and an appreciation for diversity. I try to accomplish this through our U.S. Embassy programs and through my own personal example.” -- James "Wally" Brewster “We will not tolerate bigotry against Amb. Brewster or any of our reps. Overseas [and] will cont[inue] to promote universal human rights globally.” -- Susan Rice, President Obama's National Security Advisor
Santiago evangelical representatives on Tuesday joined the Dominican Evangelical Unity Council’s (Codue) recent demand to declare US ambassador James W. Brewster "persona non grata," while a request for his recall was opened in the White House website yesterday.
They said the diplomatic seeks to promote same sex relationships, a position also recently voiced by Catholic Church archbishop Victor Masalles.
"Because of that and many humiliations to our homeland, we ask the Government, which is responsible for complying with and enforcing Dominican Republic’s laws and the Constitution, to expel and declare the US diplomat persona non grata," said Cibao Pastors Federation president, reverend Osvaldo Torres.
Torres said Brewster violates Article 55 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the family is a union between a man and a woman, and norms of behavior of the ambassadors, according to the Vienna Convention.
Dominican Teachers Association (ADP) president Eduardo Hidalgo on Wednesday asked the Education Ministry to bar US ambassador James W. Brewster and HIS husband Bob J. Satawake from visiting public or private schools.
He said the diplomat has every right to his sexual preference, but in a school, it’s the rights of the children that should be protected.
"The Ambassador of the United States, as they say in the Dominican Republic, went too far, and must respect the Dominican population, just like Eduardo Hidalgo, as a teacher, as a citizen respects his (the diplomat’s) and his nation," said the also deputy of the ruling PLD party, when asked about Brewster’s controversial visit to a school in Santiago.
. . . the U.S. Agency for International Development’s mission director for the Dominican Republic was quoted in local media as telling reporters that USAID would be spending $1 million to bolster the LGBT community in the Dominican Republic. The reports suggested that Alexandria Panehal had said the funds would also benefit political candidates supportive of the LGBT agenda. (The country holds elections in May.)
In response to the reports the embassy in a statement two days later said it wanted to clarify Panehal’s comments, stressing that the U.S. government “does not fund any political party or candidate in the current election process, here in Dominican Republic or anywhere else in the world. Any published reports to the contrary are incorrect.”
Pelegrin Castillo, presidential candidate for the center-right National Progressive Force (FNP) party, was quoted as saying that under the guise of defending the rights of minorities Brewster “has a business agenda to convert Santo Domingo into the Caribbean’s gay paradise.”
Brewster, who according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics bundled at least $500,000 for Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, is a former National LGBT co-chair for the Democratic National Committee.
The US ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Wally Brewster, has a long track record of homosexual activism, having served on the national advisory board of the Human Rights Campaign for over 30 years.
Religious leaders have decried the blatant attack upon the values of a vast majority of the people of the Dominican Republic by agents of the United States.
The evangelical Christian leader Cristobal Cardozo called the LGBT jihad being waged upon his country "an insult to the good customs of the Dominican people, in a country where homosexual relations are not accepted legally or morally."
Catholic Archbishop Nicolás de Jesús López has also protested loudly, stating on one occasion that "if one wishes to live with another man, let him go out on his own, but for the state to debase itself, to ridicule itself, to pervert itself by extending the institution of marriage to two men or two women, that I will never accept, that is appalling behaviour." The same archbishop has stated that he will oppose the redefinition of marriage "up to his very death."
High-profile Catholic Church leaders have decried the new diplomatic appointment as a sign of a lack of respect from Obama.
"He has not considered the particularities of our people. The United States is trying to impose on us marriage between gays and lesbians as well as adoption by these couples," said Father Luis Rosario, director of youth ministries for the church.
Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez has also criticized Brewster's selection several times . . .
Local media reported that an evangelical church called for "black Monday" protests, asking people to show their opposition to Brewster by tying black ribbons on their cars, according to local media reports.
The State Department told FoxNews.com that U.S. policy is “dedicated to eliminating barriers to equality, fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and engaging LGBTI communities around the world.”
Brewster’s appointment has been a point of contention from the start. High-profile Catholic Church leaders said assigning an openly gay man to the post was seen as a lack of respect from the Obama administration.
Retired neurosurgeon, Ben Carson, called an end to his presidential bid and simultaneously the non-profit organization My Faith Votes announced that he will chair the group.
“I believe Christians in this country can easily determine the next president of the United States and all other national and local leaders, should they simply show up at the polls. When we do vote, We The People will once again solidify our commitment to the Judeo-Christian values upon which our nation was founded.” -- Dr. Ben Carson, former 2016 GOP presidential candidate
The tax-exempt nonprofit educational group [My Faith Votes] says it will undertake a national media campaign that will gather steam into the November presidential election.
"In the last four presidential elections, an average of less than five million votes separated the major candidates." My Faith Votes President Sealy Yates, said in a statement. "Yet, more than 25 million Christians didn't bother to even show up at the polls in 2012."
The group said Carson agreed to take on the position the same day he announced he could not see a "path forward" for his presidential campaign on Wednesday. He did not participate in the GOP debate on Thursday.
Asked if the new job would preclude him from endorsing a fellow candidate, Carson confidante and business manager Armstrong Williams said he was "never" going to endorse a candidate.
While Carson's new group is non-partisan and non-denominational, he will focus on campaigning to convince Christians to use their power to vote, My Faith Votes' spokesman Johnnie Moore explained. In an email, Moore also said the organization's central cause is to remind people of faith of their moral responsibility to vote by tapping televangelists, local preachers, radio personalities, and even YouTube. The organization is also planning to talk to Catholic leaders next.
Federal bureaucrats closed Washington D.C. on Friday in the face of the deadly winter weather front closing in on the city, but tens of thousands of citizens braved the weather in D.C. for the 43rd annual March for Life to denounce the deadly politics of Roe v. Wade that is responsible for killing scores of millions of unborn children. The national mainstream media was virtually absent the event and only one 2016 presidential candidate showed up — a woman!
“The establishment media and political class don’t want us to talk about what the abortion industry is doing. You saw what happened when I talked about the horrific truth of the planned parenthood videos during a Republican debate. Unlike the media, you’ve watched the videos. You’ve seen an aborted baby, it’s legs kicking, it’s heart beating while the technician describes how they would keep these babies alive to harvest their organs.” -- Carly Fiorina, Republican presidential candidate, at the March for Life
With much of the D.C. region in the midst of complete shut-down frenzy – grocery and sled stores were packed, though downtown D.C. was quiet — for what is predicted to be a historic snow storm, city officials had suggested to the March for Life organizers that they prioritize participants’ safety – what sounded like a hint to cancel. But actual snow held off for the first hour or so of the event, giving protesters a chance to rally at the foot of the Washington Monument, before the temperatures plunged and the snow began to fall as the march up to the Supreme Court began.
The overall scene was dramatically smaller than normal, with usually-crowded sidewalks and lawns all along the Mall instead dotted with protesters, including nuns and priests in their garb and packs of Catholic school students holding signs and wearing hats that matched their group. Evangelical leaders made a concerted effort this year to bring their activists to what is traditionally a strongly Catholic event and several national evangelical leaders spoke from the stage to the rally.
Among those in the crowd was Richard Stith, 71, an Indiana law professor who called himself a part of a segment he dubbed “lefties for life” — Catholics whom he said support issues like the death penalty and LGBT rights as part of “a consistent ethic for life.” He said he had been a member of a group called Socialists for Life as well and always felt welcome at the march.
Tens of thousands of the movement’s faithful — made up largely of high school and college students outfitted in matching jackets, scarves or hats — took to the streets to protest on the 43rd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
Event organizers also took notice [of the youthful demographic], passing out signs proclaiming the arrival of the “Pro-Life Generation.”
“A lot of us are young people — the pro-life generation — who care about life from womb to tomb,” said Victor Esposito, 20, who was with a group of students from Catholic University of America wearing red embroidered scarves.
“There’s come this recognition that as more and more science and technology comes out, we begin to recognize that life really does start at conception,” he added.
The theme of the March, “Pro-life and pro-women go hand in hand,” sought to emphasize the gender diversity of the anti-abortion-rights movement, challenging the narrative that opposition to abortion constitutes a “war on women.”
In her trademark pointed and articulate style, Fiorina launched an attack on abortion rights and the groups that promote them . . . "You can scream and throw condoms at me all day long — you cannot scare me," Fiorina said, to cheers from the crowd of activists gathered on the National Mall. "I know the value of life."
While nearly all of Fiorina's Republican opponents hold the same positions on abortion, favoring more restrictions on it and backing recent efforts by Congress to block public funding for Planned Parenthood, Fiorina has eagerly embraced the topic in a way the others haven't.
"Ideological feminism now shuts down conversation on college campuses and in the media," Fiorina said at the March for Life. "If you are a conservative who doesn't believe the litany of the Left, you are waging a war on women."
There's broad feeling among the anti-abortion movement that it needs more focus on how abortion affects women, partially to counter the "war on women" messaging that Democrats, Planned Parenthood and other supporters of abortion rights have pushed. Fiorina agrees with that goal.
Wisconsin liberals are fuming that officials of Mount Horeb Area School District in a small, remote suburb of the liberal-bastion of Madison have caved to so-called homophobic parents who appealed for help from Christian lawyers to stop their elementary school from suddenly launching a transgender indoctrination program on their first-grade children.
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
But the discussion was cancelled after a Christian legal advocacy group threatened the district with a federal lawsuit. The Liberty Council has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC] for advocating “anti-LGBT discrimination under the guise of religious liberty.”
In a statement from the Mount Horeb Area School District, Director of Student Services Theresa Daane says the school is providing additional time for parents to review the material.
Earlier this week, a Dane County school became considerate to transgender-related concerns on school activities when it disseminated information to the students' parents notifying about the planned reading and discussion of "I Am Jazz," a children's book that talks about a transgender girl.
The note [to parents] read that the school stood firm on its position where all of its students deserved to be respected and supported regardless of gender expression and identity; hence, it is, therefore, right for them [students] to be educated about the issue of being transgender. It further noted that while the school respects every family's convictions and beliefs, they encouraged the parents to bring out any concerns about their child's participation in the activity.
While there were others who became amenable to the activity, some "concerned parents" have reached out to the Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based group that considered itself as a "non-profit litigation, education, and policy organization," threatening a lawsuit should the school pursue the book reading activity. The parents claimed that such activity was a "violation of parental rights."
. . . The note [to parents], signed by the principal, school psychologist and a counselor, said that the school was working with a student that identifies as a girl but has male anatomy.
Theresa Daane, director of student services for the Mount Horeb Area School District, provided an initial statement on Tuesday after the reading was cancelled, acknowledging "the need for parents to be given the opportunity to consider and discuss information we provide to their children. Accordingly, we intend to balance these needs and allow parents additional time to review the materials we intend to present to students."
Late Wednesday afternoon, the district issued a press release with updated details. It noted that it had "chosen not to proceed as originally planned and allow the Board of Education the opportunity to review the needs of all involved, and address a situation for which the District has no current policy.
. . . I write on behalf of concerned parents regarding the attached “Dear Parent” letter that was sent November 19, 2015, to parents of primary school students within the Mount Horeb Area School District (“MHASD” or “the District”).
The letter notifies parents that Principal Rachel Johnson, School Psychologist Nicole Tepe, and School Counselor Emily McKee plan to subject Primary School students to a discussion of gender confusion and sexuality, under the guise of “anti-bullying,” “diversity,” and building a “safe and nurturing environment,” by means of reading to First Graders this coming Monday, November 23, “transgender” activist book “I AM JAZZ”. The letter was sent with one business days’ notice and appears designed to catch parents off-guard, to prevent them from opting their children out of this reading and subsequent discussion.
I hereby request the cancellation of this Monday’s planned reading and discussion, to prevent parental rights violations.
. . . as you may know, “Jazz” Jennings is a male child “transgender” activist, who has been permitted to undergo harmful gender reassignment drug therapy and hormone blockers, resulting in permanent physical changes to his body. The book is a false and misleading book, and the subsequent teaching and discussion will result in [harm to students] . . .
There is no credible medical authority establishing the proposition that biological sex can be changed, or that “mind over matter” is controlling, in areas of identity. The former Chief Psychiatrist for Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Paul McHugh, wrote in a June 12, 2014 Wall Street Journal op-ed that "policy makers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered" by not treating transgender "confusions ... as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention." While students suffering from gender confusion should be treated with kindness and respect, schools should not by their policies or practices attempt to coerce other students and teachers into participating into what amounts to a harmful delusion.
In light of this authority, the District’s letter contains a number of false claims and assumptions to support its course of action. Among these, the letter states that the District is committed to supporting students from a “wide range of...genders” when there are but two genders, male and female. . . .
Among the letter’s false analogies and claims are the following: 1) children are arbitrarily “assigned” a gender at birth, as if the presence of male or female genitalia as the basis for “male” and “female” is an arbitrary decision imposed upon a person; 2) that simply because a child is “born male” but “insists” that child is a girl makes it so; 3) that because a girl likes short hair and likes a “boy” name, she is now a boy; and among the most egregious, 4) that it is possible to have a “girl brain and a boy body.” This claim is completely at odds with the rationale for equality between the sexes: there is no difference between male and female brains or mental abilities, and thus this idea fosters gender stereotypes.
At a minimum, the District’s “plan to support this student in living as ‘her’ authentic self” subjects students to propaganda having no basis in science or reality, to present gender confusion as “normal.” For the record, a mandatory requirement that other students call a boy “her” and “she” infringes upon the other students’ rights to tell the truth, in accordance with their religious convictions, and reality.
Finally, the letter leaves parents to wonder what exactly else is entailed within the “several steps” of the District’s “plan.” Typically, such plans allow gender-confused students to live “authentically” by entering and using the restrooms of the opposite sex. Is it now the policy of the District that the subjective feelings of a child who wishes or thinks he is the opposite sex trumps objective biological and anatomical reality? Is it now district policy that parents and students must accept the unproven belief that “gender identity” is more objectively “real” and more important than is objective biological and anatomical reality?
. . . Boys should leave a bathroom if a girl enters, and girls should leave a bathroom if a boy enters. Boys and girls should not be compelled to use facilities intended for private acts in the presence of those of the opposite sex. Boys have no right to use girls’ restrooms, and girls have no right to use boys’ restrooms. No one has a moral right to compel others to participate in a fiction (including compelling teachers and others to use pronouns that do not correspond to objective biological sex).
The District must cancel this event, and the District must set forth its “plan” so that parents are not subjected to additional surprises like the November 23 propaganda session. The District is not free to override parental rights and religious beliefs, by subjecting impressionable children to confusion about something as important as gender and sexuality. . . .
To read the entire letter from Liberty Counsel above, CLICK HERE.
Stockton, California Mayor Anthony Silva will be hosting a 12-hour citywide prayer rally tomorrow to call on God Almighty for guidance in efforts to counteract gang violence and improve economic development.
"[Prayer] Gives hope to a city. It’s ok to pray and root for your city to succeed" -- Mayor Anthony Silva
Mayor Silva, along with with 24 congregations throughout Stockton, will meet on the steps of city hall and pray on Monday. Pray for peace and for hope, “You can’t stop the evil that’s gonna take place. You know, that’s taking place, but through prayer we believe that we’re able to push back,” Pastor Armando Peraza with Victory Outreach said.
Pastor Peraza’s congregation, Victory Outreach, will be one of the group’s in attendance, “Because we know that prayer can change things,” the pastor explained.
Every 30 minutes a different group will lead in prayer for a city where violence is notorious and knows no bounds. Prayer knows no prejudice, unfortunately neither does violence. . . . “There’s power in unity and we come together as a community and begin to pray for the city it shows a force in our city,” the pastor told us.
“It’s significant because we’re bringing a city together of 310,000 diverse residents who all have different religious beliefs, but with those different beliefs there are common goals we can all agree on,” Silva said.
Silva also announced he will be hosting a town-hall meeting Nov. 30 “to have a serious discussion about Stockton’s past, present and future” and to talk about “the good, the bad and the ugly.”
“We have to start to change the narrative of Stockton,” Silva said. “Every time you hear the name ‘Stockton,’ people’s eyebrows are raised. We have to change the narrative so they are always saying something positive when they are speaking of Stockton.”
Madeline Kirksey, a daycare manager at the Childrens’ Lighthouse Learning Center in Katy, Texas, and another worker were fired for refusing to encourage a sexually confused 6-year-old girl to believe that she's a boy simply because her homosexual "parents" want their daughter to be a son.
“One day, she wanted to be a girl, the next day she wanted to be a boy. The other kids are confused as well, calling her a boy and she would start screaming, 'I'm not a boy!'” -- Madeline Kirksey
Two staff members say they were fired from a Texas school when voicing concerns after being told last week to refer to a 6-year-old girl by a new name and start acting like she was a boy.
School administrators allegedly handed out a “common sense” set of guidelines for “How to Handle Transgender Students” to the staff, according to a document viewed by FOX26. The “mini-guide for teachers” suggested steps such as “Accord them the same respect you wish for yourself,” “Help defend their dignity” and “Educate yourself and your students.” One section begins, “Like the first black student in a white school 30 years ago, the transgender student today faces a population that finds them strange and frightening.”
Kirksey said she advocated talking to parents about the directive, and shortly thereafter she was fired from her position as a manager.
A teacher at the learning center also said she was fired for voicing her concerns.
“It caused confusion,” says one employee. At Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center on Clay Road in Katy, Madeline Kirksey says last week she and her staff were told a six-year-old student is transgender. According to Kirksey, the child's parents cut the girl's hair short and Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center workers were instructed to start calling the girl a boy and by a boy's name.
After insisting on notifying parents regarding the transgender 6-year-old student at Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center, Kirksey says she was fired. The termination letter includes claims that she failed to tell a worker to leave a game room and "When requested by parent and management to call a transgender child by the child's new name, Madeline does not follow instructions."
"I said, ‘this is what this whole thing (firing) is about?' So she said, 'We'll scratch that off,' and that’s when she scratched off the line about the transgender child and wrote her initials by it,” explains Kirksey.
. . . After explaining that the girl often changes her own mind regarding which name she preferred, that point was removed from the letter. Her termination still stood, though, reportedly because she notified others of her concerns.
This, Kirksey determined, was not only inappropriate but contrary to her beliefs.
She said the aforementioned colleague echoed her concerns, leading them both to decline the order. Their decision, Kirksey said, earned them both a pink slip.
Curators at the Smithsonian Institution art and history museum are rejecting calls for the removal of a bust of Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger. Rather, the national historians say that the famous early 20th Century American eugenicist, who referred to the negro race as "human weeds" and "human waste," belongs in the museum's civil rights “Struggle for Justice” exhibit.
"We are paying for, even submitting to, the dictates of an ever increasing, unceasingly spawning class of human beings who never should have been born at all. . . . We don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the [colored] minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." -- Margaret Sanger (writing to birth control advocate Dr. Clarence Gamble in 1939)
"The last thing we need is a white supremacist sitting between the bust of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. That is a slap in the face of black folks and I hope the curator can understand that." -- Rev. Johnny Hunter, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation
Conservative groups are calling on the National Portrait Gallery to remove of a bust of Margaret Sanger from the Washington, D.C. museum, the Associated Press reports. Sanger, who died in 1966, founded two groups that eventually became Planned Parenthood.
. . . a group of ministers lead by former Republican politician E.W. Jackson and the conservative non-profit ForAmerica say their opposition to the bust is based on Sanger’s support of eugenics, a social movement that sought to remove undesirable traits from the gene pool through sterilization and selective breeding.
. . . Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas have written a letter to lawmakers that calls the sculpture’s display by the museum “an affront both to basic human decency and the very meaning of justice.”
In a statement to TIME, Planned Parenthood acknowledged Sanger’s flaws, but dismissed the attacks as motivated by anti-abortion sentiment.
[Birth control advocate Margaret] Sanger, who died in 1966, also supported eugenics, a now-condemned effort to discourage reproduction by criminals and others with undesirable traits. Brent Bozell, chairman of the conservative group ForAmerica, and a group of black pastors say Sanger favored using eugenics to limit the population of blacks, a claim that some Republican lawmakers have echoed but for which the evidence is contested.
"She will not be removed," museum spokeswoman Bethany Bentley said Wednesday. She said the gallery displays "significant people who represent the full spectrum of the American experience," including some with "less than admirable characteristics."
A Planned Parenthood spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But the group's website describes Sanger as "one of the movement's great heroes." It says women's progress in education, jobs and politics "can be directly linked to Sanger's crusade and women's ability to control their own fertility."
Prominent black pastors and pro-life activists gathered in front of the National Portrait Gallery on Thursday to demand that the taxpayer-funded museum remove a bust of Planned Parenthood's white supremacist founder, Margaret Sanger, from the institution's "Struggle for Justice" exhibit.
Nearly 20 African-American pastors and pro-life advocates spoke at the rally and explained that Sanger, who established abortion organizations that eventually became the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, did not advocate for abortion and birth control because she wanted to help "disadvantaged women," but because it was her goal to use eugenics to eliminate what she considered people of "inferior races."
In response to the letter sent by the coalition Ministers Taking a Stand earlier this month, National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet replied with a letter stating that the gallery will keep the bust because Sanger brought "medical advice and affordable birth control to disadvantaged women."
“The woman was a racist. She was a genocidal figure in America and in human history, and to honor her is to be complicit in her evil and her racism,” [Bishop E.W.] Jackson said. “That’s right. If you are honoring Margaret Sanger, you are joining together with her in her racist ideology.”
Rev. Johnny Hunter of the Global Life and Family Mission in North Carolina, said it was a “slap in the face to black folks” to have Sanger as part of the “Struggle for Justice” exhibit.
“Her association with the eugenics movement shadowed her achievements in sex education and contraception, making her a figure of controversy, one whose complexities and contradictions mirror her times,” Director Kim Sajet told the pastors in an Aug. 19 letter.
“There is no ‘moral test’ for people to be accepted into the National Portrait Gallery,” said Sajet.
Sanger worked to bring birth control to Black families in the south, but recognized her ideas would be met with suspicion. According to Factcheck.org, an organization that verifies media statements made by elected officials, Sanger wrote about the importance of gaining support from a black clergyman.
Considering its origins, the Black community has long viewed the birth control movement with suspicion. Many Black people felt that early experiments with birth control pills used Black communities as test subjects. And up until recently, some states still practiced elements of eugenics with mentally challenged people and other undesirables being forcibly sterilized. An Atlanta Blackstar story reported several cases of Black female inmates in California being sterilized without their consent.
Today, anti-abortion activists say the high rate of abortion in the Black community carries elements of eugenics. According to figures from the Center for Disease Control, while Black people make up about 14 percent of the population, 40 percent of abortions are carried out by Black women.
Presidential candidate U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is pleading with all Bible-believing Christians to pray and call on their own local church leaders to engage the battle against abortionists and stop government funding of Planned Parenthood. Yesterday, Sen. Cruz told thousands of Christian leaders via a conference call that they have the utmost duty to protect the unborn.
"How did America become a country that harvests organs from unborn children? And who has the courage to stop it?" -- Ted Cruz campaign ad
[Ted Cruz'] latest pitch to religious voters came in a conference call Tuesday with church pastors from around the country.
In the conference call earlier, and at every campaign event, Cruz attacks Planned Parenthood. He highlights the recent series of undercover videos from an anti-abortion-rights group accusing the organization of selling fetal tissue from abortions for profit.
Cruz argues that he can win the nomination — and the presidency — by motivating real conservatives and not worrying at all about winning moderates. That's something he and others argue imperiled Republicans' chances in the last several elections.
More than 100,000 pastors received e-mail invitations over the weekend to participate in conference calls with Cruz on Tuesday in which they will learn details of the [defund Planned Parenthood] plan to mobilize churchgoers in every congressional district beginning Aug. 30. The requests were sent on the heels of the Texas Republican’s “Rally for Religious Liberty,” which drew 2,500 people to a Des Moines ballroom Friday.
Heading into the primary season, it wasn’t clear how significant a role social issues would play in the selection of the Republican nominee. But social conservatives and evangelical voters say they have been galvanized by a one-two punch this summer: first, the Supreme Court’s decision that same-sex marriage should be legal in all 50 states — and then, the release of hidden-camera videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the donation of fetal tissue in a seemingly cavalier fashion.
All of the Republican candidates have found themselves spending more trail time on both issues over the past few months. Those fighting most fiercely for religious voters have made them central to their campaigns. But few candidates have made the burgeoning “religious liberty” movement in opposition to same-sex marriage and the fight to deny funding to Planned Parenthood as much of their campaign centerpiece as Cruz has — and perhaps no one is as well positioned to benefit politically from a renewed focus on those issues.
The recent exposure of Planned Parenthood's barbaric practices of harvesting the body parts of innocent babies and selling them to the highest bidder has brought about a pressing need to end tax payer support of this institution.
As the son of a pastor, I know you bear a high and holy calling on your lives. I am urging you to confront this evil in our nation by praying and preaching with an unbridled passion until funding for Planned Parenthood ends, and this barbaric practice is purged from the land.
Over the next two weeks, with the support of your prayers and the impact of your preaching, I intend to lead an effort to end taxpayer support of Planned Parenthood.
The battle we face is not political. It is spiritual. To enter this arena in a prayerless condition invites failure. . . .
To read the entire E-mail from Sen. Ted Cruz above, CLICK HERE.
Cruz is working with the American Renewal Project, a conservative group that encourages pastors to run for elected office on a campaign to defund Planned Parenthood.
“Our call to action primarily, number one, is to get the pastors to return to prayer on this and every issue,” said the Rev. Ken Graves, who spoke on Tuesday’s teleconference call.
Too many of of the nation’s evangelical pastors “have come to believe that we have no freedom, no right to speak,” said Graves, senior pastor at Calvary Chapel in Bangor, Maine, and a speaker on the 20-minute call. He encouraged his fellow pastors to exercise their right to talk about Planned Parenthood and other issues according to their understanding of Scripture.
And Graves said the pastors stand on firm legal ground. “The word is out that pastors have the freedom, that they’re not a lower caste of American people,” he said. They can both speak out and engage in the process.”
The phone call is part of a larger 50-state campaign by Cruz to end taxpayer support for Planned Parenthood — a campaign likely to raise his profile in a Republican primary race where the vote of social conservatives is seen as up for grabs.
[Sen. Cruz] asked that pastors preach a message Aug. 30 “calling on your people to enter into this spiritual battle for the soul of their nation.” A link on the American Renewal Project points to an outline for a sample sermon titled: “The Cry of the Innocent for the Soul of a Nation.”
Finally, Cruz asked pastors to lead congregations in a “Day of Prayer and Fasting,” on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and use Wednesday night services asking God “to move in the hearts of men and women in government to vote to end the slaughter of the innocents.”
“Now more than ever it is the role of the church, as well as our pastors and faith leaders, to stand up and speak the truth with absolute clarity,” Cruz said in a telephone conference call.
“I would encourage every pastor on this call to preach the truth about what is happening with Planned Parenthood. I recognize these are topics that are not without controversy, and they invite criticism when faith leaders speak candidly about them,” he said.
“If we cannot speak about this, there is very little that we can stand up and speak about. Preaching from the pulpit biblical values on life and comparing those values, the teachings of Jesus, to this nationwide business of trafficking in the body parts of unborn children is a message that needs to be heard across this nation.”
Cruz urged the pastors to lift up America’s leaders in prayer as well as pray for action against the sale of human body parts by the abortion provider.
As tens of thousands of people gathered in hundreds of cities across America to protest taxpayer dollars funding Planned Parenthood, the mainstream media covered yesterday's national day of unity as just isolated local events. Meanwhile, the latest undercover video by the Center for Medical Progress exposes Planned Parenthood's sale of intact dead babies.
“We now know that Planned Parenthood not only perpetrates over 300,000 abortions each year, but harvests the organs of the unborn children it destroys. Whether this trafficking is called a sale or the coverage of expenses, PP is compensated for this harvesting.” -- C.J. Doyle, Catholic Action League of Massachusetts
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
The demonstrations unfolded at about 320 clinics around the nation, according to organizers, with some gatherings drawing a few dozen protesters and others drawing hundreds and perhaps thousands more.
The protests kicked off at 9 a.m. Saturday and included speakers, prayer groups and chants, as well as signs distributed by organizers that said “Planned Parenthood sells baby parts.”
Though the official number of protesters was not immediately available, organizers billed the effort as the largest-ever rally against the health-care provider. Monica Miller, the director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, one of the participating groups, told USA Today that previous protests have drawn thousands of protesters, but hundreds of simultaneous protests have never taken place on the same day.
Protests were held at 14 Michigan sites of Planned Parenthood, part of nationwide protests at 290 locations. A coalition of more than 50 pro-life groups looked to create awareness of abortion and the sale of aborted materials.
Protester Barb Yagley of Troy, campaign director for 40-Days for Life, was at a protest in Ferndale.
“The short-term goal here really is to educate the American public about what abortion actually does to the child that’s within the womb and that it’s not just a blob of tissue, and to ask Planned Parenthood to reform themselves,” Yagley said.
A push to defund Planned Parenthood is underway in Lansing as state Senator Patrick Colbeck of Canton is sponsoring a bill to cut off taxpayer funding.
Tens of thousands of pro-life advocates across the country — perhaps as many as 50-75,000 people in all — protested at Planned Parenthood abortion clinics across the country today. They protested to raise national attention to the massive scandal at Planned Parenthood, where its staff and officials have been caught selling aborted babies and their body parts.
The protests took place in over 350 cities in 47 states and 5 countries — with hundreds of people in many cities and over 6,000 in the Twin Cities in Minnesota alone.
Organizers of the protests say they are the outgrowth of recently released Planned Parenthood expose videos showing the abortion company trafficking in aborted baby body parts and showing a complete disregard for women and unborn children.
While the videos have focused on the Planned Parenthood abortion business, the biotech firm StemExpress, which buys and resells aborted baby body parts from the abortion giant . . .
In the video, Cate Dyer, the CEO of StemExpress, is shown in a lunch meeting with undercover operatives posing as representatives of a biotech firm. Dyer is laughing about how StemExpress purchases fully intact aborted babies from Planned Parenthood. She laughs about how shippers of the aborted babies would give a warning to lab workers to expect such a baby.
“Oh yeah, if you have intact cases — which we’ve done a lot — we sometimes ship those back to our lab in its entirety,” she says.
“Tell the lab its coming,” she laughs about the intact unborn babies. “You know, open the box and go ‘Oh my God,'” Dyer adds.
The controversy over videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of body parts from aborted fetuses drew hundreds of people to a protest outside of the group’s Aurora clinic this morning.
Protest organizer Eric Scheidler said he saw people protesting he hadn’t seen in years, and said was easily the largest protest outside of the Aurora clinic since it opened in 2007.
The protesters ranged in age from their teens to their 80s. Living Hope Bible Church of Roselle Associate Pastor Mike Tiberi said the videos showing Planned Parenthood executives discussing the sale of body parts left by abortions make him more determined than ever to see abortion stopped.
Hundreds of abortion opponents protested outside the Boston Planned Parenthood clinic Saturday, bearing crucifixes and graphic images and calling for an end to government funding for the organization.
The Boston demonstration was one of approximately 300 organized across the country. The protests come after pro-life advocates released footage of Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting of fetal tissue.
Planned Parenthood defended itself from what protest organizers say is the largest coordinated day of protest against the group.
Pro-life advocates want an end to public funding for Planned Parenthood. In 2014, the group received over $528.4 million in government dollars.
A crowd of some 200 anti-abortion activists demonstrated outside the offices of Planned Parenthood in San Diego on Saturday morning, calling for the elimination of federal funding to the nonprofit health care organization.
The protest near downtown was one of 320 similar gatherings staged outside Planned Parenthood offices across the country, according to organizers. In San Diego, protesters lined the sidewalks at the corner of First Avenue and Grape Street, chanting and holding signs.
A similar protest in Escondido also drew about 200 participants Saturday, according to police, while another rally of about 100 people was staged in Vista.
Saturday’s peaceful rally in San Diego drew a range of participants, including students from local colleges, as well as members of church groups from around the county. Several protesters brought children and infants.
The event’s organizer, Silas McClufor with Advocates for Justice, said they counted more than 500 men, women and children standing outside the city’s Planned Parenthood facility.
“Planned Parenthood is lying to women and not giving information that they are using the body parts of the aborted babies. They are not telling mothers they are selling these for a profit and we cannot stand for this. Planned Parenthood does not honor women and it doesn’t have respect for human life in the womb,” McClufor explained.
“Multiple times in multiple videos, [Planned Parenthood] is seen discussing how to get higher compensation for this fetal tissue. And in fact, a flyer given to Planned Parenthood by StemExpress states that sale of tissue will benefit them financially,” Dr. Francis, who is also a board member with the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said.
More than 1,000 abortion opponents protested in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Mt. Auburn as part of a nationwide protest against the organization Saturday morning.
The protests were organized by a coalition of anti-abortion groups, including American Life League and Stop Planned Parenthood International, in 47 states and more than 300 cities to call for cutting off Planned Parenthood's federal funding and putting a stop to abortions.
The protest had multiple speakers including Cincinnati City Councilman Charles Winburn and Ohio State Senator Joe Uecker. Local clergy, including Revered Chuck Hickey of the Trinity Presbyterian Church, led the protesters in prayer.
"It still surprised me that more people aren't upset about this," said Corrine Groh, who attended the protest with her two children. "They say that it's a woman's right to choose, well you made the choice to get pregnant."
At a rally Saturday morning outside Planned Parenthood in north Spokane, state Rep. Matt Shea called the group “an evil organization” committing acts on par with Nazi Germany.
Jami Cary held a sign reading “#PPSellsBabyParts,” a reference to the videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, an organization opposed to abortion. . . . “I think the majority of people are apathetic about it,” said Cary, who was at the rally with her husband, Kevin, and four children. “I think, with the videos coming out, your basic human alarm clock is dinging. I think there’s more momentum now.”
Alex Barron, who traveled to Spokane from Post Falls to attend the rally sponsored by the Priest Lake-based Selkirk Pro-Life Alliance, said abortion decisions in the courts were an extension of rulings in the 19th century that defined personhood.
“I believe that this country has made the same decision that it made in Dred Scott, when it said that blacks were not human,” said Barron, a black man, referring to the 1857 Supreme Court decision that ruled slaves had no legal protections as citizens. “When that (Roe v. Wade) Supreme Court decision was made a few years ago, we did not have the same science, we did not have the same clarity, we did not have the same sonograms that we have now.”
Barron said that taxpayer dollars should not go to Planned Parenthood, but should be directed instead to other organizations that provide similar services without facilitating abortions.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Salem Planned Parenthood clinic Saturday morning to protest the organization, which offers health services, including abortions, to women.
The protest in Salem began with a service led by Father Tim Mockaitis of Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Salem. After the service, Gary Carignan, 69, a member of Queen of Peace and one of the speakers at the protest, called for a 10-minute break before state Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, spoke.
[Rep. Post] cited a report by the state Division of Medical Assistance Programs that shows that the state spent more than $20 million on abortions in the past 12 years, all funded by the Oregon Health Plan.
The peaceful protest was mainly led by prayer and was without incident or violence.
Providence police blocked off Chestnut Street as several hundred protestors, led by Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, demonstrated outside. Private security and volunteers kept the building accessible to visitors.
“There is nothing about Planned Parenthood that involves parenthood at all. It involves prevention and death,” said Kathleen Kelly of Silent No More, a Christian campaign.
“All life is precious. And I don’t want to look back on my life saying that I knew this was going on and that I didn’t try to do something about it,” said Jessica Baeckel. Baeckel came to the protest with her husband and two of her four children.
Several local lawmakers have also appealed to Attorney General Peter Kilmartin to investigate Planned Parenthood, but no such investigation is underway in Rhode Island, according to a spokesperson for Kilmartin.
