OneNewsNow

Marcia Segelstein, a columnist for the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow, decried today the representation of gays and lesbians and families led by same-sex parents in television shows such as Glee and Modern Family and the movie The Kids Are All Right. Earlier this year, the AFA launched a boycott of Glee for allegedly promoting “deviant sexuality,” “homosexual behavior,” “idolatry” and “vulgar” choreography.

Citing the work of right-wing Washington Times columnist Mary Beth Hicks and her new book, “Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid: Confronting the Left's Assault on Our Families, Faith, and Freedom,” Segelstein claims that shows like Modern Family represent “destructive, negative influences of the culture,” lamenting that in the entertainment industry the “Kool-Aid is free and it's being handed out by the gallon”:

Christian parents have a responsibility to do everything they can to protect their children from the destructive, negative influences of the culture. But I also believe they should be concerned about the kids who make up the rest of their children's generation.

After all, they'll be the ones voting in the coming years on same-sex marriage laws. They'll be the ones serving on school boards and determining sex ed curricula. They'll be the ones debating whether tolerance applies to Christians. They'll be the ones who, actively or passively, decide if it matters whether children are raised in traditional family structures.

Author Mary Beth Hicks in her new book, Don't Let the Kids Drink the Kool-Aid, argues that because America's future depends on the next generation, our responsibility doesn't end with our own kids.

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Just look at the TV show that recently won the Emmy for this year's Outstanding Comedy Series -- Modern Family. Here's a brief description of the ABC show from TVsquad.com:

"Dad Jay tries to be accepting of his adult son Mitchell's gay lover Cameron and adopted Asian baby, Lily, while Mitchell and his sister Claire try to be accepting of divorced Jay's remarriage to the much younger, voluptuous Colombian Gloria, which came with Gloria's wise-beyond-his-years pre-teen son Manny. If we had to point out the most 'normal' member of the Pritchett brood, or, at least, the one who puts the most fun in dysfunctional? Definitely Cameron, the flamboyant, flashy-attired boyfriend of Mitchell."

We've come a long way since The Waltons.

Pushing its agenda via the big screen, Hollywood gave us The Kids Are All Right. The plot revolves around a lesbian couple with two teenage children who seek out their biological father, referred to as "sperm donor" by the moms. The title really says it all. We're supposed to believe that everything's hunky dory in this non-traditional family.

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A discussion of current media pushing an agenda would be incomplete without mentioning the phenomenon called Glee. Ryan Murphy is the creator and director of the Fox hit in which storylines often revolve around gay and bisexual characters. Hicks writes that Murphy "is an outspoken gay activist who uses his creative platform to question the concept of heternormativity in storylines about teens."

In fact, GLAAD (the Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) tracks the representation of gays and lesbians on television. In 2008, a total of 22 series on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and CW featured 35 LGBT characters. That's a record.

The Kool-Aid is free and it's being handed out by the gallon.

• Michele Bachmann will be speaking to Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition "Presidential Series National Tele-Town Hall" next week.
• Fortunately for CAIR, Herman Cain will never become president.
• Randall Terry needs money.
• So does the Family Research Council.
• And Gary Bauer is asking for donations to "help us defend normal marriage" despite the fact that his organization doesn't seem to ever really do much of anything.
• Finally, can someone explain to me how the Obama administration is playing politics by refusing to release the photos of Osama Bin Laden?

• Of course Sarah Palin is threatening to sue over "The Rogue."
• Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) is planning an investigation into Planned Parenthood.
• Bryan Fischer continues his "gays commit hate crimes" crusade.
• Looks like Mat Staver intends to use his position on the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations to limit the reach of the government ... which is pretty much exactly the opposite of the purpose for which it was created.
• Maggie Gallagher talks about her new Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance.
• Finally, September is "Bring Back the Holy Bible and Christian Prayer in Schools Month."

• Sam Brownback endorsed Rick Perry.
• You will be forgiven for not knowing that Thad McCotter was running for president ... or that he dropped out and endorsed Mitt Romney.
• John Eastman is now NOM's Chairman, replacing Maggie Gallagher.
• Bobby Jindal has been added to the list of speakers at the Values Voter Summit.
• The FRC's Bob Maginnis says it will "take a very courageous future leader to do anything about" reinstating DADT.
• Finally, Tony Perkins will be holding a press conference next week, taking questions from the press.  I bet we can think of a few good ones to ask.

Arkansas State University student Abdullah Raslan penned a column for the school newspaper reflecting on the 9/11 attacks by strongly condemning violence and calling for interfaith reconciliation and understanding. “Living in the Bible Belt for the past three years and befriending many devoted Christians here on campus, I've learned that Islam and Christianity have a lot in common,” he wrote. “Both religions preach values and morals, stressing that violence is never the answer.”

But the anti-Muslim group ACT! for America has no interest in any form of interfaith dialogue, and instead sent to their members across the country Raslan’s article along with their line-by-line rebuttals written in all caps. Led by Brigitte Gabriel, ACT! For America is one of the most conspiratorial and virulent anti-Muslim groups in America. The membership email calls Raslan’s article illustrative of “information warfare” and suggests he wrote it using “the practice of taqiyya.”

Is the Muslim college student from Saudi Arabia, who wrote the column below, naïve, uninformed, or deliberately feeding us disinformation (the practice of “taqiyya”)?

We can’t know for sure. But regardless, this column, which appeared in the ASU newspaper, illustrates again how disinformation is being peddled to mislead Americans. Uninformed Americans are vulnerable to this “information warfare.”

Mississippi is set to vote this November on a patently unconstitutional personhood amendment that would criminalize abortion in their state, and ‘personhood’ advocates now strive to put a similar amendment on the ballot in Ohio in 2012. Personhood laws would not only prohibit abortion in all cases but also ban certain forms of birth control and the treatment of ectopic pregnancies by giving legal rights to zygotes. The anti-choice activists hope that Ohio will vote on it at the same time as the swing state’s closely contested presidential election. Right now Ohio is on the brink of passing Janet Porter’s ‘Heartbeat bill’ that would ban abortion in the vast majority of cases, but Porter has taken heat that her prized legislation doesn’t go as far as personhood laws.

The American Family Association, which is financing the personhood campaign in Mississippi, reports that Personhood Ohio, the state affiliate of Personhood USA, wants the amendment, if passed, enforced even if it is struck down by the courts. “There's a firm legal precedent that when the judiciary rules unconstitutionally and immorally, that we have no obligation to respect that law any more than if they would have ordered us to kill our wives,” said Patrick Johnston of Personhood Ohio, “We don't have to obey them:

A campaign is under way in Ohio to place a Personhood Amendment on the 2012 ballot.

Article 1, Section 1 of the Ohio Constitution currently reads: "All persons are, by nature, free and independent and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life..." The Personhood Amendment would add that "the word 'person' or 'persons' applies to every human being at every stage of biological development of that human being or human organism, including fertilization."

The idea is to amend the state constitution to define that a person is a person when human life begins at conception or fertilization. Dr. Patrick Johnston of Zanesville, a family physician who heads the campaign, says the constitutional addition would protect all unborn babies in Ohio, without exception. Personhood Ohio volunteers must now obtain 380,000 signatures to call for the election.

"It's a good state to go directly to the voters to gather enough signatures, and then go to the voters and the ballot box and bypass the committees that end up corrupting good pro-life legislation in the House of Representatives and the Senate," Johnston explains.

That corruption, he sayts [sic], reaches the point where exceptions are made that result in abortions. But he believes Ohio's pro-life leaning is strong, so even if a court rules against it, it does not necessarily mean anything.

"There [are] several constitutional measures we can take," the physician asserts. "One is we can ignore it. There's a firm legal precedent that when the judiciary rules unconstitutionally and immorally, that we have no obligation to respect that law any more than if they would have ordered us to kill our wives. We don't have to obey them."

Michael Brown has been hard at work establishing himself among the Religious Right's cadre of militant anti-gay activists with the publication of his book "A Queer Thing Happened to America" and by writing pieces, published by the American Family Association's OneNewsNow, in which he asserts that "gay activism" was responsible for the brutal murder of 15 year-old openly gay eight grader Lawrence King in 2008:

After all, it is gay activists who constantly remind us that LGBT kids are bullied and even beaten up at school. They tell us how dangerous the school environment is for kids who identify as LGBT, and yet at the same time, they praise kids like Larry for coming out at 10. They even want more Gay Straight Alliances in our middle schools, where pre-teens can declare their gay identity to their peers and faculty advisors without their parents' knowledge. Why? So they can become targets of hatred and potential violence? If our schools really are so "homophobic" and dangerous, why not encourage these kids to keep their sexual orientation to themselves until they're in a safer environment?

Some of the teachers in Larry's school, along with his adoptive father, specifically accused former assistant principal Joy Epstein, an open lesbian, of encouraging Larry's flamboyant behavior in order to promote her "agenda." If there is any truth to this, it is not just irresponsible, it is reprehensible. (At the least, there is no indication that she discouraged his pushy, sexual behavior.) How could an experienced educator act in such a way, especially with a boy who had such a troubled history? And is it possible that Larry could have benefited from ongoing counseling about his sexuality? Yet gay activists adamantly oppose any form of counseling that does not affirm homosexuality.

What about the other administrators? Why didn't they prevent Larry from dressing up like a girl when teachers reported to them that it was causing disruption among the students? The official school answer is that California law, passed at the urging of gay activists, prevents discrimination based on gender identity or expression, and so Larry was able to come to school wearing women's accessories and makeup. Was it fair to push this on Larry's classmates, themselves young teenagers sorting through their own issues of sexual identity? Was it fair to Larry?

And what is to be said of this memo sent out to the entire eighth grade? "We have a student on campus who has chosen to express his sexuality by wearing make-up. It is his right to do so." In eighth grade? His "right?" What a travesty! Yet this is a "right" gay activists aggressively fight for, as if this somehow makes our schools "safer" and provides a better learning environment for all the kids. Nonsense.

It is true that Brandon McInerney murdered Larry King in cold blood, but gay activism is complicit in his death.

• The ACLJ pushes back against the reports that Jay Sekulow is making millions off the organization.
• Michele Bachmann loses two key campaign staffers.
• CWA's Penny Nance worries about incivility while asserting that "violence is nothing new for unions."
• There is just something hilarious about reading a piece on the AFA's OneNewsNow about how the Religious Right has an image problem caused by their over-the-top rhetoric.
• Case in point, the AFA's Bryan Fischer says Muslims should at least have the decency to hang their heads in shame on 9/11.
• Finally, Gary Cass is really starting to give Fischer a run for his money as the Religious Right's most viciously anti-Muslim activist.

Frank Turek is a corporate consultant who "conducts dynamic training and development programs in Leadership, Sales, Customer Service, Team Building and other people-skill topics essential for business success."

He is also a Religious Right activist who writes books like "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" and "Correct, Not Politically Correct; How Same-Sex Marriage Hurts Everyone" and hosts a radio program called "Cross Examined" that airs on the American Family Association's radio network.

Recently, those two career paths have begun to come into conflict with one another and Turek's anti-gay activism has started to cost him consulting jobs. This development has, of course, transformed Turek into a Religious Right hero and yesterday showed up on "Today's Issues" with the AFA 's Tim Wildmon and FRC's Tony Perkins to tell his tale.

During the discussion, the topic turned to the AFA's boycott of Home Depot (or "Homo Depot," as they called it) over the corporation's support for equality and gay pride parades ... which prompted Turek to rail against gay pride and diversity training programs:

Anytime you have to call something "pride," there's a problem with it, particularly when it comes to behavior because you don't hear people walking around saying "heterosexual pride" ...

Pride? Pride? Pride is, as we all know, really the root of all sin; we want to do it our way rather than God's way.

And secondly, the other thing I'd like to bring up is do you have to have corporate training programs to teach people that men were made for women and that women were made for men? No! You only need corporate training or indoctrination programs to try and cause people to believe something they know isn't right. You don't need diversity training for man-women relationships - we all know that's the natural way, that's the designed way, that's the teleological way. We only need to be talked out of what we know is true, and that's why we have these corporate propaganda programs.