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I think many people online confuse articulating conflicting views with hurling personal attacks and verbal or digital Molotov cocktails behind the safety of a keyboard and monitor. People say things on a blog or bulletin board they would never say offline to someone face-to-face.
~Pam Spaulding
In a gratuitous and somewhat unpleasant way, Peter LaBarbera has again has used my name and image as a stand-in for all who identify as transsexual, as well as a stand-in for all who sociopolitically identify as transgender. His recent Americans For Truth About Homosexuality post, entitled Listen Online: AFTAH Sounds the Alarm on ENDA as Grave Threat to Religious Freedom, is a post that refers to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), but Peter Labarbera seems to have made at least an equal attempt to make sure I paid requisite attention to both him and the post. Well, Mr. LaBarbera got my attention.
And in that apparent attempt to have me pay him some attention, it really looks to me like he’s made a big attempt to bait me. Oddly, it feels like I’m dealing with a petulant schoolyard bully; I certainly I don’t feel like I’m dealing with an adult who identifies himself as a Christian.
What I’m not going to do is sink into the mire that Mr. LaBarbera appears to want to drag both of us down into. I’m not going to call him names. And in this post, I’m not going to address his political beliefs regarding ENDA — there are others who can do that. Instead, I’m going to take a few moments to explain why dealing with LaBarbera doesn’t feel like I’m dealing with a person who understands the Christian faith he’s taken for himself. I’m going to explain some Biblical issues with Mr. LaBarbera’s actions, and explaining why I don’t see his behavior being compatible with Christian doctrine. I think this is important because no one who shares both his conservative politics and identity as a fundamentalist or Evangelical Christian are calling him out for his behavior.
So, let’s begin with this rather lengthy, but hardly exhaustive, diary.
Looking at outward appearances
Whenever one comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander; then he goes out and spreads it abroad.
~Psalms 41:6
As many already know, I served in the U.S. Navy from 1980 through 2000. I’m a retired, disabled, Persian Gulf War veteran; my disabilities are service connected, and my Veterans Administration (VA) disability rating is 100%. In the The Americans For Truth About Homosexuality piece entitled Listen Online: AFTAH Sounds the Alarm on ENDA as Grave Threat to Religious Freedom, Peter LaBarbera used a photo of me that I had posted on Pam’s House Blend. The photo that Mr. LaBarbera copied and pasted was taken from the Pam’s House Blend website. It’s a photo of me on the first day I presented as Autumn (February 6, 2003).
For yours and Mr. LaBarbera’s information, that photo of me that Mr. LaBarbera recently used on his Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) website was taken within the confines of the Veterans Administration San Diego Medical Center‘s Patient Health Library. In early February of 2003, I started working there as a student work study. In fact, that particular photo of me was taken on my first day on that work study job. My low paying job at the Patient Health Library that day — and for many more days following that day — was to serve the disabled veterans who needed help with materials. Oh — I got that job as a student work study for twenty-five hours a week because I was using VA benefits towards obtaining an Information Systems degree from National University.
I’m pointing this out because I’m a transgender identified disabled veteran who is proud not only of my military service, but I’m also proud to have served other disabled veterans. When Mr. LaBarbera picked an image of me — apparently an image of me that Mr. LaBarbera found to be an unattractive looking image of me — it was an image of me from a day and a location where I was serving a community of U.S. military veterans. Mr. LaBarbera apparently looks at an outward presentation of me in my early days of transition and sees an ugly person that should be feared by all Americans — a Samaritan-like outcast. But speaking of Samaritans…
Well, Mr. LaBarbera has recently captioned a photograph of me — a photograph he no doubt found on either the Pam’s House Blend website or the Pam’s House Blend PhotoBucket group. He “lifted” the photograph, then cut, edited, and pasted the photo to his Americans For Truth About Homosexuality website. In Mr. LaBarbera’s actions of “lifting” and captioning that photograph of me, I believe one can find a parallel to the behaviors of the Priest and the Levite within the Parable Of The Good Samaritan.
And, this is how I see Mr. LaBarbera’s behavior being unneighborly, and less than Christian: Mr. LaBarbera obtained this photograph of me that was taken at a location where I, not five minutes later, was working to serve disabled veterans. Peter LaBarbera wanted so badly to find me an ugly person that he took away a mental image of ugliness of me from a photograph taken on a date and at a location where I was serving disabled veterans.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
~1 Samuel 16:7b
“Subject to rulers and authorities”
Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men.
~Titus 3:1&2
I own the copyright to the photo of me that Mr. LaBarbera lifted from the Pam’s House Blend website/the Pam’s House Blend PhotoBucket group. Mr. LaBarbera should be familiar with fair use and Kelly v. Arriba Soft Corporation. If he had researched the law, he would know that he violated copyright law in how he obtained and republished the copyrighted image of me.
A simple point: To claim one is a Christian, but not follow the laws of the land one lives — especially when specific laws don’t specifically encroach upon one’s Christian faith — well, that’s actively not doing good; that’s actively not practicing one’s Christian faith.
Spreading explicit lies and defaming character
What is desirable in a man is his kindness, and it is better to be a poor man than a liar.
~Proverbs 19:22
[Way too much material to work with is found below the fold.]Mr. LaBarbera has now for a second time spread lies regarding how I “left” my ex-wife and children. (The first time he spread lies was in the AFTAH’s Taxpayer-Funded Tranny-Care? ObamaCare Could Mandate Free ‘Sex-Change’ Surgeries.) I don’t want to go into a lot of public detail on this because my ex-wife and children aren’t public figures — and frankly, they don’t deserve to be drawn into public discussion just because Peter LaBarbera is baiting me to bring my relationship and history with them into the public square.
I will say a few things though, since Mr. LaBarbera seems to be intent to continue to repeat his lies until I publicly correct him. First, my ex-wife is the one who asked to separate and divorce from me, and not the other way around. In 1996, I was at the end of a tour of duty at a Naval Base in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I was up for orders at roughly the same time my ex-wife told me she wanted to divorce me. I was only offered one set of orders, and it was to the USS Coronado (AGF-11), homeported at a base in San Diego, California. Even though my ex-wife, like me, is from southern California, my ex-wife decided to not move back to California, but to stay in Virginia Beach with her new boyfriend. When my ex-wife and I moved out of the Navy Housing unit we jointly shared, she directly moved in with her then new boyfriend, who is now husband. I have been celibate since my marriage entered, so Mr. LaBarbera can’t truthfully say that I have, even by Biblical Standards, committed adultery.
Secondly, regarding my three children… Well, 1.) I have a relationship with my oldest child, and I have twins who want nothing to do with me. More than that I’m just not comfortable sharing. 2.) I paid child support for all of my children, and never missed a single month of sending financial support for all of my children. In fact, I sent more than I was legally obligated to send for extended periods of time. My oldest child has been over eighteen years of age for many years, so I haven’t paid child support for him for those many years; however, I paid child support for my twins until late last year — when my twins turned eighteen years of age.
The bottom line my ex-wife left me, and not the other way around; and in a real and legal sense, my children weren’t abandoned. But, Mr. LaBarbera characterizes me as having left my ex-wife and children, and implies that I did nothing to care for my children after my ex-wife and I separated. So, Mr. LaBarbera’s statements about my history with my ex-wife and children are false statements; Mr. LaBarbera is explicitly spreading lies about me. If Mr. LaBarbera continues in spreading lies about me regarding having “left” my ex-wife and children to “pusue [my] twisted ‘transgender’ dream,” I will seriously consider suing him for defamation of character.
O LORD, who may abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.
He does not slander with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor…
~Psalms 15:1-3a
The New Testament Parable Of The Good Samaritan should have taught Mr. LaBarbera the concept of who neighbors are — in the Biblical sense, I’m Mr. LaBarbera’s neighbor.
Picking fights
…[A]void foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
~Titus 3:9-11
In the spreading of explicit lies in mischaracterizing my behaviors towards my ex-wife and children, Peter LaBarbera is knowingly picking a fight with me. Yet too, when Mr. LaBarbera uses terms he knows to be epithets — such as the term “she-male” — he’s intentionally picking fights with members of the trans community.
His latest use of the term “she-male,” excerpted from the broadcast he highlighted in his post Listen Online: AFTAH Sounds the Alarm on ENDA as Grave Threat to Religious Freedom:
“And, the really incredibly dangerous part of this [Employment Non-Discrimination Act] bill is that they’ve extended it to so-called “transgenders.” And that’s with the she-male thing you were referring to. And that is really insidious.”
And just so we’re clear that Peter LaBarbera isn’t just using the term “she-male” as just a quote of CrossTalk host Jim Schneider, below are some other quotes of Mr. LaBarbera using the epithet. The first quote (where he’s specifically talking about ENDA):
The “transgender” lobby has copied aggressive “gay” activist tactics and is on the verge of creating federal “civil rights” based on gender confusion. Their top goal? Passage of the “Thought Crimes” and “ENDA Our Freedom” bills. If these become law, we’re talking about federal “rights” – and that means federal lawsuits – for “she-males” – biological men who act as if they are women and even demand to use female restrooms (see our story, “The Transg-ENDA: Man in Purple Suit Invades Ladies’ Restroom in Md.”).
And a second quote:
Disclaimer: This graphic is only a joke. Any resemblance to an actual woman is purely coincidental and highly unlikely. Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest that there is an incendiary device in this “she-male’s” pumps. We at Americans For Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH) have no reason to believe this man pretending to be a woman is actually a terrorist, nor are we implying that Arab-looking transvestites are terrorists or that they represent any serious threat to Americans other than to our sensibilities.
Mr. LaBarbera also quotes the TVC on his Americans For Truth About Homosexuality website using the epithet here:
Friends, it was obvious. There are many additional orientations that would have had to be included in sexual orientation. Also, they would have to agree to a definition of gender identity and they did not want that. They obviously did not want to define gender identity to include she-male, cross-dresser, drag queen, transgender, transsexual, etc.
…As well as quoting the Liberty Council’s Matt Barber — a board member of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality — on the AFTAH website using the epithet here:
Well, now Sean number two and other like-minded “gay” and she-male activists may very well get their wish – and parents may well be forced to explain to Junior why Ms. Johnson at parochial school has a five o’clock shadow, calves like Schwarzenegger, an Adam’s apple the size of a golf ball and is stuffed into a miniskirt like a ten pound turkey in a five pound bag.
In his personal repeated use of antitransgender epithets, and in his repeating of others using the epithet, he demonstrates a reason why his Americans For Truth About Homosexuality group was listed as a hate group in the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC’s) Spring 2010 Intelligence Report.
From the Naperville Sun‘s Local anti-gay group rejects ‘hate site’ tag:
President of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality Peter LaBarbera says he has “taken issue” with that, and is asking for a public apology from the organization and a debate with its president, Mark Potok. His organization, he says, while against homosexuality, is not a hate group. “You can disagree without being hateful,” LaBarbera said……LaBarbera contends that his organization and its Web site are no more hateful than the Catholic Church.
As for a public apology or debate, the SPLC says there’s none coming.
“He can debate all he wants,” said [Booth Gunther, the public affairs coordinator at SPLC]. “We stand by our designation.”
I’d like to point out that when Peter LaBarbera’s repeatedly uses the antitransgender epithet “she-male” in his writings, and when he repeatedly uses the antitransgender epithet “she-male” on public airwaves and in podcasts, he actually is using more hateful language regarding trans people than even the Catholic Church uses regarding trans people. In that one real sense, Peter LaBarbera is decidedly behaving more hatefully than the clergy and hierarchy of Catholic Church behave.
But I digress. When one looks at the words of Peter LaBarbera regarding me, as well as other trans identified people, it seems very apparent to me that he has used scorn ridden words to pick fights.
The SPLC obviously saw his hateful speech as abominable. And hey, it appears he’s using his hateful speech to pick personal fights with those he perceives are his enemies.
Not behaving towards others as Mr. LaBarbera wants others to behave towards him
That’s a famously simple quote attributed to Jesus Christ. It’s so simple in its concept, but such effort is required to follow the tenant of that, the Golden Rule.
Here’s a quote from Peter LaBarbera, from his AFTAH post Barber: The Hard Left and Fred Phelps Have Something in Common:
…Let me echo Matt Barber’s observation about the Hard Left: with all their name-calling and nasty smears of religious opponents, pro-homosexual militants like Joe Jervis (of the blog “Joe.My.God.“); Pam Spaulding, the “Jeebus”-[Jesus]-hating lesbian and creator of the “Pam’s House Blend” blog; Rachel Maddow with her crude and cruel “Teabagger” rants, and Wayne (“Anything But Straight”) Besen, proud creator of the “Porno Pete” slur directed at yours truly, have more in common with Fred than they’d ever admit. –Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth
Note that Mr. LaBarbera calls the “Porno Pete” phrase a “slur.” Here is an excerpt from the post he links to — entitled Wayne Besen Has Been Taking his Hate Pill again…. (underline emphasis added):
It looks like Wayne (“Anything But Straight”) Besen has been taking his hate pill again. Besen, who is out to prove, with Stalinesque zeal, that no homosexual can change – has written another diatribe against me and Americans For Truth.Just as night follows day, we could have predicted that Wayne and his fellow “gay” comrades, including the folks at Box Turtle Bulletin (who alternate between high-minded critiques of pro-family research and mean-spirited name-calling), would ridicule – not the men at International Mr. Leather who were engaging in vile (“pig sex”) orgies at Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton Hotel; not the “leather” vendors hawking twisted porn videos including those featuring “fisting” and “water sports” – but yours truly, for exposing these perversions.
Followed up with an update:
UPDATE: Since I posted this item below, Wayne Besen has put up another piece filled with lies against me. Thankfully, a couple friends have defended me on his site, but I’m afraid Wayne is losing it. As my son would say, chill… Click HERE for Wayne’s latest hateful blast against Americans For Truth.
It’s very clear that Peter LaBarbera considers slurs, name calling, and lies directed towards him, towards his conservative peers, and towards his self-identified Christian peers as unappreciated, unacceptable behavior. Yet it also appears that Mr. LaBarbera doesn’t practice the kind of behavior that he desires of others; Mr. LaBarbera is blatantly ignoring a pretty key tenant of Christian faith.
So, let me be clear about what I don’t like regarding what Mr. LaBarbera is saying and writing about me, is saying and writing about my friends, and is saying and writing about my trans-identified peers. This is so Mr. LaBarbera will know how to engage in Golden Rule behavior towards trans community members; how to begin to act like a good neighbor to his trans identified neighbors.
• For me personally I didn’t appreciate when Mr. LaBarbera, in the AFTAH post FRC Takes on Colorado Transgender ‘Bathroom Bills’, implied that I’m a bathroom predator of women and children. I also didn’t appreciate when he called me in that same post a “confused man” — 
I’m not confused at all about my sex and gender at all, and I can point to Matthew 19:12 and Isaiah 56:3-5 as to people who live outside of societal sex and gender norms being accepted by his God as fully loved, and fully human.
I also didn’t appreciate it when Mr. LaBarbera called me by the pejorative “transvestite” in the AFTAH post Why We Need ‘Americans For Truth’. Mr. LaBarbera knew, even in 2006, that I’m a transsexual who sociopolitically identifies as transgender — he knows I don’t identify as a crossdresser.
I also don’t appreciate when Mr. LaBarbera puts my first name in quotation marks as he did here. In putting my name in quotation marks, Mr. LaBarbera appears not only to be questioning my sex and gender, but implying Autumn isn’t my actually my first name. So, Mr. LaBarbera is implying I’m lying about what my legal first name is.
For Mr. LaBarbera’s benefit, I’ve included images of two official photo identifications (with personal identification numbers and identification codes blacked out and “void” written across the cards so these can’t be duplicated and unlawfully reused) — my Veterans Administration disability card, and my Department of Defense retiree identification card — to show that my legal name is Autumn. If Mr. LaBarbera prefers to have his first name put in quotation marks in a manner designed to question his sex and gender, I would hope Mr. LaBarbera would contact me and tell me that this is how he wants to be treated. If not, then Mr. LaBarbera isn’t treating this other the same way he wants to be treated.
And lastly in relationship to how Mr. LaBarbera has been behaving towrds me, Mr. LaBarbera has brought my non-public figure ex-wife and non-public figure children into public discussion. Would he appreciate it if I started discussing his non-public figure wife and his non-public figure children in this public forum? If his answer is “No,” then he should have thought a moment before bringing my ex-wife and my children into public discussion.
• Perhaps Peter LaBarbera remembers this from the Pam’s House Blend diary I wrote, entitled CWA And Peter LaBarbera Behaving Badly In The Name Of Jesus (bold emphasis added):
[My friend Brenda Watson] staffed the Scouting For All booth during San Diego Pride. On the CWA’s July 24th (2008) podcast,CWA Policy Analyst Martha KlederAFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera called Brenda a “homely man” and a “deviant” — and CWA Policy Analyst Martha Kleder compared Brenda unfavorably to the Addams Family, to which Peter LaBarbera chimed in and agreed. The excerpt:Well, when Brenda’s tears dried, she did some online research and found Peter LaBarbera’s Americans For Truth About Homosexuality telephone number. So, she called him up to let him know she heard the podcast, and that he and Martha Kleder weren’t exactly being very Christian in how they hurled their insults. And, of course, it was easy for Peter and Martha to attack Brenda. To them, Brenda was an anonymous less-than-human-being — they said things on a podcast they would never say offline to Brenda face-to-face.
As if to confirm that assumption, Brenda told me that in her phone call, Peter said that he couldn’t remember exactly what he said in the podcast — he actually said “Sometimes I get carried away.”
I didn’t appreciate Mr. LaBarbera calling my friend unkind names in a moment where he says he became “carried away” — where he lost his self-control.
…[M]ake every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
~1 Peter1:5b-7
• As I said earlier about his use of the term “she-male” — and to which I’d also add use of the terms “tranny” and “transvestite” — I don’t appreciate the use of epithets used against my trans identified peers.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
~Matthew 5:43-48
Summary and conclusion
…[A]void foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.
~Titus 3:9-11
I could go on with more examples of Peter LaBarbera’s un-Christian behavior, but I believe I’ve already made this point: Peter LaBarbera self-identifies as a Christian, but he doesn’t seem to be making any effort to behave in accordance with the Bible of his Christian faith. I don’t expect Mr. LaBarbera to be perfect (because all of us are less than perfect, and sometimes fail), but I do expect him — as a self-identified Christian — to better attempt at treating others as he wants to be treated, to better attempt to behave with kindness and thoughtfulness towards others, and to better attempt at giving public effort at keeping his self-control.
If Mr LaBarbera chooses not to live up to the tenants of his self-identified Christian faith in the way he writes and speaks, I’ll leave him with this thought from Proverbs 17:28:
Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.
But that said, I usually find Peter LaBarbera’s foolish writings to be really, really entertaining. So, on one level I hope he never backs away from his keyboard, and I hope he keeps talking to religious right broadcasters and podcasters. He should just know that many of us on the progressive left are reading and listening to him not because he has anything of true value to say, but he gives us an example to hold up of religious right foolishness — of religious right wingnuttery — gone amok.
Please keep up the good entertaining work, Mr. LaBarbera — I know I enjoy laughing at your antics…and laughing at you.
Hat tip: Good As You
~~~~~
Further Reading:
* Good As You: Attacks like this one on Autumn will lead to Pete’s Fall
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27 Comments
Dead end.Sorry, but this is a complete waste of time. Anybody can find Bible verses to support any viewpoint. That’s the whole problem with religion. That’s why there are thousands of conflicting denominations within Christianity.
Wait, actually, on second thought… that isn’t entirely true. Not every viewpoint is validated by the Bible. The idea that slavery is wrong, for example, has no Biblical basis. In fact the Bible goes to great lengths to describe how many slaves you can own and how you are supposed to treat them. Not even Jesus questions slavery. He even uses it in one of his parables.
And the tactic of cherry-picking Bible verses to single out the happy ones only serves to ignore the giant elephant in the room: the long, sordid, oppressive, blood-soaked history of Christianity. If the Bible were credible as a moral guide, we would not have had the crusades, the inquisitions, the witch hunts, the justifications for slavery and segregation…
I’m not sure what you are trying to accomplish by going down this road, other than you may see some kind of political advantage to pandering to pro-LGBT religious people. But it should be obvious to everyone that while not all religious people are anti-LGBT, almost all anti-LGBT sentiment takes the form of religious condemnation. Almost every anti-LGBT organization is either explicitly religious, or has close ties to the Christian right. Religion is the primary enemy of LGBT equality. It’s absurd to pretend otherwise.
I feel like you are just trying to deny reality and pretend the world and the Christian religion is the way you would like it to be, and ignoring the way that it really is. It’s spin. It might be spin that many LGBT people want to hear, but it’s still spin.
Coincidentally…Joe Jervis has a funny little graph up on his blog right now. The number of people God murders in the Bible, as compared to Satan:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_t6rV…
Well said.Religion poisons everything.
We have LGBT Christians reading this blog.I believe you’re painting all practitioners of Christianity with a pretty broad brush.
I was raised for my first nine years as an Evangelical Christian at a Swedish Covenant church, and spent the next twelve years as a Pentecostal Christian at a series of Foursquare churches. So, I’m very familiar with fundamentalist Christian doctrines, as taught to me in Sunday School and from the sanctuary pulpit. I used my knowlege of fudamentalist Christian scripture and doctrine to point out Mr. LaBarbera’s shortcomings. His peers will notice this post — I hope they do.
I currently identify as a “small ‘c’ christian,” which means I adhere to many Christian principles without fully embracing the first four of the ten commandments. I recognize that faith is an integral part of many people’s lives — including many LGBT people’s lives. LGBT Christians can — and have c– hanged the hearts and minds of non-LGBT Christians regarding politics.
For example, when OneKalamazoo worked to defeat the referendum that sought to repeal civil rights won by LGBT citizens of that city, volunteers came in large numbers from the congregations of Welcoming and Affirming churches.
Just as every Democrat isn’t the LGBT community’s friend, and not every Republican is the LGBT community’s enemy, one can say the same thing about people of Christian faith. Not all Christians are our friends, but not all Christians are our enemies either — I prefer not to paint all people of Christian faith with a broad brush that brushes them aside as our community’s enemy.
We have LGBT Christians reading this blog. I definitely don’t consider them my enemies, and many LGBT Christians are people that I count among my close friends. I simply will not dismiss these people of Christian faith in a way that I believe you apparently do. I want people of Christian faith to support my peers and my civil rights, and I won’t dismiss any who may come to help us in our civil rights fight.
No, there is an important point hereI thought Autumn’s response was measured, extremely intelligent and far better than LaBarbara deserved. I, personally, would have compared him unfavorably with several of the meanest first graders I’ve ever met (they, at least, grew out of it) and then let loose with a stream of profanity the likes of which has never before been seen.
I may yet do that. It’s fun, and he’s such an easy target.
But what Autumn is doing here that I really like is combating LaBarbara’s pseudo-religion, his affectation of religion for political and social purposes, with ACTUAL religion. LaBarbara doesn’t live his faith, a point which Autumn makes crystal clear. In fact, he uses it as a skin, a way to make himself feel superior to others. Examine above how easy it is to demolish him simply by pointing to the basic tenets of Christianity, as Jesus actually preached it: be good to one another, help those who need it, and stop being so picky and judgmental already. Christians who really live their faith get this. As a tactic, it is Super Effective.
This isn’t to defend organized religion by any means, there’s an awful lot of blood and misery in the past that needs to be reckoned with. But there are many excellent people out there for whom faith and religion are positive forces in their lives, and Autumn is speaking to them.
I found her response to be moving, and a far better expression of Christianity as it should be than anything LaBarbara or his hateful group can ever muster.
Copyright InfringementAutumn, you should sue the fucker. Or at least have a lawyer send him a scary letter that makes him sweat a little.
Well done, Autumn…..and hopefully, very cathartic.
“peter” (teehee)apparently, has not lived in the areas that I have traveled to. "parents may well be forced to explain to Junior why Ms. Johnson at parochial school has a five o'clock shadow, calves like Schwarzenegger, an Adam's apple the size of a golf ball and is stuffed into a miniskirt like a ten pound turkey in a five pound bag." women come in all shapes and sizes,some do have facial hair and large muscles and way too many are stuffed into a miniskirts. let just take a look at some of the wonderful 'gurd fearin' folks of this establishment. http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
Well SaidI’m no Christian – nor even christian.
I do try to follow 1 Corinthians 13 and Matthew 22:39-40.
And I know personally some Christians with a capital C who have given significant sums of money to help trans people transition. Because it’s the right thing to do, no matter how much we may disagree on doctrine.
Some don’t just mouth Christianity, they live it.
Really?“People of Wal-Mart” is a wasteland of classism and looksism. Unsurprisingly, many of the people ridiculed on the site are done so for reasons of apparent gender variance. It is the very same as Camenker’s pictorial class assassination.
Keep speaking the truthAutumn, thanks for the post.
Personally, I would consult with an attorney to see if there is a way to sue the pants off this asshole. you may also want to consult with The Southern Poverty Law Center as I am sure they may also offer you some assistance.
Speaking of the SPLC, I was overjoyed when they added PL and his hate group to their list of HATE GROUPS. Apparently this has upset PL to end which makes me sleep better at night knowing that he is gaining the well deserved reputation as a sick hatemonger.
Lastly, this POS lives in my former boyhood home of Naperville, IL. I left 30 years ago never to return as the antigay attitudes were too painful for me to exist there.
What is most sad with PL and his hate group is that even mainline Christian groups NEVER speak out against PL or groups like him. Their silence regarding anti gay hate groups only tells me and others that they silently agree wit hPL and his form of hate. Very sad. Unfortunately, many of my family members, moany of which still reside in Naperville, probably do support PL and his hate.
Keep exposing PLs LIES. The TRUTH always wins out in the end. Something is telling me that things are going to get bad for PL as the universe is not acting too kindly to liers and haters. All ‘false followers of god’ are being revealed for who they really are. Adding PL and his hate group to the SPLC hate group list is only the beginning of the end for PL.
But, but, but…He’s the precinct committeeman for Naperville 26. He’s a true Gooper, ergo he’s a true christian!
Ok, he’s a true ass. He’s also a terribly confused “human”. According to his Facebook page, “There is no greater privilege in this world than to stand up for Truth on the side of God.” He apparently thinks that he’s god and gets to interpret the Bible and decide how other people live their lives.
ChristianityGreat post Autumn
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Thank you also for NOT assuming ALL Christians are hateful of us. It is difficult enough being a gay Christian and have to listen to those that take a few verses out of the Bible to demean a whole class of people. And you are right, there are MANY Christians that read Pamshouseblend as well as other such blogs.
I really liked the way you were able to use a few verses to point out Petey’s hypocrisy. I also agree that going after nonpublic family members is very low.
I doubt that this has much impact on Pete, but perhaps it will on some of his followers. I have emailed AFTAH a number of times and have yet to get a response, though I do get updates with pleas for money
just my 2 cents
aj
how is his use of the photoany different than Pam lifting the Facebook photos from the high school students in the recent controversy over the prom?
Peter LaBarbera’s stunning lack of accomplishmentI posted this in 2007 in another forum, but feel it needs to be replayed here.
Peter LaBarbera is someone who has virtually nothing that he has set out to do.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane. From 2007:
“Living here in Illinois, I am quite familiar with Peter LaBarbera.
When he’s lobbying in Springfield, he hounds the media to interview him so he can make a statement that will be put on the air. The media, however, tries to avoid him. Even they have him figured out.
He comes from the Family Research Council in Washington DC and heads to our great blue state of Illinois to run the Illinois Family Institute (IFI).
As was previously mentioned, he essentially tries to shock and horrify his followers by portraying the gay community– specifically gay men– in a very negative light. He says virtually nothing about lesbians.
You know who else did this trick? Anti-gay “researcher” Paul Cameron, who while in Washington DC, would go to Lambda Rising bookstore and head straight for the adult stuff, walking out with arm loads of “evidence” and then publish some bogus “study” or “research”.
Same tactic with Pete here in Illinois, but instead he goes to IML, Chicago’s Gay Pride Parade and Northalsted Market Days.
Wait 2 to 3 days after each of these events, and then make sure to read his Americans For Truth website about what he “discovered” because you can bet he will report on it.
Each of these events occur on Halsted Street– the heart of Chicago’s gay community. And where does Porno Pete station himself?? Right in the 3200 block of North Halsted Street. What’s there, you ask? Steamworks bath house, of course.
The guy operates like clockwork and is so predictable. EVERY YEAR same thing and the same old crap on his web site 2 to 3 days later.
While at the IFI, nearly every entry on the website on anything gay, was followed up by a hysterical plea for money. But what did his financial supporters get for their money?
Nothing, absolutely nothing. Here’s the Illinois Family Institute’s record while Peter LaBarbera was in charge:
1. Tried to kill the Illinois civil rights bill that includes sexual orientation and gender ID. IFI failed. Illinois is a gay-rights state.
2. Tried to stop the Gay Games from coming to Chicago in 2006. IFI failed, Gay Games were here.
3. Tried to stop the Games rowing event from occuring on Crystal Lake (suburban Chicago). IFI failed, Crystal Lake approved the event.
4. Tried to stop HIV-positive athletes from entering the country. IFI failed; the athletes were allowed entry for the Gay Games.
5. Tried to put an advisory referendum supporting a ban on same-sex marriage on the November 2006 ballot in Illinois. The IFI failed, too many bogus signatures. (And speaking as a volunteer for Fair Illinois– the organization charged with verifying the petitions– I can tell you I’ve never seen so many bogus names and signatures in my life.)
They even went so far as to appeal that ruling to The U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit. They lost.
After his failure with the November ballot initiative, the guy was shown the door from the Illinois Family Institute and tried to jump start Americans for Truth– an already defunct organization.
Since his departure at the IFI, the number of gay-related articles on the IFI site is near zero– a complete 180 degree turn from when he was there.
And most recently, while LaBarbera is at Americans For Truth:
6. Tried to torpedo the Day of Silence in area schools by encouraging parents to keep their kids home that day. The guy even reported that he kept his own son home that day. The ulimate irony? According to the Naperville Sun, the absenteeism at his son’s school that day was LOWER than normal. He failed again, and the Day of Silence went forward as planned.
Peter LaBarbera is batting .000 (literally). He has nothing to show for his efforts or for the money donated from his naive followers.
I know Christian conservatives are reading this. My request to you is this:
Don’t give a dime of your money to this clown, Americans for Truth, or the Illinois Family Institute. He’s a complete sham. Donate that money to a homeless shelter, for medical research to cure a disease, or just keep the money in the bank. I bid you peace.”
The above is what I wrote about him in 2007. Not much else has changed, except he is now including trans folks in his lies.
And like the Illinois Family Institute, AFTAH often times makes a brazen plug for contributions– often times placing a link to donate after one of their outrageous stories.
The man leads a miserable existence who feeds his obsession under the guise of research. A truly pathetic soul.
Sorry Autumn!But as you already know, Peter can’t function, write or do anything else without putting somebody else down. He’s a total user.
Maybe it’s time everyone pull together all their resources and dig up the worst possible dirt on Mr. LaBarbera and have an expose’ on him right here at The Blend (which will find its’ way around the blogs of course). You KNOW there’s some tax-free-status fraud going on there, and there’s no telling what other creepy information may be found.
Unfortunately I’m not a tekkie or else I’d jump right in and get started.
A clarification about IFIThey have returned to their old habit of gay-baiting/bashing through their Division of School Advocacy – namely its director of this division Laurie Higgins, as well as frequent cross-posts by LaBarbera’s BFF Matt Barber and others. A few examples:
http://www.illinoisfamily.org/…
http://www.illinoisfamily.org/…
http://www.illinoisfamily.org/…
http://www.illinoisfamily.org/…
Apparently, Batsh*t nutty rantings are a cash cow, for these cash cows.
it isn’tIf it’s posted on the internet and not behind a privacy filter, it’s fair game. I’ve had my photos ripped and used for some hateful sh*te (including one post using next to a mammy photo), so I just take it as part of how it goes.
I agree with PamThere are legalities I’m alluding to, but I expect pictures that I post to the web unprotected to be cut-and-pasted.
Frankly, if I don’t want a pic out in the public sphere, I don’t post it. However, even if Mr. LaBarbera could post that picture without me filing suit, it doesn’t mean that the taking of the photo was legal — or Biblically condoned.
Fair use for using online picture one cuts-and-pastes also involves the picture actually being part of the story. In other words, the pictures from the “prom” actually were key elements of the story of that prom.
If you listen to the whole podcast that Mr. LaBarbera linked to on AFTAH, you would heare that my name wasn’t mentioned in the audio at all. In other words, my picture wasn’t actually related of the story on his website — he just posted my photo as a stand-in for all trans people, likely because he wanted to illicit a response from me.
And again, just because he cut-and-paste a photo of me, aware I likely won’t sue him for doing that doesn’t make his action legal. And, it also doesn’t make his actions Biblically condoned — which is the actual point I was trying to make.
i have to wonder....why so much effort is put into all these entrenched religious people. has that approach ever worked? no. you cannot argue with a brick wall. what would happen if ‘we’ didn’t respond directly to ‘them’? they can talk all they want but to provide them any energy in the form of a response only seems to drag out the negativity with no resolution. i think we cause ourselves emotional damage by engaging with someone that isn’t interested in hearing and acknowledging. can we take a different tactic? i am not saying do nothing but i am saying that the back and forth of point/counterpoint is about right fighting and confirmation bias and takes enjoyment from our daily lives and we rob ourselves of dealing with different people that toil daily in our behalf without any positive reward from the majority of us. we could be focusing on using our gay dollars to help other communities with their needs. set the example and we will win the help we need. gay volunteering in hurricane damaged communities or in military base areas will do more for us than arguing with bigots. not only that, it is more uplifting and rewarding work to help others with their problems. it is more convincing too in the hearts and minds catagory.
Two Sides Of The CoinIf you say NOTHING, the bully will just keep on and keep on, adding new false BS about their target every time. And many kooks out there who reads his crap will believe it all as fact.
But if you defend yourself, at least you’re making an effort to set the record straight from the horses mouth. Do it with humour, do it with personal photos and personal stories about your life, however you wanna do it.
Either way, you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
And it’s always best to fight Porno Pete back with humour, because a sense of humour is one of many things he’s lacking.
i like humor....as it leaves me in a better space after the interaction. i think people like him feed off of the energy of the response, the provoking of emotion. at most we should be more ‘spock-like’ and/or funny. it is the emotion and the energy from that that that gives him the hard on. one needs to starve that energy vampire and focus efforts elsewhere. i say deny him his fix. other than his own followers, who listens to him? if he is an ineffective ‘leader’ and never ‘wins’ legislation, let him spew into the wind.
The battle is forAs always, the mushy middle and the slightly fors.
We’ll never change the “True Believers”, but by presenting and countering the hate, we radicalize our own forces, those who were “for” us, but now understand why and can be relied to truly fight for us. We also reach out to the “simple people of the Plains” who by virtue of cultural saturation are willing to listen to these people. By taking them down, we undo the cultural rot of generational hate and casual -isms so that they become the hesitant allies we will continue to radicalize.
Eventually, as always, years of doing this and many other tactics, leaves the bigots isolated and alone, until they are a handful of teabaggers dwarfed by the much larger Immigration Reform Rally. Tiny and growing smaller, left behind by history.
And the way to keep your heart filled is to remember, the battle never looks like winning, always seems too slow, but over the course of history, suddenly ten years on looks further along than you had dreamed and suddenly that which you couldn’t even get staunch allies to buy is now considered so close to common sense you can taste it.
We are always winning. Especially when it feels like the same old fight, cause yes, it’s the same old fight, but our forces grow, while there’s diminish and the kids are always all right.
Thank youAutumn,
I am so sorry.
You are right on target in the reference to the Samaritan, an “Other” whom people of that culture could not imagine as capable of goodness, while the religious authorities of the day spoke pretty words but soullessly, as “whited sepulchres.”
Christians who understand this story–and it appears Mr. LaB is not among them–know about the dangers Jesus was speaking of.
Peace,
noahsdad
Wow. Guess he is…who knew…lol. WTF is a committeeman though? It says he is on the republican website and that he was ‘appointed’ and not elected for whatever that is worth…guess the local republicans like him?
Precinct committeemenThey are in charge of distributing signs, etc for the various elections. They also go around and talk to people about their party, and some actually work for various candidates. I had lunch with a couple Republican committee people at the county building when we were doing voting reconciliation (determining where various discrepancies in the voting might have happened- kind of like “hanging chad” people) and they really impressed me with their dedication and knowledge of the issues. I suspect that the Peter isn’t of that caliber. He is now official though. He and 28 other people wrote in his name, pg. 41:
http://cms.dupageelections.com…
I still think that this is a bad idea. He runs a hate group, for starters. He also doesn’t seem to worry about more than two issues, the irony being that there has never been a gay man (and he only seems to think of men) who has gotten an abortion.
Autumn-just for the recordI think that that’s a very nice picture and it’s a shame that he pretty much debased it and the work that you were doing there. It doesn’t sound like he’s any more emotionally mature than your average grade schooler, but that’s no excuse.