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Showing posts with label Liberty Counsel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberty Counsel. Show all posts

Friday, May 19, 2017

LGBT Advocates Get Special Treatment


Tampa School District Weak in Response to LGBT Teacher’s Student Harassment

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(Paul Chesser, Liberty Headlines) In a follow-up to a request by a legal advocacy group to protect students’ religious and political liberty from intimidation by a radical lesbian teacher, Hillsborough County (Fla.) school officials allegedly interrogated affected students without allowing them to inform their parents first.
Tampa School District Weak in Response to LGBT Teacher's Student Harassment
Valerie Chuchman & Lora Jane Riedas/Facebook
That’s according to Liberty Counsel, which is representing four students who were subject to alleged harassment and shaming by Lora Jane Riedas, a math teacher at Riverview High School. The legal group said district officials investigating Riedas’s behaviors called students into the office, forbade them from contacting their parents, required them to answer questions in interviews that were recorded, and allegedly claimed afterward “the investigation happened too fast to inform parents.”
Some of the charges against Riedas were initiated as the result of her efforts to promote a “Day of Silence” in April, organized by the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). She was also accused by three students, represented by Liberty Counsel, of requiring them to remove rosaries and Christian cross necklaces in her classroom. Another student claimed that Riedas and her “wife” Valerie Chuchman, a chemistry teacher at the school, on two separate occasions confiscated a Trump “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) cap from his hands in late 2016.
But according to a report in the Tampa Bay Times from earlier this month, Riedas said the results of the district’s investigation cleared her “100 percent.”
“I am just relieved, relaxed, for the first time in two weeks,” she told the newspaper.
Liberty Counsel disputes the district’s findings and that Riedas was properly investigated.
According to the letter from Hillsborough County Schools which Riedas said “cleared” her, she was informed on April 21 that she would be investigated. Students were brought in a week later, on April 28, to be interviewed, which belied the claim there wasn’t enough time to inform the students’ parents. Seven days later, on May 5, school officials conveyed the findings of their investigation to Riedas.
The letter stated that:
  • Students said Riedas asked the student with the MAGA hat to remove it from his head, because she does not allow any hats to be worn. The letter does not mention confiscation of the hat.
  • Some students said Riedas required cross necklaces to be removed; but the majority interviewed said she required those wearing rosary beads to remove them, because they could denote gang affiliation.
  • Riedas put stickers on students’ notebooks (apparently without their consent) but they didn’t not have the letters “LGBT” on them.
  • Riedas used her social media accounts to promote her LGBT and GLSEN agenda, but she claimed it was not during instructional time.
  • Riedas did not use her role as a student advisor the the GLSEN group “to coerce, force or encourage students to participate in Riverview’s Day of Silence.”
“The evidence obtained in the investigation does not support the allegations and established that there was no malicious intent on your part to intentionally harm, disparage or embarrass students,” wrote Mary Frances Ledo, general manager of professional standards for Hillsborough County Schools.
But Liberty Counsel says it gathered evidence that contradicted most, if not all, of those findings. According to the group’s refutation:
  • The student’s MAGA hat was confiscated while he was holding it, not wearing it, by Riedas — one month after Chuchman had similarly confiscated it and kept it in the school office for the entire period.
  • Riedas improperly banned both rosaries and crosses, telling students to “take it off or cover it up,” contrary to the school’s student handbook. Students wearing “substantially similar secular necklaces” were not told to cover up.
  • Letters, buttons, posters and other materials in Riedas’s classroom promote her LGBT advocacy.
  • The stickers placed on students’ folders were rainbow stickers denoting LGBT advocacy. “The only reasonable interpretation of Ms. Riedas’s rainbow notebook stickers, in the context of a classroom decorated with pro-LGBT political ideology…is that the stickers are pro-LGBT. In the classroom context of all her LGBT propaganda, it is obvious that the rainbow reflects her bullying of the students by forcing them to display her LGBT political message.”
  • Timestamps of Riedas’s Tweets and social media use, employing her political advocacy, were during school instructional hours.
Liberty Counsel also cited Riedas’s media interviews about her LGBT advocacy as evidence of her treatment of social and religiously conservative students.
“In other media, she has publicly accused the above students of ‘lying’ about her actions,” lawyers for Liberty Counsel wrote to the school system. “Students whom Ms. Riedas likes and agrees with are favored, while students whom she dislikes or disagrees with have their cross necklaces banned, their Trump hats taken, or are kicked out of class. Her activities are alienating students of faith or with conservative viewpoints, and are contributing to a substantial disruption of the learning environment.”
Liberty Counsel requested that Hillsborough schools take corrective measures on all its concerns regarding students’ and teachers’ religious liberty and free speech, or else face “further action” from the legal group.
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Friday, February 3, 2017

Gorsuch Must Be Confirmed As Supreme Court Justice

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People For The American Way protest the nomination of Neil Gorsuch in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday night,Elvert Barnes / Flickr
Peter LaBarbera
NEWSGENDER, HOMOSEXUALITYThu Feb 2, 2017 - 9:16 am EST

Homosexual legal group assails Gorsuch as ‘dangerous’ for defending Hobby Lobby

 Abortion , American Family Association , Hobby Lobby , Human Rights Campaign , Lambda Legal , Liberty Counsel , Neil Gorsuch , Same-Sex 'Marriage' , Transgender
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 2, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — The nation’s leading homosexual-bisexual-transgender legal organization assailed Neil Gorsuch in a brief that will make social conservatives delighted over President Trump’s choice to replace the late Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
Lambda Legal published an article titled “Neil Gorsuch has an unacceptable, hostile record toward LGBT people,” accompanied by a graphic of Gorsuch’s face with the word “Dangerous” covering his eyes. The article says Gorsuch’s decision in the 2013 10th Circuit Hobby Lobby case is “disqualifying.”
“The Hobby Lobby decision set a terrible and destructive standard for bosses being allowed to meddle in our sex lives and decide whether or not birth control is covered by the employer’s insurance plan. In Judge Gorsuch’s decision, he calls the inclusion of health coverage that includes birth control – ‘complicity … in the wrongdoing of others.’”
However, this example from a Gorsuch opinion cited by Lambda Legal is precisely why social conservatives are excited about his nomination. They agree with the implication that people or small businesses should not be forced to take part in practices they believe are morally wrong, whether it is subsidized contraception or a homosexuality-based “wedding.”
Social conservatives hope the same reasoning cited by Trump’s nominee of not forcing citizens to be “complicit … in the wrongdoing of others” would lead a potential Supreme Court “Justice Gorsuch” to also rule against laws compelling Christian- and faith-based businesses to participate in homosexual “marriages” if they believe that homosexual behavior is wrong.
As Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Christian legal group Liberty Counsel, wrote, Gorsuch “supported the religious liberty arguments against forced abortion mandates under ObamaCare in [the decisions] Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor.”
The Lambda Legal article states: “We absolutely must not confirm a Supreme Court nominee who has ruled that the religious beliefs of employers can trump the law. It is a short hop from birth control restrictions to restrictions on the intimate relationships and healthcare needs of LGBT people.”
Not surprisingly, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins took a different view, praising Gorsuch:
"Judge Gorsuch’s record over the last 14 years, especially on religious liberty, gives Americans every reason to believe he will make a fine Supreme Court justice. His reputation as a judge with integrity and dedication to the Constitution should be an encouragement to all Americans.”
FRC, while fighting on a range of issues from abortion to pornography, is the leading pro-family opponent of the LGBTQ agenda in Washington, D.C.
Another major pro-family group that opposes the homosexual-bisexual-transgender agenda is American Family Association (AFA). Its president, Tim Wildmon, urged his group’s millions of followers to thank President Trump for the Gorsuch nomination.
“Gorsuch is a believer in a broad definition of religious freedom and sided with Christian employers and religious organizations in the cases of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Little Sisters of the Poor.
“In the Hobby Lobby case, he wrote: ‘The ACA's [Obama] mandate requires them to violate their religious faith by forcing them to lend an impermissible degree of assistance to conduct their religion teaches to be gravely wrong.’

Gorsuch not pro-“transgender” enough?

The homosexual legal group also cites then-Circuit Judge Gorsuch’s ruling in a 2015 case, Druley v. Patton, involving a transsexual prisoner who sued “the Oklahoma Department of Corrections had violated her constitutional rights by denying her medically necessary hormone treatment and her request to wear feminine clothing.”
Lambda Legal faults Gorsuch for joining a ruling that stated, in part:
“To date, this court has not held that a transsexual plaintiff is a member of a protected suspect class for purposes of Equal Protection claims. . . . Ms. Druley [a biological man] did not allege any facts suggesting the ODOC defendants' decisions concerning her clothing or housing do not bear a rational relation to a legitimate state purpose. Thus, she has not demonstrated a likelihood of success on her Equal Protection claims.”

Human Rights Campaign opposes Gorsuch

The homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign, which endorsed Hillary Clinton for president and routinely classifies Christian conservatives as hateful, joined Lambda Legal in opposing Gorsuch’s nomination. Equating the LGBTQ political agenda with “civil rights,” HRC writes that “Gorsuch has a long and troubling career opposing civil rights, including for LGBTQ people.”
It cites the following as evidence for that charge:
  • “Gorsuch called marriage equality [LGBTA activist euphemism for homosexual “marriage”] part of the liberal social agenda, saying “American liberals have become addicted to the courtroom … as the primary means of effecting their social agenda on everything from gay marriage to assisted suicide … ”
  • “He joined the Tenth Circuit’s decision in Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius, which asserted that that some private corporations are “people” under federal law and have a right to deny basic healthcare coverage if it violates their religious belief.  This expansive ruling could allow employers to deny transgender employees access to hormone treatment, access to birth control and other crucial health care for LGBTQ people.
  • “Hobby Lobby could have negative long-term consequences beyond healthcare for the LGBTQ community. There are those who are already trying to use the decision to support discrimination against LGBTQ workers.
  • “In 2015, Gorsuch joined a ruling against a transgender woman who was denied consistent access to hormone therapy while incarcerated. The ruling dismissed the prisoner’s claims that the denial of care amounted to cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution.
  • “He has advocated for eliminating Chevron deference [see below], a critical administrative law doctrine that allows our federal system of regulations to function, which could result in the significant loss protections for LGBTQ people.”
HRC states that it “has taken the extraordinary step of opposing this Supreme Court nominee prior to his confirmation hearing — a first for the organization.”
For a conservative defense of Gorsuch and his judicial record, see The Daily Signal, put out by the conservative Heritage Foundation.
The Daily Signal piece reports on the “Chevron deference” below:
“Courts will typically defer to an administrative agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute if that interpretation is reasonable. Known as ‘Chevron deference,’ this practice is controversial and often criticized by conservatives.
“In 2016, Gorsuch authored a separate concurring opinion, explicitly calling Chevron deference into question. He wrote, ‘ … the fact is Chevron … permit[s] executive bureaucracies to swallow huge amounts of core judicial and legislative power and concentrate federal power in a way that seems more than a little difficult to square with the Constitution of the framers’ design.’”

Out of touch?

Yet another homosexual-bisexual-transgender organization, the National LGBTQ Task Force, put out this harsh statement calling Gorsuch “out of touch.”
“Judge Neil Gorsuch’s record reveals a jurist who: believes that bosses should control their employees’ private health care decisions; supports the misuse of religion to legalize discrimination; and holds LGBTQ equality with disdain. He is also a darling of those who are vehemently opposed to marriage equality. He seems like someone who aligns perfectly with Donald Trump and Mike Pence’s view of the world, but is completely out of touch with the realities of most people’s lives,” said Rea Carey, Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force.”
The Task Force is a leftist organization that supports — beyond homosexuality and transgenderism — “polyamory” (multiple-partner sexual unions), sadomasochism and other practices on the sexual and gender fringe. Every year at its “Creating Change” conference for LGBTQ activists, it gives out a “Leather Leadership Award” to a prominent sadomasochism (“kink”) advocate.
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Monday, August 22, 2016

Those Darn Judges Keep Upsetting The Applecart


JUDGE BLOCKS OBAMA'S TRANSGENDER-BATHROOMS MANDATE

'This president is attempting to rewrite the laws enacted by elected representatives'


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In a major blow to the Obama administration’s alternative-sexual-behaviors agenda, a federal judge in Texas late Sunday night blocked the president’s order to open public school restrooms and shower rooms according to “gender identity” and allow boys who believe they are girls to use girls’ facilities.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor of Fort Worth found that the Obama administration did not follow proper procedures in creating the directives. Further, he said the guidelines contradicted existing statutes and regulatory texts, the Dallas Morning News reported.
The ruling follows the Obama administration’s order to allow transgendered persons to serve in the military.
In defense of its order, the government has cited Title IX regulations, arguing “sex” is a protected class. The lawsuit counters that the government is presuming that when Congress adopted the law in 1972, it had open restrooms and shower rooms in view.
Reacting to the ruling, Matt Sharp of Alliance Defending Freedom said the Obama administration “cannot unilaterally disregard and redefine federal law to accomplish its political agenda of forcing girls to share locker rooms and showers with boys.”
“The court in this case made clear that the administration ignored the federally required public notice and comment process as well as the crystal clear meaning of Title IX in its attempt to force its will on the American people,” he said.
“We are currently reviewing the order to determine the positive impact this order has for the cases that ADF is litigating against the departments of Education and Justice in Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio. Schools have a duty to protect the privacy, safety, and dignity of all students, and this order certainly helps them in fulfilling that duty.”
The judge pointed out, “It cannot be disputed that the plain meaning of the term sex as used in [existing law] when it was enacted by DOE following passage of Title IX meant the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth.”
Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver said the Obama directive “was a lawless and ridiculous act by the president and we must continue to reject the Obama bullies.”
“The facts show that one in four girls and one out of every six boys under 18 will be sexually assaulted,” Staver said. “This unconstitutional mandate would have only increased those statistics.”
The U.S. Supreme Court already has stepped into the issue blocking a court order in Virginia that gave a girl who identifies as a boy the right to use boys’ restrooms. The order will stand until the Supreme Court decides whether to accept the case.
The decision in Fort Worth came in a case brought by Texas and about a dozen other states. Texas officials said the administration’s demand “hold a gun to the head” of school districts, threatening them with the loss of funding.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told the Morning News it was an “illegal federal overreach.”
“This president is attempting to rewrite the laws enacted by the elected representatives of the people, and is threatening to take away federal funding from schools to force them to conform,” he said in a prepared statement.
The preliminary injunction, which comes as public schools prepare to reopen, applies nationwide.
“This case presents the difficult issue of balancing the protection of students’ rights and that of personal privacy when using school bathrooms, locker rooms, showers, and other intimate facilities, while ensuring that no student is unnecessarily marginalized,” the judge said.
VIDEO: TEXAS SAYS, "WE WILL NOT YIELD TO BLACKMAIL" FROM OBAMA

Dozens of pastors in Ohio lobbied for the state to ignore Obama’s mandate, and in Texas, officials suggested that was a viable option.
The Ohio pastors said in a letter that the Department of Education’s transgender advocacy “defies objectivity and logic.”
Further, in puts in jeopardy the safety of “vulnerable women and children.”
WND reported in July when family policy experts at the Ruth Institute warned the Obama administration agenda to push transgenderism on public schools forces children to adopt the “ideological agenda” of homosexuality.
The organization has issued a report on Obama’s “Guidance to Help Schools Ensure the Civil Rights of Transgender Students” released in May by the departments of Justice and Education.
The guidance requires that public schools and universities allow students to choose their “gender identity” and grant them access to gender-specific facilities. Since such identities are “fluid,” a student could see himself as male one day and female the next, according to administration guidelines.
It would allow a boy to shower with girls, for example, if he tells school officials he is a girl on that particular day. Obama’s rules specifically forbid schools from asking for any sort of documentation or medical evidence that a student is receiving hormone treatment or has had any surgery.
The guidance, however, ignores the right of students not to be exposed to unclothed members of the opposite sex.
A separate group of states also had sued, in addition to the case led by Texas, which charged Obama “conspired to turn workplaces and educational settings across the country into laboratories for a massive social experiment, flouting the democratic process, and running roughshod over commonsense policies protecting children and basic privacy rights.”
The Ruth Institute, dedicated to creating a Christ-like social movement to address family breakdown, said in its report that even “transgender” children are not helped.
“The transgender movement is controversial, even among the wider gay rights movement,” the report said. “Lesbian feminist professor Sheila Jeffreys describes male-bodied transgenders as invading women-only spaces and exercising a form of male privilege. The federal government should not be imposing an ideological agenda, much less taking sides in an internal quarrel within the larger gay rights movement.”
The report continued: “The public schools have no business enlisting small children in an ideological crusade of any kind. Creating a day to day living environment that implements the most controversial plank of the transgender political regime does exactly that: enlists the children in an ideological crusade. Certainly, the federal government should not be conscripting every public school in America in an ideological movement, an drafting every public school child in America as its foot soldiers.”
The report said school boards are within their rights to refuse to participate “in the federal government’s war against nature.”
The report was prepared by Jennifer Roback Morse, institute founder, who said the dictates from Washington are not helping people.
The guidance allows students to hide from their parents that they are presenting themselves as “transgender,” establishes “transgenders” as a political class but not a medical class and “will certainly harm the millions of ordinary children who are not struggling with gender identity issues,” the report said.
“These guidelines do not serve the interests of children. Young people are not fully developed in their sense of identity, including their sense of gender identity. Children who are so confused about who they are that they identify as something other than their bodily gender need adult supervision, and greater bodily privacy, not less of each. They would benefit from the supervision and privacy afforded by use of a single stall or staff bathroom,” the institute said.
Obama’s executive action allowing as many as 5 million illegal aliens to remain in the United States also has been suspended by a federal judge in an ongoing case.
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