www.illinoisfamily.org

Laurie Higgins #fundie illinoisfamily.org

Here are some truths that conservatives must remember:

- Biological sex (i.e., being male or female) is inherently and always good.

- Maleness and femaleness are biologically determined and immutable.

- Biological sex is central to human wholeness and flourishing. The Left's fanciful notion about embodiment reflects a false mind-body distinction that suggests mind and body are separable.

- It is profoundly unloving to facilitate gender-confused men and women in the rejection of their biological sex. Lost in spiritual darkness, they desire that others affirm the fiction they are attempting to create, but such affirmation of confusion and disorder is the antithesis of love. All sin is infused with confusion and disorder, and sinners desire that others affirm their sin as normal and good. But it is truth that will set the confused free from bondage to sin. Gender-confused children need counseling and compassion - not lies.

- It is good for society to reinforce sexual differentiation (e.g., through clothing, jewelry, hairstyles). Males and females are different (as both the homosexual and "transgender" communities affirm). Those differences are substantive and meaningful, and reinforcing them is inherently good. The Left argues that the cultural reinforcement of sexual differentiation is harmful except of course for gender-confused persons for whom cultural artifacts that reinforce sex differences are profoundly important.

- No public school teacher has the ethical right to introduce the topic of gender-confusion to elementary school children, and no public school teacher has the right to teach Leftist assumptions about gender-confusion to other people's children as objective truths.

- No one should capitulate to the imperious and arrogant commands of LGBT activists that everyone use pronouns to denote "gender identity" rather than biological sex. No one is morally obliged to accept such a revolutionary grammatical shift.

A special note to public school teachers: Referring to a boy as "she" or a girl as "he" constitutes lying. The government has no right to compel teachers to lie, and teachers have no right to lie. For a Christian teacher to facilitate or participate in a lie of such profound magnitude is indefensible. And yes, refusal to facilitate or participate in such a lie will be costly. Discipleship in America is becoming costlier.

David Murray #fundie illinoisfamily.org

Unprecedented Protection
There’s hardly any group in the world that has the level of public acceptance, validation, approval, and empathy now enjoyed by homosexuals. They’ve certainly got far more recognition, protection, and promotion than evangelical Christians anywhere. So why can’t they leave such Christians alone? What more do they want or need?

Only Romans 1:18-32 can explain this. In effect it says that even if gay marriage is legalized everywhere, and even if every dissenting voice is extinguished, gay consciences will still scream “Wrong!” and “Guilty!” Deep inside they will still know “the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death” (Rom. 1:32). That’s the “nagging shadow” that forever stalks gay consciousness.

Peace through the cross
The Christian message to the gay community is to give up this futile attempt to secure peace of conscience through the courts, the media, and millions of crosses on ballot papers. Far better to bring such pained consciences to the cross of Christ for full healing and permanent silencing by God Himself, through faith and repentance. That will do a far better job of removing anxiety, shadows, and fears than any amount of referenda or baker and florist bankruptcies. It will also open the way to experience the immeasurable length, depth, and height of the love of God.

And for Christians who are suffering or who will yet suffer the consequences of societal or state disapproval over this issue, take confidence from the power of a good conscience. We are mocked, disapproved, belittled, sidelined, caricatured, and rejected more than any other group in society. We are called bigots, homophobes, and haters. But having a good conscience through which God speaks His approval and acceptance of us means we can continue to stand for what is right and true no matter how many voices of intolerance and hate yell at us.

Laurie Higgins and Doug Wilson #fundie illinoisfamily.org

[An older article talking about the 2014 Grammy's]

Beyoncé was later joined by her husband Jay-Z who seems to revel in the lustings of strangers for his wife. What kind of man gets pleasure from his wife’s flaunting of her sexuality and from the certain knowledge that men desire to do things to his wife because of her arousing dress and actions? Is it money that motivates his eager embrace of his wife’s immodesty, or pride that he has access to her body when all other leering men do not? If it’s money, how is he different from a pimp?

Beyoncé’s performance reinforced the cultural deceit that modesty and the notion that conjugal love is private are archaic puritanical irrelevancies. Beyoncé has abused her power as a beloved role model for young girls to teach them terrible lessons about sexuality and marriage.

[...]

Beyoncé’s vulgar anti-woman, anti-marriage performance foreshadowed the climactic setpiece of the evening: Queen Latifah, long-rumored to be a lesbian, officiated at the “weddings” of 33 couples, many of whom were same-sex couples, while accompanied by the preachy, feckless song “Same Love” by Macklemore and the song “Open Your Heart” by the Dorian Gray-esque Madonna. It was a sorry, sick, non-serious ceremony that looked like something from the garish dystopian world of the Hunger Games, replete with a cheering sycophantic audience, faux-stained glass windows, a faux-choir, a homosexual faux-pastorette, and “Madonna” with her faux-face. It was a non-wedding festooned with all the indulgent gimcrackery of Satan’s most alluring playground: Hollywood.

Here’s an excerpt from theologian and pastor Doug Wilson’s must-read blog post about the meretricious Grammy extravaganza—I mean “wedding”:

[T]hose Christians still besotted by our contemporary sintertainment standards are not going to reflect on how compromised they all are until next year, when the Grammys will have John the Baptist’s head brought out on a platter. And even then, there will be no little debate about it, because some of our more illustrious cultural thinkers will no doubt point out that John’s somewhat direct method of approaching Herod left something to be desired. It was not — let us be frank — an invitation to mutually constructive dialog. It ended badly, to be sure, and John did have such promising gifts and so it grieves us to say that, at least in part, he brought it upon himself.

[...]

Self-righteous Grammy “sintertainers” just hammered another nail in the cultural coffin of marriage.

Laurie Higgins #fundie #homophobia #transphobia illinoisfamily.org

In a recent article about the upcoming political protest in public schools sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), I referred to the "sickening sweetness" of increasing numbers of Christians.

[...]

When I refer to the sickening sweetness of Christians, I'm describing those Christians who misuse-make that torture- Scripture to argue that Christian bakers should make wedding cakes for homosexual anti-weddings.

I'm referring to Christians who misuse Scripture to defend keeping kids in school on the Day of Silence even as administrators and faculty use their schools to promote homosexuality as equivalent to heterosexuality and good.

I'm referring to Christians-including public school teachers and church leaders-who say nothing as five-year-olds are exposed to positive images of and assumptions about homosexuality and gender confusion in our taxpayer-funded schools.

I'm referring to Christians-including teachers and church leaders-who said nothing when the sacreligious and egregiously obscene homosexuality-affirming play Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes was taught at Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools or when the deceitful Laramie Project is taught virtually everywhere.

I'm referring to Christians-including teachers and church leaders-who said nothing when The Perks of Being a Wallflower was included by public school teachers on a middle school recommended book list in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.

I'm referring to Christians-including teachers and church leaders-who say nothing when schools decide that restrooms no longer correspond to objective biological sex but rather to the disordered desires of confused children.

[...]

And let's not forget that our children are watching us. Perhaps we can set an example of courageous, faithful self-sacrifice for them, and perhaps we can gain a moment more of freedom for them and their children.

Laurie Higgins #homophobia illinoisfamily.org

There is something that tragically connects homosexuals to blacks, but in this analogy, homosexuality is not akin to race. Rather, homosexuals correspond to racists.

Like slave-owners who bought and sold human beings like commodities, separating mothers and fathers from their children and robbing children of their birthrights, homosexuals commodify human beings by buying genetic material, intentionally separating children from their mothers or fathers thereby denying children their birthrights.

Laurie Higgins #fundie illinoisfamily.org

[This is part of an "open letter to Hemant Mehta," a public high school math teacher has been targeted by Laurie Higgins and the Illinois Family Institute for his statements on his blog.]

I have never in any context suggested that you should be fired or that you should resign [...] [M]y goal is to provide information to District 204 parents - particularly IFI readers - about the nature of the ideas you express and endorse on your public blog so that they can make informed decisions as to whether they want their children to spend a school year under your tutelage.

[...]

You fail to acknowledge a central point that I addressed in my two articles, which is that many teens are unduly influenced by emotion and the cult of personality, and therefore are predisposed to look favorably on the ideas of teachers whom they find cool or charismatic or funny or kind or anti-tradition. Adolescence is also a time of rebellion which is why many teens are attracted to rebellions, anti-establishment people and ideas.

If students search your name and come upon your blog, they will be exposed to your endorsement and promotion of ideas that some parents may find deeply troubling. If students have you as their teacher, like you, and develop a relationship with you - as happens often in high school - they will be more likely to look favorably on and be influenced by your ideas than those students who have little or no personal connection to you. This is the reason that many parents care deeply about role models.

It's the reason there were some recent stories about parents being upset that a high school cheerleading coach posed in her private life for Playboy magazine, and why some parents would not want their children in the class of a teacher who in their free time on a public forum promotes racist views or denies the historicity of the Holocaust.

[...]

If you cannot produce any proof from my writing to support your claim that I am "going after" your job, please retract that statement.

Laurie Higgins #fundie illinoisfamily.org

(bolding mine)

Next year, will the Schaumburg librarians display photos of empty shelves where books that challenge Leftist assumptions about the nature and morality of homosexuality should be (you know, pro-heterosexuality/pro-heteronormativity books)?

Will they ask for young adult (YA) novels about teens who feel sadness and resentment about being intentionally deprived of a mother or father and who seek to find their missing biological parents?

Will they ask for dark, angsty novels about teens who are damaged by the promiscuity of their “gay” “fathers” who hold sexual monogamy in disdain?

Will they ask for novels about young adults who are consumed by a sense of loss and bitterness that their politically correct and foolish parents allowed them during the entirety of their childhood to cross-dress, change their names, and take medication to prevent puberty, thus deforming their bodies?

Will they ask for novels about teens who suffer because of the harrowing fights and serial “marriages” of their lesbian mothers?

Will they ask for picture books that show the joy a little birdie experiences when after the West Nile virus deaths of her two daddies, she’s finally adopted by a daddy and mommy?

Surely, there are some teens and children who will identify with such stories.

Laurie Higgins #fundie #homophobia illinoisfamily.org

Open Letter to Notre Dame's President Father Jenkins

Dear Father Jenkins,

I work for the Illinois Family Institute on the board of which sits a Notre Dame alumnus. In addition, we have a number of Notre Dame alumni subscribers.

I want to thank you for your efforts to obtain an exemption from the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act and urge you to pursue these efforts with vigor and tenacity. If institutions like yours do not oppose every effort that chips away at the religious liberty of faith-centered organizations, what possible hope do individuals have to preserve their First Amendment religious rights—rights that are daily under assault (particularly from those seeking to normalize homosexuality).

I also want to express my disappointment that Notre Dame has chosen to recognize a “student organization” initiated and shaped by those who affirm homosexual acts and acts related to gender confusion as normative and morally defensible. In permitting an organization that affirms subjective moral propositions that defy Catholic (as well as orthodox Protestant) doctrine, Notre Dame’s distinct Catholic identity has been weakened. Would Notre Dame recognize other “student organizations” initiated by those who affirm other sin predispositions (e.g. polyamory, consensual adult incest, or the “sexual orientation” recently designated “minor-attracted persons”)?

If the Notre Dame-recognized “LGBT” organization had been initiated by those who were committed to helping “LGBT” students live lives that embody Catholic beliefs on sexuality and gender, such an organization would be a service to Notre Dame students. Unfortunately, the central goals of students who affirm a homosexual or “transgender” identity are contrary to Catholic doctrine and as such can bring nothing but temporal and eternal harm—intellectual, emotional, physical, and/or spiritual harm—to “LGBT”-identifying students and the larger Notre Dame community.

On the profoundly significant dimensions of human nature that reflect the very foundations of God’s created order (i.e., sexuality and gender) the homosexuality-affirming community has little to say that reflects truth and much to say that violates Scripture, Catholic doctrine, and Notre Dame’s mission statement:

"A Catholic university draws its basic inspiration from Jesus Christ as the source of wisdom and from the conviction that in him all things can be brought to their completion—.There is—a special obligation and opportunity, specifically as a Catholic university, to pursue the religious dimensions of all human learning."

I would urge your administration to reconsider the wisdom and biblical justification for recognizing an “LGBT” organization, all such organizations of which are based on false, anti-biblical assumptions about the nature and morality of homosexuality.

Sincerely,

Laurie Higgins

Laurie Higgins #homophobia illinoisfamily.org

From a list of "far-reaching, devastating and pernicious cultural consequences" of Illinois legalizing same-sex marriage

Public schools will be hiring teachers who are in legal “homosexual marriages.” These teachers will put photos of their homosexual spouses on their desks and talk about their homosexual spouses to their students. Such images and ideas coming from teachers whom children love and admire will powerfully shape the feelings and beliefs of young boys and girls, particularly when such images and ideas are reinforced countless times in other cultural contexts. Such images and ideas will undermine what is being taught at home.

Some will argue that schools are already hiring teachers in homosexual relationships, so the legalization of same-sex marriage won’t change anything. They are only partly correct. Although schools are, unfortunately, already hiring teachers in homosexual relationships, once the government recognizes homosexual unions as marriages, administrators and school boards—particularly in elementary schools—will have the social stigma that makes them reluctant to hire teachers in homosexual unions knocked out from under them. And this, of course, is the chief motivation for homosexuals to pursue same-sex marriage when they already have all the benefits and privileges of marriage through Illinois’ civil union law.

David E. Smith #fundie illinoisfamily.org

[I draw your attention to the first amendment and his understanding of church and state]

Recently, President Barack Obama and others in his administration (including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton) have been using the term "freedom of worship." That's a significant departure from the constitutional phrase with which most Americans are familiar: "freedom of religion."

The truth is that changing the word "religion" to "worship" drastically changes what is protected. Read the words of the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." That "free exercise" wording protects those whose religion entails much more than worship.

The Left -- specifically the ACLU -- has been extremely successful in misleading the American public into believing that the "separation of church and state" is a constitutional principle. It is not. As a result, far too many people of faith, including pastors, have confined themselves and their worldview within the church walls while godless philosophies and agendas overwhelm the public square.

Christians are called to live our religion, not just observe services on Sundays. An attempt to bamboozle the American people again into believing that the First Amendment only protects the "freedom of worship" will lead to banishing religious expression outside of the church setting in all its forms.

David E. Smith #fundie #homophobia illinoisfamily.org

Last Friday morning, the Iowa Supreme Court issued an astonishing decision, ruling unanimously that the state law declaring natural marriage -- the union of one man and one woman --unconstitutional. Once again, arrogant judges have usurped the will of the people to impose homosexual “marriage” on its citizens.

Amazingly, the Court held that natural marriage is solely a religious construct (despite the fact that governments around the world have recognized and upheld the institution for thousands of years), and went on to say “State government can have no religious view, either directly or indirectly, expressed through its legislation.” Unbelievable. Every law reflects morality. The vast majority of laws in United States reflect a Judeo-Christian ethic. Shall they all be struck down too? Moreover, many supporters of legalized homosexual “marriage” attend churches that support such a position. What about that religious view? According to the Iowa Supreme Court then, legalized homosexual marriage reflects a “religious construct” which must not be, “either directly or indirectly, expressed through its legislation.

Christians must not ignore the relentless assault on traditional marriage and the natural family any longer. Radical forces seek to eradicate our right to uphold and live out biblical standards.

Laurie Higgins #fundie illinoisfamily.org

An elementary school in -- where else -- Massachusetts, sent a letter to parents in August 2008 informing them that "Our night custodian has informed us of his decision to change his gender and, as we begin the school year, he will begin living and working as a woman."

Superintendent Ernest Boss and Principal Norman Yvon further stated that "if [students] ask at school, they will be given a simple and straightforward answer. The best thing to tell them is that our custodian used to be a man. She has changed her gender role and is now a woman."

So now this one man's psychologically and morally disordered desire to live publicly as a woman and the school administration's complicity in facilitating his disorder exposes an entire school full of children to ideas and images to which no elementary child should be exposed and forces parents to explain what no parent should have to explain to 5-10 year-olds.

No government employee should be permitted to tell other people's children that this man "used to be a man... and is now a woman." That statement is not factual and not true. It is false, controversial, unproven, values-laden, and faith-based. The belief that amputating healthy parts of one's sexual anatomy and taking hormones appropriate to the opposite sex changes one's sex constitutes a pernicious delusion or fiction. No government employee should be permitted to make such statements to children.

David E. Smith #fundie illinoisfamily.org

The lesbian partners who brought the lawsuit that led to the 2003 judicial mandate for homosexual "marriage" in Massachusetts have filed for divorce after separating in 2006. Julie and Hillary Goodridge may want out of their their failed social experiment, but their ill-advised activism continues to taint the God-ordained institution of natural marriage.

Laurie Higgins #fundie illinoisfamily.org

This week Illinoisans were greeted with the news that the new CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Ron Huberman, self-identifies as homosexual. Mayor Richard Daley's choice as head of the third largest school district in the nation, one that serves more than 400,000 students, has revealed both his ignorance about and involvement with sexual perversion.

This is exactly what students who already suffer from significant disadvantages don't need: a leader, and therefore role model, who affirms sexual deviance and who in his personal life volitionally engages in immoral conduct.

What a terrible example he sets, particularly for young men. I'm sure that Huberman possesses many admirable traits, but his sexual conduct is not one of them. There are no perfect people, and therefore there can be no perfect leaders, but possessing flaws and affirming immorality are two entirely different things.