Prominent U.S. Gay Activist Now Publicly Speaking Out Against Homosexuality

By John Jalsevac

July 3, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Michael Glatze, once a rising star in the homosexual movement, having become the editor of the popular Young Gay America magazine in his early 20s, has since left the homosexual lifestyle and is now publicly speaking out against homosexuality, and encouraging other homosexuals to leave the way of life that he says “is by its very nature pornographic.”

In a powerful testimonial printed yesterday on WorldNetDaily, Glatze  publicly reveals his conversion, and chronicles his tumultuous and unhappy journey through homosexuality, to where he is today, a recovered homosexual and a Christian, eager to lead others out of the lifestyle that claimed him for so many years.

“Homosexuality, delivered to young minds, is by its very nature pornographic. It destroys impressionable minds and confuses their developing sexuality; I did not realize this, however, until I was 30 years old,” writes Glatze in the article on WorldNetDaily.

Glatze is the second prominent homosexual rights activist involved with a pro-homosexual magazine to have publicly left the lifestyle in the last year. Charlene Cothran, the founder and publisher of VENUS magazine, formerly a pro-homosexual publication, has since become a Christian, left the homosexual lifestyle, and has radically altered the nature of her magazine, changing it into a forum by which to “encourage, educate and assist those who desire to leave a life of homosexuality.”

“Although I have lived as a lesbian for my entire adult life, it is without a doubt my soul’s purpose to use my gifts to LOVINGLY share the truth about how we got here,” Cothran wrote in the first issue of the magazine dedicated to its new purpose. “How we came to be gay or lesbian, how we came to enjoy our ‘lifestyle’ and how we came to believe that this was OK with God.”

For his part Michael Glatze relates how, after years working at the very forefront of the pro-homosexual movement, he began to have increasing doubts about what he was doing with his life. This feeling heightened, he said, after reviewing his “performance” during  an appearance on the prestigious JFK JR. Forum at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 2005, in which he appeared as an “expert” on the pro-homosexual side.

“Knowing no one who I could approach with my questions and my doubts, I turned to God.” The young homosexual activist says that he had developed a relationship with God some time before, as a consequence of a painful illness that stemmed from the way he had been living.

“It became clear to me, as I really thought about it–and really prayed about it–that homosexuality prevents us from finding our true self within. We cannot see the truth when we’re blinded by homosexuality.”

“We believe, under that influence of homosexuality, that lust is not just acceptable, but a virtue.”

From that point onward, says Glatze, he simply began to call his homosexual desires what they were–lust–and by focusing on his truest self he was able to begin the long process of healing. “Healing from the wounds caused by homosexuality is not easy,” he says. “There’s little obvious support. What support remains is shamed, ridiculed, silenced by rhetoric or made illegal by twisting of laws…Part of the homosexual agenda is getting people to stop considering that conversion is even a viable question to be asked, let alone whether or not it works.”

Despite the immense difficulties of the transition, however, he says, “In my experience, ‘coming out’ from under the influence of the homosexual mindset was the most liberating, beautiful and astonishing thing I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.”

He concludes, “Healing from the sins of the world will not happen in an instant; but, it will happen–if we don’t pridefully block it. God wins in the end, in case you didn’t know.”

Read the original article and coverage on WorldNetDaily:

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56481

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56487

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Publisher/Founder of Popular Black Lesbian Magazine Leaves Gay Lifestyle to “Give Heart and Soul to God”

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/07022801.html

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07070401.html

The Manhattan Declaration

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:

1. the sanctity of human life
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/

Vatican Cardinal says Active Homosexuals Can’t Go to Heaven

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/printerfriendly.html?articleid=09120304

By Hilary White

ROME, December 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A leading Vatican cardinal caused a flutter in the secular press yesterday by stating that homosexuals who act on their sexual impulses cannot go to heaven.

“Transsexuals and homosexuals will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven and it is not me who says this, but Saint Paul,” said Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, a Mexican and the former head of the Vatican’s Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers. The cardinal was reiterating the Catholic teaching that states that any sexual activity outside of marriage that is not repented of before death is a mortal sin, and therefore precludes entrance into heaven.

In his comments published on the Italian online news site, Pontifex, the cardinal also pointed out that Catholic Church does not condemn the condition of being a homosexual as such. Instead, it is homosexual acts themselves that are mortally sinful.

“People are not born homosexual,” Cardinal Barragan was quoted as saying. “They become homosexual, for different reasons: education issues or because they did not develop their own identity during adolescence. It may not be their fault, but acting against nature and the dignity of the human body is an insult to God.”

While the cardinal’s statement of Christian sexual ethics was expressed with theological precision, the world’s media and homosexualist groups have reacted with shock and outrage. The Italian homosexualist activist organisation, Arcigay, issued a statement saying, “Yes, it’s true, we won’t ever get into your heaven, which is a murky and unjust place.”

Cardinal Barragan’s reference to St. Paul was mostly likely from the saint’s letter to the Romans, in which he rebuked those who indulge in a variety of sins, one of which is homosexuality. St. Paul wrote, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth.” The result of this denial is for these people to be given over to “degrading passions.”

The letter continues: “Their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. And in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” Also condemned in the passage are greed, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander and disobedience to parents.

Barragan’s reference to the disorder of homosexuality is reflected in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, published during the pontificate of John Paul II, that says that while the “psychological genesis” of the homosexual inclination “remains largely unexplained,” the acts themselves are “acts of grave depravity,” and are “intrinsically disordered.”

“They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.” The Catechism goes on to say that homosexuals, like all persons who want to live ordered lives, are called to “chastity” and “the virtues of self-mastery.”

Cardinal Barragan also reiterated the section of the Catechism which urges against discriminating against homosexuals, saying that, “This does not justify any form of discrimination.”

“We on earth cannot condemn, and as human beings we all have the same rights.”

URL: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/dec/09120304.html

---

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to “LifeSiteNews.com”. Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.

NY Senate Kills Same-Sex “Marriage” Bill

Victory for Democrat Sen. Ruben Diaz, who led tireless campaign to defend natural marriage.

By Peter J. Smith

ALBANY, December 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Wednesday afternoon, the New York State Senate voted overwhelmingly to reject legislation that would have legalized same-sex “marriage,” handing a humiliating defeat to proponents of the legislation who told the Senate that a vote for same-sex “marriage” was a vote to stand on the “right side of history.”

The measure, which would have amended New York State’s Domestic Partnership Law and have made New York the sixth state to legalize same-sex “marriage,” failed by a broad margin of 24 in favor and 38 against.

The Senate vote finally means same-sex “marriage” is dead in New York for this legislative session: a resounding victory for pro-family advocates in the state, and a heavy loss for Gov. David Paterson and Democratic leaders, who were looking to deliver same-sex “marriage” advocates their first victory after their latest defeat in Maine.

Just minutes before the 3 P.M. vote, Sen. Thomas Duane (D-NY 29), the chief sponsor of the same-sex “marriage” bill, confidently told members of the Senate that he was looking forward to not just being “an old gay” but soon a “married gay.”

However, those anticipations were dashed by a coalition of eight Democrats led by Sen. Ruben Diaz, Sr. (D-NY 32), the leader of the Senate fight against same-sex “marriage,” who joined every member of the GOP caucus in a conscience vote against the bill.

Debate began after a short noon recess with Sen. Duane arguing that this “legislation would provide me and tens of thousands of other New Yorkers equal rights in New York State.”

Delivering the final speech before the vote, Duane appeared confident of victory and pressed fellow Senators to vote for the bill since, “It’s always the time to be on the right side of history!”

Only Sen. Diaz spoke on the floor of the Senate against same-sex “marriage.” The Senator and Evangelical minister, indefatigable in his fight against same-sex “marriage,” rallied 20,000 Hispanics over the summer in support of natural marriage, forged a broad religious coalition to oppose the bill, and even sacrificed with his wife a cruise celebrating their wedding anniversary in order to attend a special legislative session called by Gov. Paterson, where same-sex “marriage” could have been called to a vote.

Diaz mentioned that adherents of the world’s major religions – not just Evangelicals – oppose same-sex “marriage,” including Jews, Muslims, and Catholics. Diaz specifically praised those Catholic bishops who signed the Manhattan Declaration as a testament of their opposition to same-sex “marriage.”

He proposed that the Senate instead should let New Yorkers decide on same-sex “marriage” through a referendum. New York has no referendum process like Maine, but the State Legislature could pass a bill that allows voters to decide the question via the ballot box.

However, the supreme “irony,” Diaz told the Senate, was that the same gay lobby, which fought so hard and spent an enormous amount of money to wrest control of the Senate from the GOP in order to get a bill on same-sex “marriage,” now “is depending on them to make this happen.”

“The reality is that it has been the Republican Party and their traditional values, and the Republican Party with their moral values, and the Republican Party with their family values, that has been for years and years what has kept the values in this whole nation alive,” declared Diaz. “And now they are being asked to throw away these values.”

He appealed to the Republicans once again to hold fast to their principles and instead let the people decide the fate of marriage in New York, pointing out that the will of the people has opposed same-sex “marriage” in all thirty-one states where they had an opportunity to vote on it.

“Remember your rules, remember your values: remember your family values, traditional values, moral values,” exhorted Diaz. “Go back to the defense of your traditional values. Join me a Democrat, join me a Hispanic, join me a black, join me a Puerto Rican, and join me in bringing a referendum to the people.”

However the rest of the speeches proceeded from Democrats speaking out in favor of the bill.

Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-NY 14), President Pro Tempore of the Senate, told the Senate that at stake with same-sex “marriage” was “an individual’s right to feel good about themselves.”

“For the first time, all men and women will be created equal,” declaimed Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-NY 34), Deputy Majority Leader. “This law will expand the central American ideal of equality.”

Sen. Eric Adams (D-NY 20) politely accused Sen. Diaz of not speaking “from his head.” Adams compared banning gay marriage to “reaching back to the most ugliest [sic] period of America,” when states like Virginia had laws banning interracial marriages until the 1967 US Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia.

The senator also told his colleagues that, “When I walk through these doors, my Bible stays out.”

That statement drew a sharp rebuke from Sen. Diaz, who stated that given what he said was the rising scourge of crime in America, “That is the wrong statement to send.” Diaz urged Senators to remember their Bibles before voting. “You should carry your Bible all the time,” he said.

Freed by GOP Minority Leader Sen. Dean Skelos (NY 9) to vote their consciences, every single Republican joined Sen. Diaz in rejecting same-sex “marriage.” The seven other Democrats to vote against the same-sex “marriage” bill were Sens. Carl Kruger (NY 27), Shirley Huntley (NY 10), Darrel Aubertine (NY 48), Joseph Addabbo (NY 15), William Stachowski (NY 58), George Onorato (NY 12), and Hiram Monserrate (NY 13).

Contact information for members of the New York State Senate can be found here.