Naperville Hate Group Recruiting Youth To 'Fight' The 'Gay Agenda'

Being designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center apparently has not deterred a Naperville-based hate group from continuing their...hating.

As reported by Chicagoist and Huffington Post blogger Joseph Erbentraut, hate group Americans For Truth About Homosexuality are "delighted" to announce their "Truth Academy," which will once and for all teach young people how to fight the homosexuals who are "corrupting" their "hearts and minds."

Erbentraut reports:

Their new "Truth Academy," to be held August 5-7 in Carol Steam, which will train "pro-family" advocates how to counter so-called "homosexual misinformation."

Featuring instructors including former Family Research Council member Robert Knight, Liberty Counsel leader Matt Barber and even Greg Quinlan of Parents and Friends of Gays & Ex-Gays, the "rigorous" weekend of instruction costs just $99 for attendees between the ages of 14 and 25 or $199 for adults. And one other important thing: you'll apparently need to prove you're not in favor of LGBT rights in order to attend.

That's right, you must PROVE you are not in favor of gay rights to attend. Peter LaBarbera, who heads AFTAH, wrote a lovely letter to those interested (and to horrified bloggers) on the group's website. LaBarbera writes:

"Let's face it: much of the conservative establishment has dropped the ball on fighting the homosexual agenda (or given up entirely), so AFTAH is stepping up to train a new generations of activists to contend with the sexual sin movement that has fooled so many Americans into treating a human wrong -- changeable same-sex behavior -- as a 'civil right.'"

Oh, we almost forgot to mention the best part. Anyone generous enough to pay for a young person to have their mind filled with lies and hate about gay people, will get one of two "excellent books exposing the homosexual agenda" FOR FREE. The tough part will be choosing between, "Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far," or "Out from Under: The Impact of Homosexual Parenting."

Sounds great, right? Sadly, as Erbentraut points out "we'd still rather go to Lolla to see Gaga that weekend."

Comments

[Isidim Tojuf]

10:47 PM on 07/27/2010

The DNC keeps begging me for more money, and I explain each time that the Democratic party with its super majority has done nothing for the gay community. What I have learned from the fiasco of the last two years is that Democrats are too scared of not being re-elected. I also believe that if Democrats had a core understanding and willingness to champion civil rights and **really** stand behind their beliefs, the country would support and applaud them. But they're just plain, old fashioned, gutless.

[Randy Shepherd]

01:48 AM on 07/13/2010

"agenda" is code for "civil rights", but their membership will drop if they use the term

[MarkBoston]

04:53 PM on 07/12/2010

this is nothing more than a re-branding of the old KKK ... Hate filled lies . These bottom feeders will stop at nothing to push their homophobic agenda

[Scott Hamilton]

08:22 AM on 06/29/2010

Are they still on about the 'gay agenda'!?
No one has informed me of any agenda I should be involved with, am I missing something?

[Americatheteenager]

09:01 AM on 06/29/2010

Well, on my gay agenda, I have nails at 10:30AM, lunch at 1PM, and tea at 5PM... What's on yours? Just kidding! We want the same rights afforded to other tax payers!

[CheapTrick]

11:52 AM on 06/28/2010

I'm sorry... who was recruiting again? Using gay youth, scared, impressionable, eager to fit in and please their elders... It's just disgusting. Pretty much what you can expect from Christians, though.

[MatthewRobertson]

06:33 PM on 06/19/2010

All this is is hatred disguised as "concern for the family." I know gay and lesbian couples that do a better job at raising their children then most straight couples.

[johnoconnor]

05:10 PM on 06/20/2010

What's actually stupid about the whole debate is this question of whether or not hatred is involved. It doesn't happen to be relevant in my case, but on the other hand, what difference would it make if it were? This shouldn't be about feelings but about objective realities. Do fathers count, for instance? If not, sure, let's have two mothers instead. Are the statistics real about kids who lack the authority and discipline of a father going to jail twice as often (+ all the other behaviors that go along with that)? If not, sure, let's just go with two mothers instead. Plus maybe mothers don't count either. Just add in one of Dad's buddies and the kid does just fine?

[Americatheteenager]

02:19 PM on 06/24/2010

Your comment is totally laughable. Kids who are loved by one or two parents have a better chance in life regardless of their parents' sexual orientation.

[MatthewRobertson]

06:28 PM on 06/19/2010

I love what Margaret Cho has to say about the gay agenda: "What is the gay agenda? Assless chaps?"

Its well past time for homophobia to go away.

[Roseleaf]

01:42 PM on 06/19/2010

And, it's not to be left unmentioned that gay parenthood is well planned. Obviously, homosexual men and women don't end up with a kid unless they want one, so they put a lot of thought into it. And yet there is some 12 year old out there forcing her mother to take care of a baby she doesn't want.

[Gazelle Softly]

10:34 PM on 06/16/2010

Wow johnoconnor. Sexim and heterosexism. You are a classy guy! Maybe your male authority figure was a little too hard on the discipline. Why don't you put some evidence into your thoughts since you are clearly a biased sample. Contrary to most of your opinions, there is much research evidence showing that same sex parents provide an excellent environment and upbringing for their children, who, for the record, are unlikely to be gay from being around gay parents. Please go read a book before you continue to spew vile hurtful misinformation.

[johnoconnor]

04:11 PM on 06/17/2010

You don't need a book to realize that there is a difference between men and women that is reflected in what they contribute to the upbringing of a child. We've all had decades of experience as children, parents, neighbors, and so on to make this as plain as the nose on your face. But if reading a book is necessary, there's one called Fatherneed that spells out the case for fathers and another similar one about mothers -- and a mountain of similar material as close as your search engine. Are there exceptions? Yes. In fact, I know someone who had no parents at all -- raised in a orphanage -- and turned out well, but you can't go from that to disproving the value of having parents. The megatrends aren't made by the exceptions but by the general rule, and the lack of fathers in particular has had such catastrophic social consequences that it should be clear that the whole of society should be focused on providing special support for mother-and-father families and should restore its disapproval for alternative arrangements. That doesn't mean we have to become like Hawthorne's Massachusetts Bay Colony but neither should we be giving affirmation to the anything-goes ethos.

[MatthewRobertson]

06:35 PM on 06/19/2010

Do you even know any gay people with children or are you just reading hateful propaganda?

[joelb5000]

01:13 PM on 06/24/2010

"johnoconnor", I think it's people like you (not the gays) who are dabbling in social experiments. Your comment (the whole of society should be focused on providing special support for mother-and-father families and should restore its disapproval for alternative arrangements) would be more relevant in an authoritarian society, not a democracy. Never in the Constitution is there a right granted to voters to dictate what a family structure should look like, but if that's really what you believe, you probably should focus on straight relationships first as they make up the majority of all relationships. Where's the legislation that seeks to ensure every child in from a straight family actually has a dad and a mom? Is there an effort to remove children from homes where the father left or has died? Seriously, back off gay families, because quite frankly it's none of your business.

[timx2]

10:17 AM on 06/16/2010

If we follow his logic and sexuality can be changed if we want then by that standard they, he, anyone could at any time be gay? If I have a choice then certainly they do too, which means they could just as easily fall prey to the love that dare not speak its name. If it would be so easy for me to switch, then hence, he could too!!! Why would I be given a choice and not the alleged good christian straight people who have decided that us gays hold so much power over the world we actually make people we don't even know commit crimes, and cause the economic woes we are in?

If thats the case then I call to all my brothers and sisters and say lets use our power( for good) and take over the world!!!!

[LynnW49]

06:56 PM on 06/15/2010

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.
. . .

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!

-- Rodgers and Hammerstein
"You've Got To Be Carefully Taught", from "South Pacific"

[usorthem3]

02:35 PM on 06/19/2010

I learned this song from the beginning of my life and have used it as a model of what I try to teach others. A child born today knows not of race, sexual orientation, politics or theology, all these must be learned, What do you teach? I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else but I'll be darned if I'm not just as good. If we all respected each other for who we are, the truth shall set you free, right? Thanks for posting this, I was just singing it at work the other day. :^)

[johnoconnor]

06:23 PM on 06/15/2010

This isn't a hate group. They are simply responsible citizens who recognize that social and economic support for homosexuality is one of those tendencies that weakens the mother-and-father family, which is by far the best framework for bringing up children. Support for homosexuality has paralleled support for every other kind of trend that weakens the child-friendly family structure, and those trends, taken together, are the main reason why the rates of crime, incarceration, and every social dysfunction have risen over the past several decades. Economic trends and government policies are much weaker contributors to social dysfunction compared to that.

[LynnW49]

06:57 PM on 06/15/2010

Not.

[Roseleaf]

10:51 PM on 06/15/2010

You and I BOTH know that's crap. And if you don't, well than obviously you have a skewed way of thinking. The child family structure has had a buldozor taken to it- most often in homosexual relationships, the none dominant partner will TAKE ON the role that a female usually would, and I DONT mean bedroom. 9 studies show obvious results- children raised by same sex couples are up to the social standard of normal. In fact, some of these children may be better adapted to social diffrences.

And as for 'economic trends', the average LGBT family makes $20,000 more than the income of the average heterosexual family. They are contributing members of society. Maybe we could take a lesson from them in accepting diffrences.

[johnoconnor]

06:58 PM on 06/16/2010

The biggest myth in all this is that gender differences are merely anatomical and that a child just has a mother all he needs is for his mom to add one of her friends and presto, now he's got a father. Nonsense. A male presence gives authority and discipline that is sadly lacking among so many that it is the main reason that the prisons are bursting at the seams. All you have to do is think of your own mother or father to see how obvious it is that you can't just throw in a same-sex substitute.

[lvdragonlady]

02:53 AM on 06/15/2010

People like this are trying to change America into a country of intolerance instead of the country of tolerance.
Disgusting and shameful.

[StonedAtheist]

12:26 PM on 06/15/2010

"Taking their country back" is how they would put it.

[Raymond Rees]

08:29 PM on 06/14/2010

I would bet that a good many of those people are closet homosexuals themselves.

[MatthewRobertson]

06:31 PM on 06/19/2010

I totally agree. A lot of times, in order to draw attention away from themselves, closeted gays and lesbians lash out at others who are open about it.

[PBMac]

12:43 AM on 06/22/2010

Sadly these people are usually closeted. To paraphrase Shakespeare, they doth protest too much. And for this reason they think that since they cannot be out no one else should be allowed to either.

[etiennemacchias]

04:14 PM on 06/14/2010

And how do they know so much about homosexuals? From research or experience? I think the latter.

[StonedAtheist]

03:20 PM on 06/15/2010

I want to know if that experience was academic or hands on.

[Roseleaf]

01:43 PM on 06/19/2010

for me, research. I'm actually not gay, although I'm an activist XD