Monday, January 31, 2005

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Taking sides in a cultural battle, some of the nation's top artists -- including Mandy Moore, the Dixie Chicks and Dolly Parton -- have contributed to a CD that benefits the nation's largest homosexual activist organization.

All of the proceeds from the CD, "Love Rocks," will go to the Human Rights Campaign -- a homosexual activist organization that has figured prominently in the push to legalize same-sex "marriage" nationwide and works to promote "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights."

The two-disk CD set -- which is being released just in time for Valentine's Day -- features some 30 artists, including Yoko Ono, who sings "Every Man Has a Man." Other top artists are Christina Aguilera, Emmylou Harris, Pink and Carole King.

An HRC press release called the CD "groundbreaking." It was produced in a partnership between HRC and Centaur Entertainment.

Moore, who in 2002 starred in a movie ("A Walk to Remember") targeted to Christian teens, said she is glad to be a part of the project.

“Humankind has its problems, but love isn’t one of them,” Moore, who sings "I Feel the Earth Move," said in a statement.

“When two people -- regardless of gender -- long to care for each other, to protect each other, to treasure each other, we should do everything we can to foster that. I’m proud to be part of this album, which does just that.”

A statement by the Human Rights Campaign said the artists came together to "celebrate love and commitment regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity."

But Focus on the Family's Melissa Fryrear, a former lesbian, said the CD's use of the word "love" is deceptive.

"'Love' is one of the Trojan horses for the acceptance of homosexuality," Fryrear, a gender issues analyst, said in an e-mail to Baptist Press. "Gay activists are trying to find an argument that carries emotional weight: 'love,' after all, sounds good to everyone.

"The problem, though, is their definition of 'love' is carefully camouflaged to mean more than Cupid ever meant it to mean. Their definition is meant to mean the acceptance and the celebration of homosexuality."

Apparently, the battle over same-sex "marriage" influenced at least some of the artists.

"My generation knows that if two people are fortunate enough to fall in love, they should be protected equally under the law," Moore told Rolling Stone. More...

(AgapePress) - A federal judge in Pennsylvania has handed down a ruling in favor of a hard-core pornographer who had been indicted 18 months ago. The federal obscenity charges leveled against the porn producer have now been dismissed, spurring charges of "judicial activism."

Late last week U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster handed down a 45-page opinion dismissing federal obscenity charges against Robert Zicari and his company, Extreme Associates of Los Angeles, distributors of violent hard-core porn. According to a report in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, Extreme Associates "sells films of women being gang-raped, defecated on, and having their throats slit."

The owners, Zicari and his wife, Janet Romano, were indicted in August 2003 by a grand jury that had viewed one of the company's videos. But in his ruling, Judge Lancaster stated that, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas, "the government can no longer rely on the advancement of a moral code -- i.e., preventing consenting adults from entertaining lewd or lascivious thoughts -- as a legitimate, let alone a compelling, state interest." In addition, he stated "the federal obscenity statutes violate the constitutional guarantees of personal liberty and privacy of consenting adults who wish to view [the Extreme Associates] films in private."

Charges Dismissed
On that basis, Lancaster dismissed the nine counts of violating the federal obscenity statutes and one count of conspiracy based on that conduct. His decision has brought strong reaction from anti-porn activists who are calling for the ruling to be appealed to U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan. Among those reacting is retired FBI agent and obscenity investigator William P. Kelly, who says the judge "is applying his own philosophy rather than the federal statutes."

Kelly says he is shocked by the court's rendering in the case. He recalls a statement by Zicari in November when the pornographer said, "we're not talking about bestiality and child pornography ... we talking about consenting adults." But Kelly states "that is like saying that with people who want cocaine and heroine, all we have to do is supply their need for their narcotics."

In addition, the former federal agent contends that Lancaster simply does not understand Title 18 Section 1462-1465 of the federal statutes. The obscenity code, Kelly says, is a "solid statute" that it is further re-enforced by many years of legal precedent. More...