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Fund Raising Letter Bemoans Gay Flags City Newspaper Headlines 'New Attack' |
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By Corrine Hicks
Two-hundred and fifty thousand letters from Jay Alan Sekulow, Robertson's chief counsel for his $12 million annually-budgeted American Center for Law and Justice, begged funds from believers. It read, according to an excerpt in the Sentinel, as follows: "Dear Friend: "I am deeply concerned about something you and I need to deal with right away. Here's the situation: "I'm in the office this morning after several days on the road (mostly in Florida) during which I worked on several important cases and met with key clients and members of the ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) legal team. "While in Florida, I unexpectedly came upon an outrageous and totally unsettling cultural assault by homosexual activists. It was so disturbing (really, I felt like I'd somehow been transported to a different world) that I knew I had to take immediate action. Perhaps you have heard that the city of Orlando decided to officially recognize 'Gay Pride Month' by allowing homosexuals to display their rainbow flag for the entire month of June. "A few days ago, my schedule happened to take me to downtown Orlando, and I saw these flags being flown. It was an unbelievable experience. "I'm not talking about one or two flags. 'Gay and Lesbian Pride' flags were all over the city! "Because of the locations and number of these flags, it was obvious that the city's governmental leadership had fully condoned their placement. The flags clearly had the city's 'seal of approval.' "I was totally offended and angered! This is a blatant example of a major American city caving in to pressure from an aggressive homosexual activist group, and thereby endorsing and promoting the homosexual lifestyle! "And let's face it…you would never see Orlando or any other major city flying the Christian flag during 'Christian Heritage Week'! "This experience spoke volumes to me as to how far our culture has fallen and why we must be very aggressive in the courtroom, the court of public opinion and the legislature of this nation to combat the dangerous homosexual agenda… "We simply cannot and will not tolerate homosexual claims to special privileges or 'civil rights' status, no matter how powerful their lobby or how deep their pockets! I was bluntly reminded in Orlando that we must take action each and every time our liberties are threatened if we are going to win this battle. That is the only way we are going to succeed. "One step at a time. One case at a time. One victory at a time." The Orlando Sentinel's Mark I. Pinsky, points out that Sekulow is soliciting funds for Robertson's groups "to counter moves in Hawaii that would recognize homosexual marriage and efforts in California and New York that would provide 'domestic-partner' benefits to unmarried couples. He also explains that Orlando officials had said repeatedly that city policy allowed any non-profit group promoting a free event to use the light poles as long as the group paid for the flags and paid city workers to hang them. In June the city revised the policy, "restricting flags flying from light posts to those promoting events hosted, sponsored or run by the city."
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A lead headline in the August 7 edition of The Orlando Sentinel read: "Orlando Rainbow Flags Bring New Attack" and a sub-line explains that the 700 Club's TV preacher "is using the gay-pride flip flap to try to raise money for a campaign against gay rights."
The Rev. Barry Lynn © 1997-98 BEI