Chris Christie’s ‘Deeply Religious Sex Cult’?
New Jersey governor Chris Christie is a progressive who is apparently, unwittingly, leading a “deeply religious sex cult determined to exterminate Christian mores, attack religious liberties, and suppress free speech,” according to the latest screed by a radical religious right-wing conservative writer. Christie, you and even he will be shocked to learn, has “put New Jersey on a path similar to countries like Saudi Arabia,” because he recently signed a law banning so-called “ex-gay” therapy for minors. All this comes from the radical religious right-wing conservative writer Fay Voshell at the dubiously-monikered American Thinker, in her latest op-ed, “Conversion Therapy Law Threatens Christians.”
The American Thinker, by the way, has also published actual well-known radical right wing conservatives (as opposed to Voshell, of whom practically no one has heard), like hate mongers Ann Coulter and Michael Savage. Savage’s “work” is so savage that the good people of the United Kingdom have barred him from entering their fine country since 2009, for allegedly “seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred.” Ann Coulter’s “work” is so savage the mere sound of her voice — or name — sends shivers akin to nails on a blackboard down many people’s spines.
For her part, Voshell likens the ban on “conversion therapy” to Islam’s ban on allowing its (un)faithful to convert to Christianity. As is well-known, so-called “ex-gay,” “reparative,” or “conversion” therapies — as part of the larger group of antediluvian and draconian sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) — have been deemed psychologically harmful and ineffective by every major medical organization. No word yet on any potential psychological harm caused by conversion from one religion to another.
Governor Christie “expressly forbade conversion from the prevailing progressive religion, whose chief doctrine is that sexual behavior, including the homoerotic behavior of some children, is a sacred, infallible, and therefore unchangeable indicator of what human identity entails,” Voshell curiously claims.
And by the way, for the record, kids who happen to be gay are not exhibiting “homoerotic behavior;” they’re gay.
Governor Christie, you’ll remember, is a Republican and a Roman Catholic who has vetoed a same-sex marriage bill overwhelmingly passed by the state legislature, vetoed his own gun control bills, and is far more conservative than his Hurricane Sandy friendship with President Obama suggests.
“We can suspect that the real goal is to make sure no one other than progressive high priests of sex counsel youngsters about sexuality,” Voshell claims. Really? “Progressive high priests of sex”? Who would that even be? Lady Gaga? Madonna? Miley Cyrus? Dear lord!
“The unstated companion goal is the elimination of Christian and other conservative therapists from the profession,” Voshell says. Unstated, as in, stated no where because that is not a real goal.
“The law ensures that if your kid has expressed homoerotic feelings, he will get a progressive high priest as his or her counselor — one who reinforces homoeroticism. There will be no licensed therapist who shares your religious views, because Christian therapists will lose their licenses.”
“Christian therapists will lose their licenses,” if, when, and only when they — like anyone else — practice bad medicine.
The obvious question here, of course, is why any child who is LGBT or questioning their sexuality actually needs a therapist in the first place to somehow right a “wrong”? Kids in new Jersey who come out don’t automatically go to a shrink. Perhaps if their parents are people like Voshell, they need help and support, but not the children, any more than they would if they “revealed” they were left handed, or red-haired, or liked chocolate.
“Why would conversion therapy laws imperil the liberty of churches to preach the Christian gospel?,” Voshell asks. “Because conversion to Jesus Christ entails conversion from lifestyles in opposition to what Christians see as against the commands of God.” Well that’s nice, but it’s amazing someone of Voshell’s age has never heard of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“Progressivism, among other things, is really a competing religion, a sex cult founded on the tenets of the sexual revolution — a religion with its own doctrines and liturgies,” Voshell continues:
“Howl” is the progressive equivalent of the Apostles’ Creed, and homoeroticism the mark of a youth liberated from conventional mores. “Coming out” is almost a holy ritual, very nearly the equivalent of a bar mitzvah or first communion in the Jewish and Christian faiths. Nothing should be permitted to interfere with those first sexual stirrings of youth. Certainly no therapist should attempt to “convert” any youth experiencing attraction to the same sex to heterosexuality. That would be abusive.
Churches need to wake up and see the implications of the new “conversion therapy” laws. They need to see that they are up against a deeply religious sex cult determined to exterminate Christian mores, attack religious liberties, and suppress free speech. If they don’t rise up to resist the inroads of radical progressivism, if they do not take measures to protect Christian therapists, pastors, and youth leaders, the Church will be increasingly be sidelined. The Church risks being eventually banned altogether from attempts to convert people to Christianity — just as in Saudi Arabia.
In “How Chris Christie Is Leading A ‘Sex Cult’ And Turning New Jersey Into Gay Saudi Arabia,” Brian Tashman at Right Wing Watch calls Voshell’s piece a “doozy.”
I call it garbage.
One last note. Voshell’s bio says that she “holds a M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, which awarded her the Charles Hodge Prize for excellence in systematic theology.” A lengthy web search could find no evidence of the existence of the “Charles Hodge Prize for excellence in systematic theology,” or any “Charles Hodge Prize” at all, sans references in Voshell’s own bio. We searched Google and the Princeton Theological Seminary, with no other results. A call to the Princeton Theological Seminary netted an “I’ve never heard of that,” and we were asked to call another day.
Voshell did not immediately respond to our email requesting proof. We’ll be happy to update this article with any clarification, should any reputable results come forth. As for Voshell’s nonsense about “conversion therapy,” well, what more can possibly be said?
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Image of Chris Christie via his Facebook page
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The Department of Justice celebrated World AIDS Day by calling out a Tennessee law that discriminates against people with HIV.
The DOJ released a report Friday that the state’s aggravated prostitution law violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. A person arrested under the aggravated prostitution law is normally changed with a misdemeanor, and faces up to six months in prison and a $500 fine. However, if the person arrested has HIV, the crime becomes a felony, and if they’re convicted, they would face between three and 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
“Tennessee’s aggravated prostitution law is outdated, has no basis in science, discourages testing and further marginalizes people living with HIV,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “People living with HIV should not be treated as violent sex offenders for the rest of their lives solely because of their HIV status. The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are protected from discrimination.”
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The law was originally passed in 1991. It classifies HIV-positive sex workers as violent sex offenders, according to WKRN-TV. This means that in addition to the sentence, those convicted are put on the Tennessee Sex Offender Registry, usually for the rest of their lives.
The DOJ advised the state—and particularly, the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, which enforces the statute most frequently, the department says—to stop enforcing the law. It also calls on the state to repeal the law and remove anyone from the registry when aggravated prostitution is the only offense. If this doesn’t happen, Tennessee could face a lawsuit.
Tennessee isn’t the only state to have laws applying to only those living with HIV. In 1988, Michigan passed a law requiring those with HIV to disclose their status before sex, according to WLNS-TV. The law is still on the books, but was updated in 2019 to lift the requirement if the HIV-positive person has an undetectable viral load. The law now also requires proof that the person set out to transmit HIV.
Laws like these can work against public health efforts, according to the National Institutes of Health. The NIH says these types of laws can make people less likely to be tested for HIV, as people cannot be punished if they didn’t know their status. In addition, critics say, the laws can be used to further discriminate. A Canadian study found a disproportionate number of Black men had been charged under HIV exposure laws.
World AIDS Day was first launched in 1988 by the World Health Organization and the United Nations to highlight awareness of the then-relatively new disease. The theme of the 2023 World AIDS Day is “Let Communities Lead,” calling on community leaders to end the AIDS epidemic.
Featured image by UNIS Vienna/Flickr via Creative Commons License.
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) called Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) a “senator for Egypt,” and said he needed to be expelled from Congress, much like the now-former Representative George Santos.
Fetterman appeared on The View on Friday. The live broadcast aired as Santos had been kicked out of the House. When host Joy Behar asked what he thought of the vote, Fetterman immediately replied, “I’m not surprised.”
“If you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate? And, you know, Santos’ kind of lies were almost, you know, funny,” Fetterman said. “Menendez, I think is really a senator for Egypt, you know, not New Jersey. So I really think he needs to go.”
Host Sunny Hostin then asked if Fetterman was uncomfortable with expelling Menendez, as, like with Santos, he had only been indicted, not convicted.
“He has the right for his day in court and all of it, but he doesn’t have the right to to have those kinds of votes and things. That’s not a right,” he said. “I think we need to make that kind of decision to send him out.”
This September, Menendez was indicted on corruption charges. He is accused of accepting bribes of cash, gold and a car, as well as giving “highly sensitive” information about U.S. Embassy staffers in Cairo to the Egyptian government, according to USA Today. Menendez was forced to step down as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was replaced by Ben Cardin, Maryland’s Democratic senator.
Menendez denied wrongdoing, and has refused to resign, despite many calls to do so from both Democrats and Republicans.
“For years, forces behind the scenes have repeatedly attempted to silence my voice and dig my political grave,” Menendez said in a statement following his indictment. “Since this investigation was leaked nearly a year ago, there has been an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists.”
This is not Menendez’s first brush with the law. Menendez was indicted in 2015 on federal corruption charges. He was accused of helping Salomon Melgen, one of Menendez’s campaign contributors, by intervening in a dispute with federal regulators and helping Melgen get a port security contract in the Dominican Republic.
In 2017, Menendez’s trial ended with a hung jury, and the Department of Justice declined to retry the case, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Menendez denied all wrongdoing.
Representative George Santos (R-NY) has been expelled from Congress following a 311-114 vote; two House members voted “present.”
The expulsion of Santos follows a debate on his fate on Thursday. The vote required a two-thirds majority, or 290 of the 435-seat chamber. This is Santos’ third vote of expulsion; last month, a vote failed with 31 Democrats voting against, according to The Hill.
While the vote was decisive, some notable Republicans voted to save Santos, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN).
“We’ve not whipped the vote and we wouldn’t,” Johnson told CNN Wednesday. “I trust that people will make that decision thoughtfully and in good faith. I personally have real reservations about doing this, I’m concerned about a precedent that may be set for that.”
READ MORE: ‘If I Leave They Win’: Santos Claims ‘Bullying’ at Off the Rails Press Conference
Santos himself had harsh words for the House following the vote. Leaving the capitol building, he briefly spoke with reporters.
“The House spoke that’s their vote. They just set new dangerous precedent for themselves,” he told CNN. “Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place.”
He then cut his time short, telling reporters, “You know what? As unofficially no longer a member of Congress, I no longer have to answer your questions.”
Santos also faces 23 federal charges, which include fraud, money laundering and misuse of campaign funds, according to CNN. He has pleaded not guilty. An Ethics Committee report found evidence that Santos used campaign funds for Botox and even an OnlyFans account.
On Thursday, Santos said he refused to resign because otherwise, “they win.”
“If I leave the bullies take place. This is bullying,” Santos said. “The reality of it is it’s all theater, theater for the cameras and theater for the microphones. Theater for the American people at the expense of the American people because no real work’s getting done.”
Santos also threatened to file a resolution to expel Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY). Bowman pulled a fire alarm in September. Bowman pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge, and said it was an accident. He said he thought the fire alarm would open a locked door as he rushed to a vote. Bowman paid a $1,000 fine.
There have only been six total expulsions from the House, including Santos. Santos is the only Republican to ever be expelled from the House.
The previous expulsion was in 2002, when Representative James Traficant (D-OH) was expelled after a 420-1 vote. Traficant had been convicted on 10 counts of corruption-related crimes.
Before Traficant, Representative Michael “Ozzie” Myers (D-PA) was the first representative of the modern era to be expelled. Myers got the boot following his conviction for accepting bribes. Myers couldn’t keep out of trouble; in 2022, he was convicted and sentenced to 30 months in prison on charges of election fraud.
Prior to Myers, the only expulsions from the House were in 1861, at the start of the Civil War. Henry Cornelius Burnett (D-KY), John William Reid (D-MO) and John Bullock Clark (Whig-MO) were all expelled for joining the Confederacy.
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