Ours Is Not A Bitter Zeal

"You must love Connecticut if you want to win Connecticut. You cannot win without love." 

It is that time of year again.
A group of generous donors have offered Family Institute of Connecticut a seven-week, $30,000 Summer Matching Grant. Any donation FIC receives between now and July 31st—up to $30,000—will be doubled. That means we could raise $60,000 by mid-summer to carry on the fight for life, liberty and marriage here in our home state.

You know the incredible victories God has granted FIC, even in 2013, even in Connecticut. It is important for us to acknowledge it: that our victories come from God. Thanks be to Him.

And it is important to let you, our members, know of our needs. FIC has a reputation for being the group "that does a lot with a little." People are frequently shocked when they learn the small size of our annual budget. "But you do so much," they tell us. Yes...and we can do so much more to win Connecticut, if we have greater funding.

But about that: "winning" Connecticut. It's been on my mind lately. Haunting me, really.

The reason is a Pastors' Breakfast I attended in Bridgeport three weeks ago, a follow-up to the Night of Healing and Hope for Newtown concert. (As the six-month anniversary of the Newtown shootings approaches, the horror of that day is still very much with all of us.)

At that breakfast we heard a message from David Wagner, a prophetic voice among evangelical Christians. His message: 

"You must love Connecticut if you want to win Connecticut. You cannot win without love." 

I have been thinking about it ever since. And what I want to say is: Yes, I do love Connecticut. And I think you do too. 

We mourn the setbacks to faith and family that have occurred on our watch: the court-mandated re-defining of marriage and the passing of a "transgender" law that denies basic reality. 

But we also celebrate the victories: securing the strongest religious liberty exemptions to same-sex "marriage" in the nation and defeating assisted suicide.

And we are not going away. The pro-family movement is sometimes allied, but not to be confused with, other movements that oppose the status quo. 

We are not the ones calling talk radio to say we are leaving Connecticut. We are not sitting on our front porch, shaking our fist at our neighbors and hollering "What is wrong with you people?" Ours is not a bitter zeal.

We are in Connecticut's pro-family movement because Connecticut is our home. It is where we live and work. It is where we raise our children and grandchildren.

We want to leave to our descendants a Connecticut that is a blessing to them and not a curse. And we are not going anywhere. We are staying right here and fighting for our home.

And our opponents? They are not our true enemies. They are in the grip of our true Enemy. We love them too and we pray for their liberation. 

This is not a normal email kickoff for FIC's Summer Grant Campaign. But it has not been a normal year for Connecticut. 

I wanted to break from our normal email template to share with you what is in my heart this morning. And to tell you how much I do love Connecticut...and all of you.

We have come a long way together over this past decade. And someday we will look back on it as just the beginning. I hope you share my love for our home state and that you will continue to fight for her by clicking the link below. Thank you so much - for everything, for all that we have been through together, shoulder-to-shoulder in good times and bad - and God bless you.

This is the only fundraising link in this email alert. Please click here to make a tax-deductible donation to Family Institute of Connecticut's 2013 Summer Matching Grant Campaign. Thank you!

2013: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
In the six years since Peter Wolfgang became president of Family Institute of Connecticut Action, we have suffered only one major legislative defeat: the passage of the 2011 Bathroom Bill. 2013 marks the resumption of FIC Action's winning streak and, indeed, of an FIC Action that is better than it has ever been. Here is our list of the good, the bad and the ugly for the 2013 session of the Connecticut General Assembly.

We can't do it without your support! Click here to support FIC Action: Leading the fight for marriage, life, faith and family in Connecticut!

The Good
In all the years of FIC Action's existence, we have never defeated a bill as decisively as HB 6645, the Assisted Suicide bill. This was, quite simply, some of the best work FIC Action has ever done. Op-eds, fact sheets, press conferences, expert testimony, social media campaigns, youtube videos, excellent coalition-building and exceptional lobbying resulted in the best public hearing FIC Action has ever been involved in...and a bill that was crushed so badly that it was not even voted out of the first of several committees needed to pass it. 

Sen. Ed Meyer, the Assisted Suicide bill's sponsor, admitted to the media that the committee didn't have the votes to pass the bill. Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, the committee’s Senate vice chairwoman, went further, telling the media that "it wasn't even close." Our defeat of this bill was all the more remarkable given the revelation of what FIC Action and our allies are really up against in Connecticut: Big Suicide, funded by George Soros. 

FIC Action members rose up and defeated SB 374, an outrageous attack on parental rights that would have mandated psychological Assessments of Public School and Homeschooled Children with or without their parents' consent. Many of you contacted your legislators, submitted electronic testimony or even braved a big winter storm to testify in person at a public hearing against SB 374. Defeating this bill was one of our biggest priorities for 2013, involving op-eds, media interviews and social communications campaigns with cheeky "memes." 

FIC Action's biggest pro-active victory in 2013 was the passage of HB 5666, which changes the definition of Human Trafficking in Connecticut, strengthening the laws against human traffickers and making prosecution of these crimes a reality in our state. Human trafficking is an anti-family scourge in Connecticut that must be stopped. FIC Action is proud to have joined with others to pass this law protecting women and children against sexual exploitation.

Help us keep the victories coming! Click here to make a donation to Family Institute of Connecticut Action!

The Bad
As expected, anti-family activist Andrew McDonald was confirmed to the Connecticut Supreme Court by the legislature. But confirmation votes like McDonald's are usually rubber-stamp affairs and even a higher-than-normal 'no' vote on McDonald's confirmation sends a message. That is what FIC Action accomplished, generating twenty 'no' votes in the House (our most ever on a nomination) and three in the Senate.

SB 972 passed, a bill which puts the Department of Children and Families in charge of developing an "implementation plan" for meeting the "mental, emotional and behavioral health needs of all children in the state." This bill does not require mandatory health assessments, like the bill FIC Action defeated, but we will be monitoring its implementation to make sure parental rights are respected. (On a related note, you will also be hearing more from FIC Action in opposition to the "Common Core" curriculum.) 

Regarding national issues on which FIC Action is currently active: The HHS Mandate, which will require religious organizations and believers to pay for abortion drugs in violation of their conscience, is still moving forward. And the Boy Scouts of America caved into financial pressure, allowing open homosexuals into its membership and paving the way for further promotions of "alternative lifestyles." FIC Action will connect its Connecticut members to national pro-family responses to these and other negative developments.

Click here to support the leading voice for your values in Connecticut!

The Ugly
There was no ugliness from state legislators, staff or opposition lobbyists at the state Capitol in 2013. That is a "first" in FIC Action's experience. Instead, the ugliness this year came from op-ed writers.

For reminding our members that Andrew McDonald supported same-sex "marriage" and the Bathroom Bill--matters of public record--FIC Action was accused by Terry Cowgill of being "arch-conservative," "apoplectic," "bogus," "paranoid" and "probably bigoted." Cowgill, believe it or not, is considered a "conservative" writer in what passes for Connecticut opinion media. But FIC Action is not cowed by media bias.

In a bizarre op-ed published a month after assisted suicide was defeated, a UConn English professor (!) accused FIC Action of being "zealots," feeling "godlike," wanting to "control lives" and "gloating." He offered non sequiturs about the death penalty, claimed falsely that the bill required two doctors to certify that a patient was terminal and competent (it only required one) and made straw-man arguments about making people suffer against their will, blurring the distinction between nature taking its course and actively killing someone. He disagreed with a doctor's description of assisted suicide supporters as "lacking compassion" but was more than happy to caricature FIC Action's advocacy and to downplay the role of our allies in the disability rights community. 

 Holding them accountable: The session is over but the challenges remain! Please click here to give FIC Action the support we need to fight for life, liberty and marriage in Connecticut's courts, legislature, media, educational institutions and elsewhere. Thank you! 

Take Action:
Stop Human Trafficking in CT

Tell Your Legislators: Pass HB 5666
to Fight Human Trafficking!
Last year, FIC Action joined with others to pass a bill that helped speed the demise of thinly-disguised newspaper ads for encounters with underage prostitutes. We told you in February that we would join with those same human rights activists this year to fight for new legislation that puts an end to the scourge of human trafficking in our home state. 

The time to act on that bill is now!
HB 5666, AN ACT CONCERNING THE FORFEITURE OF MONEYS AND PROPERTY RELATED TO SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING, is a unified version of several previous bills we have been tracking throughout the legislative session. Passing it into law could be FIC Action's biggest pro-active pro-family victory for 2013.

H.B. 5666 will:
• Strengthen the laws against human traffickers, making prosecution of these crimes a reality in Connecticut.

• Increase the penalty against those who solicit and pay for victims of human trafficking.

• Seize property and funds from those convicted of prostitution, promoting prostitution and human trafficking. These funds will be used directly to aid the victims of these crimes.

• Alert victims of their options by posting informational signs in the areas where they are most likely to see them.

• Establish a Task Force to make the best possible recommendations for future Connecticut legislation with the goal of eradicating human trafficking in Connecticut.

The previous complicity of the newspaper industry, the exploitative world of the pimps, the suffering of the victims of what is essentially a human slavery ring right here in Connecticut are all deeply disturbing. But what struck us most in the fight against human trafficking was one former prostitute's description of the local men who paid to have sex with her. Engineers, politicians, accountants, lawyers, etc. "All of them loved their wives," she noted dryly. 

This is an anti-family scourge. It must be stopped. Here are three things you can do to pass HB 5666:

1) Use our Grassroots Action Center to send an e-mail directly to your state senator and state representative by clicking on the link at the bottom of this message. We have provided some basic points, but please either put the message in your own words or add a brief introduction and conclusion! Personalized messages have a much greater impact. Let your state legislators know that you want human trafficking in Connecticut stopped and HB 5666 passed. 

2) Click here to donate to the Family Institute of Connecticut Action. FIC Action, the lobbying arm of Connecticut's pro-family movement, is your eyes and ears at the state Capitol. Your support allows us to continue to be your voice for faith and family.

3) Forward this message to every like-minded state resident you know and ask them to do likewise. Also, AND THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, share this message on Facebook and Twitter.

Thank you for making your voice heard in the fight to stop human trafficking in Connecticut. Click on the link below (then click "Take Action" at the bottom of the next screen) to contact your state senator and state representative.

Click the link below to log in and send your message:
https://www.votervoice.net/link/target/fict/Gr64JKKi.aspx

Victory!

HB 6645, Connecticut's Assisted Suicide Bill, Defeated in Committee! 

We told you that defeating the Assisted Suicide bill was the highest legislative priority of the Family Institute of Connecticut Action in 2013. Earlier this afternoon, FIC Action and our allies accomplished exactly that.

In fact, in all the years I have been involved with FIC--as volunteer, public policy director and president--we have never defeated a bill as decisively as this one. This was, quite simply, some of the best work FIC Action has ever done. 

Just yesterday, Compassion and Choices, the pro-Assisted Suicide group, sent an email pleading for the Public Health Committee to at least allow an up or down vote on their bill. That that they could not even accomplish a first step in legalizing Assisted Suicide in Connecticut--that their bill "died in committee" without a vote by today's deadline--shows how decisively FIC Action and our allies won this battle.

And why did we win so decisively? Because our allies conducted a spectacular press conference that included Prof. Stephen Mikochick, the national disability law expert that testified against Assisted Suicide on behalf of FIC Action. Because we had the best public hearing in the history of FIC Action. Because you, our faithful members, contacted your legislators. Because those legislators listened and were genuinely open to being educated on the dangers of Assisted Suicide.

Our opponents are claiming that the bill only failed because they ran out of time. Unfortunately for their talking points, pro-Assisted Suicide Sen. Ed Meyer has admitted the truth to the media: the bill failed because they did not have the votes.

Our opponents claim that the majority supports Assisted Suicide. If that were true, they could have at least voted the bill out of the first of several committees it had to go through before becoming law. But they could not even do that.

We must continue to be on our guard. Though it is unlikely, the Assisted Suicide bill could return as an amendment on another bill before the close of the legislative session on June 5th. Even if it does not, our opposition has vowed to bring it back next year. 

Click here to share this message on Facebook and Twitter. 

That is a threat we take very seriously, especially in light of an article by veteran pro-life author Anne Hendershott, revealing what FIC Action and our allies are really up against in Connecticut: Big Suicide, funded by billionaire George Soros.

Despite our decisive victory today, the war is not over. Indeed, it has just begun. FIC Action is grateful to know that in the battles ahead we are not alone. We have you, our faithful members. We have our allies, especially the people with disabilities and advocates for the elderly that did so much to make today's victory possible. And we have God--or rather, He has us--the One through Whom all good things come, including today's success. Thank you, almighty God.

~ Peter Wolfgang, President

Click the link below to view PDF Document
The Truth about Physician Assisted Suicide

Action Alert! Click Below to View
FAMILY INSTITUTE OF CONNECTICUT ACTION
PRESS RELEASE
Press Conference Tomorrow March 20th!

Pray for Newtown

Words cannot describe the heartbreak we at the Family Institute of Connecticut feel upon hearing of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. According to the most recent news reports, twenty-seven people, including twenty children between the ages of five and ten, have been killed.

We have said before that when tragedy strikes Connecticut, FIC feels it right alongside you. That has never been more true than now. FIC research assistant Jessica DeVivo, a Newtown native, attended Sandy Hook. And as I told One News Now, we are making inquiries to learn who else among our membership has been affected and what we can do to help. 

Please join us in praying for God’s protection upon all the people of our home state, especially the children, and that He console the victims of this atrocity and their families. 

And let us not forget, even in this dark hour, that evil never has the last word.  "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (JOHN 1:5)

Man Convicted of
Threatening Peter Wolfgang

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Contact:  Peter Wolfgang, 
Executive Director (860) 548-0066          

MAN WHO THREATENED PETER WOLFGANG’S LIFE PLEADS GUILTY TO TWO FELONY CHARGES

 Daniel Sarno of Enfield, CT pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in New Haven to two felony charges of mailing threatening communications. Mr. Sarno mailed over 300 anonymous letters to the Family Institute of Connecticut from November 2011 to May 2012 that included threats on the life of FIC executive director Peter Wolfgang. 

FIC executive director Peter Wolfgang stated, “I want to thank the authorities for their response and actions in this situation, and for ensuring the safety and protection of my family and the employees of the Family Institute of Connecticut. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. In fact it is part of a growing and disturbing intimidation campaign among some proponents of same-sex ‘marriage.’ It is clear that their pretense of ‘tolerance’ is over. 

“Using death threats to stifle debate is un-American. These types of tactics won’t work. The Family Institute of Connecticut will continue its work to strengthen and protect marriage, life and religious freedom.”

Sarno addressed the letters “Attention: Peter Wolfgang,” identified himself as homosexual and made it clear that he was threatening Peter’s life because of Peter’s beliefs and public advocacy. (“Are ‘family values’ worth dying for, Mr. Wolfgang?...I suggest you make your funeral arrangements real soon, Mr. Wolfgang. Trust me, I know…Yer Dead.”)

The Family Institute of Connecticut is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to creating a family-friendly environment in our state. We are working to encourage and strengthen the family as the foundation of society and to promote sound ethical and moral values in our culture and government. You can learn more about the Family Institute of Connecticut at our web site, http://www.ctfamily.org , or by calling our Hartford office at (860) 548-0066 or you may call us toll-free (877) 33-FAMILY.

Big Success in New Haven!

Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally a Big Success in New Haven!

At noon this past Friday the Family Institute of Connecticut helped gather over 520 people on the New Haven Green for a second Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally. This was one of hundreds of rallies occurring simultaneously in about 150 cities to protest the federal mandate requiring religious institutions to pay for and provide abortion-inducing drugs and other violations of conscience, and it was the only rally in Connecticut. 

You can see the magnificent photo album of the rally, 77 pictures sent to FIC by those who attended, on this facebook page. (For those who do not have facebook, these photos will soon be available on FIC Blog.)

You can see Peter Wolfgang's interview with Channel 3 here and Peter's speech here.

When the print media ignored the six hundred people who attended the last Religious Freedom rally in Hartford, FIC called them out. This time the media covered us, albeit with some bizarre omissions.

In an otherwise good article the New Haven Register put our numbers at a laughingly inaccurate 200. The Hartford Courant counted double the Register, putting our numbers at 400, though both the first Courant article and the second Courant article avoided any reference to FIC or Peter Wolfgang, even though we organized the Rally and Peter presided over it as master of ceremonies. You can also see the Associated Press article here.

Our two favorite accounts of the New Haven Rally are the National Catholic Register article and the account by David E. Dowd that was published on the official Stand Up for Religious Freedom website. 

FIC wishes to thank all those who spoke at the Rally: Catholic Bishop Emeritus Peter Rosazza and Evangelical Bishop Terry Wiles; Fathers Robert Rousseau, Joseph Looney and Greek Melkite Deacon Tom Davis; Nicole Peck of Silent No More; Attorneys Wayne Winsley, Vincent McCarthy and Martha Dean; State Rep. T.R. Rowe and State Senator Michael McLachlan. We also wish to thank Norma Contois and the pro-life ministry at St. Mary's Church in New Haven, the co-organizers of the rally, and the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, who filmed the whole event and provided a much-improved sound system.

Thanks to FIC, the media is finally covering the growing outrage over the federal attack on our religious liberties. There is a new attack on the state level, also related to Obamacare, that we will be telling you about in the coming days.

But our ability to rally the troops, educate the public and defend faith and family depends on you. FIC does not run automatically, we do not have any cash reserves to draw upon to do this work. Our ability to carry on literally depends on your willingness to donate to our work. 

At this time of year, when we are doing our best work but our funds at their lowest, would you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Family Institute of Connecticut? Now is the time, while we have our matching grant campaign, to double your donation to FIC. 

If you are someone who can afford to give $500, $1,000 or more, please do not wait until the last day of our summer campaign. We really need your support right now.

Whatever you can give, no matter how large or how small, is greatly appreciated. Checks can also be mailed to: Family Institute of Connecticut, 77 Buckingham Street, Hartford, CT 06106. Thank you and God bless you!

Pro-Abortion "Unite Women CT" Rally Backfires!

Question: What if they held a pro-abortion rally and almost no one came? Answer: It would still receive front page attention in the Hartford Courant. And that is what happened last weekend.

NARAL and Planned Parenthood, juggernauts of Connecticut’s abortion industry, were outshined and nearly outnumbered by a band of pro-life and pro-religious-liberty witnesses at a rally this past sunny Saturday in Hartford. Despite being sponsored by 20 organizations (many subsidized by our own state and federal governments), receiving weeks of free advertising by The Hartford Courant, and having several of Connecticut’s pro-abortion glitterati as speakers, the “Unite Women Rally” was estimated to have only around 100 people. This, in contrast to a spontaneous group of people that held cheerful yellow balloons sporting the word “LIFE” and prayed at the rally, giving witness to religious freedom and the unborn. 

You can see the Courant's coverage here. You can see a live on-the-spot video made by Peter Wolfgang here.  More pictures from that rally and the prayerful and jubilant counter-witness, are available on FIC’s blog.

Thanks to quotes from FIC members Bill and Sophie Brown, participants in the counter-witness, the Courant finally reported what it had been keeping from its readers: Hartford's March 23rd Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally had over 600 attendees. A letter to the editor published in Tuesday's Courant, "Women's Rights Rally a Failure" contrasted that number with Unite Women CT, noting that "'at least 100' attended [Unite Women CT] -- including children -- and it was sponsored by 20 organizations. How embarrassing for abortion rights advocates." Another letter on Wednesday, noting the Courant's front-page photo of the pro-abortion rally, called for equal representation: "I don't recall seeing a similar front-page picture appearing in The Courant when more than 600 anti-abortion demonstrators gathered on March 23."

Click here to share this message on Facebook and Twitter.

Disappointing as it was to rally organizers, the weak attendance by even the members of their various sponsoring organizations, shows that grassroots momentum lies with the majority of people that support parental notification and religious liberty.

This is just the beginning. Building and organizing grassroots enthusiasm into public policy that supports families and the unborn takes resources and money. The Family Institute of Connecticut is the nexus that that can channel grassroots activism into public policy victories. But we need your support. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation today!

615 Attend Hartford Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally

March 25th, 2012 by Peter

Press Release
Contact: Peter Wolfgang, Executive Director, Family Institute of Connecticut, 860-548-0066

HARTFORD, Conn., March 25, 2012 / — Family Institute of Connecticut co-hosted the Hartford Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally on Friday, March 23rd in front of the Ribicoff Court House. This was one of 140 rallies happening the same day across the country.

FIC executive director Peter Wolfgang stated, “The Stand Up for Religious Freedom Rally Friday drew 615 people in Hartford and another 200 in New Haven. That is over 800 Connecticut citizens who understand that the federal mandate requiring religious institutions to provide abortion-inducing drugs is a threat to the First Amendment. On the same day that Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro demonstrated cruelty with talk of ‘unnecessary children,’ 800 of her fellow state residents, including hundreds of women, cared enough to take time out of their busy weekday to stand up for life and liberty.”

Peter Wolfgang was the master of ceremonies for the Hartford Rally, which was co-hosted by Connecticut Right to Life and included the following speakers: Fr. Joseph Looney of Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, CT; Joseph Scheidler, president of the Pro-Life Action League; Martha Dean, former candidate for Connecticut Attorney General; Rep. TR Rowe, R-Trumbull; Sen. Michael McLachlan, R-Danbury; Sen. Joe Markley, R-Southington; Theresa Krankowski of St. Gerard’s Center; Fr. Gregg Markey of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk; Fr. Robert Rousseau of the Archdiocese of Hartford Pro-Life Ministry; Peter Lumaj, U.S. Senate candidate; and Bill Brown, East Hartford evangelical minister.

Partial Victory, Immediate Backlash

School Officials Back Down on Forcing Attendance at Gay Play  "Reprising Gay Kiss, Despite Uproar" says the front page headline in today's Courant. But the subheading provides the real story: "Controversial Play Is Now Optional." The reason the school changed its policy is buried deep in the article:

The Family Institute of Connecticut, a conservative group that opposed gay marriage in the state, sent a mass email Monday with the subject "Forced Pro-Gay Indoctrination at Hartford Public High School," criticizing what it considered "an outrageous attack on parental rights." Principals of the nursing and law and government academies decided against requiring permission slips for the opening performance.

That won't be the case for Friday's show. Jack Baldermann, the executive principal of Hartford High who also heads the school's Engineering and Green Technology Academy, said that all the freshmen need an OK from their parents and that he expected more than half to attend. The sophomores, juniors and seniors in his academy can choose to opt out and work on assignments.

That is what a single email from FIC Action can help to accomplish. Following our Monday alert, FIC Action President Peter Wolfgang did interviews with CitizenLink, Family News in Focus, American Family Radio and Fox 61 (see the video here). Other outlets such as LifeSiteNews picked up the story. Many of you took the initiative and contacted school officials directly.

The result is most visible in the Fox 61 story, which begins with the claim that school officials are standing by their decision to make attendance at the gay propaganda play mandatory, but ends with the admission that they will now allow opt-in/out-outs. 

This is a partial victory for parental rights and against the gay agenda in Hartford's public schools. But the rage of our political elites at suffering even this minor setback in their campaign to force pro-gay indoctrination on the state's youth is already evident.

Though FIC has been headquartered in Hartford for a decade, the Courant claimed the calls and emails to the school came "mostly from conservative out-of-towners." 

The Courant managed to find two football players who approved of the play and then pitted them against their fellow jocks. One of them calls his teammates "disrespectful" for leaving the play, adding that "you have to accept" what the play was promoting. Another called into question the "character" of his teammates who chose to leave. Not a single one of the dozens of students who walked out are interviewed for their view. 

More disturbing, though the Courant reports that school officials say attendance "is now considered optional," it is clear that those same school officials are still pressuring students to attend another showing of the play:

"We're not going to force them to come," [Jack] Baldermann [executive principal of Hartford High] said...But Baldermann has told his students that he would like them there..."

The counter-attack continues throughout today's Courant. The photo accompanying the main story depicts the two men kissing. In an op-ed, local writer Gina Barreca says "a handful of outraged parents of Hartford High students, some football players and a coven of conservative community members" were acting out of "inherited, unexamined and brittle prejudice" against a genre of play "unduly causing people to think." (The irony in Barreca's refusal to engage people with differing views was clearly lost on her.) 

Most disturbing of all is today's Hartford Courant editorial. The editors scolded the students who walked out of the play, saying they "have a lot to learn" and that the walk-out was "a shocking display of intolerance," while students who cheered the play's propaganda had it counted "to their credit" by the paper. The editorial allowed that some students "may come from homes with inflexible views on same-sex affection," noting that one angry parent returned to the school with a Bible. But, sniffed the editors, coming from a home where the Bible is taught is "no excuse for poor student behavior." 

By "poor student behavior" the editors mean the brave refusal of a few dozen students to be indoctrinated against the values of their parents by the public officials whose salaries their parents pay for. 

It gets worse. The editorial ends by noting that "More acceptance is needed all around, even in the strictest households." What does this mean? Who would the Courant propose to enforce this "greater acceptance" against the will of Connecticut's traditional-minded households? The government? The schools? Will they be knocking on our door to see if we conform to standards of "greater tolerance" as defined by the Courant's editors? At a bare minimum, the Courant calls on the city's high schools to add more events "like this play" to "broaden students' perspective" so that they will think less independently and more like the editors of the Courant. 

Ironically, the same edition of the Courant includes a farewell piece by departing columnist Helen Ubinas, who says her writing was motivated by a desire "to keep the powerful honest and give those without power a voice." In the matter of Hartford High's forced pro-gay indoctrination, who is the powerful and who is the powerless? 

Are the kids who were forced to see this play "the powerful"? Or the few dozen who walked out? Or their parents who were not given the opportunity to opt-out their children? Or the one angry parent who returned to the school with a Bible?

Are the school officials who forced students to see this play and kept their parents in the dark "the powerless"? Or the gay advocacy group that colluded with them and collects public money for its efforts? Or the Courant editors? Are the Courant editors "the powerless" and those few students who resisted their agenda somehow "the powerful"?

Fortunately, there is a voice for traditional households buffeted by the cultural aggression of Connecticut's political and media elites. Family Institute of Connecticut Action helped make Hartford Public High School back down from forcing gay propaganda on its students. Every single letter in the print edition of today's Courant criticizes Hartford High's propaganda because you answered our call to speak up. And FIC Action will continue its three year old fight to pass a law requiring an opt-in for parents. 

Resistance to no other left-wing cause, not even abortion, enrages the cultural elites like our refusal to kowtow to the gay agenda. In Connecticut, FIC Action is virtually alone in leading that resistance. We hope you will stand with us. 

Forced Pro-Gay Indoctrination
at Hartford Public High School

Just As We Warned: Outrageous Attack on Parental Rights.

Hundreds of students at Hartford Public High School were forced Friday to watch a play promoting approval of homosexual activity, including a scene with two men kissing:

"Then the actors kissed and a piercing clamor rang through the auditorium. There were screams and loud voices and a bit of feigned or real disgust. Dozens of students, mostly male and a few in their Owls football jerseys, hurried out of their rows and walked out. A few jumped over seats to leave."

Even more disturbing is this: 

"[Adam] Johnson [principal of Hartford High's law and government academy] and David Chambers, principal of the nursing academy, said the students had heard ahead of time that there might be same-sex affection in the play. Some asked to be excused. Chambers considered sending an opt-out letter to parents but decided against it."

What an outrageous attack on parental rights. FIC Action has been anticipating it for a long time. 

Earlier this year Sen. Kevin Witkos (R-Canton) proposed a bill at our request that might have prevented this situation, if the bill had become law. This is from our February, 2011 legislative breakfast agenda:

"Now that same-sex 'marriage' has been undemocratically imposed on Connecticut, we must pass a law requiring schools that provide instruction on marriage or human sexuality to inform parents that they may opt to remove their children from such instructions without penalty against the student."

That bill, tragically, was never given a public hearing. We will fight for it again next year and every year until it is passed. 

In the meantime, we suggest that you send a letter to the Hartford Courant politely expressing disagreement with Hartford Public High School's decision to indoctrinate students in the homosexual agenda, particularly without even notifying parents that they have the right to opt-out their children. 

How did your legislator vote
on the "Bathroom Bill"?
HOLD YOUR LEGISLATORS ACCOUNTABLE,
RECLAIM CONNECTICUT!!!
Click this link to see how your Representative Voted!

New York Defeat,
Connecticut Difference

Last week, pro same-sex "marriage" activists accomplished something in New York that they were never able to accomplish in Connecticut. They redefined marriage through the state legislature. 

These same forces repeatedly tried and failed to redefine marriage at the Connecticut General Assembly, eventually achieving their goal in our state only by court order. Family Institute of Connecticut defeated same-sex "marriage" at the legislature every year prior to the court's ruling and even defeated our opponents after the ruling, when we won the strongest religious liberty exemptions against same-sex "marriage" in the nation. 

The media will not tell you the true history of how marriage was redefined in Connecticut, choosing instead to play down the court's ruling and play up a supposed legislative "sign off" on the ruling. The truth is that our legislature explicitly defined marriage as between a man and a woman in the 2005 civil unions law, let a same-sex "marriage" bill die in 2007 and only acquiesced to same-sex "marriage" in 2009 after the court had already redefined marriage in 2008. 

FIC saw an opportunity in the 2009 codification vote and we seized it. What was supposed to be a pro forma legislative "sign off" of the court's redefinition of marriage became instead the vehicle through which we enacted some of the strongest religious liberty exemptions against same-sex "marriage" in the nation. 

Because of our work, same-sex "marriage" never came to Connecticut through the legislative process and could only be imposed by a 4-3 vote of our state Supreme Court. Because of our work, same-sex "marriage" will never have the democratic legitimacy in Connecticut that it unfortunately now has in New York.

On Lubbie Harper,
FIC's Point Was Made

Below is a newspaper article on Judge Lubbie Harper's confirmation, which we are reprinting with the publisher's permission. Without FIC, Harper would have faced no resistance for his outrageous decision to redefine marriage. We are very grateful to all of you who contacted your legislators about this matter. 

Judge confirmed despite objections to ruling
BY PAUL HUGHES
WATERBURY REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
03/17/2011 

HARTFORD — State Rep. Alfred C. Adinolfi suspects a spot on the Supreme Court is a “political reward” for Appellate Judge Lubbie Harper Jr. for voting to legalize same-sex marriage.

Adinolfi, R-Cheshire, was among 20 representatives and senators who voted against Harper’s appointment to the state’s highest court on Wednesday. The nomination passed overwhelmingly.

Harper was tapped to hear the appeal that led to the Supreme Court’s landmark 4-3 ruling in 2008 that legalized same-sex marriage. He was called up from the Appellate Court after two justices recused themselves.

Harper proved to be the swing vote in the case, and that bothered a number of the 20 dissenting lawmakers Tuesday.

Harper is Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s first nominee to the Supreme Court.

“Governor Malloy respects that there will be differing opinions on issues like these, but believes that Lubbie Harper is the right man for the job,” said Colleen Flanagan, a Malloy spokeswoman.

On the Senate floor, Sen. Kevin D. Witkos, R-Canton, said he could not support a nominee whom he considers to be an activist judge.

Sen. Joan V. Hartley, D-15th District, had objections along the same line. The Waterbury lawmaker was the only Democratic senator to vote against Harper.

Hartley said the Supreme Court overstepped in legalizing same-sex marriage. The dissenting justices in the case said the decision should have been left to elected lawmakers.

“It was absolutely an issue within the purview of the legislature,” Hartley said.

A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution prohibits the state government from denying same-sex couples the right to marry.

The three dissenting judges concluded no such fundamental right exists.

Adinolfi said the Supreme Court appointment smacks of payback for the gay marriage ruling because the 68-year-old Harper is close to retirement age. He will turn 69 on Nov. 30. Under state law, judges must retire at age 70.

Adinolfi said the promotion assures Harper will retire with a higher pension. Judges on the Appellate Court now earn a salary of $152,637 a year. A justice on the Supreme Court makes $162,520 annually.

“A lot of us looked at it as a political reward where he would get the higher pension in year and a half,” Adinolfi said.

Sen. Robert J. Kane, R-Watertown, said he shared the concerns about Harper’s age. He also said he voted against him because of the same-sex marriage ruling.

Kane said it did not make sense to vote to appoint a Supreme Court justice who would serve 18 months. He said he would have opposed the Harper nomination on that basis alone, regardless of the same-sex marriage ruling.

Reps. Anthony J. D’Amelio, R-71st District, and Selim G. Noujaim, R-74th District, also voted against the Harper nomination. The two Waterbury lawmakers said Harper’s age and his role in legalizing gay marriage colored their decision.

“Many of my constituents called me regarding his stance on the same-sex marriage vote. That was one of the issues that weighed on me,” D’Amelio said. Noujaim said he also had concerns about Harper’s constitutional views based on his responses to questions posed during his confirmation hearing.

The House voted 124-16 to confirm Harper’s appointment, and then Senate followed with a 24-7 vote. Three Democrats and 13 Republicans opposed Harper in the House. Hartley and a half dozen Republican senators voted against him.

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