The Illinois Family Institute is a state-level family policy council that claims independence from, but closely coordinates its activities with, Focus on the Family.
Last month I noted that IFI executive director Peter LaBarbera has been building ties with the theocratic Constitution Party. The Party counts white supremacists among its candidates, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Links to the SPLC allegations are located in my earlier article.)
Blogger Pam Spaulding noted on March 25 that LaBarbera is escalating his rebellion against the state GOP because of its limited tolerance for gay Americans. He encourages religious conservatives to vote for the antigay Constitution Party — or not at all.
Here are some of the Constitution Party of Illinois’ political positions:
AIDS: “Under no circumstances should the federal government continue to subsidize activities which have the effect of encouraging perverted or promiscuous sexual conduct. Criminal penalties should apply to those whose willful acts of omission or commission place members of the public at risk of contracting HIV / AIDS.” In other words, it would seem that HIV/AIDS clinics should be closed because they encourage the use of condoms and enable “perverted” patients to live longer. The Party is (perhaps intentionally) unclear as to whether HIV-positive people should be banned from public facilities where they might have contact with other people.
Family: The Party favors criminalizing and punishing gay relationships, as well as banning adoption by gay persons, instead of amending the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage. The Party views state sodomy laws as protected by the U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 2. But the Party does not quote or link to the actual text. Here’s what the key text of Section 2 says:
Clause 3: The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury; and such Trial shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.
The Party candidate for Illinois governor is Randall C. Stufflebeam (no joke). While the Party opposes amending the U.S. Constitution, Stufflebeam favors amending the Illinois constitution to prohibit churches or local officials from marrying gay people of faith.
Stufflebeam does not say whether gays should be executed; he does say that they should be stricken from society under Biblical law.
Having served the Marine Corps in wars against “the foreign enemy,” Stufflebeam now declares war against “the domestic enemy.”
Ah it’s the Constitution Party (and others of its ilk) that make me glad that we don’t have a true multi-party system in the U.S.