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Morality and Decency Conference Speakers
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Newsletter Updates
June 9, 2008
Invest in America
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FOR THE NINTH TIME, shareholders of Exxon Mobil Corp. have made the commonsense decision to give all employees the same rights. ExxonMobil is the only Fortune 50 corporation and the only major oil company that has not adopted special rights based on sexual orientation and "gender identity." It also does not provide benefits for same-sex partners. Caleb H. Price, research analyst at Focus on the Family, said it's no secret that gay and "transgender" activists are targeting corporate America in their effort to bring about widespread cultural change. "Homosexual activists have strategically targeted Fortune 500 companies and applied unrelenting pressure to force them to radically redefine gender and the family in their corporate policies," he said. "Thankfully, shareholders at ExxonMobil have held steady against this onslaught by wealthy gay groups and powerful major pension funds and refused to capitulate to the homosexual corporate agenda." Price said ExxonMobil needs to be thanked for its brave stand. "We should encourage ExxonMobil to not give up any future ground to the gay-activist demands for radical cultural change," he said. Focus on the Family reporting. |
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INVESTIGATION NASHVILLE, Tenn — After years of investigation, authorities are indicting a man in the 1975 slaying of a 9-year-old Girl Scout who disappeared while delivering cookies. District Attorney Torry Johnson announced the indictment against Jerome Sidney Barrett on Friday. Barrett is already in jail after being charged in another 1975 slaying. Marcia Trimble disappeared from her upscale neighborhood Feb. 25 of that year. She was found strangled 33 days later. Her body was sticking out from a plastic wading pool in a neighbor's garage. The case has been Nashville's most notorious unsolved murder for 33 years. Barrett is awaiting trial in the killing of Vanderbilt University student Sarah Des Prez. Man Charged With 1975 Murder of Girl Scout |
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FAMILY VALUES
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TAMPA — Twelve local residents spent last week doing a dirty job for the rest of us. Jurors in the federal trial of Paul F. Little, a California man who known by the nom de porn Max Hardcore, watched hours of explicit, violent pornography to determine if, among other things, Little violated community standards. The case, which continues this week, has captured the attention of groups from New York City to California by raising larger questions about the legal standards for obscenity in an online world. "It's one of first post-Internet obscenity cases. It could certainly be precedent setting," said Lawrence Walters, an Altamonte Springs lawyer who has handled high-profile obscenity cases. Since the early 1970s, the legal standard for obscenity has been a three-part test, including whether the average person believes the work violates standards of the community. Now, some legal experts wonder if it's time for a change. "The Internet is part of what makes the application of local community standards problematic," said Lyrissa Lidsky, a law professor at the University of Florida. "Once you put it up, it can go into all sorts of different communities." The current standard stems from a Supreme Court decision in 1973 in the case of Miller vs. California. In that case, prosecutors accused Marvin Miller of mass mailing advertisements for adult books, including one called Sex Orgies Illustrated. The case eventually went to the Supreme Court, which developed the three-prong test to determine obscenity. Internet distribution has also led to discussion about where prosecutors choose to try cases. 