Signs and Wonders 06.08

The money gayme. More than 600 gay and lesbian backers of Barack Obama turned out for a fundraiser in Los Angeles Wednesday. Attendees of the event, coming just weeks after Obama's public endorsement of same-sex marriage, were enthusiastic. Among the Obama supporters were lesbian comedian Ellen DeGeneres and singer Cher. The president's embrace of gay "marriage" hurt him in states like North Carolina, but it has bolstered his fundraising-and he needs it. The Associated Press reported that Obama and his surrogates raised about $60 million in May, for a total of $510 million. Mitt Romney, on the other hand, raised more than $76 million. Romney is still behind in total, with about $400 million raised. But for Romney to stay this close to an incumbent president is truly remarkable. While we're on the subject of money and homosexuals: The Washington Post reports that about one in six of President Obama's top campaign "bundlers" is homosexual.

Don't Ask, Do Tell. The Army confirmed this week that it conducted the military's first-ever homosexual "wedding" at the Fort Polk base in Louisiana. According to officials, the ceremony took place about three weeks ago between two lesbians and was officiated by an Army chaplain. "The liberal social experiment with our military continues," said Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), who represents the Louisiana district that houses Fort Polk. Officially, the Army said it was not a "wedding" but a "same-gender private religious ceremony." Either way, according to Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, "it's a plain violation of the Defense of Marriage Act, which outlaws same-sex 'marriage' in government facilities." That's why Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) called the ceremony "outrageous and illegal." Both Fleming and Akin serve on the House Armed Services Committee.

Planned Parenthood in the schools. The Los Angeles Times trumpeted Planned Parenthood new school-based health facility at Los Angeles's Roosevelt High School. According to L.A.'s Unified School District, the special program is part of an effort to keep teen motherhood on the decline. During the school year, students can visit Planned Parenthood on campus for anything from birth control pills, patches, and rings to pregnancy tests-all without their parents' knowledge or consent. According to the article, students "feel much safer and much more comfortable coming to a school-based health clinic." But one 16-year-old might have unintentionally shared the real reason they feel safer: She didn't have to tell her mother. She said she "felt relieved" to keep her parents out of the process. (California is one of 20 states that do not have parental consent laws.) Planned Parenthood is barred from "providing abortions" through such facilities, but they can make abortion referrals, though neither the Los Angeles Times article nor Planned Parenthood said how many abortion referrals the group has made at Roosevelt High School.

A Rose arose. I had the privilege of spending a good bit of last Friday in Washington, D.C., interviewing Lila Rose for a series of videos WORLD is doing on up-and-coming Christian leaders. My interview took place just hours after Rose and her group Live Action released videotapes focusing on Planned Parenthood's willingness to target baby girls for abortion. She's released a total of four on the subject so far, focusing on Texas, New York, and Arizona-where the practice of using gender as the basis for abortion is illegal. At the Tucson, Ariz., location, the Planned Parenthood worker said, "We could lose our license" when he finds out the abortion the Live Action actress (who is not Lila Rose) wants to have is based on gender. But he agrees to do the abortion anyway. "I'll just forget about it," he said. "But just be sure not to mention it to the [abortionist]. Don't even mention it to him." By the way, we'll be releasing our video of Lila Rose and other young Christian leaders this fall. As they say in television land: Stay tuned.

Harvard split apart. By the way, I can't resist noting that on this date in 1978, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn delivered his famous commencement speech to Harvard titled "A World Split Apart." Most of the thousands of commencement speeches delivered every year justly fade into obscurity, but this one has lived on because of the authority of its speaker and the prophetic nature of the speech itself. If you've never read it, do yourself a favor and do so. It shook up Harvard in 1978, and it still resonates today, with its stern warning to Western elites (such as those at Harvard) about the dangers of ideological and moral relativism. It's available in book form, but you can find the complete text online.