NEWS ALERT: San Diego City Council Votes 7-0 To Honor Gay Porn Industry

The James Hartline Report
- On The Frontlines Of The Culture War-
April 17, 2008

San Diego City Council Honors Gay Porn Promoter
By Declaring "Gay and Lesbian Times Day" In
The City of San Diego.

Christian City Councilmembers Joined the Majority
In Voting to Honor One of the Biggest Promoters
of Gay Pornography in the City of San Diego.

Catholic San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre and Lesbian City Councilwoman
Toni Atkins led the charge in repeated attacks against Christian activist
James Hartline and other Christians who pleaded with the city council to reject
the honoring of the pornographic Gay and Lesbian Times.

(JHReport) San Diego father and businessman Mike Farmer accurately summarized what many were thinking during an April 15, 2008 San Diego City Council meeting when the city council voted to issue a proclamation in honor of a porn-promoting publication called the Gay and Lesbian Times. During his speech in opposition to the proclamation, Farmer told the council, "I feel like I'm in some alternative universe."

Farmer was not alone in his shock and dismay that the San Diego City Council was preparing to honor one of San Diego's biggest promoters of the gay pornography industry. For years, the Gay and Lesbian Times has used its publication to promote and sale xxx gay pornography. The classifieds section of the Gay and Lesbian Times is replete with advertisements for men who are seeking other men to engage in anal intercourse, nude massages, male prostitution and the hiring of men as young as 18 years of age to make gay porn movies.

James Hartline, a Christian activist and a current candidate for the San Diego City Council, presented a six minute speech before the city council that detailed the deplorable contents of the Gay and Lesbian Times. In shockingly graphic details, Hartline outlined the extremely immoral and anti-catholic agenda of Gay and Lesbian Times publisher Michael Portantino.

Citing evidence from Portantino's other publication, Rocket Magazine, James Hartline told the city council that Michael Portantino has a history of using his publications for mixing graphic sexual content with appalling attacks against the Catholic community. For example, in a February 16, 2006 edition of Rocket Magazine's column "Toyz-4-Boyz," one of the most disgusting articles ever written against Catholics was published by Michael Portantino's company Uptown Publications. Uptown Publications is the parent company of the Gay and Lesbian Times. The "Toyz-4-Boyz" article stated:

"Here at Rocket Magazine, we love all things politically incorrect. We are
constantly on the lookout for offensive material to shock and hopefully piss off at
least a few of our readers. This week we stumbled upon the web site Divine-
Interventions.com." Divine Interventions specializes in making dildos out of
religious icons.

During his council speech, Hartline described for the city council the items from Divine Interventions being promoted by Michael Portantino in his publication Rocket Magazine. Those items included the "Baby Jesus Butt Plug" and "Jackhammer Jesus" which is a rubber sex toy featuring Jesus hanging on the cross. A third item mentioned by Hartline was a dildo in the shape of the Virgin Mary called "The Diving Nun."

During the city council meeting, fourteen Christian and Catholic citizens stood with Hartline at the podium as he described how insulting it was for them to have their names used to honor the filthy business practices of Gay and Lesbian Times publisher Michael Portantino. In a shocking disregard for the emotional pain and suffering that the city council was causing Christians and Catholics by honoring Portantino, the city council voted unanimously to declare Gay and Lesbian Times Day in the City of San Diego.

Diane Chapman, a well-respected San Diego County business owner and faithful member of her local Catholic parish, confronted lesbian City Councilwoman Toni Atkins for sponsoring the Gay and Lesbian Times Day proclamation. In her speech to the council, Chapman told the council, "I looked over the Gay and Lesbian Times and I cannot believe it's content. This is not National Geographic. Seriously consider if you want your name associated with it."

After the vote, Chapman told the James Hartline Report this, "As a Catholic, I could not believe that they would honor a soft porn magazine and therefore an editor who allows ads for sex toys that mock the Catholic Church and holy Christian symbols."

Adding to the insulting and anti-religious nature of the proclamation itself, were the comments of several members of the city council who defended Michael Portantino and his publications.

Michael Aguirre, the controversial San Diego City Attorney, had the audacity to tell the crowded city council chambers that he is a faithful member of the Catholic Church at the same time that he supports the immoral and extremely anti-catholic content of Portantino's publications.

Telling those in attendance during the meeting that he has actually known Michael Portantino for many years, City Attorney Aguirre shocked the Christians at the meeting by saying this of Portantino, "He is a person that believes in fundamental 'family values' and is actually quite conservative."

Aguirre, who recently helped push through a San Diego City Council-approved legal brief in support of gay marriage, added these insulting comments during his support of Michael Portantino and the Gay and Lesbian Times Day proclamation: "There is alot of division and ill will that gets expressed towards the gay and lesbian community by those that have either been a part of it or for their own religious reasons, out of good faith, are confused and can't accept themselves."

In another shocking display of hypocrisy, Councilman Tony Young voted to honor the porn-promoting enterprises of Michael Portantino. Young, who claims to be a born-again Christian, once again revealed the shallow and fraudulent commitment he has to his Christian values. Late last year, Young was seen standing with a number of black pastors at a public protest against gay marriage. These pastors will be critical to Young once he seeks re-election in 2010. However, in 2008, Councilman Young is more concerned with celebrating the porn industry than he is his feigned public profession of being a born-again Christian.

Young told the city council chambers, "Congratulations on your day (Mr. Portantino). I'm going to support this proclamation because I'm here.... to represent 'everybody." Apparently, 'everybody' includes the gay pornography industry as well as the company that sales sex toys in the shape of religious icons.

Another San Diego city councilmember who claims to be a Christian, Brian Maienschein, also voted to honor the porn-promoting Gay and Lesbian Times. Like Mike Aguirre and Council President Scott Peters, Brian Maienschein is running for the city attorney's seat in the upcoming June 3, 2008 election. Councilman Maienschein continues to shock Christian voters in San Diego with the depth of his continuous betrayal of members of the Christian Community. Maienschein is currently seeking speaking engagements with groups composed of conservatives and Christians to help his campaign.

James Hartline has this to say about Maienschein's constant religious hypocrisy; "Of all the people that I have had to deal with in the six years that I have been coming to the city council meetings to stand up for family values, Brian Maienschein has proven to be the single biggest deceiver and hypocrite I have faced."

Three years ago, Brian Maienschein was invited to speak at Hartline's church, Mission Valley Christian Fellowship, because he had stood up for saving the Mt. Solead Cross during the 2004 elections. While at the church, Maienschein told the congregation of 1,500 that he was proud to be a Christian in today's troubled culture. Since that time, Maienschein has repeatedly voted to honor the San Diego Gay Pride organization, voted to honor the abortion industry with a proclamation that declared Reproductive Choice Day in the City of San Diego, and of course, honoring the gay pornography industry via this week's Gay and Lesbian Times Day proclamation.

It is clear that the Christians on the San Diego City Council are more concerned with the opinion of the publisher of the Gay and Lesbian Times, which claims a circulation of over 15,000 readers, than they are with the Christian voters or even, the God they claim to serve in their faith.

After the council voted to declare Gay and Lesbian Times Day in the City of San Diego, Mike Farmer told the James Hartline Report that he is beginning to see a pattern develop at the council in recent months. "It doesn't seem to matter what Christians or anyone opposing the agenda of lesbian Councilwoman Toni Atkins thinks or has to say. Whether it's a proclamation for the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, or the porn-filled Gay and Lesbian Times, this City Council dutifully votes - almost always unanimously - in favor of Ms. Atkins' radical agenda," said Farmer.

"I personally pleaded with the other council members not to let Ms. Atkins and her constituents bully them. They were all looking me right in the eyes as if they were actually paying attention to what I said. And maybe they were, but it didn't make a bit of difference. When it came time to vote, this council still voted to honor the publisher of G&L Times. It was "yes" right down the board. If this had been my first time to a City Council meeting, I would have been shocked. I'm now growing numb to their total disregard for what's right and decent. It's a sad time in the history of "America's Finest City" when the people voted into office honor those who seek to destroy the moral fabric of our society," declared Farmer.

You can watch the shocking city council battle between the Christian Opposition and the porn-promoting San Diego City Council by going to:

San Diego City Council Meetings Video Archives
Then go to Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - View Video.
Then click on Item 31, Gay and Lesbian Times Day.

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