Activists protest church's 'hateful' messages on Pride Month — pastor says he welcomes the protests



The pastor of the New Hope Community Church in Palatine, Illinois, says that he isn't backing down from preaching the truth after LGBTQ+ activists showed up to protest.

The protesters are angry at messages the church has posted on its digital sign that refer to Pride Month, and they want the church to stop.

'That gives us the chance to share God's truth. I wish they'd come every day so we can have conversations.'

One of the messages reads, "We love you enough to tell you the truth," while another reads, "Ditch Pride, embrace humility."

"Our goal was to let other residents of Palatine know what this church preaches and that Palatine is better than that," said Paul Dombrowski of the Northwest Suburban Pride Network to WLS-TV.

"It is important to stand up for those in our community who are being marginalized and who are being ostracized clearly in this way," said Chelsea Laliberte Barnes, a member of a group named Liberal Moms of the Northwest Suburbs.

Some said they were concerned about the messages because the church is near a school.

The WLS news video report showed that one protester held up a sign reading, "Hate has no home here," while a report from LGBTQ Nation called the messages "hateful."

Members of the church came out to defend the innocuous messages and discuss the issue with the protesters.

James Pittman Jr., the pastor of the church, said they would not change their messaging and added that he welcomed the protests.

"That gives us the chance to share God's truth. I wish they'd come every day so we can have conversations," Pittman told WLS.

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The pastor explained that the church's digital messages would often reflect the season, such as Christmas or Easter, but in June they refer to Pride Month.

WLS noted that LGBTQ activists had also tried to get Palatine city officials to fly a Pride flag outside of city hall but had been rebuffed.

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Adoption agency draws a line: Children need a mom and a dad — and the stats prove it



A Christian adoption agency just drew a major line in the sand.

Bethany Christian Trust has committed to prioritizing child welfare and biblical truth over adult identity by announcing it will only place children with families that align with its biblical statement of faith starting in June 2027.

And BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey is thrilled, especially considering the research backs up the agency's belief that children should be raised by a mother and a father — not by homosexual couples.

“According to a study in 2012, a study by Regnerus, children of LGBT parents fare worse than other children on 77 out of 80 social outcome measures,” Stuckey begins.


“So according to the study, compared with children raised by their married, biological parents, children of homosexual parents attain lower levels of education, report less safety and security within their family of origin, experience greater ongoing negative effects from their family of origin, are more likely to struggle with depression, anxiety, have higher rates of arrest,” she says.

A separate study also “showed poor education outcomes for children of LGBT parents, finding they’re 35% less likely to progress normally through school” and “suffer emotional problems at twice the rate of children raised by a mother and father.”

“Child objectification is going to end now. You’re not going to be sacrificing your kids to the pagan gods anymore,” Stuckey says. “We’re going to stop that.”

“You’re not going to sacrifice your child on the altar of progressivism. No, no, no. Not as long as we have a say in it,” she continues.

“I’m very encouraged with just the allegiance to not only biblical morality but reality, too, because science statistics are always catching up with God,” she adds, “They’re always catching up with what the Bible says.”

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Florida man allegedly bragged about sexually abusing foster child — cops say he and his husband fostered 23 young boys



A Florida man arrested for allegedly bragging about sexually abusing his young foster child also fostered 23 other young boys with his gay husband, police say.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in a media briefing that 51-year-old John David Ballard was arrested after police received a cyber tip on May 7.

'By his own statements, he was using these kids for his sexual pleasure.'

Ballard had allegedly admitted on the messaging app Kik that he had been sexually abusing the 7-year-old boy in his care.

Gualtieri said the messages were explicit, graphic, and "gross."

Ballard allegedly admitted to the conversations to deputies when they served a search warrant on his phone in June. He also told officers that he's "into some really weird stuff" after they found videos of bestiality on his phone, according to police.

Deputies allegedly found dozens of graphic child pornography images that included victims as young as 2 months old.

The investigation expanded when investigators discovered that Ballard and his husband, Bradley Borsuk, were very active in the foster community. The couple had fostered 23 young boys between 2017 and 2023 and had adopted five children between 2015 and 2023, according to police.

All of those boys were between ages 4 and 12 years old.

Gualtieri said officers had spoken to most of the boys, some of whom were now young men, and said some had described "concerning behavior" in the ongoing investigation.

Some allegedly said that Ballard would punish them by making them undress and stand in front of a window, and others said Ballard watched them take baths or showers.

Gualtieri said Ballard and his husband had even authored a book described as an adoption journal.

On June 17, Ballard was arrested and charged with 20 counts of possession of child pornography and five counts of sexual activity involving animals.

Ballard's husband has not yet been arrested, and authorities are still considering what to do with the four adoptive children they have living in their home.

RELATED: Woman admits to horrific child sex abuse charges and bestiality — will testify against husband

"This is really a very difficult case, because it involved the betrayal of trust that the Child Welfare System puts into people who volunteer to help the most vulnerable among us. And those are children who have been abused, abandoned, and neglected," the sheriff said.

"One thing that is really maddening about the situation is the fraud that Ballard committed on others by holding himself out as this model foster and adoptive parent," Gualtieri added. "By his own statements, he was using these kids for his sexual pleasure.

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'Gay Giants fan's heartbreaking letter' reveals major Pride Month win for sports



Like most professional sports, Major League Baseball players have been forced to promote the LGBTQ community — especially during Pride Month.

But this Pride Month things are changing, and gay baseball fans are not happy about it.

In one article for the magazine “Out Sports” titled “Gay Giants fan’s heartbreaking letter shows the cost of the team’s Pride Night failure,” a fan laments the actions of several San Francisco Giants players who chose to do their own thing on Pride Night.

“So this fan wrote a note to the San Francisco Giants ... about this incident that happened at their Pride Night festival,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere explains on “Stu Does America.” “Now as you may know, every Major League Baseball team has a Pride Night with the exception of the Texas Rangers.”


While the team did celebrate Pride Night, multiple Giants players wore hats boasting Bible verses.

“Signifying, ‘Hey, like you know this isn’t a thing that we want to be involved in, and we have a different opinion,’” Stu explains.

The Bible verse in question “talks about the rainbow and how it was God’s sign.”

The disgruntled fan wrote that he has been “a lifelong Giants fan for over 40 years,” beginning when he “attended games as a kid” and “arrived early to get autographs from players.”

“As an LGBTQ athlete, I’ve had the honor of going to a Pride night or day for many years. I’ve also organized 200 plus softball players to attend the game annually,” he said.

“I was unbelievably disappointed by the offensive and disrespectful actions of a few Giants players who chose to write a Bible verse on their hats that was meant to reclaim the rainbow as a Christian/Catholic symbol,” he continued.

“Now, my understanding was the Bible came long before Pride Night. I don’t know if that’s accurate, Dave, historically, but I believe it is,” Stu says.

The gay author went on to explain that in 1978, Gilbert Baker created the rainbow flag in San Francisco as a symbol of pride.

“I will note 1978 is after the Bible came out,” Stu comments, pointing out that “not everything has to be about sex.”

“Like you can actually have a sport where people come out and enjoy the sport,” he adds.

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Pride Night game CANCELED after baseball players refuse rainbow jerseys: ‘This is how you change the culture’



Minor league baseball team the York Revolution forfeited their Pride Night game on June 18 after fewer than nine players on the 28-man roster were willing to wear Pride uniforms — which featured jerseys with rainbow sleeves.

General manager Ben Shipley said that he was “disappointed” the team “was at this point.”

“I recognize the players' plight and their unwillingness to cross their line. I also think tolerance is not acceptance. I was just asking for tolerance from the team, and they were unwilling to navigate that with me,” Shipley explained.

“No,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments. “You were asking for them to participate. That is not tolerance. That’s promoting something that they have religious convictions against.”

“They’re not paid to wear rainbow colors,” he adds.


“That was a political statement they were asked to endorse, and they refused to,” executive producer Keith Malinak says.

“And this is how you change the culture. And this is what we’ve been begging young girls, young women to do when faced with dudes that want to compete against them,” he continues.

“And if they have to cancel the event, they have to cancel it. That’s how you change this mindset,” he adds.

“But that’s how committed the officials on the team were to this,” Gray says, “that they’d rather not even play baseball.”

“They still donated 10 grand to some gay charity, too,” Malinak adds.

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Jason Whitlock: Nike and the WNBA fumbled the Caitlin Clark phenomenon



When Caitlin Clark was breaking records, packing arenas, and transforming women’s basketball into a national sensation, BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock thought it was an appropriate time to drop a Nike shoe for the star.

Instead, the sportswear giant waited until Clark’s third WNBA season to launch one.

“Looks like a sharp shoe. But the timing of when they’re releasing, now, when Caitlin Clark’s popularity is at the lowest it’s been since 2022. Caitlin Clark starting her junior year of college started to become a force of nature,” Whitlock says.

“And by the time she got to her senior year in college, by the time she got to the national championship game her senior year, the ratings for women’s college basketball went through the roof. They set records, unprecedented records,” he continues, adding, “Caitlin Clark had arrived.”


However, despite taking the WNBA to a new level, she was never rewarded.

“No Nike shoe her senior year in college. No Nike shoe when she’s a rookie in the WNBA. No Nike shoe when she’s coming into her second season in the WNBA after setting the league on fire. No shoe then,” Whitlock says, pointing out that now she finally gets her shoe the same year “they’re struggling to sell out the arena in Indiana.”

“They missed the Caitlin Clark window, and they’ve undermined Caitlin Clark, and Caitlin Clark has undermined herself,” he continues, explaining that it should be examined why they “fumbled” her.

“It’s the alphabet mafia. It’s the LGBTQIA+, BLM,” he adds.

Whitlock points to the “sexual and racial politics that have been injected into all of corporate America” as the aggressor but notes that Clark fell for it as well.

“Caitlin Clark being a white, heterosexual woman, a tiny bit reluctant to bend the knee to the alphabet mafia, but she did bend the knee,” he says.

“But she didn’t have the complexion or the right sexual desires for Nike and for the alphabet crew. She didn’t have the right sexual arousal. She didn’t have the right skin color,” he continues, adding, “And so, Nike blew a golden opportunity.”

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NY Pride group disbands after founder is arrested for disgusting alleged crime with minor



An LGBTQ+ advocacy group for a small town in central New York says it is canceling a scheduled Pride parade after its founder was arrested on child sex-messaging charges.

New York state police claimed 46-year-old Travis J. Longo of Cazenovia had a pattern of sending the sexually explicit communications to a child under 12 years old.

'This decision follows serious criminal charges against Travis Longo, the founder of Cazenovia Pride Fest and a longtime figure in our organization.'

Astoundingly, Longo was elected in 2024 to the Cazenovia School District Board of Education and, as of Friday afternoon, continues to be a member of the board.

Longo was charged with four misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Police have released few details about the alleged communications but are asking the public for any information that might aid their investigation.

The group Longo founded said in a post on Facebook that the parade planned for June 27 has been canceled and the group is dissolving.

"Cazenovia Pride Inc. is canceling this year's Pride Festival and all associated events, and we are dissolving as an organization," the post read.

"This decision follows serious criminal charges against Travis Longo, the founder of Cazenovia Pride Fest and a longtime figure in our organization," the post added. "Travis Longo has no further affiliation with Cazenovia Pride Inc."

Longo had apparently performed as a drag queen under the name "Anita Buffem."

An Instagram appearing to belong to Longo as the drag queen persona has dozens of posts. Buffem is also listed as a "hostess" at the first Pride festival in Cazenovia in 2021 that was organized by Pride Cazenovia.

RELATED: California city mayor pro tem calls for end of Pride Month observation, and outrage ensues

"We are deeply sorry for the pain and disappointment this causes our community," concluded the statement from the Pride group. "The years of support, love, and solidarity you have shown us have meant everything. Thank you."

Cazenovia is a town of about 6,700 residents in Madison County.

Neither Longo nor the board of education responded to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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