The organization Americans For Truth About Homosexuality ( AFTAH ) has canceled an Aug. 4 banquet/lecture that would have launched an "academy, according to a press release from the Gay Liberation Network ( GLN ) . All references to the banquet, originally scheduled at the AFTAH headquarters in Carol Stream, have been removed from AFTAH's website.

The anti-gay "academy," scheduled to begin Thursday, Aug. 5, will now be the target of a protest by pro-gay groups. A new pro-gay counter-protest is scheduled to take place at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 5 in front of the Christian Liberty Academy, 502 W. Euclid, Arlington Heights, to coincide with the "Special Thursday evening presentation" that AFTAH is holding.

AFTAH says the aim of its "academy" is to "train young people ( as well as older pro-family advocates ) how to answer 'gay' activist misinformation and fight the homosexual-bisexual-transsexual agenda." Advocates for legal equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people ( LGBTs ) counter that the gathering is aimed at promoting continued legal and social discrimination against gays, and that it aims to promote this bigotry among young people.

"AFTAH has a long history of telling lies about LGBT people and recently was designated a 'hate group' by the Southern Poverty Law Center," said GLN's Bob Schwartz. DuPage NOW, Woodstock/McHenry County PFLAG and La Voz de los de Abajo are joining GLN's counterprotest.

"Particularly in difficult economic times, it is vital that opponents of discrimination remain vigilant and forthrightly oppose any attempts to scapegoat any group for the failings of society," said GLN co-founder Andy Thayer. "Youth should not be taught to hate their peers and thus fuel the cycle of self-loathing, depression and suicide which too many LGBT youth experience. Bigotry must be vocally and publicly opposed, especially when haters like AFTAH try to recruit young people."

On its website, AFTAH ( headed by former Illinois Family Institute Executive Director Peter LaBarbera ) calls GLN "a Marxist-oriented street protest group that attempts to equate Judeo-Christian opposition to homosexuality with 'hate.'"

For more information about the Aug. 5 protest, e-mail GLN at LGBTliberation@aol.com or call 773-209-1187.