Free Republic

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee told conservatives Saturday that the Supreme Court tried to “unwrite the laws of nature and the laws of nature’s God” when it legalized gay marriage across the nation. […] Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry derided the ruling but didn’t suggest a next step. “These decisions need to be made in the states,” said Perry, who noted that his states’ rights plank extends even to Colorado legalizing recreational marijuana in defiance of federal drug law. […] On Friday, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said the gay marriage ruling was “based on a lie” that gay-marriage opponents...

The Irish Catholic boy who came of age in Sacramento after World War II is an unlikely candidate to be the author of the Supreme Court’s major gay rights rulings. But those who have known Justice Anthony Kennedy for decades and scholars who have studied his work say he has long stressed the importance of valuing people as individuals. And he seems likely also to have been influenced in this regard by a pillar of the Sacramento legal community, a closeted gay man who hired Kennedy as a law school instructor and testified on his behalf at his high court...

For Democratic politicians, same-sex marriage has become an easy issue: They’re for it. Many Republican VIPs—notably the presidential hopefuls—face a far more complicated landscape. Looming ahead for these contenders are early contests in states such as Iowa and South Carolina, where a major role will be played by conservative Christian voters firmly opposed to same-sex marriage. Further down the road is the 2016 general election, where the nominee will likely need backing from independents and moderate Republicans who support gay unions. “Republicans are trying to thread the needle on this, with varying degrees of skill. It doesn’t take a genius...

Jeb Bush was preparing to release the emails he sent and received as Florida governor when he was excoriated by a letter-writer to The Miami Herald. The headline: “Don’t trust Jeb Bush with the power of the presidency.” The subject of many of the emails was Terri Schiavo. The letter-writer was her husband, Michael. Bush’s effort to stop Michael Schiavo from removing his brain-damaged wife’s feeding tube was a defining moment of Bush’s time in office. Bush, a devout Catholic, sided with Terri Schiavo’s parents in the end-of-life dispute and reached for unprecedented authority to intervene. Michael Schiavo said his...

A dispute over a cake in Colorado raises a new question about gay rights and religious freedom: If bakers can be fined for refusing to serve married gay couples, can they also be punished for declining to make a cake with anti-gay statements? A baker in suburban Denver who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding is fighting a legal order requiring him to serve gay couples even though he argued that would violate his religious beliefs. But now a separate case puts a twist in the debate over discrimination in public businesses, and it underscores the tensions...

HAYDEN, Idaho (AP) — A 2-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his mother after he reached into her purse at a northern Idaho Wal-Mart and her concealed gun fired, authorities said Tuesday. The 29-year-old woman was shopping with her son and three other children, Kootenai County sheriff's spokesman Stu Miller told The Associated Press. Her family had come to the area to visit relatives, he said. The woman, whose identity was not released, had a concealed weapons permit. Miller said the young boy was left in a shopping cart, reached into the victim's purse and grabbed a small-caliber handgun, which...

NEW YORK (AP) — The police killings of unarmed blacks in Ferguson, Missouri, and elsewhere — and the investigations and tumultuous protests they inspired — was the top news story of 2014, according to The Associated Press' annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors. In a year crowded with dramatic and often wrenching news developments around the world, the No. 2 story was the devastating outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, followed by the conflict in Iraq and Syria fueled by the brutal actions of Islamic State militants. Among the 85 voters casting ballots, first-place votes were spread among...

Rob and Linda Robertson did what they believed was expected of them as good Christians. When their 12-year-old son Ryan said he was gay, they told him they loved him, but he had to change. He entered “reparative therapy,” met regularly with his pastor and immersed himself in Bible study and his church youth group. After six years, nothing changed. A despondent Ryan cut off from his parents and his faith, started taking drugs and in 2009, died of an overdose. “Now we realize we were so wrongly taught,” said Rob Robertson, a firefighter for more than 30 years who...

Officials in a Polish town (Tuszyn) have opposed a proposition to name a playground after Winnie-the-Pooh due to the bear’s unclear gender and immodest clothing. […] Voice recordings of the meeting were leaked to the media in which officials complained that Pooh Bear is immodestly dressed and also lacks a clear gender. One called the bear a “hermaphrodite.” …

A Republican justice on the Ohio Supreme Court says the legal obstacles facing his lesbian daughter, her partner and their two children have made him view the state’s protections for same-sex couples and their families as inadequate. The comments by Justice Paul Pfeifer come as the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could settle the issue across the nation once and for all. He said his daughter, Lisa, has a partner and two children, ages 9 and 5, whom he and his wife consider grandchildren. But under Ohio law, his...

Market researchers GfK found that Germany has knocked the USA off the top spot for global image for the first time since 2009. The pollsters asked 20,000 people in 20 countries their opinion of 50 leading nations across six categories: exports, government, culture, people, tourism, and immigration and investment. Germany’s biggest gain over 2013 was in the “Top sporting performance” category, as people had become familiar with the grinning faces of the World Cup-winning football team over the summer. But GfK found other key factors helped put Germany on top, including its leading role in European politics, strong economic performance...

S. Truett Cathy, the billionaire founder of the privately held Chick-fil-A restaurant chain that famously closes on Sundays but also drew unwanted attention on gay marriage in recent years because of his family’s conservative views, died early Monday, a company spokesman said. He was 93. Chick-fil-A spokesman Mark Baldwin told The Associated Press that Cathy died at home surrounded by members of his family. Funeral plans had not yet been finalized, he said. …

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lamont Jones and Keith Stephens stood 60 feet from each other, separated by four lanes of pavement and a thousand miles of perception. Stephens was wearing a T-shirt printed with a police shield bearing the phrase "OFFICER DARREN WILSON I STAND BY YOU," as part of a rally supporting the white policeman who killed the unarmed black teenager Michael Brown. Jones was across the street, holding up a sign that said, in blood-red letters: "Darren Wilson is a Murderer." There was no overlap in the facts as seen by Jones and Stephens at the demonstrations staged...

When Niki Quasney felt a piercing pain in her ribcage in March, the oncologist treating her advanced ovarian cancer told her to get to an emergency room immediately. But instead of making the short drive to a hospital near her home in Munster, Indiana, she drove alone for more than 40 minutes to one in neighboring Illinois. Quasney said she was “terrified” her local hospital might not allow her and her partner of more than 13 years, whom she wed last year in another state, to be together if she suffered a health emergency. Quasney and her partner, Amy Sandler,...

Gay bathhouses that once remained in the shadows to stay in business are now seeking attention to keep their doors open. Some are doing aggressive online advertising and community outreach. Others tout their upscale amenities like plush towels and marble baths. A bathhouse in Ohio has even added hotel rooms and a nightclub. […] In the heyday of bathhouses in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 gay bathhouses in cities across the U.S., but by 1990, the total had dropped to approximately 90, according to Damron, the publisher of an annual gay travel guide. In the last decade, bathhouses,...

President Barack Obama has helped kick off the international Gay Games in Cleveland with a surprise video message shown at the opening ceremonies. […] The president said the United States has come a long way in its commitment to equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. He also noted that some athletes come from places where publicly acknowledging their sexual orientation can put them at risk. …

As a transgender woman who began her transition about a year ago, Kylie Jack is still figuring out her fashion style, but she wanted one thing right away: well-fitting bras. Friends recommended Petticoat Fair in Austin, Texas, where she lives. The lingerie shop is known for one-on-one fittings, but Jack was denied access to the area where professionals work privately with customers after being asked if she was an anatomical female. […] A gender binary exists in fashion, and that’s a challenge for those who don’t conform. Masculine-presenting women are often destined for boys’ departments or bad fits, while people...

Deep in the nation’s Bible Belt, new signs emerged this weekend of an evolution among Republican governors on gay marriage, an explosive social issue that has divided America’s families and politics for years. While the Republican Party’s religious conservatives continue to fight against same-sex marriage, its governors appear to be backing off their opposition- in their rhetoric, at least. For some, the shift may be more a matter of tone than substance as the GOP tries to attract new voters ahead of the midterm elections. Nonetheless, it is a dramatic turn for a party that has long been defined by...

The Texas Republican Party would endorse psychological treatment that seeks to turn gay people straight under a new platform partly aimed at rebuking laws in California and New Jersey that ban so-called “reparative therapy” on minors. A push to include the new anti-gay language survived a key vote late Thursday in Fort Worth at the Texas Republican Convention where, across the street, tea party star U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz fired up attendees at a rally to defend marriage as between a man and a woman. Under the new proposed plank, the Texas GOP will “recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of...

HAILEY, Idaho — Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's hometown abruptly canceled plans Wednesday for a welcome-home celebration, citing security concerns over the prospect of big crowds — both for and against the soldier. The town of 8,000 has been swamped with hate mail and angry calls over Bergdahl, whose release after five years of Taliban captivity in Afghanistan has touched off a debate over whether the 28-year-old should be given a hero's welcome or punished as a deserter.