Free Republic

Last night, Presidential candidate and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson announced during an on-line Town Hall Thursday night that he supports civil marriage for gay Americans. Having long supported civil unions for gay couples, Johnson's decision to endorse gay marriage is based on "a great deal of deliberation, discussion with the gay community, and a conclusion that government has no business choosing who should be allowed the benefits of marriage and who should not." Announcing his support for gay marriage, Johnson said, "As a believer in individual freedom and keeping government out of personal lives, I simply cannot find...

If the Republican presidential contenders wish to remain truthful to their rhetoric of decentralization of power in Washington, they should take a break from wooing social conservatives and stand for states' rights in regard to gay marriage. Because many likely Iowa caucus-goers describe themselves as very conservative on social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, many candidates feel they need to reach out to the far-right if they plan to get the presidential nod. However, a staunch, conservative position on social issues will likely hurt them in the long run, because it undermines their more-appealing small-government policies.... The three...

CNSNews.com) – (Updated) The Senate on Thursday evening voted 93-7 to approve a defense authorization bill that includes a provision which not only repeals the military law on sodomy, it also repeals the military ban on sex with animals--or bestiality. On Nov. 15, the Senate Armed Services Committee had unanimously approved S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a provision to repeal Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Article 125 of the UCMJ makes it illegal to engage in both sodomy with humans and sex with animals. It states: "(a) Any person subject to...

The Senate this evening is poised to vote on a defense authorization bill that includes a provision which not only repeals the military law on sodomy, but also repeals the military ban on sex with animals--or bestiality. On Nov. 15, the Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously approved S. 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a provision to repeal Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). Article 125 of the UCMJ makes it illegal to engage in both sodomy with humans and sex with animals.

Facebook is investigating reports of a massive wave of pornographic and violent images being posted to its website. The content -- in the form of links, videos, and images -- began to appear Monday and includes doctored photographs of celebrities such as Justin Bieber in compromising situations, acts of violence and self-mutilation and even bestiality. "We have recently experienced an increase in reports and we are investigating and addressing the issue," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told FoxNews.com. "We are always working to improve our systems to isolate and remove material that violates our terms. Protecting the people who use Facebook...

'I do not know what happened... but I am seriously in love with (the) donkey,' man tells courtIt may have been the work of a genie or a sorcerer or just that a Zimbabwean man is off his rocker, for he claims in court that he had hired a prostitute who during the night transformed into a donkey. He says that he is now "seriously in love" with the animal, state media said Wednesday. "I think I am also a donkey. I do not know what happened when I left the bar, but I am seriously in love with (the)...

New York City 11-year-olds will soon be learning sex education from workbooks that include instruction on “mutual masturbation, French kissing, oral and anal sex, and “intercourse using a condom and an oil-based lubricant.” The shocking revelations were uncovered in “recommended” workbooks reviewed by The New York Post. Sex education will become mandatory in New York City middle and high schools next year. Students will be required to take one semester of sex education in sixth or seventh grades and one in ninth or tenth grades.

Details about the new sex education curriculum in New York City public schools are out -- and some are concerned the lessons are too racy. The New York Post obtained workbooks that will be used for the new recommended curriculum, which begins in middle schools and high schools around the city next spring. Parents, they say, may be shocked by details of the work. Middle school students will be assigned "risk cards" that rate the safety of different activities, the paper says, from French kissing to oral sex. The workbooks for older students direct them to a website run by...

An official with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention faces molestation and bestiality charges after an investigation into allegations involving a 6-year-old in Georgia. The official, Dr. Kimberly Lindsey, is a deputy director with the CDC's Laboratory Science, Policy and Practice Program Office. Lindsey, 44, was arrested Sunday along with her boyfriend, Thomas Westerman, MyFoxAtlanta.com reports. Lindsey is being held in the DeKalb County Jail on a $25,000 bond, while Westerman was release on a $16,000 bond.

A few days ago, I received an email from a friend entitled “Interesting Marriages,” containing four links. The first link told the 2007 story of a Sudanese man who was caught copulating with a goat. Since the Sudanese tribal custom requires that a man must marry a woman whom he sexually violated (in order to preserve her family’s honor), the village leaders decided to publicly embarrass the man who had violated the goat, forcing him to pay a dowry to the goat’s owner before “marrying” the goat. The story, which was first reported in a light-hearted way on the website...

Actress Kristin Chenoweth is a self-identifying Christian who has sparked controversy by speaking out about her support of the gay community in an interview with lesbian and gay publication The Advocate. The LBGT publication asked the TV and theater star: "What would you ask people who cite Christianity as their justification for passing laws that discriminate against people?" Chenoweth replied, "I would ask, 'What would Jesus do?' It sounds so cliché and Pollyanna-ish, but I have a feeling if he were on the earth today, he wouldn't be walking around saying, 'You’re going to hell' and 'You're wrong, you're wrong,...

Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Floods. Fires. Some natural disasters can be anticipated. Others can't, but we can prepare for them - and our emergency plans should include our pets. In the wake of large disasters in recent years, even federal, state and local emergency managers have realized the importance of providing information for pet owners and including the welfare of animals in their own plans. Probably one thing that many pet owners don't think about with those plans are the dangers that pets are susceptible to in the hours and days immediately following the destruction from a disaster.

NORFOLK, Virginia, August 24, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A controversial new porn site by the world’s leading animal rights group could actually feed animal cruelty fetishes, according to one counselor specializing in recovery from porn addiction. Users of PETA’s new site, to be launched this year, will first be presented with pornographic galleries and videos, but shortly after they will be exposed to PETA’s graphic hidden camera investigations of animal mistreatment. “We are working on a XXX site and the content will be graphic — an off-limits video that people won’t expect. This will grab people’s attention and start a discussion...

Opinion L.A. 2012 Campaign: Rick Perry And A Uniquely Anti-Gay GOP Field? August 24, 2011 You might think as much following the revelation by reporter Mark Benjamin that Republican front-runner and Texas Gov. Rick Perry once compared, in writing, homosexuality to alcoholism. Benjamin writes at Time magazine's Swampland blog: Since leaping into the GOP presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry hasn't been asked if he thinks gays are born or made. But in a little-noticed passage in his first book, "On My Honor," a encomium on the Boy Scouts published in 2008, Perry also drew a parallel between homosexuality and...

7-14-2011 SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. announced today that he has signed the following bill: • SB 48 by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) – Pupil instruction: prohibition of discriminatory content.

Dogs, straight and gay, will strut their funky stuff at London’s first gay dog show later this month. Battersea Cats and Dogs home has joined forces with Pride London to find the hottest talent in the canine kingdom to compete to be London’s Pride Pooch 2011. Celebrity judge Julian Barnes from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and BBC Three’s Help! My Dog’s as Fat as Me will be presiding over the finalists and picking the winners at Vauxhall's Fire nightclub on June 30. Victorious dogs will then take centre stage on July 2 at the head of this year’s...

NEW YORK – Hundreds of protesters against the legalization of gay marriage in New York jammed the hallways of the Capitol building Monday as Republican senators privately discussed whether to bring the same-sex marriage issue to a floor vote. Demonstrators opposing gay marriage, including Christian ministers, African-American church members and Tea Party organizers, outnumbered those in support of the controversial bill, which has 31 votes and needs one more vote to pass the New York Senate. The measure was approved by the New York State Assembly last Wednesday, 80 to 63.Republicans have been mulling over same-sex marriage bill in private...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- An Alum Creek man has been arrested after neighbors allegedly found him standing over the dead body of a stolen pygmy goat while wearing women's underwear. Mark Lucas Thompson, 19, of Greenview Road was taken into custody early Monday at his home. Deputies had dealt with the man before and believe him to be mentally unstable. Thompson told deputies he had been high on bath salts for the last three days, said Cpl. Sean Snuffer, a detective with the sheriff's office. Deputy J.S. Shackelford was dispatched about 3:15 a.m. Monday to the home on Quebec Drive to...

America’s self-described toughest sheriff has issued a warning to the CEO of Craigslist saying the popular Internet website is providing a “mechanism to facilitate criminal activity.” Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s warning to Jim Buckmaster follows the arrest last month in Arizona by Maricopa County Sheriff's Office detectives of two men — one a middle school teacher and the other a handyman — on charges of conspiracy to commit bestiality. Sheriff Arpaio said an undercover investigation by his office began after detectives became aware that persons in the Phoenix area were using Craigslist to engage in illegal acts with animals. Detectives set...

Here is how Peter Yost of the Associated Press (as dutifully reported by their ally, Newsday), defended Obama’s reversal on the Defense of Marriage Act (the reversal being that the Justice department will no longer defend the act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman for federal purposes. Obama campaigned as an opponent of gay marriage.): Obama’s move may position him politically at the forefront of rising public support for gay marriage. Polling results can vary rather significantly depending on what words are used to describe gay marriage, but there is a gradual trend in public opinion...