Free Republic

What to expect when you’re not expecting. A West Virginia transgender man who believed he was infertile miraculously became pregnant after a one-night stand with a man he met on Grindr. “I gave up on my dreams of being a parent, then lo and behold, this kid comes out of nowhere,” Ash Patrick Schade, 30, told SWNS. Schade decided to take a pregnancy test in 2020 after feeling more emotional and ravenous than usual, “blindsided” by the positive result. “In the moment I was like, ‘Am I dreaming?’ It just seemed so surreal,” he recalled. “All I could do was...

Squirrel breeding is a real job—and apparently a very dangerous one if you're dealing with the wrong kind of squirrel. After the mysterious deaths of three German men who all worked as breeders of variegated squirrels—a kind of squirrel native to Central America that's sometimes kept as an exotic pet—researchers have identified a new virus that had apparently jumped from the squirrels to the men, LiveScience reports. The men, who were in their 60s and regularly socialized together, died between 2011 and 2013 from inflammation of the brain, and researchers say at least two of them had been scratched or...

A Berlin court has ordered a cat owner to have her hairless Sphynx cat castrated – because it would be animal cruelty to let the naked pet breed. Willi, a Canadian Sphynx, belongs to Berlin cat breeder Jacqueline Linke. True to his breed, Willi is almost completely hairless – a quality that makes Sphynx cats popular choices for those with pet allergies. Despite his questionable appearance, Willi emerged as champion in the 2013 Pedigree Cat Exhibition in Berlin, and has gone on to become a proud father to three naked kittens. However, Willi won't get to pass on his genes...

Fertility is the missing chapter in sex education. Sobering facts about women’s declining fertility after their 20s are being withheld from ambitious young women, who are propelled along a career track devised for men. The refusal by public schools’ sex-education programs to acknowledge gender differences is betraying both boys and girls. The genders should be separated for sex counseling. It is absurd to avoid the harsh reality that boys have less to lose from casual serial sex than do girls, who risk pregnancy and whose future fertility can be compromised by disease. Boys need lessons in basic ethics and moral...

Recently I watched the documentary Breeders, which I recommend to everyone – gay and straight, liberal and conservative.  The documentary, produced by Jennifer Lahl at the Center for Bioethics and Culture, exposes the ethical dangers posed by the practice known as “surrogacy.” Surrogacy is the use of a contract, by which a woman agrees to carry a gestating child in her womb for another party (usually an infertile heterosexual couple or a gay male couple), and also agrees to abandon the child to the couple who has engaged her services.Compensated surrogacy means that the carrier is paid to rent out...

People are often surprised to learn that members of the Bush family support gay marriage, though Laura Bush, her daughter Barbara Bush, and Dick Cheney have declared they believe in marriage equality. (It probably has something to do with George W. Bush's support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.) Apparently W.'s parents are okay with gay marriage too, since they not only attended a lesbian couple's wedding on Saturday, but served as witnesses as well. Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen have been together for 12 years and are co-owners of a general store in Kennebunk, Maine. They have been...

Q. What is APHIS proposing? A. APHIS is proposing to revise its definition of “retail pet store” to close a loophole that has in some cases threatened the health of pets sold sight unseen over the Internet and via phone- and mail-based businesses. Under the current definition of “retail pet store,” which was developed over 40 years ago and predates the Internet, some breeders selling pets are taking advantage of a loophole that improperly exempts them from meeting the basic requirements of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The proposed rule will close this loophole, ensuring that animals sold over the...

How will parents react when they find out they will be expected to provide workers' compensation benefits, rest and meal breaks and paid vacation time for…babysitters? Dinner and a movie night may soon become much more complicated. Under AB 889, household “employers” (aka “parents”) who hire a babysitter on a Friday night will be legally obligated to pay at least minimum wage to any sitter over the age of 18 (unless it is a family member), provide a substitute caregiver every two hours to cover rest and meal breaks, in addition to workers' compensation coverage, overtime pay, and a meticulously...

For Kearsley Higgins, raising a baby in San Francisco was idyllic. She and her husband owned a small two-bedroom house in the Castro, she found plenty of activities for her daughter, Maya, and made friends through an 11-member mothers' group. Now as the mother of an almost 4-year-old, with a baby boy due in September, Higgins has left. A year ago, she and her husband, a digital artist, bought a four-bedroom home with a large backyard in San Rafael. Maya easily got into a popular preschool and will be enrolled in a good public elementary school when the time comes....

...it's time to ban marriages between first cousins and stop playing what he calls "genetic roulette" with their offspring. Henry Heller, a Democratic delegate, or state representative, says he wants to bring Maryland "into the enlightened world of other states such as West Virginia and Arkansas" that already prohibit unions of first cousins... The bill would make an exception for people who are over age 65 or infertile. Heller says he has "no problem" with those couples if they want the companionship. There are 24 states that prohibit marriage between first-cousins.

What one radical thinks...Gotta love the argument. "you're wrong" How can you argue with that? "...the world is getting crowded. According to the 2006 U.N. population report, “The world population will likely increase by 2.5 billion ... passing from the current 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050. This increase is equivalent to the total size of the world population in 1950, and it will be absorbed mostly by the less developed regions, whose population is projected to rise from 5.4 billion in 2007 to 7.9 billion in 2050.” "So, as I said, you don’t believe in global warming? You’re...

A controversial member of President Barack Obama’s faith-based council said that part of the administration’s role in promoting responsible fatherhood should include moving beyond America’s “heteronormative view of fatherhood.” Harry Knox, appointed last month to the 25-member President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, has drawn fire for inflammatory comments about the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict XVI. Knox talked about fatherhood and other issues the council would work on in a May 11 PBS interview, which aired two days before a May 13 letter – signed by nearly two dozen prominent Catholics, including House Minority Leader John Boehner...

It was a proud moment for Linda Brown when then-Vice President-elect Joe Biden selected her kennel to purchase his new German shepherd puppy. That was in mid-December. For Brown, that proud moment was short-lived. After the story about the puppy sale ran in the newspapers and on TV newscasts, three dog wardens from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture showed up on Brown's doorstep for a kennel inspection. And they showed up again and again for four visits over four months. She said she has also received death threats from animal activists against her and Biden, which were reported to the...

A woman who allegedly intended to artificially inseminate her wife with her brother's semen has been charged with domestic assault and battery. Pittsfield police responded to a call shortly before 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the city's Morningside neighborhood, where the assault allegedly occurred. Stephanie K. Lighten, 26, was released on personal recognizance after denying the allegations in Central Berkshire District Court Wednesday morning.

4,000 men in the United Kingdom are now polygamists, although some say the figure is higher. Muslim man can claim state support of more than £10,000 a year to keep his wives, if the wedding took place in one of those countries where polygamy is commonplace, such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia and across huge tracts of Africa. Therefore, if he has four wives he can claim nearly £800 a month from the British taxpayer. Controversially, a polygamist is also entitled to more generous housing benefits and bigger council houses to reflect the large size of his family. He...

Where does this UGLY woman get so much money to have a plastic surgery because of her obsession with Angelina Jolie???Nadya Suleman Before and After Plastic Surgery at The Insider Pictures: Nadya Suleman Before and After Plastic Surgery ... (although she denies it) and have an unhealthy obsession with Angelina Jolie, .... She's holding a baby in the before photo, which means that while she was "raising" her ... http://theinsider.com/news/1658099_Nadya_Suleman_Before_and_After_Plastic_SurgeryNadya Suleman + Nose Job & Lip Aug = Angelina Jolie? From the photos, Nadya Suleman appears to have undergone at least two procedures ... See lip augmentation before and after...

The Dutch parliament is considering whether protecting unborn children should supersede the rights of parents to procreate Women in the Netherlands who are deemed by the state to be unfit mothers should be sentenced to take contraception for a prescribed period of two years, according to a draft bill before the Dutch parliament.The proposed legislation would further punish parents who defied it by taking away their newborn infant. "It targets people who have been the subject of judicial intervention because of their bad parenting," explained the author of the bill Marjo Van Dijken of the socialist PvDA. "If someone refuses...

Give me a heavy dose of Indian Blessing and Zaftig in the opener, with Intangaroo, Dearest Trickski, Miraculous Miss in the backend of the exotics.

TEACHERS are being urged to stop using terms such as husband and wife when addressing students or families under a major anti-homophobia push in schools. The terms boyfriend, girlfriend and spouse are also on the banned list - to be replaced by the generic "partner" - in changes sought by the gay lobby aimed at reducing discrimination in classrooms...

BARRED, THE CHRISTIAN FOSTER PARENTS WHO REFUSED TO TELL BOYS: IT'S GREAT BEING GAY CHRISTIAN couple who fostered 28 children have been forced to quit be­cause they refuse to promote homosexuality. Vincent Matherick, 65, and wife Pauline, 61, have also had their 11-year-old foster son removed from their care after their failure to sign a contract enforcing sexual equality. They say social services told them they must tell children it is “good” to be homosexual. They must also take them to gay meetings if they were curious about same-sex relationships. The Mathericks’ “crime” was to refuse to sign, on principle,...