Free Republic

Some university academics actually think that it is ‘natural’ for men to be ‘aroused’ by children. The Telegraph reported that “Paedophilic interest is natural and normal for human males,” said the presentation. “At least a sizeable minority of normal males would like to have sex with children … Normal males are aroused by children.” Some yellowing tract from the Seventies or early Eighties, era of abusive celebrities and the infamous PIE, the Paedophile Information Exchange? No. Anonymous commenters on some underground website? No again. The statement that paedophilia is “natural and normal” was made not three decades ago but last...

Can you think of anything more cruel than telling a five-year-old boy who likes Lady Gaga that he might have gender dysphoria? Or telling a nine-year-old tomboy who hates Barbie and loves Beckham that she might really be male – in spirit – and therefore she should think about putting off puberty and possibly transitioning to her ‘correct gender’? Saying such things to kids who are only doing what kids have done for generations – messing about, discovering their identity – turns playfulness into a pathology. It convinces boys who aren’t boyish and girls who aren’t girly that they must...

Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association's executive vice president and perhaps the gun lobby's most visible figure, has a penchant for invoking fear and paranoia in order to convince people that gun ownership is key to physical safety—despite an increasing number of studies that prove the very opposite. Ahead of the NRA's annual convention this weekend, Everytown, the gun-safety coalition backed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has released a video to demonstrate just how ridiculous LaPierre's signature fear-mongering tends to get. The video, which features kids adorably rattling off a handful of the NRA executive's quotes, is...

A Texas babysitter's text messages paint a horrifying picture of abuse that includes sexually assaulting children as young as 11 months old and detailing the acts to her boyfriend, prosecutors say. Some of the graphic exchanges between Ashley Dack, 29, and Patrick Schuneman, 37, were released in court documents obtained by The Huffington Post. The couple -- who are both successful geologists for oil companies -- was arrested after Dack allegedly bragged about the sexual abuse to one of her friends, who called police. The documented assaults date back to 2012, according to Tiffany Dupree, a lead prosecutor in the...

Former Penn State president Graham Spanier on Wednesday filed a defamation complaint against Louis Freeh over claims made in the former FBI director’s searing report on the Sandusky case. An attorney for Mr. Spanier in 2013 had indicated the intention to bring a suit but asked the courts to stay the case because of criminal charges pending against the former university administrator. With pretrial issues on appeal, Mr. Spanier decided to move forward with his civil complaint, said Libby Locke, one of his attorneys. “The criminal trial is basically on hold for now,” she said. “Dr. Spanier is anxious to...

A young eastern New Orleans mother accused of beating her 2-year-old son because he could not correctly spell his name with lettered blocks was arrested Thursday (March 19) by New Orleans police. Tharaneka Sparrow, 22, was booked with cruelty to a juvenile following an investigation by an agent of the state's Department of Children and Family Services and a detective from the New Orleans Police Department's Child Abuse Unit. According to court documents, authorities were called in after staff at the child's preschool noticed bruises and abrasions on the boy's body they deemed suspicious.

A New Jersey mother is accused of setting her newborn baby on fire, killing her. Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier, 22, of Pemberton Township, New Jersey, is charged with one count of murder after she allegedly doused her newborn daughter with an accelerant and then set the child on fire. Pemberton Township Police officers were called to Simontown Road just before 11 p.m. Friday after a resident called in to report a fire in the roadway. When they arrived, they found the baby girl on fire and quickly doused the flames.

RENO, Nev. -- Hundreds of LGBT supporters marched through downtown Reno Saturday afternoon for northern Nevada's Pride Parade, where for one nine-year-old, it was a place to express who she really is. "I really like sleepovers and make up parties and tea parties," Cee Cee Ott, 9, said. It wasn't always like that for Ott. Cee Cee was born Conrad. "We didn't see the transgender come out until she was about three. It didn't really start hitting that she wanted to wear her sister's clothes, she wanted to wear wigs," said Shanna Ott, her parent. It became a struggle for...

COPENHAGEN, March 18, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A professor of sexology at Aalborg University has suggested that showing children pornography in school would help children better understand sexuality.Christian Graugaard said he hopes by watching hardcore porn, children will realize that it differs from real-life sex.Graugaard told the Danish public broadcaster DR that if children try to act out what they see online, it could result in "broken necks and disappointment," so he thinks schools should help teenagers distinguish between porn and real life. That process, he said, would involve showing them more porn.“Instead of having sex education be boring and technical,...

The triggerman in the Pamela Smart murder trial was granted parole Thursday, nearly 25 years after he killed his school instructor's husband and launched a global spectacle packed with lurid details of sex and manipulation. William Flynn was 16-year-old "Billy" in 1990 when he and three teenage friends carried out what prosecutors said was Pamela Smart's plot to murder Gregg Smart. Flynn pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison, minus time served before trial. The trial was a media circus and one of the first high-profile cases about a sexual affair between...

In America, 43 of the 50 U.S. states confer some type of civil or criminal immunity on parents who injure their children by withholding medical care on religious grounds. If your child has diabetes or a severe infection, and you pray for her instead of giving her insulin or antibiotics, she’ll probably die, but you’re largely off the legal hook. But that immunity doesn’t apply if you injure your child by withholding medical care for nonreligious reasons; for that, you can be prosecuted for neglect, abuse, or even manslaughter. This privileging of religion is dangerous to children—and has killed many...

A neighbor says he heard the cries of a 9-month-old boy who authorities believe later starved after his mother died of an apparent overdose inside their Pittsburgh-area apartment. William Gonzalez tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ( http://bit.ly/1BdYU7k ) he heard the cries of little Casey Kessler when he went in and out of the apartment building in Millvale but didn't think much of it at the time. Gonzalez says he feels horrible.

It has been called “The History-Making Gay Kiss,” as “The Fosters” TV show, which airs during prime time on the ABC Family network, featured the “Youngest Same-Sex TV Kiss Ever.” Yes, on a so-called “family friendly” network, two 13-year-old boys locked lips, and gay activists and their allies are celebrating the moment. GLAAD, formally known as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, stated that, “ABC Family's 'The Fosters' breaks new ground with Jude and Connor kiss.” (For those who are not familiar with the show, Jude is raised by two lesbians, his adoptive parents.) Gabe Bergado, writing for the...

On Wednesday, perpetually controversial conservative Ben Carson told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that being gay is “absolutely” a choice. I agree, kind of. Last week I wrote an essay for the Washington Post in which I talked about wanting my daughter to be gay—implicitly and explicitly challenging the idea long advanced by gay rights advocates that being gay is not a choice. I’m not saying being gay necessarily is a conscious choice for many queer folks today, but I am saying it should be able to be a choice—and one that is “equally desirable to being straight.” In other words, for...

Openly gay political commentator Sally Kohn says, in a new essay for The Washington Post, that she hopes her daughter is gay too, despite already being attracted to boys. Kohn, a well-known political commentator on networks like CNN and Fox News, says that like all parents who want their children to follow in their footsteps, she also has hoped that her daughter would turn out to be gay. Despite those wishes, however, Kohn says she’s already starting to notice that her six-year-old daughter is most likely straight and that leaves her a bit disappointed. “I live in the liberal bubble...

The child arrived at a Florida school Friday with bruises all over. But it was the T-shirt the child was wearing that gave it away. “I currently have all F’s in all of my classes. I am not aloud to have a boyfriend no time soon,” the shirt read. “So back off before I get another good woopin like I got last night.” That attempt at public shaming led to the arrest Friday of Melany Joyce Alexander, 31, who was charged with child abuse. She posted a $2,500 bond a day later. “She beat the child with a belt, and...

A 37-year-old gay mom is set to spark controversy after she said she'd be disappointed if her daughter grew up straight. Sally Kohn a political commentator who has appeared on CNN and MSNBC, describes herself as living in the 'liberal bubble of Park Slope, Brooklyn, where 'yuppies' want their kids to be happy. She said: 'I'm gay. And I want my kid to be gay, too.'

Pope Francis recently proclaimed that it is okay for parents to spank their children if their dignity is respected. That lamentable statement is as naive as it is injurious. Especially at a time when our beleaguered world has been experiencing countless outrageous forms of violence, his regrettable words do little to quell such tragic acts and may even add fuel to the fire. Our world has more than enough hitting. Why anyone, however well intentioned, would wish to do anything to increase it defies reason. Regarding spanking (however one may choose to define it), Edward Lee Thorndike, the Columbia University...

On February 9th, Florida’s Yulee High School brought the hammer down on a student who offended some of his fellow classmates. The student was reprimanded for his actions after reading the morning announcements over the school’s intercom. Why? Upon finishing the announcements, the student added, ‘God Bless America.’ Two atheist students took offense to the statement. A school spokesperson for the Nassau County School District said that the student had gone off script and was being reprimanded: “It wasn’t part of the scripted morning announcements,” district spokesperson Sharyl Wood said. “The principal took the appropriate steps in speaking with the student...

A father in Seminole County, Florida, is raising concerns after he discovered a lesson on Islam in his son’s 10th-grade history textbook, a book that is also used by school districts across the state. In an interview with WFTV, the father, Ron Wagner, read from his son’s history book: “There is no god, but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God.” Wagner also claimed that students were told to “recite this prayer as the first Pillar of Islam, off of the board at the teacher’s instruction.” Wager said he’s not a religious man, but making such a heavily religious lesson “mandatory...