Free Republic

Drama at the Chick-fil-A same sex "Kiss-In" event in Hollywood ... TMZ has learned the chicken joint called police today claiming the MEDIA was harassing its employees. Law enforcement sources tell us ... the Chick-fil-A staff wasn't bothered by the pro-gay marriage event taking place inside the restaurant, but felt the media was being too aggressive in trying to get commentary from Chick-fil-A employees. Cops responded to the scene, but by the time officers arrived ... both sides had already reached some sort of truce. In other words, they kissed and made up.

LONDON – A gay man carrying the Olympic torch today on the streets of London was cheered by spectators when he kissed his boyfriend during his stretch of carrying the device that will light the giant Olympic Flame tonight during the opening ceremony that will be telecast by NBC in the U.S. on a tape-delay basis. Chris Basiurski, who chairs Gay Football Supporters Network in Great Britain, was one of thousands of Britons who were chosen to carry the Olympic torch over the past 70 days as part of the Olympic Torch relay that leads up to the lighting ceremony....

Tech. Sgt. Erwynn Umali, 34, and civilian Will Behrens, 35, held their wedding at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in N.J. in June When Tech. Sgt. Erwynn Umali and civilian Will Behrens wanted to seal their commitment in a civil union in New Jersey, they chose a venue that nine months ago would have been unthinkable: a military base. The grooms said their vows on June 23 before 150 guests at the chapel at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst — the first time a civil union or gay wedding has been held in such a facility in the United States. While the...

But now, thanks to the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, gay and lesbian soldiers and sailors have been told by top brass that it is OK to be out and proud. “As we recognize Pride Month, I want to personally thank all of our gay and lesbian service members,” said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in a videotaped message released last week. “You can be proud of serving your country and be proud of who you are when in uniform.” In addition to the video, the Pentagon will host a Pride Month event on June 26 with a keynote speaker...

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indespensible supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness -- these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. ... [L]et us with caution indulge the opposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of...

Pentagon plans to hold Gay Pride month event By Jeremy Herb - 06/14/12 05:17 PM ET The Pentagon is planning to hold an event celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride month. The move comes less than a year after the Defense Department’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward gay and lesbian service members was repealed. Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said the Pentagon is planning its first event for LGBT Pride month, which will be held later in June. Details about the event had yet to be finalized, she said. The event for Pentagon employees comes after the “Don’t...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Gay students at America's military service academies are wrapping up the first year when they no longer had to hide their sexual orientation, benefiting from the end of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that used to bar them from seemingly ordinary activities like taking their partners openly to graduation events. For the first time, gay students at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis were able to take a same-sex date to the academy's Ring Dance for third-year midshipmen. The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., officially recognized a club for gay students this month....

February 1, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Spain’s new government, swept into power in November after seven years of socialist rule, has announced the elimination of a controversial program to indoctrinate students with homosexualist and socialist ideology. The government’s new Minister of Education, Culture, and Sports, Jose Ignacio Wert, says frankly that the civics course, which was imposed on all public and private schools, “became a course that was charged with indoctrination.” “Education for Citizenship has been accompanied, since its birth, by controversy and created a serious division in society and in the educational world because it went beyond what should belong...

Tomorrow the Senate will hold the first hearing on The Respect for Marriage Act, which repeals the Defense of Marriage Act, thus granting to all lawfully married couples—including same-sex couples—to receive federal marriage benefits and protections if they are joined by a valid marriage in a state where such marriages are legal. “The president has long called for a legislative repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which continues to have a real impact on the lives of real people --our families, friends and neighbors,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said at today’s press briefing. “He is proud...

Jonathan Bernstein makes an excellent point about the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell: [T]his issue will now promptly go away, entirely. Oh, we'll have a bit of reporting on implementation, but seriously: does anyone think that Republicans are going to run in 2012 on re-instating DADT? Or, even less plausibly, on re-instating the ban that DADT replaced? Forget it. It's possible to believe that a DADT vote could be used in a GOP primary down the road, but it's utterly implausible to believe that the policy would ever be revived, no matter what happens in the 2012 (or any...

In a surprising move, after voting against cloture earlier in the day, Sen. Richard Burr (R., N.C.) and Sen. John Ensign (R., Nev.) both voted to repeal the U.S. military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on homosexuality. The measure passed by a 65–31 margin this afternoon. Other Republicans voting in favor of repeal: Sen. Mark Kirk (Ill.), Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.), Sen. George Voinovich (Ohio), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and the Maine ladies, Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins. Burr said it was not a difficult vote to cast, despite his state’s being home to Camp Lejeune, the largest...

DREAM Act supporters cry, pray and chant after watching the act's defeat from the Senate gallery on Saturday.

Don't Ask. That's more than the name of the policy on homosexuals in the military, it's the unofficial motto of the report surrounding it. When the Defense Department trots out its questionable analysis of the 1993 compromise, it will include a lot of statistics. But our soldiers' opinions of repeal will not be one of them. That's because the Pentagon, despite media spin to the contrary, never asked. "How... are you going to assess the effect on morale and battle effectiveness and retention unless you consult and find out what the view of the troops is?" said a frustrated Sen....

If you’d like to know what hours of fingernail scraping on a chalkboard feels like, simple give the recent California marriage decision a close read. It’s so blatantly biased as to border on comical. And because it is so over-the-top, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will find it hard to uphold it without employing some creative legal gymnastics to minimize the damage created. The man responsible for the opinion is United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, whose conduct at trial and tone in the opinion resembles Perez Hilton at the Miss America pageant. Who can forget Hilton...

More Males Filing Sexual Harassment in Workplace Claims By Sam Hananel March 5, 2010 John Pilkington's boss wouldn't take no for an answer.During more than two years as a food runner at an upscale steakhouse in Scottsdale, Arizona, Pilkington says his male supervisor groped, fondled and otherwise sexually harassed him more than a dozen times."It was very embarrassing,'' Pilkington said. "I felt like I had to do something because the situation was just so bad.'' Now Pilkington, a married father of two, is the star witness in a U.S. federal lawsuit against Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and one...

HOPE NOT HATE. A Prop 8 supporter wears a "Yes on 8" T-shirt as he arrives at a football stadium in San Diego, California November 1, 2008. Thousands of people gathered to pray for the passage of Proposition 8. SAN FRANCISCO — Should the pro-marriage votes of Catholics, Baptists and other people of faith in California be disregarded as irrational, “discriminatory” and unconstitutional? That’s the extraordinary question being asked in a federal lawsuit argued on behalf of two same-sex couples to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 measure passed by 52% of California voters to define marriage as the union of...

Appeals Court Denies Gay Marriage Supporters' Bid For Prop. 8 Communications December 11, 2009 A federal appeals court panel today denied gay marriage supporters' demands to see internal campaign communications among Proposition 8 supporters, ruling that to do so would violate the 1st Amendment's guarantee of freedom of association. Lawyers for two gay couples challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the voter initiative in California that banned same-sex marriage after a five-month period last year when it was legal, had sought disclosure of e-mails and other communications to show that backers of the ballot measure had tried to create "discriminatory...

Public sex tents? Now there's an idea that should have been shot down the second it was announced from the mouth of a member of the "leather community" in response to complaints about public sex at Folsom Street Fair and its smaller sibling fair, Up Your Alley.

A Massachusetts man was fired from a national retail corporation because of his traditional beliefs on same-sex marriage. Peter Vadala was formally dismissed from his job as second deputy manager of the Brookstone store at Boston’s Logan Airport on August 12, 2009, after a supervisor reported him to Human Resources regarding an incident two days earlier.

President Barack Obama has admitted he has not completely given up smoking. BY PAUL THOMPSON Despite signing the toughest anti-tobacco bill in over 25 years, he confirmed that he still lights up – but never in front of daughters Malia and Sasha. "There are times where I mess up," Mr Obama said at a White House news conference. "As a former smoker I constantly struggle with it. Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No. I don't do it in front of my kids. I don't do it in front of...