Free Republic

Earlier this week, GOProud founder Jimmy LaSalvia announced that he was leaving the Republican Party because of its “tolerance of bigotry,” but in an interview with liberal radio and television host Thom Hartmann, LaSalvia went a good bit further in denouncing the GOP. On Thursday night’s The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann, LaSalvia said that the party is the “last place in America” where the “forces of intolerance” are left. LaSalvia and GOProud co-founder Chris Barron stepped down from their leadership positions in the gay conservative organization last April, and Barron recently blasted the group as a “sad shell of...

It is said that Machiavelli was the first to recommend it, but the old adage of “the best defense is a good offense” has been adapted wholesale by the LGBTPed community, and New York State is next. Last year, gay rights advocates succeeded in convincing Republican Governor Chris Christie to ban therapies that redirect those who are struggling with unhealthy physical attractions toward healthier options. The legislation banning redirection through treatment sessions actually passed in New Jersey as well as California. A bill first introduced last year by Senator Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat, was just reintroduced in the New...

Oklahoma's gay marriage ban violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Terrence Kern handed down the ruling in a lawsuit filed by two same-sex couples. Kern immediately stayed his ruling pending appeals, meaning gay marriages won't happen in Oklahoma right away. The gay couples had sued for the right to marry and to have a marriage from another jurisdiction recognized in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma ruling comes about a month after a federal judge in Utah overturned that state's ban on same-sex marriage. Hundreds of couples got married there before the U.S. Supreme Court intervened,...

On Jan. 8, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that gonorrhea and syphilis are on the rise in the United States – “mostly in men who have sex with men.” In 2012, the rate of new gonorrhea cases rose by 4 percent. The rate of new cases of syphilis jumped 11 percent. Bloomberg quoted Gail Bolan, director of the CDC’s Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention Division, who declared: “Many people don’t get tested as recommended. That’s especially the case for syphilis – where the rise is entirely attributable to men – particularly those who are gay or bisexual.” And...

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan signed a bill on Monday that criminalizes same-sex relationships, defying Western pressure over gay rights and provoking criticism from the United States. The bill, which contains penalties of up to 14 years in prison and bans gay marriage, same-sex "amorous relationships" and membership of gay rights groups, was passed by the national assembly last May but Jonathan had delayed signing it into law.

You can feel the charm when you watch her operate in person, that Sarah Palin. You don’t expect it, but it’s there – the awkward mix of pseudo-authenticity and charisma, the smooth way with a room full of reporters, the way she just carries on, regardless. Me, I was taken aback. She’s practically my new bestie, now. Squeezed my hand, called me “honey,” even stopped to squeeze my shoulder on her way out and thank me. We had a wee chat and a laugh. Palin was here Friday for an early breakfast event to promote her new series on a...

<p>On Friday a producer and former CBS reporter named Itay Hod put up a Facebook post intended to out Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock. The tabloid media, for years, has played a game with the young Republican—wink-wink stories about his photoshoot for a men's health magazine, the sexy celebrities he follows on Twitter, stuff like that.</p>

Contestant of British reality show "Celebrity Big Brother" ex-heavyweight boxing champ, Evander Holyfield caused an outrage with degrading anti-gay comments and has now been warned by the show makers. Holyfield in conversation with Luisa Zissman said that being gay was not normal, and that they could be treated by a doctor just like the physically disabled. "The Bible lets you know, that's wrong, that's right. If you were born and your leg were turned this way, what do you do, you go to the doctor and get it fixed back right... All I'm trying to tell you, you know how...

Hal Faulkner is 79 years old and he's already lived months longer than his doctors predicted. "I don't know what to say, it's just incredible that I'm still here," Faulkner says in a halting voice made gruff by age and cancer. Faulkner joined the Marines in 1953, and served in the Philippines. In 1956, he got kicked out with an "undesirable discharge" for being gay. His military papers said "homosexual" on them, quite an obstacle in the 1950s. Still, Faulkner moved on, and had a successful career in sales. A few years ago, when he got diagnosed with terminal cancer,...

Hello. My name is Chris Kluwe, and for eight years I was the punter for the Minnesota Vikings. In May 2013, the Vikings released me from the team. At the time, quite a few people asked me if I thought it was because of my recent activism for same-sex marriage rights, and I was very careful in how I answered the question. My answer, verbatim, was always, "I honestly don't know, because I'm not in those meetings with the coaches and administrative people." This is a true answer. I honestly don't know if my activism was the reason I got...

The small Alabama town of Semmes is getting a lot of attention for a group of performers recently featured in their Christmas parade. The “Prancing Elites,” self-described as an all-male African-American gay dance team from Mobile, Alabama, marched at the tail end of the Semmes 13th Annual Christmas Parade. The five-member troupe was decked out in white hot pants, Santa hats and red coats to the shocked reaction of some residents.

Jay Michaelson, a gay Buddhist of Jewish descent, has taken to the pages of the Forward to warn that if you don’t like Pajama Boy, you’re an Anti-Semite.Arguably the State of Israel is a better barometer for antisemitism than Pajama Boy, a creepy Obama-loving manchild. But considering that Jay Michaelson is not exactly a fan of Israel, you can see why he would rather use Pajama Boy as the measure instead.A few weeks before penning for “Leave Pajama Boy Alone” screed, Jay Michaelson wrote that Israel was worse than South Africa. By 1996, Israel and South Africa were on radically...

I guess we're gonna have to change the dialogue on this like we did abortion. When someone says you're anti gay just reply you're pro-hetero instead. Instead of loud and proud we're straight and true. I also think we should start pushing companies to recognize all straight people. Our economic impact is far greater than the homos.

Heightened attention to the crime of sexual assault in the U.S. military may be causing more people to come forward and report problems. Defense officials cite the increased awareness as a possible reason the number of reported sexual assaults rose by more than 50 percent this year. acronym More than 5,000 reports of sexual assault were filed during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, compared to the 3,374 in 2012, according to early data obtained by The Associated Press. About 10 percent of the 2013 reports involved incidents that occurred before the victim got into the military, up from...

... The decision by A&E Network to suspend Phil Robertson, the Patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family, was nothing but a political response to a strong bullying tactic by GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation). They took exception to a freewheeling interview which Phil Robertson gave to GQ magazine in which, among many other topics, he shared his evangelical protestant beliefs that homosexual acts are sinful. Like most sincere, faithful Christians - protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox - Phil Robertson attempted to make an important distinction. He explained that, although he respected all human persons - including those who self...

According to Billboard, Duck the Halls: A Robertson Family Christmas ranked 6th best-selling album this week across all genres, trailing only releases by Beyonce, Garth Brooks, Kelly Clarkson, R. Kelly, and One Direction.

Mathematician Alan Turing, who helped Britain win World War Two by cracking Nazi Germany's "unbreakable" Enigma code, was granted a rare royal pardon on Tuesday for a criminal conviction for homosexuality that led to his suicide. Turing's electromechanical machine, a forerunner of modern computers, unravelled the code used by German U-boats in the Atlantic. His work at Bletchley Park, Britain's wartime codebreaking centre, was credited with shortening the war. However, he was stripped of his job and chemically castrated with injections of female hormones after being convicted of gross indecency in 1952 for having sex with a man. Homosexual sex...

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — Put away the chestnuts; the Bay Area Air Quality Management District has announced that wood burning will be banned in the region on Christmas Eve—and possibly on Christmas Day, too. Tuesday will be the 17th “Winter Spare the Air” day of the season, and the air district will decide that day whether wood burning will also be banned on Christmas. “The weather forecast looks like we might see another Spare the Air day for Christmas Day,” air district spokesman Tom Flannigan said. He explained that winds are light, and the weather is forecast to be...

PASADENA >> In a Tournament of Roses first, two Los Angeles men will celebrate their gay marriage on a Rose Parade float as it goes down Colorado Boulevard on New Year’s Day. The wedding of Danny Leclair, 45, and Aubrey Loots, 42, will take place atop a giant wedding cake-shaped float sponsored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, according to a press release. It is the third float sponsored by the foundation. Full Article Here L.A. gay couple to marry on Rose Parade float

As Nick Gillespie noted this morning, some of the criticism of the horrible Obamacare enrollment ads featuring the young hipster in pajamas has some subtextual nonsense tied to perceptions of the sexual orientation and identity of the model. It’s particularly silly because nobody who has had any experience dealing with actual gay men would have picked that man to sell Obamacare. Here is how Obamacare is being sold to actual gay men: [VIDEO AT THE LINK]