Free Republic

Friday on MSNBC's "Hardball," the son of former president Ronald Reagan slammed the Republican base as the "the most ignorant 20 percent of America." "Here's the Republican Party once again presenting themselves with all sorts of Catch-22 situations," Reagan said. "I assume John Boehner is trying to appeal, as well as to people in his party there in Congress, the 20 percent of America that's really the most ignorant 20 percent of America. i.e., the Republican base. The problem with that is while you are appealing to the ignorant 20 percent, 80 percent of the country think's you're crazy and...."

Can I pose a serious question? At what point does replacing the American flag with the rainbow flag, a symbol of gay/LGBTQ(RSTUVWXYZ) pride from embassies abroad become an impeachable offense in itself? Last time I checked, the official flag of the country was the Stars and Stripes, not the same rainbow that is found on the doors of gay bars downtown. A friend sent me this picture of the U.S. Embassy in London...

For the past four years, Flint Dollar has been teaching music at Mount de Sales Academy, a Catholic school in Macon, Ga. He is, by all accounts, beloved by his students. But Dollar won't be leading the band or teaching the chorus in the fall. His contract was not renewed after administrators found out he plans to marry a man. Under federal anti-discrimination laws, employers are not prohibited from hiring or firing people on the basis of sexual orientation. Dollar is working to change that. He says when he was hired, he was honest with school administrators about his sexual...

A new biography is raising questions about the life and relationships of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an anti-Nazi dissident whose theological writings remain widely influential among Christians. Both left-leaning and right-leaning Christians herald the life and writings of Bonhoeffer, who was hanged for his involvement in the unsuccessful plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Bonhoeffer was engaged to a woman at the time of his execution, observing that he had lived a full life even though he would die a virgin. The new biography, “Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” from University of Virginia religious studies professor Charles Marsh, implies...

Photo CCTV footage has emerged which purportedly shows the moment 16-year-old Mohammed Abu-Khder was abducted on Tuesday night from the Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina in Jerusalem, hours before his dead body was found burned in Jerusalem Forest. The video was obtained by the Daily Telegraph, which said it had been handed the footage by the Abu-Khder family. The British paper said that while Israeli police had obtained film from two nearby cameras showing the abduction from different angles, the family had not handed this film to police yet - although it did not explain why the family would withhold...

A Norwegian Islamic extremist has launched a Facebook campaign against the Europride festival, which is held in Oslo this week, describing homosexuality as "a nasty and cruel disease". British embassy flies the rainbow flag (25 Jun 14) Equality minister booed at Oslo Pride (23 Jun 14) Norway's Islamist referee convicted of hate speech (07 Feb 14) Ubaydullah Hussain, who was convicted of hate speech against Jews in February, launched the site on Wednesday with an attention-grabbing image of a rainbow flag in flames. "This group is created to show our opposition to "gay pride (which is really gay shame)," Hussain...

The first gay marriage will be registered in Naples on Monday after the city’s mayor made it obligatory for his administration to record the marriages of same-sex couples who wed abroad. Roberto, from Naples, and Manuel, a Spaniard, will register their marriage at the city council on Monday after attending Naples Gay Pride this weekend, La Repubblica reported. Two other couples are preparing to register their marriages after the controversial measure was introduced by mayor Luigi De Magistris earlier this month. De Magistris said the move not only had a symbolic value, but also a legal one, and that it...

Florida banned gay marriage in 2008ORLANDO, Fla. —The Orlando City Council is throwing its support behind a lawsuit challenging Florida's gay marriage ban. .......... The city is filing a "friend of the court" brief that is supporting a lawsuit by the city of Miami Beach that seeks to invalidate the marriage ban.

The Social Security Administration announced Friday it has finalized its rules about benefits and obligations to same-sex married couples. Nearly one year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ban on federal benefits for legally married same-sex couples, the SSA clarified that legally-married couples (including in a foreign country that recognizes same-sex unions) are entitled to benefits no matter their current state of residence. In other words, a same-sex couple who married in Illinois, but currently lives in Texas- which does not sanction same-sex unions- will be awarded the same benefit considerations as heterosexual couples. This is a departure...

The arguments in favor of same-sex civil marriage are well known. Thrown into the ring are the buzzwords of “equality” and “discrimination”. So the typical argument goes: Discrimination is bad, and equality is good, so our government should give homosexual couples the recognition and subsidies reserved for heterosexual couples.But there are problems with those. For one thing, discrimination and prejudice are innate to our psyche. If I have a soccer ball, for example, I will only intend to use it for soccer, because that is its purpose. Since I refuse to use it for basketball, does that mean I hate...

The New York Times reports today that "this cycle, three gay Republicans running for Congress ... are featuring their significant others in campaign ads, a first for a gay congressional candidate from either major political party." Less surprisingly: The races are in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and California, all against Democratic incumbents, and with only one facing a primary. Still! Above is an ad from Richard Tisei in Massachusetts, featuring a photo with his husband from the couple's wedding earlier this year. "I think people need to know who I am and what I’m all about," he said. In California, an...

The Obama administration will take additional actions against Uganda for their enactment of an anti-LGBT law, including restricting entry to the U.S. by Uganda officials involved in anti-LGBT human rights abuses. National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden announced Thursday the additional measures, building upon a series of cuts in aid to the African nation announced earlier this year.

The largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. will allow pastors to preside at gay weddings in states that recognize same-sex marriage. The Presbyterian General Assembly voted 61 percent to 39 percent in favor of allowing ministers to decide whether to perform the ceremonies. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia recognize gay marriage.

Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer is many things, but circumspect is apparently not one of them. Schweitzer, a Democrat who's said he's mulling a presidential bid in 2016, offered a colorful appraisal of Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the soon-to-be former House majority leader who was defeated in a primary election last week. "Don't hold this against me, but I'm going to blurt it out. How do I say this...men in the South, they are a little effeminate," Schweitzer told National Journal's Marin Cogan in an interview the night of the election. "They just have effeminate mannerisms. If you were just...

Over twenty years ago, I had an intermittent conversation about homosexuality with an gay man at work. Although he persistently brought up the subject, he would periodically fly into a rage and call me a bigot when I disagreed with him. That man went on to become a key homosexual organizer in my city. Five years ago I wrote a letter to the editor of my newspaper concerning how the paper was becoming an organ of gay advocacy. I forwarded the letter to a group who received regular mailings from me. One man responded and disclosed himself as a gay....

The Italian unit of the frozen food company, Findus, has produced what is thought to be the first TV commercial in Italy that touches on the subject of homosexuality. Thousands join Rome's Gay Pride march (08 Jun 14) Ten months after the chairman of the Italian pasta giant, Barilla, said during an interview that the company would never feature gay people in its adverts, Findus Italia has produced a commercial in which a man is seen “coming out” to his mother over a meal. The advert below features Luca, who hosts a dinner party for his mum at the home...

Texas Governor Rick Perry has again made headlines for the wrong reasons when, speaking at the Commonwealth Club of California last week, he likened homosexuality to alcoholism. "Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that," he said. "I may have the genetic coding that I'm inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way." Gay-rights groups reacted per usual. "Although he may not have the 'genetic coding' to think before...

President Barack Obama will sign an order banning federal government contractors from discriminating against gay and transgender workers, officials have said. The executive order follows years of pressure from gay rights groups. Mr Obama cannot extend the protection to all American workers, however. The order comes after far broader anti-discrimination legislation stalled in the Republican-led House of Representatives. The executive order will apply only to federal contractors, which employ nearly one-quarter of the US workforce.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took the lead this week in a high-profile lobbying effort to pressure San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone not to attend the controversial March for Marriage event, which she characterized as "venom masquerading as virtue." Pelosi, who is one of the country's most powerful Catholic politicians, made a passionate appeal to the archbishop not to participate in the National Organization for Marriage's June 19 march on the Supreme Court in Washington. Cordileone, who is one of the featured speakers at the event, was a leader in the campaign for Proposition 8, the 2008 California anti-gay-marriage initiative....