Free Republic

I’ve often made the point that every advance of the homosexual agenda comes at the expense of religious liberty. We as a society must choose between homosexuality and liberty because we cannot have both. Where homosexuality advances, liberty retreats. For example, I have already written about the cop in Utah who essentially has been fired because he did not want to literally lead a gay pride parade. His reservations about homosexuality are religious in nature, but regardless of the Constitution’s guarantee of the “free exercise” of religion, he was forced to choose between homosexual pride and his own conscience. He...

America Rising has a transcript but I recommend listening to the clip. The last minute or two, when Hillary gets verrrrry defensive towards Terry Gross for exposing this vulnerability on her left flank, is pure pleasure. It’s hard to keep track of when big-name Democrats “evolved” on gay marriage, and by “evolved” I of course mean “decided it was politically safe to state their true opinions,” so let me help you out. For Hillary, the evolution didn’t come until March 2013, nearly a year after Obama dropped the pretense that he opposed SSM. Remember, too, that it was her...

Ted Olson isn’t big on making predictions. The conservative attorney who successfully argued Hollingsworth v. Perry, ridding California of Proposition 8 and allowing gay couples to marry, isn’t willing to guess which gay marriage case will make it to the Supreme Court next. (He’s working on one out of Virginia.) “Every time you make a guess of what a judge is going to do … you’re wrong, so I try to stay away from that,” he told Whispers. Olson also isn’t willing to play political prognosticator, though he said we’d eventually see a GOP presidential candidate who is pro-gay marriage....

“What was all that about,” former Hillary Clinton advisor Ann Lewis predicted would be the response of future generations towards current controversies over same-sex “marriage” (SSM) at a May 28 Washington, DC, panel.  Unquestioned approval of homosexuality by Lewis and her fellow panelists does not bode well for religious freedom, the topic upon which they spoke at the Newseum’s presentation of “Gay Rights and Religious Freedom:  Is Common Ground Possible?”Homosexuality is the “newest frontier of human rights” following the civil rights movement, Lewis asserted with an oft-invoked analogy largely shared by the panel. “Racial oppression and homophobia” intersections also occurred...

Is there anything more intolerant than the Tolerance Brigade? At the Daily Beast, Joel Kotkin agrees with Bloomberg’s Stephen Carter on the rise of a new McCarthyism, this time imposing penalties for dissent from progressive orthodoxy rather than tolerating debate on a broad range of issues. Both use attempts to silence argument in academia as the flash point that exposes this thought-police mentality. Carter recently wrote about the attempts to intimidate Douglas Laycock, an opponent of same-sex marriage, and explicitly invokes McCarthyism as the dynamic in play: A law student and a recent graduate, spurred on by the advocacy group...

It is wonderful to read the account of Kirsten Powers' conversion from atheism to Christianity. But that doesn't make her into a Bible scholar or theologian, and Powers has made some grave errors in her recent article on Christianity's new look on gays.She begins by asking the question, "Could there be a future where most American Christians support same-sex relationships?"The obvious answer is, "Only if these Christians renounce the Word of God and the God of the Word."But that is not how she answers her question. Instead, she writes, "If so, it will be due to the emergence of conservative...

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Wisconsin Friday struck down the state’s ban on same-sex couples marrying, joining federal judges across the nation to have reached a similar decision in the past six months that such bans are unconstitutional. “I conclude that the Wisconsin laws prohibiting marriage between same-sex couples interfere with plaintiffs’ right to marry, in violation of the due process clause, and discriminate against plaintiffs on the basis of sexual orientation, in violation of the equal protection clause,” U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb wrote. She held off on issuing an injunction stopping enforcement of the ban, as...

For years, opponents of same-sex marriage fretted that the unleashing of gay nuptials would open the door for all types of sexual decadence. Last presidential cycle, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was panned heavily for comparing gay marriage to polygamy at a New Hampshire stop on the campaign trail. After a college student questioned his vigorous opposition to same sex couples being wed, Santorum responded in turn: “If it makes three people happy to get married, based on what you just said, what makes that wrong?” The remark was met with boos from students and condemnation from the liberal press.Less...

“We are loving, committed and faithful couples just like anyone else.” If you’ve paid the slightest bit of attention to the same-sex marriage debate, you’ve heard this very statement in some iteration. It’s not true by some important measures though. 1. Same-sex male couples are dramatically more likely to be unfaithful than heterosexual couples. 2. Committed lesbian relationships are more likely to break up than both male-male and opposite-sex couples, by dramatic margins. Those are two very important differences, unarguably judging the “we’re no different” dogma incorrect. What support is there for these stark differences? First, it should be noted...

A federal judge struck down Wisconsin’s ban on same-sex marriage on Friday, ruling it unconstitutional. It wasn’t clear whether U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb's 88-page ruling cleared the way for same-sex marriages to begin immediately. But the ruling makes Wisconsin the 27th state where same-sex couples can marry under law or where a judge has ruled they ought to be allowed to wed. […] The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in February on behalf of four gay couples, then later expanded to eight, challenging Wisconsin’s constitutional ban on gay marriage. Messages left with ACLU’s attorneys were not immediately...

An order handed down by Colorado's Civil Rights Commission on a local Christian baker forcing him to undergo sensitivity training after he refused to bake a cake for a gay wedding citing his faith is "vague," "lousy" and pointless, says his lawyer. Last Friday, the commission ruled that Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, could not refuse to bake cakes for gay weddings citing his Christian faith and ordered him to undergo sensitivity training. In an interview with The Christian Post Wednesday, his lawyer, Nicolle Martin, said the sensitivity training was pointless, because her client does not discriminate...

Commenter Stephen B has offered a response to my previously published article concerning same sex marriage. Stephen writes, “Sorry Jonathan, but this is not a category error, and your objection doesn’t work. Here’s the comparison: White man marrying black woman / man marrying man. If you want to describe it in terms of ‘actions’ then the former is marrying someone of the opposite race; in the latter it is marrying someone of the same gender. If you want to describe it in terms of ‘behaviour’ then the former could be described as ‘being attracted to the opposite race’; in the...

Earlier this week Politico featured a David Lampo piece, "Gay Marriage Will Destroy the GOP." Politico is exactly right that gay marriage will destroy the GOP – but for precisely the opposite reason Lampo imagines. In his article, Lampo argues that if the GOP does not embrace gay marriage, it is doomed. The truth of the matter is exactly the opposite: it is embracing gay marriage that will doom the GOP and consign it to the ash heap of history. Politico wants us to believe the tide of history is inevitable, and the GOP either must get on board the...

Never has the minority worked so persistently to cram its agenda down the majority’s throat. For decades, the homosexual lobby (the minority) has tried to impose its will on the general public (the majority), primarily through the courts. Ignoring the will of the people as expressed by state legislatures, the homosexual lobby has persuaded judges the will of the people should be overturned. The majority seems to offer little resistance, leaving the task to such organizations as the National Organization for Marriage, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council. It appears that the majority doesn’t care, but they...

The Civil Rights Commission of Colorado ruled Friday that baker Jack Philips 1st Amendment rights to free exercise of his religious beliefs may in fact be prohibited. In a decision sure to be challenged, they ruled Philips must participate in same-sex wedding celebrations by ordering him to accept any custom orders wedding cakes from same-sex couples. The Colorado ruling on the pro gay-marriage cake begs the question as to whether or not their definitions of civil rights go both ways (pun intended). Let us consider if the roles in the case were somehow reversed. How would rule if a self-described...

The taxpayer-funded agency in question is Medicare, so if you have a grandma or grandpa who’s itching to endure complex surgery and hormone therapy to rid themselves of a gender they’ve already lived with for 65 years or more, good news. Help is on the way. Sort of. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Departmental Appeals Board, an internal review structure within the byzantine federal agency, issued a ruling that ended a ban on Medicare even considering covering sex reassignment surgery and related care because a fear of “serious complications” resulting from the “experimental” surgery. That language was issued...

The attorney general of Florida says in court documents that recognizing same sex marriages performed in other states would disrupt existing marriage laws and “impose significant public harm.” Eight gay couples and the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state in federal court in March. The lawsuit argues Florida is discriminating against the couples by not recognizing same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal. Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Republican who was named in the lawsuit along with fellow GOP Gov. Rick Scott and other state officials, earlier this month filed a lengthy response that asks a federal...

If conservatives don’t embrace the inevitable, they'll become irrelevant.Since last year, the progress toward marriage equality has been nothing less than stunning. Nearly a year ago, the Supreme Court granted full federal recognition of married same-sex couples in declaring the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. In rapid succession since then, federal judges in 13 states have overturned their state’s respective bans on same sex unions. The latest was last week in Pennsylvania, when Judge John E. Jones III, a G. W. Bush appointee, overturned the ban, writing, “We are a better people than what these laws represent.” Because...

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch conceded Wednesday it’s only a matter of time before gay marriage is legal across the country, even though he doesn’t think that’s the right way to go. Hatch said people who can’t see what’s happening aren’t living in the real world. He made the remarks during an appearance on KSL-Radio’s Doug Wright Show. […] Hatch also questioned whether judges should be able to tell states how to handle an important matter like marriage. He said he believes nobody should suffer discrimination, and said religious people should try to understand other people’s beliefs. …

Pennsylvania's Republican Gov. Tom Corbett decided not to challenge a federal judge's ruling overturning his state's same-sex marriage ban after an "immense struggle" due to "his religious beliefs based on his Catholic upbringing and teachings," an aide says. "The governor personally struggled immensely with this decision," Corbett's chief of staff, Leslie Gromis Baker, tells Philly.com. "Prior to the opinion being released, the governor was conflicted between his personal and religious beliefs based on his Catholic upbringing and teachings, and the legal arguments that were made in Judge Jones' opinion." "Given the high legal threshold set forth by Judge Jones in...