Free Republic

NEW YORK (AP) — As same-sex marriage cases cascade through the federal courts, Republican politicians find themselves awkwardly split into three camps. There's a small but growing number who favor legalizing gay marriage, a hard-core faction that continues to denounce it, and a sizable group in between that seems to wish the issue would disappear. At one end of the spectrum, at least eight GOP members of Congress have endorsed same-sex marriage, and two openly gay GOP candidates for the House hope to join them. In Massachusetts, Richard Tisei has run ads featuring his husband. In California, Carl DeMaio ran...

One of the most dispiriting storylines of the Obama era has been that Republicans have largely stood on the sidelines while a major cultural transformation has taken place: The country’s shift on gay rights. Republicans have either put up nominal resistance, or had nothing at all to say, as one change after another has come in rapid succession and majorities have come around on gay marriage. And yet you’d think the GOP cannot forever put off a real intra-party debate over whether the party will evolve culturally along with the rest of the country. That’s why it’s potentially significant that...

The case was brought by 10 same-sex couples who are represented by the ACLU. Missouri must recognize the marriages of same-sex couples that were granted elsewhere, state Judge Dale Youngs ruled on Friday. “[T]o the extent these laws prohibit plaintiffs’ legally contracted marriages from other states from being recognized here, they are wholly irrational, do not rest upon any reasonable basis, and are purely arbitrary,” Youngs wrote. The ruling followed a hearing in September on the case, which was brought by 10 same-sex couples represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. “Missouri has finally recognized our couples’ marriages as being...

In the bucolic town of Schaghticoke, NY, Liberty Ridge Farm serves as a setting for family outings and events of all sorts on a family owned farm in the country. They are open to the public for a portion of each year, featuring events ranging from day camps to field trips to a corn maze. And until recently they hosted weddings. That all changed after the owners, Cynthia and Robert Gifford, encountered Melisa Erwin and Jennifer McCarthy, a lesbian couple who approached the Giffords about holding their wedding there. Cynthia Gifford declined, citing her religious beliefs.The couple tape recorded...

To judge by media coverage, the legalization of same-sex marriage is an unalloyed good. Pictures of happy couples kissing and otherwise celebrating leave the impression that the only people who are unhappy about all of this are bigots and grumps. Well, Janna Darnelle would beg to differ. Seven years ago, Darnelle's husband of ten years told her that he was gay and that he wanted a divorce. As she wrote in The Public Discourse, "In an instant, the world that I had known and loved—the life we had built together—was shattered." She tried to persuade him to stay, and work...

Members of Minnesota Catholic Church are lamenting over the resignation of their music director of 17 years who was asked to leave his position after marrying his same-sex partner. Jamie Moore served at St. Victoria Catholic Church for a little less than two decades and was beloved by much of the congregation. Several of the church's choir members recently voiced their disappointment over the matter to KARE11 News. "I think it's unfortunate," said member Judy Janish. "I think people should be able to marry who they love and who they belong with." June Henning, who served alongside Moore for 17...

I submit that that prior polls showing support for Gay marriage should be taken with a grain of salt considering the atmosphere of intimidation that exists in the country today. Grand Haven Tribune reports a survey released Monday from the Pew Research Center indicates American support for same-sex marriage could be leveling off after several years of dramatic growth in acceptance of equal rights for gays and lesbians. The study’s authors caution it’s too soon to draw any definitive conclusions. But the new poll released Monday found a 5 percentage point drop since February, from 54 percent to 49 percent,...

A survey released Monday from the Pew Research Center indicates American support for same-sex marriage could be leveling off after several years of dramatic growth in acceptance of equal rights for gays and lesbians. The study’s authors caution it’s too soon to draw any definitive conclusions. But the new poll released Monday found a 5 percentage point drop since February, from 54 percent to 49 percent, in Americans who want legal recognition for same-sex relationships. The percentage of those opposed increased during that same period, from 39 percent in February to 41 percent last month. The poll of 2,002 adults,...

The latest Pew survey for the first time sees a major reversal of support for gay marriage and an increase in religious politics. A growing share of the American public wants religion to play a role in U.S. politics. The share of Americans who say churches and other houses of worship should express their views on social and political issues is up 6 points since the 2010 midterm elections (from 43% to 49%). That’s an interesting shift at a time when we’ve been incessantly lectured by libertarians that social conservatism is dead and the Republican Party needs to climb on...

I wish Pew had provided older numbers to use as a yardstick here. Can’t tell if this has been fairly constant for a few years now or if opinion is starting to move towards gays on public accommodations as well. The fact that more people support compulsion in the name of antidiscrimination than the right of the business owner to refuse for reasons of conscience is newsy, though. Say, wasn’t there another splashy poll by a famous pollster on this subject last year? Yep, sure was — Rasmussen asked a similar question in June 2013 and found, no typo, that...

Two heterosexual men have tied the knot on Friday morning under New Zealand's liberal marriage laws. Marrying not for love, but for Rugby World Cup Tickets, the two men from Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand officially said 'I do' in front of 60 family and friends. The ceremony was live broadcast by Edge Radio, who's 'I Love You, Man' competition was launched earlier this year in a bid to find two straight men willing to wed for the sought after tickets. 'It's official folks, Travis and Matt have just said 'I do'! Congrats to the happy couple!,'...

Eighty legislators from Utah have submitted an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in which the legislators warn the Court that legalizing same-sex marriage would lead to the legalization of incestuous and polygamous marriages. The brief comes following the request for a writ of certiorari from both Utah's Attorney General, Sean Reyes, and the plaintiffs in Kitchen v. Herbert, the case that found both both a district court and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in favor of marriage equality in Utah. As Joe.My.God points out, "the brief is signed by 22 of the 29 members of the state...

Should we really care if more than two consenting adults want to marry each other, or if polygamy advocates see the LGBT movement as an inspiration? A few years ago, when I was rushing my daughter to pre-school one morning, a similarly tardy and exasperated-looking mom passed us on the stairs. My daughter took this as an opportunity to announce, “I have two moms.” The exasperated mom picked up her hunched shoulders to turn to Willa and, after a sigh, say, “You don’t know how lucky you are.” This has happened to us a lot. On more occasions than I...

That question applies in the US — and possibly in some surprising places elsewhere. Let’s start in the US, where the march of court opinion has moved steadily over the last decade from the inherent right to sexual privacy and choice in Lawrence v Texas to the mandate for government recognition of partnership choices in the emergence of same-sex marriage as an equal-treatment issue. During the latter period of that arc, opponents of SSM warned that the same arguments deployed in that effort could be made to force recognition of polygamist relationships as marriages too, which SSM advocates hotly...

Reaction to the launch earlier this week of a group calling itself "Evangelicals for Marriage Equality" heralded by an op-ed in TIME by its spokesman, was met with harsh criticism from some Christians, including the assertion that no "real arguments" were made to support same-sex marriages. "I eagerly await the young evangelical that finally convinces me that the Bible and human history are wrong on marriage and that justice requires that both Christianity and society bestow marriage on same-sex relationships," wrote Andrew T. Walker, director of Policy Studies for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention....

MADISON – Last Thursday, the Chicago-based Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Wisconsin’s 2006 voter-approved ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. When looking back at the 2006 campaign, organized labor and other notable liberals donated their money to Fair Wisconsin which opposed the measure. Wisconsin Election Watch obtained campaign finance records from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board for this story. However, the only version of Fair Wisconsin’s campaign finance reports were available was in paper format. Organized labor donated significant amounts of money to Fair Wisconsin in 2006 in their effort to oppose the referendum. The Wisconsin Educational Association...

.... But Thursday’s ruling by 7th Circuit Judge Richard Posner, which struck down Indiana’s and Wisconsin’s gay marriage bans, is a different beast altogether. In his opinion, Posner does not sound like a man aiming to have his words etched in the history books or praised by future generations. Rather, he sounds like a man who has listened to all the arguments against gay marriage, analyzed them cautiously and thoroughly, and found himself absolutely disgusted by their sophistry and rank bigotry. The opinion is a masterpiece of wit and logic that doesn’t call attention to—indeed, doesn’t seem to care about—its...

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday overturned same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana. "The discrimination against same-sex couples is irrational, and therefore unconstitutional even if the discrimination is not subjected to heightened scrutiny, which is why we can largely elide the more complex analysis found in more closely balanced equal-protection cases," Judge Richard Posner wrote for a unanimous three-judge panel. The ruling makes it the third federal appeals court to conclude that state prohibitions on gay marriage violate the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. Advocates for marriage equality have enjoyed many victories since the Supreme Court ruled...

A federal judge upheld Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriages on Wednesday, a rare loss for gay marriage supporters who had won more than 20 consecutive rulings overturning bans in other states. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman also upheld the state’s refusal to recognize same-sex marriages performed legally in other states. His ruling was the first to uphold a state ban since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act last year. Feldman himself acknowledged that his won’t be the final word. …

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has upheld Louisiana's ban on same-sex marriages, as well as the state's refusal to recognize gay marriages legally performed in other states. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman's ruling Wednesday ...said gay marriage supporters failed to prove that the ban violates equal protection or due process provisions of the Constitution. Feldman agreed ...that states have the right to define marriage.