Free Republic

By June 2016, same-sex marriage is likely to be the law of the land. What will Republican candidates do then? My how times change.Marriage was the dog that didn’t bark, not even whimper, in the midterm elections. It certainly wasn’t a centerpiece, and it didn’t even surface as a sideline issue. Silence was clearly the preferred strategy of Republican candidates up and down the ballot. After the Supreme Court effectively green-lit marriage for same-sex couples in 11 new states last month, we barely heard a peep from the GOP. High-profile candidates in deeply conservative states, like Senator Mitch McConnell (KY)...

A Republican justice on the Ohio Supreme Court says the legal obstacles facing his lesbian daughter, her partner and their two children have made him view the state’s protections for same-sex couples and their families as inadequate. The comments by Justice Paul Pfeifer come as the state’s ban on same-sex marriage is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that could settle the issue across the nation once and for all. He said his daughter, Lisa, has a partner and two children, ages 9 and 5, whom he and his wife consider grandchildren. But under Ohio law, his...

The marriage issue didn’t play a major role in the 2014 midterms, but activist courts overturning state laws and lawsuits threatening the rights of those who disagree with redefining marriage may very well make the issue a top one in 2016. Since 1998 and across the early 2000s, millions of Americans voted at the state level to define marriage as the union of a man and woman and more than 38 states have such laws on their books today. Yet with state and district courts overturning those laws across the country and the Supreme Court punting on the issue earlier...

In the wake of two federal court rulings striking down West Virginia’s marriage protection amendment, which had previously defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman, the state tax department has announced starting next year, it will remove the words “husband” and “wife” from all tax forms and informational materials, replacing them with the more gender-neutral “spouse.” Until then, the agency says same-sex couples can use the current tax forms with the understanding that a married household may have two “husbands” or two “wives” under the new definition of marriage in the state. According to a notice...

The ruling on Thursday by the 6th United States Circuit Court of Appeals warns of changing the biological definition of marriage and thus opening the door to polygamy. The Denver Post reported, Breaking ranks with other federal courts around the country, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that states have the right to set rules for marriage and that changing a definition that dates to "the earliest days of human history" is better done through the political process, not the courts. "Surely the people should receive some deference in deciding when the time is ripe to move...

Cynthia and Robert Gifford, the Christian couple who refused to hold a same-sex wedding on their property, have been ordered to pay a $13,000 fine – $10,000 to the state of New York and $1,500 to each member of the lesbian couple to compensate their “mental anguish.” The Giffords opened up their Liberty Ridge Farm in upstate New York to the public 15 years ago. They host weddings, receptions, parties, and corporate events, and put on an annual fall festival. In 2012, Cynthia received a call from a woman, Melisa Erwin, who was looking for a venue for her wedding...

Cynthia and Robert Gifford are caught in a same-sex nightmare. They’ve been forced to defend themselves against claims that they’re lesbian-hating homophobes. “We respect and care for everyone!’’ Cynthia Gifford told me. “We had an openly gay man working for us this past season,’’ she said. “We’ve had a woman who’s transitioning to be a man. We don’t discriminate against anyone.’’ But the government of the state of New York sees things differently. The Giffords, who own the bucolic Liberty Ridge Farm in upstate New York, were ordered to pay a total of $13,000 — a $10,000 fine to the...

In June of this year, the largest Presbyterian denomination in America voted to allow their clergy to perform same-sex “marriages” within the church, thus joining the ranks of other Protestant denominations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Episcopalian Church, and United Church of Christ.This “evolution” of theology and “modernizing” of church doctrine is a trend that I predict we’ll continue to see in non-Catholic Christian circles for years to come, and not just with marriage. Today, nearly all Protestant denominations support and even advocate the use of artificial birth control, and many allow at least some level of support for...

Yesterday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals struck a reverberating blow on behalf of natural marriage and the Constitution by upholding bans on sodomy-based marriages in its jurisdiction.It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this ruling.It means, for one thing, that the issue is now on the fast track to the Supreme Court. If the Court accepts a marriage case by January, a decision will almost certainly be issued by next June.From a constitutional standpoint, the 6th Circuit’s ruling is a model of sound jurisprudence. The ruling observes that the Supreme Court has already settled the question of the...

The US Court of Appeals in the sixth district  upheld gay marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, setting the stage for what could be a Supreme Court showdown that would make the practice legal in all 50 states. The 2-1 decision was the first legal setback for gay marriage advocates in federal court and creates a split among the nation's circuit courts. In these sorts of disagreements, the Supreme Cour uisually steps in with a definitive ruling. USA Today: More important, it gives Supreme Court justices an appellate ruling that runs counter to four others from the...

LANSING, MI — Michigan’s gay marriage ban remains in place after a federal court ruling on Thursday, and Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette both made clear they will continue to defend it. “When I became governor, I took an oath to support and defend our state constitution, without exceptions,” Snyder said in a statement, referencing the 2004 voter-approved amendment that defined marriage as between one woman and one man. “My obligation to carry out that oath is not a matter of personal preference. As I have said throughout this process, I will respect the court’s decision...

By a two-to-one vote, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the right of states to ban same-sex marriage, overturning lower court decisions in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee that found such restrictions to be unconstitutional.

FULL TITLE: Father charged with sodomizing and abusing his nine-year-old son is found hanged in his jail cell A man that had been accused of committing numerous sex crimes against his nine-year-old son allegedly killed himself this week. Defense attorney Adam Bollaert told Al.com that on Monday evening his client Carl Herold was found hanged inside a cell at Clay County jail. At the time of his death, Herold had been in the middle of an extradition for federal child pornography charges in New York state, the website reported. Last year, authorities arrested Bollaert and his partner Charles Dunnavant in...

Same-sex couples may soon be able to marry in Kansas following a federal judge's ruling on Tuesday that the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Crabtree granted a preliminary injunction stopping Kansas from enforcing its ban on gay marriage and put the ruling on hold until Nov. 11 to give Kansas an opportunity to appeal. The decision, if upheld, would add to more than a dozen states where same-sex marriage has become legal since the U.S. Supreme Court said on Oct. 6 that it would not review recent U.S. appeals court decisions...

Land of Billy Graham legalizes homosexual “marriage” and six judges resign rather than be forced to officiate such perversion By Julio Severo According to WND, with the imposition of the so called homosexual “marriage” in North Carolina, at least six judges have resigned rather than be forced to officiate such unions. Billy Graham All of them stepped down, since October 10, because they believe marriage is a union between one man and one woman. The judges are: John Kallam Jr., Gilbert Breedlove, Bill Stevenson, Tommy Holland, Gayle Myrick and Jeff Powell. By using the foul play of judicial activism,...

More and more companies are going “gay” while at the same time denigrating anybody who has an issue with same-sex, alternate sex, slice and dice sex (transgenderism), and take-your-pick sex. When it was found out that Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich opposed same-sex marriage, so much pressure was put on him because of his anti-same sex marriage views (he donated to Proposition 8) that he believed that he couldn’t do anything but resign. The Gaystapo would have made it unbearable for him and the company for Eich if he had remain as CEO. There is a long trail of persecution from...

Conservatives warned that imposing gay marriage on the country would lead to the legalization of polygamy, incest and bestiality. Liberals pretended that only crazy people would believe that. Because somehow redefining marriage to mean “equality” for any arrangement in which people claim to be love would in no way lead to those things. The law predictably disagrees. A Federal judge struck down a polygamy ban last year based on the promotion of gay marriage. This latest decision on incest is less explosive, but demonstrates the same principles. Nearly a century after the same court annulled a marriage between an uncle...

Every time I read some type of apologetic article from the LGBT community, I get irritated. Not because of someone's right to express their opinions, but because of the utter inability to recognize the foolishness of their own arguments. Such was the case when I read Mark Cichewicz's recent letter to the editor, "No protections for the LGBT community." While I agree that people should not be discriminated based on race, age, gender, sexual orientation, etc., why does the LGBT community want to add "gender identity" to the list and why is it even brought up as a new category?...

HARRISBURG — Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane is recuperating from a mild concussion after an early- morning car accident last week, her office said Friday. The accident occurred in a town outside Scranton, while Kane was being driven by her security detail to "morning appointments," said spokeswoman Renee Martin. "She's on the mend," said Martin. Martin said the agent who was driving dropped his iPad on the floor of Kane's state-issued Chevy Tahoe, reached down to grab it and accidentally hit a parked car on a residential street in the town of Dunmore. Kane was not wearing a seatbelt, said...

Evan Wolfson and Ted Olson aren't pleased with the Supreme Court's decision not to make marriage equality the law of the land, but they're ready to keep fighting. In the heat of the civil-rights fight, when told he shouldn't push too hard for racial equality because of political backlash, Lyndon Johnson famously shot back, "What the hell's the presidency for?" Ted Olson had a similar question for the Supreme Court Wednesday, pondering why the justices had opted not to take a single case on same-sex marriage this term. "I agonize over the court not making a decision," said Olson, an...