Free Republic

The gay marriage fight arrived in a Southern courtroom Tuesday, as opponents of a Virginia law banning same-sex unions told a federal judge it was just like the Jim Crow-era prohibition against interracial marriage. Supporters maintained there was no fundamental right to gay marriage and the ban exists as part of the state’s interest in responsible procreation. “We have marriage laws in society because we have children, not because we have adults,” said attorney David Nimocks, of the religious group Alliance Defending Freedom. The case is being closely watched because it could give the gay marriage movement its first foothold...

The mayor of Sochi told a reporter that there are no gay people in the city hosting the Winter Olympics — but the patrons of one bar didn't get the memo. The same BBC reporter had visited a gay tavern in the Black Sea resort town the night before he interviewed Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov, who said the whole city is straight. "We do not have them in our city," Pakhomov flatly told the BBC. Pressed further, the mayor backtracked a bit: "I am not sure, but I don't bloody know them."

Russia, caught in a pre-Sochi Olympic uproar over gay rights, accuses the European Union in a new report of trying to enforce “an alien view” of homosexuality on other countries. The accusation is contained in a 153-page “Report on the human rights situation in the European Union”, in which Moscow hits back at human rights criticism it regularly faces from the West by listing what it sees as rights failings in EU nations. […] “This is particularly evident in their aggressive promotion of the sexual minorities’ rights. Attempts have been made to enforce on other countries an alien view of...

An ex-scoutmaster who admitted to molesting his son’s teenage friends and fellow troop members for years at his Keswick home pleaded guilty to 36 felony sex crimes Wednesday in Albemarle County Circuit Court. David Brian Watkins, now 50, entered into an agreement with prosecutors that shields him from additional local or federal charges and calls for an active term of 30 years and five months in prison. The agreement “provides closure for … very promising young men who can now get on with their lives,” Assistant Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Darby Lowe said after the hearing. “The young men would have...

An Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper with a history of domestic violence won't face charges related to alleged sexual encounters involving a boy, Sandusky County Sheriff's Deputy Sean O'Connell said. Trooper Ricky Vitte Jr. acknowledged to his wife that he watched porn with the boy five years ago and both Vitte and the boy masturbated together, according to a report by O'Connell. Vitte later told his wife he was attempting to teach the boy about sex, the report said.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Almost overnight, Virginia has emerged as a critical state in the nationwide fight to grant gay men and women the right to wed. Related Stories Okla. gay marriage ban struck down; ruling on hold Associated Press Judge rules Oklahoma gay marriage ban unconstitutional AFP US judge strikes down Oklahoma gay marriage ban as ‘arbitrary, irrational' Christian Science Monitor Utah appeals gay marriage ruling to top US court AFP The Supreme Court Puts Utah's Gay Marriages on Pause The Atlantic Wire This purple state was once perceived as unfriendly and even bordering on hostile to gay rights....

PARK CITY -- The Sundance premiere for Ryan White and Ben Cotner's Proposition 8 documentary The Case Against 8 at Temple Theatre on Saturday afternoon drew one of the most enthusiastic audience responses of the festival to date. OUR EDITOR RECOMMENDS Sundance: Zach Braff Was Warned 'People Will Go Apes--t' Over Kickstarter Campaign Sundance: Kristen Stewart on 'Camp X-Ray's' Haunted Set, Meeting Robert Redford (Video) Daily Warm Up: Aaron Paul Talks Sundance Drama 'Hellion,' 'Breaking Bad' Spinoff Sundance at 30: Vintage Photos of Park City's Biggest Stars Lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies, who successfully fought to overturn California's Proposition...

ABC's latest Bachelor says he doesn't think that there should be a gay or bisexual on the broadcast reality television show and described gays as "more pervert in a sense" in a new interview.

The U.S. government has awarded permanent residency to the gay Mexican husband of a Coral Gables man, nearly two years after they wed in Washington, D.C, and seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court abolished a portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. “I’m very excited and very relieved,” said Daniel Zavala, 28, who applied for a green card shortly after he and Yohandel Ruiz, a Cuban-born American citizen, married May 1, 2012. “We feel like we finished the process and got what we’re looking for. We’re going on with our lives as a regular couple.” The couple had...

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,...

Secretary Kerry: U.S. deeply concerned by Nigeria’s enactment of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act Deep Concern with Nigeria’s Enactment of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act Press Statement John Kerry Secretary of State Washington, DC January 13, 2014 The United States is deeply concerned by Nigeria’s enactment of the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. Beyond even prohibiting same sex marriage, this law dangerously restricts freedom of assembly, association, and expression for all Nigerians. Moreover, it is inconsistent with Nigeria’s international legal obligations and undermines the democratic reforms and human rights protections enshrined in its 1999 Constitution. People everywhere deserve...

Attorneys representing a Colorado cake shop and its Christian owner filed an appeal last week after a judge ruled last month that the company must sell wedding cakes to gay couples. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys filed the appeal Friday on behalf of Masterpiece Cakeshop and its owner, Jack Phillips. "Every artist must be free to create work that expresses what he or she believes and not be forced to express contrary views," said ADF Senior Counsel Kristen Waggoner in a statement. "Forcing Americans to promote ideas against their will undermines our constitutionally protected freedom of expression and our right...

<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>

Any health insurer providing coverage in Connecticut will now have to include sex-change surgery and hormone therapy in their plans, as ordered by the state insurance department. The Hartford Courant reported that the state agency sent out a notice to insurance companies, ordering that “individuals with gender dysphoria … are not denied access to medically necessary care because of the individuals’ gender identity or gender expression.” Now state officials are advancing on that notice with active campaigns. Deputy insurance commissioner Anne Melissa Dowling told the Courant that the state wanted to “go out and affirmatively make [the policy] very clear.”...

Would you allow your 10-year-old son to share a tent with a 17-year-old homosexual? Yes. I don't know. No.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024245263 The Battle of the Sexes has been raging lately in DUmmieland. The angry DUmmie women (is there any other kind?) have been accusing the men--all men--of being sexist and misogynist and potential rapists. Some of the DUmmie men have dared to defend themselves, but in vain. Political correctness must win out, at all costs. Well, guess who feels left out? The LSMFT community, i.e., the Lezbo Sodomite Masochist Fag Transangered community. There must be Fifty Shades of Gay, and they all want to have their say. You see, in DUmmieland, to be fair, the Battle of the Sexes must...

Phil Robertson said he spoke his heart about the Scriptures and homosexuality, out of "love" for the sinner, not hate. But Hollywood liberals are not exactly reciprocating. Doug Ellin, the creator and producer of the hit HBO series Entourage, had some pretty nasty words for the 'Duck Dynasty' patriarch: Not very "tolerant" words coming from the crowd that is always preaching tolerance and "civility" to the rest of us.

Although most Americans claim to venerate the ideal of freedom of speech when it comes to actual practice there are few purists. Unfortunately, most so-called advocates of freedom of speech in America subscribe to four basic rules: 1) Revere freedom of speech when you agree with what is being said, and revile it when you don't 2) Don't gauge the offensiveness of speech by what was said, but by whether it supports or contradicts your political, religious, social, and/or economic agendas 3) Realize that your hypocrisy will be camouflaged by the failure or refusal of most people to engage their...

This is a week old, but I hadn't seen this before. It's an interesting view from a gay man. GLAAD has way over stepped their bounds.

The Boy Scouts of America will accept openly gay youths starting on New Year’s Day, a historic change that has prompted the BSA to ponder a host of potential complications—ranging from policies on tentmates and showers to whether Scouts can march in gay pride parades. Yet despite their be-prepared approach, BSA leaders are rooting for the change to be a non-event, comparable to another New Year’s Day in 2000 when widespread fears of digital-clock chaos to start the new millennium proved unfounded. “My hope is there will be the same effect this Jan. 1 as the Y2K scare,” said Brad...