Free Republic

An update on five small businesses that refused to participate in same-sex weddings... Arlene’s Flowers—Richland, Wash....Barronelle Stutzman sold flowers to gay couple ...for more than nine years, and considered Ingersoll a friend. But when he asked her to create the flower arrangements for the couple’s wedding...she couldn’t because of her “relationship with Jesus Christ.”...Sweet Cakes by Melissa—Portland, Ore. ...Today, Melissa only bakes cakes to sell to friends...Ongoing attacks are posted on Sweet Cakes’ Facebook page...Masterpiece Cakeshop—Lakewood, Colo. Phillips appealed the commission’s ruling...is waiting for a trial date... “Masterpiece Cakeshop continues creating cake art and producing baked goods,” Martin wrote. “But...

The owner of a Richland flower shop being sued over her refusal to provide services for a same-sex wedding can face claims in her personal capacity, a Benton County Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday. Barronelle Stutzman and her Arlene’s Flowers are being sued by the state Attorney General’s office and a same-sex couple. Stutzman, a Christian, declined to provide services for the couple’s wedding because of her religious beliefs. Her attorneys argued the claims against her personally should be dropped, describing them as unprecedented and unjust. Attorneys for the state and the couple argued Stutzman can be held personally liable...

Even as same-sex marriage edges closer to becoming legal nationwide, gay rights advocates face other challenges in 2015 that may not bring quick victories. In Congress, for example, liberal Democrats plan to introduce civil rights bills in the House and Senate that would outlaw a broad range of discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people. However, Republicans will control both chambers in the new Congress, and there is no sign that GOP leaders will help the bills advance. Absent such a federal law, activists will seek to pass more nondiscrimination laws at the state and local levels, but some...

The Rhode Island Supreme Court has thrown out lawsuits brought by two Providence firefighters who said their constitutional rights were violated when they were ordered to drive a truck in a gay pride parade despite their religious objections.The firefighters, Theodore Fabrizio and Stephen Deninno, argued that they are Roman Catholics and therefore do not support or condone homosexuality. Justice William Robinson, writing for all five members of the high court this month, said the men appeared in the 2001 parade as public servants who were “relatively anonymous.” He called it a legitimate work assignment. …

Federal officials have moved closer to overturning a decades-old ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men, but activists say the proposed alternative would continue to stigmatize men who have sex with men. The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday it will recommend lifting the lifetime ban early next year, replacing it with a policy barring donations from men who have had sex with another man in the previous 12 months. The change would overturn a 31-year-old policy that many medical groups and gay activists say is no longer justified, given advances in HIV testing. But activists questioned whether...

And Is Denied Service By All Of Them Say that “Bestiality Is Wrong” or “Polygamy Is Wrong” and it’s not considered hate speech, but if you have the opinion that “Gay Marriage Is Wrong” the whole world jumps up and down screaming “racism” “bigotry” and “hatred”. This is becoming the politically-correct norm, but no matter what one argues, this is suppressing free speech. No one targeted pro-gay bakeries, but gay activists target Christian bakeries. “Support Gay Marriage” is one Christian bakery was sued for refusing to put that slogan on a cake for an event to support the gay...

New government guidance has LGBT rights advocates "thrilled" In one short paragraph of a 34-page memo released on Dec. 1, the Department of Education articulated a clear stance on gender identity, saying transgender students in public schools should be enrolled in single-sex classes that align with how they live their lives day-to-day. “We’re thrilled,” says Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “It’s so critical to the health and well-being of those students, and it’s going to be so helpful to have that guidance in writing so that schools understand what their obligations are.” The...

Michael Sam believes he's not on a NFL roster because of the fact he's openly gay -- telling TMZ Sports he strongly believes he's got the talent to play in the league. Sam was at LAX this morning when he was asked if he thinks NFL teams are shying away from him because of his sexual orientation ... or if it has to do with the level of talent he faced after college. "I think I was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year last year ... so I don't think it had to do with talent."

Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Kelvin Cochran has been suspended for one month without pay, ordered to undergo sensitivity training, and told by government officials to check his beliefs “at the door” for publishing a book affirming that homosexuality and other forms of sex outside marriage violate the Bible's teachings.

Add Procter & Gamble to the ever-growing list of companies to openly support marriage equality. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Ohio-based consumer products giant has taken a public stand on same-sex marriage in what P&G's Chief Global Diversity Officer William Gipson describes as "statement of support for our employees." Added Chief Legal Officer Deborah P. Majoras: "We have always supported our employees and fostered a culture of inclusion and respect -- this includes the right to marry whomever they choose and to have that union legally recognized." This is the first time that P&G has gone on the record...

Ugandan lawmakers have drafted a new anti-gay bill that could be introduced for debate in the country’s parliament before Christmas, a parliamentarian said Thursday. The new bill is in “advanced stages” and will focus on punishing the promotion of homosexuality, said Ugandan lawmaker Latif Ssebaggala, a strong supporter of anti-gay legislation. “We believe that before Christmas we will be through with it. It is a strong bill,” he said. “The element of promotion was strengthened, putting in place measures against people who lure young people into these sex acts.” …

Government employees who receive their health insurance coverage through Aetna will be eligible for sex-change operations next year, the company has announced. […] “Aetna has long been supportive of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community,” the company said last month. Aetna is among the first carriers in the federal insurance program that offers coverage for the surgeries. In addition, Kaiser, which enrolled some 240,000 federal workers last year, and the Foreign Service Benefit plan, covering members of the American Foreign Service Protective Association, also cover transgender services. …

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...

More than a thousand evangelical pastors and others—gathered for a three-day conference to steel the resolve of Christians who preach that gay relationships are sinful—were asked a simple question: How many live in a state that recognizes same-sex marriage? Hands rose all across the convention hall. “This moral revolution is happening at warp speed,” said the Rev. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “This is a real challenge to us on biblical authority.” Speakers at the event said they understood they were on the losing end of the culture war on marriage. But they were prepared to...

Since the story broke about the Human Rights Campaign's slanderous persecution of the very people their group was designed to protect – bisexuals and children of same-sex couples – I have received a great deal of support from people.  While it was nerve-wracking to have the truth about the 26 months of harassment by GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, Scott Rosenzweig, Jeremy Hooper, and a host of other totalitarians circulate at my job, it has been healthy.  My colleagues and students had no idea about the extent of this campaign of suppression, censorship, and harassment.  Now they know the...

A ‘Christian’ wedding chapel—a private business—in Idaho is suing for the right not to marry gay couples. There is no such right. Yet.The first thing you need to know is that most “wedding chapels” are not actually chapels. They are private businesses, sometimes run by ordained ministers who are thus licensed to perform marriage ceremonies, but just as often run by Elvis impersonators. Thus, the question of how marriage-equality laws apply to private wedding chapels is ostensibly a question of under what circumstances the government can lawfully step on a for-profit company’s blue suede shoes. Ground zero for this debate...

Puerto Rico’s ban on same-sex marriage remains in place after a federal judge dismissed a challenge to the ban Tuesday, saying the U.S. Supreme Court established a precedent four decades ago. U.S. District Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez said in his decision that by dismissing an appeal in Baker vs. Nelson, a 1971 case in which two men sought to marry in Minnesota, the Supreme Court bound all lower courts to assume bans on same-sex marriage do not violate the Constitution. The high court could choose to overrule itself but has not, he said. Document Puerto Rico same-sex marriage decision Puerto...

President Barack Obama says the Supreme Court’s recent gay marriage orders may have the biggest impact of any ruling of his presidency. Obama told The New Yorker that the court’s Oct. 6 rejection of appeals from states seeking to preserve gay marriage bans is the best of his tenure. …

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit and a motion for a temporary restraining order Friday to stop officials in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, from forcing two ordained Christian ministers to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples. City officials told Donald Knapp that he and his wife Evelyn, both ordained ministers who run Hitching Post Wedding Chapel, are required to perform such ceremonies or face months in jail and/or thousands of dollars in fines. The city claims its “non-discrimination” ordinance requires the Knapps to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies now that the courts have overridden Idaho’s voter-approved...

Support for legalizing same-sex marriage dropped from 54 percent to 49 percent since February, according to a Pew Research Center poll. Analysts said they had no idea why or if it was just a random blip. I joked on Twitter that my April article “Rise of the Same-Sex Marriage Dissidents” probably was the cause. But in all seriousness, perhaps seeing the totalitarianism of extremist wings of the gay rights movement has soured some people on efforts to change marriage law — or at least given people pause about the tradeoffs involved with redefining marriage or enacting broad legislation around sexual...