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(exurpt)"On Monday, July 6, I declined to marry a non-traditional couple during my duties assignment. The declination was based upon my personal and Christian beliefs established over many years. I apologize to the couple for the delay they experienced and wish them the best. The court has implemented a process whereby same-sex marriages will be accommodated. I will continue to perform traditional marriages during my duties assignment. I am also seeking advisory opinion from the Supreme Court of Ohio at this time as to whether or not I can opt out of the rotation. Upon receipt of the advisory opinion...

Excellent. Score one for the good guys, even if it’s only a partial victory. The State of Oregon has failed in its attempt to bankrupt Aaron and Melissa Klein for the crime of declining to bake a cake - as the preposterous $135,000 fine it levied was no match for the willingness of good people to help out the Kleins and their now exclusively online business, Sweet Cakes by Melissa. Through a campaign via Continue to Give, people who still respect both faith and freedom have responded to the following appeal by contributing more than $200,000: HTML5 video is not...

snip “I believe Jesus would,” Carter said when asked whether Jesus would approve of gay marriage. “I don’t have any verse in scripture ... I believe that Jesus would approve gay marriage, but that's just my own personal belief. I think Jesus would encourage any love affair if it was honest and sincere and was not damaging to anyone else, and I don't see that gay marriage damages anyone else." Carter, a born-again Christian and Baptist, said he still teaches Sunday school whenever he attends his home church. He. said he has never ran across “any really serious conflicts” between...

Defiant Oregon bakers fined $135,000 for their 2013 refusal to make a cake for a lesbian wedding reportedly vow to "fight back" against the state labor commissioner's stiff penalty – and are calling on "Christians … to take a stand." "For years, we’ve heard same-sex marriage will not affect anybody," Aaron Klein, co-owner of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, told The Blaze. "I’m here firsthand to tell everyone in America that it has already impacted people. Christians, get ready to take a stand. Get ready for civil disobedience." Oregon's Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian on Thursday issued a final ruling in the...

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian finalized his order requiring Aaron and Melissa Klein, bakers who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, to pay $135,000 in emotional damages to the couple they denied service. When the Kleins attempted to defend their religious objections in a radio interview, Avakian issued a "gag order" forbidding them from speaking publicly on the topic. Avakian dismissed the "freedom of speech" claim, insisting that "Oregon's statute outlaws refusals to serve customers based on their sexual orientation. For them to try to continue the argument after I have already ruled against them shows contempt...

The defendant in last week’s landmark Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage attended a gay wedding on Thursday. Rick Hodges, the head of Ohio's Department of Health, was the named defendant in Obergefell v Hodges. Hodges gave a Bible reading during a wedding between two male friends in Columbus, Ohio, according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Steve’s been my friend for 25 years, and I am looking forward to celebrating with him,” Hodges said of the ceremony that saw his friends Steve George and Jeff Gatwood married. “I love my friend,” he added. Hodges's attendance came just six days after...

St. Patrick’s Day Parade chairman John Dunleavy has been ousted after 22 years after a decades-long dispute over the inclusion of gay groups at the annual march down Fifth Ave., according to a report. The decision, made Tuesday afternoon after a meeting involving the parade’s board, comes just four days after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the United States.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says there's not much Congress can do in the wake of the ruling by the Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage. In an interview Tuesday night on Kentucky television station WDRB, McConnell restated that he still holds to the traditional view of marriage. "I’ve always felt that marriage is between one man and one woman and the Supreme Court has held otherwise. That’s the law of the land," the Kentucky Republican said. When he was asked if there is anything Congress can do, he answered: "I don’t think so. I think the courts have pretty well...

You probably thought, as I did, that last week's same sex marriage referendum in Ireland was carried by an overwhelming 62 per cent vote majority in support of changing the constitution. In fact, only 34 per cent of the adult population voted in support of the measure. There are 3.52 million Irish citizens of voting age, and 66 per cent of them did not vote "yes". Two-thirds of the adult population either voted "no", or did not vote, or did not register to vote.

I loved reading the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie books to my daughter. The somewhat Aesopian theme is that if you give the mouse what it wants – a cookie – it will just want more: a glass of milk, a straw, etc. The story came to mind last week, a week that began with many vowing to inter the Confederate flag and that ended with the Supreme Court mandating that there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. As far as culture-war victories go, the flag news was big, but the marriage ruling was tantamount to VE...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man who reported someone beat him and carved a homophobic slur into his arm staged the attacks, authorities in rural Utah said Tuesday. Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker said Rick Jones, 21, could face charges after officers investigating the series of reported attacks found inconsistencies in the evidence. The Delta man eventually acknowledged faking the harassment, Dekker said. Brett Tolman, an attorney for Jones, said the reports were a cry for help initially directed toward people close to him, and Jones didn't realize how much attention they would get. "I think it's such good...

What can it possibly matter to you, they were asked, if two men or two women who love each other call their relationship marriage? We learned that it matters a great deal. It matters to Brendan Eich, who was forced to resign last year as CEO of the company he co-founded after it became public that he had donated $1,000 to Proposition 8, the successful California ballot measure banning same-sex marriage. It matters to Chick-fil-A, which in 2012 saw the mayors of Chicago and Boston declare the restaurant chain had no place in their cities because its chief executive held...

<p>Could Barack Obama's great week mark a turning point in his poll numbers?</p> <p>After months of stagnant approval ratings, a new CNN/ORC poll finds that for the first time in more than two years, 50% of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the presidency. And his overall ratings are bolstered by increasingly positive reviews of his treatment of race relations and the economy.</p>

Undocumented "trans and queer leaders" held a "die-in" by the White House Tuesday to demand an end in detention of lesbian, gay, bisxexual, transgendered and queer illegal immigrants. [Snip] The group said in a release that "Advocates will descend on the White House to cap off Pride month, protesting President Obama's policy of detaining lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer immigrants where they face well documented abuses at rates many times those of the general population."

It’s difficult to see how the nationwide legalization of gay marriage could have any kind of significant negative repercussions for anybody who’s not gay. Difficult – but not impossible. Because now that the US government formally recognizes marriage equality as a fundamental right, it really shouldn’t skew the tax code so as to give millions of dollars in tax breaks to groups which remain steadfastly bigoted on the subject. I’m talking, of course, about churches.

Speaking in the Rose Garden shortly after the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage was announced, Obama stated that the progressives in society needs to ‘help’ those with deeply held religious beliefs overcome their convictions. “Opposition in some cases has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs,” Obama said. “All of us who welcome today’s news should be mindful of that fact. Recognize different viewpoints. Revere our deep commitment to religious freedom.” “Sometimes there are days like this when that slow and steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt,” Obama said. Although the progress might...

For years conservatives and proponents of religious liberty in America have warned that if same-sex marriage became legal, the left would then pursue revoking the tax exempt status for religious institutions, particularly Christian churches, around the country. Just days after the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that gay marriage is a constitutional right, progressive activists like Mark Oppenheimer of the New York Times are calling for tax exempt statutes to be stripped. The Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage makes it clearer than ever that the government shouldn't be subsidizing religion and non-profits. Rather than try to rescue...

When the Left erupted in outrage over the Supreme Court decision on campaign financing in Citizens United, they didn’t their resistance to the result could be described as “treason.” But that’s not the way they’re playing on the new gay-pleasing decisions. At The Daily Beast, contributor Jay Michaelson asked “Did The Four Dissenting Justices In Gay Marriage Case Just Suggest Treason? The conservative justices’ incendiary dissents in Obergefell are a shocking betrayal of judicial responsibility.” Michaelson -- who announced "I'm queer, I'm Jewish, and I'm proud of it" -- suggested somehow that resistance to a Court decision isn’t democratic, it’s...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Sen. Lindsey Graham told Meet the Press host Chuck Todd that the Republican party needs to finally hang it up when it comes to keeping a proposal for a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in their party platform, but that he made it clear they're not going to let it go as a wedge issue any time soon. As long as they can keep the religious right whipped into a frenzy over whether their "liberties" are being violated by not being free to discriminate against a group of people they don't like, they're going to keep going after those...

Apple has added an LGBT section to its App Store that showcases apps, books, movies, TV shows and podcasts to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots. It's Gay Pride in cities worldwide this month, an event sure to get a big boost of excitement following the US Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide on Friday. And in what some digerati may consider added cause for celebration, Apple has added an LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) section on the App Store that showcases tons of content for the LGBT community. The section, which went live on the App Store...