Free Republic

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump may want to avoid West Hollywood when he campaigns in California ahead of the state's potentially decisive June 7 primary. Lindsey Horvath, the mayor of West Hollywood, Calif., which is located in the heart of Los Angeles County and home to a sizable population of gay men, penned a letter to Trump this week explaining that he is unwelcome in her city. "With the primary making its way to California, as West Hollywood's Mayor, I want to make very clear that your campaign of violence and intimidation is not welcome in our City," she wrote...

You'd be surprised how many people ask me about my crotch. It's a lot. I have had people ask me which "parts" I have, how they look, what I plan to do with them. I don't run around with a sign that says "ask me about my crotch," but as soon as I bring up my gender identity to certain people, all of a sudden it appears on the discussion table like a highly inappropriate Seamless order. Yes, even in New York. Yes, even among seemingly "progressive" people. And it stems from the fact that most people you meet simply...

If you needed proof that America has lost it corporate mind, here are 5 compelling examples. 1. In New York City, Cooper Union College has decided to remove all “gender markings” from its bathrooms. As reported by The Guardian, “Last fall, the oldest building on the Cooper Union campus underwent a sudden renovation. A group of students, agitating for their transgender classmates, stripped the words ‘men’ and ‘women’ off the doors of the Foundation Building’s restrooms.” But rather than discipline the unruly students, “the Cooper Union administration this month moved to remove the gender designations from all the bathrooms on...

mayor of San Francisco has banned all publicly-funded city employees from traveling to North Carolina. The NFL is threatening to block Atlanta, Georgia from hosting a future Super Bowl. The NBA is threatening to relocate next year’s All Star game from Charlotte, North Carolina to another city. Corporate giants like American Airlines and Hollywood giants like Disney are threatening action against Georgia and North Carolina. Why? It is because North Carolina has passed a bill requiring people to use the public bathroom or locker room that corresponds to their birth certificate gender and because Georgia has enacted legislation (yet to...

Gov. Nathan Deal said he will veto the “religious liberty” bill that triggered a wave of criticism from gay rights groups and business leaders and presented him with one of the most consequential challenges he’s faced since his election to Georgia’s top office. The measure “doesn’t reflect the character of our state or the character of its people,” the governor said Monday in prepared remarks. He said state legislators should leave freedom of religion and freedom of speech to the U.S. Constitution.

Insurance companies in Delaware will be prohibited from limiting health care coverage for transgender individuals. […] Additionally, companies will not be allowed to impose different premiums or rates based on a person’s identity. The policy also applies if a person is undergoing a gender transition. …

Disney has made big movies like the upcoming Captain America: Civil War in Georgia, and with the state’s lucrative tax incentives likely has planned to make more – but maybe not now. “Disney and Marvel are inclusive companies, and although we have had great experiences filming in Georgia, we will plan to take our business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law,” said a Disney spokesman today over a bill that the Georgia legislature has passed that would permit faith-based groups and organizations to discriminate based on sexuality.

You might think that this is grotesque. I certainly think it is grotesque. But should we be so judgemental about the unorthodox connubial arrangements of Anna and Lucy Decinque, 31-year-old identical twins who are sharing a bed with their 32-year-old electrical mechanic boyfriend Ben Byrne? The trio have lived together for the last four years in Perth, Western Australia, with the girls’ mother. The girls are inseparable, so much so that they have spent A$240,000 on various cosmetic improvements to look even more alike. They imitate each other and share everything. Even their boyfriend. When Anna and Lucy appeared on...

According to a piece in the feminist blog Bustle, the tradition of men proposing women is “problematic” because it “perpetuates rape culture.” Yes — not “problematic” because it perpetuates recklessly emotional social media posts, but because it “perpetuates rape culture.”

Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard shocked conservatives Tuesday when he vetoed legislation that would have prohibited students in South Dakota public schools from using opposite-sex restrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities. The decision is a boon for transgender advocates who lobbied the governor to reject the bill, arguing it was discriminatory and would have harmed the emotional well-being of transgender students. Proponents of the legislation contended it’s inappropriate to have adolescent boys and girls showering and changing in the same room. “Do you feel it appropriate for a 13-year-old girl to be exposed to the anatomy of a boy? Or for...

Has John Kasich blown his Christian cred? Kasich has built some of his following on his reputation as a sincere (if somewhat offbeat) Christian conservative. In November, for example, he called for a new government agency to promote "Judeo-Christian values." But tonight, when presented with a question about religious liberty, Kasich seemed to advance a rather different set of priorities. CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO ... While Kasich defended the right of religious institutions to practice their faiths however they please, he seemed to argue that people "in the business of commerce" should "conduct commerce, and if you don’t...

North Carolina's largest city passed a law Monday allowing transgender people to choose public bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity, which the governor had called a threat to public safety and warned that the General Assembly may step in. The Charlotte City Council voted 7-4 to expand protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, making it the latest frontier in a national debate on how businesses treat gay, lesbian and transgender customers. One of the revisions to the city's nondiscrimination ordinance allows people to choose restrooms corresponding to the gender with which they identify. "I'm pleased that Charlotte...

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a measure Tuesday that would prohibit the state from taking action against businesses that refuse services to same-sex couples or people who engage in extra-marital sex. The House passed the controversial bill in a 56-41 vote, with supporters saying the legislation would protect religious rights of business owners from state-led lawsuits or the loss of state grants and contracts for simply refusing service to gay couples. ...

World boxing star Manny Pacquiao has drawn an outcry in the Philippines after publicly denouncing people in same-sex relationships as "worse than animals." Pacquiao, a high school dropout from a poverty-stricken rural family who went on to become a boxing legend, made the remark when he and other Philippine senatorial candidates were asked by the local TV5 network about their views on same-sex marriage. His remarks were posted online Monday by TV5, sparking criticism, including by some fellow Filipino celebrities. "It's just common sense," said the 37-year-old Pacquiao, who is currently a member of the House of Representatives. "Have you...

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis has obeyed orders to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the months since she spent five nights in jail for refusing to do so, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. United States District Judge David Bunning denied the American Civil Liberties Union's request to order Davis to reissue licenses she had altered to remove her name and title or face the possibility of further punishment. He found that Davis has allowed her deputies to issue licenses to anyone eligible since September and that the altered licenses are likely valid under Kentucky law. ...

New York is taking steps to stop therapists from trying to change young people's sexual orientation, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday, joining a number of states that have acted against what's known as gay conversion therapy. The Democratic governor's move, announced Saturday, comes as gay rights advocates have campaigned state by state with mixed results to try to ban a practice that major mental health organizations have repudiated. Using executive power in a state where legislative bids to ban the therapy have stalled, Cuomo announced planned regulations that would bar insurance coverage for the therapy for minors and prohibit mental...

The split over LGBT rights between social conservatives and the business wing of the Republican Party will likely be on full display Wednesday, when a GOP-controlled committee in the Indiana Senate takes up measures that could establish statewide protections based on sexual orientation and possibly gender identity. The measures come in response to the bitter debate last March over a religious objections law that drew swift and largely negative attention to the state after critics contended that it would sanction discrimination against gay people on religious grounds. GOP lawmakers and Republican Gov. Mike Pence, who supported the law, hastily made...

(CNSNews.com) – A couple who hosts occasional wedding ceremonies on their New York farm have lost an appeal to overturn the $13,000 in fines levied against them by the state’s human rights agency, which ruled that their refusal to host a wedding for two women was discriminatory. On Jan. 14, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, upheld the agency’s order and the fines, a decision the Alliance Defending Freedom - which represented Robert and Cynthia Gifford - said amounted to confirming, “that the government can punish the Giffords for declining to coordinate a ceremony that conflicts with...

Democrats in the Arizona Legislature want a law that requires judges to give preferences to married heterosexual couples in adoption stricken from the books. The legislation introduced in both the Senate and House removes current language giving preferences to a husband and wife over others in adoptions. Backers say the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year legalizing same-sex marriage bans laws giving preferences to heterosexual couple over gay couples. Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, also said single parents shouldn't be given second-tier status on adoptions so the proposal completely eliminates preferences for married couples. He said single parents are just as...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) finally set a confirmation hearing for Eric Fanning, who President Barack Obama nominated months ago to be the secretary of the Army. Fanning will appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee, which McCain chairs, on Thursday. If confirmed by the full Senate, he will make history as the first openly gay person to fill the post. Fanning has served in a number of senior positions at the Defense Department, and he had been filling in as acting Army secretary since he was nominated in September. But last week, the Pentagon announced Fanning was pulling...