Free Republic

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has become the latest state to assure continued taxpayer funding of faith-based foster care and adoption agencies even if those organizations exclude LGBTQ families and others based on religious beliefs. Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the bill Friday without fanfare or an official announcement, making it the first law to be implemented in Tennessee this year. Previously, Lee said he endorsed the law because he believed defending religious liberty “is very important.” The Republican has often cited his Christian faith throughout his first term as governor. However, under the new law, current adoption practices in...

In the shadow of a nearly 200-foot cross, Central Florida Christian Academy enrolls students who live by the Bible’s commands and abstain from “sexual immorality” — meaning gay children aren’t welcome on the state-supported campus in west Orange County.... ....Florida’s scholarship programs, often referred to as school vouchers, sent more than $129 million to these religious institutions. That means at least 14 percent of Florida’s nearly 147,000 scholarship students last year attended private schools where homosexuality was condemned... The debate touches on civil rights, religious freedom, past discrimination cases and the future of Florida’s school choice programs. It comes as...

Twelve former students of a man convicted of sexually abusing them when he was their teacher at a San Francisco Bay Area school will receive a combined $10.9 million to settle a lawsuit against the school, an attorney said. Ronald David Guinto, 38, is serving a 931-year sentence after being convicted in 2017 of molesting 15 boys when he was their teacher at Making Waves Academy in Richmond and ran a youth program.

The Welsh government has announced new education plans meaning parents will no longer have the right to opt their children out of lessons about relationships, sexuality or religion. Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams said the move would be tested from next year before becoming a compulsory part of the new curriculum in 2022. Introducing LGBT themes in place of sex educationMuch like the new sex education guidelines that have been introduced in England, which are set to come into force from September this year, the Welsh programme also introduces LGBT themes. The draft guidance outlines themes that are to be...

Utah has become the 19th — and most conservative — state in the U.S. to ban "conversion therapy" for minors. The widely discredited practice, aimed at changing a patient's sexual orientation or gender identity, is now formally barred in the state after the new rule took effect late Tuesday. A spokesperson for Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, who directed licensing regulators to make the change, confirmed the move to NPR on Wednesday. "We want to thank Governor Herbert and his administration for not allowing this issue to be politicized," Troy Williams, the executive director of Equality Utah, said at a Wednesday...

A Missouri Lawmaker says he wants to keep sexual materials at libraries out of kid’s hands. But a lot of people are pushing against the idea, saying it’s a form of censorship. “The main thing is I want to be able to take my kids to a library and make sure they’re in a safe environment, and that they’re not gonna be exposed to something that is objectionable material,” says State Representative Ben Baker. “Unfortunately, there are some libraries in the state of Missouri that have done this. And that’s a problem.” On January 8th, Baker filed the Parental Oversight...

British authorities knew that a network of predominantly South Asian men was grooming vulnerable children in Manchester, but failed to act to stop dozens of girls from being abused -- according to a damning new report released this week that details yet another Asian grooming scandal in the U.K.... .... “ There was clear evidence that professionals at the time were aware these young people were being sexually exploited, and that this was generally perpetrated by a group of older Asian men,” the report says. “There was significant information known at the time about their names, their locations and telephone...

The president of a liberal arts college in Indiana has been fired after his arrest on suspicion of sex crimes, school officials announced. Thomas J. Minar was terminated by Franklin College on Monday after his Jan. 6 arrest in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin on preliminary charges of use of a computer to facilitate a sex crime, child enticement and exposing a child to harmful materials, the Indianapolis Star reported. Formal charges have not yet been filed, but prosecutors in Door County expect to file a criminal complaint in coming days. Minar, a 56-year-old Chicago native, had been the private college’s president...

The bulk of Jeffrey Epstein’s donations to MIT came after three university vice presidents learned about his status as a sex offender, an investigation found. Epstein, the deceased financier who was convicted in 2008 of sex crimes involving underage victims, made 10 donations to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology between 2002 and 2017, totaling $850,000, according to the findings of a report by the law firm Goodwin Procter commissioned by the university. That was $50,000 more than university officials had previously said. Epstein also visited MIT nine times between 2013 and 2017. **SNIP** Nine of those donations came after Epstein’s...

“We need a president who will lift up the voices of every gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, non-binary, queer, Two-Spirt and intersex person,” . . . Warren vows that she will immediately use unilaterally presidential action—not congressionally enacted legislation—to advance LGBTQ+ rights.

Margo Kaplan is not very popular today. In the Monday edition of the New York Times, the Rutgers-Camden law professor, an NYU and Harvard graduate, takes to the op-ed pages to argue that we’ve got it all wrong when it comes to pedophilia. She writes that pedophiles don’t necessarily turn out to be child molesters and that pedophilia is not a choice, i.e. a pedophile might be born that way. We reached her in her office in Camden to discuss. pedophilia-not-a-crime-rutgers-margo-kaplanYou really lit up the comments section of the op-ed page today. Yes, but I have to be honest. I...

Josie Totah, a 18-year-old transgender actress, will be featured in the lead role of the upcoming "Saved by the Bell" reboot. The reboot also casts original cast members Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkeley, who will reprise their roles as A.C. Slater and Jessie Spano. What are the details?The Hollywood Reporter notes that Totah will play the role of Lexi, who is a "beautiful, sharp-tongued cheerleader" who is the "most popular girl at Bayside High." Lexi is both "admired and feared by her fellow students," according to the report. The outlet notes that Totah — who was born a male —...

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to get its first transgender superhero. "And very soon. In a movie that we're shooting right now," Marvel Studios boss Kevin Fiege said during a Q&A at the New York Film Academy. Asked by a fan whether there were any plans for more LGBT characters in Marvel's films, "specifically the T, trans characters", Kevin said: "Yes, absolutely. Yes."

For decades we have said that there is a liberal slant in education, a leftist bias. But the concept of tacit liberal influence is in the distant past. Today, liberalism is at the forefront. Liberalism is the curriculum. Grade schools throughout the country are rewriting their history curriculums based on today's leftist politics. Some Illinois, New York and New Jersey public schools are teaching a collection of New York Times leftist opinion essays known as the 1619 Project as factual objective history. This leftist propaganda project audaciously rewrites our history as a country that was started as a "slavocracy" in...

In a landmark move, the Swedish government announced that it will be investing 1.7 million Swedish Krona (around $175,000) to encourage drag shows for kids in libraries, schools, and daycares around the country. The funding will be given mainly to Kulturföreningen Mums (“Cultural Society Moms”), a politically independent association based in Stockholm, whose mission is to broaden Sweden’s cultural offerings with a special focus on LGBT+ and diversity. The money will come from the Swedish Inheritance Fund, a state entity that manages the inheritance money of Swedish citizens who die without a written will and without any heirs. “The project...

STAR Wars' The Rise of Skywalker has been praised for featuring the first same sex kiss in its history. The latest instalment in the Sci-Fi franchise has been subject to a host of reviews from film fanatics detailing the "spectacular" new plotline and one groundbreaking scene in particular in the exciting intergalactic movie. A sequence in the new film - the ninth of its kind - sees two lesser known female members of the Resistance enjoy a kiss to celebrate during a joyful moment.

A judge has dropped charges against a Baptist pastor arrested at a Drag Queen Story Hour for refusing to move to a protest zone, saying the police order violated his First Amendment rights. Afshin Yaghtin, a pastor at the New Covenant Church in Spokane, was arrested June 15 for obstructing police when he refused to move to a designated zone outside the South Hill library branch, which hosted the children’s readings by local drag queens.

A new mandatory sex education curriculum being rolled out in the United Kingdom teaches children as young as 6 about “stimulating” their genitals. The All About Me program already is drawing outrage from parents across the UK, the Daily Mail reports. More than 240 schools are slated to begin teaching it next September, and parents are not allowed to opt their children out of the program, according to the report. The lessons for 6- and 7-year-old students include the topic “Touching Myself.” According to the report, the program teaches children that “lots of people like to tickle or stroke themselves...

The Talk@TheTalkCBS Children as young as six are to be given compulsory self-touching lessons that will teach them about touching or ‘stimulating’ their own genitals. What do you think? 12:58 PM · Nov 21, 2019

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Should parents legally be able to send their children to therapy to "pray the gay away"? Right now, some Oklahoma lawmakers are looking to ban the controversial practice of conversion therapy for minors. As Deputy Director of Oklahomans for Equality, Jose Vega is dedicated to fighting for the rights of the LGBTQ community, and one reason why -- there's a time in his life he fights not to think about every day.