Free Republic

When I was in high school, my school district adopted regulations that prevented queer students from having their sexual or gender identities disclosed without their consent. The change was liberating. No longer fearful that a misplaced comment about my sexual identity would lead to parental rejection and housing insecurity, I expressed my queerness and authentically engaged with my education for the first time. I drew connections between course materials and queer history; I allowed my queerness to inform discussions with teachers; I explored intellectual passions that were related to my queer identity. But now, my home state is trying to...

Canada has issued a new travel warning to its LGBT citizens planning to visit the United States. Anti-LGBT protests in the US rose 30-fold last year compared with 2017, while legal moves to restrict LGBT rights are on the rise. Global Affairs Canada warned that some state laws may affect them on their travels, but did not specify where. Such warnings are usually reserved for countries such as Uganda, Russia or Egypt. "Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons. Check relevant state and local laws," reads its US travel advice page. The term 2SLGBTQI+ is...

Yes, the headline is just a bit hyperbolic, but only a bit. Pedophilia will remain illegal in Connecticut, but non-practicing pedophiles (do such people actually exist, or are they simply not-yet-arrested pedophiles?) may soon become a protected class in the state.I’ve written about the battle over changing human rights laws in Connecticut before, in two separate articles. The first is on the law itself, and the second is on a gay rights activist who has joined the battle to defeat the law.Well, the law has moved forward despite a significant battle in which even some Republicans have joined the radical...

Imagine there was a political movement so powerful and so intolerant that you might be visited by the cops for making fun of it. A movement so dominant that desecrating its symbols came to be treated as a kind of blasphemy. A movement so fawned over by the elites that any town or village that refused to bow down to it – to wave its flag and shout its slogans – risked being written off as unsafe, and essentially as unclean. A movement so embedded in the ruling class that every wing of the establishment, from the political set to...

The Lincoln Project is taunting former President Trump in a new attack ad, saying the former president got "played" by the Republican establishment in Washington, D.C. "The swamp won, Donald," a narrator says as the ad opens with clips of snapping turtles, alligators and other swamp-dwelling animals pouncing on unsuspecting prey. "Mitch McConnell's Washington consultants are making big money using your name," it continues. "We don't know if Mitch gets a cut. But what do you think, Donald?" The video then shows a clip of McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate minority leader, pledging support for Trump at last year's Republican National...

The international advocacy group Human Rights Watch parted ways with its general counsel last week after she repeatedly used the N-word during a class she teaches at Columbia University. Dinah PoKempner, an adjunct professor, used the term 11 times in half a minute while recounting a conversation to students during an April 1 Zoom session, the Columbia Spectator reported. The decorated attorney, who is white, was discussing legal implications of hate speech at the time, according to the report. During the lesson, PoKempner relayed an anecdote that included dialogue between a Ku Klux Klan member and a lawyer associate of...

A wedding photographer in New York is fighting the state's "non-discrimination" law, alleging it violates her right to express her religious beliefs. In a lawsuit profiled by the Washington Free Beacon, Emilee Carpenter is taking Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration to court because they are threatening her with fines and jail time for her belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.

Mozilla, developer of the Firefox internet browser, has argued that more must be done to keep Donald Trump and other “bad actors” out of cyberspace, prompting many to vow to never use the group’s services again. In a blog post titled ‘We need more than deplatforming’, the open-source software community said that Twitter’s decision to permanently ban Trump from its platform didn’t go far enough in weeding out “hate” on the internet. While blaming Trump for the “siege and take-over” of the US Capitol on January 6, the non-profit tech group argued that “white supremacy is about more than any...

The Coming Assault on Religious FreedomModern-day Thomas Beckets are needed to stop it.Joe Biden’s view of religious freedom is exceedingly narrow. Where religious freedom conflicts with the goals of liberalism, he supports suppressing it. He has promised Planned Parenthood that he will resume the Obama-era harassment of the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious groups if they don’t conform to his mandates. During the campaign, he opposed “broad exemptions” for those who resist his view of LGBTQ rights.One of Biden’s transition officials is Chai Feldblum, who has spoken openly of her opposition to religious freedom. She has written,...

Anyone walking past the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels earlier this week would have seen a dazzling light display above their heads, in all colors of the rainbow. “More than 330,000 people say: EU — Turn your words into action. Stop ‘LGBT-free zones’ in Poland now” the projected message proclaimed, in letters several meters high. The display was organized by LGBT+ rights advocacy group AllOut in collaboration with the Polish Campaign Against Homophobia. The group handed over a petition with over 330,000 signatures to the European Union demanding the bloc take urgent action over homophobic and transphobic policies...

Police in Poland said Saturday they detained 48 people who were defending an LGBT+ activist in Warsaw on Friday night. The activist was accused of hanging LGBT+ flags over statues in Warsaw and damaging a car. “Due to yesterday’s active gathering, 48 people were detained,” the Warsaw police force said on Twitter. Crowds surrounded and climbed on a vehicle in the center of the capital to try to stop the activist from being driven away. Members of the anti-homophobia group “Stop Bzdurom” said they hung flags on statues of Jesus and other figures, Reuters news agency reported. Earlier in the...

The EU is striking back at Poland for embracing traditional family valuesThe European Union has stripped funding from six Polish cities after they declared themselves to be “free of LGBTI ideology.” “Our treaties ensure that every person in Europe is free to be who they are, live where they like, love who they want and aim as high as they want. I will continue to push for a union of equality,” announced European Union President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday, after rejecting grants for the cities. The EU Observer reports that cities in the European Union are eligible for...

...Translation: "This town ain't big enough for the both of us, because we are inclusive and tolerant and aren't going to put up with your beliefs. So get out of town by midnight, if'n you know what's good for you and your families!" The Left is no longer content with soft tyranny. Its tactics are metastasizing, becoming ever more vulgar, aggressive, violent. Whether taking people's "MAGA" hats and lighting them on fire or urinating on them as in Minneapolis; chasing Trump officials and supporters out of restaurants and public places in cities across the country; or threatening them with bodily...

Impeachment rallies are being held across the country. Organizers said they’re fed up with President Trump and the way he’s leading our country. One of the rallies was held in San Francisco Sunday afternoon off the Embarcadero. “This is the San Francisco location of a nationwide set of rallies going on,” Organizer Vara Ramakrishnan said. “There’s about 57 rallies in cities and towns and small streets all over the country. What we’re doing is we’re showing our support to congress which is headed back to DC tomorrow at a uniquely dangerous time in our country’s history.” Ramakrishnan continued. “Families, little...

Protesters interrupted the CNN LGBTQ town hall on Thursday to highlight the plight of black transgender women, at one point taking the mic from a questioner. Advocates tracked the deaths of at least 26 transgender people in the US in 2018, according to the Human Rights Campaign. In 2019, at least 19 transgender people have been fatally shot or killed, according to HRC.

Chants of hatred and disgust were tossed across police barricades between protesters and supporters of the Straight Pride Parade on Saturday which ended in 36 arrests and 4 injured officers, according to Boston police. Tensions flared in the crowd of about 200 people which was composed mostly of counterprotesters and peppered with far left groups like Antifa. The controversial parade garnered national attention since its inception in June. “We’re covered in black so when we attack these guys we can’t be prosecuted,” said Jon Crowley, an Antifa member who told the Herald that he felt violence was the only way...

The Clown Show Continues More from Kaitlin Bennett's visit to the circus in Austin, Texas. ***VIDEO IS 7 MINUTES LONG*** In this one protesters says it's okay to kill a child UP TO THREE YEARS!!

At the center of the battle over marriage, the popular Christian-owned restaurant chain Chick-fil-A is once again a target of criticism, this time over a $1.65 million donation to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to support summer camps for inner-city Atlanta youth. The LGBTQ blog Outsports called attention to the donation, saying the company’s charitable arm “has been continually criticized for its donations to organizations classified as anti-LGBTQ.” Chick-fil-A Foundation Executive Director Rodney Bullard told Business Insider the foundation has a “much higher calling than any political or cultural war.” “The calling for us is to ensure that we’re relevant...

We talked to nine Portland activists who think violence is necessary to fight fascism. The nine anarchists who met me one rainy afternoon in Portland, Oregon, told me they almost showed up to talk to me "bloc'd out"—in the black clothes and masks that have become something of an iconic look. You likely know what "bloc'd out" means because you've seen photos and videos of masked anarchists, or encountered them in person at practically any left-wing protests (or at counter-protests held in response to right-wing rallies). Bandanas, scarves, or helmets are used to guard against the effects of pepper spray...

Protesters held a "Queer Dance Party for Climate Justice" in front of Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner's house in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. Video posted to social media by Ashley Rae Goldenberg of MRCTV shows participants gathered in front of the Kalorama neighborhood house chanting, "Ivanka Trump, come dance!" The group also gathered in front of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's home nearby. . . . The rally caused such a racket that at least one neighbor confronted protesters. Video shows the man saying he's an 82-year-old man who lives in the neighborhood before telling one person in attendance...