Free Republic

The top legislative body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) voted Thursday to redefine Christian marriage in the church constitution as the union of "two people" instead of only "a man and a woman." The amendment requires approval from a majority of the 172 regional presbyteries, which will vote on the change over the next year. But in a separate vote that will take effect immediately, the Presbyterian General Assembly allowed ministers to preside at gay weddings in states where gay marriage is legal. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriage. Alex McNeill, executive director of More Light...

"Celebrate Pride Month with the St. Ignatius Community!" "As members of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, we are called to celebrate and share the gifts of diversity of sexuality in our church today. Our organization, Embracing God's Gifts, has been formed as an instrument for recognizing these gifts and incorporating their goodness and use into the life of our parish."

Happy Fathers Day, everyone. (I know it sucks to spend the day with civilians…) And on that note you should know that Disney and Warner Bros are sorting out the rights to Father Of The Bride 3 with Charles Shyer to write and direct (Nancy Meyers passed) and Steve Martin to return. (What else does he have going?) The twist in this threequel is that Little Matty is now 29 and gay and getting married to a Navy SEAL’s son. Father of the bride George is "thunderstruck and speechless" and has problems with the whole gay thing. So wife Nina...

President Barack Obama will sign an order banning federal government contractors from discriminating against gay and transgender workers, officials have said. The executive order follows years of pressure from gay rights groups. Mr Obama cannot extend the protection to all American workers, however. The order comes after far broader anti-discrimination legislation stalled in the Republican-led House of Representatives. The executive order will apply only to federal contractors, which employ nearly one-quarter of the US workforce.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took the lead this week in a high-profile lobbying effort to pressure San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone not to attend the controversial March for Marriage event, which she characterized as "venom masquerading as virtue." Pelosi, who is one of the country's most powerful Catholic politicians, made a passionate appeal to the archbishop not to participate in the National Organization for Marriage's June 19 march on the Supreme Court in Washington. Cordileone, who is one of the featured speakers at the event, was a leader in the campaign for Proposition 8, the 2008 California anti-gay-marriage initiative....

If you sense things are getting crazier at a faster rate lately you’re not alone in that feeling. Some of this is no doubt due to the fact that long ago the “LBGT” movement locked arms with the T’s — the Transgenders. Much like Vladmir Putin and the supporters of an Islamic state in Iraq, the transgenders believe they need to strike now while Obama is still in office. It’s their turn to demand acceptance. There’s a history behind all of this insanity. To learn more about it you should read BarbWire contributor Michael Brown’s book A Queer Thing Happened...

The president is expected to issue a call to action on global warming in a commencement address Saturday at the University of California, Irvine. Earlier this month, he announced a contentious plan to cut pollution from power plants. While in Orange County, Obama also raised money for the Democratic National Committee at a closed-door fundraiser at the Laguna Beach home of Getty oil heiress Anne Earhart. About 25 people paid up to $32,400 to participate in a roundtable discussion with the president. He's spending the rest of the Father's Day weekend on vacation at the Rancho Mirage home of White...

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, June 11, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Catholic Bishop of Copenhagen, Czeslaw Kozon, says he is worried that the Catholic Church in Denmark may be forced to perform “marriage” ceremonies for homosexual couples in the future. Bishop Czeslaw Kozon of Copenhagen Politicians in Denmark have voted to force churches in the established Evangelical Lutheran Church to perform same-sex “marriage” ceremonies inside their sanctuaries. Since 1997, when same-sex “marriage” was legalized, homosexuals have been able to get “married” in a blessing ceremony after the normal church service, but now the unions will be part of the service as they are...

Legislatures don’t make the laws in these USA anymore. Judges nobody elected have taken over. They do whatever the hell they want in this new kritarchy.A case in point. A US District Court, Judge Barbara Crabb, struck down as unconstitutional Article XIII, Section 13 of Wisconsin’s state constitution, which reads: “Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.” The people of Wisconsin voted in a...

Jack Phillips A Colorado bakery owned by a Christian family is refusing to comply with orders from the state of Colorado that they change their policies and attend mandatory “training sessions” after refusing to bake wedding cakes for same-sex couples.Todd Starnes of Fox News is reporting that Jack Phillips, owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colorado, is being pressured by the state to undergo comprehensive training on the state’s anti-discrimination laws after losing a lawsuit brought by a same-sex couple who accused him of discrimination when he refused to bake a cake for their “wedding” reception.In addition to the...

Same-sex marriage is still illegal in Colorado but the state's civil rights commission ruled Friday that Jack Phillips has to bake a cake for a same-sex marriage ceremony. The Daily Caller reports:In 2012, Jack Phillips, who owns Masterpiece Cakes in Lakewood, refused to sell cakes to Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig, a same-sex couple. Mullin and Craig were to be married in Massachusetts but wanted a cake for a reception at their home in a Denver suburb. As he had done with other same-sex couples in the past Phillips refused to sell the goods, saying that he is a devout...

As I’ve mentioned before, the laws requiring Christians to do things like bake wedding cakes or do photography for homosexual weddings are corporate laws. That’s how these laws are implemented - corporations have privileges granted by the State for the benefit of the State, as the State sees fit. So if Christians sue, what they have to argue before the Court is how it benefits the State to allow their incorporated business to not do work for homosexual marriage. That’s the legal reality. That’s not my opinion, that’s what the Courts are actually ruling on. Given that, there is a...

The Interior Department announced today that the National Park Service is launching a study to “identify places and events associated with the story of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans” for inclusion in the national parks system. The National Historic Landmark Program began actively looking for sites associated with LGBT history in 2010 for the potential of being listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Today’s directive, part of a broader administration initiative to “ensure that the National Park Service reflects and tells a more complete story of the people and events responsible for building this nation,” will...

A 16-year-old Norview High School student, Vincent Tyrell Parker of Norfolk entered a guilty plea to charges of killing both his parents in a brutal assault he claims was fueled by his dad taking away his iPod. Parker admitted to leaving school early, while his father was still at work. Vincent drove home to the 1000 block of Bland Avenue, where he lived with his parents. He went upstairs and pepper-sprayed his mother when she came out of the bathroom. He then stabbed her in the eye and beat her with a crowbar and a baseball bat. Vincent claimed at...

This is an excerpt of Dr. Gates' 26 page, 27 minute speech in which he speaks to the membership issue. 20 … FINALLY, LET ME ADDRESS THE MEMBERSHIP ISSUE, AN ISSUE THAT HAS LEFT US DIVIDED, DISTRACTED AND DEFENSIVE. A YEAR AGO, THIS MEETING SAW A RESPECTFUL AND CIVIL DEBATE OVER MEMBERSHIP POLICY. IN A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS, A STRONG MAJORITY OF THE VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP OF THIS MOVEMENT FROM ALL ACROSS THE NATION VOTED TO WELCOME GAY YOUTH INTO SCOUTING. IN ALL CANDOR, I WOULD HAVE 21 SUPPORTED GOING FURTHER, AS I DID IN OPENING THE WAY FOR GAYS TO SERVE...

...The Pope has rejected the idea of same-sex marriage as an “anthropological regression” and stressed that when it comes to adoption, “every person needs a male father and a female mother.” Pope Francis explained his views on these hot-button issues in his book, On Heaven and Earth: Pope Francis on Faith, Family, and the Church in the Twenty-First Century, which he co-wrote with Rabbi Abraham Skorka in 2010 and which was republished after the then-Argentine cardinal was elected to the papacy in March 2013. The book is a dialogue between Skorka and the future Pope and includes a chapter on...

Actor Michael Jace, best known for playing a gay cop on the FX series 'The Shield,' was charged by police with murder Tuesday in the shooting death of his wife, April, in their Los Angeles home. "I shot my wife," Jace told police after calling 911 Monday night, TMZ reported. He stayed on the line until police arrived, according to reports. April Jace, 40, was found dead in their south Los Angeles home at about 8:30 p.m. by police and medics who responded, Los Angeles Police Detective Lyman Doster said. Jace, 51, who had small roles in "Forrest Gump" and...

A Texas talk show host stormed off set Tuesday after a heated discussion was ignited when she expressed disapproval of coverage showing Michael Sam kissing his boyfriend. “Can we just agree that this was an opportunity to make news?” KTXD-TV’s “The Broadcast” host Amy Kushnir asked. “He has every right to do what he wants, that’s not my issue,” she added. “I just don’t want it in my face.” WATCH:

Miami Dolphins defensive back Don Jones was fined an undisclosed amound and suspended form team activities in the wake of two tweets Jones sent out that were critical of Michael Sam kissing his boyfriend

Despite near-total elimination of the sexually transmitted venereal disease syphilis more than a decade ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that rates have made a steep jump over the last eight years.The new study released Thursday offers a snapshot of the disease’s prevalence across multiple demographics, including gender, race, sexual orientation, age, and geographic region. Where syphilis was once on the brink of eradication in the year 2000, when the rate was a mere 2.1 cases per 100,000, overall prevalence had increased to 5.3 cases per 100,000 people by 2013. Researchers working with the CDC speculate...