Free Republic

Oregon became the third state in the United States to ban gay conversion therapy, a practice that has attracted much debate. Democratic Gov. Kate Brown signed the bill into law earlier this week, though an ex-gay group has protested and called the bill "child abuse." CNN reported on Wednesday that the bill signed by Brown, the first openly bisexual governor in the U.S., will block therapist from offering conversion or reparative therapy on individuals who are younger than 18. Laws against the practice have also been made in California, New Jersey, and Washington D.C. While the American Psychological Association has...

A study that purported to show gay marriage opponents can easily be convinced to change their minds if they talk to gays was retracted after finding it used fake data. The study, "When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality," was published in the December 2014, issue of the journal Science. It was widely reported in the media and cited as evidence that support for gay marriage is inevitable. Donald P. Green, professor of political science at Columbia University, retracted the study after learning that his co-author, Michael LaCour, a UCLA graduate student, had used...

HOMOSEXUALITYWed - 4:29 pm EST Homosexuality , Poll PRINCETON, NJ, May 20, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- For the first time, a majority of Americans say that homosexuals are "born that way." According to the latest Gallup poll, 51 percent of Americans say that people are born gay or lesbian, while only 30 percent say outside factors such as upbringing and environment determine sexual orientation. However, science would not bear that out. No fewer than eight major studies from around the world have found homosexuality is not a genetic condition. Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council says that these numerous, rigorous...

NEW LONDON, Conn. (Reuters) - Rising seas and thawing permafrost caused by warmer global temperatures threaten U.S. military bases and will change the way the U.S. armed services defend the country, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday. In a commencement address at the United States Coast Guard Academy, Obama underscored the risks to national security posed by climate change, one of his top priorities for action in his remaining 19 months in office. "The threat of a changing climate cuts to the very core of your service," Obama told the 224 graduating cadets, who studied the impacts of global warming...

PRINCETON, NJ, May 20, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- For the first time, a majority of Americans say that homosexuals are "born that way."According to the latest Gallup poll, 51 percent of Americans say that people are born gay or lesbian, while only 30 percent say outside factors such as upbringing and environment determine sexual orientation.However, science would not bear that out. No fewer than eight major studies from around the world have found homosexuality is not a genetic condition.Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council says that these numerous, rigorous studies of identical twins have now made it impossible to argue that...

The dystopian images of Fury Road depart significantly from the Mad Max films of the 1970s and 1980s. Fury Road presents us with a world where motherhood is commodified to suit an elite class of males who wish to share their property and life ambitions only with other men. Women are hooked up to machines that pump milk from their breasts and held inside dismal barracks, gestating heirs for warlords who show no sexual interest in women. The men of this warrior ruling class derive all their ecstasy from the company of muscular young males eager to labor and soldier...

In December, I wrote a post about a groundbreaking new study published in Science,which had profound implications for the gay rights movement. The study’s researchers claimed that a mere 20-minute conversation about the importance of marriage equality could convince same-sex marriage opponents to support gay rights. People who spoke with straight canvassers demonstrated a slight boost in tolerance;those who spoke with gay canvassers demonstrated—and retained—an even more significant boost in support for gay rights.Does that sound too good to be true? It was. The study was co-authored by Donald Green, a professor of political science at Columbia University,and Michael J....

ROME, May 19, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Pope Francis has appointed radically liberal, pro-homosexual Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe as a consultor for the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The Holy Father made the appointment on Saturday, according to Vatican Radio. Father Radcliffe, an Englishman, author and speaker, was Master of the Dominican order from 1992 to 2001, and is an outspoken proponent of homosexuality. "We must accompany [gay people] as they discern what this means, letting our images be stretched open,” he said in a 2006 religious education lecture in Los Angeles. “This means watching 'Brokeback Mountain,' reading gay novels,...

This week, Bill Novak and Norman MacArthur will go from being father and son to a married couple. Before you jump to conclusions, consider this: Novak and MacArthur are not father and son biologically. Rather, their relationship through adoption was solely a technicality to enable the rights they desperately wanted but were not legally able to attain as a married couple. The same-sex couple, who have been together for more than 50 years, registered as domestic partners in New York City in 1994. After moving to Bucks County, they learned that Pennsylvania law does not recognize domestic partners and prohibits...

BALTIMORE, MD, May 19, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Breaking a month of silence on the scandal created by one of its high-level executives living in a homosexual “marriage,” the head of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) said the organization has yet to decide whether it should employ someone who violates Church teaching in this manner. The US Bishops’ international relief agency is working on it, CRS President and CEO Carolyn Woo told Aleteia’s John Burger in an interview published May 18. “CRS has a senior person who is in a civil gay marriage,” Woo said, “and the question is, ‘Is that a...

BEAUMONT - Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, denies that he has any animosity toward gay Americans when it comes to states using its own system of regulations to define marriage. While at a fundraiser at the MCM Elegante Hotel in Beaumont on Tuesday, Cruz held tight to his ideas that links same sex marriage to a fight over American's religions freedoms. "Look, I'm a Christian," Cruz said. "Scripture commands us to love everybody. And what I have been talking about, with respect to same sex marriage, is the constitution, which is what we should all be focused on. The constitution gives...

Kirsten Powers’ new book, “The Silencing,” nails it by showing just how bad things have gotten for free speech in America. It’s going to get a whole lot worse, and I’ll explain why. Powers has dubbed today’s intolerant purveyors of leftist causes the “the illiberal left” because, as a liberal herself, she sees them as anything but liberal about allowing a voice to those who don’t toe their rigid line. Her book catalogues and analyzes the dehumanization and demonization techniques the illiberal Left applies towards anyone who dares to veer from their rigid narratives. Their sacred cows include abortion, climate...

A study purporting to show that people’s views on gay marriage could change simply by meeting gay people has been retracted following revelations that its data was fabricated.The study was published last December in Science, and prior to publication drew a great deal of attention from the American media. Vox, for instance, described the findings in the study as “kind of miraculous.” As it turns out, that’s exactly what they were, because they were apparently made up.According to the study, people from communities hostile to gay marriage could have their opinions shift dramatically after spending just a few minutes speaking...

After a string of questions on his opinion on same-sex marriage and gay rights, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) called out the left and the leftist media (particularly MSNBC) for "obsess[ing]" over opinions on sexuality while "ISIS is executing homosexuals." The comments came during a campaign stop Tuesday in Beaumont, where Cruz met with county officials and other local leaders to discuss his positions on foreign policy, promoting economic growth, and defending the Constitution. When reporters began to ask him about his views on same-sex marriage, Cruz called out the left and the media for what he characterized...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal issued new protections for businesses that refuse to serve same-sex marriages, embracing the "religious freedom" cause dear to conservative Christians even though it's stung other Republican politicians. Jindal, a prospect for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, issued an executive order on Tuesday after saying he was disappointed that a Statehouse committee had earlier in the day voted down a bill that would have accomplished the same goal. That panel's concern: that Louisiana would look much like Indiana, where concerns that a new "religious freedom" law would lead to discrimination against gays and lesbians triggered such a...

In the past few years, the New York City Police Department has discovered that younger drug dealers are more likely to be armed with guns and dangerous. As a result, the NYPD narcotics department issued a new rule to their narcotics division: stop arresting drug dealers over the age of 40. As much as we’d like to joke that this is age discrimination, it’s actually the result of the NYPD’s desire to focus their resources on dealing with criminals in the 18-40 demographic. According to the New York Post, which got their hands on a memo from top officers, there’s...

Earlier this year, Aaron Heuser of Eugene, Oregon, had to travel to Washington, D.C. The trip had two purposes: The 37-year-old mathematician was officially leaving his job at National Institutes of Health and starting a new position at a private firm. Since he is terrified of flying he booked himself a sleeper car on Amtrak. Upon reaching Reno, Nevada, there was an unexpected knock at his door. “There was a DEA badge on the window,” he said. “Having a good reason to be making this trip and being a law abiding citizen, I opened the door and politely asked if...

Rapper Snoop Dogg is giving his two cents on the 2016 presidential election and his favorite is clear: Hillary Clinton. Snoop Dogg appeared on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” on Sunday and spoke out supporting the former secretary of state and democratic candidate. Obama: Refusing To Act To Slow Effects Of Global Warming Amounts To ‘Dereliction Of Duty’ “I would love to see a woman in office because I feel like we’re at that stage in life to where we need a perspective other than the male’s train of thought,” the entertainer in response to a viewer’s question. “And just...

Boy Scouts Put an End to Dangerous Water Gun Fights No squirt guns for the Boy Scouts of America. Water guns are apparently such a problem that the youth organization posted a blog post titled "Water guns OK for target shooting, not for firing at other Scouts."

Since there was no bride to be the “belle” at the ritzy D.C. wedding of Shakespeare Theater Company artistic director Michael Kahn and Manhattan architect Charles Mitchem this weekend, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who officiated, was happy to play the part. And she did so with panache, says Maureen Dowd: The most glittering moment for the crowd came during the ceremony. With a sly look and special emphasis on the word “Constitution,” Justice Ginsburg said that she was pronouncing the two men married by the powers vested in her by the Constitution of the United States. . . . The...