Free Republic

Floridians will decide this November whether to allow medical marijuana in the state. On Wednesday, a constitutional amendment to legalize the drug gained enough signed petitions to qualify for the ballot next November. If passed, the amendment would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for people with “debilitating conditions” such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy or multiple sclerosis. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article56931218.html#storylink=cpy

Australia's prime minister gave a personal assurance on Friday that his government would legalize gay marriage if a majority of Australians choose marriage equality in a popular vote. The center-right government has promised to hold a plebiscite on the gay marriage question if the government is re-elected in a vote due this year. But a number of the government's most conservative lawmakers have recently announced that they might vote down gay marriage against the wishes of a majority of Australians. ...

Dr. Thomas a homosexual pastor and one of Donald Trump's favorite pastors, Dr. Robert Jeffress, discussed same-sex marriage. Thomas argued that homosexual rights should be equated the same as rights with African-Americans received during the Civil Rights movement. Dr. Robert Jeffress responded, "I do not believe race is the same as sexual choice. I have an African-American pastor friend here in this community who says, "Don't equate sin with the color of my skin."" Thomas was offended and said, "My sexual orientation is just as valid in my lifestyle as someone's color of their skin. It's not a choice, it...

Army Human Resources Command has recommended that the Green Beret who confronted an Afghan police commander for raping a young boy be kicked out of the service. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.), who has pushed back against the Army’s decision to punish Sgt. 1st Class Charles Martland, revealed the development in a letter to Sen. Pat Roberts (R., Kansas) Wednesday. “Recently, a decision within Army Human Resources Command recommended that the Army uphold the judgment that Martland be removed from service, although a final decision has yet to be made about his future,” Hunter wrote. While serving in Afghanistan in...

January 28, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – Two years ago, I was asked to speak at our state capitol on behalf of the Marriage Amendment. The hearing was in a center room surrounded by a hallway. Those preparing to speak were kept in the hall until their time to address the amendment.  As I waited in the hallway, I was approached by a man who supported redefining marriage to include unions between members of the same sex. He was quite nice and reasonable in the beginning. "I imagine you're going to be speaking for the amendment on marriage?" he began. "Yes," I...

A legislative oversight committee is unfairly targeting gay rights organization in Iowa over its programming at an annual anti-bullying youth conference, the leader of the group said Tuesday ahead of a meeting to address the issue. Nate Monson, executive director of Iowa Safe Schools, said some members of the House Government Oversight Committee plan to sensationalize his group's work at a meeting Wednesday at the Capitol.

Over two-thirds of Germans want gay marriage to be legalized, bringing gay rights in line with those of heterosexual couples, a survey by YouGov published on Thursday shows. [...] Across the political spectrum, Germans said they wanted to see a change in the law. A total of 61 percent of voters for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Union said they were for legalization, suggesting that the Chancellor's opposition to gay marriage is now out of step with her own voter base. [...] Sixty-eight percent of Catholics were in favor, and 67 percent of Protestants. Within both religions, just over a quarter...

The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is raising questions about the involvement of Microsoft in the Iowa Caucuses, now just five days away, and has built a independent system to check the official results. For the first time this year, Microsoft partnered with the Iowa Democratic and Republican Parties to provide a technology platform with which the parties will run their caucuses. The software giant created separate mobile apps for each party, which officials at hundreds of caucuses across the state will use to report out results from individual precincts to party headquarters for tabulation. The arrangement has...

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco insists the bishops are united, but questions exist about how supportive Pope Francis is of open opposition to controversial legislation supporting same-sex partnerships The pressure to subvert traditional ethics on issues pertaining to life, the family and education, which has been sweeping through the European Union from West to East, is currently being halted by the former "Iron Curtain" countries, and in Italy, where the struggle has been pitting grassroots movements against the European Establishment for at least a dozen years now. As befits the country that has hosted the papacy for almost all of the twenty...

My journey dealing with controversial research may have begun with my older brother's dissertation in mechanical engineering. When I was 15, he told me that probably one-third of what scientists had thought they knew about the research topic had been incorrect.Later researchers, of course, have shown that this is quite wrong. According to some, the true figure is closer to two-thirds.Even well-known historical events can be deconstructed statistically to show that things did not occur as we have been led to believe. In the RMS Titanic disaster, the lowest survival rates for men and the highest survival rates for children...

"There is no suggestion that he has broken the law by exercising his right to freedom of expression", read the statement. Cleared: Fury faces no action from the BBBC. Tyson Fury has escaped with just a ticking off from boxing's bigwigs for his homophobic and sexist rants. Fury was interviewed by the British Boxing Board of Control stewards yesterday and they claim they cannot punish the world heavyweight king because of his right to free speech. "In such circumstances, the stewards of the British Boxing Board of Control have been advised that they cannot interfere with his basic human rights....

EVERETT, Wash. - A man wearing a bra and wig was arrested Friday after he was spotted in a women's bathroom at Everett Community College, police said. Officers responded to the scene at about 1:30 p.m. after a college staff member said she saw the man go into the women's rest room and alerted security personnel. An investigation found that the suspect had gone into the rest room while two women were inside, according to a police report. The women were later interviewed and said they had no idea that the man was there. When police interviewed the man, he...

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...

In Italy, family is considered so sacred that marriage is lauded in the Constitution. But what kind of family? That has become a bitterly divisive question in a nation where the Vatican packs considerable political weight and where gays have grown impatient as other traditionally Catholic European countries have either allowed same-sex couples to marry or legally recognized their civil unions. On Thursday, Italy's Senate will plunge into a debate on proposed legislation to grant legal recognition to "civil unions," including those of homosexual couples, without equating the partnerships to marriage. ...

Jeb Bush and John Kasich hired them for key campaign staff positions. John Boehner and others campaigned for them. Speaker Paul Ryan said he would vote to grant them special rights. And Nikki Haley pledged that a future Republican president “… would respect differences in modern families” while respecting religious freedom, which many see as irreconcilable objectives. Why is the GOP establishment “going gay”? There are only a few possibilities. At first glance, it seems money, prestige or protection from the loss of either must be the principal motives. It can’t possibly be the case that this many people suddenly...

An article in which Jeremy Clarkson criticised changing attitudes towards transgender people has provoked a storm of criticism on social media.The self-proclaimed "equal opportunities loudmouth" used his weekly column in The Sunday Times to argue that parents who "indulge the whims" of children wanting gender reassignment are living "lunatic lives".He also commented on the recent focus on high profile transgender cases, writing: "We must now all turn our attention to the plight of people who want to change their name from Stan to Loretta. As far as I was concerned, men who want to be women were only really to...

Indiana may have lost as much as $60 million in hotel profits, tax revenue and other economic benefits when a dozen groups decided against hosting conventions in Indianapolis last year due at least in part to the controversy surrounding the state's religious objections law. A document prepared by the tourism group Visit Indy shows that the 12 out-of-state groups were surveyed and all said that the state's controversial law played a role in their decision to hold their events elsewhere. The document was obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its formal release Thursday. The Republican-backed law garnered quick and...

(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...

Lexington Mayor Jim Gray filed to run for the U.S. Senate Tuesday morning as a Democrat, declaring his candidacy to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul on the day of Kentucky’s filing deadline. Gray, 62, told the Herald-Leader Monday night that he decided to challenge Paul last week and that he “absolutely” thinks he can win despite the state’s rightward lurch and widespread disapproval of President Barack Obama. Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article56605288.html#storylink=cpy

"It's boring." Actress and star of the blockbuster Twilight movie series Kristin Stewart spoke with Variety magazine about the supposed gender gap in Hollywood's paycheck. "Instead of sitting around and complaining about that, do something," Stewart said. "Go write something, go do something." "And that's easy to say," she continued. "Like, ****, it's hard to get movies made. It's a huge luxury. Who gets to just make movies? But that subject is just so prevalently everywhere right now, and it's boring." "Guys make more money because their movies make more money," she added. "Let's start making more movies. It makes...