Free Republic

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — A Columbus Target employee faces charges for taking video of a 12-year-old boy in a bathroom of the store on Olentangy River Road, according to a criminal complaint. Matthew Lively, 31, of Columbus was given a $150,000 bond in court Wednesday morning on a charge of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance, a second-degree felony. On Nov. 30, Lively allegedly placed a cell phone in a stall where the juvenile was using the bathroom. A detective with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said Lively admitted to taking video of the boy during the...

Catholics hoped for a reprieve from assaults on religious freedom following the November elections, but a very serious threat looms with so-called SOGI laws. That’s why 80 Christian leaders—including four leading Catholic bishops and many Catholic education leaders—chose to make a bold statement this week rejecting such efforts as contrary to Christian and American values. I joined them on behalf of The Cardinal Newman Society, convinced that timidity and false compromise will bring ruin to our culture and our freedom to live and teach the Catholic Faith. (Like the Manhattan Declaration, which has more than half a million signers in...

During an interview with Oprah Winfrey, First Lady Michelle Obama pretty much compared the relationship between her husband and the rest of the country to that of a parent and an injured child. Noting that we’re now feeling what not having hope feels like, Mrs. Obama explained how “hope” was more than a slogan for Barack Obama. “Our children respond to crises the way they see us respond,” Mrs. Obama said. “You know, it’s like the toddler that bumps his head on the table and they look up at you to figure out if it hurts.” She went on to...

When Oregon resident Jamie Shupe quietly walked into a Portland, Oregon, courthouse this June and received permission to change their gender from female to "non-binary," they did so without the assistance of any nonprofit or national transgender advocacy group. Shupe's successful legal change to a third gender stunned the national LGBTQ community; many intersex and gender nonconforming people had dreamed of someday being able to opt out of "male" and "female" gender designations, but no one thought it could be done so easily. In the six months since Shupe became the first legally non-binary U.S. citizen, the amount of people...

The January 2017 issue of National Geographic features a major first in the the storied 128-year-old publication’s history — for the first time ever, the cover features a transgender individual. The special “Gender Revolution” issue features interviews with more than 80 transgender and gender-expansive youth across the globe. And most notable of all, the person who had the honor of being on the cover is 9-year-old transgender girl Avery Jackson of Kansas City, Mo. On the cover, Avery is quoted as saying, “The best thing about being a girl is, now I don’t have to pretend to be a boy.”

Kris Gambardella didn’t know Feral Pines, one of the 36 people who died in the Dec. 2 Ghost Ship fire in Oakland. But when Pines, a 29-year-old transgender woman, was identified in official accounts by the male name she had been given at birth, Gambardella, who is a trans man, took it personally.

As part of its January 2017 issue exploring our evolving understandings and definitions of gender, National Geographic is featuring nine-year-old transgender rights activist Avery Jackson on its cover—the first time a trans person has made the cover of the magazine. Jackson rose to stardom last year when she began documenting her transition with “Avery Chats,” a series of YouTube videos describing how she came to understand her identity at such a young age and eventually came out to her parents as trans. “When I was born, doctors said I was a boy, but I knew in my heart I was...

‘Rogue One’ is unlike any other ‘Star Wars’ film that’s come before for many reasons, but one of the most exciting is the diversity of its cast. From its female lead, to its international roster of actors from all around the world, it’s clear the franchise has come leaps and bounds from the original trilogy with its sole non-white character – Billy Dee Williams’ Lando Calrissian.Beyond the characters’ ethnic backgrounds though, same-sex couples are still apparently absent from the ‘Star Wars’ movie universe… or are they? Could ‘Rogue One’ also feature the franchise’s first same-sex screen couple, too?

PORTLAND, Ore. — Criminal prosecutors in Oregon filed additional child sex abuse allegations against the co-founder of the prominent homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as they seek to build their case for an upcoming trial scheduled for next month. As previously reported, Terrance Bean, 66, of the Human Rights Campaign was taken into custody at his home last November by the Portland, Oregon Police Bureau Sex Crimes Unit following an indictment by a Lane County Grand Jury. He was booked at the Multnomah County Jail and released after posting 10 percent of his $50,000 bail. Bean was charged...

Comet Ping Pong owner addresses 'pizzagate' conspiracy on 'The Kelly File'

North Carolina’s Republican-dominated legislature took extraordinary steps Thursday to reduce the powers of a Democratic governor-elect, defying raucous protests and threatened legal challenges days before he takes office. GOP lawmakers ignored protesters disrupting House and Senate floor debate and advanced legislation on the second day of their surprise session, which Democrats angrily called a power grab to weaken Roy Cooper once he becomes governor Jan. 1. The state’s attorney general, Cooper beat Republican Gov. Pat McCrory by barely 10,000 votes and vowed to fight back against GOP initiatives of recent years, particularly a law McCrory signed last March limiting LGBT...

It used to appear so simple for many of us: you were a boy or you were a girl. Girls wore pink, and boys wore blue; girls played with dolls, and boys played with trucks. Yet around the globe, these traditional notions of gender are changing rapidly, and labels are no longer so clear cut. National Geographic sets out to explore this evolving concept of gender through the lens of science, society and culture in the groundbreaking new two-hour documentary GENDER REVOLUTION: A JOURNEY WITH KATIE COURIC, premiering Monday, Feb. 6, at 9/8c. Produced by Katie Couric Media with National...

In the raging battle of culture wars — another one bites the dust. This time an English white male known as William Shakespeare has been removed from his prominent place at that bastion of Ivy League-ness, the University of Pennsylvania. English Department Chair Jed Esty confirmed that students removed Shakespeare’s portrait from its location in Fisher-Bennett Hall, as “a way of affirming their commitment to a more inclusive mission for the English department,” The Daily Pennsylvanian reported. […] So for whom did The Bard stand down at the University of Pennsylvania? You probably have never even heard of her. I...

SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA, Spain – A new low for the Catholic Church in Spain has been reached with the ordination of a homosexual couple to the priesthood by Archbishop Julian Barrio of Santiago de Compostela. These men, part of an ordination class of six, are not only active homosexuals but are in a public relationship with each other. According to the original story by InfoVaticana, the parishioners of Santiago were presented with their ongoing relationship in some form of “coming out” ceremony. Their ordination has caused consternation among the faithful congregation and clergy at this major center of European Catholicism....

The UW-Milwaukee transgender student who was singled out by controversial speaker Milo Yiannopoulos sent an angry, expletive-laden filled email to Chancellor Mark Mone, accusing the chancellor of insulting her and engaging in “goddamn lip service.” “GO F-CK YOURSELF,” Adelaide Karen Kramer started the email, which she sent to the chancellor and 458 members of the university community on December 14, the morning after Breitbart editor Yiannopoulos spoke to a sold-out crowd in the Wisconsin Room at the UWM Student Union. Kramer was responding to an email that Mone sent to all students and faculty after Yiannopoulos’ incendiary speech. *** In...

Star Trek: Discovery finally has its star. The Walking Dead's Sonequa Martin-Green will headline the first Star Trek series in over a decade for CBS All Access, TVGuide.com has learned. Martin-Green will play a lieutenant commander in the new series hitting CBS' streaming network in May 2017. This is the first time that a Star Trek series won't be anchored by a character playing a captain, but according to Entertainment Weekly, who first reported the news, Martin-Green's character's position as lieutenant will have "caveats." Casting an African-American female to lead the series was a big priority for the show's original...

Louisiana judge on Wednesday threw out an order from the state's Democratic governor aimed at protecting the rights of gay and transgender people, ruling that the governor had overstepped his authority. In addition to protecting LGBT rights, the executive order from Governor John Bel Edwards protected state employees against discrimination based on race, religion, disability and age. It banned state agencies from discrimination, while offering an exemption for churches and religious organizations. The "Executive Order is a violation of the Louisiana Constitution's separation of powers doctrine and an unlawful usurp of the constitutional authority vested only in the legislative branch...

An executive order issued by Louisiana's governor that was aimed at protecting the rights of LGBT people in state government was thrown out Wednesday by a judge who said the governor exceeded his authority. State District Judge Todd Hernandez ruled that Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards' anti-discrimination order is unconstitutional because it seeks to create or expand state law. The order prohibited discrimination in government and state contracts based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

In late September, Richardson announced that the Navy would be getting rid of all of their enlisted ratings and that the service would be headed in a new direction. Military officials said that the purpose for the change is so that service members can more easily adjust to civilian life and no longer be defined by their job titles by broadening their career fields. The decision received a great deal of backlash from sailors since Navy ratings have been around for centuries. The ratings system was also scrapped because of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’s order to make ratings “gender neutral”...

It looks like there will be no love lost between Donald Trump and the founders of the Black Lives Matter movement. In a recent interview with NPR, co-founder Patrisse Cullors said there would be absolutely no negotiating with Donald Trump or anyone in his administration. “We’re not going to be taking meetings with Donald Trump,” Patrisse Cullors said. “We’re not going to be sitting with his Attorney General. What we will be doing is protesting. What we will be doing is calling for an end to white nationalism and fascism.” The Black Lives Matter movement has grown into a nation-wide...