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As it has for decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week released its annual National Health Interview Survey on the health of Americans. But this year, there was a difference: For the first time, the respondents were asked about their sexual orientation. Of 34,557 adults ages 18 and older, the survey reported, 1.6 percent said they were gay or lesbian. Some critics say the numbers are low, but they fall in the range of other surveys. In the new survey, however, only 0.7 percent of respondents described themselves as bisexual; other studies have reported higher numbers.

Michael Sam may not be a distraction this week at the St. Louis Rams training camp, but the same cannot be said about Tony Dungy. The former coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts found himself drawing criticism for telling the Tampa Tribune that, if he were still coaching today, he wouldn’t have drafted Sam “(n)ot because I don’t believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn’t want to deal with all of it.

A Monroe County judge yesterday said a Key West couple can't marry despite his ruling that Florida's ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. Chief Judge Luis Garcia said in an appeal by the state of Florida, "The automatic stay, currently in place, shall remain in place until completion of appellate proceedings or until further order of this Court."

Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.) announced his support for gay marriage Monday, saying that he believes it is "fully appropriate" for a state to recognize both same-sex marriages and "traditional" ones, even though he, as a Christian, believes in the the latter. When asked by The Washington Post whether he supports gay marriage, in light of a Florida judge's decision last week to overturn the state's ban, Jolly said that his personal views on marriage are that it should be limited to one man and one woman. But, he added, states should not be defining the "sanctity" of marriage.

WASHINGTON — President Obama, declaring himself on “the right side of history,” called on Congress on Monday to ban job discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans as he signed an executive order doing so for workers of federal contractors. In a ceremony at the White House, Mr. Obama noted that in much of the country, companies can fire employees based on their sexual orientation. “That’s wrong,” he said to an audience of supporters. “We’re here to do what we can to make it right — to bend that arc of justice just a little bit in a better direction.” President...

Attorney General Pam Bondi said she would appeal, and spokeswoman says: "With many similar cases pending throughout the entire country, finality on this constitutional issue must come from the U.S. Supreme Court." Sen. Bill Nelson: "We’ll see whether the state appeals. Meantime, as I’ve said, I believe it's wrong to discriminate against any class of people including on civil marriage.” Democratic candidate for governor Charlie Crist: "Today was a great step towards equality in Florida. It is my hope that Governor Scott and Attorney General Bondi will accept the decision of the judge and allow all Florida adults to marry...

Monroe County Circuit Judge Luis Garcia overturned Florida’s 2008 constitutional gay-marriage ban on Thursday, and ordered that two Key West bartenders be allowed to wed but not before Tuesday. Aaron Huntsman and William Lee Jones, who met at a gay pride celebration and have been a couple for 11 years, sued Monroe County Clerk Amy Heavilin in April for a marriage....

During the ceremony, Michael gave an incredibly emotionally-charged acceptance speech Michael Sam became the hero of the 2014 ESPYs last night when he not only proudly walked the red carpet with his boyfriend, but also brought the audience to tears with his emotional and inspiring speech when accepting an award for his incredible courage.

My thoughts exactly: @allahpundit did not know jughead was gay.— Bruce Wolf (@BruceWolfChi) July 14, 2014 We should have known. There’s campy, there’s John Waters campy, and then there’s wearing a crown to school every day.No, actually, the gay friend here is Kevin Keller, whom they introduced back in 2010 and then married off in 2012 in the first “Archie” gay wedding. Having re-written the “boy torn between two girls” storyline eight thousand times in the past 75 years, the writers wanted something more “impactful,” to borrow an atrocious word favored by the company’s CEO. That’s understandable, but …...

A city in Massachusetts has opted to end a contract with a Christian college over the academic institution's opposition to homosexuality. The mayor for Salem recently announced that the city's contract with Gordon College for usage of the Old Town Hall, set to expire later this year, will be immediately terminated. Rick Sweeney, vice president of marketing and communications at Gordon College, told The Christian Post about the contract to use the Old Town Hall. "Gordon College had been in a contractual relationship with the city of Salem since 2008 to manage Old Town Hall, one of the most historic...

Inside the offices of Republican gay-rights groups, a strategy is forming to convince party leaders to strip opposition to gay marriage from the GOP platform. The target, operatives say, is to see party leaders drop their support for a gay-marriage ban in time for the Republican National Convention in summer 2016. It's a long shot, but Republican gay-rights lobbyists think they can build on the momentum provided by courts nationwide and the belief that, philosophically, the GOP's social conservatives are fighting a battle that puts them well out of step with the majority of the country, and that could demographically...

Must Evangelical churches change or downplay their position on homosexuality to attract millennials? Millennials, generally defined as those ages 18 to mid-30s, are the most supportive of redefining marriage to include same-sex couples, many polls show. A recent Public Religion Research Institute poll had their support at 69 percent, the highest of any age group. Even among self-described Evangelicals, the millennials showed the highest level of support at 43 percent (though the poll only included white Evangelicals), compared to 33 percent for generation X, 22 percent for Baby Boomers and 19 percent for those 68 and older. The poll also...

Since humanity began, children have been raised by mothers and fathers.  Whether that is due to evolutionary pressures or God is irrelevant to the conclusion that children must benefit from having two parents of different genders.Recently the MSM has been trumpeting a study that supposedly says that children of gay couples are better off than children who have a father and a mother. To anyone who has been a parent, or a child in a family with two parents of different genders, that sounds like gays protesting too much.  Experience, and common sense, tells us that women and men bring...

For the past four years, Flint Dollar has been teaching music at Mount de Sales Academy, a Catholic school in Macon, Ga. He is, by all accounts, beloved by his students. But Dollar won't be leading the band or teaching the chorus in the fall. His contract was not renewed after administrators found out he plans to marry a man. Under federal anti-discrimination laws, employers are not prohibited from hiring or firing people on the basis of sexual orientation. Dollar is working to change that. He says when he was hired, he was honest with school administrators about his sexual...

Valeria Tanco (L), and Sophy Jesty pose with their new baby girl, Emilia, at their home in Knoxville, Tennessee April 7, 2014.Several liberal media organizations are reporting the results of a new same-sex parenting study which suggests that gay parents do a better job of raising children than the general population. There are four imporant points to understand about that study, however.Here are a few of the headlines:CBS News: "Children of same-sex couples healthy, well-adjusted, study finds"NBC News: "Children of Same-Sex Parents Are Healthier: Study"The Huffington Post: "Children Of Gay Parents Are Happier And Healthier Than Their Peers, New Study...

A Christian-run bakery in the U.K. could be facing a court case after it refused a request from a customer to make a cake featuring the "Sesame Street" characters Bert and Ernie with a slogan to "support gay marriage." Ashers Baking Company in Belfast declined the order from the customer, a gay rights activist, but now mat face legal action from watchdog group Equality Commission, BBC News reported on Tuesday. In a statement, the 24-year-old general manager of the Christian bakery said that the order, featuring portraits of the two puppets side by side alongside the logo of gay rights...

A new biography is raising questions about the life and relationships of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an anti-Nazi dissident whose theological writings remain widely influential among Christians. Both left-leaning and right-leaning Christians herald the life and writings of Bonhoeffer, who was hanged for his involvement in the unsuccessful plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Bonhoeffer was engaged to a woman at the time of his execution, observing that he had lived a full life even though he would die a virgin. The new biography, “Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” from University of Virginia religious studies professor Charles Marsh, implies...

Robert De Niro said in a recent interview that his late father never discussed his homosexuality. "He was very private so he wouldn't go into that with me," De Niro told Katie Couric on Yahoo News. "I don't really know much about that side of my father." The Academy Award winning actor said he did have "some inkling" that his father was gay and his mother even made some inferences but it was never "brought up." "You kind of ... knew but didn't know," he said. De Niro has been making media rounds to promote his documentary, "Remembering the Artist:...

This is Noteworthy for three reasons. One: The judge is a Bush 41 appointee, nominated to the federal bench by, er, Mitch McConnell. Two: This decision doesn’t matter much on the ground because the Sixth Circuit, the federal appellate court with jurisdiction in Kentucky, is set to hear arguments on gay marriage on August 6th. They’re going to end up superseding this decision one way or the other in the next few months anyway.Three: Heyburn, the judge, went out of his way to make clear that he thinks this issue is a no-brainer. Usually when a court examines the...

Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated the LGBT community’s 22nd Pride Parade in Istanbul yesterday. More than 100, 000 people gathered in Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul to celebrate the 22th Pride Parade for the LGBT community on the 29 June, under some strict security measures by the police who blocked the roads to Taksim Square and Gezi Park with water cannons since early morning. Community members, as well their families and loved ones participated in the parade, chanting for the freedom for same-sex marriage and against homophobia. They carried banners that said, “Unconditional Love is Possible.” ... The United Kingdom...