Free Republic

...Charlie Crist, the former Republican governor turned independent turned Democrat, was endorsed by SAVE, the gay rights group based in Miami-Dade County. The gay and lesbian community has become an important element of the Democratic Party’s coalition.

Listed as a third-stringer on the depth chart and expected by many to not make the 53-man team, Michael Sam’s quest to become the first openly-gay player on a regular-season roster moved on Friday night to an actual game.

Rather than argue Florida's gay-marriage debate at the state Supreme Court, Attorney General Pam Bondi says she'd rather wait until the U.S. Supreme Court settles the issue nationally, once and for all. “Neither this Court nor the Florida Supreme Court can decide this federal issue with finality,” Bondi wrote in a filing late Thursday to the state’s 3rd District Court of Appeal. “The United States Supreme Court, however, ‘has the final word on the United States Constitution.’”

The Target Corporation has traditional marriage and family in the crosshairs of its bulls-eye. Target has now declared its support for homosexual “marriage.” However, the Minnesota-based retailer has gone past the point of articulating support for gay “marriage” and has jumped into the fray to wield its influence with the courts on this issue. Working to overturn the vote of the people regarding the true definition of marriage, Target has filed an amicus brief with the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals pushing for so-called marriage “equality” regarding the ban on same-sex marriage in Wisconsin and Indiana. (The case is before...

There was an interfaith gathering Tuesday evening to support marriage equality in Warren at Renaissance Unity Church. About 80 people were in attendance....

The major retailer has joined a group of companies in filing an amicus brief in support of gay marriage

For the fourth time in 19 days, a South Florida judge has ruled against Florida's gay marriage ban, this time in the probate case of a Pennsylvania widower whose husband died suddenly in Boynton Beach. Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Diana Lewis on Tuesday ordered W. Jason Simpson should be personal representative....

When Julie Rodgers came out as a lesbian at age 17, her mom responded by taking her to an ex-gay ministry in Dallas. Rodgers had grown up in a nondenominational evangelical church where she assumed being gay wasn’t an option. “With ex-gay ministries, it gave me the space to be honest about my sexuality,” said Rodgers, now 28. Yet that same honesty eventually led her away from ex-gay ministries. Rodgers spent several years in Exodus, the now-defunct ex-gay ministry, before deciding she couldn’t become straight after trying to date men. Instead, she has chosen celibacy. When Exodus shut down in...

Woman seeking dissolution of Vermont civil union not recognized in Fla. ....Because civil unions can only be dissolved when both individuals sign the requisite forms, Brassner sought to find Lade so that she can be married. .....

A Broward judge must decide whether to recognize — and then dissolve — a lesbian’s Vermont civil union.

Lawyers for two Monroe County men who won the right to marry filed papers Monday for the state’s appeal to move directly to Florida's Supreme Court. “We’re filing in the court of appeal, a motion, in layman’s terms, to pass through the jurisdiction of the third District Court of Appeal and to send the case directly to the Florida Supreme Court.....

A newspaper editor who was fired earlier this year for opining on his personal blog that the Queen James Bible is an attempt by homosexuals “to make their sinful nature ‘right with God’” has filed a complaint with the federal government. As previously reported, Bob Eschliman has worked as the editor of the Newton Daily News since 2012, and has served as the publisher of the Clarinda Herald-Journal. But he found himself out of a job this past May when he spoke his mind about the Queen James Bible on his personal blog.

Over 4,000 Americans have signed a petition to boycott Chase bank over a company survey that probed employees about their sexual orientation and personal beliefs. The National Organization for Marriage’s campaign, “Void Chase,” urges customers across the globe to take their banking business elsewhere until JPMorgan Chase apologizes and promises “never again to invade the privacy of your employees in this way.” The effort is the result of what critics call an invasive survey that asked whether Chase employees identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, or as an “LGBT ally.”

The bishop-Chairmen of two USCCB Committees slammed President Obama’s July 21 "gender identity" executive order for its lack of religious freedom protection and "flaws in its core prohibitions." This new "non-discrimination" executive order, aimed at preventing workplace discrimination against LGBT persons, opens the door to discrimination against Christians and those with deeply-held beliefs about the nature of marriage and human sexuality. -

Russell Moore, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, has joined other faith leaders in raising concerns over the lack of religious liberty protections in President Obama's new executive order. Moore said: “While we don’t know the full implications of this executive order, I am disappointed that this administration persistently violates the freedom of conscience for religious organizations that provide necessary relief for the poor and endangered. The same religious convictions that inspire their social action are the convictions now considered outside the new mainstream of sexual revolutionary fundamentalism. The ones hurt will be...

Attorneys familiar with the judge assigned to a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on gay marriages say she is perfectly suited for the controversial case challenging a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2008.... Attorney Michael Gongora, the first openly gay member of the Miami Beach City Commission, said six couples challenging the state law on constitutional grounds could do far worse than Zabel on this hot-button issue. "Judge Zabel is a good judge for this case," said Gongora, a partner with Becker & Poliakoff in Coral Gables.

For the second time in eight days, a South Florida circuit judge has declared the state's gay marriage ban unconstitutional and ordered that same-sex couples be allowed to marry.

A federal judge in Denver declared Colorado's gay marriage ban unconstitutional Wednesday, but he temporarily put the ruling on hold to give the state until next month to seek an appeal.... Colorado Republican Attorney General John Suthers and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper had requested a stay so the issue could eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court — though both agreed the state ban should be declared unconstitutional.

Americans who oppose same-sex marriage often face "intolerance" from those who support it, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said Wednesday in a speech about values that appeared aimed at wooing social conservatives. In remarks he said were likely to get him criticized as a bigot, the Florida Republican told an audience at Catholic University that a strong America is impossible without Americans who hold strong values. Seeming to seek a debate over those values, he criticized liberals who defend abortion rights for women but not protections for "the unborn."

A Colorado baker who was found guilty of discrimination for not baking a wedding cake for a same-sex couple is appealing the decision. Jake Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop hopes to win at the appellate level after being told that he must serve gay couples wedding cakes and take a diversity course. Phillips is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, who filed the appeal in the Colorado Court of Appeals last Wednesday. ADF lead counsel Nicolle Martin, who is involved in the appeal, said in a statement that Phillips did not unlawfully discriminate against anyone, but rather refused to endorse...