Free Republic

As same-sex marriage became legal in Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming recently, the federal government now recognizes gay married couples in 33 states, including the District of Columbia, according to Attorney General Eric Holder. "With each new state where same-sex marriages are legally recognized, our nation moves closer to achieving full equality for all Americans," The Associated Press quoted Holder as saying. Holder's announcement means married same-sex couples in 33 states will qualify for federal benefits, including Social Security and veterans' benefits. "We are acting as quickly as possible with agencies throughout the government to ensure...

Authorities in Coeur d'Alene Idaho have buckled under the pressureof nationwide outrage at their threat to jail two ordained ministers for not performing gay marriage in their wedding chapel and declared the "Hitching Post" wedding chapel exempt from their "non-dsicrimination" law. Boise Public Radio: The city has been embroiled in controversy ever since the owners of the Hitching Post sued the city. They say a city anti-discrimination law threatened to force them to marry same-sex couples now that gay marriage is legal in Idaho. The story lit up conservative and gay-rights blogs. Wedding chapel owners Donald and Evelyn Knapp...

Dr. James Dobson, one of America’s best-known Christian leaders, founder of Family Talk Radio, a courtroom opponent of Obamacare and, just recently, the National Day of Prayer speaker who called Barack Obama the “abortion president,” warns American is heading toward “depravity.” In his October 2014 newsletter, a copy of which is available online, he wrote about the Old Testament account of Abraham’s nephew, Lot, “who chose to take his family into the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.” “The men living there had become desperately depraved, burning with lust for each other. Jehovah told Abraham that their sin was so...

I am still bound for hell. Nothing the bishops discussed in Rome over the past few weeks will save me and my kind from damnation. They considered some soft rhetoric but never questioned that sex between men must remain a grave sin. Commentators around the world, straight and gay, have shied away from this. So delighted were they by talk of the church “welcoming” gay people and recognising their “gifts and qualities” that they spoke of a sea change in Rome. Those optimistic voices are falling silent now as they realise how wrong they were. The issue is sin and...

Idaho couple Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained ministers and owners of the Hitching Post Lakeside Chapel of Coeur d'Alene, are facing thousands of dollars in fines and possible jail time for refusing to host gay wedding ceremonies, which the city claims violates its anti-discrimination ordinance. The couple has since filed their business as a religious organization, which means they might be saved by an Idaho law that protects religious freedom. Jeremy Tedesco, senior legal counsel for the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom legal organization, told The Christian Post that while Coeur d'Alene has an ordinance saying that under "public accommodation"...

All churches are open to the public. Sure, they lock their doors at times; I’ve yet to run into a place that doesn’t do that, but the idea of church of any denomination is that anyone is welcome to come in and pray. That applies to Christian churches, but that also applies to most other houses of worship I can list: Jewish synagogues, Buddhist temples, and Muslim mosques. After all, how is a church supposed to gain converts if they don’t allow those not already formally affiliated to enter? All churches, and other houses of worship also allow wedding ceremonies...

The University of New Mexico and one of its professors will face trial on a charge of violating the constitutional rights of a student punished for expressing her opinions about lesbianism in a class described by the instructor as having “controversy built right into the syllabus.” Chief U.S. District Judge M. Christina Armijo denied a motion by the university to dismiss a case brought by student Monica Pompeo, who claimed she was improperly dismissed from the class for describing lesbianism as perverse in an assigned critique of a lesbian romance film.

“Since when is a crime a disability?” asked Jeff Herrity. His son, Brian was a victim of child molestation by Catholic priest, Gil Gustafson from 1977 to 1982, Brian was ten years old when the abuse began. “If that is the case, everyone in prison should be disabled”, said Herrity. This was thirty years ago, in 1983, Gustafson was convicted of molesting Brian and was sentenced to a forty dollar fine, ten years of probation, and six months in jail, he only served four and a half months and was released. The abuse “mentally and physically destroyed” him. Brian died...

Pompeo v. Board of Regents (D.N.M. Sept. 29, 2014, but apparently not substantially publicized until Thursday): The University of New Mexico offered a class and Plaintiff enrolled in that class. The subject matter of the class (“Images of (Wo)men: From Icons to Iconoclasts”) as set out in [the Complaint] was chosen by the class instructor, Defendant Hinkley, to spark “incendiary” class discussions. The syllabus assured students that “it’s quite clear that we do not expect anyone to necessarily agree with the positions and arguments advanced in our work. There’s controversy built right into the syllabus, and we can’t wait to...

Two Key West bartenders who won a ruling from a Monroe County judge to be married will serve as grand marshals of the Key West Fantasy Fest parade....

I’m not gay. I get called gay all the time by Leftists who seek to disparage me when they’ve run out of their specious, illogical arguments and the full weight of common sense lands on their fetid heads and they have no other recourse but to go ad hominem on me and say, “he must be gay.” Which, like I said, I take they equate with a cut down; which is weird because, supposedly, they’re the homosexual’s champion. For what it’s worth, the only gay thing about me is, and I must confess, I did tear up a bit during...

Hundreds of young women streamed into Wellesley College on the last Monday of August, many of them trailed by parents lugging suitcases and bins filled with folded towels, decorative pillows and Costco-size jugs of laundry detergent. The banner by the campus entranceway welcoming the Class of 2018 waved in the breeze, as if beckoning the newcomers to discover all that awaited them. All around the campus stood buildings named after women: the Margaret Clapp library, the Betsy Wood Knapp media and technology center, dorms, labs, academic halls, even the parking garage. The message that anything is possible for women was...

Check it out http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/vatican-alters-draft-report-translation-about-gays/ar-BB9qgYh

Dolan, during an appearance on ‘CBS This Morning’ on Wednesday, said the Vatican report released Monday stating that ‘homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community’ is just a first draft that ‘needs some major reworking.’ The archbishop of New York tamped down the importance of a groundbreaking Vatican declaration that signaled a new openness toward same-sex couples. “All of this is almost like antipasto to help the holy father arrive at a fresh, new way to teach the timeless teaching on marriage and family,” Dolan said in an interview with “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday, dismissing...

A recently released midterm report from the Synod of Bishops on the family, which defended the traditional definition of marriage but used positive language toward same-sex couples in some situations, has garnered controversy among some bishops who say it does not accurately reflect the assembly's views. "In regard to homosexuality, there was noted the need for welcoming, with the right degree of prudence, so as not to create the impression of a positive valuation of that orientation," read a summary of the remarks some bishops had toward the report, Catholic News Service reported. "It was hoped that the same care...

The mayor of Houston, TX, has subpoenaed the sermons of local pastors and the speeches of local religious leaders to see what they have to say about homosexuality.I fear Annise Parker has never read the Bible. If she wanted some sermons so bad, she could go to church, but I don’t know that she will. So I think we should help her out. You can get a copy of the NIV version on Amazon.com for $4.05. Annise Parker’s address is: Mayor Annise D. Parker City of HoustonP.O. Box 1562Houston, TX 77251 I kindly suggest you all send Ms. Parker a...

Houston's embattled equal rights ordinance took another legal turn this week when it surfaced that city attorneys, in an unusual step, subpoenaed sermons given by local pastors who oppose the law and are tied to the conservative Christian activists that have sued the city. Opponents of the equal rights ordinance are hoping to force a repeal referendum when they get their day in court in January, claiming City Attorney David Feldman wrongly determined they had not gathered enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. City attorneys issued subpoenas last month during the case's discovery phase, seeking, among other communications,...

This latest story from our brave new world may blow your mind, so I'll read straight from the Chicago Tribune: "A white Ohio woman is suing a Downers Grove-based sperm bank, alleging that the company mistakenly gave her vials from an African-American donor, a fact that she said has made it difficult for her and her same-sex partner to raise their now 2-year-old daughter in an all-white community." Now, I don't doubt the lesbian couple's love for the child. But I find it troubling which challenges the couple was willing and isn't willing to tolerate. They're suing because of the...

Last week, the Supreme Court declined to hear a collection of marriage-equality decisions and deferred for another term what seems now an inevitable ruling for marriage equality. The very next day, the Ninth Circuit handed down an opinion, Latta v. Otter, striking down a number of same-sex-marriage bans. In doing so, the appeals court provided the first of what will surely be many such decisions from which the Court can choose when the justices consider what cases they might hear in the future—and so offers potential rationales by which they might make marriage equality the law of the land. The...

Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, is making good on his vow to support gay GOP candidates in the name of inclusivity this week when he is expected to stump for openly gay Republican candidates Carl Demaio of California and Richard Tisei in Massachusetts. A report in The Hill says Boehner is expected to raise cash for both candidates despite opposition from conservative groups such as the Family Research Council in a bid to expand the 17-seat majority of Republicans in Congress. The Hill noted that Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage were among...