Free Republic

Seeking to mobilize a global front against anti-gay violence and discrimination, Vice President Joe Biden declared Tuesday that protecting gay rights is a defining mark of a civilized nation and must trump national cultures and social traditions. Biden told a gathering of U.S. and international gay rights advocates that President Barack Obama has directed that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender men and women around the world "I don't care what your culture is," Biden told about 100 guests at the Naval Observatory's vice presidential mansion. "Inhumanity is inhumanity is inhumanity. Prejudice...

A new push to end the practice launched on Tuesday Sam Brinton says that his father first tried physical abuse to rid his young son of homosexual feelings. When that didn’t work, Brinton’s parents turned to something called reparative therapy. Some of the memories are hazy more than 10 years later, but Brinton does remember the tactics the counselor used. There was talk therapy, about how God disapproved, and there was aversion therapy, during which pictures of men touching men would be accompanied by the application of heat or ice. “It was pretty much mental torture,” Brinton says. “To this...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry probably shouldn't have attempted to make the case that gay people can "decide not to" be gay despite genetic predisposition, he conceded Thursday, offering no semblance of an apology but trying instead to rally attention back to his message about jobs and the economy. "I got asked about an issue," Perry, a Republican, explained during a lunch hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. "And instead of saying, 'You know what? We need to be a really respectful and tolerant country - to everybody - and get back to talking about: Whether you're gay or straight, you...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer chose an interesting path and offered puzzling critiques since he tossed his name in the hat for a potential presidential run in 2016. But comments the Democrat made about Rep. Eric Cantor and Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a lengthy profile published by National Journal have probably knocked him off that path. In the piece, Schweitzer shared his perceptions on Cantor's sexuality while discussing the Virginia Republican's shocking loss last week against an unknown primary candidate. “If you were just a regular person, you turned on the TV, and you saw Eric Cantor talking, I would...

A white professor is suing Alabama State University (ASU) over claims the historically black university discriminated against him and his partner based on their race and sexual orientation. According to the lawsuit filed in federal court on June 11, Dr. John Garland is suing the ASU and eight current and former employees for racially discriminating against applicants for university positions and subsequently targeting him when he retaliated against those practices. “[Garland’s supervisor] expressed his opinion, stated or implied, that Dr. Garland did not belong at the University and was not ‘suited to [the University’s] type of students’ because Dr. Garland...

Charlie Crist has been endorsed by Florida’s largest gay rights group in his run for Governor.... Equality Florida officials made the announcement at a visitors center for gays and lesbians in Miami Beach, citing Crist’s current support for same-sex marriage and ongoing legal efforts to overturn the state’s ban on the unions.

It’s hard to have an honest conversation about gay issues because liberals treat anything other than outright celebration of all things gay as “hate.” That doesn’t leave people much room to discuss a complicated issue that involves real human beings who often have to deal with a lot of challenges because of their sexual orientation. If you’re a compassionate person, you have to feel some sympathy when you talk to people who are closeted because they’re afraid that their relatives won’t accept them or someone who feels isolated and alone because his sexual orientation makes it impossible for him to...

"They are turning people of faith into religious refugees." Colorado bakery owner Jack Phillips never sought out a gay person to discrminate against, nor to harm in any way. He has no desire to do so. But because he serves Jesus Christ above all else, Phillips was not about to be forced into participation in celebrating the "marriage" of two gay men. So when they entered his store to place an order for a wedding cake, he simply told them they would have to find a different bakery. We've told you this story before, and it's now reached exactly the...

"Lone Survivor" Marcus Luttrell made this statement to The Blaze regarding the Taliban's decision to keep Bergdahl for five years: “That’s the part that kind of got me off-guard, was the fact that they held him.” So why did they not kill him? Behead him? Here's former Navy SEAL, Brandon Webb with Wolf Blitzer:(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

The Boy Scouts of America held its national annual meeting in Nashville last week, one year after announcing the inclusion of openly-gay members, and despite a decline in membership over the past 10 years, the organization says it continues to serve nearly 2.5 million youth. "The BSA has seen, in its past 10 years, some years with a decline of 2 to 4 percent in members each year with some years being flat. At the end of December, we had served nearly 2.5 million youth members and close to 960,000 adult members. This is a decrease of approximately 6 percent...

NICOSIA, Cyprus – Several thousand people turned out for Cyprus’ first gay pride parade on Saturday, exceeding the expectations of organizers who said the event’s popularity shows that Cypriots are shedding their conservative attitudes.

Recently Norte Dame University, a putatively “Catholic” school, denied certification as a sanctioned on campus club to a group of students who wanted to come together to defend marriage. Father John Jenkins’ administration ran the students in a circle with technical objections of the type that it would never hold against a Pro-gay marriage club or any Gay Lesbian or transgendered club. Because it has long since abandoned any pretense of caring about Catholic doctrine, Notre Dame like dozens of other non-Catholic Catholic schools, has a Gay Lesbian and Transgender club. Panting after acceptance by the secular world, Notre Dame’s...

Will the United Methodist Church soon have to drop the “United” part of its name? A group of 80 pastors, including at least two from North Carolina, says the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination faces a split because of an inability to resolve long-standing theological disputes about homosexuality and church doctrine. But more than lamenting the divisions, the pastors indicated there is little reason to think reconciliation – or even coexistence – could be found. Like a couple heading to divorce court, the pastors cited irreconcilable differences that can’t be mended.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A gay rights organization is calling on Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to apologize for suggesting homosexuality is a choice and for calling decisions by other state leaders to not defend same-sex marriage bans the "next step to anarchy." John Netto, head of the Utah Pride Center's board, said the governor's comments during his monthly televised news conference Thursday were hurtful. "To suggest that allowing gay marriage is the foundation of anarchy, to us, is hate speech," Netto told The Salt Lake Tribune (http://bit.ly/1mjgsGh ). "We think he is uneducated ... on current scientific positions in...

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama pose for a photo during a reception at the Metropolitan Museum in New York with H.E. Alhaji Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, President of the Republic of The Gambia.Gambian President Yahya Jammeh told supporters that if he finds gay asylum-seekers, he will kill them. The Advocate reported, via Under the Burka: The president of Gambia has threatened to kill any citizen of his country who cites persecution of LGBT people in seeking asylum abroad. “Some people go to the West and claim they are gays and that their lives are at risk in...

Pretend it’s 1960, and the Food and Drug Administration has just done something startling. It has taken a drug it had previously approved for infertility — brand name Enovid — and approved it for the opposite use: birth control. That pill — soon simply the Pill — triggered the sexual revolution. But not overnight. Doctors at first resisted giving it to unmarried women. Women were shy about carrying evidence that they actually planned to have sex. Feminists like Margaret Sanger and Katharine D. McCormick braved vilification to champion it. Madison Avenue chimed in: Ads featured Andromeda, the princess of Greek...

A controversial new book from a mainstream, evangelical Christian publisher is being described by a critic as a “new low-water mark” for the industry while an advocate calls it a “game changer.” “God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships,” by Matthew Vines, who describes himself as a gay Christian, has been released by Convergent Books, an imprint of WaterBrook/Multnomah Publishing. Ingrid Schlueter, a long-time conservative voice in Christian media, sees Vines’ book as yet another example of evangelicals accommodating “a culture in moral free-fall.” “All the theological contortions in the world by evangelical authors...

Amid a surge of public opinion in favor of gay rights in the U.S., the WNBA is launching a campaign to market the league to the LGBT community, becoming the first pro sports league to specifically recruit gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender fans to its games. With the marketing campaign, the WNBA is capitalizing on what it has known for years: The community makes up a significant portion of its fan base. The difference now is that the league is talking about it publicly and making it a deliberate part of its marketing strategy. The launch of the effort coincides...

If you need proof that same-sex “marriage” is about more than “love,” look no further than Montgomery County, Maryland. There, parents are dealing with the fallout of the state’s redefinition of marriage with a sweeping new sex education curriculum. Moms and dads, who were already fighting an uphill battle on the content of the lessons, are now coping with the news that homosexuality will be woven throughout — shattering families’ fragile hold on parents’ rights. Yesterday, the Montgomery County School Board took up the issue in a debate over the district’s health curriculum. Not surprisingly, there were calls for an...

Barack Obama’s spinelessness seems to have him caught in a pincher. From his earliest days in public life Barack Obama has done as little as possible. Whenever he has been presented with a choice he will either worm out of the situation, as his disgraceful record of voting “present” shows, or completely ignore the matter at hand. Obama’s spinelessness is most prominent in his refusal to confront the dangers posed by the savages masquerading as “The Religion of Peace.” Faced with a demand to respond to Islamic terror attacks Obama has hidden behind ridiculous insulting language such as calling the...