Free Republic

(FOX19) - A Change.org petition asking to ban transgender conversion therapy following Leelah Alcorn's death has received more than 233,000 signatures in two days. The Transgender Human Rights Institute posted the petition on Dec. 31 asking President Barack Obama and the leadership of the House and Senate to begin the process of banning transgender conversion therapy throughout the nation. "'Conversion therapies' have been documented to cause great harms and in this case, Leelah's death. Therapists that engage in the attempt to brainwash or reverse any child's gender identity are seriously unethical and legislation is needed to end such practices immediately,"...

HICAGO — Denee Mallon marveled at the view of Lake Michigan from her hospital bed in the Windy City, where she had just made history: the then 74-year-old transgender woman underwent a milestone sex reassignment surgery she'd sought for decades. "Here I am, finally, after all these years," she said. "It happened." Her operation will be one of the first paid for by Medicare after she won a challenge in May to end the government insurance program's ban on covering such procedures for transgender individuals. Mallon's victory opened the door for other seniors to access this care and may influence...

FULL TITLE: Christian parents accused of 'cruelty' in their 17-year-old transgender daughter's suicide note REFUSE to accept her female identity - but insist they loved 'him' The mother of a transgender teen who killed herself over the holiday season is speaking out, and making it clear she did not and does not approve of what she believes was her daughter's choice to be transgender. Carla Alcorn of Kings Mills, Ohio said in an interview that she and her husband did not 'support' their daughter Leelah Alcorn, while also refusing to acknowledge her daughter's sex, using male pronouns and referring to...

When Ohio teenager Josh Alcorn told his parents he wanted to live as a girl, that he felt trapped in his own body, his parents said they wouldn’t stand for that. “We don’t support that, religiously,” his mother told CNN Wednesday, her voice breaking. “But we told him that we loved him unconditionally. We loved him no matter what. I loved my son. People need to know that I loved him. He was a good kid, a good boy.” Crossing out the name “Josh,” the 17-year-old signed the name he wanted to be known as — “Leelah” — in a...

The suicide of a transgender teen is catching national attention in part because of a suicide note she left behind online. Leelah Alcorn, 17, of Kings Mills, Ohio, was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on I-71 about 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, according to local media. Posthumous posts started to appear on her Tumblr page, titled “Lazer Princess,” including her suicide note and a post apologizing to her closest friends. “My death needs to mean something,” she wrote. “My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look...

When I was 14, I learned what transgender meant and cried of happiness. After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn't make mistakes, that I am wrong. If you are reading this, parents, please don't tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don't ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won't do anything but make them hate them self....

In a survey of the “Craziest Politicians of 2014,” GQ had difficulty locating any Democrats. Seventeen out of 20 on the list were Republicans, with the only liberals being Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson and America’s reigning nabob of nuttiness, Joe Biden. In a note appended to the story, GQ defensively said it wasn’t guilty of “standard liberal-media bias,” it just couldn’t find any loony Democrats to speak of. Let’s give GQ a little help, shall we? Here are 16 more Democrats to the list of the most cra-cra political figures.

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday that it would scrap a decades-old lifetime prohibition on blood donation by gay and bisexual men, a change that experts said was long overdue and could lift the annual blood supply by as much as 4 percent. The F.D.A. enacted the ban in 1983, early in the AIDS epidemic. At the time, little was known about the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes the disease, and there was no quick test to determine whether somebody had it. But science — and the understanding of H.I.V. in particular — has advanced in the intervening...

Coal miners and gay activists — two groups that, in 1980s England at least, you might have figured would steer clear of each other — partner surprisingly effectively in the real-life story that's affectionately fictionalized in Pride.....

December 19, 2014 JUDICIAL NOMINATIONS Recent Judicial Confirmations Put Obama Ahead of Predecessors This week, the Senate confirmed a dozen judicial nominees before the end of the “lame duck” session, reports Jennifer Bendery at The Huffington Post. “That puts Obama at a whopping 89 district court and circuit court confirmations for the year, and means he'll wrap up his sixth year in office with a grand total of 305 district court and circuit court confirmations -- a tally that puts him well beyond where his predecessors were by this point in their presidencies.” Many of these new judges will add...

America's Christophobes have been plenty busy lately. Maybe the Christmas season makes them especially nervous. A few weeks ago, Atlanta Fire Rescue Department Chief Kelvin Cochran was suspended for a month without pay for the unforgivable sin of self-publishing a Christian book in which he expressed his disapproving views about homosexual behavior, among other things. City spokeswoman Anne Torres said: "We understand that (Cochran) was distributing the book to other employees. We are still not sure yet what the circumstances surrounding that are. ... The bottom line is that the (Mayor Kasim) Reed administration does not tolerate discrimination of any...

A decision Thursday by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will apply new restrictive anti-family pressure on nations wanting to host the Olympic Games. On December 8, the IOC unanimously approved a wide-ranging package of 40 recommendations, the Olympic Agenda 2020, that includes a rewording of its anti-discrimination Principle 6 clause to include a reference to "sexual orientation" as a protected category.Hosting the games, or ‘belonging to the Olympic movement’ as its styled by the IOC, “requires compliance with the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC." Thus, countries hoping to host Olympic Games in the future, such as the two...

I'm warning you right now, if you read the full text of the article I'm about to give you the scoop on, you WILL BE DUMBER for it. I know I am, and I feel like all of you clever and competent readers deserve to save yourselves. So if you continue to read this post or worse yet - the article that it's about - don't say I didn't warn you. I'm serious. Now's your chance to bail. Still with me? Ok. Then just sit back, and behold the twisted, psychotic, completely mental freakshow that is the radical feminist mind....

New government guidance has LGBT rights advocates "thrilled" In one short paragraph of a 34-page memo released on Dec. 1, the Department of Education articulated a clear stance on gender identity, saying transgender students in public schools should be enrolled in single-sex classes that align with how they live their lives day-to-day. “We’re thrilled,” says Shannon Minter, the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “It’s so critical to the health and well-being of those students, and it’s going to be so helpful to have that guidance in writing so that schools understand what their obligations are.” The...

AUSTIN A federal judge declined Friday to allow same-sex couples to immediately begin marrying in Texas. U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia said allowing same-sex marriages “would only be temporary, with confusion and doubt to follow,” because the issue is being reviewed by a federal appeals court that will hear oral arguments on the matter next month. Garcia ruled 10 months ago that the Texas marriage ban violated the U.S. Constitution’s promise of equal treatment under the law, but Garcia also issued a stay halting his decision from taking effect while Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed.

Writing for the Christian Post, Melissa Barnhart notes that, "The Rev. Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritans Purse, says the government's attacks against Christianity and bans on traditional Christmas themes while society glorifies sin is 'like little children shaking their fist at Almighty God.' 'What's happening is we're glorifying sin, we're lifting up sin. And it's like little children shaking their fist at Almighty God,' Graham told Fox News host Megyn Kelly during a Wednesday segment of 'The Kelly File.' Speaking about atheists and secularists' actions to ban celebrations of Christmas in schools and government...

U.S. pastor and pro-family activist Scott Lively The First Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed a lawsuit to proceed against U.S. pastor Scott Lively accusing him of “crimes against humanity” for his overseas activism opposing the homosexual agenda.The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages "to be determined at trial" and a declaration that he violated "the laws of nations" by speaking against homosexual “rights.”Pastor Scott Lively, who recently completed an unsuccessful bid for governor of Massachusetts, was sued in 2012 by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of "Sexual Minorities Uganda." The Ugandan homosexual activist group claims Lively’s speeches...

Hillary Clinton Wins Award From Gay Hookup App By Brianna Keilar December 11, 2014 Washington (CNN) -- Users of Grindr, the leading gay hookup app, have voted Hillary Clinton their "Straight Ally of the Year." The former secretary of state joins a slate of other noteworthy figures highlighted in Grindr's 'Best of Awards' for 2014, including Neil Patrick Harris (voted "Gay Icon of the Year" for the second year in a row) and Vladimir Putin (voted "Enemy of the LGBT Community"). While Clinton's team has not responded to request for comment, it seems likely she would welcome the positive reaction...

I was watching the Stand Up Video and honestly thought it was satire. It's not. It's got to be one of the worst, out of touch political things I've ever seen...You're uneasy watching it... UNTIL.....UNTIL I SAW THESE.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6h7kZLpWYA#t=88 https://www.youtube.com/embed/knBNX_evIOo (CHECK OUT the dude in the lower left hand corner with the goofy hat.) The Stand Up for Hillary is not going to get away without comments, as you can't leave any on youtube... FIRST OFF THE GUY IS CLEARLY NOT EVEN PLAYING LEGIT CHORDS ON THE GUITAR. HE OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T PLAY. Secondly, look at the eyes on close up....

The RAND Corporation has released initial results from a study that estimates the number of U.S. service members who experienced sexual assault, sexual harassment or gender discrimination in the past year. The Department of Defense selected RAND to conduct this congressionally mandated study. Approximately 170,000 service members, or 30 percent of the 560,000 invited, answered questions for the study, one of the largest of its kind. RAND researchers estimate that approximately 20,000 of the U.S. military's 1.3 million active-duty members experienced one or more sexual assaults in the past year, including assaults by other service members, civilians, spouses or others....