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Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka said that she and other members will picket Ledger’s United States memorial services, not those held in his native Australia. “You cannot live in defiance of God,” she said. “He got on that big screen with a big, fat message: God is a liar and it’s OK to be gay.” A press release circulated by the church references Leviticus 18:22 in the Bible, which states that “thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”

The campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are in sync not only on the geopolitical importance of Selma, Ala., but also on the issue of whether homosexuality is moral or not. This afternoon, the Obama campaign released the following statement: “As the New York Times reported today, I do not agree with General Pace that homosexuality is immoral. Attempts to divide people like this have consumed too much of our politics over the past six years.”

OLYMPIA, Wash. - An initiative filed by proponents of same-sex marriage would require heterosexual couples to have kids within three years or else have their marriage annulled. Initiative 957 was filed by the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance. That group was formed last summer after the state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on same-sex marriage. Related Content: Washington Defense of Marriage AllianceUnder the initiative, marriage would be limited to men and women who are able to have children. Couples would be required to prove they can have children in order to get a marriage license, and if they did not...

Faced with rising public acceptance of same-sex relationships, three U.S. Christian denominations are taking strong measures this week to condemn homosexual acts as sinful. [snip] The nation's Roman Catholic bishops, meeting in Baltimore... [snip] The largest Baptist group in North Carolina... [snip] And on Wednesday in Pittsburgh, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a mainline Protestant denomination with about 3 million members...

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in the first authorized biography of the Nobel peace laureate, said he was ashamed of his Anglican Church's conservative position that rejected gay priests. In the book "Rabble-Rouser for Peace," by his former press secretary, John Allen, Tutu also criticized the last apartheid president, F.W. de Klerk, for not accepting accountability for apartheid atrocities. He said the failure caused him to regret having nominated de Klerk, along with Nelson Mandela, for their 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. Excerpts from the book were scheduled to be appear in South Africa on Friday and the biography was scheduled for release...

The first openly gay Anglican bishop, Gene Robinson, has called for the Roman Catholic church's attitude to homosexuals to be confronted. The Bishop of New Hampshire said the Vatican's ban on ordaining gay men was "vile", in a speech in London. He received a standing ovation after his speech, in which he spoke of how he had faced prejudice in his role. Some Anglican conservatives had called for the St-Martin-in-the-Fields church venue to be changed to a secular one. Battle for soul of church Bishop Robinson said: "We are seeing so many Roman Catholics joining the church. "Pope Ratzinger may...

Looking at the wire story about the hearing on sexuality [at the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America taking place this week in Orlando] at the Boston Globe website, I took note of the revisionist script from several quoted. The key mood word to describe those that hold to 2,000 years of Christian teaching on sexuality is "fear." I have also noted the use of the family systems' buzz word "anxiety." This borders on dark humor but for the tragic seriousness with which revisionists offer their "cry of the heart." After all, it is a cry to...

“All pigs are created equal, except some pigs are more equal than others" wrote George Orwell in his classic “Animal Farm.” While it is always fun poking fun at Stalin being a pig, applying Owellian metaphors to American society will usually do nothing but get a person called “paranoid” by their friends, and a “ranting lunatic” by most others. However, when reality strikes you in the face and the preponderance of evidence is undeniable, the truth is the truth no matter how insane or impossible it may sound. The facts in America today are that homosexuals have been elevated to...

LOS ANGELES, September 27, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Democratic Presidential candidate, John Kerry, granted an exclusive interview to the national homosexual activist magazine, The Advocate, on September 16. In the preamble, Advocate writer Chris Bull describes Kerry as "an ardent gay rights supporter." "One of the original cosponsors of legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation," he continues, "Kerry has achieved a nearly unblemished voting record on the issue. In 1996 he was the only senator up for re-election to vote against the antigay Defense of Marriage Act. Three years earlier he went before the Senate Armed Services Committee to testify...

Opponents end their petition challenges by Eric Resnick Columbus--“The challenges are over. There’s nothing that will alter the fact that they will have sufficient signatures to put the amendment on the ballot,” said Alan Melamed, who heads Ohioans Protecting the Constitution’s campaign to defeat a marriage ban amendment. The proposed Ohio constitutional amendment, resulting from a petition drive, will be on the November ballot as Issue 1. It would ban same-sex marriages, civil unions and anything that “intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage.” Melamed said the decision not to file any new lawsuits to try...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Conservative Christian groups are urging a boycott of two of consumer product maker Procter & Gamble's key products, charging the company is aligning itself with gay rights groups, according to a published report. The New York Times said Friday that James Dobson of Focus on the Family and the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association are angry at P&G for a statement on the company's internal Web site opposing an anti-gay rights statute in its hometown of Cincinnati. The law exempts gays and lesbians from special civil rights protection. The two influential conservatives charge...

Museum on a mission to save local gay history Collection shows long fight to gain rights in Houston By ALLAN TURNER Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle HOUSTON'S GLBT MUSEUM Long after the odor faded, the memory lingers. In a dimly lit, nighttime alley, a lone man rummaged through a giant trash bin, heaving bag after garbage bag to the pavement. He could have been a homeless man digging for a meal. But this intrepid anonymous raider of the greasy Dumpster was a guerrilla of history. His mission: to save from an ignoble burial in a city landfill the documents of a...

SUMMARY: The Democratic National Committee (DNC) claims this year's party platform is the most inclusive in American history on issues important to the GLBT community. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) claims this year's party platform is the most inclusive in American history on issues important to the GLBT community. The DNC's Platform Committee finished the platform on Saturday. Among the issues included are: Protections for GLBT families; Legislation barring workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation; Opening the armed services to all Americans; Fighting HIV/AIDS with community-based prevention programs that President Bush has cut; Protecting GLBT Americans from hate crimes; and,...

Are people born as homosexuals? What does the Bible say about homosexuality? These are just two of the questions debated by three local clergy members Tuesday morning on Open Line, a program of KXRA-Radio. "As a pastor, I am convinced that the church should not make a decision based on science," stated John Beem, a retired Evangelical Lutheran Church of America bishop, who now belongs to Calvary Lutheran Church in Alexandria. Beem noted that in a study done in 1991, it was discovered that there is an extra part of the brain that is larger than other parts, which helps...

<p>MARSHALL, Texas (AP) -- Victims of a former Lutheran minister who sexually molested boys won a jury award of nearly $37 million Thursday, bringing the total payout in the case to about $69 million.</p> <p>The case is the most serious to hit the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which has about 5 million members, and has drawn comparisons to the worst abuses committed during the Roman Catholic molestation crisis.</p>

QUEERLY BELOVEDD.A.: I'll arrest same-sex weddersSays homosexuals purporting to be 'married' committing frauds Posted: March 4, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com A district attorney running for Pennsylvania attorney general is vowing to arrest anyone associated with same-sex weddings. "There should be no Rosie O'Donnell weddings in Pennsylvania, and there won't be if I'm the attorney general," Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor Jr. told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Even though same-sex marriages are currently illegal in the Keystone State and there haven't been any homosexual couples forthcoming to seek a marriage license, Castor issued a letter to the local reigster of wills...

A homosexual advocacy group rejects the notion that judges are "over-reaching" when they uphold "equal rights" for gays and lesbians. Lambda Legal said it plans to announce an "aggressive national campaign" on Tuesday -- "to reveal the truth behind anti-gay rhetoric about 'activist judges.'" Lambda Legal said its campaign will counter the claims of "right-wingers" who say "'activist judges' are overreaching by ruling in favor of equal rights for gay Americans." Lambda Legal said its campaign will begin on Wednesday -- the same day a U.S. Senate subcommittee begins hearings on a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union...

<p>March 1, 2004 -- Hundreds of protesters descended on City Hall yesterday to demand that Mayor Bloomberg allow the city clerk to perform same-sex marriages.</p> <p>"In a city of tolerance, diversity and unity, it is past time that Mayor Bloomberg give the basic, fundamental civil right of marriage to same-sex couples," said City Council Speaker Gifford Miller (D-Manhattan).</p>

They refused the Attorney General's request that they issue an injunction preventing further gay marriages to be conducted in San Francisco.

<p>When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples this month, many in the gay rights movement nationwide cheered.</p> <p>But in Massachusetts, the sudden act of civil disobedience is setting off deep concern among some leading gay advocates, who worry the move could undercut the push for same-sex marriage here.</p>

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom touched off a defiant outburst of matrimony 10 days ago when he decided his city would issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. These marriages -- now more than 3,000 -- are also one of the most flagrant acts of mass civil disobedience in recent years. The freedom-to-marry movement has long grounded its cause in the rhetoric and precedents of the American civil rights movement. As she began her arguments for gay marriage before the Vermont Supreme Court in 1998, lawyer Beth Robinson cited a landmark case from 1948, when the California Supreme Court...

What "Gay" Marriage Will Mean for our Children By Linda P. Harvey Column originally published on WorldNetDaily.com, July 19, 2003 © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com "Same sex marriage? It doesn't bother me!" In many circles, this is the prevailing sentiment regarding the possible legalization of same-sex relationships as "marriages" in the U.S. If the Supreme Court in the state of Massachusetts rules in favor of the homosexual couples who have sued for marriage rights, then other states will most likely be forced to recognize these couplings as marriages under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution. There's just one...

<p>Washington -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned up the rhetoric against San Francisco's move to allow same-sex marriages, saying on national TV Sunday that he fears outbreaks of serious civil unrest if the ceremonies continue at City Hall.</p> <p>Schwarzenegger said on NBC's "Meet the Press'' that he fears worsening protests about the divisive issue and worries the situation could get out of hand if courts don't quickly stop the marriages, which are being performed in defiance of existing state law.</p>

Thursday February 19, 4:27 PMGay couples queue to wed in San Francisco as Bush weighs in against them Scores of gay couples married in San Francisco as US President George W. Bush said he was "troubled" by the same-sex marriages, which have won a legal respite.Bush said he was following the situation "very carefully," after more than 2,600 homosexual marriages were sanctioned by the city during the past six days.The president, who has warned several times that he may seek or endorse a constitutional amendment making such unions illegal, told reporters at the White House that "these events are influencing...

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites) said Wednesday he was "troubled" by gay weddings in San Francisco and by legal decisions in Massachusetts that could clear the way for same-sex marriage. But he declined to say whether he is any closer to backing a constitutional ban on such vows. "I have watched carefully what's happening in San Francisco, where licenses were being issued, even though the law states otherwise," Bush said. "I have consistently stated that I'll support law to protect marriage between a man and a woman. Obviously these events are influencing my decision." "I am watching...

(CNSNews.com) - A Denver man is suing AT&T Broadband after he was fired for refusing to sign off on "tolerance" portions of the company's employee handbook that he felt violated his religious beliefs. The handbook contained a provision that "each person at AT&T Broadband is charged with the responsibility to fully recognize, respect and value the differences among all of us," including "sexual orientation." Albert Buonanno said his religious beliefs prevented him from condoning or approving of homosexuality. Attorneys for the Rutherford Institute are presenting testimony in federal court in Washington on behalf of Buonanno, who worked as a quota...

Recent developments on both U.S. coasts have pushed the issue of marriage between two people of the same sex into American headlines. Authorities in San Francisco have officially married hundreds of gay and lesbian couples since Thursday. At the same time, lawmakers in Massachusetts failed to agree on an amendment to the state constitution that would have defined marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman. Drivers honking their support added to the party atmosphere in front of San Francisco's City Hall - where for the past few days, hundreds of same-sex couples have waited in line...

Queer Eye For the Straight Guy Airs: Tuesdays 10:00 PM (Bravo) Air Times Vary 1:00 AM (NBC) Premiere Date: 07/15/2003 Premise: Five fabulous gay men, experts in the fields of fashion, food and wine, interior design, grooming and culture, are unleashed upon a straight guy whose friends or loved ones believe he needs a lifestyle upgrade. The guy is outfitted in new clothes, gets his home renovated and receives tips on other aspects of living well. Show Background: The show debuted July 15 to an audience of 1.6 million viewers, a huge improvement over what Bravo previously drew in its...

Pols may OK civil union in gay ban By Elisabeth J. Beardsley Tuesday, February 10, 2004 Hoping to break a gay marriage standoff at the State House, Senate leaders are trying to hammer out a compromise that would ban same-sex marriage but guarantee Vermont-style civil unions. Worried that a ban on gay marriage would also deny gay couples legal benefits, senators met behind closed doors yesterday to hammer out a deal allowing for civil benefits. The proposed deal, which would make full civil union rights a part of the state constitution, is meant to make the vote more palatable for...

Gays' great game plan leads to political correctness gone amok By Joe Fitzgerald Recent Columns by Joe Fitzgerald Monday, February 9, 2004 As homosexual activists reveled in the victory that was theirs last week, the sanctioning of their aberrance by the state's highest court, even the most militant among them must have marveled over the ease of their triumph. It began with a plea for tolerance, remember? All they asked for was acceptance, which is different from approval, and who but a hatemonger could be against that? So how did we get from that point to where we are now,...

QUEERLY BELOVED'Freedom to Marry Week' celebratedHomosexual activists 'raise awareness' about same-sex marriage Posted: February 10, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Homosexual and lesbian activists have kicked off "Freedom to Marry Week," hoping to use events planned across the nation to build support for legalizing same-sex marriage. "Once again, as they have for the last six years, same sex couples and our non-gay allies will organize events to help our neighbors see the value of full equality under the law," said Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, in a statement. "The gay and non-gay people taking part in Freedom to...

<p>Opponents of gay marriage stepped up their rhetoric yesterday, warning state lawmakers that Massachusetts will soon see the legalization of marriages with multiple spouses if they do not overturn the Supreme Judicial Court's ruling allowing same-sex marriages. "I think once you cross this bridge, this is a bridge gone too far," said Tony Perkins, who heads the Washington-based Family Research Council. "I think there's no turning back the clock."</p>

Edward Cardinal Egan railed yesterday against gay-marriage supporters, Hollywood honchos and even Britney Spears for "desecrating" marriage and destroying "something sacred and holy." Pulling no punches, Egan said the specter of legal gay marriage would have a devastating effect on traditional values already eroded by an R-rated pop culture that includes sleazy reality TV shows. "History assured us that no civilization can survive if marriage is rejected, humiliated - if marriage is set aside," he told hundreds of worshipers at St. Patrick's Cathedral on World Marriage Day. The cardinal said traditional marriage should be preserved and protected at all costs....

The Arlington Group -- a coalition of more than 20 pro-family groups -- is welcoming the president's commitment to support a federal marriage amendment. But they plan to remain vigilant to ensure he makes good on the promise. A list of those organizations that make up the Arlington Group reads like a "Who's Who" of pro-family groups -- Focus on the Family, Family Research Council, American Family Association, Coral Ridge Ministries. Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, American Values, Traditional Values Coalition, Faith2Action, Bott Radio Network, and many more. Leaders from those organizations met with Bush Administration leaders...

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said just because Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage, that doesn't mean other states will have to do the same thing. "Remember, we are talking about one state," Frank said in an interview on NBC's Today show Thursday. "If Massachusetts goes ahead with same-sex marriage, does this compel other states to do it? I don't think it should. I don't think it will," he added. Frank said the main question is this: Should the federal government step in and stop Massachusetts from doing something which is being done according to Massachusetts rules?" Frank said...