Free Republic

Is opposition to gay ‘marriage’ about warding off a public threat, or policing private morality? Is it about imposing religiously-derived categories onto a secular public, or protecting our way of life? ...I fall into the category of what would probably be considered an “anti-gay activist” since I have been very involved in both Britain and the United States campaigning against the promotion of homosexuality in the schools and, more recently, same-sex ‘marriage.’ But perhaps these efforts are misplaced. Does the gay agenda really threaten marriage? Is homosexuality really a political issue, or just a question of private morality? These were...

My nephew and his squeeze are talking marriage. They've been childhood sweethearts since 6th grade - they're now both 21. He wants a 'prenup', a prenuptial agreement, and she's never heard of such a thing. Should they have one? Some background: they are each others best friend and confidant. When he left his grandfather's house after high school graduation to be more independent and encountered roughened circumstances, she supported him while she worked at WalMart, and together they became partners in a business that failed. Nephew moved back home while she went to school. But that's not all - her...

NOM says IRS illegally leaked donor info...

CARSON, NV - Thelma Kessler is 86, her husband Stanley, 87. They've been married for 36 years, but now in the sunset of their lives they are allowed to see each other for just one hour a week and a court order gives others the power to file for their divorce. Thelma no longer has control of her husband's life. That's responsibility now rests with Carson City Public Guardian Debi Marzoline. After a series of court hearings, Stanley was removed from their home and put in a nursing home. There was an allegation Thelma was starving him and she was...

Fifty-three percent of Americans say the law should recognize same-sex marriages, the third consecutive reading of 50% or above in Gallup polling over the past year. The 53% in favor ties the high to this point, also measured last November and in May 2011. Gallup's May 2-7 poll suggests Americans' support for gay marriage is solidifying above the majority level. Recently, Rhode Island and Delaware legalized same-sex marriage, and Minnesota is likely to follow suit. That would bring the total number of states legally recognizing same-sex marriage to 12. Just three years ago, support for gay marriage was 44%. The...

I have often heard it said that our Lord did not care overmuch about sins of the flesh; for He was relentless in his attacks upon hypocrisy, pride, and avarice, but was so mild towards adulterers and fornicators that we might, extrapolating from that mildness, so far dispense Christians from the strictures of the sixth commandment as to ignore their sins, nay, even to make a virtue of them, so long as they commit them with sufficient sweetness and affection.That interpretation cannot be supported by any commonsense reading of His words.When the Pharisees, “tempting Him,” asked Him whether it was...

Marriage and the Church Someone quipped, "The world is moving so fast these days that the one who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it." I thought rather cynically about this quote as I listened to the Supreme Court argue over the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Just a decade and a half ago, this legislation was signed into law, defining marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman. DOMA came as a safeguard against individual states redefining marriage and forcing the federal government (the whole nation!) to treat same-sex...

We can do better than this. Minnesota needs us to do better than this. People's approaches to conflict resolution range from fighting with guns and weapons to litigation -- a more civilized but still extremely adversarial process, all the way to collaborative approaches like mediation. Minnesota lawmakers require all parties to a lawsuit to attempt to resolve their conflicts through alternative dispute resolution before being allowed to duke it out in a courtroom. The Legislature needs to take its own advice before they go to the extreme measure of redefining marriage for all Minnesotans tomorrow. The great intensity of the...

Woman refuses judge’s suggestion to marry man in consensual sex case Duo admit to having sex outside of marriage Dubai: A woman startled a judge on Tuesday when she refused to marry a worker, with whom she is accused of having consensual sex, in order to be granted a suspended prison sentence. The suspects, a Filipina and the Pakistani worker, pleaded guilty when they appeared before the Dubai Misdemeanour Court on Tuesday. “In an obvious attempt to convince the defendants to get married and obtain a lenient judgment, the judge asked the worker: “Are you willing to marry her?” “I...

It’s now official. The Vikings have cut punter Chris Kluwe. The 31-year-old was given the news Monday morning at Winter Park during a meeting with General Manager Rick Spielman. (snip) Kluwe’s release will not come without some controversy. The veteran punter has raised his profile in recent years by speaking out on political and social issues, most notably taking a firm stance in support of gay marriage and gay rights.

Forget about having it all, or not having it all, leaning in or leaning out — here’s what you really need to know that nobody is telling you. For years (decades, really) we have been bombarded with advice on professional advancement, breaking through that glass ceiling and achieving work-life balance. We can figure that out — we are Princeton women. If anyone can overcome professional obstacles, it will be our brilliant, resourceful, very well-educated selves. A few weeks ago, I attended the Women and Leadership conference on campus that featured a conversation between President Shirley Tilghman and Wilson School professor...

It was reported the other day on an inside page of the Pioneer Press, and without nearly enough fanfare, that more than six out of 10 women who give birth in their early 20s are unmarried. That is census data, from census demographers, from the very government that then becomes responsible for many, if not most, of those unmarried women and children. If that isn't an astonishing statistic, it should be. Why, to any logical person's way of thinking, it explains everything in terms of government at all levels bloating out of control. Supposing that even angels might fear to...

You just have to shake your head at some liberals who think that having a baby is like catching a disease. Mitt Romney gave the commencement address at Southern Virginia University, a largely Mormon school, where he told the grads to marry young and have children. He quoted Psalms 127: Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in...

The issue of "who's minding the kids" is now taking back seat to "who is having the kids." The just-released Census Bureau Report, "Social and Economic Characteristics of Currently Unmarried Women With a Recent Birth, 2011," (SECCUM) describes for the first time the demographic details of non-marital childbearing -- and it is not a pretty picture. The report reveals dramatic increases in non-marital births and is the first Census Bureau report showing the relationship of non-marital births to geographic variations and educational attainment. It is depressing yet unsurprising that with median age of women at first marriage approaching 27 years...

Some philosophers have promoted the idea that it is impossible for human beings to invent new sins. Any "new" sin that may seem shocking to you, is a sin that was practiced in ancient civilizations that have gone before us. In order for a nation or civilization to be strong, families must be strong. When families die, civilizations die along with them. I refer you to this quote from this website http://constitutionschool.com/2012/09/27/first-time-ever-majority-of-american-households-unmarried/ "For the first time, households made up of married couples with and without children dropped below 50 percent of all households, Jacobsen noted. At the peak in 1960,...

Patti Davis, Ronald Reagan's daughter, recently speculated on where her father might stand on same-sex marriage. Politico published her thoughts under the headline, "Patti Davis says Reagan wouldn't have opposed gay marriage." The impact of the article was immediate. A quick Google search yielded multiple follow-up articles and blog posts. Liberals nationwide were off and running with a new same-sex marriage endorsement: this one from Reagan, the conservative's conservative. This is not the first time liberals have rushed to recast Reagan according to their policy preferences. Immediately after his death in June 2004, he was trotted out as a poster-boy...

The five common mistakes can drive even the greatest of great husbands away.There is nothing more beautiful than two people journeying through life together! As women, we can place a lot of emphasis on getting married but not enough on staying married. Here are five common mistakes that women make in marriage that you should be sure to avoid: 1. Nagging. Being nagged by their wives has become so common in marriage that it's become almost expected by men! As a wife, I can say that saddens me especially since nagging is so completely unnecessary! Do not allow yourself to...

A new trend has some couples turning to lawyers to help save their relationships. “I promise you that I am going to be making sure that you’re having more fun, more dates, and more time of mine,” Gregg Sullivan told his wife, Toni Mantus. But unlike many of the promises made during a relationship, this one is part of a written contract. The couple told CBS 2′s Dick Brennan that, with the help of an attorney, they have put everything in writing, including how often they have sex.

The Texas Constitution bans the city of Austin, Travis County and area school districts from offering domestic partner benefits to employees in same-sex relationships, according to a legal opinion released Monday by Attorney General Greg Abbott. Domestic partnerships, as recognized by the local governments, are close enough to the definition of marriage to violate a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions that 76 percent of Texas voters approved in 2005, the opinion stated.

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Revolutions are often sparked by an unexpected shock to an already-weakened regime. As commentators in France remark not only on the crisis engulfing François Hollande’s government but also on the apparent death rattle of the country’s entire political system, it could be that his flagship policy of legalizing gay marriage—or rather, the gigantic public reaction against it, unique in Europe—will be the last straw that breaks the Fifth Republic’s back. … (T)he deeper explanation for the strength of feeling lies in the fact that, in French law, marriage is indissociable from the right to start a family. There is currently...

A 2012 speech by Masha Gessen, an author and outspoken activist for the LGBT community, is just now going viral and it includes a theory that many supporters of traditional marriage have speculated about for years: The push for gay marriage has less to do with the right to marry – it is about diminishing and eventually destroying the institution of marriage and redefining the “traditional family.”

Among various unwanted truths that grown-ups of the Western world have to contend with these days, here’s one that doesn’t get nearly the traction it deserves: The days of the modern welfare state look to be numbered. Yet it’s true. Even the most redistributive president in history can’t change the laws of arithmetic. As can be seen most recently in Jonathan V. Last’s book What to Expect When No One’s Expecting, the song of demographic unsustainability remains the same on both sides of the Atlantic. From Nicosia to Athens, London to Washington, D.C., the benefits promised to seniors and others...

Two years ago, I was one of two legislative Republicans to stand up and speak out against the marriage amendment, which sought to constitutionally define marriage as between one man and one woman. My reasoning was simple: I do not believe government should dictate with whom an adult should live and love, nor is it government's duty to define what marriage means to an individual. Gay rights supporters lauded my stand. They blasted the Legislature -- rightfully so -- for wasting time on an issue that ordered government to define and accept a religious activity. Now with the "freedom to...

While the equality treadmill under most of our feet is moving at a high rate of speed, I would imagine this journey is not traveling fast enough for many Americans whose lives are directly impacted by the possibility of change. Consider tennis hall of famer Billie Jean King, who was outed in 1981 when her relationship with another woman became public, and Greg Louganis, the four-time Olympic gold medal-winning American diver, who came out some seven years after King. With more than 55 years combined of public scrutiny of their sexuality, the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),...

PARIS (AP) — French lawmakers have legalized same-sex marriage after months of bruising debate and street protests that brought hundreds of thousands to Paris. Tuesday's 331-225 vote came in the Socialist majority National Assembly. France's justice minister, Christiane Taubira, said the first weddings could be as soon as June. Opponents of the law say France is not ready to legalize adoption for same-sex couples, and polls show a France sharply divided on the issue. Thousands of police mobilized ahead of the vote, preparing for dueling protests around the National Assembly building and along the Seine River. At least one spectator...

Every discussion of gay marriage should begin with a recognition of its historical radicalness, its exceptionality. Heterosexual marriage has been the fundamental unit of human sociability for thousands of years, a common thread running through otherwise disjunctive cultures and wide-ranging ethnic diversity. Wherever one lands on the issue of same-sex marriage, there can be no gainsaying its extraordinariness. It’s also clear that same-sex marriage is a culmination of a long-brewing development, an unspooling of essential modern premises. The relentless logic of modernity is unrestrained individuality, the lonesome sovereignty of the singular person. The pith of matrimony is natural gregariousness, our...

A group of at least 14,900 French mayors has said it will not perform “gay marriages,” even if the government moves ahead with plans to legalize the practice. The administration of French President Francois Hollande has put forth a measure that would legalize “gay marriage,” allow gay couples to receive medical treatment for artificial procreation and to adopt children. “It is foolish to think that the mobilization of the elected mayors would stop if the law is passed,” said Franck Meyer, spokesman for the association Mayors for Children. “As citizens, we elected officials will not give up,” he emphasized in...

Unfortunately, in our ever-”progressive” culture, being Christian has fast become a most dangerous proposition. As each homofascist demand is checked from liberals’ sin-centric wish list, it only gets worse.

Mr. O’Reilly, You consistently challenge your guests to “tell me where I am wrong”. Well, you are wrong on the homosexual marriage issue in a number of areas.

Liberals constantly decry conservatives’ slippery slope arguments against their progressive legislation as simply red herrings. Their refrain is usually “Don’t be absurd, no one’s trying to do _____ (insert the relevant slippery slope argument here).” They suggest that such an argument is mere hyperbole and conservatives are introducing ideas no one wants. As usual, the liberals are wrong on both scores. History provides a rich trove of liberal camel noses leading to a tents full of camels. The most famous of course is the income tax. In 1913 when the income tax was established, the top rates began at 1%...

The Republican National Committee voted unanimously Friday to reaffirm the party's view that marriage should strictly be the union of one man and one woman, rebuffing its chairman's call for the party to be more tolerant on social issues. Less than a month ago, National Chairman Reince Priebus released a 98-page document that appraised his party's political liabilities in an attempt to re-brand the party and attract voters following last November's election setbacks. However, the RNC's resolved to uphold its stance on marriage, declaring that the union between a man and a woman is “the optimum environment in which to...

Members of the Republican National Committee will gather in Los Angeles on Friday for their spring meeting and vote on a resolution to continue their opposition to same-sex marriage. The resolution is expected to pass by an overwhelming majority, according to Politico. Although the conservative party has seen some dissidents, predominant GOP leaders still believe that marriage should be defined as being between one man and one woman. A copy of the "Resolution for Marriage and Children 2013" bears a striking similarity to the 2012 Republican Party's platform regarding same-sex marriage. The resolution states that, among other things, "the Republican...

Dear Marriage Supporter, Third grade classrooms having pretend same-sex weddings… textbooks featuring pictures of cross-dressing carpenters… children being taught that there are "six genders." "If same-sex marriage is passed in your state, your children—your grandchildren—will be exposed to the same kind of instruction." That's what educator and marriage supporter Phil Lees says in our latest Marriage ADA interview. He worked for years in the public education system in Ontario, Canada, and saw first-hand—only one year after same-sex marriage was legalized in 2005—18 school boards in Ontario instituting school curricula that affirmed and promoted LGBT "values," including same-sex marriage. Click here...

PARIS, April 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Ignoring fierce protests that have attracted up to 1.4 million demonstrators in favor of the traditional family, the French Senate voted on Wednesday to approve legislation permitting homosexual couples to adopt children, following its decision Tuesday to approve the creation of "homosexual marriage," according to reports in the local media. The so-called Taubira Law, named after the bill's author, Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, will soon pass back to the nation's lower legislative house, the National Assembly, to receive a second vote before it becomes law. Legislators from the more conservative Union for a Popular...

PARIS, April 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - According to the organization Mayors for Children, approximately 14,900 French mayors will refuse to celebrate "marriages" between couples of the same sex. More than 20,000 mayors and assistant mayors have signed a petition stating, "I am opposed to the bill that opens marriage and the adoption of children by two people of the same sex." "Mayors for Children" A survey conducted by the French polling agency IFOP offers confirmation of the startling figures, estimating that 52 percent of the country's mayors are opposed to the bill. In France, mayors conduct civil marriage ceremonies or...

“We did not come to ask for mercy from nature,” Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin, the Lysenko of Soviet agriculture, once declared. “We must wrest it from her.” Communist science was guided not by the journey from hypothesis to fact but by the dusty proclamations of Marxist theorists. Soviet scientists were expected to reject capitalist science and formulate a science that matched the Communist worldview. The Communist worldview insisted that every living creature could be completely transformed into anything. It rejected natural selection as having a competitive capitalist bent that suspiciously resembled a biological version of free market competition. And pseudo-scientists like...

Uruguayan lawmakers voted to legalize gay marriage, making the South American country the third in the Americas to do so. Supporters of the law, who had filled the public seats in the legislative building, erupted in celebration Wednesday when the results were announced. The bill received the backing of 71 of the 92 members of the Chamber of Deputies present. "We are living a historic moment," said Federico Grana, a leader of the Black Sheep Collective, a gay rights group that drafted the proposal. "In terms of the steps needed, we calculate that the first gay couples should be getting...

The Attorney General of Washington has filed suit against a florist who refused to provide an arrangement for a gay wedding, saying that doing so is in violation of the Consumer Protection Act...

Nobody knows how the Supreme Court will ultimately rule on the two cases concerning so-called same-sex “marriage,” the California Proposition 8 case and the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) case, on which the high court recently heard two days of testimony. However, some of the comments made by several justices in the course of the hearings on these two cases point to at least one possible way, dismaying to contemplate, in which the court might well invalidate DOMA in particular, in spite of what would seem to be the unassailable truth it represents in affirming that a true marriage must...

Curse you, Adam Corolla! As my faithful readers know (thank you, both of you!) I generally only weigh in on topics where I can find an angle that somebody smarter than me hasn't already written. This is another one of those ideas that I'd been kicking around for a while but never got around to writing, and Mr. Corolla beat me to the punch. In a recent podcast he pointed out that Gay Marriage is hardly an end point to the debate: "It'll be legalized, hopefully, and then you'll think we'll be done with it, and then they'll say, 'we want to...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Gay infertility. It is... (chuckles) It's about mandated insurance coverage for the inability to have babies. I know you're scratching your head. "Wait, wait, wait. There's no such thing as 'gay infertility.'" Oh, yes, there is now. The language doesn't mean anything anymore, folks. Truth doesn't mean anything anymore. Language doesn't mean anything. So if a bunch of activists want to create the concept of "gay infertility" and then tax all the rest of us to compensate them for the fact that they can't have babies, then that's gonna happen. You haven't missed anything yet. I'm just...

Moonbattery: "Stick that in your pipe, Bill O’Reilly. You really can defend the Institution of Marriage without resorting to “Bible thumping.� Attack of the 50Ft Hairdresser - Intellectual Froglegs #25 CLICK HERE

Before America embarks on changing the concept of marriage, I hope they will at least agree on examining cultures that do not define marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman. In their eagerness to achieve their goals, the pro gay marriage enthusiasts are marching towards what they perceive as progress and modernity while ignoring lessons from other cultures, history, basic human nature and the horrific and negative unintended consequences of redefining "marriage". Islam's definition of marriage is one man and up to four women where loyalty in the marriage is required only from the woman towards the...

CINCINNATI — No one heckled Senator Rob Portman during his first appearance before thousands of Ohioans since becoming the most prominent elected Republican in the country to endorse same-sex marriage. “Wouldn’t you say,” he said, turning to his wife, Jane, after marching in an opening day parade for the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, “that most of the comments were thank yous and thumbs up and ‘You did the right thing’?” True, but for some of the Ohioans who acknowledged Mr. Portman, doubts flickered below the surface. “Senator!” said one spectator, Pete Kidnocker, reaching out to shake Mr. Portman’s hand. But...

In the mid-seventies, Susan A. Patton was among the "200 pioneer women" to join Princeton University's previously all-male student body. As president of her alumni class, she recently attended an Anne-Marie Slaughter–endorsed "Women and Leadership" event that "allowed current undergraduate women to speak informally with older and presumably wiser alumnae." But the "girls" in attendance "glazed over" discussing careerism, she found. So today she wrote an open letter to The Daily Princetonian telling "the daughters I never had" what she wished she'd said: Forget about having it all, or not having it all, leaning in or leaning out ... Here’s...

It's no secret that marriage has been in decline in America, but most people don't realize how quickly it has been crumbling. The numbers are staggering and the sea change in attitude that has gone along with them would shock previous generations of Americans. "In 1960, two-thirds (68%) of all twenty-somethings were married. In 2008, just 26% were." "To get a sense of how different attitudes were in the 1960s, perhaps this will do it. (M)arried women were asked, ‘In your opinion, do you think it is all right for a woman to have sexual relations before marriage with a...

MSNBC’s blatant promotion of gay marriage appears to have taken a bizarre and sad turn. Krystal Ball, co-host of The Cycle, has taken to using her four-year-old daughter Ella as a prop in a pro-same-sex marriage video. In the 3-minute video, Ball asks her young daughter a series of questions about who she is allowed to marry, eventually asking her what happens if she loves another girl. Ball’s daughter, who is clearly taking cues from her mom, says that because she lives in New York she can marry another girl if she loves her. [Video} Such blatant and disgusting use...

All-grown-up Jonathan Bower is ready to walk down the aisle! Former Who's the Boss child star Danny Pintauro is engaged to boyfriend Wil Tabares, he tells Us Weekly exclusively. The happy couple, who live and work in Las Vegas, headed to Palm Springs, Calif. earlier this week to celebrate their one-year anniversary together. Over a romantic dinner on Wednesday April 3, Tabares popped the question by playing a homemade video -- featuring a ring!

You know our political discourse has lost its moorings when it’s the Republicans who play that famous race card in defending one of their own. The person in need of defense is Dr. Ben Carson, a renowned Johns Hopkins surgeon. Carson happens to be black, Yale-educated — and conservative. After his impassioned criticism of President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast, many in the GOP thought they’d found their 2016 standard-bearer. But however brilliant, Carson has raised eyebrows since coming into the spotlight. Last week, he told Sean Hannity, “Marriage is between a man and a woman. No group, be...