Free Republic

On October 10th and 11th, thousands of students, service members, and others will converge in Washington to fight for equal rights. The demand is simple: we want equal protection for LGBT people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. This issue is of particular importance for our generation. This is our civil rights movement – we see the issue of LGBT equality as a part of a much larger struggle for social justice. However, there is no singular leader for this movement. We have no Martin Luther King, no Rosa Parks, and no Susan B. Anthony....

Iowa at Disney encouraging gays to move to Hawkeye State October 2nd, 2009 by Eric Carpenter Figuring that plenty of gay couples in California are frustrated by the inability to get legally married here, representatives from Iowa have set up a booth at Gay Days at the Disneyland Resort encouraging them to consider moving to the Hawkeye State. Iowa is one of four states nationwide that allow gay marriages. That state’s Supreme Court made the decision earlier this year. Two representatives for three regional visitors bureaus flew out for the three-day Gay Days, when 30,000 partipants roll into town to...

In the video I posted [http://www.thesacredpage.com/2009/10/jesus-teaching-on-marriage-video-for.html]for this Sunday readings, I mentioned that some ancient writers believed that the concession for divorce was made by Moses out of the desire to prevent wife-murder.[1] I want to explore yet another avenue which might help us further understand JesusÂ’ teaching here. Specifically, I want to highlight the fact that the so-called commandment for divorce is only found in Deuteronomy. Now, in his new volume, Meier has actually shown that the widespread acceptance of divorce in Second Judaism seemed to make more out of the Deuteronomic legislation than is actually there. Here I want...

A Dallas judge ruled Thursday that Texas' ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional as she cleared the way for two gay men to divorce, the Dallas Morning News reported. State District Judge Tena Callahan said the state’s bans on same-sex marriage violates the constitutional guarantee to equal protection under the law. While the Texas attorney general had stepped into the case to say that because a gay marriage isn’t recognized in Texas, a Texas court can’t dissolve one through divorce, Tena denied the intervention. The two Dallas men in the case married three years ago in Massachusetts, the first state...

The Maine Ethics Commission has overruled a staff recommendation, and okayed an investigation into fundraising groups that oppose Maine's gay marriage law. By a three-to-two vote the panel ruled there's sufficient evidence to warrant a close look at fundraising by the National Organization for Marriage, or NOM, which is a major contributor to the group Stand for Marriage Maine. Supporters of the same sex marriage law claim NOM is ignoring a Maine law that requires it to name its donors. But NOM says it asks for donations nationally without designating them for specific campaigns so it doesn't have to report...

Steve Schmidt, a top adviser to Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign, today laid out the case for gay marriage, warning that the GOP will continue to lose young voters and the Northeast as long the party opposes it. At a meeting in Washington of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights GOP group, Schmidt dismissed conservative arguments that allowing gay marriage would weaken the institution, as well as objections from religious conservatives, warning that they could turn the Republican Party into a "sectarian" party. "For the party to be seen as an antigay, that is injurious to its...

It's called the "Respect" for Marriage Act of 2009, but -- like most bills backed and driven by the far fringe of the Democratic party -- even the name is a lie. HR 3567, whatever you want to call it, is a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (which protects every state's right to recognize only marriage between one man and one woman.) Moreover, it provides federal recognition for any marriage recognized in any state. In short, it is the Last Big Push the gay rights lobby needs to achieve one of its most cherished goals -- nationwide...

Marta Torres was afraid of her husband, so much so that she moved from her home in Fort Myers to hide out with a friend in Ocala. But Elliott Torres found her, Marta told Ocala police on Aug. 23 when she stopped at the police department to alert them that she might be in danger.On Tuesday, police say, Elliott Torres confronted his estranged wife at her workplace in northeast Ocala, shot her to death and then turned the gun on himself.According to investigators, Marta was working at Davis Supply, Inc, 2300 N.E. 8th Road, when Elliott Torres approached her in...

AIPNews.com Report: On Friday, September 25, 2009, an LGBT organization filed paperwork with the California Attorney General's office to overturn Proposition 8 (Marriage Amendment) by presenting a new Amendment to the State Constitution for the people to vote on in the November 2010 election.This may be good news for the personhood movement because not only will the pro-life voters be out in force but so will the pro-marriage voters. It won't hurt for an already energized electorate to have additional reasons to show up at the polls. While some might say that the pro-abortion voters will be out in force...

AUGUSTA, Maine (BP)--The issue of "gay marriage" in public schools is now front and center in Maine, thanks to a new television ad paid for by a group opposed to redefining marriage. Stand For Marriage Maine launched the ad Sept. 23, spotlighting a Massachusetts couple whose son's second-grade class was read a book, "King & King," about a prince who "marries" another prince. The couple objected and requested notification of similar books in the future, but the school refused. The couple then sued in federal court and lost. The ad is at the heart of an effort to pass Question...

CBN.com – In my book Divorce Proofing Your Marriage, I expose ten common lies people embrace that eventually leads to divorce. This book confronts our thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions that influence how we behave and the choices we make. So if you want to strengthen your marriage or stop the slippery slide to divorce, first check your thoughts and ask, “Are my thoughts reflective of the secular culture or the Bible?” You may be surprised how far your thinking has strayed from the Bible's restorative theme. Here's a brief overview of the ten lies that can lead to divorce. Do...

On September 15, 2009, StandForMarriageMaine.com released a television ad which featured Scott Fitzgibbon, a professor at Boston College Law School, arguing in defense of marriage between one man and one woman.  He encouraged Maine voters to vote "yes" on an upcoming ballot referendum which aims to overturn state legislation which legalized homosexual "marriage" last May.Complaints from fellow faculty members at Boston College, a Jesuit-affiliated school, soon began piling up. Merely one day after the ad aired, Boston College Law Dean John Garvey issued a letter to the BC law community, writing, "Several of you have contacted my office to express...

WASHINGTON — A congressman from New York recently introduced a bill called the Respect for Marriage Act, winning support from an initial 90 co-sponsors. Advocates speak about the “immorality” of the situation the legislation seeks to address. But rather than seeking to protect the traditional definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman, the bill, H.R. 3567, would completely eliminate the Defense of Marriage Act, which allows states to define marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. In addition to repealing DOMA, the Respect for Marriage Act would require federal recognition of...

High-profile litigators Ted Olson (a Republican) and David Boies (a Democrat) famously squared off against each other in Bush v. Gore. They have now joined forces in a federal lawsuit challenging California’s definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman — a definition California voters added to their constitution after an activist state court struck down the statutory definition. Mr. Olson’s part in this odd-couple alliance is especially striking because he held senior positions in both the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, and because he is a longtime leader in the conservative Federalist Society, a...

Years ago, a family therapist was asked, “What are the top three causes of divorce?” to which he replied, “Selfishness, selfishness, selfishness!” Of course this is an oversimplification of the varied and many contributing factors to divorce but there is an element of truth in this statement that permeates each. At the core of all that ails the human race is selfishness: this innate love of self-self-worship-or pride. We alienate ourselves from one another when we elevate our desires, our opinions, and our feelings above others. We cheat and steal because we want, we lie and deceive because we give...

.....one thing I've been wrestling with a great deal the past few days is the issue of how married couples handle joint checking accounts, as apparently they do. My ignorance on this matter is due solely to that I've always been a Lone Wolf, and never had to deal with it before. I'm mystified as to how couples avoid mishaps. I have no idea what they did before I came into the world, but as long as I can remember, my own parents always had two checking accounts. In towns of circa 3,000 people, there are usually at least three...

To all FRWN Readers: Due to my having to rescue my oldest Daughter from an abusive marriage and all the legal matters and logistical matters that must be dealt with I have had to supend for now the FRWN threads. I anticipate being able to resume posting sometime during the first week of October. I hope you'll understand this action and will stay with FRWN when it returns.

The only thing worse than having a job is looking for a job. Much the same can be said about dating. Men too often put up with a lot of crap from women just to save having to start looking again. In our minds, that shouldn't be the case. The longer a man is in this situation, the more he will grow accustomed to the drudgery, leading him to stay in the relationship far longer than its expiration date. Whether you suspect that you’re in this situation or you know it for a fact, we’re here to introduce you to...

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) Washington D.C., Sep 16, 2009 / 03:34 am (CNA).- Charging that the traditional definition of marriage is “discriminatory,” U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has announced that he will reintroduce a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). One critic of the measure is warning that it will lead to discrimation against those who support marriage between a man and a woman.DOMA defines marriage for federal purposes and protects states that do not recognize same-sex “marriage” from being forced to do so. The Act was passed in 1996 by a vote in the U.S....

The sanctity of human life from the moment of conception throughout all of life up to and including a natural death is the only foundation our society will ever be able to stand upon if we hope to flourish as a truly free people. It’s quite obvious our foundation is crumbling. To repair it, we must go back to square one and correct our ideas about sex. Unless we give sexual intercourse its due reverence, we’ll never give human life its due reverence. The two can never be separated, as Pope Paul VI tried to tell the world in his...

Reality-show star Jon Gosselin did it. Country singer Shania Twain, whose “One” has become a wedding standard, wound up a victim of it. An endless parade of politicians have been caught doing it. And those are just the ones we know about. Adultery does happen. It always has and it always will. But I think we may have crossed a threshold. While watching the president of the United States declare that we can legislate away hardship during his health-care address to a joint session of Congress, I was lured away from my hyper-blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking analysis by a commercial for...

SAN FRANCISCO — Wah Cheong, a lifelong Republican and the soon-to-be divorced father of two teenage boys, sometimes surprises his co-workers and neighbors in a relatively conservative community outside San Francisco when he says he supports same-sex marriage. "Here is my situation," the 47-year-old chemical engineer tells them when the hot-button topic comes up. "If gays and lesbians were more accepted, I wouldn't have married a closeted lesbian."

When Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the mega-best seller "Eat, Pray, Love"—and the world's most lauded singleton since Jill Clayburgh in 1978's "An Unmarried Woman"—spoke at Washington's National Cathedral one Sunday last spring, more than 2,000 of Ms. Gilbert's, er, worshipers showed up at the shrine. The size of the crowd caused the cathedral's dean to observe wryly that he doesn't usually do that kind of business on Sundays. But a huge turnout was nothing new for Ms. Gilbert, a genuine phenomenon: "This has been going for three years," the Washington Post reported. Ms. Gilbert has customarily drawn such crowds...

http://ag.ca.gov/initiatives/activeindex.php?active=A 09-0026 Submitted for Title and Summary on September 01, 2009. "2010 California Marriage Protection Act." PDF link here: http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i823_initiative_09-0026.pdf SECTION 1. Title. This act shall be known as the "2010 California Marriage Protection Act." SECTION 2. Section 7.6 is added to Article I of the California Constitution to read: "No party to any marriage shall be restored to the state of an unmarried person during the lifetime of the other party unless the marriage is void or voidable, as set forth in Part 2 of Division 6 of the Family Code. Relevant section of the Family Code: http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/code/getcode.html?file=./fam/02001-03000/2210-2212 Website:...

Brothers and sisters in Christ! While walking to a church BBQ, I happened upon a lovely lady in an evening gown, walking with her mother. When we all got to reception, I asked if this was where we all get our name tags. We were told rather, that the suggested donation was $5. Behold, the lovely lady and her mother proceeded to look in their purses. As they did, I whipped out $20, and told reception that I would cover the ladies. They thanked me, and I moved on immediately to the food line. A minute later the lady and...

The Israeli government has launched a television and internet advertising campaign urging Israelis to inform on Jewish friends and relatives abroad who may be in danger of marrying non-Jews. The advertisements, employing what the Israeli media described as “scare tactics”, are designed to stop assimilation through intermarriage among young diaspora Jews by encouraging them to move to Israel. The campaign, which cost US$800,000 (Dh2.9 million), was created in response to reports that half of all Jews outside Israel marry non-Jews. It is just one of several initiatives by the

SHE’S 87, STILL KICKING, and almost certainly still dieting, and the old bird has earned herself a scholarly biography the hard way; if Helen Gurley Brown’s journey from the outhouses and tent revivals of the Ozarks into the cocktail parties and four-color closings of the Hearst Corporation can’t make a corker of a story, nothing can. Bad Girls Go Everywhere, by Jennifer Scanlon, a gender and women’s-studies professor at Bowdoin, is a comprehensive report on HGB theory, which is in a revisionist phase. It rejects the earlier view, long held by giants of the women’s movement such as Gloria Steinem,...

Forget "richer or poorer" - when Americans marry, they're decidedly looking for someone to show them the money. A recent survey by the Connecticut firm, Prince & Associates, showed that two-thirds of 1,134 people polled nationwide would marry an average-looking person they liked if they had money - and by money, they meant in the ballpark of $1.5 million. Survey respondents had incomes between $30,000 and $60,000, the national median. Russ Alan Prince, who studies the wealthy, explains the phenomenon simply: "People want to have the good life." "Most people get upset because it's politically incorrect - well, so is...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (BP)--Voters in Washington state this November apparently will get to decide whether to keep or overturn the state's same-sex "everything but marriage" law, which grants homosexual couples all the legal benefits of marriage and which conservatives warn will lead to the legalization of full-fledged "gay marriage" in the state.

LANCASTER, Pa. - A Pennsylvania man said he robbed a bank in 2007 to go to jail and get away from his overbearing wife. At a sentencing hearing Monday, 39-year-old Anthony Miller said he robbed a bank in Ephrata because he wanted to leave his then-wife but she had threatened to commit suicide if he did. Defense attorney Robert Beyer said Miller approached tellers with a BB gun, asked for money and told them to call the police. He said Miller even asked for updates on their efforts to reach authorities. Miller pleaded guilty in June. Lancaster County Judge Louis...

Dear Chairman Arthur: On behalf of the Archdiocese of Washington, I write to express support for the initiative that is being filed with the Board of Elections and Ethics today. This initiative would allow voters a voice in the process to ensure that marriage in the District of Columbia continues to be legally defined as it always has been: between a man and a woman. The Archdiocese of Washington includes 580,000 Catholics living in Washington, DC and neighboring Maryland counties. Catholic parishes, schools and ministries have been serving the needs of this area since before the District of Columbia was...

Washington's Secretary of State Sam Reed Seattle, Wash., Sep 2, 2009 / 06:55 am (CNA).- Preliminary, unofficial figures from the Washington state Elections Division shows that a sufficient number of signatures have been gathered to place on the ballot Referendum 71, a measure that would preserve the unique place of marriage by rescinding the state legislature’s expansion of homosexual domestic partnership benefits. Protect Marriage Washington, which is sponsoring the proposal, submitted nearly 138,000 signatures on July 25. State checkers of the signatures accepted 121,617 signatures. According to David Ammons, writing on the blog of the Washington Secretary of State’s...

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Expanded domestic partnerships for same-sex couples could face a public vote after Washington officials ruled that referendum sponsors have enough voter support to force a referendum on the November ballot. The new partnership law, nicknamed "everything but marriage" by its supporters, would broaden domestic partnerships by granting gay and lesbian couples all the remaining state-provided benefits that presently apply only to married heterosexual couples. After a month of counting petition signatures, the secretary of state's office said Monday that Referendum 71 had 121,617 valid voter signatures - more than a thousand more than needed to advance to...

Fifteen years ago, in his first book, Dead Right, David Frum identified several challenges facing Republicans. He cited the “fundamental contradiction” of William Weld, at the time governor of Massachusetts, who thought he could be a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. Frum recounted how this Republican blue-blood, unable to reconcile the two positions, evolved into a thoroughgoing liberal who pushed through huge budget increases, in much the same way that John Stuart Mill, who objected to the social conservatism of his day, ended up a socialist. Had this disconnect been limited to one governor in one state, Frum’s point...

New York City, N.Y., Aug 29, 2009 / 07:24 am (CNA).- The Thomas More Society of Chicago has filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the New York State Catholic Conference concerning whether N.Y. should recognize out-of-state same-sex "marriages" that have been contracted in states which recognize the practice.The Thomas More Society’s brief argues that recognition of such unions would undermine a natural and social institution and is not required by New York precedents governing the recognition of out-of-state marriages."A lower court said that New York state can recognize an out-of-state same-sex marriage, which does not make sense. A...

Divorce 892. Christ allowed divorce for one reason. He said, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, maketh her to commit adultery." Mt 5:32. Christ allowed permanent separation if adultery be committed, but He does not allow divorce and remarriage in the sense you intend. When He said, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery, etc.," the sense He intended was this, "Whosoever shall put away his wife (I am not speaking of mere separation without remarriage, for that is lawful in the case of fornication), but whosoever...

Matrimony 887. You include marriage among the Sacraments? Yes. Every valid marriage between baptized Christians constitutes the Sacrament of Matrimony. 888. Christ did not institute marriage. It existed long before His advent to this world. Prior to Christ it existed as a matrimonial contract, but Christ elevated it to the dignity of a Sacrament of the New Law. Christ therefore instituted matrimony as a Sacrament. He blessed marriage by His presence at Cana, and declared its indissolubility when He said, "What God has joined, let not man put asunder." Henceforth, what was formerly a union by human contract was to...

Shame can be a powerful punishment. Just ask the guy who had to stand at the corner of Leesburg Pike and International Drive in Tysons Corner, Va., this morning. You know, the guy wearing the sign that said, "I CHEATED. THIS IS MY PUNISHMENT." A man who identified himself as William Taylor of Centreville, Va. told a passerby that he cheated on his wife -- and she found evidence of it on his cell phone. So the wife allegedly doled out a rather creative punishment: He had to stand at the intersection during morning rush, wearing the handmade sign. We...

A Saudi Arabian father forced his 10-year-old daughter to return to her 80-year-old husband Sunday, after she was found hiding at the home of her aunt for 10 days, Arab News reported.

A federal judge on Monday threw out a lawsuit filed against the Defense of Marriage Act, saying that the suit had been improperly filed in state court before it was transferred to his jurisdiction. Because of the technicality, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter refused to entertain arguments on the suit’s merits and said the case must be refilled in federal court to be considered. "There is no point for us to go down the line of decision-making and waste time," he said during the hearing in Santa Ana, Calif., according to The Associated Press. Though the gay Southern California...

Hi, folks. Married 20 years. Four kids, 15,13,11,9. Wife has decided she has had enough and she is leaving. It has been a tough last 12 months - serious illness, loss of job, bankruptcy, and soon to lose our home. She is very angry. I am crushed. If you feel like it, please pray that God will cause a miracle to happen. Instant...gradual...ANYTHING! I need wisdom on how to proceed, because so far all I have done is make her more angry. I am David, and she is Beth. Thank you very much.

We went to the wedding of a friend this weekend, and it reminded us of what a great country this is. To be sure, we left the reception with all the usual feelings of hope and joy for the newlyweds, but we found something so much more amongst the cake-cutting and first dances. We came together not only as family and friends, but in microcosm as community and nation, and in doing so, we not only reaffirmed our faith in love, we reaffirmed our faith in America. The bride and the groom were born half a world apart, and were...

Lutherans at the ELCA convention reacting to the vote on sexuality Minneapolis, Minn., Aug 21, 2009 / 07:41 pm (CNA).- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) on Wednesday approved a new policy that no longer declares marriage as “the appropriate place” for sexual relations, but rather calls for “social trust” in associations that are “loving” and “committed.” One critic characterized the move as an embrace of moral relativism.The ELCA claims about 4.6 million members. Its numbers have declined by 1 million over the past forty years.The ELCA’s Churchwide Assembly, meeting from August 17 to 23 at the Minneapolis...

...To receive from the state a license to marry is to acknowledge the state’s authority over marriage. What it licenses, it can un-license. One person can go to that state and have their contract of marriage dissolved. Why? Because the two parties of the divorce signed away their rights to “until death do us part” when they received a state license. The state is not bound by the verbal covenant you made in church. The state, by our consent, has made itself higher than our sworn covenants, higher than the church—higher than the God who ordained marriage. It was not...

Ron Prentice, Executive Director of Protectmarriage.com. Sacramento, Calif., Aug 14, 2009 / 06:14 am (CNA).- Backers of California’s Proposition 8 have said that same-sex “marriage” proponents are in “ongoing conflict” about their plans to try to repeal the state ballot measure which restored the definition of marriage. One homosexual advocacy group has admitted that voters’ support for redefining marriage is now “stagnant.”On Wednesday a group called Courage Campaign announced they will still pursue a constitutional amendment to instate same-sex “marriage” in 2010, while the group Equality California has said it will pursue such a measure in 2012.Courage Campaign Chairman...

LISTEN TO THE REAL REVEREND JESSE ON THE INTERNET OR A RADIO STATION IN YOUR AREA......BOND Action, Inc...Educating, Motivating and Rallying Americans! The Jesse Lee Peterson Radio Show Streamed live online from 6-9 a.m. PST / 9-12 a.m. EST. Call in the same times usually. For Live Questions or Comments Call 1-888-77-JESSE(5-3773) You can email comments and questions to radio@bondaction.org For more information on getting The Jesse Lee Peterson Show picked up on a station in your local area call Ermias Alemayehu at 1-877-WE ACT77 (932-2877)

Oh, don't you hate it when doughnuts decide to go homophobic? The Canadian mega-giant Tim Hortons (which in Canada is the largest coffee chain in the country), has decided to co-sponsor a rally in Rhode Island next week hosted by the National Organization for Marriage. Yup, the same National Organization for Marriage that is currently leading campaigns to take away the civil rights of gays and lesbians in Maine to marry, and the same group fighting marriage equality in places like Washington, D.C., New York, New Jersey and elsewhere.

About 200 women marched through the Nepali capital Monday to denounce a government scheme to pay cash incentives to men for marrying widows, witnesses said. Nepal's center-left coalition announced a plan last month to pay men the equivalent of $650 for marrying widows, angering the widows. Monday, women shouting slogans such as "You can't sell your mother," and "We don't want government dowries," marched toward a government complex that houses the prime minister's office. (snip) But Neupane said it would only add to their woes as men would marry widows for money and later abandon them. Widows, she said, should...

Washington state officials are ready to verify signatures for a proposed referendum on Washington state's newly expanded domestic partnership law. Secretary of State Sam Reed said Thursday that supporters of Referendum 71 turned in 137,689 signatures, about 14 percent more than the minimum needed to win a place on the November ballot. The average historic error rate is 18 percent. At least 120,577 valid voter signatures are needed to get on the ballot. Election workers will begin verifying signatures Friday.

Opponents of gay marriage in Maine have collected over 100,000 petition signatures, nearly double the amount needed, to prompt a November referendum on the state policy. Bob Emrich, founder of the Maine Jeremiah Project and a primary petition drive organizer for the Stand for Marriage Maine coalition, dropped off the petitions Friday morning at the office of Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap. The precise total – 100,363 – is well over the 55,087 needed to prompt a “People’s Veto” ballot initiative. Maine’s legislature legalized gay marriage in May, prompting opponents to launch their petition drive. Dunlap’s office has 30 days...