Free Republic

Thirty North Carolina magistrates in North Carolina are all refusing to conduct homosexual “marriages.” According to the report: More than 30 magistrates in North Carolina have refused to perform weddings. But thanks to a new state law, they were able to do so legally.Right after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in June, the state passed a law allowing officials to opt out of performing all marriages.The law exempts court officials with a “sincerely held religious objection” and is designed for those opposing gay marriage.The law’s original sponsor, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, said it’s probably preventing situations like...

A federal judge ordered a defiant county clerk to jail for contempt Thursday after she insisted that it would violate her conscience to follow court orders to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. Rowan County clerk Kim Davis and her deputy clerks were summoned to appear before U.S. District Judge David Bunning after she repeatedly denied them marriage licenses, cited her religious beliefs and "God's authority." "You can't be separated from something that's in your heart and in your soul," Davis told the judge as she explained how the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage nationwide conflicts with the vows...

Kim Davis could become the first Christian in America jailed as a result of the Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage. “I’ve weighed the cost and I’m prepared to go to jail, I sure am,” Mrs. Davis told me in an exclusive interview. “This has never been a gay or lesbian issue for me. This is about upholding the word of God.” “This is a heaven or hell issue for me and for every other Christian that believes,” she said. “This is a fight worth fighting.” Davis is the clerk of Rowan County, Ky. – a small patch of earth...

As Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican presidential race, frustration and panic have become high enough to make some inside the party Establishment pine for a candidate they roundly rejected as recently as January: Mitt Romney. Romney himself has become one of Trump’s most vocal detractors inside the party. “He’s someone to whom civility means a lot. The whole Trump thing really bothers him,” a close Romney adviser told me — and some Romney-ites are only too happy to talk up the prospect of their man jumping into the race if the Establishment fails to stop Trump, whose support...

It happened in Kentucky minutes ago with Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis explaining to a gay couple why she would not give them a marriage license.... Cameras were there......

As Jeb Bush struggles to carry the establishment mantle, some wonder whether the time is right for Mitt There is on the edge of the spectrum a thought awakening that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who ran for President in 2008 and 2012, might get back in the race. It comes naturally to think so. Before the race got seriously underway Mr. Romney met with Jeb Bush to consider their fates. Mr. Romney’s wife Ann went so far back then as to suggest on Cavuto that If Jeb ran, Mitt would stay out, as they both represented a similar center...

I think we all knew there would be more than a few of these cases reverberating around the country following the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage, and this time it’s popping up in Ohio. Some municipal judges are either refusing to perform the ceremonies for gay couples or stopping performing marriages entirely, citing religious freedom objections. This prompted an inquiry at the state supreme court and their advisory Board of Professional Conduct has come back with an answer. Now if only somebody can figure out exactly what they meant. Amid scattered instances of balking, Ohio judges who perform...

Just hours after the Supreme Court declared a constitutional right to same-sex marriage on June 26, Politico published an op-ed explaining why “group marriage is the next horizon of social liberalism.” If your first reaction was to dismiss this out of hand, you haven’t been paying attention. As the 21st century progresses, it is going to become increasingly difficult to answer the question “what is marriage for?” or even “what is marriage?” And, no, don’t blame it on the gays.If the Internet is to be believed, “open marriages” are, quite possibly, the next social frontier that, sooner or later, could...

Not a very good Fourth for The Donald. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R), a candidate for president in 2016, stated it plainly: "He's running to be president of all of us. It takes a level of maturity and thoughtfulness and demeanor that's not being exhibited here." But this episode might be seen in hindsight as a definitive and serendipitous moment in the American chronicles. Because Donald Trump angered former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. And Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, has become a commanding voice of moral leadership in the Republican Party. "I think he made a severe error in...

Mitt Romney's backing helped several candidates emerge from a crowded primary field and be successful in the 2014 midterm elections. He's aiming to do the same for presidential candidates in 2016. Many observers expected Mitt Romney to slink away from politics after his defeat in the 2012 presidential election, but the former Massachusetts governor has instead embraced a new role as an elder statesman and kingmaker within the Republican Party. While he has shied away from open campaigning, Mr. Romney has taken to tacitly supporting the more moderate, establishment-friendly candidates in a packed and ideologically tangled field. “Romney, who flirted...

WOLFEBORO, New Hampshire (CNN) —Mitt Romney said Saturday that Donald Trump's comments on Mexico and undocumented immigrants have hurt the Republican Party, making the 2012 presidential nominee the latest Republican to slam the billionaire over his controversial remarks.

Just heard on CNN that Romney has joined in the fray...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie broke with many in his party’s social conservative wing Wednesday, telling reporters that government employees who have objections to issuing same-sex marriage licenses should not be allowed to opt out. While many conservatives have called for steps to protect government employees who have objections to Friday’s same-sex marriage ruling from the Supreme Court, Christie said those who work for the government should abide by their oaths.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell concedes that there’s little congressional Republicans can do to fight the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide, though he predicted a flurry of litigation aimed at protecting “religious liberty” in light of the decision. The Kentucky Republican has been a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage: He was one of just six Senate Republicans to sign an amicus brief urging the high court to reject federal protection of same-sex marriage. And though he reiterated to Kentucky TV station WDRB on Tuesday evening that his position has not changed, he also said there is...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell concedes that there’s little congressional Republicans can do to fight the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide, though he predicted a flurry of litigation aimed at protecting “religious liberty” in light of the decision. The Kentucky Republican has been a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage, one of just six Senate Republicans to sign an amicus brief urging the high court to reject federal protection of same-sex marriage. And though he reiterated to Kentucky TV station WDRB on Tuesday evening that his position has not changed, he also said there is little that...

In the wake of last week’s “landmark” decision by the U.S. Supreme Court mandating nationwide acceptance of gay marriage, some states have begun pushing back, essentially telling Uncle Sam what he can do with his high court ruling. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton has issued an opinion stating that county clerks, judges and justices of the peace could refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, noting that the SCOTUS ruling did not abolish religious liberty. “This newly minted federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage can and should peaceably coexist with longstanding constitutional and statutory rights, including the rights...

Republican presidential candidates and those expected to be candidates are divided in their reactions to the last Friday's U.S. Supreme Court same-sex marriage ruling, with some ready to continue fighting for marriage and others suggesting it is time for conservatives to "move on" from the marriage issue and begin focusing on other concerns. While appearing on CBS "Face the Nation" on Sunday, potential 2016 Republican candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich argued that there are many other issues facing America right now and it is time to pay attention to those concerns. He asserted that since the Supreme Court has...

Nearly 60 years have passed since that wintry night in Iowa when three of rock and roll’s biggest stars perished in the crash of a small plane, moving songwriter Don McLean to pen words that haunt listeners even now: “The day the music died.” Perhaps there’s a patriotic lyricist somewhere out there already pouring his or her heart into expressing a similar feeling of forlornness because something surely died yesterday, something of inherent significance in the turbulent history of this country that continues to insist it’s “one nation under God.” How can we make that claim while casting aside beliefs...

In knocking down the last remaining barriers to same-sex marriage in the United States, the Supreme Court announced a conclusion that, according to every measure of public opinion, a substantial majority of Americans have already reached: there is no longer any justification for denying the dignity and protections of civil marriage to gays and lesbians. The decision is consistent with the American constitutional principle that government must provide strong justification – that is, it must point to serious and concrete harms – before it denies a fundamental liberty such as the right to marry. On this point, the arguments of...

Our nation, which was founded on the Laws of Nature and Nature's God has now fully apostatized and our doom is sure with the "Supreme" Court's legalization of sodomy marriage. O godless judges, leaders and nation, will you overthrow the Almighty and His ETERNAL absolutes of RIGHTEOUSNESS and design? O godless dreamers, are not your days but as a smoking flax and at the end of your vanity will you not give an account to the ETERNAL SUPREME JUDGE and CREATOR of the earth and ETERNITY (Acts 17:30-31, Phil 2:9-11, Rev. 20:11-15)! No nation has ever survived the embrace of...