Free Republic

... Because 95 percent of gay American men and 40 percent of heterosexual American women have had anal sex at least once during their lifetimes, according to surveys, rectal versions of the gel are being developed. Tests of new, less viscous formulations that are less likely to draw water into the rectum, making use unpleasant, will begin soon, said Dr. Ian McGowan, another leader of microbicide trials at the University of Pittsburgh’s medical school. Gay and bisexual black and Hispanic men, who are now the highest AIDS risk groups in the United States, will be recruited soon in Boston, Pittsburgh...

I urge all of you to visit www.seanforcongress.com. Sean is a Conservative, Marine and successful business person. Recent polls have him within striking distance of the ever-awful Barney Frank (need I say more?). The Frank camp is getting nervous too which is why they flew in Bill Clinton over the weekend to raise money for Barney. Sean can do this! and if he does think of the trophy-like win this seat will mean nationwide. Hopefully the RNC will wake up and throw heavy resources to Sean's campaign.

Teen icon Justin Bieber caused a fuss on the set of an Australian chat show during a recent trip Down Under - he swore at a production crew member who touched him. The Baby hitmaker, who is just 16 years old, stunned staff at Sydney-based morning TV show Sunrise last month when he cursed at a floor manager who led him to the performance stage. Sunrise host David Coch tells Aussie radio station Mix FM, "We had him on and he was a thoroughly nice bloke, really decent guy. "Our floor manager was directing him to where he was about...

Eli Olivarez realized the only way to achieve the equality he wanted was to work for it. As a lifelong Democrat frustrated by what he viewed as repeated infringements on gay rights in Texas, Olivarez formed the Rio Grande Valley chapter of the Stonewall Democrats, a national organization that promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. Then he set to work. In the year since he formed the chapter, Olivarez, 53, has forged the group into a strong voice for the Valley’s LGBT community. But if he’s successful in his bid for a seat on the State Democratic Executive Committee,...

NEWARK, Ohio— The man behind pop-music classics Get Down Tonight and Boogie Shoes has been arrested in Licking County and accused of having sexual contact with a teenage boy. Richard Finch, 56, co-founder of KC and the Sunshine Band, was arrested Tuesday by deputies with the Licking County sheriff's office. He is being held on a $250,000 bond on a charge of gross sexual imposition, according to court records. A boy contacted the sheriff's office last week, saying Finch had sexual contact with him at Finch's home, Sgt. Chris Slayman said.

Well, here goes. I really resent the term, but I use it because it’s recognized and accepted. I’m gay. From some seventy years of personal experience, I can tell you that there’s not much “gay” about being homosexual. For the first twenty years of my life, I had to live in the shadows, in a culture that was — at least outwardly — totally hostile to any hint of that variation of life-style. At no time did I choose to adopt any protective coloration, though; my cultivation of an abundant beard was not at all a deception, but part of...

Tea Party protesters disrupted Speaker Nancy Pelosi's press stakeout at a House Office Building, yelling "you're a disgrace to your office" and one protester yelled a gay epithet at Rep. Barney Frank again on Sunday, adding yet another layer of chaos to an already tense afternoon on Capitol Hill. In a moment of apparently unscripted political theater, Pelosi and Democratic leaders marched arm in arm — with civil rights pioneer John Lewis — across the Capitol complex while protesters yelled at them and police held a barricade. The Pelosi disruption came inside the Cannon office building, where Democrats where whipping...

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was recently interviewed by CBS’ Katie Couric for tomorrow night’s episode of 60 Minutes, a short clip of which has been released online. In the clip made available, Emanuel briefly discusses the challenges of his political foes: the Republican Party, and says that they have their “own problems and fissures” and are “at the behest of a fringe group that’s taken control of their own party.” Video below: "I think The Republicans have a level of energy but inside that energy they have their own problem and fissures. They’re basically at the behest...

With a final score that totaled $0, Cooper missed questions about world leaders, geography, and literature (among other topics). By the time "Final Jeopardy" came around, he was so stumped by a question about the author of "The Wizard of Oz" that his screen displayed simply the word "Who."

Hey, kids! Here's something I bet you didn't know: Black people? Back in 1800 or whenever? They liked being slaves. True! Many savvy, industrious Negroes actually volunteered for that fine, desirable position. It was a completely balanced, fair, hugely successful system, until those damn liberals came along and ruined everything. I know, right? What a shame. Do you know what else? America was wholly victorious in Vietnam. It's a fact! Kicked some serious enemy butt! Mission accomplished! Sure it was a little bumpy for awhile, but President Nixon, that great and wronged American hero, put us on the righteous path...

He was once a revered judge, an African-American Democrat repeatedly elected in an Alabama county that was predominantly white and Republican. But then came the scandal - and Herman Thomas' world turned upside down. Thomas, former Alabama Circuit Court judge, stands accused of sodomy, kidnapping, sex abuse, extortion, assault and ethics violations, AOL News reports. The trial starts on Monday. The first charges against Thomas surfaced in 2001 when an inmate claimed that Thomas offered to help with the case in return for sex. Those charges were dismissed. But that wasn't nearly the end of it. Inmates then began claiming...

Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank called Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia a "homophobe" in a recent interview with the gay news Web site 365gay.com . The Democratic lawmaker, who is gay, was discussing gay marriage and his expectation that the high court would some day be called upon to decide whether the Constitution allows the federal government to deny recognition to same-sex marriages. "I wouldn't want it to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court," said Frank. The video of the interview is available online. Frank's office...

Here is video of Rep. Barney Frank in an off-the-cuff moment admitting what we have known all along. Frank is confronted by someone as he walks to the elevator on why the Democrats are not demanding a "single-payer" Government Health Care System - in other words - total Socialized Medicine that is Government controlled. Frank said it would be "suicidal" to demand that because the votes just are not there. But he said if they can get ObamaCare passed with a "public option," it would lead to a "single-payer" system - that's the "best way" according to Frank. Frank reveals...

...The site is a venerable and storied Web forum for American arch-conservatives. Funded by member donations, it was founded in 1996 as an anti-Clinton grandstand, and soon became a place where members could post news stories and discuss them -- though "discussion" might be the wrong word. More often, it's a kind of pantomime, where the name of the game is to cheer the good guy and boo the bad guy every time he creeps on stage...

Hey, ever heard of Fannie and Freddie? Read » If we were Barney Frank and we were asked what we might've done differently in retrospect, a few obvious things would come to mind. Like, maybe, we'd regret standing athwart the regulation of Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE). You know, stuff like that. Alas, the powerful Congressman was asked about this in a recent interview with GQ. Here's what he said: When you look back at decisions you made regarding banking and regulation, what would you do differently? I would have pressed harder for regulation of hedge funds and...

<p>NEW YORK - After keeping his private life out of the spotlight for years, David Hyde Pierce has announced his marriage to longtime partner Brian Hargrove.</p> <p>The former "Frasier" star spoke candidly in an appearance on ABC's "The View." Wearing a wedding band, Hyde Pierce revealed they tied the knot "very quietly" in California on Oct. 24.</p>

Rodger McFarlane, a leader in the gay rights movement during the early days of the AIDS epidemic and the first executive director of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, died Friday in Truth or Consequences, N.M. He was 54 and lived in Denver. He committed suicide, Mr. McFarlane’s brother John confirmed. In a letter that he left, Mr. McFarlane wrote that he was unwilling to become further debilitated by heart and back problems. He had broken his back in 2002. Mr. McFarlane was director of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis from 1982 through 1985. The organization, which now provides services for...

Memory eventually fails us all, but apparently the decline strikes one party far more than the other. In recent weeks, my friends across the aisle have expended a lot of breath proclaiming that the Democrats caused the present financial crisis by failing to pass legislation to regulate financial services companies in the years 1995 through 2006. There is only small one problem with this story -- throughout this entire period the Republicans were in complete charge of the House and for the most critical years they controlled the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. In the House of Representatives, the...

The crusty ol' Repub says he has no clue how to use a computer. Isn't that cute? Dear McCain presidential campaign: You know what's funny and cute and just a little bit sad? Wacky old pre-industrial war-hungry guys admitting they don't know a computer from a microwave oven, a hyperlink from a heart med, can't turn on one of those newfangled PC things if his life depended on it and/or he wanted to see what his weird tattooed bi-curious grandson is posting on his MySpace home docking station whateveryoucallit. Adorable! Cuter still is when said wisecrackin' curmudgeon admits he depends...

California's extraordinary, newfound majority support for gay marriage? Thank the young - It's a generational thing, you could say, grinning just a little as you do so. It's because younger people today — those under, say, 45 or so — have been far more exposed to the gay "lifestyle" and to more fluid notions of gender and sexuality, to the idea of homosexuality as a common, nonthreatening, everyday, what's-the-big-deal shrug, and therefore, as a demographic, they/we understand that allowing gay people to wed doesn't actually mean our shaky notions of God and family and society will collapse like a priest's...