Free Republic

If you were shocked to learn that Utah is gayer than us,then you will probably feel a little confused, anxious, let down, etc. to learn that the state of Mississippi has more same-sex couple raising kids than any other state in the nation. In other words, they are not fleeing to the states that allow same-sex marriage. Now might be a good time to remind readers that Mississippi was ranked one of the top 10 worst states to raise a kid period. Now for your burning question: WTF? A new study by the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA,...

ACLU: Time for 'Modern Family' gay couple to wed NEW YORK The ACLU is lobbying for the gay couple on "Modern Family" to get married. ACLU Action started a campaign to urge the show's producers to write a wedding episode for Mitchell and Cameron, fathers of an adopted child and one of three couples at the heart of the show. The ACLU says it is appealing to the fictional family to draw more attention to the real issue as it awaits Supreme Court decisions on two important marriage equality cases. "Mitch and Cam are a couple that America has come...

Gay actors George Takei and Jesse Tyler Ferguson have teamed up for a new Funny or Die video supporting same-sex marriage. Like most of the site's videos it's not remotely funny, but it does express plenty of intolerance while preaching a message of ... tolerance. The clip, a sendup of '50s era America, finds Takei narrating the sad tale of a guy named Dale who opposes same sex marriage. (VIDEO-AT-LINK) "What you can't tell about Dale is that he's sick. He opposes marriage equality. Dale looks normal, but he gives off clues of his prejudice with buzz words like pro...

I’m writing to ask for your help on an issue that has gotten a lot of attention recently: marriage equality. Even though many states now recognize the rights of committed same-sex couples to marry, the federal government continues to discriminate. Same-sex couples are denied all sorts of legal rights – like access to their spouse’s insurance benefits and Social Security survivor benefits – because of an outdated law called DOMA. That’s just wrong. All married couples should be entitled to the same legal rights – regardless of sexual orientation. The Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments challenging the Constitutionality of...

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...

... Charlie Crist’s march to the left is all but complete. The one-time Republican announced his support for marriage equality on his Facebook page, writing that he looks forward to the day it happens in Florida. In his Facebook post, Crist writes that it is “great news” that Delaware became the 11th state to allow marriage equality.

Illinois Republicans have just forced state party chair Pat Brady to resign because of his support for gay marriage. What is this, Alabama? Brady, rather famously, came out in support of gay marriage in January of this year, and even made phone calls to lawmakers urging them to support gay marriage legislation before the Illinois legislature. And now he’s politically-dead, killed by a Republican party so permeated with hate and intolerance that even in a moderate-Republican state like Illinois, the GOP just couldn’t stomach having a fag-lover as party chair. This is why I, an Illinois Republican, left my party...

A battle within the Republican Party over same-sex marriage is unfolding on two fronts, in public, and behind the scenes. In the latter case, one of the most influential players is a billionaire hedge fund manager largely unknown to those who don’t work in finance or mix with political mega-donors. That man is Paul E. Singer, who over the years has used his wealth to spur Republicans to support gay marriage laws. Now, Singer is expanding his reach with the creation of an advocacy group which aims to spend millions influencing the legislative debate over same-sex marriage across the country.

Rhode Island on Thursday became the nation's 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, as a 16-year effort to extend marriage rights in this heavily Roman Catholic state ended with the triumphant cheers of hundreds of gays, lesbians, their families and friends. Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed the bill into law on the Statehouse steps Thursday evening following a final 56-15 vote in the House. The first weddings will take place Aug. 1, when the law takes effect. "I've been waiting 32 years for this day, and I never thought it would come in my lifetime," said Raymond...

. 2013-05-03 "RENDER UNTO CAESAR ..." =============================== The "strategic goal" of the pro-gay-marriage-farce movement is "NOT" about homosexual marriage or child adoption. All of that is a political smokescreen for the Low-Information-Voters ... which by the way ... including MILLIONS of Twenty-Somethings (like my four adult children) who know NOTHING of history and DESTRUCTION of a nation. The real goal of the pro-gay-marriage-farce movement is to create a Perfect Storm to REMOVE the Churches' IRS 501 C-3 tax-exempt status. This SATANIC PERFECT STORM is designed to force genuine Christian Churches into FINANCIAL POVERTY by having their (idolatrous) IRS 501 C-3...

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...

There's a growing partisan divide over whether gay Americans should be able to sponsor their partners for green cards The tide is clearly turning on gay rights, with same-sex marriage being legalized in states across America and several countries all over the world. But supporting gay rights can still be a political liability in Washington. According to Politico, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has said that he will introduce an amendment to the Gang of Eight's immigration reform bill that would allow gay American citizens to sponsor their foreign-born partners for green cards, just like straight couples can. That's a big...

During a law school debate on April 15, New York University professor of social and cultural analysis Judith Stacey argued against the nuclear family and monogamous relationships, and for decriminalizing polygamy. The debate, sponsored by the conservative Federalist Society and between Ms. Stacey and the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Ryan T. Anderson, was on “the defense of marriage.” Among Ms. Stacey’s wicked smart musings: “I say why should there be marriage at all;” “What should limit it to two and why should it be monogamous? Nothing in view gives the state that particular interest;” and “So I would agree that we...

Warren Jeffs must be banging his head against the walls of his prison cell these days. If he had only waited a few years before starting his Texas polygamy compound, he’d have ended up a civil rights trailblazer and Twitter-verse superstar, enduring nothing more than a little good-natured teasing from Jimmy Kimmel about his new show, “79 Wives and Counting.”Actually, that scenario’s not hard to imagine, given that the last vestiges of “repressive Christian morality” are being swept away by a tsunami of “progressive” dogma, its doctrines flowing from an absolute certainty that there are no absolutes — that all...

I am troubled by Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s crackdown on florist Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, for refusing to make a flower arrangement for a same-sex wedding. #I’m not arguing here against gay marriage. I voted for it. I’m not even sure that Stutzman has a legal right to refuse the business. Ferguson says that under Washington’s anti-discrimination statute, she doesn’t, and probably he’s right. She might, however, have a superior right under the state constitution, depending on how you interpret it. #The constitution has nothing in it about freedom from private discrimination. But Article 1, Section...

We are constantly reassured that recognizing gay marriage will not lead to the recognition of other unions, such as polygamous or incestuous ones. As a conservative who supports gay marriage, and has done so for quite some time, I bought into these reassurances in good faith. Now I am starting to wonder if I’ve been hoodwinked. Why? On April 15th, an article was posted on Slate. Had it not been for Rush Limbaugh finding and discussing the article on his radio show today, it would have likely gone unnoticed by many, posted only hours before the Boston bombing and lost...

Rhode Island is on a path to becoming the 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry after a landmark vote in the state's Senate on Wednesday. The Senate passed gay marriage legislation by a comfortable 26-12 margin, following a House vote of approval in January. The bill must now return to the House for a largely procedural vote, likely next week, but the celebration began Wednesday. Hundreds of people filled the Statehouse with cheers following the vote. "I grew up in Rhode Island and I'd like to retire in Rhode Island," said Annie Silvia, 61, who now...

Carla Hale, a teacher in Clintonville, Ohio, was fired just days after an anonymous parent informed the school that her partner's name had appeared in her mother's obituary. Update- April 24, Hale's grievance has been denied.

We must not lose focus on the end goal of progressives regarding guns. Make no mistake; regardless of what they say, their ultimate goal is confiscation of all guns in America. And a "universal background check" will get them closer to this nirvana than the banning of a few selected weapons ever could. To understand progressive methodology, let's use another similar issue: the gay marriage agenda. Say the current definition of "marriage" as it has been for thousands of years is represented by "A" on a continuum of A to Z, with "Z" being the left's ultimate goal. Asking for...

Delaware lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state, with plans to have it signed into law by the end of June. The legislation, which the governor has pledged to sign if passed by lawmakers, was filed a little more than a year after Delaware first began recognizing same-sex civil unions. Critics of the civil union legislation warned at the time that it was simply a precursor to same-sex marriage in Delaware, which could soon join nine other states that have legalized gay marriage. Gov. Jack Markell and Attorney General Beau Biden, both Democrats, joined...

The archbishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, told the Detroit Free Press on Sunday that Catholics should not receive Communion while advocating gay marriage: For a Catholic to receive holy Communion and still deny the revelation Christ entrusted to the church is to try to say two contradictory things at once: “I believe the church offers the saving truth of Jesus, and I reject what the church teaches.” In effect, they would contradict themselves.....

Why is there so much anti-gay prejudice nowadays? For example, Dave Blount at Moonbattery says only “a sick, demented society” would ”facilitate” adoption by same-sex couples. I can’t imagine why anyone would say that, can you? George Harasz and Douglas Wirth, a married couple from Glastonbury, Conn., were arrested in November 2011 following allegations by two of their nine adopted children of sexual abuse. But these are merely allegations! It’s not as if these two guys have shown any unusual interest in young boys, right? The case of a same-sex Connecticut couple accused of repeatedly raping and abusing two of...

The Church of England yesterday gave a green light to wedding-style services for couples in civil partnerships despite its official opposition to same-sex marriage.A report from the Church’s doctrine watchdog urged priests to devise “pastoral accommodations” for gay couples” and to be “flexible”. It said the aim was to enable them to enjoy a “closer approximation” to marriage. The senior bishop who drafted the missive to priests insisted that it did not amount to a policy u-turn and that an official ban on formal "blessings" for civil partnerships remained in place. But he said it was clear there was a...

The expectation is taking hold that this week, and the handful of weeks that follow, are the crucible of the Obama presidency, with showdowns on gun safety, immigration reform, and deficit reduction that will define the Obama legacy. But if not, there’s always 2014. Unless the White House and its allies are able to break the logjam in Congress, the president will have no choice but to turn his full attention to the midterm election, where Democrats have an outside chance of taking back the House and providing Obama friendlier terrain to finish out his term and secure his agenda....

Glenn Beck says that proponents of marriage equality have won because they made the issue about freedom "and the principle of it is right."

It often seems as if clever lawyers become rich, careless lawyers become inmates, and confused lawyers become judges. And one certainly could get this impression when assessing the oral-arguments phase of the Proposition 8 case currently before the Supreme Court. The problem? With some rare exceptions, the arguments heard and questions posed ranged from the confused to the not-so-compelling. And no one really cut to the heart of the matter, which could have happened if a justice had just subjected the plaintiffs (pro-faux marriage/anti-marriage side) to a certain line of questioning, one that would have painted them into a corner....

Sen. Tim Johnson (S.D.) leaves the Final Four. There are now only three Senate Democrats who oppose gay marriage—Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Mark Pryor (Ark.), and Mary Landrieu (La.).

Bill O’Reilly’s charged gay marriage debate with conservative radio host Laura Ingraham drew a strong reaction from TheBlaze audience, particularly over O’Reilly’s contention that same-sex marriage opponents often “thump the Bible” to make their point. …ordfan: I AM an opponent of same-sex marriage. If anyone wants to call me a Bible thumper, go ahead. I DO NOT CARE. My Bible IS the basis for my ENTIRE argument against homosexuality…period. Now DO NOT be mistaken, being against homosexuality and against homosexuals are two VERY different things. I am not against homosexuals just because of that. P.S. If two men or two...

(CNN) - Bill O'Reilly, the conservative Fox News host, believes same-sex marriage advocates have a more convincing argument than opponents, who do nothing but rehash scripture to make their point. "The compelling argument is on the side of homosexuals," O'Reilly said Tuesday on Fox. "That's where the compelling argument is. 'We're Americans. We just want to be treated like everybody else.' That's a compelling argument, and to deny that, you have got to have a very strong argument on the other side. The argument on the other side hasn't been able to do anything but thump the Bible." O'Reilly has...

I’ll say this much: At least in this example it’s her own kid instead of a room full of other people’s children (and I’m assuming the audience watching the segment at the time consisted of fewer people than the average kindergarten classroom). From The Blaze: Regardless of where you stand on the issue of gay marriage, few will likely agree with MSNBC host Krystal Ball’s decision to use her young daughter to promote gay marriage during a segment titled “Political Playground” on Thursday. “What if you were in love with a girl? Would you marry a girl?” Balls asks her...

The case of a same-sex Connecticut couple accused of repeatedly raping and abusing two of their nine adopted boys is headed for trial. Married couple George Harasz and Douglas Wirth of Glastonbury were supposed to be sentenced Friday in Hartford Superior Court under a plea deal, but instead withdrew from their agreement with prosecutors. The men had already pleaded no contest in January to one felony count each of risk of injury to a minor — a reduction from even more serious charges related to sexual assault. But in a surprise turn, the couple’s attorneys pulled them out of...

According to Bill O’Reilly, pundits cannot appeal to the Bible any longer for public policy regarding homosexuals that want to get married. At least I think it’s just in regards to homosexual marriages. Hell, I don’t know when and where we can use the Scripture any longer. Can we still use it in church? Does anyone know? Well for now, I think it’s just in regards to homosexuals who want to get hitched that we’re verboten to bring the Verbum Dei into the discussion. Geez, it’s getting tough keeping up with what we can and can’t reference anymore, eh? I...

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...

CNBC host Joe Kernen took House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) to task Friday over the Republican Party's opposition to same-sex marriage. In a rare discussion of social issues on the financial news program "Squawkbox," Kernen argued that the GOP has squandered its appeal with fiscally conservative voters by virtue of its opposition to gay nuptials. Cantor said some people, himself included, have legitimate religious objections to same-sex marriage. “There are those of us who have personal religious convictions about the issue," Cantor said. "And I think that we as a country need to respect people about their opinion, not...

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!

A California billionaire is pledging to spend as much of his fortune as necessary to make climate change “the defining issue of our generation.” Tom Steyer, who made his riches as a hedge fund manager, told The Hill on Tuesday that he wants to make climate change a campaign issue for years to come and Democratic support for environmental protections as widespread as support for gay marriage and immigration reform. “The goal here is not to win. The goal here is to destroy these people. We want a smashing victory,” Steyer said of candidates he judges to be on the...

Local bumper stickers hail Bisbee, Arizona, as a "liberal oasis in a conservative desert," and the small city made good on that reputation last night: Despite warnings from the state's attorney general, it became the first in the state to legalize same-sex civil unions. After three hours of debate, the City Council voted 5-2 in favor of the move in the presence of 100 opponents and supporters, the Arizona Republic reports. Though just hours before the vote AG Tom Horne threatened to take legal action if the ordinance was approved, a city attorney says he doesn't think Horne has a...

After the punk-folk singer-songwriter Michelle Shocked made remarks critical of homosexuality and same-sex marriage while performing in San Francisco two weekends ago, clubs around the country responded by canceling bookings they had made with her. But that hasn’t stopped her: Thursday night she turned up outside one such club with her face covered and her mouth taped shut to protest the way she is being treated. The site of the sit-in staged by Ms. Shocked, who in the past has acknowledged being involved in lesbian relationships but now describes herself as a born-again Christian, was Moe’s Alley, in the university...

Via NRO, Rob Portman was criticized by gay-marriage supporters for reconsidering his stance on SSM only after it affected him personally. This guy, naturally, will be criticized harshly for not reconsidering his stance after it affected him personally. His choice of words is interesting, though. Not only does he not think that his son chose to be gay, he uses a term more often heard from gay-rights supporters when he says he hasn’t “evolved” to the point of supporting SSM. More backstory via WaPo: Salmon voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and for a ban on gay adoptions in...

Johns Hopkins University is standing by Dr. Ben Carson, even after the neurosurgeon’s anti-gay remarks, Dennis O’Shea, executive director of the university’s media relations said. “Dr. Carson is a distinguished Johns Hopkins surgeon and scientist chosen to speak at the School of Medicine diploma ceremony because of his extraordinary accomplishments as a neurosurgeon and his many contributions as an advocate for education and children,” O’Shea said in an email to The Huffington Post. “He was not asked to speak because of his personal political, religious or social views. His personal views are just that, his own. When he speaks about...

Cardinal Timothy Dolan acknowledged on Sunday that there was still much to do to make the church welcoming to gay and lesbian Catholics. "We gotta do better to see that our defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gay people. And I admit, we haven't been too good at that. We try our darndest to make sure we're not an anti-anybody," he said in an interview to be aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week.". But the archbishop of New York said he wasn't sure how that outreach might work. "I don't know. We're still trying. We're trying...

The death certificate read “single,” even though the fallen soldier was married. When it came time to inform the next of kin, casualty officers did not go to the widow’s door in North Carolina, nor did she receive the flag that draped the casket of her beloved, a 29-year-old National Guard member killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. Because federal law defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, the military did not recognize the relationship of Army Sgt. Donna R. Johnson and Tracy Dice Johnson at all, rendering Johnson ineligible for the most basic survivor...

Dear readers, The present gay "marriage" debate is an important one, but I am more worried about the broader, encompassing matter at hand, namely the dark forces trying to redefine social institutions essential to a free society. The family is traditionally the private institution commanding the most intense loyalty from its members, along with churches (at least in happier times). Leftist theorists are now working to drill down past the family, extending their hands into the crib to rob us of our God-given individual identities as males and females and the important roles and responsibilities which have always accompanied these...

They made fun of Rick Santorum and other social conservatives when they suggested gay marriage would easily lead to legalizing polygamy. But now liberals see that “grander trend” on the horizon. On Thursday night’s All Things Considered on NPR, they were casually discussing how “legalized polygamy could make a comeback” with Jonathan Turley, a law professor hired by the stars of TLC’s “Sister Wives” to push for that cause. He said polygamy enthusiasts are right where the gay lobbyists were ten years ago: ROBERT SIEGEL: The Browns are known to some folks from television. JONATHAN TURLEY: That's right. The Browns...

I never knew the extent of a lobby's power until fate called me to speak on behalf of children's rights. Now, six months after having come forward with a logical, secular argument against same-sex parenting based on experience, broad research, and international law, I have been met with vicious attacks and something far worse than viciousness: a massive nationwide cold shoulder. Both left and right are allied in a complete blackout of dissent from LGBT orthodoxy. Doug Mainwaring is a gay father in Maryland; he and I jointly signed an amicus brief in support of Proposition 8. Over the last...

Neurosurgeon Ben Carson apologized Friday for comments he made about gay marriage on Sean Hannity’s TV show earlier this week. “I think in terms of what was said on Sean Hannity’s show, that was taken completely out of context and completely misunderstood in terms of what I was trying to say,” Carson told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “As a Christian, I have a duty to love all people and that includes people who have other sexual orientations, and I certainly do, and never had any intention of offending anyone… If anyone was offended, I apologize to you.” The John Hopkins doctor...

<p>If someone today argued for laws to legally bar interracial marriage that person would universally be labeled a bigot.</p> <p>But in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia struck down state laws prohibiting interracial marriage, 73% of Americans still supported them. Did that mean that more than 70% of Americans at that time were bigots? No. But there certainly came a time that you were one if you continued advocating for such discriminatory laws.</p>

Same-sex marriage is probably inevitable in America whatever the Supreme Court decides. That's because the public is clearly leaning that way. That the court is even being asked to impose a sweeping social change on the nation is illustrative of another lost battle -- the idea that the Supreme Court is not a super-legislature and that nine robed lawyers ought to refrain from imposing their policy preferences on the whole nation. Even two liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, have from time to time expressed caution about the Court imposing its will on matters better left up to...

I would like to think that Supreme Court justices are smarter than I am. At one level, they surely are. Their years of devotion to the practice and analysis of law involves countless pages of book-learning I will never undertake. Their brains must fairly bulge with minutiae I cannot grasp. But there is a difference between intelligence and wisdom. There are high school dropouts who have deep wells of astuteness about how to think, act and live in an enlightened way. And there are Ph.D.’s I would not let into my house. In one stunning moment Tuesday from the Supreme...

"If Jesus were alive today, he would be more inclined to say, 'you know, I didn't know it all...'" - Rev. Oliver White, Sean Hannity Show, March 27, 2013 In general, most news outlets have provided awful coverage of the Supreme Court proceedings on same-sex marriage. Covering the proceedings like they cover a political campaign or a sporting event, most of the analysis and commentary has been about political "wins" for one side or the other and the ramifications of the pending decision on homosexuals in our society, rather than the wide-ranging ramifications for society itself. Filling the void of...