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Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that same sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, support for same-sex marriage has increased substantially. Currently, more than six in ten (61%) Americans say gay and lesbian couples should be able to marry legally, while only about half as many (30%) are opposed. Strength of support for same-sex marriage has increased dramatically over the past decade, while strength of opposition has fallen in nearly equal measure. Today, Americans who strongly favor same-sex marriage outnumber those who strongly oppose it by more than a two-to-one margin (30% vs. 14%). In 2007,...

Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has died, a court spokesperson confirmed. He was 87. A liberal champion, Reinhardt was appointed to the bench by President Carter in 1980. He authored key liberal court opinions on hot-button topics ranging from abortion and marriage equality to assisted suicide and immigration. At the same time, the opinions made him a target of criticism from conservative corners — and of regular reversal from the Supreme Court.

(Photo: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson)A wedding cake is seen at a reception for same-sex couples at The Abbey in West Hollywood, California, July 1, 2013.An evangelical judge who has refused to marry same-sex couples was handed down a three-year suspension without pay Thursday by the Oregon Supreme Court, the longest suspension in the court's history.Judge Vance Day, who was found to have broken several gun laws, and in 2014 refused to marry same-sex couples, will have 14 days to file a petition for the state Supreme Court to reconsider its decision.One of the main charges that Day was found guilty of concerned...

Less than a year after legalizing same-sex marriage, Bermuda is reversing course, implementing a law that says same-sex couples can enter domestic partnerships but not marry. The British territory is believed to be the first jurisdiction in the world to reverse course on same-sex marriage after permitting it

A tight-knit Roman Catholic Church parish north of Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota, is dealing with the fallout of its new priest's decision to dismiss three men from the church's musical ensemble because they are in same-sex marriages. The Rev. John Drees, who replaced his retiring predecessor at the Church of St. Joseph in Taylors Falls and the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Shafer in July, has explained that he had no choice but to dismiss the trio, as same-sex marriage goes against the teachings of the Church. According to a report in The Pioneer Press last week, the men have...

Almost half of us are okay with the idea of two people getting married to avoid inheritance tax. In a study carried out by Amarách Research for RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live, 48% of people said they would support two people getting married where the sole purpose is to avoid inheritance tax. […] The poll comes after two friends went on RTÉ’s Liveline on Friday afternoon and said they were marrying for tax reasons. The show heard from 85-year-old Matt, who told Joe Duffy that Michael O’Sullivan was his best friend and that he planned to leave him his house when...

Australia's "marriage equality" campaign triumphed in this month's referendum under the slogan "Let's Get It Done". In other words, it's inevitable, so why waste another five years arguing about it? Let's get it done, and over, and move on to transgender bathrooms or whatever's next. That's how "progressives" think about progress. As a certain author wrote long ago in a certain bestselling book: We assume that social progress is like technological progress: it can't be reversed. Just as you can't disinvent the internal combustion engine, so you can't disinvent women's rights. Just as the horse and buggy yielded to the...

An evangelical Christian couple from Alberta, Canada, said that their application to adopt a child was rejected by the government because they do not agree with gay marriage. The couple, who weren't named in the legal documents, have filed a discrimination case against Alberta, claiming that their religious views on marriage being a union between a man and a woman were targeted, CBC News reported. "The casework supervisor explained that our religious beliefs regarding sexuality were incompatible with the adoption process," an affidavit calling for a judicial review of the government's decision said. "The casework supervisor said this stance was...

A Christian student who was expelled from university after posting on Facebook in support of Biblical teaching on marriage and sexual ethics has today (Friday 27th October) lost his case in a judicial review of the university’s decision. Felix Ngole was studying for an MA in Social Work at Sheffield university. In 2015 he made comments using his personal Facebook account on the story of the American registrar Kim Davis who was imprisoned after conscientiously refusing to register same-sex marriages. Felix expressed his Christian beliefs on the issue and argued that: "same sex marriage is a sin whether we like...

Germany celebrates its first gay marriages on Sunday as same-sex unions become legal after decades of struggle, but campaigners say the battle for equal rights isn't over yet.Wedding bells will ring out in Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover and other German cities where local authorities will exceptionally open their doors on a Sunday to allow gay couple to say "I do" on the day the law comes into effect. Bodo Mende, 60, and his partner Karl Kreile, 59, who have been together since 1979, will be the first to tie the knot in the German capital. "It will be an emotional but...

A man charged with blowing up a van packed with gas cylinders outside the Canberra headquarters of the Australia Christian Lobby has committed suicide. Jaden Duong, 36, had been accused of loading the van with four bottles and ramming the offices of the anti-gay marriage group in December 2016. Officers were reportedly called to the scene of his 'non-suspicious' death around 4.30pm Sunday, the Canberra Times reports. In a statement ACT Policing said investigations are ongoing, with a report to be prepared for the coroner. Mr Duong was charged in April after allegedly driving a white van into the Australian...

July 18, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — For 12 years before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex "marriage" in 2015, I wrote and lectured extensively on why this development would be fraught with peril. I even recorded a three CD set on the topic for Catholic Answers in 2011. As the General Counsel for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) in California, I also campaigned extensively for the passage of Proposition 8. This State Constitutional Amendment passed with a majority vote in liberal California, as did similar ones in 30 other states. Yet, by a mere vote of 5-4, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all of those state...

Rob Bell, who once enraged many evangelicals by questioning hell, is back with a new book that could re-ignite their fury. It’s called “What is the Bible?” And in it, Bell calls for the Bible to be read “literately, not literally.” In these polarized times, many Christians who claim to read the Bible are really more interested in cherry-picking verses to support their political or social points of view, Bell said in a phone interview with the Observer. “You can pull a verse out to justify almost anything,” he said. “When you read the Bible fuller and in-depth, suddenly you...

The United States Supreme Court has reversed a lower court that upheld an Arkansas law that treated same-sex and opposite-sex married couples differently regarding the issuing of birth certificates. (Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts)Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts (R) walks with associate Justice Neil Gorsuch during his investiture ceremony at the Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., June 15, 2017.Known as Pavan v. Smith, the case was centered on a state law that automatically listed an opposite sex spouse on a birth certificate even if they were not the biological parent. This was not done for same-sex couples.In an unsigned...

In 2016, same-sex “marriage” was legalized in Colombia. One year later, the courts have now recognized a polyamorous “family” of three men. And there is no slippery slope.As reported by the Daily Mail, “Actor Victor Hugo Prada and his two partners, sports instructor John Alejandro Rodriguez and journalist Manuel Jose Bermudez, have signed legal papers with a solicitor in the city of Medellin, establishing them as a family unit with inheritance rights.“‘We wanted to validate our household... and our rights, because we had no solid legal basis establishing us as a family,’ said one of the men, Prada, in a...

Taiwan's top judges have ruled in favour of gay marriage, paving the way for it to become the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex unions. The highest court ruled that current laws preventing members of the same sex from marrying violated their right to equality and were unconstitutional. It gave parliament two years to amend existing laws or pass new ones. Wednesday's landmark decision came as the LGBT community faces increasing persecution in the region. In a press release following the ruling, the court said that "disallowing two persons of the same sex to marry, for the sake of...

Muslim bakeries in Michigan refuse to make cake for gay wedding. WHERE'S THE FRONT PAGE HEADLINES? WHERE'S THE ACLU LAWSUITS?

A self-proclaimed “antitheist” was sentenced to life in prison for killing his Christian flatmate over her religion. The 25-year-old Daniel E. was sentenced to life in prison by a court in Freiburg on Monday for killing his Christian student flatmate last August in a crime ruled to be motivated by hate and disdain. The 31-year-old victim from Paderborn had first met her killer when she moved into a student flatshare last summer. The young woman was an active member of her parish who wanted to later work for the church. But Daniel E. vehemently rejected any form of religion, and...

Calvary Baptist Church, a progressive Baptist landmark in the heart of downtown Washington, has named a gay couple as co-pastors. Sally Sarratt and Maria Swearingen were presented to the congregation during worship services Jan. 8 and are set to begin their new jobs Feb. 26... The 155-year-old church severed ties with the Southern Baptist Convention in 2012: It was at loggerheads with the group on several issues, including the SBC’s stance against homosexuality. Calvary Baptist still affiliates with American Baptist Churches USA...

I believe that the two most difficult jobs in the world are being a good spouse and a good parent. The reason: after our relationship with our Creator, the most important relationship in the universe is that of a husband and his wife. As I’ve often pointed out, the biblical family model is at the foundation of every institution in the history of humanity. This is what makes the infamous Obergefell ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in late June of 2015 so egregious. It strikes at the heart of America. As my new book, The Miracle and Magnificence of...