Free Republic

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...

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...

I have discovered the one question gay rights proponents explode at when I ask them a question. You see, whenever the Bible or religion is bought up, gay rights advocates already have "ready made" retorts that they will hurl at you, as well as the prerequisite "bigot," "homophobe" and "hater." Then use logic to defeat them. How? Thanks for asking. Merely pose this question to them: Is marriage a "right" or a "privilege"? How can a "right" be entirely dependent on the consent of another human being? I want to marry Kate Upton, the model. If she says NO to...

One student recently decried the fact that universities are participating in the degradation of their students with the continued focus on sex.Now, it being reported that a church in now helping fund the sexual scholarship at one school: The University of Tennessee’s controversial and explicit sex week plans were in jeopardy after campus leaders recently announced they were pulling about $11,000 in funding for the event, so a church near the campus has decided to raise money for the cause.WATE reports: Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church is located just down the street from UT’s campus, and during their services Sunday...

Hyping "growing support" for same-sex marriage, CNN's Carol Costello asked a supporter of California's Proposition 8 on Monday if he was "on the wrong side of history" for legally defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Her tone fits right with Friday's CNN panel where a traditional marriage supporter was disgustingly marginalized as a segregationist and compared to a slave owner. Costello cited GOP strategist Karl Rove admitting that he could see a Republican presidential candidate publicly support same-sex marriage in 2016. She then asked Austin Nimocks of the Alliance Defense Fund, "Austin, you heard what Karl Rove...

The feminists have ratcheted up the laws against men to such an outrageous level that paternity fraud is not just ignored, but routinely rubber stamped by the courts. Whether one agrees with the concept of child support or not, virtually everyone can agree that jailing men for child support over children who are not theirs is morally wrong. Men are routinely sent to jail for falling behind on paying child support, even though debtors' prisons in the U.S. were mostly eliminated in the mid-nineteenth century. The family courts and laws are set up in such a way that makes it...

Is Obama gay? When I first heard a few days ago that Obama might be gay, my initial reaction was, that's ridiculous. He's married, has two kids, and he's never set off my gaydar. I had read a few years ago about Larry Sinclair, who claimed he had given Obama oral sex when Obama was a state senator. But at the time I just figured that any famous person is bound to attract a few loonies who will say anything to get publicity. But after I read the article linked two posts ago (and directly below), I started reading more...

"We should strive to have it legalized" Is polygamy becoming the new “gay” movement in America? [Cast of "Sister Wives"] With television shows such as HBO’s “Big Love” and TLC’s “Sister Wives,” polygamy is the once-taboo lifestyle that appears to be gaining wider acceptance – especially on the heels of homosexual marriage victories across the nation. ... the website Pro-Polygamy.com declared Aug. 19 the 12th annual Polygamy Day. According to the site, since it began, “the annual celebration grew into a widespread and religiously-neutral individual celebration around the country among all forms of consenting-adult pro-polygamists.” Historically, polygamy has had little...

Mr Putin made the observation on Thursday in one of his trademark pithy remarks during his first interview since his inauguration in May, with the Kremlin-controlled, English-language RT television channel. “Some fans of group sex say that it’s better than one-on-one because, as with any collective work, you can skive off,” he said. The comment came after the Russian leader had spoken about an orgy that was staged in Moscow’s state biology museum in 2008 which involved Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, one of three feminist activists of the Pussy Riot group who were jailed for two years for hooliganism last month...

Woe to any scientist with an interest in objectively researching and reporting on “LGBT”-related issues. If your findings fail the left’s socio-political “butterflies-and-rainbows” litmus test, the “progressive” establishment will try to destroy you – guaranteed. Thus, on these matters, honest scientific inquiry will require courage. Kansas State University, July 2010: Family Studies professor Dr. Walter Schumm releases the most comprehensive study to date on the effects of homosexual “parenting.” Published in the Journal of Biosocial Science, the study determined, among other things: Children raised in “gay” households are up to 12 times more likely to self-identify as “gay”; Of those...

The left's war on traditional marriage took a truly disgraceful turn Monday. The folks at Salon actually published a piece entitled "Gay Couples Have Happier Kids." The sub-headline read, "Studies show that the traditional nuclear family is not better. It's a dying model -- and that's a good thing": If you want what’s best for your kids, one surefire way to provide them with a healthy, happy home is to make sure they have lesbian parents. In the longest-running study of lesbian families to date, zero percent of children reported physical or sexual abuse—not a one. In the general population,...

Chris Matthews: 'If I Were Obama I'd Marry' Bill Clinton By Noel Sheppard Created 08/23/2012 - 6:26pm MSNBC's Chris Matthews sure doesn't have a problem expressing his affection for men on national television. After showing a new campaign ad former President Bill Clinton just completed for the current White House resident, the Hardball host actually said, "If I were Barack Obama, I'd marry that guy" (video follows with commentary): Makes you wonder how Mrs. Matthews feels about her husband talking this way on national television. One moment he's telling viewers how listening to Obama gives him a thrill up his...

Two longshot efforts to alter the Republican Party’s official position on same-sex marriage failed Tuesday morning. Republicans drafting the party’s platform in Tampa rejected the pair of amendments, but each found some support among the delegates. The first, proposed by Rhode Island delegate Barbara Fenton, called for ending government-recognized marriage and replacing it with civil unions for both homosexual and heterosexual couples. ... Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a delegate from Louisiana, opposed the measure. “This would move us away from a party that recognizes the benefits that marriage extends to a society,” Mr. Perkins said. “We recognize nature,...

The setting is the quiet corner of an Italian restaurant in the City; the players are George, an IT specialist, and Zoe, who wears a pretty dress and a big smile; they drink an especially good bottle of wine and when they get to coffee he reaches over and kisses her on the mouth. She surprises him by kissing him back. To onlookers it might be the classic opening scene of a traditional romance. Yet both parties are married to other people, whom they have no intention of leaving. Although they will go on to enjoy all the spoils of...

An “unforgiving, puritan Anglo-Saxon” attitude to adultery is damaging married life in Britain, driving couples to divorce rather than strengthening the family, according to an outspoken French academic. -- Dr Catherine Hakim, a sociologist and bestselling author, argues that a “sour and rigid English view” of infidelity is condemning millions of people to live frustrated “celibate” lives with their spouses. In a book bound to provoke controversy, she likens faithful husbands and wives to “caged animals” and argues that they should be free to explore their “wild side” with lovers without the threat of divorce. Meeting a secret lover for...

Culture Challenge of the Week: Movies "Selling" Sex to Children Can you name the last five movies your teenage son or daughter has watched with friends? How strong was the sexual content in those movies? And does it really matter? New research suggests that it does. The study, conducted by Dr. Ross O'Hara and soon to be published in the journal Psychological Science, found that promiscuity on-screen promotes promiscuity in real life. "Adolescents who are exposed to more sexual content in movies start having sex at younger ages, have more sexual partners," and engage in riskier sexual activities says Dr....

...feeling the pressure to conform, Kristen gave in to her 16-year-old boyfriend Carl’s continual pestering for sex when her parents were out at work one day. She... anticipated a romantic encounter. But the harsh reality was that losing her virginity so early turned out to be one of the worst experiences of Kristen’s life. It has also had lasting repercussions, since she is convinced that having sex at such a young age made her far more promiscuous in later years than she otherwise might have been. ‘We had sex on the bathroom floor because it was the only room with...

When the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) passed in Congress in 1996, the vote was bi-partisan and overwhelming. In the House, the tally was 342-67. Only the farthest left of Democrats and a handful of Republicans voted against it. A majority of Democrats supported marriage. In the Senate, the vote was even more lopsided and bi-partisan, 85-14. Again, most Democrats backed marriage. In both houses of Congress, the DOMA passed with such strong margins that President Clinton could clearly see the measure had better than "veto strength." That is, if he had vetoed the Defense of Marriage Act, Congress could...

Democrats moved to make same-sex marriage a part of their party platform, placing language that would declare a right for gay men and lesbians to marry on track for approval by the party’s leadership. Party officials met over the weekend in Minneapolis and approved the first step in the platform-amending process. In two weeks, the entire platform committee will vote on the matter at a meeting scheduled in Detroit. Then, if approved as expected, it would move on to convention delegates in Charlotte, N.C., for final approval in September. According to Democrats who were briefed on the vote in Minneapolis,...

Boomer demographics and postponement of marriage on account of student debt and poor finances are two of the key reasons that I long-ago stated the housing recovery would be slow for a decade. Declining birthrates now show that is indeed what is happening. First, please consider a short snip from my July 25 post "Actual" New Home Sales First 6 Months of 2012 vs. Prior Years; Reflections on the Housing Recovery Reflections on the Housing Recovery Even with today's reported decline, new home sales have likely bottomed on an annual, cumulative-total basis. However, don't expect much in terms of recovery.Debt...