Free Republic

“Does a state violate the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause or Free Speech Clause when it punishes a judge who has discretionary authority to solemnize marriages because she states that her religious beliefs preclude her from performing a same-sex wedding?” That’s the question Judge Ruth Neely from Pinedale, Wyoming, wants the Supreme Court to answer. On August 4, she filed a petition with the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), asking them to review a March 7, 2017 ruling from the Wyoming Supreme Court. That ruling handed down a public censure and effectively removed her from a circuit court...

Prosecutors say a woman shot and killed her wife Sunday in their New Jersey home. Laura Bluestein, 28, was charged Monday with first degree murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and tampering with evidence. Police were called Sunday by a relative of Bluestein, who reported a possible assault at her home in Mount Holly, New Jersey. When they arrived they found 29-year-old Felicia Dormans dead from a gunshot wound to the face. …

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, tech millionaire turned LGBTQ activist Tim Gill said he’s aiming to punish Christians who don’t want to participate in same-sex weddings. For more than two decades, the software programmer has poured an estimated $422 million into various gay rights causes. After the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal in all 50 states in 2015, Gill turned his attention and resources to targeting Christians. The election of Donald Trump, who claims to support gay rights but stocked his administration with anti-LGBTQ extremists, has only emboldened those looking to erase the gains of the...

North Carolina’s law allowing magistrates to refuse to perform same-sex marriages survived a challenge Wednesday when an appeals court determined that three couples weren’t harmed enough to fight the state’s use of taxpayer money to apply the law. The Richmond-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed their lawsuit, rejecting arguments by the couples that their status as North Carolina taxpayers gives them standing to sue. Because two of the couples are already married and the third is engaged, the law hasn’t hurt their ability to wed, the judges said. “The outcome here is in no way a comment on same-sex...

The Bundestag (German parliament) could hold a vote on legalizing gay marriage as early as Friday, after Chancellor Angela Merkel told her party members to vote on the issue according to their consciences.The Christian Democrats (CDU) are preparing for a vote on gay marriage on Friday, insiders told DPA on Tuesday. At a meeting of CDU parliamentarians on Tuesday, Merkel told MPs to vote with their conscience during the vote, meaning there will be no compulsion to follow the party line. In an open vote, a gay marriage bill is almost certain to pass through the Bundestag. Volker Kauder, leader...

According to Gallup polling done between June 2016 and June 2017, “LGBT” Americans are more likely to be married to a spouse of the opposite sex than one of the same sex. […] “LGBT Americans are still more likely to be married to an opposite-sex spouse (13.1%) than a same-sex spouse (10.2%), but the gap is narrowing,” said Gallup. …

Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has announced that he intends to force all priests in the Swedish church to marry same-sex couples even if they disagree with gay marriage. The Swedish Prime Minister made his view clear in a recent interview saying, “no priest in the Swedish Church can refuse to marry same-sex couples.” Mr Lofven argued that it did not matter what the view of the individual priests was and even supports a motion to only allow priests who agree with same-sex marriage the opportunity to be ordained SVT reports.

A Swiss parliamentary commission is to prepare a study on gay marriage after the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) on Friday failed in its bid to bury the issue. Gay marriage is not legal in Switzerland, though same-sex couples can enter into a civil partnership after the move was approved in a 2005 referendum. While many MPs — and, according to a 2015 survey, a majority of the Swiss public — are in favor of marriage equality, hardline conservative MPs have tried to block moves towards it. Speaking in parliament SVP MP Yves Nidegger said the word “marriage” was historically...

An orchard near East Lansing, MI is suing the city because they've been barred from a Farmers Market due to their religious views on same sex marriage. There are several issues that make this case unique. For one, the orchard does not discriminate in selling products in East Lansing to anyone, even same sex couples. The city has accused them of discriminating against gays on their private property because the owner refuses to host same sex marriages at the orchard in Charlotte, MI. Secondly, in order to bar the orchard from selling at the market, the city passed a...

A Michigan apple grower who posted on Facebook that he wouldn’t allow gay couples to get married at his farm filed a lawsuit against the city of East Lansing on Wednesday after he was shut out of an outdoor farmer’s market. The city said Stephen Tennes wasn’t invited back to the market because vendors must follow its civil rights ordinance, which bars discrimination. Tennes alleges that the city’s actions violate his rights to free speech and religion. Tennes’ farm, 22 miles away from East Lansing in Eaton County, is a popular place to have weddings. In a Facebook post in...

The partner of a gay policeman gunned down by a jihadist on Paris’ Champs-Elysées avenue in April has married him posthumously, according to reports on Wednesday. Former president François Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo attended the wedding on Tuesday of the late Xavier Jugelé and Étienne Cardiles. Jugele, 37, was shot dead on April 20 while on duty on the famous Parisian avenue, three days before the first round of France’s presidential election. The law in France states that posthumous marriages are permitted when there are “significant grounds” and terror attacks fall into this category, according to the government’s...

Mark Zuckerberg returned Thursday to Harvard, where he launched Facebook and then dropped out, telling graduates it’s up to them to bring purpose to the world, fight inequality and strengthen the global community. “Change starts local. Even global changes start small — with people like us,” the Facebook CEO said. He shared stories about graduates such as David Razu Aznar, a former city leader who led the effort to legalize gay marriage in Mexico City, and Agnes Igoye, who grew up in conflict zones in Uganda and now trains law enforcement officers. “And this is my story too,” Zuckerberg added....

The Church of Scotland is preparing to take a significant step towards same-sex marriage. The Kirk's General Assembly - gathering in Edinburgh - will be asked to approve more work on how such weddings could take place in church. Equal marriage remains a divisive issue within the church. Since 2014, Scotland has allowed same-sex couples to marry but individual church traditions can each decide whether to participate. A report on the issue prepared for the General Assembly invited the church to take stock of its history of discrimination against gay people and to apologise "individually and corporately". Moderator Designate the...

Members of the North Carolina General Assembly introduced a bill on Tuesday, citing the 10th Amendment, which affirms that the U.S. Supreme Court exceeded its authority under the Constitution and in relation to the “decree of Almighty God” by legalizing same-sex marriage, and contends that the Obergefell v. Hodges decision “is null and void” in North Carolina and that the Tar Heel state shall only recognize marriages between one man and one woman. The legislation explains that North Carolina seeks to follow the 2012 law that was established in Section 6 of Article XIV of the North Carolina Constitution, which...

David Cameron has reinvented himself as a Brexiteer — saying he never “liked” the EU and is glad he called the referendum. The former Prime Minister, whose political career was brought to a shuddering close when he lost the historic vote last year, made the comments as he addressed an event in Ukraine. It is not known whether he was paid for the speech at the National University in Kiev — although he has racked up hundreds of thousands of pounds in earnings since leaving Downing Street last July. […] Despite masterminding the desperate Project Fear campaign with George Osborne...

The Social Democrats (SPD) are set to push for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples at a meeting on Wednesday with their coalition partners, Merkel’s conservative Union parties (CDU/CSU) — who have long opposed such legislation — according to a report on Tuesday by Funke Mediengruppe. SPD representatives in the Bundestag (German parliament) plan to propose a reform for the Bundesrepublik, which is one of the few west European countries that does not allow same-sex marriage. “In the future, marriage should be possible as well for same-sex couples,” the SPD promised in their proposal. “I hope that the CDU and...

The YouTube video shows two women, dressed in suits and ties. They smile; they sniffle back tears; they gaze into each other’s eyes. They are reading their wedding vows to one another. The four-minute video titled “Her Vows” contains no nudity, violence or swearing. There’s no revealing clothing. No one is engaging in activities that have a “high risk of injury or death.” And yet, YouTube had deemed the video unsuitable for people under 18. YouTube acknowledged Monday that it might have made a mistake, saying in a tweet, “Some videos have been incorrectly labeled and that’s not right. We’re...

A bill introduced into the Arkansas state House of Representatives would restore the traditional definition as the law in the Natural State. State Representative Stephen Meeks is the author of House Bill 2098, which reads, “Marriage shall be only between a man and a woman. A marriage between persons of the same sex is void.“ Moreover, “It is the public policy of the State of Arkansas to recognize the marital union only of man and woman.” Meeks’s measure enjoys the support of at least 19 co-sponsors (including one state senator) and, should it be enacted, the bill would block recognition...

Social Democrats want to put marriage equality on the table, and over 80 percent of Germans support expanding the right to marry to same-sex couples. But many Christian Democrats are still pushing back. Marriage equality is legal in 22 countries, including Argentina, South Africa and the United States. Germany is not one of them. But now members of the junior governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) are pushing to change that. They are calling on their coalition partners, the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), to go along with a change of law that would grant same-sex couples...

What happened to this florist is wrong! Created On: Friday, February 17, 2017 9:23 AM You may have heard that our friend Barronelle Stutzman lost her case at the Washington state Supreme Court yesterday. Barronelle is the florist from Richland, Washington, who declined to participate in a homosexual wedding ceremony because she said her Christian faith would not allow her to do so. For this the state of Washington came down on her with a lawsuit saying she could not deny her services to LGBT members, even if it violated her religious convictions.