Free Republic

LONDON — Bishop Cherry Vann has been elected as archbishop of the Church in Wales, becoming the first woman and LGBTQ cleric appointed to lead any of Britain’s Anglican churches. While the broader, international Anglican Communion has had openly gay bishops before, most notably Gene Robinson in the United States, Vann will be the first lesbian to serve as archbishop globally. The Church in Wales, which broke away from the Church of England in 1920, elected Vann to the post on Wednesday. According to her official biography, Vann lives with her civil partner, Wendy, and the couple’s two dogs. While...

World Athletics is now standing up to transgender insanity, insisting on a test to prove an individual’s DNA is female before competing against other women. On July 30, the World Athletics Council announced its new rules effective September 2025, meaning that the rules apply to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The Member Federations are now required to test athletes to ensure biological males are not competing in the women’s categories. There is an exception for biological males with certain extremely rare sexual development disorders, however, which could potentially cause problems later. In its press release, World Athletics explained the...

Most reasonable people would agree that meth-fueled orgies are a bad thing, and that having sex with groups of strangers for days on end should be discouraged. Yet some “harm reduction” advocates have suggested that these orgies should be tolerated, perhaps even celebrated. This demonstrates that the harm-reduction movement is more interested in normalizing drug use than mitigating its negative consequences. Meth-fueled orgies emerged as a policy issue in the mid-2010s, following the popularization of so-called “chemsex” (also known as “party and play” or “PnP”) within the gay community. The term refers to having sex while under the influence of...

A Colorado family has fled the US for New Zealand over concerns their nine-year-old transgender daughter could be persecuted if they stay in America. Parents Brandon and Candace, who would not reveal their last name over safety fears, left Denver earlier this month with their kids Holt and Chase.Chase, nine, came out as transgender several years ago and the family started planning a way out after President Donald Trump returned to the White House. The day he did, Trump signed an executive order stipulating that there are only two genders, the family said that within 24 hours they had decided...

When I was a college freshman studying broadcast journalism in 1978, I watched a show on PBS that made me contemplate something that I’d never thought about before: What would I do if one day the government took control of the media, rewarding those who spread the leaders’ propaganda and silencing dissenting voices?

In the weeks surrounding Trump’s inauguration, the left-wing media insisted the administration’s effort to remove trans troops from the military would weaken the force — some outlets fearmongered that up to 15,000 service members would be booted. But numbers recently obtained by journalist Chris Bray from the Department of Defense indicate that only four “transgender servicemembers” have been “removed from the military so far under the new Trump administration policy.” In May, the Department of Defense released a memo laying out how “Service members who have a current diagnosis or history of, or exhibit symptoms consistent with, gender dysphoria may...

The Republican’s transphobic policies are sparking panic among LGBTQ+ people, triggering a 10-fold increase in asylum applications so far this year. “In the first 24 hours after Trump’s re-election, we received 1,177 requests for assistance from the United States. Fifty-one percent of these requests were from trans people: 35% from trans women, 16% from trans men,” says Timothy Chan, spokesperson for Rainbow Railroad, an NGO with offices in Canada and the U.S. that helps LGBTQ+ people experiencing persecution and violence start a life in another country. Panicked by a government that threatens their civil rights, many LGBTQ+ Americans, especially trans...

Multiple leftist media outlets attacked Swedish pastor Håkan Persson, the parish priest of Markaryd, after a recent social media post in which he criticized the new rainbow-colored, LGBT-friendly vestments designed to be the symbol of the progressivism of the Church of Sweden. In his Facebook post, Persson stated that the rainbow-colored chasuble and stole, designed at the initiative of the Västerås diocese, “will not enter Markaryd’s church as long as I am vicar.” While the media paints him as acting from “a hidden minority-intolerant agenda” and accuses him of discriminating against the LGBT community in his parish, the priest insists...

Billionaire mogul David Geffen has rubbished his estranged boytoy husband's explosive claims that he's a sex and drug-crazed abuser. Geffen, 82, branded 32 year-old Donovan Michaels' divorce filing allegations 'false and pathetic'. Donovan Michaels, 32, alleges that his billionaire beau Geffen, 82, forced him to take drugs, subjected him to abusive sex and controlled his every move, according to the latest lawsuit in their messy divorce battle. ... The pair met in 2016 on SeekingArrangements.com, a dating website often used by rich people looking for younger partners. Geffen, a movie and music producer worth about $9 billion, allegedly paid Michaels...

Louisiana is one of 30 states with criminal penalties related to exposing or transmitting HIV. Most of the laws were passed in the 1980s during the emergence of the AIDS epidemic. Since then, several states have amended their laws to make them less punitive or repealed them outright, including Maryland and North Dakota this year. But Louisiana’s law remains among the harshest. The state is one of five that may require people such as Smith to register as a sex offender if convicted, a label that can follow them for over a decade. And state lawmakers considered a bill to...

An abortion business in New Hampshire has been accused of attempting to groom and indoctrinate young girls by promoting its business using American Girl Dolls, which have long been marketed to girls 12 and under. While it is unclear if the American Girl company approved the use of its dolls in this manner, its own TikTok account shows it has shifted some of its marketing to young adults — many of whom grew up with the dolls and remain fans. Key Takeaways: * Lovering Health Center, a New Hampshire abortion business, used American Girl Dolls in a recent Facebook post...

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has effectively barred transgender women from competing in women’s sports, telling the federations overseeing swimming, athletics and other sports it has an “obligation to comply” with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump. The new policy, announced Monday with a quiet change on the USOPC’s website and confirmed in a letter sent to national sport governing bodies, follows a similar step taken by the NCAA earlier this year. The USOPC change is noted obliquely as a detail under “USOPC Athlete Safety Policy” and references Trump’s executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,”...

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s wife makes “gender justice” movies and sells them to the state public education system through her non-profit, The Representation Project. By 2023, she had charged the state $1.5 million for her “gender justice” movies. That’s a screaming example of a conflict of interest. If that’s not enough, the governor requested nonprofits and private corporations to contribute to his wife’s charity before taking their side on state issues.

As June comes to an end, so do many events associated with Pride Month, a month-long celebration of sexual diversity and gender variance — often geared towards increasing the visibility of the LGBTQIA community, as well as combatting stigma and advocating for equal rights. But the battle to eliminate stigma and achieve these rights will certainly continue, as recent debates about which bathrooms transgender men and women should use illustrate all too well. For years here at 13.7, Barbara J. King has been writing about what she calls the spectrum of gender expression, and "the fact that gender identity isn't...

Live by the federal subsidy ... well, you know the rest. And if not, Robert Kennedy Jr just served up a big reminder.Republicans in Congress got thwarted in their attempt to defund providers delivering pediatric sex-change therapies. Instead, the HHS Secretary will act within his authority to deny Medicare and Medicaid funds to hospitals and clinics that provide these services, forcing them into a choice between funding for actual care and pandering to the extreme Left at the expense of children. National Review got the scoop:The Department of Health and Human Services will soon begin the rule-making process to prohibit...

The City of Boynton Beach has painted over it's Pride intersection. Officials say it was to comply with updated transportation regulations and address safety concerns. The rainbow crosswalk at

A crime that keeps repeating in the city of Delray Beach. The LGBTQ Pride intersection near Old School Square in Delray Beach is once again stained with black tire marks after a pickup truck drove by—twice—and did burnouts, video...

Andrea Gibson, a celebrated poet and performance artist who through their verse explored gender identity, politics and their 4-year battle with terminal ovarian cancer, died Monday at age 49. Gibson’s death was announced on social media by their wife, Megan Falley. Gibson and Falley are the main subjects of the documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light,” winner of the Festival Favorite Award this year at the Sundance Film Festival and scheduled to air this fall on Apple TV+.

Professing Christian couple and TV personalities Chip and Joanna Gaines, known for their HGTV show ‘Fixer Upper’ and the Magnolia brand, are facing criticism for their decision to prominently feature a same-sex couple in their new series, Back to the Frontier. While this is bad enough, a deep dive into her social media history paints an even more disturbing picture. Billy Jack Brawner, a creative director, is married to Sara Brawner. For years they struggled to conceive, enduring three miscarriages and one stillbirth before adopting four children. Shortly thereafter, however, they discovered she was pregnant, and the couple welcomed five...

*** In 2025, lawmakers in several states introduced resolutions that urged the Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which established same-sex civil marriage nationwide. The North Dakota House and the Idaho House passed resolutions, but both efforts failed when sent to their respective state senates. In most states, the resolutions died in committees. The limited success was in legislative chambers with overwhelming Republican supermajorities. The Idaho House, for example, has a 61-9 Republican majority and passed the resolution in a 46-24 vote. The North Dakota House, with its 81-11 Republican majority, adopted the resolution more...