Free Republic

New Jersey has become the second state in the nation after California to adopt a law that requires schools to teach about LGBT history in a move hailed by civil rights groups as a step toward inclusion and fairness. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who promised to promote equality for gay and transgender people during his campaign, signed the bill Thursday. Among those celebrating the news was Jaime Bruesehoff, of Vernon, whose 12-year-old transgender child Rebekah spoke in support of the bill in Trenton in December. “This bill is so important for our young people,” Bruesehoff said. “They need to...

Foreign service officer, who will be named soon, to help promote awareness of LGBT issues across the world The United States will appoint an openly gay official as a special envoy to promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people overseas, the US State Department said Friday. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said US Secretary of State John Kerry would “soon” make the appointment. “It will be an openly gay foreign service officer. We don’t have a finalized name yet. But we will announce soon,” Harf said. Harf said the appointment reflected Kerry’s “commitment and the administration’s commitment...

Washington state regulators have warned a Roman Catholic bishop that his diocese risks running afoul of state campaign finance laws if he follows through with a planned fund-raising effort opposing same-sex marriage on the November ballot. State law prohibits organizations, including churches, from raising money from individuals to give to political campaigns, said Lori Anderson, a spokeswoman for the state's Public Disclosure Commission. "It's not because it's a church. It's because it's not a stand-alone individual," Anderson said on Thursday. The commission was calling into question a recent letter from Bishop Joseph Tyson to Yakima-area pastors urging them to distribute...

WAYNESBORO, Pa. — Seven people — including one clutching a Bible — passionately objected on Tuesday to a proposal that would form a Gay-Straight Alliance club at Waynesboro Area Senior High School. Just as many people were on the other side of the argument, with several of them highlighting strides in unity demonstrated just eight hours earlier on a national scale. “It just seems really important to acknowledge today of all days that we have our first African-American president and how much we’re growing as a country,” said Stephanie Kober, a resident of Clayton Avenue.

Hollywood can still mount a soapbox and recall the dark days when people lost their jobs in show business for daring to take an unpopular political position that was outside the mainstream. Whenever they're criticized, they proclaim, "McCarthyism," accuse their critics of "blacklisting," and condemn the deplorable "intolerance." Hollywood has yet to accept, perhaps even to understand, that it is the entertainment industry that excels at this slanderous behavior. After California voters narrowly approved Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, it was revealed that Scott Eckern, the artistic director...

SAN FRANCISCO - A girl in pigtails bounds into the kitchen after school and asks her mother to guess what she learned that day. "I learned how a prince married a prince, and I can marry a princess," she exclaims to her mortified mom. This television advertisement for a ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage in California urges voters to "protect children" by approving the measure. There's not a word about education in Proposition 8, but what public schools will be required to teach about same-sex marriage has emerged as the central issue in the campaign. The measure's supporters...

This is an excerpt from a column I wrote for WorldNetDaily.com last week. It is about how politically correct sex education is harming girls' health. The full version can be reached through the link above. As an intern at the Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute, I’ve been working with our Senior Fellow, Miriam Grossman, M.D., author of the book Unprotected: A Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student. Dr. Grossman has garnered media attention because she exposed the fact that health educators often risk students’ well-being in order to promote a particular ideology -- usually...

"The bill raises concerns on constitutional and policy grounds, and if H.R. 3685 were presented to the president, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," the White House said. "H.R. 3685 is inconsistent with the right to the free exercise of religion as codified by Congress in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The Act prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening the free exercise of religion except for compelling reasons, and then only in the least restrictive manner possible. "H.R. 3685 does not meet this standard. For instance, schools that are owned by or directed toward...

BARRED, THE CHRISTIAN FOSTER PARENTS WHO REFUSED TO TELL BOYS: IT'S GREAT BEING GAY CHRISTIAN couple who fostered 28 children have been forced to quit be­cause they refuse to promote homosexuality. Vincent Matherick, 65, and wife Pauline, 61, have also had their 11-year-old foster son removed from their care after their failure to sign a contract enforcing sexual equality. They say social services told them they must tell children it is “good” to be homosexual. They must also take them to gay meetings if they were curious about same-sex relationships. The Mathericks’ “crime” was to refuse to sign, on principle,...

Complaint Filed on Behalf of Firefighters Forced to Participate in San Diego "Gay Pride" SAN DIEGO, August 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that its West Coast Director, San Diego area attorney, Charles LiMandri, filed a sexual harassment and freedom of speech complaint in California state court on behalf of four respected San Diego firefighters. Charles LiMandri was also the Thomas More Law Center's lead counsel in the successful Mt. Soledad Cross case in San Diego. In July, four San Diego firefighters were ordered,...

BREAKING NEWS Four San Diego firefighters charge their superiors forced them to ride in San Diego's Gay Pride parade. “You could not even look at the crowd without getting some kind of sexual gesture. If any crew member were to hang up pictures at the station of what we saw, we would be disciplined.” So said one of four San Diego firefighters who say their superiors forced them, in full uniform and on their city fire truck, to attend the July 21 San Diego “Gay Pride” parade, according to an Aug. 6 press release from the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Thomas...

As a member of the United Methodist Judicial Council, physician James Holsinger voted with the majority to affirm Methodist teaching that bans practicing homosexuals from ordination. Holsinger also wrote a white paper for the denomination 16 years ago on the health hazards of gay sex and on the biological complementarity of the human sexes. Should that bar him from serving (as President Bush desires) as U.S. surgeon general? It's not surprising that homosexual-activist groups like Human Rights Campaign think so. But most of the major Democratic presidential candidates agree. [snip] The Bush administration didn't exactly rush to Holsinger's defense. "That...

The Maryland State Board of Education has ruled that the right of the state supersedes the rights of parents in teaching children about homosexuality. The Board said the "right (of parents) is not absolute. It must bend to the State's duty to educate its citizens." The ruling means that the teaching of homosexuality as an accepted and approved lifestyle in Maryland public schools can move forward

Catholic schools in Britain are under attack by the government at the urging of homosexual lobbyists for refusing to bow to pressure to implement “anti-homophobic” bullying policies in schools. A report by a Commons Select Committee to the Department for Education and Skills singles out Catholic schools for refusing to implement regulations.  Education Secretary Alan Johnson told gay activists that the government is preparing guidelines for schools to address what was identified in the report as “faith-based” homophobic bullying. At a meeting with Stonewall, the gay lobby group that brought about the notorious Sexual Orientation Regulations passed earlier this year,...

AB606 would give inappropriate, draconian power to the California Superintendent of Public Instruction to unilaterally withhold state funds from school districts that don’t promote transsexuality, bisexuality, and homosexuality according to his arbitrary “standards.” Because two-thirds of a school districts’ funds come from the state, AB 606 would interrupt and destroy the academic learning of millions of California schoolchildren. AB 606 attacks local control by removing the time-honored authority of school boards to select appropriate curriculum related to sexual matters. For example, all schools would be required to define “gender” as “a person's gender identity and gender related appearance and behavior...