Free Republic

More than 75 Asian and LGBTQ organizations issued a statement Wednesday rejecting the anti-Asian hate crime bill that recently soared through the Senate. Why it matters: The groups say the bill will bolster law enforcement and further harm marginalized people. Their opposition reflects a fracture among Asian Americans as the community looks to address a yearlong spike in anti-Asian hate...In Wednesday's statement, published on writer Jenn Fang's blog, "Reappropriate," activists called the bill a contradiction of "Asian solidarity with Black, Brown, undocumented, trans, low-income, sex worker, and other marginalized communities whose liberation is bound together." The bill does not create...

VAICAN CITY — Cardinals Blase Cupich and Joseph Tobin met with the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican just days before the congregation’s prefect sent a letter urging the U.S. bishops to fulfill a set of conditions before implementing a plan regarding pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving Holy Communion. The Register has confirmed through Vatican sources that the two cardinals, both of whom oppose stricter rules on the issue, visited the Vatican mid-morning on April 30, during which they met with CDF prefect Cardinal Luis Ladaria. Cardinal Cupich, of Chicago, and Cardinal Tobin, of...

The phrase “gender equality” has been removed from the declaration on social issues to be adopted by EU leaders at their social summit in Porto later on Friday (7 May) after Poland and Hungary opposed the expression. The phrase was replaced by a reference to a previous document, the European Pillar of Social Rights, which includes “gender equality”. The latest compromise is part of a trend that has been going in the EU, with mostly Hungary and Poland, sometimes joined by Slovakia, Bulgaria, pushing for “gender equality” to be deleted from different EU texts. The nationalist-conservative governments in Budapest and...

Those bent on remaking bodies, language, and society to accord with their desires won't persuade if they can command, or reason if they can suppress.The despisers of the body are at it again. In this case, they are in Kentucky, where the Democrat governor’s administration is trying to shut down a Baptist foster care and adoption agency for being, well, Baptist. There are many similar cases across the country — including one under consideration by the Supreme Court — with Christian ministries penalized for adhering to Christian beliefs about sex and the sexes. Put simply, Christians believe that our physical...

The iconic card game UNO has partnered with the It Gets Better Project on a version called Play with Pride to support LGBTQ+ youth. “UNO’s mission is to bring people together, and through the UNO Play with Pride deck, the brand is celebrating inclusivity with the LGBTQ+ community with this Pride edition of UNO. Additionally, Mattel has donated $50,000 to the It Gets Better Project in support of their initiatives supporting LGBTQ+ youth and will be a partner of the It Gets Better Project digital pride festival in late June.” The new deck is available nationwide only at Target and...

Members of Grace Cathedral in Ohio wept openly in the sanctuary as leaders announced the death of their controversial founding pastor, televangelist Ernest Angley Friday. He was 99. “First off, we’d like to thank all of you for praying for Rev. Angley, and Rev. Angley made so many sacrifices for all of us, and he showed us so much love,” began Grace Cathedral’s Rev. Steve Millar in a Friday night service broadcast on Facebook. “But Rev. Angley, because of his decline this past week, around 4:30 today went to Heaven. Rev. Angley was our father, our pastor. He was...

The Biden administration is reversing a rule initiated by former President Donald Trump that defined “sex” as biological, in an effort to prevent “discrimination” against transgender people in health care practices, the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday. The notice of enforcement, while not a binding federal rule, signals that the federal government will begin interpreting Section 1557 — the non-discrimination provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — to include a ban on discrimination based on sexual identity, rather than simply banning discrimination based on biological sex, as the Trump administration had. The change...

A public consultation will be opened before a ban on so-called conversion therapy, the BBC understands. "Conversion therapy" attempts to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity, according to NHS England. The consultation will consider religious freedom and how to protect professionals, including therapists, say government sources. The proposed ban on conversion therapy in England and Wales will be announced in the Queen's Speech on Tuesday. Campaigners say ministers must act fast and bring in a ban across all settings. What is conversion therapy and will it be banned?In practice, conversion therapy means trying to stop or suppress someone from...

California gubernatorial candidate, former Olympian, and reality TV celebrity Caitlyn Jenner declared Monday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that the 2020 presidential election was not stolen from former President Donald Trump. Jenner is one of several candidates running against Gov. Gavin Newsom in a recall election after Newsom’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

German cardinal: Ecumenism of return to Catholicism ‘is completely impossible’‘If someone goes to the Eucharist or the Lord’s Supper of the other denomination after a decision of conscience, I will have to accept that.’May 10, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — In a recent interview with far-left German magazine Publik-Forum, Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich revealed more of his revolutionary agenda for the Church, showing openness to intercommunion with non-Catholic denominations, promoting “synodality,” “moving forward” and a “learning process” within the Church. He also demonstrated his annoyance with the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith’s recent responsum recalling that the Church cannot...

The Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) has elected its first transgender person to serve as bishop in the denomination. On Saturday, Rev. Megan Rohrer, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in San Francisco and community chaplain coordinator for the San Francisco Police Department, was officially selected as bishop. According to Religion News Service, Rohrer is the first openly transgender person to serve as bishop in the ELCA or any other major Christian denominations in the U.S. Rohrer was also the first transgender person to be ordained in the ELCA in 2006 and the first to...

I am not trying to demonize Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner or to portray him as some kind of moral monster. Obviously, I cannot relate to whatever internal struggles moved him to try to change his gender (which, for the record, cannot be done), and he may be a fine person and a decent human being in many other ways. I am simply saying that, by no means should he be the latest poster boy/girl for conservative values, even if he is currently seeking to replace California’s radical governor, Gavin Newsom. Yet last week, Jenner appeared in a very favorable exclusive interview...

The birth rate and fertility rate in the United States fell to a new historic lows in 2020 although some believed the pandemic would lead to a baby boom, according to a provisional report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The drop is related to the pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic but larger social factors are also contributing to the precipitous decline in births, some say. The CDC announced last week in a May Vital Statistics Rapid Release that the provisional number of births in the U.S. in 2020 was over 3.6...

The CIA is plowing ahead with its series of new recruitment ads aimed at millennials, releasing a new video ad last week despite the scoffs and criticism with which the previous installments were met. The latest “Humans of CIA” video ad features a man who says he is an “agency librarian” for the CIA and describes his struggles with being gay and the acceptance he encountered at the CIA. “Growing up gay in a small Southern town, I was lucky to have a wonderful and accepting family. I always struggled with the idea that I may not be able to...

Some parents were upset to learn a teacher read to their young students the book I Am Jazz. The children’s book introduces readers to transgenderism via a child who, at the age of 2, was “pretending to be a boy.” At a young age, the boy met a doctor who labeled him transgender. Based on a real person, the character presented as a female and went by the name Jazz. Complaints to the teacher went nowhere, so parents contacted the Bellingham School Board President Jenn Mason. Those complaints fell on deaf ears. Now we may know why. According to her...

FINLAND – Rev. Dr. Juhana Pohjola, Diocesan Dean and Bishop Elect of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland (ELMDF) has been charged by Finland’s Prosecutor General with incitement against a group of people. The charges stem from a 2004 booklet published by Luther Foundation Finland (the legal entity behind the ELMDF) which articulates historic Christian teaching on human sexuality. “As a Christian, I do not want to and cannot discriminate against or despise anyone created by God,” Dean Pohjola said in reaction to being charged. “Every human being, created by God and redeemed by Christ, is equally precious.” At...

Five years ago, the United Nations General Assembly set goals for HIV infections and deaths in 2020 — and the world failed both targets. The General Assembly in 2016 called for 500,000 new HIV infections and 500,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2020. But last year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, infections swelled to 1.7 million, over three times the target. Deaths related to AIDS reached 690,000, well over the goal.

Tell me a story about how it’s just about letting little boys compete in sports using the gender identity that they are most comfortable with.New Zeland transgender female weight lifter Laurel Hubbard, who lived life for 35 years as a man, will likely participate in this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo as a 43-year-old female weightlifter.#Tokyo2020: Weightlifter #LaurelHubbard poised to become first #transgender Olympianhttps://t.co/0WNbyT1LJc— Zee News English (@ZeeNewsEnglish) May 6, 2021Hubbard finished 2nd in the 2017 World Championships in the Women’s Super Heavyweight division, but a serious elbow injury in 2018 put his/her career in jeopardy.Under the revamped qualifying rules...

President Joe Biden’s proposed infrastructure legislation has the political class seemingly locked in a debate about what “infrastructure” means. Biden and Democratic leaders—backed by a majority of the U.S. population—believe that “infrastructure” is more than just roads and bridges and encompasses all the structures that help modern society function. Their new bill reflects that understanding, including improvements to water pipes and the electrical grid, universal broadband access, charging stations for electric vehicles, physical upgrades to schools and universities, and—perhaps most innovatively—home care for the elderly and disabled, support for families with children, and expanded access to health care. Republican elected...

A 1st grade teacher in Washington read her students a book pushing transgender ideology as the school district sat back and did nothing, according to an anonymous tip through YAF’s Campus Bias Tip Line. Jennifer Miller, a 1st grade teacher in Bellingham School District, subjected her six and seven-year-old students to I am Jazz, a book that details a two-year-old biological male beginning his transition to a female, with the support of his parents. Concerned parents reached out to school administrators and the school board, both of whom refused to take action. An investigation by YAF revealed that Jennifer Mason,...