Free Republic

Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine (born Richard Levine), President Joe Biden’s pick for assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has long defended experimental transgender “treatments” for children. Levine, who identifies as transgender, has refused to say whether or not he has undergone medical interventions for his own gender identity, telling The Washington Post in 2016 that such “treatment” is a private matter. Levine, a pediatrician who worked at Penn State Hersey Medical Center from 1993 to 2015 and who teaches pediatrics and psychology at Penn State College of Medicine, has given lectures on...

A record 5.6 percent of Americans now identify as LGBTQ, the majority of whom say they are bisexual, according to a new survey. Gallup on Tuesday published its latest update on LGBTQ identification, showing a 1.1 percent increase since the poll was last conducted in 2017. It marks the largest increase since the survey began in 2012, with an estimated 18 million adults in America identifying as LGBTQ last year.

An estimated 5.6 percent of Americans identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, according to a new Gallup report. That’s up from 4.5 percent in 2017, the last year polling on the issue was conducted by the organization. Of those surveyed who identified as LGBTQ, 54.6 percent identified as bisexual, 24.5 percent as gay, 11.7 percent as lesbians, 11.3 percent as transgender and 3.3 percent said they used another term to describe their identity (i.e. queer or same-gender loving). The total exceeds 100 percent because respondents were able to choose more than one category. The results were based on...

CNA Staff, Feb 23, 2021 / 02:00 pm MT (CNA).- A German Catholic bishop has publicly defended his support for a book of blessings and rites for homosexual unions. Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz also suggested that Catholics with homosexual inclinations cannot all be expected to live chastely and the Church should adopt a pastoral approach that acknowledges this. “Quite a few people who have homosexual attractions belong to the Church and are truly pious in the best sense of the word,” Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz wrote in a column for his diocesan newspaper that was also published on...

Having HIV almost doubles the risk of liver fibrosis, according to European research published in the online edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases. Investigators in Denmark and the Netherlands compared rates of liver fibrosis between people living with HIV and people without HIV. Importantly, none of the participants had hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV). All were aged between 50 and 70 years and liver fibrosis was present in 12% of people with HIV and 7% of HIV-negative comparison group. Risk factors for fibrosis among people with HIV included increasing age, higher body mass index (BMI),...

Most alarmingly, Dr. Levine has advocated for sex changes for pre-pubertal people, otherwise known as “children.” A professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at the Penn State College of Medicine, Levine has given lectures in various settings since at least 2012 on how to perform sex changes and gender conversion therapy on children. According to Levine, children ought to be given the latitude to choose their own gender. Levine has advised adults to “try not to force them one way or other [sic]” and instead to follow the child’s lead. “For prepubertal children,” Levine said in a 2017 speech at Franklin...

Alanna Smith's dedication to her sport is profound. Just listening to the elite high school track star explain her training schedule is exhausting. Yet no matter how hard she trains, if she has to compete against biological males, she stands no chance of winning. "There is simply a biological advantage that males have over females," explained the daughter of baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Lee Smith. "Here is a perfect example," Smith told me. "I have a twin brother who is an athlete but does not run competitively for his sports. We raced against each other recently, and he beat...

Denver Newsroom, Feb 20, 2021 / 02:39 am MT (CNA).- Ahead of a significant Supreme Court case that could determine whether Catholic adoption agencies can stay open in the U.S., a religious freedom attorney has criticized an article arguing against religious freedom protections. “To the extent that this article proves anything, it’s that all creative professionals feel freer to exercise their constitutional rights, which is a good thing for every American,” Jake Warner, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, said Feb. 17. Warner was responding to a Feb. 6 article in The Atlantic by law professor Netta Barak-Corren. The article...

A member of a far-right militia who stormed the US Capitol building has petitioned to be released from jail due to safety concerns relating to her being transgender, according to BuzzFeed News.

Play the music, light the lights… and slap on the disclaimer? Select episodes of The Muppet Show — which began streaming on Disney+ on Friday, Feb. 19 — have been hit with a disclaimer citing “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures.” “These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” the disclaimer reads. “Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.” The warning message continues: “Disney is committed to creating stories with inspirational and aspirational themes that reflect the rich diversity...

Joe Biden has urged Congress to “swiftly pass” the Equality Act, eliminating the legal recognition of male and female sex.The bill would also cater to gender ideology as many critics argue it would turn "equality on its head." Biden said:

The head of MI6 has apologised for the “misguided, unjust and discriminatory” ban on gay spies, 30 years after the restriction was lifted. In a message on Twitter, Richard Moore, the head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, apologised for the treatment of LGBT staff and potential candidates before the government-wide security ban was lifted in 1991. Same-sex relationships were decriminalised in Britain in 1967. However, it took more than two decades before the security bar to LGBT individuals serving in any of the UK intelligence agencies was rescinded. Mr Moore said this was down to a “misguided view that they...

A 50-year-old transgender “woman” is being hailed as a hero for joining a female college basketball team and playing alongside girls under half “her” age. Gabrielle Ludwig, born Robert Ludwig before “she” had a sex change in July 2012, is being allowed to play college basketball for the Mission College (Calif.) women’s basketball team. She is being called a brave trailblazer and receiving gushing profiles from the fake news media for engaging in this bizarre and troubling spectacle. The nauseating USA Today profile on Ludwig reads as follows: [cut] The profile noted (surprise, surprise) that Ludwig has a history of...

John Lomperis and I signed this statement with United Methodist bishops and other leaders urging our denomination to move forward by ending our theological conflicts and adopting the Protocol for dividing our denomination into separate new churches: February 16, 2021 Coalition of Traditional Leaders Continues to Support the Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation Over a year ago, a diverse group of United Methodist Church leaders released the Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation. Never before had leading bishops, general church officials, and leaders of advocacy groups representing centrists, progressives, and traditionalists agreed on a plan for resolving...

Another TikTok user got themselves in a sticky situation – and some viewers are saying it’s a shameless stunt for viral fame. Avani Reyes, 20, said she (HE) went to the hospital after putting Gorilla Glue in her hair "accidentally" in a video she posted to TikTok. It’s the latest beauty mishap with the heavy-duty adhesive to go viral. "I don’t know what to do. This was an accident. I didn’t mean to put Gorilla Glue in my hair," Reyes posted in a clip to the social media platform, adding that the glue was burning her scalp and wasn’t coming...

Report: Cardinal Gregory thought USCCB statement on Biden inauguration ‘ill-timed’The Archbishop of Washington thought the U.S. bishops’ statement for President Biden’s inauguration “ill-timed,” according to NBC’s “Today” co-host Al Roker on Monday. At the end of an interview segment with Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C. that aired Monday morning on NBC’s “Today,” Roker noted “areas of disagreement” between the Catholic Church and the new Biden administration, including on the issue of abortion.Roker cited the Jan. 20 statement of the U.S. bishops’ conference (USCCB) on Biden’s inauguration, which had warned that some of Biden’s proposed policies would “advance moral evils.”...

George Conway, who co-founded The Lincoln Project, is calling for an investigation into the anti-Trump group following a series of reports regarding allegations that another organization co-founder, John Weaver, sent unsolicited sexual messages to young men as well as a 14-year-old boy. Conway, a conservative attorney and husband of former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, tweeted Tuesday that "THE LYING HAS TO STOP" and demanded that the group waive nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) to allow for all current and former employees to reveal any knowledge they have about the claims. "An investigation is necessary. But it has to be thorough, and...

Another minor has reportedly come forward to accuse the Lincoln Project’s John Weaver of sexual harassment, just weeks after the political consultant was accused of harassing 21 others, including a 14-year-old boy. In an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Monday night, journalist Ryan Girdusky, who first broke the story about Weaver’s alleged conduct last month, shared news of the latest allegation for the first time. ‘The New York Times report on January 31 that John Weaver was in communication with a 14-year-old was the first allegation made that he was sexually harassing a minor,’ Girdusky began.

The Lincoln Project is a 'toxic' workplace with a culture of infighting where women are sidelined, young men are referred to as 'wizards' and political rivals are disparaged, current and former staffers have claimed. The anti-Trump PAC has had a tumultuous week after being rocked by sexual harassment allegations involving co-founder John Weaver and subsequent claims the group knew about it months before acknowledging it publicly. Now, nearly two dozen current and former staffers - or people associated with the group - have detailed in interviews with the 19th the 'toxic' inner workings of the Lincoln Project.

It’s easy to amend the Constitution. It’s been done dozens of times since WWII. Send the right case with the right litigants at the right time to an adequately Leftist-leaning Scotus and voila’, amend the Constitution. Pretty slick, eh? Through their silence, this is the end-run around the Constitution that Article V Opponents defend.When did We The People, through Article V, ensconce abortion and homosexual marriage as rights? We The People never empowered the early Administrative State and later the Deep State which threaten our republican existence. Since the 1950s we’ve witnessed the detrimental effects of Christianity’s absence from the...