Free Republic

AUSTIN - Judges in Texas are now able to refuse to perform marriages for religious reasons, the state's highest court decided Friday. While the Texas Supreme Court's addition to the judicial conduct code does not include reasoning for the change, it follows a years-long debate over whether judges within the state are obligated to perform same-sex ceremonies. Texas Supreme Court ruling What we know: The ruling, amending Canon 4 of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, was signed Friday, Oct. 24. Click to open this PDF in a new window. The comment reads as follows: "It is not a violation...

UK health officials are encouraging gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men to make sure they are vaccinated against mpox, as a strain called 'clade Ib' shows early signs of local spread in some European countries. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) says it is aware of small numbers of cases of this strain of mpox - formerly known as monkeypox - in Spain, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands, as well as the US.

More than 2 1/2 years ago, I wrote about the prostitution problem in San Francisco. Neighbors of one particular street, Capp St., were complaining about a sudden uptick of business on their block that was making it difficult to sleep at night.

If you are strongly opposed to the NFL choosing Bad Bunny to perform the Super Bowl Halftime Show, you are not alone. However, if you approve of Bad Bunny or don’t care, you’re also not alone. That seems to be the main takeaway from a recent Quinnipiac poll, which shows that 48 percent of respondents approve of the selection of the Puerto Rican rapper for this year’s halftime entertainment. In comparison, 29 percent disapprove and 24 percent have no opinion. The numbers break down along party lines. “Democrats (74 – 10 percent) and independents (52 – 22 percent) approve of...

n anti-Israel transgender rabbi who was once tossed out of the White House has become the face of a “Jews for Zohran” ad — as she tries to rally support for socialist mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani in the final days of the election. Abby Stein, a part-time rabbi at Brooklyn’s progressive Kolot Chayein synagogue, is among a handful of female rabbis featured in the ad recently put out by the Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JREJ). “We know Zohran will fight to make our city affordable and safe for our families,” Stein declared in the campaign ad.“As Jews, as...

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is the Democratic Party’s early presidential frontrunner in New Hampshire, topping California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and former Vice President Kamala Harris in a new poll. With 19% support, Buttigieg leads Newsom – his closest opponent – by 4 percentage points, according to the University of New Hampshire’s Granite State Poll, released Monday. The only other Democrats in double-digits were Ocasio-Cortez (14%) and Harris (11%). Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) received 8% support and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker garnered a 6% backing. New Hampshire traditionally is the first state to hold both Democratic...

Three years before a leftist transgender-linked gunman murdered Charlie Kirk, a transgender assassin tried to carry out his plan to kill three Supreme Court justices to wipe out humanity. At one in the morning, Nicholas Roske allegedly showed up outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home carrying a gun, zip ties and tools for breaking and entering. Roske was angry about the Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion because he believed that abortion should be “mandatory for pregnant women” so that “no new people would be born” and “humanity will end”. Roske wanted to kill three Supreme Court justices so that “there are...

A local LGBTQ+ activist in Prattville was arrested on Tuesday for chemical endangerment of a child after a naked toddler was found wandering alone in downtown Prattville. Adam Hunt, the president and co-founder of Prattville Pride, was one of three people arrested by police on Tuesday. According to a press release by Prattville Police, a “citizen was traveling down East Main St. at the intersection of Adell St. in Prattville when he noticed an unattended, unclothed, male toddler, walking in close proximity and in the direction of Main St. Main St. is one of the busiest streets in Prattville, which...

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III on Monday dedicated Britain’s first national memorial to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops, 25 years after the U.K. ended a ban on homosexuality in the armed forces. The king, who is the ceremonial head of the armed forces, laid flowers at the monument in the National Memorial Arboretum in central England at a service attended by scores of serving troops and veterans. The sculpture takes the form of a crumpled bronze letter bearing words from personnel who were affected by the ban. Between 1967 and 2000, soldiers, sailors and air force personnel who...

Check out this headline: Why was he pressured? Well, because people found out he was convicted of sexual abusing teen boys a few decades ago. You'd think they would include that in the headline. Here's Spotlight Delaware on the Democratic Party Chair in Sussex County, who balked (ironically, as you'll see in a moment) at the initial calls for him to resign. The Sussex County Democratic Party Chair, Jeff Balk, who was the subject of recent controversy over his decision to remain in leadership despite his past sex crimes against minors, resigned Sunday night ... His resignation comes amid a...

The entitled son of top lawyer has been arrested after he tried to evade police by mowing down two officers with his white Mercedes G-Wagen in Pennsylvania. Dalton Janiczek, 21, was charged with attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and was arraigned on Saturday. The drama unfolded on October 24, when a sergeant attempted to stop Janiczek's car - but the vehicle sped away, driving erratically at a high speed while crossing over a concrete median, police said. Police tracked the car down to a parking lot near the...

A French court on Friday sentenced an Algerian woman to life imprisonment without parole for raping, torturing and murdering a girl in Paris, making her the first woman to receive this maximum sentence. Dahbia Benkired was handed an “irreducible life sentence” for killing 12-year-old Lola Daviet in the French capital in 2022, in a case that horrified the country and sparked anti-immigration fervour because the woman did not have the right to be in France. The sentence is the harshest under the French penal code. “We believed in justice and we got it,” said Lola’s mother, Delphine Daviet, following the...

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, October 20, 2025. Evaristo Sa / AFP. The persecution of ordinary citizens on behalf of the LGBT movement will be funded by the state—that is, by the taxpayers being targeted. President Lula da Silva’s Brazil has taken another step towards totalitarianism with the launch of a massive platform designed to streamline the prosecution of those who criticize LGBT ideology. With Orwellian irony, it has been called the ‘Platform of Respect.’ “The Ministry of Human Rights, in partnership with the NGO Aliança Nacional LGBTI+, launched a platform aimed at holding legally accountable authors of...

DALLAS — Oak Lawn United Methodist Church in Dallas says it's painting the steps of the church in rainbow colors following Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's order targeting rainbow crosswalks. The church, located at the corner of Oak Lawn Avenue and Cedar Springs Road, says the action is "not one of defiance, but of faith." The painting of the church steps comes after Abbott issued an order earlier this month to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) that instructs state and local agencies to remove any “decorative crosswalks or markings conveying artwork or other messages” that are not part of standard...

With a week and a half until Election Day and the latest polls suggesting Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli narrowing the gap with Democratic rival Rep. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey's race for governor, President Donald Trump is stepping in to push his GOP ally over the finish line. While not physically dropping into the Garden State campaign trail, at least as of now, Trump will headline a tele-rally with Ciattarelli on Friday night, hours before early voting kicks off in New Jersey's competitive gubernatorial showdown. "EARLY VOTING EVE TELE-RALLY with President Donald J. Trump! Join us Friday, October 24 at...

A Texas doctor has surrendered her medical license after being sued by Attorney General Ken Paxton over her prescribing of so-called cross sex hormones to children in the state. In October 2024, Paxton sued May Lay, a Dallas-based doctor, for providing "high-dose cross-sex hormones to twenty-one minor patients for the direct purpose of 'transitioning' the child’s biological sex," using false diagnoses and billing codes. This went against a bill passed in Texas in 2023 that prohibits medicinal and surgical procedures for the purposes of changing a child’s gender. Lau had previously entered into a Rule 11 agreement, which prohibited her...

Going back 250 years, the enemies of America thought long and hard about how to destroy the fledgling experiment of a democratic republic that our Founding Fathers had envisioned. It was and continues to be clear to them that America’s strength is a function of three phenomena: - A fervent belief in the God Who makes miracles happen, for just one example the crushing defeat of the thunderously powerful English Empire’s armies by blazing patriots like General George Washington and his ragtag army of American heroes. - An equally ardent belief in and passion for the concept of freedom. Men...

The court ruled that HHS exceeded its authority by redefining sex under Title IX to prohibit gender-identity bias because a statute can’t “be divorced” from the time and reason for its enactment. Afederal judge in Mississippi on Wednesday struck down a Biden-era Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule that extended federal health anti-discrimination protections to transgender health care. Judge Louis Guirola Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi ruled in favor of a coalition of 16 GOP-led states that sued over the rule. The court ruled that HHS exceeded its authority by redefining...

There is no F.D.A.-approved testosterone product for women. Insurance won’t cover it. Many doctors won’t prescribe it. It’s become a cultural phenomenon.Spend enough time speaking to women who are taking testosterone — specifically, in very high doses — and you start to notice that they sound messianic. They’re often talking fast and intensely; they’re amped up; they’re describing what they clearly consider a miracle drug; and they have no intention of lowering their dose, despite the unknown risks or some problems with facial hair. After all, how can they worry about facial hair when they feel so alive? It’s nothing...

But the high court also sent the case back to a lower court to weigh in on whether USA Powerlifting had a 'legitimate business purpose' for rejecting Cooper. The LGBTQ+ rights group Gender Justice, which represents Cooper, claimed the ruling as a victory, noting that Cooper won on the issue of state law barring discrimination in a place of public accommodation. 'That claim will not be unraveled,' Gender Justice legal counsel Jess Braverman said. However, the justices noted that the law carves out a 'legitimate business purpose defense,' and said there is a 'genuine dispute of material fact' on whether...