Free Republic

Bay State Congressman Barney Frank has joined a battle in defense of an openly gay soldier who was discharged after another private allegedly assaulted him in Arizona. Calling the move “dumb,” U.S. Rep. Frank (D-4th) blasted the Pentagon’s policy on gays in the military yesterday in light of the recent discharge. “It’s dumb right now because we have a shortage of people and you are losing thousands of people who want to join,” Frank said. Army Pvt. Kyle Lawson, 19, who was stationed at Fort Huachuca, was discharged from the military on Jan. 5 - two months after he was...

A bill making its way through the Legislature would protect state pharmacists for refusing to fill certain prescriptions. The Pharmacists Freedom of Conscience Act would free from liability or disciplinary measures any pharmacist who cites moral or religious objections to dispensing things like birth control pills or Viagra. Republican House sponsor Glen Casada of College Grove says pharmacists need such a law, since doctors and nurses are protected in a similar fashion. However, opponents of the legislation believe it's a disguised effort to limit access to contraceptives.

....Domestic abuse can and does happen to women of all ages, races, and socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. Although abuse happens to men and to same-sex partners, domestic violence usually involves men abusing their female partners. In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services estimates that as many as 4 million women suffer abuse from their husbands, ex-husbands, boyfriends or intimate partners in the United States each year. Domestic abuse — also called domestic violence, intimate partner violence or battering — occurs between people in intimate relationships. It takes many forms, including coercion, threats, intimidation, isolation, and emotional, sexual and...