Free Republic

Most Holy Redeemer is at a crossroads. The Catholic church in the Castro district has arguably the largest gay parish in the nation, and controversial new decisions have members worried about leadership, policies - even that the church might be shut down. And it all began with drag queens. When the archdiocese refused to allow drag queens to serve as emcees for charity events at the church's community hall, it fed rampant paranoia about antigay sentiment. The decision was initially blamed on incoming Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, an outspoken opponent of same-sex marriage who has been championed by extreme conservative Catholic...

Supervisor Chris Daly's seat in District 6 is open this November, and both moderates and progressives consider it a key swing district. That's why, a veteran local politico told me several months ago, it would be approached with a careful game plan, a thoughtful slate of candidates, and a narrow, well-focused field.So much for that.With a little more than nine months to go, we've got candidates coming out of the flower planters on Market Street. If anyone else enters, we may have one candidate for each of the roughly 8,000 votes it will take to win.For the progressives, the original...