Free Republic

As mayor, Mamdani has pledged to safeguard and expand access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion and gender-affirming care. His platform calls for doubling funding for both New York City’s Abortion Access Hub and the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF), ensuring that anyone can access abortion care regardless of income or immigration status. His plans also include an investment of $65 million in public clinics and sexual and reproductive health care providers to expand access to gender-affirming care and confronting private health care institutions that have refused to provide this critical care. Mamdani will also declare...

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.

Lance Twiggs, the transgender partner of Tyler Robinson, the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk, has seemingly vanished from his hometown just six weeks after the killing. Twiggs has kept a low profile since reports revealed that Robinson had informed him of the plot in text messages between the two. He has reportedly avoided his $1,800-a-month apartment on the outskirts of St. George, Utah. Authorities say Twiggs has cooperated fully with investigators but has declined to speak publicly about the incident. Robinson, on Monday, made a brief court appearance, where the judge ruled on his request to appear in court...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

As everyone knows, many took to the streets in various American cities this last Saturday to protest President Trump and his policies. The theme was “No Kings,” as if Donald J. Trump were the king of America. Far from it. As Speaker of the House Mike Johnson noted, “If President Trump was a king, the government would be OPEN right now. If President Trump was a king, they would not have been able to engage in that free speech exercise.” Gary Bauer said that the funding for all these protests came from the usual suspects: “Multiple far-left organizations funded by...

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...

Governments began inserting the term “misinformation” into the mainstream narrative during the pandemic. The government has the sole discretion to determine what is considered factual. “Trust the science” is code for “trust the government” to dictate reality, and if you question that reality, you will be punished. Swiss National Council member Andreas Glarner, Brünisholz found himself in a courtroom after posting on social media: “‘If you dig up LGBTQI people after 200 years, you’ll only find men and women based on their skeletons. Everything else is a mental illness promoted through the curriculum.” Police officers interrogated Brünisholz over the “intent”...

12-year-old who died while in their care was ‘emaciated,’ Crown tells Milton court The would-be parents in 'happier' times... Seriously?WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.A horrific trial underway in Ontario has seen two women plead not guilty to the first-degree murder of a 12-year-old boy they’d planned to adopt. Burlington residents Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamber are also charged with confinement, assault with a weapon — zip ties — and failing to provide the necessaries of life to the boy’s younger brother. The boy who died on Dec. 21, 2022, is referred to in court as L.L. as...

Helen Andrews' address delivered at NatCon 5 in Washington, DC on Sept. 2, 2025.

This time it’s Jane’s jungle Earlier this month, NYC’s largest Gothic cathedral celebrated the annual feast day of St. Francis of Assisi and his ancient Blessing of the Animals. For 11 years, until the pandemic, I hosted a similar animal’s holiday at St. John the Divine. We loved all — the young, babies, healthy, strays, police dogs, the sick, frail, old, rescues, a frog, fish in containers, turtles, horses outside, sheep, pigs, cows, camels, donkeys, chickens, goats. Even a choir and a rabbi for the Jewish animals. Police rerouted traffic. I remember His Eminence Cardinal Dolan flat on the floor...

The clip was pulled from the tail end of a May primary debate between Democratic candidates for governor. NJ Spotlight News anchor Briana Vannozzi asked the candidates whether parents should have the right to opt their children out of LGBTQ-related content, similar to how students can be removed from sex ed-related curriculum. “I believe that parents have the right to oversee their children’s education,” Sherrill said. “I would push an LGBTQ education into our schools. Parents have a right to opt out of a lot of things, but this is not an area where they should be opting out, because...

Sylvester Stallone’s wife, Jennifer Flavin, isn’t afraid to say what a lot of people are thinking about many of the parents in Hollywood. In a viral clip from The Katie Miller Podcast, the businesswoman and former model was asked why she thinks "so many kids in Hollywood now are transgender." Her answer was blunt: it comes down to bad parenting and a culture obsessed with self-expression over stability. "I just think Hollywood is, you know, it’s all about expression," Flavin said. "So, you know, however you want to express yourself. If you feel like a cat today, you’re a cat....

TRENTON — New Jersey Democrats and prominent state leaders have expressed concern that Black and Hispanic voters — historically forming the backbone of the party — may not turn out for Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D) in her quest to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy (D). Some have chalked up the apathy as lingering from last year’s election between former Vice President Harris and President Trump, as well as years of failed outreach between the two parties. Others say Sherrill simply isn’t doing enough to court their votes.“I believe that although our next governor has to represent the entire state —...