Free Republic

How Far Have We Fallen Merely Since 1996? (My Title) “In a short twenty-five years, we have cascaded from the Defense of Marriage Act (which prohibited same-sex marriage) getting eighty-four votes in the senate in 1996, including Senator Joe Biden’s; to the US Supreme Court declaring same-sex marriage constitutional in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015; to President Biden appointing two high-profile transvestites to his administration in 2021; to the proliferation of Americans identifying as LGBT, evidenced by a rise to 21 percent among those born between 1997 and 2003 in 2021, or double what it had been just four years...

In a world where romantic relationships traditionally adhere to monogamy, the reaction to a partner’s intimate connection with someone else is typically assumed to be jealousy. However, within the community that practices consensual non-monogamy, a different emotional response known as compersion — defined as feeling joy when a partner is romantically or sexually involved with another person — is increasingly recognized and valued. A recent study provides insight into the predictors of compersion, revealing that emotional closeness with a partner’s other intimate connections, clear communication about these relationships, and reduced feelings of jealousy are key facilitators. The findings have been...

Delta Airlines has been hit with a lawsuit for the wrongful death of a woman whose husband fatally mowed her down in a Utah airport parking lot — with her estate claiming flight attendants overserved her beau. Representatives for the estate of slain mom Charlotte Sturgeon and her child — who witnessed the gruesome accident — say in the suit filed Thursday that the airline is to blame for her tragic death because its employees served husband Shawn Sturgeon at least two additional drinks despite him consuming “multiple” alcoholic beverages before even boarding the plane, according to a report by...

(LifeSiteNews) — By the time same-sex “marriage” had been normalized and subsequently legalized in 2015 by the U.S. Supreme Court, the sexual progressives had already begun to move the goal posts. Marriage was redefined; sex and gender followed with the explosion of the transgender movement. All along, social conservatives warned that activists would continue to push, and that the groundwork had been laid for the normalization of polyamory and polygamy. As usual, the “fearmongers” who were condemned as bigots were right. Mainstream media outlets have been publishing unsubtle “human interest” stories on polyamory for several years now — without exception,...

A man has revealed how he escaped a polygamous Mormon cult before its former leader was sentenced to life behind bars for child sex offences. Ben, based in Utah, appeared on a recent episode of the Cults to Consciousness podcast to share what it was like growing up in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Church (FLDS) with two moms, who were sisters, and 28 siblings. FLDS was a break away group which branched off from the original Mormon church when the mainstream religion ceased practicing polygamy. Ben laid bare the strict rules that were imposed by former self-appointed leader Warren...

[Catholic Caucus] Why is the Synod on Synodality pushing to ‘welcome’ those in ‘polygamous’ relationships?The Vatican appears to be one of the most prominent campaigners for polygamists, due to its position in the synod’s documents and Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia.Cdl. Hollerich addresses the synod, October 9, 2023.VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — As the Synod on Synodality continues apace, one chief aspect that has been highlighted is that the organizers are intent on opening up the Holy Eucharist to abuses and desecration.Participants in the Synod on Synodality are now discussing the theme of “Communion” in the second week of the event, which...

Tolerance™ and Diversity™, among other things, require that Western governments subvert their own laws — which of course still apply to locals — in order to accommodate the polygamy that is practiced rampantly throughout the Islamic world.Via Remix News (emphasis added):Afghan nationals who worked with the German army during the military operation in the country have had requests to bring their second wives and children to Germany approved, a move that is posing complex legal problems.Afghan employees of the Bundeswehr were granted visas to reside in Germany following the military withdrawal from Afghanistan, and family reunification laws enabled the employees...

Despite unequivocal top-down condemnations of polygamy, the church's continued theological affiliation with plural marriage is not lost on its members. In perhaps the most thorough and effective treatment on this issue to date, The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy, LDS author Carol Lynn Pearson lays out the ways in which plural marriage continues to shape the teachings and practices of the modern church. She discusses the fact that LDS men are still allowed to become eternally sealed (i.e., married) in the temple to multiple women if their previous wife or wives have died.

If marriage is possible between any two individuals, then why not three, four, or any number of consenting adults, regardless of their sex?In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court decided the landmark case of Obergefell v. Hodges, legalizing gay marriage in all 50 states and the District of Columbia by a 5-4 vote. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion for the case, didn’t seem to believe that the issue of polyamory could possibly be relevant or arise due to the court’s decision. Just eight years later, The New York Times published an article last week that celebrated Somerville, Massachusetts,...

Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov – a close ally of Vladimir Putin – is reported to be seriously ill with kidney problems amid fears of ‘poisoning’. The fanatical pro-war zealot who has advocated using nuclear weapons against Ukraine is rumoured to have summoned a leading doctor from the United Arab Emirates because he ‘does not trust’ Moscow doctors. Several opposition sources have claimed kidney illness accounted for Kadyrov’s surprising absence from Putin’s state of the nation speech on 12 February, and a recent ‘bloated’ appearance, as seen at a recent meeting in his palace in Chechen capital Grozny with Denis Pushilin,...

Eight young girls who were forced to marry a Mormon prophet were found together at an Airbnb in Washington after escaping protective custody in Arizona. Federal agents say the eight girls who ran away from group homes in Arizona late last month were found hiding out at the Airbnb in Spokane with one of their older sister-wives, Moretta Rose Johnson, 19, who is now facing federal kidnapping charges. The girls, as young as 9-years-old, had been taken into protective custody by the Arizona Department of Child Services back in September after a whistleblower revealed how Bentley-driving Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46,...

Twelve Senate Republicans on Tuesday supported final approval of a bill securing federal protections for same-sex marriage, allowing it to surpass the 60-vote threshold needed for passage. The Republicans in the upper chamber who backed the bill were: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Thom Tillis (N.C.), Mitt Romney (Utah), Roy Blunt (Mo.), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), Dan Sullivan (Alaska), Joni Ernst (Iowa) and Todd Young (Ind.).The GOP senators’ support came as no surprise since they all supported advancing the legislation in a series of recent votes, and Tuesday’s 61-36...

A funny thing happened to the Democrats' same-sex marriage bill on its trip from the House to the Senate: people actually started reading the legislation. When they did, an uncomfortable reality set in -- nothing in the text explicitly outlawed polygamy. It was just a "drafting error," the more liberal senators claimed. But it wasn't a "drafting error" when a New York judge recognized polyamory late last month. How much longer until the party who wants "love" to be the legal basis for every relationship follows suit?The decision by trial court judge Karen May Bacdayan should have been frontpage news....

Come on, you didn’t really think there were any lines?The whole point is to eliminate marriage and the family. The shoes will go on dropping until there’s nothing left. Nothing but the Left. Because that is the whole point of the exercise.The case is W. 49th St., LLC v. O’Neill. It’s the usual mess of New York City’s absurd tenant protections with an alternative lifestyle twist.The decision is yesterday’s West 49th St., LLC v. O’Neill, decided by New York Civil Court Judge Karen May Bacdayan. Scott Anderson and Markyus O’Neill lived together in an apartment; Anderson was on the lease,...

NEW YORK (LifeSiteNews) — In the latest vindication of conservative concerns about the legal precedent set by forced recognition of same-sex “marriage,” a New York judge ruled that polyamorous relationships are entitled to the same legal protections as two-person unions. As highlighted by Reason, on September 23 New York Civil Court Judge Karen May Bacdayan handed down her decision in West 49th St., LLC v. O’Neill, which concerned roommates Markyus O’Neill, Scott Anderson, and Anderson’s “husband” Robert Romano. When Anderson died, the apartment company forbade O’Neill from renewing his lease because his name was not on it, and they did...

An analysis of modern DNA uncovers a rough dating scene after the advent of agriculture.Once upon a time, 4,000 to 8,000 years after humanity invented agriculture, something very strange happened to human reproduction. Across the globe, for every 17 women who were reproducing, passing on genes that are still around today—only one man did the same...Another member of the research team, a biological anthropologist, hypothesizes that somehow, only a few men accumulated lots of wealth and power, leaving nothing for others. These men could then pass their wealth on to their sons, perpetuating this pattern of elitist reproductive success. Then,...

Is God pro-polygamy? Let’s talk about that.If God is opposed to polygamy, then why does 2 Samuel 12:8 say that God gave David wives?Now, I do believe God is opposed to polygamy. In fact, in Genesis 2:24, God’s creation account indicates that God intended for one man to marry one woman, and become one flesh for one lifetime. In fact, Jesus even quotes that definition in Matthew 19 and upholds it as valid. And in fact, then He adds his own commentary by claiming that monogamous marriage is a God-ordained institution.But now, if you read the Old Testament, you’ll see...

South Africa's new King of the Zulus's opublic unveiling ended in chaos as he was whisked away by bodyguards as questions continue over whether he is the rightful heir to the throne. The controversy over the next king, a largely ceremonial role but one with great significance for South Africa and its 12 million Zulu people, has arisen after the death in March of King Goodwill Zwelithini, who had reigned since 1968. Zwelithini apparently named one of his six wives, Queen Mantfombi Shiyiwe Dlamini Zulu, as the 'regent of the Zulu kingdom' in his will.

On March 8, Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council adopted amendments to the city's Domestic Partnership Ordinance allowing polyamorous domestic partnership. The ordinance now provides that "Domestic partnership" means the entity formed by two or more persons who meet the following criteria and jointly file a registration statement proclaiming that: 1. They are in a relationship of mutual support, caring and commitment and intend to remain in such a relationship; ... 5. They consider themselves to be a family.

Garrick and Dannielle Merrifield are making the ultimate sacrifice to become a plural family. In PEOPLE's exclusive sneak peek at Monday's episode of Seeking Sister Wife, the couple goes before a judge to have their divorce finalized, which will allow their Brazilian sister wife, Roberta, 33, to legally marry Garrick and join them in the United States. "We're about to go in the courthouse in a few minutes and go before the judge to get our divorce finalized and get that piece of paper that we can send to the immigration attorney to finalize everything for bringing [Roberta] here with...