Free Republic

Sanders is drawing massive crowds, just like Obama, and there is another common thread between Sanders and Obama — their socialist philosophy of governance. Now, I have to give it to Senator Sanders, he is man enough to admit what he is: he has “come out” as a Democratic Socialist. Obama .. rhetoric and writings proved he was, but if you dared to utter the words that he was a socialist, you were immediately branded racist. Even after comments such as “I think it’s better for everyone if we spread the wealth around” and “if you have a business, you...

(NEWSER) – Houston native Yasmin Eleby vowed that she'd marry herself if she hadn't found true love by 40. And for her 40th birthday, that's exactly what she did. The well-traveled businesswoman who works overseas in the oil industry organized an elaborate wedding, reports the Houston Chronicle, which included 10 bridesmaids and was officiated by her minister sister. (It was a spiritual service, as it is not legal to marry oneself.) Eleby's mother walked her down the aisle, and Eleby sang R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly," which includes the line, "Now I know the meaning of true love."...

The trick in this biz is never to be right too early. Kathy Shaidle writes: "Remember during the gay ‘marriage’ debate, we were scolded: ‘Nobody’s talking about polygamy, you bigoted hicks’?" Why, yes. Yes, I do.

SAN FRANCISCO - After sanctioning more than 2,700 gay marriages in the past week, the city said Thursday it is suing the state of California, challenging its ban on same-sex marriages on constitutional grounds. City Attorney Dennis Herrera planned to file the suit in the afternoon, said his spokesman, Matt Dorsey. Two judges already are considering challenges from conservative groups seeking to halt the marriage spree that began last Thursday. The city's lawsuit asks that those cases be consolidated into one case. The city is asking Superior Court Judge James Warren to declare unconstitutional two sections of the California Family...

Mayor Daley said Wednesday he would have "no problem" with County Clerk David Orr issuing marriage licenses to gay couples -- and Orr said he's open to a San Francisco-style protest if a consensus can be built. "They're your doctors, your lawyers, your journalists, your politicians," the mayor said. "They're someone's son or daughter. They're someone's mother or father. . . . I've seen people of the same sex adopt children, have families. [They're] great parents. "Some people have a difference of opinion -- that only a man and a woman can get married. But in the long run, we...

SAN FRANCISCO - Scores of gay couples were issued marriage licenses here Thursday in a move by city officials that generated both immediate promises of legal action by gay-marriage foes and tears of joy and celebratory whoops by the newly hitched. Two days before Valentine's Day, Mayor Gavin Newsom gave the go-ahead to the county clerk to accept marriage license applications from same-gender couples....

February 12, 2004, 2:57 PM EST SAN FRANCISCO -- In a political and legal challenge to California law, city authorities officiated at the marriage of a lesbian couple Thursday and said they will issue more gay marriage licenses. The act of civil disobedience was coordinated by Mayor Gavin Newsom and top city officials and was intended to beat a conservative group to the punch. The group, Campaign for California Families, had planned to go to court on Friday to get an injunction preventing the city from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.

No matter how you feel about gay marriage, we should be able to agree that the citizens and their elected representatives must not be excluded from a decision as fundamental to society as the definition of marriage. There are lessons from my state's experience that might help other states preserve the rightful participation of their legislatures and citizens, and avoid the confusion now facing Massachusetts. In a decision handed down in November, a divided Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts detected a previously unrecognized right in our 200-year-old state constitution that permits same-sex couples to wed. I believe that 4-3 decision...

Gloria Bailey and Linda Davies laugh when they recall singing The Beatles' ``When I'm 64'' to one another when they fell in love as closeted social workers in Massachusetts. Looking back, they say their younger selves could never have imagined they'd one day be openly gay, let alone one of the seven high-profile couples who persuaded Massachusetts' top court to rule they can marry beginning May 17. But just as unfathomable, the couple of 32 years says, is that they'd ever be 64. Growing old seemed to Linda and Gloria like something other people did. Or, more specifically, something older...

God must be confused Posted: January 9, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com To listen to Howard Dean, you would have to conclude that God is confused. It's not Howard Dean who doesn't understand unambiguous statements in both the Old Testament and the New Testament on the immorality of homosexuality. It's got to be God who is confused. In his quest for the highest office in the land, the Democratic candidate said this week that his decision to sign the bill legalizing civil unions for homosexuals in Vermont was influenced by his Christian faith – a faith he recently decided to unveil...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Comedienne and former talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell (news) on Thursday announced plans for what is billed as "the first gay cruise with family values." During the cruise, which will depart New York for the Bahamas on July 11, gay and lesbian passengers will be able to learn about topics like adoption and artificial insemination. O'Donnell, recently in the headlines over a bitter court battle with the publisher of the magazine named after her, said the first offering from R Family Vacations would be a weeklong cruise on the new Norwegian Dawn cruise liner. "We welcome all...

Culver Pictures In an 1862 lithograph, a slave is depicted fleeing toward Canada before the Civil War.VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Heaven was the word for Canada and the Negro sang of the hope that his escape on the Underground Railroad would carry him there," the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once noted in describing the codes American slaves used in their spirituals to fool their masters before taking flight. Canada is heaven again for Lance W. Bateman and William E. Woods, two American men who were married here recently. The wedding on Aug. 31 looked like a typical Hawaiian...

SAVANNAH - A Roman Catholic bishop who co-authored a statement opposing same-sex unions, approved by U.S. bishops last week, said Monday legal gay marriages would be "another diminishing of society, just like abortion." But Bishop J. Kevin Boland of the Diocese of Savannah insisted the document, to be distributed to Catholic churches in pamphlet form, was not intended to condemn homosexuals. "We respect their dignity as persons," Boland said at a news conference. "We know that, with some individuals, it's not their choice to be gay. But at the same time a gay person, just like a heterosexual person, may...

Now that the Mass. Supreme Court has acted to force the legislature to adopt gay marriage, the time is now for Republicans to act to save this most basic institution of this country. We need a US Constitutional Amendment to save us from activist courts who assult religion and basic family values. The public will be outraged over this and the GOP must capitolize on it. The GOP must put the Democrats in a bind. Oppose the Amendment and lose their base, or support it and expose themselves as the radicals they are. Now is the time to act. Put...