Free Republic

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...

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...

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...

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...

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”...

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 —...

2022 NCAA women’s swimming champion William Thomas, who claims to be a woman, will be the recipient of the Voice of Inspiration Award at Rainbow Labs’ Violet Visionary Awards on Thursday. Mr. Thomas’ national title sparked nationwide backlash and is considered one of the catalysts in the battle over transgender athlete participation in girls’ and women’s sports. The award "honours an individual whose story and actions ignite hope and courage within the (sexual perversion) community," according to Rainbow Labs' website.

For most of us, we look back on our younger years, whether they were spent as college students, broke twenty-somethings, or something else, usually fondly. It's that time period where you leave home to get your foot in the door of life and learn how to support yourself, not just financially, but in many other ways as well. But we still carry some of that old high school baggage of just wanting to be "cool" and fit in with our friends, for whom many of us become our second family. But as our lives evolve, so do the things we...

When two transgender Utah girls and their parents sued to stop a law passed three years ago that would ban them from participating in sports with other girls, they were going into eighth and ninth grades, fighting as they entered high school to share in the same pastimes as their peers. But as they enter their final years of high school, after three years in court and amid President Donald Trump’s second term in office, their case to run and swim with classmates who are their same gender has fallen apart.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., called Netflix "demonic" for targeting children with pro-transgender content, and he wants the streaming giant’s executives to explain their intentions on Capitol Hill. Burchett penned a letter to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky, last week expressing interest in calling Netflix executives to Capitol Hill after a viral clip of a children’s show called "Dead End: Paranormal Park" showed a character coming out as trans. The show aired in 2022 with only 20 episodes. "We need to get them for the committee and ask them what their intentions are with this and if, in fact,...

A devout Christian couple in Massachusetts lost their foster care license after refusing to sign a state policy requiring them to affirm foster children’s fake gender identities. It’s a decision the pair says forces them to choose between their faith and caring for vulnerable infants. Lydia and Heath Marvin, who have fostered eight children under age 4 since 2020 — many with serious medical needs — were told by the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families in April that their license would not be renewed because they declined to agree to the policy’s clause promoting LGBTQ. The requirement mandates that...

LEXINGTON, MA — A Pride-parade picture book showing bondage gear and drag nuns is set to appear in Lexington’s 2025–2026 kindergarten social studies curriculum, sparking fury among parents who say the district has crossed the line between inclusion and age-appropriate teaching. The revelation was first reported by Massachusetts Informed Parents, a watchdog group that obtained lesson materials from Lexington Public Schools (LPS). According to their review, the Pride-themed book This Day in June is listed as part of a new “Social Studies” unit for five-year-olds — a class typically reserved for topics like community, geography, and basic civics. But the...

Kennedy, now 89 years old, no longer hears Supreme Court cases. He formally stepped down seven years ago during the first Trump administration. "I loved sitting on the bench," he said. Asked whether he would want to be there today, he replied, "The only reason I left – I love the Court – but I left for something that I love more, which is my wife, Mary." … And as the "swing justice" on the Court, says Greene, Kennedy cast the deciding vote on some of the most consequential political and cultural issues of his era: the 2000 Presidential election,...