Free Republic

The California Supreme Court will hear the legal showdown over gay marriage on March 5. In a statement released today, the high court set three hours of arguments for its calendar in San Francisco, setting the stage for the justices to consider a series of legal challenges to voter-approved Proposition 8. Civil rights groups and a number of cities and counties, led by San Francisco and Santa Clara County, sued after the November election, arguing that the ballot initiative is invalid and should be struck down. Voters restored the ban on gay marriage, after the state Supreme Court last year...

Gay-rights activists meeting in Denver start the tough work Friday of mapping out plans to see the new administration adopt policies they favor, while recounting what went wrong last year in failed attempts to defeat anti-gay ballot measures in California and other states. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force wants to see President Barack Obama make federal changes they say are years overdue, such as repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay service members. But gay-rights activists say they're afraid they'll be on the back burner in Washington as the economy dwarfs all. And activists...

President-elect Barack Obama Washington DC, Nov 23, 2008 / 07:48 pm (CNA).- Citing what they call America’s “promise of equality,” the Obama administration plans to push for homosexual rights by including protections of sexual orientation, “gender identity” and “gender expression” as civil rights. His office proposes expanding hate crimes statues and the adoption rights of homosexuals while supporting full civil unions for “LGBT couples” to give them “legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples.”The proposals are announced under the Civil Rights section of their agenda presented at Change.gov, the web site of the Obama campaign’s self-described...

Obama Selecting the Most Anti-Life, Anti-Family Radicals He Can Find for Administration President-elect unveils plans to dismantle federal legal protection for marriage WASHINGTON, D.C., November 20, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In light of further actual and rumored appointments, Obama’s future presidential administration is steadily emerging as a regime ominously packed with Obama insiders who promise to help roll out the carpet for the President-elect's radical anti-life and anti-family agenda. Media outlets recently named Arizona governor Janet Napolitano as Obama’s probable choice for secretary of Homeland Security. An early Obama supporter and campaigner, Napolitano firmly established herself as an extreme abortion supporter...

MODESTO, Calif., Oct 13, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- In a violent display of intolerance, an opponent of Proposition 8 attacked and seriously injured a man who was volunteering on Sunday for the initiative to define marriage as between and a man and a woman.

Lunch hour on Figueroa Street, downtown Los Angeles: Stepping onto the sidewalk, he said: "Let me see that sign." The sign held by TFP volunteer Mr. Thomas Schneider read "God's marriage = 1 man, 1 woman = children." ...Just then another businessman turned to Mr. Schneider and chimed in: "You're 120% percent correct!.." ...[A] pro-homosexual woman attempted to stop our campaign. "You should really stop what you're doing and leave. If violence breaks out," she told me, "you will be responsible for it. You are inciting people to acts of hate and violence." Her face muscles and hands quivered and...

Today, the National Stonewall Democrats issued the following statement in response by accusations from Governor Sarah Palin that sexual orientation is a choice: "John McCain chose a poor running mate, but he did not choose his sexual orientation. This is another example of why we need a pro-equality President like Barack Obama in the White House. For Governor Palin to suggest that individuals randomly choose their sexual orientation based on nothing but a whim is wrong and it repeats the talking points of the anti-gay special interests which continue to control the McCain/Palin campaign and the Republican Party."...

Opponents of same-sex marriage didn't have to look far to find footage of a boisterous San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom declaring - in his best Howard Dean voice - that gay marriage is here to stay, "like it or not." They took it right off the city's official Web site. "It stood out like a diamond on a donkey's behind," said Frank Schubert, co-chairman of the campaign to pass Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment on the Nov. 4 ballot to ban same-sex marriages. The Newsom moment was like a gift from fundamentalist heaven."He just looked so smug and cocky," Schubert...

Adding sexual orientation to hate crimes will destroy America as we know it. First it would put homosexuality above religious freedoms, a violation of the first amendment. Second it would be giving special rights to a class of people, recognized only by there deviant behavior. It would be similar to saying that it will be a hate crime to call someone a criminal when they steal your car. Third. The phrase "sexual orientation" is made up by homosexuals to try to make themselves look less filthy than they really are. The purpose of the phrase is to take the spotlight...

Time favors gay-marriage proponents C.W. Nevius Saturday, September 10, 2005 Social conservatives in California are feeling pretty cheerful now that the governor has said he will veto the same-sex marriage bill. And yes, across the country, 11 states, including California, have passed bans on same-sex marriage. But here's some advice: Enjoy it now. It isn't going to last. -SNIP- Michael Phillips sells real estate in Silicon Valley. He is listed on gay real estate Web sites but sells to straight buyers, too. His point is, when it comes to houses, neighborhoods and schools, there isn't much distinction. "Once you get...

Recently I heard a talk-radio host explain why making gay marriage legal is so important. His reasoning went something like this: yes we live in a democracy, which by definition is about majority rule, but within that framework we must also protect the rights of minorities, ensuring that they have access to the same legal guarantees that the majority does. Looks good on paper, but the reality is slightly more involved. Let’s look at the concept of democracy, under which the majority’s will is done. Simply stated, there are winners, as in George W. Bush and Paul Martin and there...

We were in elementary school – morning recess by the jungle gym. My buddy Kyle presided over the ceremony. I was the groom and Karen Smith was the blushing bride. The mock wedding lasted about three minutes. The mock marriage lasted about half-a-day. Oh, I was faithful…until Christina McCarroll caught my wandering eye during Math class. Of course we weren’t really married – we were fourth graders – but we sure had fun pretending. Flash forward about twenty-five years – San Francisco, CA – An activist Mayor, Gavin Newsom, taunts the State’s voters and defiles both the rule of law...

LOS ANGELES — A new state law in California allows gay and lesbian couples nearly all the same rights and benefits of married spouses if they choose to sign up with a state domestic partner registry. For thousands of same-sex couples in the state, that means legal recognitions they have long dreamed about having. California Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, author of the Domestic Partnership and Responsibilities Act (search), calls the measure historic. It grants same-sex couples everything from insurance benefits to adoption rights, but also adds responsibilities like their partner's debt.

The House of Representatives is expected to take action on the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) possibly this week. Today, September 20 has been dubbed "Congressional Call-in Day" to encourage people to contact their congressman politely persuading them to stand for marriage and vote in favor of the FMA. The legislation, H.J.Res. 56 was introduced by Rep. Musgrave (R-CO) and requires a 2/3 majority to pass the House. As you recall, in July the FMA failed to receive even the required votes to end debate in the Senate and was never brought up for a vote on the merits. However, since...