Free Republic

TRAVERSE CITY — Jan Renollet Chapman grew up in the Catholic faith and is a member of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in downtown Traverse City. Chapman, 73, no longer goes to Mass every Sunday and calls herself a lapsed Catholic. She was not at the Thursday morning Mass celebrated Jan. 26 by the Rev. Mitchel Roman, but watched it online. She listened as Roman in his sermon criticized Pres. Joe Biden, who is Catholic, abortion and today’s cancel culture. But Chapman said she was enraged when Roman took aim at the LGBTQ community, suggesting that a person cannot...

On Wednesday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith interviewed actor James Franco, who stars opposite Sean Penn in a new movie about gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk: "Actor James Franco is here to talk about his role in the much-talked-about new movie, 'Milk.' He is amazing in it." At the end of the show, Smith thanked Franco for being a guest and offer this review of the movie: "James Franco in 'Milk,' amazing performance. Sean Penn, off the charts. It's a must-see for everybody." On November 30, CBS’s Sunday Morning offered a similar glowing description of the film, describing...

A loss for true conservatism (David Shuster)• November 7, 2004 | 2:26 p.m. ETOn Tuesday, eleven different states outlawed gay marriage. The basic argument I heard was not about marriage (more on that below) but about being gay. And a majority of voters seem to believe that homosexuality is an "immoral lifestyle choice." Hmmmm. The problem is that anybody who has a relative or friend who is gay also knows it is not a "choice." It is something wired into the genes of approximately 3 or 4 percent of the human population in every single culture on the planet. Secondly,...

Despite a bruising rebuke on election day, when voters in 11 states approved constitutional bans on same-sex marriage, advocates for gay rights say that the future is not as bleak as it appears and that they can still win in courts and in the arena of public opinion. "I think in a moment like this when you feel like you've taken two steps back, the most important approach is to recommit with essentially a double dose of belief and aggressiveness," said Kate Kendell, executive director of National Center for Lesbian Rights. "I do not think this is a time to...

The Old Testament did sanction slavery. God said, 'Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you. . . . And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children. . . .' " — "Domestic Slavery Considered as a Scriptural Institution," Rev. Richard Fuller, 1847 Last Tuesday, there was at least one thing about which blue states and red states, black Americans and white Americans, Northerners and Southerners could agree: Gays and lesbians should be denied the right to full citizenship. Constitutional amendments to ban same-sex unions...