Free Republic

PENDLETON, Ore. – To resolve a lawsuit brought by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys, Oregon child-welfare officials agreed to a court order freeing Jessica Bates to seek a license to adopt children from foster care without violating her religious beliefs about human sexuality. Bates filed a lawsuit in April 2023 challenging an Oregon Department of Human Services rule that categorically excluded her from adopting any child—no matter their age or beliefs—because she would not lie to children about their identity by promoting the view that girls can become boys and vice versa. Under the agreed-upon court order, Bates may now...

A Catholic family is fighting Massachusetts for custody of their daughter, alleging that a public school socially transitioned their gender-dysphoric teen without their consent, securing a temporary halt to cross-sex hormone therapy. Joseph and Arlene Kutzko sued state officials after the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) took custody of their daughter, Sophie, in December 2024. The issue began when officials at Algonquin Regional High School started treating Sophie as a boy without the Kutzkos’ consent. The couple opposes transgender ideology on religious grounds.When the parents protested, state officials took then-15-year-old Sophie out of their custody, in part because...

The Swiss government says it supports a uniform, national ban on so-called conversion therapy, and it’s moving ahead to consider federal legislation to outlaw the discredited practice. A report from the government published last week details a number of current national regulations addressing the practice, as well as a patchwork of laws or procedures in various cantons (independent member states) across the country, which include their own administrative or criminal measures and corresponding legislative proposals that have been initiated, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation reports. ... The patchwork of Swiss laws makes a national ban on the practice worth considering at...

For weeks, Republicans have accused Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D-50th District) of faking a rightward shift on transgender issues to win a statewide race. Now the public doesn’t have to take our word for it. Why? His own pastor just confirmed it.An undercover journalist for the Daily Wire caught Rev. Babs Miller, a “minister” at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin, Talarico's longtime “church,” on hidden camera discussing exactly what we’ve suspected all along.Talarico has drawn Republican criticism for his professed love for “trans children,” claiming that there are seven genders, and that "God is non-binary."Miller knows who Talarico...

A transgender policewoman has confessed to raping a 15-year-old girl in a McDonald's toilet in Germany. Maja S., 55, confessed before the Traunstein Regional Court wearing handcuffs and leg irons amid the ongoing trial. She will likely face three and a half years in prison, according to Judge Andreas Bartschmid, in exchange for the confession. After her arrest, Maja S. was initially held in the women's section of the Bamberg prison in Bavaria. For the past five months, however, she has been in the men's section of the Stadelheim prison. Her lawyer, Peter Dürr, told BILD: 'This is a serious...

A convicted pedophile who began identifying as “transgender” after his incarceration is currently housed in a women’s prison in Minnesota, where he has been exposing himself to women and writing poetry about rape. Daniel Patrick Benz, who legally changed his name to Danielle Marie Whitebird in June of 2023, has been accused by multiple female inmates at Shakopee women’s prison of exposing his penis to them and asking them to read aloud poetry he wrote containing descriptions of rape. Female inmates have told Reduxx that the fear of retaliation from prison officials has kept many women from filing official complaints....

Walk into certain churches today and you may encounter something that would be almost unrecognizable to Christians who worshiped in the same denominations only a generation ago.Rainbow flags surround the sanctuary. Pastors preach in Pride-colored vestments. Worship services feature queer hymns and transgender themes. Glitter replaces traditional ashes. Rainbow bread appears at Communion. Special ceremonies celebrate transgender name changes, while Pride Month brings its own sermons, liturgies and church celebrations.These aren't simply changes in decoration or attempts to make visitors feel welcome. Taken together, they reveal how deeply LGBTQ+ ideology has worked its way into the worship and theology of...

A survey of LGBTQ+ rights groups around the globe shows the vast majority of them lost funding since the start of President Donald Trump's second term. Outright International released a report on September 10 showing nearly 89% of groups responding to a survey said that since January 2025, they have lost foreign aid from the United States. The advocacy group spoke with representatives from 229 organizations in 94 countries, 203 of which said funds had been cut since the inauguration.

Rep. Al Green (D-TX) held a press conference Thursday demanding that transgender immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody receive hormones and other specialized medical care. Green appeared alongside representatives of the Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus and the Montrose Center at a press conference addressing what they called the “maltreatment of transgender immigrants.” During the event, Green read from a letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin raising concerns about the treatment of transgender detainees. “Dear Secretary Mullin, I write to express my deep concern over reports of hazardous conditions for transgender immigrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A group of five patrons was kicked out of a Portland sports bar Sunday evening after bargoers were made “uncomfortable” over their “pro-women” apparel after they say they were ejected from a soccer game.According to footage posted by Amy Sousa, a staff member asked Sousa and her acquaintances to leave The Sports Bra, a women’s sports bar in Northeast Portland.“There are people that are in here that are uncomfortable with those shirts, and so I’m asking y’all to leave,” the staff member said to the group in the video. The staff member continued, “If I have...

The Episcopal Church has apparently reached another historic milestone, although perhaps not one Christians should be celebrating. All Saints' Cathedral in Milwaukee recently installed the Very Rev. Micah Cronin as its new dean, believed to be the first transgender-identifying dean in the history of the Episcopal Church. Cronin is a biological woman who identifies as a man and is married to another biological woman who identifies as transgender and serves as a pastor at an LGBT-affirming Lutheran campus ministry. If that description sounds confusing, perhaps that is precisely the point Christians should be considering. This is no longer simply a...

Could the former First Lady of the United States eventually become the next commissioner of the WNBA? There have been rumblings throughout this season about WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert stepping away at the end of the year. Well, she confirmed this Friday that she'll be retiring on Dec. 31. "Over the years, it has been amazing to watch WNBA players thrive and lead the massive cultural surge around women's sports," Engelbert said in a statement. "I retire knowing we have built something bigger, stronger and more enduring than we could have imagined. I am grateful to the WNBA and NBA...

For years, one of the most visible consequences of transgender policies has played out in women's sports. Female athletes have watched biological males enter their competitions, stand on podiums, occupy roster spots and, in some cases, enter spaces once reserved exclusively for women. Whatever one's position on transgender issues, the conflict has forced society to confront an uncomfortable question: What happens when the interests of people who identify as transgender collide with protections created specifically for women? But there is another group of women caught in that collision who receive considerably less public attention. They are women in prison. And...

Harry Potter author JK Rowling was forced to cover the name of her superyacht while moored in Marina del Rey harbor, according to a new report. The beloved author has endured a storm of protests since expressing 'deep concerns' about transgender activism in an essay June 2020. She celebrated on the deck of a boat after a UK ruling that decided the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex in April 2025 She rose from homelessness to become one of the most celebrated children's writers of all-time. It was originally commissioned for LA businessman Eric Smidt, the...

President Donald Trump has been praised after it was revealed woke American professors are being poached by Canadian universities, including an academic who teaches transgender philosophy. California State University philosophy professor, Talia Mae Bettcher, who is transgender, is among the many American-based educators who have packed their bags and headed north to Canada to become a part of the $541 million research funding project. 'I knew I had to leave,' Bettcher, who is a native Canadian but taught in Los Angeles, told The University of Waterloo, her new home. 'As a green card-holding trans-woman and outspoken academic in an area...

All the shopper wanted was to buy a laptop. Instead, a routine trip to a Best Buy turned into a bizarre confrontation over gender, pronouns and whether a customer should be compelled to address a biological male employee as “ma’am.” Video of the encounter shows the Best Buy employee, who presented with a distinctly masculine appearance, objecting after the customer referred to the employee as “sir.” The employee insisted on being addressed as “ma’am.” The customer wasn't having it. His position was straightforward: the person standing in front of him appeared to be a man, and he wasn't going to...

🚨RILEY GAINES JUST WON — THE NCAA SETTLED AFTER FOUR YEARS AND RESTORED HER AS THE SOLE FINISHER IN THE 2000M FREESTYLE! Follow: t.me/+uT8Yg-ELrtJjM… They finally folded. Riley Gaines says she’s “beyond thrilled” that her lawsuit against the NCAA has been settled after more than four years. Gaines will receive an undisclosed amount in punitive damages and have her name restored as the sole finisher in her place in the 2000M freestyle. “They finally did the right thing,” Gaines told supporters at a rally outside the courthouse. “And I promise to use this settlement to further the cause of keeping...

Earlier this week, the WNBA, the women's professional basketball league, announced that two former NBA players were ineligible to play in the league. Former NBA stars Royce (Roysha) White and Enes Kanter Freedom had announced they were intending to play in the league next year after the WENBA brass refused to condemn biological men playing in the league against women. The league did not elaborate on the reasons for declaring the two men ineligible. Since this announcement, news has broken that the league previously allowed trans players to play. In fact, one of the trans players has been very vocal....

I didn't know this, but it turns out the WNBA has already allowed a man to play on one of its teams. At least by trans activists' definition. In fact, they did so for several seasons, and the WNBA celebrated the accomplishment and expressed great pride in having an out trans player on one of its teams. The @wnba has a major legal problem. They already allowed a player who identified as a man to play in the league for years. They celebrated it publicly. So how can they keep @EnesFreedom & @Highway_30 out now. Read & share this: https://t.co/snCpxHxhvp—...

On this Feast of St. Monica, I guess we Catholics need to add another wayward soul to our prayer list. This one's quite a lulu. Emma Cieslik, a 'museum specialist' at, not surprisingly, the Smithsonian, who claims to be Catholic, but not as loudly as she claims to be "queer, disabled and neurodiverse" in her social media bios, wrote this guest column for the National Catholic Reporter: August is Transgender History Month, a time to reflect on the transgender people who have led the way for transgender people's rights and who continue fighting for legal recognition and protection. This history...