Free Republic

18-year-old Madeline Stuart has Down syndrome but refuses to let that stop her from her dream of becoming a model. On her Facebook page she said she is pursuing modeling to “help change societies view of people with Down Syndrome.” According to Buzzfeed, the woman’s mother, Roseanne Stuart, said her daughter has struggled with her weight throughout her life but recently picked up dance, swimming and cheerleading. Roseanne said, “I think it is time people realized that people with Down syndrome can be sexy and beautiful and should be celebrated.” Roseanne said that culture is much more accepting of people...

Guests lounge around the pool at Pearl's Rainbow, soaking up the sunshine and tropical vibes typical of a Southernmost guesthouse. Not a man is in sight -- and that's the way these vacationers like it. But over this Thanksgiving weekend, Key West's only lesbian-exclusive resort is going "all welcome." The decision was made public about the same time Pearl's Rainbow was honored in October by Curve, the best-selling lesbian magazine, as the guesthouse that had the greatest impact on lesbian culture over the past 20 years.

SAN FRANCISCO, June 1 — Gay and lesbian prisoners in California will be allowed overnight visits with their partners under a new prison policy, believed to be the first time a state has allowed same-sex conjugal stays.

Jul. 10, 2006 | There's nothing like a judicial ruling -- in this case, the extremely tortured one written last week by Judge Robert S. Smith of the New York Court of Appeals against gay marriage -- to make me feel simultaneously all-powerful and helpless. On Friday, my family read the news over breakfast. I was on my way to volunteer at my church food pantry; my wife was finishing the endless paperwork for our 17-year-old daughter's college loan, and Katie -- one of the "children" in whose interest the court said it ruled -- was on her way out...