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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate passed groundbreaking legislation Thursday that would make it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. The expanded federal hate crimes law now goes to President Obama's desk. Obama has pledged to sign the measure, which was added to a $680 billion defense authorization bill.

Biblical Sex Row Over Explicit Illustrated Book of Genesis A sexually explicit illustrated Book of Genesis by controversial artist Robert Crumb, which features Bible characters having intercourse, has been condemned by religious groups. Ben Leach 17 Oct 2009 The book, which is released this month, carries the warning "adult supervision recommended for minors", and is described as "scandalous satire" by its publishers. It includes graphic illustrations of Bible characters having sexual intercourse, and other scenes depicting naked men and women as well as "gratuitous" depictions of violence. Crumb, the book's author, is most famous for his creation Fritz the Cat,...

SNIPPET: "The president has nominated Chai Feldblum, a lesbian activist, to be commissioner for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Her appointment is awaiting Senate confirmation." SNIPPET: "Feldblum, a law professor at Georgetown University, has signed an online petition titled, "Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision for All Our Families and Relationships."" SNIPPET: ""Chai Feldblum is on record saying that the battle between our religious freedoms and homosexual so-called rights is a zero sum game," says Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality." SNIPPET: ""She says she can't think of a case where the religious rights -- in...

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans are a diverse, extraordinary, resilient, and passionate group of forgiving men and women. I wouldn't be standing beside them demanding full and equal treatment under the law and speaking out against the harm caused by religion-based bigotry at the National Equality March in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11 if I thought they were not created in God's image the same as myself, same as my family, as we all are—we are all God's children. And I know better than anyone, since six years ago I was one of those bigots. At that time...

In breaking down barriers restricting gays and lesbians from the pulpit, the nation's largest Lutheran denomination has laid down a new marker in a debate over the direction of mainline Protestant Christianity, a tradition that once dominated American religious life. By voting Friday to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy, the 4.7-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will either show how a church can stand together amid differences, or become another casualty of division over sexual morality and the Bible, observers say. "We're going to be living in tension and ambiguity for a longer...

The Alameda, Calif., public schools are adopting a curriculum that will require first graders to read literature that equates same-sex unions with a family made up of a mother, father and child. Parents will not be allowed to opt their first graders out of the curriculum. Members of the Alameda United School District (AUSD) school board voted 3 to 2 last week to implement the “Safe Schools” curriculum, which supporters say is aimed at stopping anti-homosexual bullying in schools. The program includes a between one and four lessons each year between grades 1 and 5 to introduce students to “LGBT”...

Christians in the UK Facing Increasing Official Discrimination: Poll By Hilary White LONDON, June 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A poll conducted by the Sunday Telegraph has found that thousands of Christians in Britain fear losing job promotions and are being harassed at work because of their religious beliefs. The poll has been released at the same time that reports that Britain is becoming increasingly hostile to Christian believers are increasing. In the Telegraph poll, one in five said they had faced “opposition” at work because of their beliefs. Over half said they had suffered from some kind of “persecution” at...

Breaking news 4:24 PM N.H. legislators OK gay marriage The governor is expected to sign the bill, which would make New Hampshire the sixth state to legalize gay marriage.

(RTTNews) - President Barack Obama recognized June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender, or LGBT, pride month Monday. In a presidential statement he marked the anniversary of the LGBT pride movement and added that the government will "commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans." "LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect," Obama said. "I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans," he added. "These measures include enhancing hate...

The issue of legalizing same-sex marriages continues to be at the forefront of debate. On Tuesday the Californian Supreme Court upheld a referendum, Proposition 8, which modified the state constitution to restrict marriage to heterosexual couples. The referendum invalidated a previous decision by the state's Supreme Court that resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriage. In the weeks preceding the latest decision same-sex marriage was legalized in three states. As a result, five states now allow such marriages -- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont and Iowa. As a May 27 article in the Washington Post pointed out, four of these states...

Around 175 people were arrested in San Francisco while taking part in peaceful protests against a California Supreme Court decision to uphold a ban on same-sex marriage, police said. A spokeswoman for the San Francisco Police Department said the arrests came as demonstrators blocked an intersection near the court building. Those arrested were released at the scene, Sergeant Lyn Tomioka told AFP. California's Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a referendum that outlawed gay marriage, but said 18,000 same-sex weddings carried out before the ban would remain valid. Gay and lesbian activists had sought to overturn the result of a November...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Gay marriage supporters are holding a prayer service on the eve of the California Supreme Court's expected ruling on the legality of a voter-approved ban on same-sex nuptials. The group Marriage Equality USA plans to hold the interfaith event Monday night at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. On Tuesday morning, the state's high court plans to rule on a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn Proposition 8. Opponents of the gay marriage ban argue that the issue was improperly put before voters; they say it revised the state constitution's equal protection clause to such a dramatic...

Note: Read the whole article and check out the hypertext-links in the article. # FrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Where does the Obama administration stand on Israel? Although that vexed question is still open, the worrying signs are accumulating. On Sunday it was National Security Adviser James Jones telling ABC that “We understand Israel’s preoccupation with Iran as an existential threat. We agree with that”—and adding: “…by the same token, there are a lot of things that you can do to diminish that existential threat by working hard towards achieving a two-state solution.” With Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu slated...

Two issues continue to cloud the American political scene. Gay rights and the protection of life. These two issues are seen as so important that many Americans are willing to ignore all other issues such as poverty, housing, foreign policy and health care to vote according to a candidate’s position on homosexuality and abortion. The right to life, abortion, freedom of choice issue is much the tougher issue and a healthy debate should continue until some sort of understanding is reached and codified into laws that are firmly upheld by our courts. I suspect the most workable solution is not...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - President Obama's budget recommendations unveiled yesterday are being criticized by the National Right to Life Committee for recommending the re-introduction of taxpayer-funded abortion in Washington, D.C. The White House submission urges the House and Senate to repeal a law known as the Dornan Amendment that prevents tax-funded abortion, except for cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother's life, in the District of Columbia for several years. Because Congress holds legislative authority over the District of Columbia, the district's budget must be appropriated by Congress through an annual appropriations bill. The White...

Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota is a congregation of the more conservative Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. It is not unusual these days to find families leaving the ELCA to join the church. However, a new member’s class at Bethlehem Lutheran is an unusual place to find young men from the ELCA’s Luther Seminary in Saint Paul. Pastor of the Church, Robert Krueger, says that he sees more ELCA students coming to his traditional and liturgical congregation. “They all have expressed a disappointment in the direction the ELCA is going, and its general disregard for the Bible as...

For those who were shocked by Obama "faith" advisor Harry Knox knocking the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic men's group, as an "army of oppression," he is not alone. Gay activists are now taking pride in getting Knights charity drives crushed at supermarkets. Metro Weekly, a D.C-based gay "news" magazine, honored a man for his "Storefront Stand" -- he harassed Knights of Columbus volunteers raising funds for the mentally disabled (usually with Tootsie Roll candies) outside a Safeway store in northern Virginia. Allison also succeeded in getting other Knights thrown off one Giant supermarket's property. To passers-by at Safeway, Brad...

As volunteers with the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) rallied for traditional marriage in Concord, New Hampshire, a pro-homosexual advocate desecrated a Bible, shouting obscene anti-Catholic slurs.

Washington (CNN) - Steve Schmidt, a key architect of John McCain's presidential campaign, is making his first public return to Washington a bold one. Schmidt will use a speech Friday to Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group, to urge conservative Republicans to drop their opposition to same-sex marriage, CNN has learned. "There is a sound conservative argument to be made for same-sex marriage," Schmidt will say, according to speech excerpts obtained by CNN. "I believe conservatives, more than liberals, insist that rights come with responsibilities. No other exercise of one's liberty comes with greater responsibilities than marriage."

A majority of Roman Catholic adoption agencies have cut their ties with the Church rather than defy gay equality laws. Five agencies have declared themselves independent - and some have changed their names - to comply with laws that say they must allow homosexual couples to adopt children.The retreat ends decades in which the adoption charities have worked in the name of the Catholic Church with support from dioceses, clergy and congregations.The decision to end the formal connection with the Church follows a deadline set by the Government for charities to comply with the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations. These...

<p>In his upcoming biography of Jesus, "Basic Instinct" director Paul Verhoeven will make the shocking claim that Christ probably was the son of Mary and a Roman soldier who raped her during the Jewish uprising in Galilee.</p> <p>An Amsterdam publishing house said Wednesday it will publish the Dutch filmmaker's biography of Jesus, "Jesus of Nazareth: A Realistic Portrait," in September.</p>

Gays, women seeking abortions, couples not married will be includedJust as the Christian church has done many wonderful things throughout history, says the Rev. Richard Mark Lee, it also has done many terrible things, such as targeting, judging and condemning various individuals and groups. On Sunday, Lee plans to apologize for these past wrongs in a sermon at his church, Sugar Hill Baptist, known as The Family Church. Some of the groups Lee said he'll apologize to include gays, women seeking abortions and couples who live together outside of marriage. "For too long, we're been known for the issues we're...

Majorities of young people in America describe modern-day Christianity as judgmental, hypocritical and anti-gay. What's more, many Christians don't even want to call themselves "Christian" because of the baggage that accompanies the label. more at link...

Theologian Says Bible Does Not Condemn Gays An evangelical theologian is visiting several churches this fall refuting the common Christian interpretation of the Bible that Jesus and Scripture opposes homosexuality. Sat, Oct. 06, 2007 Posted: 09:44:38 AM EST An evangelical theologian is visiting several churches this fall refuting the common Christian interpretation of the Bible that Jesus and Scripture opposes homosexuality. Jack Rogers, professor of Theology Emeritus at San Francisco Theological Seminary, is trying to get a positive word out in the Christian churches about the gay and lesbian community and thinks churches should be leading the charge for their...

Gay clergy OK'd by Evangelical Lutheran Church in America August 11, 2007 BY SUSAN HOGAN/ALBACH Religion Reporter For the first time, clergy in same-sex committed relationships can serve the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America without threat of discipline to them, their congregations or their bishops. The historic decision, made today at a national assembly at Navy Pier, was spearheaded by Bishop Paul Landahl of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod. A day earlier, attendees voted down a measure that would have ended a ban on non-celibate gay clergy. But Saturday’s vote calls on church leaders to “refrain from or demonstrate restraint” in...

Bishop Tiny Muskens (Courtesy Radio Netherlands Worldwide) Catholic churches in the Netherlands should use the name Allah for God to ease tensions between Muslims and Christians, says a Dutch bishop. Tiny Muskens, the bishop of Breda, told the Dutch TV program "Network" Monday night he believes God doesn't mind what he is called, Radio Netherlands Worldwide reported. The Almighty is above such "discussion and bickering," he insisted. Muskens points to Indonesia, where he served 30 years ago, as an example for Dutch churches. Christians in the Middle East also use the term Allah for God.

Largest US Lutheran Church Votes to Uphold but Not Enforce Gay Clergy Ban By Peter J. Smith CHICAGO, August 13, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The largest denomination of Lutherans in the United States has decided that it will no longer discipline or enforce a ban against sexually active homosexual clergy. Delegates at the national assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Chicago passed a resolution Saturday by a vote of 538-431 urging bishops to "refrain from or demonstrate restraint" in disciplining homosexual clergy in "faithful committed same-gender relationships." Chicago's Bishop Paul Landahl offered the resolution on the final day...

ATLANTA -- The message was clear as congregants filed out of St. John's Lutheran Church sanctuary on Sunday: The Rev. Bradley Schmeling isn't going anywhere. With hugs and cheers, members of Atlanta's oldest Lutheran church celebrated Schmeling, the pastor who has been at the center of a denomination-wide battle over the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's treatment of gay clergy. The show of support came a day after the national assembly of the ELCA in Chicago urged bishops to refrain from defrocking gay and lesbian ministers who violate a celibacy rule, but fell short of permitting ordained gays churchwide. Schmeling...

For the life of me I have never been able to figure this one out; so called gay christians. Gay Baptists We hope Rainbow Baptists and the official AWAB site can be your starting places for Christian gay and lesbian related information. Simply knowing Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world is not the same as following Jesus Christ. A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. You can not be a practicing homosexual and be a legitimate Christian at the same time. And by legitimate I mean in the eyes of God. The methodist performing homosexual marriages Link...

ABC News' Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson Report: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood Tuesday that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is "age-appropriate," is "the right thing to do." "I remember Alan Keyes . . . I remember him using this in his campaign against me," Obama said in reference to the conservative firebrand who ran against him for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Sex education for kindergarteners had become an issue in his race against Keyes because of Obama’s work on the issue as chairman of the health committee in the Illinois state Senate. "'Barack...

WINNIPEG, Manitoba, June 22, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "No scenario could emerge" from any decision made by the Canadian Anglican Church this week that would prompt the church's expulsion from the World Wide Anglican Communion says a top spokesman of the Church of England. Canadian Anglicans are meeting now in Winnipeg at their General Synod and are expected to vote in favour of the blessing ceremony for homosexual partners that has already been in use in some Canadian Anglican dioceses. Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion told CanWest News, "There's no question the Anglican Church of Canada is a...

THE man found guilty of raping a woman as punishment for reading the Bible lured her to his unit by claiming he had news of her family overseas. Abdul Reda al-Shawany was today found guilty of sexually assaulting the then-Muslim mother of four - a refugee from the Middle East who had left her children and husband behind - for her "insult" to Islam. She had been studying the Bible because she was interested in Christianity. After the attack, at al-Shawany's Warwick Farm unit in Septmeber 2002, she converted. ... Even after the decision was handed down he protested his...

Two men who are members of Gideons International, the Christian organization that is famous for, among other ministries, placing Bibles in motels and giving them to children, have been arrested after trying to hand out Bibles on a public sidewalk in Florida, according to a law firm. Officials with the Alliance Defense Fund have confirmed they will be representing Anthony Mirto and Ernest Simpson, who were arrested, booked into jail and charged with trespassing. Jeremy Tedesco, one of the ADF's lawyers on the case, confirmed to WND that the organization's clients were on a public sidewalk when they were handing...

A ruling from a state appeals court has reopened a case prompted because a Muslim woman wanted to use a Quran – a book that an expert on Islam says allows Muslims to lie under compulsion – on which to swear her oath of honesty in a court hearing. The lawsuit was filed by Sydiah Mateen with help from the American Civil Liberties Union in 2005 after she was denied permission to use a Quran to take the courtroom oath in a case in North Carolina. Requirements vary from state to state, but North Carolina requires an oath either with...

To live peacefully with Muslims and Jews, Christians must put aside the notion that their faith requires the creation of a Christian kingdom on Earth, a Lipscomb University theologian told an interfaith gathering at the university. "We are not going to get very far in our relationship with Jews or Muslims if we do not let go of this idea," Lipscomb professor Lee Camp said at Tuesday's conference. The unusual gathering of several dozen clergy and lay people was devoted to resolving religious conflict in Nashville and around the world. "We need to forsake the Christendom model," Camp said. "The...

Letter: Teach your children well Thursday, July 27, 2006 David Parker is right - he should be allowed to "direct the moral upbringing of his children." As a parent, educator, and citizen, I am glad to see any parent take responsibility for his children's upbringing. I know of no one who would deny him this right. Unfortunately for Parker, he has chosen to instill in his children a sense of bigotry that that the majority in his community condemn. While it is a sad reality that in parts of the country people are judged by their race, gender, age, and...

First it was the Los Angeles Times who published the “Koran flushing story”, after the Newsweek story had been discredited. In an apparent attempt to help Newsweek find some of its lost credibility (and to take their own swipes at the US Military), now the rest of our leftist mainstream press has decided to print additional “Koran mishandling” stories. Hey! If a story is fake continue to print it, or other similar ones, so that maybe some of the uneducated will begin to believe them. Relying on a 2002 FBI report, notably one which merely referred to “allegations from detainees”,...

Condemned man gets life in prison for killing waitress Updated: 2:47 p.m. ET March 28, 2005 DENVER - The Colorado Supreme Court threw out the death sentence Monday of a man convicted of raping and killing a cocktail waitress because jurors consulted the Bible during deliberations. The court said Bible passages, including the verse that commands “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” could lead jurors to vote for death. The justices ordered Robert Harlan to serve life in prison without parole for the 1994 slaying of Rhonda Maloney. Harlan’s attorneys challenged the sentence after discovering five...

After years of contentious debate, the Canadian government has made it a crime to spread hate propaganda against sexual orientation. While united in opposing hate speech against any group, Canadian Christians are divided over the import of the amendment. On April 28, senators voted 59-11 to pass Bill C-250, which adds sexual orientation to a law that makes it illegal to incite hatred against identifiable groups based on color, race, religion, and ethnicity. Bill C-250 amends subsections 318 and 319 of Canada's Criminal Code. They prohibit (1) "advocating genocide"; (2) "public incitement of hatred"; and (3) "willful promotion of hatred."...

<p>LONDON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Britain's government is moving toward outlawing the spanking of children, even if it is done by parents in their own home.</p> <p>Officials plan to tack an amendment onto the Child Protection Bill to outlaw parental spanking because too many parents cover up abuse by claiming their children's bruises are the result of normal discipline, the Sunday Observer reported.</p>

On Friday the United Nations Human Rights Commission deferred a landmark resolution on human rights and sexual orientation until next year, apparently after five Muslim nations -- four of them United States allies -- maneuvered procedural delays. Libyan chairwomen Najjat Al-Hajjaji's proposal to defer the resolution to the next year's session was voted 24-17 with 12 abstentions, amid protests from Canada, European Union and Brazil. Friday was the last day of the 59th session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Frederico S. Duque Estrada Meyer of the Brazilian delegation in Geneva called it a "double victory," saying if the resolution...

Where do you draw the moral line regarding sexual behavior? Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), a Catholic, draws the line at homosexuality. Regarding a pending Supreme Court case on the Texas state sodomy law, Santorum told the Associated Press: "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything." This statement was directly in line with the Judeo-Christian values upon which this country...

(AgapePress) - Christian students who openly opposed a pro-homosexual event at their Wisconsin public school met stiff resistance from school officials. The Gay Straight Alliance Club at Evansville High School recently held a "Day of Silence" to protest alleged discrimination against homosexuals. The club was permitted to advertise the event through posters, literature, and on the school intercom. The school even provided them with a "safe room" to sit in if they felt they were being harassed during the day. But a group of Christian students who countered the Day of Silence by praying and sharing Bible verses in the...

OTTAWA, April 11, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a shocking official statement, the Catholic Women's League of Canada (CWL) has demanded that the federal government approve of legal homosexual civil unions. The statement flies in the face of repeated directions from Pope John Paul II which have condemned legal recognition of such sexual unions which are considered by the church to be unnatural and harmful. The statements came in a presentation to the House of Commons Justice Committee, which is conducting hearings on same-sex 'marriage'. The CWL statement, signed by Marie Cameron, National President; Agnes Bedard, National President-elect; Lucille Partington, National...

A repeal effort will be discussed at a town hall meeting tonight in RaleighFrederick J. Smith learned that he was breaking the law eight years ago during a court battle over the custody of his two sons. His ex-wife's lawyer got Smith, 44, and his boyfriend on the witness stand to admit to having oral sex and demanded that both be arrested on the spot for violating North Carolina's "crime against nature" statute. The bailiffs laughed, recalled Smith, a plant worker from Fletcher. "They all thought it was a big joke that this guy made such a big deal about...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Daytime television viewers -- considered to be among America's most conservative audiences -- will see their first on-screen lesbian kiss next week, ABC television said on Monday. The kiss will take place during the April 22 episode of the Emmy-award winning soap opera "All My Children," making what ABC said would be a first in the world of daytime television. It comes in a scene featuring gay teen character Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel), who came out as a lesbian in 2000, and her new friend Lena (Olga Sosnovska) who "in a moment of truth and true...

Selling Homosexuality by Matt Kaufman You generally know an ad campaign when you see it, and you don't take it seriously. You may buy Pepsi, but you don't really believe drinking it makes you cool because Britney Spears pitches it. But you may not recognize an ad campaign so easily when it's not relegated to paid 30-second spots. Or when the product being sold isn't a soft drink, but an idea, or an attitude, or a worldview. Which brings us to a fascinating article in the Regent University Law Review. In an issue analyzing various aspects of gay activism, one...

At a high school in prosperous Newton, Massachusetts, it’s “To B GLAD Day”—or, less delicately, Transgender, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian Awareness Day. An advocacy session for students and teachers features three self-styled transgendered individuals—a member of the senior class and two recent graduates. One of the transgenders, born female, announces that “he” had been taking hormones for 16 months. “Right now I am a 14-year-old boy going through puberty and a 55-year-old woman going through menopause,” she complains. “I am probably the moodiest person in the world.” A second panelist declares herself an “androgyne in between both genders of society.” She...

Hollywood, CA — The pro-abortion Feminist Majority Foundation on Monday launched its nationwide "Never Go Back" campaign, which aims to keep abortion legal in the United States. And it's receiving help from several of Hollywood's elite actresses and musicians. Katherine Spillar, executive vice president of the abortion advocacy group who spoke at the campaign launch, said that the Supreme Court could have vacancies as soon as this summer, and those vacancies could threaten Roe v. Wade. Spillar emphasized the importance of Senate leadership — especially pro-abortion Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) — in questioning all of President Bush's judicial...

"Gay" activists are pushing an agenda in Canadian schools aimed to have students, teachers and principals "celebrate" homosexual and transgendered people, reports the Vancouver Sun. Two men leading the charge – Murray Warren and Peter Cook – filed a complaint with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal to compel teachers to deliver positive messages about homosexuals and transgendered people in every subject, in every classroom. The complaint alleges discrimination by the education ministry for ignoring calls for homophobia and "heterosexism" to be addressed in the classroom. "People want to see us [teachers] address homophobia across the board," Warren, a Coquitlam...