Free Republic

VANITY. Not sure who created it but better than the one that got all the press.

A bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to Virginia's nondiscrimination law cleared committees in the House of Delegates and Senate this week and appears to be on its way to becoming law in the Old Dominion. A version of the bill known as the Virginia Values Act was shepherded through the Senate committee by Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria). In the House, it was sponsored by Mark Sickles (D-Franconia), where it passed by a 16-6 vote, with all Democrats and three Republicans voting in favor. The mood among activists was celebratory. Democrats hold a 55-45 majority in the...

A Facebook page run by the Arlington Heights-based Church of Christian Liberty was shut down for not complying with the social media company's policies, church officials said Friday. Church leaders say they weren't told exactly what led Facebook to ban the Christian Liberty Press page, but they speculate it has to do with expressing their Christian views.

LOS ANGELES, October 11, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) -- Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, a Catholic and presidential candidate for the Democratic party, called for churches and religious institutions to lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex “marriage.” Joining other Democratic candidates in defending their respective LGBTQ platform stances on Thursday evening during a CNN televised town hall, O’Rourke said, “There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone … that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us.” As the audience cheered, O’Rourke continued, saying, “And so as president, we are...

San Diego MassResistance parents who were protesting a horrid “Drag Queen Story Hour” at the library strongly stood up to a rabid crowd of LGBT activists who came to intimidate and harass them with anti-Christian bigotry. In fact, the LGBT activists were clearly surprised and disheartened that the parents were ready for them.

A Virginia teacher who was fired for not agreeing to use the preferred pronouns of a trans-identified student has filed a complaint against the school board that dismissed him. Peter Vlaming, a former French teacher at West Point High School in Williamsburg, filed the complaint in the Circuit Court for the County of King William on Monday. The lawsuit argued that the school board violated “Vlaming’s constitutional, statutory, and contractual rights” when they decided to fire him last year. Vlaming is seeking a permanent injunction that allows him to be reinstated, a permanent injunction preventing the school board from punishing...

The Supreme Court should hold that the federal statute which prohibits employment discrimination “because of sex” prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and against transgender individuals. When the Supreme Court returns from its summer recess, among the first cases it will hear will be three that raise the important question of whether federal law prohibiting employment discrimination protects LGBTQ individuals. Until 1964, no federal law prohibited employment discrimination. The landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 changed this by forbidding employers from discriminating based on race, sex or religion. There have been many attempts to amend the law to expressly prohibit...

House Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee said on Thursday that over 60 alleged hate groups, mostly socially conservative organizations, anti-immigration entities, and religious groups should be stripped of their tax-exempt status. (5/5): These remarks are vile and only work to perpetuate hate crimes and stir division. There is no reason the U.S. government should continue to subsidize groups like these – Ways & Means Dems are shining a light on this issue today. — Ways & Means Committee (@WaysMeansCmte) September 19, 2019 Some of the bigger organizations on the list include the fundamentalist Protestant group American Family Association,...

Duke University’s student government has declined to recognize a national Christian organization as an official student group because of its stance on LGBTQ issues.The student senate unanimously voted against Young Life last week, the Duke Chronicle reported.

Quarterback Drew Brees came under brutal attack recently for having the audacity to appear in a video encouraging Christian students to bring Bibles to school. The pretext for the attack was that he supported a project by Focus on the Family, a Christian organization that believes in the Bible, to include the biblical concept of marriage and sexuality. Note that Brees did not say or do anything that could be even remotely construed as being anti-LGBT. In fact, he has previously appeared in anti-bullying ads supporting that community. … For too long, many Americans have misunderstood the goals of the...

LEXINGTON, Kentucky, August 23, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – The Christian owner of a Kentucky print shop who has spent years fighting for his right not to create “gay pride” T-shirts has taken his case to the state Supreme Court. Blaine Adamson is the owner of Hands On Originals Christian Outfitters, a Lexington company that advertises "high quality, customized Christian apparel.” For the past several years, he has been fighting the Lexington Human Rights Commission over his polite refusal of the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization’s (now called the Pride Community Services Organization) request to print shirts for the Lexington Pride Festival....

A former Google employee has gone public with claims of election manipulation, intimidation, and political bias at the hands of the tech giant, including the “blacklisting” of certain websites, including The Christian Post. On Wednesday, investigative journalism group Project Veritas released an interview in which whistleblower Zachary Vorhies reveals he delivered roughly 950 pages of documents to the Department of Justice’s Antitrust division demonstrating that Google manipulated its algorithms in a way that biased its search engine against conservative media, Christian media and nonprofit groups, and Republicans.A Google employee for eight years, Vorhies — who refers to his situation as...

A Christian student kicked off a university course over his views on gay marriage has celebrated his latest legal battle as “great news" for anyone who cares about free speech. Felix Ngole, 41, said that he was expressing a traditional religious view when he was accused of posting derogatory comments about homosexuals and bisexuals on Facebook. Mr Ngole posted comments in 2015 when taking part in a debate on a Facebook page about Kim Davis, a state official in the US state of Kentucky, who refused to register same-sex marriages, judges heard He had said Mrs Davis's position was based...

A large cross in Bladensburg, Maryland has been a source of controversy for years as we awaited the Supreme Court's decision on whether the symbol can continue to stand. A local post of The American Legion erected the Bladensburg Peace Cross in 1925. To most, the statue was dedicated to the memory of 49 local heroes who gave their lives serving in the U.S. Armed Forces in WWI. To the Humanist Association, it was an unconstitutional eyesore. They sued in 2014 arguing the cross violated the Establishment Clause and demanded its removal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth...

The Supreme Court has said not yet to a second helping of cake. Justices announced today that they won’t hear a new case on the religious freedom and free speech rights of bakers who refuse to sell custom wedding cakes to same-sex couples for religious reasons. But they did send it back to the lower courts for reconsideration. That means questions left unanswered in last year’s ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission will remain unanswered for now. The new case, which originated in Oregon, features a family-owned bakery, Sweetcakes by Melissa, and a lesbian couple. It...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Under intense pressure from their left-leaning constituents to do something about the dangerous, Christian-founded restaurant chain, Democrats in the House of Representatives unveiled legislation Tuesday that would make it a hate crime to eat at Chick-fil-A. The CFAHATE Act Of 2018 would make it a hate crime punishable by federal law to dine at the restaurant or use its drive-thru, with extra punishments for people who post that they’re eating at the restaurant on their social media accounts. The legislation would also impose heftier penalties for anyone who patronizes the extremist hate group’s chicken sandwich establishments during Pride Month....

The jury just rendered its verdict on punitive damages in the Gibson’s Bakery v. Oberlin College case. Daniel McGraw, our reporter in the courtroom, reports that in addition to the $11.2 million compensatory damages awarded last Friday, the jury awarded a total of $33 million in punitive damages, which will probably be reduced by the court to $22 million because of the state law cap at twice compensatory (it’s not an absolute cap, but probably will apply here). That brings the total damages to $33 million. We will have the breakdown soon. The jury also awarded attorney’s fees, to be...

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday signed the so-called “Save Chick-fil-A” bill into law, a new provision that supporters say defends the fast-food restaurant and protects religious freedoms. Opponents have argued it discriminates against the LGBT community. Abbott, a Republican, did not hold a public signing ceremony, but he had signaled his support through a tweet a few weeks ago, DallasNews.com reported. On May 20, Abbott tweeted a picture of a Chick-fil-A soft drink in front of a laptop showing a news article with the headline “'Save Chick-fil-A' bill heads to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk” and wrote, “So. What...

A new survey of college students by the liberal-leaning Knight Foundation shows the future of the First Amendment doesn't look so bright in America. It found 41 percent said "hate speech" should not be protected by the Constitution. Only 58 percent thought it should. In fact, a 2017 survey out of UCLA found that out of 1,500 college students who were asked whether "hate speech" is protected by the First Amendment, only 39 percent correctly said yes. On campus today, it can be defined as "unsafe" to hear an opinion you don't like. Unwelcome speech is compared to a physical...

Liberals sure love #Science, but like all conservatives I just hate #Science so very, very much. Did you know that 97% of #Science-people, who clearly love #Science, agree that the global warming climate crisis means we have to immediately give the liberal elite a bunch of our money and freedom because of #Science? Well, we do – and as of a couple of months ago, noted #Scientist AOC informed us that we have exactly 12 years to do it. Okay, 11 years, ten months. Tick tock! You know it’s true #Science because of the specificity of her 12 years figure....