Free Republic

A spokesman for Concerned Women for America warns that yet another piece of legislation being promoted in the Democrat-led Congress would force taxpayers to subsidize immoral and dangerous behavior. Senators Gordon Smith (R-Oregon) and Joe Lieberman (I-Connecticut) have introduced a bill that will extend domestic partner benefits to homosexual federal employees. The measure would allow an employee and his or her same-sex partner to be eligible for federal health benefits, the Family and Medical Leave program, long-term care, insurance, and retirement benefits. Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), who is an open homosexual, and Tom Lantos (D-California) have introduced the bill in...

CHICAGO, December 26, /Christian Newswire/ -- Peter LaBarbera, longtime pro-family advocate and founder of the Republicans For Family Values website, is calling on pro-family leaders who have endorsed Mitt Romney to withdraw their support for his candidacy in light of his recent comments on NBC's "Meet the Press" supporting pro-homosexual "sexual orientation" state laws. "Mitt Romney's Christmas present to the homosexual lobby disqualifies him as a pro-family leader," LaBarbera said. "Laws that treat homosexuality as a civil right are being used to promote homosexual 'marriage,' same-sex adoption and pro-homosexuality indoctrination of schoolchildren. These same laws pose a direct threat to...

The Court of Appeals for the U.S. Ninth Circuit upheld this summer an Oakland, Calif., city government declaration that the phrase "marriage is the foundation of the natural family and sustains family values" was inflammatory and promoted harassment based on so-called sexual orientation. The phrase was also deemed to be homophobic and disruptive. It seems a few Christian women working for Oakland's city government formed a Good News Employee Association, and in promoting the club, included the aforementioned phrase on a flier. Later, a lesbian worker complained that the flier made her feel "targeted" and "excluded." Most recently, hate crimes...

Dominating the news last week was the riveting question of whether or not O.J. used a gun when he broke into a Las Vegas hotel room to reclaim "his stuff." Experts explained, pundits proclaimed and a good time was had by all. Short shrift was given to the continuing good news slowly making its way out of Iraq. Roadside bomb attacks receded to a three-year low and weapons cache finds doubled (since 2006). Al-Maliki proclaimed Baghdad a liveable city, with thousands of former refugees returning. Al-Qaeda has pretty much admitted defeat - Sunnis and Shias have joined forces to hunt...

A Washington-based pro-family group says the Democrat-led House has cast aside the free-exercise clause of the First Amendment with its passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) (HR 3685). On Wednesday the House voted 235-184 (see roll call vote) in favor of legislation that would prohibit employment discrimination based on "actual or perceived" sexual orientation. Due to a lack of support, openly homosexual Representative Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) withdrew an amendment that would have extended special protections to trans-gendered people and cross-dressers. Matt Barber, policy director for cultural issues at Concerned Women for America (CWA), argues the bill threatens the religious...

National civil rights organizations are celebrating the passage by the House of legislation that would add "sexual orientation" to a list of federally protected classes, but some San Francisco groups refuse to take part in the party. The vote Wednesday on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, also known as ENDA, postponed several times, was ultimately revised to remove protection for transgender workers, which upset gay rights groups here and across the country. Democratic leaders said the removal was necessary to get the act passed. But more than 300 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender leaders opposed the exclusion, saying it is unfair...

During the week of October 22-26, David Horowitz and his Freedom Center held a series of events at 100 campuses for Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, intended to counter standard academic nitwitery about the war on terrorism ("America is evil," "We brought it on ourselves," "9/11 was a Republican conspiracy"). Admirable though this was, attention must be called to an even more imminent threat. By the authority vested in me (by myself), I hereby designate the week of November 5th Left-Fascism Awareness Week -- a time to consider the clear and present danger to free speech emanating from the left, from academic...

The Republican party’s having a gay identity crisis as of late - and the ideological winner could change the party’s political fate, not to mention the election. As Kerry Eleveld eloquently explains in the Advocate, three of the presidential contenders oppose a federal amendment against gay marriage: John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, although the latter wants to make sure no one state has to endorse another’s married gays. Regardless of Thompson’s middle ground, his and his peers’ moderate stances show that the Republican party’s facing an important decision. Will they stick to their guns and give the once...

The head of a conservative lobbying group warns that a homosexual employment bill pending in the U.S. House will "silence of people of faith" and be a "litigation nightmare."   House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) may hold a vote this week on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which seeks to make it illegal for employers to make decisions on hiring, firing, promoting, or paying an employee based on "actual or perceived sexual orientation." Last week, a vote on the measure was delayed due to squabbling among some Democrats and homosexual activists over whether to include in the bill special protections...

The House Democratic leadership delayed a planned vote this past week on ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007. The bill, introduced by gay Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, makes employment discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals illegal. One reason that momentum on moving the legislation has stalled is because lesbian Rep. Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin wants a provision covering transsexuals and transgenders, originally in, then removed, put back in. President Bush has indicated that, if passed, he will veto this legislation. And he should. There are a good number of reasons offered by the administration, and by others, why this...

"The bill raises concerns on constitutional and policy grounds, and if H.R. 3685 were presented to the president, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill," the White House said. "H.R. 3685 is inconsistent with the right to the free exercise of religion as codified by Congress in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The Act prohibits the federal government from substantially burdening the free exercise of religion except for compelling reasons, and then only in the least restrictive manner possible. "H.R. 3685 does not meet this standard. For instance, schools that are owned by or directed toward...

[snip]Here are 14 good reasons to oppose the revised ENDA, H.R. 3685: 1. ENDA and H.R. 3685 would create federally-protected “rights” based on immoral, unhealthy and changeable homosexual/bisexual behavior — masquerading as “orientation” – setting a dangerous legal, moral and spiritual precedent. Homosexuality is not a “civil right”; it is a human wrong — one that is redeemable as proven by thousands of contented former homosexuals and ex-lesbians. Our Founding Fathers, infused with a Biblical view of fallen man, created limited government that sought to restrain the sinful outworking of men’s hearts (including the lust for power, hence our system...

Staff members for President Bush have helped congressional staffers work on "religious exemption" language for a new "anti-discrimination" proposal that actually would codify in federal statutes an anti-Christian bias, and that will make it harder for him to veto, according to an activist group. "Americans For Truth has learned that a White House official has boasted to pro-family leaders attending a private administration briefing that White House staffers were involved in the negotiations to craft expanded religious exemption language for the new ENDA bill," according to Peter LaBarbera's Americans For Truth organization. "At the briefing, the White House official did...

Support An Inclusive ENDA! Tell Congress you’re watching: You want a transgender-inclusive ENDA passed this year! Last week, leadership in the House of Representatives announced they were moving forward with a nondiscrimination bill that would not have protections for transgender people. The outcry from the LGBT community was united, and intense. On Sunday, September 30, the Equality Virginia Board of Directors voted to sign onto this effort by co-signing a national community letter supporting the orginal ENDA, HR 2015. On Monday, the House leadership announced that the committee vote that was scheduled for this week was postponed. But that doesn’t...

Washington -- San Franciscans might be more educated than most about the distinctions among transsexuals, cross-dressers and ordinary drag queens. But an irony of the debate in Washington over whether to include transgender people in a bill banning job discrimination against gays and lesbians is that a lot of straight people in other parts of the country draw no distinction between gays and transsexuals - lumping gender identity and sexual orientation together. Transgender people have been part of the gay movement since its birth at the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City in part because much of the public...

Imagine you own a small business—let’s say a donut shop—and you have an employee who is late for work everyday and is rude to customers. When you fire him, he claims it is really because he is gay—and sues. Or imagine you run a daycare center in your church basement. One day a homosexual applies for a job. When you turn him down, he says you broke the law. Today, both of these stories are simply scenarios. But by the end of the week, they could be reality. Under intense goading from the gay-rights lobby, the House of Representatives is...

“They feel kind for a season, but remain blind to all reason.” -- Matt Barber, just now Such is the nature of political correctness. And in that spirit, lawmakers — who are purportedly sane — plan to take us all on a “long strange trip” through a mystical fantasyland where the impossible is possible and the objectionable is obligatory. A vote is expected soon on H.R. 2015, the so-called “Employment Non-Discrimination Act” (ENDA). If passed, the bill would grant special employment rights and protected minority status to individuals who define themselves based upon chosen sexual behaviors and others who...

WASHINGTON, DC, September 6, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In accord with the agenda of almost every leading Democratic presidential contender, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) has once again been brought to the legislative table in Washington, DC. Several news sources report that hearings for the newest version of the Act, also known as H.R. 2015, are being held this week in front of a House subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor & Pensions. The current version of ENDA, first introduced to the US House on April 24, 2007 by members of Congress Barney Frank, Chris Shays, Tammy Baldwin, and Deborah Pryce, includes...

Following on the heels of an 'anti-discrimination' plan Christians insist would virtually outlaw their religious beliefs comes another proposal – introduced by openly homosexual U.S. Rep. Barney Frank – that requires businesses to give special privileges to "gay" and "transgendered" individuals. Shari Rendall, director of legislation and public policy for Concerned Women for America, the nation's largest women's public policy group, said H.R. 2015, the "Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007," would be a disaster. "This bill would unfairly extend special privileges based upon an individual's changeable sexual behaviors, rather than focusing on immutable, non-behavior characteristics such as skin color or...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Washington, DC – With much fanfare, liberals in Congress — led by openly homosexual congressman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) — recently introduced H.R. 2015, the ironically-titled “Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007” (ENDA). According to proponents, this bill merely seeks to insulate people who choose to engage in homosexual behaviors (“sexual orientation”) or who suffer from gender confusion (gender identity) against employment discrimination. But regrettably this legislation would effectively codify and encourage the very thing it purports to prevent — workplace discrimination. ENDA would apply to any business with 15 or more employees. The bill’s language states that, “it...