Free Republic

A US politician tipped as the next US President and known to favour state power to define gay marriage laws will address the Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth next month, according to reports. John McCain, senion Senator from Arizona, who voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and has been praised by gay lobby group the Log Cabin Republicans, will speak at the opening evening of the Tory annual gathering. The coup is seen as a sign that the party and leader David Cameron are being seen as viable alternatives to Labour, according to The Times Senator McCain is...

Ever since I announced my bid for the United States Presidency, I’ve been questioned about some of my more radical political opinions. Most of those questions have dealt with my proposed economic policies – for example, the abolition of the IRS and the implementation of the Fair Tax. Today, I offer an answer to questions about why I am opposed to the idea of gays adopting or teaching children. Several years ago, I began writing columns questioning the so-called gay rights movement. I prefer to call it the “gay privileges” movement because gays are not presently deprived of anything that...

SEATTLE, Washington, July 25, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Permitting same-sex “marriages” could lead to a serious loss of religious freedom, Seattle Archbishop Alexander Brunett warned Thursday in a legal brief filed in the ongoing battle over the state’s ban on homosexual “marriages.” The court hearing the case, however, rejected the brief on account of the fact that it comes over a year too late; oral arguments were heard in the state Supreme Court in March 2005. The archbishop was finally convinced to file the brief after witnessing the legalization of homosexual "marriage" in other states and its possible legal ramifications on...

The state Supreme Court upheld Washington's ban on gay marriage Wednesday, saying lawmakers have the power to restrict marriage to unions between a man and woman. The 5-4 decision leaves Massachusetts as the only state to grant full marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples. It was the latest in a series of significant court rulings favoring gay marriage opponents. Nineteen gay and lesbian couples seeking to marry had challenged the constitutionality of Washington's 1998 Defense of Marriage Act law, which limits marriage to heterosexual couples. Judges in King and Thurston counties overturned it in 2004, citing the state constitution's...

Washington Supreme Court has issued ruling upholding Washington State's BAN on Gay Marriage

MADISON, WI (AP) -- A Madison philanthropist has given $275,000 of her personal fortune to try to defeat a state ban on gay marriage and civil unions, according to a filing made public on Friday. Dale Leibowitz was the largest donor to Fair Wisconsin, the political action committee leading the charge against the constitutional amendment that appears on the ballot on Nov. 7, according to the group's campaign finance report. Other major donations to the group included $80,000 from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, and $25,000 from the state teachers' union, the filing with the...

Losing the Marriage Debate It’s no secret that liberals hold in contempt what they regard as the provincial nature of conservatives. And I certainly would love to buy liberals for what I think they’re worth and sell them for what they think they’re worth, to paraphrase the old retort. That said, a part of me is so frustrated with my traditionalist brethren that I could almost be persuaded that the left is, in some minute measure, correct. For the sagacity reflected in our ends is matched by the stupidity of our means. And the left is quite the opposite. I...

Nurses union sues over health benefits for same-sex spouse BOSTON- The Massachusetts Nurses Association filed a federal lawsuit Thursday seeking to overturn an arbitration award that denied health insurance benefits to the same-sex spouse of a registered nurse. Maria Ciulla, a nurse who works at Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, married her lesbian partner on Oct. 1, 2005, more than a year after Massachusetts became the first state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage. A few days later, she asked the hospital to add her spouse to her Blue Cross/Blue Shield policy, but the hospital denied her request. In...

Despite recent remarks by Illinois Senator Barack Obama urging Democrats to "acknowledge the power of faith in Americans' lives" and "compete for the support of Evangelicals and other churchgoers," some pro-family religious leaders are unconvinced of Obama's sincerity. Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church in Maryland and founder and chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition (HILC), calls Obama's remarks "political" and "disingenuous," referring to Obama's speech at the Call to Renewal Conference in Washington, DC, last month and an op-ed column in USA Today. Jackson believes Obama and most Democrats still see religious conservatives as narrow-minded and...

Same-sex ban looks likely to succeed, but effects debated - NASHVILLE - Campaigns are being organized on both sides of a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would forbid same-sex marriages as politicians debate whether it will have an impact on other elections. The state Supreme Court last week rejected a legal effort by the American Civil Liberties Union to block a November vote on the constitutional amendment. The opposing sides had already laid the groundwork for campaigns, but they are now getting under way in earnest. Randy Tarkington of Nashville, campaign manager for the lead organization opposing the...

WASHINGTON - The House on Tuesday rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, ending for another year a congressional debate that supporters of the ban hope will still reverberate in this fall's election. The 236-187 vote for the proposal to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman was 47 short of the two-thirds majority needed to advance a constitutional amendment. It followed six weeks after the Senate also decisively defeated the amendment, a top priority of social conservatives. But supporters said the vote will make a difference when people got to the polls in November....

House Republicans To Vote On Amendment Banning Gay Marriage Washington D.C. (AHN) - House Republicans are going ahead to vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. The vote is scheduled for Tuesday as part of a week in which House GOP leaders plan to focus on what they call their "American values agenda." In one of his weekly radio addresses, President Bush said changing the Constitution is necessary because "activist judges and some local officials have made an aggressive attempt to redefine marriage in recent years. Last month, the Senate was short of the 11 of the 60...

LINCOLN, Neb. - A federal appeals court has reversed a ruling that struck down Nebraska's same-sex marriage ban. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday reversed an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon, who ruled last year that the measure was too broad and deprived gays and lesbians of participation in the political process, among other things. Seventy percent of Nebraska voters approved the amendment in 2000. The court said the amendment "and other laws limiting the state-recognized institution of marriage to heterosexual couples are rationally related to legitimate state interests and therefore do not violate...

Lincoln, NE - A federal appeals court has reversed a ruling that stuck down Nebraska's same-sex marriage ban. U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon ruled last year that the measure was too broad and deprived homosexuals of participation in the political process. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals today reversed that ruling. Nebraska voters approved the amendment by 70% in 2000. The Court said the amendment "and other laws limiting the state-recognized institution of marriage to heterosexual couples are rationally related to legitimate state interests and therefore do not violate the Constitution of the United States." Liberty Counsel filed a brief...

Next week the House of Representatives will be voting on the Marriage Protection Amendment, which defines marriage as being between one man and one woman. Our opponents say there is no need for this amendment because the states will do it, and they cite last week’s New York Court of Appeals decision supporting heterosexual marriage as evidence. Well, they’re wrong. Yes, the Court of Appeals in New York did uphold New York’s law limiting marriage to one man and one woman. But in holding that there was a “rational basis” for this, the New York court is swimming against the...

Connecticut Judge Rules Against Homosexual Couples' Demand for “Marriage” Title HARTFORD, Connecticut, July 13, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Homosexual couples will not be granted the right to “marry” in Connecticut, a Superior Court judge decided Wednesday, despite their possessing the same rights and protections as married couples under the state civil union law. Judge Patty Jenkins ruled against eight same-sex couples who filed suit against the state in August 2004 after being denied marriage licenses. They were seeking the right to legally marry, the Hartford Courant reported today. Judge Jenkins said Connecticut’s civil union law, which took effect in October 2005,...

It's Not all Rosy in Massachusetts, Despite Pro-Marriage Court Ruling (AgapePress) - An attorney for the American Family Association says a decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) will not nullify current same-sex "marriages," regardless what happens in 2008. And comments from two of the SJC justices indicate they would not be inclined to reverse their earlier decision legalizing those marriages -- even if voters were to approve a constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage. The same Massachusetts court that legalized homosexual marriage in 2004 ruled unanimously on Monday (July 10) that a proposed amendment to the state constitution banning...

Should California law define marriage as only between a man and a woman?

New York and Georgia courts will be on the wrong side of history of gay marriage.THE HIGHEST COURTS of New York and Georgia last week moved in the opposite direction of history and justice on same-sex marriage. By a 4-2 vote, the NY Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the state Legislature's limitation of marriage to heterosexual couples was a "long-accepted restriction" not based solely on "ignorance and prejudice against homosexuals." Adding insult to injury, an opinion signed by three of the judges in the majority ruled that it was rational for the Legislature to ban same-sex marriage in the...

Gays want rights if not acceptance I was pleased to hear the governor say that gay people are free to live their lives in Georgia. Thank goodness I don't have to leave the state after paying taxes here for 25 years. The governor left no doubt, however, that I am in fact still a second-class citizen. Despite those 25 years of tax paying and eight years with my partner, we do not have the same rights as a heterosexual couple who have been married for one day. To Gov. Sonny Perdue, the Supreme Court of Georgia, and the people who...