Free Republic

Almost exactly five years after he was elected as the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson remains the most controversial Christian in the world. His consecration as the first openly gay, partnered Anglican bishop launched a global conversation about sexuality in Christianity and divided the Anglican Communion, the largest Protestant body in the world with 77 million members. Yet what he is doing now may be more radical: Robinson is traveling the country and the world to talk more openly and more publicly than ever about his faith. "The principal identity that I have is as a follower of...

The wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told a crowd of homosexual activists last week that her husband wants to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and reverse the rule on homosexuals in the military. Michelle Obama also drew parallels with homosexual advocacy groups and the civil rights movement, referring to events "from Selma to Stonewall." Speaking to the Democratic National Committee's Gay and Lesbian Leadership Committee last Thursday in New York City, Michelle Obama said her husband supports "a world where federal laws don't discriminate against same-sex relationships, including equal treatment for any relationship recognized under state...

In a June 29, 2008, piece in the Opinion section of the Santa Fe New Mexican, Michael J. Chávez wrote of how gratified he was to see so many churches represented at the Gay Pride parade in Albuquerque earlier this month. He saw this is a positive step, but only a beginning toward his ultimate goal of having all Christian churches completely de-stigmatize homosexuality, to recognize that “intimate relations between a God-centered, same sex couple is not immoral” and “that we [homosexuals] are not an abomination in the eyes of God”...

There's nothing like celebrating marriage with hundreds of thousands of your closest friends. Less than two weeks after same-sex marriage became legal in California, drag queens, kids, politicians, shirtless men, married couples, straight couples and tourists flocked to San Francisco for the city's 38th annual San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration, which culminated Sunday with a huge parade. Marriage was in the air as scores of people lined Market Street for the annual event, where veils and wedding garb were the fashion choice of many parade participants and spectators. Of course, scantily clad boys and girls - and...

A new analysis of HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men points to a troubling increase in new cases among young men, U.S. health officials reported Thursday. Public health experts use the term "men who have sex with men," or MSM, because many of these men are not strictly homosexual or even bisexual.

Last week there was this news from Germany: German Lutherans in northern Schleswig will decide on July 12 whether to elect an openly gay bishop. Conservatives have opposed Horst Gorski's candidacy, saying it would lead to divisions within the church. When Horst Gorski, 51, first took up his archdeacon post in the northern city of Hamburg, some members of the congregation had misgivings about this homosexuality. But within a few years it was no longer an issue, Gorski said. Gorski believes the same will be the case if he is elected the next bishop of Schleswig, a mostly rural region...

A mayonnaise ad that shows two men kissing has been withdrawn from television after 200 viewers complained that it was offensive. Heinz, which makes the New York Deli Mayo featured in the commercial, pulled the advertisement less than a week into its expected five week run, in response to the criticism. Viewers told the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the ad was inappropriate and unsuitable for children to see. The ASA has not yet decided whether to launch an investigation. snip..... It is understood that the commercial was not shown during children's television programming, because of new rules from Ofcom...

A Roman Catholic Church decision to prohibit a Minneapolis gay pride prayer service has many in the gay community up in arms, leading activists to call the action a troubling and telling sign from the Twin Cities' new archbishop. The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis recently told staff members at St. Joan of Arc Church they could not hold their annual gay pride prayer service planned for Wednesday — an event held for several years in conjunction with the annual Twin Cities Pride Celebration, parishioners said. Instead, the archdiocese suggested a "peace" service with no mention of rights for...

Heinz is set to challenge some viewer expectations with a light-hearted TV campaign that features two men sharing a kiss. The TV commercial, which promotes a new range of dressing called Heinz Deli Mayo, breaks tonight and will be supported by a press campaign.

The demand for marriage licenses in Orange County has stayed far higher than usual in recent days as gay and lesbian couples exercised their newly won right to wed. California became only the second state in the country to allow same-sex marriage on Tuesday. As expected, that day saw a jump in the number of couples applying for marriage licenses in Orange County. But the numbers have stayed high throughout the week. In fact, the county issued more marriage licenses on Thursday and Friday than it did amid all the celebrations, media attention and wedding cake of Tuesday. "It didn't...

At least 14 employees in the San Diego County Clerk's Office raised religious objections to performing gay wedding ceremonies but were told by their boss they couldn't pick and choose between marriage applicants. Clerk Greg Smith said last month that he would allow employees with religious objections to avoid performing the ceremonies, but the response was apparently more than his office could accommodate. “It would unfairly burden other employees and would directly compromise the services we provide to the public, particularly given that so many employees have requested the same arrangement,” Smith's office told 14 employees by e-mail. ... “The...

Bishop William Murphy Rockville Centre, NY, Jun 20, 2008 / 05:07 am (CNA).- Rockville Centre Bishop William Murphy has criticized New York Governor David A. Paterson for ignoring the democratic process in order to recognize same-sex “marriages” in the state and for acting contrary of the common good of the state. In his weekly column in Long Island Catholic, the prelate began by recalling that in the wake of the decision to approve same-sex “marriages” in Massachusetts, the New York judicial system declared any ruling on the matter beyond its mandate. However, the bishop pointed out, “previous governors indicated...

Old Glory Radio Interview with Brian Brown, Executive Director for the National Organization For Marriage.

The rector of St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London, in the eye of storm over gay 'marriage', explains why he decided he must bless a gay relationship Robustly heterosexual since early adolescence, unable to see that any love surpasses the love of women, and once branded by the odious Daily Mail as 'Dud the Stud', I may seem miscast in the role into which I have now been thrust, that of the turbulent rebellious priest who defies bishop and archbishop to bless two gay men, also priests, in their civil partnership. Yet there is a sense in...

18th June 2008 The Reverend Dr Martin Dudley, St Bartholomew the Great Parish Office, 6 Kinghorn Street, London, EC1A 7HW. Dear Martin, You have sought to justify your actions to the BBC and in various newspapers but have failed more than two weeks after the service to communicate with me. I read in the press that you had been planning this event since November. I find it astonishing that you did not take the opportunity to consult your Bishop. You describe the result as “familiar words reordered and reconfigured carrying new meanings.” I note that the order of service, which...

Rupert Everett, a British film actor, stunned fans when he referred to soldiers as “wimps.” “In my book, unless you’ve taken a hard, hot one up your bum, you’re a wimp,” Everett insisted. The flagrantly gay actor conceded that most people wouldn’t see things his way. “Ordinary men don’t appreciate the risks we have to face on a routine basis,” he complained. “What’s getting your head blown off by a jihadi compared to a slow agonizing death from AIDS?” Everett also lamented the fact that “while soldiers get medals, our courage goes unrecognized. There are G.I. Joes to glorify militarism,...

... Sixty gay and lesbian couples had appointments today to get their marriage licenses in Santa Ana and at a second county office in Laguna Hills. Many others were expected to wait in line and get their licenses without an appointment. The California Supreme Court cleared the way for the same-sex wedding ceremonies in a ruling it issued last month. The ruling struck down a provision of state law that defined marriages only as between a man and a woman. Opponents of same-sex marriage have turned their attention to a ballot measure in November, which would embed that traditional definition...

I have not beena big fan of Supreme Court rulings these days. As you well know (as an informed individual browsing and commenting on stevelackner.com) the Supreme Court of our land declared that the terrorists at Gitmo have habeas rights. Before that we had the Supreme Court of California finding the ridiculous right to gay weddings that never existed in the California or American Constitution. This week the California ruling took effect. My main focues will therfore be this ruling. Social liberals tend to deride those that oppose gay marriage as primitive neandrathal bible-thumping throwbacks. They rely on words like...

Today, California same-sex couples are rushing to the altar. But this November, California voters will have their chance to say “I do� or “I do not� to gay marriage. In the meantime, what have we learned about what gay marriage will mean for gays, for marriage, and for the wider society? In just the last few months, a newly confident same-sex-marriage movement is becoming more open and revealing about the answers. The New York Times, of all places, gave us a glimpse in its front-page story this past Sunday, “Gay Couples Find Marriage Is a Mixed Bag.� What can we...

LAKE FOREST – The conversation dealt with transgendered individuals, homosexuality, and theology. Representatives of the gay community today shared their "coming out" stories and discussed religious attitudes toward homosexuality with Saddleback Church staff. "I feel the foundation is being built for other dialogue between Saddleback and the gay community," said Richard Finch... One person talked about being transgender and Christian, attendees said. Another individual talked about being in the brink of suicide because of his childhood church's views on homosexuality. ... Jeff Lutes, executive director of Soulforce — a gay rights advocacy group that organized the project — said the...

Sixty gay and lesbian couples have arranged to get their marriage licenses in Santa Ana and Laguna Hills Tuesday when most California counties can officially issue same-sex marriage licenses. ... In 2000, 61.4 percent of voting Californians approved Proposition 22, which stated that only a marriage between a man and a woman is sanctioned by the state. In a 4-3 decision, the state Supreme Court ruled last month that the proposition was unconstitutional because it discriminated against gay couples and did not provide them with equal protection under the law. ...

Washington is a town filled with boobs. They're everywhere, from the bare-breasted ladies who decorate the fountain at Dupont Circle to the peekaboo statue in the Justice Department's Great Hall to the countless nudes in our museums. But while those of us who live here hardly blink at the public nudity, it can shock some of our visitors. Such was the case for Robert Hurt, who last week tried to add the issue of artistic indecency in the nation's capital to the platform of the Texas GOP.... Hurt said he'll pursue the issue, possibly with another trip here to videotape...

... That will change on Tuesday morning, when Byer marries his partner of more than 17 years, Dr. Jeffery Rehm. They will be among hundreds of gay and lesbian couples expected to wed on the first day that California counties can issue same-sex marriage licenses. For couples like Byer and Rehm, the wedding ceremonies on Tuesday mark the end of a long struggle to have their unions recognized as marriage. For opponents of gay marriage, though, the fight to preserve the traditional one-man-one-woman definition of marriage is just beginning. California is about to become "ground zero when it comes to...

... On Father's Day, Finch and other families in the gay community will gather at Saddleback Church, part of an effort to initiate dialogue with mega-church congregations across the nation about religious attitudes toward homosexuality. Members of the project — The American Family Outing — have visited five other such congregations so far. This is their last stop in an effort that began in May. A group of about 50 people will attend Sunday worship at the church. On Monday, a smaller group will meet with Saddleback leaders to discuss issues such as faith and family, sexual orientation and gender....

Watch this video where Chris Matthews displays his utter lack of class with Keith Olbermann. While almost every other journalist and blogger on both sides of the political spectrum are giving condolences and highlighting Russert’s deserved credit of being one of the most fair and unbiased journalists of today’s media, Chris Matthews used the opportunity to go off on an anti-war rant. He added insult by comparing him to the “American people” in the sense of being fooled by the Bush administration into supporting the war. Besides displaying how opposite he is than Russert on the subject of bias, he...

It seems that almost weekly there is another assault on true marriage. The unrelenting efforts of an activist wing of the homosexual community have succeeded in reframing the issues of the debate and now aim to enforce nothing short of a Cultural Revolution. They have been joined by eager collaborators in the Judiciary and elected officials who believe they are some kind of new “liberators”. Notice the pervasive use of the language of this new Cultural Revolution. No longer are there any news reports using the word marriage for what it ontologically is, the lifelong union between one man and...

POST-GAZETTE Res Publica Flag Day by David Trumbull June 13, 2008 Saturday, June 14th, is Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States by resolution of the Second Continental Congress, June 14, 1777. Since 1966 the week that includes June 14th has been designated National Flag Week. In issuing this year’s Flag Day and National Flag Week proclamation President George W. Bush said: The American flag has been our national symbol for 231 years, and it remains a beacon of freedom wherever it is flown. Since the Second Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes...

Maureen Monks, about to become the newest judge of the Middlesex Probate and Family Court, is a long-time radical lesbian activist attorney. She specializes in "gay" family issues. Last week, when her nomination hit some rocky waters getting through the Governor's Council, Governor Deval Patrick simply ignored their official vote and announced he will swear her in. Monks' nomination - and the governor's action -- was strongly supported by both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald on their editorial pages.

He maintains he is following the Holy Spirit in calling for this radical revision of Christian orthodoxy. Yet, he argues against the clear teaching of the Scriptures and unbroken teaching of the Christian tradition that reserve sexual activity to the loving, lifelong marriage bond between a married man and woman. Clearly, Bishop Gene Robinson views himself as a liberator, and he is doing more to foster the splintering of the Anglican Communion worldwide singlehandedly than anyone else. He seems to take delight in both his celebrity and his self appointed task. Now, the controversialist crusader for homosexual equivalency with marriage...

Rome was the scene of another gay pride paradeon Saturday. It was over-reported, as usual, the sympathies of journalists and editors having overmastered their professional objectivity. As usual, hatred and ridicule of the Church was a chief theme of the festivities, which the media treated with amused indulgence. By what may seem historical accident, as other defenders of Judeo-Christian morality fade into the inert secular background, the Catholic Church assumes a more prominent combatant role in the culture wars. There is no new belligerence on the Church's part; simply by standing pat and holding on to those moral truths she...

Well, it looks like the Catholic Church in Chicago has lost whatever balls it found when it temporarily suspended Pfoaming-at-the-mouth preacher of hate Michael Pfleger for his racially poisoned sermon a few weeks ago. Because he’s baaaack. Again. The Chicago Trib reports that Obama’s longtime friend and earmark recipient will return to St. Sabina on June 16 after being placed on leave to “reflect” on his politicking from the pulpit. Question: Which Pfleger will come back and reassume his leadership position in the Catholic Church? The Hillary-mimicking, Vanilla Ice-prancing, Jeremiah Wright-impersonating reverend who has attracted a cult of supporters over...

Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson was united in a civil union ceremony with longtime partner Mark Andrew yesterday afternoon at St. Paul's Church in Concord. Attorney Ronna Wise, a justice of the peace, performed the private ceremony before about 120 friends and family. The day marked the five-year anniversary of the New Hampshire election that, once ratified, made Robinson the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican church. Robinson had made public his intent to get a civil union but had purposely kept the date and the details quiet. He did so, said spokesman Mike Barwell, out of respect for next...

On the same day that Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for president, the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation's largest LGBT lobbying group, issued a dire warning about John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. HRC vice president David Smith, in a telephone press conference, argued that the November election presents a clear choice between "an ally of our movement or someone who pushes back consistently against our interests." Only a week earlier, HRC endorsed the incumbent US senator from Maine, Susan Collins, a Republican, because of her record of support for LGBT issues. Smith emphasized that the group's...

Gay people in Holland have been shocked by a public attack on a gay man in Amsterdam. Model Mike Du Pree was taking part in a fashion show to promote tolerance towards gay people when a gang of ten Muslim youths dragged him from the catwalk and beat him. A right wing Dutch MP has called for the youths to be deported. Mr Du Pree's nose was broken in the attack, which was motivated by homophobia. The fashion event was held on a public holiday marking the birth of Holland's late Queen Julianna. Newspaper Gay Krant reports that a bystander...

Advocates of same-sex “marriage” present the idea as a step forward for tolerance and respect. But recent developments place that interpretation very much in doubt. Legalizing same-sex “marriage” is not a stand-alone policy, independent of all the other activities of the state. Once governments assert that same-sex unions are the equivalent of marriage, those governments must defend and enforce a whole host of other social changes. Unfortunately, these government-enforced changes conflict with a wide array of ordinary liberties, including religious freedom and ordinary private property rights. It began with the persecution of Catholic Charities in Boston. The archdiocese eventually closed...

ST. PETERSBURG — Charlie Crist may not yet have a full gubernatorial term under his belt, but Sen. John McCain said Wednesday Crist has enough experience to be vice president. "Oh, I am sure that in many respects Charlie Crist is qualified. He's had other offices. As we know, he was attorney general as well. This is a big and diverse state," McCain said in an interview Wednesday evening before a $1,000-per-person private fundraising reception. "But we haven't moved anywhere on the process that he would be under," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee stressed. "We have a large number of...

For decades, an influential cabal in the mass media of entertainment has been pushing the acceptance of homosexual perversion in our homes and on our local movie screens. Now comes word that a state-funded program in Maine is advertising an upcoming seminar intended to get impressionable school-age boys involved in the sexual practices of homosexuality, and perhaps worse. According to WorldNetDaily on the Internet (April 28, 2008), the seminar, sponsored by the Boys to Men organization in Portland, Maine, is titled “Queer, Questioning, Quiet: developing Gender Identity & Male Sexual Orientation.” The seminar is part of Boys to Men’s 2008...

Shannon Grossman admitted she may be naïve about how others don’t share her progressive way of seeing the world. But she said she was stunned when she was let go from a job over bumper stickers espousing her politically and socially progressive bent. Grossman, 39, was born near Evansville and grew up in Muhlenberg County, Ky. She moved here last fall to care for her sister, Erin Vu, who has CIDP, the chronic form of Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Grossman has 12- and 17-year-old sons and said she spent most of her adult life as a stay-at-home mother. She has limited job...

<p>CA Secretary of State just certified that enough signatures are in his possesion to put the GM constitutional ban on the november ballot...</p>

Forget economic stimulus checks. Same-sex marriages may give California just the financial boost it needs. Wedding planners, bakers and hotels began booking more business almost immediately after the state Supreme Court's May 15 decision overturning a ban on gay marriage. Citing pent-up demand, one UCLA study projects that same-sex unions could provide a $370-million shot in the arm to the state economy over the next three years. "Being in West Hollywood, we've been inundated," said Tom Rosa, owner of the Cake and Art bakery on Santa Monica Boulevard. "After the ruling, the phone really picked up." Rosa said couples who...

PARIS — Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent, who reworked the rules of fashion by putting women into elegant pantsuits that came to define how modern women dressed, died Sunday evening, a longtime friend and associate said. He was 71. Pierre Berge said Saint Laurent died at his Paris home following a long illness. (Aids?) ... Bouts of depression marked his career. Pierre Berge, the designer's longtime business partner and former romantic partner, was quoted as saying that Saint Laurent was born with a nervous breakdown. ... When he bowed out of fashion in 2002, Saint Laurent spoke of his battles...

Rich Cook had it all: a dream job in his chosen field, Christian music; a solid marriage and three adoring daughters; a home in Orange County, a paradise in his eyes, worlds away from his New Jersey roots. But something was wrong. "I'd been around a long time, and I knew what it was," said Cook, 63. "I had to do something. The bottom line was changes had to be made." Cook was gay. And by the mid '90s he decided it was time to acknowledge it to his family and the world. ... Cook and his wife divorced. His...

ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada. In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has blasted a proposal that would allow San Diego county clerks to decline to perform same-sex "marriages" on conscience grounds saying he is both "shocked" and "outraged" according to Reuters news service. Newsom was responding to an idea tabled on Wednesday by San Diego County to exempt clerks who had moral or religious objections to gay "marriage" from officiating at those civil ceremonies. "I was pretty shocked about all that, candidly, and pretty outraged," said Newsom in a Reuters interview. "This is a civil marriage that civil servants have a responsibility to provide, so for...

Opponents of same sex marriage have asked the California Supreme Court to delay its decision to allow homosexual marriages until after the November election, when California voters will likely decide a proposed constitutional amendment to reinstate and preserve the previous definition of marriage. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that organizations including the Proposition 22 Legal Defense Fund and the Alliance Defense Fund filed a request seeking the delay on Thursday afternoon. "Permitting this decision to take effect immediately - in the light of the realistic possibility that the people of California might amend their constitution to reaffirm marriage as the...

This Clovis High School yearbook is out and is raising eyebrows with pictures and quotes from gay couples who attend the school.

Columnist: Triangle Foundation's Kosofsky says business owners should be jailed, newspapers sued and "slapped publicly" SEATTLE -- Michigan's largest homosexual activist group says once marriage is legally redefined to include homosexual couples, business owners and even news media outlets who refuse to recognize such marriages should be jailed or sued and "publicly slapped," a Jewish and openly bisexual columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Tuesday. Statements attributed in the column to homosexual lobbyist Sean Kosofsky, director of policy for the Detroit-based Triangle Foundation, were denounced Wednesday by American Family Association of Michigan President Gary Glenn, co-author of the Marriage Protection...

A Victory for Equality and Justice," blared the headline above the editorial. "Momentous," "historic," "a major victory for civil rights," "a scrupulously fair ruling based on law, precedents and common sense." This was the ecstatic reaction of The New York Times to the California Supreme Court's declaration that homosexuals have a right to marry and have their unions recognized as marriages. Now there may be hugging around the newsroom at the Times, where one senior writer said, a few years back, three-fourths of the folks who make up the front page are gay. But this is just another streetlight on...

The reality of 21st century life is that it's difficult to define a family with children. Most people understand this. The most practical is a "know it when you see it" definition: One adult - or two adults in a loving and committed relationship - raising one or more kids. Leave aside matters of genetics, gender or marital status. But somehow this widespread social change has eluded the Maryland Court of Appeals, which this week has decided that there is no such thing as a de facto parent. The court relegates an unmarried parent - in this Baltimore County case,...