Free Republic

Washington D.C., Oct 17, 2009 / 04:05 pm (CNA).- The University of Notre Dame’s Student Activities Office is facing criticism for allowing a group of five students to use student activities funds to travel to a national homosexual political demonstration that advocated for same-sex “marriage” and related issues.The Office approved Notre Dame’s Progressive Student Alliance (PSA) request to use PSA funding to travel to Washington, D.C. for the National Equality March on the weekend of Oct. 9-11, the Notre Dame Observer reports.The March, organized by the group Equality Across America, says on its website that the march was for ...

CatholicVoteAction brings to our attention a duplicitous tactic being employed by homosexual activists in the lead-up to Maine's Nov. 4th marriage vote: CatholicVoteAction.org Calls on Maine Group to Pull ‘Catholic’ Gay-Marriage Ad Homosexual advocates have released a shameless new ad featuring a grandmother and two gay men urging Maine voters this November to approve ‘same-sex’ marriage. The grandmother in the new commercial speaks about her Catholic faith and the importance of the institution of marriage, but then urges voters to support ‘same-sex’ marriage. Here is the video: Link Look at how subtly this ad works: "I've been a Catholic...

Washington’s Archbishop Donald Wuerl has published a letter in his diocesan newspaper, and sent a copy of the statement to all pastors for them to use, stating that his opposition to same-sex union is not rooted in anti-gay prejudices. “Our support for marriage is not meant to discriminate against any individual or family,” Archbishop Wuerl wrote. “The Catechism of the Catholic Church upholds the dignity of every person and condemns any form of unjust discrimination (2358).”The statement articulates the Church’s teaching on the traditional marriage but goes on to say: “For our parishioners who are homosexual, I recognize that the...

President Barak Obama is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at a dinner sponsored by Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a homosexual civil rights organization, on Saturday, October 10. HRC calls itself the "nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization" in the country. This weekend's event, the 13th Annual National Dinner for HRC, will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. HRC expects more than 3,000 attendees. Also on the program line-up is the presentation of the Edward M. Kennedy National Leadership Award, a newly created distinction named in honor of the...

Belmont, Calif., Sep 24, 2009 / 03:38 am (CNA).- Notre Dame High school in Belmont, California has responded to reports it had been registered to show films and use school materials produced by a homosexual activist group. The school says it has not shown such films, has not used related materials and has also requested it be removed from the group’s website and database.Youth in Motion, a partnership between the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media group Frameline, claimed on its website that over 200 California high schools and middle schools had signed up...

Pacific Justice Institute president Brad Dacus San Francisco, Calif., Sep 18, 2009 / 06:12 am (CNA).- A homosexual activist group is claiming that groups at dozens of high schools and middle schools in California, including at least one Catholic school, have signed up to show and discuss its explicit films. The films include one in which a boy “comes out” by wearing his mother’s bikini.Another film uses Native American spirituality to depict lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people as being “two-spirit” people.Parts of the discussion materials encourage students to question whether religious and cultural celebrations such as bar...

As a member of the American Psychological Association for 36 years, I am filled with indignation at the recent statement of the APA that deems it “inappropriate” for therapists to treat homosexual clients. Such therapy is called reparative therapy and has as its goal the establishment of a heterosexual orientation in place of a homosexual one. This statement of the APA has been issued despite the fact that there are a number of outstanding members of that organization, including two past presidents, who have strongly supported reparative treatment.Issued in August, “Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation” advises treatments that “increase...

In response to a question about statements made by those affiliated with the president’s administration, President Obama offered his position on homosexual rights with regard to the Church. “For the gay and lesbian community in this country, I think it’s clear that they feel victimized in fairly powerful ways and they’re often hurt by not just certain teachings of the Catholic Church, but the Christian faith generally,� said the president. “And as a Christian, I’m constantly wrestling with my faith and my solicitude and regard and concern for gays and lesbians.� “To the extent that I weighed into these debates,...

This year, just like last year, Gay Pride weekend coincided with the feast of Corpus Christi.   Washington, D.C.'s Pride parade was fairly restrained: It featured a cornucopia of Episcopalians, and all the marchers went out of their way to sweetly drape beads over the little elementary-school girls standing in front of me. There were Affirming Baptists; as the parade passed by me, a knot of gay men to my right joked -- in that gay way that is never really joking all the way down -- that maybe they could be Baptists again now. There were strollers, lots...

Family advocates are outraged by a prom held at Boston City Hall that was open to children apparently as young as 12 featuring crossdressers, homosexual heavy petting, suspected drug use and a leather-clad doorman who teaches sexual bondage classes. Children from middle schools and high schools across Massachusetts on May 9 attended a Youth Pride Day event ending with a prom inside of Boston City Hall sponsored by the Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Youth, or BAGLY, a group seated on the Massachusetts Commission for GLBT Youth. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino issued a proclamation welcoming homosexual and transgender...

It's secularism that has given gay people rights. And in civil partnerships, we have a secular institution fit for their celebration. The question: Is gay marriage a religious issue? Who would have guessed the dainty opinions of a Miss America candidate would have been taken so seriously by gays and liberals? Miss California, a practising Christian, was last week denounced by Miss America gay judge Perez Hilton on his blog as "a dumb bitch" and unworthy of the Miss America crown because she gave the "wrong" answer to his chippy question about gay marriage. Like most Americans – including the...

PARIS (Reuters) - Far-right youths clashed with left-wing activists who had gathered outside Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on Sunday to protest against Pope Benedict's opposition to condoms, a police source said. About 30 ecologists and Communists threw condoms on the ground outside the cathedral, where worshippers were leaving Sunday mass. One person was injured and three were arrested after clashes between the protesters and about 20 youths who the police source said were associated with the far-right and who were carrying placards saying "Leave my Pope alone". Benedict said in Africa on Tuesday that the use of condoms was complicating...

New York City, N.Y., Mar 8, 2009 / 09:36 pm (CNA).- Representatives of several countries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) met at the United Nations this week for the annual Commission on the Status of Women. Purportedly intended to discuss relations between men and women and care for HIV/AIDS victims, the event was instead used to criticize the Catholic Church and to promote radical ideas on abortion, homosexual rights and sex education.According to the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), radical feminist NGOs criticized the Catholic Church’s strong pro-life stance at several events.At the Center for Reproductive Rights event...

Why would a state legislature even consider such a bill as #1098, completely stripping bishops and priests of their executive control over dioceses and parishes?  Why are they not remotely afraid of the consequences of such an unconstitutional overstepping of power?  Answer: Because these legislators have no fear of the bishops.  Specifically, they do not fear the electoral consequences, the loss of Catholic votes.  The Connecticut legislators who introduced this don't think they will lose any Catholic support taking on the authority of the Catholic Church.  What the feminists failed to do -- "reform" the Catholic Church -- the gay...

Archbishop Celestine Migliore, the Holy SeeÂ’s Permanent Observer of the Holy See at the United Nations, says the Vatican had no choice about not endorsing two recent U.N. documents. Why? Because abortion and homosexual activists had seeded these documents with code language intended to promote their agendas in a dishonest and destructive way. The insertion of such code language into U.N. documents by the delegations of Western countries, working in close collaboration with the international abortion and homosexual rights lobbies, is a common ploy. Their hope is that by doing this, these documents subsequently will be interpreted by national and...

Nancy Sutley to Head White House Council on Environmental Quality December 10, 2008 10:46 AM Democratic sources tell ABC News that President-elect Barack Obama will name Nancy Sutley, Los Angeles's deputy mayor for energy and environment, to chair his White House's Council on Environmental Quality. The CEQ advises the President and Vice President on national and international environmental policy matters and works to ensure that federal agencies operate efficiently and in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa turned to Sutley to help him in his goal to transform L.A. into “the greenest big city...

President-elect Barack Obama Washington DC, Nov 23, 2008 / 07:48 pm (CNA).- Citing what they call America’s “promise of equality,” the Obama administration plans to push for homosexual rights by including protections of sexual orientation, “gender identity” and “gender expression” as civil rights. His office proposes expanding hate crimes statues and the adoption rights of homosexuals while supporting full civil unions for “LGBT couples” to give them “legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples.”The proposals are announced under the Civil Rights section of their agenda presented at Change.gov, the web site of the Obama campaign’s self-described...

A supporter of Proposition 8, fed up with what he believed was the gay community's and "liberal media's" refusal to accept the voters' verdict, fired off a letter to the editor. "Please show respect for democracy," he wrote, in a letter we published. What he encountered instead was an utter lack of respect for free speech. Within hours, the intimidation game was on. Because his real name and city were listed - a condition for publication of letters to The Chronicle - opponents of Prop. 8 used Internet search engines to find the letter writer's small business, his Web site...

Lessons in diversity Melanie Pang has participated in educational events and political theater as a leader in a University of Houston campus group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. Next spring, she'll move that interest into the academic arena. Pang plans to be among the first students enrolled when the university begins offering a minor concentration in GLBT studies, the only college in Texas to do so. "We thought it was necessary to recognize the scholarly importance of GLBT people and their contributions," said Guillermo De Los Reyes, assistant professor of Latin American studies and director of the new...

The 2009 calendar includes images of gay men embracing on a church altar wearing nothing but dog collars, a transsexual crucifixion, and a naked angel striking a provocative pose in a cemetery.Other pictures show naked men within military scenes, including one gay model wearing only chains photographed in front of an army tank.Albert Marchena, 29, a private in the Spanish Air Force made headlines when in June 2006 he married a fellow private in the first same sex civil ceremony between military men in Spain. The couple have since split up but Mr Marchena says he is determined to continue...

WaMu Recognized as Top Diverse Employer—Again Washington Mutual, Inc., September 24, 2008 Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE:WM), one of the nation’s leading banks for consumers and small businesses, has once again been recognized as a top employer by Hispanic Business magazine and the Human Rights Campaign. Hispanic Business magazine recently ranked WaMu sixth in its annual Diversity Elite list, which names the top 60 companies for Hispanics. The company was honored specifically for its efforts to recruit Hispanic employees, reach out to Hispanic consumers and support Hispanic communities and organizations. The Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay, lesbian, bisexual and...

ATLANTA - The United Church of Christ’s rule-making body voted overwhelmingly Monday to approve a resolution that endorses same-sex marriage, making it the largest Christian denomination to do so. Roughly 80 percent of the members of the church’s General Synod voted to approve the resolution. They debated for about an hour before voting. Traditionally strong in New England, the liberal denomination of 1.3 million members has long been supportive of gays and lesbians. In the early 1970s, the UCC became the first major Christian body to ordain an openly gay minister. Twenty years ago, it declared itself to be “open...

An article in Georgetown University's newspaper The Hoya welcomes the new director of its Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Questioning (LGBTQ) Resource Center and does some end zone celebration for our benefit. Georgetown, you may remember, is a university in the Jesuit Tradition.   You'll be edified by the following details:Jack Harrison (SFS '09), co-chair of GU Pride, also said he hopes to work closely with the new director in developing programming for the year. … Harrison said GU Pride is looking to launch efforts this year to make the campus more "trans-friendly" by working to provide bathrooms and better housing options for...

The California Supreme Court says it plans to issue its long-awaited decision on whether to legalize same-sex marriage on Thursday. The high court announced the pending opinion on its Web site Wednesday morning. Justices heard oral arguments in a series of cases brought by gay and lesbian couples, the city of San Francisco and two gay rights advocacy groups in early March. The court has been asked to decide whether the state's one man-one woman marriage laws violate the civil rights of same-sex couples. If it rules in favor of the plaintiffs, California could become the second state after Massachusetts...

The State of New York has been ordered to recognize homosexual "marriages" performed in U.S. states and foreign countries where the practice is legal. New York's highest court – the Court of Appeals – refused to review a lower-court ruling that ordered recognition of so-called foreign "same-sex marriages" performed outside the State of New York. Such unions must now be honored in New York if they were created legally -- for example, in Massachusetts or Canada. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality says activist judges are now forcing homosexual marriage on New York citizens. "[T]his is a very...

Manila, May 6, 2008 / 04:03 am (CNA).- Archbishop of Manila Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has forbidden cross-dressing homosexuals from dressing up as female saints in religious processions, calling the actions an “insult to the Blessed Mother.” Every May, Catholics throughout the Philippines hold a “Santacruzan” flower festival in honor of the Virgin Mary.Speaking to the church-run Radio Veritas on Monday, Cardinal Rosales said the cross-dressing was “horrendous” and “defeats the real purpose” of the procession.  He said that the Catholic faithful should keep religious festivals sacred and solemn at all times."Gays should not be allowed to participate in Santacruzan since...

PHOENIX — A state legislator started a petition drive Friday to forbid all employers from discriminating against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals. Existing law prohibits discrimination based on a number of factors, including sex. The initiative by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, would define that term to also include gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation. Sinema needs 153,365 signatures by July 3 to put the issue on the November ballot. The legislator, who describes herself as bisexual, said she intends to start gathering signatures immediately

Thousands of Oregonians a year change their names. But the case of a Bend resident who says he is legally male and five months pregnant has highlighted the much smaller numbers who legally change their sex. That option exists in Oregon, as in most states, for transsexuals who switch genders. "Oregon's law is very typical," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco. The crux of the decades-old law is one sentence. The same court with jurisdiction over legal name changes "may order a legal change of sex and enter a judgment indicating...

Just one year ago, Megan Wallent's co-workers at Microsoft knew her as Michael. Then, in an e-mail sent to his entire staff, he announced that he no longer considered himself a male. The long-time executive, in charge of the Internet Explorer division for Microsoft, underwent major feminization surgery and legally changed his gender. Wallent's wife, like his co-workers, had no idea that this guy's guy was conflicted about his gender identity. ABC's Neal Karlinksy has the story from Seattle. Read more here and view a slideshow of the transition from Michael to Megan.

You could call Chrissy Nakonsky a candidate of change. Until about five years ago, Nakonsky, who recently announced she's running for the Minnesota Legislature and will seek the Republican endorsement in her Brainerd-area district, was known as Jeff Nakonsky. Nakonsky said the 2006 reelection of the state's only openly gay Republican legislator, Sen. Paul Koering of nearby Fort Ripley, gives her hope that Brainerd-area voters won't deny her a legislative seat because of her gender change. "If people vote for or against me, it should be because of my values," Nakonsky said. While there are about 400 openly gay or...

"What will prevent the 250-pound linebacker from deciding he wants to share the locker room with the cheerleaders?" Deconstructionist professors have been trying for years to convince us that gender is a social construct. Now, it seems, politicians and even employers are doing their best to put this theory into practice--2007 may go down in history as the year of the transgendered person. Take the announcement in October that, under a state law that takes effect in January, schools in California not only can't discriminate by sex but also can't take into account "a person's gender identity and gender related...

Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air have announced a new program that will charge heterosexuals 10 percent extra for their air travel to specific locations during the Christmas season. The company actually offers the 10 percent as a discount but only if the purchaser obtains the ticket through a "gay" page of the company's website, a location not typically patronized by families seeking travel arrangements, according to an Idaho activist who was distressed by the offering. Bryan Fischer, of the Idaho Values Alliance, told WND the company boasts of its "nondiscrimination" policies, but, "here they are blatantly discriminating against heterosexuals...

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has used $23,000 in campaign funds to pay the top Washington ethics lawyer, Stan Brand, who is fighting his case before the Senate ethics committee, according to Craig’s latest filing with the Federal Election Commission. No additional legal expenses appear in the report, but they eventually will. Craig, according to his office, has decided to use his campaign committee for attorney fees related to his criminal defense in Minnesota as well. “A better read (of the latest report) is that Stan Brand bills more quickly,” Craig’s spokesman, Dan Whiting, wrote in an email. The report covers...

In a first, Interpol appealed Monday for public help to identify a suspected pedophile shown in photos posted on the Internet sexually abusing young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia.

NEW ORLEANS—The members of Integrity have prayed unceasingly for their bishops as they met this week to consider a response to the primates' communiqué. The bishops were pressured by the Archbishop of Canterbury and other international guests to comply with the primate's demands. The bishops struggled mightily amongst themselves to achieve a clear consensus on how to respond. Integrity is gratified that the final response from the House of Bishop declined to succumb to the pressure to go backwards, but rather took some significant steps forward. We are encouraged by their strong language against the incursions of uninvited bishops into...

Maryland's highest court Tuesday upheld a state law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman, ending a lawsuit filed by same-sex couples who claimed they were being denied equal protection under the law. A divided Court of Appeals ruled that Maryland's 1973 ban on gay marriage does not discriminate on the basis of gender and does not deny any fundamental rights, and that the state has a legitimate interest in promoting opposite-sex marriage. The decision essentially sent the gay-marriage issue back to the legislature, where lawmakers on both sides of the debate predicted a flurry of...

Brasilia, Sep 3, 2007 / 09:25 am (CNA).- Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender People (ABGLT) is attempting to silence its opponents, especially Christians, with a flurry of lawsuits designed to take advantage of the pro-homosexual atmosphere in the country. According to a report by Matthew Cullinan Hoffman of Lifesite.net, the organization has filed lawsuits against various websites for exposing the fact that the leader of Brazil's homosexual movement, Luiz Mott, is a promoter of pedophilia and pederasty“The sites, Media Without a Mask, the Christian Apologetics Research Center, and Jesussite, are accused of ‘charlatanism, infamy, defamation, and calumny’,...

Transgendered person charged with practicing medicine without license 05:39 PM EDT on Friday, August 17, 2007 Reported by: Lindsey Roberts Suffolk Police have arrested a man and charged him with practicing medicine without a license. According to police, Francis Renee White, 36, of South Main Street, injected silicone into other transgendered people. Police say the shots, used to plump up lips, cheeks and breasts, were administered inside White's home. The injections were with the consent of the transgender customers, but the practice is illegal and very dangerous. "They did them in different places, but generally the face the buttocks or...

<p>From NBC's Chris Donovan Melissa Etheridge, scheduled to be a panelist at tomorrow's Democratic presidential forum on GLBT issues, is no stranger to the political world.</p>

The marriages of more than 170 gay couples from New York who wed in Massachusetts before last July are valid because New York had not yet explicitly banned same-sex marriages, a Massachusetts judge ruled. Couples are barred from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriages would be prohibited in their home states. The New York Court of Appeals ruled against same-sex marriages on July 6, 2006. The Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders had asked for clarification of the status of New York couples who married in Massachusetts before that ruling. Massachusetts became the first state in the country to allow...

May 7, 2007 -- GOV. Spitzer's plan to legalize gay marriage is dividing Democrats, harming Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions, and handing Republicans their first strong campaign issue in some time, officials told The Post. "This could turn out to be the Democrats' Achilles' heel," crowed Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, a Schenectady Republican who has seen a sharp drop in the Legislature's GOP membership in recent years. -- SNIP -- His action forced the Assembly's majority Democrats, who have avoided taking sides on the polarizing issue for years, to confront what is expected to be a bitter internal debate...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 2, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A proposed "hate crimes" law that would impose special federal penalties against crimes related to sexual orientation is being denounced as a serious risk to freedom of religion in the US, as Congress prepares to vote on the measure. Passed by the House Judiciary Committee last week, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act would give special considerations to "hate crimes" committed against those engaging in homosexual activity and people who consider themselves transgendered or bisexual. Dr. James Dobson,  founder of Focus on the Family Action, told CitizenLink the bill's backers are...

Why is the forum endorsing a specific point of view for a Republican candidate for President by placing a link to anti-Guiliani articles on the header?Giuliani Truth File - In his own words and deeds. There are folks on the forum with both points of view and one should not be supported over the other.

An Illinois high school student is in federal court seeking the right to wear T-shirts that declare sentiments such as "Be happy, not gay." Heidi Zamecnik, of the Chicago suburb Naperville, wants to wear the shirt at school the day after the "Day of Silence," a nationwide observance April 19 to protest harassment of homosexuals in schools, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Zamecnik is asking the court to order her school, Neuqua Valley High, and Indian Prairie District 204 to allow her to express her family's "conviction that true happiness cannot be found through homosexual behavior." (Story continues below) The "Day...

The Forgotten Voice in the Adoption Debate BY GAIL BESSE May 7-13, 2006 Issue. National Catholic Register Dawn Stefanowicz and children like her are the most important voices in the debate over same-sex adoption.  And yet the voices of adult children raised by homosexuals are rarely heard.  Stefanowicz recently testified about her life with her biological father before a Massachusetts legislative committee in support of a marriage protection amendment. The amendment, which lawmakers will address May 10, would allow voters to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Stefanowicz, with her husband and children, spoke with...

FRESNO, CA--An Episcopal diocese in California overwhelmingly passed a series of resolutions yesterday that position it to secede from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with conservatives in the global Anglican Communion. If the Diocese of San Joaquin affirms the move in a second vote next year, the small diocese, with 48 parishes and 7,000 members, would be the first to try to break from the Episcopal Church, which has been torn by conflict since the consecration of a gay bishop in 2003. Until now, only individual parishes have severed ties. The vote by the diocese is one more step in...

The following is merely an excerpt from Nightmare at Franklin, by Tom Mountain, published Nov , 2006, by Newton Tab; we encourage you to continue reading the full story… Emer O’Shea knew something was wrong the minute she picked up her daughter from Franklin Elementary School. The third-grader was normally very perky upon seeing her mother and new baby sister, but this time she glanced at her mother without indicating what was wrong, except to say that the school’s social worker had visited the class. But Emer soon heard from another parent about what had happened in her daughter’s class...

I cannot believe no has a photo of the witch next to the NAMBLA president in the San Fransico parade.

MINNEAPOLIS, October 5 (UPI) — A group of Catholics in Minneapolis will celebrate "National Coming Out Day" next Tuesday at the Basilica of St. Mary. Fr. Michael O'Connell will preside over the event, sponsored by St. Joan of Arc Church, as a service is held in the basilica's St. Joseph Chapel. "Along with the planned retreat activities, there will be time for reflection, journaling, massage, friendship and recreation," organizers of the Dignity Twin Cities event said Thursday in a news release. "We encourage participants to stay overnight on Saturday for the full, rich experience of the retreat, but commuters are...

Do you think the Democrats are really incensed about Rep. Mark Foley's instant messages to congressional pages? Do you think the party of Barney Frank and Gerry Studds and Bill Clinton has finally had enough with powerful old men who use their positions to gain sexual favors from much younger and inexperienced pages and interns? Do you think the Democrats, the party of alternative lifestyles and same-sex marriages and group rights based on sexual preferences, is really morally outraged about what Foley did? Frankly, if I hear one more Democrat call for House Speaker Dennis Hastert's head, I think I'm...